1 00:00:05,440 --> 00:00:08,640 Speaker 1: The Capuchin Friars thought they knew something about the dead. 2 00:00:09,119 --> 00:00:11,760 Speaker 1: After all, their holy order was entrusted with caring for 3 00:00:11,800 --> 00:00:14,960 Speaker 1: the sick and dying in their community of Palmero, Italy. 4 00:00:15,320 --> 00:00:17,720 Speaker 1: They had been at it for decades and were considered 5 00:00:17,880 --> 00:00:21,239 Speaker 1: resident experts on postmortem care. But when it came to 6 00:00:21,280 --> 00:00:23,440 Speaker 1: their own dead, it turned out that nothing would go 7 00:00:23,480 --> 00:00:27,160 Speaker 1: according to plan. In fifteen thirty four, when they relocated 8 00:00:27,160 --> 00:00:30,800 Speaker 1: from far off Albacina, they immediately got to work constructing 9 00:00:30,840 --> 00:00:35,320 Speaker 1: a collective below ground cistern like crypt. This particular monastic 10 00:00:35,440 --> 00:00:38,920 Speaker 1: order practiced a tradition called the second burial. When a 11 00:00:38,920 --> 00:00:42,120 Speaker 1: person died, they would be allowed to decompose unburied for 12 00:00:42,159 --> 00:00:45,640 Speaker 1: some time. That was the first burial. When a Friar died, 13 00:00:45,640 --> 00:00:48,560 Speaker 1: his body would be laid on a shelf to drip dry, 14 00:00:48,760 --> 00:00:52,199 Speaker 1: draining himself of all of his liquid. Then, once the 15 00:00:52,240 --> 00:00:55,200 Speaker 1: soft bits like flesh and other tissues were gone, the 16 00:00:55,320 --> 00:00:58,240 Speaker 1: dried bones would be taken and installed within the holy 17 00:00:58,320 --> 00:01:01,960 Speaker 1: walls of the order's church. That's the second burial. So 18 00:01:02,040 --> 00:01:04,240 Speaker 1: as the years went on, the Friars stashed more and 19 00:01:04,319 --> 00:01:06,880 Speaker 1: more of their own bodies in their crypt, waiting for 20 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:10,319 Speaker 1: the day the space would hit max capacity. The brothers 21 00:01:10,360 --> 00:01:13,039 Speaker 1: planned to eventually go collect the bones for Fase two, 22 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:16,280 Speaker 1: where they'd be brought up into the church. In October 23 00:01:16,319 --> 00:01:19,480 Speaker 1: of fifteen ninety nine, some Friars descended down into the 24 00:01:19,480 --> 00:01:22,200 Speaker 1: belly of their crypt. Here they found something that had 25 00:01:22,200 --> 00:01:25,520 Speaker 1: been whispered about over the years. These bodies hadn't fully 26 00:01:25,560 --> 00:01:28,760 Speaker 1: decomposed at all. In fact, it seems that their decomposition 27 00:01:29,160 --> 00:01:32,959 Speaker 1: had simply been arrested. How could this be? Instead of 28 00:01:32,959 --> 00:01:36,480 Speaker 1: finding skeletons, they recognized their friends. It seemed that God 29 00:01:36,480 --> 00:01:39,640 Speaker 1: had intervened on their plan for the dead. They took 30 00:01:39,640 --> 00:01:41,920 Speaker 1: it all in to decide what it could mean. They 31 00:01:41,959 --> 00:01:45,840 Speaker 1: closely inspected all of the forty five bodies meticulously preserved 32 00:01:45,840 --> 00:01:49,240 Speaker 1: before them, and the Capuchin Friars believed they were witnessing 33 00:01:49,280 --> 00:01:52,120 Speaker 1: a miracle. They interpreted this moment as an act of 34 00:01:52,200 --> 00:01:55,760 Speaker 1: divine intervention. So the Friars decided to put the bodies 35 00:01:55,800 --> 00:01:59,280 Speaker 1: on display as holy relics. They hoisted them from below 36 00:01:59,480 --> 00:02:02,559 Speaker 1: and installed them around the church with wire and placards, 37 00:02:02,920 --> 00:02:05,680 Speaker 1: up behind the high altar and in nooks all around 38 00:02:05,720 --> 00:02:09,000 Speaker 1: the walls. And in all of this they continued on 39 00:02:09,120 --> 00:02:11,480 Speaker 1: with their day to day lives, they kept caring for 40 00:02:11,520 --> 00:02:14,480 Speaker 1: the sick and caring for the dead. They continued to 41 00:02:14,520 --> 00:02:17,160 Speaker 1: fill their underground crypt with the bodies of their newly 42 00:02:17,240 --> 00:02:20,120 Speaker 1: past members, and they noticed that these bodies, too were 43 00:02:20,160 --> 00:02:23,160 Speaker 1: not decomposing. It was determined that they would get the 44 00:02:23,160 --> 00:02:25,960 Speaker 1: same treatment as the others. The Friars got into the 45 00:02:25,960 --> 00:02:29,360 Speaker 1: practice of installing the dead in their final resting or 46 00:02:29,480 --> 00:02:33,280 Speaker 1: maybe standing place. Over the years, the order built additional 47 00:02:33,360 --> 00:02:36,520 Speaker 1: rooms for these bodies. They added multiple corridors for their 48 00:02:36,520 --> 00:02:40,080 Speaker 1: ever expanding collection of mummies. What we know now is 49 00:02:40,120 --> 00:02:44,160 Speaker 1: that Palermo has an excellent environment for mommification. The air 50 00:02:44,280 --> 00:02:48,360 Speaker 1: is dry and the humidity is low. The Capuchin's underground crypts, 51 00:02:48,360 --> 00:02:52,160 Speaker 1: which often utilized the natural made caves, were made of limestone, 52 00:02:52,200 --> 00:02:56,400 Speaker 1: which harbors incredible drying properties. Over the years, the Friars 53 00:02:56,440 --> 00:02:59,519 Speaker 1: began taking a more active role in the miracle making, 54 00:02:59,600 --> 00:03:02,320 Speaker 1: that is, preservation. They began to work with the addition 55 00:03:02,400 --> 00:03:05,920 Speaker 1: of vinegar, lime, chalk, and arsenic which they found to 56 00:03:05,960 --> 00:03:09,399 Speaker 1: aid in the process. Now, at first these catacombs were 57 00:03:09,400 --> 00:03:12,720 Speaker 1: an exclusive club for the resident Friars, But who doesn't 58 00:03:12,760 --> 00:03:15,520 Speaker 1: want to rub elbows with the divine right. Taking money 59 00:03:15,560 --> 00:03:19,079 Speaker 1: in exchange for holy services is historically fraught, but these 60 00:03:19,120 --> 00:03:22,040 Speaker 1: catacombs needed to be maintained, and the way that could 61 00:03:22,080 --> 00:03:25,000 Speaker 1: be done was through donation. So in time the catacombs 62 00:03:25,040 --> 00:03:27,760 Speaker 1: opened up to everyone, mostly to those who could pay 63 00:03:27,800 --> 00:03:32,960 Speaker 1: for the privilege of being in proximity to something seemingly miraculous. Today, 64 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:36,200 Speaker 1: the Capuchin Catacombs are the final resting place of eight 65 00:03:36,280 --> 00:03:40,000 Speaker 1: thousand well dressed corpses, and for about five bucks you 66 00:03:40,040 --> 00:03:42,480 Speaker 1: can go see them. While it might seem like a 67 00:03:42,640 --> 00:03:46,000 Speaker 1: macab spectacle to some, to others, it's a comforts and 