Ottawa Tours
Haunted Ottawa Jail Tour
4.5

Haunted Ottawa Jail Tour

By The Haunted Walk
Recommended by 91% of travellers
91% of reviewers gave this product a bubble rating of 4 or higher.
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About
Take a spooky tour through one of North America’s most haunted buildings: the Old Carleton County Jail in Ottawa. Get ready for an evening of chilling tales and things that go bump in the night on the site of Canada’s last operational gallows, led by a guide who shares all the history and hauntings of the Ghosts and Gallows.

Ages 10-99, max of 16 per group
Duration: 1h 15m
Start time: Check availability
Mobile ticket
Live guide: English, French
More

Highlights
  • Costumed storyteller-guides leading the tour adds to the creepiness factor
  • Skip the line and have your spot guaranteed on this popular tour
  • Hear the tales of ghostly happenings at one of Canada’s most haunted hostels
  • The haunted tour runs year-round; dress for a short walk outside

  • Local guide
  • Professional guide
  • Entry/Admission - The Haunted Walk
  • Entry/Admission - Ottawa
What's not included
  • Gratuities
  • Hotel pickup and drop-off

Meet your guide and storyteller for the evening outside the tour ticket. The historical costume they wear and ghostly lantern they carry help set the tone for the chilling tales to come. Follow the alley down to the hostel that was once the Old Carleton County Jail, a prison that housed some of Ottawa’s most notorious criminals before they were hanged on the on-site gallows. Some say the unhappy souls of the wrongly executed still haunt the place! Before the tour ends at the jail, decide for yourself if the tales of floating coins, unexplained chills, and faceless ghosts could possibly be true.

Start:
  • 46 Sparks St., Ottawa, ON K1P 5A8, Canada
    Haunted Walk's ticket office, located just steps from Parliament Hill in downtown Ottawa
End:
  • Saintlo Ottawa Jail Hostel, 75 Nicholas St, Ottawa, ON K1N 7B9, Canada

  • Not wheelchair accessible
  • Near public transportation
If you have questions about accessibility, we’d be happy to help. Just call the number below and reference the product code: 31824P6

  • Confirmation will be received at time of booking
  • Operates in all weather conditions, please dress appropriately
  • Minimum age is 10 years
  • Most travellers can participate
  • This experience requires good weather. If it’s cancelled due to poor weather, you’ll be offered a different date or a full refund
  • This tour/activity will have a maximum of 16 travellers

  • For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours in advance of the start date of the experience.

If you have questions about this tour or need help making your booking, we’d be happy to help. Just call the number below and reference the product code: 31824P6

