1 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:07,480 Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of 2 00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:14,480 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 --> 00:00:22,200 Speaker 1: of these amazing tales are right there on display, just 5 00:00:22,239 --> 00:00:28,880 Speaker 1: waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. 6 00:00:36,640 --> 00:00:39,519 Speaker 1: When the going gets tough, the tough gets going. It's 7 00:00:39,560 --> 00:00:42,360 Speaker 1: an English proverb that means the strong are able to 8 00:00:42,440 --> 00:00:46,000 Speaker 1: weather the most difficult of circumstances. But in one case 9 00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:48,360 Speaker 1: it took on a whole new meaning, one in which 10 00:00:48,360 --> 00:00:51,360 Speaker 1: a group of people looking for acceptance got much more 11 00:00:51,400 --> 00:00:53,640 Speaker 1: than they bargained for, and they got out of there 12 00:00:53,680 --> 00:00:57,600 Speaker 1: as quickly as they possibly could. Henry S. Club had 13 00:00:57,640 --> 00:01:00,320 Speaker 1: a problem in eighteen fifty five. He was part of 14 00:01:00,360 --> 00:01:05,119 Speaker 1: a collective facing a major societal hurdle. They were vegetarians. 15 00:01:05,400 --> 00:01:08,279 Speaker 1: The problem was that their dietary choices. It was because 16 00:01:08,360 --> 00:01:10,720 Speaker 1: Club and his people were alone in a world of 17 00:01:10,760 --> 00:01:13,240 Speaker 1: meat eaters, and they just wanted to find a place 18 00:01:13,240 --> 00:01:16,399 Speaker 1: where they felt like they belonged. Aside from their abstinence 19 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:21,600 Speaker 1: from meat, they also refused to consume alcohol, tea, coffee, tobacco, fowl, 20 00:01:21,720 --> 00:01:25,280 Speaker 1: and dairy products, making them closer to vegans than vegetarians, 21 00:01:25,640 --> 00:01:28,760 Speaker 1: and they stuck out like a sore thumb among everyone else. 22 00:01:29,400 --> 00:01:33,000 Speaker 1: Around the same time, the Kansas Territory became hotly contested 23 00:01:33,040 --> 00:01:37,440 Speaker 1: between pro slavery and abolitionist groups. Gallons of blood were 24 00:01:37,480 --> 00:01:40,400 Speaker 1: shed on both sides, resulting in a nickname for both 25 00:01:40,440 --> 00:01:44,240 Speaker 1: the area and the time period, Bleeding Kansas. But the 26 00:01:44,280 --> 00:01:48,840 Speaker 1: new territory also spelled opportunity for Club and his fellow vegetarians, 27 00:01:49,200 --> 00:01:52,400 Speaker 1: so he and about fifty families formed a new coalition 28 00:01:52,520 --> 00:01:57,280 Speaker 1: called the Vegetarian Kansas Emigration Company, with one goal to 29 00:01:57,360 --> 00:02:00,840 Speaker 1: move to Kansas and establish a new community of their own. 30 00:02:01,480 --> 00:02:04,600 Speaker 1: The rules for joining their club were simple. New members 31 00:02:04,600 --> 00:02:07,320 Speaker 1: were required to pay ten dollars to help fund the project, 32 00:02:07,600 --> 00:02:10,600 Speaker 1: and they had to adhere to the established dietary restrictions 33 00:02:10,639 --> 00:02:14,480 Speaker 1: of vegetarians at the time. There were also moral obligations 34 00:02:14,720 --> 00:02:19,040 Speaker 1: toward abolition and a better society for everyone involved. Club 35 00:02:19,120 --> 00:02:22,760 Speaker 1: immediately got to work fundraising by soliciting local business owners 36 00:02:22,760 --> 00:02:25,360 Speaker 1: for capital. He wanted to raise enough money to build 37 00:02:25,360 --> 00:02:28,920 Speaker 1: homes and infrastructure so the community could be self sufficient. 38 00:02:29,280 --> 00:02:33,040 Speaker 1: He even took out ads in the newspapers, encouraging lovers 39 00:02:33,040 --> 00:02:36,359 Speaker 1: of carots to join him. As for the settlement itself, 40 00:02:36,600 --> 00:02:40,040 Speaker 1: Club turned to the work of eugenicist Orson Squire Fowler, 41 00:02:40,200 --> 00:02:43,200 Speaker 1: who has served as Vice President of the American Vegetarian 42 00:02:43,280 --> 00:02:47,200 Speaker 1: Society in eighteen fifty two. Fowler was a proponent of 43 00:02:47,280 --> 00:02:51,840 Speaker 1: octagonal living. He believed square and rectangular homes were old news, 44 00:02:51,880 --> 00:02:55,240 Speaker 1: and quite literally thought outside the box when designing his 45 00:02:55,280 --> 00:02:58,799 Speaker 1: own home. It was shaped like you guessed it, an octagon. 