The Full Line-Up for The Festival of Bizarre Toronto History 2025!
From séances and scandals to firebombing and fly-killing...
The Festival of Bizarre Toronto History starts on Monday! We’ll spend seven days diving into some of the strangest stories our city has to offer — a week filled with walking tours, Zoom panels and lectures.
You’ll find the full schedule below!
You can buy a ticket for the entire festival or any one of the individual events. If you have to miss any of the online panels or lectures, don’t worry — they’ll all be recorded so you can watch them whenever you like.
You can find more information at www.bizarretoronto.com.
The Secrets & Séances of Canada’s Strangest Prime Minister
Monday, June 2 at 8pm on Zoom
William Lyon Mackenzie King wasn't just the longest-serving prime minister in Canadian history, he was also a very unusual man. From his intense relationship with his mother to the séances he held while in power, we'll spend the festival's opening night diving into his odd life with award-winning historian Allan Levine, author of a book about our country's most infamous believer in the occult.
Allan Levine has written sixteen books including King: William Lyon Mackenzie King: A Life Guided by the Hand of Destiny (winner of the Alexander Kennedy Isbister Award for Non-Fiction), Toronto: Biography of a City, Details are Unprintable: Wayne Lonergan and the Sensational Café Society Murder; Seeking the Fabled City: The Canadian Jewish Experience (longlisted for the RBC Taylor Prize); and Coming of Age: A History of the Jewish People of Manitoba (winner of the McNally-Robinson Book of the Year). For the past fourteen years, he has written the column “Now & Then” for the Winnipeg Free Press, and his articles and reviews have also appeared in the Globe and Mail, National Post, Toronto Star, Maclean’s and Tablet, among other publications.
The Grisly History of the Don Jail
Tuesday, June 3 at 8pm on Zoom
The Don Jail is one of Toronto's most elegant old buildings, but the history behind it is much less pleasant. Originally opened to provide a more progressive form of imprisonment, instead it became the scene of some of our city's most disturbing tales. In the days of capital punishment, the prison witnessed a series of gruesome executions — from the killing of Victorian murderers to the last hanging in Canadian history. In this online event, we'll explore that grisly past with a pair of authors who've written about the notorious prison and the bodies that were discovered on its grounds when it was expanded into the Bridgepoint healthcare facility.
Lorna Poplak is the author of The Don: The Story of Toronto's Infamous Jail and Drop Dead: A Horrible History of Hanging in Canada. With two award-nominated non-fiction publications, articles appearing on the TV Ontario website and in other publications, and inclusion in a new short story anthology, she is an authority on the history of crime and punishment in Canada.
Ed Brown is an author and freelancer writer whose work has appeared in The Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail, and Spacing magazine among other publications. His latest book, The Way of Transgressors: A Novel in Stories, is based on the crimes of fifteen murderers found in unmarked graves on the grounds of the Don Jail in 2007. His other publications include I Am A Pedestrian: A Survivor's Guide to Walking Around Toronto, or, A Love Letter to Walking, which was nominated for the Heritage Toronto Book Award.
The Weirdest Contests in Toronto History
Wednesday, June 4 at 8pm on Zoom
Our city has been home to some truly strange contests over the years. We'll spend the festival's Wednesday night talking about some of the weirdest of them all — from the girl who killed more than a half a million flies, to the mothers who raced to have as many babies as they could — with three wonderful storytellers.
Katie Daubs is a journalist with The Toronto Star and the author of The Missing Millionaire, a finalist for The Toronto Book Award in 2020. Craig Baird is the host of the Canadian History Ehx podcast and the author of the new book, Canada's Main Street: The Epic Story of the Trans-Canada Highway. Katherine Taylor is the author of Toronto: City of Commerce 1800–1960 and the One Gal's Toronto blog.
The Torontonian Plot to Firebomb New York City
Thursday, June 5 at 8pm on Zoom
The Civil War was the bloodiest conflict in the history of the United States, but it wasn't only fought by Americans. It drew in thousands of people across the border in the Canadian colonies and chance the course of our own country's history. We'll spent the festival's Thursday night exploring Toronto's own connections to the war, including the bizarre plot that saw Confederate agents use Toronto as a base from which to attack New York.
John Boyko is the author of Blood and Daring: How Canada Fought the American Civil War and Forged a Nation as well as seven other books about Canadian history, including The Devil’s Trick: How Canada Fought the Vietnam War and Cold Fire: Kennedy’ Northern Front. He contributes editorials for newspapers across Canada and writes entries for the online Canadian Encyclopedia. He is also serves as a councillor for the Township of Selwyn.
Toronto’s Founding Dog & How He Almost Got Eaten
Friday, June 6 at 8pm on Zoom
When the Simcoe family arrived to found our city in the late 1700s, they brought their pets with them, including a big Newfoundland dog named Jack Sharp. In this online talk by Adam Bunch, we'll learn about the breed's dramatic role in Canadian history, meet all the Simcoes' pets, and explore the story of how Jack Sharp found himself in very deep trouble soon after our city was founded.
Adam Bunch is the founder of the Festival of Bizarre Toronto History, the author of The Toronto Book of the Dead and The Toronto Book of Love, the host of the Canadiana documentary series, and the creator of the Toronto Time Traveller newsletter and the Toronto Dreams Project. His work popularizing Canadian history was recognized with the Governor General's History Award for Popular Media — the Pierre Berton Award.
Secrets & Scandals of Forest Hill
Saturday, June 7 at 12pm
Forest Hill was once a sleepy suburb, but its history is anything but quiet. The neighbourhood's past is filled with tales of strange secrets and shocking scandals. On this walk led by Toronto history creator Kiki Mairi we'll explore some of those unexpected stories — from murders and kidnappings to the evolution of the community itself — as we dive into the histories hidden within one of the city's most affluent neighbourhoods.
A Walk Through Toronto’s Weird Medical History
Saturday, June 7 at 3:30pm
Our city's medical history is filled with bizarre tales from days gone by. In this downtown walk led by nurse and tour guide Natalia Dankovtseva of 416 Walks, we'll explore strange tales about doctors, nurses and patients from Toronto's past. From the biggest medical scandal in our country's history, to hidden birthdays, a rooftop school, and a Communist celebrated as a Canadian hero, we'll learn about the unexpected stories of Torontonian healthcare.
An Even More Bizarre Tour of Mount Pleasant Cemetery
Sunday, June 8 at 1pm
Chantal Morris is back! The creator of the wildly popular Toronto Cemetery Tours has been part of the Festival of Bizarre Toronto History since the beginning, including the very first tour ever given at the festival. For that edition, she shared some of the weirdest tales to be found among the graves of Mount Pleasant Cemetery. And this year, she's taking us back to where it all started! On Sunday afternoon, we'll head out on another hunt for even more of the bizarre tales hidden among those headstones.
A Truly Gruesome Tour of Downtown Toronto
Sunday, June 8 at 4:30pm
From gory hangings to deadly Victorian diseases, the history of Toronto is filled with some thoroughly nauseating tales. On the final day of the festival, we'll head downtown with tour guide extraordinaire Alex Sein, the Bearded Professor, to dig up some exceptionally morbid stories. And in the process, we'll see what they have to teach us about what life was once like in our city. This one is not for the faint of heart!
Once again, you can buy your tickets here. Or find more information at www.bizarretoronto.com.