The Newfoundland and Labrador of yesterday was more colourful than you might remember, and no one is more qualified to be your guide through the strange terrain of local history than folklorist and storyteller Dale Jarvis. In this book, you will come face to face with remarkable phenomena, mysterious objects, swarms of grubs, promiscuous spitting, whale milk, and raisins as large as figs. You will look for strange sights in the sky, draw up the mysteries of the deep, and foretell the future using only the bumps on your head or an egg in a glass. Along the way, you will meet jail-breakers, broom makers, contortionists, swindlers on the run, the legendary Fanny Goff, and Miss Toronto herself. On This Day is a day-by-day record of the wonderful and extraordinary in everyday life. Drawn from old newspaper clippings, diaries, and historical accounts, this volume celebrates the strange and shines a light on the half-forgotten headlines of the past.

Dale Jarvis works as the Intangible Cultural Heritage Development Officer for the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador, helping communities to safeguard traditional culture, the only full-time provincially funded folklorist position in Canada. Dale holds a B.Sc. in anthropology/archaeology from Trent University, and a M.A. in folklore from Memorial University. He is a past president of the Newfoundland Historic Trust, and has contributed as a board member and volunteer to many local arts and heritage organizations. He regularly teaches workshops on oral history, cultural documentation, folklore project management, and public folklore programming. By night, Dale is the proprietor of the St. John’s Haunted Hike ghost tour and raconteur of local tales. As a storyteller, he performs ghost stories, stories of the fairies and little people, tales of phantom ships and superstitions, and legends and traditional tales from Newfoundland, Labrador, and beyond. His repertoire includes long-form folk and fairy tales from the island, with a wide-ranging knowledge of local legends, tall tales, and myths. A newspaper columnist and author of several books on Newfoundland and Labrador ghost stories and folklore, he is a tireless promoter of local culture. A mummering enthusiast and hobby horse–maker, Dale was one of the founding members of the 2009 Mummers Festival in St. John’s.

Dale Jarvis' profile page