WEBVTT - Falling For It 0:00:04.080 --> 0:00:07.440 Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of 0:00:07.480 --> 0:00:14.440 iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of 0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:18.440 the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all 0:00:18.480 --> 0:00:22.159 of these amazing tales are right there on display, just 0:00:22.200 --> 0:00:28.840 waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. 0:00:36.400 --> 0:00:40.800 Legends abound in South Carolina's Low Country, yet one eclipses 0:00:40.840 --> 0:00:44.040 them all. A larger than life figure whose mastery of 0:00:44.080 --> 0:00:47.920 the region's tangled swamps and marshes terrified the British during 0:00:47.960 --> 0:00:51.760 the Revolutionary War. A man who could reportedly summon battalions 0:00:51.760 --> 0:00:56.040 of soldiers within the forest and then disappear into the darkness. 0:00:56.920 --> 0:00:59.640 It was rumored that he blew up the Georgetown Artillery 0:01:00.240 --> 0:01:02.480 single match, and if you take a ghost tour of 0:01:02.520 --> 0:01:05.440 the city today, you'll hear stories of his spirit guiding 0:01:05.480 --> 0:01:08.760 lost travelers through the swamp. There is some measure of 0:01:08.800 --> 0:01:11.559 truth to the stories of this terrible figure. His name 0:01:11.720 --> 0:01:14.560 was Francis Marion, and his actions during the War for 0:01:14.600 --> 0:01:19.319 America's Independence earned him the nickname the swamp Fox. Marion 0:01:19.440 --> 0:01:22.320 was born in January of seventeen thirty two near what 0:01:22.400 --> 0:01:25.520 is now Berkeley County, thirty miles inland from the city 0:01:25.560 --> 0:01:29.080 of Charleston. He grew up outdoors, becoming an avid fisherman 0:01:29.120 --> 0:01:31.880 and hunter, and because of this he gained an intimate 0:01:31.959 --> 0:01:34.720 knowledge of the swamps and forests along the Cooper and 0:01:34.880 --> 0:01:39.000 Edistone rivers and was an expert in navigating them. He 0:01:39.120 --> 0:01:41.920 further expanded his skills when he served as a militia 0:01:41.959 --> 0:01:45.400 lieutenant in the French and Indian War, where his familiarity 0:01:45.440 --> 0:01:48.560 with the frontier proved valuable as a scout and as 0:01:48.600 --> 0:01:52.640 a commander of irregular detachments that relied on ambush, raid 0:01:52.720 --> 0:01:57.560 movement and intimate use of terrain. In seventeen eighty, Charleston 0:01:57.560 --> 0:02:00.760 became a major focus of British strategy, which aimed to 0:02:00.800 --> 0:02:03.200 seize the city and use it as a stronghold in 0:02:03.200 --> 0:02:06.880 the fight against revolutionary forces. It was at the time 0:02:07.040 --> 0:02:10.000 the largest port in the Southern Colonies, and it helped 0:02:10.000 --> 0:02:14.120 to supply forces throughout the Southeast. By capturing Charleston, the 0:02:14.160 --> 0:02:17.200 British could effectively cut off support to much of the 0:02:17.280 --> 0:02:22.320 continental army. On January twenty ninth, approximately two thousand British 0:02:22.320 --> 0:02:26.320 troops landed in and around Charleston Harbor. By February two, 0:02:26.600 --> 0:02:30.320 they had captured Fort Moultrie and turning its artillery against 0:02:30.320 --> 0:02:33.760 the city. Within the week, they'd begun a steady barrage 0:02:33.760 --> 0:02:38.000 against Charleston's defenses, while British troops began slowly circling the 0:02:38.000 --> 0:02:41.320 city on land, digging trenches to lay siege to the town. 0:02:42.000 --> 0:02:45.000 On March twenty ninth, they succeeded in breaking the opposing 0:02:45.080 --> 0:02:48.000 army at the Battle of Monk's Corner, forcing the Continental 0:02:48.080 --> 0:02:51.200 Army's retreat. Then on May twelfth, the siege ended when 0:02:51.280 --> 0:02:56.240 Continental General Benjamin Lincoln signed articles of capitulation as the 0:02:56.240 --> 0:02:59.560 British took control of the port city. Approximately six hundred 0:02:59.600 --> 0:03:02.840 were dead at another thirty five hundred had been taken prisoner. 