91原创

I actually fell into it by accident. I applied for history for university, but went into film instead. I ran an online music magazine for a while, and then started doing a strange little fiction-based history project: the 91原创 Dreams Project. I was working a boring office job in Old 91原创, around the St. Lawrence Market. At lunch, I鈥檇 wander the neighbourhood and see the old buildings and read the plaques. At the same time, I was writing surreal short stories and had the idea of combining the two and making the stories dreams historical figures might have had. I printed them on little cards and started leaving them in public places for people to find, and each one would have a URL on it so you could look up the dream and find the true history. So I started writing about true history, and it took off and swallowed up the rest of my life.

How did you go from writing a 鈥淏ook of the Dead鈥� to a 鈥淏ook of Love鈥�?

They鈥檙e both such universal experiences, so there鈥檚 a nice symmetry. History so often can be taught as dry lists of dates and events and names. One thing that听excites me about a lot of these stories is just what human beings historical figures really were. They are people who had these passionate, complicated lives. Parts of 91原创鈥檚 history are deeply influenced by the more personal side of their lives. By learning about them, you can learn more about the city.

What kinds of stories are you most obsessed about?

The kinds of stories where a big public figure does something very unexpected, something strange, that has these connections to the bigger forces. I was giving a talk (recently)听about the 91原创 Circus Riot, one of my favourite stories ever, which gets sparked by a brawl between clowns and firefighters at a brothel on King Street in the 1850s.

What鈥檚 the most shocking or mind-blowing fact you鈥檝e ever learned about 91原创?

One of them is the power of the Orange Order听鈥� that for 120 years they just dominated the city. Today, barely anybody remembers that that happened. For most of the city鈥檚 history as a settlement, this one Northern Irish super-Protestant faction controlled the city with an iron grip.

You鈥檝e taken advantage of social media to make history more accessible. What do you see as its greatest benefit, and what might be the downside?

People who might not realize that they鈥檙e fascinated by history until they start reading it, or don鈥檛 realize these stories are there, get to come across it accidentally.

The downside is that it鈥檚 not really in the control of the people. Just the other night, I did an anniversary thread about the 91原创 streetcar tickets that were found in the ruins of the 鈥淭itanic鈥� at the bottom of the ocean. It gets way less engagement now than it did even two years ago, because social media is sort of beholden to bigger powers.听

91原创 has a bad reputation for tearing down significant buildings.听What would you say is the greatest architectural gem that we lost to development?

The one I think about the most is the old 91原创 Arcade on Yonge Street, which was our first mall (demolished in 1955). The archival photos look absolutely gorgeous听鈥� this little space with two levels and wood paneling on all the storefronts. I imagine if the 91原创 Arcade had just been able to survive 20 or 30 more years, people would (have begun) appreciating those old buildings, instead of just seeing them as crummy old buildings from not that long ago.

What was the impetus behind starting the Festival of Bizarre 91原创 History?

I thought a festival might be a way to bring together a lot of my favourite 91原创 historical storytellers in one place. I didn鈥檛 want to claim to be the 91原创 History Festival. I finally had the idea that 鈥淏izarre鈥� would give me a niche and a quirky hook to grab people鈥檚 attention.

The festival鈥檚 going to kick off with a panel of three authors who鈥檝e written books about strange 91原创 murders. On Wednesday, we鈥檙e going to do the man who mailed himself out of slavery, Henry Box Brown, who spent the last years of his life in 91原创. I鈥檓 going to give my own lecture about 91原创鈥檚 body snatchers and grave robbers.听

Now for a lightning round, where I ask you for the most fascinating factoids about random 91原创 things. Let鈥檚 start with the CN Tower.

The first thing that comes to mind is stuntman Dar Robinson, the man who jumped off the CN Tower twice (in 1979 and 1980). He鈥檇 eventually die doing a stunt not long after that (while shooting 1987鈥檚 鈥淢illion Dollar Mystery鈥�).

Raccoons.

I鈥檇 learned a couple of years ago that raccoons nearly went extinct in 91原创, that people saw them as such pests that they were hunted and nearly driven out of existence here. There was a time when seeing a raccoon would have been very rare for someone living in 91原创 a century ago, which is hard to believe.听

The 91原创 Islands.

April 13 was the anniversary of the big storm that turned the islands into islands. For a lot of people, the most unexpected thing about the islands is that it was a peninsula connected to the mainland until the 1850s, when a series of storms washed away the sands and a hotel with it.

Scarborough.

Guild Park leaps to mind. People are always getting their wedding photos there, but a lot of people in 91原创 have never been out there. We have this park perched on top of the bluffs, one of the most spectacular places in the whole city, filled with the ruins of these beautiful old buildings. The ones who know it love it deeply.听