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First, we look at a little more about the history of UFO sightings in Canada and elsewhere. These are not a new phenomena. In the show’s second half, we learn about a series of UFO sightings that occurred in the 1970s in Manitoba, particularly around Carman. The sightings garnered significant attention because of their frequency and because many credible individuals, including police officers and other professionals, witnessed them. The name “Charlie Red Star” was given to the object due to its bright red hue and was often described as a glowing, pulsating, and sometimes changing shape. Sightings of the object frequently mentioned its ability to move at incredible speeds and make sudden maneuvers that seemed beyond the capability of conventional aircraft of that era. The phenomenon of Charlie Red Star drew many UFO enthusiasts, reporters, and investigators to the area in the hope of witnessing or gaining some understanding of the mysterious object. While there were numerous speculations and theories regarding the nature of Charlie Red Star, including secret military projects, extraterrestrial craft, or atmospheric phenomena, the true identity and nature of the objects remain unexplained. The events surrounding Charlie Red Star have since become a notable chapter in the annals of UFO lore.

In this, the second episode of our five-part Spooktober series, we dive into three ghostly tales from coast to coast or, to coin a phrase, ghost to ghost. First, we’re off to northern New Brunswick to learn about the ghostly Fire Ship of Chaleur Bay, said to sail the waters of the bay intermittently terrifying mariners. Next, we head to Wallaceburg, Ontario, where, in the 1830s, violent poltergeist activity known as the Baldoon Mystery occurred. Last, we come back west to B.C., where in a small museum in Quesnel resides Mandy the haunted doll.

Canada, the second-largest country in the world, is a vast land of dense forests, expansive tundras, and rugged coastlines. Our diverse landscapes are home to folklore, legends, and tales of mysterious creatures. These elusive beings have captured the imaginations of locals, researchers, and enthusiasts for generations. In this, the first of five spookier-themed episodes for October, let’s explore a few of Canada's most intriguing legendary creatures. We’ll learn about a weird giant frog in Coleman, New Brunswick, a mythical people-eating creature in B.C., grumpy fairies in Quebec, and a few mythical and often terrifying creatures from the indigenous lore of Canada’s north.

On July 9, 1928, the Alberta Provincial Police were alerted to a mass murder at the Booher farm in Mannville, Alberta. Upon arrival, they discovered the bodies of Rose Booher, her oldest son Fred, and two hired hands, Gabriel Grombey and Bill Rozak, all shot dead. The younger son, Vernon Booher, was unharmed. He’d been out in the fields working that evening and, after hearing shots, ran back to the house to his mother and brother dead. It was he who’d sounded the alarm. Two Booher daughters were in town during the incident. The father of the family, Henry, also away during the killings, was devastated. Vernon displayed little emotion and soon became the number one suspect in the slayings. He denied involvement, and the murder weapon, a rifle, was missing. Dr. Adolph Maximilian Langsner, an Austrian criminologist and psychiatrist who claimed he could read brainwaves, was brought in to assist. He claimed he read Vernon’s mind, and confirmed he was the killer. Langsner also directed police to the missing firearm, claiming he’d drawn a map taken from Vernon’s thoughts. Presented with the formerly missing rifle, Vernon confessed, stating he killed his mother over her disapproval of his girlfriend and then eliminated witnesses. But his confession was disallowed. Why? His defence attorneys claimed Dr. Langsner had coerced him into it through hypnotism.

The 1612 Lancashire trials of the accused Pendle witches, one of the most notorious witchcraft trials in English history, took place during the reign of King James I. Twelve individuals from the area around Pendle Hill in Lancashire were accused of practicing witchcraft and brought to trial at Lancaster Assizes. Of these, ten were found guilty and hanged, one was found not guilty, and another died in prison. The trial is particularly remembered for the testimonies of the accused, especially that of the young girl, Jennet Device, whose evidence played a significant role in the convictions. While the immediate aftermath of the Pendle trials saw heightened witch paranoia, the extremity of the trials and the nature of the evidence also sowed seeds of skepticism. Over time, as more and more trials took place, some segments of society began to question the validity of witchcraft accusations and the reliability of the testimony of children and confessions obtained under pressure.

