1 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:07,440 Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Menke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of 2 00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:09,320 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. 3 00:00:12,840 --> 00:00:16,840 Speaker 2: Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history 4 00:00:17,040 --> 00:00:20,239 Speaker 2: is an open book, all of these amazing tales are 5 00:00:20,320 --> 00:00:23,720 Speaker 2: right there on display, just waiting for us to explore. 6 00:00:25,239 --> 00:00:28,840 Speaker 2: Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. 7 00:00:36,400 --> 00:00:39,680 Speaker 1: Robert refused to give in to fear born into slavery 8 00:00:39,720 --> 00:00:42,960 Speaker 1: in the American South. He always found small ways to rebel. 9 00:00:43,320 --> 00:00:45,840 Speaker 1: His proudest moment was when he married his wife, Hannah, 10 00:00:45,880 --> 00:00:49,600 Speaker 1: who was also enslaved. Their marriage wasn't even legally recognized 11 00:00:49,600 --> 00:00:52,479 Speaker 1: by the state of South Carolina, but they did it anyway. 12 00:00:53,120 --> 00:00:56,000 Speaker 1: He had also proven himself smart and capable enough at 13 00:00:56,080 --> 00:00:59,280 Speaker 1: various jobs until he was stationed on a steamship called 14 00:00:59,320 --> 00:01:02,640 Speaker 1: the Planter. The crew was mostly fellow and slave people, 15 00:01:02,800 --> 00:01:06,640 Speaker 1: with only three white officers to oversee all of them. 16 00:01:06,840 --> 00:01:09,080 Speaker 1: It was better than being on a plantation, and then 17 00:01:09,080 --> 00:01:11,360 Speaker 1: they got to be out on the water and move around, 18 00:01:11,520 --> 00:01:14,640 Speaker 1: but their overseers were just as hateful and condescending as 19 00:01:14,680 --> 00:01:17,720 Speaker 1: any white slave owners on land. They hadn't done much 20 00:01:17,720 --> 00:01:20,080 Speaker 1: sailing over the past year since the war broke out 21 00:01:20,200 --> 00:01:23,640 Speaker 1: and the Union blockaded Charleston, trapping the Planter and other 22 00:01:23,720 --> 00:01:27,039 Speaker 1: ships in Charleston Harbor. They could still run supplies back 23 00:01:27,080 --> 00:01:29,520 Speaker 1: and forth between the peers, but that was about it. 24 00:01:30,200 --> 00:01:32,840 Speaker 1: As such, Robert started to notice the captain and the 25 00:01:32,880 --> 00:01:36,959 Speaker 1: other two officers grow lax when it came to military regulations. 26 00:01:37,280 --> 00:01:40,000 Speaker 1: They weren't supposed to ever leave the enslaved people alone 27 00:01:40,040 --> 00:01:42,399 Speaker 1: on the ship, but that started to happen more and 28 00:01:42,480 --> 00:01:46,080 Speaker 1: more regularly, more shocking than that. One night, the captain 29 00:01:46,080 --> 00:01:48,600 Speaker 1: told Robert that he and the other officers were going 30 00:01:48,640 --> 00:01:50,600 Speaker 1: to town to be with their families for the night, 31 00:01:50,840 --> 00:01:54,240 Speaker 1: and he left the ship in Robert's care while the 32 00:01:54,280 --> 00:01:57,040 Speaker 1: war raged on. Every time Robert got word of a 33 00:01:57,080 --> 00:02:00,200 Speaker 1: Confederate victory, his heart sank. He and his wife now 34 00:02:00,280 --> 00:02:02,720 Speaker 1: had two small children to care for, but those children 35 00:02:02,760 --> 00:02:05,840 Speaker 1: were the property of his wife's enslaver. There was nothing 36 00:02:05,920 --> 00:02:08,800 Speaker 1: keeping that slaver from selling her and the children and 37 00:02:08,880 --> 00:02:11,919 Speaker 1: sending them off to god knows where. If the Confederates 38 00:02:11,919 --> 00:02:15,080 Speaker 1: were successful