Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Benky's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is
Speaker 1: full of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book,
Speaker 1: all of these amazing tales are right there on display,
Speaker 1: just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet
Speaker 1: of Curiosities. The Revolutionary War was not the only major
Speaker 1: conflict between the United States and Britain. After America wanteds independence,
Speaker 1: It's still faced an uphill battle. The British and French
Speaker 1: began imposing harsh economic sanctions on the United States during
Speaker 1: the Napoleonic Wars. The Royal Navy also forced American sailors
Speaker 1: to abandon their ships and serve England instead, a practice
Speaker 1: known as impressment. In retaliation, the US refused to trade
Speaker 1: internationally and act that impacted its own fledgling economy. Average
Speaker 1: Americans were angry as farmers and factory owners were unable
Speaker 1: to sell their wares overseas. On top of all this,
Speaker 1: the tribes of the Western United States were being supported
Speaker 1: by the British against American expansion. It's no wonder that
Speaker 1: in eighteen twelve everything came to a head and led
Speaker 1: to a new war, the aptly named War of eighteen twelve.
Speaker 1: Once again America was up against the British, who now
Speaker 1: had help from the indigenous tribes they were assisting financially,
Speaker 1: and it didn't help that there were still parts of
Speaker 1: the u s that were dependent on the United Kingdom
Speaker 1: for support. The newly independent America had its work cut
Speaker 1: out for it. Two years into the war, while both
Speaker 1: sides were vined for claim of the West, the Royal
Speaker 1: Navy was busy taking over the eastern coastline. A seventy
Speaker 1: four gun ship known as the HMS Bulwark invaded the
Speaker 1: town of Situate, Massachusetts in June of eighteen fourteen. Sayers
Speaker 1: and fishermen from the nearby town of Cohasset formed a
Speaker 1: militia to fight the threat head on. They numbered fewer
Speaker 1: than a hundred, but they were ready. On June six,
Speaker 1: words spread of an attack on Situate Harbor. The Bulwark
Speaker 1: had already sunk several ships with barges full of soldiers
Speaker 1: headed towards the town to bring the fight to land.
Speaker 1: By the time the British reached the harbor, though the
Speaker 1: militia's numbers had grown from ninety four to almost twelve hundred,
Speaker 1: and the British, seeing that they were clearly outnumbered, now
Speaker 1: retreated back to their ship. The battle was over before
Speaker 1: it had even begun, and without a single shot fired.
Speaker 1: Things calmed down for a while after that, and by
Speaker 1: September the militia was not as vigilant as it had
Speaker 1: been over the summer. The British felt the time had
Speaker 1: come for them to try their luck again, and this
Speaker 1: time nobody saw them coming. Another seventy four gun ship
Speaker 1: entered the harbor. Some reports claimed that it was the
Speaker 1: Bulwark back for revenge, while others suggest it was a
Speaker 1: different ship called the Lahog. Meanwhile, in Situate, Simeon Bates
Speaker 1: and his family were attending to the town lighthouse. Bates
Speaker 1: had been made lighthouse keeper in eighteen eleven and had
Speaker 1: lived there with his wife and nine children ever since.
Speaker 1: Simeon was a god fearing man who had served during
Speaker 1: the Revolutionary War years earlier. On the day the British
Speaker 1: ship came to Situate, Simeon and seven of his kids
Speaker 1: were away from the lighthouse. His daughters, Rebecca, who was
Speaker 1: twenty one at the time, and Abigail, seventeen, stayed behind
Speaker 1: with their mother. They looked out on the water and
Speaker 1: saw the ship in the harbor, with smaller boats full
Speaker 1: of British soldiers heading towards shore. Rebecca knew her way
Speaker 1: around a rifle and probably could have picked off one
Speaker 1: or two men from where she sat, but she worried
Speaker 1: the remaining soldiers might destroy the town as payback, and
Speaker 1: the girls were too far away to warn everyone from
Speaker 1: the impending attack. Instead, Abigail and Rebecca decided to fight
Speaker 1: back with something else, entirely music. Rebecca picked up her fife,
Speaker 1: while Abigail fetched her drum, both of which had been
Speaker 1: left behind by some of the militia A men who
Speaker 1: had come to the lighthouse over the summer. They had
Speaker 1: taught the girls how to play several songs during their stay,
Speaker 1: a talent that was about to come in very handy.
Speaker 1: Abigail and Rebecca left the lighthouse on a mission to
Speaker 1: save their town. They found a spot near the harbor
Speaker 1: where they could remain hidden from sight and started playing
Speaker 1: Yankee Doodle as loud as possible. The sounds of the
Speaker 1: fife and the drum build the air. The British heard
Speaker 1: the song as they were approaching the docks, and as
Speaker 1: the girls had hoped, it filled them with dread. The
Speaker 1: men believed the militia had arrived to fight back. Not
Speaker 1: wanting to engage them and risk heavy casualties, the Red
Speaker 1: Coats turned around and rode back to their ship. This
Speaker 1: time it wasn't a homegrown militia that had scared them away.
