1 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:07,520 Speaker 1: Welcomed Aaron Manky's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of I 2 00:00:07,640 --> 00:00:14,240 Speaker 1: Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is full 3 00:00:14,320 --> 00:00:17,960 Speaker 1: of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, 4 00:00:18,239 --> 00:00:21,600 Speaker 1: all of these amazing tales are right there on display, 5 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:27,560 Speaker 1: just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet 6 00:00:27,840 --> 00:00:38,199 Speaker 1: of Curiosities. There is so much about our world we 7 00:00:38,280 --> 00:00:40,960 Speaker 1: still have yet to understand. The oceans of this planet, 8 00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:44,879 Speaker 1: for example, remain mostly unexplored, at least eighty percent of them, 9 00:00:44,920 --> 00:00:47,560 Speaker 1: and there are artifacts that have been discovered throughout history 10 00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:52,080 Speaker 1: that continue to defy explanation. The anti Cathera mechanism, which 11 00:00:52,080 --> 00:00:55,160 Speaker 1: has been called the oldest analog computing device ever found, 12 00:00:55,520 --> 00:00:58,040 Speaker 1: was discovered in an ancient shipwreck off the coast of 13 00:00:58,040 --> 00:01:00,720 Speaker 1: the Greek island of the same name. That isn't anything 14 00:01:00,760 --> 00:01:03,280 Speaker 1: else like it, especially from the era in which it 15 00:01:03,360 --> 00:01:06,240 Speaker 1: was made. There are also the Drop of Stones, ten 16 00:01:06,319 --> 00:01:09,800 Speaker 1: thousand year old discs found in Chinese caves in night. 17 00:01:10,080 --> 00:01:13,000 Speaker 1: They were analyzed and experimented on by experts from all 18 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:15,840 Speaker 1: over the world, but no conclusion was ever drawn as 19 00:01:15,880 --> 00:01:19,360 Speaker 1: to the reason for their being there. But some unexplained 20 00:01:19,400 --> 00:01:22,800 Speaker 1: phenomena hit a little closer to home, like Dighton Rock. 21 00:01:23,440 --> 00:01:26,560 Speaker 1: Dighton Rocks existence was first recorded by Reverend John dan 22 00:01:26,640 --> 00:01:29,880 Speaker 1: Fourth back in sixteen eighty. Dan Fourth was a colonist 23 00:01:29,880 --> 00:01:32,000 Speaker 1: who sketched the carvings he found on the side of 24 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:35,600 Speaker 1: the rock. The carvings, known as petroglyphs, were comprised various 25 00:01:35,680 --> 00:01:39,800 Speaker 1: lines and geometric shapes, although dan Forth's interpretation wasn't too 26 00:01:39,800 --> 00:01:42,600 Speaker 1: accurate when compared with other descriptions of the rock from 27 00:01:42,640 --> 00:01:46,360 Speaker 1: the same time period. Dighton Rock was a forty ton 28 00:01:46,680 --> 00:01:49,840 Speaker 1: sandstone boulder, measuring nine and a half feet wide by 29 00:01:49,840 --> 00:01:52,680 Speaker 1: eleven feet long and five feet tall. When it was 30 00:01:52,720 --> 00:01:55,760 Speaker 1: first discovered, the flat side bearing the petroglyphs had been 31 00:01:55,760 --> 00:01:58,680 Speaker 1: turned out towards the water, as if the symbols had 32 00:01:58,680 --> 00:02:01,760 Speaker 1: been intended as a greeting or maybe a warning for 33 00:02:01,800 --> 00:02:05,720 