Niagara’s 13 Ghosts: Peter Sacco on Haunted Niagara

Niagara is known around the world for its spectacular waterfalls, but beyond the millions of visitors, boat tours and observation decks lies another side to the region, one filled with old battlefields, abandoned tunnels, historic buildings and ghost stories that have survived for generations.

Those stories are the focus of Niagara’s 13 Ghosts, a paranormal film from Canadian filmmaker, author and former criminal psychology professor Dr Peter Sacco.

Born and raised in the Niagara region, Sacco has spent years exploring its history and folklore. He is also the creator and host of The Paranormal Profilers, a television series combining paranormal investigation with psychology and eyewitness testimony.

When I asked Sacco what inspired the film, he explained that Niagara’s 13 Ghosts grew from more than simply an interest in haunted locations.

“The reason that I created the film was basically threefold,” he said.

“As a Niagara Falls resident, born and raised here, I am very proud of the heritage and history of this region. The history is very rich and I want to continue to create an awareness and education about what it is all about for this generation and future generations.”

There was also another motivation: encouraging people to discover the region beyond Niagara Falls itself.

“It would be wonderful for people to see the Niagara region in person, as it is a beautiful travel destination,” Sacco said.

“And then finally, it is about the great ghost stories, legends and superstitions that exist in the Niagara region. In creating this film I was able to package all three of these components together.”

A Landscape Shaped By History

The Niagara region played an important role during the War of 1812, and that turbulent history has inevitably become intertwined with many of its supernatural stories.

Battlefields, forts, former military sites and old settlements can be found throughout the region on both sides of the Canadian-American border.

For Sacco, that history provides fertile ground for the ghost stories that followed.

“The ghost stories in the Niagara region have endured for decades, and some would even assert for centuries because of the War of 1812,” he told me.

Among the places explored in Niagara’s 13 Ghosts are locations whose paranormal reputations have gradually become almost as well known locally as their documented histories.

One location in particular stood out during filming.

The Blue Ghost Tunnel

Known officially as the Merritt Tunnel, the abandoned railway tunnel near Thorold, Ontario has developed a formidable reputation among paranormal enthusiasts.

Today it is better known to many as the Blue Ghost Tunnel.

The tunnel was constructed during development of the third Welland Canal and officially opened in February 1881. According to research published by the Thorold Museum, at least two people died during its construction, while subsequent railway accidents added further deaths to the history surrounding the site. One particularly serious collision in January 1903 resulted in two fatalities.

After railway use ended in 1915, the tunnel gradually fell into disuse.

The Blue Ghost Tunnel near Thorold, Ontario. Image supplied by Peter Sacco.

In later decades its dark interior, real history of fatalities and rumours surrounding nearby graves helped transform it into one of Niagara’s best-known haunted locations.

Visitors and paranormal investigators have reported apparitions, unexplained sounds and, most famously, sightings of a strange blue mist.

For Sacco, however, part of the tunnel’s appeal is simply the location itself.

“I think the one that stands out to me the most is the Blue Ghost Tunnel,” he said.

“The tunnel is aesthetically cool not only to look at, but also to be inside because of the illusion it creates as it shrinks going out the other end.

“It is basically a really cool ruin or historical landmark that looks like something out of an Indiana Jones movie.”

The tunnel is now restricted and entering it can constitute trespassing on federal property, with its deteriorating condition also presenting genuine safety concerns.

Niagara’s Screaming Tunnel

Another of Niagara’s most famous legends surrounds the appropriately named Screaming Tunnel.

According to the best-known version of the story, the ghost of a young girl is said to haunt the tunnel, with variations of the legend claiming that a flame struck inside at midnight can trigger a mysterious scream.

Like many long-running ghost stories, the details change depending on who is telling it.

What certainly helped push the tunnel into popular culture was cinema.

The location appeared in David Cronenberg’s 1983 adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dead Zone, starring Christopher Walken. Production records list Niagara Falls’ Screaming Tunnel among the film’s locations.

Sacco believes that appearance introduced the legend to a much wider audience.

“Once the movie came out, it only ramped up the legend,” he said, recalling how generations of teenagers subsequently ventured to the tunnel hoping to frighten themselves.

The Screaming Tunnel illustrates just exactly how folklore can evolve. An old local tale is retold, a famous film brings attention to the location, and eventually the legend becomes part of the destination itself.

The Headless Ghost Of Old Fort Niagara

One story even surprised Sacco during production.

While filming across the border at Old Fort Niagara in Youngstown, New York, he encountered the legend of a headless soldier said to haunt the historic fort.

According to the tale, a soldier was murdered and decapitated before his body was thrown into a well, leaving his spirit condemned to wander the site searching for his missing head.

“People today still report seeing the ghost of a headless soldier roaming the castle looking for his head,” Sacco said.

Artistic reconstruction of the legendary headless soldier said to haunt Old Fort Niagara. Image created for Paranormal Globe.

As with many centuries-old hauntings, separating later folklore from documented history can be difficult.

