The Ghost Who Was Arrested By Toronto Police
Plus séances, sidewalks, the Victorian apocalypse, and more...
The spirit appeared on a summer night in 1925. Dozens of people had gathered to witness the event: a séance held at the old Sovereign Hall on Dovercourt Road — what's now known as Dovercourt House. They had come for a chance to speak with the dead. Many of them must have looked on in amazement as the ghost materialized out of a cabinet, shrouded by mist and lit by strange light. He appeared before them in a white robe, with long hair and a flowing beard. He spoke to them, a miraculous visitor from beyond the grave delivering precious messages from the afterlife.
Or, at least, that's what he claimed to be doing. Not everyone in the audience believed him. Among those in attendance that night were two very skeptical members of the Toronto Police Morality Squad. The undercover officers were not convinced by the act; far from it. They were about to bring that séance to a violently dramatic end.
Séances were all the rage in the 1920s, largely thanks to Spiritualism. The roots of the occult religion are often traced back to a pair of Canadian sisters who said they began communicating with a spirit after moving to upstate New York. As word of their claims spread, the Fox sisters became international celebrities. They went on tour, led huge public séances, and helped popularize the new religion. In an age filled with extraordinary new scientific discoveries, communication with the dead seemed perfectly plausible to many. And while interest had begun to fade by the end of the 1800s — in part because the sisters admitted it had all started as a prank (before retracting that confession) — interest would soon surge again.
In the wake of the First World War and the Spanish Flu pandemic, people were desperate to believe their loved ones weren't lost forever. They longed for a way to communicate with the dead, and Spiritualism promised it was possible. The religion's popularity boomed. In Toronto, a psychic named Louis Benjamin — who I wrote about in The Toronto Book of the Dead — made frontpage news when he began performing séances at his mentor's house on Euclid Avenue. And when Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, famed creator of Sherlock Holmes and an avid Spiritualist himself, gave a lecture at Massey Hall called "The Proofs of Immortality," he drew a crowd of thousands. Doyle denounced local Protestant ministers for their close-minded hostility while writing in glowing terms about how much he learned from Toronto's Spiritualist church leaders. "I have seldom received," he gushed, "a greater accession of strength and wisdom." He even invited Benjamin to perform a séance for him in his hotel room.
Reverend Arthur Hildreth was a new arrival on Canada's Spiritualist scene. He moved to Ontario from Los Angeles in the summer of 1925, taking over the East Side Spiritualist Church in Hamilton. He told the press he'd been speaking to the dead for years, having attended his first séance at the age of 33 and become inspired to explore his own psychic powers. Within months, he told them, he was able to channel the spirit of Martin Luther, the German priest who sparked the Protestant Reformation. Things took off quickly from there. Hildreth became a Spiritualist preacher, founded a Spiritualist magazine, and began performing his own Spiritualist séances.
Hildreth's appearance at Dovercourt House came just a few weeks after he moved to Canada. In his performances, he would use his own body as the conduit for the spirits — sometimes as many as twenty-two of them during a single event. He would place himself inside a cabinet, enclosed on three sides but open at the front, wearing white underclothes and a blue robe. Once he was inside, his assistants would guard the box to ensure no one in the audience interfered. "It is extremely dangerous for me," Hildreth told The Toronto Daily Star, "if a disturbance is caused." As the séance began, the lights would be turned off and the room plunged into semi-darkness. That's when the spirits would emerge from the cabinet, physically manifesting, according to the reverend, as ectoplasm.
Once the spirits had fully materialized, the lights would be turned on and the ghosts would speak with the audience. That night at Dovercourt House, the bearded spirit made several appearances. And each time, as the power of the ectoplasm waned, the lights would be turned back off and the phantom would disappear back into the cabinet.
"Of course," Hildreth admitted, "there are many people who profess they cannot see why the hall should be darkened. It is really very simple. While the spirits are being formed and during the time they are going it would be dangerous for the medium to have on the lights."
He didn't explain further. And that night in Toronto, not everyone was buying it. The two undercover officers, Sam Wilson and Richard Mulholland, hadn't come to speak with the dead. They had come to shut the séance down.
