WEBVTT - The Calaveras Skull: The Practical Joke That Almost Changed Human Evolution 0:00:02.240 --> 0:00:06.559 Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership 0:00:06.600 --> 0:00:13.720 with iHeartRadio. 0:00:13.960 --> 0:00:16.919 When a group of miners uncovered a skull deep in 0:00:16.960 --> 0:00:19.599 a mine shaft on the western slopes of Bald Mountain 0:00:19.760 --> 0:00:24.200 near a gold mining camp called Angels Camp in Calaveras County, California, 0:00:24.360 --> 0:00:28.160 it was believed, at least initially, to be a history 0:00:28.320 --> 0:00:33.200 changing discovery. The owner of the mine, Illinois born blacksmith 0:00:33.320 --> 0:00:37.639 James Mattinson, had originally gone west during the California Gold Rush. 0:00:38.120 --> 0:00:42.280 He had little to no luck finding gold or any 0:00:42.320 --> 0:00:46.479 other precious metals or anything really, and it said that 0:00:46.520 --> 0:00:49.360 Mattinson didn't know at first what it was that he'd 0:00:49.400 --> 0:00:52.080 dug up that day in February of eighteen sixty six. 0:00:52.880 --> 0:00:54.760 It was when the skull was sent to the state 0:00:54.800 --> 0:00:58.160 geologist of California, J. D. Whitney, who was also a 0:00:58.160 --> 0:01:01.480 professor of geology at Harvard Universe when things went a 0:01:01.480 --> 0:01:07.119 bit bonkers. Welcome to Criminalia. I'm Maria Tremarchy and. 0:01:07.120 --> 0:01:12.039 I'm Holly Fry. Mattinson had first showed the fossil to 0:01:12.120 --> 0:01:14.759 a local man who lived in the mining town, and 0:01:14.840 --> 0:01:17.880 he in turn brought it to an Angel's camp merchant 0:01:18.000 --> 0:01:22.200 named Philip Scribner. Scribner recognized that it was a human skull, 0:01:22.360 --> 0:01:24.280 and he cleaned it up and sent it off to 0:01:24.319 --> 0:01:28.600 physician and natural history buff doctor William Jones, who, although 0:01:28.600 --> 0:01:31.800 we aren't one hundred percent sure, likely lived in nearby 0:01:31.840 --> 0:01:36.360 San Francisco. Jones was blown away by the potential of 0:01:36.400 --> 0:01:39.200 the discovery, and he was the one who sent the 0:01:39.240 --> 0:01:43.920 skull to J. D. Whitney. Upon examining this skull, Whitney 0:01:43.959 --> 0:01:48.200 determined that it was an amazing find. He believed that 0:01:48.280 --> 0:01:51.360 it belonged to a ply a scene age man, which 0:01:51.360 --> 0:01:54.160 would have made it the oldest known record of human 0:01:54.240 --> 0:01:58.200 existence in North America. And that wasn't the only thing. 0:01:58.920 --> 0:02:02.280 It also suggests that humans had lived in the Americas 0:02:02.360 --> 0:02:05.960 for much longer than scientists had previously thought. 0:02:06.760 --> 0:02:09.160 Let's take a minute for a bit of science and 0:02:09.280 --> 0:02:13.080 history to get our bearings on this time frame. The 0:02:13.120 --> 0:02:16.640 Pliocene is the epic of geologic time scale that extends 0:02:16.680 --> 0:02:20.960 from roughly five point four million to two point four 0:02:21.160 --> 0:02:26.960 million years ago. Today, most scientists recognize some fifteen to 0:02:27.360 --> 0:02:32.040 twenty different species of early humans, though there is disagreement 0:02:32.080 --> 0:02:34.720 about how those species are related. As well as which 0:02:34.720 --> 0:02:39.120 ones just died out over time. Fossils of the first 0:02:39.160 --> 0:02:43.160 known hominids or human like primates, who lived between six 0:02:43.240 --> 0:02:47.160 million and two million years ago, universally come from the 0:02:47.200 --> 0:02:51.880 African continent. It's believed that early humans first migrated out 0:02:51.880 --> 0:02:56.560 of Africa into Asia probably between two million and one 0:02:56.560 --> 0:02:59.880 