1 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:07,480 Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of 2 00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:14,480 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of 3 00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:18,480 Speaker 1: the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all 4 00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:22,639 Speaker 1: of these amazing tales right there on display, just waiting 5 00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:28,880 Speaker 1: for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. 6 00:00:36,680 --> 00:00:39,800 Speaker 1: Comic book fans are familiar with a certain set of phrases, 7 00:00:39,960 --> 00:00:42,800 Speaker 1: often shouted toward the heavens. Look up in the sky. 8 00:00:43,120 --> 00:00:46,559 Speaker 1: It's a bird, it's a plane, it's Superman. But a 9 00:00:46,560 --> 00:00:49,960 Speaker 1: person flying above the clouds was only fiction, right? Something 10 00:00:50,080 --> 00:00:53,000 Speaker 1: like that couldn't happen for real, could it? Just ask 11 00:00:53,080 --> 00:00:56,920 Speaker 1: the people of medieval Ireland. In the seven forties, reports 12 00:00:56,960 --> 00:00:59,720 Speaker 1: began to pour in a bizarre sightings. Beginning in a 13 00:00:59,760 --> 00:01:03,280 Speaker 1: place called Telltown in the northeast. Three ships were spotted 14 00:01:03,280 --> 00:01:06,640 Speaker 1: at a distance, their crews throwing spears over the decks 15 00:01:06,640 --> 00:01:09,520 Speaker 1: to catch fish swimming below. But the ships weren't in 16 00:01:09,600 --> 00:01:14,039 Speaker 1: the water. They were overhead, soaring through the sky. One 17 00:01:14,080 --> 00:01:17,200 Speaker 1: of the spears missed and landed at their feet Onlookers 18 00:01:17,200 --> 00:01:19,520 Speaker 1: watched as a crew member leapt off the deck to 19 00:01:19,560 --> 00:01:22,119 Speaker 1: retrieve it. He swam down through the air as if 20 00:01:22,120 --> 00:01:25,319 Speaker 1: it were water, picked up the errant spear, and swam 21 00:01:25,360 --> 00:01:28,760 Speaker 1: back up to his ship. Over time, these stories changed 22 00:01:28,800 --> 00:01:31,560 Speaker 1: a bit. The three ships became one ship, and then 23 00:01:31,680 --> 00:01:34,920 Speaker 1: a tenth century king was present in some tellings. In 24 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:37,360 Speaker 1: later versions, the spear was picked up by someone on 25 00:01:37,400 --> 00:01:40,200 Speaker 1: the ground who refused to give it back. The crewmate 26 00:01:40,240 --> 00:01:43,200 Speaker 1: who swam down to get it cried, I am being drowned. 27 00:01:43,840 --> 00:01:45,960 Speaker 1: The king then ordered the spear to be returned to 28 00:01:46,040 --> 00:01:47,920 Speaker 1: him so that he could get back onto his ship. 29 00:01:48,520 --> 00:01:50,600 Speaker 1: And we know of these stories today because of the 30 00:01:50,640 --> 00:01:55,040 Speaker 1: Irish Annals, historical records of important events in Irish history. 31 00:01:55,440 --> 00:01:59,080 Speaker 1: Four of these annals contain information about the sky ships 32 00:01:59,120 --> 00:02:02,640 Speaker 1: seen in Telltown. Hundreds of years after the first sighting, 33 00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:07,000 Speaker 1: the tales changed again. Around the fifteenth or sixteenth century, 34 00:02:07,160 --> 00:02:10,799 Speaker 1: a manuscript was published containing a different account of the events. 