1 00:00:03,760 --> 00:00:07,840 Speaker 1: Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history 2 00:00:08,039 --> 00:00:11,200 Speaker 1: is an open book, all of these amazing tales are 3 00:00:11,320 --> 00:00:14,680 Speaker 1: right there on display, just waiting for us to explore. 4 00:00:16,200 --> 00:00:28,360 Speaker 1: Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. You have to wonder 5 00:00:28,480 --> 00:00:30,680 Speaker 1: if some people are born to be conned the way 6 00:00:30,680 --> 00:00:33,960 Speaker 1: others are born to con them. We believed that David 7 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:37,960 Speaker 1: Copperfield made the Statue of Liberty disappear because we wanted to. 8 00:00:38,560 --> 00:00:41,800 Speaker 1: We want to believe the Prince promising us untold millions 9 00:00:41,840 --> 00:00:44,320 Speaker 1: in an email, because of what it would mean, how 10 00:00:44,360 --> 00:00:47,199 Speaker 1: it would change our lives. What we don't often think 11 00:00:47,240 --> 00:00:51,120 Speaker 1: about is why people deceive us. In the case of 12 00:00:51,200 --> 00:00:54,760 Speaker 1: David Copperfield and other magicians, it's for entertainment to get 13 00:00:54,800 --> 00:00:57,000 Speaker 1: a rise out of us, to instill a sense of 14 00:00:57,040 --> 00:01:00,480 Speaker 1: wonder and awe in the audience. The supposed pray is 15 00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:04,720 Speaker 1: just looking for a quick buck from an unwitting victim. 16 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:08,520 Speaker 1: Then there are people like Victor. Victor was born in Austria, 17 00:01:08,600 --> 00:01:10,960 Speaker 1: Hungary at the turn of the century, and he had 18 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:14,600 Speaker 1: a gift. He was a reader of books, yes, but 19 00:01:14,760 --> 00:01:17,840 Speaker 1: also of people. There was no real reason for him 20 00:01:17,880 --> 00:01:20,080 Speaker 1: to turn to a life of crime, though It's not 21 00:01:20,160 --> 00:01:22,200 Speaker 1: like he fell into a deep pit of debt or 22 00:01:22,440 --> 00:01:25,360 Speaker 1: lived on the streets. As a teenager, he studied in 23 00:01:25,440 --> 00:01:29,360 Speaker 1: Paris and gained fluency in multiple languages. Victor was on 24 00:01:29,400 --> 00:01:31,760 Speaker 1: track to be a great student. He might have gone 25 00:01:31,760 --> 00:01:34,280 Speaker 1: on to be a great man, but will never know. 26 00:01:35,440 --> 00:01:38,640 Speaker 1: At nineteen years old, Victor needed a break from his education. 27 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:42,160 Speaker 1: He went on holiday where he discovered gambling and women, 28 00:01:42,560 --> 00:01:45,120 Speaker 1: and those things didn't mix too well for him. Victor 29 00:01:45,240 --> 00:01:47,600 Speaker 1: quickly found himself on the receiving end of a nasty 30 00:01:47,680 --> 00:01:50,000 Speaker 1: scar on one side of his face. One of the 31 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:52,960 Speaker 1: women he had met had a boyfriend with a jealous streak. 32 00:01:54,080 --> 00:01:56,560 Speaker 1: But Victor recovered and he took his talents to the 33 00:01:56,600 --> 00:02:00,440 Speaker 1: open seas, where he pulled schemes on unsuspecting travelers sailing 34 00:02:00,480 --> 00:02:03,800 Speaker 1: between France and New York. In one he pretended to 35 00:02:03,840 --> 00:02:07,760 Speaker 1: be a Broadway producer and solicited investor funds for a 36 00:02:07,800 --> 00:02:12,280 Speaker 1: non existent production. As the years passed, victor scams grew 37 00:02:12,400 --> 00:02:16,640 Speaker 1: in size and boldness. By the time had come to 38 00:02:16,720 --> 00:02:20,320 Speaker 1: do something big, something that would establish his legacy all 39 00:02:20,320 --> 00:02:23,440 Speaker 1: over the world. He returned to Paris and came upon 40 00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:27,040 Speaker 1: a newspaper story about the Eiffel Tower. The monument had 41 00:02:27,080 --> 00:02:30,200 Speaker 1: fallen into disrepair and the money to fix it had 42 00:02:30,320 --> 00:02:34,240 Speaker 1: run dry. The article also mentioned how the time might 43 00:02:34,280 --> 00:02:36,680 Speaker 1: come one day when the city would have to simply 44 00:02:36,720 --> 00:02:40,640 Speaker 1: tear it down. But where Paris saw an eyesore, Victor 45 00:02:40,840 --> 00:02:43,440 Speaker 1: saw a way to get rich in the most ludicrous 46 00:02:43,440 --> 00:02:48,320 Speaker 1: way possible. He hired a forger to draft fake credentials 47 00:02:48,360 --> 00:02:51,640 Speaker 1: for him, then invited several scrap metal dealers to a 48 00:02:51,720 --> 00:02:55,480 Speaker 1: large hotel. He introduced himself as a high ranking official 49 00:02:55,520 --> 00:02:58,840 Speaker 1: within the government and claimed that Paris just couldn't afford 50 00:02:58,880 --> 00:03:01,680 Speaker 1: to keep the Eiffel Tower up anymore. It had to go, 51 00:03:02,200 --> 00:03:04,960 Speaker 1: and Victor had been selected to choose the scrap metal 52 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:09,000 Speaker 1: dealer who would haul the pieces away. He read their 53 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:12,440 Speaker 1: faces as he spoke, paying attention to the mannerisms and 54 00:03:12,480 --> 00:03:14,960 Speaker 1: ticks that might give away the perfect mark for his 55 00:03:15,080 --> 00:03:18,240 Speaker 1: con They weren't hard to spot either. The man who 56 00:03:18,280 --> 00:03:20,600 Speaker 1: would end up with the winning bid for victor Sham 57 00:03:20,680 --> 00:03:24,840 Speaker 1: business was relatively unknown in the Parisian business community. His 58 00:03:24,960 --> 00:03:27,239 Speaker 1: name was Andre and he wanted to make a name 59 00:03:27,280 --> 00:03:30,040 Speaker 1: for himself, so after all the bids were sent in, 60 00:03:30,480 --> 00:03:34,840 Speaker 1: he put in a little extra just for Victor. It worked. 61 00:03:35,400 --> 00:03:38,560 Speaker 1: Victor accepted Andrea's offer and collected both his bribe and 62 00:03:38,640 --> 00:03:42,720 Speaker 1: the money necessary to secure the towers supposed sale, and 63 00:03:42,800 --> 00:03:47,440 Speaker 1: then he fled to Austria with his winnings. Poor Andre 64 00:03:47,680 --> 00:03:50,040 Speaker 1: didn't know what had hit him. He couldn't go to 65 00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:52,800 Speaker 1: the police, nor could he tell his fellow business men 66 00:03:52,880 --> 00:03:55,920 Speaker 1: without looking foolish. Victor made sure to read the French 67 00:03:55,960 --> 00:03:59,720 Speaker 1: newspapers for any mention of his scheme, but when nothing surfaced, 68 00:03:59,720 --> 00:04:04,960 Speaker 1: he he'd done it. He had sold the Eiffel Tower. Now, 69 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:07,160 Speaker 1: if that had been me, I'd have stopped there. To 70 00:04:07,240 --> 00:04:09,560 Speaker 1: pull off one of the greatest cons in history without 71 00:04:09,600 --> 00:04:12,800 Speaker 1: anyone else knowing about it, including the police, would have 72 00:04:12,840 --> 00:04:16,640 Speaker 1: been great enough. But I'm not Victor lustig. He wanted 73 00:04:16,680 --> 00:04:18,600 Speaker 1: to press his luck, to see if he could hit 74 00:04:18,600 --> 00:04:23,000 Speaker 1: the jackpot twice, not once. So one year later he 75 00:04:23,080 --> 00:04:26,560 Speaker 1: returned to Paris and tried the same scam again, this 76 00:04:26,680 --> 00:04:29,799 Speaker 1: time with a new group of scrap metal dealers, only 77 00:04:29,839 --> 00:04:32,400 Speaker 1: this time they were prepared. The police had been tipped 78 00:04:32,400 --> 00:04:35,440 Speaker 1: off about Victor's meeting and went after him, but his 79 00:04:35,520 --> 00:04:38,560 Speaker 1: craftiness got the better of them. Once again. He moved 80 00:04:38,600 --> 00:04:40,960 Speaker 1: to the United States, where he returned to a life 81 00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:46,480 Speaker 1: of smaller, pettier crimes. Well almost you see, he'd found 82 00:04:46,480 --> 00:04:49,719 Speaker 1: a new mark, a businessman from Chicago, a man no 83 00:04:49,839 --> 00:04:53,480 Speaker 1: other con man would have thought to cross. Victor promised 84 00:04:53,520 --> 00:04:55,440 Speaker 1: the man that he would double his money if he 85 00:04:55,440 --> 00:04:58,479 Speaker 1: would just invest in an amazing new business opportunity that 86 00:04:58,520 --> 00:05:02,679 Speaker 1: he had planned. The mar agreed and gave him fifty dollars. 