in becoming their own nation, then Robert and 39 00:02:15,160 --> 00:02:18,040 Speaker 1: his family would continue to be enslaved for the rest 40 00:02:18,080 --> 00:02:20,399 Speaker 1: of their lives. It wouldn't be a matter of if 41 00:02:20,440 --> 00:02:23,480 Speaker 1: their family was torn apart, but when and thinking about 42 00:02:23,520 --> 00:02:26,799 Speaker 1: this led Robert to desperation. He would rather die than 43 00:02:26,880 --> 00:02:30,160 Speaker 1: lose his family. He continued to be left in charge 44 00:02:30,240 --> 00:02:33,200 Speaker 1: of the planter. The captain probably thought that Robert would 45 00:02:33,200 --> 00:02:36,680 Speaker 1: appreciate the trust, and he did, but not because he 46 00:02:36,760 --> 00:02:39,120 Speaker 1: cared at all what the man thought of him. In fact, 47 00:02:39,200 --> 00:02:41,240 Speaker 1: he was going to show the captain that he had 48 00:02:41,280 --> 00:02:44,639 Speaker 1: made a huge mistake. And so Robert gathered the other 49 00:02:44,760 --> 00:02:47,359 Speaker 1: enslaved people on board and told them that he wanted 50 00:02:47,400 --> 00:02:50,720 Speaker 1: to take advantage of the situation. They didn't know how 51 00:02:50,760 --> 00:02:52,960 Speaker 1: the war would turn out, but they would be fools 52 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:55,000 Speaker 1: to just sit back and let it play out without 53 00:02:55,040 --> 00:02:58,600 Speaker 1: taking advantage of the chaos. He proposed that they steal 54 00:02:58,680 --> 00:03:01,360 Speaker 1: the ship, pick up their love ones, and escaped to 55 00:03:01,400 --> 00:03:03,800 Speaker 1: the Union blockade, where they would turn over the ship 56 00:03:03,840 --> 00:03:06,560 Speaker 1: and earn their freedom. They put their plan in motion 57 00:03:06,840 --> 00:03:09,440 Speaker 1: in June of eighteen sixty two. The crew had no 58 00:03:09,600 --> 00:03:12,720 Speaker 1: problems sailing from the military peer to a nearby wharf 59 00:03:12,760 --> 00:03:15,560 Speaker 1: where their friends and family were waiting. Once picked up, 60 00:03:15,600 --> 00:03:18,600 Speaker 1: there were now sixteen escaping in slave people on board, 61 00:03:18,639 --> 00:03:21,880 Speaker 1: with the women and children hiding below decks Robert then 62 00:03:21,919 --> 00:03:24,200 Speaker 1: put on a straw hat that hid his face and 63 00:03:24,240 --> 00:03:27,120 Speaker 1: had the men raise the Confederate flag above the ship. 64 00:03:27,360 --> 00:03:29,800 Speaker 1: He then sailed them out into the harbor, past the 65 00:03:29,840 --> 00:03:33,160 Speaker 1: Confederate fort guarding the city. The men on guard yelled 66 00:03:33,200 --> 00:03:35,839 Speaker 1: down to the ship, give the Yankees hell, to which 67 00:03:35,920 --> 00:03:40,360 Speaker 1: Robert coolly replied, I I. And from there several tense 68 00:03:40,400 --> 00:03:42,960 Speaker 1: moments passed as they grew closer and closer to the 69 00:03:43,080 --> 00:03:45,920 Speaker 1: Union ships. They waited as long as they dared to 70 00:03:45,960 --> 00:03:49,160 Speaker 1: switch the Confederate flag out for a white flag of surrender. 71 00:03:49,480 --> 00:03:52,440 Speaker 1: But when they finally did, the nearest Union ship called 72 00:03:52,480 --> 00:03:55,160 Speaker 1: out to them, asking for their names and their intent. 73 00:03:55,720 --> 00:03:58,600 Speaker 1: Robert gave them his and told them that they wanted 74 00:03:58,640 --> 00:04:02,840 Speaker 1: their freedom. This was just the beginning of Robert's incredible story. 