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 --> 00:00:28,840 Speaker 1: waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. 6 00:00:36,360 --> 00:00:40,000 Speaker 1: The year was eighteen sixty five. The place an estate 7 00:00:40,280 --> 00:00:43,519 Speaker 1: just east of Nashville. A man named Colonel Patrick Henry 8 00:00:43,560 --> 00:00:46,920 Speaker 1: Anderson was struggling under debts, and his land was on 9 00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:52,200 Speaker 1: the verge of collapse. His financial ruin seemed inevitable. Now, 10 00:00:52,240 --> 00:00:55,200 Speaker 1: before you extend too much sympathy toward the colonel, it's 11 00:00:55,240 --> 00:00:57,800 Speaker 1: worth knowing that he was the manager of a plantation 12 00:00:58,040 --> 00:01:02,200 Speaker 1: in Civil War era Tennessee. His financial woes were entirely 13 00:01:02,280 --> 00:01:05,480 Speaker 1: tied to the resolution of the Civil War. The Confederacy 14 00:01:05,560 --> 00:01:09,160 Speaker 1: had lost, and human trafficking, the enterprise that supported the 15 00:01:09,319 --> 00:01:13,560 Speaker 1: entire Southern economy, was no more. Colonel Anderson was so 16 00:01:13,720 --> 00:01:17,120 Speaker 1: desperate for anyone to salvage his fortunes that he wrote 17 00:01:17,160 --> 00:01:19,920 Speaker 1: a letter to a man named Jordan, entreating him to 18 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:23,240 Speaker 1: come back and work for him. Jordan, you see, was 19 00:01:23,280 --> 00:01:27,080 Speaker 1: a former enslaved man of the Colonels. Jordan had also 20 00:01:27,160 --> 00:01:29,800 Speaker 1: taken the last name Anderson, and had been freed by 21 00:01:29,800 --> 00:01:32,840 Speaker 1: the Union Army in eighteen sixty four. The request to 22 00:01:32,880 --> 00:01:35,560 Speaker 1: come back and work for his former enslaver was so 23 00:01:35,680 --> 00:01:39,480 Speaker 1: absurd that Jordan, who was by this point living in Dayton, Ohio, 24 00:01:39,920 --> 00:01:43,560 Speaker 1: had to respond. Now. The man could not read or write, 25 00:01:43,640 --> 00:01:45,839 Speaker 1: but what he could do was dictate to a neighbor, 26 00:01:45,840 --> 00:01:48,640 Speaker 1: who sent the response on his behalf. The document was 27 00:01:48,800 --> 00:01:53,040 Speaker 1: entitled Letter from a Freedman to his old master. In 28 00:01:53,080 --> 00:01:57,000 Speaker 1: this letter, Jordan Anderson described his pleasant life in Ohio 29 00:01:57,040 --> 00:01:59,560 Speaker 1: to the man who had once held him captive for decades. 30 00:02:00,080 --> 00:02:02,720 Speaker 1: Jordan insisted that he and his wife, Millie, were in 31 00:02:02,800 --> 00:02:05,840 Speaker 1: a good situation and didn't wish to go back south. 32 00:02:06,160 --> 00:02:09,200 Speaker 1: In a tone that at first sounds sincere but drips 33 00:02:09,280 --> 00:02:12,639 Speaker 1: with sarcasm, he outlined his concern that he and his 34 00:02:12,680 --> 00:02:15,840 Speaker 1: wife wouldn't get the proper treatment they deserved if they 35 00:02:15,840 --> 00:02:18,440 Speaker 1: were to go back and work for their one time enslaver. 