WEBVTT - Obstinate 0:00:04.080 --> 0:00:07.440 Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of 0:00:07.480 --> 0:00:14.440 iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of 0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:18.440 the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all 0:00:18.480 --> 0:00:22.159 of these amazing tales are right there on display, just 0:00:22.200 --> 0:00:28.840 waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. 0:00:36.280 --> 0:00:40.120 The ocean was dark, foggy, thickly around the ships on 0:00:40.320 --> 0:00:44.280 every side, but even in such poor visibility, the ships 0:00:44.360 --> 0:00:48.360 pressed onward. The Convoy was a substantial one, flanking the 0:00:48.520 --> 0:00:53.040 USS Abraham Lincoln, the second largest ship in America's fleet. 0:00:54.160 --> 0:00:57.320 As they sailed through the night, someone spotted something in 0:00:57.360 --> 0:01:02.440 the distance, a far off blinking light bearing right towards them. 0:01:02.800 --> 0:01:05.520 Men in the Lincoln's radio room got to work attempting 0:01:05.560 --> 0:01:09.560 to contact the oncoming vessel. Fortunately, they were able to 0:01:09.680 --> 0:01:14.600 establish radio contact quickly and sent out the message, oncoming vessel, 0:01:15.000 --> 0:01:19.040 this is the USS Lincoln. Please divert your course fifteen 0:01:19.080 --> 0:01:23.640 degrees north to avoid collision. And the other vessel replied promptly, 0:01:23.840 --> 0:01:26.720 but not in the way the Americans were expecting. The 0:01:26.760 --> 0:01:30.039 other ship requested that the Convoy divert fifteen degrees to 0:01:30.080 --> 0:01:34.040 the south. Instead. Annoyed by the backtok the captain took 0:01:34.080 --> 0:01:37.160 control of the radio, issuing an order for the other 0:01:37.240 --> 0:01:40.200 ship to turn, and again the ship only responded with 0:01:40.280 --> 0:01:45.360 its request. You first. The captain practically bellowed over the radio, 0:01:45.720 --> 0:01:50.200 this is the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, accompanied by 0:01:50.280 --> 0:01:55.000 three destroyers, three cruisers and numerous support vessels. Get out 0:01:55.000 --> 0:01:57.680 of our way, or we will take measures to protect 0:01:57.760 --> 0:02:03.120 our ships. The other radio simply replied, this is a lighthouse. 0:02:03.560 --> 0:02:08.360 It's your call. Chastened, the aircraft carrier complied without another 0:02:08.400 --> 0:02:11.680 word of complaint. And you may have heard this story before. 0:02:11.760 --> 0:02:15.520 It's a popular one among naval officers and sailors, and 0:02:15.639 --> 0:02:19.639 in recent years it's become a popular Internet meme. Online 0:02:19.680 --> 0:02:24.160 retellings claim to be transcripts of the conversation, but curiously, 0:02:24.440 --> 0:02:27.360 no one ever supplies a proper date for this encounter. 0:02:28.040 --> 0:02:30.560 As far as researchers can tell, it seems to date 0:02:30.600 --> 0:02:34.920 back as far as the nineteen thirties. The USS Abraham Lincoln, 0:02:35.080 --> 0:02:37.840 which is often cited as the main vessel in this story, 0:02:38.240 --> 0:02:41.320 was constructed in the late nineteen eighties, meaning that the 0:02:41.360 --> 0:02:45.200 original version of the story belongs to an entirely different ship. 0:02:45.720 --> 0:02:49.040 But whose ship was it that made this iconic blunder? 