1 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:07,440 Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manke'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 00:00:14,480 --> 00:00:18,440 Speaker 1: the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all 4 00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:22,119 Speaker 1: of these amazing tales are right there on display, just 5 00:00:22,200 --> 00:00:28,880 Speaker 1: waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. 6 00:00:36,760 --> 00:00:41,559 Speaker 1: Nothing brings people together quite like a sports game. Football, soccer, tennis. 7 00:00:41,600 --> 00:00:44,120 Speaker 1: Each one of those has the ability to thrill and 8 00:00:44,280 --> 00:00:47,239 Speaker 1: liven up a day. For a brief few hours, we 9 00:00:47,360 --> 00:00:51,040 Speaker 1: experience community with total strangers as we scream and yell 10 00:00:51,200 --> 00:00:54,720 Speaker 1: encouragement at the players on the field. It's a tradition 11 00:00:54,800 --> 00:00:57,280 Speaker 1: that goes back as far as any inhuman history. But 12 00:00:57,480 --> 00:01:00,560 Speaker 1: going to a game isn't only about team spirit. It's 13 00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:03,840 Speaker 1: also about conflict. Nothing is quite like a good rivalry 14 00:01:03,840 --> 00:01:06,640 Speaker 1: between teams. Just ask any New England or how they 15 00:01:06,640 --> 00:01:08,959 Speaker 1: feel about the New York Yankees and you'll see what 16 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:11,960 Speaker 1: I mean. It's like having a nemesis in your hometown. 17 00:01:12,280 --> 00:01:16,880 Speaker 1: These rivalries are engaging and powering and occasionally even deadly. 18 00:01:17,840 --> 00:01:20,040 Speaker 1: To understand what I mean, let's take a look at 19 00:01:20,040 --> 00:01:24,280 Speaker 1: the oldest college football rivalry in United States history between 20 00:01:24,480 --> 00:01:29,440 Speaker 1: USC Berkeley and Stanford College, first played in eighteen ninety two. 21 00:01:29,560 --> 00:01:33,000 Speaker 1: This rivalry has become known as the Big Game. These 22 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:35,679 Speaker 1: two colleges have played each other one hundred and twenty 23 00:01:35,760 --> 00:01:39,200 Speaker 1: six times, and they're showing no sign of stopping. With 24 00:01:39,319 --> 00:01:41,920 Speaker 1: each new generation of students, there's a new wave of 25 00:01:42,040 --> 00:01:46,440 Speaker 1: enthusiasm for continuing the competition. This rivalry is so popular 26 00:01:46,480 --> 00:01:48,640 Speaker 1: that many forget its ties to one of the greatest 27 00:01:48,680 --> 00:01:53,160 Speaker 1: tragedies in sports history. It was Thanksgiving Day nineteen hundred 28 00:01:53,240 --> 00:01:56,800 Speaker 1: in San Francisco. There had only been nine Big Games 29 00:01:56,840 --> 00:01:59,720 Speaker 1: so far, but each was larger than the last. Football 30 00:01:59,760 --> 00:02:02,680 Speaker 1: fans flocked to the Mission District, a field known as 31 00:02:02,720 --> 00:02:06,639 Speaker 1: the sixteenth and fulsome grounds. It stood near the industrial site. 32 00:02:06,920 --> 00:02:09,240 Speaker 1: The far end of the field was dominated by the 33 00:02:09,240 --> 00:02:11,840 Speaker 1: shape of a new factory, and this was a bottle 34 00:02:11,880 --> 00:02:15,040 Speaker 1: manufacturing facility that just opened by the San Francisco and 35 00:02:15,080 --> 00:02:18,680 Speaker 1: Pacific Glass Works. By ten thirty that morning, the event 36 00:02:18,760 --> 00:02:21,880 Speaker 1: managers were already struggling with the crowd size. The city 37 00:02:21,880 --> 00:02:25,600 Speaker 1: of San Francisco had employed sixty police officers for crowd control. 