Canada has a long history of laws against witchcraft. They were originally imported from England, with roots going all the way back to the early 1500s there. Those initial laws were driven by religious fears of spell-casting witches and evil devil worshippers, but by the time they entered Canada's Criminal Code the focus had shifted. By the end of the 1800s, the government no longer believed in the power of the occult. So, the Canadian Witchcraft Act was much more focused on fighting fraud. It was aimed at anyone "who pretends to exercise or use any kind of witchcraft, sorcery, enchantment or conjuration, or undertakes to tell fortunes, or pretends from his skill or knowledge in any occult or crafty science to discover [lost or stolen property]." The law wasn't aimed at protecting people from witches, but from con artists.
And so, that's what brought the Toronto Police Morality Squad to Dovercourt House. As the spirit channeled by Reverend Hildreth thrilled the audience, the police sprang into action. In the pivotal moment of darkness, they suddenly shone a light upon the ghost. And with it, chaos was unleashed.
"Women screamed," The Star reported, "and all made a rush for Mulholland." He fought them off with a billy club as the event descended into a near riot. But while the crowd was distracted by him, his partner was able to make a dash toward the cabinet. Officer Wilson pursued the ghost as it attempted to retreat into its box, getting there just in time to grab the ghoul before it made its escape. As the two tussled, the spirit's robe was torn off. The phantom then fell into a deep trance, giving Wilson the opportunity to arrest it and haul it off to jail.
It was no shock, of course, when the person in custody turned out to be none other than Reverend Hildreth himself. He was charged with fraud and with fortune telling under the Witchcraft Act.
But the Spiritualist pastor wasn't going down without a fight.
It promised to be one of the strangest trials in Toronto history, and Hildreth seemed happy to speak to the press about it. He continued to claim his séances were the real thing, provable by science. "I am willing to subject myself to any reasonable test," he declared. "If necessary, I will get people who have 'passed over' to give evidence on my behalf." He even offered to conjure spirits in the courtroom. "I'll hold a séance for the jury at my trial and show them all how wrong they are in disbelieving me."
In the end, however, Toronto would never get to enjoy the spectacle of a courtroom séance showdown. Reverend Hildreth was assessed by an alienist who assured the court the defendant was fit for trial and not legally insane. But the pastor kept asking for his court date to be pushed back. And the judge kept agreeing.
Eventually, Hildreth's congregation petitioned the attorney general on his behalf. They met with the minister at Queen's Park, trying to convince him the whole thing had been a set up. They claimed a rival psychic had conspired with the police because Hildreth was invading her turf and refused to split his profits. They suggested the cops had framed him, throwing a white wig and other props on stage in order to make him seem like a fraud. The reverend, they insisted, was innocent, nothing more than the victim of a Spiritualist turf war.
But by then, it was already too late. Their leader was gone.
Reverend Hildreth had disappeared months earlier, quite possibly as part of a backroom agreed in which he agreed to be banished rather than face trial. The pastor accepted one last gift from his congregation — a purse filled with gold in honour of his wedding anniversary — and then told them was leaving for a while. "I am going to Los Angeles to look after some property," he explained, "and will be right back."
And with that, he skipped out on bail. It seems the phantom of Dovercourt House was never seen in Toronto again.
Canada’s anti-witchcraft laws weren’t repealed until 2018. You can read more about the history of our Witchcraft Act thanks to Riley Klassen-Molyneaux in his article, “Bad Religion and Bad Business: The History of the Canadian Witchcraft Provision” from The Canadian Journal of Law and Society here.
The laws were eventually repealed amid concerns they tended to be used against marginalized women and people of colour, that they might conflict with religious beliefs protected by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and that the important parts were already covered by existing anti-fraud laws. You find more about that background in “Modern Law, Modern Hammers: Canada's Witchcraft Provision as an Image of Persecution” — an article by Natasha Bakht and Jordan Palmer in The Windsor Review of Legal and Social Issues — here.
If you like to know more about my own Toronto Book of the Dead, you’ll find it here — as well as for sale at all the usual places, including your favourite local bookstore.
