The Screaming Tunnel near Niagara Falls, Ontario, is one of Canada's most famous haunted locations. The tunnel, a small limestone drainage culvert beneath a railway line, carries a local legend about a young girl who ran through the tunnel while on fire. According to the most common version, the girl's farmhouse caught fire and she ran screaming through the tunnel in a desperate attempt to extinguish the flames, but collapsed and died inside. Another version tells of a father who set his daughter on fire after losing a custody battle. Regardless of the legend's origin, the tunnel has earned a reputation for supernatural phenomena. The most frequently repeated claim is that if you stand in the centre of the tunnel at midnight and strike a match, the flame will be snuffed out by an unseen force — and you will hear the girl's screams echoing through the darkness. Visitors have reported feeling sudden blasts of cold air inside the tunnel, hearing a child's screaming that seems to come from the stone walls themselves, and seeing a flickering light at the far end of the tunnel that moves as though carried by a running figure. The tunnel has been featured on numerous paranormal television programs and is one of the most visited haunted sites in the Niagara region.
