1 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:07,480 Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Menke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of 2 00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:14,440 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 00:00:36,720 --> 00:00:40,960 Speaker 1: History is everywhere in the ground, in our landscape, even 7 00:00:41,040 --> 00:00:44,480 Speaker 1: in our skin. That was the lesson Adrian target hoped 8 00:00:44,520 --> 00:00:47,760 Speaker 1: to impart to his newest class project. The forty two 9 00:00:47,800 --> 00:00:49,960 Speaker 1: year old teacher had been looking for a way to 10 00:00:50,040 --> 00:00:53,120 Speaker 1: immerse his students in the history of the local area. 11 00:00:53,240 --> 00:00:56,080 Speaker 1: He'd spent his entire life in the sleepy county of 12 00:00:56,120 --> 00:00:59,480 Speaker 1: Somerset in England, and had long ago given himself over 13 00:00:59,520 --> 00:01:03,080 Speaker 1: to its rustic charms. But his student's eyes glazed over 14 00:01:03,360 --> 00:01:05,720 Speaker 1: whenever he told them that their home was the birthplace 15 00:01:05,800 --> 00:01:08,559 Speaker 1: of cheddar cheese, or that it laid claim to Great 16 00:01:08,560 --> 00:01:12,280 Speaker 1: Britain's oldest road. As much as these facts fascinated him, 17 00:01:12,600 --> 00:01:16,640 Speaker 1: engaging younger minds required something a bit more personal, and 18 00:01:16,680 --> 00:01:20,280 Speaker 1: that's when the perfect opportunity fell into his lap. In 19 00:01:20,319 --> 00:01:23,120 Speaker 1: the spring of nineteen ninety seven, mister Target learned that 20 00:01:23,160 --> 00:01:26,200 Speaker 1: a documentary film crew was in the area, dredging up 21 00:01:26,240 --> 00:01:29,679 Speaker 1: a century old mystery for a new television show. It 22 00:01:29,760 --> 00:01:32,880 Speaker 1: was a story that he knew well ninety four years before. 23 00:01:33,240 --> 00:01:35,760 Speaker 1: The skeleton of a young man had been discovered in 24 00:01:35,840 --> 00:01:40,039 Speaker 1: nearby Cheddar Gorge. Damage to the skull suggested a violent death, 25 00:01:40,319 --> 00:01:42,560 Speaker 1: but due to the advanced state of decay, it was 26 00:01:42,600 --> 00:01:46,760 Speaker 1: difficult to discern much more. The man's name was still unknown. 27 00:01:47,120 --> 00:01:50,880 Speaker 1: Around Summrset, people called him cheddar Man, after the area 28 00:01:50,920 --> 00:01:54,480 Speaker 1: where he'd been found. The mystery of his death remained unsolved, 29 00:01:54,720 --> 00:01:59,400 Speaker 1: but the documentary filmmakers hoped to change that. Using new techniques, 30 00:01:59,560 --> 00:02:03,080 Speaker 1: they manage to extract DNA samples from the skeleton's molar. 31 00:02:03,560 --> 00:02:06,760 Speaker 1: Then they posted ads around the local area asking for 32 00:02:06,840 --> 00:02:10,640 Speaker 1: volunteers to send their own samples in for comparison. It 33 00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:14,040 Speaker 1: was a long shot, but the filmmakers thought Cheddarman might 34 00:02:14,080 --> 00:02:17,600 Speaker 1: still have relatives living in the area. Finding those relatives 35 00:02:17,639 --> 00:02:20,840 Speaker 1: could transform the case and offer new insights into the 36 00:02:20,880 --> 00:02:24,680 Speaker 1: dead man's history. For mister Target, that was the perfect 37 00:02:24,680 --> 00:02:27,120 Speaker 1: way to get his class involved in a local legend. 