87 00:05:03,279 --> 00:05:05,920 Speaker 1: Victor promised that he'd have twice that much in just 88 00:05:06,160 --> 00:05:10,640 Speaker 1: one month. Well, the month came and went, and Victor 89 00:05:10,800 --> 00:05:13,839 Speaker 1: hadn't doubled the man's money. Except this time, the conman 90 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:17,200 Speaker 1: didn't flee the country. Honestly, there wasn't anywhere that he 91 00:05:17,240 --> 00:05:20,280 Speaker 1: could have gone anyway. His mark would have found him 92 00:05:20,400 --> 00:05:22,919 Speaker 1: and made him pay one way or the other. So 93 00:05:23,080 --> 00:05:26,440 Speaker 1: Victor just returned the fifty dollars to him, without a 94 00:05:26,520 --> 00:05:31,200 Speaker 1: cent missing. The mark was so impressed with Victor's honesty 95 00:05:31,360 --> 00:05:34,280 Speaker 1: he refused it, telling him to keep it for his trouble. 96 00:05:34,800 --> 00:05:36,840 Speaker 1: And the man he tried to swindle out of that 97 00:05:36,880 --> 00:05:40,680 Speaker 1: fifty grand none other than the King of crime himself, 98 00:05:41,720 --> 00:05:59,920 Speaker 1: al Capone. Roderick Ross McFarlane had always loved nature. He'd 99 00:06:00,040 --> 00:06:02,039 Speaker 1: run up off the coast of Scotland in the early 100 00:06:02,080 --> 00:06:05,120 Speaker 1: eighteen hundreds, where he was surrounded by a veritable zoo 101 00:06:05,160 --> 00:06:08,279 Speaker 1: of birds, mammals, and sea life. His love of the 102 00:06:08,320 --> 00:06:11,159 Speaker 1: outdoors eventually took him to the Hudson Bay Company, a 103 00:06:11,240 --> 00:06:14,400 Speaker 1: retail business specializing in the trapping and trading of first 104 00:06:14,640 --> 00:06:17,880 Speaker 1: the perfect place for a budding naturalist to grow his career. 105 00:06:19,279 --> 00:06:22,039 Speaker 1: Starting as a clerk, Roderick traveled all over the world, 106 00:06:22,320 --> 00:06:25,159 Speaker 1: working his way up to management. He ran the trading 107 00:06:25,200 --> 00:06:28,279 Speaker 1: post at several forts in the Northwest territories of Canada 108 00:06:28,360 --> 00:06:30,440 Speaker 1: for many years until he was put in charge of 109 00:06:30,480 --> 00:06:35,000 Speaker 1: Fort Anderson, farther north in eighteen sixty one. During his 110 00:06:35,040 --> 00:06:38,360 Speaker 1: time there, Roderick befriended the local indigenous people who traded 111 00:06:38,360 --> 00:06:40,880 Speaker 1: with him and taught him about life in their territories. 112 00:06:41,240 --> 00:06:44,320 Speaker 1: He also encouraged them to bring unique specimens they found 113 00:06:44,360 --> 00:06:47,320 Speaker 1: for him to send to the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, 114 00:06:47,400 --> 00:06:50,120 Speaker 1: d c. Where he worked on the side as a collector. 115 00:06:51,120 --> 00:06:54,279 Speaker 1: During the winter, he'd stow away eggs, hides, and other 116 00:06:54,400 --> 00:06:58,000 Speaker 1: natural history items and write letters to the museum's curators 117 00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:01,120 Speaker 1: about what he found. Then, in the weather warmed up, 118 00:07:01,160 --> 00:07:04,240 Speaker 1: he'd box it all up and ship everything south to Washington. 119 00:07:05,720 --> 00:07:08,640 Speaker 1: Over time, Roderick and the Inuit came to respect and 120 00:07:08,760 --> 00:07:12,160 Speaker 1: enjoy each other's company, which is probably why they approached 121 00:07:12,200 --> 00:07:15,920 Speaker 1: him After an unexpected kill one day in eighteen sixty four. 122 00:07:16,480 --> 00:07:19,000 Speaker 1: Their hunters had been attacked by a bear that day 123 00:07:19,120 --> 00:07:23,720 Speaker 1: and barely survived. Using a Hudson Bay rifle, spears, and knives, 124 00:07:24,040 --> 00:07:26,640 Speaker 1: they managed to kill the animal and drag its carcass 125 00:07:26,720 --> 00:07:29,720 Speaker 1: back to the trading post, where Roderick happily accepted it. 126 00:07:30,920 --> 00:07:33,800 Speaker 1: He honestly didn't think anything of it. It looked a 127 00:07:33,800 --> 00:07:37,560 Speaker 1: little different from the other bears he'd taken, but nothing extraordinary. 