Strange Truths and Tall Tales: Product of Newfoundland – Details, episodes & analysis

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Strange Truths and Tall Tales: Product of Newfoundland

Robert (@productofnfld)

Society & Culture

Frequency: 1 episode/50d. Total Eps: 16

We tell all kinds of stories from Newfoundland, Canada but the ‘strange and unusual’ is our sweet-spot. You’ll hear true-life accounts of death-defying courage, tales of horrible sea monsters and stories of murderous mummers. Alongside the history and folklore, we chat with modern-day storytellers who stop by to talk about their work. It’s a bit like ‘Ripley’s Believe It or Not’ meets ‘Entertainment Tonight.’ Strange bedfellows? Definitely. It’s fun though. So, spend some time with us unravelling ‘the yarns that knit ya'.

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🇨🇦 Canada - placesAndTravel
30/10/2024
#24
🇨🇦 Canada - placesAndTravel
25/10/2024
#96
🇨🇦 Canada - placesAndTravel
24/10/2024
#36
🇨🇦 Canada - placesAndTravel
23/10/2024
#94

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https://www.fredsrecords.com/site/shop/rosemary-lawton-resilience-songbook/
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https://www.duds4life.com/
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https://www.russellbroom.com/
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Score global : 48%

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The Tale of Mildred Baxter

Season 2 · Episode 6

Tuesday, March 19, 2024 • Duration 01:08:12

Part One: Mildred Baxter

Legend has it that folk-hero Mildred Baxter came to Harbour Breton in the mid-1840s to settle a score with her cheating fiance.

In order to make the trip from her home in England, she adopted a secret identity. She disguised herself as a man and took up life in Harbour Breton alongside her fiance and his new bride.

It’s a fascinating tale of love, lies and revenge that stretches the limits of credibility.

Read: ⁠The Love and Lies of Mildred Baxter and Paul Langstone⁠

Part Two: Rosemary Lawton Talks Jackets and Trousers

Rosemary Lawton is an award-winning singer-songwriter with a keen interest in Newfoundland music. She is a classically trained violinist, educator and writer. She has recorded traditional Newfoundland music (Fierce and Untamed), original compositions (Canvas) and published the book, Resilience: A Collection of Empowering Songs of Newfoundland and Labrador Women.

Rosemary joins me on Strange Truths and Tall Tales to discuss Mildred Taylor, the tradition of ‘Jacket and Trouser’ songs, and her own songwriting.

Hear Rosemary Lawton at the following links:

Rosemary Lawton (website)
Resilience, Rosemary Lawton
Apple Music
Spotify
Instagram

Part Three: Kyle Callahan’s Monsters

Kyle Callahan is a visual artist from Mount Pearl, NL. He’s sometimes called ‘The Godzilla Guy’ owing to his popular artwork featuring classic movie monsters (like Godzilla) exploring Newfoundland. His artwork has recently been featured in the new Engen publication The Fairies of Foggy Island.

Kyle discusses his work and explains how Godzilla discovered St. John’s harbour.

See Kyle Callahan’s work:

Kyle Callahan (website)
Instagram

Part Four: Monstrous Things

The season, I’ve been capping off each episode with a segment I call Monstrous Things. It features tales of a Newfoundland sea monster sightings reported in the mainstream media.

This edition takes us back to 1888 on Newfoundland’s Grand Banks, when an enormous sea monster was seen by fisherman aboard the Schooner Augusta. The sighting was described in the Evening Telegram on August 25th, 1888.

Sources & Further Reading

The Love and Lies of Mildred Baxter and Paul Langstone, Product of Newfoundland
History, Town of Harbour Breton
The Ballad of Mildred Baxter, Simani
Rosemary Lawton
Resilience, Rosemary Lawton
Ballads and Sea Songs of Newfoundland, Elisabeth Greenleaf
Kyle Callahan
The Fairies of Foggy Island, Melissa Bishop, Nicole Russel, & Kyle Callahan, Engen Books
Sea Monster Attack, Product of Newfoundland
Monster of the Deep, The Evening Telegram, August 25, 1888

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Mummers and Music feat. Carolina East

Season 2 · Episode 5

Sunday, December 17, 2023 • Duration 47:00

Part One: Mummers & Murder

Newfoundland has a lot of interesting traditions but few are as celebrated as mummering.