75 00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:05,320 Speaker 1: He went on to captain the Planter and use it 76 00:04:05,360 --> 00:04:08,240 Speaker 1: to help fight the Confederacy for the remainder of the war, 77 00:04:08,640 --> 00:04:10,960 Speaker 1: and after the war was over, he took the reward 78 00:04:10,960 --> 00:04:13,240 Speaker 1: money for the ship's capture and used it to buy 79 00:04:13,320 --> 00:04:16,919 Speaker 1: a mansion in South Carolina, and not just any mansion, 80 00:04:17,120 --> 00:04:20,280 Speaker 1: but the mansion of his original enslaver, who had since 81 00:04:20,400 --> 00:04:23,400 Speaker 1: fled the state. We can only imagine how incredible he 82 00:04:23,480 --> 00:04:26,400 Speaker 1: must have felt raising his family in the main house 83 00:04:26,600 --> 00:04:29,159 Speaker 1: where he was born into slavery in a shack in 84 00:04:29,200 --> 00:04:32,599 Speaker 1: the backyard. In the years that followed, Robert continued to 85 00:04:32,640 --> 00:04:36,080 Speaker 1: do amazing things, becoming a state senator and doing his 86 00:04:36,160 --> 00:04:38,960 Speaker 1: best to make South Carolina a safe place for freed 87 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:41,920 Speaker 1: and slave folks. Unfortunately, with the rise of the Jim 88 00:04:41,960 --> 00:04:45,040 Speaker 1: Crow South, a lot of amazing stories like Roberts were 89 00:04:45,080 --> 00:04:49,039 Speaker 1: deliberately downplayed in the history books. But curious minds have 90 00:04:49,160 --> 00:04:53,000 Speaker 1: since reclaimed that legacy, bringing his story back to national 91 00:04:53,040 --> 00:04:56,679 Speaker 1: attention with a monument outside of South Carolina's state House. 92 00:04:57,120 --> 00:04:59,960 Speaker 1: When he piloted that ship out of Charleston Harbor, rob 93 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:02,840 Speaker 1: Bbert Smalls was just trying to create a future for 94 00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:06,039 Speaker 1: his family, but in doing so, he contributed to the 95 00:05:06,040 --> 00:05:23,279 Speaker 1: future of all black Americans. It began on a frozen 96 00:05:23,320 --> 00:05:27,000 Speaker 1: evening in early nineteen sixty nine. A middle aged accountant 97 00:05:27,120 --> 00:05:29,400 Speaker 1: by the name of Thornton was walking home when he 98 00:05:29,480 --> 00:05:32,599 Speaker 1: decided to cut through the graveyard, a shortcut that quickly 99 00:05:32,640 --> 00:05:37,880 Speaker 1: became a detour into the uncanny. Once a grand Victorian graveyard, 100 00:05:38,120 --> 00:05:42,599 Speaker 1: Highgate had long ago fallen into disrepair. Its crumbling mausoleums 101 00:05:42,640 --> 00:05:46,240 Speaker 1: and tombstones were now covered in ivy and graffiti, and 102 00:05:46,279 --> 00:05:49,919 Speaker 1: the paths were severely overgrown. As Thornton wandered between the 103 00:05:49,960 --> 00:05:53,840 Speaker 1: crips and weeping angel statues, he realized that he had 104 00:05:53,880 --> 00:05:57,919 Speaker 1: gotten lost. A bell clanged in the distance, and he 105 00:05:58,040 --> 00:06:00,560 Speaker 1: started toward the sound, hoping that it might lead him 106 00:06:00,560 --> 00:06:02,760 Speaker 1: to the gate, but he had barely made it a 107 00:06:02,760 --> 00:06:06,880 Speaker 1: few steps before the temperature suddenly dropped. A towering figure 108 00:06:06,960 --> 00:06:10,919 Speaker 1: loomed ahead, human shaped but draped in shadows, and watching 109 00:06:11,040 --> 00:06:14,960 Speaker 1: him with unblinking intensity. Thornton tried to run, but he 110 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:18,200 Speaker 1: was rooted in place and growing rapidly weaker, as if 111 00:06:18,200 --> 00:06:21,480 Speaker 1: the specter was sapping the life from him. And then, 112 00:06:21,800 --> 00:06:25,640 Speaker 1: as suddenly as it appeared, the figure vanished. When Thornton 113 00:06:25,680 --> 00:06:28,240 Speaker 1: realized that he could move again, he ran, and he 114 00:06:28,279 --> 00:06:31,240 Speaker 1: didn't stop until he stumbled out through the cemetery gates. 