68 00:03:46,080 --> 00:03:48,240 Speaker 1: an honor to be in the physical midst of so 69 00:03:48,400 --> 00:03:52,160 Speaker 1: many who have passed through this life before. So often 70 00:03:52,440 --> 00:03:54,800 Speaker 1: the dead are hidden from us. In the not so 71 00:03:54,920 --> 00:03:57,800 Speaker 1: recent past, folks in the Western world tended to their 72 00:03:57,880 --> 00:04:00,960 Speaker 1: dead at home and buried them close by. Life was 73 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:04,520 Speaker 1: experienced by all from the cradle to the grave until 74 00:04:04,640 --> 00:04:09,040 Speaker 1: a radical shift happened. For thousands of years across time 75 00:04:09,080 --> 00:04:12,480 Speaker 1: and place, we have been tending to and preserving are 76 00:04:12,560 --> 00:04:15,840 Speaker 1: dead because when our attempts at healing the body fail, 77 00:04:16,240 --> 00:04:19,760 Speaker 1: humans have to turn to the next task figuring out 78 00:04:19,880 --> 00:04:24,799 Speaker 1: exactly what to do with that body. I'm Aaron Mankee 79 00:04:25,320 --> 00:04:36,400 Speaker 1: and welcome to bedside manners. When the opportunity to heal 80 00:04:36,440 --> 00:04:39,040 Speaker 1: a body has passed us by, there is still healing 81 00:04:39,080 --> 00:04:42,039 Speaker 1: to be sought for the living. That is, for those 82 00:04:42,040 --> 00:04:44,159 Speaker 1: who love the deceased. It can be a great comfort 83 00:04:44,240 --> 00:04:46,240 Speaker 1: to know that they've handled their loved ones with as 84 00:04:46,320 --> 00:04:48,600 Speaker 1: much care as they can muster, and that they are 85 00:04:48,600 --> 00:04:52,400 Speaker 1: giving them a proper sendoff. Throughout the centuries, humans have 86 00:04:52,440 --> 00:04:55,640 Speaker 1: derived rituals for death and the remains of their dead, 87 00:04:55,720 --> 00:04:58,480 Speaker 1: and among the many practices, there's one that shows up 88 00:04:58,520 --> 00:05:02,880 Speaker 1: time and time again, embalming. We can trace our earliest 89 00:05:02,920 --> 00:05:05,880 Speaker 1: examples of embalming back to about five thousand years ago 90 00:05:06,040 --> 00:05:09,760 Speaker 1: in ancient Egypt. It's possible that the first mummies had 91 00:05:09,880 --> 00:05:13,839 Speaker 1: no human intervention but were accidentally cured by the hot, 92 00:05:13,960 --> 00:05:18,840 Speaker 1: dry climate in shallow sandy graves. Around twenty six hundred BC, though, 93 00:05:18,960 --> 00:05:22,760 Speaker 1: it seems that mummification became more intentional. While we can't 94 00:05:22,760 --> 00:05:25,839 Speaker 1: know exactly how the first methods of mummification came to be, 95 00:05:26,279 --> 00:05:29,919 Speaker 1: we can't infer that early embalmers borrowed techniques from the 96 00:05:29,920 --> 00:05:33,919 Speaker 1: preservation of animal meat. Over the years, different technologies and 97 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:36,760 Speaker 1: methods came into use, But what remained true over the 98 00:05:36,800 --> 00:05:40,320 Speaker 1: course of centuries was that these embalmers played a revered 99 00:05:40,400 --> 00:05:43,520 Speaker 1: role in the fabric of their communities. This act of 100 00:05:43,640 --> 00:05:46,680 Speaker 1: preservation was to ensure the dead would make it into 101 00:05:46,720 --> 00:05:50,239 Speaker 1: the afterlife intact and with everything they needed to carry 102 00:05:50,279 --> 00:05:53,920 Speaker 1: on on the next plane. Around five hundred BC, how 103 00:05:53,960 --> 00:05:56,400 Speaker 1: you chose to be embalmed in ancient Egypt boiled down 104 00:05:56,440 --> 00:06:01,000 Speaker 1: to a three tier service model. Your selections of a basic, deluxe, 105 00:06:01,120 --> 00:06:05,640 Speaker 1: or premium package all depended on your sensibilities and your savings. 106 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:09,120 Speaker 1: To illustrate which package you were purchasing in bombers would 107 00:06:09,120 --> 00:06:12,800 Speaker 1: show shoppers three wooden models of corpses, all distinct from 108 00:06:12,800 --> 00:06:17,240 Speaker 1: one another. Each was illustrated with various incisions included or 109 00:06:17,360 --> 00:06:20,559 Speaker 1: not included in the purchase, as well as a list 110 00:06:20,560 --> 00:06:23,560 Speaker 1: of other lux add ons. At the bottom tier, the 111 00:06:23,560 --> 00:06:27,000 Speaker 1: body got a washing, assaulting, and perhaps an injection of 112 00:06:27,200 --> 00:06:30,200 Speaker 1: cedar oil. At the top, the body would be anointed 113 00:06:30,240 --> 00:06:33,200 Speaker 1: with an array of delicious smelling powders and oils, with 114 00:06:33,400 --> 00:06:37,520 Speaker 1: organs fully removed save for the heart. Of course, Embalming 115 00:06:37,560 --> 00:06:40,240 Speaker 1: became a means of one final capture of life in 116 00:06:40,279 --> 00:06:43,039 Speaker 1: a corpse it helped to sand down the rough edges 117 00:06:43,080 --> 00:06:46,359 Speaker 1: between life and death for survivors. The ritual has become 118 00:06:46,400 --> 00:06:50,200 Speaker 1: part of our customary response to death ever since. Eventually, 119 00:06:50,240 --> 00:06:53,599 Speaker 1: the expansion of Christianity would create waves in regards to 120 00:06:53,680 --> 00:06:57,720 Speaker 1: burial customs of the world. As our concept of afterlife changed, 121 00:06:58,040 --> 00:07:01,160 Speaker 1: so too did the means required to get this. Embalming 122 00:07:01,200 --> 00:07:04,160 Speaker 1: fell out of fashion just for a while. By the 123 00:07:04,200 --> 00:07:07,520 Speaker 1: Middle Ages, embalming again gained favor, being seen as a 124 00:07:07,560 --> 00:07:11,120 Speaker 1: practical solution to some earthly problems. The pendulum began to 125 00:07:11,160 --> 00:07:13,480 Speaker 1: swing back. At this time, it was often reserved for 126 00:07:13,520 --> 00:07:16,640 Speaker 1: high ranking military men killed in action who needed to 127 00:07:16,680 --> 00:07:20,320 Speaker 1: be sent home with some semblance of recognizability. But with 128 00:07:20,400 --> 00:07:24,040 Speaker 1: the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries rising interest in anatomy and 129 00:07:24,160 --> 00:07:26,560 Speaker 1: all of the lessons it had to teach us, more 130 00:07:26,600 --> 00:07:30,680 Speaker 1: bodies were needed for dissection practice. Anatomists toyed with different 131 00:07:30,720 --> 00:07:33,680 Speaker 1: recipes and embalming techniques in the same way that the 132 00:07:33,720 --> 00:07:36,960 Speaker 1: alchemists are. Proto chemists that we met earlier in this season, 133 00:07:37,280 --> 00:07:40,400 Speaker 1: worked in their labs, cooking up solutions both physical and 134 00:07:40,480 --> 00:07:45,080 Speaker 1: metaphorical in nature. Practitioners