Speaker 1: ships sailing towards the shore. In the years since its discovery, 34 00:02:05,880 --> 00:02:09,239 Speaker 1: numerous theories about the symbols have been proposed for one 35 00:02:09,520 --> 00:02:12,480 Speaker 1: who wrote them in the first place. Petroglyphs had been 36 00:02:12,480 --> 00:02:15,440 Speaker 1: found carved onto the side of rocks and stone walls 37 00:02:15,440 --> 00:02:18,360 Speaker 1: by the indigenous peoples of the area before, so it 38 00:02:18,440 --> 00:02:21,400 Speaker 1: was assumed that they had done the same here. Meanwhile, 39 00:02:21,440 --> 00:02:25,720 Speaker 1: Brown University co founder Ezra Styles suggested in seventeen eighty 40 00:02:25,720 --> 00:02:29,000 Speaker 1: three that perhaps the ancient Phoenicians had come to America 41 00:02:29,320 --> 00:02:31,520 Speaker 1: and left behind a trace of their culture in the 42 00:02:31,560 --> 00:02:34,120 Speaker 1: form of carvings on the side of this rock, and 43 00:02:34,160 --> 00:02:37,040 Speaker 1: even as recently as two thousand and two, another theory 44 00:02:37,080 --> 00:02:40,840 Speaker 1: suggested that the Chinese had arrived in America before Columbus 45 00:02:40,880 --> 00:02:44,600 Speaker 1: and had carved the symbols into Dighton Rock. However, it 46 00:02:44,680 --> 00:02:47,679 Speaker 1: was Carl Christian Raffine of Denmark who put forth a 47 00:02:47,760 --> 00:02:50,800 Speaker 1: theory that stuck with the stone for nearly a hundred years. 48 00:02:51,200 --> 00:02:53,520 Speaker 1: Carl was a historian who had built his career on 49 00:02:53,560 --> 00:02:56,880 Speaker 1: the study of Norse culture and language. Like others, Carl 50 00:02:56,919 --> 00:02:59,880 Speaker 1: believed that someone else had beaten Columbus to the New World, 51 00:03:00,280 --> 00:03:03,119 Speaker 1: except that it wasn't the Chinese, it was the vikings. 52 00:03:03,960 --> 00:03:06,800 Speaker 1: Other scholars added on to his work in the following years, 53 00:03:06,800 --> 00:03:11,560 Speaker 1: helping to confirm and perpetuate Karl's theory as the truth. Unfortunately, 54 00:03:11,560 --> 00:03:14,680 Speaker 1: the whole premise fell apart in nineteen sixteen when Brown 55 00:03:14,800 --> 00:03:18,000 Speaker 1: University professor Edmund de la Bar examined the rock for 56 00:03:18,080 --> 00:03:21,400 Speaker 1: himself with the help of a camera. He photographed it 57 00:03:21,440 --> 00:03:24,520 Speaker 1: in different lighting scenarios to get a comprehensive view of 58 00:03:24,560 --> 00:03:27,919 Speaker 1: all the markings, especially those that had been hard to see. 59 00:03:28,320 --> 00:03:32,040 Speaker 1: He discovered the year fifteen eleven had been carved underneath 60 00:03:32,080 --> 00:03:35,360 Speaker 1: some of the other etchings, as well as the letters M, I, 61 00:03:35,920 --> 00:03:40,360 Speaker 1: G and you. Through careful analysis of the surroundings symbols, 62 00:03:40,480 --> 00:03:42,200 Speaker 1: De la Bar was able to make out the name 63 00:03:42,480 --> 00:03:47,080 Speaker 1: mcguel Courtoreal. Miguel had come from Portugal to North America 64 00:03:47,200 --> 00:03:50,200 Speaker 1: to search for his missing brother gas Bar. Neither man 65 00:03:50,240 --> 00:03:53,040 Speaker 1: returned home, but according to de la Bar, Miguel had 66 00:03:53,120 --> 00:03:56,360 Speaker 1: arrived in Massachusetts and carved his name into Dighton Rock. 67 00:03:56,920 --> 00:03:59,280 Speaker 1: He had also