1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:02,920 Speaker 1: When somebody is larger than life, doesn't it seem kind 2 00:00:02,960 --> 00:00:06,640 Speaker 1: of weird when they die in an unexpected way. Now 3 00:00:06,680 --> 00:00:09,320 Speaker 1: I'm not trying to be morbid here, but it's interesting 4 00:00:09,400 --> 00:00:14,280 Speaker 1: to see how some iconic people wrapped up. I'm Patty Steele, 5 00:00:14,480 --> 00:00:21,919 Speaker 1: the Big Exit. Next on the backstory. We're back with 6 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:24,640 Speaker 1: the backstory, all right. It's easy to think that people 7 00:00:24,640 --> 00:00:29,040 Speaker 1: who are historic icons or famous villains somehow live beyond 8 00:00:29,120 --> 00:00:32,600 Speaker 1: a normal lifespan. Right now, the ones who come to 9 00:00:32,640 --> 00:00:36,360 Speaker 1: a dramatic end like JFK, A Blink and RhE Antoinette, 10 00:00:36,400 --> 00:00:39,200 Speaker 1: Bonnie and Clyde are at one end of the spectrum. 11 00:00:39,560 --> 00:00:42,320 Speaker 1: But there are those who've made the great exit in 12 00:00:42,440 --> 00:00:46,960 Speaker 1: much more unexpected ways. Take George Washington. He finished his 13 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:50,640 Speaker 1: final term as president in seventeen ninety seven, headed back 14 00:00:50,680 --> 00:00:53,959 Speaker 1: for retirement to his home in Virginia, Mount Vernon. He'll 15 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:57,600 Speaker 1: have riding around on horseback. His property included about eight 16 00:00:57,640 --> 00:00:59,760 Speaker 1: thousand acres, so there was a lot of riding to do. 17 00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:04,319 Speaker 1: In mid December of seventeen ninety nine, he was inspecting 18 00:01:04,400 --> 00:01:07,080 Speaker 1: fences and was out for most of the day in 19 00:01:07,160 --> 00:01:10,440 Speaker 1: an ice storm. The next day, despite a sore throat, 20 00:01:10,480 --> 00:01:13,679 Speaker 1: he did more outdoor work in a heavy snowstorm, while 21 00:01:13,720 --> 00:01:17,200 Speaker 1: by evening his chest was congested. By three o'clock the 22 00:01:17,240 --> 00:01:20,360 Speaker 1: next morning, he was struggling to breathe, and he had 23 00:01:20,360 --> 00:01:23,520 Speaker 1: an aid who worked on the estate remove a pint 24 00:01:23,600 --> 00:01:26,360 Speaker 1: of his blood. That was a common treatment in those 25 00:01:26,440 --> 00:01:29,959 Speaker 1: days if you were sick. Then three doctors arrived. They 26 00:01:30,040 --> 00:01:33,840 Speaker 1: not only gave him meds, including a mercury compound to 27 00:01:33,920 --> 00:01:37,600 Speaker 1: help him purge aka vomit, they put these things called 28 00:01:37,640 --> 00:01:41,320 Speaker 1: blister packs on him, thinking that that would draw inflammation 29 00:01:41,520 --> 00:01:44,279 Speaker 1: there and away from his throat, And then they also 30 00:01:44,600 --> 00:01:48,160 Speaker 1: drained him of more blood. In all, they removed as 31 00:01:48,240 --> 00:01:52,120 Speaker 1: much as seven pints of blood, somewhere around fifty percent 32 00:01:52,160 --> 00:01:55,440 Speaker 1: of the blood in George's body. Fighting the infection in 33 00:01:55,520 --> 00:01:59,200 Speaker 1: his throat with half his blood gone was pretty much impossible, 34 00:01:59,480 --> 00:02:02,640 Speaker 1: and he died. I'd late that evening now in a sidebar. 