Latest Episodes

Episode 186: Twenty years ago, on the morning of September 11, 2001, as the world watched in horror, 19 radical Islamist al-Qaeda terrorists launched a group of coordinated attacks using four commuter planes as weapons, hitting several preplanned targets in the eastern United States. Two of the airliners were flown deliberately into each of the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, a third plane smashed into the U.S. Pentagon. A fourth plane believed to have been bound for the U.S. Capitol building crashed into a field in Pennsylvania after passengers aboard the flight fought back against the terrorists who’d taken over the flight.Among the 2977 people who died as a direct result of the attacks, 24 of those were Canadian. As with many other countries, Canada stepped up to help in the immediate aftermath. What follows are details of the initial attacks and then some of the stories from that day and its aftermath.Sources and Further Reading:National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United StatesNot a drill – Canada’s air force on 9/11 | Globalnews.caOperation Support - WikipediaOperation Yellow Ribbon - WikipediaCasualties of the September 11 attacks - WikipediaPublic Safety Canada — Remembering September 11thThe Government of Canada’s response to the terrorist attacks of 9/11CANADA AND 9/11: BORDER SECURITY IN A NEW ERATHE VIEWS OF CANADIAN SCHOLARS ON THE IMPACT OF THE ANTI-TERRORISM ACTThe Cost of 9/11The Day Canadians Opened Their Homes To AmericansThe Anti-Terrorism Act and Security Measures in Canada: Public Views, Impacts and Travel ExperiencesHalifax airport employee remembers ‘grateful’ passengers and crew stranded on 9/11 | Globalnews.caNew York thanks Gander, NL for help on 9/11 with piece of World Trade Center | Globalnews.ca9/11 Canadian victims | Globalnews.caBrian Williams Memory September 11: Why Our Memory May Change | TimeRCMP officer kept stranded air passengers safe on 9/11 | Royal Canadian Mounted PoliceFront row for history: Doc reveals fates of the ‘9/11 Kids’ at school with George W. Bush | Globalnews.ca9/11 and Canada | The Canadian Encyclopedia‘Global National’ celebrates 20 years in TV special: ‘Disruption: 20 Years of Global National’ - National | Globalnews.caCan Watching Media Cause Symptoms of Trauma or PTSD? — Counselling & Therapy Services - The Juniper CenterSupport 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

Episode 176: On the night of November 13, 1974, In the sleepy community of Amityville on the coast of Long Island, New York, a 23-year-old man named Ronald (Butch) DeFeo Jr. came running into a local bar. He was distraught and claiming his whole family, his mother and father and 4 siblings, had been murdered in their home, a large Dutch Colonial house located at 112 Ocean Avenue. However, it was later determined it was Butch himself who’d annihilated his family. A year later, Butch was convicted on six counts of second-degree murder and received an equal number of sentences of 25 years to life in prison for slaughtering his family as they slept. A month after Butch DeFeo’s conviction, the Lutz family, Kathy, George and their three kids moved into the property having purchased it for a steal, $80,000. But, after only 28 days in the house, the Lutz family fled. They claimed they’d been chased out by relentless psychic torture inflicted on them by some unseen presence; they thought demonic, who’d made life in the house impossible. A 1977 book on the case by author Jay Anson titled The Amityville Horror, and subsequent film in 1979 introduced the story to an international audience and has become one of the most well-known, most covered and at the same time, controversial tales of hauntings and demonic possession in history. Sources: [The Amityville Horror Website: Hosted By George Lutz - ARCHIVED] [The Amityville Murders—The Story Behind the Haunted House and Murders - ARHIVED] [The Real Amityville Horror: The Tragic Murder of the Ronald De Feo Family - ARCHIVED] [The Amityville Files - America’s Most Famous Haunted House Controversy] [Ronald DeFeo: The Original 911 Call Transcripts of the Murders] [The Real ‘Amityville Horror’: Chilling Facts About the Crime and Haunted House - Biography] [Slain Family Drugged, Police on L:I..Report - The New York Times] [Ronald DeFeo - Murders, Movie & Family - Biography] [Reel or Real? The Truth Behind Two Hollywood Ghost Stories | Skeptical Inquirer] [Inside the ‘Amityville Horror’ house today, Long Island’s most notorious mansion - New York Post] [Morgan Knudsen - Entityseeker Paranormal Research & Teachings] Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/darkpoutine

