Dark Poutine - True Crime and Dark History
True crime, legends, folklore, dark history and other creepy topics from the perspective of real live Canadians.
Bound by Silence: The Murder of Dr. Edith Wightman
Episode 395: On a cold December day in 1983, McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, was shaken by a deeply unsettling crime. Dr. Edith Wightman, a respected scholar, was discovered dead in her office: bound with tape, handcuffed, and suffocated with a cloth. The investigation took an even stranger turn when police arrested Michael Allen Crowley, a chemist from Welland, who had been seen on campus in disguise, dressed in women’s clothing and a wig. With no personal connection to the victim, and the bizarre methods used, the murder left students and faculty reeling, and raised questions still unanswered to this day.
Sources:A Brief History Of McMaster UniversityHistory of McMasterWIGHTMAN, Edith Mary | RutgersDec 19, 1983, page 1 - The Hamilton Spectator at Newspapers.comDec 24, 1983, page 16 - The Hamilton Spectator at Newspapers.comEdith Wightman - Search - Newspapers.com™Michael Alan Crowley - Search - Newspapers.com™"72 Hours: True Crime" Murder on Campus (TV Episode 2005)Canadian News Briefs - UPI ArchivesEdith Wightman | Wikipedia1984_3Winterhttps://www.reddit.com/r/McMaster/comments/jl1ew5/trying_to_find_details_of_on_campus_death/Review: [Untitled] on JSTORWightman: Gallia Belgica (Book Review)Detectives say Robert Garrow now 'best suspect' in 1973 Komorowski murder | CBC NewsAdele Komorowski Homicide
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Podcast Episodes
Canadian Connections: The 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami
Episode 391: At dawn on December 26, 2004, a massive undersea earthquake off Sumatra’s west coast — one of the strongest ever recorded — triggered a devastating tsunami across the Indian Ocean. Waves up to 30 metres high…
Halloween 2025: A Brief History of Witch Trials in Canada
Episode 390: When most Canadians think of occult-related witch trials, their minds drift south to Salem, Massachusetts, or across the ocean to medieval Europe. The popular narrative suggests that Canada, with its reputat…
Pistols at Perth: The Wilson-Lyon Duel
Episode 389: On a rain-soaked evening on June 13th, 1833, two young law students faced each other across a muddy field near Perth, Ontario, pistols in hand. John Wilson, a 20-year-old from humble farming stock, gripped h…
The Campbellton Python Tragedy: Connor and Noah Barthe
Episode 388: On the morning of August 5, 2013, Campbellton, New Brunswick, faced an unthinkable tragedy. Police and first responders were called to an apartment above Reptile Ocean, the town’s reptile and fish shop, wher…
Boxing Day Bystander: The Murder of Jane Creba
Episode 387: On December 26, 2005, around 5:15 p.m., there was a gunfight outside the Foot Locker store on Yonge Street in downtown Toronto. Unfortunately, a fifteen-year-old girl named Jane Creba was shot and killed. Sh…
All That Remains: Fox Hollow Farm — Part 2
Episode 386: In the last episode, we explored the origins of Herbert Baumeister and the early days at Fox Hollow, tracing the stories of early disappearances of gay men around Indiana. The disappearances beginning in the…
All That Remains: Fox Hollow Farm — Part 1
Episode 385: The killings at Fox Hollow Farm are one of Indiana’s darkest chapters. In the early 1990s, Herb Baumeister, a husband, father, and thrift store owner, lived a double life in the upscale suburb of Westfield.…
Noah of Saskatchewan: The Tom Sukanen Saga
Episode 384: Driving the prairie roads south of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, your eyes adjust to an endless sea of grass and sky, where grain elevators rise like sentinels and ragged lines of poplar windbreaks whisper in the…
The Darkest Depths – The Titan Submersible Tragedy
Episode 383: On June 18, 2023, five people boarded the experimental Titan submersible for what was meant to be a once-in-a-lifetime voyage to the wreck of the Titanic, resting nearly four kilometres beneath the North Atl…
The 1885 Tragedy at Frog Lake
Episode 382: On April 2, 1885, the tranquil settlement of Frog Lake in what is now Alberta became the scene of a devastating tragedy. Known as the Frog Lake Massacre, this violent episode unfolded during the North-West R…
