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In this episode of Let’s Talk Spooky, we explore four ships whose stories continue to drift through maritime history and folklore. These ships reveal how maritime disasters don’t always sink into history—they linger, resurface, and sometimes drift back into view.

SS Valencia (1906)

• Parks Canada — The Sinking of the SS Valencia
  Government overview of the disaster and its impact on marine safety
  https://www.canada.ca/en/parks-canada/news/2017/06/the_sinking_of_thessvalencia.html
  
  
• Maritime Museum of British Columbia — SS Valencia: A Theatre of Horror
  Artifact records and historical interpretation
  https://mmbc.bc.ca/exhibits/ss-valencia-a-theatre-of-horror/
  
  

SS Atlantic (1873)

• Library and Archives Canada — The Wreck of the Atlantic
  Archival documentation and historical context
  https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/Pages/ss-atlantic.aspx
  
  
• Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 — SS Atlantic Disaster
  Immigration history and survivor context
  https://pier21.ca/community-presents/ss-atlantic-immigrant-ship-disaster
  
  

Baychimo (Abandoned 1931)

• Manitoba Museum — Baychimo: The Adventures of the Ghost Ship of the Arctic
  Museum-based archival research and documented sightings
  https://manitobamuseum.ca/baychimo-the-adventures-of-the-ghost-ship-of-the-arctic/
  
  
• Canada’s History — S.S. Baychimo Icebound
  Historical summary grounded in documented events
  https://www.canadashistory.ca/explore/transportation/s-s-baychimo-icebound
  
  

Pass of Melfort

• Heritage BC — Pass of Melfort Submerged Heritage Record
  Official wreck record and site documentation
  https://heritagebc.ca/submerged-heritage-resource/pass-of-melfort/
  
  
• Wrecksite.eu — Pass of Melfort
  Maritime registry data and loss details
  https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?167255=
  
  

🎧 Content Note

This episode blends documented maritime history with regional folklore and later retellings. Where stories move beyond archival evidence, they are presented as cultural responses to loss and danger along Canada’s coast.

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In 1863, the quiet fishing village of Sandy Cove was forever changed by a single, unsettling discovery.

Along the rocky shoreline, locals found a young man sitting alone on the beach—both of his legs freshly amputated, his clothes still fine, his expression calm but distant. When asked who he was or how he came to be there, he spoke only one word:

“Jerome.”

Over the next fifty years, Jerome would become one of Atlantic Canada’s most enduring mysteries. He lived out his life moving between homes and institutions across Nova Scotia, refusing to explain his past, lashing out violently when pressed, and guarding his silence with almost supernatural determination.

Was Jerome a sailor punished for mutiny? A political exile from Europe? A victim of organized crime—or a man deliberately erased? Sources & Further Reading- Primary & Historical Sources

• Mooney Jr., Fraser. Jerome: Solving the Mystery of Nova Scotia’s Silent Castaway. Nimbus Publishing.
• Digby County historical records and oral histories
• 19th-century Nova Scotia newspaper accounts documenting Jerome’s discovery and later life

Secondary & Folklore Sources

• Nova Scotia Archives – regional medical and institutional records
• Local histories of Digby Neck and the Annapolis Basin
• Maritime folklore collections documenting oral traditions surrounding Jerome

Online & Reference Materials

• Canadian Museum of History – regional folklore archives
• Nova Scotia Museum – coastal community history resources
• Encyclopedic entries and historical summaries on the Jerome of Sandy Cove case

Episode Links-

https://spotifycreators-web.app.link/e/NgYX0NnAXZb

https://spotifycreators-web.app.link/e/10mSdwwAXZb

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New Orleans has always belonged to the night.

In this episode of Let’s Talk Spooky, we step into the gas-lit streets of the French Quarter to uncover the vampire legends that took root in the city’s earliest days—where European superstition, colonial fear, and scandal blurred the line between myth and history.

We trace how Old World vampire folklore crossed the Atlantic and embedded itself in New Orleans, shaping burial customs, whispered convent legends, and tales of blood-drinking figures who walked openly among society. From the unsettling story of the Carter Brothers to the infamous legend of Jacques St. Germain, these vampires were not creatures of castles—but of parties, parlors, and disappearing acts.

This episode explores how fear of the undead reflected real historical anxieties about death, disease, and identity in one of America’s most haunted cities—and why New Orleans remains inseparable from vampire lore to this day.

Pour yourself a drink, lock the doors, and walk with us into the dark.

📚 Sources & Further Reading

Historical & Folklore Sources

• Davis, Wade. Passage of Darkness: The Ethnobiology of the Haitian Zombie. University of North Carolina Press.
• Barber, Paul. Vampires, Burial, and Death: Folklore and Reality. Yale University Press.
• Summers, Montague. The Vampire: His Kith and Kin. 1928.
• Lecouteux, Claude. The Return of the Dead: Ghosts, Ancestors, and the Transparent Veil of the Pagan Mind.

New Orleans–Specific Sources

• Kendall, John S. History of New Orleans. Lewis Publishing Company.
• Campanella, Richard. The West Bank of Greater New Orleans: A Historical Geography.
• New Orleans Historic Collection (archival essays and folklore references)
• French Quarter historical walking-tour records and preserved oral histories

Jacques St. Germain & Vampire Lore

• Guiley, Rosemary Ellen. The Encyclopedia of Vampires, Werewolves, and Other Monsters.
• Ellis, Bill. Lucifer Ascending: The Occult in Folklore and Popular Culture.
• Contemporary newspaper accounts referenced in late-19th-century New Orleans archives

Cultural & Pop Culture Context

• Skal, David J. V Is for Vampire: An A to Z Guide to Everything Undead.
• Nina Auerbach. Our Vampires, Ourselves. University of Chicago Press.

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Until next time…

🖤 Stay Spooky