Victoria, British Columbia · Haunted hotel guide
Fairmont Empress: Haunted History, Ghost Stories & Where to Stay
Victoria’s Inner Harbour is beautiful during the day.
Floatplanes skim across the water. Boats move through the harbour. Tourists wander past the British Columbia Parliament Buildings while horse-drawn carriages travel along the waterfront. And presiding over it all is one of Canada’s most recognizable hotels. The Fairmont Empress. Opened in 1908, the enormous Château-style railway hotel has welcomed royalty, celebrities and generations of travelers to Victoria. Today, it is a National Historic Site of Canada and one of the city’s defining landmarks. But after more than a century of guests and employees passing through its halls, another history has developed inside the Empress.
Guests and staff have reported seeing a mysterious man with a mustache and cane. A maid apparently continues working long after her death. An elderly woman reportedly knocks on hotel-room doors before disappearing near the elevators. There are stories of a little girl. And one of the hotel’s most famous alleged spirits may be connected to a real woman who suffered a fatal accident while working at the Empress. Welcome to one of Victoria’s legendary haunted hotels. And yes… you can actually stay here.
Reported hauntings are folklore and guest accounts; a reservation does not guarantee a paranormal experience. Booking links open the named provider’s website. Read our affiliate disclosure.
Plan a stay at Fairmont Empress
Compare dates and room types on the official website. If a particular room or floor matters to your trip, confirm it directly, along with access arrangements and the full price, before booking.
Fairmont Empress at a glance
- Location
- Victoria, British Columbia
- The setting
- Historic luxury hotel — opened 1908
- Reported lore
- Reported apparitions, mysterious footsteps and long-running ghost stories
- Famous for
- Grand Edwardian architecture, Afternoon Tea and its iconic Inner Harbour location
- Best fit
- Haunted getaways, romantic weekends, history lovers and paranormal travellers
A Castle on Victoria’s Inner Harbour
The Empress was created during the golden age of Canada’s grand railway hotels. Construction began in 1904 for the Canadian Pacific Railway. The architect was Francis Mawson Rattenbury, the same architect responsible for another building you’ll see almost immediately when visiting the hotel—the British Columbia Parliament Buildings nearby. Rattenbury designed the Empress in the Château style associated with Canada’s great railway hotels, incorporating steep roofs, Gothic Revival gables and imposing architectural features. The hotel opened in 1908 and was subsequently enlarged in 1910–12 and again in 1928. Its location was extraordinary.
Rather than simply serving railway passengers, the Empress stood near Canadian Pacific’s steamship terminal, welcoming travelers arriving in Victoria by water. Over the following century, the hotel became inseparable from Victoria itself. And eventually, so did its ghosts.
The Ghost of Francis Rattenbury
One of the Empress’s most recognizable apparitions supposedly resembles the man who designed it. Guests and employees have described seeing a slender man with a mustache carrying a cane. He has reportedly appeared on staircases leading toward the lower lobby and walking through the hotel’s corridors. According to the legend, the figure is Francis Rattenbury. If that’s true, the architect certainly chose an appropriate building to haunt. But Rattenbury’s real story is considerably darker than the ghost tale.
The Architect’s Murder
Rattenbury’s life eventually took him far away from Victoria. After scandal surrounding his personal life, he moved to England. Then, in 1935, his story ended violently. Rattenbury was murdered at his home in Bournemouth after being struck repeatedly in the head. His wife’s much younger lover, George Stoner, was convicted of the killing. Rattenbury’s wife, Alma, was initially charged as well but later acquitted; she subsequently died by suicide. It’s one of the stranger true-crime stories connected to Victoria’s architectural history. And according to local folklore, Rattenbury eventually returned to his masterpiece. Not physically, of course.
But as the mysterious mustached gentleman carrying a cane. There’s no evidence establishing that the apparition actually is Rattenbury—or that it’s supernatural at all. But knowing how dramatically the architect’s real life ended certainly gives the story another dimension.
