Frank Slide - Legends

Legends

Numerous legends and misconceptions were spawned in the aftermath of the slide. The entire town of Frank was claimed to have been buried, though much of the town itself was unscathed. The belief that a branch of the Union Bank of Canada had been buried with as much as $500,000 persisted for many years. The bank—untouched by the slide—remained in the same location until it was demolished in 1911, after which the buried treasure legend arose. Crews building a new road through the pass in 1924 operated under police guard as it was believed they could unearth the supposedly buried bank.

Several people, telling amazing stories to those who would listen, passed themselves off as the "sole survivor" in the years following the slide. The most common such tale is that of an infant girl said to have been the only survivor of the slide. Her real name unknown, the girl was called "Frankie Slide". Several stories were told of her miraculous escape: she was found in a bale of hay, lying on rocks, under the collapsed roof of her house or in the arms of her dead mother. The legend was based primarily on the story of Marian Leitch, who was thrown from her home into a pile of hay when the slide enveloped her home. Her sisters also survived; they were found unharmed under a collapsed ceiling joist. Her parents and four brothers died. Influencing the story was the survival of two-year-old Gladys Ennis, who was found outside her home in the mud. The last survivor of the slide, she died in 1995. In total, 23 people in the path of the slide survived, in addition to the 17 miners who escaped from the tunnels under Turtle Mountain.

A ballad by Ed McCurdy featuring the story of Frankie Slide was popular in parts of Canada in the 1950s. The slide has formed the basis of other songs, including "How the Mountain Came Down" by Stompin' Tom Connors, and more recently, "Frank, AB" by The Rural Alberta Advantage. The Frank Slide has been the subject of several books, both historical and fictional.