point eight million years ago, and there's no evidence of 0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:03.480 humans in Europe until between one point five million and 0:03:03.600 --> 0:03:06.600 one million years ago. It took even more time for 0:03:06.639 --> 0:03:09.400 humans to populate the rest of the world. When it 0:03:09.440 --> 0:03:12.760 comes to the Americas, there's no evidence there were humans 0:03:12.760 --> 0:03:15.840 there until the past thirty thousand years or so. So 0:03:15.960 --> 0:03:19.200 a Haminid skull dating to the Pla saying that was 0:03:19.240 --> 0:03:22.280 both exciting and a bit of a scandalous announcement. 0:03:23.680 --> 0:03:27.320 Whitney didn't just examine the skull, though. He went to 0:03:27.400 --> 0:03:30.560 Angel's camp, he visited the mine, and he spoke with 0:03:30.639 --> 0:03:34.639 both Mattinson and Scribner. The men explained that Mattinson dug 0:03:34.720 --> 0:03:37.560 up the skull in his mind, and though he originally 0:03:37.600 --> 0:03:39.920 thought it was probably nothing more than a tree route, 0:03:40.200 --> 0:03:43.600 when it was cleaned up at Scrubner's store, everyone realized 0:03:43.640 --> 0:03:46.120 it was a skull, and that's when they brought in 0:03:46.200 --> 0:03:50.160 doctor Jones for his counsel and advice. It's reported that 0:03:50.200 --> 0:03:53.880 Whitney believed both Mattinson and Scribner were being truthful, and 0:03:54.080 --> 0:03:57.880 he carried on with his investigative work. He concluded that 0:03:57.920 --> 0:04:01.240 the skull was authentic and that it dated the Pliocene epoch. 0:04:02.040 --> 0:04:05.200 That was definitely a stretch, but at the time it 0:04:05.320 --> 0:04:08.760 was almost kind of, sort of within reason to make 0:04:08.800 --> 0:04:12.360 that leap. Separate from this find. Others had claimed to 0:04:12.400 --> 0:04:16.200 have found ancient stone tools like mortars and pestles under 0:04:16.240 --> 0:04:19.960 the hills of Calaveras County. Those finds opened up the 0:04:20.120 --> 0:04:24.839 possibility of that older age. The tools, and now the skull, 0:04:24.920 --> 0:04:28.000 it was thought, could change what experts thought about human 0:04:28.000 --> 0:04:30.920 evolution and in particular in North America. 0:04:33.360 --> 0:04:37.440 On July eighteenth, eighteen sixty six, Whitney presented a paper 0:04:37.520 --> 0:04:40.920 to the California Academy of Natural Sciences describing the skull, 0:04:41.080 --> 0:04:45.000 explaining it had been recently found in Calaveras County. He 0:04:45.080 --> 0:04:47.760 described his discovery in a mine shaft at a depth 0:04:47.760 --> 0:04:50.840 of one hundred and thirty feet. It had been found 0:04:50.880 --> 0:04:54.000 in oriiferous gravel deposits of a Pliocene river that had 0:04:54.040 --> 0:04:58.440 been buried beneath million year old volcanic deposits. The San 0:04:58.440 --> 0:05:01.560 Francisco Alta summed up with Beney's talk the following day, 0:05:01.720 --> 0:05:05.720 reporting quote, the skull is therefore not only the earliest 0:05:05.800 --> 0:05:09.520 pioneer of this state, but the oldest known human being. 0:05:10.240 --> 0:05:13.080 It is scarcely necessary to say that the announcement and 0:05:13.200 --> 0:05:17.160 remarks of Professor Whitney made a profound sensation at the Academy. 0:05:17.920 --> 0:05:20.719 He later exhibited the skull in August of eighteen sixty 0:05:20.720 --> 0:05:23.400 eight at the Chicago meeting of the American Association for 0:05:23.480 --> 0:05:24.760 the Advancement of Science. 