35 00:02:02,840 --> 00:02:06,400 Speaker 1: A fourth doctor arrived a few days after George had died, 36 00:02:06,840 --> 00:02:09,480 Speaker 1: and he proposed attempting to bring him back to life 37 00:02:09,639 --> 00:02:13,960 Speaker 1: by performing a tracheotomy on his throat and also replenishing 38 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:18,919 Speaker 1: his blood supply by using lamb's blood. The other doctor said, no, 39 00:02:19,120 --> 00:02:25,799 Speaker 1: that's not going to happen, and that was that. Now 40 00:02:25,919 --> 00:02:28,080 Speaker 1: here's a guy who just didn't want to make the 41 00:02:28,080 --> 00:02:32,600 Speaker 1: big exit. They call him the mad Monk. He's Grigory Resputant. 42 00:02:32,960 --> 00:02:35,560 Speaker 1: He was a Russian peasant who became a big shot 43 00:02:35,600 --> 00:02:39,040 Speaker 1: with the Russian nobility at the beginning of the nineteen hundreds. 44 00:02:39,480 --> 00:02:41,720 Speaker 1: He claimed to be a mystic and said he could 45 00:02:41,720 --> 00:02:45,799 Speaker 1: heal the sick. Well, turns out he somehow did manage 46 00:02:45,840 --> 00:02:50,320 Speaker 1: to help Nicholas and Alexandra, the Emperor and Empress of Russia, 47 00:02:50,520 --> 00:02:53,639 Speaker 1: whose two year old son and heir to the throne, Alexei, 48 00:02:53,840 --> 00:02:57,840 Speaker 1: had hemophilia. A little boy had developed internal bleeding that 49 00:02:57,919 --> 00:03:02,000 Speaker 1: would not stop an Alexandra begged Rasputin to pray for him. 50 00:03:02,400 --> 00:03:05,560 Speaker 1: He promised her that her son would not die and 51 00:03:05,760 --> 00:03:09,560 Speaker 1: told her to keep doctors away from the little one. Inexplicably, 52 00:03:09,760 --> 00:03:13,520 Speaker 1: Alexei recovered quickly, and the royals relied on him for 53 00:03:13,639 --> 00:03:16,840 Speaker 1: guidance for the rest of his life. Now the problem is, 54 00:03:17,080 --> 00:03:20,440 Speaker 1: even with the support of the imperial family, Resputin had 55 00:03:20,480 --> 00:03:24,360 Speaker 1: haters among the nobility, so by nineteen sixteen they wanted 56 00:03:24,400 --> 00:03:27,360 Speaker 1: him out. A bunch of them banded together to do 57 00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:30,520 Speaker 1: him in, but it wasn't an easy job. He was 58 00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:33,880 Speaker 1: invited to one of their palaces, where they first gave 59 00:03:33,960 --> 00:03:37,320 Speaker 1: him tea and cakes laced with cyanide, but he had 60 00:03:37,320 --> 00:03:40,520 Speaker 1: no reaction to it. Then they gave him wine, also 61 00:03:40,640 --> 00:03:44,440 Speaker 1: laced with cyanide. He drank that, but again no reaction. 62 00:03:45,200 --> 00:03:48,240 Speaker 1: What's next They shot him in the chest, and thinking 63 00:03:48,280 --> 00:03:50,760 Speaker 1: he was finally dead, they left the palace for an 64 00:03:50,800 --> 00:03:54,320 Speaker 1: hour or so. When one of them came back, Rasputin 65 00:03:54,440 --> 00:03:57,600 Speaker 1: leapt up and attacked him. He chased his would be 66 00:03:57,720 --> 00:04:01,000 Speaker 1: killer upstairs to the courtyard, where the mad monk was 67 00:04:01,040 --> 00:04:05,240 Speaker 1: shot in the head and finally collapsed dead. Not content, 68 00:04:05,600 --> 00:04:08,480 Speaker 1: his killers then threw him off a bridge into a river. 69 00:04:08,880 --> 00:04:12,200 Speaker 1: He did not come back from that. Another strange pair 70 00:04:12,240 --> 00:04:15,720 Speaker 1: of deaths was that of the first really publicized conjoined twins. 