Speaker 1: Welcomed Aaron Mankey's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of iHeart
Speaker 1: Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is full of
Speaker 1: the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all
Speaker 1: of these amazing tales are right there on display, just
Speaker 1: waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities.
Speaker 1: There is perhaps no greater stain on American history than
Speaker 1: that of the slave trade. For over two hundred years,
Speaker 1: millions of African men, women, and children were kidnapped from
Speaker 1: their homes and enslaved, forced to work on plantations, picking
Speaker 1: crops like cotton and tobacco for white owners who did
Speaker 1: not see them as people. To those in power, especially
Speaker 1: in the Southern States, enslave people were simply property. It
Speaker 1: was a dark and tumultuous time, a time when the
Speaker 1: country was still new and finding its place in the
Speaker 1: larger world. Yet, despite slavery's wide acceptance, an abolitionist movement
Speaker 1: brewed among those who opposed its barbaric treatment of our
Speaker 1: fellow human beings. People like Frederick Douglas, Sojourner Truth, and
Speaker 1: Harriet Tubman spoke out against the horrors of slavery, as
Speaker 1: did many allies, such as author Harriet Beecher Stowe and
Speaker 1: John Quincy Adams. Yet there was one abolitionist who did
Speaker 1: much to further the cause. But despite his theatrical approach
Speaker 1: to ending slavery, few people have heard of him today.
Speaker 1: So let's change that. His name was Benjamin Leigh, and
Speaker 1: he was a white man born in Copford, England, in
Speaker 1: sixteen eighty two. His parents were Quakers and they instilled
Speaker 1: a strong moral compass in him from a young age.
Speaker 1: When he was in his mid thirties, Benjamin moved to
Speaker 1: Barbados to work as a merchant. His time there gave
Speaker 1: him a firsthand look at the injustices of the world,
Speaker 1: namely the enslavement of black people, and it, in fear
Speaker 1: created him. He grew more impassioned after a harrowing experience
Speaker 1: watching an enslaveman take his own life to spare himself
Speaker 1: another lashing from his owner. From that point forward, Benjamin
Speaker 1: let everyone else know what he thought of slavery, which
Speaker 1: didn't quite endear him to the people profiting from it
Speaker 1: on the island. He left Barbados in seventeen thirty one
Speaker 1: and settled down in Pennsylvania, where he continued to advocate
Speaker 1: against the slave trade. It wasn't something yet codified in
Speaker 1: Quaker philosophy. Quakers themselves had been prominent slave traders early on,
Speaker 1: although abolition had become an increasingly popular cause among them informally.
Speaker 1: His vocal admonition of it, though, cemented Benjamin as one
Speaker 1: of the more progressive minds of his time. And he
Speaker 1: didn't just talk the talk either. He saw everyone as equal,
Speaker 1: and Benjamin was so against slavery that he made his
Speaker 1: own clothes too, so as not to purchase anything that
Speaker 1: might have been manufactured using slave labor. He also wrote
Speaker 1: hundreds of essays and pamphlets on a handful of issues,
Speaker 1: including slavery, as well as a book published by Benjamin Franklin.
Speaker 1: In addition to his work toward abolition, he was also
Speaker 1: anti capital punishment and believe the existing prison system needed
Speaker 1: serious reform. But perhaps most importantly, Benjamin Lagh was an activist.
Speaker 1: He did not rely on his words to get his
Speaker 1: message across. In order to get people to hear him,
Speaker 1: to really hear him, he knew he had to go bigger,
Speaker 1: partly because he was a four foot tall man with
Speaker 1: a hunchback and extremely long arms. People did not take
Speaker 1: him seriously due to his looks. They were just not
Speaker 1: going to listen to him, so he had to make them.
Speaker 1: In one act of defiance, he stood outside a Quaker
Speaker 1: meeting house in the dead of winter with nothing on
Speaker 1: but his shirt, a pair of pants, and a single shoe.
Speaker 1: He shoved one of his bare feet in the snow
Speaker 1: and waited there in the cold. When someone asked him
Speaker 1: why he was doing this or encouraged him to put
Speaker 1: on warmer clothing, Benjamin informed them that enslaved people didn't
Speaker 1: have the luxury of warm coats and shoes in the winter.
Speaker 1: They were still forced to work outside dressed much like
Speaker 1: he was right then. He also didn't hesitate to hit
Speaker 1: slaveholders where they lived. Benjamin once asked a six year
Speaker 1: old neighbor boy to come to his home and spend
Speaker 1: time with him there for several hours. When it got late,
Speaker 1: the boy's parents ran outside in a panic looking for him.
