Canadian Creepies

Send us a text, tell us your canadian creepy!

In a small Ontario community in 1919, a woman named Maggie Pollock found herself at the centre of a controversy that seemed better suited to the 1600s than the 20th century.

Maggie was known around Huron County for her unusual abilities. She claimed to receive visions, communicate with the dead, and help neighbours locate things that had gone missing. To some, she possessed an extraordinary gift. To others, her abilities were something far more suspicious.

But when a farmer paid Maggie to help locate stolen grain, her mysterious reputation landed her in serious legal trouble.

Maggie was charged under a Canadian law that criminalized certain claims of supernatural powers. Her case would become one of the country's most unusual legal battles, raising questions about belief, fraud, superstition, and the treatment of women who didn't quite fit society's expectations.

And the strangest part? The law that helped put Maggie on trial remained on Canada's books until 2018.

In this episode of Down the Crooked Path, Amanda explores the extraordinary true story of Maggie Pollock, the woman known as the Seeress of Blyth, and the Huron County witchcraft case.

Was Maggie a gifted medium, a clever opportunist, or simply a woman whose beliefs put her on the wrong side of an outdated law?

Sometimes the strangest things lurking in Canada's history aren't ghosts or monsters.

Sometimes they're written into the law itself.

🌱 PayYourRent.ca is an Indigenous-led grassroots initiative encouraging settlers to support Indigenous sovereignty, land defenders, and community well-being through ongoing financial contributions.

Put reconciliation into action. Visit PayYourRent.ca and commit to a monthly contribution supporting Indigenous communities, land defenders, and cultural revitalization.

Justice isn’t a moment, it’s a commitment.

 Your next creepy obsession starts here. 

✨ This episode is brought to you by Fable & Frame Creative ✨
Fable & Frame Creative offers Niagara Region portraits and at-home newborn sessions, capturing not just how life looks but how it feels. Because your life isn’t ordinary. It’s a fable, and it deserves to be framed like one.

Thorain Art & Illustration creates darkly whimsical art inspired by vintage Halloween, forgotten fairytales, and strange woodland magic. Find stickers, prints, magnets, keychains, and more on Etsy or at @thorain.draws, and save 10% with code CANADIANCREEPIES.

Manet Macrame & Fibre Arts, created by our researcher Christine, makes spooky handmade macrame, pixel art, epoxy pieces, and Canadian Creepies-inspired books. Save 10% with code CANADIANCREEPIES.

Discover the whimsical world of Yazmin City Arts! This Quebec-based artist creates magical illustrations, charming characters, and fantastical artwork. Explore her creations on her website or shop her Fourthwall store! Follow @yazmincityarts on Instagram and use code CREEPIES10 for 10% off your order while supporting an independent Canadian artist!

🕯️ You can find new episodes of Down the Crooked Path every Thursday, wherever you get your podcasts.
Canadian content airs right here on the Canadian Creepies feed, so stay tuned, and stay on the path.

Edited by Kyle McDonnell 

Send us a text, tell us your canadian creepy!

On April 8, 2006, eight men were found dead inside four vehicles in a farmer’s field near Shedden, Ontario.

What followed became one of the most notorious biker-related murder cases in Canadian history.

In this episode of Canadian Creepies, Valerie and Amanda dig into the events surrounding the Shedden massacre, the fractured world of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club in Ontario, the role of Wayne Kellestine, and the investigation and trials that followed.

A huge thank you to Christine Young for researching this episode and helping piece together the timeline, the people involved, and the biker politics behind the case.

Then, in this week’s Creep of the Week, we meet an Ontario man who built trust by presenting himself as a legal professional despite one very important problem.

Listener discretion is advised.

Tell us your Creep of the Weeks, Current Case or Hometown Haunt Submission

Your next creepy obsession starts here. 

✨ This episode also highlights the work of Niagara Reproductive Justice (NRJ)— Learn more or support their work by visiting their social media or emailing [email protected]. 

Thorain Art & Illustration creates darkly whimsical art inspired by vintage Halloween, forgotten fairytales, and strange woodland magic. Find stickers, prints, magnets, keychains, and more on Etsy or at @thorain.draws, and save 10% with code CANADIANCREEPIES.

Manet Macrame & Fibre Arts, created by our researcher Christine, makes spooky handmade macrame, pixel art, epoxy pieces, and Canadian Creepies-inspired books. Save 10% with code CANADIANCREEPIES.