46 00:02:59,440 --> 00:03:02,720 Speaker 1: Fowler claimed that octagonal houses had more room and cost 47 00:03:02,800 --> 00:03:06,240 Speaker 1: less to build. The style of architecture piqued the interest 48 00:03:06,280 --> 00:03:09,679 Speaker 1: of Henry Club as he started planning his new vegetarian 49 00:03:09,720 --> 00:03:13,760 Speaker 1: town in Kansas. Club envisioned an octagonal town square, out 50 00:03:13,760 --> 00:03:16,320 Speaker 1: of which would spring eight roads that led to a mill, 51 00:03:16,440 --> 00:03:21,200 Speaker 1: a library, homes, and farms. He called it appropriately Octagon City. 52 00:03:21,919 --> 00:03:26,080 Speaker 1: The Vegetarian Kansas Emigration Company set out in eighteen fifty 53 00:03:26,120 --> 00:03:29,160 Speaker 1: six for their new eight sided utopia, a dream full 54 00:03:29,200 --> 00:03:32,360 Speaker 1: of promise and potential where animals could thrive without fear 55 00:03:32,400 --> 00:03:35,800 Speaker 1: of being slaughtered and eaten. Instead, what they saw was 56 00:03:35,880 --> 00:03:38,640 Speaker 1: nothing like what had been promised. The company had traveled 57 00:03:38,720 --> 00:03:42,720 Speaker 1: twelve hundred miles, only to find their octagonal paradise nothing 58 00:03:42,760 --> 00:03:45,920 Speaker 1: more than some shacks and a couple of ovens. None 59 00:03:45,920 --> 00:03:49,040 Speaker 1: of what Club had described had been built. Many of 60 00:03:49,040 --> 00:03:52,200 Speaker 1: the members of the company abandoned him immediately. They felt 61 00:03:52,200 --> 00:03:54,840 Speaker 1: that he had misappropriated the funds that he'd raised. The 62 00:03:54,880 --> 00:03:56,840 Speaker 1: group that stayed did their best to make a go 63 00:03:56,960 --> 00:03:59,320 Speaker 1: of things, but their efforts did not go far enough. 64 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:03,120 Speaker 1: Everything their leader had promised was nowhere to be found. 65 00:04:03,360 --> 00:04:05,640 Speaker 1: The plows they needed to cultivate the land had not 66 00:04:05,760 --> 00:04:10,360 Speaker 1: been delivered. Swarms of mosquitoes brought disease, including chills and fever. 67 00:04:10,720 --> 00:04:14,119 Speaker 1: The freshwater springs that were thought to be endless dried up, 68 00:04:14,320 --> 00:04:17,600 Speaker 1: and crops died before they could even be harvested. According 69 00:04:17,640 --> 00:04:20,839 Speaker 1: to a historical marker near the site, four thousand O 70 00:04:20,960 --> 00:04:24,080 Speaker 1: Sage Indians who traded with them living in the area 71 00:04:24,240 --> 00:04:27,200 Speaker 1: could do little to help. A large number of children 72 00:04:27,240 --> 00:04:30,240 Speaker 1: and elderly people died. But the time winter arrived, most 73 00:04:30,240 --> 00:04:33,600 Speaker 1: of the colony had left town. Only four people remained. 74 00:04:34,440 --> 00:04:38,480 Speaker 1: Henry Clubs vegetarian utopia had all but withered away. All 75 00:04:38,520 --> 00:04:40,400 Speaker 1: he wanted was a safe place for he and his 76 00:04:40,520 --> 00:04:44,680 Speaker 1: vegetarian friends to live their lives in peace. Unfortunately, sometimes 77 00:04:44,720 --> 00:04:48,720 Speaker 1: the curveballs that life throws us are curious, and sometimes 78 00:04:49,400 --> 00:05:07,120 Speaker 1: they're tragic. In January of nineteen forty five, Smokey made 79 00:05:07,160 --> 00:05:10,320 Speaker 1: her way through a dark tunnel. It smelled like dirt, mildew, 80 00:05:10,400 --> 00:05:13,520 Speaker 1: and the sharp tang of metal. Barely able to see, 81 00:05:13,680 --> 00:05:16,600 Speaker 1: she felt along the edges of the passageway and followed 82 00:05:16,600 --> 00:05:19,000 Speaker 1: it as it twisted and curbed. Every now and then, 83 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:21,480 Speaker 1: the tunnel would get tiny, and Smokey would have to 84 00:05:21,520 --> 00:05:24,640 Speaker 1: hold her breath as she squeezed through. She wanted to 85 00:05:24,680 --> 00:05:27,680 Speaker 1: turn back, but she couldn't. The mission was too important. 