36 00:02:18,960 --> 00:02:21,639 Speaker 1: And then he went on to make a request what 37 00:02:21,720 --> 00:02:24,080 Speaker 1: the colonel would have to do in order to get 38 00:02:24,080 --> 00:02:28,080 Speaker 1: his interest. Jordan requested thirty two years of back pay 39 00:02:28,120 --> 00:02:31,840 Speaker 1: for both himself and his wife, amounting to some eleven thousand, 40 00:02:31,960 --> 00:02:35,640 Speaker 1: six hundred and eighty dollars including interest, that's equal to 41 00:02:35,720 --> 00:02:39,239 Speaker 1: about a quarter of a million dollars today. To compliment 42 00:02:39,360 --> 00:02:41,840 Speaker 1: that dry sense of humor, he said that the figure 43 00:02:41,919 --> 00:02:45,400 Speaker 1: included deductions for clothing that his master purchased for them, 44 00:02:45,440 --> 00:02:47,920 Speaker 1: and for the services of a dentist to pull a 45 00:02:47,960 --> 00:02:51,800 Speaker 1: couple of teeth. Underlying every sly jab in the letter 46 00:02:52,160 --> 00:02:54,600 Speaker 1: is the brutal reality that life for a black man 47 00:02:54,720 --> 00:02:59,120 Speaker 1: in the South was still extremely difficult even after emancipation. 48 00:03:00,040 --> 00:03:02,320 Speaker 1: Dan Anderson mentioned in the letter that he wished to 49 00:03:02,320 --> 00:03:05,560 Speaker 1: get his children a good education, implying that this would 50 00:03:05,639 --> 00:03:08,400 Speaker 1: not be possible in the South, and that any request 51 00:03:08,480 --> 00:03:11,280 Speaker 1: from him to go there would be an absurd decision 52 00:03:11,360 --> 00:03:15,080 Speaker 1: on his part and if his intent wasn't abundantly clear 53 00:03:15,120 --> 00:03:18,840 Speaker 1: at that point. Jordan also added a PostScript, say howdy 54 00:03:18,919 --> 00:03:21,799 Speaker 1: to George Carter, he wrote, and thank him for taking 55 00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:24,200 Speaker 1: the pistol from you when you were shooting at me. 56 00:03:24,840 --> 00:03:28,359 Speaker 1: The reference to attempted murder makes for a perfect punchline. 57 00:03:28,480 --> 00:03:31,720 Speaker 1: Jordan Anderson obviously had no intention of going back to 58 00:03:31,760 --> 00:03:34,320 Speaker 1: work for the Colonel. It is an eight hundred and 59 00:03:34,440 --> 00:03:38,120 Speaker 1: eight word clapback against a man who never saw Jordan 60 00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:41,480 Speaker 1: as worthy of human dignity. What makes the letter an 61 00:03:41,520 --> 00:03:45,120 Speaker 1: incredible historical document is the use of humor to critique 62 00:03:45,120 --> 00:03:49,320 Speaker 1: the brutal reality of slavery. Jordan's tone is blistering to 63 00:03:49,400 --> 00:03:52,040 Speaker 1: read even today, and we can only imagine how his 64 00:03:52,200 --> 00:03:56,240 Speaker 1: former enslaver received it. One month later, in September of 65 00:03:56,280 --> 00:04:00,640 Speaker 1: eighteen sixty five, Colonel Anderson sold his plantation, all one 66 00:04:00,680 --> 00:04:03,680 Speaker 1: thousand acres of it, for a fraction of its value. 67 00:04:04,080 --> 00:04:06,160 Speaker 1: He was dead two years later at the age of 68 00:04:06,200 --> 00:04:09,040 Speaker 1: forty four. According to a journalist who tracked down his 69 00:04:09,120 --> 00:04:13,680 Speaker 1: surviving family, they remained bitter at Jordan for generations afterward, 70 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:16,560 Speaker 1: saying that he should have been loyal and respectful to 71 00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:20,560 Speaker 1: the colonel, whatever that means, thus proving that generations later 72 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:25,320 Speaker 1: they still missed the entire point of the letter. Jordan. Anderson, 73 00:04:25,360 --> 00:04:28,159 Speaker 1: on the other hand, outlived his former master by almost 74 00:04:28,200 --> 00:04:32,080 Speaker 1: forty years. His letter, published in local papers, became a 75 00:04:32,200 --> 00:04:36,240 Speaker 1: viral sensation in its day, encouraging comparisons to Mark Twain, 76 00:04:36,400 --> 00:04:40,600 Speaker 1: the legendary literary satirist, and it was printed and reprinted 77 00:04:40,680 --> 00:04:44,719 Speaker 1: among oral accounts of surviving enslaved peoples, helping give insight 78 00:04:44,800 --> 00:04:48,160 Speaker 1: and perspective on the sort of person who survived enslavement 79 00:04:48,279 --> 00:04:52,360 Speaker 1: in the nineteenth century. Even though he was illiterate, Jordan 80 00:04:52,440 --> 00:04:56,640 Speaker 1: Andersen displayed an incredible literary wit, and without the ability 81 00:04:56,680 --> 00:04:59,160 Speaker 1: to read or write, he backed his way into becoming 82 00:04:59,200 --> 00:05:02,640 Speaker 1: an acclaimed offe, a more important voice of the American 83 00:05:02,720 --> 00:05:20,000 Speaker 1: experience than people like Colonel Anderson ever would be. It 84 00:05:20,040 --> 00:05:23,120 Speaker 1: was August twenty sixth, eighteen eighty three in the Dutch 85 00:05:23,160 --> 00:05:26,039 Speaker 1: colony of Katimbang, on the southern end of the island 86 00:05:26,080 --> 00:05:29,159 Speaker 1: of Sumatra. Johanna Baar inc Was the wife of the 87 00:05:29,240 --> 00:05:32,520 Speaker 1: local colonial overseer. She stood on the porch of her 88 00:05:32,560 --> 00:05:35,919 Speaker 1: family's home, looking out across the Sunda Strait at the 89 00:05:35,920 --> 00:05:40,599 Speaker 1: smoking volcano Krakatoa. The volcano was known to occasionally spew 90 00:05:40,680 --> 00:05:43,400 Speaker 1: ash and lava into the air, it had for as 91 00:05:43,440 --> 00:05:45,839 Speaker 1: long as they'd live there, and it was doing that now. 92 00:05:46,120 --> 00:05:48,760 Speaker 1: But Johanna was less concerned with what she could see 93 00:05:49,120 --> 00:05:52,840 Speaker 1: and more concerned with what she could hear. For months now, 94 00:05:52,880 --> 00:05:56,120 Speaker 1: the volcano had been producing a series of loud bangs 95 00:05:56,160 --> 00:05:58,919 Speaker 1: similar to thunder but over the last day or so, 96 00:05:59,080 --> 00:06:03,000 Speaker 1: those bangs had been growing in volume and frequency. When 97 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:05,960 Speaker 1: she closed her eyes and listened to the jungle around her, 98 00:06:06,279 --> 00:06:09,760 Speaker 1: the birds chirped with a chaotic energy that wasn't typical. 99 00:06:10,200 --> 00:06:13,360 Speaker 1: She walked inside, picked up her newborn infant son from 100 00:06:13,440 --> 00:06:16,360 Speaker 1: his crib, and held him close. She looked at her 101 00:06:16,360 --> 00:06:18,640 Speaker 1: two other young children playing in the sitting room with 102 00:06:18,680 --> 00:06:22,360 Speaker 1: their nanny, and she had a bad feeling. Johanna's heart 103 00:06:22,440 --> 00:06:26,200 Speaker 1: leapt at the arrival of a new sound, two loud bangs, 104 00:06:26,480 --> 00:06:29,159 Speaker 1: but not from the volcano. They were heard coming from 105 00:06:29,200 --> 00:06:33,679 Speaker 1: the roof. Outside. She could see large smoldering stones raining 106 00:06:33,760 --> 00:06:37,599 Speaker 1: down onto the colony. It was pumice stone. The volcano 107 00:06:38,240 --> 00:06:42,000 Speaker 1: was erupting. The family ran with their servants from their 108 