A podcast about notorious Canadian crimes, dark history and other creepy topics as told by real-live Canadians
Episode 125 – On cold December night just before Christmas in 1974, the 14-year-old son of Moncton, NB restauranteur, Cy Stein was kidnapped from the family home by two masked gunman. By just before 5:00am the kidnapping came to and end, but two city of Moncton police officers had then gone missing. Their fate would not be known for two more days, and the outcome was not positive.
Read more125 – Cold December: Cst. O’Leary and Cpl. Bourgeois (NB)
Episode 124 – Women and girls, many indigenous have been going missing in the area of Northern British Columbia’s Highway 16 since 1969. The route has become known as the Highway of Tears. Many have been found deceased and still others have just vanished. In this episode we cover the murders of Jill Stuchenko, Natasha Montgomery, Cynthia Maas and Loren Leslie. All four were killed over a span of 14 months by a violent and cold blooded monster with a baby face, a serial killer named Cody Alan Legebokoff of Prince George, B.C.
Read more124 – Highway of Tears – Jill, Natasha, Cynthia & Loren (2009 – 2010)
Episode 123 – Born during the Great Depression, Ken Leishman was a stylish, good looking guy with a Clark Gable moustache. A married father of 7, he was adventurous, smart, charismatic, creative and enterprising. He used his skill as a small aircraft pilot to earn cash first as a fly in mechanic on prairie farms, then as a king cookery salesman.
Ken was also deeply in debt, his sales business was failing and he craved an even more lavish lifestyle. To get what he wanted Ken wasn’t above stealing it, but often got caught going back for more. After flying all the way to Toronto to rob banks on two separate occasions Ken was dubbed the Flying Bandit after getting caught during his second failed bank robbery.
After Ken’s release, he had an even more elaborate heist in mind – making off with a few hundred pounds of gold bullion in what would be the greatest gold theft in Canadian history.
Episode 122 – This is for or the deceased victims, the injured, the families, the friends and Bluenosers everywhere who are hurting after the shooting rampage that shook the little province of Nova Scotia to its core on April 18 and 19, 2020.
This is not who Nova Scotians are. This will not define us.
#NovaScotiaStrong
The deceased are:
Lisa McCully
Greg Blair & Jamie Blair
Peter Bond & Joy Bond
John Zahl & Elizabeth Joanne Thomas
Dawn Madsen & Frank Gulenchyn
Jolene Oliver, Aaron Tuck & Emily Tuck
Corrie Ellison
Sean McLeod & Alanna Jenkins
Tom Bagley
Lillian Hyslop
Heather O’Brien
Kristen Beaton & baby Beaton
RCMP Cst. Heidi Stevenson
Joey Webber
Gina Goulet
Call the Nova Scotia RCMP tip line at 902-720-5959 with any information you have that can assist. Leave a detailed voicemail and an investigator will return your call.
Episode 121: In this episode we examine 3 different Canadian legends. First we look at Demon Isle a phantom island somewhere in or near the Gulf of St Lawrence. This is where French noblewoman Marguerite de Roberval was marooned by an evil uncle to star in her very own tale of demons, love, loss and survival in New France in the 1500’s.
Then we’re off to Moncton, New Brunswick, one of the most haunted cities in the Maritimes, and the the story of Rebecca’s Grave, the resting place of a supposed witch who was executed, buried upside down and concrete was poured over her tomb.
Finally we hear the story of Chasse-Galerie in, or in English The Flying or Witched Canoe, one of the most famous Québecois folktales.
Read more121 – Canadian Legends: Demons, a Witch and a Flying Canoe
Episode 120 – For ages people have been drawn to Niagara Falls, the most famous group of waterfalls in North America, and maybe the world. As many as 20 million people per year visit to view the awesome power of nature as tens of millions of liters of water spectacularly pour over the falls every minute. There have been many accidental deaths, but there have been many drawn to the torrents for other darker reasons. Some come to end their own lives and others, the daredevils, to try to prove their ingenuity and courage can beat the falls. Some have failed in the attempt.
NOTE: There will be talk of suicide in this episode.
Read more120 – Over the Edge: Death and Daring at Niagara Falls (ON)
Episode 119 – Tina Michelle Fontaine was an Indigenous girl who had a tough go right from the beginning. As she had run away before when 15-year-old Tina disappeared on August 9, 2014 the authorities did not treat it with much urgency at all. Tina’s family was worried sick and wanted more activity. It was not until it was too late that the investigation began in earnest. Tina’s body was found wrapped in a duvet and floating in Winnipeg‘s Red River more than a week later.
Read more119 – MMIW – No Justice – The Murder of Tina Fontaine (MB)
Episode 118 – In a tragedy that shook Canada and the rest of the hockey playing world, just before 5:00pm on April 6, 2018, the team bus of the Humboldt Broncos Junior Hockey team smashed into a semi that had just blown through a stop at the intersection of Saskatchewan highways 35 and 335. Of the the 29 people on the bus that day, only 13 survived. The truck driver walked away unharmed, and was later charged with and convicted of 16 counts of dangerous driving causing death and 13 more counts of dangerous driving causing injury.
One player, 21-year-old defenseman Logan Boulet, had signed his donor card only 5 weeks before the crash and his death. His thoughtful gift saved the lives of six organ recipients. Logan’s selfless actions led droves of other Canadians to sign their donor cards, creating what has been called the #LoganBouletEffect. This remains the largest number of donors pledging their organs from a single event; 100,000 in the first three weeks. To keep the effect going his family helped to create Green Shirt Day in 2019, observed on April 7, the anniversary of Logan’s passing.
Read more118 – Humboldt Broncos Bus Crash – Green Shirt Day (SK)
Episode 117 – In this away game Mike and Scott explore the wacky world of the origins of Hollow Earth movement. We hear about Captain John Cleves Symmes Jr‘s desires for an expedition to the hole in the North Pole, Cyrus Reed Teed‘s Hollow Earth cult in Florida and Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd‘s supposed secret journey into the hidden world filled with fanatical creatures and advanced aliens within the Antarctic continent.
NOTE: Scott’s audio is a little wonky as he had to record on location to maintain social distance.
In crisis? Crisis Text Line serves anyone, in any type of crisis, providing access to free, 24/7 support and information via a medium people already use and trust: text.
In the US text 741741, in Canada text 686868 or 741741, and in the UK text 85258.
Read more117 – Away Game: The Hollow Earth – Fact or Fiction?
Episode 116 – The last time Heather Thomas‘s dad Pat saw his ten year old daughter alive was on the afternoon of October 1, 2000 when she went outside to play around their Cloverdale, BC, townhouse complex. After one the largest searches in RCMP history to that point, it was a hitchhiker who found Heather’s body floating facedown in Alouette Lake in Golden Ears Park. Heather had been murdered and the community was shocked when they found out it had been one of their own who had done the terrible deed.
Sources and Further Reading:
Read more116 – Close to Home – The Murder of Heather Thomas (BC)