1 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:07,440 Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of 2 00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:14,440 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of 3 00:00:14,480 --> 00:00:18,440 Speaker 1: the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all 4 00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:22,599 Speaker 1: of these amazing tales right there on display, just waiting 5 00:00:22,640 --> 00:00:28,880 Speaker 1: for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. 6 00:00:36,320 --> 00:00:39,160 Speaker 1: Michael Bowen was a painter, but he saw himself as 7 00:00:39,200 --> 00:00:42,239 Speaker 1: a peaceful warrior. He was born to wealthy parents in 8 00:00:42,320 --> 00:00:45,400 Speaker 1: Beverly Hills. He grew up in the nineteen forties and fifties, 9 00:00:45,600 --> 00:00:50,159 Speaker 1: resenting the conformity of his hometown. His maternal grandmother introduced 10 00:00:50,240 --> 00:00:52,760 Speaker 1: him to mysticism at a young age, through which he 11 00:00:52,800 --> 00:00:56,680 Speaker 1: could rebel against his upbringing. It was all about trying 12 00:00:56,720 --> 00:00:59,240 Speaker 1: to get more in touch with God, to find the 13 00:00:59,360 --> 00:01:03,000 Speaker 1: unconscious that connected all people, and how this was done 14 00:01:03,040 --> 00:01:05,720 Speaker 1: depended on the person or the group, But for Michael, 15 00:01:05,840 --> 00:01:09,240 Speaker 1: it was accomplished through his art. As such, his paintings 16 00:01:09,280 --> 00:01:12,800 Speaker 1: are full of color, swirling lines, and evocative uses of 17 00:01:12,840 --> 00:01:16,160 Speaker 1: the human eye. He saw these paintings as magic, as 18 00:01:16,319 --> 00:01:20,360 Speaker 1: something beyond himself, something he couldn't help but create. He 19 00:01:20,480 --> 00:01:24,039 Speaker 1: believed viewers of his work had a magical connection to it, 20 00:01:24,360 --> 00:01:28,319 Speaker 1: seeing things that even he couldn't have anticipated. But as 21 00:01:28,360 --> 00:01:31,600 Speaker 1: the fifties turned into the sixties, Michael felt dismay at 22 00:01:31,640 --> 00:01:34,520 Speaker 1: the state of the country. The Vietnam War was brutal 23 00:01:34,600 --> 00:01:38,000 Speaker 1: and pointless, and the government just kept perpetuating the conflict. 24 00:01:38,360 --> 00:01:40,760 Speaker 1: He started to feel like his paintings weren't enough to 25 00:01:40,800 --> 00:01:44,679 Speaker 1: combat this evil. Michael was introduced to the hallucinogetic drug 26 00:01:44,840 --> 00:01:47,920 Speaker 1: LSD through some friends, and it had what he believed 27 00:01:48,040 --> 00:01:50,800 Speaker 1: was a mystical effect on him, helping him to move 28 00:01:50,880 --> 00:01:53,840 Speaker 1: closer to God and to the consciousness that unites all 29 00:01:53,960 --> 00:01:56,640 Speaker 1: human beings. He began to work with a guru in 30 00:01:56,680 --> 00:02:00,480 Speaker 1: Mexico who encouraged him to experiment further with drugs, and 31 00:02:00,520 --> 00:02:03,760 Speaker 1: at one point Michael consumed so much of the hallucinogenic 32 00:02:03,840 --> 00:02:06,280 Speaker 1: flower that he was in a coma for a month, 33 00:02:06,960 --> 00:02:09,679 Speaker 1: But to him, this was all part of the process. 