Disastra brings heavy, unapologetic energy with their EP Head First. Listen now on YouTube or Bandcamp.

📸 Darkroom Photography is a Niagara-based photographer known for creative lifestyle shoots, spooky sessions, and legendary Halloween photos.

If you’re not ready to leave the creepy behind, join us on Patreon.

That’s where you’ll find bonus content, behind the scenes extras, early looks, and more from the Canadian Creepies team.

Your support helps keep the stories coming and the strange alive.

Edited by Kyle McDonnell 

Send us a text, tell us your canadian creepy!

On Halloween night in 1930, four teenagers driving between Richibucto and Rexton, New Brunswick, claimed they encountered something terrifying on the road.

A white-robed figure.

A ghost.

The story spread quickly, drawing crowds, armed locals and plenty of attention to one dark stretch of Maritime road.

But the Spectre of Rexton may have been hiding something far more earthly.

In this episode of Down the Crooked Path, we follow the strange story from roadside apparition to media frenzy and uncover the bootlegging scheme said to be lurking behind it all.

Because sometimes the thing haunting the road is exactly what someone wants you looking at.

🌱 PayYourRent.ca is an Indigenous-led grassroots initiative calling on settlers to engage in ongoing, voluntary financial redistribution in support of Indigenous land defenders, sovereignty, and community well-being.

This foundation supports urgent needs like housing, food security, legal defense, and cultural revitalization all grounded in the principle that land back also means resource back.

If you live, work, or benefit from life on stolen land, consider learning more or making a monthly contribution at PayYourRent.ca.

Justice isn’t a moment, it’s a commitment.

 Your next creepy obsession starts here. 

✨ This episode is brought to you by Fable & Frame Creative ✨
Fable & Frame Creative offers Niagara Region portraits and at-home newborn sessions, capturing not just how life looks but how it feels. Because your life isn’t ordinary. It’s a fable, and it deserves to be framed like one.

Thorain Art & Illustration creates darkly whimsical art inspired by vintage Halloween, forgotten fairytales, and strange woodland magic. Find stickers, prints, magnets, keychains, and more on Etsy or at @thorain.draws, and save 10% with code CANADIANCREEPIES.

Manet Macrame & Fibre Arts, created by our researcher Christine, makes spooky handmade macrame, pixel art, epoxy pieces, and Canadian Creepies-inspired books. Save 10% with code CANADIANCREEPIES.

🕯️ You can find new episodes of Down the Crooked Path every Thursday, wherever you get your podcasts.
Canadian content airs right here on the Canadian Creepies feed, so stay tuned, and stay on the path.

Edited by Kyle McDonnell 

Send us a text, tell us your canadian creepy!

This week, Canadian Creepies is heading into the courtroom for a case that proves truth really can be stranger than fiction.

Bruni v. Bruni began as a bitter Ontario family court dispute, but what unfolded became one of the most memorable decisions in Canadian legal history. Allegations, escalating hostility, family drama and years of conflict eventually landed in front of a judge who had clearly seen enough — and wrote an opinion that has been quoted, shared and discussed ever since.

Researched by Christine Young, Valerie breaks down what happened between the Bruni family, how the case reached the Ontario Superior Court, and why the resulting decision became infamous far beyond the people involved.

And because we missed Creep of the Week last episode, this one comes with two: one right at the top, and another before we close things out.

Listener discretion is advised.

Tell us your Creep of the Weeks, Current Case or Hometown Haunt Submission

Your next creepy obsession starts here. 

✨ This episode also highlights the work of Niagara Reproductive Justice (NRJ)— Learn more or support their work by visiting their social media or emailing [email protected]. 

Thorain Art & Illustration creates darkly whimsical art inspired by vintage Halloween, forgotten fairytales, and strange woodland magic. Find stickers, prints, magnets, keychains, and more on Etsy or at @thorain.draws, and save 10% with code CANADIANCREEPIES.

Manet Macrame & Fibre Arts, created by our researcher Christine, makes spooky handmade macrame, pixel art, epoxy pieces, and Canadian Creepies-inspired books. Save 10% with code CANADIANCREEPIES.

Disastra brings heavy, unapologetic energy with their EP Head First. Listen now on YouTube or Bandcamp.

📸 Darkroom Photography is a Niagara-based photographer known for creative lifestyle shoots, spooky sessions, and legendary Halloween photos.

Edited by Kyle McDonnell 

Send us a text, tell us your canadian creepy!

