The 519 Podcast

When we think of Stratford, we think of a charming Ontario town with beautiful parks, world renowned theatre productions, and one of the world’s biggest pop stars.  But the town that has seen actors like Sir Alec Guinness, Maggie Smith, and Christopher Plummer grace its stages,  also had a dark side.  Like many Canadian towns and cities, it has its share of addiction issues. And in the mid-2000’s,...

55 years ago, marches were held in four U.S. cities – New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Francisco.  These marches were held one year after the Stonewall riots, and in many ways, could be considered the very first Pride parades.  The Stonewall riots of 1969 were a watershed moment for the gay rights movement, which later evolved to include members of other persecuted sexual minorities and bec...

Children go missing far more than the average Canadian might think, and finding them can require the help of the surrounding community, province, and beyond. But, in some cases, the searches come to an end and there’s no resolution for families whose loved ones have disappeared.  It was 30 years ago this month that Mistie Murray of Goderich disappeared, and she has never been found.  While there h...

When it comes to elections, there are battles for votes, and there are battles for information. Candidates hope that their messages will resonate with voters more than those of their opponents.  And that battle is made all the more difficult for voters when information is mixed with misinformation.  Misinformation can come from other countries, but sometimes, misinformation is produced within our...

In the summer of 1945, Windsor’s post-war optimism was shattered by a series of brutal murders and stabbings. It quickly became clear that a killer was stalking the city, causing widespread panic and fear. As the attacks continued, investigators uncovered a chilling pattern: the killer was targeting homosexual men. On this episode of the 519 Podcast, we look into the story of the Windsor Slasher a...

We’ve all seen the onslaught of advertisements for betting platforms in virtually every part of our life. On our social media feeds, on streaming platforms, during every single sporting event we watch, gambling is everywhere.  To no one’s surprise, this has led to a serious increase in the amount of people who do gamble. That has led to a growth in gambling addiction. And while gambling addiction...

We all love our pets, and we would do just about anything to protect them.  But sadly, sometimes our furry friends fall victim to contagious diseases. That's what happened in Windsor, where an outbreak of Parvovirus has claimed the lives of at least 18 dogs (as of the end of December) in the city. In this episode of the 519 Podcast, we examine the outbreak with Windsor Essex County Humane Society...

On July 16th, 1988, 22-year-old Lisa Maas went to a house party in the Owen Sound area. She was separated from her husband of two years and had recently broken up with a boyfriend.  The next morning, she and a male companion went to retrieve her car. It was the last time she was ever seen.  Despite extensive searches, her remains have never been found.  On this episode of the 519 Podcast, we look...

In this episode of the 519 Podcast, we tell the story of Joseph Spracklin, an anti-alcohol crusader in Windsor during the time of Prohibition, who got away with killing a bar owner. This episode is written and produced by Patrick Magermans and hosted by Scott Kitching. 

Sonya Cywink was last seen alive on August 26, 1994, in Old East London. Four days later, her body was found at Southwold Earthworks National Historic Site of Canada in Elgin County. In the 30 years since her murder, no one has been arrested.  On this episode of The 519 Podcast, we look into Sonya’s murder and follow the work of her sister, Meggie Cywink, and original investigator Chris Gheysen in...

Neil McDougall had been married for less than six months when he went missing in October of 1985. 38 years later, his wife Mary Ellen is still looking for answers - even as police have offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. This episode of the 519 Podcast examines his disappearance from Ayton and who may know something about what happened to Neil.

Where were you that day? Were you driving when the lights went out? Trapped inside an elevator? Camping and completely unaware? At 4:11 pm on August 14, 2003, approximately 55 million North Americans found themselves without power. The widespread outage stretched across parts of Ontario, Michigan, Ohio, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York. On this episode of the 519...

The town of Amherstburg has been around for over 200 years. And as we’ve learned in previous episodes, many places with a long and deep history are also entrenched in paranormal activities. Amherstburg is not immune.  We’ve explored the ghost stories of Texas Road and the Park House Museum located on Dalhousie Street. But just a few houses down from the Park House Museum is another haunted house. ...