used all kinds of things and Honestly, 135 00:07:45,120 --> 00:07:47,240 Speaker 1: they're things that you'd probably think would make some nice 136 00:07:47,280 --> 00:07:51,239 Speaker 1: smelling potpourriaut of rose and cammameal and cedar in various 137 00:07:51,240 --> 00:07:55,400 Speaker 1: combinations and forms, and sometimes turpidine and lime and ash 138 00:07:55,480 --> 00:07:58,800 Speaker 1: and wax and alcohol. Through the years, they developed different 139 00:07:58,800 --> 00:08:04,000 Speaker 1: techniques for preservation and washing and drying, submerging, extracting organs 140 00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:07,560 Speaker 1: and draining blood, pumping a deflated body up with linen 141 00:08:07,640 --> 00:08:11,560 Speaker 1: or straw, and adding pigments for a living likeness. These 142 00:08:11,600 --> 00:08:15,160 Speaker 1: recipes were sometimes proprietary trade secrets, and there was a 143 00:08:15,200 --> 00:08:18,080 Speaker 1: competition among embalmers as to who could make the most 144 00:08:18,160 --> 00:08:22,440 Speaker 1: beautiful corpses. Speaking of there was one such corpse whose 145 00:08:22,480 --> 00:08:25,360 Speaker 1: after life outlasted her mortal life that I'd like to 146 00:08:25,400 --> 00:08:27,480 Speaker 1: tell you about today, and that was a woman named 147 00:08:27,480 --> 00:08:31,360 Speaker 1: Mary von Butchell, who died on January fourteenth of seventeen 148 00:08:31,440 --> 00:08:34,360 Speaker 1: seventy five. She had been married to a man named Martin, 149 00:08:34,520 --> 00:08:38,560 Speaker 1: a bizarre yet wildly successful dentist in London. He traveled 150 00:08:38,559 --> 00:08:42,520 Speaker 1: on a painted horse, wore flamboyant outfits, and somehow managed 151 00:08:42,520 --> 00:08:46,160 Speaker 1: to offend the general populace. Even still, his patients loved 152 00:08:46,240 --> 00:08:49,360 Speaker 1: him and kept his practice afloat for over twenty years. 153 00:08:49,840 --> 00:08:52,720 Speaker 1: He had been a pupil of John Hunter, remember him, who, 154 00:08:52,800 --> 00:08:54,960 Speaker 1: along with his brother William, became two of the most 155 00:08:55,000 --> 00:08:59,120 Speaker 1: revered anatomists of their age. With this particular training, Martin 156 00:08:59,160 --> 00:09:01,480 Speaker 1: had an idea. He would have her embalmed and then 157 00:09:01,600 --> 00:09:04,560 Speaker 1: place her in his dental office window for all to see. 158 00:09:04,760 --> 00:09:08,400 Speaker 1: This was for advertising, of course, but Madman's don draper 159 00:09:08,440 --> 00:09:10,600 Speaker 1: he was not, so he called up his old friend 160 00:09:10,640 --> 00:09:14,800 Speaker 1: William Hunter to execute his idea. Now, scholars still debate 161 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:17,559 Speaker 1: why he did this. One doesn't often use the body 162 00:09:17,559 --> 00:09:21,360 Speaker 1: of their deceased spouse to inspire public affection. One idea 163 00:09:21,440 --> 00:09:23,640 Speaker 1: was that this was a final jab to get back 164 00:09:23,679 --> 00:09:27,000 Speaker 1: at her for some transgression in life. On the contrary, 165 00:09:27,240 --> 00:09:29,520 Speaker 1: some believed that this was a gesture of great care 166 00:09:29,559 --> 00:09:32,480 Speaker 1: and affection, having called upon one of the most esteemed 167 00:09:32,480 --> 00:09:36,400 Speaker 1: anatomists in the world to help him. So, alongside William, 168 00:09:36,640 --> 00:09:40,320 Speaker 1: Martin embalmed Mary. It was a deeply intimate act, one 169 00:09:40,320 --> 00:09:43,200 Speaker 1: that required much time and attention to care for and 170 00:09:43,360 --> 00:09:46,840 Speaker 1: preserve her remains. They opened her up for autopsy and 171 00:09:46,920 --> 00:09:50,160 Speaker 1: inspected her organs for telltale signs of what had gone wrong. 172 00:09:50,440 --> 00:09:53,280 Speaker 1: From there, they began the first of a three stage 173 00:09:53,280 --> 00:09:57,319 Speaker 1: embalming process. First, they injected her arteries with a mixture 174 00:09:57,360 --> 00:10:00,560 Speaker 1: of turpentine and vermilion and let it set. This would 175 00:10:00,600 --> 00:10:03,200 Speaker 1: eventually help them drain her blood, which came in the 176 00:10:03,280 --> 00:10:06,320 Speaker 1: second step, along with the removal of her organs. The 177 00:10:06,360 --> 00:10:09,479 Speaker 1: third step found them washing her body with water and alcohol, 178 00:10:09,600 --> 00:10:12,800 Speaker 1: before filling her cavities with a mixture of camphor, niter 179 00:10:12,920 --> 00:10:16,920 Speaker 1: and resin. She was then stitched up with care, washed, dried, 180 00:10:17,200 --> 00:10:20,240 Speaker 1: and anointed with oils. She was then laid in a box, 181 00:10:20,360 --> 00:10:23,320 Speaker 1: her body set in quick drying plaster, ready for the 182 00:10:23,320 --> 00:10:27,760 Speaker 1: curious eyes of the general public. Words circulated quickly, as 183 00:10:27,800 --> 00:10:31,680 Speaker 1: you might imagine, and people wanted to see Mary's mummy exactly, 184 00:10:31,720 --> 00:10:34,160 Speaker 1: it seems what he set out to do. He took 185 00:10:34,160 --> 00:10:36,720 Speaker 1: a blurb in the local paper imploring people to come 186 00:10:36,840 --> 00:10:39,959 Speaker 1: only at certain times, which, of course the cynic might 187 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:42,360 Speaker 1: say was just another way to stir up interest. It 188 00:10:42,400 --> 00:10:45,520 Speaker 1: also seems that Mary's body long found a post mortem 189 00:10:45,520 --> 00:10:49,400 Speaker 1: home in the house they shared, even after he remarried. 190 00:10:50,120 --> 00:10:53,120 Speaker 1: When Martin died in eighteen fourteen, the Board of Curators 191 00:10:53,160 --> 00:10:56,040 Speaker 1: of the Royal College of Surgeons received a letter from 192 00:10:56,040 --> 00:10:59,120 Speaker 1: his son Martin was interred in the ground, but there 193 00:10:59,160 --> 00:11:02,559 Speaker 1: was no final rest for Mary. Her embalmed remains had 194 00:11:02,600 --> 00:11:05,360 Speaker 1: been in Martin's care while he was alive. Now his 195 00:11:05,440 --> 00:11:08,600 Speaker 1: son wanted to know did the Royal College have any 196 00:11:08,640 --> 00:11:12,760 Speaker 1: interest in putting Mary's body on display? They sure did, 197 00:11:13,160 --> 00:11:16,400 Speaker 1: so there she was. Mary, once an attraction in her 198 00:11:16,440 --> 00:11:19,400 Speaker 1: own home, was now accessible to the greater public in 199 00:11:19,559 --> 00:11:23,400 Speaker 1: the curio room at the College, where she stayed for 200 00:11:23,520 --> 00:11:31,480 Speaker 1: over one hundred and thirty years. His body arrived at 201 00:11:31,480 --> 00:11:34,040 Speaker 1: the train platform