Strange Events: Incredible Canadian Monsters, Curses, Ghosts and Other Tales

by Johanna Bertin

"Nicholson was shocked when a 'dazzling light and shrieking whistle' came out of nowhere and headed right for his train. Paralysed with fear, he... swore that the passengers in the ghost train's lighted cars had looked directly at him". This book will be especially fascinating for all readers interested mystery or history. What are the chances of being hit by lightening three times in one lifetime? And then, being hit again after you are dead and buried? This is just one of the incredible legends in this fascinating collection. From ghosts lurking on board mystery ships to the dark and chilling secrets of Niagara's devil's playground, Canada's history has never been so thrilling.

Genres: Nonfiction, Canada

128 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2003

Reviews

[Heidi Joyce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rereading paranormal books I loved as a kid before I donate them. Love it for the nostalgia, the rest is just okay.

[C. (Don't blank click my reviews, comment please! · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have a lot of books about the paranormal in Canada. They are usually treated seriously, as nonfiction eyewitnesses. They discuss known places we can visit and some establishments that are still in business, if I read that paranormal or regional compilation currently. Perhaps I ought to have checked if a fictional label went with this duology, whose sequel I hope was made with much better quality. After eagerly setting aside this 2003 Johanna Bertin duology, it came as a surprise to entirely dislike “Strange Events: Incredible Canadian Monsters, Curses, Ghosts, And Other Tales”.

Those who know that the paranormal is real, feel pissed off if it is treated as a joke. Worse, those who think of spirits and little known energies, as anything negative to make a horror story out of, do not know mysticism or spirituality at all. I am not categorizing these short stories as horror but to my recall, the whole lot of them were damned depressing. Spirit stories are what inspire me the most in real life, so the tack this editor or writer took was misguided. It is the same outdated idea, that ghost stories around a campfire must be scary or tragic. That is a distasteful, misinformed cliché that must go.

This unpleasant selection did not achieve the titular promise of being eerie; they were dreary. Instead of the stupid campfire myth about a criminal with a hooked hand, they took the same ugly, helpless tone and set most of the tales on ships, or among natives.

The title mentions monsters and curses but monsters are often misinterpreted and may be nicknames for large creatures. We were promised ghosts and incredible things. This title literally advertised OTHER TALES, besides those dull, nonsense curses! I don’t know how it obtained three stars from me.

[Björn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Johanna Bertin's workmanlike compilation of a few Canadian folktales and, well, strange events is a reasonable enough read if you're like me and like to mine for strange stories you may not have heard before. It's certainly not a primary source itself, and is none too critical of (or informative regarding) its own sources. Thankfully, she calls out the Lake Angikuni bunk. Primarily a pamphlet providing passable glosses of stories that might be worth deeper dives via other more-fleshed out works. And there were some gems: the SS Baychimo and David Thompson's floating orbs come to mind. A fast fling for Fortean fans.

[LobsterQuadrille · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whether or not there is any truth to the phenomena described here, this book is just good creepy fun!

[Bohdan Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

Even as a kids book, this wasn’t very good. The extremely matter of fact tone when discussing paranormal and unsourced claims was annoying. Even while trying to suspend disbelief and enjoy the stories they just were not that engaging.