The ghost and the gingerbread house

I have thought a lot about how best to tell you this story. Finally, I will go there in order. As it unfolded, with all its happy luck …

“I have an idea for the next time you want to knock on a stranger’s door!” ”

My friend Amélie is very excited. She was at Jeanne-Mance Park when she saw a group of about twenty people. She quickly realized that it was a guided tour. Curious, she approached, then she discovered that the subject of the course was… the local ghosts!

“It seems that there is one who walks in front of some houses, near the park. You have to go ring the bell to find out if the owners know about the legend! ”

I love my friends. They always have good ideas.

“The Plateau’s most popular ghost”

The first step in this perilous mission is to find out which ghost we are talking about. And what houses …

I remind you that I have this concept of chronicle where I allow myself to knock on the door of surprising residences, without announcing myself. Now, what doorbell should I ring to speak of a ghost?

Read the text “Le dragon d’Outremont”

After a few minutes of research, I find the organization behind the guided tours: Haunted Montreal. (This is investigative journalism, I hope to be from the second season of Featured.)

I call Donovan King, the founder of the company. He tells me that people come to Jeanne-Mance Park hoping to meet a particular ghost: the soldier from the avenue de l’Esplanade.

Legend has it that he limps around with a cane. He is said to be one of the 3000 Montreal victims of the 1885 smallpox epidemic. At the time, some patients were treated in buildings near the park. Local residents would have been off-putting to their presence, since the virus was highly contagious. So we would have deployed soldiers to protect the patients … The specter would be one of them. He allegedly contracted smallpox just doing his job. And he would have died suffering greatly.

“He’s the most popular ghost in the Plateau Mont-Royal,” Donovan King tells me. People find its history particularly frightening today. ”

We are probably more receptive to epidemic legends, yes.

When I ask him which house the supposed specter is standing near, Donovan explains to me that he has never seen him personally and that there are no specific addresses linked to his visits. However, history wants him to walk in particular in the dark part of the end of the street …

A red house

I walk observing each home. A charming red storefront catches my eye. Looks like the house came out of a tale. The door is open. It must be a sign.

A man comes out as I approach the landing. I explain to him that I write for Press and that I portray people who reside in intriguing homes. His is, can we talk?

” Why not ! But now, I’m working… Could you come back?

– No worries! Just a quick question, before you go: Did you know there are ghost tours in front of your house?

– No, he laughs. But that explains everything! I often see groups stopping in the park and I never knew why …

– Does that worry you?

– Not at all ! Living in the city means collecting the stories of others. ”

I promise to come back in a few days and, as I walk away, I wonder how you can throw such a deep sentence at a pure stranger …

” Living in the city means collecting the stories of others. ”

The sweeter life

When I show up again at Pavlik’s, a week later, he’s drinking coffee on his balcony.

” You came back ! He throws me before inviting me to join him.

Pavlik Frank was born in Germany. There, he was an architect – that explains his tender relationship with the city and the stories that rock it.

“My wife and I lived in Berlin for almost 15 years and we were a little tired,” he tells me. We wanted adventure, the kids hadn’t started school, it was now or never to change our lives… We had friends in Montreal and my wife got a job at McGill University, so we came to settle here five years ago. ”

When I point out to Pavlik that I more often hear Montrealers say they want to move to Berlin than the other way around, he replies that life is smoother here. He is happy to no longer endure the frantic pace of the big European cities.

Home now. The family have lived in the area since arriving in the country, but did not move into the building until July. However, as she belongs to friends, Pavlik already knew her well …

From his first visit, he fell in love with the proximity of the park, the small garden in the courtyard, the tightly woven neighborhood, the soul of the place too. He already imagined himself living there.

“The house gives off a great energy… In fact, it has a name in the neighborhood! This is the gingerbread house. ”

When I told you that she seemed straight out of a tale.

Pavlik tells me that it is one of the oldest in the section. Which brings me back to the amateur ghost of old houses …

“What do you think of the guided tours in the park?

– That does not surprise me ! I see at least five people stopping every day. They comment on the house or take a picture of it! People are curious …

– Yes ! Even if the history of the park’s ghost is unknown, this house attracts attention. Besides, what did you mean, when you told me that living in the city means collecting the stories of others?

– I believe that the built environment helps us to understand where we live, but also where we come from. Sometimes people see buildings as simple constructions or investments… They forget that they carry a story and that this story tints not only the identity of the place, but also of those who inhabit it. I really like the idea that people are born here. There are some who died, too. Who loved, who hated… There is a continuity of stories. I need to know the past of the place I choose, otherwise I feel like I’m living in nothingness. “

And the beautiful thing is that conservation and planning consultant Susan Bronson conducted a heritage study of the house. We therefore know that it was built in 1892 by Eric Mann, a Scottish architect, for a family from Ontario. A few years later, it was the Montreal police chief himself who put his boxes there. Then, in 1947, it was a couple from the neighborhood who ended up living there… after having long shown their love for the house. A story that resembles that of Pavlik! Moreover, like Pavlik, it is a woman who immigrated to Montreal – a Portuguese – who then resided in the house for 40 years.

A continuity of stories, as he puts it.

“Thanks for the chat, Pavlik! Tell me, to finish on a Halloween note: did your children choose their costume?

– No not yet.

-… Have you thought about the option of disguising yourself as ghosts or soldiers? “