The Haunted Olde Angel Inn

Writer: Geoff Butler

With October 31st fast approaching, I thought we would revisit one of Ontario’s oldest operating Inns and one of Canada’s oldest buildings. The Olde Angel Inn is located in beautiful Niagara-on-the-Lake and has a long and fascinating history in our region.

One of the plaques on the front door reads,

“Legend tells of the brave, loyalist Captain Swayze killed in the Inn’s cellars during fierce fighting in May 1813. Many believe the gallant Captain’s ghost still haunts the Inn strange things happen unless the British flag is kept flying above the old Inn door.”

Initially built in 1789 as the ‘Harmonious Coach House’, The Olde Angel Inn is one of the oldest buildings in Canada and apparently has a resident ghost by the name of Captain Colin Swayze.

According to legend, an American raid during the War of 1812, May 1813, resulted in the Inn being burnt to the ground. Before the burning, Captain Swayze, a Canadian Militia Officer, was ordered to flee but did not. Some believe he was waiting for his lover; however, she never showed up. When the U.S. troops arrived, he hid in the Inn’s wine cellar and crawled into a wine barrel in the basement. When the Americans entered the cellar looking for Swayze, they used their bayonets to check every corner and wine barrel, and upon stabbing and piercing one of them, blood started gushing out, as they had killed Captain Swayze. After the Americans raided the town, they burned and destroyed the Inn.

The Olde Angel Inn was rebuilt in 1816 by John Ross, who named it the ‘Sign of the Angel Inn’ in reference to his wife. In 1826, the Inn was purchased by Richard Howard, and in 1845, John Fraser purchased the Inn. At the time, the Inn was known as the Mansion House, then the Fraser’s Hotel, until the name was later reverted to the Olde Angel Inn.

Since the Inn was rebuilt, paranormal encounters have been reported by many patrons and staff. Since the 1820s, there have been numerous accounts of dishes and objects moving, clinking glasses, phantom conversations, laughter, and table settings mysteriously rearranged. Customers and staff have also reported footsteps and a ‘spiritual presence’ in the washrooms (right next to the cellar). Some guests “have reported seeing the apparition of Swayze peering at them while they are in their beds.”

It is said that if the Union Jack is removed from the Inn door, Captain Swayze gets quite upset and will disrupt the patrons; thus, whenever the flag is taken down to be cleaned, it is always replaced with another.

Some say, Captain Swayze still roams the Inn “because he is angry he was killed.” Others believe “he still longs for his lost love.”

The Olde Angel Inn has a long history in NOTL and has hosted such prominent guests as John Graves Simcoe, the first Lieutenant-Governor; Alexander MacKenzie, explorer; Prince Edward, the father of the future Queen Victoria and Thomas Moore, an Irish poet.