1 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:07,480 Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Menkey's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of 2 00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:13,840 Speaker 1: I Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is 3 00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:17,960 Speaker 1: full of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, 4 00:00:18,280 --> 00:00:21,640 Speaker 1: all of these amazing tales are right there on display, 5 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:27,600 Speaker 1: just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet 6 00:00:27,840 --> 00:00:39,360 Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Everybody needs a little help every now and then. 7 00:00:39,840 --> 00:00:42,199 Speaker 1: Someone who has never held a guitar needs to know 8 00:00:42,200 --> 00:00:44,960 Speaker 1: where to place their fingers on the strings. A novice 9 00:00:45,040 --> 00:00:47,440 Speaker 1: dance student must be told how to move their feet, 10 00:00:47,760 --> 00:00:50,959 Speaker 1: and travelers in unknown destinations need to know where to go. 11 00:00:51,440 --> 00:00:54,640 Speaker 1: That's where the experts step in, be it their guitar teacher, 12 00:00:54,760 --> 00:00:57,720 Speaker 1: a dance instructor, or a tour guide. A person with 13 00:00:57,800 --> 00:01:03,080 Speaker 1: advanced knowledge can be invaluable to someone just learning. But 14 00:01:03,160 --> 00:01:06,319 Speaker 1: in the pantheon of great teachers, one stands out above 15 00:01:06,360 --> 00:01:09,080 Speaker 1: the rest. His name was Jack, but he was better 16 00:01:09,080 --> 00:01:13,000 Speaker 1: known as Pelaris Jack. During the late eighteen hundreds, Pelaris 17 00:01:13,080 --> 00:01:16,520 Speaker 1: Jack was responsible for shepherding ships traveling between the cities 18 00:01:16,560 --> 00:01:21,360 Speaker 1: of Wellington and Nelson in New Zealand. As explorers sailed 19 00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:24,200 Speaker 1: between the North and South Islands, they would inevitably come 20 00:01:24,280 --> 00:01:27,160 Speaker 1: upon a dangerous stretch of water known as French Pass. 21 00:01:27,520 --> 00:01:30,039 Speaker 1: It was a narrow gap fraught with high winds and 22 00:01:30,120 --> 00:01:33,280 Speaker 1: roaring waves. Two large ships had already sunk to a 23 00:01:33,319 --> 00:01:36,240 Speaker 1: watery grave in trying to navigate it. Even the most 24 00:01:36,280 --> 00:01:39,360 Speaker 1: seasoned captain needed help getting through it, and that's where 25 00:01:39,360 --> 00:01:43,400 Speaker 1: Pelorus Jack came in. He was first spotted in eighteen 26 00:01:43,400 --> 00:01:46,199 Speaker 1: eighty eight when a schooner named Brindle entered French Pass. 27 00:01:46,640 --> 00:01:49,080 Speaker 1: Jack pulled up alongside the boat to assist the Brindle 28 00:01:49,120 --> 00:01:51,200 Speaker 1: and its crew on their journey. The captain of the 29 00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:53,640 Speaker 1: Brindle tried to shoot their new guide at first, until 30 00:01:53,680 --> 00:01:56,720 Speaker 1: the man's wife stepped in and stopped him. It would 31 00:01:56,720 --> 00:01:59,920 Speaker 1: have proved a costly mistake too. Within twenty minutes, pellar 32 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:02,960 Speaker 1: As Jack had successfully guided the Brindle through the churning 33 00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:05,960 Speaker 1: waters and jagged rocks to the safety of the Pelarius 34 00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:09,160 Speaker 1: Sound on the other side. And no, Jack didn't hail 35 00:02:09,200 --> 00:02:12,400 Speaker 1: from the Pelaris area, but he was familiar with the territory, 36 00:02:12,560 --> 00:02:15,160 Speaker 1: and word of his good deed quickly spread to sailors 37 