0:02:49.280 --> 0:02:53.040 And did the famous and now memed encounter even happen 0:02:53.160 --> 0:02:56.560 at all? Over the years, naval enthusiasts have poked a 0:02:56.639 --> 0:02:59.440 number of holes in the story. No one has found 0:02:59.480 --> 0:03:03.240 any wrecks of this specific encounter, thanks to the variable 0:03:03.280 --> 0:03:07.040 details of each retelling. Moreover, the facts of the story 0:03:07.080 --> 0:03:11.760 itself strain believability. After all, even in thick fog, it's 0:03:11.919 --> 0:03:15.880 borderline impossible for an experienced seamen to mistake a lighthouse 0:03:15.919 --> 0:03:19.600 for an approaching vessel. The steady blinking of a single 0:03:19.680 --> 0:03:23.040 powerful light looks very different from the scattering of lights 0:03:23.080 --> 0:03:25.799 across the deck of a ship in the dark. Besides, 0:03:25.840 --> 0:03:28.600 depending on the time period, it's possible that the lighthouse 0:03:28.639 --> 0:03:32.560 wouldn't even have a manned radio station like the story suggests. 0:03:33.160 --> 0:03:35.920 Reporters doing deep dives into the oral history of the 0:03:35.960 --> 0:03:40.200 so called lighthouse versus naval vessel story often find themselves 0:03:40.280 --> 0:03:44.119 coming up short with actual facts. The encounter has subsequently 0:03:44.160 --> 0:03:48.360 been relegated to the realm of urban legend, but calling 0:03:48.400 --> 0:03:51.760 it an urban legend sort of misses the point. The 0:03:51.800 --> 0:03:55.000 story isn't retold over and over again because it might 0:03:55.000 --> 0:03:59.640 have happened. It's retold because behind the clever ending punchline, 0:03:59.760 --> 0:04:03.160 there is a theme that we all recognize even as 0:04:03.200 --> 0:04:07.080 we laugh. The captain of the aircraft carrier is characterized 0:04:07.120 --> 0:04:10.520 as arrogant and overconfident. He thinks that because he has 0:04:10.560 --> 0:04:13.400 the bigger ship, he has the right of way, regardless 0:04:13.440 --> 0:04:15.800 of who is on the other ship. That's why this 0:04:15.920 --> 0:04:19.200 story always involves a major naval power, whether it's the 0:04:19.360 --> 0:04:22.720 US or the UK. Sailors retelling this story get to 0:04:22.800 --> 0:04:26.280 chuckle as their commanding officer gets chastened by a simple 0:04:26.440 --> 0:04:30.440 lighthouse manned by we assume a person the captain would 0:04:30.480 --> 0:04:35.159 never listen to under normal circumstances. In short, this story 0:04:35.279 --> 0:04:37.960 is less of an urban legend than it is a 0:04:38.040 --> 0:04:41.520 morality tale, reminding us that when we're sailing blind into 0:04:41.760 --> 0:04:45.039 uncharted waters, we should keep our ears open as well. 0:04:45.320 --> 0:05:01.160 It's a bad idea to let self importance steer the ship. 0:05:02.600 --> 0:05:06.039 John Price Roberts watched in horror as his wife was 0:05:06.120 --> 0:05:08.680 sentenced to death. They were living in the town of 0:05:08.720 --> 0:05:13.440 Blackburn in northwest England in nineteen thirteen, and his wife 0:05:13.480 --> 0:05:17.080 Sarah had just been found guilty of murder and witchcraft. 0:05:17.720 --> 0:05:21.560 Needless to say, John was as confused as he was terrified. 0:05:22.000 --> 0:05:25.560 He did not know what was going on. All he 0:05:25.600 --> 0:05:28.440 could do was watch as his screaming wife was dragged 0:05:28.480 --> 0:05:31.880 down from the witness stand, across the courtroom and out 0:05:31.960 --> 0:05:35.080 into the yard in front of the courthouse. A lead 0:05:35.160 --> 0:05:38.760 lined coffin was waiting there for her. Sarah wasn't actually 0:05:38.839 --> 0:05:41.920 going to be executed. She was going to be buried alive. 