38 00:02:26,040 --> 00:02:29,440 Speaker 1: This was, to put it mildly, not enough. The number 39 00:02:29,480 --> 00:02:33,200 Speaker 1: of attendees was soon in the tens of thousands. Tickets 40 00:02:33,200 --> 00:02:35,560 Speaker 1: for the game were sold for a dollar now. That 41 00:02:35,680 --> 00:02:38,280 Speaker 1: might seem cheap today, but with inflation that comes out 42 00:02:38,320 --> 00:02:40,960 Speaker 1: to around thirty or forty bucks now. Most of the 43 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:44,400 Speaker 1: attendees were still willing to pay. University of Californian fans 44 00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:47,680 Speaker 1: were eager to see col defeat Stanford again, and Stanford 45 00:02:47,760 --> 00:02:50,440 Speaker 1: fans wanted to see Stanford regain her honor after the 46 00:02:50,480 --> 00:02:54,600 Speaker 1: previous years devastating thirty to zero shutouts. Even those who 47 00:02:54,639 --> 00:02:57,320 Speaker 1: couldn't afford the ticket price were still eager to see 48 00:02:57,320 --> 00:03:00,360 Speaker 1: the game. It's estimated that several thousands tried to watch 49 00:03:00,400 --> 00:03:03,160 Speaker 1: from the streets on top of the nineteen thousand in 50 00:03:03,240 --> 00:03:06,040 Speaker 1: the stadium, but watching from the street was not a 51 00:03:06,080 --> 00:03:09,520 Speaker 1: great view, so many sought a better vantage point, and 52 00:03:09,639 --> 00:03:12,519 Speaker 1: on Fifteenth Street, the natural choice with a full view 53 00:03:12,560 --> 00:03:16,320 Speaker 1: of the field was the glassworks factory. At least four 54 00:03:16,400 --> 00:03:19,560 Speaker 1: hundred spectators climbed on top of the building in spite 55 00:03:19,600 --> 00:03:22,800 Speaker 1: of the protests of the factory security. The building manager 56 00:03:22,840 --> 00:03:25,120 Speaker 1: had been tasked with keeping people off the roof, but 57 00:03:25,160 --> 00:03:29,320 Speaker 1: the watchmen he had hired were woefully unprepared for the task. Inside, 58 00:03:29,360 --> 00:03:32,840 Speaker 1: only one furnace was active, manned by a skeleton crew. 59 00:03:33,040 --> 00:03:35,760 Speaker 1: The factory workers tried to phone the police, but were 60 00:03:35,760 --> 00:03:40,320 Speaker 1: redirected to the event managers instead. Fans settled in ready 61 00:03:40,360 --> 00:03:42,600 Speaker 1: for the game. To the untrained eye, it must have 62 00:03:42,640 --> 00:03:45,440 Speaker 1: looked like a sturdy roof with corrugated iron on top 63 00:03:45,480 --> 00:03:48,880 Speaker 1: of a brand new factory. But early on people started 64 00:03:48,920 --> 00:03:51,880 Speaker 1: to notice that things didn't feel quite right. The roof 65 00:03:51,920 --> 00:03:55,000 Speaker 1: felt like it was straining already, and the game hadn't 66 00:03:55,040 --> 00:03:59,120 Speaker 1: even begun. Lightheartedly teasing among the men and boys seemed 67 00:03:59,120 --> 00:04:01,960 Speaker 1: to mask a deeper worry that something was about to 68 00:04:01,960 --> 00:04:05,800 Speaker 1: go horribly wrong. Kickoff was at two thirty pm. Twenty 69 00:04:05,840 --> 00:04:08,480 Speaker 1: minutes later, fans within the stadium would hear a loud 70 00:04:08,520 --> 00:04:12,280 Speaker 1: crash coming from fifteenth Street. It drew a few concerned glances, 71 00:04:12,360 --> 00:04:15,080 Speaker 1: but the game did not stop, and soon all eyes 72 00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:18,280 Speaker 1: returned to the players on the field. Meanwhile, the roof 73 00:04:18,320 --> 00:04:22,800 Speaker 1: of the glassworks factory had completely collapsed. In an instant, 74 00:04:22,839 --> 00:04:24,800 Speaker 1: A hole opened up in the roof of the factory, 75 00:04:25,120 --> 00:04:28,400 Speaker 1: swallowing around two hundred people. About one hundred of them 76 00:04:28,440 --> 00:04:32,600 Speaker 1: plummeted four stories onto a solid brick floor. Another sixty 77 00:04:32,640 --> 00:04:35,480 Speaker 1: to one hundred people fell directly on top of the 78 00:04:35,520 --> 00:04:39,120 Speaker 1: furnace housing molten glass. The surface temperature would have been 79 00:04:39,160 --> 00:04:43,240 Speaker 1: around five hundred degrees fahrenheit. As people rained down into 80 00:04:43,279 --> 