71 00:04:16,160 --> 00:04:19,080 Speaker 1: In fact, Chang and Aang were the reason conjoined twins 72 00:04:19,320 --> 00:04:22,400 Speaker 1: were called Siamese twins for over a century since the 73 00:04:22,440 --> 00:04:26,520 Speaker 1: pair grew up in Bangkok, Siam now called Thailand. Chang 74 00:04:26,560 --> 00:04:30,040 Speaker 1: and Ag were twins born around eighteen eleven who were 75 00:04:30,120 --> 00:04:34,039 Speaker 1: joined at the chest After a relatively normal childhood. Despite 76 00:04:34,040 --> 00:04:38,000 Speaker 1: being conjoined, they decided to capitalize on their situation. So 77 00:04:38,040 --> 00:04:41,880 Speaker 1: they toured the world and they became hugely popular. They 78 00:04:41,920 --> 00:04:44,080 Speaker 1: made a lot of money and finally settled down in 79 00:04:44,240 --> 00:04:48,400 Speaker 1: North Carolina, of all places, and married local women. Chang 80 00:04:48,480 --> 00:04:52,960 Speaker 1: had ten children, Aang had eleven. To replenish their bank accounts, 81 00:04:53,240 --> 00:04:56,080 Speaker 1: they toured again, even working with P. T. Barnum for 82 00:04:56,080 --> 00:04:59,880 Speaker 1: a short time. Finally, in their late fifties, Chang began 83 00:05:00,080 --> 00:05:03,279 Speaker 1: to have health problems, including having a stroke. Then in 84 00:05:03,320 --> 00:05:07,920 Speaker 1: eighteen seventy four, he caught bronchitis. He finally died, and 85 00:05:08,040 --> 00:05:11,279 Speaker 1: this had always been Eng's biggest fear. He claimed he 86 00:05:11,360 --> 00:05:14,640 Speaker 1: had to die too, even though he wasn't sick, despite 87 00:05:14,680 --> 00:05:18,359 Speaker 1: being completely healthy. Within two hours of his brother's death, 88 00:05:18,839 --> 00:05:21,840 Speaker 1: Ang collapsed and died as well. They were sixty two 89 00:05:21,920 --> 00:05:25,159 Speaker 1: years old, and autopsy stated that Chang had died of 90 00:05:25,160 --> 00:05:29,120 Speaker 1: a cerebral blood clot while ag had simply died of fright, 91 00:05:29,640 --> 00:05:31,960 Speaker 1: and doctors agreed there would have been no way to 92 00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:35,240 Speaker 1: separate them, at least back in those days. And finally, 93 00:05:35,240 --> 00:05:39,200 Speaker 1: there's Isidora Duncan. She's considered the mother of modern dance. 94 00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:42,000 Speaker 1: Born in San Francisco, she had moved to New York 95 00:05:42,040 --> 00:05:44,800 Speaker 1: City by the time she was eighteen and eighteen ninety 96 00:05:44,839 --> 00:05:47,960 Speaker 1: six to study dance, but she was a free spirit 97 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:51,400 Speaker 1: and didn't like the restrictions of old school ballet, so 98 00:05:51,440 --> 00:05:54,159 Speaker 1: by the time she was twenty she had moved to London. 99 00:05:54,360 --> 00:05:57,920 Speaker 1: She became a huge star all over Europe, dancing barefoot 100 00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:02,560 Speaker 1: in flowing Greek tunics and garbs. She was photographed constantly 101 00:06:02,600 --> 00:06:07,400 Speaker 1: by famous photographers and artists did spectacular modernist paintings of her. 102 00:06:07,920 --> 00:06:11,279 Speaker 1: In Paris, wearing a thin, flowing Greek gown, she danced 103 00:06:11,320 --> 00:06:13,960 Speaker 1: barefoot on tables at a party for three hundred people, 104 00:06:14,160 --> 00:06:18,640 Speaker 1: where they downed nine hundred bottles of champagne. Isidora lived 105 00:06:18,680 --> 00:06:21,719 Speaker 1: a freeform life. She had three kids with three men, 106 00:06:21,800 --> 00:06:24,600 Speaker 1: none of whom she married, although she was briefly married 107 00:06:24,600 --> 00:06:26,880 Speaker 1: to another man who was twenty years younger than she, 108 00:06:27,520 --> 00:06:29,920 Speaker 1: and she had a ton of lovers, most of them 109 00:06:30,240 --> 00:06:34,839 Speaker 1: also decades younger too. She lived, performed, and