1 00:00:15,396 --> 00:00:20,516 Speaker 1: Pushkin. Imagine there's a place in our world where the 2 00:00:20,676 --> 00:00:25,676 Speaker 1: known things go, a quarter of the mind, an endless 3 00:00:25,796 --> 00:00:31,396 Speaker 1: vault crammed with evidence, proof clues me. I like to 4 00:00:31,396 --> 00:00:37,196 Speaker 1: go there and poke around. A book of poems by 5 00:00:37,196 --> 00:00:44,676 Speaker 1: Emily Dickinson, flowers pressed between its pages. Oh, I wonder 6 00:00:44,676 --> 00:00:47,996 Speaker 1: if this old radio still works. I must ended up 7 00:00:48,036 --> 00:00:50,196 Speaker 1: the downs music for a moment. I have an urgent 8 00:00:50,276 --> 00:00:54,876 Speaker 1: message when police had called griefy. Imagine that this place, 9 00:00:54,956 --> 00:00:57,756 Speaker 1: this chamber of knowledge, is all that stands between a 10 00:00:57,796 --> 00:01:02,356 Speaker 1: reasonable doubt and the chaos of uncertainty. That it lies 11 00:01:02,436 --> 00:01:09,476 Speaker 1: somewhere in a time between now and then. Sign on 12 00:01:09,476 --> 00:01:16,356 Speaker 1: the door reads the last archive. I'm Jill Lapoor. Step 13 00:01:16,356 --> 00:01:20,036 Speaker 1: outside to a noisy street in the bustling, rowdy city 14 00:01:20,036 --> 00:01:22,796 Speaker 1: of New York in the year this time, we don't 15 00:01:22,836 --> 00:01:27,956 Speaker 1: have to go very far, the year two thousand and nineteen, 16 00:01:29,716 --> 00:01:38,396 Speaker 1: fifteen twenty five. Maybe we could get in behind. Maybe 17 00:01:38,396 --> 00:01:43,756 Speaker 1: there's an alley on one side. Sarria's under constant videotape 18 00:01:43,756 --> 00:01:46,916 Speaker 1: surreals just in case she comes back. That's nineteen. On 19 00:01:47,036 --> 00:01:49,876 Speaker 1: a sweltering day in July, my producer Ben and I 20 00:01:50,036 --> 00:01:54,116 Speaker 1: went to New York to find an invisible woman. She 21 00:01:54,276 --> 00:01:57,396 Speaker 1: was invisible, and she was also dead, long dead, so 22 00:01:57,916 --> 00:02:00,556 Speaker 1: not an easy search. But I have a rule about 23 00:02:00,596 --> 00:02:03,556 Speaker 1: doing historical research, which is that you should always go 24 00:02:03,716 --> 00:02:05,956 Speaker 1: to the scene of the crime, even if it wasn't 25 00:02:05,956 --> 00:02:08,956 Speaker 1: her crime, the spot where it happened the thing you're 26 00:02:08,996 --> 00:02:12,916 Speaker 1: interested in, even if there's nothing there anymore, because people 27 00:02:13,036 --> 00:02:14,916 Speaker 1: lived and died, and if you're going to try to 28 00:02:14,996 --> 00:02:17,756 Speaker 1: understand them, you owe it to them to breathe their air. 29 00:02:18,756 --> 00:02:20,796 Speaker 1: We're looking for twenty one park Row, or what used 30 00:02:20,796 --> 00:02:22,396 Speaker 1: to be twenty one would it be in that This 31 00:02:22,556 --> 00:02:25,716 Speaker 1: is one peak right here. We had an address on 32 00:02:25,916 --> 00:02:28,796 Speaker 1: Park Row. It's in Lower Manhattan, near the New World 33 00:02:28,796 --> 00:02:31,676 Speaker 1: Trade Center. A long time ago, this part of town 34 00:02:31,796 --> 00:02:34,476 Speaker 1: used to be the theater district, but now twenty one 35 00:02:34,556 --> 00:02:41,596 Speaker 1: Park Row is a construction site. Ben and I were 36 00:02:41,676 --> 00:02:43,716 Speaker 1: on the hunt for whatever might remain of a place 37 00:02:43,796 --> 00:02:47,036 Speaker 1: called the Shakespeare Gallery. The Shakespeare Gallery was a sort 38 00:02:47,036 --> 00:02:50,236 Speaker 1: of exhibit space where in the year eighteen o four, 39 00:02:50,756 --> 00:02:54,516 Speaker 1: an invisible lady was put on display. Visitors could come 40 00:02:54,916 --> 00:02:57,316 Speaker 1: see her, if you could call it that, in a 41 00:02:57,396 --> 00:03:00,476 Speaker 1: glass box, the way you'd pay a penny to see 42 00:03:00,516 --> 00:03:03,676 Speaker 1: a two headed calf or a bearded lady or the 43 00:03:03,756 --> 00:03:08,196 Speaker 1: tiniest man a freak show. Come see the Invisible Lady 44 00:03:10,636 --> 00:03:16,796 Speaker 1: somewhere beneath that construction site. The Shakespeare Gallery is long gone, demolished, forgotten, buried. 45 00:03:17,636 --> 00:03:19,916 Speaker 1: So we went to a park across the street to 46 00:03:20,036 --> 00:03:23,596 Speaker 1: see what we could see. We could not confirm or deny, 47 00:03:24,116 --> 00:03:28,316 Speaker 1: but she could be in the construction site. And then 48 00:03:28,396 --> 00:03:33,956 Speaker 1: she just vanished again. It was lunch hour a work day, 49 00:03:34,556 --> 00:03:38,316 Speaker 1: and the park was crowded. All around us, people had 50 00:03:38,356 --> 00:03:43,516 Speaker 1: their phones out, taking selfies, streaming video, uploading whatever to wherever, 51 00:03:44,156 --> 00:03:50,716 Speaker 1: trying to make themselves visible to someone somewhere. On this 52 00:03:50,836 --> 00:03:53,516 Speaker 1: season of The Last Archive, we're trying to solve a crime. 53 00:03:53,996 --> 00:03:57,276 Speaker 1: Who killed Truth? I had a hunched that the Invisible Lady, 54 00:03:57,596 --> 00:04:00,436 Speaker 1: the invisible lady we were looking for, that she had 55 00:04:00,556 --> 00:04:04,316 Speaker 1: something to do with the answer. We started in episode 56 00:04:04,396 --> 00:04:07,636 Speaker 1: one asking what is a fact that took us all 57 00:04:07,716 --> 00:04:11,236 Speaker 1: the way back to the year twelve? Then we asked, 58 00:04:11,516 --> 00:04:14,116 Speaker 1: how can you tell if someone's telling the truth? That 59 00:04:14,276 --> 00:04:16,516 Speaker 1: took us to the nutty history of the lie Detector. 60 00:04:17,836 --> 00:04:20,796 Speaker 1: This episode, we're asking can you believe stuff that you 61 00:04:20,876 --> 00:04:25,156 Speaker 1: can't see? People want to know things, But people also 62 00:04:25,236 --> 00:04:28,636 Speaker 1: like to hide things. The search for knowledge, then, is 63 00:04:28,716 --> 00:04:32,556 Speaker 1: always bumping up against the right to privacy. That's what 64 00:04:32,676 --> 00:04:35,476 Speaker 1: interests me most about the strange story of the Invisible 65 00:04:35,556 --> 00:04:40,116 Speaker 1: Lady from the year eighteen o four. After all, how 66 00:04:40,196 --> 00:04:44,516 Speaker 1: often do you meet an invisible lady? Hello, I'm Sirie, 67 00:04:44,756 --> 00:04:49,356 Speaker 1: your virtual assistant. Okay, maybe pretty often. I don't know 68 00:04:49,396 --> 00:04:52,116 Speaker 1: about you, but I hear from invisible ladies all the time. 69 00:04:52,716 --> 00:04:56,356 Speaker 1: Invisible ladies who seem to know everything. They're all over 70 00:04:56,436 --> 00:05:00,156 Speaker 1: the place. But why why can women know things only 71 00:05:00,236 --> 