Dark Poutine - True Crime and Dark History

Episode 259: After she’d been missing only one day, on the evening of May 7th, 2002, the body of 14-year-old Jessica Grimard was discovered by her father in a stream within a wooded area near her home in Rivière-des-Prairies, a suburban borough on the eastern tip of the city of Montreal, Quebec. As her killer had placed Jessica in the water, washing away evidence, there was not much for the cops to go on. At first, police considered that Jessica had been killed by someone known to her. However, thanks to a few strange twists, the case would head in a new direction, eventually capturing a known sexual predator and suspected serial killer who had bragged about his crimes. The boasting included confessions of responsibility for two other 1993 deaths around Montreal, initially ruled accidental, that of 12-year-old Christine Speich and 20-year-old Anna Lisa Cefali. The killer had used water and fire to cover his crimes. Sources: Angelo Colalillo | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers Une marche pour commémorer le triste événement | TVA Nouvelles Meurtre de Jessica Grimard: un an plus tard, la douleur reste vive | TVA Nouvelles Grimard (Jessica) - La Mémoire du Québec 2000 CanLII 6067 (QC CQ) | R. c. Paccione | CanLII 2003 CanLII 10002 (QC CQ) | R. c. Chalfoun | CanLII 2005 CanLII 49803 (QC CS) | R. v. Colalillo | CanLII 2005 CanLII 49804 (QC CS) | R. v. Colalillo | CanLII 2006 QCCS 274 (CanLII) | R. c. Colalillo | CanLII 2006 QCCS 7903 (CanLII) | R. c. Colalillo | CanLII Search - Newspapers.com: Angelo Colalillo The Man Behind the Letters | PressReader.com Letters to be examined in Chalfoun trial | CBC News Colalillo laisse derrière lui son testament criminel | TVA Nouvelles Colallilo (Angelo) - La Mémoire du Québec West Island man who sexually assaulted about 20 women denied parole | Montreal Gazette Cold Careers and Occupational Hazards: The Occupational Preferences of Canadian Serial Killers Accused Quebec serial killer dies in hospital | CBC Quebec murder suspect took own life: report | CBC News The sudden death of a man ‘like a wolf amongst the lambs’ - The Globe and Mail The Murderer Who Used Water To Hide His Trace | Real Stories |YouTube Cold North Killers: Canadian Serial Murder | Scribd Angelo Colalillo (1964-2006) - Find a Grave Memorial Lifeless in a Stream | Real Crime | By Real Crime Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 258: On the morning of February 20, 1989, stay-at-home mother of two Janice Faye Johnson was found unconscious, gravely injured and barely clinging to life at the foot of a flight of basement stairs in the Shelburne, Nova Scotia home she shared with her family, Clayton Norman Johnson and daughters Darla and Dawn. Even though she was still alive when she was found by a neighbour, who called for an ambulance immediately, Janice died in the hospital just after noon that day. More than three years after her death, police arrested Janice’s husband, Clayton, a high school industrial arts teacher, and charged him with first-degree murder. Consistently maintaining his innocence throughout subsequent proceedings, on May 4, 1993, Clayton was found guilty of the first-degree murder of his wife. He was later sentenced to life in prison — his appeals, citing spurious forensic evidence, were rejected. He spent the next five years in prison. Sources: Clayton Johnson - Innocence Canada Crown Halts Clayton Johnson Murder Prosecution - Government of Nova Scotia, Canada Clayton Johnson Settlement - Government of Nova Scotia, Canada Clayton Johnson: Innocent man convicted by so-called experts Clayton Johnson walks as Crown balks at new trial | CBC News Shelburne man, wrongly convicted of wife’s murder, dies | CBC News 1998 NSCA 14 (CanLII) | R. v. Johnson | CanLII 1994 NSCA 79 (CanLII) | R. v. Johnson | CanLII Clayton Johnson - Wrongful Conviction - Pyzer Criminal Lawyers Clayton Johnson: obituary and death notice on InMemoriam Clayton Johnson wrongful murder conviction: Tide of Suspicion (1998) - The Fifth Estate — YouTube Wrongly convicted man cleared in wife’s death - The Globe and Mail Accident or Murder? | Forensic Files Wiki | Fandom “Forensic Files” Accident or Murder? (TV Episode 1999) - Reference View - IMDb Obituary | Clayton Norman Johnson of Barrington, Nova Scotia | H.M. Huskilson’s Funeral Home Scribd | Justice Miscarried: Inside Wrongful Convictions in Canada  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 257: 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. Sources: HISTORY OF DOWNTOWN VICTORIA | LIVE SITE Home | Victoria Canada’s Jack the Ripper Pinkerton’s National Detective Agency Records Relating To The Murder of Agnes Bings | PDF Historical police records give a glimpse into Victoria’s seamier side | Times Colonist The