115 00:06:31,960 --> 00:06:34,640 Speaker 1: A few weeks later, an elderly woman reported a near 116 00:06:34,720 --> 00:06:39,200 Speaker 1: identical experience. Both accounts were reported to the British Psychic 117 00:06:39,240 --> 00:06:42,960 Speaker 1: and Occult Society, a little known organization run almost entirely 118 00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:46,440 Speaker 1: by a twenty four year old psychic investigator named David Farrant, 119 00:06:46,800 --> 00:06:50,279 Speaker 1: intrigued but skeptical, he visited Highgate himself one night and 120 00:06:50,320 --> 00:06:54,039 Speaker 1: allegedly glimpsed the same phantom, which he described as a tall, 121 00:06:54,120 --> 00:06:58,480 Speaker 1: gray figure with pinpricks of red light for eyes. Convinced 122 00:06:58,480 --> 00:07:01,279 Speaker 1: that something supernatural was a foot, Farrant wrote to the 123 00:07:01,279 --> 00:07:05,000 Speaker 1: local newspaper asking if anyone else had seen anything strange 124 00:07:05,040 --> 00:07:09,320 Speaker 1: in Highgates. The responses poured in, detailing one account after 125 00:07:09,400 --> 00:07:13,360 Speaker 1: another of bizarre paranormal phenomena. The local press picked up 126 00:07:13,360 --> 00:07:16,960 Speaker 1: the story and then the BBC. Pretty soon Highgate was 127 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:20,920 Speaker 1: the hottest destination in London for ghost hunters, goth teens 128 00:07:20,960 --> 00:07:24,480 Speaker 1: and aspiring occultists. One of the newcomers was a guy 129 00:07:24,520 --> 00:07:28,800 Speaker 1: named Sean Manchester, a self proclaimed bishop and exorcist. He 130 00:07:28,840 --> 00:07:31,200 Speaker 1: claimed the figure in Highgate was not just a ghost, 131 00:07:31,520 --> 00:07:35,680 Speaker 1: but a vampire, possibly a medieval Romanian nobleman, who had 132 00:07:35,680 --> 00:07:38,560 Speaker 1: been brought to London in a coffin full of native soil. 133 00:07:38,920 --> 00:07:44,200 Speaker 1: According to Manchester, recent satanic rituals had reawakened this ancient bloodsucker, 134 00:07:44,520 --> 00:07:47,640 Speaker 1: and only he had the skills and the stakes to 135 00:07:47,680 --> 00:07:50,640 Speaker 1: deal with it. David Farrant went on records saying that 136 00:07:50,680 --> 00:07:53,560 Speaker 1: he thought this theory was ridiculous. He was a firm 137 00:07:53,600 --> 00:07:56,680 Speaker 1: believer in ghosts, but he drew the line at vampires. 138 00:07:57,040 --> 00:08:00,440 Speaker 1: Manchester took the criticism personally and pretty so soon their 139 00:08:00,480 --> 00:08:05,560 Speaker 1: difference of paranormal opinion spiraled into a bitter feud. Farrant 140 00:08:05,560 --> 00:08:10,280 Speaker 1: accused Manchester of fabricating his credentials and sensationalizing the story. 141 00:08:10,600 --> 00:08:15,320 Speaker 1: Manchester accused Farrant of consorting with black magic and desecrating graves. 142 00:08:15,680 --> 00:08:20,160 Speaker 1: Both gave increasingly bombastic interviews, each casting himself as the 143 00:08:20,200 --> 00:08:23,240 Speaker 1: real hero of the Highgate tale and the other as 144 00:08:23,280 --> 00:08:26,680 Speaker 1: the diluted or dangerous fraud and, as you'd imagine, their 145 00:08:26,760 --> 00:08:29,960 Speaker 1: rivalry only fueled the media frenzy, which reached the fever 146 00:08:30,080 --> 00:08:34,000 Speaker 1: pitch on March thirteenth of nineteen seventy, Friday, the thirteenth, 147 00:08:34,040 --> 00:08:36,960 Speaker 1: of course, Manchester went on TV to announce that he 148 00:08:36,960 --> 00:08:40,360 Speaker 1: would track and destroy the vampire that night. As the 