Eccentric Millionaire’s Bizarre Baby Contest in Depression-Era Canada

In this episode of Canada Is Boring, Rhys Waters and Jesse Harley dive into the unbelievable true story of Charles Vance Miller, a wealthy and eccentric Toronto lawyer whose bizarre will triggered one of the strangest competitions in Canadian history: The Great Stork Derby.

Miller, a successful Toronto lawyer, O’Keefe Brewery investor, and racehorse owner, used his fortune to play elaborate pranks that tested people’s greed, morality, and hypocrisy. But his greatest “joke” came after his death in 1926, when his will offered a massive cash prize to the married couple in Ontario who had the most children over a ten-year period—during the Great Depression, when families were already struggling to survive.

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In this final episode of the Tinfoil Tuque series, Rhys and Jesse dive into the bizarre true story of Todd Standing, a filmmaker and wilderness guide from Alberta who actually took the British Columbia government to court over Sasquatch. Todd claims to have encountered Bigfoot in the Rocky Mountains and even filmed a large bipedal creature back in 2005. That blurry, shaky video, along with his documentary “Discovering Bigfoot” and his guided Sasquatch tours, form the backbone of his argument that Bigfoot is real, endangered, and in need of government protection.

Rhys and Jesse dissect Todd’s evidence, the tone and structure of his documentary, and the way he has built a business around Bigfoot encounters. They walk through his lawsuit against the BC government, where Todd alleged a dereliction of duty and claimed his Charter rights were being violated because the province refused to recognize Sasquatch or issue an official statement on its existence. The hosts then unpack the BC Supreme Court’s response, including the judge’s conclusion that the court is not the place to decide on unproven scientific facts and that belief in Sasquatch is not an immutable personal characteristic protected by the Charter. They also discuss the infamous hair sample that turned out to be human, and the ultimate outcome: Todd’s claim was dismissed and he was ordered to pay the government’s legal costs.

Along the way, the conversation veers into Bigfoot churches, dudist ministers inspired by The Big Lebowski, early-2000s-style websites, and the broader way conspiracy-flavoured thinking from the 90s and 2000s has seeped into mainstream culture. Rhys and Jesse close out the Tinfoil Tuque summer experiment by reflecting on podcast listening habits in summer, why “everyone stops listening” is mostly a production myth, and why some of their own cryptid episodes felt more hit-and-miss.

They finish by teasing their return to regular Canada Is Boring programming with a wild story about a wealthy Canadian whose will turned his fortune into a series of outrageous contests designed to mess with people’s ethics from beyond the grave. If you’re into Bigfoot, weird lawsuits, or just want to hear two podcasters roast a Supreme Court–level Sasquatch case, this episode is for you.

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In this episode, Rhys and Jesse dive into the soggy saga of the so‑called Thetis Lake Monster—a five-foot fish-man allegedly terrorizing teens near Victoria in the 1970s. From the original reports by Robin and Gordon to the “supporting” sighting by Russell Van Nice and Mike, the story quickly unravels into exactly what it is: a teenage attention grab that somehow survived for decades online.

Along the way, the hosts compare it to Ohio’s Loveland Frog, talk escaped lizards, TV creature features, and why obviously debunked stories still thrive in the age of clicks, TikToks, and conspiracy content. Plus: black‑eyed children, porn-title brainstorming, and a peek into Rhys’s workaholic routine vs. Jesse’s summer slump.

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Rhys and Jesse dive into the mystery of the “extinct” Eastern Cougar in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick—sharing sightings, sketchy government responses, dubious DNA tests, and why officials might prefer this big cat to stay officially dead. Along the way, they detour into conspiracy vans in Vancouver, wild listener theories, dating updates, autobahn anxiety, and the surprising sex lives of kangaroos.

0:00 – Sleep Tracking & Being Exhausted

1:00 – Introducing the Eastern Cougar “Cryptid”

2:20 – Cold Open: Conspiracies & Canada Is Boring Intro

3:38 – Back from Break: Rhys and Jesse Reunite

4:05 – Ridiculous Cryptids & Livestock Jokes

5:00 – What Is the Eastern Cougar, Really?

6:00 – Sightings, Photos & “It Just Looks Like a Cougar”

7:30 – Dashcam Cougar, Trail Cams & Blurry Evidence

9:30 – Government Takes the Tape (Conveniently Lost)

10:30 – “Mistaken Identity” Animals & Official Charts

11:55 – Cougar Bar Jokes & Karaoke Research

13:00 – Biologists, DNA Evidence & Exotic Pets

14:20 – Snake Pets, Smells & Listener Call to Action

16:40 – More DNA Evidence & Jesse Calls Out Bad Science

18:05 – Extinction, Habitat Loss & Elusive Big Cats

19:00 – Why the Government Won’t Admit Cougars Exist

20:16 – Nova Scotia Politics & Reluctance to Change

20:57 – Condos, Empty Buildings & Rich Investors

21:29 – Do We Believe in the Eastern Cougar?

22:07 – Small Talk Dimension Intro (STD Zone)

22:56 – Rhys’s Europe Trip & Autobahn Anxiety

24:57 – Jesse’s Dating Life Update

25:34 – Listener Jess’s Top 3 Conspiracies

27:26 – Heartfelt Comment from Listener in Australia

28:00 – Kangaroos, Three Genitals & Weird Biology

29:26 – Googling Kangaroo Anatomy Live

30:19 – Teasing the Next Lake Monster Episode

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In this episode of Canada Is Boring: The Tinfoil Touque, Rhys Waters and Jesse dive into Project Magnet, Canada’s secretly funded UFO research program from the 1950s, led by government engineer Wilbert Brockhouse Smith.