0:05:42.760 --> 0:05:46.240 Villagers held John back and forced him to watch as 0:05:46.279 --> 0:05:49.000 his wife was shoved into the coffin. The lid was 0:05:49.000 --> 0:05:52.440 sealed shut and John was forbidden from opening it. But 0:05:52.720 --> 0:05:56.080 just before the lid closed, Sarah's screaming turned into a 0:05:56.160 --> 0:06:00.240 coherent threat. She promised to return in eighty years to 0:06:00.320 --> 0:06:03.720 take her revenge. As far as the villagers were concerned, 0:06:03.839 --> 0:06:06.760 now they felt more justified than ever for their actions. 0:06:07.160 --> 0:06:10.000 John was forced to consider that maybe his wife was 0:06:10.279 --> 0:06:14.799 actually a witch or something even worse. But things weren't 0:06:14.800 --> 0:06:17.240 over for John. He now had to find somewhere to 0:06:17.320 --> 0:06:20.560 bury the coffin. The people of Blackburn certainly didn't want 0:06:20.560 --> 0:06:24.080 her buried there, so he traveled all over England looking 0:06:24.160 --> 0:06:27.440 for a cemetery that would take Sarah's coffin. But the 0:06:27.480 --> 0:06:30.480 local priests that he encountered had all heard what she was, 0:06:30.880 --> 0:06:34.080 and in the more distant towns, they were naturally suspicious 0:06:34.160 --> 0:06:37.360 of a stranger looking to bury his wife far away 0:06:37.400 --> 0:06:40.320 from home. It was at this point that John received 0:06:40.320 --> 0:06:42.960 a letter from his brother Thomas, who was working at 0:06:42.960 --> 0:06:45.839 a cotton mill all the way in Lima, Peru. It 0:06:45.880 --> 0:06:48.360 was a lucrative business that he hoped Thomas would take 0:06:48.400 --> 0:06:51.920 part in. Not only was this a promising business opportunity, 0:06:52.240 --> 0:06:56.160 it was the perfect opportunity to finally be rid of Sarah. 0:06:56.720 --> 0:07:00.359 John traveled across two oceans before finally arriving in the 0:07:00.400 --> 0:07:04.080 palm filled jungles of Peru. When he finally arrived, he 0:07:04.160 --> 0:07:07.039 told his brother that Sarah had died recently and he 0:07:07.080 --> 0:07:11.000 couldn't bear to leave her body behind. Thomas understood, and 0:07:11.040 --> 0:07:14.400 they quickly arranged to have Sarah buried in a local cemetery. 0:07:14.920 --> 0:07:20.440 John's nightmare was over, Belima's had only just begun. Eighty 0:07:20.560 --> 0:07:24.000 years later, in nineteen ninety three, the people of Lima 0:07:24.040 --> 0:07:26.720 were terrified to find that a large crack had appeared 0:07:26.760 --> 0:07:30.240 across Sarah's gravestone. Surely this was a sign that her 0:07:30.320 --> 0:07:33.280 curse had been real and she would return not just 0:07:33.400 --> 0:07:36.800 as a witch, but a true undead. They believed that 0:07:36.880 --> 0:07:41.120 Sarah was a vampire. Thousands flocked to the city to 0:07:41.160 --> 0:07:44.480 see the grave of the one and only Peruvian vampire. 0:07:44.840 --> 0:07:49.760 Local merchants sold crosses, garlic, and pamphlets that shared Sarah's legend. 0:07:50.440 --> 0:07:52.960 The day of her resurrection came, and there was such 0:07:53.000 --> 0:07:55.880 a panic that pregnant women were sent away for fear 0:07:55.920 --> 0:08:00.640 that Sarah would somehow reincarnate in their unborn children. Authorities 0:08:00.920 --> 0:08:04.720 hired mystics to perform a ceremony over the grave, sprinkling 0:08:04.800 --> 0:08:08.840 blood on it and chanting. The hour came exactly eighty 0:08:08.920 --> 0:08:13.720 years since Sarah's promise, and nothing happened. Sarah remained as 0:08:13.760 --> 0:08:17.920 dead as ever. Everyone, of course, breathed a sigh of relief. 