In the summer of 1989, an ordinary apartment building in Beauport, Québec became the centre of one of the province’s strangest paranormal cases.

It began with unexplained knocking inside the walls. Soon, residents were reporting violent blows strong enough to shake the partitions, mysterious damage appearing in the plaster, and disturbances that no one seemed able to explain. Police, city inspectors, journalists and other investigators were eventually drawn to the building, searching for everything from structural problems to gas, plumbing and geological causes.

Then the cameras arrived.

This week on Down the Crooked Path, we travel to Beauport and revisit the bizarre case that became known as the Beauport Poltergeist, a haunting that made headlines in 1989 and left behind one unsettling question:

What exactly was knocking from the other side of the wall?

🌱 PayYourRent.ca is an Indigenous-led grassroots initiative calling on settlers to engage in ongoing, voluntary financial redistribution in support of Indigenous land defenders, sovereignty, and community well-being.

This foundation supports urgent needs like housing, food security, legal defense, and cultural revitalization all grounded in the principle that land back also means resource back.

If you live, work, or benefit from life on stolen land, consider learning more or making a monthly contribution at PayYourRent.ca.

Justice isn’t a moment, it’s a commitment.

 Your next creepy obsession starts here. 

✨ This episode is brought to you by Fable & Frame Creative ✨
Fable & Frame Creative offers Niagara Region portraits and at-home newborn sessions, capturing not just how life looks but how it feels. Because your life isn’t ordinary. It’s a fable, and it deserves to be framed like one.

Thorain Art & Illustration creates darkly whimsical art inspired by vintage Halloween, forgotten fairytales, and strange woodland magic. Find stickers, prints, magnets, keychains, and more on Etsy or at @thorain.draws, and save 10% with code CANADIANCREEPIES.

Manet Macrame & Fibre Arts, created by our researcher Christine, makes spooky handmade macrame, pixel art, epoxy pieces, and Canadian Creepies-inspired books. Save 10% with code CANADIANCREEPIES.

🕯️ You can find new episodes of Down the Crooked Path every Thursday, wherever you get your podcasts.
Canadian content airs right here on the Canadian Creepies feed, so stay tuned, and stay on the path.

Edited by Kyle McDonnell 

Send us a text, tell us your canadian creepy!

In April 2006, three members of the Richardson family were found murdered inside their Medicine Hat, Alberta home.

Marc Richardson, his wife Debra, and their eight-year-old son Jacob had all been killed. Missing from the house was the couple’s 12-year-old daughter, who we will refer to as J.R. because of protections under Canada’s Youth Criminal Justice Act.

What initially appeared to be a terrifying abduction quickly became something much darker.

Investigators uncovered a relationship between J.R. and 23-year-old Jeremy Steinke, along with online messages discussing her family and the possibility of killing them. Both were eventually arrested, tried separately, and convicted of three counts of first-degree murder.

In this solo Valerie episode, we look at the events leading up to the Richardson family murders, the evidence presented at trial, the radically different sentences handed to J.R. and Steinke, and the role Canada’s Youth Criminal Justice Act played in the outcome.

We also explore what happened after the convictions, J.R.’s rehabilitation and eventual release, and the difficult question at the centre of this case: how should the justice system respond when a child commits an extraordinarily serious crime?

Research for this episode was done by Christine Young.

And a little housekeeping: there is no Creep of the Week this time. Richard, Valerie and Kyle’s cat, decided to make an unscheduled contribution to the production process by walking across the keyboard, and somewhere along the way that segment disappeared. Valerie will make it up to you with a Creep of the Week in the next episode.

Because sometimes true crime podcasting also involves being defeated by a cat.

Tell us your Creep of the Week submission, Current Case or Hometown Haunt

Your next creepy obsession starts here. 

✨ This episode also highlights the work of Niagara Reproductive Justice (NRJ)— Learn more or support their work by visiting their social media or emailing [email protected]. 

Thorain Art & Illustration creates darkly whimsical art inspired by vintage Halloween, forgotten fairytales, and strange woodland magic. Find stickers, prints, magnets, keychains, and more on Etsy or at @thorain.draws, and save 10% with code CANADIANCREEPIES.

Manet Macrame & Fibre Arts, created by our researcher Christine, makes spooky handmade macrame, pixel art, epoxy pieces, and Canadian Creepies-inspired books. Save 10% with code CANADIANCREEPIES.

Disastra brings heavy, unapologetic energy with their EP Head First. Listen now on YouTube or Bandcamp.