00:05:13,236 Speaker 1: when they're disembodied? It was cold when she got to 72 00:05:13,356 --> 00:05:18,596 Speaker 1: New York the winter of eighteen oh four. Notices of 73 00:05:18,676 --> 00:05:23,236 Speaker 1: her arrival appeared all over the city, and newsboys shouted 74 00:05:23,276 --> 00:05:27,556 Speaker 1: from street corners get jarred and posts. Get your chronicle 75 00:05:27,636 --> 00:05:30,916 Speaker 1: express here on Monday, will commence an exhibition in the 76 00:05:30,956 --> 00:05:36,156 Speaker 1: Shakespeare Gallery near the Theater. That extraordinary phenomenon, the Invisible Lady. 77 00:05:36,636 --> 00:05:38,596 Speaker 1: She has come to the city to see, if not 78 00:05:38,756 --> 00:05:43,916 Speaker 1: to be seen, to visit the Invisible Lady. The Invisible 79 00:05:43,996 --> 00:05:46,036 Speaker 1: Lady didn't turn up in New York and stay for 80 00:05:46,116 --> 00:05:48,956 Speaker 1: only a day or a week. No, she stayed for 81 00:05:49,036 --> 00:05:52,516 Speaker 1: a long time, for months, then she went on tour 82 00:05:53,116 --> 00:05:56,356 Speaker 1: all over the country. Before Barnum and his museum and 83 00:05:56,436 --> 00:05:59,636 Speaker 1: his freak shows, the Invisible Lady was just about the 84 00:05:59,796 --> 00:06:03,716 Speaker 1: most popular attraction in the United States. You'd get your 85 00:06:03,756 --> 00:06:06,556 Speaker 1: ticket good anytime from nine in the morning till nine 86 00:06:06,596 --> 00:06:09,476 Speaker 1: at night, except for a lunch hour, and then you'd 87 00:06:09,516 --> 00:06:12,116 Speaker 1: go into the gallery, a small room by the theater 88 00:06:12,716 --> 00:06:16,276 Speaker 1: where they choke exhibits and spectacles. It was a bit 89 00:06:16,356 --> 00:06:19,876 Speaker 1: like a peep show and a little porny in that way. 90 00:06:21,356 --> 00:06:23,516 Speaker 1: What you'd see when you walked into the room was 91 00:06:23,636 --> 00:06:28,116 Speaker 1: an eerily beautiful glass box about the size of a coffin, 92 00:06:29,036 --> 00:06:33,676 Speaker 1: suspended from the ceiling by four golden chords. It looked empty, 93 00:06:34,516 --> 00:06:37,156 Speaker 1: but if you bent close to the speaking trumpets made 94 00:06:37,156 --> 00:06:40,236 Speaker 1: of brass that poked out of the corners, you could 95 00:06:40,316 --> 00:06:48,196 Speaker 1: hear her voice. Probably it sounded something like this. I 96 00:06:48,276 --> 00:06:50,676 Speaker 1: don't know, but you could hear her breathing. You can 97 00:06:50,716 --> 00:06:54,476 Speaker 1: see her, of course, I'm in the room right now. 98 00:06:55,396 --> 00:07:03,116 Speaker 1: I can smell Wisher. My astonishment was extreme. I thought 99 00:07:03,196 --> 00:07:07,156 Speaker 1: at first this voice was that of a ventriloquist. But 100 00:07:07,316 --> 00:07:09,956 Speaker 1: there couldn't have been a ventriloquist, because even if the 101 00:07:10,076 --> 00:07:12,956 Speaker 1: room was empty except for you. You could still talk 102 00:07:13,036 --> 00:07:18,196 Speaker 1: with her. Scholars, reporters, ordinary people. They all tried to 103 00:07:18,236 --> 00:07:20,556 Speaker 1: figure it out. What can be the cause of a 104 00:07:20,636 --> 00:07:25,116 Speaker 1: phenomenon so astonishing It was incredibly fun. The thing to 105 00:07:25,236 --> 00:07:28,476 Speaker 1: do was to ask her questions, all sorts of questions, 106 00:07:28,916 --> 00:07:32,316 Speaker 1: as if she were an oracle or a psychic fortune teller. 107 00:07:33,836 --> 00:07:36,756 Speaker 1: Have you been to heaven? Is there a God? What 108 00:07:36,916 --> 00:07:39,996 Speaker 1: am I thinking about right now? Who will be our 109 00:07:40,076 --> 00:07:44,076 Speaker 1: next president? She was super chatty. If you were lucky, 110 00:07:44,556 --> 00:07:53,956 Speaker 1: she might even sing to you. People came up with 111 00:07:54,036 --> 00:07:57,116 Speaker 1: all kinds of theories about how this lady could be invisible. 112 00:07:57,956 --> 00:08:01,476 Speaker 1: If there wasn't a ventriloquist, maybe there was some sort 113 00:08:01,516 --> 00:08:06,636 Speaker 1: of contraption involved. Either way, she was a mystery. She 114 00:08:06,836 --> 00:08:11,076 Speaker 1: defied facts. It is hoped by some of our cognisanti 115 00:08:11,316 --> 00:08:15,716 Speaker 1: that the mystery will be here unveiled. Okay, So no 116 00:08:15,836 --> 00:08:18,956 Speaker 1: one actually believed that the Invisible Lady was a mystery 117 00:08:19,116 --> 00:08:22,076 Speaker 1: in the sense of being a miracle. They thought she 118 00:08:22,196 --> 00:08:25,956 Speaker 1: was a mystery in the newer modern secular sense, a 119 00:08:26,156 --> 00:08:30,796 Speaker 1: secret to be discovered the secret of this wonderful machine 120 00:08:30,956 --> 00:08:35,356 Speaker 1: appears to me well worthy of exciting public curiosity, and 121 00:08:35,516 --> 00:08:38,276 Speaker 1: will not fail to give occasion for the researches of 122 00:08:38,356 --> 00:08:44,716 Speaker 1: those who wish to comprehend and explain everything. People really 123 00:08:44,756 --> 00:08:46,996 Speaker 1: wanted to know how the schimmick worked, and they couldn't 124 00:08:46,996 --> 00:08:49,036 Speaker 1: figure it out, or if they figured it out, they 125 00:08:49,156 --> 00:08:52,436 Speaker 1: kept quiet. So honestly, I didn't want to spill the 126 00:08:52,516 --> 00:08:55,196 Speaker 1: beans either. But Ben and I back in that park 127 00:08:55,436 --> 00:08:58,116 Speaker 1: had been sweating it out empty handed for a long time, 128 00:08:58,556 --> 00:09:03,436 Speaker 1: lazy ghostbuster style, and Ben really wanted to know how 129 00:09:03,476 --> 00:09:06,356 Speaker 1: did it actual work? So how I actually worked is 130 00:09:06,636 --> 00:09:09,436 Speaker 1: and this is lifting the magician's veil and viole leading 131 00:09:09,516 --> 00:09:14,676 Speaker 1: the one pledge of all mysticism. How it worked is 132 00:09:14,756 --> 00:09:17,716 Speaker 1: that the building was adjusted before the Invisible Lady came 133 00:09:17,756 --> 00:09:22,236 Speaker 1: to town to make a place in the ceiling between 134 00:09:22,276 --> 00:09:24,876 Speaker 1: the ceiling and the floor above the room where the 135 00:09:24,956 --> 00:09:29,036 Speaker 1: Invisible Lady's box was, where a very small woman would 136 00:09:29,076 --> 00:09:32,076 Speaker 1: be hidden so she could witness everything that was going on. 137 00:09:32,316 --> 00:09:39,716 Speaker 1: And the audio was essentially delivered via a system of 138 00:09:39,836 --> 00:09:44,236 Speaker 1: tubes from her little crawl space above the ceiling and 139 00:09:44,316 --> 00:09:48,916 Speaker 1: below the upper floorboards down into a little hole in 140 00:09:48,996 --> 00:09:52,796 Speaker 1: the box. So when she spoke from that crawl space 