It’s always fascinating learning about your family’s history. Did your Grandpa fight in a war? Or did your great-aunt Jess invent the shoe umbrella? The good part is you can easily just ask them, or ask your parents who have heard the stories at every family dinner growing up.  But that’s not the case for many people. Around 1,700 children are adopted each year in Canada. Although many still grow...

More than a million Canadian men and women contributed to the war effort during the 1940s. Most of them were given full recognition for their efforts. But some stories, like the Farmerettes, fell by the wayside. This was also the case for the thousands of men and women who worked on radar technology, which changed the course of the war. What these men and women researched, built, and worked on was...

In 1879, Dr. Thomas Niell Cream was suspected in the suspicious death of Catharine Gardener in London, Ontario. What officials didn’t know was that Dr. Cream was known as the Lambeth Poisoner, responsible for 10 more deaths across the globe. On this episode of the ‘519 Podcast’, we look at the Victorian serial killer Thomas Niell Cream and discuss his life in Ontario. 

It’s not as rare as it once was to take a look inside the mind of a serial killer. But, the media seems to only cover a select few, like the Dahmers and Bundys of the world. But, what about the lesser known killers? What about the ones born in our backyards? On this episode of the ‘519 Podcast’, we listen to the jarring confession tapes of serial killer Elizabeth Wettlaufer, who killed 8 seniors d...

If you visit a place that people tell you is haunted, you mightbuild the experience up in your mind. But, usually, when you arrive it’s a big letdown. That’s because paranormal happenings are rarely predictable, and the same things never seem to happen twice. You might feel a chill that raises the hair on the back of your neck, or hear the creaking of old floorboards and the grumbling of old pipes...

There are few things we take for granted more than our drinking water.  When we want water, we turn on the tap, and there it is. And, by and large, we trust that the water coming out of our tap is clean and safe for us to use. We’re completely dependent on that water as we use it for everything in our lives, from brushing our teeth, to bathing, to cooking with it, and obviously to drink it. But, w...

It’s not often that, in a small town, someone disappears out of thin air. So, when Lois Hanna vanished after a dance in the small Bruce County town of Lucknow, it left an impact. So much so that people are still looking for her to this day. On this episode of the 519 Podcast, we look at the disappearance of Lois Hanna, and talk about theories as to what could have happened on the night she was las...

It seems as if every small town in Ontario has seen its fair share of missing posters, or posters declaring a reward for information on murder cases. Many of these cases have gone years unsolved, with posters that have faded over time.  This week on the 519 Podcast, we look into one of these cases: the unsolved murder of Karen Caughlin, which has been haunting Sarnia for nearly 50 years. 

When you think of the Klu Klux Klan, would you consider them to be strictly American? A racist enterprise restricted to the southern United States with little to no influence in another country, especially not Canada, right?  Sadly, this was not the case in the early 1900’s, when the Klan's twisted ideas bled across the border into Southwestern Ontario. It was during this time that there were para...

It was an unusually sunny and warm March day in London - that also happened to be a Saturday, which also happened to be on St. Patrick's Day. These events led to the a massive riot near Fanshawe College. On this episode of the 519 Podcast, we examine the St. Patrick's Day Riot of 2012. How it happened, the fallout, and what was done to ensure it would never happen again.  

There were several people who played significant roles in trailblazing the Black press in Canadian history.  As we heard on the last episode of the 519 Podcast, those included Henry and Mary Bibb. But the subject of this episode was very unique in what she brought to the table.  In a time when breaking through the barriers of racism was already near impossible, Mary Ann Shadd Cary had to deal with...

There is a rich Black history in Canada, particularly in southwestern Ontario, where thousands of escaped slaves ended up after crossing the border in pursuit of freedom. We have a treasure trove of incredibly inspiring local black history, and in this episode of the 519 Podcast we dig a little deeper into the story of Henry and Mary Bibb. Henry and Mary Bibb settled in Old Sandwich Towne in Winds...