in the middle of the night, passing 202 00:11:34,080 --> 00:11:36,800 Speaker 1: from one set of strangers hands to the next. At 203 00:11:36,800 --> 00:11:40,440 Speaker 1: about eleven pm on Saturday night, December seventeenth of eighteen 204 00:11:40,559 --> 00:11:43,920 Speaker 1: fifty nine, the now dead John E. Cook arrived in 205 00:11:44,000 --> 00:11:47,640 Speaker 1: Jersey City via the Express train North. He was received 206 00:11:47,640 --> 00:11:50,680 Speaker 1: by his brother in law and a local undertaker, just 207 00:11:50,720 --> 00:11:54,240 Speaker 1: another stop on the journey home. It was late or early, 208 00:11:54,280 --> 00:11:56,360 Speaker 1: if that's how we're counting. By the time the group 209 00:11:56,480 --> 00:11:59,000 Speaker 1: arrived in New York City, the night sky had broken 210 00:11:59,040 --> 00:12:01,559 Speaker 1: open and let loose to hohrents of rain, soaking our 211 00:12:01,559 --> 00:12:04,480 Speaker 1: faithful chaperones to the bone. They were able to catch 212 00:12:04,480 --> 00:12:07,680 Speaker 1: an express wagon, though, and John was loaded in his 213 00:12:07,760 --> 00:12:10,839 Speaker 1: final destination was a secret one, and traveling in the 214 00:12:10,920 --> 00:12:13,600 Speaker 1: dark helped them keep it this way. Their schedule was 215 00:12:13,800 --> 00:12:16,440 Speaker 1: something of a formality, but it also was a pure 216 00:12:16,480 --> 00:12:20,280 Speaker 1: function of the situation. John had recently been executed in 217 00:12:20,400 --> 00:12:23,400 Speaker 1: Virginia for treason, and his body had to move swifter 218 00:12:23,640 --> 00:12:27,400 Speaker 1: than the decay that threatened to overtake him. Curious folks 219 00:12:27,440 --> 00:12:29,760 Speaker 1: who managed to find out where John had ended up 220 00:12:29,800 --> 00:12:32,560 Speaker 1: were turned away when they called, but his young wife 221 00:12:32,600 --> 00:12:34,760 Speaker 1: pleaded to be the first to see his remains. When 222 00:12:34,760 --> 00:12:37,800 Speaker 1: they arrived, the undertaker promised her that this would happen, 223 00:12:38,080 --> 00:12:40,720 Speaker 1: but changed his mind once he saw just how badly 224 00:12:40,760 --> 00:12:44,960 Speaker 1: decomposed John appeared. Doctor Thomas Holmes, one of New York's 225 00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:48,200 Speaker 1: coroners and most skilled embalmers, got to work on the 226 00:12:48,240 --> 00:12:51,600 Speaker 1: body that lay before him. He got the arterial injection 227 00:12:51,720 --> 00:12:54,880 Speaker 1: site prepared and started, taking about forty five minutes to 228 00:12:54,920 --> 00:12:57,320 Speaker 1: get the four courts of liquid passed through the body, 229 00:12:57,520 --> 00:13:00,720 Speaker 1: but the newspapers noted that in about half the time, 230 00:13:00,880 --> 00:13:04,880 Speaker 1: Cook's face began to regain its natural color. The next morning, 231 00:13:05,160 --> 00:13:08,240 Speaker 1: it said that he didn't even smell. John E. Cook, 232 00:13:08,480 --> 00:13:12,000 Speaker 1: the flamboyant co conspirator of John Brown and his rebellion 233 00:13:12,000 --> 00:13:14,960 Speaker 1: at Harper's Ferry was held the following Tuesday at the 234 00:13:15,000 --> 00:13:18,240 Speaker 1: personal residence of the city Clerk. The political nature of 235 00:13:18,320 --> 00:13:21,640 Speaker 1: John's death and the criminal stigma around his hanging kept 236 00:13:21,720 --> 00:13:24,439 Speaker 1: local churches from opening their doors to him and his 237 00:13:24,480 --> 00:13:27,439 Speaker 1: loved ones. Only a handful of people were allowed to 238 00:13:27,480 --> 00:13:30,000 Speaker 1: see the body in the Crowd control at the actual 239 00:13:30,040 --> 00:13:34,400 Speaker 1: funeral limited attendees to a guided, single file line. After 240 00:13:34,400 --> 00:13:36,960 Speaker 1: the last visitor was led out through the basement of 241 00:13:37,000 --> 00:13:40,359 Speaker 1: the home, John's remains were taken to Cypress Hills Cemetery. 242 00:13:40,679 --> 00:13:43,560 Speaker 1: A reverend gave a short address before John was put 243 00:13:43,600 --> 00:13:46,520 Speaker 1: into the grave. After all of this was put to rest, 244 00:13:46,640 --> 00:13:49,320 Speaker 1: the good doctor Holmes dusted his hands and cleaned up 245 00:13:49,360 --> 00:13:51,719 Speaker 1: his embalming lab. He knew that the tides of how 246 00:13:51,760 --> 00:13:54,920 Speaker 1: Americans writ large were caring for the dead were changing, 247 00:13:55,360 --> 00:13:57,640 Speaker 1: but little did he know that the treatment of John E. 248 00:13:57,720 --> 00:14:01,239 Speaker 1: Cook's body would be the telltale canaar in the coal mine. 249 00:14:01,360 --> 00:14:04,320 Speaker 1: Holmes was an anatomist and surgeon by trade, and was 250 00:14:04,360 --> 00:14:08,480 Speaker 1: deeply unsettled by the preservation of specimens, and by specimens, 251 00:14:08,480 --> 00:14:11,000 Speaker 1: I mean corpses that he saw come through his lab. 252 00:14:11,280 --> 00:14:14,079 Speaker 1: He was also well aware of the significant toxicity of 253 00:14:14,120 --> 00:14:17,040 Speaker 1: the chemicals his fellow practitioners had gotten into the habit 254 00:14:17,080 --> 00:14:19,560 Speaker 1: of using. Over the past few years. In the hopes 255 00:14:19,600 --> 00:14:22,480 Speaker 1: of stopping the spread of diseases harbored in the corpses, 256 00:14:22,520 --> 00:14:25,880 Speaker 1: they had treated them with arsenic and mercury based compounds. 257 00:14:26,000 --> 00:14:29,040 Speaker 1: Holmes had experienced studying Egyptian mummies, though, and he believed 258 00:14:29,040 --> 00:14:32,280 Speaker 1: that there were other and less deadly ways forward. For 259 00:14:32,320 --> 00:14:34,680 Speaker 1: the most parts, up until this point, the work of 260 00:14:34,760 --> 00:14:38,080 Speaker 1: death wasn't handled by professionals. The work was largely a 261 00:14:38,160 --> 00:14:41,440 Speaker 1: labor of the domestic space, and the most intimate tasks 262 00:14:41,440 --> 00:14:43,840 Speaker 1: of caring for the dead were carried out by women. 263 00:14:44,400 --> 00:14:47,000 Speaker 1: But by the mid eighteen hundreds, America was on its 264 00:14:47,000 --> 00:14:51,800 Speaker 1: way to creating a systemaized market for newly minted death specialists. 