There is nowhere stranger than Canada, present or past.
BACK TO THE FUTURE
In 1941, the South Forks Bridge in Gold Bridge, B.C., had a grand reopening. A black-and-white photo captured the moment. While everyone in the throng looks straight from the World War II era, one fellow sticks out. With his modern-looking printed T-shirt, a sweater, and his sunglasses, the man appears to have stepped back in time from the future. The photo went viral due to the “time-travelling hipster.” But the young man is actually wearing items that were available in the early 1940s. A close look at the t-shirt suggest that it may have hand-sewn emblem on it, which was common practice for sports teams at the time. Some say it may even be for the Montreal Maroons. So the time traveler, in all likelihood, is just a young man who dressed casually…and maybe ahead of his time.
HILLS, THAT IS
In the mid-1960s, one of the biggest voices on the Canadian pop music scene was Lucille Starr from St. Boniface, Manitoba. In 1964, she released “The French Song,” which sold seven million copies. Like many Canadian entertainers, Starr (real name Savoie) moved to California. She landed a job on The Beverly Hillbillies—supplying Cousin Pearl’s (Bea Benaderet’s) yodeling voice.
ALL CLOGGED UP
Probably one of the quietest times at Niagara Falls was during a freezing spell in 1848. The mighty flow was reduced to a mere trickle for 30 to 40 hours because of an ice jam at the mouth of Lake Erie. The riverbed at the base of the fall dried up enough so that people could walk out into it. Those who did found all sorts of interesting items including bayonets, muskets, and tomahawks from the War of 1812. Reports say that eventually people heard a huge crack and the falls returned to their normal, ferocious state.
St. John’s is the foggiest Canadian city, with about 124 days of fog a year.
In 1964, Rick James was planning his career as a musician…and he certainly didn’t want to go fight for the U.S. in the Vietnam War. So, he did what many young American men did, and he fled his naval reserve post and escaped to Canada. He bummed around Toronto for a while, and joined a garage band called the Mynah Birds. The band eventually got a deal with Motown, but they only ever recorded one single, “It’s My Time,” but it was never released. However, every member of the Mynah Birds would go on to huge success in popular music. James became a funk superstar with hits like “Give it To Me Baby” and “Super Freak.” Goldie McJohn and Bruce Palmer went on to join Steppenwolf. The other member of the band? Some guy named Neil Young.
READY, AIM…..FAINT!
In August 1873, two men, Mr. Dooley and Mr. Healey (their first names are strangely lost to history), fought the last duel in Canada in a field near St. John’s, Newfoundland (although it was not Canadian territory at the time). The two friends had fallen in love with the same young woman, and they fought bitterly over her. They decided that the only honorable way to decide who should be with the maiden was a duel. After quickly setting up the time and place, they met one morning with no one else present except the two men’s seconds. In classic dueling fashion, the friends stood back to back with their pistols raised and proceeded to take their paces away from each other. Each was having second thoughts and growing terrified at the prospect of dying in a duel and killing a friend. At 9 meters (10 yards), they turned and fired. Dooley collapsed to the ground instantly. Healey was convulsed with horror that he had somehow killed Dooley. But Dooley had merely fainted. Fortunately, their seconds had so dreaded the outcome that they loaded the pistols with blanks. Although this was a serious breach in dueling etiquette, Healey and Dooley, so thankful that they hadn’t killed each other, settled their differences and went on as friends.
GOES TO 11
There’s loud, and then there’s ear-splitting. In the world of rock ‘n’ roll, being the loudest is something to strive for. The Who held the title for years, hitting a max of 126 decibels, but Manowar turned it up a notch. They pushed the levels of loudness to new extremes at one of their shows in 1994, during which they hit 129 decibels. Many say that KISS deserves the title now. On July 15, 2009, at the Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest in Ottawa, Canada, KISS achieved 136 decibels, as measured by City of Ottawa Bylaw officers. Although there is no definitive record holder, the KISS show in Ottawa is among the loudest ever.
The TV show Smallville, which is set in Kansas, was filmed in British Columbia.
THE NARROWEST BUILDING IN THE WORLD
In 1912, Chang Toy owned a plot of land in Vancouver’s Chinatown that was reduced to a very narrow size when part of it was appropriated to build a road. Many thought Toy, the owner of the Sam Kee Company, couldn’t do much with such a narrow lot, but he constructed a building that was just 6 feet deep (1.8 meters). He added bay windows and public baths under the sidewalk to maximize the oddly shaped site. Visitors can see what Ripley has officially called the narrowest building in the world at the corner of Carall and Pender Streets, which is just about a 10-minute walk from Vancouver’s Gastown.
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REAL CANADIAN JOBS
According to Ancenstry.ca, these were real jobs in the late 19th century.
• Lunatic Keeper
• Criminal
• Idiot
• Beggar
• Witch
• Monster
• Pig Nurse
Quebecois lumberjacks would yell “Haut bois!,” or “High timber!” when felling a tree The word hobo may come from “haut bois,” referring to an itinerant lumber jack.