Canadian Myths, Old Stories and Mere Rumours Quiz

Answer: A lake monster

Okanagan is a 135 km long glacial fjord lake in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia. It is said to be the home of a lake monster, Ogopogo, much like of Nessie of Loch Ness. The first recorded sighting of the serpentine creature was in 1872, but for centuries native peoples of the region knew it as a benevolent spirit of the lake. In 1999, an Okanagan tourist board offered a reward of $1,000,000 to anyone with undisputable evidence of Ogopogo. Greenpeace stepped in, naming the monster an endangered species.

In 1995 it came to light that the nearby city of Vernon had a copyright on the name 'Ogopogo'. This angered the First Nations peoples living in the area. "We equated it to someone taking ownership over the Bible and suddenly copyrighting the name Moses," said one chief. In 2021, Vernon ceded all rights to the Syilx Nation.

There are lake monsters all over Canada. For example; Manipogo lives in Lake Manitoba, Cressie lives in Crescent Lake in northern Newfoundland and Angeoa attacks kayaks in Dubawnt Lake in Nunavut.

Answer: The Hitchhikers' Graveyard

Wawa is a spectacularly beautiful township on the shore of Lake Wawa, and not far from the eastern shores of Lake Superior. Today it's known for the big Canada goose monument, delicious wild blueberries and summer fun. Back in the 1960s and 70s, when it was cool for kids to hitchhike across Canada, it became notorious for the town you couldn't get a ride out of. You can hear tell of hitchhikers who waited over two years for a lift, and hitchhikers who got so tired of waiting that they got a job, got married and settled in the town.

There is an enduring legend of how the army sent trucks to collect 'thousands' of hitchhikers and drive them off to Sudbury. Are any of the stories true? Who can say, but there's an online blog from 2015 that indicates that there still may be a problem.

Answer: His wife

William Lyon Mackenzie King is remembered today as Canada's only unmarried Prime Minister, the longest-serving (three non-consecutive terms), as her wartime leader, and one of the most effective of any holding that post. However he didn't earn the nickname 'Weird Willie' for nothing. King was an avowed Spiritualist, consulting mediums and holding seances on a regular basis.

He spoke regularly to historical notables, as well as his mother and his dog(s) Pat. At the time, there was concern amongst parliamentarians that he was applying advice he'd received in seances to his political policies, although the general public didn't learn of this until his papers were published posthumously.

Some claim his spiritualism didn't influence his governmental acts but biographer Alan Levine argues that "all of his spiritualist experiences, his other superstitions and his multi-paranoid reactions imprinted on his consciousness, shaping his thoughts and feelings in a thousand different ways."

Answer: He was the captain of a German U-Boat

During the Battle of the St. Lawrence, from 1942-44, German U-Boat crews did their best to sink the supply convoys leaving from Canada that were Britain's lifeline. According to historians, the U-Boats didn't get much farther down the river than Quebec City and the crews stayed on board, but there are hundreds of stories of German sailors on Canadian soil that still circulate.

There was the U-Boat commander that bought the newspaper, U-Boat crews that bought supplies from shopkeepers along the Gaspé coast, the officers having a drink at a country club, and this quiz-maker's high school teacher, who told of U-Boat crews that slept in his father's barn on the Baie des Chaleurs.

Historians may quibble but the legend lives on.

Answer: Canada's Hockey Hall of Fame

Toronto, Ontario is the home of the Toronto Maple Leafs and home to the Hockey Hall of Fame, which is housed in what is considered of the most haunted buildings in Canada. Its home is an old bank building in the heart of the city. Dorothy, the ghost who walks there, is said to be a young bank teller who committed suicide in 1953. She has been seen in second-floor hallways. Cold spots, doors that open and shut on their own, and ghostly screams are reported fairly regularly. She especially likes to tap visitors on the shoulder.