265 00:14:52,040 --> 00:14:54,640 Speaker 1: These tasks of caring for the dead were beginning to 266 00:14:54,680 --> 00:14:59,040 Speaker 1: be outsourced to paid strangers, consolidated into industries, and given 267 00:14:59,080 --> 00:15:02,960 Speaker 1: the shiny new ven year of professionalism, and doctor Holmes 268 00:15:03,040 --> 00:15:06,160 Speaker 1: was part of this movement. Having gained notoriety for developing 269 00:15:06,160 --> 00:15:08,960 Speaker 1: a safe embalming fluid, it was sold not just to 270 00:15:09,040 --> 00:15:12,320 Speaker 1: his fellow ananimius, but to the burgeoning class of undertakers 271 00:15:12,320 --> 00:15:15,080 Speaker 1: who were popping up all over the country. Even still, 272 00:15:15,120 --> 00:15:18,680 Speaker 1: the larger public often found it horrifying. That was until 273 00:15:18,680 --> 00:15:21,640 Speaker 1: the outbreak of the Civil War. Doctor Holmes had the 274 00:15:21,680 --> 00:15:26,040 Speaker 1: great distinction of embalming Elmer E. Ellsworth in eighteen sixty one. 275 00:15:26,240 --> 00:15:29,040 Speaker 1: A Union Army colonel in life, he had been close 276 00:15:29,080 --> 00:15:31,960 Speaker 1: with President Lincoln. When the doctor heard this, he visited 277 00:15:31,960 --> 00:15:36,000 Speaker 1: the President and offered to embalm his friend. Newspaper accounts 278 00:15:36,080 --> 00:15:39,360 Speaker 1: praised the doctor's methods, extolling this idea that men who 279 00:15:39,360 --> 00:15:42,440 Speaker 1: were killed far from home could be embalmed locally and 280 00:15:42,560 --> 00:15:45,280 Speaker 1: preserved enough to make it home for a proper burial. 281 00:15:45,560 --> 00:15:48,480 Speaker 1: Thousands came to see Elmer lying in his coffin, and 282 00:15:48,560 --> 00:15:50,720 Speaker 1: all who looked upon his face were said to be 283 00:15:50,760 --> 00:15:54,520 Speaker 1: taken by how utterly lifelike he remained. A short time later, 284 00:15:54,640 --> 00:15:57,080 Speaker 1: the Army Medical Corps decided that they would employ the 285 00:15:57,160 --> 00:16:00,640 Speaker 1: doctor's services to embalm all of the Union's dead. It 286 00:16:00,720 --> 00:16:03,600 Speaker 1: was a symptom of wishful thinking, though, because they thought 287 00:16:03,640 --> 00:16:05,760 Speaker 1: that the war would soon be over and the number 288 00:16:05,800 --> 00:16:09,360 Speaker 1: of casualties low, They had no idea the carnage they 289 00:16:09,360 --> 00:16:12,400 Speaker 1: were about to see and the undertaking that they were 290 00:16:12,440 --> 00:16:21,480 Speaker 1: about to embark upon. As America's Civil War exploded through 291 00:16:21,560 --> 00:16:24,760 Speaker 1: small towns, into the forests, and onto the open fields, 292 00:16:24,960 --> 00:16:28,760 Speaker 1: doctor Holmes and his colleagues embalmed thousands of bodies. The 293 00:16:28,800 --> 00:16:32,440 Speaker 1: practice established itself in the midst of this horrific mass casualty, 294 00:16:32,680 --> 00:16:35,480 Speaker 1: which amounted to a bloodier conflict than any they'd ever 295 00:16:35,560 --> 00:16:39,320 Speaker 1: experienced before. For the first time in American history, scores 296 00:16:39,360 --> 00:16:41,800 Speaker 1: of people were dying far from where they were born. 297 00:16:42,120 --> 00:16:44,920 Speaker 1: According to one statistic, just in the South, one in 298 00:16:45,040 --> 00:16:48,480 Speaker 1: five Southern men died during this conflict. Everyone seemed to 299 00:16:48,520 --> 00:16:51,280 Speaker 1: know someone or some ones, and try as we might, 300 00:16:51,440 --> 00:16:54,960 Speaker 1: the psychic toll incurred is unlike anything we've seen in 301 00:16:55,000 --> 00:16:58,360 Speaker 1: our own lifetimes. The practice of embalming then became both 302 00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:02,560 Speaker 1: practical and sentimental. It gave grieving families one last chance 303 00:17:02,640 --> 00:17:05,640 Speaker 1: to look upon their loved ones, even if sometimes they 304 00:17:05,640 --> 00:17:09,520 Speaker 1: were hardly recognizable. And while it's true that some embalmers 305 00:17:09,560 --> 00:17:12,840 Speaker 1: were motivated by care and compassion for their fallen countrymen, 306 00:17:13,160 --> 00:17:15,800 Speaker 1: the others were motivated by the hustle and the profit 307 00:17:15,880 --> 00:17:18,240 Speaker 1: to be made off the dead. Even in the midst 308 00:17:18,280 --> 00:17:21,439 Speaker 1: of tragedy, or, as so often happens, because of it, 309 00:17:21,800 --> 00:17:24,600 Speaker 1: the opportunists had arrived. It said that those who had 310 00:17:24,640 --> 00:17:27,040 Speaker 1: taken up the embalming trade following the outbreak of the 311 00:17:27,080 --> 00:17:30,720 Speaker 1: war stalked the Union and Confederate armies around the country, 312 00:17:30,960 --> 00:17:35,040 Speaker 1: staking out battlefields and recruiting prospective clients while they were 313 00:17:35,040 --> 00:17:38,200 Speaker 1: still living with the generous offer of pre paid embalming 314 00:17:38,240 --> 00:17:42,720 Speaker 1: coverage and transportation plans. These men were hawking their wares 315 00:17:42,760 --> 00:17:45,800 Speaker 1: in showman's style and with only a hint of sensitivity. 316 00:17:45,960 --> 00:17:48,119 Speaker 1: You can only imagine what that did to the morale 317 00:17:48,200 --> 00:17:50,960 Speaker 1: of the troops on the front line. Some embalmers, too, 318 00:17:51,000 --> 00:17:54,000 Speaker 1: were charged with more or less holding bodies of the 319 00:17:54,040 --> 00:17:57,240 Speaker 1: dead hostage until their families could pay what amounted to 320 00:17:57,400 --> 00:18:00,960 Speaker 1: a ransom. The craft was wildly on regular but in 321 00:18:01,040 --> 00:18:03,600 Speaker 1: years to come it would be codified and organized with 322 00:18:03,720 --> 00:18:07,240 Speaker 1: laws and degrees as a mechanism of control. In all, 323 00:18:07,520 --> 00:18:10,760 Speaker 1: around forty thousand were embalmed and sent home. It was 324 00:18:10,800 --> 00:18:13,280 Speaker 1: a practice that seemed ghastly to so many in the 325 00:18:13,320 --> 00:18:15,880 Speaker 1: years leading up to the war, but like many things, 326 00:18:15,880 --> 00:18:19,280 Speaker 1: that war might change our collective attitude towards death and 327 00:18:19,400 --> 00:18:22,200 Speaker 1: how to manage the care of it. Became one of them. 328 00:18:22,440 --> 00:18:25,120 Speaker 1: President Abraham Lincoln, who had been at the country's helm 329 00:18:25,160 --> 00:18:28,359 Speaker 1: for this entire conflict, died on April fifteenth of eighteen 330 00:18:28,440 --> 00:18:31,800 Speaker 1: sixty five after being shot at Ford's Theater in Washington, 331 00:18:31,880 --> 00:18:35,439 Speaker 1: d C. By a Confederate sympathizer. His body was quickly 332 00:18:35,480 --> 00:18:38,600 Speaker 1: moved to the local embalming firm of Brown and Alexander, 333 00:18:38,760 --> 00:18:42,040 Speaker 1: who just three years before had embalmed the president's young son. 334 00:18:42,480 --> 00:18:45,399 Speaker 1: It was collectively decided by the powers in Washington that 335 00:18:45,400 --> 00:18:48,080 Speaker 1: the president was going to be sent on one last tour. 336 00:18:48,440 --> 00:18:50,680 Speaker 1: He had belonged to