1 00:00:03,760 --> 00:00:07,840 Speaker 1: Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history 2 00:00:08,039 --> 00:00:11,440 Speaker 1: is an open book, all of these amazing tales right 3 00:00:11,520 --> 00:00:16,640 Speaker 1: there on display, just waiting for us to explore. Welcome 4 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:29,080 Speaker 1: to the cabinet of curiosities. To paint like da Vinci, 5 00:00:29,440 --> 00:00:33,839 Speaker 1: to sculpt like Rodin. Skills like those take years, often decades, 6 00:00:33,880 --> 00:00:37,839 Speaker 1: to acquire, and they don't just happen. Such talents require 7 00:00:37,920 --> 00:00:41,280 Speaker 1: intense practice before one even comes close to matching the greats. 8 00:00:42,479 --> 00:00:45,040 Speaker 1: For Rosemary Brown, though, who had been born in London 9 00:00:45,080 --> 00:00:48,279 Speaker 1: in nineteen sixteen, her dream was to write music like 10 00:00:48,320 --> 00:00:53,280 Speaker 1: the masters Bach chopin Beethoven. But Rosemary didn't even play 11 00:00:53,320 --> 00:00:55,800 Speaker 1: an instrument until she was in her thirties, when she 12 00:00:55,880 --> 00:01:00,720 Speaker 1: started taking lessons on a secondhand piano. That wasn't her 13 00:01:00,760 --> 00:01:03,720 Speaker 1: first foray into music, though. When she was seven, she 14 00:01:03,800 --> 00:01:06,040 Speaker 1: was visited by a composer who told her that he 15 00:01:06,080 --> 00:01:08,679 Speaker 1: would make her famous, that she would write music heard 16 00:01:08,720 --> 00:01:12,480 Speaker 1: all over the world. His name was France List, and 17 00:01:12,600 --> 00:01:16,920 Speaker 1: he died over thirty years earlier. That would be Rosemary's 18 00:01:16,959 --> 00:01:20,440 Speaker 1: only contact with Liszt or any other ghostly composer for 19 00:01:20,520 --> 00:01:24,680 Speaker 1: twenty five years until her adult piano lessons. Soon after 20 00:01:24,880 --> 00:01:27,200 Speaker 1: she got married and had a child, and then the 21 00:01:27,280 --> 00:01:31,360 Speaker 1: lessons stopped. It seemed her interactions with the spirit world 22 00:01:31,360 --> 00:01:34,679 Speaker 1: had ended too, which was surprising given her family's history 23 00:01:34,760 --> 00:01:39,920 Speaker 1: of paranormal activity. Rosemary's parents and grandparents, among other members 24 00:01:39,920 --> 00:01:42,600 Speaker 1: of the family, were all said to be psychic. In 25 00:01:42,600 --> 00:01:45,319 Speaker 1: interviews later in life, she said that even she had 26 00:01:45,319 --> 00:01:49,240 Speaker 1: the ability to see and hear the dead. By nineteen 27 00:01:49,320 --> 00:01:52,040 Speaker 1: sixty one, she and her husband had two children, But 28 00:01:52,080 --> 00:01:56,360 Speaker 1: then the unthinkable happened. Mr. Brown passed away, leaving Rosemary 29 00:01:56,400 --> 00:01:58,400 Speaker 1: a single mother with a boy and a girl to 30 00:01:58,440 --> 00:02:00,920 Speaker 1: take care of at home. But wouldn't be the only 31 00:02:00,960 --> 00:02:05,160 Speaker 1: life changing moment she would face. Three years after her 32 00:02:05,240 --> 00:02:09,560 Speaker 1: husband's death, Rosemary reconnected with an old friend, France List 33 00:02:09,600 --> 00:02:11,720 Speaker 1: had come to pay her a visit, and this time 34 00:02:11,720 --> 00:02:16,359 Speaker 1: he brought some of his friends with him, including Brahms, Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, 35 00:02:16,360 --> 00:02:20,760 Speaker 1: and Mozart. It started out of the blue. Rosemary had 36 00:02:20,800 --> 00:02:23,760 Speaker 1: been at home recovering from an accident and had grown board. 37 00:02:24,120 --> 00:02:26,520 Speaker 1: With little else for her to do, she sat down 38 00:02:26,600 --> 00:02:28,760 Speaker 1: at her piano and tried to plunk out a little 39 00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:32,760 Speaker 1: song from her childhood, something to occupy her mind and hands. 