British Colonist 1858-1961 Agnes Bings (1855-1899) - Find a Grave Memorial Murder & Mutilation In Victoria - Jack The Ripper Forums - Ripperology For The 21st Century Unlocking the Dark Secrets of Victoria - Monday Magazine Coroner Inquests in BC around the time of Agnes Bings’ Murder Seeing Dead People E23 — Mrs. Bings Meets a Madman The History of Garrick’s Head Pub | Victoria, BC, Canada Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 256: Colten Boushie was a 22-year-old Indigenous man from the Red Pheasant First Nation in Saskatchewan, Canada, who was shot and killed on a farm near Biggar, Saskatchewan, on August 9, 2016. His death received widespread attention and led to a national conversation in Canada about systemic racism and the treatment of Indigenous peoples in the criminal justice system. The trial and acquittal of the farmer who was charged with Boushie’s death, a man named Gerald Stanley, also sparked controversy and led to calls for reforms in the Canadian justice system. Sources: Red Pheasant Cree Nation – A prospering Nation 2017 SKQB 366 (CanLII) | R v Stanley | CanLII 2017 SKQB 367 (CanLII) | R v Stanley | CanLII 2018 SKQB 27 (CanLII) | R v Stanley | CanLII Colten’s friend Eric talking about the shooting | Twitter Victim, friends needed help with flat tire before farmyard shooting: witness | 650 CKOM DocumentCloud | FSIN Media Release The night Colten Boushie died | The Globe and Mail The Legal Trial of Gerald Stanley - a second look at the case through the lens of law | CanLII Connects CRCC Final Report on the Death of Colten Boushie ‘Have to keep talking about it,’ says Boushie’s mother, five years after Stanley acquittal | Star Phoenix Colten Boushie, Gerald Stanley and a case that’s hard to defend | The Star Read ‘The Rodney King of Western Canada’: Killing of Indigenous Man Heads to Trial Online Who was Colten Boushie? | CBC News Colten Boushie Archives - APTN News ‘White Lives Matter’ signs show up in North Battleford Saskatchewan Debbie Baptiste | Canada’s National Observer: News & Analysis Brad Wall - Racism has no place in Saskatchewan. | Facebook We Will Stand Up | CBC Docs POV |YouTube Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 255: On September 28, 2016, a police dog discovered the nude and decomposing body of a young woman on the grounds of Gabriola House, a famous and, at that time, abandoned mansion on Davie Street in Vancouver’s West End. The body was that of Natsumi Kogawa, 30, a Japanese woman who’d been in Canada on a Visa to study English since May that year. Natsumi’s friends and family had not heard from her since September 8, and she’d been officially listed as a missing person four days after that.  On the same day as discovering Ms. Kogawa’s body, police arrested William Victor Schneider, a man from Vernon, B.C. Schneider’s brother Warren turned him into the police after William had told him where he’d put Natsumi’s body and that he ‘done something bad.’ Warren also recalled to police about overhearing a phone conversation during which he said he’d thought William had admitted to having killed Natsumi. The legal proceedings that followed dragged on into the fall of 2022. Sources: Hirosaki – Travel guide at Wikivoyage Tonari Gumi - Japanese Community Volunteers Association - Vancouver, Canada FIND Natsumi Kogawa／古川夏好さん捜索情報 — Facebook Search for Natsumi Kogawa - TokyoReporter Japanese woman missing in Canada - Japan Today Vancouver Shinpo - 古川夏好さん三回忌しめやかに Vancouver Shinpo - その三十五　古川夏好（こがわなつみ）さんの一周忌 古川さん殺害、終身刑の男が控訴 | 日加トゥデイ/JC Today Police Looking for Missing Woman | Vancouver Police Department Update: Body of Missing Woman Found | Vancouver Police Department EXCLUSIVE: Friends of murdered Japanese student, Natsumi Kogawa, speak out - BC | Globalnews.ca A look at the troubled life of William Schneider, the killer of Natsumi Kogawa - Vernon News - Castanet.net ‘It’s my fault,’ court hears accused tell police in murder trial of Japanese student | The Star Man gets life in prison for killing Japanese woman in Canada | The Japan Times ‘People listened’: Mother of murdered Japanese student grateful for guilty verdict | CBC News New trial ordered for man found guilty of murdering Japanese student Natsumi Kogawa | Globalnews.ca Murder conviction of B.C. man who killed exchange student restored: Supreme Court of Canada | Globalnews.ca ‘People listened’: Mother of murdered Japanese student grateful for guilty verdict | CBC News 1523 Davie St, Vancouver, BC • Vancouver Heritage Foundation | Vancouver Heritage Site Finder YOU SHOULD KNOW: About The History Of “The Gabriola Mansion” In The West End – Scout Magazine 2021 BCCA 41 (CanLII) | R. v. Schneider | CanLII 2022 SCC 34 (CanLII) | R. v. Schneider | CanLII Supreme Court of Canada - SCC Case Information - Docket - 39559 Supreme Court of Canada - 39559 Supreme Court of Canada - SCC Case Information - Webcast of the Hearing on 2021-12-10 - 39559 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 254: On Saturday, June 23, 1990, three teenagers, Brigitte Grenier, 16, Kyle Unger, 19, and Timothy Houlahan, 17, all separately attended a music festival at a ski resort near Roseisle, Manitoba. The following morning, Brigette was discovered dead in a creek in a heavily forested area within the resort. She’d been sexually assaulted, beaten, tortured and strangled to death. As both had been seen with the victim during the hours before her death, police quickly targeted Kyle Unger and Timothy Houlahan as suspects in Brigette’s slaying.  