1 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:07,440 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 --> 00:00:28,920 Speaker 1: waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. 6 00:00:36,800 --> 00:00:39,479 Speaker 1: Walk around New York City today and you're surrounded by 7 00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:42,919 Speaker 1: a feast for the senses. You might hear sidewalk conversations 8 00:00:43,040 --> 00:00:46,280 Speaker 1: or a subway car rumbling underfoot. You might also smell 9 00:00:46,320 --> 00:00:49,160 Speaker 1: peanuts roasting on the stand on the corner, and you'll 10 00:00:49,159 --> 00:00:54,080 Speaker 1: definitely see massive buildings reaching towards the sky overhead. Oh 11 00:00:54,120 --> 00:00:57,760 Speaker 1: and cars, lots of cars, spewing exhaust into the air 12 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:00,840 Speaker 1: and honking at all hours while the eats clog up. 13 00:01:01,200 --> 00:01:04,320 Speaker 1: New York City today can feel almost clustrophobic with everything 14 00:01:04,360 --> 00:01:06,880 Speaker 1: going on around us. But it wasn't always like this. 15 00:01:07,319 --> 00:01:11,360 Speaker 1: Once upon a time, it looked a lot different. Eighteen 16 00:01:11,440 --> 00:01:14,360 Speaker 1: hundreds of New York was just becoming the hustling, bustling 17 00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:17,479 Speaker 1: metropolis it is today. The streets were packed with horse 18 00:01:17,560 --> 00:01:21,840 Speaker 1: drawn carriages and pedestrians. Stores lined the avenues, selling all 19 00:01:21,920 --> 00:01:25,080 Speaker 1: kinds of goods before long chain coffee shops and fast 20 00:01:25,080 --> 00:01:28,000 Speaker 1: food places took over. But even though the city was 21 00:01:28,040 --> 00:01:31,160 Speaker 1: growing and evolving, it still faced the same problem as 22 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:35,680 Speaker 1: every city in America. The weather. Summers were blisteringly hot, 23 00:01:35,920 --> 00:01:38,720 Speaker 1: and winters in New York were especially hard to face. 24 00:01:39,160 --> 00:01:42,039 Speaker 1: Feet of snow would bring everything to a halt, but 25 00:01:42,160 --> 00:01:45,039 Speaker 1: New Yorkers didn't let flurries and blizzards slow them down. 26 00:01:45,520 --> 00:01:49,480 Speaker 1: If anything, they got faster. In January of eighteen thirty, 27 00:01:49,560 --> 00:01:52,279 Speaker 1: the bitter cold had led to inches of snow coating 28 00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:55,840 Speaker 1: the ground, trees, and storefronts. Over the following days, that 29 00:01:55,880 --> 00:01:58,880 Speaker 1: blanket of white would get crushed and compacted until it 30 00:01:58,960 --> 00:02:01,680 Speaker 1: was hard and flatten to walk on, but most of 31 00:02:01,720 --> 00:02:04,720 Speaker 1: the time people would use another means of transportation to 32 00:02:04,720 --> 00:02:08,840 Speaker 1: get around. That month, Scottish politician James Stewart came to 33 00:02:08,919 --> 00:02:12,040 Speaker 1: visit and saw firsthand how the locals dealt with the snow. 34 00:02:12,760 --> 00:02:16,640 Speaker 1: The New York Carnival began and the beautiful, light looking 35 00:02:16,760 --> 00:02:20,280 Speaker 1: slaves made their appearance. He wrote, he watched as people 36 00:02:20,360 --> 00:02:23,360 Speaker 1: strapped horses to their slaves and took to the streets, 37 00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:26,640 Speaker 1: zooming through Manhattan, and I quote at the rate of 38 00:02:26,760 --> 00:02:29,799 Speaker 1: ten or twelve miles an hour. You see, until the 39 00:02:29,880 --> 00:02:32,839 Speaker 1: end of the nineteenth century, men, women and children took 40 00:02:32,840 --> 00:02:36,119 Speaker 1: advantage of the otherwise harsh conditions, making the best of them. 41 00:02:36,440 --> 00:02:40,120 Speaker 1: These carnivals lasted for hours, but most people ventured out 42 00:02:40,120 --> 00:02:43,720 Speaker 1: between three and five PM. During those times, thousands of 43 00:02:43,760 --> 00:02:47,840 Speaker 1: Manhattan residents would steer their slaves through the city. Central 44 00:02:47,840 --> 00:02:50,560 Speaker 1: Park was one of the most popular locations, and people 45 00:02:50,680 --> 00:02:53,320 Speaker 1: used whatever they had available to dash through the snow. 46 00:02:53,800 --> 00:02:57,040 Speaker 1: There were even public slaves like buses that would pull 47 00:02:57,080 --> 00:02:59,640 Speaker 1: groups of people all at a time. But eventually New 48 00:02:59,720 --> 00:03:03,320 Speaker 1: York realized that the carnivals needed a little friendly competition. 