carved a bit of Latin, which translated 68 00:03:59,320 --> 00:04:03,200 Speaker 1: to the will of God, leader of the Indians. According 69 00:04:03,240 --> 00:04:06,000 Speaker 1: to Reverend John dan Forth, that first person to mention 70 00:04:06,040 --> 00:04:09,280 Speaker 1: the rock and recorded history, the indigenous people had told 71 00:04:09,280 --> 00:04:11,600 Speaker 1: stories about men from a far away land who had 72 00:04:11,640 --> 00:04:14,400 Speaker 1: killed their chief. They very well could have been talking 73 00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:18,520 Speaker 1: about Portuguese explorers like mcguel and gas Bar. Of course, 74 00:04:18,640 --> 00:04:21,680 Speaker 1: even such a thorough and thoughtful analysis would eventually find 75 00:04:21,680 --> 00:04:25,320 Speaker 1: its way to the debuncdal list. Journalist and historian Douglas 76 00:04:25,400 --> 00:04:28,800 Speaker 1: Hunter tore apart Delabar's theory in a book he published 77 00:04:28,839 --> 00:04:33,040 Speaker 1: in two thousand seventeen. So what's the truth behind Dighton Rock? 78 00:04:33,560 --> 00:04:36,479 Speaker 1: Who put it there? Who carved the symbols into its side? 79 00:04:36,960 --> 00:04:40,320 Speaker 1: The truth is nobody has the answer. All they have 80 00:04:40,440 --> 00:04:43,560 Speaker 1: our ideas and theories. But if anyone wants to check 81 00:04:43,600 --> 00:04:45,880 Speaker 1: it out for themselves, all they have to do is 82 00:04:45,880 --> 00:04:49,320 Speaker 1: head over to Berkeley, Massachusetts and the Dighton Rock State Park. 83 00:04:49,880 --> 00:04:52,159 Speaker 1: The boulder was moved from its original home on the 84 00:04:52,200 --> 00:04:54,800 Speaker 1: Taunton River to a tiny museum in the park in 85 00:04:54,920 --> 00:04:58,600 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty three. Today the public can view the petroglyphs 86 00:04:58,720 --> 00:05:02,200 Speaker 1: up close while they speculate to their hearts content. And 87 00:05:02,520 --> 00:05:19,920 Speaker 1: you know, rock out Inventors are no stranger to malfunction. 88 00:05:20,360 --> 00:05:23,640 Speaker 1: Edison famously told a reporter once that he didn't fail 89 00:05:23,720 --> 00:05:26,119 Speaker 1: ten thousand times in the creation of the light bulb. 90 00:05:26,360 --> 00:05:28,760 Speaker 1: He merely found ten thousand ways that it didn't work. 91 00:05:29,320 --> 00:05:31,799 Speaker 1: The act of invention is one of trial and error 92 00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:35,359 Speaker 1: and takes extensive planning and testing before the final product 93 00:05:35,400 --> 00:05:38,360 Speaker 1: is ready to be received by the public. But sometimes 94 00:05:38,400 --> 00:05:41,080 Speaker 1: no amount of testing can prepare an invention for the 95 00:05:41,120 --> 00:05:44,960 Speaker 1: real world, and nobody learned that lesson harder than Alexander 96 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:48,440 Speaker 1: Graham Bell. Bell had started inventing when he was still 97 00:05:48,440 --> 00:05:50,960 Speaker 1: a child growing up in Scotland. He built a d 98 00:05:51,160 --> 00:05:53,719 Speaker 1: husking machine for a neighbor's flour mill when he was 99 00:05:53,720 --> 00:05:56,520 Speaker 1: only twelve years old, followed by a way to communicate 100 00:05:56,560 --> 00:05:59,120 Speaker 1: with his deaf mother using a series of finger taps 101 00:05:59,120 --> 