Quirks
&
oddities
Six prominent
Winnipeggers were lost
on the sinking of the
Titanic in 1912, including
realtor Mark Fortune and
son Charles Fortune,
Thompson Beattie, Hugo
Ross, JJ Borebank, and
George Graham.
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
communicate 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."
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.
Photo
Courtesy
Gerry
Kopelow
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.