149 00:08:40,400 --> 00:08:44,040 Speaker 1: sun set, hundreds of thrill seekers stormed into the cemetery, 150 00:08:44,320 --> 00:08:47,720 Speaker 1: climbing over locked gates and wandering the tombs in search 151 00:08:47,920 --> 00:08:51,959 Speaker 1: of the undead. Unfortunately, Sean Manchester failed to kill the 152 00:08:52,040 --> 00:08:55,760 Speaker 1: vampire that night, so the cemetery remained haunted, and over 153 00:08:55,800 --> 00:09:00,280 Speaker 1: the next few months, the story grew even stranger. In Adust, 154 00:09:00,360 --> 00:09:04,040 Speaker 1: a headless, charred corpse was found near the graveyard. Police 155 00:09:04,080 --> 00:09:07,680 Speaker 1: suspected the body belong to someone already buried there exhumed 156 00:09:07,760 --> 00:09:11,079 Speaker 1: for some kind of occult ritual. Just a few weeks later, 157 00:09:11,400 --> 00:09:14,520 Speaker 1: David Farrant was caught climbing over the cemetery walls with 158 00:09:14,600 --> 00:09:18,239 Speaker 1: a crucifix and a wooden stake and arrested for trespassing. 159 00:09:18,600 --> 00:09:22,079 Speaker 1: The charges were eventually dropped, but Manchester used the arrest 160 00:09:22,120 --> 00:09:24,800 Speaker 1: to connect Ferrant with the burnt body, accusing him of 161 00:09:24,840 --> 00:09:28,800 Speaker 1: black magic and grave robbery. By nineteen seventy three, their 162 00:09:28,840 --> 00:09:31,640 Speaker 1: feud had grown so absurd that the two men agreed 163 00:09:31,640 --> 00:09:35,720 Speaker 1: to a public duel on Parliament Hill, complete with magical weapons. 164 00:09:36,120 --> 00:09:40,280 Speaker 1: Fans eagerly awaited a showdown between their two favorite occult celebrities, 165 00:09:40,559 --> 00:09:42,960 Speaker 1: but the duel was called off at the last minute. 166 00:09:43,080 --> 00:09:48,600 Speaker 1: No real explanation was given, leaving everyone feeling disappointed. After that, 167 00:09:48,960 --> 00:09:52,559 Speaker 1: the vampire began to recede into urban legend, but Farrant 168 00:09:52,559 --> 00:09:56,240 Speaker 1: and Manchester kept themselves in the spotlight, prolonging the story 169 00:09:56,280 --> 00:09:59,640 Speaker 1: through their personal war for decades. They have denounced one 170 00:09:59,679 --> 00:10:03,520 Speaker 1: another in interviews, rival books, and blog posts, and kept 171 00:10:03,520 --> 00:10:07,680 Speaker 1: the Highgate saga alive long after the cemetery had emptied out. 172 00:10:08,200 --> 00:10:11,600 Speaker 1: David Farrant passed away in twenty nineteen, and when he did, 173 00:10:11,760 --> 00:10:16,280 Speaker 1: Sean Manchester posted a surprisingly respectful tribute, and then returned 174 00:10:16,280 --> 00:10:19,120 Speaker 1: to his blog to reaffirm that Farrant had always been 175 00:10:19,320 --> 00:10:23,120 Speaker 1: dangerously wrong. Like the creature they had once hunted, their 176 00:10:23,120 --> 00:10:30,760 Speaker 1: feud refused to stay buried. I hope you've enjoyed today's 177 00:10:30,760 --> 00:10:34,400 Speaker 1: guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free 178 00:10:34,440 --> 00:10:37,160 Speaker 1: on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show by 179 00:10:37,200 --> 00:10:42,240 Speaker 1: visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created by 180 00:10:42,240 --> 00:10:45,880 Speaker 1: me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how Stuff Works. I 181 00:10:45,960 --> 00:10:49,760 Speaker 1: make another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, 182 00:10:49,840 --> 00:10:52,800 Speaker 1: book series, and television show, and you can learn all 183 00:10:52,840 --> 00:10:56,920 Speaker 1: about it over at the Worldolore dot com. And until 184 00:10:56,920 --> 00:10:59,440 Speaker 1: next time, stay curious.