Comedian Luis Oliva has visited most of the administrative regions of Quebec in search of village secrets for the new documentary series of Historia.
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These secrets are sometimes buried underground or hidden in the waters of the lakes and rivers that border the villages, sometimes they are ghost stories, war stories, or stemming from a historical event. They come from hearsay, legends and finds made by the citizens of these regions and are told by “specialists” in the matter, authors, villagers, family members and some historians. The series would have benefited from making more room for them to explain the secrets discussed.
If some stories astonish and mark the imagination, like that of François Marois, alias Dr. L’Indienne, the strange man from the village who could be the first serial killer in Lower Canada, others have already been revealed elsewhere, in other shows of the genre. All in all, “Secrets de villages” presents relatively varied stories and allows you to learn a little more about the regions of Quebec.
In the Eastern Townships, the members of the British group The Beatles are said to have met at the Haskell library and opera house, built on the Canada-US border in Estrie and the State of Vermont, to prepare for their return, while Conrad Labelle, who supplied the Americans with alcohol during prohibition, would have called himself the Al Capone of Quebec in addition to accumulating a colossal fortune.
In Montérégie, three boat anchors marked with the swastika caused a stir in the anchor park, in Pointe-des-Cascades, while the remains of a ghost village in Saint-Anicet, called Godmanchester, on topographic maps, and Rivière-La Guerre, in everyday language, recalls the fragility of certain villages.
While interesting to listen to, the secrets covered in this documentary series aren’t really unpacked, but rather told and revisited on the surface.
Divided into 10 episodes of around twenty minutes and animated with enthusiasm by Luis Oliva, the program “Secrets de villages” is broadcast on Historia on Wednesdays at 9:30 p.m.