A Curious Presence By Margo MacDonald
A new book by legendary Haunted Walk storyteller and paranormal investigator Margo MacDonald!
For more than two decades, Margo MacDonald has listened to stories of the unexplained, investigated strange experiences, and had more than a few encounters of her own.
Now, in A Curious Presence, she asks a more difficult question.
What if hauntings tell us as much about the living as they do about the dead?
Order an autographed copy of A Curious Presence
A Curious Presence will be released on October 6, 2026. Preorders will ship on release day.
Paperback | 296 pages | $24.95 CAD
Published by ECW Press
ONE NIGHT ONLY: MONDAY, OCTOBER 5
Take a Haunted Walk. Take Margo’s new book home with you.
The night before A Curious Presence is officially released, we’re celebrating Margo with something special.
Join us for one of four Haunted Walk ghost tours on October 5, and you’ll receive a FREE autographed copy of A Curious Presence.
To share Margo’s book with as many guests as possible, we’re giving one autographed copy per booking, whatever the size of your party. Your copy will be waiting for you on the night of your tour.
Offer applies only to bookings made directly through The Haunted Walk’s website, HauntedWalk.com. Third-party bookings are not eligible.
KINGSTON
The Original Haunted Walk of Kingston
OTTAWA
The Original Haunted Walk of Ottawa
TORONTO
Spirits of the Distillery District Ghost Tour
TORONTO
The Original Haunted Walk of Toronto
What haunts us?
For years, Margo MacDonald thought ghosts were the restless spirits of the dead. But after more than two decades of telling ghost stories, investigating haunted places, listening to firsthand accounts, and having a few unexplained experiences of her own, that certainty began to unravel.
In A Curious Presence, Margo sets out not to prove that ghosts exist, but to explore what we really mean when we say something is haunted. Through conversations with skeptics, sensitives, parapsychologists and fellow investigators, she follows competing theories, strange experiences, and the questions that refuse to go away.
The result is a curious, funny and deeply personal journey into the unknown, one less interested in easy answers than in what the mystery itself might reveal about us.
And it leaves us with one particularly unsettling possibility:
What if it isn’t places that are haunted, but the people who move through them?
A Haunted Walk legend
Margo’s journey into the paranormal is inseparable from The Haunted Walk.
She has spent twenty-five years with the company as a storyteller, researcher, investigator, and co-creator and host of Alone in the Dark. Haunted Walk gave her access to haunted places, firsthand accounts, and years of strange experiences that helped shape the questions at the heart of A Curious Presence.
The book also brings readers behind the scenes of that world. Margo investigates places connected to The Haunted Walk and speaks with people who have helped shape it, including founder Glen Shackleton, Creative Director Jim Dean, and other Haunted Walk storytellers, investigators, and team members.
For longtime Haunted Walk guests, A Curious Presence offers something especially fun: familiar places, familiar people, and a much deeper look at the ideas and experiences that have been haunting us for years.
Meet Margo
To celebrate the release of A Curious Presence, Margo will be appearing at special events throughout October. Join her for conversations about ghosts, hauntings, paranormal investigation, and the questions at the heart of the book.
A Curious Presence Book Launch at Indigo Bay & Bloor
Tuesday, October 6, 2026
7:00 PM
Indigo Bay & Bloor, 55 Bloor St. W., Toronto
Celebrate the official release of A Curious Presence with Margo MacDonald. Margo will be joined by author Kelly Robson as host, with special guest and paranormal investigator Jack GK.
Margo MacDonald Launches A Curious Presence
Wednesday, October 14, 2026
7:00–8:00 PM
Perfect Books, 258A Elgin St., Ottawa
Join Margo for the Ottawa launch of A Curious Presence. She will be in conversation with acclaimed author Amal El-Mohtar, who wrote the foreword to the book.
Book Launch at Novel Idea
Thursday, October 15, 2026
7:00-8:00 PM
Novel Idea Bookstore, 156 Princess St Ste 201, Kingston
Hosted by Jax Harripersad of The Haunted Walk of Kingston
Canada’s Most Haunted: An Evening of Real-Life Ghost Stories with Margo MacDonald
Thursday, October 22, 2026 7:00–8:30 PM Curiosa Common Room, 320 Harbord St., Toronto $25 | Ages 15+
Margo will share some of the most frightening real-life ghost stories and unexplained encounters gathered through decades of Haunted Walk storytelling, including the most terrifying thing she has personally experienced. Copies of A Curious Presence will be available for purchase at the event.A Curious Presence at Bakka-Phoenix Books
Saturday, October 24, 2026
3:00 PM
Bakka-Phoenix Books, 84 Harbord St., Toronto
Join Margo at Toronto’s legendary science fiction and fantasy bookstore for an afternoon celebrating A Curious Presence, hosted by author Alyx Dellamonica.
An Evening of Ghost Stories with Margo MacDonald
Thursday, October 29, 2026
7:00–8:30 PM
Peel Art Gallery, Museum and Archives, 9 Wellington St. E., Brampton
Included with PAMA admission | Members free | Ages 16+
Margo will share eerie stories from across the GTA and Ontario, including stories connected to PAMA itself, followed by a Q&A about the paranormal, her Haunted Walk experiences, investigations, and A Curious Presence. Autographed copies will be available for purchase afterwards. Registration is required.