34 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:13,639 Speaker 1: He returned to California after his time in Mexico inspired 35 00:02:13,680 --> 00:02:17,720 Speaker 1: to create a new type of art, performance art. But again, 36 00:02:17,760 --> 00:02:20,760 Speaker 1: to him, art was magic, and this performance art would 37 00:02:20,760 --> 00:02:24,079 Speaker 1: be something akin to a ritual, a ritual to unite 38 00:02:24,160 --> 00:02:28,120 Speaker 1: human consciousness and move forward toward peace. In other words, 39 00:02:28,280 --> 00:02:32,760 Speaker 1: to make love not war. Michael organized a large gathering 40 00:02:32,800 --> 00:02:35,480 Speaker 1: in a park in San Francisco called the Human be In. 41 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:38,519 Speaker 1: Tens of thousands of people joined in on the event. 42 00:02:38,720 --> 00:02:42,400 Speaker 1: They listened to speeches from psychologists and gurus, listened to 43 00:02:42,520 --> 00:02:45,800 Speaker 1: poets recite their poetry, and they listened to now famous 44 00:02:45,880 --> 00:02:49,320 Speaker 1: rock bands like Jefferson Airplane and The Grateful Dead, and 45 00:02:49,440 --> 00:02:52,800 Speaker 1: of course, they did a lot of LSD. The huge 46 00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:55,639 Speaker 1: popularity of the event led it to being seen as 47 00:02:55,680 --> 00:02:59,040 Speaker 1: a major success. Michael felt that he was transforming the 48 00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:02,320 Speaker 1: consciousness of America, but he also felt like he could 49 00:03:02,360 --> 00:03:05,320 Speaker 1: do even more. He returned to Mexico and engaged in 50 00:03:05,360 --> 00:03:09,480 Speaker 1: more training with his guru, taking more drugs, and practicing 51 00:03:09,520 --> 00:03:15,239 Speaker 1: a variety of mystical techniques, including supposedly telekinesis levitating things 52 00:03:15,320 --> 00:03:18,520 Speaker 1: with your mind. With this new power in his arsenal, 53 00:03:18,800 --> 00:03:21,400 Speaker 1: he came up with a crazy idea for this next 54 00:03:21,440 --> 00:03:25,120 Speaker 1: work of performance art. Michael returned to the US and 55 00:03:25,200 --> 00:03:28,480 Speaker 1: told every activist he could about his plan. He wanted 56 00:03:28,480 --> 00:03:31,520 Speaker 1: to get a massive group together, march on the Pentagon 57 00:03:31,880 --> 00:03:34,920 Speaker 1: and levitate it with their minds, transforming it from a 58 00:03:34,920 --> 00:03:38,120 Speaker 1: symbol of war to a symbol of love, and as 59 00:03:38,160 --> 00:03:40,680 Speaker 1: it so happened, many more down to earth anti war 60 00:03:40,760 --> 00:03:43,680 Speaker 1: activists had also been wanting to organize a march on 61 00:03:43,720 --> 00:03:46,720 Speaker 1: the Pentagon. It's the headquarters of the United States Department 62 00:03:46,800 --> 00:03:49,760 Speaker 1: of Defense, after all, and as such was the epicenter 63 00:03:49,800 --> 00:03:53,600 Speaker 1: from which the US coordinated its war efforts. For months, 64 00:03:53,640 --> 00:03:56,600 Speaker 1: many well known activists put together plans for the march, 65 00:03:56,760 --> 00:03:59,200 Speaker 1: which was to take place on October twenty first of 66 00:03:59,320 --> 00:04:04,400 Speaker 1: nineteen six. In many ways, Michael's previous Human Being was 67 00:04:04,480 --> 00:04:07,440 Speaker 1: the blueprint. By this time, even more people showed up. 68 00:04:07,720 --> 00:04:11,960 Speaker 1: One hundred thousand protesters joined together at Lincoln Memorial in Washington, 69 00:04:12,040 --> 00:04:15,560 Speaker 1: d C. Hearing speeches and listening to music from anti 70 00:04:15,600 --> 00:04:18,880 Speaker 1: war figures, and once they were ready, they marched across 71 00:04:18,920 --> 00:04:22,120 Speaker 1: the river to the Pentagon. Michael and his fellow activists 72 00:04:22,200 --> 00:04:25,479 Speaker 1: led a variety of strange rituals around the building, which 73 00:04:25,640 --> 00:04:28,279 Speaker 1: spoke to how diverse the crowd was. Some of the 74 00:04:28,279 --> 00:04:31,800 Speaker 1: more religious members led an exorcism of the