In this Patreon-only episode of Canada Is Boring, Rhys and Jesse dive into the truly biblical 1874–75 Rocky Mountain locust plague that turned the Prairies and parts of the US Midwest into a “living eclipse of the sun.” They tell the story of swarms estimated in the hundreds of billions to trillions of insects eating everything from crops and trees to wool, leather harnesses, and even the paint off wagons. We hear how desperate farmers tried burning locusts in straw, how carcasses polluted water and ruined livestock and eggs, and how aggressive plowing and an early frost helped drive the Rocky Mountain locust to extinction by the early 1900s.
00:00:00 – Cold Open: Biblical Plagues & Bumble Bios
00:01:14 – “Canada Is Boring” Comedy Intro
00:02:04 – Welcome to Canada Is Boring (Patreon Episode)
00:03:08 – Setting the Scene: The 1874–75 Locust Plague
00:05:04 – Manitoba’s Early Swarm & Witchcraft “Solutions”
00:07:28 – Counting the Invasion: Billions to Trillions of Locusts
00:07:56 – A Foot-Deep Carpet of Insects & Total Devastation
00:09:23 – Farmers Fight Back: Burning Fields of Locusts
