Haunted Montreal announces season of Ghost Walks – now available in both English and French!

May 17th, 2016

Haunted Montreal, a company that conducts Ghost Walks and carries out research into Montreal hauntings, is pleased to announce that it now offers tours in both English and French!

For its 2016 public season, Ghost Walks will alternate between Griffintown and Mount Royal every Friday night, from June 3rd to October 7th.

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“Haunted Montreal is expanding,” said company founder Donovan King, adding: “Over the winter, we have been busy translating scripts and hiring bilingual actors. What started off as a one-person operation is now a full-fledged company. Haunted Montreal wants to be ready for the city’s 375th anniversary in 2017, and that means ensuring we can offer our ghost tours in both languages with professional actors who have mastered the craft.”

The company also produces the Haunted Montreal Blog, a publication that releases a new Montreal ghost story, in both languages, on the 13th of every month. The May edition looks at several reported hauntings inside the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde.

“Montreal is Canada’s most haunted city,” according to King, “and Haunted Montreal aims to provide an exceptional experience for people interested in our city’s ghost stories, creepy locations, alleged hauntings and paranormal mysteries.”

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Links to the Haunted Montreal website:

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Montreal Irish Walking Tour is Back to Complement Annual Walk to the Stone!

May 11th, 2016

The Montreal Irish Walking Tour is back, just in time to complement this year’s annual “Walk to the Stone”!

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For over 150 years, the Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH) has been leading this pilgrimage to the Irish Stone at the foot of the Victoria Bridge, the site of Montreal’s Irish Famine Cemetery where approximately 6,000 typhus victims were buried in mass graves in 1847.

Traditionally held on the last Sunday in May, the 2016 the “Walk to the Stone” will take place on May 29 at around noon, starting at St. Gabriel’s Church in Point Saint Charles (2157 Centre Street) following a special service. Everyone is welcome to attend and catering is being provided by Paul Quinn of the Irish Embassy Pub.

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To add context to the annual pilgrimage, the Montreal Irish Walking Tour will be conducted one day before the traditional “Walk to the Stone”. Created by professional actor and historian Donovan King, the Montreal Irish Walking Tour sold out during the 2016 Blue Metropolis Festival, where it was done on behalf of the Montreal Irish Monument Park Foundation and Montreal Bloomsday Festival.

The original tour was very popular and was even covered by the Irish Times. According to King, “There have been many requests to do it again and even to make it a permanent feature on Montreal’s tourist circuit. As such, we decided to do it again, especially for those who plan to participate in the Walk to the Stone on the following day.”

King is also a Director with the Montreal Irish Monument Park Foundation, an organization dedicated to creating a cultural memorial park on the site of the Famine Cemetery, presently located in an unsightly industrial zone.

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The walking tour provides a history lesson into the Irish experience in Montreal over the centuries, and features famous Irish Montrealers such as Tec Aubry, Joe Beef, Bernard Devlin, Mary Gallagher, Brian Mulroney and current Mayor, Denis Coderre. It also focuses specifically on the plight of the Famine refugees who arrived in 1847, destitute and typhus-stricken, and how the city reacted to them.

Exploring what is perhaps the darkest chapter in Montreal’s history, the walking tour delves into some very disturbing facts about the impact of the Irish Famine in Montreal, but also highlights the compassion of the many Montrealers who put themselves at great risk to care for the sick and dying refugees. Mayor John Easton Mills might be the best example.

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Mayor Mills personally cared for the refugees in the fever sheds, caught typhus and perished in the course of his duties.

Guests will walk in the footsteps of the Irish Famine refugees of 1847 and learn about their plight, resilience and subsequent remarkable accomplishments. All proceeds from the Montreal Irish Walking Tour go directly to the Montreal Irish Monument Park Foundation.

WHAT: Montreal Irish Walking Tour

WHEN: Saturday, May 28, 2016 at 10:30 a.m.

