What happened
The present Hotel Vancouver on West Georgia Street, with its distinctive green copper roof, opened in 1939 as one of Canada's grand railway hotels. According to local legend it is home to the “Lady in Red” – the ghost of Jennie Pearl Cox, a 1940s Vancouver socialite who loved its ballroom. The story goes that in 1944 she was killed in a car accident a few steps from the hotel's doors, and that her spirit never left the place where she had so enjoyed herself. Most sightings come from the 14th floor: guests and staff describe a woman in a long red dress who glides down the corridor and disappears through the elevator doors, and she has also been reported on the ground floor and in guest rooms. One family from Japan is said to have called the front desk to ask why their room had been double-booked, after finding a strange woman in it. In 2017 concierge David Reid said that everyone at the hotel considers her a “friendly ghost.” That same year a photo of a red shape in a top-floor window circulated on social media.
Witnesses
Hotel guests and staff, including concierge David Reid (Daily Hive, 2017); the story was popularised by Forbidden Vancouver walking tours. There is no contemporary account of the accident itself.
Explanations and hypotheses
No source found confirms that a woman of that name died outside the hotel in 1944 – the story circulates in guidebooks and on ghost tours, but nobody cites a record from the time, and versions disagree on where the accident happened. The 2017 photo of a “red figure,” publicised by CTV, most likely showed a curtain or a tarp used during renovations. The hotel itself is happy to keep the legend alive as part of its image. It is a classic example of the lady-in-the-corridor tale told about many old North American hotels.
Legend A story handed down through generations – it can be neither confirmed nor disproved.
Sources
- Daily Hive – Haunted Vancouver: Hotel Vancouver and its glamorous Lady In Red (2017)
- CTV News – Man claims to have spotted ghostly ‘Lady in Red’ at Vancouver hotel (2017)
- BC Magazine – Visit These 7 Haunted Places in Vancouver
More: Wikipedia (en)