building, others 75 00:04:31,880 --> 00:04:35,920 Speaker 1: chanted mantras or sprinkled magical corn meal, and finally, one 76 00:04:35,920 --> 00:04:39,880 Speaker 1: of Michael's closest associates, an activist named Abby Hoffman, led 77 00:04:39,920 --> 00:04:43,920 Speaker 1: a chant to levitate the Pentagon and transform it, ending 78 00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:47,520 Speaker 1: the war. It's maybe a bit of an anti climax here, 79 00:04:47,520 --> 00:04:50,640 Speaker 1: but the building obviously did not levitate and the war 80 00:04:50,760 --> 00:04:53,680 Speaker 1: did go on. But the most memorable moment came after 81 00:04:53,880 --> 00:04:56,480 Speaker 1: when Michael handed out hundreds of daisies that he had 82 00:04:56,480 --> 00:04:59,520 Speaker 1: purchased for the event. Some of the activists began to 83 00:04:59,520 --> 00:05:01,799 Speaker 1: place the flo flowers in the barrels of the guns 84 00:05:02,080 --> 00:05:05,279 Speaker 1: held by the soldiers surrounding the Pentagon. This moment was 85 00:05:05,320 --> 00:05:09,240 Speaker 1: captured in several iconic photographs, providing a symbol across the 86 00:05:09,320 --> 00:05:13,040 Speaker 1: nation of resistance to war. Michael may not have ended 87 00:05:13,040 --> 00:05:15,280 Speaker 1: the war, but once again he had used his art 88 00:05:15,360 --> 00:05:19,599 Speaker 1: to transform human consciousness to guide it toward a better future. 89 00:05:19,960 --> 00:05:22,159 Speaker 1: And to be clear, the moral of this story is 90 00:05:22,279 --> 00:05:26,400 Speaker 1: not to do a dangerous amount of hallucinogetic drugs. Instead, 91 00:05:26,720 --> 00:05:29,279 Speaker 1: it is to have faith in the small, strange and 92 00:05:29,440 --> 00:05:33,520 Speaker 1: curious acts of resistance that all work together to change 93 00:05:33,560 --> 00:05:49,520 Speaker 1: the world. Many people have secrets that they take to 94 00:05:49,640 --> 00:05:52,000 Speaker 1: the grave, only for the truth to come out sometime 95 00:05:52,120 --> 00:05:55,880 Speaker 1: after their death. Like romance painter Francisco Goya, he was 96 00:05:55,920 --> 00:05:59,560 Speaker 1: famous for vibrant and idyllic portraits of Spanish life. It 97 00:05:59,600 --> 00:06:01,839 Speaker 1: wasn't an until after his death that a series of 98 00:06:01,960 --> 00:06:05,640 Speaker 1: nightmarish paintings were discovered in his home. They revealed mental 99 00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:09,279 Speaker 1: health struggles that he hid from his patrons and his fans. 100 00:06:09,720 --> 00:06:13,720 Speaker 1: On December tenth of nineteen oh eight, a coroner in Manhattan, Montana, 101 00:06:13,760 --> 00:06:16,760 Speaker 1: also uncovered a secret after receiving the body of the 102 00:06:16,800 --> 00:06:20,719 Speaker 1: town's most mysterious resident. The discovery would launch a decades 103 00:06:20,760 --> 00:06:24,560 Speaker 1: long investigation into who this person was and what they 104 00:06:24,560 --> 00:06:28,920 Speaker 1: were running from. In the late eighteen fifties, a mysterious 105 00:06:28,920 --> 00:06:32,280 Speaker 1: stranger turned up in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, looking for work. 106 00:06:32,600 --> 00:06:34,880 Speaker 1: He called himself Billy and claimed to be a cook, 107 00:06:35,080 --> 00:06:37,560 Speaker 1: and got hired at one of the local timber camps 108 00:06:37,560 --> 00:06:40,919 Speaker 1: in the area. Now Billy was small in stature, with 109 00:06:40,960 --> 00:06:44,279 Speaker 1: a thin nose and a slight hunchback. He was friendly 110 00:06:44,440 --> 00:06:47,560 Speaker 1: but private. He didn't talk about himself very much. In 111 00:06:47,600 --> 00:06:49,839 Speaker 1: the