The Maid Who Never Left
The Empress’s most interesting ghost story, however, may belong to a woman named Elizabeth “Lizzie” McGrath. For years, the story has usually been told something like this: Lizzie was a chambermaid at the Empress. One evening she stepped through an opening expecting to find a fire escape. But the fire escape had supposedly been removed. She fell six stories. And ever since, her ghost has continued cleaning rooms on the hotel’s sixth floor. It’s an excellent ghost story. But researchers digging into historical records discovered something even more interesting. There really was an Elizabeth McGrath.
And she really did work at the Empress.
The Real Elizabeth McGrath
Historical research has identified Elizabeth McGrath in Victoria records and found her listed in 1909 as a serving maid at the Empress Hotel. But several details commonly repeated in the ghost story appear to be wrong. Research published by the Old Cemeteries Society of Victoria reports that McGrath suffered serious injuries in a fall and died weeks later on July 30, 1910—not 1909, as the legend commonly claims. Other historical research indicates she was a serving maid, rather than necessarily the chambermaid she later became in paranormal folklore. That’s important.
Because unlike many hotel ghost stories where researchers can’t even establish that the supposed victim existed, Elizabeth McGrath was a real person connected to the Empress. Her story appears to have changed as it was retold. But there was a genuine tragedy underneath the legend.
Is Lizzie Still Working?
According to Empress folklore, a female employee has been seen on the sixth floor, apparently continuing her duties long after death. Some versions identify her specifically as Lizzie McGrath. Historic Hotels Worldwide includes the maid among the hotel’s best-known apparitions, describing reports of a maid who continues cleaning on the sixth floor after her death. Whether those sightings have anything to do with Elizabeth is impossible to establish. But this is where history and folklore overlap in an especially interesting way. A real employee suffers a fatal accident. Years pass. Stories are repeated. Details change.
Eventually, hotel guests begin associating a mysterious maid with the woman who died. That’s exactly how some of the world’s most enduring ghost stories develop.
The Elderly Woman at the Door
magine you’re asleep at the Empress when somebody knocks on your door. You get up. Open it. An elderly woman in pajamas is standing outside. She looks confused. Perhaps she’s wandered away from her room. So you offer to help. She begins walking down the corridor. You follow her toward the elevators. And then… she disappears. Variations of this story have circulated for years and are included in accounts of the Empress’s paranormal reputation. The woman is sometimes said to have once occupied a room in the hotel and died there.
Later renovations supposedly removed the room and replaced the area with elevators—which paranormal storytellers use to explain why the apparition now walks toward them. It’s creepy. It’s memorable. But unlike Elizabeth McGrath, the woman’s historical identity is much less certain. So this one belongs firmly in the legend category.
The Little Girl
Another apparition reportedly seen inside the Empress is a young girl. Accounts collected about the hotel’s hauntings describe guests seeing the child’s apparition in or around one of the rooms. There’s no reliably established historical identity for her. No documented tragedy we’ve found that conclusively explains why a little girl would haunt the hotel. And that’s worth emphasizing. It’s tempting with haunted places to create a historical tragedy to explain every apparition. We won’t do that. Sometimes all we have is the story.
And in this case, the story is simply that some visitors claim they’ve seen a child who shouldn’t be there.
The West Tower Apparition
Another darker story comes from the hotel’s west tower. Accounts describe an apparition associated with a former employee who supposedly died by suicide there. The figure has reportedly been seen in the area where the death was said to have occurred. Again, documentation supporting every detail of the legend is limited. That means we should treat this as paranormal folklore rather than established history. But combined with the maid, Rattenbury, the elderly woman and the mysterious child, it adds to the remarkable number of apparitions associated with one building.
A Hotel That Nearly Disappeared
Ghosts aren’t the only things the Empress has survived. By the 1960s, the aging hotel needed serious attention. There was even discussion of demolishing it. Instead came Operation Teacup, a roughly $4-million renovation that helped save the Empress. Another major restoration followed in the 1980s, and an enormous $64-million restoration completed in 2017 touched virtually every part of the property. The hotel survived. Which is fortunate because demolishing the Empress today would be almost unimaginable. Victoria without the Empress would look like a different city.
