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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…

1800s Bay of Fundy Strange Tales

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…

Strange Tales

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…

1800s Long Reads Moncton Women

The Story Behind ‘Farewell to Nova Scotia’

‘Farewell to Nova Scotia’ is a Maritimes anthem that has been performed by everyone from Stan Rogers to Stompin' Tom Connors; from Anne Murray…

1900s Greatest Hits Nova Scotia Women

The Hero in Sailor’s Garb

Nova Scotians attend the makeshift funeral for victims of the SS Atlantic catastrophe. Among the dead buried in this mass grave was a sailor…

1800s Nova Scotia Women

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…

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…

1900s Forgotten Ruins Strange Tales

Marilyn Monroe’s Secret Trip to Miramichi

Find a longer version of this story – and many others – in the fourth Backyard History book ‘Mysterious Stories From Atlantic Canada’s Past,’…

1900s North Shore Women

Angeline’s Wedding Dress Disaster

For countless ships headed to Halifax’s harbour, the first glimpse of the Sambro Island Lighthouse (pictured) marked the relief of a journey’s end. But…

1800s Nova Scotia Women

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…

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…

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…

1900s Fredericton Strange Tales War

The Little Railway That Could

A photograph of the first train to arrive in St. Stephen, in 1867. Ten years earlier, the first train in New Brunswick had its…

1800s Moncton Saint John

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…

1800s Fredericton Strange Tales

Georgina Whetsel and the Backlash to Blackface

In the winter of 1889, Saint John threw itself a party and accidentally exposed some deeply uncomfortable truths about race, respectability and who was…

1800s Saint John Women

The Dorchester Penny Train Crash

One hundred and twenty nine years ago, New Brunswick suffered what was initially called a “terrible catastrophe” and its worst ever train wreck, leaving…

1800s Greatest Hits Moncton

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…

1800s Bay of Fundy Long Reads Strange Tales

How Was Magnetic Hill Discovered?

Magnetic Hill has been a New Brunswick icon since the 1930s and grew into a full attraction with a gift shop, zoo, water park,…

1900s Greatest Hits Moncton

Jesse Skuse’s Long Road Home

On these foggy Saint John streets in 1894, an eight-year-old girl was found crying, all alone. She had been abandoned by her adoptive parents.…

1800s Saint John Women

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…

1800s Strange Tales
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