49 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:07,279 Speaker 1: In the late eighteen hundreds, the city's streets were transformed 50 00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:11,799 Speaker 1: into racetracks for sleigh races. Small models called cutters would 51 00:03:11,880 --> 00:03:14,480 Speaker 1: fly through the upper avenues with the wind whipping the 52 00:03:14,520 --> 00:03:17,840 Speaker 1: faces of the people handling them. But despite the dangerous 53 00:03:17,840 --> 00:03:21,639 Speaker 1: speeds achieved by racers, the press called these contests something 54 00:03:21,720 --> 00:03:26,639 Speaker 1: deceptively calm, trotting races, which doesn't sound fast or furious. 55 00:03:27,400 --> 00:03:30,600 Speaker 1: In December of eighteen sixty nine, dozens of racers set 56 00:03:30,600 --> 00:03:34,080 Speaker 1: out to prove themselves after a major snowstorm. An article 57 00:03:34,080 --> 00:03:37,040 Speaker 1: in the New York Herald described them as and I quote, 58 00:03:37,320 --> 00:03:40,760 Speaker 1: Roman chariots spitting flakes of snow in their wake as 59 00:03:40,800 --> 00:03:44,320 Speaker 1: they careened across Harlem. Local businesses also got in on 60 00:03:44,360 --> 00:03:47,320 Speaker 1: the action. McGowan's Pass Tavern on one hundred and fourth 61 00:03:47,320 --> 00:03:50,600 Speaker 1: Street held a yearly race for anyone who wanted to participate. 62 00:03:50,800 --> 00:03:53,960 Speaker 1: Winners were given a bottle of champagne every year until 63 00:03:53,960 --> 00:03:58,040 Speaker 1: the tavern was torn down in nineteen fifteen. Unfortunately, as 64 00:03:58,120 --> 00:04:02,200 Speaker 1: New York continued to expand and formalized throughout the nineteenth century, 65 00:04:02,520 --> 00:04:05,680 Speaker 1: both the carnivals and the sleigh races faded out of fashion. 66 00:04:06,120 --> 00:04:09,000 Speaker 1: These events had helped city dwellers past the dreary winter 67 00:04:09,120 --> 00:04:11,800 Speaker 1: months with ease. After all, it was hard to stay 68 00:04:11,800 --> 00:04:15,080 Speaker 1: sad when every fresh snow meant another chance to beat 69 00:04:15,080 --> 00:04:18,360 Speaker 1: your neighbor to the finish line. The advent of the automobile, though, 70 00:04:18,400 --> 00:04:20,279 Speaker 1: brought all of that to an end, because it was 71 00:04:20,320 --> 00:04:23,280 Speaker 1: hard to navigate a sleigh through Boston around all of 72 00:04:23,320 --> 00:04:26,760 Speaker 1: those cars. Today, tourists and couples can take a horse 73 00:04:26,800 --> 00:04:30,040 Speaker 1: drawn carriage ride on demand, enjoying a scenic trot through 74 00:04:30,120 --> 00:04:32,560 Speaker 1: Central Park, but little do they know that over one 75 00:04:32,600 --> 00:04:36,000 Speaker 1: hundred years before, that peaceful outing might have looked and 76 00:04:36,040 --> 00:04:39,479 Speaker 1: sounded very different with a lot more snow and a 77 00:04:39,520 --> 00:04:58,800 Speaker 1: lot less traffic. Lighthouses are contradictory places for lost ships. 78 00:04:58,800 --> 00:05:01,720 Speaker 1: They signal the safety a home shore at the same 79 00:05:01,720 --> 00:05:04,800 Speaker 1: time they warn of dangers hidden beneath the seas. Their 80 00:05:04,880 --> 00:05:08,279 Speaker 1: symbols of civilization on a deserted sea. And yet, for 81 00:05:08,320 --> 00:05:11,680 Speaker 1: the lighthouse keepers on the remote Flannin Isles off of Scotland, 82 00:05:11,920 --> 00:05:14,880 Speaker 1: their job kept them far away from the rest of society. 