20 Factoids | Volume 7
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In the early 1900s, Winnipeg doctor and member of the
Manitoba Legislature, Thomas Glendenning Hamilton
hosted countless séances inside his Elmwood home.
He took thousands of pictures during the table tipping
and Ouija board demonstrations and used mediums to
commune with the dead. After gaining worldwide interest,
Sherlock Holmes author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
attended a séance at Hamilton's home and later declared,
"Winnipeg stands very high among the places we have
visited for its psychic possibilities."
Winnipeg National
Microbiology Laboratory houses
Canada's only Biological Safety
Level 4 containment laboratory,
used to test the most deadly
human and animal diseases. In
2012, local scientists discovered
antibodies to treat Ebola, the
deadly human virus typically
found in third-world countries.
The vaccine is still being tested
but it's one more advancement
in understanding and controlling
the virus.
The Harlequin Romance publishing empire was
founded in Winnipeg in 1949 by Richard and Mary
Bonnycastle. Today, this empire spans more than 94
international markets and its books are printed in more
than 25 languages. *
The biggest gold heist in Canadian
history was carried out at the Winnipeg
International Airport in 1966 by the Flying
Bandit, Ken Leishman—a bank robber,
prison escape artist and folk hero.
*