Forensic evidence pointed to Houlahan, and he, in turn, pointed to Kyle Unger as Brigette’s murderer, but Kyle was adamant he’d had nothing to do with Brigette’s death. The physical evidence against Kyle Unger was a single strand of hair found on Brigette’s sweatshirt. RCMP needed more, so they turned to their tried and true Mr. Big technique and, sure enough, acquired a confession from Kyle Unger. In February of 1992, both Unger and Houlahan were convicted of first-degree murder. Both appealed. Houlahan’s appeal was successful, and in July 1993, the Manitoba Court of Appeal ordered a new trial for him. Tim Houlahan completed suicide before his second trial. Kyle Unger’s conviction was upheld. Did the justice system get it right? Unfortunately, we will see that it did not, at least not right away. Sources: Historic Sites of Manitoba: Roseisle Pioneer Monument (Roseisle, RM of Dufferin) 1992 CanLII 13202 (MB KB) | R. v. Unger (K.W.) and Houlahan (T.L.) | CanLII 1993 CanLII 4409 (MB CA) | R. v. Unger | CanLII Kyle Unger settles wrongful murder conviction | CBC News Kyle Unger — Innocence Canada Kyle Unger | News, Videos & Articles — Global News Real Justice: A Police Mr. Big Sting Goes Wrong: The Story of Kyle Unger by Richard Brignall Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 253: At 12:53 am on the morning of October 15, 2018, a frantic, garbled 911 came in from the Closs Family just west of the City of Barron, Wisconsin, U.S.A. There is screaming throughout the 45 seconds of the call from what seems to be two different females. Police arrived shortly after 911 was placed. Inside the home were the bodies of James and Denise Closs. They’d both been shot to death. It was soon discovered that the Closs couple’s 13-year-old daughter, Jayme Lynn, was missing. Sources: JAYME CLOSS — FBI www.facebook.com/barroncountysheriff FBI Milwaukee (@FBIMilwaukee). State of Wisconsin v. Jake T Patterson Barron County Sheriff’s Department. Evidence logs. Case 1831604. 2018.  Barron County Sheriff’s Department. Police report. BNSO 1831604 Primary, Closs/Patterson. 2018.  Barron County Sheriff’s Department. Transcription of Barron County SO 911 call.mp4. 2018.  Barron County Sheriff’s Department. Transcription of Erik Sedani squad video.mp4. 2018.  Barron County Sheriff’s Department. Transcription of James Pressley squad video 1.mp4. 2018.  Barron County Sheriff’s Department. Transcription of James Pressley squad video 2.mp4. 2018.  Barron County Sheriff’s Department. Transcription of James Pressley squad video 3.mp4. 2018.  Barron County Sheriff’s Department. Transcription of Jon Fick squad video 1.mp4. 2018.  Barron County Sheriff’s Department. Transcription of Jon Fick squad video 2.mp4. 2018.  Barron County Sheriff’s Department. Transcription of Erik Sedani body camera video 1 audio only.wav. 2018.  Barron County Sheriff’s Department. Transcription of Erik Sedani body camera video 2 audio only.wav. 2018.  Barron County Sheriff’s Department. Transcription of James Pressley body camera video 1 audio only.wav. 2018.  Barron County Sheriff’s Department. Transcription of James Pressley body camera video 2 audio only.wav. 2018.  Barron County Sheriff’s Department. Transcription of Jon Fick body camera video 1 audio only.wav. 2018.  Barron County Sheriff’s Department. Transcription of Jon Fick body camera video 2 audio only.wav. 2018.  Barron County Sheriff’s Department. Transcription of Jon Fick body camera video 3 audio only.wav. 2018.  Barron County Sheriff’s Department. Transcription of Jon Fick body camera video 4 audio only.wav. 2018.  Barron County Sheriff’s Department. Transcription of Jon Fick body camera video 5 audio only.wav. 2018.  Douglas County Sheriff’s Office — Report for case 19DC00130. 2018.  Douglas County Sheriff’s Office — Douglas County SO 911 call.mp4. 2018. Douglas County Sheriff’s Office — 140202_001-Patterson transport w919.mp4. 2018. Wisconsin Department of Justice — Division of Criminal Investigation. Case Master Report 18-7648. Wisconsin Department of Justice — Department of Transport footage. 18-7648.  Wisconsin Department of Justice — Interview of Kyle Jaenke-Annis.  