Sue Darroch and Matthew Didier's Paranormal Blog

Readers who have already participated on a Muddy York Walking Tour know how much fun they are! Our dear friend Richard Fiennes-Clinton certainly knows how to educate while at the same time entertain! Not only do we highly recommend these tours we also like to participate in them ourselves. Here is the upcoming line-up:

Saturdays, Sundays and Wednesdays in December
(Including December 22nd, 23rd, 29th and 30th)

AFTERNOON TEA AT TORONTO’S FIRST POST OFFICE

"A VICTORIAN CHRISTMAS IN TORONTO"
A History Of Toronto’s Christmas Traditions
Learn about the history of early Toronto, and the Victorian origins of our modern day Christmas. Come in from the cold and warm yourself by the fireplace before settling down to relive the spirit of Toronto Christmas past. The programme includes the founding of the Town of York, the Battle of York, Toronto’s Rebel Christmas (December 1837), the Victorian origins of modern day Christmas traditions, Charles Dickens, Toronto and "A Christmas Carol". The evening will conclude with a reading of a Christmas Ghost story by famed Canadian author Robertson Davies.

Remember, for those of us who are more traditional, Christmas runs a full twelve days. Why go through all the hustle and bustle and then pack everything up on December 26th? We will be continuing this talk through to the end of the month. It’s been very well attended on the Saturdays, and we’ve had a wonderful time.

Also, we are continuing this programme in January with a new theme for the talks - please scroll down to see what we’re presenting after tea in January.

Our group minimum for tea is six people, and our maximum is twelve to fifteen. You don’t need to meet the minimum in your party to sign up, but we need at least that many in total to go ahead, so it helps if you can convince as many people as possible to come out!

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December 21st, 2007
MIDWINTER NIGHT DREAM WALK at 6:00 p.m.
Come and celebrate the longest night of the year. We’ll start off at the Royal Ontario Museum for the storytelling part of the tour. I’ll share some eerie stories from the University Campus. Some of these may be familiar to those who have been on my Ghosts of the University of Toronto tour but I’ll have one or two new ones as well. Then, we’ll wander up into Yorkville, and I’ll share a little bit of it’s history with you as we look at their beautiful Christmas light display. As we pass by some of the exclusive shops, I’ll be sure to point them out to you, using their displays to help tell the origins of some of our Christmas traditions.

For thousands of years, almost every culture and religion in the world has had some kind of festival to celebrate the Winter Solstice. Don’t let the fact that it’s the longest night of the year keep you inside! Come out and have some fun.

We meet at the east side of the Royal Ontario Museum at 6:00 p.m. The cost is $10 per person. Please get in touch with me to reserve in advance.

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Saturday January 5th, 2008 at 3:00 p.m.
CHOCOLATE SHOPPING TOUR THROUGH YORKVILLE

This tour will introduce you to the premiere chocolate shops, food suppliers and eateries in Toronto’s exclusive Yorkville district. The tour cost includes an introduction to over half a dozen locations, as well as one or two sample truffles as well. Bring spending money if you like, in case you see something else you want to pick up on the way. There will be time for you to do some quick shopping at our various stops. Our last stop is Carole’s Cheesecake Company, where you will be able to stop and have a sandwich and something sweet, too!! Food at our last stop is not covered in the cost of the tour. As we go along through Yorkville, you’ll hear the story of this fascinating neighbourhood and all the changes it’s gone through in the last 170 years.

We will probably limit this tour to about 20 people, so please reserve in advance.
We meet at the corner of Yorkville and Bloor at 3:00 p.m. Please let me know if you need further directions.
COST : $20.00 per person

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Sunday January 6th and Sunday January 26th at 3:45 p.m.
Afternoon Tea at Toronto’s First Post Office
"SCOTTISH NEW YEAR AND ROBBIE BURNS DAY CELEBRATION"
Come out and celebrate the new year in old world style. We’ll talk a wee bit about Scottish new year traditions, and also learn about a handful of men from Scotland who had a profound impact on the city of Toronto. The Scottish have had a profound impact on our national landscape. Most people think the Battle on the Plains of Abraham was fought between the English and the French, but at the end of the day, one Scotsman surrendered to another. Then of course, there was our illustrious first Prime Minister - another Scotsman! More specific to Toronto were a handful of men who came from Scotland’s shores to build our city. We’ll tell you about that, too!

We are only hosting afternoon tea twice in January - once on Sunday January 6th, to celebrate Hogmanay, and then again on Saturday January 26th (Robbie Burns day weekend) so it’s important to sign up now!