00:02:15,240 --> 00:02:18,639 Speaker 1: all over New Zealand. Regardless of whose stories are to 38 00:02:18,680 --> 00:02:22,000 Speaker 1: be believed. Jack's reputation for helping ships and needs spread 39 00:02:22,040 --> 00:02:24,840 Speaker 1: far and wide. Captains who knew of him would stop 40 00:02:24,880 --> 00:02:27,720 Speaker 1: at French Pass and wait for him to arrive, refusing 41 00:02:27,760 --> 00:02:29,760 Speaker 1: to go through it until they knew that he was 42 00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:33,240 Speaker 1: beside them. But not every ship treated Jack like a 43 00:02:33,280 --> 00:02:36,680 Speaker 1: guardian angel. A fairy steamer named the S S Penguin 44 00:02:36,800 --> 00:02:40,119 Speaker 1: nearly killed him in nineteen o four. A passenger tried 45 00:02:40,160 --> 00:02:42,560 Speaker 1: to shoot the guide with the rifle, but was stopped 46 00:02:42,600 --> 00:02:45,840 Speaker 1: when others on board restrain him. It didn't matter, though 47 00:02:46,080 --> 00:02:49,200 Speaker 1: the damage was done. Jack never showed up to escort 48 00:02:49,240 --> 00:02:52,320 Speaker 1: the SS Penguin again. A few years later, the ship 49 00:02:52,400 --> 00:02:54,840 Speaker 1: sunk trying to steer through the channel on its own. 50 00:02:55,960 --> 00:02:58,519 Speaker 1: After that attempt on his life, Jack was placed under 51 00:02:58,520 --> 00:03:00,880 Speaker 1: the protection of the Sea fisher He's Act of nineteen 52 00:03:00,919 --> 00:03:03,600 Speaker 1: o four, The misfortune of ships that ran a foul 53 00:03:03,639 --> 00:03:06,919 Speaker 1: of Pelorus Jack led to his mystique, and sailors didn't 54 00:03:06,919 --> 00:03:09,639 Speaker 1: only discuss him among themselves, they talked him up to 55 00:03:09,680 --> 00:03:13,000 Speaker 1: the newspapers too. Postcards were even printed with his image 56 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:16,519 Speaker 1: on them. He performed his job reliably for twenty four years, 57 00:03:16,720 --> 00:03:21,160 Speaker 1: and throughout that time developed some bizarre habits. For example, 58 00:03:21,280 --> 00:03:24,480 Speaker 1: he often ignored wooden boats in favor of mighty steamers 59 00:03:24,480 --> 00:03:28,160 Speaker 1: with metal hulls. He'd also abandoned the ships halfway through 60 00:03:28,200 --> 00:03:30,519 Speaker 1: their trip through the pass, letting them find their own 61 00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:34,040 Speaker 1: way from there. But perhaps the strangest occurrence of Jack's 62 00:03:34,080 --> 00:03:37,040 Speaker 1: career happened in nineteen twelve, when the friendly Shepherd of 63 00:03:37,040 --> 00:03:40,880 Speaker 1: the Seas disappeared. One theory suggested that Jack was killed 64 00:03:40,880 --> 00:03:43,880 Speaker 1: by a harpoon fired by Norwegian whalers in April of 65 00:03:43,920 --> 00:03:47,000 Speaker 1: that year. When his decomposing body washed up on a 66 00:03:47,040 --> 00:03:50,400 Speaker 1: nearby beach. Not long after, experts concluded that he had 67 00:03:50,440 --> 00:03:54,560 Speaker 1: simply died of old age. Jack would never help boats 68 00:03:54,640 --> 00:03:57,760 Speaker 1: navigate the turbulent water as a French pass again. He'd 69 00:03:57,760 --> 00:04:00,480 Speaker 1: never wait at the entrance to Pelarius sound guide them 70 00:04:00,480 --> 00:04:03,040 Speaker 1: out of the channel, either no more playing in the 71 00:04:03,080 --> 00:04:06,880 Speaker 1: wakes of the ships or rubbing against their hulls Pelaris. 