128 00:07:37,840 --> 00:07:40,480 Speaker 1: He skinned the bear, had the hide cured, and then 129 00:07:40,560 --> 00:07:43,679 Speaker 1: sent everything to the Smithsonian, as he'd done so many 130 00:07:43,720 --> 00:07:47,600 Speaker 1: times before. The items sat in storage for over fifty 131 00:07:47,680 --> 00:07:51,200 Speaker 1: years before the Dean of Naturalists, Dr. C. Hart Miriam 132 00:07:51,280 --> 00:07:54,200 Speaker 1: found them that he'd never have seen anything like them. 133 00:07:54,240 --> 00:07:57,800 Speaker 1: What McFarland had dismissed as a standard barren ground grizzly 134 00:07:57,840 --> 00:08:02,360 Speaker 1: bear was actually something in highrely new. It had been 135 00:08:02,360 --> 00:08:05,200 Speaker 1: found far outside the normal hunting grounds for bears of 136 00:08:05,200 --> 00:08:08,240 Speaker 1: the region at the time. It's fur was yellow, not 137 00:08:08,440 --> 00:08:11,840 Speaker 1: dark brown like the grizzlies nor white like a polar bears, 138 00:08:12,320 --> 00:08:15,280 Speaker 1: its skull was smaller, and its sharp teeth had formed 139 00:08:15,360 --> 00:08:17,720 Speaker 1: much differently than the teeth of the bears known to 140 00:08:17,760 --> 00:08:21,480 Speaker 1: the area. Dr Miriam concluded the objects that had been 141 00:08:21,560 --> 00:08:24,640 Speaker 1: sitting in a box in the Smithsonian's archives belonged to 142 00:08:24,680 --> 00:08:29,000 Speaker 1: a whole new species of bear. Vetti larcis in open 143 00:08:29,080 --> 00:08:33,600 Speaker 1: natas is what he called it. It meant ancient, unexpected bear, 144 00:08:34,440 --> 00:08:38,960 Speaker 1: though it hadn't entirely been unexpected. Other explorers, such as 145 00:08:39,040 --> 00:08:42,800 Speaker 1: journalist Caspar Whitney, noted encounters with bears just like the 146 00:08:42,800 --> 00:08:45,880 Speaker 1: one McFarland had been given. Whitney described it as a 147 00:08:45,880 --> 00:08:49,040 Speaker 1: cross between a grizzly and the polar, with rear claws 148 00:08:49,080 --> 00:08:52,400 Speaker 1: as big as the front, a wide forehead, and ears 149 00:08:52,440 --> 00:08:55,920 Speaker 1: like a dog's. Unfortunately, there was no way to verify 150 00:08:56,000 --> 00:08:58,880 Speaker 1: the existence of others like it, given the time in 151 00:08:58,920 --> 00:09:01,920 Speaker 1: which it was discovered and the lack of similar specimens, 152 00:09:02,400 --> 00:09:07,640 Speaker 1: the bear was declared extinct. As our knowledge of different 153 00:09:07,640 --> 00:09:10,960 Speaker 1: species and our methods of testing d NA grow, it's 154 00:09:10,960 --> 00:09:14,240 Speaker 1: becoming easier to track the lineage of such rare animals. 155 00:09:14,760 --> 00:09:18,400 Speaker 1: It's possible the bear really was as Whitney described a 156 00:09:18,480 --> 00:09:22,839 Speaker 1: hybrid grizzly polar bear. Others have suggested that the bear 157 00:09:22,960 --> 00:09:25,800 Speaker 1: was a species that had survived past the ice age 158 00:09:25,880 --> 00:09:29,440 Speaker 1: and died out on that fateful day in eighteen sixty four. 159 00:09:30,040 --> 00:09:33,200 Speaker 1: We might never get a definitive answer as to what 160 00:09:33,360 --> 00:09:36,840 Speaker 1: species it really was, though, which is disappointing. I know 161 00:09:38,000 --> 00:09:46,440 Speaker 1: some might even call that unbearable. I hope you've enjoyed 162 00:09:46,440 --> 00:09:50,160 Speaker 1: today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for 163 00:09:50,240 --> 00:09:53,000 Speaker 1: free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show 164 00:09:53,080 --> 00:09:58,120 Speaker 1: by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created 165 00:09:58,120 --> 00:10:01,440 Speaker 1: by me Aaron Manky in part ownership with How Stuff Works. 166 00:10:01,880 --> 00:10:05,000 Speaker 1: I make another award winning show called Lore, which is 167 00:10:05,120 --> 00:10:08,520 Speaker 1: a podcast, book series, and television show, and you can 168 00:10:08,600 --> 00:10:10,920 Speaker 1: learn all about it over at the World of Lore 169 00:10:11,200 --> 00:10:14,880 Speaker 1: dot com. And until next time, stay curious.