1 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:07,480 Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of 2 00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:14,480 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of 3 00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:18,480 Speaker 1: the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all 4 00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:22,200 Speaker 1: of these amazing tales are right there on display, just 5 00:00:22,239 --> 00:00:28,880 Speaker 1: waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. 6 00:00:36,800 --> 00:00:40,600 Speaker 1: History is full of stories brought to us by undercover journalists, 7 00:00:40,800 --> 00:00:44,559 Speaker 1: intrepid reporters who risk their life, limb and freedom to 8 00:00:44,600 --> 00:00:48,680 Speaker 1: get the ungettable scoop. Their reporting has spark reform and 9 00:00:48,920 --> 00:00:52,080 Speaker 1: changed the world, but few can boast a career to rival. 10 00:00:52,240 --> 00:00:57,160 Speaker 1: Nellie Bly born in eighteen sixty four as Elizabeth Jane Cochrane. 11 00:00:57,280 --> 00:00:59,840 Speaker 1: She began writing under the pen name Nellie Bly when 12 00:00:59,880 --> 00:01:03,680 Speaker 1: she was just fifteen years old. Despite her obvious instincts 13 00:01:03,720 --> 00:01:08,759 Speaker 1: for investigative work, Nellie's first newspaper, the Pittsburgh Dispatch, relegated 14 00:01:08,800 --> 00:01:12,759 Speaker 1: her topics they associated with female readers. She was stuck 15 00:01:12,800 --> 00:01:17,399 Speaker 1: writing about fashion, garden parties, and society gossip, which frustrated 16 00:01:17,440 --> 00:01:20,440 Speaker 1: her to no end. So at twenty two, she quit 17 00:01:20,480 --> 00:01:23,000 Speaker 1: her job and headed to New York City. She hoped 18 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:26,039 Speaker 1: to launch a career in writing hard hitting articles for 19 00:01:26,200 --> 00:01:29,840 Speaker 1: a serious newspaper. Now in eighteen eighty seven, there were 20 00:01:29,880 --> 00:01:33,640 Speaker 1: few papers as serious or respected as Joseph Pulitzer's New 21 00:01:33,720 --> 00:01:36,000 Speaker 1: York World. Nellie managed to get a meeting with a 22 00:01:36,080 --> 00:01:39,160 Speaker 1: company's managing editor, then pitched him her idea for a 23 00:01:39,200 --> 00:01:42,959 Speaker 1: piece on the immigrant experience. The editor, though, wasn't interested 24 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:45,640 Speaker 1: in her story, but he was impressed by Nellie's tenacity, 25 00:01:45,800 --> 00:01:48,320 Speaker 1: so he offered her another assignment. If she could get 26 00:01:48,360 --> 00:01:51,560 Speaker 1: into the mental health asylum on Blackwell's Island, spend a 27 00:01:51,600 --> 00:01:53,880 Speaker 1: week there, and then write about what she saw, he 28 00:01:53,920 --> 00:01:57,480 Speaker 1: would publish the story and give her a job. Nellie 29 00:01:57,480 --> 00:02:01,160 Speaker 1: accepted the challenge and immediately got to work formulating a plan. 30 00:02:01,600 --> 00:02:04,560 Speaker 1: Her first step was to check into a temporary boarding house. 31 00:02:04,840 --> 00:02:06,920 Speaker 1: After staying up all night so that her eyes were 32 00:02:06,960 --> 00:02:10,280 Speaker 1: rimmed with shadows, she started going around the building, accusing 33 00:02:10,320 --> 00:02:13,240 Speaker 1: the other tenants of being insane. She made such a 34 00:02:13,280 --> 00:02:16,280 Speaker 1: disturbance that the police were called. The next morning. When 35 00:02:16,280 --> 00:02:19,280 Speaker 1: she was hauled in front of a judge, Nellie feigned amnesia, 36 00:02:19,360 --> 00:02:23,239 Speaker 1: claiming I don't remember, I don't remember, over and over again. 