35 00:02:11,160 --> 00:02:14,000 Speaker 1: They no longer took place in Telltown, but rather at 36 00:02:14,040 --> 00:02:16,720 Speaker 1: a monastery near the center of the country. It was 37 00:02:16,760 --> 00:02:20,960 Speaker 1: called Klonmacnois, and it served as a major educational hub 38 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:25,120 Speaker 1: for the country, teaching different trades and of course, religious doctrine. 39 00:02:25,639 --> 00:02:28,240 Speaker 1: In this iteration of the story, the spear had been 40 00:02:28,320 --> 00:02:30,960 Speaker 1: changed to an anchor, which was dropped from above and 41 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:33,440 Speaker 1: then retrieved by a crewmate who swam down to earth 42 00:02:33,440 --> 00:02:35,600 Speaker 1: to get it back. The priests held on to the 43 00:02:35,639 --> 00:02:38,480 Speaker 1: anchor as the sailor cried that he was drowning, until 44 00:02:38,600 --> 00:02:40,600 Speaker 1: they let it go and he was able to return 45 00:02:40,639 --> 00:02:43,600 Speaker 1: to his ship. And it was this narrative that soon 46 00:02:43,680 --> 00:02:47,320 Speaker 1: left the confines of Ireland and spread throughout England. According 47 00:02:47,320 --> 00:02:50,520 Speaker 1: to Jeffrey de Brul, a twelfth century French abbot, the 48 00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:54,520 Speaker 1: anchor actually landed in London in eleven twenty two. A 49 00:02:54,560 --> 00:02:57,560 Speaker 1: similar version from twelve eleven claimed that the anchor was 50 00:02:57,600 --> 00:03:00,600 Speaker 1: seen among piles of stones in the churchyard. As the 51 00:03:00,600 --> 00:03:03,320 Speaker 1: parishioners watched, the rope that was tied to the anchor 52 00:03:03,560 --> 00:03:06,400 Speaker 1: began moving. It was like an invisible force that was 53 00:03:06,440 --> 00:03:08,400 Speaker 1: trying to rip it out of the ground from above. 54 00:03:09,240 --> 00:03:11,880 Speaker 1: Wouldn't budge. One of the sailors climbed down the rope 55 00:03:11,880 --> 00:03:14,720 Speaker 1: to the ground level and was grabbed by the people nearby. 56 00:03:15,200 --> 00:03:18,000 Speaker 1: He struggled to get away, but died in their custody, 57 00:03:18,280 --> 00:03:22,040 Speaker 1: having drowned by our heavier moisture filled air. And that 58 00:03:22,160 --> 00:03:24,600 Speaker 1: same story would be discovered some time later in a 59 00:03:24,680 --> 00:03:29,760 Speaker 1: Norse compilation of fantastic tales called Irish Marvels. So did 60 00:03:29,760 --> 00:03:32,480 Speaker 1: the people of Ireland really witness a fleet of ships 61 00:03:32,480 --> 00:03:35,560 Speaker 1: traversing the sky? Well, what they saw and what they 62 00:03:35,600 --> 00:03:39,280 Speaker 1: thought they saw were two different things. Some medieval scholars 63 00:03:39,320 --> 00:03:41,440 Speaker 1: believe that there really was a sea to be found 64 00:03:41,480 --> 00:03:44,720 Speaker 1: among the heavens. As described in the Book of Genesis, 65 00:03:45,120 --> 00:03:48,240 Speaker 1: God made the firmament and divided the waters which were 66 00:03:48,320 --> 00:03:51,560 Speaker 1: under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament. 