WHERE: Meet in front of Pointe-à-Callière Museum (350 Place Royale, corner of de la Commune)

COST: $15 (email optatif@gmail.com to make a reservation)

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For more information about the Irish Famine’s impact in Montreal, please read this academic paper about the Montreal Irish community’s struggle to protect their cemetery.

 

WTF?! (What the Fr*nge?!) coming to Buffalo Infringement Festival

May 1st, 2016

WTF?! (What the Fr*nge?!) is a new performance being developed by Donovan King for the 2016 Buffalo Infringement Festival and beyond.

WTF?! (What the Fr*nge?!) is a probing, theatrical lecture that exposes how corporate pressure co-opts and harms grassroots culture. Highlighting the infringement philosophy within the increasingly corporate world, where even the word “Fringe” is trademarked, it is also a call to action to come to the Montreal Infringement Festival in November,  2016. Help give voice to the concerns of activist and grassroots artists at the World Fringe Congress!

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This year, Montreal infringement festival is moving from June to November to coincide with the third World Fringe Congress, a gathering of Fringe administrators from around the globe! These arts administrators and power-brokers will be in Montreal to discuss business dynamics and other issues surrounding Fringe Festivals.

Running tentatively from Tuesday, November 15th to Sunday November 20th, the Montreal infringement festival will demand positive change in the arts! The website will be updated soon to welcome collaborators.

Hosted by the people who trademarked and restricted the word “Fringe” in Canada, the Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals, the World Fringe Congress is an opportunity for arts activists to dialogue with arts administrators about important issues that affect artists and communities.

The infringement festival challenges the corporatization of authentic culture, including the Fringe movement, through dialogue, advocacy and by hosting independent performances by artists and activists that are often critical in nature. Read a critical report about the World Fringe Congress here.

CBC Radio: Donovan King discusses refugees and education in Quebec

November 30th, 2015

Listen to Donovan King discuss refugees and education in Quebec on CBC Radio (recorded on November 30th, 2015):

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Haunted Montreal creates new Griffintown Ghost Walk for Hallowe’en!

October 4th, 2015

This Hallowe’en season, Montrealers are invited to Haunted Griffintown, a new ghost walk by Haunted Montreal for the 2015 Hallowe’en Season!

On the heels of the highly-successful Haunted Mountain and Haunted Downtown Montreal tours, which have been running since May, the newly-researched ghost walk in the Griff that is sure to raise eyebrows and tingle spines!

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Griffintown is one of Montreal’s most historic neighborhoods – and one of its most haunted! The Haunted Griffintown Ghost Walk visits mysterious ruins, abandoned tunnels, a polluted canal, former Black ’47 burial pits and creepy old buildings that are said to be haunted. A vacant, decrepit brewery hosts psychics in search of a murdered girl, a condominium reminds locals of its past as a chocolate factory, and the ghostly ruins of St. Ann’s Church have witnessed paranormal activity.

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The tour visits the Peel Basin, the site of many drownings over the years, including one recent case that may be connected to a will-o’-the-wisp – or a serial killer. Those attending will also learn the conspiracy theory surrounding Montreal’s worst air disaster, when a Liberator Bomber slammed into Griffintown during WW II, killing 15 people – and the hauntings related to it.

Finally, guests will be regaled with Montreal’s most famous ghost story, the deranged tale of Mary Gallagher, the headless prostitute. Mary was murdered and decapitated by her best friend, Susie Kennedy, in 1876 and her headless ghost is said to return to the Griff every seven years, still searching for her head.

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Led by professional actor and storyteller Donovan King, this haunted walk is sure to please ghost hunters, history buffs and Hallowe’en lovers with its creepy tales of the spirits and paranormal activity haunting Griffintown.