Associated Press. “Statement of Jayme Closs at Sentencing for Abductor.” 24 May 2019 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 252: Starting when Amanda Michelle Todd was just 11 years old, a person began a campaign of sexual extortion, relentless harassment and cyberbullying. Over the next three years, Amanda endured constant pressure from the man who used 22 online aliases on four different social media platforms to coerce and lure her into performing pornographic cam shows for him. On September 7, 2012, Amanda posted a now-famous video on YouTube in which she used a series of flashcards to tell her experience of being blackmailed into exposing her breasts via webcam, which later led to her being bullied and physically assaulted. The video gained global attention when it went viral after Amanda completed suicide at her family home in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, a month before her 16th birthday on October 10th, 2012. As of this writing, the video, still up on YouTube, is just about to crack 15 million views. Amanda’s mother, Carol Todd, was driven by grief of her daughter’s loss to become an activist. She established the Amanda Todd Trust at the Royal Bank of Canada, which receives donations to support anti-bullying awareness education and programs for young people with mental health problems. In 2014, a Dutch-Turkish man, Aydin Coban, in his 30s when the abuse of Amanda Todd began, was identified as the man who’d been harassing her and at least 39 other young girls and young gay males in the Netherlands, U.K., and Canada. After legal proceedings in the Netherlands wrapped up, Coban was imprisoned there. Although charged with five offences related to Amanda Todd here in Canada, Amanda’s family would have to wait for justice for her. In June 2022, almost ten years after Amanda’s death, after being extradited to Canada, Aydan Coban stood trial in the Supreme Court of British Columbia. On August 5, 2022, the jury found Coban guilty of all five of the charges he was facing. Sources: Amanda Todd Legacy Society Official Site - Home My story: Struggling, bullying, suicide, self-harm | YouTube The Story of Amanda Todd | The New Yorker 2022 BCSC 1810 (CanLII) | R. v Coban | CanLII Dutch man Aydin Coban convicted of sexually extorting B.C. teen Amanda Todd | CBC News Amanda Todd - Transcript of video - Pastebin.com Amanda Michelle “Manda” Todd (1996-2012) - Find a Grave Memorial Get help & support for suicide - Google Search Help Canadian Association For Suicide Prevention International Association for Suicide Prevention Amanda Todd Legacy - Staying Strong Carol Todd’s Snowflakes | http://amandatoddlegacy.org/ https://snowflakes4amanda.tumblr.com My Name is Amanda Todd | Life Reflected | National Arts Centre ‘She shared everything with me’: Amanda Todd’s mother talks about her life with her daughter (with video) Timeline of the Amanda Todd cyberbullying case | Vancouver Sun Timeline: Amanda Todd investigation | CTV News Amanda Todd blackmailer Kody Maxson outed another pedophile blackmailer Cyberbullying trial: Closing arguments in B.C. | CTV News Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 251: In the rural area known as Drummond Township, near Perth, Ontario, about a mile north of the village of Balderson’s Corners, in the early morning hours of December 10, 1828, what appeared to be an accidental fire resulted in the deaths of Thomas Easby’s wife and four eldest children. Only a month later, it was the word of Thomas’s only surviving son that painted a different, more sinister picture. Thomas was arrested, charged with the murders and tried. Easby’s trial was brief, he was convicted and sentenced to hang for what has been called Canada's first mass murder. Sources: Rampage: Canadian Mass Murder and Spree Killing The Thomas Easby Murders in 1829 — Foulest Ever in Lanark County | lindaseccaspina Perth & District Historical Society - Perth, Ontario, Canada THE DEVIL VISITS DRUMMOND TOWNSHIP Thomas Easby Murders « Arlene Stafford Wilson A Matter of Honour: And Other Tales of Early Perth - Susan Code - Google Books The Early History of Balderson’s Corners Historic Lanark County Documents from the Perth Courier Uncovering the Secrets of the Perth Museum Archives: A Q&A with Debbie Sproule - Lanark County Tourism A History of Drummond Township - John C. Ebbs - Google Books Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 250: At 8:00 PM on the evening of March 21, 2006, the B.C. Ferries-operated motor vessel Queen of the North departed Prince Rupert, British Columbia. The long-haul passenger and vehicle ferry, making the 18-hour overnight trip to *Port Hardy* on the Northern end of Vancouver Island, was carrying 22 vehicles, 101 people, 59 passengers and 42 crew. Many