Speaker 1: After a short while, Benjamin emerged and told them that
Speaker 1: the boy was fine, he'd been with him the whole time,
Speaker 1: but their desperation and sadness were the same desperation and
Speaker 1: sadness felt by the parents of the young black girl
Speaker 1: the couple had enslaved when she had been ripped from
Speaker 1: their arms. And finally, in perhaps his most impressive and
Speaker 1: ostentatious demonstration, Benjamin wore a soldier's uniform and delivered a
Speaker 1: speech against slavery in front of his fellow Quakers at
Speaker 1: the yearly meeting in Philadelphia. He held in his hand
Speaker 1: a Bible and read out loud, Thus shall God shed
Speaker 1: the blood of those persons who enslave their fellow creatures.
Speaker 1: When his speech was over, Benjamin withdrew his sword and
Speaker 1: drove it through the front cover of the Bible, which
Speaker 1: bled and sprayed red liquid all over self and his audience.
Speaker 1: It wasn't real blood, though he had hollowed out the
Speaker 1: middle of the book and placed a bladder full of
Speaker 1: pokeberry juice inside. The stunt shocked all in attendance, and
Speaker 1: Benjamin was forced to leave the meeting. Rather than walk away,
Speaker 1: though he lay down outside the door of the venue
Speaker 1: so that when people left they had to step over
Speaker 1: him and see his bloody corpse in all its glory.
Speaker 1: It may have been appalling and offensive at the time,
Speaker 1: but it worked. Thanks to Benjamin's advocacy, Philadelphia Quakers expelled
Speaker 1: all slaveholders from their ranks. Benjamin Lay was, by eighteenth
Speaker 1: century standards, a strange and garish person. He wasn't afraid
Speaker 1: to go against the grain or to make people feel uncomfortable.
Speaker 1: He even convinced Ben Franklin to free his enslaved people
Speaker 1: in the event of his death. Benjamin Lay was a
Speaker 1: hero and an ally, but above all else, despite his
Speaker 1: small stature, he was someone that you could look up
Speaker 1: to and a role model for people everywhere for all time. Curious, yes,
Speaker 1: but also incredibly noble. Money changes people. Too much can
Speaker 1: make them more selfish, too little can make them desperate,
Speaker 1: And for those with a lot of it, money can
Speaker 1: transform them into strange individuals who spend it in peculiar ways.
Speaker 1: For example, a Canadian dentist named Michael Zook spent over
Speaker 1: thirty one dollars in two thousand eleven to purchase a tooth.
Speaker 1: But not just any tooth. It was a molar that
Speaker 1: had been plucked from the mouth of the legendary beatle
Speaker 1: John Lennon. His reason for procuring such a morbid item
Speaker 1: he wanted to clone the late musician. But a few
Speaker 1: of these eccentric elites can hold a candle to Ida
Speaker 1: Mayfield Wood, who made quite a stir in nineteen thirties
Speaker 1: New York City. Ida was born in eighteen thirty eight
Speaker 1: and came to New York at the age of nineteen
Speaker 1: to start a new chapter in her life. She hoped
Speaker 1: to take her rightful place at the top of society,
Speaker 1: where she felt she belonged. She was young, but knew
Speaker 1: exactly who she was and what she wanted from life.
Speaker 1: Ida's father had been the owner of a sugar plantation
Speaker 1: back home in Louisiana, while her mother had been an
Speaker 1: English aristocrat distantly related to the Earls of Crawford. In
Speaker 1: order to maintain her status in a man's world, though,
Speaker 1: she realized that she needed a man to help her
Speaker 1: navigate it. She found what she needed in Benjamin Wood,
Speaker 1: a thirty seven year old newspaper owner and Confederate sympathizer
Speaker 1: from Kentucky. There was just one problem. He was already married.
Speaker 1: Ida didn't mind, though, she continued to pursue Benjamin and
Speaker 1: the two began a long lasting affair. They even had
Speaker 1: a daughter together named Emma, and when Benjamin's wife suddenly
Speaker 1: passed away in eighteen sixty seven, he and Ida were
Speaker 1: finally able to tie the nut. He was just what
Speaker 1: she needed. Ida worked her way up to the head
Speaker 1: of the New York upper class, had found herself mentioned
Speaker 1: in all the papers. She even snagged a visit with
Speaker 1: Abraham Lincoln shortly after he won the election. But what
Speaker 1: did bliss was not in the cards. Literally. Benjamin had
Speaker 1: a nasty gambling habit, which made Ida worried about her future.
Speaker 1: She certainly didn't want him throwing away all of their money,
Speaker 1: so she made a deal with him. He was free
Speaker 1: to gamble as much as he wanted under two conditions. First,
Speaker 1: she got half of all of his winnings no matter what,
Speaker 1: and second, he was responsible for paying back all of
Speaker 1: his debts and losses. With those rules in place, Benjamin
Speaker 1: continued to gamble, and he lost often, but not to
Speaker 1: loan sharks or betting houses. He lost to his wife,
Speaker 1: who was now even wealthier than when she'd married him.
