The Bizarre Canada Thread

[stevanford1]

Moving on to good looking Bizzarechitecture here’s the rather odd looking Toronto Police HQ


And Mississauga’s Marilyn Monroe Towers

[esquire]

The giant signage on that TGI Fridays gives it an almost sinister vibe for some reason.

[TorontoDrew]

source: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/midlothian-castle
It is often the case that school teachers have a very different life outside of the classroom, but few teachers have as interesting an extracurricular hobby as Canadian secondary school teacher Peter Camani. Since the mid-1970s besides being a teacher, he has also been building a massive, and rather frightening, castle.

Inspired by druids and ancient Briton, Camani has filled the castle and its grounds with fire-breathing dragons, arches shaped like gaping mouths, and an eerie forest of tree-shaped sculptures. The castle even has a dungeon. The most distinctive feature of the Midlothian Castle, however, are the hundreds of screaming concrete heads that he has placed throughout the grounds, including a giant one on top of a castle tower. In the words of the artist, “Amidst the heads and disks, the solitude of the park envelopes the visitor in a peculiar silence, a silence both quieting and disquieting, penetrated only by the eerie scream of the peacock.”

Midlothian Castle by Laurie Luttrell, on Flickr

Untitled by Jean Arf, on Flickr

The Scream Heard Around the World! by Michael Ross, on Flickr

Woaah. by stu8fish, on Flickr

[Stanz]

Abandoned miniature replicas in Burlington, PEI.

Burlington, PEI by Craigford, on Flickr

Burlington, PEI by Craigford, on Flickr

Burlington, PEI by Craigford, on Flickr

Vaguely ominous looking church in PEI.

Mont-Carmel, PEI by Craigford, on Flickr

[Acajack]

Woodleigh Replicas! I loved that as a kid. That and Rainbow Valley!

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Woodleigh Replicas! I loved that as a kid. That and Rainbow Valley!

Me too.

Rainbow Valley is now gone, and it is very sad to see the abandoned miniatures at Woodleigh Replicas..........

Woodleigh Replicas used to be very sophisticated, with some of the models big enough to walk into, and features like dungeons with skeletons, parapets and towers. The attraction had a very nice gift shop too.

[Kevin_foster]

Edmontons Butterdome
from here

Right beside it the PAW centre is equally as bizzare. Not ugly but...
from here

[SignalHillHiker]

The churches remind me... there are a lot old random, old school religious/folklore things here.

Grottos:

Flatrock 6 — Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto by Douglas Sprott, on Flickr

And fairy houses, but I can't find any picture of those (mine are down due to Facebook being partially down).

But they're basically this:

Passage tomb by Kevin McGarry, on Flickr

Ours are obviously not historic, much smaller, and are usually just a pile of rocks with no inner chamber. But they're everywhere, even on the Southside Hills over St. John's.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Me too.

Rainbow Valley is now gone, and it is very sad to see the abandoned miniatures at Woodleigh Replicas..........

Woodleigh Replicas used to be very sophisticated, with some of the models big enough to walk into, and features like dungeons with skeletons, parapets and towers. The attraction had a very nice gift shop too.

Bonshaw 500 go-karts too!

[Nashe]

And Fairyland! I remember going there in the late 70's or early 80's.



They had a bunch of mechanized dioramas about fairy tales (Red Riding hood, etc).

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Vorkuta

And Fairyland! I remember going there in the late 70's or early 80's.



They had a bunch of mechanized dioramas about fairy tales (Red Riding hood, etc).

The Maritimes (or at least the touristy centre of the region) is or was filled with this tacky stuff that was a blast for kids.

At first when my family moved from the Maritimes to Ontario, in an area with probably more population than any single city in the Maritimes had at the time, it was actually a bit of a downer for me, even though I was now in Canada's most populated province, and really not too far from both Toronto and Montreal.

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Rainbow Valley is now gone, and it is very sad to see the abandoned miniatures at Woodleigh Replicas..........

Woodleigh Replicas used to be very sophisticated, with some of the models big enough to walk into, and features like dungeons with skeletons, parapets and towers. The attraction had a very nice gift shop too.

Miniatures seemed to be a thing a few decades ago. I've never heard of the one in PEI but wouldn't surprise me if there were a number of them across the country. Not really "bizarre" but certainly in the realm of "different" -- but I imagine the ones that still exist in abandoned form feel a bit odd to walk through.

There used to be a couple of miniatures parks in Ontario. There was one at Prudhommes Landing off the QEW between Hamilton and St. Catharines... anyone growing up during the early 1980s in the Golden Horseshoe and perhaps beyond will probably recall the commercial jingle before playing the video:
• Video Link

• Video Link

Prudhommes used to have waterslides, mini-putt, go-carts, and a haunted house too. And it was a much bigger deal in the longer past. Now it's slated for development. According to this webpage, the miniatures were eventually sold and shipped overseas after a few years in Niagara Falls.

There was another one in Whitby, east of Toronto: Cullen Gardens.

This blogTO article details them both.

[rbt]

Originally Posted by Acajack

The Maritimes (or at least the touristy centre of the region) is or was filled with this tacky stuff that was a blast for kids.

At first when my family moved from the Maritimes to Ontario, in an area with probably more population than any single city in the Maritimes had at the time, it was actually a bit of a downer for me, even though I was now in Canada's most populated province, and really not too far from both Toronto and Montreal.

Santa's Village, African Lion Safari, Wonderland, Niagara Falls (much of the town is kid oriented), and St. Mary's Quary (massive pool) are a good start.

The now defunct Ontario Place was one of the better kid spaces from until the late 90's.

Also spent a large huge number of weekends on ski hills, soccer fields, and swim meets.

[stevanford1]

Originally Posted by Vorkuta

And Fairyland! I remember going there in the late 70's or early 80's.



They had a bunch of mechanized dioramas about fairy tales (Red Riding hood, etc).

Adding on to that, Storybook Gardens in London Ontario.


And the Enchanted Forest in BC

[megadude]

I have good memories from Cullen Miniature Gardens in Whitby. Coincidentally, at work today I had to go over some legal docs for a property basically right across the street from where it stood.

[megadude]

Park in Midland, ON up in cottage country. Been here once. There's not a lot going on behind these walls but young kids would have fun here.


https://castle-village-and-the-encha...business.site/

[O-tacular]

The Enchanted Forest in BC was a childhood favourite of mine. Revisited it a few years back and it hasn't aged well. They knocked out half of it for a zip line. The other half is hilariously outdated with racist statues of a 'global village'.

[Echoes]

I have the most visceral memory of my family visiting the Enchanted Forest. I must've been 5.

I got this pennant that hung on my bedroom wall for years:


Source

[Airboy]

Originally Posted by Echoes

I have the most visceral memory of my family visiting the Enchanted Forest. I must've been 5.

I got this pennant that hung on my bedroom wall for years:


Source

I remember going as well. I pass by it most trips along the TCH. and who, of my generation can forget Flintstone world in Kelowna.

[stevanford1]

Originally Posted by Echoes

I have the most visceral memory of my family visiting the Enchanted Forest. I must've been 5.

I got this pennant that hung on my bedroom wall for years:


Source

I visited Enchanted Forest back when I was 7, I had the same pennant .