40 00:02:32,800 --> 00:02:36,160 Speaker 1: While she healed, and that's when she realized her hands 41 00:02:36,160 --> 00:02:39,720 Speaker 1: were no longer her own. They'd become possessed by France List, 42 00:02:39,880 --> 00:02:43,480 Speaker 1: who then used them to compose intricate and beautiful music, 43 00:02:43,840 --> 00:02:46,760 Speaker 1: something too difficult for Rosemary to ever play on her 44 00:02:46,760 --> 00:02:49,600 Speaker 1: own with only a handful of lessons under her belt. 45 00:02:51,200 --> 00:02:54,600 Speaker 1: Through List, other composers would also speak through her, using 46 00:02:54,639 --> 00:02:57,440 Speaker 1: her hands to either play their compositions on the piano 47 00:02:57,720 --> 00:03:00,600 Speaker 1: or record them on paper without any treamant to get 48 00:03:00,600 --> 00:03:03,919 Speaker 1: in the way. When she had completed her transcriptions, she 49 00:03:03,960 --> 00:03:06,720 Speaker 1: would then present them to the ghostly composer to play, 50 00:03:06,760 --> 00:03:09,600 Speaker 1: since she didn't have the skill. Once again, they would 51 00:03:09,680 --> 00:03:12,160 Speaker 1: take over her hands and play what they had written 52 00:03:12,200 --> 00:03:15,960 Speaker 1: to make sure she had recorded it right. When she 53 00:03:16,040 --> 00:03:19,920 Speaker 1: wasn't being used as a human piano player, Rosemary conversed 54 00:03:19,919 --> 00:03:23,240 Speaker 1: with her ghostly guests. She said List was fascinated by 55 00:03:23,280 --> 00:03:27,440 Speaker 1: how much Banana's cost and Chopin hated the idea of television. 56 00:03:28,200 --> 00:03:31,720 Speaker 1: But eventually Rosemary showed her creations to a Scottish music 57 00:03:31,760 --> 00:03:34,440 Speaker 1: teacher named Mary Firth, who helped to fund her work. 58 00:03:34,840 --> 00:03:37,120 Speaker 1: With enough money to get by, she quit her day 59 00:03:37,200 --> 00:03:39,680 Speaker 1: job and devoted all her time to writing what her 60 00:03:39,720 --> 00:03:43,640 Speaker 1: spirited friends told her too. She also started making guest 61 00:03:43,680 --> 00:03:47,680 Speaker 1: appearances on BBC radio programs and television shows in the 62 00:03:47,760 --> 00:03:51,560 Speaker 1: United States, including The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Of course, 63 00:03:51,600 --> 00:03:55,840 Speaker 1: with any newfound fame comes both adulation and rejection. The 64 00:03:55,880 --> 00:03:58,800 Speaker 1: public may have been captivated by her music, but the 65 00:03:58,840 --> 00:04:03,720 Speaker 1: greater musical commune he was pretty dismissive. Noted composer Leonard 66 00:04:03,720 --> 00:04:07,320 Speaker 1: Bernstein wasn't convinced her work was that of the dearly departed. 67 00:04:07,640 --> 00:04:10,560 Speaker 1: Conductor Andre Prevan was so put off by the pieces 68 00:04:10,600 --> 00:04:13,200 Speaker 1: that he said that if they were real, Rosemary should 69 00:04:13,200 --> 00:04:16,200 Speaker 1: have left them on the shelf. But some composers look 70 00:04:16,279 --> 00:04:20,400 Speaker 1: beyond the process and did see genuine talent. British composer 71 00:04:20,520 --> 00:04:23,520 Speaker 1: Richard Rodney Bennett couldn't believe his ears. He said that 72 00:04:23,560 --> 00:04:26,000 Speaker 1: even though some of what she wrote wasn't very good, 73 00:04:26,160 --> 00:04:30,279 Speaker 1: there's no way he could have faked writing Beethoven like Rosemary. 74 00:04:31,240 --> 00:04:34,440 Speaker 1: In the end, though Rosemary's talents weren't as supernatural as 75 00:04:34,480 --> 00:04:38,640 Speaker 1: she'd claimed. Psychologists and musicologists concluded that what she was 76 00:04:38,680 --> 00:04:42,720 Speaker 1: really doing was called unconscious composition, that the composers were 77 00:04:42,880 --> 00:04:46,680 Speaker 1: almost like separate personalities inside of her, each one taking 78 00:04:46,760 --> 00:04:49,960 Speaker 1: over at a different time and using the untapped musical 79 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:54,560 Speaker 1: talent that Rosemary already possessed. Over the course of her career, 80 00:04:54,760 --> 00:04:58,080 Speaker 1: Rosemary Brown composed hundreds of pieces, many of which have 81 00:04:58,160 --> 00:05:01,680 Speaker 1: been performed and recorded by orchestras all over the world. 