That uncertainty is something Sacco believes should form part of investigating paranormal stories rather than simply being ignored.

Where History Ends And Legend Begins

Ghost stories rarely remain unchanged.

Names change. Details are added. Locations sometimes become attached to stories long after the alleged original event.

Sacco therefore looks for consistency when researching a legend.

“The key is to look at the consistency with where and when the story came from to where it is today,” he explained.

He is also concerned that some local stories may eventually disappear altogether.

“It is interesting to see not only how much some stories have changed, but rather how they have become forgotten.”

In earlier generations, legends survived through storytelling, books and conversations between local families. Sacco believes television, film and social media have now inherited much of that role.

“Nowadays I truly believe it is films, TV shows and video clips that are put on social media,” he said.

“Before that it used to be books, and before that it used to be storytelling that was passed down from generation to generation.”

In that sense, Niagara’s 13 Ghosts is not simply documenting supposed hauntings. It is also preserving the stories themselves.

Did Anything Paranormal Happen During Filming?

Considering the locations featured in the film, it would be easy to expect a dramatic tale of unexplained footsteps, mysterious voices or equipment suddenly malfunctioning.

Sacco’s answer is considerably less sensational.

Nothing happened.

“Actually, nothing did happen at all while filming the movie,” he told me.

And there is a straightforward reason.

Unlike The Paranormal Profilers, the purpose of Niagara’s 13 Ghosts was not to conduct paranormal investigations.

“In filming this movie, it was more about getting the stories and filming the locations rather than actually investigating for paranormal activity.”

It is a refreshingly simple distinction.

A location may have a famous haunted reputation, but visiting it does not guarantee something unexplained will happen, and Sacco makes no attempt to pretend otherwise.

A Psychologist’s Approach To The Paranormal

Sacco’s background also gives his approach to paranormal claims an unusual perspective.

Before his work in paranormal television and filmmaking, he taught criminal psychology and worked as a profiler.

That experience, he says, made him naturally sceptical.

“As a former criminal psychology professor and profiler, I tend to be sceptical by nature when it comes to paranormal incidents and activity.”

Rather than immediately accepting or dismissing an extraordinary story, he prefers to gather as much information as possible.

“It is important to get as much information as individuals can provide for a situation or a location, as well as determine the degree of both validity and reliability in the stories.”

Multiple independent witnesses can be particularly useful.

“It is always good when you have more than one witness or individual who has told the story or experienced the situation. Therefore, you can get a greater degree of corroboration.”

Psychology, in Sacco’s view, doesn’t necessarily have to be used to explain a paranormal experience away.

Instead, it can provide another tool for understanding the person reporting it.

“Paranormal experiences come about uniquely for each individual and through unique experiences,” he said.

“Therefore, it is always respectful to listen and try to be open-minded rather than dismissing them.”

That balance between scepticism and openness sits at the centre of much of Sacco’s paranormal work.

Bringing Niagara’s Ghost Stories To A New Generation

Niagara’s 13 Ghosts has continued to attract attention beyond Canada.

The film was promoted internationally during 2026, has streamed through paranormal platform Paraflixx and has appeared on the film-festival circuit. Recent coverage has also seen Sacco discussing the film and Niagara’s haunted locations with paranormal podcasts and media outlets internationally.

Sacco says the reaction exceeded his expectations, particularly after the film began streaming.

But for him, its success ultimately comes back to the same idea that inspired the production in the first place. Getting people interested in history.

“I think the message is to check out history, because history has some really cool stories and sometimes very bizarre stories attached to it,” he said.

Films exploring centuries-old legends can also create an unusual connection between generations.

“Today’s individuals can follow in the same footsteps that their parents, grandparents and great-grandparents would have heard about with regards to some of these historical places.”

What Comes Next For Peter Sacco?

Sacco’s paranormal work is continuing through The Paranormal Profilers.

The series combines investigations and paranormal cases with interviews and contributions from people associated with programmes including The Dead Files, Paranormal Survivor, Paranormal Witness, Haunted Case Files and Haunted Hospitals.

Sacco says future episodes could broaden the format beyond traditional ghost investigations.

“We are looking at starting a new season which will focus more on one-off episodes,” he said.

Those episodes could explore “cryptids, other bizarre monster stories, superstitions, legends” and other unexplained subjects.

You can also watch the trailer for The Paranormal Profilers on YouTube

It is perhaps a natural next step for someone whose work sits somewhere between psychology, paranormal investigation, filmmaking and historical storytelling.

And in Niagara’s 13 Ghosts, those interests come together in one place.

Niagara may always be known first for the thunderous waterfalls that draw visitors from around the world.

But look beyond the mist and tourist attractions and another Niagara emerges, a one of abandoned tunnels, old forts, battlefields, local legends and ghost stories that refuse to completely disappear.

Whether those stories represent genuine encounters with something unexplained or simply folklore handed down through generations, Sacco believes they are worth preserving.

And sometimes the history behind a ghost story can be every bit as fascinating as the ghost itself.