0:03:03.280 --> 0:03:06.240 It was a decisive victory, and the Redcoats now had 0:03:06.280 --> 0:03:09.200 a base of operations to spread out across the South, 0:03:09.600 --> 0:03:14.000 but Charleston would not prove easy to hold. After Charleston fell, 0:03:14.400 --> 0:03:17.560 Marion began a gorilla campaign to assist the army in 0:03:17.639 --> 0:03:20.920 reclaiming the city. He worked closely with the militia of 0:03:21.000 --> 0:03:24.920 Colonel Thomas Sumter to establish camps in nearby forests and 0:03:25.000 --> 0:03:28.120 swamps surrounding the Santee River that would be hidden from 0:03:28.200 --> 0:03:31.640 British forces, and from there he used the dense foliage 0:03:31.680 --> 0:03:34.600 and the shallow waters to conceal himself and his troops 0:03:34.840 --> 0:03:39.600 when spying on enemy supply routes, ambushing ammunition convoys and 0:03:39.680 --> 0:03:42.760 destroying what they could not carry. The largest of these 0:03:42.800 --> 0:03:46.000 ambushes took place at Briar Creek when his men captured 0:03:46.000 --> 0:03:49.680 a British supply depot and destroyed a powder magazine, forcing 0:03:49.680 --> 0:03:52.600 the British military to divert troops away from the city, 0:03:52.960 --> 0:03:56.600 and so he nipped away at those laying siege, occasionally 0:03:56.720 --> 0:04:01.200 raiding food stores and destroying artillery, and then disappearing back 0:04:01.240 --> 0:04:05.240 into the swamp. And Marian used psychological tactics as well. 0:04:05.560 --> 0:04:08.080 Over the years, he cultivated a network of support in 0:04:08.120 --> 0:04:11.000 the communities north of the city, using them to help 0:04:11.040 --> 0:04:14.800 spread word of a phantom army hiding within the swamps, 0:04:14.840 --> 0:04:18.080 setting fires on hilltops and screaming in the middle of 0:04:18.120 --> 0:04:20.920 the night, convincing the British Army that they were being 0:04:20.960 --> 0:04:24.640 stalked by ghosts. When the British Army finally managed to 0:04:24.680 --> 0:04:27.920 strike back, the results of Marion's efforts were loud and clear. 0:04:28.200 --> 0:04:30.920 The British supply lines had been so thoroughly depleted that 0:04:30.960 --> 0:04:34.800 their soldiers arrived under fed and under supplied, which helped 0:04:34.800 --> 0:04:39.120 Continental forces land a decisive victory in January of seventeen 0:04:39.160 --> 0:04:42.920 eighty one. The defeats left the British forces diminished, and 0:04:43.000 --> 0:04:47.800 further decisive winds, aided by Marian's continuing raids, slowly made 0:04:47.839 --> 0:04:51.080 holding the city of Charleston impossible. The British were on 0:04:51.120 --> 0:04:53.520 the defensive in the South now as well as in 0:04:53.520 --> 0:04:56.839 the north, and their forces finally evacuated the city on 0:04:56.920 --> 0:05:01.760 December eleventh of seventeen eighty two. Francis Marian's relentless hidden 0:05:01.839 --> 0:05:05.239 run tactics turned the landscape of the Low Country into 0:05:05.320 --> 0:05:08.320 a weapon of its own, forcing the British to fight 0:05:08.360 --> 0:05:11.479 a war they could not win against foes they couldn't track. 0:05:11.839 --> 0:05:15.520 By starving their supply trains, scattering their troops, and adding 0:05:15.600 --> 0:05:18.560 a bit of folklore, Marian helped turn a hopeless siege 0:05:18.880 --> 0:05:22.160 into a series of setbacks, ultimately leading to the liberation 0:05:22.240 --> 0:05:26.000 of Charleston. His legacy endures not only in the folklore 0:05:26.000 --> 0:05:29.120 that still haunts ghost tour guides and riverbanks, but in 0:05:29.160 --> 0:05:32.080 the very notion that a small mobile force, armed with 0:05:32.240 --> 0:05:35.599 intimate knowledge of its terrain can often tip the balance 0:05:36.160 --> 0:05:53.120 of a great war. Robert was a shrewd business man. 0:05:53.320 --> 0:05:56.200 He saw opportunities where a few others did. He made 0:05:56.200 --> 0:05:59.680 his fortune selling chainsaws of all things printed with his 0:05:59.760 --> 0:06:02.920 name on them in big, bold letters. He invested in oil, 0:06:03.279 --> 0:06:07.080 created steam powered vehicles. He built airplanes, and created, at 0:06:07.120 --> 0:06:12.159 the time the world's tallest fountain. And with such impressive accomplishments, 0:06:12.320 --> 0:06:15.040 it's easy to see why no one questioned Robert McCulloch's 0:06:15.040 --> 0:06:17.680 business intuition when he set his sites on a barren 0:06:17.760 --> 0:06:21.200 twenty six miles of Arizona Desert in nineteen fifty eight. 