The Haunted Griffintown ghost walk starts at the Griffintown Café (1378 rue Notre Dame Ouest, a few blocks south of Lucien L’Allier Metro) and guests have the option to dine in the artistic bistro-pub before the tour. Tours begin at 8 pm sharp on the following dates:

Friday, October 16

Saturday, October 17

Friday, October 23

Saturday, October 24

Friday, October 30

Saturday, October 31

The Griffintown Café is a lively, artistic bistro-pub. It has an excellent menu and a restaurant license (food must be purchased to drink alcohol). For patrons wishing to dine or have a drink and tapas before the Ghost Walk, Haunted Montreal recommends the Griffintown Café very highly. To make dinner reservations (6 or 6:30 pm is advisable) please call 514-931-5299 or contact the Griffintown Café  online.

For the Hallowe’en Season, Haunted Montreal will also offer final tours of Haunted Downtown (October 18) and Haunted Mountain (October 25), which have been running all summer long.

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Car Stories gunning its engine for 2015 Buffalo Infringement Festival!

July 28th, 2015

Car Stories is coming once again to the Buffalo Infringement Festival!

Created in Montreal in 2001 and promptly kicked out of the so-called St. Ambroise Fringe Festival after a corporate sponsor was offended, Car Stories had to quit the corporate Fringe and redesign the game. As such, the infringement festival was born in 2004 to prevent corporate behaviour from ruining the arts. Car Stories has been playing infringement festivals ever since!

For the 11th annual Buffalo Infringement Festival, Car Stories will once again gun its engines in Allentown and welcome both performers and spectators into this theatrical wonderland!

Performers are welcome to bring their cars, ideas and zany characters to create the performance. Email Donovan King at optatif@gmail.com to learn how to get involved or just show up at Nietzsche’s at 3 pm on Friday, July 31st! Car Stories is the sum of all the parts put in by local artists, so feel free to jump right in!

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Spectators are advised to look at the schedule and to reserve their spots:

Schedule:

Fri, Jul 31 4pm – 7pm Nietzsche’s (out front)
Sat, Aug 1 4pm – 7pm Nietzsche’s (out front)
Sun, Aug 2 4pm – 7pm Nietzsche’s (out front)

Details, including how to reserve your spot, can be found here. All performances are pay-what you can.

To learn more about the origins of the infringement festival and its issue with corporate takeover of Fringe Festivals across the world, please read this Critical Report from the World Fringe Congress.

Haunted Downtown Montreal Fundraiser for Ange-Aimée Woods Bursary

July 21st, 2015

Haunted Montreal is proud to support the Ange-Aimée Woods Bursary with a special performance of Haunted Downtown on Sunday, August 9 at 8 p.m. Donations of $20 + will be accepted at the door of Andrew’s Pub (1241 Guy Street) and all proceeds will go to the Bursary fund.

Ange-Aimée Woods was a beloved journalist who inspired a generation of Montrealers with her savoir faire, friendly demeanor, quirky style, critical thinking and dedication to reporting on stories of local importance, including both in the news and the arts.

Ange-Aimée Woods

 

She worked at CBC Radio as an arts reporter, researcher, news reporter, host, news editor and a senior producer of Homerun.

For over a year, friends and colleagues have been working very hard to create a permanent Bursary in her name to support journalism students at Concordia University, her alma mater. A variety of fundraisers have been held, and we are nearing the goal of reaching $15,000.00 to ensure the Bursary can continue in perpetuity. Haunted Montreal is proud to hold what might very well be the final fundraiser before the goal is reached.

Listen to Anne Lagacé Dowson interview Liz Faure on CJAD about Ange-Aimée Woods and the Haunted Downtown Montreal fundraiser.

 

There is a Facebook page for the event with full details about the fundraiser.

Please also consider making an Online Donation to the Bursary Fund.

 

 

 

Reflecting on the 2015 Montreal infringement festival

June 22nd, 2015

Like a flash in the pan, the 12th edition of Montreal’s infringement festival has come and gone! Running from June 17 – 21, the festival offered a 5 day schedule packed with poetry, spoken word, musical performances and theatrical walking tours!