00:04:46,880 Speaker 1: the factory, fuel pipes broke, spraying hot oil onto the 81 00:04:46,920 --> 00:04:50,640 Speaker 1: bodies that were already burning or broken. In the chaos, 82 00:04:50,680 --> 00:04:54,040 Speaker 1: the factory workers hurried to save lives. They switched off 83 00:04:54,080 --> 00:04:57,120 Speaker 1: the oil valves and tried desperately to retrieve the burning 84 00:04:57,200 --> 00:05:00,280 Speaker 1: victims with tongs and pokers. Some of the luck year 85 00:05:00,360 --> 00:05:03,440 Speaker 1: ones had managed to cling onto support beams or remaining 86 00:05:03,480 --> 00:05:06,839 Speaker 1: sections of the roof to save themselves. The less lucky 87 00:05:06,960 --> 00:05:10,159 Speaker 1: found themselves pinned to the furnace by support rods, burning 88 00:05:10,160 --> 00:05:13,160 Speaker 1: to death before they could be saved. All told, there 89 00:05:13,160 --> 00:05:15,400 Speaker 1: were twenty three deaths in what became known as the 90 00:05:15,520 --> 00:05:19,920 Speaker 1: Thanksgiving Day disaster. Of those, sixteen were teens and younger 91 00:05:19,960 --> 00:05:23,240 Speaker 1: boys who couldn't afford the one dollar ticket fee. The 92 00:05:23,279 --> 00:05:26,599 Speaker 1: youngest was nine years old. The final victim survived in 93 00:05:26,640 --> 00:05:30,799 Speaker 1: critical condition for over three years before succumbing to his injuries. 94 00:05:31,520 --> 00:05:34,440 Speaker 1: As for the number of injuries, it's impossible to say. 95 00:05:34,760 --> 00:05:38,120 Speaker 1: Newspaper reports from the following day list at least eighty injured, 96 00:05:38,160 --> 00:05:41,120 Speaker 1: but the real number is likely much higher, and the 97 00:05:41,120 --> 00:05:44,839 Speaker 1: more time passed, the more obscure the stories became. In fact, 98 00:05:44,920 --> 00:05:47,000 Speaker 1: for a long time, it seemed like this event was 99 00:05:47,080 --> 00:05:50,159 Speaker 1: doomed to be forgotten. There's no monument for it, and 100 00:05:50,200 --> 00:05:53,159 Speaker 1: the big game continued the following year as if nothing 101 00:05:53,200 --> 00:05:56,640 Speaker 1: ever happened. Stanford and Cal have played each other over 102 00:05:56,680 --> 00:05:59,599 Speaker 1: one hundred times since the tragedy, and they will continue 103 00:05:59,600 --> 00:06:02,279 Speaker 1: to do so in the future, so as their next 104 00:06:02,320 --> 00:06:05,120 Speaker 1: rematch comes around, it's a good time for us to remember. 105 00:06:05,480 --> 00:06:08,000 Speaker 1: We all have things that bring us joy, and being 106 00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:10,080 Speaker 1: a fan of a college football team can be just 107 00:06:10,160 --> 00:06:13,520 Speaker 1: as meaningful as anything else. But it's also too easy 108 00:06:13,720 --> 00:06:16,960 Speaker 1: to let our enthusiasm get away from us. So check 109 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:19,200 Speaker 1: your footing every once in a while. It's best to 110 00:06:19,240 --> 00:06:36,760 Speaker 1: make sure that you're standing on solid ground. A legacy 111 00:06:36,920 --> 00:06:39,560 Speaker 1: is a curious thing. When we leave this world, we 112 00:06:39,640 --> 00:06:42,039 Speaker 1: might live on in the faces of our children or 113 00:06:42,120 --> 00:06:45,039 Speaker 1: the memories of our friends. What we leave behind could 114 00:06:45,080 --> 00:06:48,200 Speaker 1: be as complicated as a family business or as simple 115 00:06:48,320 --> 00:06:52,640 Speaker 1: as a family recipe. Legacies can also be complicated. In 116 00:06:52,720 --> 00:06:55,800 Speaker 1: nineteen fifty one, one woman left behind a legacy that 117 00:06:55,880 --> 00:06:58,719 Speaker 1: has touched nearly every person on earth, but it was 118 00:06:58,760 --> 00:07:01,400 Speaker 1: taken right under the nose of the people who loved 119 00:07:01,400 --> 00:07:06,039 Speaker 1: her best. Henrietta was a striking woman born in nineteen 120 00:07:06,080 --> 00:07:09,440 Speaker 1: twenty to a family of working class tobacco farmers in Virginia. 