the people in life, and he 337 00:18:50,720 --> 00:18:53,800 Speaker 1: would belong to them still in death. Lincoln had commissioned 338 00:18:53,800 --> 00:18:56,800 Speaker 1: a stately presidential railcar, and it would now serve as 339 00:18:56,800 --> 00:19:00,720 Speaker 1: his nine car funeral train, spending twenty days and seventeen 340 00:19:00,840 --> 00:19:05,360 Speaker 1: hundred miles crossing the country from Washington, d C. To Springfield, Illinois, 341 00:19:05,480 --> 00:19:08,200 Speaker 1: and it stops along the way. His black bedecked train 342 00:19:08,320 --> 00:19:10,720 Speaker 1: was met by thousands of mourners who wished to see 343 00:19:10,720 --> 00:19:13,760 Speaker 1: the president one last time. He was accompanied by loved 344 00:19:13,800 --> 00:19:17,320 Speaker 1: ones and over one hundred and fifty attendants, including a 345 00:19:17,400 --> 00:19:21,600 Speaker 1: resident embalmer. The latter worked alongside local undertakers to ensure 346 00:19:21,600 --> 00:19:24,720 Speaker 1: that the president was looking as fresh as possible, even 347 00:19:24,760 --> 00:19:27,800 Speaker 1: as Lincoln's face began to sink and discolor in the heat. 348 00:19:28,080 --> 00:19:30,119 Speaker 1: The conductor of the train was quoted as saying that 349 00:19:30,480 --> 00:19:33,280 Speaker 1: he looked as if he were asleep in pleasant dreams. 350 00:19:33,760 --> 00:19:36,480 Speaker 1: And like I said before, this concept of embalming the 351 00:19:36,520 --> 00:19:38,960 Speaker 1: dead like this was something that people had to get 352 00:19:39,040 --> 00:19:43,719 Speaker 1: used to. But any disgussed discomfort or unease experienced firsthand 353 00:19:43,720 --> 00:19:47,320 Speaker 1: by these curious onlookers was far surpassed by Lincoln's body 354 00:19:47,359 --> 00:19:50,840 Speaker 1: as a symbol. They witnessed that his embalming gave him 355 00:19:50,880 --> 00:19:53,520 Speaker 1: a chance to still be among them, if only for 356 00:19:53,600 --> 00:19:56,200 Speaker 1: a little while longer, and in doing so, he helped 357 00:19:56,200 --> 00:20:00,879 Speaker 1: to cement the powers of human preservation in the public's imagine. 358 00:20:00,920 --> 00:20:03,480 Speaker 1: Within a few short years, the practice changed how the 359 00:20:03,520 --> 00:20:06,840 Speaker 1: country would go on to live with death. Lincoln himself 360 00:20:06,920 --> 00:20:09,800 Speaker 1: gave the practice his stamp of approval when he said 361 00:20:09,800 --> 00:20:13,000 Speaker 1: that it helped to bind the nation's wounds, to care 362 00:20:13,080 --> 00:20:15,679 Speaker 1: for him who shall have borne the battle, and for 363 00:20:15,760 --> 00:20:19,160 Speaker 1: his widow and his orphan. They saw that this new 364 00:20:19,200 --> 00:20:23,600 Speaker 1: technology readily available to everyone, from foot soldiers to presidents. 365 00:20:23,800 --> 00:20:26,600 Speaker 1: As a balm to ease the ache of broken hearts. 366 00:20:26,880 --> 00:20:29,720 Speaker 1: It was a panacea, a form of care in the 367 00:20:29,760 --> 00:20:33,560 Speaker 1: shape of pickling chemicals, one last act of caring on 368 00:20:33,640 --> 00:20:36,680 Speaker 1: the part of an enbalmer and by extension, a family 369 00:20:37,160 --> 00:20:44,840 Speaker 1: before someone was laid down for good. In the wake 370 00:20:44,880 --> 00:20:47,800 Speaker 1: of the Civil War, the nation began to rebuild itself. 371 00:20:48,080 --> 00:20:50,920 Speaker 1: Life in the fractured country would never return to how 372 00:20:50,920 --> 00:20:54,680 Speaker 1: it had once been, but a new normal would establish itself. 373 00:20:54,840 --> 00:20:57,720 Speaker 1: Day by day. As the living returned home, the need 374 00:20:57,760 --> 00:21:01,280 Speaker 1: for embalmers and their services began to side. People could 375 00:21:01,280 --> 00:21:04,280 Speaker 1: now die from where they came and be summarily returned 376 00:21:04,280 --> 00:21:06,720 Speaker 1: to the ground. Not to be dissuaded by a good 377 00:21:06,720 --> 00:21:09,360 Speaker 1: thing they had going on, though, a group of professionals 378 00:21:09,400 --> 00:21:12,440 Speaker 1: mobilized as a collective, staking their claim as the new 379 00:21:12,520 --> 00:21:16,760 Speaker 1: mediators between the living and the dead. America's thriving, booming 380 00:21:16,800 --> 00:21:19,239 Speaker 1: free market had created a place for them, and they 381 00:21:19,240 --> 00:21:21,920 Speaker 1: were going to claim it. The cottage industries around deaf 382 00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:24,840 Speaker 1: care had cropped up during the war, saw a permanent 383 00:21:24,920 --> 00:21:29,080 Speaker 1: and necessary place for themselves and started creating barriers for entry, 384 00:21:29,359 --> 00:21:33,160 Speaker 1: such as certifications and training programs that turned dying from 385 00:21:33,200 --> 00:21:38,119 Speaker 1: something utterly domestic into a cog in capitalism's machine. Embalming, 386 00:21:38,200 --> 00:21:41,680 Speaker 1: it seems, was here to stay. But the same can't 387 00:21:41,720 --> 00:21:44,639 Speaker 1: be said for our faithful Doctor Holmes. You see, in 388 00:21:44,680 --> 00:21:47,600 Speaker 1: the later years of the nineteenth century, Doctor Holmes would 389 00:21:47,600 --> 00:21:50,280 Speaker 1: be arrested for keeping a body on his property for 390 00:21:50,320 --> 00:21:53,159 Speaker 1: more than two months. He was studying the effects of 391 00:21:53,200 --> 00:21:56,240 Speaker 1: his preservation, not just on this corpse, but on others 392 00:21:56,280 --> 00:22:00,200 Speaker 1: in his sprawling anatomical collection. He was summarily relief based 393 00:22:00,240 --> 00:22:02,879 Speaker 1: on the grounds of no wrongdoings, but it's easy to 394 00:22:02,920 --> 00:22:05,840 Speaker 1: think that some may have been unsettled by his experiments. 395 00:22:06,240 --> 00:22:08,480 Speaker 1: For years, he kept an embalmed dog in the front 396 00:22:08,520 --> 00:22:11,159 Speaker 1: window of his shop. At another point, he announced that 397 00:22:11,200 --> 00:22:14,040 Speaker 1: in the future, marble would no longer be necessary to 398 00:22:14,080 --> 00:22:16,760 Speaker 1: create sculptures from, but that he had found the exact 399 00:22:16,880 --> 00:22:20,440 Speaker 1: chemical cocktail that would help turn formerly living human beings 400 00:22:20,720 --> 00:22:25,399 Speaker 1: into marble for display. Today, arterial embalming is commonplace in 401 00:22:25,440 --> 00:22:28,679 Speaker 1: the Western world, and there are many misconceptions around it. 402 00:22:29,040 --> 00:22:31,520 Speaker 1: One does not have to be embalmed in order to 403 00:22:31,560 --> 00:22:34,720 Speaker 1: be buried. There are no laws that require it. Jewish 404 00:22:34,720 --> 00:22:38,960 Speaker 1: and Muslim religious traditions also continue to consider embalming taboo. 