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Opening on Wednesday night was Fractal III, an activist evening of poetry and spoken word. Performed entirely in French and organized by poet-troubadour Louis Royer, this event brought together more than 20 artists focussed on challenging the austerity measures currently being imposed in Quebec by the Liberal government.

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Labo-Taverne Jarry was the perfect venue for this event – intimate, accessible and fully-equipped.

Running concurrently was “A Brand New You”, a film by Shawn Whitney, which played to over 50 spectators at Café Republique.

Thursday, June 18 witnessed a series of folk music performances at Kafein, a venue on Bishop Street that welcomes artists to perform. Ottawa’s Mahlena Patchouli treated the audience to powerful songs about the environment with A Montreal Paul accompanying on guitar. Up next was Buffalo infringer Laura Lonski, who rocked the keyboard with her band Plumstab.

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The evening wound down with Harvest Soon’s mellow, sun-soaked romantic airs. A late evening of partying between Montreal and Buffalo infringers ensued.

Friday, June 19 is a special anniversary for the infringement festival. In 2001, Car Stories, the show that sparked off the creation of the infringement festival, was kicked out of the St. Ambroise Montreal Fringe Festival because the theatre critic of The Gazette, a corporate sponsor of the festival that year, was offended when asked to pay for her ticket. After being critiqued herself,  she stopped covering the entire festival in retaliation.

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Not only was the show evicted to placate the critic and corporation, but the artists were never paid their ticket sales, despite paying hundreds of dollars to be associated with the “Fringe” trademark. This corporate abuse sparked off the creation of the infringement festival, starting in 2004.

On Friday night the infringement festival rocked at Barfly, a venue that has supported the festival since its inception. It all kicked off with Kanaska Carter, an amazing musician from Ottawa who inks tattoos and produces videos when not rocking a crowd with her music.

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Next up was Space Base, a “Super Funky Psychedelic Jam Band”, fueled by improvisation and solid grooves. Positive Feedback finished up the evening, an activist band run by long-time infringement organizer Jay Lemieux.

Saturday afternoon witnessed the infringement festival’s first-ever Poetry in the Parc session. Organized by Rebecca Anne Banks, this “open mic” event attracted poetic luminary John Faithful Hamer, along with Melanie Kal and yours truly, Donovan King.

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Designed as an homage to Émile Nelligan, an infringer before his time if there ever was one, the event took place in front his bust in Saint Louis Square.

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Later that evening, starting at the rumoured-to-be-haunted Barfly, the Haunted Mountain Ghost Walk departed at 8 pm with several guests, including five dogs! Up the slopes of Mount Royal they went, taking in the deranged history of the city, courtesy of Haunted Montreal.

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After the Ghost Walk, Barfly got all fired up with PsynLangwage, a veritable revolution in Montreal’s hip hop scene.

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Up next was The Rock Rollers, followed by Thee Sin Caves, who played late into the night.

Sunday, June 21st, the final day of the fest, started with the Candyass & King Red Light District Walking Tour. Starting at the recently gentrified Midway Tavern, the tour took in some of the seedier sights of Montreal’s fast-disappearing Red Light District (now rebranded as the Quartier des Spectacles).

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The festival wrapped up with Louis Royer again hosting, this time with a multi-lingual performance called RÉCITAL D’HOMMAGE À LA MUSIQUE, featuring over 20 artists, at the Piranha Bar on Sainte Catherine Street.

Overall, the 12th annual Montreal infringement festival was a blast. A big thank you to  those who helped me organize it – Cristina Mahneke, Louis Royer and Jay Manafest!

For the 13th edition, in 2016, there are big plans in store! For one, the 3rd annual World Fringe Congress will be held in a city outside of Edinburgh, Scotland. Here, corporate businesspeople meet to discuss how to profit from the word “Fringe”. Read about the issue here.

The infringement festival, in contrast, features artists and organizers who question corporate interference in the arts. To get involved, please email optatif@gmail.com!

