Ask most people who the new James Bond is and they'll likely be able to answer, they'll probably even add an opinion as to whether actor Daniel Craig will fill the famous Bond shoes, but ask anyone who Frank Pickersgill is and you'll likely draw a blank stare. Pickersgill, however, is not very different than Bond, except that he was a real spy, and a hero, a Torontonian and didn't sport the same kind of Bond bling. Frank fought for our country, during World War II, as part of a unique group called the SOE - Special Operations Executive - initiated by Winston Churchill.

To train this elite force Camp X was created, close to the shores of Whitby, Ontario. It was at this spy school that Canadian, American and English men and women were taught how to transmit messages secretly, kill silently, and how to handle interrogation if captured.

Most Torontonians in their forties and up remember the social experiment that was Rochdale College, they might even have a good story to tell, but to those too young or new to the city it's just another concrete monolith. The eighteen-story-high brutalist structure at St. George and Bloor was the subject of Ron Mann's story, Dream Tower, in the recent Planet in Focus Film and Video Festival, and is also the result of a group of idealistic students in the late sixties who hoped to challenge reigning educational models.

They believed that students should have more control over curriculum, design and teach their own courses, as well as run the administration. Young people rallied behind the idea and its popularity grew, but space became a concern. There had been no central location for the school, so the feds gave them seed money - 5 million dollars - for the construction of a building for the college which would include a residence. The Rochdale dream was becoming a reality.

Chandeliers were trembling above us as John and I shot the last Spook in the City episode in the The Royal York on one of its tops floors. As far as I had learned in my research, the floor above us had been empty for years ago and couldn't be reopened because of stringent changes to building code. So what could it have been that was causing the shaking ceiling? I also couldn't explain what was happening to my camera as I tried shot after shot. The screen went dark. The camera shut off. Then it restarted and flashed error over and over. Finally I got one quick blurry take and we hauled it out of there.

The Royal York hotel stands regally amidst the skyscrapers of downtown Toronto. When it opened in 1929, it was the largest building in the British Commonwealth. Now dwarfed by others, the opulent building stills stands apart from all the rest. Follow John and I as we take viewers down the corridors of the Chateau-style hotel for a frightening Hallowe'en tale.

John and I ventured into the dark corners of The Royal York hotel to bring you freakish tales of hauntings that have occurred during its long history. This story involves paranormal happenings in the hotel's stairwells.

Once past the age of trick or treating it gets a bit harder for some of us to get into the spirit of Hallowe'en, but no one is too old for a chilling ghost story. Spook in the City takes viewers on a tour of the dark side of Toronto to the scene of a high-profile haunting.

In this first of the series, John and I visit the Distillery District. It's the largest example of Victorian industrial architecture in North America and a top destination for shoppers, gallery lovers and foodies, but spooky stories lie behind its stone walls.