121 00:07:09,800 --> 00:07:13,120 Speaker 1: By nineteen fifty one, young Henrietta was living in Baltimore. 122 00:07:13,520 --> 00:07:16,040 Speaker 1: She was a mother to five lively kids and was 123 00:07:16,120 --> 00:07:19,320 Speaker 1: known for hosting huge dinners and never being seen without 124 00:07:19,320 --> 00:07:23,160 Speaker 1: her trademark red nail polish. But in nineteen fifty one, 125 00:07:23,320 --> 00:07:26,760 Speaker 1: the normally energetic Henrietta was starting to feel ill. She 126 00:07:26,840 --> 00:07:29,360 Speaker 1: complained to relatives of feeling like she had a knot 127 00:07:29,360 --> 00:07:32,200 Speaker 1: in her abdomen. When she finally went to Johns Hopkins 128 00:07:32,320 --> 00:07:35,480 Speaker 1: Medical Center, the only nearby hospital that would even treat 129 00:07:35,480 --> 00:07:39,920 Speaker 1: black patients, her worst fears were confirmed. She had cervical cancer. 130 00:07:40,640 --> 00:07:44,320 Speaker 1: Henrietta immediately began radium treatments, but it was too late. 131 00:07:44,640 --> 00:07:48,320 Speaker 1: The tumor spread and metastasized, and on October thirty first 132 00:07:48,400 --> 00:07:51,360 Speaker 1: of nineteen fifty one, Henrietta died at the age of 133 00:07:51,480 --> 00:07:54,360 Speaker 1: just thirty one. For most people, that's where the whole 134 00:07:54,400 --> 00:07:59,080 Speaker 1: story would end, but Henrietta was not Most people Johns 135 00:07:59,080 --> 00:08:02,280 Speaker 1: Hopkins was a research hospital and in the same complex 136 00:08:02,320 --> 00:08:05,800 Speaker 1: where Henrietta was being treated. Another researcher named George Guy 137 00:08:06,120 --> 00:08:08,760 Speaker 1: was trying to solve a problem. He was the head 138 00:08:08,800 --> 00:08:12,240 Speaker 1: of the tissue culture lab at Johns Hopkins. He wanted 139 00:08:12,240 --> 00:08:15,600 Speaker 1: to use human cells to test new medications and therapies, 140 00:08:15,960 --> 00:08:18,520 Speaker 1: but no matter what he did, he couldn't get human 141 00:08:18,600 --> 00:08:22,840 Speaker 1: cells to survive outside their bodies. So George Guy wasn't 142 00:08:22,880 --> 00:08:25,360 Speaker 1: expecting much when a new sample of cells from a 143 00:08:25,400 --> 00:08:29,040 Speaker 1: cancer patient named Henrietta was sent to his lab, but 144 00:08:29,240 --> 00:08:31,520 Speaker 1: all of that changed the following day when he put 145 00:08:31,520 --> 00:08:34,880 Speaker 1: the sample under a microscope. Guy was expecting to see 146 00:08:34,880 --> 00:08:38,720 Speaker 1: a collection of deteriorating cells, but to his surprise, there 147 00:08:38,760 --> 00:08:41,800 Speaker 1: were new cells in the culture. Within twenty four hours, 148 00:08:41,960 --> 00:08:45,400 Speaker 1: henrietta cell sample had doubled, and it would continue to 149 00:08:45,440 --> 00:08:49,440 Speaker 1: do so for the next seventy years. Henrietta became the 150 00:08:49,480 --> 00:08:53,040 Speaker 1: source of the first immortal human cell line ever discovered. 151 00:08:53,280 --> 00:08:56,760 Speaker 1: Her cells thrived and replicated in lab conditions for over 152 00:08:56,880 --> 00:09:00,960 Speaker 1: seven decades. Scientists don't totally know why exactly it did this. 153 00:09:01,080 --> 00:09:03,959 Speaker 1: They just know that thanks to Henrietta, researchers have made 154 00:09:04,040 --> 00:09:09,760 Speaker 1: great strides In medical technology, Henrietta cells nicknamed HeLa cells, 155 00:09:09,760 --> 00:09:13,000 Speaker 1: have been used to test drugs, hormones, and even pioneer 156 00:09:13,040 --> 00:09:16,400 Speaker 1: the polio vaccine. HeLa cells were sent into space to 157 00:09:16,440 --> 00:09:19,480 Speaker 1: observe the effects of zero gravity on humans. They were 158 00:09:19,520 --> 00:09:22,840 Speaker 1: at one of the cornerstones of pioneering in vitro fertilization 159 00:09:23,200 --> 00:09:26,520 Speaker 1: and in mapping the human genome, and were instrumental in 160 00:09:26,559 --> 00:09:31,040 Speaker 