0:05:26.000 --> 0:05:28.160 We're going to take a break here for a word 0:05:28.160 --> 0:05:31.279 from our sponsors, and when we return, we will talk 0:05:31.320 --> 0:05:45.640 about how there's always a butt. 0:05:47.360 --> 0:05:50.760 Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's talk about the debate over 0:05:50.800 --> 0:05:53.159 whether or not the skull was real and if it 0:05:53.240 --> 0:05:55.719 was really as old as some people thought. 0:05:56.520 --> 0:05:59.640 So many of our stories that we've told have a 0:05:59.680 --> 0:06:02.440 moment where we have to talk about something that sounds 0:06:02.480 --> 0:06:05.599 incredibly cool or interesting, and then we have to follow 0:06:05.640 --> 0:06:08.760 it up with butt. All right, So here's the butt 0:06:08.839 --> 0:06:13.039 for this one. Some scholars challenged the authenticity of the 0:06:13.080 --> 0:06:16.200 skull while others did not, and it started a controversy 0:06:16.240 --> 0:06:19.440 between those who insisted the skull had been planted at 0:06:19.440 --> 0:06:23.039 the mine and those who insisted it was genuine. An 0:06:23.160 --> 0:06:26.400 article in the Harvard Register reported that the Calaveras skull 0:06:26.480 --> 0:06:30.320 quote has been mercilessly assailed as a hoax, not on 0:06:30.360 --> 0:06:35.000 account of any suspicious circumstances attending its discovery, but because 0:06:35.120 --> 0:06:37.839 it was predetermined in the minds of many that man 0:06:37.880 --> 0:06:41.760 did not live at so ancient a time. The skull 0:06:41.800 --> 0:06:45.320 looked others believed like it belonged to a human from 0:06:45.360 --> 0:06:49.479 centuries earlier, probably from an indigenous tribe now referred to 0:06:49.600 --> 0:06:53.039 as the Northern Sierra Miwok. Some assumed that that's what 0:06:53.080 --> 0:06:58.680 it probably was. Prominent geologists, archaeologists, and anthropologists from several 0:06:58.760 --> 0:07:03.520 universities examined the skull, but it actually took many decades 0:07:03.600 --> 0:07:06.679 before the skull was decisively determined to be a fake. 0:07:07.640 --> 0:07:11.560 Scientists were concerned that the artifact had been removed before 0:07:11.680 --> 0:07:15.440 anyone with any kind of reputable authority could examine it 0:07:15.480 --> 0:07:18.400 in the ground where it was found, but that wasn't 0:07:18.400 --> 0:07:22.080 the only problem. There was a lot of disagreement within 0:07:22.120 --> 0:07:25.880 the scientific community some people assumed it was the result 0:07:25.960 --> 0:07:30.160 of an unfortunate mining accident. Skeptics also believed the skull 0:07:30.360 --> 0:07:33.640 was just too modern to come from the Pliocene Age. 0:07:33.680 --> 0:07:37.000 Some scholars believed it was just a practical joke played 0:07:37.040 --> 0:07:37.720 by miners. 0:07:39.200 --> 0:07:42.880 Whitney took the skull to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, 0:07:42.960 --> 0:07:47.520 d C. Where archaeologist William H. Holmes examined it, and 0:07:47.640 --> 0:07:51.760 Holmes was well it was not on board with the 0:07:51.800 --> 0:07:55.760 idea that this was a genuine find. In his analysis, 0:07:55.800 --> 0:07:59.200 he had discovered that the sediment embedded in it, it 0:07:59.240 --> 0:08:02.760 turned out, couldn't have come from the mind deposit. When 0:08:02.800 --> 0:08:05.560 the skull was exhumed, it was still partially encased in 0:08:05.600 --> 0:08:09.120 the material in which it was found. Loose sediment had 0:08:09.160 --> 0:08:12.880 been brushed away by Scribner, and in that material Holmes 0:08:12.880 --> 0:08:16.560 found bones, a shell bed that resembled those made by 0:08:16.640 --> 0:08:20.680 indigenous peoples, and a snail shell from a modern type 0:08:20.720 --> 0:08:24.320 of snail. Whitney had thought that the skull had bounced 0:08:24.320 --> 0:08:27.480 along an ancient Pliocene river, where it must have settled 0:08:27.480 --> 0:08:33.160 