passengers were asleep when, at 12:21 A.M., at 17.5 knots, the ferry struck an underwater ledge on the northeast side of Gil Island in Wright Sound. The damage to the hull was catastrophic; it tore holes in the starboard side and took out the propellers. The ferry lost propulsion and began drifting and taking on water. Upon realizing the ferry was lost, the crew and passengers loaded into lifeboats to take them safely away from the foundering vessel, which sank in 430 m of water only 80 Minutes later. Sadly, two of the passengers, Shirley Rosette and Gerald Foisy, both of 100 Mile House, British Columbia, were unaccounted for and, as they’ve never been found, they have since been declared dead. Investigations by B.C. Ferries and the Canadian Transportation Safety Board determined that the sinking was due to human error on the part of the ferry’s navigational crew, and the RCMP undertook a criminal investigation. Helmswomen Karen Briker was fired, as was Captain Colin Henthorne, rightfully in his cabin at the time. But the blame for the incident fell squarely on the shoulders of another man, the ship’s fourth officer. On March 16, 2010, the Crown charged *Karl-Heinz Arthur Lilgert* with two counts of criminal negligence, causing death. Lilgert was subsequently convicted of both charges and sentenced to four years in prison. Sources: Connecting the Coast | BC Ferries Marine Investigation Report M92W1057 - Transportation Safety Board of Canada Marine Investigation Report M06W0052 - Transportation Safety Board of Canada Skidegate Band Council Home | City of Prince Rupert Divisional Inquiry | BC Ferries - British Columbia Ferry Services Inc. 2013 BCSC 1329 (CanLII) | R. v. Lilgert | CanLII Navigator was either fighting or having sex with former lover on bridge of B.C. ferry the night it sank, Crown tells court | National Post Queen of the North, the Captain’s story - North Island Gazette The Queen of the North Disaster by Colin Henthorne - Ebook | Scribd Family asked to prove loved ones died at ferry sinking trial | CTV News Family of two victims testify at B.C. ferry sinking trial | CBC News Ferry passenger believes she saw couple before crash, thinks they went overboard | Globalnews.ca Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 249: As this is our special Christmas episode. It is our tradition to tell a Yuletide-themed yarn. This one is about a duo of bandits who burglarized various shopping malls across the United States and Canada year after year during the holidays. Their insidious M.O. was to work from the inside. The group’s leader, a safe cracker named Willie Thomas Soke and his sidekick, a little person of colour called Marcus Skidmore, would acquire jobs inside the department store. Soke, a foul-mouthed, chronic alcoholic and sex addict, would play the store’s Santa Claus, and Skidmore, his evil sidekick, would be one of Santa’s elves. Finally, after the murder of the head of a mall security manager named Johnny ‘Gin’ Calhoun at a Phoenix, Arizona, shopping complex, the pair were brought to justice in 2003. This was thanks partly to the unwitting help of a Canadian-born 10-year-old boy, Thurman Merman, who was living in Phoenix with his grandmother. Sources: Achondroplasia | Johns Hopkins Medicine City of Phoenix, Arizona, Police Department Kiss an Angel Good Mornin’ - song and lyrics by Charley Pride | Spotify Simon Fraser University The University of British Columbia ‘Documentary’: Bad Santa Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 248: In New York City on the 8th of December, 1980, the world was rocked by the murder of influential rock and roll icon, artist, sometimes controversial activist and dad John Lennon. After an evening recording session at the Record Plant, John Lennon and his wife, artist Yoko Ono returned to their Central Park West apartment building, The Dakota. As John and Yoko approached the entrance to the building, they passed a man for whom, only hours earlier, Lennon had signed an autograph. The man, Mark David Chapman, 25, watched the couple walk by and then pulled a .38 special from his coat and unloaded on John Lennon, shooting him in the back four times. The deadly hollow point bullets tore through the former Beatle, mortally wounding him. He was pronounced dead at Roosevelt Hospital later. When police arrived, they found Chapman patiently reading his book, Catcher in the Rye.  