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QUICK LINKS
The best of everything else that’s new in Toronto’s past…
MORE SÉANCE NEWS — In a wonderfully-timed coincidence, Nate Hendley has just written a new article about the psychic medium Louis Benjamin (who I mentioned briefly above). He held many séances at the Euclid Avenue home of his mentor Albert Durrant Watson. It’s one of my favourite Toronto history stories to tell at this time of year. Read more.
VICTORIAN APOCALYPSE NEWS — Also for TVO, Daniel Panneton writes about the Torontonians who believed the world would end in 1844 (including the fact that “Between 1841 and 1848, roughly 12 per cent of all committals to the Toronto Provincial Lunatic Asylum involved a form of eschatological [i.e. apocalyptic] excitement.” Read more.
NEW NAMES NEWS — Villiers Island is getting a new name that reflects the history of the Port Lands. Before it was paved over with concrete and asphalt that land was home to a vast wetland at the mouth of the Don River, with black cherry trees growing alongside it. An advisory circle of elders and various First Nations, Inuit and Métis community members have recommended the name Ookwemin Minising for the island. It’s an Anishinaabemowin-Ojibwemowin word that means “the place of the black cherry trees” (and is pronounced “oh-kwhe-min Min-nih-sing”). Unknown to the circle at the time the choice was made, Waterfront Toronto has recently also planted eighty new cherry trees on the island in honour of that same history.
The island’s parklands will also get a new name: Biidaasige (“bee-daw-sih-geh”), which means “sunlight shining toward us” — which, if you’ve recently explored the island as the sun sets in the west like I did this week, seems very appropriate.
Mahdis Habibinia wrote about the new names for The Toronto Star. Read more.
HERITAGE CRANE NEWS — And while we’re talking about the Port Lands… Jack Landau has a new article about a particularly spectacular historical artifact you’ll find standing at the new mouth of the Don River. It’s a 300-ton crane built more than sixty years ago as part of an old marine terminal. It’s currently being refurbished as a monument to the area’s industrial heritage. Read more.
DONALD SUTHERLAND’S FBI FILE NEWS — I wrote about the FBI raid on Donald Sutherland’s house a few months ago, just after the beloved actor passed away. (You’ll find that here.) It was all because his wife, Shirley Douglas (daughter of Tommy Douglas, champion of Canada’s universal health care system and leader of the federal NDP at the time), was a leading supporter of the Black Panthers. If you’d like to do a deep dive, the bureau has now released part of their file on Donald Sutherland so you can read it online. Read more.
SIDEWALK BATTLE NEWS — Katherine Taylor shares an absolutely fascinating story about the battles waged over the sidewalks of the Danforth nearly a century ago. When local business leaders were infuriated by fruit markets taking over much of the sidewalk to display their wares, they organized an unusual protest. They encouraged every business to do the same, trying to force the police into cracking down — with exceptionally mixed results. (I’ve even used a few of the photos Katherine includes in some of my own lectures without realizing they were tied to such a strange story!) Read more.
She also included this delightful fact from The Toronto Daily Star: the Bloor Viaduct weighs as much as two huge ocean liners.
DRY NEWS — Jamie Bradburn writes for TVO about how our province faced the dramatic challenges of prohibition a century ago, and the hotly contested votes held on the issue. Read more.
TORONTO HISTORY EVENTS
HAUNTED HERITAGE: HONOURING OUR HISTORY’S GHOSTS
November 4 — 5:30pm — Pape/Danforth Library
November 7 — 6pm — St. Clair/Silvethorn Library
“A thought-provoking and enlightening presentation on paranormal research done within historic and heritage properties. Learn about how ghost presences within historic sites can be respectfully utilized to call attention to Ontario's vanishing heritage and those who have gone before us. Presented by Peter Roe, paranormal investigator, author and associate director of the The Searcher Group, "Canada's Ghostbusters".
Free!
Learn more at the links above.