0:06:22.160 --> 0:06:24.520 The land had previously been used as an Army Air 0:06:24.520 --> 0:06:28.040 Corps resting camp during World War Two, but nothing permanent 0:06:28.160 --> 0:06:31.039 had ever been built there. But when Robert McCulloch looked 0:06:31.040 --> 0:06:33.960 out at the vast desert stretching toward the Colorado River, 0:06:34.320 --> 0:06:38.599 he didn't see a desolate landscape. He saw an opportunity. 0:06:38.680 --> 0:06:41.680 He planned to build a city there, attracting families and 0:06:41.720 --> 0:06:46.640 retirees who'd loved the southwest location. The hazy Orange sunsets 0:06:46.680 --> 0:06:49.720 and the calm flowing waters of the Colorado River, and 0:06:49.920 --> 0:06:52.279 he tested it for himself too. The first thing he 0:06:52.320 --> 0:06:55.360 built in his new town was a fishing cabin situated 0:06:55.400 --> 0:06:58.120 on the Lake Havasu basin. McCullough told people at the 0:06:58.160 --> 0:07:00.920 time the fish were eager to buy, which seemed like 0:07:00.960 --> 0:07:05.039 a good omen to him. Unfortunately, the buyers weren't willing 0:07:05.080 --> 0:07:07.960 to bite. McCulloch's land, which he thought would sell fast, 0:07:08.120 --> 0:07:11.080 didn't appeal to many people at all. Firstly, there was 0:07:11.120 --> 0:07:13.440 the fact that it was so remote, situated in the 0:07:13.480 --> 0:07:15.640 middle of the desert, with the nearest city almost a 0:07:15.720 --> 0:07:19.120 four hour drive away. Even the closest small town was 0:07:19.200 --> 0:07:22.040 miles and miles away from it. The climate was hot 0:07:22.080 --> 0:07:24.680 and dry, which meant the land couldn't be used for 0:07:24.720 --> 0:07:28.840 farming or livestock, and since Lake Havasu City hadn't even 0:07:28.880 --> 0:07:33.000 been built yet, there was nothing to attract visitors. McCulloch 0:07:33.120 --> 0:07:35.400 refused to give up. There must be a way to 0:07:35.480 --> 0:07:38.320 encourage people to buy property and move to the area. 0:07:38.760 --> 0:07:41.280 He consulted with his real estate agent, a man named 0:07:41.320 --> 0:07:44.560 Robert Plumer, and to his surprise, Plumer said that he 0:07:44.720 --> 0:07:47.480 was sure he had a solution, although it was a 0:07:47.520 --> 0:07:50.320 pretty unusual one. Now from here, I'm going to take 0:07:50.360 --> 0:07:53.240 a sharp left turn, so please try not to get whiplash. 0:07:53.280 --> 0:07:56.280 Have you heard the nursery rhyme London Bridge is falling down? 0:07:56.600 --> 0:07:58.720 Of course you have. But what you may not know 0:07:58.920 --> 0:08:01.560 is that in nineteen six twenty seven it actually was 0:08:01.720 --> 0:08:05.520 falling down, which honestly shouldn't be a surprise. The bridge 0:08:05.520 --> 0:08:08.000 was a relic of the past, after all, having been 0:08:08.000 --> 0:08:11.560 built in eighteen thirty one, and as London expanded around 0:08:11.560 --> 0:08:15.080 it and traffic demands increased, the bridge was becoming dangerously 0:08:15.120 --> 0:08:18.520 weak and desperately in need of being replaced. That's when 0:08:18.560 --> 0:08:21.320 one of the city councilors came up with a novel idea. 0:08:21.480 --> 0:08:23.560 In order to recoup some of the money the city 0:08:23.560 --> 0:08:26.760 would lose building a new one, he suggested London auction 0:08:26.920 --> 0:08:30.160 off their famous bridge to the highest bidder, and the 0:08:30.200 --> 0:08:33.240 real estate agent Plumer Well he thought that McCulloch should 0:08:33.240 --> 0:08:36.199 buy it. It would attract more land buyers, give people 0:08:36.240 --> 0:08:39.040 