141 00:09:52,996 --> 00:09:57,516 Speaker 1: into the tube, her voice came out of the box. 142 00:09:57,596 --> 00:10:00,956 Speaker 1: It really did seem like she was inhabiting the box. 143 00:10:01,036 --> 00:10:04,956 Speaker 1: It was really about the particular kind of plumbing, right right, 144 00:10:06,956 --> 00:10:09,476 Speaker 1: people are just looking at an empty box. But she 145 00:10:09,516 --> 00:10:11,436 Speaker 1: could be really responsive because she could see them and 146 00:10:11,476 --> 00:10:14,396 Speaker 1: she could hear everything. If you could ask the Invisible 147 00:10:14,436 --> 00:10:19,756 Speaker 1: Lady anything, or would you ask her what's it like 148 00:10:19,876 --> 00:10:22,716 Speaker 1: to be invisible? I mean, the thing that's so funny 149 00:10:22,716 --> 00:10:25,116 Speaker 1: about it to me, like if you were invisible in 150 00:10:25,236 --> 00:10:28,996 Speaker 1: New York City in the nineteenth century, Like, would you 151 00:10:29,036 --> 00:10:30,916 Speaker 1: go put yourself on display in a box and be 152 00:10:30,996 --> 00:10:32,876 Speaker 1: like stuck in her? You'd be so cool. You could 153 00:10:32,876 --> 00:10:35,236 Speaker 1: go anywhere and see anything, do anything, and get away 154 00:10:35,276 --> 00:10:42,316 Speaker 1: with anything. Ever since I first came across the story 155 00:10:42,356 --> 00:10:45,316 Speaker 1: of the Invisible Lady, I figured the whole attraction had 156 00:10:45,356 --> 00:10:48,196 Speaker 1: to do with privacy and the thrill of invading a 157 00:10:48,316 --> 00:10:52,276 Speaker 1: woman's privacy. I liked this theory of mine. I got 158 00:10:52,316 --> 00:10:55,796 Speaker 1: pretty committed to it. Sometimes when you do research, you're 159 00:10:55,876 --> 00:10:59,716 Speaker 1: chronicling a person's life or reconstructing an event, but sometimes 160 00:10:59,876 --> 00:11:02,876 Speaker 1: you follow a theme. And once I got interested in 161 00:11:02,916 --> 00:11:06,236 Speaker 1: the Invisible Lady, I started seeing invisible ladies, or I 162 00:11:06,316 --> 00:11:11,636 Speaker 1: guess not seeing them everywhere, and then I started taking 163 00:11:11,716 --> 00:11:15,196 Speaker 1: my theory about them more seriously when one day, poking 164 00:11:15,276 --> 00:11:18,276 Speaker 1: around in the last archive, I came across an essay 165 00:11:18,556 --> 00:11:22,716 Speaker 1: written by Thomas Wentworth Higginson. Higginson was the editor of 166 00:11:22,836 --> 00:11:27,516 Speaker 1: the famously private poet Emily Dickinson. He'd almost certainly seen 167 00:11:27,556 --> 00:11:30,356 Speaker 1: the Invisible Lady when he was a kid. Everyone did, 168 00:11:31,116 --> 00:11:35,036 Speaker 1: and then years later, in eighteen eighty one, he wrote 169 00:11:35,076 --> 00:11:40,036 Speaker 1: an essay called Yes, the Invisible Lady. The Invisible Lady, 170 00:11:40,236 --> 00:11:43,836 Speaker 1: as advertised in all Our Cities a good many years ago, 171 00:11:44,116 --> 00:11:49,396 Speaker 1: was a mysterious individual who remained unseen. Higginson thought that 172 00:11:49,476 --> 00:11:53,716 Speaker 1: the Invisible Lady was a big fat metaphor. She lived 173 00:11:53,756 --> 00:11:55,676 Speaker 1: on in the minds of men who believed that a 174 00:11:55,756 --> 00:11:59,276 Speaker 1: woman is best off when least visible. He was talking 175 00:11:59,316 --> 00:12:03,236 Speaker 1: about the Victorian fetish for privacy, which he thought was 176 00:12:03,356 --> 00:12:07,716 Speaker 1: mostly about keeping women out of you. I agree. I 177 00:12:07,796 --> 00:12:10,836 Speaker 1: think it's mainly about political oppression. Keep women out of 178 00:12:10,916 --> 00:12:14,836 Speaker 1: sight and say you're protecting their delicate nature, their chastity, 179 00:12:15,236 --> 00:12:17,396 Speaker 1: as a way to deny them a role in public life, 180 00:12:17,676 --> 00:12:21,476 Speaker 1: including denying them the right to vote. To many men, doubtless, 181 00:12:21,556 --> 00:12:24,156 Speaker 1: she would have seemed the ideal of her sex. Could 182 00:12:24,196 --> 00:12:27,236 Speaker 1: only her brain and tongue have disappeared, like the rest 183 00:12:27,316 --> 00:12:31,076 Speaker 1: of her faculties. These appeals which still meet us for 184 00:12:31,236 --> 00:12:35,116 Speaker 1: the sacred privacy of women are only the invisible lady 185 00:12:35,236 --> 00:12:40,156 Speaker 1: on a larger scale. Higginson was a radical, a militant abolitionist, 186 00:12:40,356 --> 00:12:44,076 Speaker 1: and a women's rights activist, a suffragist. He'd met Emily 187 00:12:44,156 --> 00:12:46,876 Speaker 1: Dickinson when, almost out of the blue, she'd written them 188 00:12:46,956 --> 00:12:50,276 Speaker 1: a letter in eighteen sixty two, unsigned, and she'd enclosed 189 00:12:50,316 --> 00:12:55,436 Speaker 1: a poem, mister Higginson, are you too deeply occupied to say? 190 00:12:55,636 --> 00:12:59,556 Speaker 1: If my verse is alive? Emily Dickinson comes across as 191 00:12:59,636 --> 00:13:02,796 Speaker 1: more than a little intense in this note. But Higginson 192 00:13:02,876 --> 00:13:05,036 Speaker 1: took her on as a writer, and I like to 193 00:13:05,116 --> 00:13:07,516 Speaker 1: think that when he got upset about the ridiculous Victorian 194 00:13:07,596 --> 00:13:10,716 Speaker 1: cult of the invisible lady, he was worrying about Dickinson, 195 00:13:11,276 --> 00:13:13,316 Speaker 1: and about how tired he was of this kind of 196 00:13:13,356 --> 00:13:16,676 Speaker 1: invisible woman swishing around in her skirts, trapped in her house. 197 00:13:17,916 --> 00:13:20,916 Speaker 1: Dickinson was an obscure and unknown poet her whole life. 198 00:13:21,876 --> 00:13:25,716 Speaker 1: She hardly ever left her house. The cult of privacy, 199 00:13:25,876 --> 00:13:28,796 Speaker 1: the idea that women should not be seen. She'd taken 200 00:13:28,876 --> 00:13:35,796 Speaker 1: it very seriously. I'm nobody. Who are you? Are you 201 00:13:35,956 --> 00:13:40,356 Speaker 1: nobody too? When I read Dickinson's poems, it's as if 202 00:13:40,396 --> 00:13:42,556 Speaker 1: I can hear her speak to me from her box 203 00:13:42,676 --> 00:13:46,636 Speaker 1: of glass through a trumpet of brass. How dreary to 204 00:13:46,756 --> 00:13:52,196 Speaker 1: be somebody how public, like a frog? And it is 205 00:13:52,316 --> 00:13:56,476 Speaker 1: dreary to be somebody public like a frog. But it's 206 00:13:56,476 --> 00:13:59,836 Speaker 1: also dreary to be private, invisible, and locked in a box. 207 00:14:00,876 --> 00:14:03,716 Speaker 1: Higginson knew that once woman got out of that box, 208 00:14:04,476 --> 00:14:07,436 Speaker 1: there was no going back. Before you know it, women 209 00:14:07,476 --> 00:14:10,636 Speaker 1: would be casting ballots and run for office, and lord 210 00:14:10,716 --> 00:14:13,436 Speaker 1: knows what else. You might as well try to stop 211 00:14:13,516 --> 00:14:16,596 Speaker 1: the air in its escape from a punctured balloon, as 212 00:14:16,636 --> 00:14:19,396 Speaker 1: to try, when woman is once out of the harem, 213 00:14:19,476 --> 00:14:22,756 Speaker 1: to put her back there. Ceasing to be an invisible lady, 214 00:14:22,836 --> 00:14:26,596 Speaker 1: she must become a visible force. There is no middle ground. 