Backyard History

A 1961 nuclear attack drill goes awry.    Air raid sirens rang out from coast to coast, and an eerie voice announced that Canada was under attack: 14 nuclear missiles were inbound. The sombre voice then went on to tell startled citizens that this was the beginning of a country-wide drill, and that for the next 24 hours Canada would be behaving as if it had just been the subject of a massive nuclea...

A large stone with a face carved into it has people puzzled about who made it.   In 1863 a recent Scottish immigrant was wandering through the stark and desolate area above Lake Utopia looking for rocks to build a fireplace when he made an astonishing discovery. When he wiped a thick layer of moss off a large flat stone, he discovered that carved upon it was an intricately detailed human face. Spe...

Amelia Earhart visits Newfoundland and The Maritimes on the way to make history.   Amelia Earhart kept her plans to become the first woman to fly alone across the Atlantic a secret. But when she arrived in Saint John to refuel and spend the night, the secret was out and Saint Johners were in a wild frenzy to see the famous pilot about to make history… https://backyardhistory.ca/f/when-amelia-earha...

Said to be home to spirits, pirates’ buried treasure, and a trapped ghost ship..   https://backyardhistory.ca/articles/f/the-mysterious-isle-haute

They had no idea the stranger who had come to Bathurst was an escaped Nazi Prisoner of War waiting for a U-Boat to get him..

The story of one of the most famous rum running schooners that was sunk during an epic pursuit in the 1920s

Lobster. From pauper to proper. A history.   The North American lobster is now a staple of high-end restaurants, and a cultural icon in the Maritimes and New England, but this was not always the case. At one time lobster was considered a paupers’ food, something people were embarrassed to be seen eating because it showed that they were poor. It was fed to prisoners and slaves, used as fertilizers...

Here’s a question for a hot Summer day: did early Maritimers go to the beach?   https://backyardhistory.ca/articles/f/the-history-of-going-to-the-beach

The first people to ever walk all the way across Canada were Cape Bretoners who did it because someone bet them they couldn't.   https://backyardhistory.ca/articles/f/the-first-people-to-walk-across-canada-did-it-because-of-a-bet

In only two hours massive fire completely destroys bustling Campbellton.   At 2pm on July 11th 1910 Campbellton was a prosperous town of 6000 people on New Brunswick’s North Shore. Two hours later it would be completely destroyed in a massive inferno. But it doesn't break the spirit of the people and they rebuild within a year.   https://backyardhistory.ca/popular/f/in-only-two-hours-campbellton-b...

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 disco...

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-with...

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

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.”...

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.

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.

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...

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?

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..

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

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 outrag...

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.   htt...

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

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.

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.