1 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:07,440 Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of 2 00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:09,320 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. 3 00:00:12,840 --> 00:00:16,840 Speaker 2: Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history 4 00:00:17,040 --> 00:00:20,280 Speaker 2: is an open book, all of these amazing tales are 5 00:00:20,320 --> 00:00:23,720 Speaker 2: right there on display, just waiting for us to explore. 6 00:00:25,239 --> 00:00:37,200 Speaker 2: Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. They say, a story 7 00:00:37,280 --> 00:00:40,320 Speaker 2: changes with the storyteller, and few tales have had more 8 00:00:40,400 --> 00:00:44,159 Speaker 2: revisions than that of James Jesse Strang, the self declared 9 00:00:44,280 --> 00:00:47,479 Speaker 2: King of Beaver Island. Depending on who you ask, James 10 00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:51,279 Speaker 2: was either a prophet, a tyrant, a genius, or a madman. 11 00:00:51,600 --> 00:00:53,519 Speaker 2: But what's certain is that he carved out one of 12 00:00:53,560 --> 00:00:58,480 Speaker 2: the strangest footnotes in American history. Life for James started 13 00:00:58,520 --> 00:00:59,880 Speaker 2: out conventionally enough. 14 00:01:00,080 --> 00:01:03,160 Speaker 1: Born in upstate New York in eighteen thirteen, he spent 15 00:01:03,240 --> 00:01:06,240 Speaker 1: time as a lawyer, a newspaper editor, and even as 16 00:01:06,280 --> 00:01:09,399 Speaker 1: a Baptist minister. But in eighteen forty four he found 17 00:01:09,440 --> 00:01:12,360 Speaker 1: something calling him in the words of a brand new religion. 18 00:01:12,720 --> 00:01:16,440 Speaker 1: Following the words of founder Joseph Smith, he converted to Mormonism, 19 00:01:16,600 --> 00:01:19,119 Speaker 1: a faith that was just fourteen years old at the time. 20 00:01:19,880 --> 00:01:23,080 Speaker 1: Later that year, On June twenty seventh of eighteen forty four, 21 00:01:23,480 --> 00:01:26,480 Speaker 1: Joseph Smith was killed by an angry mob, leaving the 22 00:01:26,560 --> 00:01:29,840 Speaker 1: Church of Latter day Saints leaderless. Many members threw their 23 00:01:29,840 --> 00:01:32,920 Speaker 1: heat into the ring to lead the religion, including James 24 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:36,520 Speaker 1: Jesse Strang. James actually claimed that Smith had named him 25 00:01:36,560 --> 00:01:39,160 Speaker 1: his successor in a letter. Of course, this was a 26 00:01:39,240 --> 00:01:42,360 Speaker 1: letter that he only revealed the existence of after Smith 27 00:01:42,480 --> 00:01:46,080 Speaker 1: was gone, So most Mormons decided to follow a different leader, 28 00:01:46,200 --> 00:01:48,800 Speaker 1: a guy named Brigham Young. While Brigham Young led the 29 00:01:48,840 --> 00:01:51,560 Speaker 1: majority of the church west to Salt Lake City, Utah, 30 00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:54,960 Speaker 1: James split off with his own faction. He claimed an 31 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:57,520 Speaker 1: angel came to him in the night, showing him what 32 00:01:57,600 --> 00:02:01,040 Speaker 1: he called a land amidst wide water and covered with 33 00:02:01,160 --> 00:02:04,960 Speaker 1: large timber. In eighteen forty eight, he led his followers 34 00:02:04,960 --> 00:02:08,920 Speaker 1: to Beaver Island, a remote, force covered outpost in northern 35 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:12,520 Speaker 1: Lake Michigan, and there, in an audacious mix of prophecy 36 00:02:12,600 --> 00:02:16,160 Speaker 1: and pageantry, he donned a crown, a scepter, and robes 37 00:02:16,240 --> 00:02:19,320 Speaker 1: and declared himself King of the Kingdom of God and 38 00:02:19,400 --> 00:02:22,960 Speaker 1: the Earth. The island quickly became a stronghold of James's 39 00:02:22,960 --> 00:02:27,280 Speaker 1: particular sect of Mormonism. He banned alcohol, enforced religious laws, 40 00:02:27,320 --> 00:02:31,560 Speaker 1: and punished descent. He declared all the Nishannabag, Native Americans 41 00:02:31,639 --> 00:02:34,960 Speaker 1: and Irish settlers who were living there to convert or flee, 42 00:02:35,160 --> 00:02:38,200 Speaker 1: and by eighteen fifty two most of them were gone. 43 00:02:38,800 --> 00:02:41,800 Speaker 1: James quickly found that, as a newly minted king, his 44 00:02:41,919 --> 00:02:45,360 Speaker 1: crown was already starting to gain enemies. Locals accused the 45 00:02:45,360 --> 00:02:48,440 Speaker 1: Mormons of theft and threats of violence. Many claimed the 46 00:02:48,440 --> 00:02:52,079 Speaker 1: Mormons were pirates, luring merchant vessels crossing Lake Michigan to 47 00:02:52,200 --> 00:02:55,960 Speaker 1: shore before plundering their cargo. Whether this was true or 48 00:02:56,040 --> 00:02:59,959 Speaker 1: merely a result of anti Mormon rumors isn't even clear today. 49 00:03:00,120 --> 00:03:03,840 Speaker 1: What was clear was that James was not a beloved monarch. 50 00:03:04,480 --> 00:03:07,880 Speaker 1: US President Millard Fillmore, alarmed by the stories about the 51 00:03:07,880 --> 00:03:12,560 Speaker 1: Beaver Island King, dispatched his Attorney general to investigate James's sect. 52 00:03:12,680 --> 00:03:16,720 Speaker 1: In eighteen fifty three, James successfully defended himself in court 53 00:03:16,760 --> 00:03:21,080 Speaker 1: against federal charges of counterfeiting, theft, and treason, gaining himself 54 00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:24,600 Speaker 1: a lot of positive name recognition After he won his trial, 55 00:03:24,880 --> 00:03:28,360 Speaker 1: he parlayed this good press into political power, gaining a 56 00:03:28,400 --> 00:03:32,360 Speaker 1: seat in the Michigan state legislature, and still this wasn't 57 00:03:32,480 --> 00:03:35,560 Speaker 1: enough to keep James in the public's good graces. Tensions 58 00:03:35,560 --> 00:03:39,440 Speaker 1: grew especially high after James embraced polygamy after years of 59 00:03:39,480 --> 00:03:42,800 Speaker 1: denouncing it. In fact, James's support of monogamous marriage had 60 00:03:42,840 --> 00:03:45,280 Speaker 1: been one of the original reasons why so many of 61 00:03:45,280 --> 00:03:48,720 Speaker 1: his congregation had chosen to follow him over Brigham Young, 62 00:03:48,840 --> 00:03:52,360 Speaker 1: who had fifty wives. There were other rumors about why 63 00:03:52,480 --> 00:03:55,960 Speaker 1: James was unpopular, from firing a cannon into a crowd 64 00:03:55,960 --> 00:04:00,480 Speaker 1: of Irish settlers, to animal sacrifices and stealing followers wives. 65 00:04:00,800 --> 00:04:03,560 Speaker 1: In many of these tales, the legend may be taller 66 00:04:03,600 --> 00:04:05,600 Speaker 1: than the man, but there was no evidence that he 67 00:04:05,680 --> 00:04:08,480 Speaker 1: did any of these things. But the rumors spread nonetheless, 68 00:04:08,680 --> 00:04:12,240 Speaker 1: and some of his followers began to push back. James's 69 00:04:12,280 --> 00:04:16,200 Speaker 1: rule unraveled in eighteen fifty six after ordering the public 70 00:04:16,240 --> 00:04:18,880 Speaker 1: flogging of two dissenters, one of them, a man named 71 00:04:18,880 --> 00:04:23,080 Speaker 1: Thomas Bedford, plotted his revenge. On June twentieth, Bedford and 72 00:04:23,120 --> 00:04:26,479 Speaker 1: two accomplices ambushed James on a dock as he was 73 00:04:26,520 --> 00:04:28,880 Speaker 1: preparing to board a ship. They shot him in the 74 00:04:28,920 --> 00:04:31,680 Speaker 1: back while the ships captain and crew stood by. The 75 00:04:31,720 --> 00:04:35,640 Speaker 1: assassins fled to nearby Mackinaw Island, where they were celebrated 76 00:04:35,839 --> 00:04:40,479 Speaker 1: rather than jailed. Strang lingered for weeks, paralyzed and in pain, 77 00:04:40,800 --> 00:04:44,279 Speaker 1: before dying on July ninth. Without their king, his followers 78 00:04:44,279 --> 00:04:47,919 Speaker 1: had no protection. Within days, a mob from the mainland 79 00:04:47,960 --> 00:04:53,720 Speaker 1: invaded Beaver Island, burning homes and forcibly evicting every last Mormon. Today, 80 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:57,680 Speaker 1: Beaver Island is a peaceful tourist spot. Few visitors realized 81 00:04:57,720 --> 00:05:00,000 Speaker 1: that it was once the seat of an American monarch. 