Episode 174 - Between 1974 and 1980, a group of three mask-wearing Canadian outlaws named Stephen Reid, Patrick (Paddy) Mitchell, and Lionel Wright, in well-planned, precisely timed and carefully executed heists, robbed at least 140 banks and armoured cars in Canada and the United States making off with a total of more than $15 million in cash, gold and other valuables. Sources: [The Life and Times of the Stopwatch Gang | The Atavist Magazine] [Stephen Reid fonds - Search Research Collections] [Inside Time by Jason Young - NFB] [Paddy Mitchell’s Blog - A blog behind bars] [Read This Bank Robber’s Life Online by Patrick Mitchell | Books - Scribd.com] [The Stopwatch Gang: notorious bank robber, celebrated author dies – RCI | English] [Lionel Wright | Today in Ottawa’s History] [Stephen Reid - ABC BookWorld] [Obituary: Stephen Reid - Ottawa Citizen] [Stephen Reid’s 10 toughest prisons in North America] Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/darkpoutine

Episode 172 - To curtail social ills like alcoholism, family violence, and other unsavoury behaviours, religious and puritanical proponents of the Temperance Movement demonized alcohol throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. After numerous U.S. states had become ‘dry’ outlawing the production and sale of alcohol in the years prior, in 1919, the United States ratified the 18th amendment to their constitution, which banned the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within the country’s borders. As hoarded supplies quickly began to run dry over the next ten years, Americans looked outside their borders to keep the liquor flowing into the country.  Scores of Canadians stepped up, flouting the laws to move alcohol across the 49th parallel. Many were entrepreneurs with a daredevil spirit, a means of transportation and a desire to make a quick buck, but others were psychopathic, dangerous, mob-connected killers. We’ll talk about a couple of them here. Mike Browne's new book, MURDER, MADNESS, AND MAYHEM: Twenty-Five Tales of True Crime and Dark History, is available this November from Harper Collins Canada! You can pre-order your copy now: https://bit.ly/3oSnKXS Sources: [Prohibition: An Interactive History – Mob Museum] [Women Led the Temperance Charge – Prohibition: An Interactive History] [Captain Jack Randell] [Captain Jack Randell - Classic Sailboats] [The Sinking of The I’m Alone] [Heaving To Is a Valuable Skill for All Sailors] [Story of the I’m Alone | Decora-chan | Prince Edward Island] [Ernest Hemingway - Biographical - NobelPrize.org] [The Whisky King - Trevor Cole - eBook] [Molls of a mobster | Maclean’s | OCTOBER 5, 1987] [Biography – STARKMAN, BESHA (Tobin)] Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/darkpoutine

Episode 159: In the early 1980s near the small town of Rulo, Nebraska a white-supremacist cult leader named Michael Wayne Ryan and his band of followers took over a local farm essentially stealing it from the property owner. They burglarized nearby businesses and residences to fund their survival after the upcoming battle of Armageddon prophesied in the Books of Revelations. Ryan, a proponent the Christian Identity movement’s doctrines with links to an anti-government group called Posse Comitatus spewed antisemitic views, the supremacy of the white race and planned to take down the government. In 1982 Ryan was arrested for the torture and murder of, Luke Stice, the 5-year-old son of the property’s former owner and the torture killing of one of his followers, 27-year-old, James Thimm. Co-host: Carol Browne Sources: [Michael Wayne Ryan | Murderpedia] [Michael W. Ryan - Wikipedia] [Christian Identity and Religions of America (Joseph Baker)] [Evil Harvest: The True Story of Cult Murder in the American Heartland] [Nebraska Inmate Details] [Cult Education Institute :: Group Information Archives] [Christian Identity | Extremism in America | ADL] [ROSS] Facts [NIGHTMARE IN RULO - Chicago Tribune] [State v. Ryan :: 1989 :: Nebraska Supreme Court Decisions :: Justia] [Dennis Ryan | Omaha Magazine] [SPLCenter.org: Identity Crisis] [Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville Timeline] [PolitiFact | Donald Trump’s ‘very fine people on both sides’ remarks (transcript)] [Rick Ross, Executive Director] Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/darkpoutine