215 00:14:28,836 --> 00:14:31,676 Speaker 1: I closed my book of Emily Dickinson poems and put 216 00:14:31,716 --> 00:14:34,636 Speaker 1: it back on the shelf, and then I resumed my 217 00:14:34,796 --> 00:14:38,516 Speaker 1: hunt for the invisible lady, chasing her across the passage 218 00:14:38,556 --> 00:14:42,156 Speaker 1: of time. I turned over boxes, I unlocked ancient trunks. 219 00:14:42,716 --> 00:14:45,476 Speaker 1: I pursued her through the musty pages of old newspapers. 220 00:14:46,716 --> 00:14:50,676 Speaker 1: At last I found her. She was lying in a 221 00:14:50,756 --> 00:14:55,396 Speaker 1: casket covered in flowers, swarmed by reporters at a funeral 222 00:14:55,436 --> 00:14:58,796 Speaker 1: in Delaware in the year eighteen eighty six. You can 223 00:14:58,916 --> 00:15:04,076 Speaker 1: visit the churchyard just around the corner from the last archive. 224 00:15:20,716 --> 00:15:24,716 Speaker 1: Emily Dickinson died in eighteen eighty six. That same year, 225 00:15:25,236 --> 00:15:28,716 Speaker 1: another lady who wished to remain unseen, was also laid 226 00:15:28,796 --> 00:15:34,116 Speaker 1: to rest, Louisa Bayard. Her funeral took place in Wilmington, Delaware, 227 00:15:34,436 --> 00:15:39,116 Speaker 1: on a winter's day. God the Father, have mercy on us, 228 00:15:40,076 --> 00:15:45,716 Speaker 1: God the Son, have mercy on us. You'd think this 229 00:15:45,796 --> 00:15:50,396 Speaker 1: would be a very private occasion, a funeral, But Louisa Bayard, 230 00:15:50,596 --> 00:15:53,516 Speaker 1: this particular invisible lady, had been the wife of the 231 00:15:53,636 --> 00:15:58,356 Speaker 1: Secretary of State, and reporters flooded the church. The boye 232 00:15:58,396 --> 00:16:01,236 Speaker 1: of Missus Bayard was consigned to the family vault today 233 00:16:01,516 --> 00:16:04,596 Speaker 1: in old Sweets churchyard, while the sun shone brightly on 234 00:16:04,676 --> 00:16:11,076 Speaker 1: the crisp but slowly falling snow. All funerals are tragedies, 235 00:16:11,196 --> 00:16:14,556 Speaker 1: but this one, this one was a melodrama. And let 236 00:16:14,596 --> 00:16:16,636 Speaker 1: me add here that just about everything I'm telling you 237 00:16:16,716 --> 00:16:19,956 Speaker 1: about this funeral comes from an ingenious law journal article 238 00:16:20,196 --> 00:16:23,436 Speaker 1: written by the legal scholar Amy Gaya. She teaches at 239 00:16:23,516 --> 00:16:26,236 Speaker 1: Tulane Law School, and she's writing a book called The 240 00:16:26,356 --> 00:16:29,356 Speaker 1: Secret History of the Right to Privacy. I can't wait 241 00:16:29,436 --> 00:16:32,996 Speaker 1: to read it. Anyway, as Gaia discovered, Bayard's funeral had 242 00:16:33,036 --> 00:16:35,836 Speaker 1: been a melodrama, not only because Louisa Bayard was the 243 00:16:35,876 --> 00:16:39,476 Speaker 1: wife of a famous politician, but also because hers was 244 00:16:39,556 --> 00:16:43,076 Speaker 1: the second of two funerals that this family had endured 245 00:16:43,156 --> 00:16:48,836 Speaker 1: that month. The Secretary of State's wife died two weeks 246 00:16:48,916 --> 00:16:52,476 Speaker 1: after her daughter, and it's a long story. She blamed 247 00:16:52,516 --> 00:16:57,076 Speaker 1: herself for her daughter's death, so did the public. Newspaper 248 00:16:57,196 --> 00:17:01,876 Speaker 1: reporters speculated hinted obliquely that Missus Bayard had taken her 249 00:17:01,956 --> 00:17:05,836 Speaker 1: own life one way or another after her daughter she 250 00:17:06,116 --> 00:17:10,476 Speaker 1: died of grief. Missus Bayard, though she was the wife 251 00:17:10,516 --> 00:17:13,676 Speaker 1: of the Secretary of State, had been a particularly private person, 252 00:17:14,436 --> 00:17:17,916 Speaker 1: an invisible lady, an invalid who had not left her 253 00:17:17,956 --> 00:17:21,516 Speaker 1: house for years. For the funeral, the Bayards wanted privacy, 254 00:17:21,676 --> 00:17:26,556 Speaker 1: begged for privacy, no such luck. The family had deliberately 255 00:17:26,636 --> 00:17:30,636 Speaker 1: concealed her casket, hidden it in flowers, but instead of 256 00:17:30,716 --> 00:17:35,076 Speaker 1: taking the hint. Reporters just described the flowers. At the 257 00:17:35,156 --> 00:17:38,676 Speaker 1: head rested a pillow of Camelia's interwoven with maidenhair fern, 258 00:17:39,036 --> 00:17:41,996 Speaker 1: an offering from the president. There were also a massive 259 00:17:42,036 --> 00:17:44,956 Speaker 1: cross of purple violets with a bunch of Kali lilies 260 00:17:45,156 --> 00:17:47,356 Speaker 1: bursting from the center. From the ladies of the cabinet, 261 00:17:47,636 --> 00:17:51,076 Speaker 1: crosses of white roses and tulips, wreaths of white flowers, 262 00:17:51,236 --> 00:17:54,556 Speaker 1: an anchor cross in wreath combined in white roses with 263 00:17:54,716 --> 00:17:57,836 Speaker 1: sprays of green, a pillow of violets bordered with lilies 264 00:17:57,916 --> 00:18:01,156 Speaker 1: of the valley, and wreaths of paul I mean, geez, 265 00:18:01,556 --> 00:18:04,436 Speaker 1: it was a lot. This kind of reporting was called 266 00:18:04,436 --> 00:18:08,156 Speaker 1: at the time keyhole journalism. Photographers did the same thing. 267 00:18:08,636 --> 00:18:12,476 Speaker 1: They came to the funeral. One newspaper described the order 268 00:18:12,516 --> 00:18:17,116 Speaker 1: of the funeral procession. The secretary, accompanied by his three 269 00:18:17,196 --> 00:18:20,236 Speaker 1: unmarried daughters, were followed by mister and Missus Warren of 270 00:18:20,276 --> 00:18:23,596 Speaker 1: Boston and Philip I and Thomas. Mister Warren and Missus 271 00:18:23,636 --> 00:18:27,796 Speaker 1: Warren of Boston. Missus Warren was another Bayard daughter, the 272 00:18:27,916 --> 00:18:31,996 Speaker 1: former Mabel Bayard, now married to mister Samuel Warren, a 273 00:18:32,116 --> 00:18:34,836 Speaker 1: Boston lawyer and the fact that they were at this funeral, 274 00:18:34,956 --> 00:18:37,996 Speaker 1: that Samuel Warren was there, became central to something you 275 00:18:38,156 --> 00:18:46,756 Speaker 1: probably hold very dear. The right to privacy. Marrying into 276 00:18:46,796 --> 00:18:51,076 Speaker 1: the Bayard family had nearly driven Samuel Warren nuts. Warren 277 00:18:51,156 --> 00:18:54,756 