If I had special powers that would allow me to see into the future, I would’ve prepared myself for day two of Doors Open. Granted, the Toronto Star did warn me to expect line ups but I wasn’t expecting anything like this. Boy and I arrived at the Don Jail just before 10am, bypassing several coffee shops on the way because we were going to stop for breakfast after the tour. Oh how silly we were. Little did we know that a line had been started at 6:30am, tours didn’t begin until 10! I think my jaw dropped when I saw the line as we were looking for parking. Boy dropped me off so I could get a head start on the line, grateful we did this as it was cut shortly after us.
Just observing the exterior, The Don Jail can send a surge of shivers up your spine. It’s an old building that looks like something out of a horror flick. We kept ourselves busy, watching an extremely hipster couple being extremely hip, unfortunately she left the line to do better things with her time and the boyfriend was boring. We waited 5 bloody hours to get into this place. 5. HOURS. I was hoping it would be worth it.
We were finally shoved (like cattle) into 12 different corrals and given some history on the city of Toronto and the Don Jail. I will do my best to pass along what I learned. The building was designed by William Thomas, the same guy who designed the lovely St. Michael’s Cathedral and St. Lawrence Hall in 1862. At the time, the Don Jail was located in the country, outside of Toronto; it’s strange to think at some point Gerrard and Broadview was the country. It was constructed to house 275 inmates, one in every 3’ x 8’ cell but at some point, it had nearly 600 inmates and storing 2 or 3 inmates into each tiny cell. Inmates were permitted to move freely within each cell block through the day, so they weren’t always crammed into these claustrophobic cells. While capital punishment was still legal, 34 men were hanged at the Don Jail. During an excavation in 2007 in what is now the rear parking lot of the building, the remains of 11 men were found. At the time of their death, no family members came to claim them so they had their remains buried in the prison yard. In 2007, their remains were given a proper burial in a nearby cemetery. An adjoining jail was added in 1958 and the “old” Don Jail was closed in 1977. Bridgepoint Health purchased the building and will be gutting the interior to make room for their administration offices, hoping to maintain as much of the exterior façade as possible.
Here are a few photos from the tour:
The facade of the Don Jail. Thanks to Erik Twight on Flickr for this image!
The photo below may look familiar to you. A scene from Cocktail was filmed in this here Rotunda.
We enter the Rotunda, the meaner way of saying atrium; this is where the prisoners would check-in
Our tour guide pointed out that the support arches were different, depending on which side of the prison you were on. Dragon supports meant you were in officer quarters, snakes meant you were in prisoners quarters.
Snakes on the left, Dragons on the right
We were then escorted to a cell block on the 2nd floor, fire and safety codes only allow a maximum of 20 people on the floor, the 3rd and 4th floors are so unstable that no one is permitted in these areas.
An example of a cell...this is not for solitary confinement
The 2nd floor gave us access to the gallows, where several criminals were hanged. Here’s a view from where they would hang to the ground:
The gallows. Blood and guts and death.
When prisoners completed their time, they were sent to collect their belongings and had to sit outside this building for quite some time. With all that time to spare, they would scratch in their names, time done, crime and year.
When we finally got home, I got to check out the effects of sitting out in the sun for 5 hours on a lovely day without sunscreen. It was painful! Boy snapped a shot of my terrible burn. Observe:
It's still en fuego.
That night, after I slathered on more aloe vera gel than necessary, I browsed through the photos and noticed that the 2nd image above had orbs! I understand that sure, they could be dust but I refuse to believe it. The Don Jail is known to be haunted so I managed to convince myself that I had disrupted a ghost and it’s out to get haunt me. I already have an overly active imagination so this propelled me to freak out and think there was a ghost nearby, it didn’t help that my neighbourhood raccoon was breathing heavily outside my window and trying to climb the brush along the side of my house. So what did I do? Well, readers, you’re in luck. Not only is this post about my tour of the jail, it’s also going to give you a fail-proof way of dealing with nightmares and an overly active imagination.
If you are laying in bed and cannot get to sleep due to wildly frightening images in your head, follow these steps:
1. Lay on your side.
2. Pull covers over your head so that they cover your eyes, tuck covers under the side of your head.
3. With the remaining covers around your face (and while still tucked under side of head), wrap covers around your mouth.
4. Ensure your feet are covered.
These steps will prepare you should you accidentally open your eyes, because you know, ghosts remain in your room just staring at you, you won’t see anything because the covers are blocking your vision. And having the blanket covering your mouth will prevent the ghosts from drugging you. Plus, it’s pretty comfy. If these fail and you have a nightmare, just go pee. Trust me. My mother would tell me to do this as a child and it works. Promise, promise.
Here’s to no nightmares tonight.
