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Discover Victoria’s haunted past with Halloween-themed walking tours

Bastion Square, Market Square and the Inner Harbour are rich with ghostly tales
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Discover the Past is offering its Halloween Ghostly Walks tours from Oct. 12- Oct. 31 (File contributed/Discover the Past)

As the oldest Canadian city in the Pacific North West, Victoria holds a lot of history – and a lot of hauntings. For the city’s poltergeist pundits this makes Halloween a great season.

Starting on Oct. 12 Victoria’s Discover the Past is switching over from their regular Ghostly Walks tours and tweaking them for the Halloween.

“There are ghosts everywhere downtown,” said John Adams, historian and story teller at Discover the Past. “At Halloween we try to choose stories that are a little edgier, darker and maybe a little more gory than the stories we tell the rest of the year.”

He added that every year the team switches up the Halloween route and stories so that locals can enjoy something new, too.

READ ALSO: West Shore has rich haunted history

Walks will run every night until Oct. 31, and begin at 6:30, 7:30, 8:30 and 9:30 p.m. starting at the archway entrance to Market Square at 560 Johnson St.

Tours last 90 minutes rain and take place rain or shine, and this year focus on Market Square, the haunted Harbour and Bastion Square.

Adams noted that downtown Victoria is so full of history that a tour only spans four or five blocks, making it easily accessible to everyone.

READ ALSO: Trio of Oak Bay hauntings amid other Island tales in new book

Additionally, for the 25th year in a row Discover the Past is offering a two-hour Ghost Bus Tour on a chartered bus. The popular event departs from a secret location in Oak Bay which will be revealed after purchasing tickets online.

The tour makes two stops, including the Victoria Golf Course for the story of the famous “golf course ghost,” as well as another secret location. Tickets are $38, and funds go towards the Old Cemeteries Society.

For more information visit discoverthepast.com.

nicole.crescenzi@vicnews.com