82 00:05:02,120 --> 00:05:04,359 Speaker 1: She might not have been visited by the spirits of 83 00:05:04,400 --> 00:05:07,440 Speaker 1: the greatest composers who had ever lived, but she certainly 84 00:05:07,520 --> 00:05:10,279 Speaker 1: unlocked the gift for music that she was finally able 85 00:05:10,320 --> 00:05:13,080 Speaker 1: to share with the world, and, judging by how far 86 00:05:13,160 --> 00:05:29,840 Speaker 1: it's reached, it certainly struck a chord. Knowledge can be 87 00:05:29,920 --> 00:05:32,960 Speaker 1: a dangerous thing to both the person wielding it and 88 00:05:33,040 --> 00:05:35,960 Speaker 1: to anyone on the other end. A little, well timed 89 00:05:35,960 --> 00:05:40,320 Speaker 1: knowledge can shatter beliefs and friendships and alter one's entire 90 00:05:40,440 --> 00:05:43,520 Speaker 1: view of the world. But can it make a person sick? 91 00:05:44,040 --> 00:05:48,239 Speaker 1: In America, in a little knowledge went a long way 92 00:05:48,800 --> 00:05:52,760 Speaker 1: in killing a lot of people. It all started when 93 00:05:52,760 --> 00:05:56,800 Speaker 1: a Nebraska woman died suddenly from something called consumption. We 94 00:05:56,839 --> 00:05:59,719 Speaker 1: know it today as tuberculosis, but at the time it 95 00:05:59,839 --> 00:06:03,800 Speaker 1: was a misunderstood disease. Thousands of people who contracted it 96 00:06:03,880 --> 00:06:06,440 Speaker 1: died simply because they didn't know where it came from, 97 00:06:06,560 --> 00:06:10,520 Speaker 1: or how to fight it. They fled to sanatoriums, where 98 00:06:10,560 --> 00:06:13,719 Speaker 1: fresh air, therapies and strict diet promised to cure them 99 00:06:13,760 --> 00:06:17,599 Speaker 1: of what ailed them. But nothing worked because tuberculosis wasn't 100 00:06:17,640 --> 00:06:20,279 Speaker 1: like the common cold. It wasn't a virus to be 101 00:06:20,360 --> 00:06:23,280 Speaker 1: sweated out in a sauna or a hike in the woods. 102 00:06:23,640 --> 00:06:26,760 Speaker 1: It was a disease caused by bacteria. But people back 103 00:06:26,800 --> 00:06:29,919 Speaker 1: then didn't know that. When faced with a pandemic and 104 00:06:30,040 --> 00:06:33,599 Speaker 1: limited information at their disposal, it was only natural for 105 00:06:33,680 --> 00:06:37,240 Speaker 1: panic to set in. You see, the woman who had 106 00:06:37,279 --> 00:06:40,120 Speaker 1: died in Nebraska, it wasn't just anyone. Her name was 107 00:06:40,200 --> 00:06:43,279 Speaker 1: Jesse Allen, and she had a very special job. She 108 00:06:43,760 --> 00:06:46,560 Speaker 1: was a librarian. She was also one of the many 109 00:06:46,640 --> 00:06:51,160 Speaker 1: librarians who died battling tuberculosis. After a while, the public 110 00:06:51,200 --> 00:06:54,800 Speaker 1: started looking around at the victims and noticed some similarities. 111 00:06:56,120 --> 00:06:58,160 Speaker 1: It seems that many of the other women who had 112 00:06:58,200 --> 00:07:01,719 Speaker 1: died were also librarians, and Jesse and the other victims 113 00:07:01,720 --> 00:07:04,480 Speaker 1: had been librarians at a time when public libraries were 114 00:07:04,480 --> 00:07:09,200 Speaker 1: gaining support across the country. Meanwhile, private subscription libraries were 115 00:07:09,240 --> 00:07:12,760 Speaker 1: going out of fashion. The wealthier classes, though didn't want 116 00:07:12,840 --> 00:07:17,240 Speaker 1: the public in their spaces, particularly the poor public. The 117 00:07:17,240 --> 00:07:20,720 Speaker 1: public library was open to everyone. It welcomed people from 118 00:07:20,800 --> 00:07:23,920 Speaker 1: all walks of life, and with those people came dirt 119 00:07:24,120 --> 00:07:29,600 Speaker 1: and germs and the possibility of tuberculosis. Jesse Allen's death, 120 00:07:29,720 --> 00:07:32,840 Speaker 1: along with the deaths of countless other librarians and patrons, 121 00:07:32,960 --> 00:07:35,600 Speaker 1: had led to what was known as the Great Book Scare. 