mornings, he was out of the bunk house before 112 00:06:49,839 --> 00:06:52,360 Speaker 1: his roommates woke up, and he didn't come to bed 113 00:06:52,480 --> 00:06:55,640 Speaker 1: until everyone else was asleep. After work, he'd go to 114 00:06:55,680 --> 00:06:58,279 Speaker 1: the saloon with the other lumberjacks. He would dance with 115 00:06:58,320 --> 00:07:01,320 Speaker 1: all the girls and bought rounds of for the entire bar, 116 00:07:01,680 --> 00:07:03,760 Speaker 1: But his colleagues noticed that for all the booze that 117 00:07:03,800 --> 00:07:06,640 Speaker 1: he bought for others, Billy would nurse the same single 118 00:07:06,720 --> 00:07:10,000 Speaker 1: drink all night long. He never let himself get drunk. 119 00:07:10,640 --> 00:07:13,360 Speaker 1: And there were other question marks about Billy as well. 120 00:07:13,680 --> 00:07:17,200 Speaker 1: He spoke English, Norwegian, and German, but always said that 121 00:07:17,240 --> 00:07:20,120 Speaker 1: he came from Iowa. He also picked up enough of 122 00:07:20,160 --> 00:07:23,720 Speaker 1: the local Native American languages to have full conversations with 123 00:07:23,760 --> 00:07:26,840 Speaker 1: tribal members. To everyone at camp, it was obvious that 124 00:07:26,920 --> 00:07:29,120 Speaker 1: there was more to Billy than he led on, but 125 00:07:29,200 --> 00:07:31,440 Speaker 1: he was a nice guy and he seemed harmless, and 126 00:07:31,520 --> 00:07:35,000 Speaker 1: so the lumberjacks just let him keep his secrets, especially 127 00:07:35,000 --> 00:07:37,480 Speaker 1: because Billy was good at his job. He was a 128 00:07:37,520 --> 00:07:40,760 Speaker 1: fantastic cook and was soon in demand at lumber camps 129 00:07:40,800 --> 00:07:44,800 Speaker 1: across Wisconsin. He amassed a small fortune over the years too, 130 00:07:44,880 --> 00:07:48,480 Speaker 1: and bought several properties in town. And then one day 131 00:07:48,520 --> 00:07:50,880 Speaker 1: in the eighteen eighties, a man showed up in Eau 132 00:07:50,960 --> 00:07:53,480 Speaker 1: Claire looking for Billy. The two of them had some 133 00:07:53,600 --> 00:07:56,520 Speaker 1: kind of an argument, and shortly after Billy left town. 134 00:07:56,800 --> 00:07:59,800 Speaker 1: He moved to Manhattan, Montana, and changed his name to 135 00:07:59,840 --> 00:08:03,400 Speaker 1: Sammy and Sammy spent the next eighteen years living and 136 00:08:03,440 --> 00:08:06,760 Speaker 1: cooking on ranches in the area. He was popular among 137 00:08:06,760 --> 00:08:09,120 Speaker 1: the ranch hands and a beloved dance partner at the 138 00:08:09,200 --> 00:08:12,600 Speaker 1: local saloons. He also got involved in local town meetings 139 00:08:12,640 --> 00:08:15,720 Speaker 1: and voted in several elections. He was generous with his 140 00:08:15,800 --> 00:08:19,120 Speaker 1: money and often paid for his friends to receive medical care. 141 00:08:19,640 --> 00:08:22,160 Speaker 1: And when he died in nineteen oh eight, the entire 142 00:08:22,320 --> 00:08:25,640 Speaker 1: town mourned. Even the coroner was upset to come collect 143 00:08:25,680 --> 00:08:30,160 Speaker 1: his body, and that's when he discovered Sammy's deepest secret. Biologically, 144 00:08:30,560 --> 00:08:34,280 Speaker 1: Sammy was a woman. Now, as you might imagine, the 145 00:08:34,320 --> 00:08:38,600 Speaker 1: coroner was surprised, but the discovery also explained Sammy's behavior. 