in sediments containing these tidbits. Holmes disagreed to him and 0:08:33.200 --> 0:08:36.439 to other experts. The findings suggested that the skull had 0:08:36.440 --> 0:08:38.920 come from somewhere else and been put in the mind. 0:08:39.640 --> 0:08:42.520 He concluded that quote, it thus appears that the so 0:08:42.679 --> 0:08:47.240 called Calivera's skull exhibits nothing in its character, condition, or 0:08:47.280 --> 0:08:52.120 associated phenomena incompatible with the theory of recent origin, and 0:08:52.320 --> 0:08:56.160 very much that may be justly construed as favoring that theory. 0:08:57.160 --> 0:09:02.160 By eighteen sixty nine, skepticism was spread. A mister Blakesley 0:09:02.280 --> 0:09:06.200 wrote in an edition of the San Francisco bulletin that year, quote, 0:09:06.679 --> 0:09:10.240 we believe the whole story worthy of no scientific credence. 0:09:10.679 --> 0:09:13.520 A minister told us the miners freely told him that 0:09:13.559 --> 0:09:17.559 the whole affair was a joke. Despite the critics and 0:09:17.600 --> 0:09:20.960 the stories, Whitney continued to believe it was a genuine find, 0:09:21.440 --> 0:09:24.360 and by the eighteen nineties many in the academic community 0:09:24.480 --> 0:09:27.920 continued to accept it as genuine, but it was becoming 0:09:27.960 --> 0:09:31.080 more and more obvious among scientists that it really just 0:09:31.240 --> 0:09:35.120 didn't fit into the fossil record of human evolution. In 0:09:35.200 --> 0:09:38.240 nineteen oh one, F. W. Putnam, who had replaced Whitney 0:09:38.240 --> 0:09:42.480 at Harvard, visited California and learned that In eighteen sixty five, 0:09:43.000 --> 0:09:45.800 a number of indigenous skulls had been dug up from 0:09:45.800 --> 0:09:49.319 a nearby tribal burial site, and that skulls had been 0:09:49.360 --> 0:09:53.840 planted in the Bald Mountain mine. Putnam concluded, quote, it 0:09:53.880 --> 0:09:56.920 may be impossible, ever to determine, to the satisfaction of 0:09:56.960 --> 0:10:00.600 the archaeologist, the place where the skull was actually found. 0:10:02.200 --> 0:10:04.840 So this is a good time to talk about something 0:10:04.880 --> 0:10:09.760 that's been the creeping supporting character in this entire forgery season, 0:10:10.400 --> 0:10:14.319 and that's confirmation bias. In the twenty twenty two edition 0:10:14.480 --> 0:10:19.240 of Comprehensive Clinical Psychology, authors Caleb W. Lac and Jacques 0:10:19.320 --> 0:10:24.359 Rousseau describe confirmation bias in the chapter Mental Health, pop Psychology, 0:10:24.400 --> 0:10:28.680 and the Misunderstanding of Clinical Psychology, and their description of 0:10:28.720 --> 0:10:32.719 confirmation bias reads as follows quote. It is the tendency 0:10:32.720 --> 0:10:36.240 of individuals to favor information that confirms their beliefs or 0:10:36.280 --> 0:10:40.360 ideas and discount that which does not. This means that, 0:10:40.480 --> 0:10:43.400 when confronted with new information, we tend to do one 0:10:43.440 --> 0:10:47.360 of two things. If this information confirms what we already believe, 0:10:47.520 --> 0:10:51.200 our natural instinct is to accept it as true, accurate, 0:10:51.240 --> 0:10:55.200 and unbiased. We unreservedly accept it and are happy to 0:10:55.320 --> 0:10:58.319 have been shown it, even if it has some problems, 0:10:58.320 --> 0:11:02.680 we forgive and forget those incorporate this new information into 0:11:02.720 --> 0:11:06.640 our beliefs and schemas quickly. We are also more likely 0:11:06.679 --> 0:11:10.200 to recall this information leader to help buttress our belief 0:11:10.280 --> 0:11:13.520 during an argument. On the other hand, if this newly 0:11:13.640 --> 0:11:17.360 encountered information contradicts what