122 00:07:36,200 --> 00:07:39,480 Speaker 1: During the late eighteen hundreds and early nineteen hundreds, there 123 00:07:39,560 --> 00:07:43,160 Speaker 1: was a belief that tuberculosis was spread by library books. 124 00:07:43,480 --> 00:07:46,160 Speaker 1: When a book changed owners, it would carry the germs 125 00:07:46,200 --> 00:07:49,640 Speaker 1: from one barrower to the next. Like I said, they 126 00:07:49,720 --> 00:07:52,120 Speaker 1: didn't know any better, so this was the best they 127 00:07:52,160 --> 00:07:57,040 Speaker 1: could do, and so Jesse Allen became the unwitting face 128 00:07:57,120 --> 00:08:00,119 Speaker 1: of the scare. Her death was used to warn off 129 00:08:00,120 --> 00:08:04,360 Speaker 1: potential patrons just when public libraries needed their support the most. 130 00:08:04,720 --> 00:08:07,200 Speaker 1: Although she was one of the most famous victims of 131 00:08:07,200 --> 00:08:11,200 Speaker 1: the disease, she was by no means the first. In fact, 132 00:08:11,240 --> 00:08:13,520 Speaker 1: the Great Book Scare had really gotten going during the 133 00:08:13,600 --> 00:08:19,240 Speaker 1: late eighteen seventies. About fifteen years before Alan's death, W F. Pool, 134 00:08:19,480 --> 00:08:23,320 Speaker 1: a librarian from Chicago, had consulted several doctors about the 135 00:08:23,320 --> 00:08:27,400 Speaker 1: potential of books carrying disease. It wasn't just tuberculosis he 136 00:08:27,440 --> 00:08:30,960 Speaker 1: was worried about either. Smallpox and scarlet fever were also 137 00:08:31,040 --> 00:08:33,680 Speaker 1: on the top of everyone's mind, both in the United 138 00:08:33,720 --> 00:08:38,439 Speaker 1: States and in Great Britain. The information he received from 139 00:08:38,440 --> 00:08:42,880 Speaker 1: medical professionals led to legislation being passed here and overseas. 140 00:08:42,920 --> 00:08:45,920 Speaker 1: In England, the Public Health Act of eighteen seventy five 141 00:08:46,040 --> 00:08:49,840 Speaker 1: prohibited the lending of betting and clothes. After Alan's death 142 00:08:49,960 --> 00:08:53,120 Speaker 1: and presumably others, books were added to the list of 143 00:08:53,200 --> 00:08:57,360 Speaker 1: unlendable items in nineteen o seven. If you were believed 144 00:08:57,400 --> 00:09:00,400 Speaker 1: to have tuberculosis while borrowing a book from the library, 145 00:09:00,559 --> 00:09:03,199 Speaker 1: you were better off holding onto the book rather than 146 00:09:03,240 --> 00:09:05,559 Speaker 1: returning it, not unless you wanted to pay the he 147 00:09:05,760 --> 00:09:10,320 Speaker 1: define of forty shillings about two dollars in modern American currency. 148 00:09:11,880 --> 00:09:14,400 Speaker 1: Back in the US, though, the prohibition of book lending 149 00:09:14,480 --> 00:09:17,640 Speaker 1: was a matter of states rights, and librarians were considered 150 00:09:17,760 --> 00:09:21,640 Speaker 1: enemies for allowing such diseases to spread. They cleaned the 151 00:09:21,679 --> 00:09:25,920 Speaker 1: books every day using formalde hyde, steam and other solutions. 