83 00:05:15,520 --> 00:05:17,640 Speaker 1: That kind of isolation was hard to get used to. 84 00:05:17,839 --> 00:05:20,840 Speaker 1: As you might imagine, the keepers quickly found that when 85 00:05:20,920 --> 00:05:23,359 Speaker 1: something strange happened, there was no one they could tell, 86 00:05:23,640 --> 00:05:26,800 Speaker 1: and when something went terribly horribly wrong, there was no 87 00:05:26,800 --> 00:05:30,360 Speaker 1: one to hear them scream. On December twenty sixth of 88 00:05:30,440 --> 00:05:33,560 Speaker 1: nineteen hundred, the crew of the small ship Hesperus approached 89 00:05:33,600 --> 00:05:37,000 Speaker 1: the lighthouse on Alan Moore, the largest of the Flannin Isles. 90 00:05:37,279 --> 00:05:39,680 Speaker 1: The ship had been delayed several days by a storm, 91 00:05:39,920 --> 00:05:42,440 Speaker 1: but it had finally arrived to relieve the three lighthouse 92 00:05:42,520 --> 00:05:45,280 Speaker 1: keepers stationed on the island. The crew was surprised when 93 00:05:45,320 --> 00:05:47,320 Speaker 1: no one came out to greet them. The captain of 94 00:05:47,360 --> 00:05:50,280 Speaker 1: the Hesperus blew his ship's whistle and even fired off 95 00:05:50,279 --> 00:05:54,280 Speaker 1: a firecracker to alert the keepers, but James Duckett, Thomas Marshall, 96 00:05:54,320 --> 00:05:58,640 Speaker 1: and Donald MacArthur were nowhere to be seen. Inside the lighthouse, 97 00:05:58,720 --> 00:06:01,000 Speaker 1: it felt as if the three Missa keepers had only 98 00:06:01,120 --> 00:06:03,720 Speaker 1: just stepped out. Their beds weren't made, and there was 99 00:06:03,800 --> 00:06:06,440 Speaker 1: half eaten food left out in the kitchen. The door 100 00:06:06,520 --> 00:06:09,640 Speaker 1: was unlocked and a chair was found overturned. The oil 101 00:06:09,720 --> 00:06:12,320 Speaker 1: in the lamps was full, but the clock had stopped, 102 00:06:12,480 --> 00:06:15,279 Speaker 1: and while two of their heavy oilskin raincoats were missing, 103 00:06:15,640 --> 00:06:18,440 Speaker 1: the third was hanging right there by the door. The 104 00:06:18,520 --> 00:06:21,839 Speaker 1: clues the relief team found inside didn't offer much more enlightenment. 105 00:06:22,240 --> 00:06:24,720 Speaker 1: A box of supplies near the western boat landing had 106 00:06:24,720 --> 00:06:27,800 Speaker 1: been smashed and its contents were strewn about the shore. 107 00:06:28,160 --> 00:06:31,039 Speaker 1: Iron railings had been wrenched out of their concrete bases. 108 00:06:31,360 --> 00:06:33,800 Speaker 1: Even a one ton boulder had moved to a new 109 00:06:33,920 --> 00:06:37,799 Speaker 1: resting place. But most unusual were the last three entries 110 00:06:37,839 --> 00:06:41,040 Speaker 1: the keepers had left in the log book. On December twelfth, 111 00:06:41,160 --> 00:06:44,800 Speaker 1: fourteen days before the hespers had arrived, Keeper Thomas Marshall 112 00:06:44,880 --> 00:06:47,719 Speaker 1: had recorded a storm. According to him, there were and 113 00:06:47,800 --> 00:06:50,479 Speaker 1: I quote severe winds, the likes of which I have 114 00:06:50,640 --> 00:06:53,920 Speaker 1: never seen before in twenty years. He also noted that 115 00:06:54,040 --> 00:06:58,279 Speaker 1: keeper William MacArthur had been crying. This entry concerned the 116 00:06:58,320 --> 00:07:00,920 Speaker 1: crew of the Hespers for two reasons. For one thing, 117 00:07:00,920 --> 00:07:03,560 Speaker 1: William MacArthur had a reputation as a tough man who 118 00:07:03,600 --> 00:07:06,560 Speaker 1: loved to fight. Crying was out of the ordinary for him. 119 00:07:06,920 --> 00:07:09,720 Speaker 1: For another, according to reports from the nearby coast, the 120 00:07:09,760 --> 00:07:13,120 Speaker 1: logbook was wrong. There was no storm on December twelfth 121 00:07:13,160 --> 00:07:16,280 Speaker 1: of nineteen hundred. Thomas Marshall's entry the next day on 122 00:07:16,360 --> 00:07:19,600 Speaker 1: December thirteenth noted that the storm was still raging and 123 00:07:19,640 --> 00:07:23,000 Speaker 1: the three keepers had taken to praying for it to end. Finally, 124 00:07:23,040 --> 00:07:26,000 Speaker 1: on December fifteenth, he wrote the last entry in the 125 00:07:26,040 --> 00:07:31,480 Speaker 1: logbook storm ended. See calm God is over All. All 126 00:07:31,520 --> 00:07:34,000 Speaker 1: of this left the Northern Lights Board, which managed the 127 00:07:34,080 --> 00:07:37,080 Speaker 1: lighthouse there with a mystery. They had the