37 00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:26,520 Speaker 1: She was examined by several doctors who quickly concluded that 38 00:02:26,600 --> 00:02:32,519 Speaker 1: she was quote positively demented and undoubtedly insane. Within days 39 00:02:32,560 --> 00:02:35,080 Speaker 1: of her arrest, Nellie boarded a tiny boat bound for 40 00:02:35,120 --> 00:02:37,960 Speaker 1: Blackwell's Island. The conditions that the asylum turned out to 41 00:02:37,960 --> 00:02:40,840 Speaker 1: be far worse than she had expected. The facility was 42 00:02:40,880 --> 00:02:45,240 Speaker 1: crawling with rats, the food barely edible, the drinking water filthy. 43 00:02:45,600 --> 00:02:48,360 Speaker 1: Patients were tied together with rope, made to sit on 44 00:02:48,480 --> 00:02:51,240 Speaker 1: hard benches for hours, and taken for walks in the 45 00:02:51,280 --> 00:02:54,760 Speaker 1: cold while wearing thin clothing. Worst of all, the nurses 46 00:02:54,919 --> 00:02:58,560 Speaker 1: insulted and beat the patience when they stepped out of line. 47 00:02:58,600 --> 00:03:01,320 Speaker 1: After her week was complete, Nellie tried to convince the 48 00:03:01,320 --> 00:03:05,239 Speaker 1: hospital staff to let her go, but they ignored her. Eventually, 49 00:03:05,280 --> 00:03:08,600 Speaker 1: her editor arrived and convinced them to release her, explaining 50 00:03:08,600 --> 00:03:12,080 Speaker 1: that she was a reporter on assignment. Nellie had spent 51 00:03:12,320 --> 00:03:15,240 Speaker 1: ten days on Blackwell's Island. She wrote a series of 52 00:03:15,280 --> 00:03:19,040 Speaker 1: six articles about her experience, which were published that October. 53 00:03:19,400 --> 00:03:22,720 Speaker 1: The story stunned the public, which had never before gotten 54 00:03:22,760 --> 00:03:24,880 Speaker 1: such a clear look at the inner workings of a 55 00:03:24,960 --> 00:03:29,320 Speaker 1: mental health facility. An investigation into the asylum's practices was launched, 56 00:03:29,560 --> 00:03:33,760 Speaker 1: eventually leading to increased funding for mental health patients, and 57 00:03:33,800 --> 00:03:37,480 Speaker 1: Nellie became a star. She kept working as a journalist 58 00:03:37,480 --> 00:03:41,000 Speaker 1: for The New York World, covering subjects from corrupt lobbying 59 00:03:41,040 --> 00:03:45,600 Speaker 1: practices to the women's suffrage movement. Her groundbreaking work inspired 60 00:03:45,640 --> 00:03:51,320 Speaker 1: a surge and female investigative journalists derisively termed stunt girl journalists. 61 00:03:51,600 --> 00:03:54,440 Speaker 1: The implication was that these women were simply after attention, 62 00:03:54,840 --> 00:03:58,720 Speaker 1: not capable of real reporting. But for Nellie Bly, it 63 00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:01,280 Speaker 1: was hardly a gimmick. From the first day of her 64 00:04:01,360 --> 00:04:04,960 Speaker 1: career to the last, her fearlessness and dogged pursuit of 65 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:08,040 Speaker 1: the truth were second to none. She did whatever it 66 00:04:08,080 --> 00:04:10,960 Speaker 1: took to get her story, and in the process, she 67 00:04:11,120 --> 00:04:35,360 Speaker 1: became one herself. The rangers at the Grand Canyon had 68 00:04:35,400 --> 00:04:38,960 Speaker 1: a problem. Their park was crawling with an invasive species, 69 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:41,520 Speaker 1: and they had been tasked with getting rid of the animals. 