Mysteries of Montreal

Melted and damaged mannequins after a fire at Madame Tussauds . London. 1925.

From 1937, an advert for the Mount Royal Hotel. I don't need to write anything else, this is just the cover of a book of adventures right there!

George Rinhart - Tourists on the top of the Great Pyramid, c. 1925. Masks on my mind.

Captain C. Holliwell. Montreal. Okay, so this image is from the gaslight era, but I am totally going to use this as my next investigator protrait, no matter which era. This guy has seen something. I've tried to find out who this genleman was, but other than finding other portrais of him, I'm at a loss as to who he was.

I've recently been on a trip to Long Island, NY, and came back with a few ideas to put together, maybe for a scenario. In the meantime, here's a wonderful picture that I came across of the first diving suit, tested in the Long Island sound. An older Chester E MacDuffee may be making an appearance as an NPC Pictured here is Chester E. Macduffee and his newly-patented creation, the diving suit.  It was made of aluminum alloy and weighed over 550 pounds, which is exactly the kind of thing you want to be strapped into when you’re thrown into the ocean.  The invention did help advance deep-sea diving when, in 1914, the suit reached new depths of 212 feet in the Long Island Sound.

Frontenac Beer A photograph of a group of men and women drinking Frontenac Beer . This was taken by Rice Studio in Montreal. Brassiere Frontenac was located in the Mile End of Montreal from 1913 until 1926. This image was possibly used in an advertising campaign. James Bedford (Jimmy) Rice of Rice Studio was reknown for his work photographing the hockey players of the Montreal Canadiens, the Wanderers and the Maroons. Likely this was taken as part of an advertising campaign to show the men and women of The U.S. that coming north of the border to drink Frontenac Beer was one civilised way to get around prohibition. This makes a great 'before' photograph for a group of adventurers. Especially the guy in the turban!

  Montréal 1917 A seasonally appropriate Photo of the Day. The Zamboni is an iconic Canadian vehicle, of course, ice had to be groomed before the invention of such an icon, and here we are with the way it was done back then.

Dominion Square, Montreal. Winter 1926. Winter is late in coming this year, but come it will, and it will look like this. No matter what else may change with progress, the seasons still come in order, and leave us to deal with the same problems and hardships.

  A simple, yet eye catching image, taken in the Montreal docks, in the 1930s. Straight from a film noir, and very evocative. I'm not sure what use it would be in game, other than setting the mood, but worth trying to find a place for it in game I feel. source .

I have found a wonderful Facebook page Montreal then and now , full of photos, images and other interesting links, that is an inspiration for Montreal of any era since the founding of the city, but there are frequently photos from the era pertinent to our interest, the 1920-30s. I had through to make a larger post with a few of these images, but I think I'll spread them out, and maybe have a little post for each one, with some game uses for the image, a bit like the Inspirational Artefacts series of posts. This is the first of these images. Roman catholic nuns, Bleury St., Montreal, 1924 I can easily imagine these two getting the wrong idea about the motives of the Investigators, and following them around town, getting in the way of their investigations, and otherwise being a nuisance. Otherwise, they could be a contact for the Investigators, within the Catholic church, who had a very strong presence in the city at that time, and may be working with the Investigators, m...