Speaker 1: Welcomed Aaron Menk's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of iHeartRadio
Speaker 1: and Grim and Mild. Our world is full of the unexplainable,
Speaker 1: and if history is an open book, all of these
Speaker 1: amazing tales are right there on display, just waiting for
Speaker 1: us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. She
Speaker 1: was built for luxury, stability, and speed. The Gilded Age
Speaker 1: might have come crashing down by the nineteen tens, but
Speaker 1: that didn't mean decadence was off the menu. It was
Speaker 1: still very much encouraged for those who could afford it.
Speaker 1: Of course, in the early twentieth century, many shipping companies
Speaker 1: were competing for customers, especially among the leisure class. The
Speaker 1: White Star Line was duking it out with the Cunard
Speaker 1: to see which of their companies could create the most
Speaker 1: luxurious ships, and largely they spared no expense. White Star
Speaker 1: Lines knew Olympic class liners were a thing of beauty
Speaker 1: and decorated to match the most opulent hotels in New
Speaker 1: York and London, so the upper classes wouldn't feel out
Speaker 1: of place. It was now faster than ever to cover
Speaker 1: the distance between England and the United States, particularly New York,
Speaker 1: so the well to do were making the trip more often. Families,
Speaker 1: businessmen and young men heading off on a tour of
Speaker 1: Europe before settling down. All wanted for nothing on these ships.
Speaker 1: They were built to cater to the likes of the vanderbilts,
Speaker 1: Asters and Rockefellers. From the bedrooms to the entertainment on
Speaker 1: the menus, they would only get the best upper class
Speaker 1: Passengers Stepping onto these ships could be greeted by a
Speaker 1: glorious grand staircase beneath the chandelier, or in one case,
Speaker 1: an enormous dome that was lit to give the illusion
Speaker 1: of natural light at all hours. They could promenade, although
Speaker 1: the outdoor temperatures weren't often hospitable for long walks, enjoy
Speaker 1: a swimming pool, Turkish baths, squad courts, and a state
Speaker 1: of the art jim. Crews were meant to stay away
Speaker 1: from passengers unless they were working directly with them. They
Speaker 1: would have enjoyed similar accommodations as steerage and were expected
Speaker 1: to work every day of the week, so they wouldn't
Speaker 1: have spent much time in their rooms. Instead, they were
Speaker 1: at their posts all the time, but surprisingly that's not
Speaker 1: where Charles Jackin was late in the evening on April
Speaker 1: fourteenth when he got the news. Charles was born in
Speaker 1: England in eighteen seventy eight, enjoying the Royal Navy at
Speaker 1: the age of eleven, following family tradition. By nineteen twelve
Speaker 1: he was an experienced sailor and had found a place
Speaker 1: for himself in ship's kitchens as a baker. On this
Speaker 1: particular voyage, he was in charge of a staff of thirteen,
Speaker 1: which included ten bakers, two confectioners, and a vienna baker.
Speaker 1: He had a wife, Louise, and two kids, a daughter,
Speaker 1: Agnes aged four, and Roland aged two. Charles was due
Speaker 1: to earn a monthly wage of about twelve pounds that
Speaker 1: he could use to support his family. At almost a
Speaker 1: thousand pounds, this was one of his highest salaries on board,
Speaker 1: not surprisingly given his experience and responsibilities, which was probably
Speaker 1: why when the Titanic hit that Iceberg that terrible April
Speaker 1: night in nineteen twelve, Charles Jackin jumped into action. Charles
Speaker 1: was in his bunk sleeping, but was woken by the
Speaker 1: collision and ran into the hallway to see what had happened.
Speaker 1: He was immediately confronted with chaos. While the crew tried
Speaker 1: their best to help people who were panicking and terrified,
Speaker 1: Charles sprang into action and began to take control where
Speaker 1: he could. He ordered his bakers to start transporting fifty
Speaker 1: loaves of bread that they already had to the top decks,
Speaker 1: where they were launching the lifeboats. Charles wanted to be
Speaker 1: sure the survivors would have enough food to last until
Speaker 1: they were rescued. As they worked, icy water was streaming
Speaker 1: into the ship, and she was sinking rapidly. Many of
Speaker 1: the men in first class helped their families board the
Speaker 1: lifeboats and then returned to their cabins to dress for
Speaker 1: the occasion. Benjamin Guggenheim reportedly said, we've dressed up in
Speaker 1: our best and are prepared to go down like gentlemen.
Speaker 1: Having given up his seat on the lifeboat, Charles Jackin
Speaker 1: returned to his cabin for a different purpose. He got drunk,
Speaker 1: spectacularly drunk. He worked his way back to the upper
Speaker 1: decks after that and began tossing deck chairs overboard, hoping
Speaker 1: to give the survivors something to float on. Charles donned
Speaker 1: a lifebelt and made his way down to the pantry
Speaker 1: for a quick glass of water before he felt a
Speaker 1: terrific crash. The Titanic had broken in two from the pressure.
Speaker 1: Stumbling to the stern of the ship, he held onto
Speaker 1: the railing and waited. At two twenty in the morning,
Speaker 1: the remaining half of the ship went vertical and disappeared
Speaker 1: into the Atlantic. Charles was probably one of the last
Speaker 1: people still on board as he bobbed into the frigid waters.
Speaker 1: The shock had caused many people to seize up and
Speaker 1: drown as soon as they entered. However, Charles was a
Speaker 1: strong swimmer and began to tread water. He kept going
Speaker 1: for two and a half hours in the darkness. When
Speaker 1: the sun began to rise, he finally found a lifeboat
Speaker 1: and was pulled aboard. Shortly afterwards, the RMS Carpathia arrived
Speaker 1: and rescued the survivors, including and increasingly sober Charles. Thanks
Speaker 1: to the incredible amount of whiskey he imbibed and his
Speaker 1: implacable calm, Charles Jackins survived the sinking of a Titanic
Speaker 1: and lived to serve in the Great War and died
Speaker 1: in nineteen fifty six at the age of seventy eight.
Speaker 1: We've all seen the part of the cop show where
Speaker 1: the suspect is locked in a small room with the
Speaker 1: detectives snickering, thinking he's going to get away with his crime,
Speaker 1: and then before he knows that he's in handcuffs after
Speaker 1: having spilled all of the sort of details to them.
Speaker 1: Television shows and movies don't show how excruciating the confession
Speaker 1: process can be, both for the detectives and the suspects.
Speaker 1: It can require hours of questioning, with tempers and temperatures
Speaker 1: rising for everyone involved. But one woman had an idea
Speaker 1: to not only make it easier to get a confession
Speaker 1: out of someone, but to make it stick, no bones
Speaker 1: about it. Her name was Helene Adelaide Shelby, and on
Speaker 1: August sixteenth of nineteen twenty seven, she filed the patent
Speaker 1: for an apparatus for obtaining criminal confessions and photographically recording them.
Speaker 1: This was a tall order in the days before a
Speaker 1: closed circuit cameras and listening devices were installed in police
Speaker 1: interrogation rooms everywhere, but it turned out to be the
Speaker 1: perfect time to revolutionize the justice system. Big trials like
Speaker 1: the Scopes monkey Trial, which debated the teaching of human
Speaker 1: evolution in Tennessee public schools, as well as the Saco
Speaker 1: Vanzetti murder trial had turned the courtroom into a spectacle,
Speaker 1: and those trials were often disrupted by the suspects themselves,
Speaker 1: who would recant their confessions, later claiming that they were
Speaker 1: taken under durests or intimidation. But Shelby's new invention would
Speaker 1: prevent that, how by altering their state of mind with fear.
Speaker 1: In order for the effect of work, the suspect would
Speaker 1: be locked in a small, dimly lit room by themselves,
Speaker 1: or so they thought. Meanwhile, the detective or examiner would
Speaker 1: sit in an adjacent room out of view of the
Speaker 1: person being questioned. Then they would ask their questions through
Speaker 1: a megaphone in the wall. But this alone wouldn't be
Speaker 1: enough to elicit a confession. For that, Shelby proposed the
Speaker 1: use of a special tool. The examiner would press a
Speaker 1: button on a switchboard, and in the suspect's dark little
Speaker 1: closet chamber, a curtain would rise, revealing a skeleton. This
Speaker 1: skeleton would be lit by electric lights from underneath and above,
Speaker 1: while being draped in delicate, translucent fabric. It was meant
Speaker 1: to give it a ghostly appearance. Thus terrifying the person
Speaker 1: in the room enough to confess their crimes. But what
Speaker 1: really sold the performance were the skeleton's eyes, which were
Speaker 1: made of red light bulbs. They would glow from behind
Speaker 1: the veil, here seeing the soul of the suspect across
Speaker 1: from them, as the examiner continued to ask them questions
Speaker 1: through the speaker embedded in the skeleton's mouth. And to
Speaker 1: top it all off, a film camera would be stalled
Speaker 1: in its skull to capture the picture and audio of
Speaker 1: the confession, preventing the suspect from recanting in the future.
Speaker 1: Shelby believed that if the confession was caught on film,
Speaker 1: it would be easy to go back and look at
Speaker 1: the suspects facial expressions and body language to confirm whether
Speaker 1: or not they were telling the truth. It was a
Speaker 1: revolutionary idea at the time, if not a bit absurd,
Speaker 1: But then again, the CIA tried the same thing in
Speaker 1: the nineteen sixties. Instead of a skeleton, they attempted to
Speaker 1: trick the Cubans into overthrowing Fidel Castro by telling them
Speaker 1: the second coming of Jesus Christ was imminent and that
Speaker 1: Christ hated the dictator. Fear is and has always been
Speaker 1: a powerful motivator, but unfortunately it isn't the best choice
Speaker 1: when dealing with matters of the law. Her ghastly creation
Speaker 1: was not adopted by the police, and it probably wouldn't
Speaker 1: have lasted long anyway. Over thirty years later, coerced confessions
Speaker 1: were deemed inadmissible as evidence by the United States Supreme Court.
Speaker 1: Pauline Shelby did not invent anything else during her lifetime.
Speaker 1: She dabbled in real estate, got married, then even played
Speaker 1: the ponies to some success. But she'll forever be remembered
Speaker 1: as the woman who believed that she could trick the
Speaker 1: average criminal into confessing their deepest, darkest secrets, all with
Speaker 1: the help of some elaborate Halloween decorations. I hope you've
Speaker 1: enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe
Speaker 1: for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the
Speaker 1: show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was
Speaker 1: created by me Aaron Mank in partnership with how Stuff Works.
Speaker 1: I make another award winning show called Lore, which is
Speaker 1: a podcast, book series, and television show, and you can
Speaker 1: learn all about it over at the World of Lore
Speaker 1: dot com. And until next time, stay curious,