Episode 131 - For centuries, the indigenous peoples of the western Canada and in the forest along the west coast of the United States told tales of a an elusive massive, hair covered bipedal creature leaving giant footprints behind. Called Sasquatch by some, and Bigfoot by others, this giant man of the forest has been described as gentle but potentially dangerous. In this our inaugural episode on a massive topic Mike and Scott give listeners an overview of the legend, some examples of encounters and some of the theories. Special Guest Dave Scott of Spaced Out Radio tells of his own run ins with the creature. Happy Canada Day!! Sources & Further Reading: https://www.cryptozoology.com/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptozoology https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/sasquatch https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1728-8 https://www.outsideonline.com/2095096/man-who-created-bigfoot https://web.archive.org/web/20150819101546/http://www.sasquatchdatabase.com/ https://www.sasquatchcanada.com/https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1oUzrtOcvHs6Px-EfTRTdLt0cfDA&ll=50.639428965645266%2C-124.09120342344102&z=6&fbclid=IwAR1rnPwm8tRVUhqkHeT02B0geq-mV1O-Gz0eiXwLzzHp1qO87380nzTdPVc more than 900 sightings at CanadianSasquatch.com http://anyflip.com/pzdt/mwly Bigfoot Sightings https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Willison_Green http://www.cryptozoonews.com/johngreen-obit/ https://kilby.ca/learn/museum-exhibits/ https://vault.fbi.gov/bigfoot/bigfoot-part-01-of-01/view https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2fsMsPz1DQ MONSTER of the WOODS the John Green interview 1999 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKwc331mnxc John Green - Sasquatch Summit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeJ-KORUt5E Bigfoot Man or Beast 1972 Patterson-Gimlin 16mm film Robert Morgan documentary full movie Sasquatch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7SpzTeodx0 Discovering Bigfoot - movie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOxuRIfFs0w&feature=emb_title Patterson Gimlin film https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent/northwest-coast/haida https://www.sesqui.ca/en/news/kristi-lane-sinclair-on-the-legend-of-the-sasquatch/ http://www.native-languages.org/legends-bigfoot.htm http://www.sesqui.ca/en/news/legendary-creatures-from-around-the-world/ https://www.mymondotrading.com/native-meanings-symbology-myths-legends https://scenicsasquatch.com/2018/04/18/sasquatch-in-the-traditions-of-the-coast-salish-tribes/ Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/darkpoutine

