1 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:07,520 Speaker 1: Welcomed Aaron Manky's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of I 2 00:00:07,600 --> 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 --> 00:00:21,640 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. Oftentimes, when people die, we erect a lasting 7 00:00:39,400 --> 00:00:41,839 Speaker 1: tribute to their memory. It could be a headstone in 8 00:00:41,880 --> 00:00:44,640 Speaker 1: a graveyard, or a small shrine in our home, or 9 00:00:44,640 --> 00:00:47,720 Speaker 1: even a statue in a park. Every person, famous or not, 10 00:00:48,120 --> 00:00:50,840 Speaker 1: affects the world around them, for better or for worse, 11 00:00:51,159 --> 00:00:53,680 Speaker 1: and those who have left their mark deserve to be remembered. 12 00:00:54,360 --> 00:00:56,280 Speaker 1: But sometimes we don't get it right the first time, 13 00:00:56,480 --> 00:00:58,560 Speaker 1: and the way we honor someone we lost needs to 14 00:00:58,800 --> 00:01:02,000 Speaker 1: do over. It started with a mob, but not an 15 00:01:02,040 --> 00:01:05,880 Speaker 1: angry mob, and inspired one. The people of Boonsboro, Maryland, 16 00:01:05,880 --> 00:01:09,120 Speaker 1: had all congregated on July four, eight seven, in the 17 00:01:09,120 --> 00:01:13,119 Speaker 1: town square with one job to build a monument. Two 18 00:01:13,200 --> 00:01:15,960 Speaker 1: years earlier, the Maryland General Assembly had voted to fund 19 00:01:15,959 --> 00:01:19,080 Speaker 1: the project with money earned through the state's lottery program. 20 00:01:19,120 --> 00:01:22,479 Speaker 1: Many initiatives were given budgets that way, with players buying 21 00:01:22,520 --> 00:01:25,800 Speaker 1: tickets printed with numbers on them, just as they do today. 22 00:01:25,920 --> 00:01:28,199 Speaker 1: The structure was to be made of stone and rise 23 00:01:28,240 --> 00:01:31,000 Speaker 1: to the sky like a finger pointing towards the heavens. 24 00:01:31,480 --> 00:01:34,000 Speaker 1: The people chose a perfect spot for their creation in 25 00:01:34,040 --> 00:01:37,200 Speaker 1: the nearby woods and got to work all day. They 26 00:01:37,240 --> 00:01:40,880 Speaker 1: gathered stones and stacked them, creating a base measuring fifty 27 00:01:40,880 --> 00:01:43,880 Speaker 1: four feet in circumference. On top of that sat a 28 00:01:43,920 --> 00:01:48,120 Speaker 1: tower fifteen feet tall. Halfway through the day, a local 29 00:01:48,200 --> 00:01:51,800 Speaker 1: reverend delivered an impassioned speech to keep the builders motivated. 30 00:01:52,080 --> 00:01:54,440 Speaker 1: They must have worked too, because they had finished fifty 31 00:01:54,480 --> 00:01:58,160 Speaker 1: percent of the tower by four pm. With the day's 32 00:01:58,200 --> 00:02:01,440 Speaker 1: work complete, someone stood up and read the Declaration of 33 00:02:01,440 --> 00:02:04,880 Speaker 1: Independence to the crowd. Three veterans of the Revolutionary War 34 00:02:05,160 --> 00:02:08,160 Speaker 1: then fired their rifles in salute. It was a day 35 00:02:08,160 --> 00:02:10,680 Speaker 1: of celebration, but the rest of the tower would have 36 00:02:10,720 --> 00:02:13,239 Speaker 1: to wait until a few months later, as most of 37 00:02:13,280 --> 00:02:16,200 Speaker 1: the workmen were going to be busy until then. Everyone 38 00:02:16,240 --> 00:02:20,040 Speaker 1: returned in September and construction was finally completed. By the 39 00:02:20,080 --> 00:02:23,200 Speaker 1: time it was done, the Boonsboro Tower measured thirty feet high, 40 00:02:23,360 --> 00:02:25,760 