Two Kates go to the Yukon Gold Rush. One becomes famous, the other is forgotten. But who was the REAL Klondike Kate?

https://backyardhistory.ca/f/the-real-klondike-kate

In 1949, a little Canadian island off of the coast of Nova Scotia declared itself to be its own country.  

Calling itself The Principality of Outer Baldonia, it quickly developed all of the trappings of an independent nation: it had its own currency, postage stamps, its own flag, and a coat of arms boasting on it pictures of a tuna fish, a sheep, and a smiling lobster. 

It soon became “one of the zaniest hoaxes in the history of international affairs.” 

https://backyardhistory.ca/the-long-reads/f/the-nova-scotian-island-that-declared-independence

How did 111 Russian coins get buried in Bathurst? Who did it? Where did they come from and what happened to them? Lets dig into this Backyard Mystery!

Giant squid attacked Newfoundland fishing boats in 1873. This was all the more shocking because at the time people didn't believe giant squid were even real. Soon, the entire world's attention would turn towards Newfoundland.

https://backyardhistory.ca/f/giant-squid-attacks-in-newfoundland

Camp B-70, near Fredericton,  held captured German Nazis and Fascist Italians during the Second World War. The prisoners and guards played an elaborate game of cat and mouse, with constant attempts at escape. Remarkably, one escape was actually stopped by an actual real live cat, who had been performing in the camp as part of a traveling circus..

When a bank robber gets stuck in a chimney on April Fools Day, nobody believes a 12 year old boy trying to save him..

On the cold and moonless night in the winter of 1848, the only ever attempted robbery of the Bank of New Brunswick in Saint John took place.

It was not the least bit successful, and turned into quite the bizarre -but true- night long incident.

https://backyardhistory.ca/f/bungling-bank-burglar-gets-stuck-in-chimney

“While I am writing to you the shells are screaming and the bullets are hitting but why should I care? I have just had a good meal!” wrote Emile Goguen, an Acadian lumberjack from New Brunswick who had volunteered to go fight fascism in the Spanish Civil War, and who would be interrogated about his activities while there.

More than 1500 Canadians volunteered to fight fascism in the Spanish Civil War. The only New Brunswicker to join was Emile Goguen.

Prince Edward Island was the first place in Canada to have a car ... and the only province to ban them!

https://backyardhistory.ca/f/when-pei-banned-cars

A beloved Canadian radio host and author had a radical past.

In the 1960s a Maritimer achieved Canada wide fame for his talent in gardening. Known as Mr Green Thumbs, this kindly old man put out no fewer than four massive bestselling books on gardening, and ran a popular regular radio show on how to grow plants.

Mr Green Thumbs’ many dedicated fans likely didn’t know that behind the friendly voice and the kindly writing style of the old man, was a devoted lifelong communist who was so dedicated to his cause that soon after the Russian Revolution and the establishment of the communist Soviet Union, the radical gardener went to that new country to see the revolution in action for himself…