The Mystery of the Ship that Flipped
Jack Dyre was jolted awake by an unknown voice he described as “harsh and eerie” hissing at him: “Dyre, leave this ship!” Considering he…
September 1, 2026
1800s Bay of Fundy Strange Tales
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Good and Bad Luck in The Maritimes
If you’ve ever knocked on wood, tossed salt over your shoulder, or changed which foot you led with on the stairs, you are participating…
August 25, 2026
Strange Tales
The Accidental Longest Covered Bridge In The World
Today, the Hartland Covered Bridge is the longest covered bridge in the world — a pretty remarkable feat for a bridge that was never…
July 27, 2026
1900s Strange Tales
A Brief History of Dulse
If reports of criminal activity are a good way to judge a thing’s popularity, by the turn of the century dulse was exceptionally popular.
July 14, 2026
Bay of Fundy
The Sunken Treasure Ship In The Bay of Fundy
There is more than lobster to be found in the waters beyond Dipper Harbour, where this curious 1960 tourism promo was shot. A century…
June 30, 2026
1800s Bay of Fundy War
The Great Sussex Shale Gas Swindle
Albert County was once a real hub of a booming oil industry, however, not everyone it attracted was strictly speaking above-board. One curious individual…
June 2, 2026
1900s Strange Tales
The Underground Lake of Albert County
The darkness goes deep in Albert County’s gypsum caves. In 1937, a reporter from the Telegraph-Journal descended into one on a tip from two…
May 19, 2026
1900s Forgotten Ruins Strange Tales
Who Killed the Maritimes’ Greatest Flying Ace?
These articles on the website are (mostly) the articles from the Backyard History newspaper column, which have a strict 1,000 words/week limit. In the…
May 12, 2026
1900s War
A Pompous Parisian’s Misadventures In The Maritimes
A 300-year-old travel diary reveals what life really looked like in our region's first capital. Map of Port Royal, now called Annapolis Royal, dating…
April 13, 2026
1600s and Before Bay of Fundy Nova Scotia
The Ghost of Ryan’s Castle
A ridiculously wealthy and extremely eccentric dentist built a mansion in Hampton, New Brunswick. The ghost said to be guarding a hidden treasure on…
March 31, 2026
1900s Forgotten Ruins Saint John Strange Tales
The Night The Crocodiles Attacked
A Fredericton Commando’s Second World War Victory Had The Japanese On The Run. Then Came The Crocodiles. Frederictonian Bruce Wright’s (left) idle daydreaming during…
March 17, 2026
1900s Fredericton Strange Tales War
Kethro The Barber’s Curious Singing Career
One of the oldest photos of Fredericton’s Christ Church Cathedral, taken in 1857. Ten years after this photo was taken, the letters of British…
February 16, 2026
1800s Fredericton Strange Tales
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 Long Reads Strange Tales
The Shipwreck That Kicked Off The Biggest New Year’s Bash
Just as the people of Grand Manan were getting ready to celebrate New Years, a ship wrecked off the coast of their island. It…
December 26, 2025
Bay of Fundy
The Hero of Priestman Street
Fredericton’s Bryan Priestman survived two world wars — only to lose his life on Remembrance Day, trying to save an eight-year-old boy. (Provincial Archives…
November 7, 2025
1900s Fredericton Greatest Hits War
My Classmate Who Never Came Home
Colin Wilmot's photo in our high school yearbook. Back in high school, I sat next to a warm, funny, kind-hearted soul named Colin Wilmot.…
November 4, 2025
1900s Fredericton War
The Ghost of Paddy Hollow
An 1861 diary reveals the chilling truth behind a New Brunswick ghost story involving a murder mystery and a fire-eyed monster prowling about an…
October 21, 2025
1800s Strange Tales
Blue Water: The Atlantic Canadian Film That Hollywood Sank
Most “lost films” from the early days of cinema vanished by accident as reels were destroyed, misplaced, or left to decay. But Blue Water’s…
October 14, 2025
1900s Bay of Fundy Saint John
The Hatchet Buried In The Stream
As he neared the end of his long and eventful life, legendary Wolastoqiyik Sachem (chief) Gabriel Acquin sat down with UNB professor Dr. Edward…
September 8, 2025
1800s War
The Mystery Crater
A photo of the "Mystery Crater" in its heyday. (Provincial Archives of New Brunswick) New Brunswick was once home to a quirky popular tourist…
September 1, 2025
1900s Forgotten Ruins Strange Tales
The Prison Camp Poem of Alfred Elsliger
Alfred Elsliger (Canadian Virtual War Memorial) Alfred W. Elsliger enlisted with his friends, including my Great Uncle Wilfred Smith, in his little hometown of…
August 30, 2025
1900s North Shore War
The Great Campbellton Cowbell Controversy
Is this the face that launched a province-wide debate? In the summer of 1886, New Brunswickers found themselves fiercely divided — over cowbells in…
July 15, 2025
1800s North Shore Strange Tales
Tim Lynch, Mad King of the Moose
This illustration was published in a tourism brochure Frank Risteen made for the City of Fredericton (for promotional purposes, he bestowed Fredericton with the…
July 1, 2025
1800s North Shore Strange Tales
Roadside Attractions of New Brunswick
You're cruising down a New Brunswick road, windows down, thinking about lunch, when suddenly — there it is. A giant concrete potato, rising out…
June 17, 2025
1900s Forgotten Ruins Greatest Hits Strange Tales