405 00:22:39,240 --> 00:22:43,160 Speaker 1: Since it pollutes the body's natural state. According to one study, 406 00:22:43,359 --> 00:22:46,919 Speaker 1: there are over eight hundred thousand gallons of formaldehyde running 407 00:22:46,920 --> 00:22:48,679 Speaker 1: through the veins of the dead that are buried in 408 00:22:48,720 --> 00:22:52,760 Speaker 1: the ground each year. The environmental costs alone are high, 409 00:22:52,880 --> 00:22:56,320 Speaker 1: never mind the other mechanisms of the funeral industry complex 410 00:22:56,359 --> 00:23:01,320 Speaker 1: that have people making financial, environmental, and spe spiritual calculations 411 00:23:01,359 --> 00:23:05,120 Speaker 1: for their loved ones final days. Doctor Holmes died on Monday, 412 00:23:05,240 --> 00:23:08,720 Speaker 1: January eighth of nineteen hundred. The byline of the newspaper 413 00:23:08,920 --> 00:23:13,000 Speaker 1: called him eccentric, but admitted that his creations were undeniably 414 00:23:13,080 --> 00:23:16,840 Speaker 1: valuable to mankind. His final wish, according to the Brooklyn 415 00:23:16,840 --> 00:23:27,159 Speaker 1: Times Union, was not to be embalmed. I'll be the 416 00:23:27,160 --> 00:23:29,639 Speaker 1: first to admit that death can be a really hard 417 00:23:29,680 --> 00:23:32,440 Speaker 1: thing to talk about, and it's so interesting to think 418 00:23:32,480 --> 00:23:35,800 Speaker 1: that our relationship with it has changed so much over 419 00:23:35,800 --> 00:23:38,399 Speaker 1: the past one hundred and fifty years. It makes me 420 00:23:38,480 --> 00:23:41,320 Speaker 1: think a lot about not just where we come from, 421 00:23:41,359 --> 00:23:43,560 Speaker 1: but where we're going. If you stick around through this 422 00:23:43,600 --> 00:23:46,480 Speaker 1: brief sponsor break, my teammate Robin Minitter will tell you 423 00:23:46,520 --> 00:23:49,840 Speaker 1: a story about one man in his ideas about exactly that. 424 00:23:50,400 --> 00:23:53,040 Speaker 1: Oh and seeing as this is the final episode of 425 00:23:53,040 --> 00:23:55,840 Speaker 1: Grim and Maal Presents Season three. We thought you'd enjoy 426 00:23:55,880 --> 00:23:58,560 Speaker 1: a sneak peek at season four, so be sure to 427 00:23:58,600 --> 00:24:01,760 Speaker 1: stick around after the epilogue story for an exclusive listen 428 00:24:01,840 --> 00:24:04,159 Speaker 1: to the new trailer ahead of the general public. 429 00:24:11,440 --> 00:24:14,080 Speaker 2: It's hard to pinpoint exactly when it was that humans 430 00:24:14,119 --> 00:24:18,359 Speaker 2: decided that living forever might be possible. Stories about immortality 431 00:24:18,400 --> 00:24:21,560 Speaker 2: are seen in the foundational myths, legends, and religions across 432 00:24:21,560 --> 00:24:25,320 Speaker 2: the world. We see God speaking of eternal life, legendary 433 00:24:25,400 --> 00:24:29,240 Speaker 2: characters who experienced suspended animation, and we found ourselves in 434 00:24:29,240 --> 00:24:32,560 Speaker 2: the never ending search for the Fountain of Youth. More recently, 435 00:24:32,720 --> 00:24:35,639 Speaker 2: even America's own Ben Franklin believed that if only his 436 00:24:35,720 --> 00:24:38,680 Speaker 2: body could be preserved in ava of wine upon his death, 437 00:24:38,960 --> 00:24:41,399 Speaker 2: he might have a shot at being reanimated in just 438 00:24:41,440 --> 00:24:44,399 Speaker 2: a few more hundred years. In the summer of nineteen 439 00:24:44,480 --> 00:24:47,040 Speaker 2: thirty one, a young boy in Detroit, Michigan, by the 440 00:24:47,160 --> 00:24:49,840 Speaker 2: name of Robert Ettinger was flipping through his favorite science 441 00:24:49,840 --> 00:24:53,320 Speaker 2: fiction magazine. He came across a story about a scientist 442 00:24:53,359 --> 00:24:56,160 Speaker 2: who engineered a way to preserve his body after he died. 443 00:24:56,800 --> 00:24:59,359 Speaker 2: The scientist decided that upon his death, he'd have his 444 00:24:59,480 --> 00:25:02,800 Speaker 2: body put into a capsule and launched into space. His 445 00:25:02,880 --> 00:25:04,920 Speaker 2: plan was to be plucked from orbit in about forty 446 00:25:04,960 --> 00:25:08,040 Speaker 2: million more years, where his brain would then be transplanted 447 00:25:08,119 --> 00:25:12,040 Speaker 2: into a mechanical body back here on Earth. Robert was 448 00:25:12,119 --> 00:25:15,200 Speaker 2: utterly taken by this idea, and he never forgot it. 449 00:25:15,640 --> 00:25:18,160 Speaker 2: Years later, he came home battered from the Second World 450 00:25:18,160 --> 00:25:20,239 Speaker 2: War and then used his GI bill to earn a 451 00:25:20,240 --> 00:25:23,520 Speaker 2: master's degree in math and physics. He continued to read 452 00:25:23,560 --> 00:25:25,880 Speaker 2: and write the same science fiction stories that he loved 453 00:25:25,880 --> 00:25:28,679 Speaker 2: so much Little Boy, and decided that he might be 454 00:25:28,760 --> 00:25:31,480 Speaker 2: the one to make all of it come to life. 455 00:25:31,920 --> 00:25:34,679 Speaker 2: In nineteen sixty four, Robert published what he claimed to 456 00:25:34,720 --> 00:25:37,919 Speaker 2: be the first solution to death. His magnum opus, The 457 00:25:37,960 --> 00:25:42,119 Speaker 2: Prospect of Immortality, spoke with conviction about the possibility of 458 00:25:42,160 --> 00:25:46,200 Speaker 2: long term preservation and future reanimation. He believed that death 459 00:25:46,280 --> 00:25:48,800 Speaker 2: wasn't a single event, but was actually broken up into 460 00:25:48,800 --> 00:25:51,320 Speaker 2: a set of stages that could be paused and reversed 461 00:25:51,359 --> 00:25:54,080 Speaker 2: with the right technology. And it just so happened that 462 00:25:54,119 --> 00:25:56,720 Speaker 2: this tech didn't exist yet, but he wanted to be 463 00:25:56,760 --> 00:25:59,600 Speaker 2: the one to find it. What's important to note here 464 00:25:59,680 --> 00:26:01,959 Speaker 2: is that while some wanted to brush Robert off, there 465 00:26:01,960 --> 00:26:04,800 Speaker 2: were so many others who wanted to believe him. They 466 00:26:04,840 --> 00:26:07,000 Speaker 2: were living in the space age, after all, and the 467 00:26:07,040 --> 00:26:09,640 Speaker 2: turn of new technology and how it could change lives 468 00:26:09,720 --> 00:26:13,640 Speaker 2: just seemed limitless. His book sold over one hundred thousand copies, 469 00:26:13,720 --> 00:26:17,040 Speaker 2: and he started appearing on television, the radio, and in magazines. 