pieces of 128 00:07:37,120 --> 00:07:40,600 Speaker 1: the puzzle, but no clear solution. As news of the 129 00:07:40,680 --> 00:07:44,800 Speaker 1: keeper's disappearance came to light, speculation ran rampant. Some people 130 00:07:44,840 --> 00:07:48,239 Speaker 1: familiar with William MacArthur's quick temper wondered whether he suffered 131 00:07:48,280 --> 00:07:51,880 Speaker 1: a violent outburst and murdered his two companions. Not wanting 132 00:07:51,920 --> 00:07:54,240 Speaker 1: to face the consequences of what he had done, he 133 00:07:54,360 --> 00:07:57,480 Speaker 1: somehow dumped the bodies in the sea and escaped or 134 00:07:57,680 --> 00:08:01,600 Speaker 1: jumped into the waves himself. Believed that the sea wasn't 135 00:08:01,600 --> 00:08:04,280 Speaker 1: to blame. They hadn't been taken by the natural world, 136 00:08:04,360 --> 00:08:07,720 Speaker 1: but by something supernatural. Flann and Isle was named after 137 00:08:07,760 --> 00:08:10,800 Speaker 1: Saint Flannin, a sixth century Irish bishop who built a 138 00:08:10,920 --> 00:08:13,680 Speaker 1: church on the island, and according to legend, even Saint 139 00:08:13,760 --> 00:08:17,000 Speaker 1: Flannin himself wouldn't stay there past nightfall due to the 140 00:08:17,120 --> 00:08:21,400 Speaker 1: evil spirits that ran amok after sundown. Superstitious people thought 141 00:08:21,440 --> 00:08:23,800 Speaker 1: that it must have been those dark forces that kidnapped 142 00:08:23,800 --> 00:08:27,960 Speaker 1: the three lighthouse keepers. Without evidence, these speculations were hard 143 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:30,800 Speaker 1: to prove. It didn't help that investigators from the Northern 144 00:08:30,880 --> 00:08:35,119 Speaker 1: Lighthouse Board were missing their biggest clue, the lighthouse keepers themselves. 145 00:08:35,360 --> 00:08:38,680 Speaker 1: The three men's bodies had never been found. With the 146 00:08:38,679 --> 00:08:41,200 Speaker 1: facts they had on hand, the board came to the 147 00:08:41,240 --> 00:08:44,600 Speaker 1: following conclusion. During a storm on the island, strong winds 148 00:08:44,720 --> 00:08:47,439 Speaker 1: or waves must have caused extreme damage to the western 149 00:08:47,520 --> 00:08:50,880 Speaker 1: landy Duckett and Marshall had grabbed their oilskins and left 150 00:08:50,920 --> 00:08:53,760 Speaker 1: to go secure their supplies when a freak wave dragged 151 00:08:53,800 --> 00:08:56,720 Speaker 1: them into the sea. MacArthur grew worried and followed them, 152 00:08:56,840 --> 00:08:59,520 Speaker 1: going against lighthouse board rules to keep one keeper in 153 00:08:59,520 --> 00:09:01,920 Speaker 1: the lighthouse at all times. He must have been so 154 00:09:02,080 --> 00:09:05,080 Speaker 1: panicked he left his coat behind. When he reached the landing, 155 00:09:05,360 --> 00:09:09,040 Speaker 1: he too fell into the sea and was lost. We 156 00:09:09,120 --> 00:09:12,439 Speaker 1: may never discover what really happened in December of nineteen 157 00:09:12,520 --> 00:09:16,160 Speaker 1: hundred on that small isolated island. Searching for the answers 158 00:09:16,200 --> 00:09:18,200 Speaker 1: is a bit like holding up a lantern in a cave. 159 00:09:18,640 --> 00:09:22,080 Speaker 1: Sometimes the brighter you shine the light, the deeper the 160 00:09:22,120 --> 00:09:29,960 Speaker 1: shadows grow. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of 161 00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:33,960 Speaker 1: the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, 162 00:09:34,040 --> 00:09:37,560 Speaker 1: or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast 163 00:09:37,800 --> 00:09:41,560 Speaker 1: dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Mankey 164 00:09:41,880 --> 00:09:45,360 Speaker 1: in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make another award 165 00:09:45,360 --> 00:09:48,960 Speaker 1: winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, 166 00:09:49,000 --> 00:09:51,600 Speaker 1: and television show, and you can learn all about it 167 00:09:51,679 --> 00:09:56,120 Speaker 1: over at the Worldoflore dot com. And until next time, 168 00:09:56,320 --> 00:09:58,959 Speaker 1: stay curious.