152 00:09:26,960 --> 00:09:30,559 Speaker 1: Of course, studies were conducted in labs. Forty guinea pigs 153 00:09:30,640 --> 00:09:34,400 Speaker 1: had contaminated pages placed in their cages, and all forty died. 154 00:09:34,840 --> 00:09:37,840 Speaker 1: In another experiment, monkeys were given a glass of milk 155 00:09:37,960 --> 00:09:41,840 Speaker 1: served atop a book carrying some kind of contagion. But honestly, 156 00:09:41,880 --> 00:09:44,360 Speaker 1: it didn't matter what made the animals sick. If they 157 00:09:44,400 --> 00:09:46,839 Speaker 1: had gotten ill in the presence of an affected book, 158 00:09:46,920 --> 00:09:49,560 Speaker 1: it was common to assume that the book had something 159 00:09:49,600 --> 00:09:54,320 Speaker 1: to do with it. Eventually, libraries stopped lending books out 160 00:09:54,679 --> 00:09:57,840 Speaker 1: If titles were thought to be contaminated, they were actually burned. 161 00:09:58,200 --> 00:10:01,600 Speaker 1: The public had developed a mass phobia of borrowing books, 162 00:10:02,120 --> 00:10:06,520 Speaker 1: that is, until something changed. Perhaps it was due to 163 00:10:06,520 --> 00:10:09,480 Speaker 1: the lack of other entertainment in many small towns, or 164 00:10:09,559 --> 00:10:12,120 Speaker 1: maybe someone had taken a look around and thought everyone 165 00:10:12,240 --> 00:10:15,240 Speaker 1: was getting upset about nothing, that their fears were being 166 00:10:15,280 --> 00:10:20,000 Speaker 1: stoked by an increasingly sensationalist media. New studies were coming 167 00:10:20,040 --> 00:10:23,080 Speaker 1: out claiming that books couldn't get a person sick, no 168 00:10:23,120 --> 00:10:26,760 Speaker 1: matter how often that book was lended or to whom, 169 00:10:26,840 --> 00:10:30,520 Speaker 1: whatever it was, People started to trust books again, and 170 00:10:30,559 --> 00:10:34,200 Speaker 1: those brave librarians led the charge. After all, the public 171 00:10:34,240 --> 00:10:37,880 Speaker 1: library was at risk of disappearing entirely, which had kind 172 00:10:37,920 --> 00:10:41,000 Speaker 1: of been the point. Much of the books scare had 173 00:10:41,040 --> 00:10:43,960 Speaker 1: been started by people and institutions who were afraid of 174 00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:50,439 Speaker 1: what the public library represented. Access to information, to subversive materials, 175 00:10:50,480 --> 00:10:53,840 Speaker 1: to content not meant for everyone to see. As much 176 00:10:53,840 --> 00:10:56,120 Speaker 1: as the book scare had been about stopping the spread 177 00:10:56,160 --> 00:10:59,920 Speaker 1: of disease, it had also been about controlling access to knowledge. 178 00:11:01,200 --> 00:11:04,440 Speaker 1: To those in power, knowledge was a disease, and the 179 00:11:04,480 --> 00:11:07,199 Speaker 1: more it spread, the more it would contaminate the public. 180 00:11:07,720 --> 00:11:11,160 Speaker 1: It could lead to protests and impure thoughts. But the 181 00:11:11,240 --> 00:11:14,240 Speaker 1: people wanted their books, and they wanted to broaden their 182 00:11:14,280 --> 00:11:18,520 Speaker 1: horizons with the help of the public library. Thankfully, despite 183 00:11:18,520 --> 00:11:22,679 Speaker 1: what the newspapers had reported about consumption, the public saw 184 00:11:22,800 --> 00:11:27,720 Speaker 1: through the bogus reports, and amazingly, the American people knew 185 00:11:27,760 --> 00:11:36,040 Speaker 1: better than to believe everything they read. I hope you've 186 00:11:36,120 --> 00:11:40,119 Speaker 1: enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe 187 00:11:40,120 --> 00:11:42,760 Speaker 1: for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the 188 00:11:42,760 --> 00:11:47,520 Speaker 1: show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was 189 00:11:47,640 --> 00:11:51,440 Speaker 1: created by me Aaron Manky in partnership with how Stuff Works. 190 00:11:51,880 --> 00:11:55,000 Speaker 1: I make another award winning show called Lore, which is 191 00:11:55,120 --> 00:11:58,520 Speaker 1: a podcast, book series, and television show, and you can 192 00:11:58,600 --> 00:12:00,920 Speaker 1: learn all about it over at a World of Lore. 193 00:12:01,200 --> 00:12:04,880 Speaker 1: Dot come, and until next time, stay curious.