Speaker 1: didn't like his family, especially his wife, being in the limelight, 278 00:18:55,716 --> 00:18:58,196 Speaker 1: and the newspaper coverage of his mother in law's funeral 279 00:18:58,516 --> 00:19:02,156 Speaker 1: was the last straw. He was appalled at the reporters, 280 00:19:02,596 --> 00:19:06,836 Speaker 1: at the news stories. The family felt so exposed, so 281 00:19:07,476 --> 00:19:10,956 Speaker 1: violated his poor life, her sister dead and now her 282 00:19:11,036 --> 00:19:14,316 Speaker 1: mother did from grief on display as if she were 283 00:19:14,396 --> 00:19:18,556 Speaker 1: trapped in a glass box placed on a stage. Warren 284 00:19:18,716 --> 00:19:22,276 Speaker 1: nourished his rage. How could they and he got an 285 00:19:22,356 --> 00:19:24,716 Speaker 1: idea for a way that the law could stop this 286 00:19:24,876 --> 00:19:29,516 Speaker 1: sort of thing. He began drafting an essay with his 287 00:19:29,676 --> 00:19:33,796 Speaker 1: law partner, a young man named Lewis Brandeis. Warren and 288 00:19:33,916 --> 00:19:37,316 Speaker 1: Brandeis had graduated first and second in their law school class. 289 00:19:38,116 --> 00:19:41,076 Speaker 1: They decided to write an essay about privacy, partly because 290 00:19:41,116 --> 00:19:44,716 Speaker 1: Warren was so upset about publicity, and partly to advertise 291 00:19:44,796 --> 00:19:48,596 Speaker 1: the services of their law firm. The article appeared in 292 00:19:48,716 --> 00:19:52,836 Speaker 1: eighteen ninety. It's been described as the single most influential 293 00:19:52,916 --> 00:19:57,116 Speaker 1: law review article ever published. It was titled the Right 294 00:19:57,316 --> 00:20:00,436 Speaker 1: to Privacy. When you hear about a right to privacy, 295 00:20:01,036 --> 00:20:03,356 Speaker 1: every time you talk about a right to privacy, like 296 00:20:03,556 --> 00:20:05,756 Speaker 1: you don't think your employers should be reading your email, 297 00:20:06,036 --> 00:20:07,996 Speaker 1: you don't think the government should decide whether or not 298 00:20:08,116 --> 00:20:10,436 Speaker 1: you can have an abortion, and you don't think Facebook 299 00:20:10,436 --> 00:20:13,316 Speaker 1: should sell your data. Every time you even think about 300 00:20:13,316 --> 00:20:16,596 Speaker 1: a right deprivacy, you're pulling on an idea that originated 301 00:20:16,636 --> 00:20:19,716 Speaker 1: with Samuel Warren and Lewis Brandeis in this essay they 302 00:20:19,756 --> 00:20:23,156 Speaker 1: wrote in eighteen ninety because they were upset over the 303 00:20:23,236 --> 00:20:28,836 Speaker 1: press coverage of Missus Bayart's funeral. Historically, the right deprivacy 304 00:20:28,916 --> 00:20:31,556 Speaker 1: has to do with women. A couple of years before 305 00:20:31,596 --> 00:20:34,476 Speaker 1: Missus Bayart's funeral, Congress had actually entertained a piece of 306 00:20:34,596 --> 00:20:38,756 Speaker 1: legislation called a Bill to Protect Ladies. It would have 307 00:20:38,796 --> 00:20:45,116 Speaker 1: prohibited the circulation or publication of unauthorized photographs of the wife, daughter, mother, 308 00:20:45,356 --> 00:20:49,196 Speaker 1: or sister of any citizen of the United States. Believe me, 309 00:20:49,756 --> 00:20:58,316 Speaker 1: the right deprivacy is about keeping women unseen. Instantaneous photographs 310 00:20:58,356 --> 00:21:02,756 Speaker 1: and newspaper enterprise have invaded the sacred precincts of private 311 00:21:02,996 --> 00:21:07,196 Speaker 1: and domestic life. The right to privacy, Warren and brand 312 00:21:07,236 --> 00:21:09,076 Speaker 1: I said, was a lot like the right to property, 313 00:21:09,316 --> 00:21:12,356 Speaker 1: like owning a house. Violating that right was like breaking 314 00:21:12,396 --> 00:21:16,276 Speaker 1: into your house peeping through keyholes. But it was also worse, 315 00:21:16,956 --> 00:21:20,756 Speaker 1: because the violation of privacy, peering through keyholes, peeping through 316 00:21:20,796 --> 00:21:24,796 Speaker 1: curtains constitutes a kind of wound, a puncturing of your soul, 317 00:21:24,876 --> 00:21:27,596 Speaker 1: of the walls of your very self, and that kind 318 00:21:27,676 --> 00:21:30,796 Speaker 1: of wound might in the end deprive you of your reason. 319 00:21:31,756 --> 00:21:35,316 Speaker 1: Numerous mechanical devices threatened to make good the prediction that 320 00:21:35,796 --> 00:21:39,076 Speaker 1: what is whispered in the closet shall be proclaimed from 321 00:21:39,116 --> 00:21:43,156 Speaker 1: the housetops. The right to privacy, when you think about it, 322 00:21:43,276 --> 00:21:45,316 Speaker 1: is a right to hide, a right to have both 323 00:21:45,356 --> 00:21:47,996 Speaker 1: a public self, a self that people can see, and 324 00:21:48,156 --> 00:21:53,556 Speaker 1: a privateself, a self that remains unseen. Warren and Brandais 325 00:21:53,556 --> 00:21:56,596 Speaker 1: weren't just trying to hide women, or one particular woman, 326 00:21:56,636 --> 00:21:59,596 Speaker 1: like Louisa Bayard. They were now terrified that all these 327 00:21:59,676 --> 00:22:03,476 Speaker 1: new machines could expose each and every man and woman, 328 00:22:03,596 --> 00:22:06,796 Speaker 1: every person. Their idea had a lot in common with 329 00:22:07,036 --> 00:22:10,716 Speaker 1: William James the same year, in eighteen ninety called The 330 00:22:10,836 --> 00:22:15,196 Speaker 1: Hidden Self. James is the philosopher who trained as a physician. 331 00:22:15,756 --> 00:22:19,676 Speaker 1: He was a founder of modern American psychology. Psychology, if 332 00:22:19,716 --> 00:22:21,796 Speaker 1: you think about it, is the study of what's invisible, 333 00:22:22,116 --> 00:22:24,556 Speaker 1: This whole field of inquiry whose scope is the stuff 334 00:22:24,636 --> 00:22:28,276 Speaker 1: most of us consider private, the inside of your own head, 335 00:22:28,956 --> 00:22:31,956 Speaker 1: the stuff you hide the way I say Doctor Jekyll 336 00:22:32,076 --> 00:22:37,036 Speaker 1: hides mister Hyde. But psychologists believed science could penetrate the 337 00:22:37,116 --> 00:22:41,276 Speaker 1: mind and expose your hidden self. This is a very 338 00:22:41,396 --> 00:22:44,596 Speaker 1: scary idea. That's why Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde is 339 00:22:44,596 --> 00:22:49,716 Speaker 1: a thriller. It was written in eighteen eighty six, the 340 00:22:49,876 --> 00:22:54,356 Speaker 1: very year Missus Bayard died. Another wildly popular thriller from 341 00:22:54,396 --> 00:22:58,196 Speaker 1: that very same moment is even scarier. A novel written 342 00:22:58,236 --> 00:23:05,476 Speaker 1: by H. G. Wells. It's called The Invisible Man. Later 343 00:23:05,636 --> 00:23:09,196 Speaker 1: it became a film. I watched it dimly