Episode 129: In May of 1914, before the outbreak of WWI, a Japanese steamship called the Komagatu Maru anchored in Burrard Inlet in the Vancouver harbour. There were 376 people aboard led by a man named Baba Gurdit Singh Sirhali. Mostly from the Punjab area of India they dreamt of emigrating to Canada for a better life. Thanks to exclusionary Canadian immigration policies meant to prevent immigration form certain countries, including India, the ship was not allowed to dock. They sat in harbour, without adequate food and water for more than two and half months awaiting court challenges. They were deported in late July and led out of the harbour under naval escort. On returning to India they were diverted away from Calcutta, and when they finally landed a riot broke out with British forces during which 29 unarmed passengers were shot, 20 of whom died. Sources and Further Reading: http://komagatamarujourney.ca/intro https://globalnews.ca/news/2708235/what-was-the-komagata-maru-incident-and-why-does-it-matter/ https://pm.gc.ca/en/news/speeches/2016/05/18/komagata-maru-apology-house-commons https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Wx1KLtRgQY&feature=emb_logo Full Trudeau Speech https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIZUpTxdYZw Canada Apologizes for Racist Incident 100 Years After Rejecting Komagata Maru Ship of 370 Immigrants https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17448727.2014.895546 The Sikh Formations journal article, GHADAR MOVEMENT: A LIVING LEGACY by Nishant Upadhyay https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/komagata-maru-racist-actions-1.5607242 https://pier21.ca/explore/online/tell-me-more-about/komagata-maru https://pier21.ca/research/immigration-history/canadian-immigration-acts-and-legislation https://www.sikhiwiki.org/index.php/Komagata_Maru https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/komagata-maru https://humanrights.ca/story/the-story-of-the-komagata-maru Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/darkpoutine

Episode 128 - On the 15th of July, 2019, just outside Liard Hot Springs, B.C., the bodies of an innocent couple, Chynna Deese, 24, from Charlotte, NC, and her Australian boyfriend, Lucas Fowler, 23, were found shot to death beside their 1986 Chevy van. Police had no idea who had done this, or why. Four days later, a burning truck, registered to a young Vancouver Island man was found burning near Dease Lake, B.C. As police were attending to that scene, they were notified of another man found murdered only two km from the burning truck. This 64-year-old botanist and UBC lecturer, named Leonard Dyck. His Toyota RAV4 was missing, along with the two young men, who quickly became suspects in the murders, sparking a manhunt that took police through four Provinces and one Territory, ending in Manitoba, thousands of kilometres from where it began. Sources: [B.C. RCMP - Overview of Fort Nelson and Dease Lake Homicide Investigation] [RCMP say northern B.C. murder suspects admitted to murders on video - YouTube] [B.C. RCMP investigate double homicide of tourists along Alaska Highway] [Here’s an updated timeline of the northern B.C. murders and manhunt] [Breyer Schmegelsky’s father speaks out - YouTube] [Former classmate of Bryer Schmegelsky speaks out] Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/darkpoutine

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. Sources and Further Reading: [Flat-Earth martyr or victim? ‘Mad’ Mike Hughes dies in DIY rocket crash - National | Globalnews.ca] [At the Earth’s Core (novel) - Wikipedia] [Journey to the Center of the Earth - Wikipedia] [goodreads.com - Hollow Earth: by David Standish] [Hollow Earth - Wikipedia] [The Philosophical transactions of the Royal society of London, from their commencement in 1665, in the year 1800] [King Koresh | Sun | Stars] [Fantastically Wrong: The Legendary Scientist Who Swore Our Planet Is Hollow | WIRED] [Cyrus Reed Teed (1839-1908) - Find A Grave Memorial] [John Cleves Symmes Jr. - Wikipedia] [The Project Gutenberg eBook of Symmes’s Theory Of Concentric Spheres, by A Citizen of the United States.] [The Earth is Hollow] [Symzonia, Voyage of Discovery Index] [Phantom of the Poles Index] [Richard E. Byrd - Wikipedia] [Admiral Richard B. Byrd’s, Diary Feb. Mar. 1947] [Real footage of Admiral Richard E Byrd’s secret expedition part 2 the Russian leaks] [Admiral Byrd’s North Pole Flight to “Agartha” (diary audiobook) - YouTube] [The Inner Earth Realm of Agartha | Compass | Earth] [The Hollow Earth Is Filled With Giants, Germans, and A Little Sun - Atlas Obscura] [World Top Secret - Our Earth is Hollow !!! Decrypt | North Pole | South Pole] [ADMIRAL BYRD’S SECRET JOURNEY BEYOND THE-POLES (Tim R. Swartz)] Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/darkpoutine