00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:45,599 Speaker 1: cottage into the hills. Johanna tried to ignore the putrid, 109 00:06:45,600 --> 00:06:48,520 Speaker 1: burning air as it coated her throat, and the sharp 110 00:06:48,560 --> 00:06:51,040 Speaker 1: panes of the pumice stones when they landed on her, 111 00:06:51,480 --> 00:06:54,640 Speaker 1: but once again what she could hear was infinitely more 112 00:06:54,760 --> 00:06:57,800 Speaker 1: terrifying than what she could see or feel. This time, 113 00:06:57,880 --> 00:07:01,719 Speaker 1: she heard a roaring sound coming from behind them, and 114 00:07:01,800 --> 00:07:05,760 Speaker 1: it was getting louder, and then suddenly, a massive wave 115 00:07:05,920 --> 00:07:09,000 Speaker 1: crashed through the jungle behind them, sending their hiking party 116 00:07:09,120 --> 00:07:12,240 Speaker 1: flying in all directions. It was all Johanna could do 117 00:07:12,360 --> 00:07:15,360 Speaker 1: to hold onto her baby. Her husband and their servants 118 00:07:15,480 --> 00:07:18,200 Speaker 1: grabbed the other children, and they all held onto whatever 119 00:07:18,240 --> 00:07:21,720 Speaker 1: they could, dragging themselves forward through the jungle against the 120 00:07:21,800 --> 00:07:26,360 Speaker 1: crashing current. Miraculously, the family managed to pull themselves through 121 00:07:26,360 --> 00:07:29,520 Speaker 1: the jungle, out of the water and up into the hills, 122 00:07:29,720 --> 00:07:32,920 Speaker 1: where the safety of their village awaited them. The family 123 00:07:33,000 --> 00:07:37,080 Speaker 1: and the villagers alike huddled inside. Johanna hoped that the 124 00:07:37,080 --> 00:07:39,800 Speaker 1: worst of it was behind them, that she wouldn't hear 125 00:07:39,880 --> 00:07:44,400 Speaker 1: any further harbingers of doom. Unfortunately, her hope couldn't have 126 00:07:44,440 --> 00:07:47,720 Speaker 1: been more in vain. At five point thirty in the morning, 127 00:07:47,880 --> 00:07:51,000 Speaker 1: an ear piercing boom shook the whole island. The baby 128 00:07:51,040 --> 00:07:54,480 Speaker 1: cried and the children screamed, And then at six forty 129 00:07:54,480 --> 00:07:58,440 Speaker 1: four am, another ash began to fall outside the windows, 130 00:07:58,760 --> 00:08:02,400 Speaker 1: and then at eight twenty eight a third boom, and finally, 131 00:08:02,720 --> 00:08:06,520 Speaker 1: at ten o two am, the sound to end all sounds. 132 00:08:07,120 --> 00:08:10,720 Speaker 1: The whole world seemed to shake. Johanna felt two sharp 133 00:08:10,760 --> 00:08:14,320 Speaker 1: pains on both sides of her head, and all went silent. 134 00:08:14,680 --> 00:08:18,200 Speaker 1: Her entire body seemed to swell. Her lungs inflated to 135 00:08:18,240 --> 00:08:22,160 Speaker 1: their maximum capacity, and she couldn't expel the air. She 136 00:08:22,160 --> 00:08:28,160 Speaker 1: felt beyond dizzy, completely disoriented. Luckily, the disorientation quickly passed 137 00:08:28,200 --> 00:08:30,960 Speaker 1: and she could breathe again, but she couldn't hear a thing. 