Speaker 1: a testament not just to the man they were honoring, 41 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:29,880 Speaker 1: but to their patriotism and work ethic as well. According 42 00:02:29,880 --> 00:02:33,440 Speaker 1: to William Bell, a journalist with the town's Torchlight newspaper, 43 00:02:33,800 --> 00:02:37,320 Speaker 1: Boonsboro citizens were filled with a spirit of zeal and 44 00:02:37,600 --> 00:02:40,120 Speaker 1: ardor so much so that it didn't matter that the 45 00:02:40,200 --> 00:02:44,280 Speaker 1: tower wasn't precise and its measurements or particularly good looking. 46 00:02:44,639 --> 00:02:47,360 Speaker 1: It was sturdy and made with the best of intentions. 47 00:02:48,160 --> 00:02:51,120 Speaker 1: Bell went on to write, we do not calculate that, 48 00:02:51,200 --> 00:02:54,520 Speaker 1: when finished, it will give this town immortal glory, but 49 00:02:54,639 --> 00:02:56,919 Speaker 1: we do sincerely hope that it will be the means 50 00:02:56,960 --> 00:03:01,160 Speaker 1: of stirring up the fading gratitude of the people. Unfortunately, 51 00:03:01,200 --> 00:03:04,280 Speaker 1: that gratitude didn't last long. The tower had been built 52 00:03:04,320 --> 00:03:07,399 Speaker 1: with dry laid stone, meaning it lacked mortar to bind 53 00:03:07,440 --> 00:03:11,080 Speaker 1: the masonry together. The monument was mostly destroyed by the 54 00:03:11,120 --> 00:03:14,720 Speaker 1: time the Civil War had begun. Union soldiers used the 55 00:03:14,800 --> 00:03:18,840 Speaker 1: small portion remaining as a signal station. After Confederate troops 56 00:03:19,040 --> 00:03:22,280 Speaker 1: severed their telegraph lines. Someone would stand on top of 57 00:03:22,320 --> 00:03:25,720 Speaker 1: the tower's ruins and wave flags in different formations to 58 00:03:25,919 --> 00:03:29,800 Speaker 1: convey secret messages to their allies. It wouldn't be restored 59 00:03:29,880 --> 00:03:33,120 Speaker 1: until eighteen eighty two, when a local organization raised the 60 00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:35,920 Speaker 1: funds necessary to fix it up, but they did more 61 00:03:35,960 --> 00:03:39,120 Speaker 1: than repair it, and they upgraded it. The structure now 62 00:03:39,160 --> 00:03:42,480 Speaker 1: boasted whitewashed walls and a lookout tower on top that 63 00:03:42,600 --> 00:03:45,880 Speaker 1: was made of steel. Sadly, it wasn't enough to keep 64 00:03:45,920 --> 00:03:49,400 Speaker 1: the monument from falling into disrepair yet again. A little 65 00:03:49,440 --> 00:03:52,520 Speaker 1: over twenty years later, the tower suffered from a lightning 66 00:03:52,520 --> 00:03:55,240 Speaker 1: strike so severe that half of it turned to rubble. 67 00:03:56,120 --> 00:03:58,720 Speaker 1: A rumor began to circulate around town that a father 68 00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:01,840 Speaker 1: had used dynamite to blow up the monument because his 69 00:04:01,920 --> 00:04:05,520 Speaker 1: daughters kept meeting boys there behind his back. A second 70 00:04:05,560 --> 00:04:09,119 Speaker 1: restoration commenced in the nineteen thirties, just over one years 71 00:04:09,200 --> 00:04:11,960 Speaker 1: after the structure was first built. The land was then 72 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:15,040 Speaker 1: bought by a local historical society and turned into a 73 00:04:15,120 --> 00:04:18,800 Speaker 1: state park in nineteen thirty four. As for the monument itself, 74 00:04:18,839 --> 00:04:21,880 Speaker 1: it was rebuilt with cement and mortar, designed to look 75 00:04:21,920 --> 00:04:24,200 Speaker 1: like it did after it was first completed in nineteen 76 00:04:25,279 --> 00:04:28,560 Speaker 1: just a whole lot stronger. But why was so much 77 00:04:28,600 --> 00:04:32,000 Speaker 1: money and effort spent on preserving this one stone structure? 