The Bala Bay Inn is located in Bala, Ontario, Canada on highway 169 in Ontario’s famous Township of Muskoka Lakes. The inn is 3 stories high and has 32 standard rooms. Each room is equipped with private washroom, heating, air conditioning, colour television and cable.

This Inn is built on the shore of Muskoka Lake, it's foundation is on granite rock of the Laurentian formation. It’s located in the heart of Bala, within walking distance of shopping, great beaches and other Bala attractions like the Bala Museum and Bala Falls.

The inn was built in 1910 by Ephraim Browning Sutton, and was the first brick hotel in Bala. Initially it was named The Swastika Hotel. Because of the political inference of the name, the hotel was renamed Sutton Manor in the early ’30s. In 1945 the name was changed to The Bala Bay Lodge, and in 1998 to The Bala Bay Inn.

E. B. Sutton was born in was born in 1854, Leeds in Yorkshire, England. Sutton and his wife (who was also his cousin), Rose Ann Grey, immigrated to Canada in 1883. The family moved to Bala in 1899 and ran a general store. Sutton died in his sleep in room 319 of the hotel in 1917.

Many staff and patrons of the hotel say that it is haunted. Reports include:
  • footsteps behind you,
  • lights being turned off and on,
  • housework undone,
  • curtains disturbed in room 319,
  • rattling of a doorknob in room 312
  • television turned on, yet unplugged, in room 312,
  • an unseen force pushing against the inside of a door on the 2nd floor,
  • sound of two people's footsteps walking up and down 2nd floor hall,
  • apparition of a shadowy figure in the kitchen,
  • sound of footsteps in room 208,
  • apparition of a woman in the lounge area.


  • Ghosts have been seen walking the halls of the Inn. One particular ghost haunts the center second floor room. She has been known to borrow the shoes of whomever is staying in this room and walk around in them.

    Once during a candle-lit séance, all the candles suddenly went out and the doors to all 32 rooms began opening and slamming shut.

    Once a broom flew out of the corner, across to the salad bar, and struck the manager in the head.

    The most disturbing occurrence, however, was when an employee, after finding the 2nd floor office door locked, left her 18-month old son and ran downstairs for the key; when she returned, the door was open and her son was sitting in the toybox.

    Log in or register to write something here or to contact authors.