Sources: JOHN LENNON. GIMME SOME TRUTH. The Beatles This Is: The Beatles | Spotify Playlist This is: John Lennon | Spotify Playlist John Lennon’s “bigger than Jesus” quote | Slate 23 December 1969: John Lennon and Yoko Ono meet Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau | The Beatles Bible The Catcher in the Rye | Summary, Analysis, Reception, & Facts | Britannica Two Marks — Mark David Chapman, the man who killed John Lennon — Crime Library BBC NEWS | Entertainment | John Lennon killer ‘wanted fame’ BBC ON THIS DAY | 8 | 1980: John Lennon shot dead Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 247: 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. Sources: Caledonia Mills: The Mary Ellen Spook Farm Case Fire Spook by Monica Graham - Ebook | Scribd Ghost Stories of Canada by John Robert Colombo, Jillian Hulme Gilliland - Ebook | Scribd The Mary Ellen Spook Folklore | Visit Antigonish Caledonia Mills - Wikipedia Folklore of Nova Scotia by Mary L. Fraser Antigonish Heritage Museum - The Old Train Station News - Newsletter 8, Oct 2009 Hobgoblin - Wikipedia Apparitions Of Black Dogs Black Shuck: The Legendary Devil Dog Of The English Countryside Investigating the Antigonish Fire Spook Haunting PSICAN - Paranormal Studies and Inquiry Canada - Caledonia Mills Fire Spook American Society for Psychical Research A look back at the mysterious haunting of an Antigonish County farm, 100 years later | CBC News More Canadian Poltergeists The Mysterious Fire Spook of Caledonia Hills Phantoms and Monsters - Real Cryptid Encounter Reports - Fortean Researcher Lon Strickler Seeks Ghosts: Poltergeist: Fire Spook, Part l Dark Visions: Personal Accounts of the Mysterious in Canada - John Robert Colombo - Google Books Le cas curieux de la ferme Mary Ellen Spook - PREUVES DU PARANORMAL poltergeist | Chambers Dictionary of the Unexplained - Credo Reference spr.ac.uk | Glossary | spr.ac.uk Lexscien: Library of Exploratory Science Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 246: John Ruffolo, 36, an employee of Brinks Canada at Butler Crescent location in Saanichton, British Columbia, was due to start a night shift at 10:30 PM on October 19, 2003. He was an ATM technician and an armoured car driver. When John didn’t show up, the rest of the armoured car crew waited 30 minutes before calling John’s home. A woman answered the phone, telling John’s co-worker, Jason Amos, that John had left for work some time ago. The crew waited a few more minutes before calling in a replacement. John’s wife, Ruby Ann Ruffolo, reported her husband missing on October 20th. His car turned up outside a local pub in Victoria two days after that. On October 25, 2003, a hiker walking near Humpback Road in Langford, 15 kilometres from his Victoria home, found John Ruffolo’s body in a culvert and called the police. John’s body was uninjured except for puncture wounds, believed to be needle marks, on both arms. Six months after John Ruffolo died, police arrested Ruby Ann Ruffolo and charged her with first-degree murder in her husband’s death. John’s surviving family had to wait seven long years for justice in a case beset by numerous delays, some initiated by the defendant and her lawyers, but also included a judge’s death and a mistrial.  Sources: John RUFFOLO Obituary (2003) - The Times Colonist 2010 BCSC 1630 R. v. Ruffolo 2012 BCCA 325 R. v. Ruffolo 826 Esquimalt Road, Victoria, BC — Google Maps Routes from 994 Tulip Ave to 6721 Butler Crescent — Google Maps Heroin | HealthLink BC Amitriptyline - Oral | HealthLink BC Nortriptyline - Oral | HealthLink BC Canadian Domestic Homicide Prevention Initiative CN BC: Judge’s Death Puts Cases In Jeopardy Woman killed cheating husband with overdose of heroin | CTV News Family furious over convicted killer’s release | CBC News Murder victim’s family responds to Ruffolo’s release - Saanich News Ruby Ann Ruffolo Guilty of First Degree Murder - YouTube Ruby Ann Ruffolo loses last appeal of conviction for murdering husband in 2003 - Victoria Times Colonist KidSport Canada | So all kids can play Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 245: Between 1926 and 1928, a sinister darkness was afoot on a small chicken ranch in Wineville, California. When he was only 19, Gordon Stewart Northcott, a Canadian, had abducted, raped, tortured and murdered at least three and as many as 20 others. His victims were predominantly prepubescent boys. He sexually assaulted and released numerous others. When a portion of the truth came out, much of it was told by Northcott’s nephew, 13-year-old Sanford Clark. Northcott had brought Sanford with him from Canada two years before.  Northcott viciously raped and beat Clark numerous times before tiring of him as he aged. Afterward, through fear and intimidation, Northcott coerced his nephew into assisting him in committing and covering up the murders of his victims. Even Northcott’s mother, Sarah Louise Northcott, helped in some of the crimes to keep her son out of jail.  