470 00:26:17,920 --> 00:26:20,800 Speaker 2: Central to his argument was the idea that both metabolism 471 00:26:20,840 --> 00:26:23,480 Speaker 2: and decay could be suspended just as long as the 472 00:26:23,520 --> 00:26:27,000 Speaker 2: body was kept sufficiently chilled. He wanted to essentially press 473 00:26:27,040 --> 00:26:29,680 Speaker 2: pause on what he saw as the liminal space between 474 00:26:29,760 --> 00:26:33,400 Speaker 2: life and death, something of a scientific technology infused deep 475 00:26:33,480 --> 00:26:37,399 Speaker 2: hibernation period for each and every cell. With this in mind, 476 00:26:37,560 --> 00:26:40,480 Speaker 2: Robert cut the ribbon for his cryonics Institute in nineteen 477 00:26:40,560 --> 00:26:43,840 Speaker 2: seventy six. It was a seven thousand square foot warehouse 478 00:26:43,880 --> 00:26:46,840 Speaker 2: and a very average looking industrial park outside of Detroit, 479 00:26:47,200 --> 00:26:50,399 Speaker 2: and to this day anyone still can become a member. 480 00:26:51,160 --> 00:26:54,119 Speaker 2: Today it costs one two hundred and fifty dollars to join, 481 00:26:54,400 --> 00:26:56,919 Speaker 2: with the additional ask of twenty eight thousand dollars to 482 00:26:56,960 --> 00:26:59,880 Speaker 2: be paid upon a member's death. One way to bank 483 00:27:00,240 --> 00:27:03,320 Speaker 2: this investment would be, as they suggest, to make the 484 00:27:03,359 --> 00:27:07,840 Speaker 2: Institute a beneficiary of a life insurance policy included in 485 00:27:07,880 --> 00:27:11,240 Speaker 2: this price is also another very interesting offering. With a 486 00:27:11,280 --> 00:27:15,359 Speaker 2: network of mortuary relationships, the Cryonics Institute can often deploy 487 00:27:15,480 --> 00:27:18,320 Speaker 2: specially trained death care workers at a moment's notice to 488 00:27:18,359 --> 00:27:21,840 Speaker 2: prepare and transport a body for its deep freeze. In 489 00:27:21,920 --> 00:27:26,720 Speaker 2: nineteen seventy seven, Robert's mother was deanimated and put into storage. 490 00:27:26,960 --> 00:27:30,520 Speaker 2: Since then, Robert's first and second wives have also been preserved. 491 00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:34,600 Speaker 2: To do this. First, the blood was drained from their bodies. Next, 492 00:27:34,680 --> 00:27:37,280 Speaker 2: they're pumped full of anti freeze, and for the third 493 00:27:37,320 --> 00:27:39,320 Speaker 2: and last step, they were put into a vat of 494 00:27:39,359 --> 00:27:42,760 Speaker 2: liquid nitrogen, all in the anticipation of what science might 495 00:27:42,840 --> 00:27:44,800 Speaker 2: be able to do for them in just a few 496 00:27:44,800 --> 00:27:48,400 Speaker 2: more hundred years. And not only was Robert not alone 497 00:27:48,440 --> 00:27:51,760 Speaker 2: in his desires and usings, but there were then and 498 00:27:51,880 --> 00:27:55,879 Speaker 2: remain today enough enthusiastic clients who are hoping for the 499 00:27:55,960 --> 00:28:00,240 Speaker 2: second chance at life. As for Robert, he deanimated in 500 00:28:00,280 --> 00:28:03,560 Speaker 2: twenty eleven and was similarly put into the deep fries. 501 00:28:04,160 --> 00:28:07,040 Speaker 2: Maybe we'll see him again someday, but I'm just not 502 00:28:07,119 --> 00:28:09,520 Speaker 2: sure I'll be around to do so. Myself. 503 00:28:11,440 --> 00:28:15,600 Speaker 1: Grim and mild Presents Bedside Manners was executive produced by 504 00:28:15,640 --> 00:28:19,200 Speaker 1: Aaron Manke and narrated by Aaron Mankey and Robin Minitter. 505 00:28:19,640 --> 00:28:22,960 Speaker 1: Writing for this season was provided by Robin Miniter, with 506 00:28:23,119 --> 00:28:27,600 Speaker 1: research by Sam Alberty, Taylor, Haggridorn and Robin Minitter. Production 507 00:28:27,680 --> 00:28:32,119 Speaker 1: assistance was provided by Josh Thain, Jesse Funk, Alex Williams, 508 00:28:32,320 --> 00:28:35,200 Speaker 1: and Matt Frederick. You can learn more about this show 509 00:28:35,359 --> 00:28:37,920 Speaker 1: the Grim and Mild team and all the other podcasts 510 00:28:37,960 --> 00:28:42,400 Speaker 1: that we make over at Grimandmild dot com, and as always, 511 00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:51,880 Speaker 1: thanks for listening. It was the scene that any of 512 00:28:51,960 --> 00:28:55,360 Speaker 1: us could picture today in our mind's eye. Two groups 513 00:28:55,360 --> 00:28:58,920 Speaker 1: of rivals set against each other by grudges big and small, 514 00:28:59,400 --> 00:29:02,080 Speaker 1: with a bit of small town politics thrown in for 515 00:29:02,120 --> 00:29:05,280 Speaker 1: good measure. To call it a ticking time bomb would 516 00:29:05,320 --> 00:29:08,760 Speaker 1: be an understatement. On one side were the Cowboys, a 517 00:29:08,800 --> 00:29:12,000 Speaker 1: band of ranchers turned criminals who had plagued the town 518 00:29:12,080 --> 00:29:15,880 Speaker 1: for years. On the other for lawmen, and their names 519 00:29:15,920 --> 00:29:20,120 Speaker 1: are the ones you'd recognize, Virgil Morgan and Wyatt Earth 520 00:29:20,360 --> 00:29:24,400 Speaker 1: alongside their good friend Doc Holliday. The resulting shootout that 521 00:29:24,480 --> 00:29:28,400 Speaker 1: day in Tombstone, Arizona, known today as the gunfight at 522 00:29:28,400 --> 00:29:32,719 Speaker 1: the Ok Corral only lasted thirty seconds, but the market 523 00:29:32,800 --> 00:29:36,040 Speaker 1: left on the popular imagination has held on for nearly 524 00:29:36,080 --> 00:29:40,520 Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty years. Why because Americans have never 525 00:29:40,600 --> 00:29:45,600 Speaker 1: stopped being fascinated with the wild West. This July, Grimm 526 00:29:45,640 --> 00:29:49,320 Speaker 1: and Mile Presents turns its gaze westward. Join us for 527 00:29:49,360 --> 00:29:53,280 Speaker 1: a trek into the unknown, the misunderstood, and the forgotten 528 00:29:53,360 --> 00:29:57,720 Speaker 1: tales of America's westward expansion, from the early explorers and 529 00:29:57,800 --> 00:30:01,720 Speaker 1: the indigenous peoples they encountered, to the gunslingers of legend 530 00:30:01,760 --> 00:30:05,160 Speaker 1: and everything in between. This is your chance to learn 531 00:30:05,360 --> 00:30:09,720 Speaker 1: just how complicated our move into western North America really was, 532 00:30:10,200 --> 00:30:12,560 Speaker 1: and why so many of the assumptions we have about 533 00:30:12,600 --> 00:30:16,160 Speaker 1: it are dead wrong. So pack your sense of adventure 534 00:30:16,600 --> 00:30:19,640 Speaker 1: and childhood love of the unexplored, and get ready to 535 00:30:19,720 --> 00:30:23,240 Speaker 1: make a journey. Grimm and Mild Presents The Wild West 536 00:30:23,520 --> 00:30:27,400 Speaker 1: sets off on Friday, July seventh. Subscribe today on the 537 00:30:27,440 --> 00:30:32,040 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. 538 00:30:32,400 --> 00:30:35,600 Speaker 1: Learn more at Grimminmild dot com. Slash Presents