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Itinerary
  • 46 Sparks St., Ottawa, ON K1P 5A8, Canada
    Haunted Walk's ticket office, located just steps from Parliament Hill in downtown Ottawa
  • Pass by
    Rideau Canal National Historic Site
  • 1
    Enter into one of the most haunted buildings in North Ameria! Hear the chilling ghost stories and dark history as you explore the cellblock, death row, and the last working gallows in Canada.
  • 75 Nicholas St, Ottawa, ON K1N 7B9, Canada
About the operator
Don’t take it from us – here’s what people have to say about this operator:
  • The Haunted Walk
    914
    Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
    Joined in March 2009
  • Clara1953
    0 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Discover the history of the Château Laurier
    This is a new tour and it is very interesting because of the historical significance of the Château Laurier. This very impressive hotel was built in the early 1900s to accommodate train travellers to Ottawa.
    Written September 26, 2024
  • K8272JSbettyh
    0 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Great Tour, Great Guide
    The tour was an exceptional experience. Our guide imparted her wealth of information about the hotel clearly and enthusiastically. She made me appreciative of the history of the city and the hotel's contributions to it.
    Written September 20, 2024
  • 113dragang
    0 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    I recommend this tour to anyone who wants to learn about this wonderful hotel and the history of Ottawa
    The tour was very educational and well planned. A nice balance between the history of the hotel and the interesting things of the recent era. Perhaps it would be useful if the tour lasted a little longer so that the knowledge of an experienced guide could be transmitted at a slower pace. I recommend the tour, very nice and educational!
    Written September 4, 2024
  • OnAir30310759998
    0 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Great Ghost tour!
    Awesome tour. Would strongly recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about Ottawa and previous ghost encounters!
    Written August 27, 2024
  • 492debrar
    0 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Beautiful Hotel and History!
    The guide was very informative about the Chateau Laurier. She knew the history of the hotel and explained details of each room we viewed. Excellent speaking voice and delivery.
    Written August 27, 2024
  • sonicnanook
    0 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Spooky night
    Wonderful tour and interesting stories. Our guide NATH was able to captivate us with the stories. Great story teller!!!!
    Written August 27, 2024
  • 743louisep
    0 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Awesome tour
    Really informative trip showing us parts of the city we had previously missed whilst walking around! Claire was an awesome guide with lots of knowledge and as such we are now looking to book the Toronto experience. Lots of walking as to be expected but was at a good pace with lots of stops usually with walls of benches to sit upon.
    Written August 23, 2024
  • pamh769
    0 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Interesting tour - highly recommend!
    Zak was an excellent tour guide and shared many interesting stories about the hotel and the people that stayed there. Great opportunity to see parts of the building that are not accessible to the public. Would recommend for travellers and locals alike.
    Written August 19, 2024
  • CathyV773
    0 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    Ghost Stories
    Our black-clad guide led us through downtown Ottawa as dusk fell, with story after story of ghostly appearances from Ottawa’s history. We had done the tour once before, and brought our teen granddaughters who enjoyed the experience.
    Written August 9, 2024
  • marccI7786WU
    0 contributions
    1.0 of 5 bubbles
    Terrible tour
    Avoid burning money there, the stories were very boring, one of the worst tour I ever did. I felt like this walk had zero effort put into it.
    Written August 4, 2024
  • 566biaa
    0 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    Interesting spooky walk 👻
    It was an interesting walk to know haunted stories in ottawa downtown area, started at sparks street old post office building, followed the canal till city hall. Our guide told the stories in an interesting way, walk was around an hour or bit more.
    Written June 23, 2024
  • Rodneyho
    0 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Great story telling, fun diversion
    Margot, our host, told her ghost stories without any cheesy vocal or visual effects. She chose not to channel Vincent Price or Elvira. Rather, she kept it all conversations and relatable, taking questions and providing her sources like a good journalist. And given we did most of our tour in daylight, that worked fine. She also offered up solid contextual information about Ottawa history, various buildings and why there might have been ghosts in different places. Definitely worth the money.
    Written June 14, 2024
  • RonS2480
    0 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Money and time we’ll spent for this fun night out evening activity
    Wonderful night walk on this guided ghost walk in the Beechwood Cemetery in Ottawa. Eilish, our tour guide did a great job leading our adventure and weaving stories for our entertainment. Pretty incredible setting including a peak inside the 100 year old beautiful mausoleum. Thanks for a great time!
    Written May 25, 2024
  • Jules S
    0 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Insightful tour
    Felt very personal and well paced and well timed. Very knowledgeable host with lots of interesting facts on ottowa that weren’t immediately obvious.
    Written May 13, 2024
  • Katie C
    0 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Thank you
    Katheryn, Did an absolutely great job. A phenomenal storyteller. Very knowledgable of the history of Spark Street, Ottawa. My friends and I really enjoyed the tour. Thank you
    Written May 8, 2024
See all 914 reviews
These reviews are the subjective opinions of Tripadvisor members and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Popular mentions

4.5
4.5 of 5 bubbles203 reviews
Excellent
156
Very good
29
Average
12
Poor
4
Terrible
2