Sources: The Road Out of Hell : Flacco, Anthony : Internet Archive Nothing is Strange with You : Paul, James Jeffrey Internet Archive Cold North Killers : Canadian Serial Murder : Mellor, Lee : Internet Archive Beyond Evil by Robert Keller - Ebook | Scribd Gordon Northcott | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers 10 Notorious Serial Killers Who All Suffered Childhood Head Injuries Healdsburg Tribune 20 September 1928 — California Digital Newspaper Collection Gordon Stewart Northcott’s handwritten confession, Riverside, 1928 - UCLA Library Digital Collections People v. Northcott, 209 Cal. 639 | Casetext Search + Citator Gordon Stewart Northcott Archives - Deranged LA Crimes ®Deranged LA Crimes ® Gordon Stewart Northcott (1906-1930) - Find a Grave Memorial Clark, chief witness in `20s child murders led exemplary life – Whittier Daily News The Puzzling Disappearance Of Walter Collins | BuzzFeed Unsolved Wiki | Fandom Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 244: 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. Sources: Death on a Painted Lake: The Tom Thomson Tragedy Algonquin Provincial Park | Ontario, Canada | The Friends of Algonquin Park Tom Thomson | The Canadian Encyclopedia The Group of Seven – Canadian landscape painters from 1920 to 1933 Canada’s History Books - Canada’s History The Mysterious Death of Tom Thomson, Canadian Painter – alexanderadamsart Tom Thomson: The Silence and the Storm by David Silcox, Harold Town - Ebook | Scribd Tom Thomson by Joan Murray - Ebook | Scribd Who Killed Tom Thomson? by John Little - Ebook | Scribd The Many Deaths of Tom Thomson by Gregory Klages - Ebook | Scribd The Mysterious Death of Tom Thomson by George A. Walker - Ebook | Scribd Tom Thomson’s Last Paddle by Larry McCloskey - Ebook | Scribd Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 243: Eighty years ago, on August 19, 1942, in Operation Jubilee began as the Allies attacked the French port of Dieppe on the English Channel Coast. Of the more than 6100 troops involved, five thousand were soldiers of the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division and a thousand British, many commandos, with a handful of others including Americans. The hope was to gain a foothold in Europe, breaching Hitler’s heavily-fortified Atlantic Wall. But unfortunately, the Germans were ready for them, and things did not go as planned.  After nine excruciating hours of brutal fighting along the shore, the allied force retreated. Almost 1000 Allied troops lay dead, and at least 2000 more were prisoners of war, making this one of Canada’s darkest days ever in a time of war. Sources: Dieppe - Veterans Affairs Canada The Dieppe Raid - Historical Sheet - Second World War - History - Veterans Affairs Canada WarMuseum.ca - Democracy at War - Dieppe Raid, 19 August 1942 - Operations Dieppe: a German Learning Experience - James Shelley - King’s College London WWII: The Dieppe Raid - Canada at War The Dieppe Raid : Juno Beach Centre Cpt. Romuald Nalecz Tyminski, Polish Canadian Hero PATRICK PORTEOUS VC CBC - Dieppe Prisoner of War: A Story from Dieppe : Juno Beach Centre HyperWar: Six Years of War: The Army in Canada, Britain and the Pacific Chapter 11 HyperWar: Six Years of War: The Army in Canada, Britain and the Pacific Chapter 12 DIEPPE: “They Didn’t Have To Die!” - Legion Magazine Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 242: On March 3, 2005, a contingent of RCMP constables, attended the property of James Michael Roszko, 46 in Rochfort Bridge, near Mayerthorpe, Alberta. The members were there to serve a search warrant for stolen property and a marijuana-growing operation on the farm, discovered the day before. Roszko, knowing the police would be arriving soon, armed himself with the help of a couple friends, Shawn Hennessey and Dennis Cheeseman, and then he laid in wait for the RCMP. When four of the officers, Anthony Gordon, Lionide “Leo” Johnston, Brock Myrol and Peter Schiemann, walked into a quonset hut on the farm. Roszko, hidden inside the building, opened fire on the four members, killing them and then himself before the other RCMP members on site could come to their aid.  In the last episode we learned of the life of the murderer leading up to the day of the slaying of the four RCMP members. In this episode you’ll hear about the crime and its aftermath. Sources: Town of Mayerthorpe: Home CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE STATISTICS - Darkness to Light Report to the Attorney General : public inquiry into the deaths of Cst. Anthony Gordon, Cst. Lionide Johnston, Cst. Brock Myrol, Cst. Peter Schiemann and Mr. James Roszko - Open Government Report to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General Public Fatality Inquiry - PDF Fallen Four | Home Fallen Four Memorial Park & Visitor Information Centre | Facebook Line of Fire by Edward Butts - Ebook | Scribd James Roszko | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers RCMP Tribute to Five Officers Mayerthorpe Tragedy - Wikipedia 2008 