70 00:04:41,960 --> 00:04:45,080 Speaker 1: After reviewing their options, it was determined that relocating the 71 00:04:45,120 --> 00:04:48,840 Speaker 1: critters would be prohibitively expensive. Their best option was to 72 00:04:48,920 --> 00:04:51,480 Speaker 1: hunt them down one by one and purge them from 73 00:04:51,560 --> 00:04:54,839 Speaker 1: the park. The animal in question wasn't a type of 74 00:04:54,960 --> 00:04:59,000 Speaker 1: rat or snake, or even an insect. It wasn't a bear, coyote, 75 00:04:59,120 --> 00:05:02,960 Speaker 1: fox or other animal typical of American parks. The creatures 76 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:07,520 Speaker 1: causing all the fuss were burrows. Burrow is Spanish for donkey. 77 00:05:07,760 --> 00:05:11,440 Speaker 1: The terms are interchangeable, but in the Western US, burrow 78 00:05:11,640 --> 00:05:14,880 Speaker 1: is commonly used to signify wild members of the species, 79 00:05:15,200 --> 00:05:18,400 Speaker 1: and that's exactly what the Canyon burroughs were. After being 80 00:05:18,440 --> 00:05:21,760 Speaker 1: brought to Arizona from Spain in the fifteen hundreds, many 81 00:05:21,760 --> 00:05:25,320 Speaker 1: of the hardy animals had gotten loose and multiplied. Eventually 82 00:05:25,360 --> 00:05:27,839 Speaker 1: they become a common sight at the Grand Canyon, where 83 00:05:27,839 --> 00:05:31,279 Speaker 1: they were occasionally caught and used as pack animals. While 84 00:05:31,320 --> 00:05:34,040 Speaker 1: the burroughs were popular with tourists, they presented a very 85 00:05:34,080 --> 00:05:37,960 Speaker 1: real problem for the park. They destroyed natural vegetation, they 86 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:42,200 Speaker 1: drove out native species, and defecated in local streams, so 87 00:05:42,480 --> 00:05:46,200 Speaker 1: as early as the nineteen twenties, rangers started hunting them down, 88 00:05:46,440 --> 00:05:49,520 Speaker 1: mostly without the awareness of the public. But that changed 89 00:05:49,560 --> 00:05:53,599 Speaker 1: in nineteen fifty three when children's author Marguerite Henry published 90 00:05:53,920 --> 00:05:57,520 Speaker 1: Brightly of the Grand Canyon. The novel told a fictionalized 91 00:05:57,560 --> 00:06:00,320 Speaker 1: story of a very real wild burrow who lived in 92 00:06:00,360 --> 00:06:03,560 Speaker 1: the park for thirty years between eighteen ninety two and 93 00:06:03,680 --> 00:06:07,920 Speaker 1: nineteen twenty two. When he was alive, Brightley was beloved 94 00:06:07,920 --> 00:06:10,800 Speaker 1: by tourists and park staff alike. He made a name 95 00:06:10,839 --> 00:06:14,279 Speaker 1: for himself as a stubborn, friendly guy who loved pancakes 96 00:06:14,320 --> 00:06:17,520 Speaker 1: and hated hard work like most of us. Right, he 97 00:06:17,560 --> 00:06:20,279 Speaker 1: made an exception for a boy named Bob McKee, whose 98 00:06:20,320 --> 00:06:23,880 Speaker 1: parents managed a tourist facility on the North Rim. Bob 99 00:06:23,920 --> 00:06:26,440 Speaker 1: could always get Bridy to help him collect fresh water 100 00:06:26,520 --> 00:06:29,640 Speaker 1: from a nearby spring, and they spent countless hours together 101 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:34,920 Speaker 1: wandering through the terrain. Unsurprisingly, the children's book skirted how 102 00:06:34,920 --> 00:06:38,039 Speaker 1: the real Bridie died. One winter, he got snowed in 103 00:06:38,080 --> 00:06:40,599 Speaker 1: with a pair of cowboys during a blizzard. When they 104 00:06:40,680 --> 00:06:43,560 Speaker 1: ran out of food, they resorted to eating the port donkey. 