86 00:05:28,279 --> 00:05:31,120 Speaker 1: Smokey was a member of the US Air Force's twenty 87 00:05:31,160 --> 00:05:34,640 Speaker 1: six Reconnaissance Squadron, and she and her fellow servicemen were 88 00:05:34,680 --> 00:05:37,919 Speaker 1: on Luzon, the largest island in the Philippines. It was 89 00:05:37,960 --> 00:05:40,080 Speaker 1: the tail end of World War Two, but of course 90 00:05:40,320 --> 00:05:43,320 Speaker 1: Smokey and her comrades couldn't have known that they were 91 00:05:43,360 --> 00:05:45,520 Speaker 1: still in the thick of it, unsure when the war 92 00:05:45,560 --> 00:05:48,000 Speaker 1: would finally end, and they had a job to do 93 00:05:48,440 --> 00:05:51,279 Speaker 1: as bombs exploded in the distance. They were working to 94 00:05:51,320 --> 00:05:54,520 Speaker 1: build an air base for Allied warplanes, one of the 95 00:05:54,560 --> 00:05:57,480 Speaker 1: most crucial parts of the base was the installation of 96 00:05:57,560 --> 00:06:00,880 Speaker 1: telegraph wire. This was kind of like an early telephone line. 97 00:06:00,960 --> 00:06:04,680 Speaker 1: It would allow servicemen to communicate using electrical signals delivered 98 00:06:04,680 --> 00:06:08,240 Speaker 1: over the wire. Without it, they would be completely isolated, 99 00:06:08,920 --> 00:06:11,960 Speaker 1: which is how Smokey wound up in that dark, winding tunnel. 100 00:06:12,360 --> 00:06:14,960 Speaker 1: The passageway was seventy feet long, but it was too 101 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:16,800 Speaker 1: small for any of the men in the squadron to 102 00:06:16,839 --> 00:06:20,200 Speaker 1: fit inside, so it became Smokey's job to pull the 103 00:06:20,200 --> 00:06:23,279 Speaker 1: telegraph wire all the way through. The fate of the 104 00:06:23,279 --> 00:06:27,159 Speaker 1: airbase rested on her back. Smokey took deep breaths. It 105 00:06:27,200 --> 00:06:29,919 Speaker 1: felt like at every turn the tunnel got smaller. The 106 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:33,080 Speaker 1: sound of the telegraph wire rattling along behind her made 107 00:06:33,120 --> 00:06:36,839 Speaker 1: her jumpy. Finally, Smokey saw light beginning to filter into 108 00:06:36,880 --> 00:06:41,039 Speaker 1: the passageway. She heard her favorite comrade, Corporal William Wine, 109 00:06:41,080 --> 00:06:44,000 Speaker 1: calling her name. The tunnel got just big enough for 110 00:06:44,040 --> 00:06:47,039 Speaker 1: her to stand up straight, and she sprinted forward, the 111 00:06:47,080 --> 00:06:49,840 Speaker 1: wire flying behind her. The end of the tunnel came 112 00:06:49,880 --> 00:06:53,520 Speaker 1: into view. Smokey ran into the sunlight and jumped right 113 00:06:53,560 --> 00:06:57,520 Speaker 1: into William Wine's arms. Other air Force members crowded around 114 00:06:57,560 --> 00:07:01,120 Speaker 1: and cheered, They scratched behind her ears. Somebody fed her 115 00:07:01,160 --> 00:07:04,440 Speaker 1: a chunk of canned spam as a treat. Because you see, 116 00:07:04,520 --> 00:07:08,719 Speaker 1: Smokey was a dog, a tiny Yorkshire Terrier who weighed 117 00:07:08,760 --> 00:07:11,600 Speaker 1: just four pounds, and that telegraph pipe she had just 118 00:07:11,680 --> 00:07:14,960 Speaker 1: traveled through was a mere eight inches wide. But Smokey, 119 00:07:15,040 --> 00:07:18,119 Speaker 1: the canine hero of the day, was seven inches tall. 120 00:07:18,920 --> 00:07:21,960 Speaker 1: William Wine had adopted her about a year earlier after 121 00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:24,880 Speaker 1: a fellow serviceman found her hiding inside a foxhole in 122 00:07:24,920 --> 00:07:27,560 Speaker 1: New Guinea. At first, she was sort of like a 123 00:07:27,600 --> 00:07:31,600 Speaker 1: mascot and emotional support animal, but Smokey quickly became a 124 00:07:31,640 --> 00:07:36,000 Speaker 1: real veteran. She backpacked through the Pacific Islands right alongside Wine. 125 00:07:36,200 --> 00:07:39,480 Speaker 1: She participated in a dozen air and sea rescue missions. 