Speaker 1: Ida also bought a majority stake in her own husband's newspaper.
Speaker 1: Benjamin eventually died in nineteen hundred, leaving behind a lot
Speaker 1: of money and a rich newspaper owning widow. Ida sold
Speaker 1: the paper shortly thereafter for two hundred and fifty thousand dollars,
Speaker 1: and she kept selling. In nineteen o seven, she got
Speaker 1: rid of almost everything she owned, as if she was
Speaker 1: purging herself of her old life, and once it was
Speaker 1: all gone, she withdrew one million dollars from her bank
Speaker 1: account in a single transaction and moved herself into a
Speaker 1: two room suite at the Herald Square Hotel. After that,
Speaker 1: she stopped going out. She stopped dining with other rich
Speaker 1: New York socialites and celebrities, instead becoming a recluse. But
Speaker 1: she wasn't alone. Her sister Mary and her own daughter Emma,
Speaker 1: both lived in the suite with her. No guests were
Speaker 1: ever permitted through the door, nor was any hotel staff.
Speaker 1: Their only interaction with people on the outside occurred when
Speaker 1: they would pay one of the bellhops to bring them
Speaker 1: food and supplies once per day, things like bacon and eggs, coffee, cigars,
Speaker 1: and petroleum jelly for Ida to slather all over her face.
Speaker 1: She claimed that it helped keep her skin moist and
Speaker 1: young looking. As far as the hotel staff knew, the
Speaker 1: women had just enough money to stay there, but were
Speaker 1: otherwise broke. Sadly, Ida outlived Emma, with her daughter passing
Speaker 1: in at seventy one years old. The two sisters remained
Speaker 1: in the room for the next few years until Mary
Speaker 1: suddenly took a turn for the worse. In nineteen thirty one, Ida,
Speaker 1: afraid for her sister, left the hotel room for the
Speaker 1: first time in fourteen years and called out for help.
Speaker 1: A doctor came, but it was too late. Mary was
Speaker 1: already deceased, and after looking around at the room, he
Speaker 1: was shocked that Ida hadn't gone with her. It was
Speaker 1: a mess. The room was cluttered with their belongings, as
Speaker 1: well as cans and boxes of old food. There were
Speaker 1: stacks of newspapers, dirt, debris. Over a decade of filth
Speaker 1: had built up due to their isolated lifestyle. With Mary gone,
Speaker 1: a lawyer stepped in to assist Ida in the next
Speaker 1: phase of her life. Clearly, she could no longer remain
Speaker 1: inside her room, but as he helped her, he discovered
Speaker 1: the truth about her situation. She was rich, very rich.
Speaker 1: She still owned about a hundred and seventy five thousand
Speaker 1: dollars in railroad stocks, with countless dividend checks gone uncashed.
Speaker 1: There was almost a million dollars in cash and expensive
Speaker 1: jewelry hidden everywhere in the place. Once news got out
Speaker 1: about Ida and her money, relatives from all over, people
Speaker 1: who had never seen her or spoken to her in
Speaker 1: her entire life, came out of the woodwork to stake
Speaker 1: their claim. It was the Great Depression, after all. Her
Speaker 1: late husband's cousins, nephews, and even his son showed up
Speaker 1: with their hands out, as did people claiming to be
Speaker 1: related to her mother and father from Louisiana. Except Ida
Speaker 1: hadn't really come from Louisiana, her father hadn't owned a plantation,
Speaker 1: and as far as anyone knew, her mother wasn't related
Speaker 1: to the Earls of Crawford. Ida had been born in Oldham, England,
Speaker 1: to poor parents who had emigrated to the United States
Speaker 1: when she was a young girl. She didn't want to
Speaker 1: be poor any longer. She believed that she deserved better,
Speaker 1: so she invented a new identity, one that helped her
Speaker 1: capture the attention of Benjamin Wood, and the rest, as
Speaker 1: they say, was history. Sadly, the adventure was over for her.
Speaker 1: The ninety four year old Ida was declared incompetent and
Speaker 1: remove from her room, no doubt, in a desperate bid
Speaker 1: by the others to get their hands on her money,
Speaker 1: but by the time she died of bronchial pneumonia in
Speaker 1: nineteen thirty two, only a handful of people were able
Speaker 1: to legally claim her riches for themselves. Ida Wood's lasting
Speaker 1: legacy wasn't one of generosity or love, nor was it monetary.
Speaker 1: It was a legacy she had built for herself using
Speaker 1: her own wits and fortitude, or, as the kids might
Speaker 1: say today, she faked it until she made it. I
Speaker 1: hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities.
Speaker 1: Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about
Speaker 1: the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show
Speaker 1: was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership with how
Speaker 1: Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore,
Speaker 1: which is a podcast, book series, and television show, and
Speaker 1: you can learn all about it over at the World
Speaker 1: of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious. Yeah,