No, the Empress Isn’t Sinking
There’s another legend worth clearing up. If you’ve spent enough time around Victoria, you’ve probably heard some version of this: The Empress is sinking. The story is usually connected to the hotel’s waterfront location and the soft ground beneath it. Fairmont itself has addressed the legend. The hotel acknowledges that the property sits on land that was formerly part of James Bay, but says directly that the Empress is not sinking. Fairmont describes it as a local tall tale that has been repeated for generations. So unfortunately, we can’t add: “Slowly disappearing into Victoria’s Inner Harbour” to the paranormal evidence.
It’s still a great story, though.
Is the Fairmont Empress Actually Haunted?
There’s no scientific evidence proving that ghosts inhabit the Fairmont Empress. Some stories are better documented than others. Francis Rattenbury unquestionably existed and designed the hotel. His murder is historical fact. Elizabeth McGrath genuinely worked at the Empress and suffered a fatal accident. But that doesn’t prove either person returned as a ghost. The elderly woman, mysterious child and other apparitions belong largely to folklore and eyewitness accounts. And that’s okay. A good haunted-history article shouldn’t have to pretend every legend is fact. The interesting part is discovering where the history stops and the ghost story begins.
At the Empress, sometimes that line becomes surprisingly blurry.
Can You Stay at the Fairmont Empress?
Absolutely. The Fairmont Empress remains one of Victoria’s premier luxury hotels, located at 721 Government Street, directly on the Inner Harbour. The building was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1981, recognizing its importance as one of Canada’s great Château-style railway hotels. Official Fairmont Empress website You don’t have to stay overnight to experience some of the hotel either. One of its most famous traditions is Afternoon Tea at the Empress, which has become an attraction in its own right. But obviously… we’re Go Ghostly. Stay the night.
Ready to Stay at the Fairmont Empress?
Spend the night on Victoria’s Inner Harbour and see whether the Empress’s century-old ghost stories feel a little more convincing after dark.
Make It a Haunted Victoria Trip
The best part about staying at the Empress is what’s outside the front door. You’re already in the heart of historic Victoria. Walk around the Inner Harbour after dark. See the illuminated Parliament Buildings. Explore Government Street. Visit some of downtown Victoria’s historic buildings. And Victoria has enough ghost stories that the Empress doesn’t need to be your only paranormal stop. Then return to the hotel. Walk through the historic public spaces. Take the elevator upstairs. And pay attention when you reach your hallway.
If you see an elderly woman in pajamas looking confused, perhaps don’t immediately assume she’s a ghost. It is still a hotel. Help her. But if she disappears when you reach the elevator… then we have questions.
Why Go Ghostly
The Fairmont Empress represents exactly what makes haunted travel fun. You don’t have to choose between seeing an incredible historic landmark and investigating a ghost story. You get both. It’s a nationally significant Canadian building. It’s more than a century old. Its architect met an extraordinarily violent end. At least one employee behind its paranormal folklore was a real woman whose tragic death can be traced through historical records. And generations of guests and employees have continued adding stories of their own. Maybe the Empress isn’t haunted. Maybe old buildings simply produce strange noises, shadows and stories.
But after midnight, when the crowds have disappeared from the Inner Harbour and you’re walking back through a hotel that has been standing there since 1908… it’s remarkably easy to understand why people believe otherwise. The Fairmont Empress isn’t simply a ghost story. It’s a ghost story you can travel to. The Fairmont Empress is also featured in our guide to 15 Haunted Hotels You Can Actually Stay In.
Ready to Spend the Night at the Fairmont Empress?
Book your stay on Victoria’s Inner Harbour and see whether one of Canada’s grandest historic hotels feels quite as elegant after dark.
Keep planning your haunted getaway
Find another historic stay, compare the original collection, or pair your hotel with an evening tour.