Dark Poutine - True Crime and Dark History
True crime, legends, folklore, dark history and other creepy topics from the perspective of real live Canadians.
Fredericton’s Last Execution: The Murder of Norman Burgoyne
Episode 378: Fredericton, New Brunswick, in the sultry summer of 1949, was a community caught between the relief of peacetime and the tensions of post-war hardship. Along the margins of this tidy city lived George Hamilton (25) and Rufus Hamilton (23), two young black brothers whose lives had been fraught with poverty, exclusion, and desperation. These would be factors in the horrific actions they took, which would soon propel them into local infamy as the last men ever executed in Fredericton.
At the heart of this tragedy was Norman Burgoyne: a respected, 35-year-old taxi driver, decorated war veteran, and devoted family man whose sudden, violent death would shatter the sense of safety in the city.
Podcast Promo:Brew Crime Podcast
Episode Sources:Norman Burgoyne - Search - Newspapers.com™May 20, 1949, page 8 - Daily Gleaner at Newspapers.comJul 27, 1949, page 9 - Daily Gleaner at Newspapers.comJul 27, 1949, page 1 - Telegraph-Journal at Newspapers.comThe O'Ree and Lawrence FamiliesBlack New Brunswickers reflect on past and modern racism | CBC NewsBlack History Walking Tour“bad characters”: The Execution of George & Rufus Hamilton in Fredericton, 1949 | AcadiensisLast hanging in FrederictonGeorge and RueView of Grieving the Ungrievable: Negation and Recognition in Execution Poems | Borders: Undergraduate Arts JournalExecution Poems : The Black Acadian Tragedy of George and Rue | Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS)View of Whips, Hammers, and Ropes: The Burden of Race and Desire in Clarke’s George & Rue | Studies in Canadian LiteratureDefinitely not Butch and Sundance
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Podcast Episodes
Ever a Hero: The 101-Year-Old Who Took Down a Killer
On December 18, 2014, 101-year-old Ernest Côté, a decorated World War II veteran, became the target of a violent home invasion. The assailant, Ian Bush, gained entry to Côté's secure condo building using fake City of Ott…
Forget Me Not — The Murder of Tina Illingworth-Eisnor
Episode 334: In this episode, we look at a tragic case of domestic violence that shook the small community of New Germany, Nova Scotia. On June 30, 2010, the quiet parking lot of a local grocery store became the scene of…
Summer Cut Short: The 1977 Rosedale Murders
Episode 333: On the evening of July 18, 1977, five local teenagers were relaxing, drinking and listening to music near Ferry Island Park on the banks of the Fraser River just east of Chilliwack. It was a beautiful summer…
Out of Sight, Out of Mind: The Leprosy Colony of D’Arcy Island
Episode 332: In this episode of Dark Poutine, we delve into a troubling chapter of British Columbia’s history that reveals the deep-seated racism and fear that plagued our past. D’Arcy Island, a small and isolated landma…
Inside Out: The Murders of Panagiota Zerbinos and April Peregooda
Episode 331: On November 8, 2012, in a bloody crime scene, police discovered the body of 43-year-old Panagiota “Yota” Zerbinos in her daughter’s basement suite in the Fleetwood neighbourhood of Surrey, B.C. Yota had been…
Graphic Details: The Murder of Iana Kasian
Episode 330: In this episode, we explore a horrific case that shocked both Hollywood and Canada - the brutal murder of Iana Kasian by her fiancé, graphic novelist and filmmaker Blake Leibel. On May 26, 2016, the mutilate…
Radicalized Canadian: The Attack on Paul Pelosi
Episode 329: On October 28, 2022, Paul Pelosi, husband of former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was brutally attacked in his San Francisco home. The perpetrator? A 42-year-old Canadian man named David DePape. Born and…
Honourless: The Shafia Family Murders
Episode 328: On June 30, 2009, the serene waters of the Rideau Canal in Kingston, Ontario, revealed a dark and tragic secret. A submerged car discovered that day contained the bodies of three teenage sisters—Zainab (19),…
Hopes Crushed: The Murder of Maple Batalia
Episode 327: Maple Batalia, a 19-year-old college student studying health sciences, was also a working model and actress and loved to paint. On the night of September 28, 2011, after a late-night study session at Simon F…
The British Home Child Migrant Scheme
Episode 326: Between 1869 and 1948, over 100,000 children from the United Kingdom were sent to Canada and other British commonwealth countries such as Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa as part of the British Home…