taught, moving 110 00:06:34,960 --> 00:06:39,279 Speaker 1: constantly between New York, Russia, and Europe. Finally, it's nineteen 111 00:06:39,320 --> 00:06:42,680 Speaker 1: twenty seven Isidora, now fifty, staying with friends on the 112 00:06:42,720 --> 00:06:46,039 Speaker 1: French riviera in Nice, she hooks up with twenty seven 113 00:06:46,080 --> 00:06:49,960 Speaker 1: year old race car driver Benoi Falcetto. It is a 114 00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:54,400 Speaker 1: beautiful autumn day, and she climbs into Falsetto's exotic convertible. 115 00:06:54,880 --> 00:06:57,599 Speaker 1: Her friend hands her a cape and a hand painted 116 00:06:57,640 --> 00:07:00,560 Speaker 1: silk scarf to keep warm, but is a Aura just 117 00:07:00,600 --> 00:07:04,760 Speaker 1: takes the scarf, throws it around her neck and calls out, Adieu, 118 00:07:04,880 --> 00:07:09,119 Speaker 1: mes ami, I am off to glory. Although another friend 119 00:07:09,240 --> 00:07:13,080 Speaker 1: claims it what she actually said was I'm off to love. Now. 120 00:07:13,160 --> 00:07:16,560 Speaker 1: That's really dramatic, but not nearly as dramatic as what 121 00:07:16,680 --> 00:07:20,760 Speaker 1: happened next. As they sped off, that long silk scarf 122 00:07:21,120 --> 00:07:24,480 Speaker 1: draped around her neck flew back and wrapped around the 123 00:07:24,520 --> 00:07:27,720 Speaker 1: open spokes of the wheel, as well as the axle 124 00:07:27,800 --> 00:07:31,520 Speaker 1: of the car. The New York Times said in Isidora's obituary, 125 00:07:32,080 --> 00:07:35,720 Speaker 1: Miss Duncan met a tragic death in Nice on the Riviera. 126 00:07:35,920 --> 00:07:39,280 Speaker 1: According to dispatches from France, she was hurled in an 127 00:07:39,360 --> 00:07:43,680 Speaker 1: extraordinary manner from an open automobile in which she was riding, 128 00:07:44,040 --> 00:07:46,680 Speaker 1: and instantly killed by the force of her fall to 129 00:07:46,720 --> 00:07:51,720 Speaker 1: the stone pavement. She died of strangulation and a broken neck. Now, 130 00:07:51,720 --> 00:07:54,040 Speaker 1: at the end of the day, all of these people 131 00:07:54,200 --> 00:07:57,160 Speaker 1: changed the way we view the world and maybe now 132 00:07:57,680 --> 00:08:08,320 Speaker 1: even the way we view the Big Exit. I'd like 133 00:08:08,360 --> 00:08:10,840 Speaker 1: to thank David Katz and Steve Kingston for help with 134 00:08:10,920 --> 00:08:13,680 Speaker 1: these stories and remind you that if you have a 135 00:08:13,720 --> 00:08:16,320 Speaker 1: story you'd like me to take a deeper dive into 136 00:08:16,440 --> 00:08:19,840 Speaker 1: and share, you can direct message me on Instagram at 137 00:08:19,880 --> 00:08:29,360 Speaker 1: Real Patty Steele or on Facebook at Patty Steele. I'm 138 00:08:29,400 --> 00:08:33,959 Speaker 1: Patty Steele. The Backstories a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, 139 00:08:34,120 --> 00:08:38,000 Speaker 1: the Elvis Durand Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer 140 00:08:38,080 --> 00:08:41,360 Speaker 1: is Doug Fraser. Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new 141 00:08:41,400 --> 00:08:44,920 Speaker 1: episodes every Tuesday and Friday. Feel free to reach out 142 00:08:44,960 --> 00:08:48,480 Speaker 1: to me with comments and even story suggestions on Instagram 143 00:08:48,600 --> 00:08:51,640 Speaker 1: at Real Patty Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. 144 00:08:52,040 --> 00:08:55,000 Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to the Backstory with Patty Steele, the 145 00:08:55,040 --> 00:08:58,040 Speaker 1: pieces of history you didn't know you needed to know.