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Montreal’s infamous infringement festival runs June 17 – 21!

June 15th, 2015

Montreal’s infamous infringement festival runs June 17 – 21, 2015! Celebrating its 12th edition, the infringement fest has been sticking it to the man for over a decade!

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When Montreal artists protested the trademarking of the word “Fringe” in 2004 with an “infringement festival”, they never expected their activist gesture would blossom into the international movement of rabble-rousing festivals it has become today. Rejecting corporate models that co-opt culture, the infringement festival promotes the arts as a Do-It-Yourself tool for creative activism and community-building.

For its 12th edition, the Montreal infringement festival will once again welcome dozens of critical artists from Montreal and abroad! This year’s infringement features an eclectic mix of burlesque dancers, actors, musicians, storytellers, spoken word artists, painters, poets, activists, filmmakers, culture-jammers and artistic visionaries!

Poet Louis Royer will open the 2015 festival with Fractal III, an evening of francophone poetry and spoken word featuring two hours of songs, poetry and slam in an audacious, anti-establishment atmosphere. There are over 20 artists on the opening night program alone!

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Poetry is a big feature in the 2015 festival, and on Saturday, June 20, a Poetry in the Parc session will be held! Set in historic Saint Louis Square, the event is in homage to an original infringer – Émile Nelligan.

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Organized by poet Rebecca Anne Banks, everyone is welcome to recite poetry at this open event – in one of Montreal’s most beautiful parks!

Infringement musical performances are bold and varied. Spread over 3 nights at Kafein and Barfly, performers include Kanaska CarterSpace BaseThe Rock RollersPositive Feedback, Plum StabBusker & JosephineHarvest Soon, Thee Sin CavesCouch Fire, My Favourite Author and Mahlena Patchouli.

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There are also theatrical walking tours, including the ghostly Haunted Mountain ramble up the slopes of Mount Royal, not to mention the salacious King & Candyass Red Light Walking Tour). Other art-forms include film (Shawn Whitney’s “A Brand New You”), visual arts (Michael Clague), and burlesque!

The festival will conclude with another big performance, with Louis Royer and over a dozen musicians and poets presenting RÉCITAL D’HOMMAGE À LA MUSIQUE!

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It is looking to be an amazing infringement festival with dozens of artists celebrating inclusion, innovation, independence, collaboration and critical thinking – in both English and French.

Based on the original Edinburgh Fringe Festival of 1947, which was a protest by artists against exclusion and elitism, the infringement movement encourages artists and culture-lovers to join the global, Do-It-Yourself movement!  Infringement Festivals have been held in over a dozen cities across the globe, and permanent festivals exist in Columbia (South Carolina) and Buffalo (New York).

The Buffalo infringement has grown into one of the largest arts festivals in North America, demonstrating the need and desire for communities to reclaim their culture from excessive corporate interference. It runs from July 23 to August 2 this year.

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Montreal, the birthplace of the international infringement movement, is known as a hub for critical thinking, cultural resistance and social change. While Montreal culture is constantly under threat from corporate forces that exploit artists and spectators, the city has proven once again that, regardless of these challenges, it is still a beacon for innovation in the arts.

Those wishing to volunteer during the festival can sign up here.

Full details about the 2015 Montreal infringement festival, including the schedule, can be found at www.infringemontreal.org. There is also a Facebook page.

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CBC Radio One: Homerun Interview About Haunted Montreal

May 21st, 2015

Kate McGillivray of CBC Homerun (Radio One) interviewed Donovan King of Haunted Montreal in Dominion Square (a.k.a. Saint-Antoine Cholera Cemetery) on May 15, 2015.

McGillivray and King discuss the new Haunted Montreal Blog, public season of ghost tours starting with Haunted Mountain on Friday, May 22, and local tales of haunted places and strange happenings. Listen below.

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Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

 

Sainte Antione Cemetery Limits