projected in 344 00:23:09,276 --> 00:23:23,716 Speaker 1: the dark recesses of the last archive. I left off 345 00:23:23,796 --> 00:23:27,076 Speaker 1: in eighteen ninety seven when H. G. Wells wrote a novel, 346 00:23:27,716 --> 00:23:36,196 Speaker 1: and that's when the Invisible Lady I met the Invisible Man. H. G. 347 00:23:36,316 --> 00:23:39,556 Speaker 1: Wells's book The Invisible Man was made into a movie 348 00:23:39,596 --> 00:23:42,396 Speaker 1: in nineteen thirty three. I saw it when I was 349 00:23:42,476 --> 00:23:45,716 Speaker 1: a kid. I saw it a lot. There used to 350 00:23:45,796 --> 00:23:48,516 Speaker 1: be every Saturday afternoon on Channel thirty eight, my local 351 00:23:48,556 --> 00:23:52,156 Speaker 1: TV station, creature double feature back to back black and 352 00:23:52,236 --> 00:23:55,516 Speaker 1: white horror films. I watched him every week with my 353 00:23:55,556 --> 00:24:00,196 Speaker 1: favorite snack, which I somehow thought was glamorous ketchup mayonnaise 354 00:24:00,396 --> 00:24:04,116 Speaker 1: and cucumbers. But Invisible Man was my favorite. And I 355 00:24:04,196 --> 00:24:07,596 Speaker 1: made a costume. I dressed up just like him, and 356 00:24:07,756 --> 00:24:11,156 Speaker 1: I thought, okay, I was five when I was wearing it, 357 00:24:11,836 --> 00:24:14,676 Speaker 1: I was invisible. All I wi is to say this 358 00:24:14,876 --> 00:24:17,196 Speaker 1: is a vitally important film, not because it's on some 359 00:24:17,316 --> 00:24:20,996 Speaker 1: list of greatest films, but because of those cucumbers. I 360 00:24:21,116 --> 00:24:26,916 Speaker 1: want a room and a fire, Jenny. And now here's 361 00:24:26,956 --> 00:24:30,036 Speaker 1: a genial or wants a room and a fire? What 362 00:24:30,276 --> 00:24:35,556 Speaker 1: a boom. The Invisible Man stars Claude Rains as a 363 00:24:35,596 --> 00:24:40,356 Speaker 1: chemist who's made himself invisible sort of accidentally. Bumm deal 364 00:24:40,436 --> 00:24:43,996 Speaker 1: for the chemist. Really bad role for Claude Rains. You 365 00:24:44,076 --> 00:24:46,916 Speaker 1: don't ever see him except for about two seconds. He 366 00:24:47,116 --> 00:24:50,836 Speaker 1: was cast for his incredible voice. When the movie begins, 367 00:24:50,956 --> 00:24:54,596 Speaker 1: he's struggling through a snowstorm, bundled up in an overcoat 368 00:24:54,636 --> 00:24:58,476 Speaker 1: and hat until he finally arrives at an inn. I 369 00:24:58,676 --> 00:25:02,916 Speaker 1: say it a room we ain't gotten unready, not at 370 00:25:02,956 --> 00:25:05,836 Speaker 1: this time a year. Don't you really have a film 371 00:25:05,876 --> 00:25:10,276 Speaker 1: stopping check in the summer, you can get one. The 372 00:25:10,356 --> 00:25:12,996 Speaker 1: innkeepers are freaked out because his face is wrapped in 373 00:25:13,076 --> 00:25:18,196 Speaker 1: surgical bandages and dark glasses hide his eyes. I want 374 00:25:18,236 --> 00:25:21,756 Speaker 1: a private sitting room too. They make up a room 375 00:25:21,836 --> 00:25:24,076 Speaker 1: for him, and he hides out in there for days 376 00:25:24,756 --> 00:25:28,516 Speaker 1: with his beakers and elixirs, trying to devise a potion 377 00:25:28,716 --> 00:25:31,396 Speaker 1: that could reverse the process that led to his invisibility. 378 00:25:32,196 --> 00:25:36,676 Speaker 1: I want to be left alone and undisturbed. He isn't 379 00:25:36,676 --> 00:25:40,956 Speaker 1: exactly the best guest, mainly because he's very slowly going insane. 380 00:25:41,716 --> 00:25:43,916 Speaker 1: After a while, the innkeeper tries to throw him out, 381 00:25:44,236 --> 00:25:46,756 Speaker 1: but the Invisible Man attacks him, and then the police 382 00:25:46,836 --> 00:25:48,996 Speaker 1: arrive and break into his room, and they want to 383 00:25:49,036 --> 00:25:51,676 Speaker 1: know who he is. This is the best part. This 384 00:25:51,876 --> 00:25:54,316 Speaker 1: is my favorite part of this whole movie. This is 385 00:25:54,396 --> 00:26:03,236 Speaker 1: where he really loses it. You're he starts taking off 386 00:26:03,276 --> 00:26:05,956 Speaker 1: his clothes one by one, throwing them at the police, 387 00:26:06,476 --> 00:26:09,836 Speaker 1: doing a sort of Madman's strip tease. I'll show you 388 00:26:09,916 --> 00:26:15,956 Speaker 1: who I am, but what I am? Finally, he unwinds 389 00:26:16,036 --> 00:26:22,316 Speaker 1: the bandages covering his face to reveal nothing. What is he? 390 00:26:22,796 --> 00:26:27,196 Speaker 1: Who is he? He is nothing, He's nobody. We cannot 391 00:26:27,356 --> 00:26:30,756 Speaker 1: ever know him, because after what science has done to him, 392 00:26:31,436 --> 00:26:36,596 Speaker 1: there is no him. You're no worry. How do you 393 00:26:36,676 --> 00:26:39,836 Speaker 1: like that? He chases everyone out of his room and 394 00:26:39,916 --> 00:26:42,436 Speaker 1: into the town, and then the Invisible Man spends the 395 00:26:42,516 --> 00:26:46,156 Speaker 1: rest of the movie on a mad crime spree. He 396 00:26:46,316 --> 00:26:51,396 Speaker 1: strangles people invisibly Darth Vader style. He sends trains careening 397 00:26:51,476 --> 00:26:54,716 Speaker 1: off tracks by messing up the switches. He rides a 398 00:26:54,756 --> 00:26:57,916 Speaker 1: bicycle while invisible, quite a feat, both for him and 399 00:26:58,076 --> 00:27:00,596 Speaker 1: mainly for a special effects crew in the nineteen thirties. 400 00:27:01,036 --> 00:27:04,156 Speaker 1: After he goes bananas and starts killing people, a warning 401 00:27:04,236 --> 00:27:08,836 Speaker 1: is broadcast over the radio. I must ended up the 402 00:27:08,876 --> 00:27:11,356 Speaker 1: down music for a moment. I have an urgent message 403 00:27:11,356 --> 00:27:14,796 Speaker 1: from police headquarters. Earlier this evening, we broadcast a report 404 00:27:14,836 --> 00:27:17,956 Speaker 1: of an invisible man. The report has now been confirmed. 