My Favourite Stories of 2024
From hockey heroes and cursed operas to monsters, ghosts and more...
The chance to dive into a new story is one of my favourite things in the world, sinking into the depths of a research rabbit hole, learning something new about the city’s past. Getting to share those stories here with you has been one of best parts of the last three years. So I’d like to end 2024 by thanking all you who read The Toronto History Weekly — especially those of you who support it with a paid subscription and allow me to put a ton of work into it.
This year was a hard one in a lot of ways, but also full of rewarding memories: bringing back The Festival of Bizarre Toronto History, curating the guided walks portion of Doors Open Toronto, releasing more new episodes of Canadiana, delivering a raccoon’s eulogy, my Weird Toronto History radio segment, plus talks and tours and online courses and teaching at George Brown College… And the The Toronto History Weekly was there through all of it.
So, as we wrap up the year, I thought I’d share some of my favourite newsletter stories from the last twelve months, including hockey heroes, cursed operas, monsters, ghosts and more.
If you’d like to support the newsletter (and all my other work, too) as we head into the new year, you can make the switch to a paid subscription by clicking right here:
The Nine-Year-Old Rebel Who Blazed The Way For Women's Hockey
“Ab Hoffman's big secret was discovered on a late winter's day in 1956. Spring was approaching and the season was soon coming to an end, so the Little Toronto Hockey League was picking its all-star team. The best players from each squad — all kids about ten years old — would represent the Little THL at a big tournament that month, facing off against the best players from other leagues. But as one team's manager confirmed his picks, double-checking his players' ages on their birth certificates, he suddenly noticed something shocking.
“One of the boys they'd picked for the all-star team wasn't a boy at all…”
The Man Who Mailed Himself Out Of Slavery
”It wasn't a very big box. A wooden crate just three feet across, two feet deep and two-and-a-half high. It had been nailed shut. It was labelled as dry goods and marked "Philadelphia, PA: This Side Up With Care." It looked like quite an ordinary postal shipping container. The only clue there was something unusual within it seems to have been a trio of small holes drilled through the wood — the air holes that would keep the man inside from suffocating during the harrowing journey to come…”
A Brief History of Bald Eagles in Toronto
”It was a September day in 1793. A small boat was making its way up the Don River. The winding waterway snaked along the wide valley floor, dwarfed by the towering slopes above it, surrounded by meadows and thriving forests of butternut, oak and pine. Those woods were filled with deer, wolves and bears, even cougars. Every fall, the river flowed thick with salmon and vast flocks of passenger pigeons darkened the sky on their annual migration…”
The Curse of the SkyDome Opera
”It was an absolutely massive spectacle: a colossal production of Verdi's famous Egyptian opera, Aida. There were more than a thousand performers on stage. A hundred musicians played in the orchestra. The set was dominated by a sphinx that towered four storeys high and spewed real flame. A full menagerie of animals was deployed to wow the audience: four elephants were joined by lions, tigers, leopards, camels, horses, a python, and dozens of doves that were released into the air. It was three-and-a-half hours long and performed to crowds of nearly 40,000 people. It took place on Toronto's biggest stage: beneath the futuristic roof of the brand new SkyDome, just months after the stadium opened.
“But Aida's visit to our city would make headlines for more than just the spectacle of it all. The production was surrounded by death, controversy and scandal. Some might even say it was cursed…”
The Runaway Horses That Once Terrified Toronto
“It was lunchtime on a Tuesday, a mild day in the early spring, the kind of March afternoon when it feels like winter might finally be loosening its icy grip. All across the city, school children were cheerfully heading home for their midday meal. But one boy was about to be caught up in an unexpected drama. As the student cycled along St. Clair West, a horse suddenly came thundering down the road, out of control, a wagon wildly bouncing along behind it, no driver to be seen…”
The FBI Raid on Donald Sutherland's House
“Donald Sutherland was standing alone in an empty field, next to an old army tank. It was the autumn of 1969, and he was in Yugoslavia filming the WWII comedy Kelly's Heroes. As he waited for the next scene to start, he saw a lone figure coming toward him. It was his co-star, Clint Eastwood, and he had news.
“Sutherland later remembered that moment. "I start walking through the field toward him. And I just have the image of my tank here, the whole rest of the army there — and Clint in the middle of the field with me, telling me that my wife’s been arrested for buying hand grenades for the Black Panther Party… with a personal cheque!"
Attack of the City Hall Gargoyles
”It came from the heavens, a strange missile plummeting through the air. It raced toward the earth on a deadly trajectory, a big hunk of sandstone raining straight down from the sky. It was a piece of a monster: the jaw of a gargoyle that was falling from a spot more than twenty storeys above Queen Street, from high atop the clock tower of Old City Hall. It was a solid, heavy chunk of the beast — likely weighing something close to a hundred pounds — more than enough to kill a person. And in its sudden plunge, it threatened to do just that…”
The Night of the Phantom Air Raid
”Toronto shook and rattled and roared. It was the dead of the night when it started. An ominous, threatening hum broke the quiet of the wintry December darkness, waking people from their sleep. They sat bolt upright in bed as they listened to the dreadful noise. Windows trembled. Picture frames vibrated on the walls. And the people of Toronto knew perfectly well what must be happening. This was 1914 — the first year of the First World War. That terrifying rumble could only mean one thing: the German air force was descending upon our city. Toronto must be under attack…”
The Ghost Who Was Arrested By Toronto Police
“The spirit appeared on a summer night in 1925. Dozens of people had gathered to witness the event: a séance held at the old Sovereign Hall on Dovercourt Road — what's now known as Dovercourt House. They had come for a chance to speak with the dead. Many of them must have looked on in amazement as the ghost materialized out of a cabinet, shrouded by mist and lit by strange light. He appeared before them in a white robe, with long hair and a flowing beard. He spoke to them, a miraculous visitor from beyond the grave delivering precious messages from the afterlife.
“Or, at least, that's what he claimed to be doing. Not everyone in the audience believed him. Among those in attendance that night were two very skeptical members of the Toronto Police Morality Squad. The undercover officers were not convinced by the act; far from it. They were about to bring that séance to a violently dramatic end…”
The Mother of the Ward
“It all started when she was thirteen years old. That's when Grace Bagnato got married. Her new husband was much older than she was — twenty-five — and that wasn't their only challenge. Joseph was from Italy and while he'd become a leader of the Italian-Canadian community in Toronto, he still only spoke Italian. And while both of Bagnato's parents were also from Italy, she'd been born in the United States and grew up only speaking English. So, as the newlyweds began their life together, they didn't even speak the same language.
“Determined to communicate with her husband, Grace Bagnato discovered she had a knack for languages — a talent that wouldn't just help her in her marriage, but would also help lay the foundations for the multicultural Toronto of today…”
And A Few More…
The Man Who Risked His Life for the Eclipse
Heartbreak on Humber Bay — A Deadly Night for the Junction
Disaster for the Human Cannonball
The Greatest Fiery Spectacle Ever Presented For Public Amusement
A Eulogy for Conrad The Raccoon