bench that leans against the trunk? T’is vacant now, but watch it closely, and thou shalt see two lovers sit there arm in arm, as the shadows grow more dense beneath the friendly maple tree.”
As the moon rose two figures did appear, Susie and Paul. They were entangled in each other’s arms — and in a web of deceit. Ivan watched and fumed with rage.
Susie thought she heard something. She and Paul went to investigate, arm and arm, toward the archway. Paul struck a match. Although Ivan and his friend hid in the shadows, Paul had seen Ivan. He decided to play to Ivan’s anger.
The next day the two men worked apart. But it was only a matter of time before things would come to a head. At the end of the workday Ivan waited by the bench. Hearing a laugh he spun about to find Paul leaning on the parapet, taunting Ivan from the corridor. Paul had a dagger. Ivan grabbed the axe on the bench and charged the archway. Unable to draw his dagger in time, Paul shielded himself from Ivan’s attack. Paul narrowly escaped the blow of the axe, which struck the door. The blows rained upon the door and the frame. Paul escaped through the door as the axe struck deep, becoming embedded in the oak.
Paul flew down the hallway and up the stairs, through a swinging door of glass, and then he slipped. Ivan was upon him. Again Paul narrowly avoided calamity and was off again, up more stairs. James Louden adds, “At the top of this narrow flight of steps there is a sudden turn toward the east and half a dozen steps lead to the upper landing from which the main steps of the tower ascend. At the angle of the western wall, just at the top, Diabolos, with dagger upright in his hand, waits for his foe.”
As Ivan approached, Paul leapt out and his dagger found its mark. With a groan, Ivan dropped dead to the floor.
Paul knew what to do. Beyond the tower door lay the ideal resting place for Ivan. The well beneath the tower steps would make the perfect grave. He would never be found! Paul dragged the body inside and with the aid of a match he peered into the darkness of the well below. He threw Ivan head first down the twenty-metre (sixty-foot) well. Paul took the axe from the front door. With Ivan gone, Paul and Susie eloped out west, taking Ivan’s savings with them. Ivan would never be heard from again.
Or would he?
Ivan’s restless spirit was first seen on the campus in 1866.
In 1890 fire struck University College. In the ashes the skeletal remains of Ivan Reznikoff were discovered. Glenn Oldford tells me, “A chaplain gave Ivan a proper burial in the courtyard of the building. He was buried under a tree.”
Somehow, in 1980 Humphrey Milnes, a professor of German, was photographed displaying a human skull, reportedly that of Ivan Reznikoff. As recently at 1996 the skull was reported to still be on display in the principal’s office. When was Ivan’s head found?
John Louden wrote about a man named John Smith who saw and communicated with the spirit of Ivan. “John is always hazy on the point and remembers nothing except that the ghost intended to put in an appearance every Hallowe’en, or Valentine’s Day, he was not sure which. John Smith also has a very vivid description of Reznikoff pounding the table, until the glasses jumped, when he was questioned, in a moment of inadvertence, about the teaching of Greek in the college.” Obviously, Ivan was still touchy about a little Greek!
Allen Aylesworth, a former student at the university, later a member of the House of Commons and Senate, encountered Ivan while walking across the campus. He recalled seeing a thickset figure of a man. In the course of the meeting Allen, not thinking him to be anything other than human, invited him back to his student quarters. There they sat by a fire as Ivan told him of his love for Susie and of his death at the hand of Paul Diabolos. He also told Allen about the two faces he and Diabolos carved. He said that his gargoyle was a grotesque face and that Diabolos had carved a smiling one. Ivan said that Diabolos had pointed out that the grotesque face was Ivan and the smiling face was Paul. When Ivan asked Diabolos why, he said that he was laughing at him behind his back!
Allen was shaken. Was this stranger before him really a ghost? Ivan promptly disappeared, his wine half finished.
Years later Allen investigated the story, he learned that Ivan’s body had been recovered from the stairwell in the fire of 1890. He also saw the two sculpted faces positioned on the face of the building near the passageway where Ivan first wielded his axe. The door tells its own tale because it is still in place, axe marks and all!
Over the years there have been many sightings of the spirit of Ivan Reznikoff on the campus grounds or in the building. When Ivan is around the lights go on and off.
When Glenn Oldford and I were touring the campus we eventually entered the passageway where Ivan left the axe marks on the door. As Glenn recounted some of the history, Reznikoff’s name was mentioned. The lights went off.
At dusk I took some pictures of the gargoyles and the door. I used a flash because the light had gone off. I had no sooner finished than the light came on. I took new pictures. Obviously, he was letting me know that he was still around!
Beware of Croft Chapter alcove for a lovers’ secret rendezvous. You might resemble Paul and Susie and Ivan might be awaiting their return. Perhaps that’s why he stays on campus.
The Hockey Hall of Fame
~ Toronto ~
They were trustworthy individuals, handling other people’s money every day, but they gambled dangerously with their own lives. They worked together at a beautiful old bank at Yonge and Front Streets in Toronto.
First constructed in 1885 during a period of prosperity and optimism about Canada’s future, the Bank of Montreal marked the rise of commerce and an age of decadence. In its day it was the largest bank branch in Canada. The building is a florid example of rococo architecture and was designed by the Toronto firm Darling and Curry. It served as the head office of the Bank of Montreal until 1949 and then as a branch office until 1982, when it was closed permanently.
The central hall measures twenty-one metres by twenty-one metres and rises thirteen metres to a stained-glass dome. The dome is the largest of its kind in Toronto. It was constructed by Joseph McCausland and Sons and features twenty-four fanned panels that depict allegorical dragons guarding gold from eagles. Around the outside are cornucopia filled with fruit and flowers. In the centre circles are emblems representing the provinces of Canada.
The detail in the hall is exquisite. The framing of the mezzanine on the west side that once served as the boardroom is incredible. The bank manager’s private apartment was located just behind the mezzanine. Outside an octagon reflects the interior, diagonal corner arches. To the left of the south portico a huge stone figure of Hermes stands. He has supported the weight of the building’s chimney on his shoulders for all these years. Massive, arched plate-glass windows indicate the size of the interior.
It was the perfect setting for romance to blossom, and blossom it did.
Her name was Dorothy. An attractive woman who worked as a teller in the bank, she was the most popular girl on staff. Her handsome lover was also employed as a teller. They had to keep their liaison a secret. Not only were they co-workers, but he was already married. If anyone suspected their love they could both lose their jobs.
Their fellow workers were starting to smile at them differently. Some of the women quit speaking, as if interrupted, when Dorothy entered the room. And then something snapped. Her lover broke it off — a change of heart — and Dorothy was cast aside. Devastated by his betrayal, she slipped into a state of deep depression. Hurt, humiliated, fearful that her former friends at the bank knew her shame, Dorothy still had to go to work every day.
One morning in March of 1953, she entered the bank at 7 a.m., went up to the women’s washroom on the third floor, and remained there for some time.
When he was interviewed by Toronto Star journalist Stefan Scaini, Len Redwood, chief messenger for the bank, recalled seeing Dorothy that morning. “It was much earlier than she was expected to be in. She looked pretty rough, probably had had a night out.” A night out or a sleepless night?
She returned downstairs for a brief time, and