📸 Darkroom Photography is a Niagara-based photographer known for creative lifestyle shoots, spooky sessions, and legendary Halloween photos.

Edited by Kyle McDonnell 

Send us a text, tell us your canadian creepy!

Long before Bigfoot became a pop culture phenomenon, stories of strange, human-like creatures were already circulating across Canada.

Hidden in Indigenous oral traditions, frontier accounts, newspaper archives and regional folklore are tales of wildmen said to inhabit remote forests, mountain ranges and northern wilderness. Beings described as hairy, elusive, powerful and sometimes frighteningly human.

In this episode of Down the Crooked Path, Amanda digs into some of Canada’s lesser-known wildman legends, including stories that have largely faded from modern paranormal culture. From the northern wilderness to early settler accounts, these tales raise a familiar question in a distinctly Canadian way: what exactly were people claiming to see out there?

Were these stories warnings, misidentifications, pieces of older folklore, or evidence of something that has always lived just beyond the edge of the map?

Join Amanda as she follows the trail of Canada’s forgotten wildmen.

Down the Crooked Path on Canadian Creepies.

🌱 PayYourRent.ca is an Indigenous-led grassroots initiative calling on settlers to engage in ongoing, voluntary financial redistribution in support of Indigenous land defenders, sovereignty, and community well-being.

This foundation supports urgent needs like housing, food security, legal defense, and cultural revitalization all grounded in the principle that land back also means resource back.

If you live, work, or benefit from life on stolen land, consider learning more or making a monthly contribution at PayYourRent.ca.

Justice isn’t a moment, it’s a commitment.

 Your next creepy obsession starts here. 

✨ This episode is brought to you by Fable & Frame Creative ✨
Fable & Frame Creative offers Niagara Region portraits and at-home newborn sessions, capturing not just how life looks but how it feels. Because your life isn’t ordinary. It’s a fable, and it deserves to be framed like one.

Thorain Art & Illustration creates darkly whimsical art inspired by vintage Halloween, forgotten fairytales, and strange woodland magic. Find stickers, prints, magnets, keychains, and more on Etsy or at @thorain.draws, and save 10% with code CANADIANCREEPIES.

Manet Macrame & Fibre Arts, created by our researcher Christine, makes spooky handmade macrame, pixel art, epoxy pieces, and Canadian Creepies-inspired books. Save 10% with code CANADIANCREEPIES.

🕯️ You can find new episodes of Down the Crooked Path every Thursday, wherever you get your podcasts.
Canadian content airs right here on the Canadian Creepies feed, so stay tuned, and stay on the path.

Edited by Kyle McDonnell 

Send us a text, tell us your canadian creepy!

In Part Two of Jason Porter: The Man Who Wasn’t, Valerie and Amanda continue the story as the carefully constructed identity Heather Rovet knew as “Jace” begins to collapse.

After years together, Heather starts uncovering dating profiles, aliases, financial records, pawn receipts and the name Jason Porter, leading her to a history she never knew existed. We follow the confrontation that came next, the financial aftermath, Heather’s determination to document what happened, and the court proceedings that eventually resulted in Jason’s 2024 conviction and 2025 sentencing.

This episode also features the second half of Christine Young’s interview with Heather Rovet, who shares more of her experience in her own words. We look at the Prime Video documentary ROMCON: Who the F**k Is Jason Porter?, Heather’s efforts to connect with other women, and how her investigation helped uncover a much larger pattern of deception.

Valerie and Amanda also discuss Clare’s Law, including how intimate-partner disclosure systems work in Canada and where Ontario currently stands.

This week’s Creep of the Week covers the ongoing homicide investigation into the death of Niagara Falls tattoo artist Mitchell Snoddon and the two people charged in connection with the case.

Research for the Jason Porter series by Christine Young.

Tell us your Creep of the Week submission, Current Case or Hometown Haunt

Your next creepy obsession starts here. 

✨ This episode also highlights the work of Niagara Reproductive Justice (NRJ)— Learn more or support their work by visiting their social media or emailing [email protected]. 

Thorain Art & Illustration creates darkly whimsical art inspired by vintage Halloween, forgotten fairytales, and strange woodland magic. Find stickers, prints, magnets, keychains, and more on Etsy or at @thorain.draws, and save 10% with code CANADIANCREEPIES.