NEWSGIRLS: GUTSY PIONEERS IN CANADA’S NEWSROOMS
November 5 — 2pm — Yorkville Library
November 20 — 2pm — Northern District Library
“Former Toronto Star reporter, Donna Jean Mackinnon documents the lives of 10 leading female reporters who established their careers between 1930 and 1960--the Golden Age of Newspapers. MacKinnon's fascinating, often amusing presentation includes a slew of vintage photos and intimate anecdotes.Trailblazers in their fields, these adventurous 'newshens,' as they were once called, covered every beat from art openings, fashion, crime, politics, and the major social issues of the day.”
Free!
Learn more at the links above.
ON “ACTIVE” SERVICE: STORIES FROM THE FIELD & ON THE HOMEFRONT DURING WORLD WAR I & II
November 5 — 7pm — Runnymede United Church — West Toronto Junction Historical Society
“Join us on Tuesday, November 5th, 2024, for a special event presented by the Remembrance Week Project titled On ‘Active’ Service—Stories from the Field and on the Home Front during World War I and II. This unique evening will share stories of soldiers from Toronto’s west-end neighborhoods—Bloor West Village, Junction, High Park, Roncesvalles, and Parkdale—who served in World War I and II but never returned home.”
Free!
THE HISTORY OF GRENADIER POND
November 6 — 7:30pm — Swansea Town Hall & Online — Swansea Historical Society
“Ken Stark, a long time Swansea resident who lives close to the Grenadier Pond and has participated in numerous activities on and around it, will make a presentation covering its geological formation and the evolution of human activity ever since. Once primarily a source of food, the Pond now provides visitors an opportunity to participate in a variety of activities including many recreational pursuits. As the jewel of High Park, Grenadier Pond supports a variety of flora and fauna some of which is unique to the region. As with any body of water there is an element of risk to its users. A summary of the unfortunate accidents and tragedies of the last 100+years will be discussed. Also to be shared are a few interesting stories from the past involving Grenadier Pond as a central character.”
HENRY MOORE AT THE AGO: 50 YEARS
November 13 — 7pm — Art Gallery of Ontario
“The AGO has the world’s largest public collection of Henry Moore works (sculptures, works on papers and maquettes), mostly donated by the artist between 1971-1974. The Henry Moore Sculpture Centre at the AGO opened in 1974 to house Moore’s original gift to the AGO, and has remained an iconic Toronto space ever since. Join us to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Henry Moore Sculpture Centre with a conversation between Associate Curator, Modern Art, Adam Welch, AGO Conservator, Sculpture and Decorative Arts Lisa Ellis, and Henry Moore Foundation Sculpture Conservator James Copper.”
$15 for the public; $13 for annual passholders; $10 for members
THE LETTERS: POSTMARK PREJUDICE IN BLACK & WHITE
November 13 — 7pm — Beaches Sandbox – The Beach & East Toronto Historical Society
Author Sheila White will discuss her biographical novel The Letters: Postmark Prejudice in Black and White, which “chronicles the remarkable story of her mixed race parents and their family stories. The book references characters and events significant in Canadian history including The Halifax Explosion; the all black No. 2 Construction Battalion and its chaplain, Rev. Captain Dr William Andrew White who was the author’s grandfather; acclaimed classical singer Portia White; and civil rights icon Viola Desmond.”
Free!
L.M. MONTGOMERY’S ANNE OF GREEN GABLES THROUGH THE YEARS: TEXTS, COVERS, READERS
November 14 — 6:30pm — Lillian H. Smith Library
“In this lecture, Benjamin Lefebvre will discuss how the text of L.M. Montgomery's first and most famous book, ‘Anne of Green Gables’, has largely stayed the same since it was published in 1908. But everything else-from cover designs to the technologies people use to read and discuss books-has changed immeasurably since then. In this lecture, novelist and scholar Benjamin Lefebvre shares some of the discoveries he has made throughout his many years as a Montgomery scholar and offers new insights about this perennially popular book, how it fits within Montgomery's lifetime body of work, and how it continues to be reprinted today.”
Free!