78 00:04:32,520 --> 00:04:35,480 Speaker 1: Why was it so important? Because it was built in 79 00:04:35,560 --> 00:04:40,720 Speaker 1: nineteen seven to honor the United States first President George Washington, 80 00:04:41,279 --> 00:04:44,560 Speaker 1: which means that the Boonsboro Tower was the first ever 81 00:04:44,800 --> 00:04:49,359 Speaker 1: Washington monument, built five decades earlier than the gleaming white 82 00:04:49,400 --> 00:05:07,200 Speaker 1: Obelisque in Washington, d c. That everyone knows today. The 83 00:05:07,240 --> 00:05:10,839 Speaker 1: sun glared overhead as the two gun slingers stepped into 84 00:05:10,839 --> 00:05:14,040 Speaker 1: the road poised to fire at each other. It was hot, 85 00:05:14,160 --> 00:05:17,279 Speaker 1: with barely a breeze as crowds watched with bated breath 86 00:05:17,320 --> 00:05:21,000 Speaker 1: for the battle to begin. It was noon in Palisade, Nevada, 87 00:05:21,360 --> 00:05:23,040 Speaker 1: and the locals were about to do what they did 88 00:05:23,120 --> 00:05:28,240 Speaker 1: best perform. If you visit Palisade today, there isn't much there. 89 00:05:28,600 --> 00:05:31,960 Speaker 1: The town was in Eureka County in northeastern Nevada, like 90 00:05:32,080 --> 00:05:34,320 Speaker 1: so many towns in the Western front Here, though, it 91 00:05:34,440 --> 00:05:38,039 Speaker 1: was formulated, plotted, and raised by the railroad companies that 92 00:05:38,120 --> 00:05:42,359 Speaker 1: controlled large portions of westward expansion Central Pacific Railroad to 93 00:05:42,360 --> 00:05:45,919 Speaker 1: be specific. The possibility of a railroad that connected the 94 00:05:45,960 --> 00:05:49,320 Speaker 1: East and the West coasts was proposed in the eighteen forties. 95 00:05:49,760 --> 00:05:52,159 Speaker 1: Not one to let those pisky things like treaties and 96 00:05:52,279 --> 00:05:56,200 Speaker 1: territorial rights stand in their way, railroad executives began petitioning 97 00:05:56,279 --> 00:06:00,080 Speaker 1: Congress that's August body refused to sanction the plan for 98 00:06:00,160 --> 00:06:03,000 Speaker 1: several years until the Railroad Act of eighteen sixty to 99 00:06:03,200 --> 00:06:07,440 Speaker 1: finally put full government support behind the Transcontinental Railroad. The 100 00:06:07,480 --> 00:06:11,080 Speaker 1: Central Pacific Railroad Company of California would meet the newly 101 00:06:11,160 --> 00:06:14,400 Speaker 1: created Union Pacific Railroad in the middle of the country. 102 00:06:14,720 --> 00:06:18,960 Speaker 1: Construction began in eighteen sixty three, using poor labor practices 103 00:06:19,080 --> 00:06:23,200 Speaker 1: and underpaid labor, largely immigrants from China and Ireland. The 104 00:06:23,240 --> 00:06:26,640 Speaker 1: government and railroad companies sat down and, in conjunction with 105 00:06:26,720 --> 00:06:29,719 Speaker 1: the Homestead Act of eighteen sixty two, plotted out where 106 00:06:29,800 --> 00:06:33,680 Speaker 1: railroad stations would be and the towns that would surround them. 107 00:06:33,800 --> 00:06:36,480 Speaker 1: So many towns were raised on the frontier, and all 108 00:06:36,600 --> 00:06:39,039 Speaker 1: of them were a gamble. It was a question of 109 00:06:39,120 --> 00:06:42,599 Speaker 1: risk and reward. Would this little community succeed or die 110 