67 00:03:51,880 --> 00:03:53,680 Speaker 1: To many at the time, it made sense that if 68 00:03:53,720 --> 00:03:56,000 Speaker 1: there was a sea on Earth, then there must also 69 00:03:56,040 --> 00:03:59,160 Speaker 1: be one above it as well. It's hard to imagine 70 00:03:59,160 --> 00:04:01,440 Speaker 1: something as large arge as a boat flying through the 71 00:04:01,480 --> 00:04:04,920 Speaker 1: air centuries before the first airplane would take off, but 72 00:04:04,960 --> 00:04:07,800 Speaker 1: it might not be so strange after all. Hundreds of 73 00:04:07,880 --> 00:04:10,440 Speaker 1: years after the first appearance of the Irish sky ships, 74 00:04:10,760 --> 00:04:14,720 Speaker 1: another aircraft was seen, this time over Merkele, Texas. On 75 00:04:14,760 --> 00:04:17,239 Speaker 1: the night of April twenty eighth of eighteen ninety seven, 76 00:04:17,480 --> 00:04:19,479 Speaker 1: A group of people on their way home from church 77 00:04:19,839 --> 00:04:22,800 Speaker 1: watched as an anchor attached to a rope was dragged 78 00:04:22,800 --> 00:04:25,960 Speaker 1: along the ground for miles. It scraped across dirt, and 79 00:04:26,040 --> 00:04:28,760 Speaker 1: gravel until it finally got caught on a section of 80 00:04:28,839 --> 00:04:32,160 Speaker 1: railroad track. As these churchgoers looked up at what the 81 00:04:32,240 --> 00:04:35,800 Speaker 1: rope was attached to, they saw an enormous airship, its 82 00:04:35,839 --> 00:04:39,599 Speaker 1: windows illuminated by light from the inside. In an instant, 83 00:04:39,880 --> 00:04:42,800 Speaker 1: someone from the ship climbed down and cut the anchor 84 00:04:42,839 --> 00:04:45,919 Speaker 1: loose before the vessel took off, The crewmen hanging on 85 00:04:46,080 --> 00:04:49,279 Speaker 1: as he disappeared into the night. According to an article 86 00:04:49,279 --> 00:04:52,480 Speaker 1: printed in the Houston Post shortly thereafter, the anchor was 87 00:04:52,520 --> 00:04:56,000 Speaker 1: put on display in a local blacksmiths shop. Whether these 88 00:04:56,000 --> 00:04:59,960 Speaker 1: stories are true or not is honestly irrelevant. What Madam 89 00:05:00,320 --> 00:05:03,240 Speaker 1: is that when it comes to exploration and the human imagination, 90 00:05:04,080 --> 00:05:21,880 Speaker 1: the sky, as they say, is the limit. When we 91 00:05:21,920 --> 00:05:25,360 Speaker 1: think about affecting change, we often sell ourselves shorts. There's 92 00:05:25,400 --> 00:05:27,719 Speaker 1: a common sentiment shared by many that goes something like, 93 00:05:27,960 --> 00:05:30,360 Speaker 1: I'm only one person? How much can I really do? 94 00:05:30,880 --> 00:05:33,520 Speaker 1: And the reality is one person can make a difference. 95 00:05:33,800 --> 00:05:36,719 Speaker 1: The problem is that difference isn't always best for everyone. 96 00:05:37,120 --> 00:05:40,520 Speaker 1: Few people knew that better than Jay Cook. Cook was 97 00:05:40,520 --> 00:05:43,799 Speaker 1: born in Sandusky, Ohio in eighteen twenty one to wealthy, 98 00:05:43,880 --> 00:05:47,240 Speaker 1: powerful parents. He eventually moved to Philadelphia, where he got 99 00:05:47,279 --> 00:05:50,479 Speaker 1: a job working at the banking firm E. W. Clarkin Company. 100 00:05:50,760 --> 00:05:53,560 Speaker 1: After several years as a clerk, Cook was promoted to 101 00:05:53,600 --> 00:05:57,440 Speaker 1: partner in eighteen forty two. Then he started his own 102 00:05:57,480 --> 00:06:00,320 Speaker 1: banking company just before the start of the Civil War. 103 00:06:00,760 --> 00:06:03,240 Speaker 1: It was so successful the US government went to him 104 00:06:03,279 --> 00:06:06,840 Speaker 1: to borrow money so they could pay for things like uniforms, guns, 105 00:06:06,839 --> 00:06:10,359 Speaker 1: and other necessities. Cook changed the face of banking in 106 00:06:10,400 --> 00:06:13,799 Speaker 1: the United States. He helped establish the national banking system 107 00:06:14,040 --> 00:06:16,800 Speaker 1: and managed to secure a hefty payout for himself through 108 00:06:16,839 --> 00:06:19,840 Speaker 1: the sale of bonds during the war. Then in eighteen 109 00:06:19,960 --> 00:06:22,719 Speaker 1: seventy he branched out of banking and turned the country 110 00:06:22,720 --> 00:06:26,359 Speaker 1: into his own personal monopoly board. He started a railroad. 