105 00:06:44,240 --> 00:06:46,880 Speaker 1: It was a sad ending, but far from the conclusion 106 00:06:46,960 --> 00:06:50,360 Speaker 1: of Bridie's story. The children's books soon became a movie, 107 00:06:50,480 --> 00:06:53,720 Speaker 1: turning him into a minor celebrity. A bronze statue of 108 00:06:53,760 --> 00:06:57,000 Speaker 1: Bridy was commissioned to promote the movie. It was later 109 00:06:57,080 --> 00:07:00,200 Speaker 1: gifted to the Grand Canyon National Park and placed at 110 00:07:00,240 --> 00:07:03,000 Speaker 1: South Rim Visitor Center. This was a bit of a 111 00:07:03,040 --> 00:07:05,520 Speaker 1: problem for the park rangers, though, who were still trying 112 00:07:05,560 --> 00:07:08,920 Speaker 1: to deal with their own borough problem. In nineteen seventy six, 113 00:07:09,200 --> 00:07:12,040 Speaker 1: they ramped up efforts to wipe the invasive species from 114 00:07:12,040 --> 00:07:14,760 Speaker 1: the park. This time, when the public found out that 115 00:07:14,800 --> 00:07:18,480 Speaker 1: the rangers were killing the boroughs, they immediately thought of Brdy. 116 00:07:18,960 --> 00:07:23,880 Speaker 1: Protests were held, Scathing editorials were written. Politicians received thousands 117 00:07:23,920 --> 00:07:27,200 Speaker 1: of letters from kids begging them to save the boroughs. 118 00:07:27,560 --> 00:07:31,440 Speaker 1: The park responded by putting Brdy's statue in storage, which 119 00:07:31,680 --> 00:07:34,760 Speaker 1: just angered people more. Pretty soon they had a serious 120 00:07:34,840 --> 00:07:38,600 Speaker 1: pr crisis on their hands. Luckily, by this point, Brdy's 121 00:07:38,600 --> 00:07:42,880 Speaker 1: cause had generated some serious donations, almost half a million dollars. 122 00:07:43,160 --> 00:07:46,120 Speaker 1: The money was used to airlift over five hundred boroughs 123 00:07:46,200 --> 00:07:49,480 Speaker 1: from the Grand Canyon by helicopter, relocating them to a 124 00:07:49,560 --> 00:07:54,160 Speaker 1: ranch in Texas. Afterwards, the park rangers quietly hunted down 125 00:07:54,200 --> 00:07:57,160 Speaker 1: the remaining boroughs, then put up a fence to keep 126 00:07:57,160 --> 00:07:59,640 Speaker 1: any more from getting in. At the urging of the 127 00:07:59,680 --> 00:08:02,720 Speaker 1: public look, Brdy's statue was taken out of storage and 128 00:08:02,760 --> 00:08:05,320 Speaker 1: put back on display. Today, he can be found in 129 00:08:05,360 --> 00:08:08,960 Speaker 1: the Grand Canyon Lodge, knows shiny from thousands of hands 130 00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:11,640 Speaker 1: touching it. His current spot is near the place where 131 00:08:11,680 --> 00:08:14,480 Speaker 1: Bob McKee's family lived back when he and Bridy collected 132 00:08:14,520 --> 00:08:17,920 Speaker 1: water together. He'd been through quite the journey, become a 133 00:08:17,960 --> 00:08:20,800 Speaker 1: movie star and the focal point for a battle between 134 00:08:20,960 --> 00:08:24,720 Speaker 1: environmentalists and animal rights activists. But in the end, the 135 00:08:24,800 --> 00:08:32,440 Speaker 1: faral Donkey found his way back home. I hope you've 136 00:08:32,559 --> 00:08:36,480 Speaker 1: enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe 137 00:08:36,520 --> 00:08:39,120 Speaker 1: for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the 138 00:08:39,160 --> 00:08:43,960 Speaker 1: show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was 139 00:08:44,040 --> 00:08:47,840 Speaker 1: created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how Stuff Works. 140 00:08:48,280 --> 00:08:51,400 Speaker 1: I make another award winning show called Lore, which is 141 00:08:51,520 --> 00:08:54,920 Speaker 1: a podcast, book series, and television show, and you can 142 00:08:54,960 --> 00:08:58,840 Speaker 1: learn all about it over at the Worldolore dot com. 143 00:08:58,880 --> 00:09:01,320 Speaker 1: And until next time, stay curious.