Our group minimum for tea is six people, and our maximum is twelve to fifteen. You don’t need to meet the minimum in your party to sign up, but we need at least that many in total to go ahead, so it helps if you can convince as many people as possible to come out!

DATES :
Sunday January 6th at 3:45 p.m.
Saturday January 26th at 3:45 p.m.
Please arrive at Toronto’s First Post Office (260 Adelaide Street East, just east of Jarvis Street) at 3:45 p.m.

COST : $35.00 per person.

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Saturday January 12th
INDOOR GHOST TOUR at 11:45 a.m.
We’ll meet at the front entrance to the Elgin Winter Garden Theatre Centre at 11:45 a.m. The Elgin Winter Garden theatre centre is home to two distinct theatres, totally different in style, that were built one on top of another. It opened as a vaudeville theatre in 1913. After talking movies were invented in the 1920s, the upstairs theatre, the Winter Garden was closed up and left abandoned for sixty years. In the six decades that no one entered the theatre, it was said to accumulate some interesting paranormal guests. I will be able to conduct the tour through the theatre centre myself. Although we will have the chance to visit the Elgin theatre, our main focus will be on the Winter Garden. We’ll even go backstage and see some of the artifacts that were discovered after they reopened it, as well as a vintage dressing room restored to the vaudeville era.

We’ll leave the Elgin Winter Garden theatre centre around 1:30p.m., and walk about five minutes to Mackenzie House Museum. Mackenzie House is said to be one of the most haunted buildings in the city of Toronto. When we get there, I’ll tell you a little more about it on the front lawn, and then turn you over to the staff who will give you a guided tour through the house.

This tour starts at 11:45 a.m. on Saturday morning, January 12th. We meet at the main entrance of the Elgin Winter Garden theatre centre, located at 189 Yonge Street just north of Queen Street.

You absolutely need to register for this tour by Wednesday January 9th, so call or email me at your earliest convenience.

Our group minimum for this tour is fifteen people, and our maximum is about twenty-five. You don’t need to meet the minimum in your party to sign up, but we need at least that many in total to go ahead, so it helps if you can convince as many people as possible to come out!

COST : $25.00 per person (includes admission into both the Elgin Winter Garden theatre centre and Mackenzie House museum).

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Saturday January 19th
RIOT IN THE COURTROOM TOUR
Meet me on the front lawn of Mackenzie House Museum at 12:15 p.m.

This is your chance to have your day in court!
This is a two part tour examining the history of a very important 19th Century court case. William Lyon Mackenzie, one of Toronto’s most notorious citizens, was a journalist, politician, and leader of an unsuccessful rebellion that took the streets of Toronto in 1837. He used his newspaper as a forum for expressing the ideas of himself and his reform party. In 1826, in response to his controversial writings, fifteen young men from wealthy, well-known families of York raided his printing office, damaged his press, and threw cases of type into Lake Ontario. This became known as the Types Riot.

Our day starts off at 12:30 p.m., with a tour of the printing press at Mackenzie House Museum, located at 82 Bond Street, two blocks east of Yonge Street immediately south of Dundas Street East. This first part of the programme should conclude by about 1:30 p.m.

Leaving Mackenzie House we’ll travel south and then along Queen Street West. As we pass Old City Hall and Osgoode Hall, you’ll hear about their connections with law in Toronto and Canada.

We’ll arrive at Campbell House, located at Queen and University, where participants re-enact the famous trial where William Lyon Mackenzie took those who invaded his printing press to court. Extensive pre-visit materials will help participants with role playing. These will be given out by email before the tour, and you’ll be able to pick available roles on a first come, first served basis. For those not given to public speaking, you can chose to be a member of the jury and decide the fate of the participants who will be defending themselves before the judge.

The programme should conclude by about 4:00 p.m.

THE COST for this full afternoon joint programme is only $25.00 per person! The court re-enactment is a programme that is not usually open to the public, so it’s a very unique opportunity. PLEASE BOOK FOR THIS TOUR BY WEDNESDAY JANUARY 16th.

Our group minimum for this tour is fifteen people, and our maximum is about twenty-five. You don’t need to meet the minimum in your party to sign up, but we need at least that many in total to go ahead, so it helps if you can convince as many people as possible to come out!

Know anybody studying Canadian Law or History? This would be an ideal programme to get them involved with. We can arrange this programme between Mackenzie House and Campbell House for special groups, so please get in touch.

If you have any questions about these events please contact Muddy York Walking Tours through their website or get in touch with them by telephone at (416) 487-9017.

We hope to partake in at least two of these tours, and hope to see you there! A great last minute gift idea for the paranormal enthusiast and/or history buff as well!