111 00:06:26,560 --> 00:06:29,880 Speaker 1: Cook provided the financing for the Northern Pacific Railroad, which 112 00:06:29,880 --> 00:06:33,000 Speaker 1: would create a direct line between Minnesota and the West Coast. 113 00:06:33,360 --> 00:06:36,240 Speaker 1: The project had been approved way back in eighteen sixty four, 114 00:06:36,360 --> 00:06:40,679 Speaker 1: but backing for it hadn't really materialized. Cook's contributions really 115 00:06:40,760 --> 00:06:44,760 Speaker 1: jump started construction, which continued until eighteen eighty three. On 116 00:06:44,839 --> 00:06:48,320 Speaker 1: September eighth of that year, former President Ulysses S. Grant 117 00:06:48,600 --> 00:06:51,080 Speaker 1: drove a golden spike into the last piece of track, 118 00:06:51,320 --> 00:06:55,160 Speaker 1: officially marking completion of the railway. Cook and Grant had 119 00:06:55,200 --> 00:06:57,880 Speaker 1: known each other for some time, as the financier had 120 00:06:57,880 --> 00:07:01,320 Speaker 1: donated heavily to his reelection campaign. In eighteen seventy two, 121 00:07:01,680 --> 00:07:05,000 Speaker 1: well three years after construction had begun, Grant ventured to 122 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:08,520 Speaker 1: Cook's massive home in Philadelphia for a visit. It's not 123 00:07:08,600 --> 00:07:10,960 Speaker 1: known what they talked about there, but chances are that 124 00:07:11,040 --> 00:07:13,720 Speaker 1: it wasn't good. One year prior, a letter had been 125 00:07:13,720 --> 00:07:16,520 Speaker 1: published by the banking firm of Lee's and Waller. It 126 00:07:16,600 --> 00:07:19,760 Speaker 1: predicted that a crash of the railroad industry was imminent. 127 00:07:20,480 --> 00:07:23,680 Speaker 1: Railways had become money pits, often rife with fraud and 128 00:07:23,720 --> 00:07:27,320 Speaker 1: pointless construction. Many track systems were laid with no clear 129 00:07:27,360 --> 00:07:30,720 Speaker 1: beginning or end, and Cook's investment bank in New York 130 00:07:31,120 --> 00:07:34,560 Speaker 1: was on the verge of insolvency. He had no recourse. 131 00:07:34,880 --> 00:07:38,360 Speaker 1: The European market was already dealing with its own financial crisis, 132 00:07:38,560 --> 00:07:41,520 Speaker 1: and American investors weren't about to pour their funds into 133 00:07:41,560 --> 00:07:45,240 Speaker 1: his endeavors. Neither was Grant. He'd been implicated a decade 134 00:07:45,280 --> 00:07:48,680 Speaker 1: earlier in several financial debacles that made him hesitant to 135 00:07:48,720 --> 00:07:53,600 Speaker 1: assist Cook. Despite their previous relationship. Three days after their meetup, 136 00:07:53,760 --> 00:07:57,280 Speaker 1: Cook's bank went belly up. Pretty soon everyone back in 137 00:07:57,320 --> 00:07:59,920 Speaker 1: New York heard the news. They mobbed the streets look 138 00:08:00,200 --> 00:08:02,960 Speaker 1: for a way into the building. Police officers were called 139 00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:05,360 Speaker 1: to quell the crowds and keep them from ripping the 140 00:08:05,440 --> 00:08:09,640 Speaker 1: doors off their hinges. People lost everything and found themselves 141 00:08:09,680 --> 00:08:12,760 Speaker 1: in the middle of the first Great Depression, almost sixty 142 00:08:12,840 --> 00:08:15,600 Speaker 1: years