Dark Poutine - True Crime and Dark History

On June 2nd, 1983, Air Canada Flight 797 departed Dallas, Texas, bound for Montreal, Quebec, with a stop in Toronto. Forty-one passengers and five crew were on board. Shortly before 7 pm Eastern time, a fire broke out inside the rear lavatory wall and burned, hidden and undetected, for nearly fifteen minutes before anyone smelled smoke.

The crew declared an emergency and landed safely at Greater Cincinnati International Airport in Covington, Kentucky. The airplane touched down intact. Sixty to ninety seconds after the cabin doors opened, a flashfire rolled through the interior. Twenty-three passengers did not get out.Among the dead was Stan Rogers, folk musician, husband, father, born in Hamilton, Ontario. He was thirty-three years old, returning home after performing at the Kerrville Folk Festival in Texas.

The investigation that followed reshaped aviation safety standards worldwide.

Sources:Air Canada Flight 797Aviation Safety Network | Transcript of Air Canada Flight 797 - 02 JUN 1983Stan Rogers | SpotifyFogarty's Cove MusicStan Rogers Folk FestivalStan Rogers intros & sings "Barrett's Privateers" in One Warm Line documentary
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Episode 417: In the early hours of November 23, 2013, 18-year-old Lukas Strasser-Hird was violently beaten behind the Vinyl nightclub in Calgary, in an alley off 10th Avenue Southwest. He was rushed to the hospital, but the injuries were too severe, and he died later that morning from multiple stab wounds and massive blood loss. Walk with us through the events that led from a night out at the club to one of Calgary’s most closely watched murder cases, and examine how the chaos in that alley would ripple through the city, the courtroom, and the lives left behind.

Sources:

Lukas Strasser-Hird | Global News, Videos & ArticlesR.I.P Austin Lukas Strasser-Hird | FacebookR v Cabrera, 2019 ABCA 184 (CanLII)R v Cabrera, 2021 ABCA 291 (CanLII)R v Gervais, 2019 ABQB 344 (CanLII)R. v. Shlah, 2019 SCC 56 (CanLII), [2019] 4 SCR 136FM010_Appellant_Franz-Emir-Cabrera SCC File No.: 38677Lukas Strasser-Hird - Obituary | Calgary HeraldThe final homecoming of Lukas Strasser-Hird - National | Global News1st-degree murder conviction upheld for Calgary man in swarming death - CalgaryNathan Gervais sentenced to life with no parole for 25 years in Lukas Strasser-Hird swarming death - Calgary
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Episode 416: Matthew Baillie Begbie (1819–1894) served as the first judge of mainland British Columbia during the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush, arriving in 1858 as the colony struggled to impose order across a fast-growing and often violent region. Known to many as the “Hanging Judge,” Begbie presided over cases from Yale to Barkerville, travelling long distances to hold court in mining towns and settlements. His legacy remains contested: some describe him as a firm and capable judge working within the limits of colonial law, while others point to cases like the 1864 trials and executions of six Tsilhqot’in men following the Chilcotin War as evidence of a system that failed Indigenous people. Here, we examine Begbie’s life, his rulings, and the lasting impact of his role in shaping justice in British Columbia.

Sources:

Heritage - Tŝilhqot’in National GovernmentPrime Minister delivers a statement of exoneration for six Tsilhqot’in ChiefsChilcotin Hangings of 1864: Canada’s Colonial InjusticeB.C. redresses wrongful hangings of Tsilhqot'in war chiefsEssays in the History of Canadian Law, Volume VI: British Columbia and the Yukon - Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal HistoryBEGBIE, Sir MATTHEW BAILLIE – Dictionary of Canadian BiographyParks Canada - Begbie, Sir Matthew Baillie National Historic PersonJudge Begbie Hangs Chiefs - British Columbia - An Untold HistorySir Matthew Baillie Begbie | GraveMemoirs and Documents Relating to Judge Begbiehttps://www.lillooet.ca/sir-matthew-baillie-begbieJustin Trudeau exonerates Tsilhqot’in chiefs hanged in 1864 ‘Chilcotin War’
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Episode 415: For generations, people across North America have reported seeing enormous birds, describing wingspans that seem impossible and encounters they struggle to explain. Long before those reports were written, the Thunderbird was already known in many Indigenous cultures, where it is understood as a powerful and sacred being associated with thunder, lightning, and the forces that shape the natural world. For some, it is symbolic. For others, it is real. These are living traditions that deserve care and respect.

Sources:

The Thunderbird Indigenous SymbolThunderbird (mythology) | WikipediaJun 13, 1927, page 24 - The Boston Globe at Newspapers.com™Aug 06, 1933, page 45 - The Sunday Oregonian at Newspapers.com™Aug 20, 1933, page 3 - The Ogden Standard-Examiner at Newspapers.com™Tombstone epitaph (Tombstone, Ariz.), April 26, 1890 | Library of CongressLegend or Lie? The Tombstone Thunderbird | kgun9.comr/Cryptozoology | What about Thunderbird?r/Cryptozoology | Thunderbird sighting?Thunderbird — A Canadian Legend | Mysteries of CanadaThunderbird Stories from the Canadian Shield | Mysteries of CanadaLarge-bodied birds are over-represented in unstructured citizen science data - Scientific ReportsThunderbird | CryptidWikiWhy Giant Bird Sightings Still Appear TodayPROOF of the Tombstone Thunderbird - Forgotten History
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Episode 414: In the fall of 1989, the Miramichi region of New Brunswick became a place of unimaginable terror as escaped killer Allan Legere, the Monster of the Miramichi, unleashed a seven-month rampage of sexual assault, arson, and murder. He beat to death beloved store owner Annie Flam, strangled and burned sisters Donna and Linda Daughney in their home, and tortured and killed Father James Smith in his rectory, crimes on top of his earlier conviction for murdering shopkeeper John Glendenning during a savage home invasion. We covered Legere in episodes 18 and 19 in the pre-Mathew days. But now, with his death in a maximum-security prison at age 78 on March 9, 2026, it’s time to remember the horrific crimes, the victims and the community that endured him.

Sources:

Serial Killer, Allan Joseph LEGERE - AKA The Monster of the MiramichiLaw Library | Our Unique Digital Collections | Allan Legere | UNBDeath of an inmate from Edmonton Institution | Corrections CanadaLEGERE, Allan Joseph | Serial Dispatches18: Allan Legere – Monster of Miramichi – Part 1 (NB) – Dark Poutine19: Allan Legere – Monster of Miramichi – Part 2 (NB) – Dark PoutineAllan Legere Voir Dire July 1991R. v. Legere (A.J.) (1994), 156 N.B.R.(2d) 321 (CA);Rick MacLean & André Veniot — Terror: Murder and Panic in New Brunswick (McClelland & Stewart, 1990)
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