Bytown Museum, Ottawa

Located just below the Parliament Hill, the Bytown Museum is a small museum in Ottawa. Accommodated in the city's oldest stone building, it contains more than 7,000 artifacts. The museum collections narrate the story of the Canadian capital and its citizens, from ancient Bytown to present day Ottawa, with a special emphasis on the construction of the Rideau Canal.

The Bytown Museum is dedicated to hosting programs designed to help local and foreign visitors to learn more about the rich culture and history of Ottawa. Pursuant to this objective, the museum gathers, stores, studies and maintains artifacts representative of the culture and heritage of the city.

In order to enable a foreign visitor to fully appreciate the history of Canada, audio tours of the museum have been made available in 6 different languages: English, Spanish, French, Japanese, Mandarin and German.

*** Ottawa Haunted Walking Tour ***
The Bytown Museum is also one of Canada’s most haunted sites, notorious for eerie experiences such as the sound of phantom footsteps following workers and visitors, rattling doors, and creepy porcelain dolls reportedly crying or winking at people or even following them with their eyes. There are also numerous claims of the walls weeping tears, the items moving freely, or the strange occurrences with orbs of light flashing in rooms.

There are also talks of unfriendly ghosts pushing and poking visitors. The most well-known of them is rumored to be General Duncan McNab who used to be a supply manager and died during the construction of the Rideau Canal. The other one is Lieutenant-Colonel John By, an engineer who supervised the Canal construction.

Others believe that the ghosts may be the hundreds of Irish workers who died from illness, exhaustion and hunger whilst digging the Canal; their bodies were often disposed of freely without much ceremony and burial rituals.

Why You Should Visit:
Does a great job of explaining the construction of the Rideau Canal and the establishment of the settlement of Ottawa.
Is located just below the locks and has a small area selling sandwiches/drinks so if you wish you can have lunch sitting outside and watching the locks being operated – very pleasant.

Tip:
Take advantage of the audio tour included in the admission price – it's definitely worth it.