EPISODE 24October 27, 2022

The Haunted Lighthouse of Gibraltar Point

The lighthouse at Toronto's Gibraltar Point is one of the city's oldest landmarks. It also has a dark secret, if you believe the legends. For over two centuries, people have shared the story of J. P. Radelmüller, the lighthouse's first keeper, said to have been murdered, chopped to pieces, and scattered across the island one cold winter's night in 1815. They say he was a bootlegger. They say his killers were never convicted. And they say the ghost of Radelmüller still haunts the lighthouse, having never been put to rest. But what's fact, and what's fiction? In this episode, we'll shine a light on a tale that simultaneously a murder mystery, a ghost story, and a stirring piece of Canadian Gothic fiction.

Sources

Bunch, Adam. The Toronto Book of the Dead. Toronto: Dundurn, 2017.

 

Butts, Edward. Murder: Twelve True Stories of Homicide in Canada. Toronto: Dundurn, 2011.

 

Butts, Edward. Rum, blood & treasure : stories strange but true from Atlantic Canada. Halifax : Formac Publishing Company Limited, 2016.

 

Carstens, Patrick Richard. Searching for the Forgotten War: 1812. Philadelphia, PA: Xlibris Corporation. P 223-225

 

Colombo, John Robert. The Big Book of Canadian Ghost Stories, Toronto ; Tonawanda, NY : Dundurn Press, 2008, 317-324. (different Psychic story)

 

Colombo, John Robert. Haunted Toronto, Toronto: Hounslow Press, 1996.

 

Colombo, John Robert. True Canadian Ghost Stories, Toronto: Key Porter Books, 2003.

 

Colombo, John Robert. Mysteries of Ontario, Toronto: Hounslow Press, 1999, p  222-223

 

Colombo, John Robert. Mysterious Canada, Toronto: Doubleday Canada, 1989, p  242

 

Connor, Kevin. “Tale of city’s first unsolved murder still lingers at lighthouse.” Toronto Sun. Toronto, ON: 2 November, 2014. https://torontosun.com/2014/11/02/tale-of-first-citys-unsolved-murder-still-lingers-at-lighthouse

 

Gibson, Sally. More Than An Island: A History of the Toronto islands. Toronto, Canada : Irwin Publishing, 1984.

 

Gutsche, Andrea and Cindy Bisaillon. Mysterious Islands: Forgotten Tales of the Great Lakes. Toronto: Lynx Images, 2002, p. 4-5

 

Hancock, Pat. Haunted Canada, Toronto: Scholastic Canada, 2018, p.156-159 

 

Jones, Ray. Haunted lighthouses : phantom keepers, ghostly shipwrecks, and sinister calls from the deep. Guilford, Connecticut: Globe Pequot Press, 2010, p 199, 234

 

Kuskevics, Alexis. “One of the most haunted spots in Canada is actually in Toronto and the story behind it is spooky AF.” Narcity Toronto, 1 August 2018. Accessed 2022. https://www.narcity.com/toronto/one-of-the-most-haunted-spots-in-canada-is-actually-in-toronto-and-the-story-behind-it-is-spooky-af

 

O’Keefe, Eamon. “New Light on Toronto Island History.” Fife and Drum 19, no 5 (2015). https://eamonnokeeffe1812.com/gibraltarpointlighthousemurder/

 

Long, Megan. Ghosts of the Great Lakes : more than mere legend. P. 34-39.

 

Martinez, Jacqueline. “Toronto Haunts.” Torontoist, 30 October, 2009. Accessed 2022.

 

Miedema, Gary. “Casting Light on Toronto Island History.” Spacing, June 27, 2008. Accessed 2022.

 

Roberts, Bruce. Eastern Great Lakes lighthouses. Philadelphia, PA: Chelsea House Publishers, 1999, p 68

 

Robertson, John Ross, Landmarks of Toronto, Fifth Series (Toronto: 1908), pp. 378-385.

 

Stampfler, Dianna Higgs. Death & Lighthouses on the Great Lakes: A History of Murder and Misfortune. Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2022. p 21-31.

 

Sutherland, Dawn. Murder & mayhem : Canadian ghost stories. Edmonton, AB: Quagmire Press, 2016, p 113 – 118.

 

The York Gazette, microfilm, 14 January and 15 April 1815.

 

LighthouseFriends.com “Gibraltar Point Lighthouse.” Undated. Accessed 2022.

 

“Gibraltar Point Lighthouse.” Creepy Canada: Season 2, Episode 1. Directed by William Burke, Larry Santos.