38 00:02:27,480 --> 00:02:30,320 Speaker 1: He showed them how to gather DNA samples by scraping 39 00:02:30,360 --> 00:02:33,160 Speaker 1: flakes of skin from their cheeks, and then mailed the 40 00:02:33,200 --> 00:02:36,600 Speaker 1: samples to the filmmakers. It didn't take long to get 41 00:02:36,600 --> 00:02:40,720 Speaker 1: a reply. The results were surprising. Cheddarman was not related 42 00:02:40,760 --> 00:02:43,720 Speaker 1: to any of mister Target's students, but he was a 43 00:02:43,720 --> 00:02:47,960 Speaker 1: close genetic match for mister Target himself. The pair shared 44 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:51,320 Speaker 1: a common ancestor through their maternal line, and this meant 45 00:02:51,360 --> 00:02:55,160 Speaker 1: that mister Target was likely a direct descendant of Cheddarman's 46 00:02:55,200 --> 00:02:58,760 Speaker 1: mother or grandmother. As you can imagine, for a middle 47 00:02:58,760 --> 00:03:01,959 Speaker 1: aged teacher, this was a startling discovery. He had known 48 00:03:02,040 --> 00:03:04,960 Speaker 1: Cheddarman's story all his life, but he never guessed that 49 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:08,000 Speaker 1: he had such a close connection to the skeleton, and 50 00:03:08,320 --> 00:03:12,680 Speaker 1: more discoveries soon followed. Modern analysis of the skeleton showed 51 00:03:12,680 --> 00:03:15,280 Speaker 1: that Cheddarman had died in his twenties and that the 52 00:03:15,360 --> 00:03:18,560 Speaker 1: damage to the skull was probably caused by disease, not 53 00:03:18,720 --> 00:03:22,240 Speaker 1: blunt trauma. In other words, he wasn't murdered after all, 54 00:03:22,520 --> 00:03:26,280 Speaker 1: And years later, DNA analysis allowed experts to reconstruct what 55 00:03:26,400 --> 00:03:29,840 Speaker 1: Cheddarman even looked like. They produced a lifelike three D 56 00:03:29,960 --> 00:03:34,960 Speaker 1: printed bust, complete with hair and silicone skin in twenty eighteen, 57 00:03:35,160 --> 00:03:38,080 Speaker 1: mister Target encountered that bust for the first time while 58 00:03:38,160 --> 00:03:41,880 Speaker 1: visiting a local newspaper agency doing a story on Cheddarman. 59 00:03:42,280 --> 00:03:44,640 Speaker 1: It was his first time coming face to face with 60 00:03:44,720 --> 00:03:48,200 Speaker 1: his dead relative, an unnerving experience, to say the least. 61 00:03:48,520 --> 00:03:52,000 Speaker 1: Despite their connection, the pair didn't look all that similar. 62 00:03:52,560 --> 00:03:55,840 Speaker 1: The retired history teacher, now in his sixties, was white 63 00:03:55,840 --> 00:04:00,920 Speaker 1: with rugged, classically British features. Cheddarman had dark skin, apache beard, 64 00:04:01,240 --> 00:04:05,000 Speaker 1: and pale blue eyes, the only visible feature that they shared. 65 00:04:05,400 --> 00:04:09,120 Speaker 1: And yet mister Target couldn't help but feel a powerful connection. 66 00:04:09,840 --> 00:04:13,520 Speaker 1: He'd been given the extraordinarily rare opportunity to look into 67 00:04:13,560 --> 00:04:18,040 Speaker 1: the eyes of a distant ancestor. Because while Cheddarmans skeleton 68 00:04:18,160 --> 00:04:21,280 Speaker 1: was discovered in nineteen oh three, the remains were much 69 00:04:21,320 --> 00:04:24,520 Speaker 1: older than that. The man had lived and died around 70 00:04:24,600 --> 00:04:28,159 Speaker 1: eight thousand BCE. To this day, his remains are the 71 00:04:28,240 --> 00:04:33,119 Speaker 1: oldest complete modern human skeleton ever found in Britain, which 72 00:04:33,120 --> 00:04:36,320 Speaker 1: means that mister Target's family had lived in the area 73 00:04:36,400 --> 00:04:39,280 Speaker 1: for far longer than anyone could have guessed. And when 74 00:04:39,279 --> 00:04:42,120 Speaker 1: the teacher looked Cheddarman in the eyes, he wasn't just 75 00:04:42,240 --> 00:04:45,320 Speaker 1: meeting a relative for the first time. He was staring 76 00:04:45,400 --> 00:05:03,039 Speaker 1: into the face of history. It was another busy day 77 00:05:03,120 --> 00:05:06,680 Speaker 1: at Macy's department store in New York City. The depression 78 00:05:06,760 --> 00:05:09,400 Speaker 1: had put a damper on the usual crowds that flocked 79 00:05:09,400 --> 00:05:12,760 Speaker 1: to the Herald Square stalwart, but by the mid nineteen thirties, 80 00:05:12,800 --> 