Mummering is a Christmas tradition that dates back hundreds of years. It came to Newfoundland from England and Ireland with the first settlers. In it’s best known form, it involves costumed people visiting house-to-house during the 12 days of Christmas. Once invited inside, the host tries to guess the mummer's identity. Refreshments are served and fun is had by all.

This sort of mummering is entertainment, but it wasn’t always fun for everyone. For some people, especially children, mummers were scary. They looked odd and behaved strangely. Mostly, the fear was unwaranted.

In the 1800s mummering was altogether different. Mummers used to celebrate outdoors and could be found roaming the streets. There are many instances of mummers taking advantage of their anonymity to settle scores.

In one instance, there was a murder.

Read: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Mummers, Murder and Mayhem⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Part Two: Twas The Night After Christmas

In this segment we take a look at the lighter side of mummering with the Newfoundland Mummer Story Twas The Night After Christmas.

It tells the story of a grandmother who is *usually* very good at guessing the identity of mummers until one fateful Boxing Day night when she meets her match.

Duels, Ghosts and Nose-Pulling in Newfoundland

Season 1 · Episode 4

Saturday, March 25, 2023 • Duration 11:19

In March 1826 two soldiers stationed in St. John’s, NL squared off in a pistol duel. One of them died. This is the story of that event… and the ghost story it spawned.

Get more content here: Duels Ghosts and Nose-Pulling in Newfoundland

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Sheila's Brush

Season 1 · Episode 3

Saturday, March 11, 2023 • Duration 09:26

Most Newfoundlander's can probably tell you Sheila's Brush is a March snowstorm but who Sheila is, and how the storm got named after her are trickier questions. This episode digs into the mystery around Shiela's Brush.

For more info check out the blog post What The Heck is Sheila's Brush?

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Francis Pickmore's Worst Winter. Ever.

Season 1 · Episode 2

Sunday, February 26, 2023 • Duration 08:26

Winter in Newfoundland can be truly, awful; it’s cold and wet and even in the 21st century it can be miserable. That said, the winter of 1818 set the standard for just how bad a Newfoundland winter can get. Disasters, homelessness and extreme weather set the stage for a winter so bad Newfoundland's governor, Francis Pickmore, wound up going back to England in a barrel of rum.

More info including, pictures and maps at Product of Newfoundland.ca

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Digging Into The Brigus Tunnel

Season 1 · Episode 1

Sunday, September 25, 2022 • Duration 04:58

The strange truth and tall tales of the Brigus Tunnel in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.

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Tibb's Eve and Newfoundland Christmas Slush

Season 2 · Episode 4

Wednesday, December 6, 2023 • Duration 51:41

Part One: What is Tibb’s Eve?

For me, and a lot of other Newfoundlanders, the 23rd of December is Tibb’s Eve. It is Christmas Eve Eve and the unofficial start of the holiday season.

For some people, Tibb’s Eve has become synonymous with a good time, full of partying and alcohol. The connection with drinking is so strong that, for some people the day is known as Tipsy (Tip’s) Eve.

In this episode we did into it a little and chat about Tibb’s Eve customs. To help me out, The Duds (Melanie O’Brien and Philip Goodridge) discuss their connection to the day and what lead them to record their holiday track ‘Before the Night (Tibb’s Eve’).

Get more Duds music at the following links:

The Duds (duds4life.com)
- The Duds on Apple Music
- The Duds on Spotify
- DudsTube (YouTube)

Part Two: Newfoundland Christmas Slush

I’ve celebrated 40+ Christmases in Newfoundland and, until surprisingly recently, I had no idea ‘Newfoundland Christmas slush’ — a fruity, frozen cocktail — was a thing.

It is though. For a lot of Newfoundlanders the holiday season would not be complete without this batch-made cocktail.

I reached out to food blogger/instagrammer Jeremy Whey (aka @stuffthatinyourgob) to discuss his history with Christmas slush. He shares his recipe and variations he’s tried. From there were drifted to dark/light Christmas cake, moose stew, salt cod and other Newfoundland food traditions.

You can follow Jeremy on Instagram at .