126 00:07:39,800 --> 00:07:42,280 Speaker 1: She parachuted thirty feet down from the top of a 127 00:07:42,320 --> 00:07:46,920 Speaker 1: tree using a special teeny tiny parachute created just for her. 128 00:07:47,400 --> 00:07:49,920 Speaker 1: She survived over one hundred and fifty air raids on 129 00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:53,400 Speaker 1: New Guinea and then lived through a typhoon in Okinawa, Japan. 130 00:07:53,800 --> 00:07:57,360 Speaker 1: According to William Wine, Smokey once warned him about incoming 131 00:07:57,480 --> 00:08:02,160 Speaker 1: enemy fire, thereby saving his life. This telegraph wire, by 132 00:08:02,160 --> 00:08:05,160 Speaker 1: the way, was a small achievement compared to everything else 133 00:08:05,160 --> 00:08:08,080 Speaker 1: that Smokey had done, but it was a shining moment 134 00:08:08,120 --> 00:08:10,440 Speaker 1: for her. What would have taken days for the US 135 00:08:10,520 --> 00:08:13,320 Speaker 1: Air Force to complete on their own, Smokey had achieved 136 00:08:13,560 --> 00:08:16,680 Speaker 1: in a matter of minutes. When the war finally ended, 137 00:08:16,760 --> 00:08:20,200 Speaker 1: William Wine brought Smokey home to Cleveland, Ohio. He taught 138 00:08:20,200 --> 00:08:23,120 Speaker 1: her hundreds of tricks, including how to walk across a 139 00:08:23,200 --> 00:08:26,800 Speaker 1: tightrope while blindfolded. She and Wine went on to perform 140 00:08:26,880 --> 00:08:30,400 Speaker 1: shows in Hollywood, which were broadcast on television all over 141 00:08:30,480 --> 00:08:33,199 Speaker 1: the country, and on top of her career in showbiz, 142 00:08:33,240 --> 00:08:36,439 Speaker 1: Smokey also visited veterans' hospitals to comfort those who were 143 00:08:36,440 --> 00:08:41,000 Speaker 1: injured or suffering from PTSD. Smokey passed away in nineteen 144 00:08:41,080 --> 00:08:43,679 Speaker 1: fifty nine, but she left a legacy that is still 145 00:08:43,720 --> 00:08:47,360 Speaker 1: honored today. According to Animal Planet, she was history's most 146 00:08:47,360 --> 00:08:51,000 Speaker 1: recorded therapy dog, and in twenty twenty two, sixty five 147 00:08:51,080 --> 00:08:54,600 Speaker 1: years after her death, Smokey received the Animals in War 148 00:08:54,679 --> 00:08:57,960 Speaker 1: and Peace Distinguished Service Medal from the US government for 149 00:08:58,120 --> 00:09:01,160 Speaker 1: her role in World War Two. If you needed one 150 00:09:01,200 --> 00:09:03,439 Speaker 1: more achievement to add to the list, though Smokey is 151 00:09:03,480 --> 00:09:06,960 Speaker 1: also credited with renewing interest in Yorkies everywhere you see. 152 00:09:06,960 --> 00:09:10,199 Speaker 1: Before she made headlines for her heroism, Yorkshire Terriers were 153 00:09:10,200 --> 00:09:14,640 Speaker 1: a relatively obscure breed, but Smokey brought Yorkis to the mainstream. 154 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:18,199 Speaker 1: These days, they consistently rank in the American Kennel Club's 155 00:09:18,240 --> 00:09:21,920 Speaker 1: top one hundred most popular breeds. So the next time 156 00:09:21,960 --> 00:09:25,280 Speaker 1: you see a Yorki running around, spare a thought for Smokey, 157 00:09:25,800 --> 00:09:34,559 Speaker 1: History's cutest and most curious Air Force veteran. I hope 158 00:09:34,600 --> 00:09:37,920 Speaker 1: you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. 159 00:09:38,240 --> 00:09:41,320 Speaker 1: Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about 160 00:09:41,360 --> 00:09:45,920 Speaker 1: the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show 161 00:09:46,160 --> 00:09:49,400 Speaker 1: was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how 162 00:09:49,480 --> 00:09:53,080 Speaker 1: Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore, 163 00:09:53,320 --> 00:09:56,960 Speaker 1: which is a podcast, book series, and television show, and 164 00:09:57,000 --> 00:09:59,160 Speaker 1: you can learn all about it over at the World 165 00:09:59,240 --> 00:10:03,520 Speaker 1: of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious. 166 00:10:04,440 --> 00:10:07,840 Speaker 1: M HM.