138 00:08:31,360 --> 00:08:34,600 Speaker 1: Even worse, looking down, she saw white smoke curling its 139 00:08:34,640 --> 00:08:37,559 Speaker 1: way up into the room from the floorboards. The heat 140 00:08:37,840 --> 00:08:40,920 Speaker 1: was unbearable. When she looked down at the baby in 141 00:08:40,960 --> 00:08:44,599 Speaker 1: her arms, she realized that he wasn't moving. Some combination 142 00:08:44,720 --> 00:08:47,480 Speaker 1: of the heat, the smoke, and the sound had taken 143 00:08:47,520 --> 00:08:51,000 Speaker 1: her child from her. Devastated, she laid the baby down 144 00:08:51,080 --> 00:08:54,040 Speaker 1: and wandered outside into the smoke. She couldn't see her 145 00:08:54,080 --> 00:08:57,400 Speaker 1: hands in front of herself. She couldn't hear anything. When 146 00:08:57,400 --> 00:09:00,480 Speaker 1: she felt her face, she realized that her skin was 147 00:09:00,520 --> 00:09:04,079 Speaker 1: hanging loose off of her body. She was literally melting. 148 00:09:04,880 --> 00:09:07,880 Speaker 1: She fell to the jungle floor and waited for Krakatoa 149 00:09:07,960 --> 00:09:12,120 Speaker 1: to claim her as its next victim. When Krakatoa erupted 150 00:09:12,160 --> 00:09:15,559 Speaker 1: that August in eighteen eighty three, it killed over thirty 151 00:09:15,600 --> 00:09:19,880 Speaker 1: six thousand people. Most died from the resulting tsunamis, but 152 00:09:20,040 --> 00:09:23,959 Speaker 1: some died from the sound of the eruption itself. You see, 153 00:09:24,000 --> 00:09:27,160 Speaker 1: that final ten oh two am explosion is believed to 154 00:09:27,200 --> 00:09:30,960 Speaker 1: have registered at three hundred and ten decibels, the loudest 155 00:09:30,960 --> 00:09:35,360 Speaker 1: sound ever documented in history. At that level, the shockwave 156 00:09:35,360 --> 00:09:38,600 Speaker 1: from Krakatoa ceased to be a mere sound wave and 157 00:09:38,679 --> 00:09:42,200 Speaker 1: instead became a wave of air pressure, rupturing the ear 158 00:09:42,280 --> 00:09:45,360 Speaker 1: drums and even the internal organs of anyone within one 159 00:09:45,440 --> 00:09:49,959 Speaker 1: hundred miles. People three thousand miles away in Australia even 160 00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:54,079 Speaker 1: heard the sound. Miraculously, Johanna and the rest of her 161 00:09:54,080 --> 00:09:57,080 Speaker 1: family actually survived. They were found at the brink of 162 00:09:57,120 --> 00:10:00,840 Speaker 1: death and nursed back to health. Their hearing ofally returned. 163 00:10:01,120 --> 00:10:04,000 Speaker 1: But it's possible that her baby and hundreds of others 164 00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:08,479 Speaker 1: were killed by the sound of Krakatoa alone. It's incredibly 165 00:10:08,520 --> 00:10:13,320 Speaker 1: curious that's in a legendary disaster where massive waves, falling 166 00:10:13,400 --> 00:10:17,240 Speaker 1: pumice stones and burning clouds could kill you, it was 167 00:10:17,400 --> 00:10:20,360 Speaker 1: an invisible force in the air that was the most 168 00:10:20,360 --> 00:10:27,320 Speaker 1: deadly of all. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour 169 00:10:27,440 --> 00:10:31,520 Speaker 1: of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, 170 00:10:31,600 --> 00:10:35,119 Speaker 1: or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast 171 00:10:35,360 --> 00:10:39,120 Speaker 1: dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Mankey 172 00:10:39,440 --> 00:10:42,920 Speaker 1: in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make another award 173 00:10:42,960 --> 00:10:46,480 Speaker 1: winning show called Lore which is a podcast, book series, 174 00:10:46,559 --> 00:10:49,160 Speaker 1: and television show and you can learn all about it 175 00:10:49,240 --> 00:10:53,680 Speaker 1: over at the Worldolore dot com. And until next time, 176 00:10:53,880 --> 00:10:56,480 Speaker 1: stay curious.