Webinar: Capital Punishment with Lorna Poplak

Webinar: Capital Punishment with Lorna Poplak

Learn more about the history of capital punishment with Lorna Poplak. During this online presentation, the author will discuss the history of the death penalty in Canada, including the inconsistent application of the death sentence, the treatment of women, wrongful...
Researching Canada’s ‘Last Public Hanging’

Researching Canada’s ‘Last Public Hanging’

The following blog posts were originally published by Carling Marshall-Luymes on her personal blog while she was an intern for the Huron County Museum & Huron Historic Gaol in 2007. You can see the exhibit on the history of capital punishment on permanent display...
Huron Historic Gaol: Resources for Teachers and Students

Huron Historic Gaol: Resources for Teachers and Students

The Huron Historic Gaol is a national historic site and Huron County’s first municipal building. Between 1841 and 1972, it not only served as a correctional facility, but as the site of Huron’s fist County Council meeting, its first courthouse, and as an...
I Know Where the Bodies are Buried: Deaths at the Huron Jail

I Know Where the Bodies are Buried: Deaths at the Huron Jail

“Is this place haunted?”: it’s one of the most common questions fielded by front desk staff at the Huron Historic Gaol. I’ve never set eyes on a ghost myself, but at least fifty-eight prisoners at the Huron Gaol died during their imprisonment. The jail’s...

The Last Public Hanging in Canada

By Emily Beliveau, Digital Project Assistant 7 December 1869. Earlier this month, we marked the anniversary of the last public hanging at the Huron Gaol. One hundred and forty-five years ago, Nicholas Melady was executed for the murder of his father and stepmother....