we already believe, we have a 0:11:17.520 --> 0:11:22.480 very natural different response. We become highly critical and defensive, 0:11:22.559 --> 0:11:27.520 immediately nitpicking any possible flaw in the information, even though 0:11:27.559 --> 0:11:30.640 the same flaw would be ignored if the information confirmed 0:11:30.640 --> 0:11:34.480 our beliefs. It also fades quickly from our mind, so 0:11:34.559 --> 0:11:38.400 that in the future we cannot even recall being exposed 0:11:38.400 --> 0:11:38.760 to it. 0:11:39.960 --> 0:11:44.160 We have seen this bias at play over and over again, 0:11:44.520 --> 0:11:47.120 from art experts who want to think they found a 0:11:47.160 --> 0:11:50.240 previously unknown work by a particular artist, or in a 0:11:50.280 --> 0:11:54.079 buyer who doesn't want to believe they've been duped. Psychological 0:11:54.080 --> 0:11:57.120 bias is a powerful thing, so powerful that it can 0:11:57.200 --> 0:12:01.200 override actual knowledge that would contradict what someone wants to 0:12:01.240 --> 0:12:04.760 believe to us and maybe to you too. This seems 0:12:04.800 --> 0:12:07.040 to have been at play for J. D. Whitney, and 0:12:07.120 --> 0:12:09.679 he wasn't the only one. 0:12:09.800 --> 0:12:11.400 We're going to take a break for a word from 0:12:11.400 --> 0:12:14.080 our sponsor, and when we're back we will talk about 0:12:14.160 --> 0:12:17.840 how hard it was to convince even some experts that 0:12:17.960 --> 0:12:19.920 the skull was just not what they hoped. 0:12:33.240 --> 0:12:36.600 Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's talk about just how long 0:12:36.600 --> 0:12:39.000 it took for experts to agree the skull was fake, 0:12:39.440 --> 0:12:42.240 and how the whole thing was actually a practical joke 0:12:42.400 --> 0:12:43.280 gone too far. 0:12:44.320 --> 0:12:48.760 Decades after first examining the skull, Holmes, feeling unsure about 0:12:48.800 --> 0:12:52.680 its age and providence, traveled to Calaveras to investigate further. 0:12:53.440 --> 0:12:56.640 He read all of Whitney's reports, which included a description 0:12:56.760 --> 0:12:59.960 of the skull. He examined the plant and animal thought 0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:03.640 bustle supposedly found in the sediment on the skull. He 0:13:03.720 --> 0:13:06.600 wrote of the scene, quote, to suppose that man could 0:13:06.640 --> 0:13:10.240 have remained unchanged physically, To suppose that he could have 0:13:10.280 --> 0:13:16.320 remained unchanged mentally, socially, industrially, and esthetically for a million years, 0:13:16.440 --> 0:13:20.960 roughly speaking, is to suppose a miracle. To suppose again, 0:13:21.120 --> 0:13:24.719 that the ancient people disappeared as a result of nature's mutations, 0:13:25.160 --> 0:13:28.920 leaving their bones and handiwork, and that another people springing 0:13:29.040 --> 0:13:31.840 up or appearing on the same spot in recent years, 0:13:32.160 --> 0:13:36.199 have duplicated each and every character, activity and art form 0:13:36.760 --> 0:13:38.440 is to suppose the impossible. 0:13:39.400 --> 0:13:43.440 Holmes also spoke with George Stickle, a resident of Angels 0:13:43.480 --> 0:13:47.559 Camp and Scribner associate. Stickkell stated that the skull had 0:13:47.559 --> 0:13:50.880 come from an indigenous burial place in Salt Spring Valley, 0:13:51.160 --> 0:13:54.600 which was located west of Angels Camp. He claimed it 0:13:54.640 --> 0:13:57.520 was removed by doctor William Kelly, who gave it to Scribner, 0:13:57.600 --> 0:13:59.960 who originally thought it would make a fun gag gift 0:14:00.120 --> 0:14:01.120 to doctor Jones. 