00:06:42,640 --> 00:06:45,839 Speaker 1: in the face of all that hostile environment, the tough land, 111 00:06:45,880 --> 00:06:49,680 Speaker 1: and crippling economic conditions that would be thrown at them. 112 00:06:49,720 --> 00:06:52,080 Speaker 1: The cycle of boom and bust was kick started by 113 00:06:52,120 --> 00:06:55,320 Speaker 1: gold fever in the eighteen forties. Towns seemed to rise 114 00:06:55,360 --> 00:06:58,279 Speaker 1: and fall overnight as news of gold spread across the 115 00:06:58,400 --> 00:07:02,520 Speaker 1: largely unexplored western ontier. Settlers looking for a better life 116 00:07:02,720 --> 00:07:06,720 Speaker 1: quickly established new towns, and then railroads moved in, which 117 00:07:06,760 --> 00:07:09,440 Speaker 1: brings us back to Palisade. It was founded in eighteen 118 00:07:09,520 --> 00:07:12,640 Speaker 1: sixty eight to be a stop on the Central Pacific Railroad, 119 00:07:12,680 --> 00:07:15,080 Speaker 1: which would help bring people to and from Nevada and 120 00:07:15,120 --> 00:07:18,040 Speaker 1: transport the wealth from the nearby silver mines. As the 121 00:07:18,080 --> 00:07:20,480 Speaker 1: town grew and as more people began traveling to San 122 00:07:20,520 --> 00:07:24,840 Speaker 1: Francisco or Chicago, Palisade became a convenient rest stop, and 123 00:07:24,880 --> 00:07:28,320 Speaker 1: then a funny thing started to happen. Slowly, but surely, 124 00:07:28,480 --> 00:07:31,240 Speaker 1: Stories started to trickle back east from letters sent by 125 00:07:31,280 --> 00:07:35,080 Speaker 1: loved ones, columns and newspapers, and telegrams of the bizarre 126 00:07:35,120 --> 00:07:38,640 Speaker 1: experiences the wild West had to offer. As the West 127 00:07:38,720 --> 00:07:41,920 Speaker 1: grew thick with settlers and railroads became more common, so 128 00:07:42,000 --> 00:07:45,240 Speaker 1: did stories of bank robberies, train thefts, and outlaws who 129 00:07:45,240 --> 00:07:48,520 Speaker 1: seemed to be roaming the territories by the dozen. These 130 00:07:48,520 --> 00:07:50,679 Speaker 1: stories took on a whole new life with the creation 131 00:07:50,720 --> 00:07:53,720 Speaker 1: of the dime Store novel in the eighteen sixties. These 132 00:07:53,760 --> 00:07:57,640 Speaker 1: novels were, in a word, lured. They over exaggerated stories 133 00:07:57,680 --> 00:08:01,280 Speaker 1: of cowboys, explorers, and bandits, and with the increase in 134 00:08:01,320 --> 00:08:05,680 Speaker 1: literacy after the Civil War, the books flew off the shelves. 135 00:08:05,720 --> 00:08:08,320 Speaker 1: Soon it wasn't just settlers and their families heading west. 136 00:08:08,560 --> 00:08:11,240 Speaker 1: There were tourists going to visit friends and family members 137 00:08:11,280 --> 00:08:14,280 Speaker 1: out there, hoping to see some of the excitement they've 138 00:08:14,280 --> 00:08:18,120 Speaker 1: been promised. Cowboys and gunfights and wolves and lawlessness. But 139 00:08:18,200 --> 00:08:20,840 Speaker 1: they weren't getting any of that, and it turned out 140 00:08:20,840 --> 00:08:23,760 Speaker 1: the wild West wasn't nearly as wild as visitors had 141 00:08:23,800 --> 00:08:26,880 Speaker 1: been led to believe. The people of Palisade noticed the 142 00:08:26,880 --> 00:08:29,680 Speaker 1: grumbles of discontent by those stepping off the trains at 143 00:08:29,720 --> 00:08:33,679 Speaker 1: their station and complaining at lunch in their restaurants. As 144 00:08:33,720 --> 00:08:36,200 Speaker 1: you might imagine, no one wanted to lose the revenue 145 00:08:36,240 --> 00:08:38,640 Speaker 1: that was brought