72 00:04:06,960 --> 00:04:11,000 Speaker 1: Jack wasn't a good Samaritan doing his nautical duty. He 73 00:04:11,200 --> 00:04:27,520 Speaker 1: was a dolphin. When we think of secession, we think 74 00:04:27,560 --> 00:04:31,320 Speaker 1: of a particular moment in American history when brother fought brother, 75 00:04:31,560 --> 00:04:33,839 Speaker 1: and two halves of the United States nearly tore the 76 00:04:33,839 --> 00:04:36,800 Speaker 1: country apart. I'm talking, of course, about the Civil War, 77 00:04:37,040 --> 00:04:39,919 Speaker 1: and you knew that the South had chosen to secede 78 00:04:39,960 --> 00:04:41,599 Speaker 1: from the rest of the country with a goal of 79 00:04:41,640 --> 00:04:45,560 Speaker 1: starting its own republic. Instead, what resulted was a bloody war, 80 00:04:45,720 --> 00:04:48,479 Speaker 1: costing thousands of lives over the course of four years. 81 00:04:50,320 --> 00:04:52,320 Speaker 1: But it wouldn't be the last time part of the 82 00:04:52,400 --> 00:04:54,880 Speaker 1: US would try to go its own way, and in 83 00:04:54,920 --> 00:04:58,400 Speaker 1: the late nineteen thirties, residents of Wyoming, South Dakota, and 84 00:04:58,480 --> 00:05:02,359 Speaker 1: Montana were suffering the Great Depression of ten years earlier 85 00:05:02,400 --> 00:05:05,120 Speaker 1: had at East much. Farmers were losing their crops to 86 00:05:05,240 --> 00:05:08,920 Speaker 1: drafts and grasshopper infestations, and it looked to them, at 87 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:11,640 Speaker 1: least as if the government didn't care about what happened 88 00:05:11,640 --> 00:05:16,159 Speaker 1: to them. The hardest hit areas, often rural, saw almost 89 00:05:16,200 --> 00:05:19,320 Speaker 1: no federal funding, with much of that going to larger 90 00:05:19,400 --> 00:05:24,520 Speaker 1: infrastructure projects instead. While agriculture languished, railroads and dams were 91 00:05:24,560 --> 00:05:27,680 Speaker 1: being built or improved. The Summit felt like the government 92 00:05:27,760 --> 00:05:32,000 Speaker 1: had failed the people, The politicians that had been elected 93 00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:35,200 Speaker 1: to represent them had lost their way, and President Roosevelt's 94 00:05:35,200 --> 00:05:38,599 Speaker 1: big Government New Deal was the final straw. No longer 95 00:05:38,640 --> 00:05:41,400 Speaker 1: with thousands of farmers and small town Americans stand by 96 00:05:41,440 --> 00:05:44,120 Speaker 1: and let the world carry on as if they didn't exist. 97 00:05:45,200 --> 00:05:48,200 Speaker 1: A new movement had dawned, and it's very vocal champion 98 00:05:48,240 --> 00:05:50,760 Speaker 1: could be found in the man named A. R. Swickard, 99 00:05:50,920 --> 00:05:54,839 Speaker 1: the street and water commissioner of shared in Wyoming. Swickard 100 00:05:54,880 --> 00:05:57,600 Speaker 1: already had an axe to grind. The Republicans who had 101 00:05:57,640 --> 00:06:00,760 Speaker 1: promised to help his town had seemingly abandoned in him instead. 102 00:06:01,360 --> 00:06:04,680 Speaker 1: The time had come to take drastic action. However, Swickard 103 00:06:04,720 --> 00:06:07,560 Speaker 1: would not resort to taking up arms against the United States. 104 00:06:08,640 --> 00:06:12,040 Speaker 1: He sought a more peaceful and legal approach to secession. 105 00:06:12,440 --> 00:06:14,280 Speaker 1: He and the rest of the movement would create their 106 00:06:14,320 --> 00:06:17,680 Speaker 1: own states Absarrocca. The name was taken from the Native 107 00:06:17,720 --> 00:06:21,640 Speaker 1: Crow language meaning children of the large beaked bird, and 108 00:06:21,680 --> 00:06:25,800 Speaker 1: the Absaroka Initiative quickly took flight. Swicker delivered speeches in 109 00:06:25,880 --> 00:06:29,120 Speaker 1: towns in Wyoming, Montana, and South Dakota about what their 110 00:06:29,160 --> 00:06:33,560 Speaker 1: possible new lifestyle might entail. Unsurprisingly, the new state would 111 00:06:33,600 --> 00:06:36,760 Speaker 1: have a conservative bent, with a focus on small government. 