Discover Ontario

Join author Terry Boyle as he invites you to discover Ontario’s hidden, unusual, sites. From small communities and local folklore to UFO sightings, ghost stories, and superstitions, Terry tells unique stories you won’t find in traditional guidebooks.

An exploration of the unique and unusual places in Ontario that are steeped in history and folklore.

Using updated and archival material fromDiscover Ontario, a popular radio show that ran from 1987 until 2004, author Terry Boyle invites you to explore the hidden, unusual, and unknown sites and stories from around Ontario.

Revisit an era of mobsters and rum-runners during the years of prohibition. Traverse the deadly waves of the Hudson Bay and visit the watery graves of shipwrecks scattered among the province’s waterways and coastlines. Learn about Project Magnet, the Canadian government’s top-secret mission to observe and study UFOs. Discover the Ontario connection to the mysterious Crystal Skull of Indiana Jones fame. Or take a day trip to explore the beauty of the natural world and the rich history of many of Ontario’s communities.

Told in a series of short vignettes drawing on a combination of local history and Canadian folkloreDiscover Ontario reveals all this and more — a side of the province not often shared in guidebooks.

Introduction  Memories of Ontario 

• Fishing 
• Lost North America 
• The Irish: Part 1 
• The Irish: Part 2 
• The Need to Remember 
• From the Sixties and Beyond 
• Prohibition 
• The Great Depression 
• Elders’ Conference, 1992 
• Nature in Victoria County 
• Memories of Ontario 
• The Brougham Apple Basket 
• Bancroft Rock Festival 
• Demographics 
• Shipwreck 
• A Young Bride’s Dream 

The Paranormal and the Unexplained 

• The Mysteries of Long Point 
• Strange Creatures Swimming in Our Waters 
• Strange Lights in the Sky 
• The Discovery of the Crystal Skull 
• The Agawa Pictographs of Lake Superior 
• Beyond the Grave 
• Saving Lives on the French River 
• The Roswell Crash 
• Project Magnet 
• The Aboriginal Haunting in Orillia 
• Fairies and the Elemental World 
• A Pioneer of Paranormal Research 
• The Ghost Road 
• Alien Encounter in Ontario 
• The Mound Builders 
• Serpent Mounds 
• Ghosts 
• Who Murdered Billy Stone? 

Interesting Residents 

• Sheriff Nelson Reynolds 
• Joseph Bigelow 
• George Reid, the Painter 
• Franklin and the Northwest Passage 
• David Boyle 
• David Suzuki 
• Gerald Sinclair Hayward 
• Grey Owl 

Local Interests 

• Oil Springs: The Oil Capital of North America 
• Collingwood 
• Sarnia 
• London 
• Southampton 
• Penryn, Port Hope 
• The Dream of Owning a Castle 
• Ravensworth, Cobourg 
• The Mackenzie Estate, Kirkfield 
• Perth 
• Cornwall 
• Brooklin 
• Scugog Island 
• Stirling 
• Niagara Falls 
• Penmarvian, Paris 
• Wasaga Beach 
• Kincardine 
• Elora 
• The Conant Homestead, Oshawa 
• Moose Factory and Moosonee 
• Gores Landing 
• Long Beach 
• Oakville 
• Sudbury 
• Sault Ste. Marie 
• Gravenhurst and Bracebridge 
• Cochrane 
• Rodman Hall, St. Catharines 

Bibliography