00:05:15,440 Speaker 1: the people had begun to come back, and so had 81 00:05:15,680 --> 00:05:20,000 Speaker 1: the pickpockets. As the shoppers crowded the perfumed apartment, a 82 00:05:20,040 --> 00:05:23,400 Speaker 1: young woman started screaming. A man had snatched her purse, 83 00:05:23,640 --> 00:05:27,440 Speaker 1: and she was shouting for somebody, anybody, to stop him. 84 00:05:27,600 --> 00:05:30,320 Speaker 1: The thief tried to disappear into the crowd, but a 85 00:05:30,320 --> 00:05:33,560 Speaker 1: firm hand grabbed him by the shoulder. He whirled around 86 00:05:33,600 --> 00:05:36,599 Speaker 1: to find a middle aged woman in a summary dress 87 00:05:36,680 --> 00:05:40,120 Speaker 1: and large, broad brimmed hat. She looked, for all intents 88 00:05:40,120 --> 00:05:43,080 Speaker 1: and purposes, like a middle class housewife out on a 89 00:05:43,120 --> 00:05:45,920 Speaker 1: shopping trip. Or at least she would have if it 90 00:05:45,960 --> 00:05:49,039 Speaker 1: weren't for the revolver in her hand pointed straight at 91 00:05:49,040 --> 00:05:52,400 Speaker 1: his heart. Instead of finding an easy payday, the thief 92 00:05:52,440 --> 00:05:55,400 Speaker 1: had run a foul of dead shop Mary, the Scourge 93 00:05:55,760 --> 00:05:59,440 Speaker 1: of the NYPD. Mary's life might read like a hard 94 00:05:59,480 --> 00:06:03,039 Speaker 1: boiled detective novel, but it hadn't started that way. Born 95 00:06:03,160 --> 00:06:06,640 Speaker 1: Mary Shanley in eighteen ninety six in Ireland, Mary and 96 00:06:06,720 --> 00:06:09,160 Speaker 1: her family immigrated to New York City in the early 97 00:06:09,279 --> 00:06:13,279 Speaker 1: days of the twentieth century. Mary was a loud, opinionated, 98 00:06:13,560 --> 00:06:16,719 Speaker 1: and fearless woman, meaning that she struggled to fit into 99 00:06:16,800 --> 00:06:19,640 Speaker 1: New York society. She finally found her place at the 100 00:06:19,680 --> 00:06:22,159 Speaker 1: age of thirty five when she became one of the 101 00:06:22,160 --> 00:06:25,039 Speaker 1: few women to join the New York Police Department. In 102 00:06:25,160 --> 00:06:29,160 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty one. Mary started out on the pickpocket squad. 103 00:06:29,400 --> 00:06:31,960 Speaker 1: Each morning, she dressed in playing clothes of a middle 104 00:06:31,960 --> 00:06:35,440 Speaker 1: class shopper and wandered the streets, monitoring the crowds in 105 00:06:35,480 --> 00:06:39,159 Speaker 1: department stores, theaters, and train stations. She kept an eye 106 00:06:39,160 --> 00:06:43,040 Speaker 1: out for suspicious characters looking to steal purses or shoplift. 107 00:06:43,640 --> 00:06:47,400 Speaker 1: Other days, Mary might go undercover to doctor's offices or 108 00:06:47,480 --> 00:06:51,120 Speaker 1: private chapels. She was looking out for criminals taking advantage 109 00:06:51,120 --> 00:06:54,479 Speaker 1: of women, like crooked doctors or people who issued fake 110 00:06:54,560 --> 00:06:58,640 Speaker 1: marriage licenses. One of her foremost duties, though, was taking 111 00:06:58,680 --> 00:07:01,920 Speaker 1: down fortune tellers, whose trade was illegal at the time. 112 00:07:02,360 --> 00:07:05,400 Speaker 1: Fortune tellers were thought to swindle women out of their money, 113 00:07:05,640 --> 00:07:08,599 Speaker 1: and while some might have tried at least to appear legitimate. 