On the evening of June 24, 1992, after she failed to pick her daughter up from school, 41-year-old Gladys Wakabayshi’s estranged husband, Shinji and her daughter, Elisa, discovered her body in the hallway of their home in Shaughnessy, a posh Vancouver neighbourhood. Gladys had been brutally slashed and bled out on the floor. Early on, after uncovering an affair between Derek James, a long-time family friend, and Gladys Wakabayashi, Jean Ann James, 52, Derek’s wife, became the number one suspect in the murder. Jean Ann refused to talk, leaving the police without enough physical evidence to lay charges. The crime would go unsolved for more than 15 years before Jean Ann James was arrested after she confessed to the murder of her friend during an intricate Mr. Big sting.

In this episode, we venture into a controversial and tragic chapter of Canada's legal history. It intertwines public health, personal relationships, and the weight of the law. We're talking about the history of HIV non-disclosure cases in Canada. Part of our journey takes us to the early 2000s, zeroing in on Johnson Aziga, a Ugandan-born Canadian resident. His name would soon become synonymous with a landmark legal battle challenging the boundaries of consent, deception, and responsibility. Aziga was diagnosed with HIV in 1996, but his numerous subsequent relationships would cast him into the national spotlight. Two women, specifically, would become central to his story: both entered into relationships with Aziga, and HIV-related complications tragically took both. The women’s names are protected under publication bans, so we cannot speak to their biographies. Regardless, their untimely deaths would raise a storm of questions about trust, disclosure, and the duty one owes to their intimate partners. Aziga was convicted of murder and deemed a dangerous offender, but argued that his race and status as an immigrant weighed against him. In 2023, the murder convictions were overturned and replaced with manslaughter charges substituted in their place.

Aurore Gagnon is probably one of the most tragic figures in twentieth-century Canadian history. She was only ten years old when she died of exhaustion and blood poisoning in her hometown of Sainte-Philomène-de-Fortierville, Quebec, on February 12, 1920. An autopsy revealed at least 54 wounds on her body, presumably inflicted over time by her stepmother Marie-Anne Houde and her father, Télesphore Gagnon. Both were later convicted for their roles in the little girl’s death. Aurore Gagnon’s story has left a lasting impact on Quebec's cultural memory, inspiring plays, films, and discussions about child abuse and children's rights in the province.

On the night of Saturday, October 25th, 1857, in Beaver Lake, a part of Simond’s Parish in St John County, a heinous crime was committed unlike anything ever seen in New Brunswick up to that point. Sure, there had been murders and arsons, but those were often the result of heated arguments or drunken brawls. But this crime was different. It’s hard to believe that anyone in New Brunswick would coldly and calculatedly murder a man named Robert McKenzie, his wife, and his four helpless children, all for the sake of money, and then burn down their property to destroy the evidence. The perpetrators, three Irish Catholics, Hugh Breen and Patrick Slavin Sr. and Slavin’s teenage son, Patrick Jr., targeted the protestant Mackenzie family, robbing and murdering them. This crime, committed on that fateful Saturday night, was, to that point, unprecedented in New Brunswick. Some still feel the crime rivals the worst in the province’s history.

In the early morning hours of July 8, 2019, Vancouver Island RCMP launched a manhunt for two inmates who had escaped from William Head, a minimum security federal institution in Metchosin, south of Victoria. The two men, James Lee Busch and Zachary Armitage had walked away from William Head the day before. The fugitives were arrested on July 9 after an off-duty RCMP officer spotted them in Esquimalt. On July 12, RCMP found the body of 60-year-old Martin Keith Payne, who had not shown up for work, at his home on Brookview Drive, in the community of Metchosin. Payne's suspicious death initiated an 11-month investigation led by the Vancouver Island Integrated Major Crime Unit, involving several police agencies. On June 12, 2020, an RCMP news release reported that the escapees, Busch and Armitage, had been charged with first-degree murder concerning Martin Payne’s death. This event sparked serious debate about the decision-making process that led to these two individuals, both with histories of violent crime, being housed in a minimum-security facility. How had they simply walked away from their incarceration to murder Martin Payne?