Manet Macrame & Fibre Arts, created by our researcher Christine, makes spooky handmade macrame, pixel art, epoxy pieces, and Canadian Creepies-inspired books. Save 10% with code CANADIANCREEPIES.

Disastra brings heavy, unapologetic energy with their EP Head First. Listen now on YouTube or Bandcamp.

📸 Darkroom Photography is a Niagara-based photographer known for creative lifestyle shoots, spooky sessions, and legendary Halloween photos.

Edited by Kyle McDonnell 

Send us a text, tell us your canadian creepy!

What happens when a beautiful historic mansion carries more than a century of stories within its walls?

At 515 Jarvis Street in Toronto stands one of the city’s most famous haunted landmarks: The Keg Mansion. Built in 1868, the grand Gothic-style home later became the residence of industrialist Hart Massey and his family before taking on several very different lives as a veterans’ hospital, art gallery, radio station, and eventually a restaurant.

But the history of the mansion comes with something darker. Over the years, staff and visitors have reported strange sightings, unexplained sounds, and ghostly encounters that have helped make the building one of Canada’s best-known haunted locations.

This week, we’re heading Down the Crooked Path to Toronto to explore the history, legends, and lingering spirits of The Keg Mansion.

🌱 PayYourRent.ca is an Indigenous-led grassroots initiative calling on settlers to engage in ongoing, voluntary financial redistribution in support of Indigenous land defenders, sovereignty, and community well-being.

This foundation supports urgent needs like housing, food security, legal defense, and cultural revitalization all grounded in the principle that land back also means resource back.

If you live, work, or benefit from life on stolen land, consider learning more or making a monthly contribution at PayYourRent.ca.

Justice isn’t a moment, it’s a commitment.

 Your next creepy obsession starts here. 

✨ This episode is brought to you by Fable & Frame Creative ✨
Fable & Frame Creative offers Niagara Region portraits and at-home newborn sessions, capturing not just how life looks but how it feels. Because your life isn’t ordinary. It’s a fable, and it deserves to be framed like one.

Thorain Art & Illustration creates darkly whimsical art inspired by vintage Halloween, forgotten fairytales, and strange woodland magic. Find stickers, prints, magnets, keychains, and more on Etsy or at @thorain.draws, and save 10% with code CANADIANCREEPIES.

Manet Macrame & Fibre Arts, created by our researcher Christine, makes spooky handmade macrame, pixel art, epoxy pieces, and Canadian Creepies-inspired books. Save 10% with code CANADIANCREEPIES.

🕯️ You can find new episodes of Down the Crooked Path every Thursday, wherever you get your podcasts.
Canadian content airs right here on the Canadian Creepies feed, so stay tuned, and stay on the path.

Edited by Kyle McDonnell 

Send us a text, tell us your canadian creepy!

Season 3 of Canadian Creepies starts here.

Jason Porter built relationships, identities, and entire versions of himself around lies. In Part One, we begin unraveling the story behind the deception, tracing his early life, relationships, reinventions, and the beginnings of a long con that would leave people questioning who Jason Porter really was.

All research for this episode was completed by Christine Young, who dug deep into the complicated history behind the case.

This episode also features the first half of our interview with Heather Rovet, who shares her experience with Jason Porter in her own words. The second half of Heather’s interview will continue next week in 072B.

And after the interview, we close things out with this week’s Creep of the Week, featuring a disturbing animal cruelty case.

Content warning: This episode includes discussion of manipulation, coercive behaviour, emotional abuse, fraud, and animal cruelty.

Tell us your Creep of the Week submission, Current Case or Hometown Haunt

Your next creepy obsession starts here. 

✨ This episode also highlights the work of Niagara Reproductive Justice (NRJ)— Learn more or support their work by visiting their social media or emailing [email protected]. 

Thorain Art & Illustration creates darkly whimsical art inspired by vintage Halloween, forgotten fairytales, and strange woodland magic. Find stickers, prints, magnets, keychains, and more on Etsy or at @thorain.draws, and save 10% with code CANADIANCREEPIES.

Manet Macrame & Fibre Arts, created by our researcher Christine, makes spooky handmade macrame, pixel art, epoxy pieces, and Canadian Creepies-inspired books. Save 10% with code CANADIANCREEPIES.

Disastra brings heavy, unapologetic energy with their EP Head First. Listen now on YouTube or Bandcamp.

📸 Darkroom Photography is a Niagara-based photographer known for creative lifestyle shoots, spooky sessions, and legendary Halloween photos.

Edited by Kyle McDonnell