in by the travelers, and while they 146 00:08:38,679 --> 00:08:40,880 Speaker 1: were pretty sure that people weren't going to stop coming, 147 00:08:41,080 --> 00:08:43,720 Speaker 1: no one wanted to test that theory. So the locals 148 00:08:43,760 --> 00:08:45,880 Speaker 1: came up with a plan to give them exactly what 149 00:08:45,920 --> 00:08:49,480 Speaker 1: they wanted. In the early eighteen seventies, when visitors rolled 150 00:08:49,480 --> 00:08:52,800 Speaker 1: into Palisade, they could expect to see lawmen and outlaws 151 00:08:52,840 --> 00:08:57,240 Speaker 1: having shootouts, watching bodies hit the floor, seeing daring escapes 152 00:08:57,280 --> 00:09:00,319 Speaker 1: from bank robberies, and anything else that could say their 153 00:09:00,360 --> 00:09:04,440 Speaker 1: morbid curiosity. It was a pretty impressive operation, made even 154 00:09:04,480 --> 00:09:06,720 Speaker 1: more so because the whole town was in on it. 155 00:09:07,080 --> 00:09:09,960 Speaker 1: They used blanks during gun battles, animal blood from the 156 00:09:09,960 --> 00:09:13,040 Speaker 1: slaughterhouse for their grizzly death scenes, and even worked with 157 00:09:13,040 --> 00:09:16,240 Speaker 1: the local native peoples to perform raids. All of this 158 00:09:16,360 --> 00:09:19,200 Speaker 1: law and order hoop Law and Palisade didn't even have 159 00:09:19,320 --> 00:09:22,560 Speaker 1: their own sheriff. Over the course of these re enactments, 160 00:09:22,600 --> 00:09:25,320 Speaker 1: there were more people killed in Palisade than actually lived there, 161 00:09:25,679 --> 00:09:28,040 Speaker 1: and none of the travelers noticed that they were never 162 00:09:28,120 --> 00:09:32,080 Speaker 1: targeted by these ruthless outlaws. These performances went on for 163 00:09:32,200 --> 00:09:35,720 Speaker 1: three years and entertained thousands with the drama that tourists 164 00:09:35,760 --> 00:09:40,520 Speaker 1: expected to see. Slowly, fewer and fewer people passed through Palisade, 165 00:09:40,760 --> 00:09:43,360 Speaker 1: and like so many other boom towns on the Western frontier, 166 00:09:43,440 --> 00:09:46,160 Speaker 1: it became a ghost town not long after the railroad 167 00:09:46,160 --> 00:09:49,760 Speaker 1: closed in the nineteen thirties. After that, the buildings disappeared, 168 00:09:49,920 --> 00:09:53,320 Speaker 1: and all that was left was the land. No more 169 00:09:53,520 --> 00:09:56,840 Speaker 1: was ever heard from Palisade and their outlaws, well, except 170 00:09:56,880 --> 00:09:59,600 Speaker 1: for a local legend about an attempt to assassinate President 171 00:09:59,640 --> 00:10:04,120 Speaker 1: Hoover with dynamites in ninety two. But friends, I think 172 00:10:04,120 --> 00:10:11,280 Speaker 1: that's a curious story for another time. I hope you've 173 00:10:11,320 --> 00:10:15,319 Speaker 1: enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe 174 00:10:15,320 --> 00:10:17,960 Speaker 1: for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the 175 00:10:17,960 --> 00:10:22,760 Speaker 1: show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was 176 00:10:22,840 --> 00:10:26,640 Speaker 1: created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how Stuff Works. 177 00:10:27,080 --> 00:10:30,240 Speaker 1: I make another award winning show called Lore, which is 178 00:10:30,320 --> 00:10:33,720 Speaker 1: a podcast, book series, and television show, and you can 179 00:10:33,800 --> 00:10:36,120 Speaker 1: learn all about it over at the World of Lore 180 00:10:36,400 --> 00:10:41,000 Speaker 1: dot com. And until next time, stay curious. Ye