From the "It's About Time!" Catalogue: We've finally started our initial report on Hopkins' Tomb... Please note: This site and story have been covered admirably on other websites and a kind reader has sent us some wonderful notes on this site/legend. We will (hopefully) be updating this entry soon.
A large monument in Oakwood Cemetery is home to Samuel Hopkins' body and possibly a bit more... Hopkins dies on the 12th of October, 1899 and may not be resting in peace...
When Mr. Hopkins passed back then, he left a large stipend to erect the double-columned tomb, but as his descendants also passed, the tomb fell into a state of disrepair.
Among the stories and reports, the most benign is of Hopkins' faithful dog who is supposedly seen on the stairs leading up to the tomb, guarding it, as it were.
Of course, the far more sinister aspect is that the tomb has a curse. The reports say that three youths who tried to break into the tomb and all suffered violent accidents after the attempt. One was killed in a car accident and the other two lost limbs in similar situations.
According to Arlene Lessard in a story called "The History and Horrors of Hopkins' Tomb" in Alive and Well, November 1981, a person needs to walk around the tomb seven times and knock on the door each time they pass it during this trek. According to her article, one fellow, armed with a flashlight and a tire iron, attempted this and on the third "round", found a noise and thumping coming from the tomb and the very ground around it. He fled, flinging his tire iron at the tomb's door, (she's noted as saying; "Is a tire iron really the appropriate weapon to use on a ghost?") and dashed off. Later, he returned to the tomb to fetch his iron and found it in some nearby bushes, "red and hot".
Another rumour is that Hopkins' ghost would appear at the entrance of the tomb near the Spring equinox. According to John Robert Colombo, in Mysterious Canada (our primary source for this initial write-up,) a group of students attempted to hold a seance at the tomb during this time, only to be chased off by the irate grounds keeper/caretaker of the cemetery.
This report, like all, is a Testament to one thing... Ghost research and investigation must be done legally and with proper permissions. It's a given that Hopkins' tomb, ghost or no, is the scene of many silly "thrill seeking" vandals' work and should be respected as a resting place first and foremost.
Also, this report seems to go against one other statistic... Cemeteries and burial grounds are not well represented in cases of witnesses seeing or experiencing ghosts. Ghosts tend to "haunt" the are that the person they represent lived, worked, played, or died... not where they are interred.
Still, it's an interesting legend and more is coming with a little work and some permissions from researchers...
If you have anything to share about Hopkins' Tomb, please email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
A large monument in Oakwood Cemetery is home to Samuel Hopkins' body and possibly a bit more... Hopkins dies on the 12th of October, 1899 and may not be resting in peace...
When Mr. Hopkins passed back then, he left a large stipend to erect the double-columned tomb, but as his descendants also passed, the tomb fell into a state of disrepair.
Among the stories and reports, the most benign is of Hopkins' faithful dog who is supposedly seen on the stairs leading up to the tomb, guarding it, as it were.
Of course, the far more sinister aspect is that the tomb has a curse. The reports say that three youths who tried to break into the tomb and all suffered violent accidents after the attempt. One was killed in a car accident and the other two lost limbs in similar situations.
According to Arlene Lessard in a story called "The History and Horrors of Hopkins' Tomb" in Alive and Well, November 1981, a person needs to walk around the tomb seven times and knock on the door each time they pass it during this trek. According to her article, one fellow, armed with a flashlight and a tire iron, attempted this and on the third "round", found a noise and thumping coming from the tomb and the very ground around it. He fled, flinging his tire iron at the tomb's door, (she's noted as saying; "Is a tire iron really the appropriate weapon to use on a ghost?") and dashed off. Later, he returned to the tomb to fetch his iron and found it in some nearby bushes, "red and hot".
Another rumour is that Hopkins' ghost would appear at the entrance of the tomb near the Spring equinox. According to John Robert Colombo, in Mysterious Canada (our primary source for this initial write-up,) a group of students attempted to hold a seance at the tomb during this time, only to be chased off by the irate grounds keeper/caretaker of the cemetery.
This report, like all, is a Testament to one thing... Ghost research and investigation must be done legally and with proper permissions. It's a given that Hopkins' tomb, ghost or no, is the scene of many silly "thrill seeking" vandals' work and should be respected as a resting place first and foremost.
Also, this report seems to go against one other statistic... Cemeteries and burial grounds are not well represented in cases of witnesses seeing or experiencing ghosts. Ghosts tend to "haunt" the are that the person they represent lived, worked, played, or died... not where they are interred.
Still, it's an interesting legend and more is coming with a little work and some permissions from researchers...
If you have anything to share about Hopkins' Tomb, please email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.