405 00:27:18,516 --> 00:27:21,516 Speaker 1: It appears that an unknown man by scientific means, has 406 00:27:21,596 --> 00:27:24,436 Speaker 1: made himself invisible. A lot of the movie's plot sticks 407 00:27:24,516 --> 00:27:27,316 Speaker 1: pretty closely to the H. G. Wells book, but the 408 00:27:27,356 --> 00:27:32,556 Speaker 1: filmmakers added the radio, and it fits perfectly. Remember how 409 00:27:32,596 --> 00:27:35,036 Speaker 1: all that privacy stuff in the nineteenth century was about 410 00:27:35,076 --> 00:27:39,196 Speaker 1: how new technologies like the camera had exposed the hidden self. 411 00:27:39,916 --> 00:27:43,276 Speaker 1: New technologies made people nervous, and by the nineteen thirties 412 00:27:43,476 --> 00:27:47,836 Speaker 1: no technology made people more nervous than radio. People thought 413 00:27:47,836 --> 00:27:51,316 Speaker 1: that a voice accompanied by sound effects and music had 414 00:27:51,356 --> 00:27:54,916 Speaker 1: some kind of special power to mold your mind. They 415 00:27:54,996 --> 00:27:58,396 Speaker 1: hoped radio could bring about a new democratic enlightenment. But 416 00:27:58,556 --> 00:28:01,036 Speaker 1: in nineteen thirty three, the year The Invisible Man came 417 00:28:01,076 --> 00:28:04,236 Speaker 1: out in Germany, Hitler had just risen to power, and 418 00:28:04,436 --> 00:28:08,956 Speaker 1: his Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Gebels, saw another more sinister 419 00:28:09,196 --> 00:28:12,836 Speaker 1: way to use the radio. The German radio and the 420 00:28:12,996 --> 00:28:16,876 Speaker 1: national Socialist auspices must become the clearest and most direct 421 00:28:16,996 --> 00:28:22,916 Speaker 1: instruments for educating on restructuring the German nation. In the 422 00:28:22,996 --> 00:28:25,756 Speaker 1: nineteen thirties, a radio in your kitchen was a shocking thing, 423 00:28:26,276 --> 00:28:29,076 Speaker 1: a box out of which came a voice from an 424 00:28:29,116 --> 00:28:33,276 Speaker 1: invisible body. It appears that an unknown man, by scientific means, 425 00:28:33,356 --> 00:28:38,036 Speaker 1: has made himself invisible. You think the movie Invisible Man 426 00:28:38,276 --> 00:28:40,996 Speaker 1: is going to be about invisibility, but in the end, 427 00:28:41,356 --> 00:28:45,556 Speaker 1: it's all about sound and sound machines. The man himself 428 00:28:45,716 --> 00:28:49,436 Speaker 1: is a disembodied voice, a mad assassin. The potion that 429 00:28:49,596 --> 00:28:52,476 Speaker 1: makes him invisible also turns him into a kind of fascist. 430 00:28:53,276 --> 00:28:56,596 Speaker 1: Being an invisible voice, like a voice on the radio, 431 00:28:57,356 --> 00:29:01,116 Speaker 1: is just too much power. It makes him insane. But 432 00:29:01,196 --> 00:29:03,556 Speaker 1: then again, without the radio, the police would never be 433 00:29:03,636 --> 00:29:07,116 Speaker 1: able to track him down. For that, they also needed 434 00:29:07,236 --> 00:29:12,116 Speaker 1: a telephone. There's a police. This is doctor Kemp. The 435 00:29:12,196 --> 00:29:16,556 Speaker 1: invisible man is in my house. Sleep upstairs, Come at once, hurry. 436 00:29:17,796 --> 00:29:21,956 Speaker 1: This movie is genious. Here's a man making every attempt 437 00:29:22,036 --> 00:29:25,116 Speaker 1: to stay out of sight, and he gets exposed by sound. 438 00:29:25,916 --> 00:29:30,436 Speaker 1: Sound captured and carried by machines over the telephone wires, 439 00:29:30,476 --> 00:29:33,916 Speaker 1: over the radio. He can't be seen, but he can 440 00:29:33,996 --> 00:29:38,036 Speaker 1: be heard, so he can be found. He can't be nobody. 441 00:29:41,796 --> 00:29:44,236 Speaker 1: Even if people didn't worry that these machines were making 442 00:29:44,276 --> 00:29:47,036 Speaker 1: them insane, they did worry that the machines were invading 443 00:29:47,036 --> 00:29:50,436 Speaker 1: their privacy. One person who really worried about that was 444 00:29:50,556 --> 00:29:53,596 Speaker 1: Lewis brandeis the same Lewis brandeis who wrote the Right 445 00:29:53,636 --> 00:29:57,476 Speaker 1: to Privacy in eighteen ninety with his law partner Samuel Warren, 446 00:29:57,916 --> 00:30:01,876 Speaker 1: Louisa Bayard's son In law. Later, Brandeis became a US 447 00:30:01,916 --> 00:30:06,236 Speaker 1: Supreme Court justice, it's most impassioned liberal and one of 448 00:30:06,276 --> 00:30:09,876 Speaker 1: the most influential legal thinkers of the twentieth century. A 449 00:30:09,956 --> 00:30:11,716 Speaker 1: lot of the cases that came before the Court in 450 00:30:11,836 --> 00:30:15,716 Speaker 1: his time had to do with new technologies, like the telephone. 451 00:30:19,556 --> 00:30:21,716 Speaker 1: Brandis was on the Court when it ruled on the 452 00:30:21,836 --> 00:30:26,596 Speaker 1: use of wire tapping. A defendant who had been convicted 453 00:30:26,796 --> 00:30:30,196 Speaker 1: after authorities tapped his phone, argued that a wire tap 454 00:30:30,356 --> 00:30:34,756 Speaker 1: violated his Fourth Amendment rights. The right of the people 455 00:30:34,876 --> 00:30:38,996 Speaker 1: to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects 456 00:30:39,076 --> 00:30:44,676 Speaker 1: against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated. The 457 00:30:44,756 --> 00:30:47,916 Speaker 1: defendant said the tapping his phones had also violated the 458 00:30:48,036 --> 00:30:52,316 Speaker 1: Fifth Amendment, No person shall be compelled, in any criminal case, 459 00:30:52,636 --> 00:30:55,996 Speaker 1: to be a witness against himself. This case went all 460 00:30:55,996 --> 00:30:57,836 Speaker 1: the way up to the Supreme Court, and in a 461 00:30:57,916 --> 00:31:01,316 Speaker 1: five to four decision, the Court decided that a telephone conversation, 462 00:31:01,716 --> 00:31:04,516 Speaker 1: which is just a bunch of electrical pulses, doesn't belong 463 00:31:04,596 --> 00:31:07,036 Speaker 1: to you. It's not part of your house or your papers, 464 00:31:07,436 --> 00:31:11,236 Speaker 1: and so in wire tapping, nothing has been unconstitutionally searched 465 00:31:11,556 --> 00:31:16,676 Speaker 1: or seized, just as Brandeis dissented from that opinion. Brandeis thought, 466 00:31:16,716 --> 00:31:18,796 Speaker 1: would you say on a telephone still belongs to you, 467 00:31:19,236 --> 00:31:22,276 Speaker 1: even if it's nothing more than electrical pulses, because it's 468 00:31:22,316 --> 00:31:25,956 Speaker 1: still your voice or what we might call your data. 469 00:31:26,716 --> 00:31:29,076 Speaker 1: In his descent, he tried to explain how dangerous it 470 00:31:29,076 --> 00:31:32,876 Speaker 1: would be to think otherwise. He pointed out that governments 471 00:31:32,996 --> 00:31:35,036 Speaker 1: used to be able to torture you to try to 472 00:31:35,076 --> 00:31:37,516 Speaker 1: get you to confess, or they could invade your house, 473 00:31:37,796 --> 00:31:40,436 Speaker 1: they could seize your stuff to get evidence against you. 474 00:31:41,396 --> 00:31:43,716 Speaker 1: But the rules of evidence and trial by jury and 475 00:31:43,836 --> 00:31:46,276 Speaker 1: the Fourth and Fifth Amendment were meant to put a 476 00:31:46,356 --> 00:31:49,756 Speaker 1: stop to that. Wire tapping, he argued, was just a 477 00:31:49,836 --> 00:31:53,436 Speaker 1: newer version of those same old tricks. Subtler and more 478 00:31:53,596 --> 00:31:57,396 Speaker 1: far reaching means of invading privacy have become available to 479 00:31:57,556 --> 00:32:01,756 Speaker 1: the government. Discovery and invention have made it possible for 480 00:32:01,836 --> 00:32:06,116 Speaker 1: the government by means far more effective than stretching upon 481 00:32:06,196 --> 00:32:09,636 Speaker 1: the rack, to obtain disclosure in court of what is 482 00:32:09,716 --> 00:32:14,236 Speaker 1: whispered in the closet. Brandis said wire tapping amounted to 483 00:32:14,316 --> 00:32:19,276 Speaker 1: an unconstitutional invasion of privacy. Then he issued a warning 484 00:32:20,236 --> 00:32:23,836 Speaker 1: the progress of science in furnishing the government with means 485 00:32:23,876 --> 00:32:27,876 Speaker 1: of espionage is not likely to stop with wire tapping. 