00:06:02,279 Speaker 1: and gestures. It was actually his mother's loss of hearing 102 00:06:02,320 --> 00:06:05,200 Speaker 1: that influenced his later work in studying the travel of 103 00:06:05,240 --> 00:06:09,280 Speaker 1: sound and ultimately the creation of the telephone. But while 104 00:06:09,360 --> 00:06:11,680 Speaker 1: Belle is known today for helping to connect people by 105 00:06:11,760 --> 00:06:15,080 Speaker 1: voice all over the world, he also invented early versions 106 00:06:15,080 --> 00:06:18,000 Speaker 1: of some pretty powerful tools, one of which was put 107 00:06:18,040 --> 00:06:20,760 Speaker 1: to use. In eighteen eighty one, during a rough time 108 00:06:20,800 --> 00:06:24,120 Speaker 1: in American political history, a man by the name of 109 00:06:24,240 --> 00:06:27,000 Speaker 1: Charles had made a name for himself as a terrible 110 00:06:27,080 --> 00:06:30,080 Speaker 1: lawyer and a thief. After being chased out of Chicago 111 00:06:30,160 --> 00:06:33,560 Speaker 1: for stealing from his clients and not paying his bills, 112 00:06:33,800 --> 00:06:36,080 Speaker 1: he settled down in New York City with his wife, 113 00:06:36,080 --> 00:06:39,880 Speaker 1: where he started focusing on national politics. There he got 114 00:06:39,920 --> 00:06:43,479 Speaker 1: involved with the Democratic Party and supported candidate Horace Greeley 115 00:06:43,520 --> 00:06:47,479 Speaker 1: over the current Republican President Ulysseses Grant, but his support 116 00:06:47,560 --> 00:06:50,799 Speaker 1: came at a price. Charles started believing strange things throughout 117 00:06:50,839 --> 00:06:53,840 Speaker 1: the campaign, like how if Greeley was elected, that he 118 00:06:53,880 --> 00:06:57,560 Speaker 1: would make Charles the ambassador to Chile. Things only got 119 00:06:57,560 --> 00:07:01,039 Speaker 1: weirder from there. Charles published a just text, much of 120 00:07:01,080 --> 00:07:04,279 Speaker 1: which was plagiarized from the work of radical American preacher 121 00:07:04,400 --> 00:07:07,719 Speaker 1: John Humphrey Noyse. He was the founder of a utopian 122 00:07:07,760 --> 00:07:11,200 Speaker 1: commune called the Oneida Community, of which Charles had been 123 00:07:11,240 --> 00:07:15,000 Speaker 1: a follower. After that, Charles spent years traveling and preaching, 124 00:07:15,120 --> 00:07:18,440 Speaker 1: going from Boston to Washington, d c. Until finally winding 125 00:07:18,520 --> 00:07:21,119 Speaker 1: up back in New York. And as the Republican Party 126 00:07:21,160 --> 00:07:24,560 Speaker 1: began to split into two in eighteen eighty, Charles chose 127 00:07:24,600 --> 00:07:28,520 Speaker 1: to back the Stalwarts, conservative minded Republicans who supported the 128 00:07:28,560 --> 00:07:32,440 Speaker 1: civil rights of African Americans against the moderate liberals on 129 00:07:32,480 --> 00:07:35,680 Speaker 1: the other side of the party. The Stalwarts wanted Grant 130 00:07:35,720 --> 00:07:38,680 Speaker 1: to be the Republican nominee, and Charles threw his full 131 00:07:38,680 --> 00:07:41,720 Speaker 1: support behind him, a stark change from his backing of 132 00:07:41,760 --> 00:07:45,800 Speaker 1: the Democratic candidates just ten years prior. However, the Republicans 133 00:07:45,840 --> 00:07:49,840 Speaker 1: wound up nominating someone else, James Garfield, and so Charles 134 00:07:49,880 --> 00:07:53,440 Speaker 1: shifted his support to the new nominee almost