The Festival of Bizarre Toronto History 2024
Strange history for curious people — a week of online lectures, Zoom panels and walking tours by some of Toronto's greatest storytellers
Date and time
Location
Online
Refund Policy
About this event
- 6 days
The Festival of Bizarre Toronto History is dedicated to exploring strange stories from our city's past — a week filled with online lectures, panels, interviews, and walking tours featuring some of Toronto's greatest storytellers.
We’ll spend seven days digging into the weirdest tales our city has to offer, whether it's the shadowy body snatchers who once stalked our graveyards, the man who mailed himself out of slavery, or the strange murders that shocked Torontonians in years gone by.
The Schedule
The festival takes place May 6–12, 2024.
From Monday to Friday, there will be a nightly lecture or panel. They'll happen over Zoom, and will all be recorded so you can watch them whenever you like.
Then on the weekend, we’ll head out into the city for a couple of very strange walking tours.
Here's the schedule so far! (As more events are added to the line-up, they'll be posted here too...)
A Night of Strange & Shocking Murders! (Monday, May 6)
Toronto's past is filled with chilling crimes that have a lot to teach us about the history of the place we call home. On the festival’s opening night, we'll dive into some of those grisly cases with three authors who've written about some of the strangest and most shocking murders in our city's history.
Nate Hendley is the Toronto-based author of several history books, including The Beatle Bandit: A Serial Bank Robber's Deadly Heist, a Cross-Country Manhunt, and the Insanity Plea that Shook the Nation and The Boy on the Bicycle: A Forgotten Case of Wrongful Conviction in Toronto.
Carolyn Whitzman is a writer, researcher and Invited Professor at the University of Ottawa. Her most recent book is Clara at the Door with a Revolver: The Scandalous Black Suspect, the Exemplary White Son, and the Murder That Shocked Toronto.
Adam Selzer is a tour guide and historian in Chicago and New York as well as the author of more than twenty books, including H. H. Holmes: The True History of the White City Devil.
— 8pm on Zoom (Eastern time) —
Toronto's Wackiest Inventions & Oddball Schemes (Tuesday, May 7)
Toronto's past is littered with failed ideas. Our city has incubated countless businesses selling weird new products dreamed up by entrepreneurial spirits trying to strike it rich in the big city. We have a long history of miraculous potions, bizarre contraptions and ridiculous schemes designed to separate Torontonians from their money. We'll hear about some of the strangest from a pair of Toronto history experts.
Katherine Taylor is the author of Toronto: City of Commerce 1800–1960 and the One Gal's Toronto blog.
Jamie Bradburn is a writer and historian who regularly publishes at TVO, is a former contributor to Torontoist's beloved Historicist column, and the creator of the Jamie Bradburn's Tales of Toronto blog.
Chris Bateman is the Manager of Plaques at Heritage Toronto and a writer whose work has appeared on blogTO, Spacing and Toronto Life among other places.
— 8pm on Zoom —
The Man Who Mailed Himself Out Of Slavery (Wednesday, May 8)
The story of Henry Box Brown is one of the most incredible tales in North American history — and it has a deep Toronto connection. Brown spent the final years of his life living in our city. On the festival's third night, we'll talk about his dramatic escape from slavery, his eclectic theatrical performances, and Toronto's own history of racism on the stage with two renowned professors.
Dr. Cheryl Thompson is an Associate Professor in the Performance program at Toronto Metropolitan University. She is currently working on her third book about Canada's history of blackface as performance and anti-Black racism. Her previous books include Uncle: Race, Nostalgia, and the Politics of Loyalty and Beauty in a Box: Detangling the Roots of Canada's Black Beauty Culture.
Dr. Martha J. Cutter is Professor of English and Africana Studies at the University of Connecticut, and the author of The Many Resurrections of Henry Box Brown and "Will The Real Henry 'Box' Brown Please Stand Up?"