Pull The Sky Down//With Violet

Season 2 · Episode 3

Sunday, October 22, 2023 • Duration 41:45

Part One: It Came From Outer Space

There's no shortage of Newfoundland and Labrador stories connected to outer space. There are Martian craters named for Gander, Nain and Nutak, local airports were alternate space shuttle landing sites for NASA, and there are plenty of unidentified flying object reports in the province including the much discussed 'Gander Incident' and the Random Island sighting that inspired a stamp from Canada Post.

My favourite Newfoundland space-ish story isn’t any of these.

It happened in October of 1936; a major meteor shower was seen on the southern and eastern portions of the island and it terrified people.

On the podcast we explore it in a story called “The Day The Sky Fell.”

Part Two: With Violet

With Violet is an alt-pop band from St. John’s, NL.

They are winning fans with catchy hooks, nuanced songwriting and an energy has to be heard to be believed.

In 2021 they released their debut album, Long Story Short, which included the popular track “With Money.’ They followed that up with two Christmas singles — ‘December Parade (Bow on Top)‘ and ‘Countdown (New Year’s Song)’— which, if you follow Product of Newfoundland playlists, you’ve definitely heard.

This year, they expanded their canon with two new EPs — S and , the former of which gave us the track ‘’ and its dancing-astronaut filled video.

The Devil and The Duds

Season 2 · Episode 2

Wednesday, September 27, 2023 • Duration 41:41

Part One: Newfoundland Devils

If you believe the tall tales, the devil has left his mark all over Newfoundland. There are hoof prints in the resettled community of Flat Islands, Bonavista Bay and more in Keels on the Bonavista Peninsula but, perhaps, his most celebrated scar is in Fortune Harbour where a rock supposedly bears his handprint.

Visit Product of Newfoundland to see pictures.

This episode presents the story ‘Mr. Kinchler and the Devil,’ a folktale that describes the night the Devil visited Fortune Harbour, tangled with a card prodigy and left his mark in stone.

Mr. Kinchler and the Devil is a Newfoundland variant on a classic folktale.

Not all stories of Newfoundland's devil and demon stories are old — some of them are being created right now.

The Duds are a musical duo comprised of Melanie O’Brien and Philip Goodridge. They have been creating compelling pop music for ten years.

Part Two: The Duds

After touring Atlantic Canada in 2019 they released their debut album, These Words I Can’t Forget. The record, which was produced by award-winning singer-songwriter Ian Foster, combined a folk-tinged roots sound with bright pop beats. The Duds were subsequently nominated for two MusicNL awards including Bell Aliant Pop Artist of the Year.

Separately, Melanie and Philip have each built solo careers in the entertainment industry. O’Brien’s debut solo album Shining in The Blue earned her three MusicNL Award nominations and, as a vocal coach, she holds the 2017 MusicNL Award for Music Educator of the Year. Goodridge is a multi-faceted artist, writer and seasoned professional theatrical performer, who has been thrilling audiences in Newfoundland for over 20 years.

Bell Island & History's Most Haunted

Season 2 · Episode 1

Monday, September 4, 2023 • Duration 27:08

Bell Island, in Newfoundland’s Conception Bay, is full of mystery. Once home to an immense iron ore mine, the community drew people from all over the world.

Over the years its been home to many strange sightings, happenings and unexplained events. It has even been called one of the most haunted islands in North America.

This episode scratches the surface of some of Bell Island’s lore starting with a giant squid attack off the island’s coast, then a conversation with some paranormal investigators — the people behind the new T+E series History’s Most Haunted — who recently visited Bell Island.

History's Most Haunted follows paranormal experts Corine Carey, Leanne Sallenback and Kelly Ireland as they travel across North America meeting with those who have come face-to-face with the unknown. The series features an episode dedicated to Bell Island including dramatizations of eyewitness accounts and local history provided by experts, historians and citizens of the island.

The series debuts on September 8, 2023, 11:30pm NT.

The episode closes with the segment ‘Monstrous Things’ exploring a sea monster sighting off Fortune Harbour in the late 19th century.

Visit the Product of Newfoundland for more details, sources and links.

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Strange Truths and Tall Tales: Product of Newfoundland – Details, episodes & analysis

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Strange Truths and Tall Tales: Product of Newfoundland – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

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RSS feed quality and score

Publication history

Latest published episodes

Similar podcasts and content

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Apple Podcasts

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