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 --> 00:00:22,639 Speaker 1: of these amazing tales right there on display, just waiting 5 00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:28,920 Speaker 1: for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. 6 00:00:36,680 --> 00:00:40,160 Speaker 1: It would be over by Christmas. That was what everyone said. 7 00:00:40,240 --> 00:00:43,479 Speaker 1: When Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his beloved wife Sophie were 8 00:00:43,520 --> 00:00:47,680 Speaker 1: assassinated in nineteen fourteen. Their marriage wasn't supposed to happen, 9 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:52,080 Speaker 1: as the sitting Emperor of the Austro Hungarian Empire, Franz Joseph, 10 00:00:52,240 --> 00:00:55,800 Speaker 1: disapproved of his nephew and heir's choice, but true love 11 00:00:55,840 --> 00:00:59,320 Speaker 1: won out and the happy couple were married for fourteen years. 12 00:01:00,120 --> 00:01:04,080 Speaker 1: Austria Hungary, like most European nations throughout the nineteenth century, 13 00:01:04,280 --> 00:01:07,760 Speaker 1: had a taste for empire. They occupied large swaths of 14 00:01:07,800 --> 00:01:10,759 Speaker 1: Europe and believed that they had firm rights over territories 15 00:01:10,760 --> 00:01:14,959 Speaker 1: and people they ruled, even though their subjects disagreed. Revolutionary 16 00:01:14,959 --> 00:01:18,440 Speaker 1: groups sprang up all across the empire in resistance to 17 00:01:18,480 --> 00:01:22,440 Speaker 1: the rulers. It was the assassination that never should have happened. 18 00:01:22,600 --> 00:01:24,880 Speaker 1: No amount of planning in the world could have helped 19 00:01:24,880 --> 00:01:28,240 Speaker 1: the revolutionary group the Young Bosnians more than the luck 20 00:01:28,319 --> 00:01:31,800 Speaker 1: they had that day. After multiple blunders on both sides, 21 00:01:32,040 --> 00:01:35,440 Speaker 1: it was Gavrillo, princip standing on the wrong street corner 22 00:01:35,520 --> 00:01:38,240 Speaker 1: at the right time, who managed to get the job done, 23 00:01:38,360 --> 00:01:42,080 Speaker 1: firing two shots at point blank range. This was the 24 00:01:42,120 --> 00:01:45,640 Speaker 1: modern day shot heard round the world. The assassination of 25 00:01:45,720 --> 00:01:48,720 Speaker 1: the heir of the Austro Hungarian Empire by a Serbian 26 00:01:49,080 --> 00:01:52,080 Speaker 1: kicked off a chain of reactions and alliances that would 27 00:01:52,120 --> 00:01:55,280 Speaker 1: destroy the world as they knew it. Admittedly, no one 28 00:01:55,360 --> 00:01:57,880 Speaker 1: knew that at the time. After all, almost all of 29 00:01:57,960 --> 00:02:02,400 Speaker 1: European monarchs were cousins through Queen Victoria. Back then, war 30 00:02:02,520 --> 00:02:06,560 Speaker 1: was treated as something romantic, adventurous, and even grand. It 31 00:02:06,600 --> 00:02:09,760 Speaker 1: was solemn, for sure, but also something exciting that roused 32 00:02:09,840 --> 00:02:12,960 Speaker 1: national pride. When the war was officially declared in July 33 00:02:13,040 --> 00:02:15,560 Speaker 1: of nineteen fourteen, most people thought that it would be 34 00:02:15,639 --> 00:02:18,920 Speaker 1: over by Christmas, but it was soon abundantly clear just 35 00:02:18,960 --> 00:02:22,680 Speaker 1: how wrong they'd been. In both weaponry and tactics, this 36 00:02:22,800 --> 00:02:25,400 Speaker 1: war was nothing like any they had ever seen. Before. 