82 00:05:00,600 --> 00:05:04,640 Speaker 1: As for James Jesse strang his story remains a slippery one, 83 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:08,279 Speaker 1: half legend, half history, shaped by those who loved him 84 00:05:08,600 --> 00:05:11,640 Speaker 1: and by those who didn't. Looking back, the legend of 85 00:05:11,680 --> 00:05:14,760 Speaker 1: the Mormon King of Beaver Island has some truth to it, 86 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:18,479 Speaker 1: but there's no denying that it's definitely a little strang. 87 00:05:31,880 --> 00:05:34,920 Speaker 1: Ever since the dawn of aviation, human pilots have had 88 00:05:34,920 --> 00:05:38,440 Speaker 1: to face an unshakable reality. Although aircraft may be the 89 00:05:38,520 --> 00:05:41,159 Speaker 1: biggest thing in the sky, they aren't the only ones. 90 00:05:41,480 --> 00:05:44,600 Speaker 1: If you've ever spent any time reading about airplane hazards, 91 00:05:44,800 --> 00:05:47,320 Speaker 1: you may have heard the term bird strike. It means 92 00:05:47,440 --> 00:05:50,159 Speaker 1: exactly what it sounds like when a bird collides with 93 00:05:50,200 --> 00:05:53,960 Speaker 1: a plane, doing some degree of damage and forcing a landing. 94 00:05:54,920 --> 00:05:58,360 Speaker 1: They're relatively rare these days, but still a present concern 95 00:05:58,520 --> 00:06:02,479 Speaker 1: among the designers of airplane. For that reason, manufacturers test 96 00:06:02,600 --> 00:06:05,599 Speaker 1: rigorously to make sure that their planes are as resistant 97 00:06:05,640 --> 00:06:09,520 Speaker 1: as possible to encounters with birds at extremely high speeds. 98 00:06:10,040 --> 00:06:12,120 Speaker 1: When a plane is built, it will be taken to 99 00:06:12,200 --> 00:06:15,599 Speaker 1: a facility that has a chicken gun, an air powered 100 00:06:15,640 --> 00:06:19,799 Speaker 1: cannon that fires boneless chickens at stationary aircraft to simulate 101 00:06:19,839 --> 00:06:23,240 Speaker 1: a bird strike, because chickens have higher bone density than 102 00:06:23,279 --> 00:06:26,240 Speaker 1: most high altitude birds. If the hull of an airplane 103 00:06:26,320 --> 00:06:30,120 Speaker 1: can resist this weapon, it is deemed safe to fly. However, 104 00:06:30,440 --> 00:06:34,200 Speaker 1: some aerial hazards are too esoteric to plant for as 105 00:06:34,360 --> 00:06:37,839 Speaker 1: one test pilot found out in nineteen fifty six. The 106 00:06:37,880 --> 00:06:41,360 Speaker 1: pilot's name was Thomas Atridge. He was employed to test 107 00:06:41,400 --> 00:06:44,840 Speaker 1: the combat capabilities of the new Grooman F eleven Tiger 108 00:06:44,960 --> 00:06:48,599 Speaker 1: jet engine. It was a plane capable of supersonic speeds, 109 00:06:48,839 --> 00:06:52,040 Speaker 1: flying faster than seven hundred and fifty miles per hour, 110 00:06:52,400 --> 00:06:56,240 Speaker 1: a speed designated as mock I. Nobody had ever engaged 111 00:06:56,240 --> 00:06:59,520 Speaker 1: in aerial combat while flying this fast. They didn't even 112 00:06:59,600 --> 00:07:02,839 Speaker 1: know if it was possible. Atridge took the plane out 113 00:07:02,880 --> 00:07:06,200 Speaker 1: over the Atlantic, bound for a designated firing range. His 114 00:07:06,240 --> 00:07:09,720 Speaker 1: altitude was twenty thousand feet. The plane's four guns were 115 00:07:09,760 --> 00:07:12,800 Speaker 1: loaded with dummy rounds, and as planned, he turned into 116 00:07:12,880 --> 00:07:16,240 Speaker 1: a dive, descending to thirteen thousand feet and firing a 117 00:07:16,360 --> 00:07:19,520 Speaker 1: four second burst with the plane's guns. He paused for 118 00:07:19,560 --> 00:07:22,120 Speaker 1: a few seconds, and then he dove again, emptying the 119 00:07:22,160 --> 00:07:25,320 Speaker 1: guns as he went. So far, everything was going smoothly, 120 00:07:25,720 --> 00:07:29,120 Speaker 1: but when he reached seven thousand feet, everything went wrong. 