Answer: UFO abduction

It's a fact that UFO aliens love Canada. A 2019 study found that UFO sightings are reported in Canada on average three times a day and Vancouver Island is one of their prime destinations. Its Pacific climate and scenic beauty make it an attractive tourist destination for humans and aliens alike. In the 1970s in particular, the island was an epicenter for UFO sightings. It was at that time that Granger Taylor, a young man from a small town on the east coast, told friends and family that he would be abducted by aliens. In November 1980, he disappeared, leaving a note that read in part, "I have gone away to walk aboard an alien space ship, as recurring dreams assured a 42-month interstellar voyage to explore the vast universe..."

Granger never returned. His case became the focus of national attention and the subject of a CBC documentary.

Answer: Oak Island

Oak Island lies just off the Nova Scotia mainland and, for centuries, a treasure is thought to be buried there. Apparently one of Captain Kidd's crew made a deathbed claim that the pirate had a fabulous treasure buried there. Various later claims say the treasure is the French crown jewels, Rosicrucian artifacts or the Templar coffers along with the Holy Grail.

There are even some who claim that Sir Francis Bacon hid Shakespearean manuscripts there. A farmer got curious and started digging in the 1790s and from then on a series of companies and private individuals have tried their luck excavating the money pit. Excavators of note include John Wayne, John Jacob Astor and Franklin Roosevelt.

In 2006, Rick and Marty Lagina of Michigan began excavations and created a reality show 'The Curse of Oak Island' in 2014.

The show was in its 9th season in 2021.

Answer: A church

"For a moment I could not believe that I was standing on both feet. I called to my wife, 'But where is my crutch?' and she, astonished, cried out: 'Beside the radio.'" (Francois Lecuyer, 1937)

Due to his piety and devotion to St. Joseph, in 1872 a very poor and very frail young man, Alfred Bessette, was accepted into the Congregation of Holy Cross in Montreal. He took the religious name Brother André and was given the lowly post of porter, but he started visiting the sick and praying with them. Soon word spread that the monk was a healer and crowds started to gather (although he always averred that it was the intercession of St. Joseph that was healing). In 1904 a chapel was built for Brother André to contain the petitioners and in 1924 work began on a great basilica consecrated to St. Joseph on the slopes of Mount Royal. It is there, at St. Joseph's Oratory, where 'Frère André' is buried, and where there is a room devoted to 'ex-votos', the crutches and canes given as symbols of prayers fulfilled. When he died in 1937, almost a million people paid their respects at his coffin.

There have been miracles attributed to Saint André Bessette's intercession years after his death. Pope John Paul II beatified him in 1982 and he was canonized in 2009 by Pope Benedict XVI.

Today the oratory is a Montreal landmark and place of pilgrimage. Due to a city ordinance, its great dome is the only structure higher than the summit of Mount Royal.

Answer: Maple syrup

From the moment that the first $100 note was introduced, the whispers started. Apparently people believed that there was a 'scratch and sniff' patch on the bill that gave off the distinctive aroma of maple syrup. Social media lit up with the story and banks even reported people showing up complaining that their particular notes didn't smell at all.

The Bank of Canada had to issue a statement denying that any scent was added.

Answer: Sir John A. MacDonald

"I have reason to believe that the agents... are doing all they can, by refusing food until the Indians are on the verge of starvation, to reduce the expense" (Sir John A. MacDonald, 1882)

One of the most enduring of Canadian myths is that compared to the Americans, Canadians are the 'nice' ones who treated the Indigenous nations of the country with respect. However with the revelations of the abuse and death of generations of native children taken from their parents and confined to residential schools, Canadians are starting to wake up to the fact that we don't have much to be proud of in this respect. In particular, there has been a re-examination of the actions of our first Prime Minister. Although Sir John A. MacDonald was an extremely adroit politician who brought our country into being, he also pursued policies regarding the First Nations that were considered extreme even by contemporary standards. In 2018, the city of Victoria, British Columbia, removed the statue of Sir John that stood in front of their city hall. Says University of Victoria's John Lutz, "The story that John A. Macdonald tells is multiple stories. There's a story about the founder of Canada, who could be celebrated...and then there's the story about the man who helped formulate the Indian Act and was part of the colonial process in Canada that we have to remember and not celebrate."