Dark Poutine - True Crime and Dark History

On February 1, 2003, Space Shuttle Columbia was returning to Earth after sixteen days in orbit. Seven astronauts were aboard. What should have been a routine homecoming became one of the darkest days in NASA's history.

In this special five-minute preview, we introduce Day of Disaster, a documentary series presented by Dark Poutine, and revisit the final moments of Columbia's last flight.

Hear the complete episode now exclusively on Amazon Music. Ask Alexa to play the Dark Poutine podcast, or listen directly at the link below.

Listen to Day of Disaster — Columbia: The Last Sixteen Minutes on Amazon Music
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 443: Thomas D’Arcy McGee’s remarkable life took him from Irish revolutionary and political exile to journalist, celebrated orator, member of Parliament, and Father of Canadian Confederation. After rejecting armed rebellion, he became one of the Fenian movement’s fiercest public opponents, drawing condemnation and threats from former allies. In the early hours of April 7, 1868, only nine months after Confederation, McGee was shot outside his Ottawa boarding house after leaving Parliament. His death is recognized as Canada’s first political assassination. The murder shocked the new country, led to a controversial investigation and trial, and left questions that remain unresolved more than 150 years later.

Sources:

Thomas D’Arcy McGee — Dictionary of Canadian Biography

Patrick James Whelan — Dictionary of Canadian Biography

The Fenians — Dictionary of Canadian Biography

The Trial of Patrick J. Whelan for the Murder of Thomas D’Arcy McGee — George Spaight, 1868

Agnes Macdonald’s Diary — Library and Archives Canada

Patrick Whelan Capital Case and Respite — Library and Archives Canada

The Revolver Connected to McGee’s Assassination — Canadian Museum of History

Wrongful Convictions in Canada — Library of Parliament

Past State Funerals: Thomas D’Arcy McGee — Canadian Heritage

St. Patrick’s Basilica National Historic Site — Parks Canada

Thomas D’Arcy McGee’s Speeches on British-American Union, 1865

Thomas D’Arcy McGee — Alexander Brady, 1925

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Every disaster begins as an ordinary day. Until it isn't.

Introducing DAY OF DISASTER , a new documentary podcast series by DARK POUTINE, reconstructing history's most devastating catastrophes, one day at a time.

From the explosion at Chornobyl to the tragedy of Aberfan, the eruption of Krakatoa and the disaster at Bhopal, each episode takes you inside the moments, decisions and failures that changed lives, destroyed communities and altered history.

The warnings. The turning points. The human cost.

Because history remembers the disaster. We go back to the day it happened.

DAY OF DISASTER.

COMING 11.02.2026 only on Amazon Music

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 442: To mark our ninth anniversary, we're going back to where Dark Poutine began: the mystery of the Salish Sea floating feet. Since 2007, more than twenty disembodied human feet — most still laced into running shoes — have washed ashore along the coastlines of British Columbia and Washington State, sparking theories of serial killers, trafficking rings, and worse. This time we bring the full research the story always deserved: the science that finally explained how it happens, the named victims behind the headlines, and the case that, as of this recording, still hasn't been closed.

Sources:

The Vancouver Sun — "Human Leg is Found Encased in a Boot" (July 30, 1914)

South China Morning Post — "A 14th human foot, this one in a hiking boot, washes ashore in British Columbia"

Wikipedia — "Salish Sea human foot discoveries"

National Geographic — "How science solved the mystery of feet washing ashore in the Pacific Northwest"

Longreads — "The Curious Tale of the Salish Sea Feet"

BC Coroners Service — Special Investigations Unit foot map (archived)

DNASolves.com — "After 17 years, Clallam County Doe (2008) is Identified"

CBC News — "DNA analysis confirms remains as Mission, B.C., teen missing since 2007"

King 5 — "Feet in shoes have washed up in the Salish Sea for decades... but not Antonio Neill's"

CBC News — "Foot found in B.C. lake identified after 25 years"

KOMO News — "Mystery of remains found in shoe on Sequim beach solved"

Richmond News — "Shoe found on Victoria beach contains human remains: coroner"

All That's Interesting — "The Strange Mystery Of The Salish Sea Feet..."

ExplorersWeb — "Exploration Mysteries: Human Feet of the Salish Sea"

The Tyee — "In False Creek, the Case of the Leg in the Boot"

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 441: In January 1815, the keeper of Toronto's Gibraltar Point Lighthouse vanished, and John Paul Radelmüller was never seen alive again. Within weeks, two soldiers from a nearby garrison were under arrest for his murder. Months later, a jury acquitted them both. Over two centuries later, the case remains legally unresolved, and the lighthouse where Radelmüller spent his final years has become the basis for Toronto's oldest and most enduring ghost story—one that's grown so far beyond the documented record that most people who know it can't say which parts actually happened. This episode goes back to the original sources — the coroner's inquest, the trial record, the earliest newspaper account — to find out.

Sources:⁠York Gazette | Sat, Jan 14, 1815 | Page 3⁠⁠Gibraltar Point Lighthouse — Wikipedia⁠⁠New Light on Toronto's Oldest Cold Case: The 1815 Murder of John Paul Radelmüller — Eamonn O'Keeffe⁠⁠Toronto's First Murder at Gibraltar Point Lighthouse — my-toronto.ca⁠⁠The Ghost of the Rock: Toronto's 200-Year-Old Lighthouse Cold Case — Sofistikateit⁠⁠Gibraltar Point Lighthouse — Toronto Island Investigation — The Paranormal Seekers⁠⁠Glengarry Light Infantry — Wikipedia⁠⁠Battle of Ogdensburg — Wikipedia⁠⁠Glengarry Light Infantry Fencibles, 1812–1816 — regimental history⁠⁠Lighthouses in Canada — Fisheries and Oceans Canada⁠⁠Sambro Island Light — Wikipedia⁠⁠Sambro Island's Haunted History — Pinecone Diaries⁠⁠Fisgard Lighthouse National Historic Site — Wikipedia⁠⁠Gibraltar Lighthouse Toronto | Ghost of Accident or Murder | Article⁠⁠https://ghostwalks.com/articles/gibraltar-lighthouse-toronto⁠⁠The true story of Toronto's island ghost - Spacing Toronto⁠
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices