Coming soon: the Cougar Lady Chronicles is a true pioneering adventure story set in the rain forest of the West Coast of Canada in the 20th century. Told in dramatic storytelling fashion by award-winning author and CBC host Grant Lawrence, this is an exciting wilderness saga of the life and times of "Cougar" Nancy Crowther as she faces the daily dangers of wilderness living; everything from cougars, to draft dodgers, to the mysterious force known only as "them."
Host Grant Lawrence was just a six-year-old boy when he first came face to gun barrel with the Cougar Queen of Okeover Inlet, British Columbia, Canada.
Host Grant Lawrence and his family are nose to gun barrel with "Cougar" Nancy Crowther and her pack of snarling bush dogs, as Grant's dad tries to charm his way out of it.
The future Cougar Queen of Okeover Inlet and her young family make the epic journey from the English countryside to the wilds of West Coast British Columbia to start their new life.
A cougar has been targeting the family goats that the Crowther family depends on for sustenance to get them through the Great Depression. A teenaged Nancy Crowther tracks the mighty beast with a pack of dogs and a one-shot rifle that doesn't shoot straight.
Nancy Crowther's rifle is out of ammunition and there is a wounded cougar in the bushes less than twenty feet away. What would you do? What did Nancy do?
The impact of World War II in Europe is felt as far away as the West Coast rain forest, which leads "Cougar" Nancy Crowther to leave her family cabin in the wilderness.
"Cougar" Nancy returns from work at the Powell River mill to the horrible sight of her family cabin engulfed in flames.
Fists, starfish, and bodies fly as "Cougar" Nancy takes extreme umbrage with some town girls while working on the oyster floats during the mid-1950s in Okeover Inlet.
"Cougar" Nancy's fists are swinging at the town girls who have seemingly offended her in some way. One of the women attacked down at the oyster dock helps recount this outrageous story.
In what comes as a complete surprise to many, a man from town asks the tough-as-nails and soft-spoken cougar hunter for her hand in marriage. Doesn't go well.
With the Cougar Lady's marriage on the rocks, progress around her abounds: ferries connect the remote Sunshine Coast with the rest of the world, and the famed Highway 101 reaches all the way to Lund, prompting the Crowthers to build their own road, with unforeseen consequences.
Hear from the Cougar Lady in her own voice in this chapter, when she returns to the wilderness full time, and soon encounters what she thought was the largest, blackest, meanest looking dog she'd ever seen. But that was no dog, and it was a rare occurrence when Cougar Nancy was without her rifle.
For years, "Cougar" Nancy thought the greatest threats she faced in her wilderness home was from cougars, bears, and wolves. That was until the late 1960s / early 1970s, when waves of hippies arrived, searching for the end of the road.
The encroachment of civilization made "Cougar" Nancy's paranoia run wild. She was certain that a mysterious force she only referred to as "Them" had moved into her cabin, forcing her to extreme measures.
A car crash in town reveals the real reason behind "Cougar" Nancy Crowther's extreme paranoia and bizarre behaviour during the final stages of the pioneer-legend's life.
Grant Lawrence's latest true-story adventure saga is here! Check out the epic, round-the-world adventures of Bernard the German, from the war-torn rubble of post-war Germany, the oceanic wilderness of Desolation Sound BC, to the hidden dangers lurking in the south seas. Available wherever you get your podcasts.
Hermit of Desolation Sound is Grant Lawrence's latest true life adventure series, starring Russell Letawsky, the hermit philosopher who lived off the grid in a dank shack on West Coast of Canada for over a decade.
Finally! Grant Lawrence reads aloud each chapter from his outrageous and award-winning book "Dirty Windshields - the best and the worst of the Smugglers tour diaries" (Douglas and McIntyre, 2017) in a brand new podcast available now.