Previously published in Examiner
This article was inspired by another writer who wrote about Ghosts in Nova Scotia.
We have a rich history of Ghosts in Montreal from the 1600’s to the present day. This Montreal examiner was told that even some taxi drivers are afraid to ride through the sector known as old Montreal for fear of some of these legendary ghost hauntings.
The most famous of all Montreal Ghosts is the ghost of Mary Gallagher. Mary Gallagher was a prostitute and on an infamous Friday afternoon, June of 1879, Mary and her best friend, another prostitute, Susan Kennedy, went down to Place Jacques Cartier (in old Montreal) with two bottles of whiskey to have a good time. Mary picked up a young man by the name of Michael Flannigan, and the two hookers took him back to Susan’s house on the corner of Williams Street and Murray. One thing let to another and after the young man passed out, Susan who was in a jealous frenzy got into a fight with Mary and chopped off her head with an axe and threw in pail of water that she kept beside the stove. Kennedy was charged and served 16 years in prison.
It is said that every seven years Mary haunts the streets of old Montreal (last alleged sighting of Mary was 1928) looking for her head.
Source:
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=749d7bd0-d5ae-4d ad-90cb-05a707580b06