Myths - University of Toronto

The University of Toronto, a centre for academics and higher learning, has more than its own share of urban legends. The grounds of the school have been mute witness to bloodthirsty competitors of love, a Canadian author who vowed to return from the grave to haunt Massey College, and of the biscuit maker who locked his mistress inside a secret chamber.

Legend has it that during the construction of the University College, a Russian stone mason named Reznikoff was courting a young lady. Apparently, Mr. Diablos, a Greek mason, was seeing the maid on the side as well. Legend says that Diablos even carved two gargoyles that adorn the university, one an image of Reznikoff and another of Diablos, laughing behind his back. When Reznikoff found proof of his girlfriend's infidelity, he immediately confronted Diablos and a fight began near the construction site.

Reznikoff chased Diablos through the unfinished building with an axe (taking swings at him and once, missing him and leaving an axe mark on the door that's still visible to this day), and the duo ended up high in the unfinished tower. Reznikoff took a mighty swing, missed, and plummeted to his death. (In other accounts, Diablos sneaks up on Reznikoff and stabs him to death.) Diablos, escapes blame, buried Reznikoff in the foundations of the building and vanished from Toronto. Years later, after a devastating fire in 1890, the remains of an unidentified man were unearthed at the college.