ABQB 242 (CanLII) | R. v. Hennessey | CanLII 2008 ABQB 282 (CanLII) | R. v. Cheeseman | CanLII 2009 ABQB 60 (CanLII) | R. v. Hennessey | CanLII 2010 ABCA 274 (CanLII) | R. v. Hennessey | CanLII Murder charge approved in Burnaby RCMP officer’s killing | CTV News Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 241: On March 3, 2005, a contingent of RCMP constables attended the property of James Michael Roszko, 46, in Rochfort Bridge, near Mayerthorpe, Alberta. The members were there to serve a search warrant for stolen property and a marijuana-growing operation on the farm, discovered the day before. Roszko, knowing the police would be arriving soon, armed himself with the help of a couple of friends, Shawn Hennessey and Dennis Cheeseman, and then he lay in wait for the RCMP. When four of the officers, Anthony Gordon, Lionide “Leo” Johnston, Brock Myrol and Peter Schiemann, walked into a quonset hut on the farm. Roszko, hidden inside the building, opened fire on the four members, killing them and then himself before the other RCMP members on-site could come to their aid.  This episode covers the life of the murderer and leads us up to the slaying of the four RCMP members. Next week in part 2, you’ll hear about the crime and its aftermath. Sources: Town of Mayerthorpe: Home CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE STATISTICS - Darkness to Light Report to the Attorney General : public inquiry into the deaths of Cst. Anthony Gordon, Cst. Lionide Johnston, Cst. Brock Myrol, Cst. Peter Schiemann and Mr. James Roszko - Open Government Report to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General Public Fatality Inquiry - PDF Fallen Four | Home Fallen Four Memorial Park & Visitor Information Centre | Facebook Line of Fire by Edward Butts - Ebook | Scribd James Roszko | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers RCMP Tribute to Five Officers Mayerthorpe Tragedy - Wikipedia 2008 ABQB 242 (CanLII) | R. v. Hennessey | CanLII 2008 ABQB 282 (CanLII) | R. v. Cheeseman | CanLII 2009 ABQB 60 (CanLII) | R. v. Hennessey | CanLII 2010 ABCA 274 (CanLII) | R. v. Hennessey | CanLII Murder charge approved in Burnaby RCMP officer’s killing | CTV News Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 240: Canada has had a long and embarrassing history of race relations, starting with the indigenous peoples who’d lived here for thousands of years prior to the arrival of European colonizers.  Our nation has also facilitated the mass internment of people perceived as threats to our national security during war time. As World War I raged in Europe, internment camps were set up to house Ukranians, Germans, Turks and Bulgrians. Of the more than 8500 detainees involuntarily held in camps across the country, a small percentage were women and children, the dependants of the men being held. Other internees included homeless people, conscientious objectors, and members of outlawed cultural and political associations.  At the outset of World War II, a number of Canadian citizens of German and Italian decent, as well as Jews who were immigrating to Canada, fleeing Europe were rounded up and put into internment camps. After the Japanese attack on the United States in Pearl Harbour, Hawaii, on 7 December, 1941, North Americans were afraid. The Second World War had come far too close to home. Just over a month after the Pearl Harbour attack, a process began which saw the mass internment of Japanese Canadians from 1942 until 1949. Many of the detainees, including women and children, had been born in Canada. The country they’d grown up to love had uprooted them from their homes, seized their properties and taken away their rights and freedoms. Dark Poutine is sponsored by BetterHelp. Sources: Internment in Canada | The Canadian Encyclopedia Internment of Japanese Canadians | The Canadian Encyclopedia The Canadian Race Relations Foundation — Legalized Racism Japanese Canadian History – The Politics of Racism Hastings Park Internment Centre - vancouvertraces Japanese Canadian Historic Sites in BC: Journeys of Home | Super, Natural BC Hastings Park 1942 | Internment at Hastings Park Tashme: A forgotten internment camp remembered - Fraser Valley Current Tashme | Historical Project Canada’s Internment Camps – Canadian History Ehx “Enemy Aliens” - The Internment of Ukrainian Canadians | Canada and the First World War From Racism to Redress: The Japanese Canadian Experience Japanese Canadian internment and the struggle for redress | CMHR Japanese Internment Japanese Canadian Historic Places - Heritage BC HOME PAGE – Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre Internment in Canada: WW1 vs WW2 – All About Canadian History Vanishing B.C. Japanese-Canadian internment sites in the Slocan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices