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In Victoria, B.C., on the rainy evening of Friday, September 29, 1899, on her way home from work alone, forty-four-year-old Agnes Bings walked across a railroad bridge, cutting through the Songhees Reserve as she did every other night without incident. This night, however, would be her last. Someone took her life somewhere during the 20-minute walk between her bakery on Store Street and the Bings family home on Russell Street. The next morning, Agnes Bing’s body was discovered. She’d been strangled, and her body mutilated. Her slaying has never been solved, although there have been a few suspects, interestingly including the world’s most famous serial killer, Jack the Ripper, whose 1888 crimes also remain unsolved.

In January of 1922, the first of a series of fires broke out on a farm in the small rural community of Caledonia Mills in Antigonish County, Nova Scotia. The family who lived at the farm, Alexander, 70, and sixty-nine-year-old Janet MacDonald, 69, and their 15-year-old adopted daughter Mary-Ellen, claimed the unexplained blazes, 30 in all, had begun in rapid succession in places not close to either wood stove. The fires and other terrifying occurrences that drove them out of the home, they believed, were caused by a malicious poltergeist bent on their destruction and focused around Mary-Ellen. News of the events brought renowned international investigators of things paranormal, even catching the attention of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes detective stories.

On the morning of the 8th of July 1917, thirty-nine-year-old Tom Thomson, a renowned Canadian painter and skilled outdoorsman, set off well-supplied for a day-long fishing excursion in his canoe on Canoe Lake in Algonquin Provincial Park in Whitney, Ontario. A canoe, later identified as Thomson’s, was found floating upside down in the lake later on the same day. When Tom did not return from his fishing trip the next day, his friends became concerned. Eight days after Thomson first set out, Dr. G. W. (Goldwyn) Howland, a cottager from Toronto, spotted Tom’s bloated and decomposed body floating in the lake. An examination of Thomson’s body uncovered a large bruise on the right side of his head, and blood had come out of his right ear. Thomson’s death was quickly ruled an accident, and no police investigation occurred. Thomson was laid to rest in Mowat Cemetery near Canoe Lake, where he’d died. However, Thomson’s older brother George demanded the body be exhumed. Two days later, Tom’s grave was re-opened, the casket removed, and he was re-interred on July 21 in the family plot beside the Leith Presbyterian Church in what is now the Municipality of Meaford, Ontario. Officially the matter was closed, but mythology has grown around Thomson’s death. In the intervening years since Thomson’s death, investigations by sleuths, amateur and professional, have come to various conflicting conclusions. Some agree with the initial findings that Thomson died due to accidental drowning. Others, however, suggest that Tom Thomson was murdered.

Episode 231: Gerald Vincent Bull was a smart cookie. He graduated from the University of Toronto at 20, got a master’s degree at age 21, and at 22 earned a Ph.D. in aeronautical engineering from the University of Toronto’s newly created Institute of Aerodynamics. Magazines touted him the ‘boy rocket scientist’. Nations sought him for his innovative ideas regarding long range artillery, ballistics and other military related endeavours. He was charged several times with breaching arms embargoes, even spending time in prison, a sore spot for the proud scientist. Eventually he became involved in Iraq’s ‘Project Babylon’ in which he was asked personally by then Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein to build a Supergun which would launch weapons into space, giving Hussein the capability of bombing targets 1000’s of kilometres away. This obviously worried Iraq’s neighbours in the Middle East. Before the project was completed Gerald Bull was assassinated, shot five times outside his apartment building in Brussels, Belgium. A lot of nations hated Gerald Bull and some, no doubt, wanted him dead, but it remains a mystery who was behind his killing. It isn’t clear who actually pulled the trigger in the murder of Gerald Bull, most likely it was someone either within, or acting on behalf of, one of those governments who’d felt threatened by Bull’s activities and alliances.

Episode 222: On Sunday, November 12,1988 beloved 36-year-old high school teacher named Byron Carr was found by his family dead in the bedroom of his home in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. He’d been strangled to death and stabbed. Byron’s wallet had been stolen, and ominously on his wall, written in pen, were the words “I will kill again.” Investigators revealed that Byron was a closeted gay man, and had been involved in a consensual sexual encounter with an as yet unidentified man prior to his death. It is presumed that it was this man who killed Byron. No one has ever been brought to justice in Byron’s death.Anyone with any information regarding this crime, no matter how insignificant it may seem, is asked to call the  Bell Aliant sponsored Byron Carr Hot Line 1-877-566-3952 or PEI Crime Stoppers 1-800-222-TIPS.Promo:Crimes from the EastSources:Homicides | Charlottetown Police ServicesPEI Crime Stoppers - HomicidesCharlottetown police reopen 1980s murder case | CBC NewsSkimpy underwear connected to 1988 murder | CBC NewsCharlottetown police release sketch of possible Byron Carr killer | SaltWireByron Carr murder accomplice identified by police | CBC News2013, John Carr interview | CBC.ca‘Give this family closure’: Police still working to solve 30-year-old Byron Carr murder | CBC NewsUnsolved Case Files Canada: Murder of Byron Carr After Sexual Encounter With Another MaleCold case, warm memories: Byron Carr’s friends, family want his 1988 P.E.I. murder solved | SaltWireOn the hunt | SaltWireBrad MacConnell Named New Chief of Police | Charlottetown Police Servicesr/PEI: Byron Carr r/UnresolvedMysteries: Byron CarrCANADA — Canada — Byron Carr, 36, Schoolteacher — Nov’ 88 | WebsleuthsReader’s Digest: Canada’s Most Notorious Cold CasesPublic Attitudes toward Homosexuality — Tom W. SmithTIMELINE | Same-sex rights in Canada | CBC NewsLesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights in Canada | The Canadian EncyclopediaLGBT+ Pride 2021 Global Survey points to increasingly positive attitudes in Canada toward LGBT+ individuals | IpsosR. v. MacDonald, 2004 CanLII 9284 (ON CA), Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/darkpoutine

Episode 218: The history of humanity is rife with stories of unexplained things in the skies above us. Handed down first verbally and pictographically by way of depictions painted on cave walls and then in written accounts, there are scores of stories about strange lights and objects in the sky. Throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first, as human technology has improved, we have been able to better document and disseminate information about these sightings. Over the next two episodes, we have a look at unidentified flying objects, more commonly called UFOs. In this first episode we’ll take a brief look at the phenomena itself, the stigma surrounding it and recent admissions by governmental officials of the existence of these objects. As well, we will peek at some of the stories from right here in Canada that we haven’t already covered. I have had to pick and choose some of the more interesting and detailed reports, as there are more than 1000 reports per year and the database of reports in Canada alone is massive. Sources:Chris Hadfield on exploring Mars and the growing conversation about UFOs | CBC RadioFormer Arizona Governor says he saw a UFO during the 1997 Phoenix Lights - Wikinews, the free news sourceThe Canadian UFO Report by Chris A. Rutkowski, Geoff Dittman - Ebook | ScribdParaResearchers Of Ontario - Welcome To Our Space On The WebSimeon Perkins Records UFO sighting October 12, 1796 | Queens County MuseumCanadian DND Report: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP)Canada’s UFOs: The search for the unknown - Library and Archives Canadahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Magnet_(UFO)Wilbert Smith on UFOs Project Magnet and his Contacts with the Boys from Topside — YouTubePentagon UFO videos - WikipediaDocuments | NAVAIR - FOIACivil Aviation Daily Occurrence Reporting System — CADORS: Report 2016P1783Credible UFO Reports Are Being Ignored, Declassified Canadian Government Documents RevealUFO sightings: Canada’s defence minister briefed | CTV Newshttp://www.psican.orghttp://pararesearchers.orgList of artificial objects leaving the Solar System - WikipediaUS10144532B2 — Craft using an inertial mass reduction device — Google PatentsWalker ‘stunned’ to see ship hovering high above sea off Cornwall | Science | The GuardianNINA HAGEN 1985 “Gods Of Aquarius” (English) IN EKSTASY — YouTubeSupport the show: https://www.patreon.com/darkpoutine

Episode 217: In the early hours of March 27, 2010, Holly Bartlett, 31, was found unconscious and badly injured under the A. Murray MacKay bridge in Halifax, Nova Scotia, 350 metres away from her home. She died the next day in a Halifax Hospital. Holly, a grad student at Dalhousie University, was fiercely independent despite her disability. She had been completely blind since she was thirteen years old. Holly’s autopsy indicated she’d imbibed alcohol and that she had sustained “blunt force injury to the head (…) attributable to a fall” and that the manner of death was accidental. Police did a brief investigation determining that after cabbing home from a night out with a friend, Holly became disoriented and lost due to the combination of her alcohol consumption and her blindness. Somehow, Holly had wandered down two steeply graded streets away from her home and toward the harbour, had made her way through a hole in a chain link fence, down a steep embankment, and fell 7 metres off a concrete abutment under the bridge across Halifax harbour. They called Holly’s death accidental. Holly’s family and friends in the Justice for Holly group were not satisfied and pressed for further investigation into her death. Sources:What Happened to Holly Bartlett? | CNIBDocumentary What Happened to Holly Bartlett Seasons | Accessible Media Inc.Podcast What Happened to Holly Bartlett Podcast | Accessible Media Inc.Sights Unseen — YouTubeHolly Elizabeth Bartlett 1978-2010 - Macleans.caHolly Bartlett witness changes key details in death investigation | CBC NewsReview to be held into blind woman’s death: Halifax police | Globalnews.caExternal review confirms 2010 death of Holly Bartlett was accidental - Halifax | Globalnews.caPolice handling of Holly Bartlett’s death criticized in review | CBC NewsReview of Investigation Into The Death of Holly Bartlett | PDF | Polygraph | VictimologyHolly Bartlett’s unlikely journey | City | Halifax, Nova Scotia | THE COASTPolice announce independent review into Holly Bartlett’s death | News | Halifax, Nova Scotia | THE COASTTelling Holly’s Bartlett’s story, again | Arts + Culture | Halifax, Nova Scotia | THE COASTHolly Bartlett’s family is angry with Halifax policeWhat happened to Holly Bartlett? : UnresolvedMysteriesHolly Bartlett: Autopsy & Clothing - Album on ImgurImgur: Map, based on police reportHome | CNIBNEADS - Financial Aid DirectoryJAWS® – Freedom ScientificSupport the show: https://www.patreon.com/darkpoutine

Episode 215: Mary Celeste, formerly Amazon, was an American registered, Nova Scotia built brigantine that was found abandoned on December 4, 1872, some 740 km off the Azores, Portugal. The fate of the 10 people aboard remains a mystery almost 150 years later.Sources:Fisherman’s Memorial | Lunenburg NSSable Island | Maritime Museum of the AtlanticThe Rime of the Ancient Mariner (text of 1834) by… | Poetry FoundationThe Mystery of the Mary Celeste. Part One: The Facts - Daily NauticaThe Mystery of the Mary Celeste. Part Two: Theories - Daily NauticaThe Mystery of the Mary Celeste. Part Three: the Rediscovery of the Cursed Ship - Daily NauticaSolved: The Mystery of the Mary Celeste | UCL News - UCL – University College LondonMary Celeste - The Arthur Conan Doyle EncyclopediaMary Celeste Monument – Diligent River, Nova Scotia - Atlas ObscuraMary Celeste | The Canadian EncyclopediaMary Celeste - Wikipedia6 Famous Unsolved Mysteries That Have Totally Been Solved | Cracked.comWeetabix Mary Celeste — YouTubeThe story of the “Mary Celeste” : Fay, Charles Edey : Internet ArchiveGhost ship : the mysterious true story of the Mary Celeste and her missing crew : Hicks, Brian, 1966 : Internet ArchivePhantom Ship , The : Henry Passmore : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet ArchiveThe Galley of Count Arnaldos, by Henry Wadsworth LongfellowColossal Squid ~ MarineBio Conservation Society Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/darkpoutine