immediately, and 135 00:07:53,440 --> 00:07:56,440 Speaker 1: Garfield won the election, and Charles believed that he had 136 00:07:56,480 --> 00:07:59,840 Speaker 1: been responsible for the man's success. He moved to Washington 137 00:08:00,120 --> 00:08:03,720 Speaker 1: and started writing letters to the President demanding a consuleship 138 00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:08,640 Speaker 1: position in Paris. Unfortunately, Garfield ignored his pleas Charles was 139 00:08:08,920 --> 00:08:11,640 Speaker 1: nobody and the new president had more important things to 140 00:08:11,680 --> 00:08:14,200 Speaker 1: do than entertain the wild fancies of one of his 141 00:08:14,240 --> 00:08:19,119 Speaker 1: more troublesome constituents. Well, Charles didn't like that. He felt 142 00:08:19,120 --> 00:08:21,440 Speaker 1: that without his help, Garfield would have lost, and the 143 00:08:21,480 --> 00:08:23,320 Speaker 1: more he thought about it, the more he found issue 144 00:08:23,320 --> 00:08:27,160 Speaker 1: with several of Garfield's policies. As a result, his adoration 145 00:08:27,200 --> 00:08:30,320 Speaker 1: of the man turned into animosity. He thought the country 146 00:08:30,360 --> 00:08:33,079 Speaker 1: would be better off if Vice President Chester A. Arthur 147 00:08:33,320 --> 00:08:37,680 Speaker 1: was president instead, and so on July two one, Charles 148 00:08:37,720 --> 00:08:40,600 Speaker 1: Guiteau waited for Garfield to arrive at the Baltimore and 149 00:08:40,640 --> 00:08:44,360 Speaker 1: Potomac Railroad station in Washington, d C. The President was 150 00:08:44,480 --> 00:08:47,319 Speaker 1: headed out for a summer trip when Charles stepped out 151 00:08:47,320 --> 00:08:49,720 Speaker 1: of the shadows and shot him twice in the back. 152 00:08:50,120 --> 00:08:52,760 Speaker 1: He was arrested immediately on his way out of the station, 153 00:08:53,040 --> 00:08:55,560 Speaker 1: and Garfield was transported to the White House for care. 154 00:08:56,600 --> 00:09:00,600 Speaker 1: Doctors were summoned, as was inventor Alexander Graham Bell, who 155 00:09:00,640 --> 00:09:03,360 Speaker 1: was living in Washington and had invented a new kind 156 00:09:03,360 --> 00:09:06,200 Speaker 1: of device to locate the bullet. It had come about 157 00:09:06,240 --> 00:09:09,000 Speaker 1: as part of his development of the telephone. Bell had 158 00:09:09,040 --> 00:09:11,640 Speaker 1: been trying to eliminate static in the device when he 159 00:09:11,760 --> 00:09:14,240 Speaker 1: noticed that the closer he brought a metal object to 160 00:09:14,280 --> 00:09:18,200 Speaker 1: the receiver, the louder the buzz it created. Bell's new 161 00:09:18,200 --> 00:09:22,560 Speaker 1: invention utilized some fairly simple materials too, one coil connected 162 00:09:22,600 --> 00:09:25,199 Speaker 1: to a battery and a buzzer, while another coil was 163 00:09:25,280 --> 00:09:28,520 Speaker 1: fastened to an earpiece. As he passed one coil over 164 00:09:28,559 --> 00:09:32,360 Speaker 1: Garfield's body, Bell would listen for the clicking in the earpiece, 165 00:09:32,440 --> 00:09:36,680 Speaker 1: indicating that one of the metal bullets had been located. Unfortunately, 166 00:09:36,760 --> 00:09:39,439 Speaker 1: he ran into a few problems. For one, the new 167 00:09:39,480 --> 00:09:42,520 Speaker 1: addition to the machine that was meant to improve performance 168 00:09:42,800 --> 00:09:46,200 Speaker 1: actually resulted in even more interference than before. He took 169 00:09:46,240 --> 00:09:48,080 Speaker 1: the whole thing back to his lab and made a 170 00:09:48,080 --> 00:09:50,920 Speaker 1: few adjustments before returning to the White House to try again. 