Backyard History

The Dungarvon Whooper

The true story behind the chilling ghost story.
 
Around Maritime campfires we tell the tale of the Dungarvon Whooper – a macabre ghost story of a cook who was murdered for a bag of money, and who haunted the forests making screaming noises that sounded like whoops.
The story was based on actual mysterious incidents around Miramichi in the mid-1800s. In 1896 one Fredericton reporter may have discovered the true story behind those haunting screams. And his true story is even stranger than the ghost story…
 
https://backyardhistory.ca/popular/f/the-dungarvon-who

The Year With No Summer

A grey mist hung over the land which the rain never cleared. Snow fell in June and July. Frost came in August. Crops didn’t grow. The spectre of starvation hung over the Maritimes.
One year Summer never arrived in the Maritimes, earning that miserable year the nicknames; The Poverty Year; Eighteen Hundred and Froze To Death, and The Year Without A Summer.
https://backyardhistory.ca/f/the-year-without-a-summer
 

Drinking in the Maritimes

If you think Maritimers drink a lot today, wait till you hear how much earlier generations of Maritimers drank!

Getting Away With Murder

A tragic true story of forbidden love, bloody murder, and miscarried justice in Fredericton.
 
Elizabeth Driscoll was considered the most beautiful young woman in Fredericton. “A very sweet, ladylike girl” wrote famous British author Juliana Horatia Ewing who happened to be in town during the murder, trial, and subsequent riots. "But," Juliana wrote, "Elizabeth’s family has always been a bad lot.”
 
https://backyardhistory.ca/popular/f/getting-away-with-murder

The Rise of Mob Boss Joe Walnut

After a small town mob boss starts making big moves in the black market, a straight-laced British detective goes undercover to try to figure out what is going on.

Moscow to Miscou - The Crashed Soviet Bomber

Much to a small village's surprise, a Soviet bomber crash lands in a bog. The world turns its attention to the 1939 race to get to first reach the pilots.

The Legend of the Legless Mystery Man

Unraveling a legendary Maritimes mystery.
 
A few days before Christmas in 1859 a mysterious stranger was found freezing, but still alive, alone deep in the woods. Disabled from his injuries, he would be murdered to save the town money. Or did he escape death and start a new life?
Coincidentally, around the same time he goes missing in New Brunswick, a mysterious legless man washes up on the beach of Sandy Cove, Nova Scotia. 
https://backyardhistory.ca/articles/f/the-legless-mystery-man

Was the First Car Invented in Canada?

Newspaper reports tell the story of a crazy invention seen driving around the streets of Saint John NB. Was it the first car to be invented?

The Great Fredericton Circus Riot

A circus rolls in to small town Fredericton, but tensions between the performers and the locals soon boil over. A dead snake is thrown on the stage, and a riot erupts..

Abducted by a U-Boat

During the First World War, the crew of a Canadian naval vessel was abducted by a German U-boat, but were surprised to find what they were met with on board.
 
https://backyardhistory.ca/f/ship-crew-gets-captured-by-u-boat-in-bay-of-fundy-served-lunch

Oscar Wilde’s Tour of the Maritimes

When a young Oscar Wilde toured the Maritimes, not everything went according to plan.
 
When Oscar Wilde’s tour of the Maritimes was being booked, it was not expected to be a success. Despite being heckled in Fredericton, and reports circulating around the world that he got arrested in Moncton, the tour was a rousing success. Every date was sold out, scalpers were selling tickets outside at outrageous prices, Nova Scotia's Governor gave him a personal tour of Halifax, he received rapturous receptions, extra dates had to be added, and a wave of people began copying his style across the region.
 
https://backyardhistory.ca/f/oscar-wildes-tour-of-the-maritimes

Finding the Lost Electric City

Lost deep in the woods of Nova Scotia on a maze of logging roads, I came across a faded sign saying “The Electric City - La Nouvelle France.” Intrigued, I followed it, and found the abandoned ruins of what had once been an egalitarian utopian society. It had been among the first places in the Maritimes to have electricity and running water, and even boasted a train which ran on wooden rails.
 
https://backyardhistory.ca/articles/f/the-electric-city

The Mystery of Mount House

What are the origins of the mysterious Mount House and is it the oldest building in The Maritimes?

Wolf Attacks in New Brunswick

There aren't any wolves in New Brunswick, right? Well not according to these 19th century accounts of wolf attacks that took place throughout the province.

The Race Against Death

When disease breaks out in a remote northern community, two ace pilots battle the elements of a Canadian Winter to bring them much needed medicine.

The First Flight in Canada

A tale filled with ups and downs, as one man tries desperately to get his balloon into air, in what was the first ever flight in Canada, which took place in Saint John.

Christmas: 1868

Christmas through the eyes and told through the diary entries of average  people living in the 19th century.

Santa and the Flaming Tree Incident

It took a while for people to adopt having Christmas trees in their homes. Perhaps because they used to be lit with open flames, and Santa once nearly met his end because of a flaming Christmas tree!

The Fairy Who Saved Christmas

The story of how Christmas was banned, and how before Santa Claus became popular, children hung the stocking by the chimney with care in hopes that Mab, Queen of The Fairies would soon be there.

The First Christmas in North America

Explore the unexpected -and heartwarming- tale of the first Christmases in North America. Just like the American Thanksgiving myth, excet actually real!

”Will My People Ever Forgive Me?”

An unhealthy lifestyle leads to coronation drama when King Bertie is set to take the throne but needs his appendix removed the day of the ceremony.

Disguise & Heroism: The Secret Life of Sarah Emma Edmonds

A young woman disguises herself as a man to go and fight in the American Civil war as a soldier, nurse, and spy.

The Nazi Spy Who Came To The Maritimes

Tasked with a mission set to cripple Canada's supply routes during the second world war, a Nazi spy abandons his orders when the locals offer him nothing but kindness.

Just Two Minutes To Go

Just two minutes before the end of the First World War, the final soldier fell: Nova Scotian George Price.

Joe Walnut and the Madawaska Mob

The Maritimes' biggest Prohibition Era rum running kingpin.
 
When you think of the Prohibition Era, the mind immediately goes to famous American gangsters like Al Capone. But The Maritimes were home to our own rum running gangsters, the biggest, most powerful and widely feared gang was “the Madawaska Mob” led by a man who chose the distinctly less-than-intimidating alias “Joe Walnut.”
 
Joe Walnut was described by his nemesis, Detective William Carr as “Tall and slim, agile as a cat, with thin, cruel lips. His eyes were black as coal, yet slightly protruding, with white bloodshot from constant drinking. He was reported to have a fiendish temper, and few scruples. He was a real adventurer – a relic of the old buccaneering type. There was nothing on earth he enjoyed more than to match his wits against those of the men who represented law and order.”
 
https://backyardhistory.ca/popular/f/joe-walnut-and-the-madawaska-mob

The Lake Utopia Monster

What lurks beneath the surface of Lake Utopia? Eye witness accounts tell the tale of a monster who stalked fishermen and visitors of the lake for years.