a reason to visit Lake Havasu City, and add to 0:08:39.120 --> 0:08:44.000 McCulloch's impressive legacy, and unsurprisingly he went for it. In 0:08:44.080 --> 0:08:47.080 April of nineteen sixty eight, Robert McCulloch became the proud 0:08:47.120 --> 0:08:49.760 new owner of London Bridge for just shy of two 0:08:49.800 --> 0:08:53.160 point five million dollars. And then came the next challenge, 0:08:53.360 --> 0:08:57.560 moving the bridge from London to Arizona. To begin, McCulloch 0:08:57.640 --> 0:09:00.040 needed somewhere to put it. A bridge as historic and 0:09:00.080 --> 0:09:03.320 monumental as this one deserved a special crossing, something more 0:09:03.320 --> 0:09:06.400 fitting than an endless stretch of desert sand. He hired 0:09:06.400 --> 0:09:09.800 a massive crew to carve a large peninsula of Lake 0:09:09.880 --> 0:09:13.840 Havasou into an island. London Bridge would stretch across this 0:09:14.000 --> 0:09:17.120 teal colored water and be the only crossing on or 0:09:17.160 --> 0:09:21.040 off the island. As for the bridge itself, workers meticulously 0:09:21.120 --> 0:09:24.360 labeled hundreds of granite bricks. They cataloged the bricks which 0:09:24.400 --> 0:09:27.440 came from each arch span, each row, each position, and 0:09:27.520 --> 0:09:31.240 then came disassembly. Ten thousand tons of granite stones were 0:09:31.240 --> 0:09:34.400 packed into crates and sailed across the Atlantic, through the 0:09:34.440 --> 0:09:37.880 Panama Canal and up to Long Beach, California. And from 0:09:37.880 --> 0:09:40.760 there the crates were loaded onto enormous trucks and driven 0:09:40.800 --> 0:09:44.880 through the California desert to Lake Havasou. Would the bridge 0:09:44.920 --> 0:09:47.400 still be too weak to handle traffic, you might ask, 0:09:47.600 --> 0:09:50.640 Bakala thought the same thing. He had construction crews build 0:09:50.679 --> 0:09:53.800 a new frame made of reinforced concrete to ensure it 0:09:53.840 --> 0:09:56.320 would be safe to drive on, and only then could 0:09:56.360 --> 0:09:59.560 the bridge be reconstructed and all those granite bricks placed 0:09:59.600 --> 0:10:03.960 exactly where they belonged. In total, the disassembly, transportation, and 0:10:04.000 --> 0:10:08.880 reconstruction took three whole years and cost McCulloch another seven 0:10:08.960 --> 0:10:13.400 million dollars, and in the end it worked. Buyers flocked 0:10:13.400 --> 0:10:17.000 to Lake Havasu for the grand opening of Arizona's London Bridge. 0:10:17.080 --> 0:10:19.920 London's own Lord Mayor came to town for the event, 0:10:20.320 --> 0:10:23.120 and today Lakeavasou City is a bustling town with a 0:10:23.200 --> 0:10:28.080 major tourism industry and fifty thousand happy residents. Looking back, 0:10:28.240 --> 0:10:31.280 McCulloch's story encourages all of us to take that leap 0:10:31.320 --> 0:10:34.520 of faith, however big it might be, because you never 0:10:34.640 --> 0:10:42.000 know you may land on just the right bridge. I 0:10:42.040 --> 0:10:45.680 hope you enjoyed today's guided tour through the Cabinet of Curiosities. 0:10:45.920 --> 0:10:49.319 This show was created by me Aaron Manke in partnership 0:10:49.360 --> 0:10:52.319 with iHeart Podcasts, researched and written by the Grim and 0:10:52.360 --> 0:10:55.840 Mild team and produced by Jesse Funk. Learn more about 0:10:55.880 --> 0:10:58.120 the show and the people who make it over at 0:10:58.120 --> 0:11:02.400 Grimandmild dot com slash Curiosities. You'll also find a link 0:11:02.440 --> 0:11:05.880 to the official Cabinet of Curiosity's hardcover book, available in 0:11:05.920 --> 0:11:09.560 bookstores and online, as well as ebook and audiobook. And 0:11:09.640 --> 0:11:12.240 if you're looking for an ad free option, consider joining 0:11:12.280 --> 0:11:15.240 our Patreon. It's all the same stories, but without the 0:11:15.320 --> 0:11:18.680 interruption for a small monthly fee. Learn more and sign 0:11:18.800 --> 0:11:23.160 up over at patreon dot com slash Grimandmild, and until 0:11:23.200 --> 0:11:25.280 next time, stay curious.