Speaker 1: It was an American army of two and all it
Speaker 1: had taken to ward off a few hundred troops was
Speaker 1: a fife and a drum, a musical event that gave
Speaker 1: a whole new meaning to the term British invasion. It
Speaker 1: killed King Edward the seventh in although the British weren't
Speaker 1: sure exactly how, they remained convinced the cosmic phenomena had
Speaker 1: something to do with his death, and they also believe
Speaker 1: that it was an omen of an impending German invasion,
Speaker 1: and they weren't the only ones in a state of panic.
Speaker 1: The French swore it had caused the Scent to flood.
Speaker 1: A letter to the Royal Observatory warned the event would
Speaker 1: cause the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans to change basins. South
Speaker 1: and North American forests would be swept away, sharks, whales, ships,
Speaker 1: and houses would go tumbling together across the deserts and
Speaker 1: oceans in a mass of chaos. The events in question
Speaker 1: was Halle's comments a ball of volatile ices and dust
Speaker 1: visible with the naked eye, named after Edmund Halley in
Speaker 1: seventeen fifty eight. The period or short term comets can
Speaker 1: be seen just once every seventy five or seventy six years,
Speaker 1: and in Earth passed through the tail of the comet.
Speaker 1: Scientists using spectroscopic analysis found that the comet contained the
Speaker 1: toxic gas psionogen. In turn, French astronomer Nicolas Camille Flammarion
Speaker 1: claimed that this gas would penetrate the atmosphere and potentially
Speaker 1: snuff out all life as we know it. People panicked,
Speaker 1: they bought gas masks, conmen made a hefty fortune selling
Speaker 1: anti comet pills and anti commet umbrellas. When other world
Speaker 1: astronomers wrote that the gases were so diffused that they
Speaker 1: posed no threat, no one listened. Throughout times, comets have
Speaker 1: caused panic. Ship captains were said to be swayed off course,
Speaker 1: and cultures believed in cause and effect when it came
Speaker 1: to such events. If a war or prominent death followed
Speaker 1: within the year, the comet was an omen a sort
Speaker 1: of hindsight bias, if you will. But in eighteen ten
Speaker 1: people got really creative. In China, people believe the comet
Speaker 1: would cause war and that the dynasty was about to change.
Speaker 1: People didn't open their doors on some days. Others abstained
Speaker 1: from water, fearing that the gases had rained down on
Speaker 1: the earth. The New York Times ran a headline story
Speaker 1: about Flammarion's theory of deadly gas. A single grain of
Speaker 1: the potassium salt from the comet's tail was sufficient to
Speaker 1: cause instant death, according to the paper, though the Times
Speaker 1: also noted that leading scientists disagreed with the French astronomers hypothesis.
Speaker 1: The article caused people to ransacks stores for supplies and
Speaker 1: gas masks. Citizens sealed up keyholes to prevent the gas
Speaker 1: from entering their businesses and homes, and a cult called
Speaker 1: the Sacred Followers in Oklahoma attempted to perform a human
Speaker 1: sacrifice to stop the comet. Fortunately for the young girl involved,
Speaker 1: the police stopped them first. In Texas, two con men
Speaker 1: were arrested for selling sugar as that promised to prevent
Speaker 1: death by comet, but customers stormed the police building and
Speaker 1: despite having been con demanded the men's release. Con artists
Speaker 1: sold anti commets umbrellas to people who were convinced that
Speaker 1: what stopped the rain would surely stop a speeding commet.
Speaker 1: And I'm sure there's a joke in there somewhere about
Speaker 1: a t rex trying to hold up an umbrella, but
Speaker 1: I'll leave that one for you to sort out. In California,
Speaker 1: a religious prospect or nailed his feet and one hand
Speaker 1: to a cross, and, despite the agony, insisted rescuers leave
Speaker 1: him alone. In Georgia, the Atlanta Journal and Constitution claimed
Speaker 1: that the cloud cover had surely saved a lantern's from
Speaker 1: near death. Those who didn't buy into the superstitious hype
Speaker 1: clamored for telescopes and other viewing devices. They purchased tickets
Speaker 1: that allowed them to stand on hotel rooftops to be
Speaker 1: closer to the commet and get a better look. Of course,
Speaker 1: life on earth did not end well. It's up for
Speaker 1: one man who accurately predicted his own death. He'd been
Speaker 1: born right when the comment passed through in eighteen thirty five.
Speaker 1: He jokingly told reporters that God looked at him and
Speaker 1: the comment and said that they'd come in together, and
Speaker 1: they might as well go out together too. At least
Speaker 1: that would be his wish, and uncannily enough, he passed
Speaker 1: away on April one, nineteen ten, when the comment was
Speaker 1: once again passing the Earth and that man Mark Twain.
Speaker 1: I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet
Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn
Speaker 1: more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com.
Speaker 1: The show was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership
Speaker 1: with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show
Speaker 1: called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show,
Speaker 1: and you can learn all about it over at the
Speaker 1: World of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.
Speaker 1: H