The Murder of Timothy McCarthy
For decades, Acadian singers would open a long, mournful ballad with those words in the song called “Le Meurtre de Timothy McCarthy,” which means…
August 11, 2026
1800s Moncton Women Long Read
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The Maritimes’ Greatest Bank Robbery
The victim of The Maritimes most expensive bank robbery was the Prince Edward Island bank in 1881. It was, however, not as straight forward…
May 26, 2026
1800s PEI Saint John Long Read
The First Undersea Cable in North America Went from N.B. to PEI
The completion of the transatlantic cable from Ireland in 1866 was a massive international event (pictured). But 14 years earlier, the first ever undersea…
April 6, 2026
1800s PEI Long Read
The Woodman’s Ghost
A crew of woodsmen pause for a photo deep in the forest, axes in hand and snow at their feet. What they did out…
February 3, 2026
1800s North Shore PEI Long Read
The Curse of the Anna Currier
A ship drifted ashore near St. Martins in January 1884, her crew missing and her cargo untouched. The mystery of what happened aboard the…
January 6, 2026
1800s Bay of Fundy Strange Tales Long Read
New Years A Century Ago
One hundred years ago, Maritimers rang in the New Year with optimism, oddball traditions, and a world on the brink of change (Provincial Archives…
December 30, 2025
1900s Christmas Fredericton Saint John Long Read
The Forgotten Christmas Traditions of Old New Brunswick
Many of our beloved holiday traditions are surprisingly young. For example the old Loyalists would have been baffled at what a tree was doing…
December 9, 2025
1700s Christmas Long Read
The Great Fire of Miramichi
New Brunswick Legends Tapestries – Great Fire of the Miramichi, 1996, Designed by Micheal McEwing, Woven by Ivan H Crowell. (Provincial Archives of New…
September 30, 2025
1800s North Shore Long Read
The First Ever Murder in Moncton
Headlines from 1892 announcing that, after 220 years, Moncton had its first ever murder. It started with a North Shore break-in. Then another. Then…
August 19, 2025
1800s Moncton Long Read
The Mysterious Lost and Found Diary of the Tobique
A mysterious Englishman sailed to New Brunswick in the 1850s. His name and his fate are unknown. All that remains of him is his…
February 18, 2025
1800s North Shore Strange Tales Long Read Popular
Nellie McGowan’s Quarantine Journal from Partridge Island
For exactly one year to the day, beginning on New Year’s Eve 1901, Nellie McGowan kept a diary. It appears that she began her…
January 1, 2025
1900s Saint John Women Long Read
The News Boys New Years Annual Address
My first ever job was a paperboy. I used to deliver the newspapers that Backyard History is published in. (That’s not relevant to the…
December 27, 2024
1800s Christmas Strange Tales Long Read
Christmas A Century Ago
Some exceptionally stylish women (note the scandelous new short haircuts) in 1924 posing painting toys. One century ago, many of the things we take…
December 18, 2024
1900s Christmas Long Read
Claus-trophobia and Santa’s Other Maritimes Misadventures
It turns out that Santa has had a remarkable number of strange misadventures in the Maritimes over the years. Here are four of them.…
December 10, 2024
1900s Christmas Saint John Strange Tales Long Read
The Ghost of Binstead Manor
A sketch of Binstead House, just outside of Charlottetown, PEI. In 1856, wealthy Englishwoman Georgina Pennée moved into the house and found an unexpected…
October 23, 2024
1800s PEI Strange Tales Women Long Read
The Hate Preacher
Nicknamed "The Travelling Peace Breaker," New Brunswicker L. J. King left the province after Saint Johners tried to throw him off a cliff, but…
October 1, 2024
1800s Saint John Long Read
The Candy Killer: The Serial Killer Who Stalked Saint John
Terror gripped the gritty streets of Saint John in 1889. The city had its very own serial killer — but this murderer didn’t use…
August 27, 2024
1800s Saint John Long Read Popular
Nova Scotia’s Queen of the Bootleggers: Amy Mason
During Prohibition when booze was banned, reluctant liquor control officer Clifford Rose found himself in the middle of a dispute between a corrupt politician…
August 12, 2024
1900s Nova Scotia Rum Runners Women Long Read
“Canada’s Flying Schoolmarm” Wins at the 1936 Berlin Olympics
Aileen Meagher, a runner from Halifax, represented Canada in the infamous 1936 Berlin Olympics, where Hitler himself watched her beat the German team for…
July 24, 2024
1900s Nova Scotia Women Long Read
Painless Parker, Renegade Dentist
A popular postcard from the early 1900s mocking the claim that dentistry could be painless (Telegraph-Journal) Step into the world of dentistry's most controversial…
June 12, 2024
1900s Bay of Fundy Strange Tales Long Read
Liberty On The Rocks (Part Three) Captured in Charlottetown
Hear longer and more in-depth versions of the three stories in the 'Liberty On The Rocks' Trilogy trilogy come to life on the Backyard…
April 10, 2024
1900s Nova Scotia PEI Rum Runners Long Read
Message In A Molasses Barrel
The author with a reproduction of the molasses barrel, called a ponchon, which sailed from the Iles de la Madeleine to Cape Breton to…
February 11, 2024
1900s Strange Tales Long Read Popular
Princess Louise, a War Horse’s Tale
During the Second World War, New Brunswickers fighting in Italy rescued a horse, who became a beloved mascot for their regiment. After following the…
January 10, 2024
1900s Saint John War Long Read
Nancy New Year of the North Shore
Nancy New Year is a centuries old tradition which still survives today along New Brunswick's North Shore of a fairy, imagined here by the…
December 28, 2023
1800s Christmas North Shore Long Read Popular