They unpack how a respected radio and broadcasting expert went from establishing ionospheric monitoring systems and TV allocation standards… to claiming telepathic contact with “space brothers” and linking UFOs to psychic phenomena.

Along the way, they explore:

• How Project Magnet tried to harness geomagnetism as a propulsion system
• Why Smith believed UFOs were intelligent extraterrestrial craft
• The mysterious status of never-fully-declassified Canadian government files
• Parallels with Star Trek’s Prime Directive and modern UFO lore
• What happens when a serious scientist appears to lose his grip on reality

The episode wraps up with small talk in the Small Talk Dimension, including ADHD, trying Vyvanse, near-miss pool-water drinking incidents, and a tease for the next East Coast cryptid/conspiracy story.

If you’re into UFO history, Cold War weirdness, Canadian conspiracies, or just well-crafted rants, this one’s for you.

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In this episode of Tinfoil Touque from Canada Is Boring, Rhys and Jesse dive into the viral case of Andrew Dawson, the TikToker who claimed to film a giant on a BC mountainside—then later posted strange follow-ups about government agents, mysterious helicopters, and being stalked… before tragically dying a few months later.

They unpack:

• The original “giant on the mountain” video near Valemount / Canoe Mountain, BC
• Possible mundane explanations (CBC transmitter mast, SkyTram station, firefighting / survey helicopters)
• How a creator’s mental health struggles got erased by conspiracy narratives
• Why people are so drawn to giants, UFOs, Freemasons, and secret societies
• The limits of public power even when we “catch it on camera”
• And how Dawson’s follower count exploded after his death, just like a modern myth in real time

Along the way, they go on classic Canada Is Boring tangents about:

• TikTok view inflation and opaque social media metrics
• Whether governments even need to cover things up anymore
• Freemasons, “gentlemen’s clubs,” and real vs imagined influence
• Rhys’ family trip to Germany and Jesse’s secret Fantasia film fest date

This episode balances dark humor, skepticism, and empathy, ending on a reminder that behind every viral clip is a real human being.

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Are aliens surgically mutilating cattle across the Canadian prairies… or is there a far more grounded (and grosser) explanation?

In this episode of Tinfoil Touque, Rhys Waters and Jesse dive into decades of bizarre prairie cattle mutilation reports from Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and BC. We talk missing eyes and tongues, vanishing sex organs, no blood at the scene, strange surgical cuts, and RCMP files that still aren’t fully released.

Along the way we explore:

Classic conspiracy explanations: UFOs, secret government bioweapons, and satanic cults

What ranchers, vets, and pathologists actually say about these cases

The infamous “intergalactic vagina explosion” quote

How scavengers like ravens, magpies, and blowflies can create “surgical” wounds

Why some cases still don’t fit the natural explanation

Plus, in the STD (Small Talk Dimension) Zone, Rhys talks about joining a new gym in Halifax, Jesse preps for a mystery biker-dive-bar date, and they tease next week’s story about a TikToker who filmed a “giant” in the Rocky Mountains.

Is it aliens, cults, or just maggots doing what maggots do?

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In this episode of The Tinfoil Tuque, Rhys and Jesse dive into one of Canada’s most famous UFO cases: the Falcon Lake incident.

Was Polish immigrant and amateur prospector Stefan Michalak really burned by a UFO in 1967—or was it a bizarre self‑inflicted hoax?

Along the way they rant about conspiracy theories, flat‑Earthers, media bias, cops, and how the internet turned every would‑be investigative journalist into an online conspiracy-hunter. They also talk about the legacy of the case, from government investigations to a literal glow‑in‑the‑dark Canadian coin, and finish off in the Small Talk Dimension with vacation chaos in the Alps and smoked cocktails.

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In this debut episode of Canada Is Boring Presents: The Tinfoil Touque, Rhys and Jesse dig into one of Canada’s most famous “evidence of time travel” photos: a 1941 crowd scene at a bridge reopening in British Columbia featuring a mysterious man in wraparound shades, a logo sweater, and what looks like a modern camera.

Was he really a time traveler… or just a fashion-forward hockey fan with a new Kodak? The pair break down how this single image went viral in the 2010s, why people are so eager to see the fantastical instead of the obvious, and how gravity makes “unsexy” time travel (a.k.a. time dilation) very real.

Along the way, they riff on aging and fashion, internet conspiracy culture, superhero flame wars on Reddit, and Rhys’s new favourite church-parking-lot ice cream stand, Holy Cones.

Stay to the end for a tease of next week’s story: the Falcon Lake incident, a classic Canadian close encounter of the second kind.

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In this premium “special friends” episode of Canada Is Boring, Rhys shares a surprisingly heartwarming Disney-level story from his own Nova Scotia neighborhood: a mother black bear and her two cubs, one of which, soon christened Kelly the Bear, ends up roaming alone through suburbia and ultimately being “relocated” to a wildlife park.

Rhys also announces their upcoming summer mini-series, “Tin Foil Touque” a run of conspiracy- and paranormal-themed episodes featuring UFOs, frogmen in lakes, radiation burns from glowing aircraft, and even a real-life legal battle involving Bigfoot.

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