114 00:07:08,920 --> 00:07:12,600 Speaker 1: Others were crooked as a three dollar bill. In one instance, 115 00:07:12,760 --> 00:07:15,960 Speaker 1: Mary had her fortune read by a mystic named Princess 116 00:07:16,120 --> 00:07:19,800 Speaker 1: Juniata Flynn. Mid reading, Mary reached over and grabbed the 117 00:07:19,800 --> 00:07:23,360 Speaker 1: woman's elaborate head wrap. She untied it to reveal a 118 00:07:23,400 --> 00:07:27,040 Speaker 1: whole telephone handset bound to the woman's ear, through which 119 00:07:27,080 --> 00:07:31,040 Speaker 1: her assistant was feeding her information about her clients. While 120 00:07:31,080 --> 00:07:33,360 Speaker 1: Mary was already making a name for herself as a 121 00:07:33,400 --> 00:07:37,000 Speaker 1: crack woman detective, it wasn't until nineteen thirty four that 122 00:07:37,080 --> 00:07:40,680 Speaker 1: she gained her famous moniker. That year, female officers were 123 00:07:40,680 --> 00:07:44,320 Speaker 1: issued revolvers for the first time, and Mary quickly gained 124 00:07:44,320 --> 00:07:48,280 Speaker 1: a reputation for using hers. In the late nineteen thirties, 125 00:07:48,600 --> 00:07:51,840 Speaker 1: Mary was chasing a criminal on foot down fifty third Street. 126 00:07:52,200 --> 00:07:54,560 Speaker 1: Sensing she was going to lose him, she raised her 127 00:07:54,640 --> 00:07:57,720 Speaker 1: pistol into the air and fired a warning shot, bringing 128 00:07:57,840 --> 00:08:00,720 Speaker 1: him to a screeching halt. This in incident marked the 129 00:08:00,760 --> 00:08:05,280 Speaker 1: first time an NYPD policewoman used a gun during an arrest. 130 00:08:05,680 --> 00:08:09,440 Speaker 1: This soon became Mary's mo for particularly dangerous criminals. In 131 00:08:09,520 --> 00:08:13,040 Speaker 1: multiple cases, Mary would be facing an attacker or chasing 132 00:08:13,080 --> 00:08:16,360 Speaker 1: down a purse snatcher and fire her pistol into the air. 133 00:08:16,800 --> 00:08:19,320 Speaker 1: The sound was enough to make them stop, and although 134 00:08:19,360 --> 00:08:22,200 Speaker 1: she was often much smaller than her male criminal targets, 135 00:08:22,520 --> 00:08:26,080 Speaker 1: her bulldogged determination made her a force to be reckoned with. 136 00:08:26,720 --> 00:08:30,560 Speaker 1: For the next twenty years, until nineteen fifty seven, Mary 137 00:08:30,640 --> 00:08:33,960 Speaker 1: stocked the streets of New York, using her unassuming appearance 138 00:08:34,040 --> 00:08:37,480 Speaker 1: to stop crooks. She often brought her young goddaughter along 139 00:08:37,520 --> 00:08:40,520 Speaker 1: as a decoy, making her appear like a mother out 140 00:08:40,559 --> 00:08:43,959 Speaker 1: for the afternoon, and in nineteen thirty nine she received 141 00:08:43,960 --> 00:08:46,920 Speaker 1: the rank of first grade detective, the fourth woman in 142 00:08:47,040 --> 00:08:51,200 Speaker 1: history to ever achieve it. She was personally congratulated by 143 00:08:51,240 --> 00:08:55,120 Speaker 1: Mayor LaGuardia himself. Looking back, it really did seem like 144 00:08:55,200 --> 00:08:58,600 Speaker 1: Mary lived for the chase. She never married, preferring the 145 00:08:58,600 --> 00:09:02,520 Speaker 1: company of cops and crows to a spouse. She absolutely 146 00:09:02,600 --> 00:09:05,400 Speaker 1: loved the way that she lived her life. In one interview, 147 00:09:05,440 --> 00:09:08,360 Speaker 1: she quipped, it's exciting. I would die if I had 148 00:09:08,360 --> 00:09:11,320 Speaker 1: to go back to working in an office. It sounds 149 00:09:11,360 --> 00:09:15,079 Speaker 1: like Mary was living her best life right on target. 150 00:09:19,440 --> 00:09:22,160 Speaker 1: I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet 151 00:09:22,160 --> 00:09:26,040 Speaker 1: of Curiosities, subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn 152 00:09:26,080 --> 00:09:30,440 Speaker 1: more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. 153 00:09:30,679 --> 00:09:34,280 Speaker 1: The show was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership 154 00:09:34,320 --> 00:09:37,600 Speaker 1: with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show 155 00:09:37,720 --> 00:09:41,800 Speaker 1: called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show, 156 00:09:42,040 --> 00:09:43,880 Speaker 1: and you can learn all about it over at the 157 00:09:44,080 --> 00:09:50,600 Speaker 1: Worldolore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.