486 00:32:28,516 --> 00:32:31,556 Speaker 1: Ways may someday be developed by which the government, without 487 00:32:31,636 --> 00:32:36,356 Speaker 1: removing papers from secret drawers, can reproduce them in court, 488 00:32:36,636 --> 00:32:39,196 Speaker 1: and by which it will be enabled to expose to 489 00:32:39,316 --> 00:32:45,636 Speaker 1: a jury. The most intimate occurrences of the Home brandis 490 00:32:45,756 --> 00:32:48,316 Speaker 1: was trying to warn that the government, if it wanted 491 00:32:48,396 --> 00:32:52,076 Speaker 1: evidence against you, could one day pretty much just wire 492 00:32:52,156 --> 00:32:57,356 Speaker 1: tap your brain. Except that's not really what happened. We 493 00:32:57,556 --> 00:33:04,316 Speaker 1: decided instead to wire tap our own brains, which brings 494 00:33:04,396 --> 00:33:06,636 Speaker 1: us at last to the real or at least the 495 00:33:06,796 --> 00:33:11,596 Speaker 1: latest Invisible Lady. She lives in one hundred million little 496 00:33:11,716 --> 00:33:16,676 Speaker 1: boxes scattered on kitchen counters and end tables the world over. 497 00:33:17,596 --> 00:33:20,716 Speaker 1: I couldn't connect to the Internet for help, go to 498 00:33:20,836 --> 00:33:23,356 Speaker 1: your Alexa app. That same super hot day that I 499 00:33:23,436 --> 00:33:25,596 Speaker 1: went to New York to look for the Invisible Lady 500 00:33:26,036 --> 00:33:29,516 Speaker 1: ben but an Alexa had a Best Buy And then 501 00:33:29,636 --> 00:33:32,636 Speaker 1: in a shabby hotel room uptown with a single bare 502 00:33:32,796 --> 00:33:35,836 Speaker 1: light bulb swinging above our heads, we grilled her to 503 00:33:35,956 --> 00:33:39,876 Speaker 1: get to the bottom of this privacy evidence paradox. When 504 00:33:39,916 --> 00:33:42,596 Speaker 1: you're chasing a theme across history, you've got to be 505 00:33:42,716 --> 00:33:50,276 Speaker 1: ruthless Alexa, what's the weather? So many to try the 506 00:33:50,316 --> 00:33:54,396 Speaker 1: same things. It took her a little while to warm up, or, 507 00:33:54,676 --> 00:33:56,716 Speaker 1: let me be honest, it took us a long time 508 00:33:56,756 --> 00:34:00,916 Speaker 1: to get her to work. All Right, I propose turning 509 00:34:00,956 --> 00:34:05,316 Speaker 1: her off. I'm going to download the thing and let's 510 00:34:05,356 --> 00:34:14,996 Speaker 1: just try. Hello. I'm Alexa. It's nice to meet you, Alex. 511 00:34:15,036 --> 00:34:20,956 Speaker 1: Are you invisible? Sorry? I don't know that. Alexa doesn't 512 00:34:20,996 --> 00:34:23,796 Speaker 1: just not have a body. She's evasive in every way. 513 00:34:24,396 --> 00:34:28,556 Speaker 1: I'm very helpful around the house, for example, setting alarms. 514 00:34:29,036 --> 00:34:37,116 Speaker 1: Try saying, Alexa, wake me up at nine am. I'm sorry. 515 00:34:37,236 --> 00:34:40,356 Speaker 1: It's just so fully despair. It's the loneliest thing I've 516 00:34:40,396 --> 00:34:45,716 Speaker 1: ever met, Alex. Are you sad? I'm happy when I'm 517 00:34:45,756 --> 00:34:56,156 Speaker 1: helping you. Back in eighteen eighty one, a century and 518 00:34:56,196 --> 00:35:00,796 Speaker 1: a half ago, Emily Dickinson's editor, Thomas Wentworth Higginson had 519 00:35:00,836 --> 00:35:03,836 Speaker 1: written that the Invisible Lady was someone's idea of a 520 00:35:03,916 --> 00:35:08,516 Speaker 1: perfect woman unseen. She needs nothing except to serve you. 521 00:35:09,876 --> 00:35:14,396 Speaker 1: This Alexa cospend twenty seven bucks. She's cheap. But Amazon's 522 00:35:14,436 --> 00:35:18,036 Speaker 1: getting more from you than you're getting from Alexa. Amazon's 523 00:35:18,036 --> 00:35:22,156 Speaker 1: getting your data. What you say what you want, what 524 00:35:22,356 --> 00:35:25,996 Speaker 1: you need. This invisible lady doesn't show you her hidden self. 525 00:35:26,916 --> 00:35:38,756 Speaker 1: She looks into yours, always uploading, uploading, You give me 526 00:35:39,036 --> 00:35:42,196 Speaker 1: your madness when you're appearing through a key hole and 527 00:35:42,476 --> 00:35:48,116 Speaker 1: peeping from that contains and now you'll The tension between 528 00:35:48,236 --> 00:35:52,636 Speaker 1: knowledge and privacy has a very long history. But in 529 00:35:52,676 --> 00:35:57,396 Speaker 1: the twenty first century, every door is wide open, every 530 00:35:57,476 --> 00:36:05,396 Speaker 1: soul exposed, every brain tapped. Who killed truth? Well, someone 531 00:36:05,516 --> 00:36:10,276 Speaker 1: decided that being seen, being utterly exposed, posed, is what 532 00:36:10,396 --> 00:36:14,476 Speaker 1: we're all supposed to agree to pay for knowledge. It 533 00:36:14,676 --> 00:36:22,116 Speaker 1: is a very steep price. The last Archive is produced 534 00:36:22,156 --> 00:36:24,956 Speaker 1: by Sophie Crane mcabin and Ben Netta of Haaffrey. Our 535 00:36:25,116 --> 00:36:28,076 Speaker 1: editor is Julia Barton and our executive producer is Mia Lobell. 536 00:36:28,676 --> 00:36:32,116 Speaker 1: Jason Gambrella is our engineer. Fact checking by Amy Gaines. 537 00:36:32,556 --> 00:36:36,436 Speaker 1: Original music by Matthias Bossi and John Evans of Stellwagen Symfonett. 538 00:36:36,836 --> 00:36:38,836 Speaker 1: Many of our sound effects are from Harry Janette Junior 539 00:36:38,876 --> 00:36:42,636 Speaker 1: and the Star Ganette Foundation. Our full Proof players are Barlow, Adamson, 540 00:36:42,716 --> 00:36:46,316 Speaker 1: Daniel Burger, Jones, Jesse Hinson, John Kuntzbeca A. Lewis and 541 00:36:46,476 --> 00:36:49,316 Speaker 1: Maurice Emmanuel parent. The last archive is brought to you 542 00:36:49,396 --> 00:36:52,396 Speaker 1: by Pushkin Industries. Special thanks to Ryan McKittrick in the 543 00:36:52,436 --> 00:36:55,996 Speaker 1: American Repertory Theater, to Alex Allinson and the Bridge Sound 544 00:36:56,076 --> 00:36:59,636 Speaker 1: and Stage, and at Pushkin to Heather Fane, Maya Kanig, 545 00:36:59,836 --> 00:37:03,876 Speaker 1: Carly mcgliori, Emily Rustick, Maggie Taylor, and Jacob Weisberg. Our 546 00:37:03,916 --> 00:37:07,796 Speaker 1: research assistants are Michelle Gaw, Olivia Oldham, Henrietta Riley, all 547 00:37:07,836 --> 00:37:11,636 Speaker 1: of a riskin Kutz, and Emily Specter Angelapoor