0:14:02.120 --> 0:14:05.160 Holmes was now certain that the skull had been placed 0:14:05.160 --> 0:14:09.319 in the mine, but he just couldn't verify it. Scribner 0:14:09.360 --> 0:14:12.720 and Jones had both died in eighteen ninety eight. It's 0:14:12.800 --> 0:14:16.560 actually pretty difficult to find a primary account of what occurred. 0:14:17.080 --> 0:14:20.000 But Holmes heard the same tale again and again from 0:14:20.120 --> 0:14:22.200 locals who had been there at the time, and that 0:14:22.360 --> 0:14:26.680 story that they told was this. It was Scribner who 0:14:26.720 --> 0:14:29.440 was the architect of the prank, along with a few 0:14:29.440 --> 0:14:34.120 accomplices who were all friends of doctor Jones. Mattinson was 0:14:34.160 --> 0:14:36.640 the sucker that they counted on to find the skull 0:14:36.680 --> 0:14:39.840 that they'd planted, which he did, and they bet that 0:14:39.920 --> 0:14:42.000 he would kick off a chain of events that would 0:14:42.040 --> 0:14:45.760 get it into Jones's hands. He was the real target 0:14:45.800 --> 0:14:48.480 of the prank, and Mattinson also did that. 0:14:49.880 --> 0:14:53.040 When the skull arrived, Jones initially thought that it was 0:14:53.320 --> 0:14:56.680 a practical joke, and really he should have trusted his 0:14:56.760 --> 0:15:01.360 gut here. According to innkeeper jail spare Mary, Jones first 0:15:01.480 --> 0:15:04.480 threw the skull into this street, yelling about how quote 0:15:04.720 --> 0:15:06.840 the skull had been brought to him as a relic 0:15:06.880 --> 0:15:10.000 of great antiquity, but he had just discovered cobwebs in 0:15:10.040 --> 0:15:12.800 it and concluded that he had been made the subject 0:15:12.800 --> 0:15:17.440 of one of Scribner's practical jokes. But then he had 0:15:17.480 --> 0:15:20.840 second thoughts about it and presumably retrieved it from the street. 0:15:21.480 --> 0:15:24.440 Never intended as anything more than a prank, the skull 0:15:24.560 --> 0:15:27.680 ended up being discussed as a genuine Clyti scene fossil, 0:15:27.800 --> 0:15:30.320 first by Jones, then by Whitney. 0:15:30.920 --> 0:15:33.840 At the turn of the century. And yet despite all 0:15:33.920 --> 0:15:38.040 these revelations that indicated the tomfoolery of the whole setup, 0:15:38.400 --> 0:15:43.040 the skull continued to have defenders. The more experts learned 0:15:43.080 --> 0:15:45.640 about it, though the more out of place it seemed. 0:15:46.400 --> 0:15:50.040 It took several decades of debate before it was concluded 0:15:50.120 --> 0:15:54.560 to be faked. Radiocarbon analysis known also as carbon dating, 0:15:55.000 --> 0:15:58.880 was conducted on the skull in nineteen ninety two, so 0:15:59.080 --> 0:16:02.160 quite a while after the whole thing started, and results 0:16:02.240 --> 0:16:06.760 indicated it likely came from the Late Holocene Age. The 0:16:06.800 --> 0:16:11.640 Holocene is the current geological epic in Earth's history. This 0:16:11.800 --> 0:16:15.600 skull ultimately is estimated to be about one thousand years old, 0:16:15.880 --> 0:16:19.880 and that aligns with Holmes's conclusion made years earlier. 0:16:21.840 --> 0:16:25.640 Nearly a century later, Ralph Dexter of the Department of 0:16:25.640 --> 0:16:29.680 Biological Sciences at Kent State University concluded of the skull 0:16:29.760 --> 0:16:33.520 and its controversy, quote, the desire on the part of 0:16:33.640 --> 0:16:38.080 miners to play a practical joke, the anxiety of archaeologists 0:16:38.120 --> 0:16:41.320 to prove the existence of early humankind in North America, 0:16:42.120 --> 0:16:45.480 and the firm convictions and good faith of those involved 0:16:45.480 --> 0:16:50.479 in an honest mistake led to this long drawn out controversy, 0:16:50.920 --> 0:16:55.880 unique in the annals of American archaeology. The skull disappeared 0:16:55.920 --> 0:16:56.680 from discussion. 