Episode 213:Toronto theatre magnate and enigmatic millionaire Ambrose J. Smalldisappeared without a trace on December 2, 1919, only a day after having made a lucrative deal to sell his ownership interests in his chain of theatres including the Grand Opera House in Toronto. People interested in the case suspected one of two theories were the most likely for the tycoon’s abrupt disappearance — either Small had run off and had into hiding under his own steam, or someone had abducted and very likely killed him. This case has become one of Canada’s oldest mysteries as more than 100 years later, there is yet no answer as to Small’s ultimate fate.Sources:Ambrose Small Case | The Canadian EncyclopediaCanada West | The Canadian Encyclopedia$1,750,000 in 1919 → 2022 | Inflation CalculatorBiography – SMALL, AMBROSE JOSEPH – Volume XIV (1911-1920) – Dictionary of Canadian BiographyDisappearance of Ambrose Small - WikipediaThe Doe Network: Ambrose Small - 1891DMONThe Mysterious Disappearance of Ambrose J. Small | Grand Theatre LondonWhat Really Happened to Ambrose Small? | Maclean’s | January 15, 1951How the mystery of Ambrose Small became Toronto’s most captivating cold case | The StarThe Mystery Of Ambrose J. Small, The Missing Millionaire - Ripley’s Believe It or Not!Ambrose Small, Toronto’s most sensational mysteryThe Grand Mystery of Ambrose SmallAmbrose Small, The Ghost of the Grand TheatreInvestigations following the finding of these human bones near Humber… News Photo - Getty ImagesAMBROSE SMALL: CANADA’S COLDEST CASE CLOSED!The Missing Millionaire by Katie Daubs | Penguin Random House CanadaCanadian Mysteries of the Unexplained: Investigations Into the Fantastic, the Bizarre and the DisturbingWild Talents by Charles Fort - Ebook | ScribdMysteries of Ontario by John Robert Colombo - Ebook | ScribdGhost Stories of Canada by John Robert Colombo, Jillian Hulme Gilliland - Ebook | ScribdSupport the show: https://www.patreon.com/darkpoutine

Episode 182: This is a story of two talented people whose final interaction would lead to the death of one of comedy’s rising stars and a notorious place in Hollywood history for the other. On March 5, 1982, after an all too brief but stellar career in film and television, actor and comedian John Belushi, 33, was found dead in his bungalow at the infamous Chateau Marmont on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California. Investigators soon discovered that a Canadian woman, Catherine Evelyn or Cathy Smith, was the last person with the star and had been the person who had supplied and shot him up with the fatal overdose that killed him. Sources: United States of America and Smith, Re, 1984 CanLII 3510 (ON SC), Re United States of America and Smith, 1983 CanLII 1817 (ON SC), 1984 CanLII 1913 (ON CA) | Re United States of America and Smith | CanLII ‘I Killed John Belushi’ — Secrets Of Tragic Comic’s Star-Studded Death! Chasing Dragon by Smith Cathy, Signed - AbeBooks Wired: The Short Life & Fast Times of John Belushi Online by Bob Woodward | Books Read California Babylon Online by Kristan Lawson and Anneli Rufus | Books The Death of John Belushi at the Chateau Marmont Gone 25 years, Belushi’s impact still felt Cathy Smith - Wikipedia Cathy Smith, who admitted to killing John Belushi, was a woman of mystery - The Globe and Mail Gordon Lightfoot here. Singer/songwriter for over 50 years whose work has been performed by everyone from Elvis to Barbra. AMA! : IAmA The Tragic Real-Life Story Of John Belushi The Weight - Remastered - song by The Band | Spotify Sundown - song by Gordon Lightfoot | Spotify High and Dry - song by Gordon Lightfoot | Spotify Flash Of Fire - song by Hoyt Axton | Spotify Addictions Treatment Helplines in Canada | Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/darkpoutine