121 00:07:29,600 --> 00:07:33,080 Speaker 1: The windshield cracked and then it shattered. The plane started 122 00:07:33,080 --> 00:07:37,320 Speaker 1: losing power, its engines stuttering. Atridge did his best to 123 00:07:37,400 --> 00:07:40,120 Speaker 1: maintain a level head. He reduced the speed to two 124 00:07:40,240 --> 00:07:42,960 Speaker 1: hundred and thirty miles per hour, turning the plane back 125 00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:45,880 Speaker 1: toward the groom in Factory. The engine was weakening with 126 00:07:45,960 --> 00:07:48,600 Speaker 1: each passing minute, and he had to hold the windshield 127 00:07:48,600 --> 00:07:50,960 Speaker 1: in place with one of his hands while he flew. 128 00:07:51,600 --> 00:07:54,280 Speaker 1: Aside from the very obvious damage to the glass, there 129 00:07:54,280 --> 00:07:56,680 Speaker 1: appeared to be a hole near the engine, but he 130 00:07:56,720 --> 00:07:59,920 Speaker 1: couldn't tell what had caused it. The jet continued slowing 131 00:08:00,240 --> 00:08:03,000 Speaker 1: before finally stalling out more than a mile short of 132 00:08:03,040 --> 00:08:06,120 Speaker 1: his landing zone, the plane caught fire and plummeted the 133 00:08:06,120 --> 00:08:09,560 Speaker 1: rest of the way into a crash landing Atridge was 134 00:08:09,640 --> 00:08:12,160 Speaker 1: severely injured in the crash, but he managed to pull 135 00:08:12,240 --> 00:08:15,040 Speaker 1: himself free of the wreckage. The mechanics were left to 136 00:08:15,080 --> 00:08:18,200 Speaker 1: determine what had happened to cause the plane to falter 137 00:08:18,360 --> 00:08:21,680 Speaker 1: so suddenly, but the answer was simple. It was the 138 00:08:21,760 --> 00:08:25,560 Speaker 1: dummy rounds from the F eleven's guns. You see. Atridge 139 00:08:25,600 --> 00:08:28,840 Speaker 1: had opened fire while in a downward dive, just as instructed, 140 00:08:28,920 --> 00:08:32,160 Speaker 1: and the bullets had slowed due to intense wind resistance. 141 00:08:32,480 --> 00:08:35,280 Speaker 1: By the time he reached seven thousand feet, he was 142 00:08:35,320 --> 00:08:38,200 Speaker 1: traveling at well over eight hundred miles per hour, and 143 00:08:38,240 --> 00:08:41,000 Speaker 1: the bullets that he had fired were traveling closer to 144 00:08:41,080 --> 00:08:44,120 Speaker 1: four hundred, So the jet had caught up with its 145 00:08:44,120 --> 00:08:47,520 Speaker 1: own bullets, running face first into a handful of non 146 00:08:47,679 --> 00:08:52,199 Speaker 1: lethal but still very solid projectiles. The US Air Force 147 00:08:52,360 --> 00:08:54,800 Speaker 1: did wind up using the groom in F eleven Tiger 148 00:08:54,880 --> 00:08:58,240 Speaker 1: in the late nineteen fifties and early sixties. After its 149 00:08:58,280 --> 00:09:01,079 Speaker 1: retirement as a fighter jet, it would be employed by 150 00:09:01,080 --> 00:09:04,000 Speaker 1: the Blue Angels for aerial performances throughout the rest of 151 00:09:04,040 --> 00:09:07,800 Speaker 1: the nineteen sixties, all at all a relatively short career 152 00:09:07,840 --> 00:09:11,600 Speaker 1: for a fighter jet, quickly surpassed by subsequent models. In 153 00:09:11,640 --> 00:09:15,559 Speaker 1: a way, you could say this aircraft peaked early. After all, 154 00:09:15,600 --> 00:09:18,320 Speaker 1: the F eleven Tiger is the first, and to date, 155 00:09:18,400 --> 00:09:22,600 Speaker 1: the only aircraft that has ever managed to shoot itself down. 156 00:09:26,640 --> 00:09:29,320 Speaker 1: I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet 157 00:09:29,360 --> 00:09:33,240 Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn 158 00:09:33,280 --> 00:09:37,719 Speaker 1: more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. 159 00:09:37,880 --> 00:09:41,440 Speaker 1: The show was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership 160 00:09:41,480 --> 00:09:44,800 Speaker 1: with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show 161 00:09:44,880 --> 00:09:48,960 Speaker 1: called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show, 162 00:09:49,200 --> 00:09:51,040 Speaker 1: and you can learn all about it over at the 163 00:09:51,280 --> 00:09:57,720 Speaker 1: Worldoflore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.