171 00:09:51,520 --> 00:09:54,760 Speaker 1: It failed a second time, though Dr Willard Bliss, the 172 00:09:54,800 --> 00:09:58,160 Speaker 1: president's personal physician, swore that the bullets was on the 173 00:09:58,240 --> 00:10:01,000 Speaker 1: right side of Garfield's body, a point that he kept 174 00:10:01,040 --> 00:10:04,679 Speaker 1: impressing upon Bell, so that's where the inventor focused all 175 00:10:04,679 --> 00:10:07,360 Speaker 1: of his efforts. He heard the clicks in his earpiece, 176 00:10:07,600 --> 00:10:10,040 Speaker 1: a sure sign that he had found something, but there 177 00:10:10,120 --> 00:10:14,920 Speaker 1: was nothing there. The presidents eventually succumbed to infections caused 178 00:10:14,920 --> 00:10:19,040 Speaker 1: by his wounds two months later, on September nineteenth one. 179 00:10:19,679 --> 00:10:21,720 Speaker 1: What Bell didn't know at the time, though, was that 180 00:10:21,800 --> 00:10:25,320 Speaker 1: his machine had worked perfectly. There had been metal on 181 00:10:25,320 --> 00:10:28,880 Speaker 1: the right side of Garfield's body, but not inside him. Rather, 182 00:10:28,960 --> 00:10:33,240 Speaker 1: it had been underneath him. Bell was detecting the bedsprings. 183 00:10:33,880 --> 00:10:35,800 Speaker 1: The bullets, on the other hand, was found during the 184 00:10:35,840 --> 00:10:40,080 Speaker 1: late President's autopsy on his left hand side, not his right, 185 00:10:40,240 --> 00:10:43,160 Speaker 1: as the doctor had insisted. In order to help the 186 00:10:43,200 --> 00:10:46,320 Speaker 1: twentie President of the United States, Alexander Graham, Bell had 187 00:10:46,320 --> 00:10:50,160 Speaker 1: whipped up a little thing called a metal detector. Sadly, 188 00:10:50,280 --> 00:10:52,840 Speaker 1: even after two attempts, Bell couldn't get it to do 189 00:10:52,880 --> 00:10:55,640 Speaker 1: what he had hoped, and so he had to bite 190 00:10:55,640 --> 00:10:58,880 Speaker 1: the bullet and accept his loss. But his creation would 191 00:10:58,880 --> 00:11:01,720 Speaker 1: eventually go on to help soldiers locate land mines during 192 00:11:01,760 --> 00:11:05,679 Speaker 1: wartime and assist beachgoers in their search for buried treasure. 193 00:11:05,960 --> 00:11:09,559 Speaker 1: So it wasn't a complete failure. It was simply a 194 00:11:09,600 --> 00:11:17,120 Speaker 1: bellweather of what was to come. I hope you've enjoyed 195 00:11:17,160 --> 00:11:20,880 Speaker 1: today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for 196 00:11:20,960 --> 00:11:23,720 Speaker 1: free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show 197 00:11:23,800 --> 00:11:28,800 Speaker 1: by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created 198 00:11:28,840 --> 00:11:32,160 Speaker 1: by me Aaron Manky in partnership with how Stuff Works. 199 00:11:32,559 --> 00:11:35,720 Speaker 1: I make another award winning show called Lore, which is 200 00:11:35,840 --> 00:11:39,200 Speaker 1: a podcast, book series, and television show, and you can 201 00:11:39,280 --> 00:11:41,640 Speaker 1: learn all about it over at the World of Lore 202 00:11:41,880 --> 00:11:45,679 Speaker 1: dot com. And until next time, stay curious.