— 8pm on Zoom —
Strange Tales from the Wilds of Toronto (Thursday, May 9)
Toronto is a city of ravines and river valleys. They are strange and contradictory places, filled with paradoxes: both urban and wild; natural and artificial; inviting and yet threatening at the same time. We'll spend a night exploring the role they've played in our city's imagination — along with some of the weird and wild tales that have emerged from their leafy depths.
To discuss the wild city, we'll be joined by the curators of the Toronto Gone Wild exhibit, which is currently open at Museum of Toronto.
Jennifer Bonnell is an Associate Professor in the Department of History at York University, and an author whose books include Reclaiming the Don: An Environmental History of Toronto's Don River Valley.
Amy Lavender Harris is a geographer, urbanist, contributing editor at Spacing magazine, and author of Imagining Toronto.
— 8pm on Zoom —
The Body Snatchers of Toronto (Friday, May 10)
Toronto’s dead haven’t always been able to rest in peace. There was a time when our city was plagued by graverobbers. As local medical schools developed a ravenous appetite for fresh bodies, grisly scenes played out under the cover of darkness. Victorian Torontonians were left horrified by reports of empty coffins and missing corpses.
The talk will be presented by Adam Bunch, 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 Festival of Bizarre Toronto History.
— 8pm on Zoom —
A Bizarre Tour of the Necropolis Cemetery (Saturday, May 11)
There are strange secrets hidden among the gravestones of the Necropolis. We'll spend the Saturday afternoon of the festival roaming among them with one of the city's most riveting tour guides. We'll dig up unexpected tales about the dead in a fascinating walk led by Chantal Morris, creator of the wildly popular Toronto Cemetery Tours.
— 1pm —
A Very Sticky Tour of Queen West (Saturday, May 11)
A guerrilla art movement has been playing out on the streets of Toronto for decades — with Queen West as one of its central galleries. We'll spend Saturday evening exploring the city's sticker art scene and its little-known history with tour guide and stickerer Alex Sein.
— 5:30pm —
A Weird Toronto Mother's Day Walk (Sunday, May 12)
The festival’s final day will be Mother’s Day. So what better time to take a tour filled with some strange stories about moms from the history of Toronto. We’ll explore everything from William Lyon Mackenzie’s elderly mother facing down soldiers during his infamous rebellion, to Mary Pickford’s mom raising a family filled with scandalous child stars.
The tour will be led by Adam Bunch, 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 Festival of Bizarre Toronto History.
— 1pm —
A Gross & Gory Tour of Old Toronto (Sunday, May 12)
We'll close the festival by diving into some of the most stomach-churning stories our city has to offer. From puddles of filth to morbid mourning traditions, the history of Toronto is filled with gross and gory tales that are hard to believe people ever thought were normal.
The tour will be led by Jason Kucherawy, owner of Tour Guys — Canada's leading walking tour company — and president of the Tourist Guide Association of Toronto.
— 4:30pm —
Tickets
One ticket gets you into all the events, including the weekend walking tours. Or you can purchase tickets for individual events.
You'll be sent a Zoom link before your event(s) begin so you can attend all the online lectures, panels and interviews.
And once the festival starts, you'll be sent a link to a private YouTube playlist so you can watch the recordings of the online events whenever you like — in case you can't watch them live.
Who We Are
The festival is organized by Adam Bunch, author of The Toronto Book of the Dead and The Toronto Book of Love, host of the Canadiana documentary series, and creator of The Toronto History Weekly newsletter. His Weird Toronto History radio segment appears on Newstalk 1010 every Tuesday afternoon. And his work popularizing Canadian history was recognized with the Governor General's History Award for Popular Media — the Pierre Berton Award.
Contact
You can find more information about the Festival of Bizarre Toronto History at:
And if you have any questions, feel free to get in touch!
Organized by
Adam Bunch is an award-winning storyteller who brings the history of Toronto and Canada to life.