Aaron W
Pittsburgh, PA8 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2020
We had a wonderful tour of the old jail. It was perfect for the entire family including our younger son. The tour was very fun and very safe and we really had a gret time. We recommend highly if you are looking to experince some history and intrigue into Ottawa's past.
Written February 11, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

kazMaidstone
Maidstone46 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Jul 2022
Advertised as a 75 minute tour but you are only in the jail for about 35 minutes (it takes nearly 30 minutes to walk to the jail from the meeting point). Overall the tour was quite interesting but the guide could have added a bit more ‘theatre’ in the stories to make it more fun.
Still worthwhile
Written July 8, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Hello! Thank you so much for joining us on tour! We're glad to hear you found it interesting. We appreciate all your suggestions and will be passing them along to our Ottawa team! Stay spooky!
Written August 3, 2022
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

_cassf94
Carleton Place, Canada33 contributions
2.0 of 5 bubbles
I honestly don’t know what I was expecting from this tour, but I’d been to both haunted walks of Kingston and Fort Henry years ago and loved it. I was excited to spend some time in the jail itself but we spent more time on the streets than we did in the actual hostel.
The tour is 75 minutes but you’re in the jail for maybe 20 mins. You’re super rushed once inside and only get to see two different areas.
Wouldn’t recommend this tour and will not be going on the haunted walk of Ottawa tour because of this, quite frankly boring, experience.
Written September 25, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

acapella1976
Gatineau, Canada86 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
I was afraid it would be lame for my 16 and 12 year old but they really appreciated it. Oliver, our guide, knows how to tell a good story. I was listening to every word. I was kind of hoping something scary would happen but nothing scary happened. Hahaha But seriously, it was entertaining for adults and teens. I wouldn't recommend under 10 years old as it is stated on their website. It's not THAT spooky, there's just a lot of talking and they might not have the interest as it is basically a history lesson. But a very interesting one nonetheless.
Written August 10, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Jess H
3 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Oct 2022
Absolutely LOVED the tour. I've been on haunted walks and ghost tours in some of the most haunted places in the world, and I am happy to add this one to the list. Our storyteller, Heather, was an excellent and informative guide, and the jail itself was delightfully creepy. Would absolutely love to sleep there if it does open back up as a hostel. Do yourself a favor and eat at D'Arcy Magee's next door before you go on the tour. Makes for a perfect opener to this historical jaunt.
Written October 17, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Steffan S
2 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2022
It was a bit disappointing to be honest because the time at the prison felt rushed. The spookiness never quite kicked in. It felt more to us like a historical tour/visit than a tour from the Haunted Walk team. It is advertised as a 75 min tour but we were done in less than an hour.

We have been to many other tours of the haunted walk team in the past few years and this is the one we enjoyed the least. Definitely not a four on the spookiness scale as advertised on the website.
Written August 20, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Tamie P
1 contribution
2.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2022
I was looking forward to this tour and I was disappointed. Our tour guide did not engage the group and I felt like she was only focused on getting through her stories and not encouraging us to be part of the experience. I felt rushed when we were in jail and had no time to take photos. Our tour ended early (we spent less than 60 minutes). I would not recommend it.
Written August 25, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Vincent B
Quebec City, Canada2 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2022 • Couples
First, the visit do not begin at the jail but for away in the city. The person in charge not verify at the beginning if you are in the correct group cause there are plenty. About the visit of the prison itself, the guid give a lot of infos, explain well, spell well and talk high enough. However, the time of the visit is pretty quick. Fair in overall, but not go over the expectations.
Written August 16, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Ben R
Ditchling, UK211 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
We had a fantastic tour with Dana, who did an excellent job telling us a key story in Ottowa’s history. They made sure the story was informative but also spooky and it was very intriguing to see the old Ottowa jailhouse. I would thoroughly recommend this tour and would like to thank Dana for being an excellent guide.
Written May 23, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Vincent J
8 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
1 hour walking, 15 minutes tour. Not scary at all, that’s only a jailhouse visit with a guide telling stories. Boring and disappointing. The visit of the Philadelphia Eastern state penitentiary is interesting and scary during Halloween (terror behind the walls). Cheaper and 10 times better
Written December 30, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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Haunted Ottawa Jail Tour provided by The Haunted Walk

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