1: developing the COVID nineteen vaccines. And, perhaps most importantly and 161 00:09:31,080 --> 00:09:35,559 Speaker 1: definitely most bittersweet, HeLa cells were used for advanced cancer treatments, 162 00:09:35,800 --> 00:09:38,640 Speaker 1: the type of breakthroughs which might have saved Henrietta's life 163 00:09:38,640 --> 00:09:42,240 Speaker 1: back in nineteen fifty one. Talk about a legacy, but 164 00:09:42,520 --> 00:09:45,920 Speaker 1: Henrietta Lax never lived to see her impact. Back in 165 00:09:46,000 --> 00:09:49,160 Speaker 1: nineteen fifty one, she never consented to seeing her cells 166 00:09:49,280 --> 00:09:52,520 Speaker 1: used for medical research. As they became a mainstay of 167 00:09:52,640 --> 00:09:56,720 Speaker 1: new research, scientists gained accolades and even sold patents based 168 00:09:56,760 --> 00:10:00,079 Speaker 1: on her cells. They also published sensitive medical and genet 169 00:10:00,240 --> 00:10:03,640 Speaker 1: information about the Lax family. All of this was while 170 00:10:03,679 --> 00:10:06,960 Speaker 1: the Lax themselves were kept in the dark. Henriette's family 171 00:10:07,080 --> 00:10:09,959 Speaker 1: didn't even find out about what's going on until nineteen 172 00:10:10,160 --> 00:10:14,520 Speaker 1: seventy five and naturally. Learning about Henrietta's legacy has caused 173 00:10:14,600 --> 00:10:17,880 Speaker 1: mixed emotions for her family. The members are happy their 174 00:10:17,920 --> 00:10:20,800 Speaker 1: mother and grandmother has had such a positive impact on 175 00:10:20,840 --> 00:10:24,560 Speaker 1: the world, but they're angry the family wasn't informed and 176 00:10:24,640 --> 00:10:28,480 Speaker 1: it's complicated to think about the financial aspect. For decades, 177 00:10:28,520 --> 00:10:33,600 Speaker 1: Henrietta cells have generated millions benefiting pharmaceutical and biotech companies, 178 00:10:33,960 --> 00:10:37,679 Speaker 1: but her family has never seen a cent. Today, the 179 00:10:37,760 --> 00:10:40,760 Speaker 1: National Institute of Health has partnered with the Lax family 180 00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:43,800 Speaker 1: to try to right this wrong. Anyone who wants to 181 00:10:43,880 --> 00:10:46,480 Speaker 1: use HeLa cells today in their research must first be 182 00:10:46,559 --> 00:10:49,480 Speaker 1: approved by a committee made up of the Lax family 183 00:10:49,559 --> 00:10:53,360 Speaker 1: and the National Institute of Health. Multiple biomedical companies have 184 00:10:53,400 --> 00:10:57,319 Speaker 1: announced donations to the Henrietta Lax Foundation, where their money 185 00:10:57,320 --> 00:11:01,120 Speaker 1: will support families whose genetic material has been used without 186 00:11:01,160 --> 00:11:05,320 Speaker 1: their consent. Henrietta Lax impacted a lot of people in 187 00:11:05,400 --> 00:11:08,800 Speaker 1: her short life, and not just because of her remarkable cells, 188 00:11:08,800 --> 00:11:11,480 Speaker 1: but also because of the lives that she touched while 189 00:11:11,480 --> 00:11:15,320 Speaker 1: she was living. And yes, Henrietta cells may indeed live 190 00:11:15,360 --> 00:11:19,760 Speaker 1: on forever, but with any luck, her memory will as well. 191 00:11:23,720 --> 00:11:26,440 Speaker 1: I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet 192 00:11:26,440 --> 00:11:30,320 Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn 193 00:11:30,360 --> 00:11:34,880 Speaker 1: more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. 194 00:11:34,960 --> 00:11:38,520 Speaker 1: The show was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership 195 00:11:38,559 --> 00:11:41,880 Speaker 1: with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show 196 00:11:42,000 --> 00:11:46,040 Speaker 1: called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show, 197 00:11:46,280 --> 00:11:48,160 Speaker 1: and you can learn all about it over at the 198 00:11:48,360 --> 00:11:54,880 Speaker 1: Worldolore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.