Ghost of Château Frontenac

Château Frontenac is located in historic Québec City and it is a beautiful hotel that opened its doors back in 1893. Throughout its 127 years of existence it has encountered many travelling souls through its walls, and, turns out, some of those souls never checked out. Many guests have reported feeling a presence in their rooms, while others have claimed to see a full-bodied apparition.

This historic hotel even made a Forbes list in 2016 that listed “Spookiest Luxury Hotels in the World”, and that’s not for nothing. According to the author, many people, including the hotel’s director, have spotted a man sitting on a windowsill overlooking the city, only to suddenly vanish moments later. This is allegedly the spirit of Louis de Buade de Frontenac, the man that the hotel was named after. Born in May of 1622 in France, he eventually became the third and sixth Governor of New France. He died in 1698 at 76 years old, and he apparently had a flair for the dramatic, as he requested,

“…upon his death, his heart was to be sent in a decorative box to his fiancé in Europe. However, his distraught fiancé was too grief-stricken to accept the unique memento, and it was returned to Québec.”

Jeanne O’Brien Coffey, 2016

The legend goes that since his heart was never delivered to his fiancé, he wanders the halls of the hotel searching for her.

I had a chance to visit this historic location on August 8th, 2020. The building was as imposing as to be expected, and it was hauntingly beautiful.

The image above is a statue situated right outside the hotel of our dear departed friend, Louis de Buade de Frontenac himself. His imposing presence is unavoidable, both because of the enormous statue, and because of his lingering soul that roams the halls.

I did not happen to stay overnight at the Château Frontenac on this trip, so I didn’t get a chance to stay in one of the rooms and experience Monsieur Frontenac’s spooky presence for myself. This is a Fairmount hotel after all, so it’s not cheap to rent a room (according to their website, it starts at 399$ CAD and can go up to 3,000$ CAD if you’re a real fancy pants). I would love to stay overnight one day, though, and share my experience with you all. Perhaps one day, and when that day comes, it will definitely be its own blog post.

What’s the creepiest hotel you ever stayed at? Share your experiences with me down in the comments!