YONGE STREET’S INCREDIBLE MUSIC & POP CULTURE HISTORY
November 14 — 7pm — Toronto’s First Post Office – Town of York Historical Society
“That Gordon Lightfoot once sang for $25 a day at a Yonge street dinner theatre? That a chance meeting in Toronto determined the direction of The Beatles' greatest album? That the most decisive event in Rock N Roll history occurred at Yonge and Dundas? Yonge street's connection to music, theatre and pop culture is second to none and has been described as a music/theatre mecca equal to, or even better than, Times Square or Hollywood Blvd. From Jazz, Motown and Hip Hop to Rock N Roll, Metal and Alternative, if you are a music fan, a local history buff or if you just like hearing great stories then this is an introduction to the city's musical past that will show you a side of ‘The Strip’ that you never knew existed. Mark Vendramini is a Toronto native that spent nearly every free moment of his teens and twenties on the Yonge Street Strip. He is a self-taught Yonge street pop culture historian and the founder of the 7000 member strong Memories Of the Yonge St Strip Facebook page. His Yonge street tours have been featured on BlogTO, CBC Radio and Boom 97.3 Radio.”
$17.31 for members; $22.63 for non-members.
THE ORIGINAL QUEEN’S PLATE
November 14 — 7:30pm — Lambton House — Heritage York
A presentation by speaker John Beram on the history of Toronto’s most famous horse race.
Free, I believe!
RISE AGAIN! THE SONGS OF STAN ROGERS AT ROSEDALE CENTRE
November 15 — 7:30pm — The Rosedale Centre
“Stan Rogers is widely recognized as one of the very finest singer-songwriters that Canada has ever produced, and while it has been over forty years since he was tragically taken from us, his music lives on and is being heard around the world. Just over twenty years ago, Stan’s record producer, Paul Mills and his widow Ariel Rogers, were approached by Hugh’s Room about putting together a Stan tribute concert at the club. They put together a group of eight artists who performed a collection of Stan’s wonderful songs. The show was a huge hit with the Hugh’s Room audience to the point where they were asked to make it an annual event. The Stan tribute show became a tradition and has been presented by Hugh’s Room ever since.”
$45 in advance; $52 at the door
ECHOES OF VALOUR: A WWI CEMETERY TOUR
November 16 (2pm) & 17 (11am & 2pm) — Prospect Cemetery — Toronto Cemetery Tours
“John McCrea, the poet who wrote In Flander's Fields, was one of countless Canadians who gave their life serving their country in The Great War. Prospect Cemetery in Toronto is the largest World War I interment site in Canada. Join Toronto Cemetery Tours as we explore key battles in the war that changed the world and meet some people who fought and died in the name of Canada. A portion of any tips given will be donated to War Amps Canada and The Royal Canadian Legion.”
Free with registration!
WEST END BLUES: THE NOTORIOUS GANGSTERS OF THE 1930s
November 21 — 7:30pm — Montgomery’s Inn — Etobicoke Historical Society
“Uncensored and off the record! The shocking murder of a police officer on Scarlett Road sparks the largest manhunt in the city's history. Two brothers play a dangerous game of one-upmanship as they terrorized the roadhouses along the Lakeshore Highway to see who could out-do the other in criminal capacity; the contest would end only when one betrayed the other. Toronto's most notorious gangster slithers free from an airtight murder rap, but one final score puts an end to his criminal career. Join us as we parse the particulars of three crimes that characterized the destructive decade known as the Dirty Thirties. Nicole Mair and Bryan Ho are the authors of Mississauga Confidential, a true-crime history of the City of Mississauga published by Heritage Mississauga. Nicole is an historian and costume designer and Bryan is a teacher and filmmaker. Together they share a long-held love of film noir and pulp fiction from the mid-20th century.”
Free for members; annual memberships are $25
BLATANT INJUSTICE: THE INTERNMENT OF JEWISH REFUGEES IN CANADA DURING WWII
November 25 — 6:30pm — Barbara Frum Library
November 27 — 6:30pm — Don Mills Library
November 30 — 2pm — Northern District Library
“Author Ian Darragh talks about the new edition of his book chronicling the harrowing experiences of Jewish refugees to Canada, who were treated as enemies and imprisoned in internment camps during World War II. Yet the internees did not let the authorities crush their spirit. Blatant Injustice is a story of resilience and determination.”
Free with registration!
Learn more at the links above.