0:17:00.920 --> 0:17:03.400 Are you ready for a little something to drink while 0:17:03.440 --> 0:17:05.639 we contemplate this whole skull story? 0:17:05.720 --> 0:17:08.879 I am. Can you believe how many decades. That's it. Yes, 0:17:09.240 --> 0:17:10.280 actually I can't you. 0:17:11.880 --> 0:17:15.720 And that's kind of the inspiration for today's drink, which 0:17:15.760 --> 0:17:20.880 is called confirmation bias, because it really is a thing 0:17:20.920 --> 0:17:23.879 where people will just dig in and they want something 0:17:23.920 --> 0:17:27.280 to be true so bad. So I at least wanted 0:17:27.280 --> 0:17:30.840 something to be super delicious and have not the flavor 0:17:30.960 --> 0:17:33.280 of the drink that it's a look alike for, but 0:17:33.440 --> 0:17:35.640 have a little bit of the same quality. And I'll 0:17:35.680 --> 0:17:39.200 explain as we go. This one is a small drink. 0:17:39.760 --> 0:17:42.080 One of those drinks is not diluted with anything, so 0:17:42.119 --> 0:17:44.720 it is very spirit forward. But it is going to 0:17:44.760 --> 0:17:50.160 start with a half ounce of unsweetened cranberry juice, a 0:17:50.240 --> 0:17:54.800 splash of agave syrup, a quarter ounce of vanilla liqueur, 0:17:54.920 --> 0:17:56.560 so not a whole lot, and then an ounce and 0:17:56.600 --> 0:17:59.400 a half of dark rum. And you're going to put 0:17:59.400 --> 0:18:03.240 these into a mixing glass with ice and then stir 0:18:03.320 --> 0:18:07.439 it to combine it. If you are a drink person, 0:18:07.480 --> 0:18:10.199 you may already know what we're making a copy of, 0:18:10.280 --> 0:18:13.000 because that's how the original is also made. You're going 0:18:13.080 --> 0:18:15.800 to strain that into a cocktail glass that's pre chilled. 0:18:16.040 --> 0:18:18.040 I love a Nick and Nora glass for this. One, 0:18:18.080 --> 0:18:21.960 which are those smaller volume they're really cute and perfect. 0:18:22.359 --> 0:18:25.719 And then you're gonna garnish it with a cranberry that 0:18:25.760 --> 0:18:28.560 has been soaked in a gave or brown sugar syrup 0:18:28.560 --> 0:18:30.200 for just a little while. You just need a coating 0:18:30.240 --> 0:18:32.639 on it because it looks like a Manhattan. 0:18:33.040 --> 0:18:33.920 It does, yeah, I. 0:18:33.880 --> 0:18:40.480 Know, And a Manhattan is not dark, round, sweet, vermooth 0:18:41.119 --> 0:18:45.480 bourbon and usually samangaster a bitters, so it's also very 0:18:45.520 --> 0:18:49.240 spirit forward. It also is stirred in a mixing glass 0:18:49.280 --> 0:18:52.160 instead of in a shaker or anything. I also wanted. 0:18:52.280 --> 0:18:54.760 I was just fascinated by this idea of the dirt 0:18:54.800 --> 0:18:56.879 and so I wanted a brown drink. I knew this 0:18:56.960 --> 0:19:00.679 one is definitely on the reddish side of brown, so 0:19:00.720 --> 0:19:03.399 that's what led me down this path. But the thing is, 0:19:03.440 --> 0:19:07.320 when you drink it, it is like a Manhattan. It 0:19:07.359 --> 0:19:10.159 doesn't taste like one at all, but it has a 0:19:10.200 --> 0:19:14.720 similar effect psychologically, which is that you're like, Wow, this 0:19:14.840 --> 0:19:18.280 is a strong drink, but it's also pretty tasty because 0:19:18.280 --> 0:19:20.480 sometimes when you say wow, this is a strong drink, 0:19:20.520 --> 0:19:24.560 you're not tasting anything but spirit writing yes, whereas a Manhattan, 0:19:24.600 --> 0:19:27.880 if it's made well, you taste the spirit, but you 0:19:27.880 --> 0:19:30.480 you know that that sweet vermouth and that little bit 0:19:30.480 --> 0:19:34.520 of like a luxado cherry usually gives it that little 0:19:34.520 --> 0:19:37.040 bit of sweetness that smooths out the rough edges, and 0:19:37.040 --> 0:19:39.600 so you taste the flavors and you're not just like, wow, 0:19:39.640 --> 0:19:43.720 that's alcohol. And I will say my one taste tester agreed, 0:19:45.920 --> 0:19:47.879 not a big drinker, not a fan of drinks that 0:19:47.920 --> 0:19:50.360 taste like alcohol. And he said, this is interesting because 0:19:50.760 --> 0:19:54.320 I can taste that it's very spirit forward. But I 0:19:54.320 --> 0:19:56.200 don't mind this at all when I was there. 