People walk through the Griffintown area of Montreal during an event to mark the death of Mary Gallagher on Saturday, June 27, 2026. Gallagher was murdered on this day in 1879 and is said to return as a ghost every seven years in the area where she died. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes
An actress portrays Mary Gallagher during an event to mark her death in Montreal, on Saturday, June 27, 2026. Gallagher was murdered on this day in 1879 and is said to return as a ghost every seven years in the area where she died. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes
People walk through the Griffintown area of Montreal during an event to mark the death of Mary Gallagher on Saturday, June 27, 2026. Gallagher was murdered on this day in 1879 and is said to return as a ghost every seven years in the area where she died. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes
MONTREAL - Montrealers are gathering today in the Griffintown neighbourhood to search for the ghost of a murdered 19th-century sex worker.Â
The legend says that Mary Gallagher's ghost comes back once every seven years to look for her severed head on the anniversary of her death on June 27, 1879.
A group who gathered in Griffintown today didn't have to wait long before spotting Gallagher.
A blood-stained actress portraying the murdered woman staggered around drinking from a bottle as she recounted how her former best friend murdered her with an axe over a rivalry over a man.Â
A spokesperson for the culture centre organizing the event says it's not clear how many of the details of Gallagher's story are true.
But Claraence Painchaud says the event is an opportunity for Montrealers to keep an urban legend alive and to remember the history of what was once a working-class Irish neighbourhood.
This report by ºÃÉ«tvwas first published June 27, 2026.Â
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