112 00:06:37,839 --> 00:06:40,080 Speaker 1: At the time, it was poised to become the forty 113 00:06:40,160 --> 00:06:43,240 Speaker 1: nine state. Illustrated by a state flag design with the 114 00:06:43,320 --> 00:06:46,720 Speaker 1: number forty nine written across it, Swicker showed crowds of 115 00:06:46,760 --> 00:06:50,279 Speaker 1: potential license plate, a map, and held a beauty contest 116 00:06:50,360 --> 00:06:53,839 Speaker 1: called the Miss Absarocca Pageant. It's first and only winner, 117 00:06:53,880 --> 00:06:57,000 Speaker 1: Dorothy Fellows, joined Swickard in preaching the benefit of an 118 00:06:57,040 --> 00:07:01,359 Speaker 1: independent state. The movement kept growing, as did their territory. 119 00:07:01,760 --> 00:07:04,839 Speaker 1: In fact, as part of his publicity tour, Swickard touted 120 00:07:04,839 --> 00:07:08,480 Speaker 1: the still under construction Mount Rushmore as a potential tourist 121 00:07:08,480 --> 00:07:11,720 Speaker 1: destination since it would have fallen within their new state lines, 122 00:07:13,240 --> 00:07:15,720 Speaker 1: and the coalition was being noticed outside the U S 123 00:07:15,760 --> 00:07:18,640 Speaker 1: as well. The King of Norway came to Absaroka in 124 00:07:18,720 --> 00:07:21,560 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty nine. Well, it was more like he was 125 00:07:21,600 --> 00:07:24,560 Speaker 1: passing through on his way to visit southeast Montana, but 126 00:07:24,640 --> 00:07:26,760 Speaker 1: the people there took it as a sign that their 127 00:07:26,800 --> 00:07:30,280 Speaker 1: fight for statehood was being recognized by the international community. 128 00:07:31,280 --> 00:07:35,040 Speaker 1: Swickard was relentless in his pursuit of vindication. He held 129 00:07:35,080 --> 00:07:38,720 Speaker 1: public hearings where those within Absaroka's borders addressed the wrongs 130 00:07:38,760 --> 00:07:41,480 Speaker 1: committed by the big city politicians who had left them 131 00:07:41,560 --> 00:07:44,720 Speaker 1: high and dry, and it seemed to be working. When 132 00:07:44,720 --> 00:07:47,560 Speaker 1: officials in Montana and Wyoming got word of the unrest 133 00:07:47,600 --> 00:07:53,000 Speaker 1: among their constituents, they started to listen more closely. Perhaps, 134 00:07:53,000 --> 00:07:55,440 Speaker 1: if things had been different, we might have fifty one 135 00:07:55,520 --> 00:07:58,560 Speaker 1: states on our maps today. Unfortunately, the plight of the 136 00:07:58,560 --> 00:08:01,480 Speaker 1: Absarokans paled and co paris into the conflict going on 137 00:08:01,560 --> 00:08:04,560 Speaker 1: in Europe. World War two had united the globe under 138 00:08:04,600 --> 00:08:07,720 Speaker 1: one common goal, and the United States had started sending 139 00:08:07,760 --> 00:08:11,080 Speaker 1: its own troops over there to fight. At that point, 140 00:08:11,080 --> 00:08:14,120 Speaker 1: there was no longer a reason for disenfranchised farmers to 141 00:08:14,160 --> 00:08:17,280 Speaker 1: start their own state. They dropped their plans to secede 142 00:08:17,360 --> 00:08:21,880 Speaker 1: and throw their energy into the fray overseas. The movement dissipated, 143 00:08:22,200 --> 00:08:26,520 Speaker 1: never quite regaining its momentum, leaving Absaroka to become nothing 144 00:08:26,560 --> 00:08:32,840 Speaker 1: more than a state of mind. I hope you've enjoyed 145 00:08:32,880 --> 00:08:36,600 Speaker 1: today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for 146 00:08:36,640 --> 00:08:39,400 Speaker 1: free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show 147 00:08:39,520 --> 00:08:44,520 Speaker 1: by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created 148 00:08:44,559 --> 00:08:47,840 Speaker 1: by me Aaron Manky in partnership with how Stuff Works. 149 00:08:48,280 --> 00:08:51,440 Speaker 1: I make another award winning show called Lore, which is 150 00:08:51,520 --> 00:08:54,920 Speaker 1: a podcast, book series, and television show, and you can 151 00:08:55,000 --> 00:08:57,320 Speaker 1: learn all about it over at the World of Lore 152 00:08:57,600 --> 00:09:01,320 Speaker 1: dot com. And until next time, stay curious.