before the Crash of nineteen twenty nine, and it 143 00:08:15,640 --> 00:08:19,640 Speaker 1: was all thanks to Jay Cook. Even Wall Street shut 144 00:08:19,680 --> 00:08:23,040 Speaker 1: down completely, with the New York Stock Exchange suspending trading 145 00:08:23,080 --> 00:08:26,480 Speaker 1: for the first time ever. Grant considered funding a bailout 146 00:08:26,480 --> 00:08:30,200 Speaker 1: of the Treasury Department, but ultimately decided against it. The 147 00:08:30,240 --> 00:08:33,840 Speaker 1: Northern Pacific, though somehow managed to survive. A series of 148 00:08:33,920 --> 00:08:37,240 Speaker 1: austerity measures had been initiated prior to the crash, and 149 00:08:37,360 --> 00:08:41,000 Speaker 1: loans from other financiers helped keep the project alive. This 150 00:08:41,160 --> 00:08:44,320 Speaker 1: crisis was known as the Panic of eighteen seventy three, 151 00:08:44,640 --> 00:08:46,760 Speaker 1: and it led to the disillusion of over one hundred 152 00:08:46,760 --> 00:08:50,680 Speaker 1: and twenty railroads, the loss of eighteen thousand businesses, and 153 00:08:50,760 --> 00:08:54,800 Speaker 1: the bankruptcy of countless investors, and it lasted for more 154 00:08:54,840 --> 00:08:57,800 Speaker 1: than five years. Among the first groups hit by the 155 00:08:57,840 --> 00:09:01,160 Speaker 1: panic were formerly enslaved Americas who had had their life 156 00:09:01,200 --> 00:09:04,959 Speaker 1: savings stored at the Freedman Savings Bank. It also went under, 157 00:09:05,160 --> 00:09:09,160 Speaker 1: costing thousands of African American men and women everything they had. 158 00:09:09,880 --> 00:09:12,440 Speaker 1: No one was safe from the panic, either from the 159 00:09:12,520 --> 00:09:16,320 Speaker 1: poor and uneducated to the rich and cultured. Everyone stood 160 00:09:16,320 --> 00:09:19,560 Speaker 1: to lose something or everything as a result of one 161 00:09:19,600 --> 00:09:23,320 Speaker 1: man's greed. Because of Jay Cook, unemployment rose to a 162 00:09:23,360 --> 00:09:27,520 Speaker 1: whopping fourteen percent across the country, although some areas saw 163 00:09:27,600 --> 00:09:31,319 Speaker 1: even worse. Veterans were tossed into the streets, while men 164 00:09:31,400 --> 00:09:34,600 Speaker 1: like Cook found ways to regain their wealth. He made 165 00:09:34,600 --> 00:09:37,080 Speaker 1: his money back by investing in a silver mine out 166 00:09:37,080 --> 00:09:40,680 Speaker 1: in Utah before dying in nineteen oh five. Jay Cook 167 00:09:40,800 --> 00:09:43,600 Speaker 1: was a ruthless business man, and he was almost solely 168 00:09:43,640 --> 00:09:46,800 Speaker 1: responsible for the first and probably one of the worst 169 00:09:46,920 --> 00:09:55,199 Speaker 1: depressions that the United States has ever seen. I hope 170 00:09:55,240 --> 00:09:58,560 Speaker 1: you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. 171 00:09:58,880 --> 00:10:02,000 Speaker 1: Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about 172 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:06,559 Speaker 1: the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show 173 00:10:06,800 --> 00:10:10,040 Speaker 1: was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how 174 00:10:10,120 --> 00:10:13,720 Speaker 1: stuff works. I make another award winning show called Lore, 175 00:10:13,960 --> 00:10:17,560 Speaker 1: which is a podcast, book series, and television show and 176 00:10:17,640 --> 00:10:20,240 Speaker 1: you can learn all about it over at the worldolore 177 00:10:20,520 --> 00:10:26,040 Speaker 1: dot com. And until next time, stay curious.