37 00:02:25,760 --> 00:02:29,600 Speaker 1: It wasn't confined to the battlefield either. It consumed farms, towns, 38 00:02:29,800 --> 00:02:32,680 Speaker 1: and even cities, and along the way it destroyed an 39 00:02:32,800 --> 00:02:37,120 Speaker 1: entire generation of young men and exhausted resources and national morale. 40 00:02:37,639 --> 00:02:39,600 Speaker 1: Many of the young men who joined up were looking 41 00:02:39,639 --> 00:02:42,640 Speaker 1: for adventure, glory, and maybe a chance to move up 42 00:02:42,680 --> 00:02:45,480 Speaker 1: in the world. What they got instead was speedy training 43 00:02:45,520 --> 00:02:47,680 Speaker 1: that didn't equip them for what was to come. They 44 00:02:47,680 --> 00:02:51,200 Speaker 1: were stuffed into muddy, wet trenches, choked and blinded with 45 00:02:51,320 --> 00:02:55,079 Speaker 1: chlorine and mustard gas, plagued by trench foot and shell shock. 46 00:02:55,400 --> 00:02:58,880 Speaker 1: By Christmas of nineteen fourteen, all those boys really wanted 47 00:02:58,960 --> 00:03:01,280 Speaker 1: was to go home, but they were stuck there in 48 00:03:01,320 --> 00:03:05,400 Speaker 1: the freezing mud. Pope Benedict the fifteenth, who took office 49 00:03:05,440 --> 00:03:07,880 Speaker 1: not long after the war began, put out a call 50 00:03:07,960 --> 00:03:10,880 Speaker 1: for a truce that Christmas. Maybe he hoped a break 51 00:03:10,880 --> 00:03:13,880 Speaker 1: from the fighting would bring leaders to their senses. If so, 52 00:03:14,040 --> 00:03:17,160 Speaker 1: he was sadly disappointed when it was officially rejected from 53 00:03:17,200 --> 00:03:21,720 Speaker 1: both sides. But then a funny thing happened. No one 54 00:03:21,760 --> 00:03:24,600 Speaker 1: really knows how it started or where, but at around 55 00:03:24,639 --> 00:03:28,160 Speaker 1: eight thirty PM, an officer from the Royal Irish Rifles 56 00:03:28,440 --> 00:03:32,600 Speaker 1: sent a report to HQ saying Germans have illuminated their trenches, 57 00:03:32,760 --> 00:03:36,560 Speaker 1: are singing songs and wishing us a happy Christmas. Compliments 58 00:03:36,560 --> 00:03:40,880 Speaker 1: are being exchanged, but I am nevertheless taking all military precautions. 59 00:03:41,360 --> 00:03:43,760 Speaker 1: And then there was Bruce Bairn's father. He was a 60 00:03:43,760 --> 00:03:46,560 Speaker 1: British machine gunner of the first Battalion of the Royal 61 00:03:46,600 --> 00:03:49,480 Speaker 1: Warwickshire Regiment. He was sick to death of all the mud, 62 00:03:49,560 --> 00:03:53,119 Speaker 1: the sleeplessness, and the stale biscuits. And on Christmas Eve 63 00:03:53,160 --> 00:03:56,440 Speaker 1: of nineteen fourteen, as he later recorded in his memoir, 64 00:03:56,640 --> 00:03:59,280 Speaker 1: at about ten pm, he heard a commotion from the 65 00:03:59,320 --> 00:04:03,720 Speaker 1: German trench. They were singing. Bairn's father wrote that when 66 00:04:03,760 --> 00:04:06,880 Speaker 1: they started singing back, there was confused shouting from the 67 00:04:06,920 --> 00:04:10,640 Speaker 1: other trench. Then, in an accented English voice, one of 68 00:04:10,720 --> 00:04:13,120 Speaker 1: the Germans asked the British to send a man over. 69 00:04:13,560 --> 00:04:16,839 Speaker 1: Both sides cautiously agreed to meet halfway in no man's land, 70 00:04:16,920 --> 00:04:19,480 Speaker 1: and climbed out of the trenches, taking a few careful 71 00:04:19,520 --> 00:04:23,240 Speaker 1: steps into the contested territory. And there they met with 72 00:04:23,360 --> 00:04:27,880 Speaker 1: smiles and handshakes. They traded songs, alcohol and tobacco, and 73 00:04:27,960 --> 00:04:31,120 Speaker 1: had a party under the stars together. Once the soldiers 74 00:04:31,120 --> 00:04:33,360 Speaker 1: on both sides had met, they realized that not one 75 00:04:33,360 --> 00:04:37,400 Speaker 1: of them really hated the other, not yet anyway, And 76 00:04:37,440 --> 00:04:39,240 Speaker 1: it turned out that their little slice of the front 77 00:04:39,279 --> 00:04:42,599 Speaker 1: line wasn't alone. Up and down the line, carol singing 78 00:04:42,640 --> 00:04:45,840 Speaker 1: had broken out. The Germans sang silent Night and were 79 00:04:45,839 --> 00:04:50,239 Speaker 1: answered by British troops. Rendition of the first Noel. Stories 80 00:04:50,279 --> 00:04:53,880 Speaker 1: of the Christmas Truth don't appear in any official documents, though, 81 00:04:54,040 --> 00:04:57,160 Speaker 1: because it was never sanctioned. Instead, the soldiers who were 82 00:04:57,160 --> 00:04:59,920 Speaker 1: doing the fighting and dying, who had lost their ideal as, 83 00:05:00,440 --> 00:05:02,920 Speaker 1: decided to take a chance and see what might happen. 84 00:05:03,279 --> 00:05:07,360 Speaker 1: They talked about home, their families, even soccer, and yes, 85 00:05:07,520 --> 00:05:10,839 Speaker 1: of course, the good didn't last. Hostilities resumed just a 86 00:05:10,839 --> 00:05:13,120 Speaker 1: few days later, and the worst was yet to come. 87 00:05:13,640 --> 00:05:16,880 Speaker 1: But to me, the Christmas Truce is a beautiful reminder 88 00:05:16,920 --> 00:05:20,919 Speaker 1: of humanity's ultimate desire for peace, no matter how short 89 00:05:20,920 --> 00:05:38,320 Speaker 1: lived it might have been. Every year as the holiday 90 00:05:38,400 --> 00:05:42,960 Speaker 1: season approaches, Columbia University holds their u log festivities. The 91 00:05:42,960 --> 00:05:46,520 Speaker 1: party includes food, drinks, a bonfire, and a reading of 92 00:05:46,560 --> 00:05:49,560 Speaker 1: one of the most famous poems in American history. It's 93 00:05:49,560 --> 00:05:53,160 Speaker 1: called a Visit from Saint Nicholas. But you'll probably recognize 94 00:05:53,200 --> 00:05:56,960 Speaker 1: it by its opening lines, twas the nights before Christmas, 95 00:05:57,200 --> 00:05:59,960 Speaker 1: when all through the house not a creature was stirring, 96 00:06:00,600 --> 00:06:04,000 Speaker 1: not even a mouse. The reading is an homage to 97 00:06:04,040 --> 00:06:07,640 Speaker 1: the season and to an old Columbia University professor Clement 98 00:06:07,720 --> 00:06:11,480 Speaker 1: Cmore Moore wrote A Visit from Saint Nicholas in eighteen 99 00:06:11,560 --> 00:06:14,560 Speaker 1: twenty two as a Christmas gift to his young children. 100 00:06:15,200 --> 00:06:17,960 Speaker 1: Or at least that's the story. The authorship of this 101 00:06:18,040 --> 00:06:20,880 Speaker 1: American classic is actually the subject of a nearly two 102 00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:24,200 Speaker 1: hundred year old debate. You see, the poem first appeared 103 00:06:24,200 --> 00:06:27,640 Speaker 1: in print in eighteen twenty three. It was published anonymously 104 00:06:27,680 --> 00:06:30,799 Speaker 1: in a New York newspaper called The Troy Sentinel. People 105 00:06:30,839 --> 00:06:33,800 Speaker 1: love the whimsical verse so much that other newspapers began 106 00:06:33,880 --> 00:06:37,240 Speaker 1: circulating it too. As the poem took the country by storm, 107 00:06:37,440 --> 00:06:41,160 Speaker 1: Clement Seymore remained quiet. It wasn't until eighteen thirty seven, 108 00:06:41,240 --> 00:06:44,039 Speaker 1: a full fourteen years later, that the piece was formally 109 00:06:44,080 --> 00:06:47,120 Speaker 1: attributed to him. It was featured in an anthology called 110 00:06:47,360 --> 00:06:50,080 Speaker 1: The New York Book of Poetry and published under the 111 00:06:50,080 --> 00:06:54,119 Speaker 1: professor's name. However, even back then, seeing people weren't sure 112 00:06:54,160 --> 00:06:57,680 Speaker 1: who penned those now famous lines. In eighteen forty three 113 00:06:57,720 --> 00:07:01,080 Speaker 1: of Washington, DC newspaper attributed the poem to someone named 114 00:07:01,200 --> 00:07:04,120 Speaker 1: Joseph Wood. Word got out about this to more, and 115 00:07:04,200 --> 00:07:06,200 Speaker 1: in eighteen forty four he wrote a letter to the 116 00:07:06,320 --> 00:07:09,120 Speaker 1: editors correcting their mistake. He said he had written the 117 00:07:09,120 --> 00:07:12,560 Speaker 1: poem and I quote not for publication, but to amuse 118 00:07:12,680 --> 00:07:17,560 Speaker 1: my children. Whatever his original intention was, Clement Seymour now 119 00:07:17,600 --> 00:07:20,640 Speaker 1: wanted credit for his work, except sometime in the late 120 00:07:20,680 --> 00:07:23,960 Speaker 1: eighteen forties, a woman claimed that it wasn't his at all. 121 00:07:24,600 --> 00:07:27,520 Speaker 1: She said her father, Henry Livingstone, had penned the poem 122 00:07:27,520 --> 00:07:30,040 Speaker 1: in eighteen oh eight. However, by the time she was 123 00:07:30,080 --> 00:07:33,560 Speaker 1: saying all of this, Livingston was dead. He'd never publicly 124 00:07:33,560 --> 00:07:35,400 Speaker 1: claimed to have written the piece, and there was no 125 00:07:35,560 --> 00:07:38,200 Speaker 1: proof to back up the idea that he had. Not 126 00:07:38,440 --> 00:07:42,200 Speaker 1: until later, one hundred and fifty years later to be exact. 127 00:07:42,720 --> 00:07:46,400 Speaker 1: You see, in nineteen ninety nine, Henry Livingston's descendants were 128 00:07:46,480 --> 00:07:49,520 Speaker 1: still arguing that he was the poem's true author, and 129 00:07:49,560 --> 00:07:52,640 Speaker 1: they went to a surprising person for help proving it too. 130 00:07:52,840 --> 00:07:56,320 Speaker 1: Don Foster, a forensic writing analyst best known for his 131 00:07:56,400 --> 00:07:59,920 Speaker 1: work on the Unibomber case, and for Don the mystery 132 00:08:00,080 --> 00:08:03,040 Speaker 1: ended up being far more intriguing than he ever anticipated. 133 00:08:03,320 --> 00:08:06,280 Speaker 1: He wrote an entire book called Author Unknown, in which 134 00:08:06,280 --> 00:08:09,320 Speaker 1: he argued that Clement C. Moore absolutely could not have 135 00:08:09,400 --> 00:08:12,800 Speaker 1: written a Visit from Saint Nicholas. According to Don, there 136 00:08:12,800 --> 00:08:15,400 Speaker 1: were aspects of the writing that made Henry Livingston the 137 00:08:15,480 --> 00:08:19,400 Speaker 1: more likely author. For example, Livingston often wrote poems in 138 00:08:19,560 --> 00:08:23,560 Speaker 1: anapestic meter, which means two unstressed syllables followed by one 139 00:08:23,640 --> 00:08:26,640 Speaker 1: stressed