0:08:18.280 --> 0:08:20.640 Some thought that it had been a panic over nothing, 0:08:20.880 --> 0:08:23.320 but others still thought that the mystics had done their 0:08:23.440 --> 0:08:27.720 job and prevented a great evil from rising in Lima. Ultimately, 0:08:27.760 --> 0:08:30.840 it seems the skeptical group was more in the right 0:08:31.440 --> 0:08:34.320 that whole story of Sarah being charged with witchcraft and 0:08:34.400 --> 0:08:37.680 buried alive. There is no record in Blackburn of that's 0:08:37.800 --> 0:08:40.760 ever happening. In fact, there really aren't any records to 0:08:40.800 --> 0:08:44.199 indicate that the Roberts family was remarkable in any way. 0:08:44.520 --> 0:08:47.360 John and Sarah had a couple of sons. John's brother 0:08:47.480 --> 0:08:50.480 did indeed invite him to join him in Peru, and 0:08:50.600 --> 0:08:54.000 John and Sarah went alone, and somehow while there, Sarah 0:08:54.080 --> 0:08:57.640 passed away in her early forties. Historians have theorized that 0:08:57.760 --> 0:09:00.440 perhaps this was due to an unexpected pregnant and that 0:09:00.520 --> 0:09:03.080 led to sarah dyne and childbirth, but it could have 0:09:03.160 --> 0:09:07.440 just as easily been from an accident or an illness. Regardless, 0:09:07.600 --> 0:09:10.960 Sarah was buried in Lima. This alone was enough to 0:09:11.040 --> 0:09:13.760 cause the legend to grow over the years. It was 0:09:13.920 --> 0:09:17.240 unusual for a European woman to be buried there, and 0:09:17.320 --> 0:09:19.080 so the locals thought that it must be for some 0:09:19.360 --> 0:09:22.800 evil reason. More likely, her body just wasn't in a 0:09:22.840 --> 0:09:25.600 condition to be transported all the way back to England, 0:09:25.880 --> 0:09:29.000 or John simply didn't want to put himself and Sarah's 0:09:29.040 --> 0:09:32.319 remains through all of that. He did return to Blackburn, though, 0:09:32.360 --> 0:09:35.839 where he only lived a few more years. In the end, 0:09:36.080 --> 0:09:39.439 there seems to be one curiosity that isn't actually true, 0:09:39.840 --> 0:09:43.240 but the subsequent hysteria around the legend of Sarah Roberts, 0:09:43.559 --> 0:09:48.640 the Vampire of Peru is curious enough all on its own. 0:09:52.240 --> 0:09:55.000 I hope you enjoyed today's guided tour through the Cabinet 0:09:55.080 --> 0:09:58.640 of Curiosities. This show was created by me Aaron Manke 0:09:58.920 --> 0:10:02.280 in partnership with I Heeart Podcasts, researched and written by 0:10:02.320 --> 0:10:05.120 the Grim and Mild team, and produced by Jesse Funk. 0:10:05.520 --> 0:10:07.640 Learn more about the show and the people who make 0:10:07.679 --> 0:10:12.199 it over at Grimandmild dot com slash Curiosities. You'll also 0:10:12.240 --> 0:10:15.480 find a link to the official Cabinet of Curiosity's hardcover book, 0:10:15.679 --> 0:10:19.640 available in bookstores and online, as well as ebook and audiobook. 0:10:19.880 --> 0:10:22.199 And if you're looking for an ad free option, consider 0:10:22.280 --> 0:10:25.520 joining our Patreon. It's all the same stories, but without 0:10:25.559 --> 0:10:28.760 the interruption for a small monthly fee. Learn more and 0:10:28.840 --> 0:10:32.960 sign up over at patreon dot com, slash Grimandmild, and 0:10:33.240 --> 0:10:35.720 until next time, stay curious.