0:19:56.320 --> 0:19:57.160 Interesting from him. 0:19:57.240 --> 0:19:59.560 Yes, if you want to make the mocktail of this, 0:19:59.760 --> 0:20:03.600 it's really easy. You're gonna make everything the same, except 0:20:03.680 --> 0:20:06.520 instead of vanilla li cure, you'll use a vanilla syrup, 0:20:07.080 --> 0:20:10.879 and instead of dark rum, you're gonna make your favorite 0:20:11.640 --> 0:20:15.280 dark like a black tea that has whatever spices you love, 0:20:15.560 --> 0:20:18.000 whether it is a tea that comes spiced, or you 0:20:18.119 --> 0:20:19.919 like to make your own black tea and then spice 0:20:19.920 --> 0:20:23.440 it up with a little nutmeg and cardamom, or I'd 0:20:23.480 --> 0:20:25.520 like to put a little pumpkin pie spice in tea. 0:20:25.560 --> 0:20:28.320 It gets super yummy, I know. But we're in the 0:20:28.359 --> 0:20:32.440 holiday scenes. It's appropriate. Yes, it's appropriate for me year round, 0:20:32.520 --> 0:20:35.280 but you can also you know, if you're seasonal that way, 0:20:35.400 --> 0:20:37.960 this should be great and that actually makes a really 0:20:38.080 --> 0:20:41.760 yummy drink. I actually made one version with a vanilla 0:20:41.800 --> 0:20:44.600 tea that I had on hand, and that was quite tasty, 0:20:44.640 --> 0:20:48.360 but definitely a little on the more deserty roundy side. 0:20:48.720 --> 0:20:50.560 And then I made one with a black tea that 0:20:50.600 --> 0:20:54.360 I had added an assortment of things too, also very good, 0:20:54.359 --> 0:20:57.400 but just a slightly different flavor profile. So experiment, find 0:20:57.400 --> 0:20:59.280 what you like. Because remember, there's no such thing as 0:20:59.320 --> 0:21:02.440 cocktail jail. You just want to make the cocktails and mocktails. 0:21:02.480 --> 0:21:05.320 It taste most delicious to you, so tweak any recipe, 0:21:05.680 --> 0:21:08.320 however you need to make it super yummy. In this case, 0:21:08.359 --> 0:21:11.840 if it's two spirit forward, add a little more agave syrup, 0:21:11.920 --> 0:21:14.400 add a little more cranberry juice. Although if you're doing 0:21:14.400 --> 0:21:16.920 the unsweetened it has its own bite, so you got 0:21:16.920 --> 0:21:18.679 to be a little careful with that. But you can 0:21:18.680 --> 0:21:21.600 tweak and see what you like. I'm a big fan 0:21:21.640 --> 0:21:25.480 of the taste tests. Go what does this need? This 0:21:25.520 --> 0:21:29.000 is how you develop your skills as your home bartender, 0:21:29.080 --> 0:21:31.520 where you know exactly how to make exactly what you 0:21:31.600 --> 0:21:34.600 love and what's better than that. We are so grateful 0:21:34.600 --> 0:21:37.040 that you hang out with us to experiment with these 0:21:37.080 --> 0:21:41.480 cocktails and hear stories of assorted strange things, including a 0:21:41.480 --> 0:21:44.240 lot of confirmation bias. We will be right back here 0:21:44.280 --> 0:21:47.280 next week with a little more of that and another cocktail. 0:21:56.080 --> 0:21:59.960 Criminalia is a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership with iHeartRadio. 0:22:00.520 --> 0:22:04.840 For more podcasts from Shondaland Audio, please visit the iHeartRadio app, 0:22:05.040 --> 0:22:08.119 Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.