syllable. That's the same meter a Visit from Saint 140 00:08:26,720 --> 00:08:29,120 Speaker 1: Nicholas was written in, and it's also one that Clement C. 141 00:08:29,280 --> 00:08:32,600 Speaker 1: Moore almost never wrote. There was also the matter of 142 00:08:32,600 --> 00:08:35,880 Speaker 1: the reindeer. In the original version of the poem, Donner 143 00:08:35,920 --> 00:08:38,760 Speaker 1: and Blitzen are named dunder and Blixom, which are the 144 00:08:38,840 --> 00:08:43,079 Speaker 1: Dutch words for thunder and lightning. Livingston spoke Dutch, Moore 145 00:08:43,520 --> 00:08:46,760 Speaker 1: did not. And aside from all this text based evidence, 146 00:08:46,840 --> 00:08:49,480 Speaker 1: Don Foster also got a little personal. He claimed that, 147 00:08:49,520 --> 00:08:52,480 Speaker 1: based on his research, Clement C. Moore was a haughty, 148 00:08:52,640 --> 00:08:55,720 Speaker 1: high strung man who hated children. The idea that he 149 00:08:55,720 --> 00:08:58,560 Speaker 1: would write such a jaunty holiday verse for his kids 150 00:08:58,640 --> 00:09:02,240 Speaker 1: was simply out of the question. Now, since Don Foster 151 00:09:02,360 --> 00:09:05,920 Speaker 1: published his book, others have come forward arguing against his evidence. 152 00:09:06,400 --> 00:09:09,719 Speaker 1: Just because More rarely wrote an anapestic meter doesn't mean 153 00:09:09,720 --> 00:09:12,520 Speaker 1: that he never did. Moore had friends who spoke Dutch, 154 00:09:12,640 --> 00:09:14,800 Speaker 1: so he might have picked up some words, and the 155 00:09:14,840 --> 00:09:18,800 Speaker 1: attacks on his character were, according to many historians, wholly unfounded. 156 00:09:19,280 --> 00:09:22,520 Speaker 1: Wherever the truth lies, one thing is certain, twas the 157 00:09:22,640 --> 00:09:25,840 Speaker 1: Night Before Christmas is one of the most recognizable lines 158 00:09:25,880 --> 00:09:28,760 Speaker 1: in American poetry. It played a big role in making 159 00:09:28,840 --> 00:09:32,120 Speaker 1: Christmas what it is today. Before A Visit from Saint 160 00:09:32,200 --> 00:09:35,560 Speaker 1: Nicholas was published, Santa Claus as we know him didn't 161 00:09:35,600 --> 00:09:38,640 Speaker 1: really exist. The legend of a jolly old man who 162 00:09:38,679 --> 00:09:41,360 Speaker 1: sneaks into your house through the chimney carrying a bag 163 00:09:41,400 --> 00:09:45,720 Speaker 1: full of presents originated with the poem, and still we 164 00:09:45,800 --> 00:09:49,160 Speaker 1: don't know for sure who the poem's author was, and 165 00:09:49,200 --> 00:09:57,400 Speaker 1: that certainly makes for a very curious Christmas. I hope 166 00:09:57,400 --> 00:10:00,679 Speaker 1: you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Q Curiosities. 167 00:10:01,080 --> 00:10:04,160 Speaker 1: Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about 168 00:10:04,160 --> 00:10:08,760 Speaker 1: the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. This show 169 00:10:08,960 --> 00:10:12,200 Speaker 1: was created by me, Aaron Mankey in partnership with how 170 00:10:12,280 --> 00:10:15,880 Speaker 1: Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore, 171 00:10:16,120 --> 00:10:19,760 Speaker 1: which is a podcast, book series, and television show and 172 00:10:19,800 --> 00:10:22,400 Speaker 1: you can learn all about it over at the Worldoflore 173 00:10:22,679 --> 00:10:26,839 Speaker 1: dot com. And until next time, stay curious.