146 00:08:38,920 --> 00:08:41,360 Speaker 1: He never got drunk because he was likely scared of 147 00:08:41,440 --> 00:08:44,480 Speaker 1: revealing the truth about his identity. He got up early 148 00:08:44,559 --> 00:08:46,760 Speaker 1: and stayed up late so that he could change clothes 149 00:08:46,840 --> 00:08:49,880 Speaker 1: in private without being seen by other men at camp. 150 00:08:50,320 --> 00:08:53,160 Speaker 1: And this could also be why Sammy bought so much property, 151 00:08:53,320 --> 00:08:55,880 Speaker 1: was an avid voter and spent his hard earned money 152 00:08:55,920 --> 00:08:59,199 Speaker 1: with abandon These were luxuries that would have been unavailable 153 00:08:59,200 --> 00:09:02,319 Speaker 1: to him as a woman. And remember that strange man 154 00:09:02,360 --> 00:09:04,680 Speaker 1: who showed up in Eau Claire and argued with Sammy. 155 00:09:05,040 --> 00:09:07,760 Speaker 1: Historians now think that it was his brother begging Sammy 156 00:09:07,840 --> 00:09:11,120 Speaker 1: to come home. It's now believed that Sammy Williams was 157 00:09:11,120 --> 00:09:15,720 Speaker 1: born in Norway, likely in eighteen thirty three, as Ingeborg Weakens. 158 00:09:16,040 --> 00:09:18,640 Speaker 1: She and her family emigrated to Iowa when she was 159 00:09:18,640 --> 00:09:21,080 Speaker 1: a kid. As a young woman, she was engaged to 160 00:09:21,120 --> 00:09:24,160 Speaker 1: a childhood friend named Sven, but Sven's family broke off 161 00:09:24,200 --> 00:09:28,199 Speaker 1: the engagement because Ingeborg was too low of status. Shortly after, 162 00:09:28,280 --> 00:09:31,520 Speaker 1: she disappeared from history and a man named Billy Williams 163 00:09:31,640 --> 00:09:35,280 Speaker 1: arrived in Wisconsin. It's not known whether Billy or Sammy 164 00:09:35,440 --> 00:09:39,400 Speaker 1: would have considered themselves trans. It's possible he privately identified 165 00:09:39,400 --> 00:09:42,440 Speaker 1: as a woman, but simply wanted the independence of living 166 00:09:42,600 --> 00:09:46,160 Speaker 1: as a man. Whatever the case, Sammy's secret was a shock, 167 00:09:46,520 --> 00:09:49,520 Speaker 1: but not a scandal that you might imagine it to be, 168 00:09:49,520 --> 00:09:52,320 Speaker 1: because at the time, it's estimated that hundreds of people 169 00:09:52,360 --> 00:09:55,640 Speaker 1: in the Old West were actually living as the opposite gender. 170 00:09:56,040 --> 00:09:59,120 Speaker 1: Some of these individuals would probably consider themselves queer or 171 00:09:59,160 --> 00:10:02,040 Speaker 1: trans if they were alive today, but others were simply 172 00:10:02,320 --> 00:10:06,200 Speaker 1: chasing freedom. Outlaws would escape the gallows by hiding in 173 00:10:06,240 --> 00:10:09,760 Speaker 1: plain sights as women. Plenty of women traveled West and 174 00:10:09,800 --> 00:10:12,960 Speaker 1: became men to avoid the confines of marriage. Most of 175 00:10:13,000 --> 00:10:17,000 Speaker 1: these gender nonconformists assimilated so seamlessly that they were only 176 00:10:17,040 --> 00:10:21,200 Speaker 1: discovered after their deaths. Their history was once considered an 177 00:10:21,240 --> 00:10:23,880 Speaker 1: integral part of the Old West. It's only in the 178 00:10:23,960 --> 00:10:26,840 Speaker 1: last century that they've been erased or whittled down to 179 00:10:26,960 --> 00:10:31,160 Speaker 1: singular characters like Calamity Jane. Now it's hard to say 180 00:10:31,200 --> 00:10:35,160 Speaker 1: whether Sammy Williams saw themselves as trans in disguise, or 181 00:10:35,200 --> 00:10:38,240 Speaker 1: maybe some mixture of the two. Whatever the case, their 182 00:10:38,280 --> 00:10:42,679 Speaker 1: tombstone in Manhattan explains their story succinctly. It reads a 183 00:10:42,720 --> 00:10:45,480 Speaker 1: female whose real name is unknown, but who has been 184 00:10:45,559 --> 00:10:49,640 Speaker 1: for many years known as Sammy Williams. And that's fitting, 185 00:10:49,760 --> 00:10:53,240 Speaker 1: after all, since the Old West was the land of opportunity, 186 00:10:53,559 --> 00:10:56,480 Speaker 1: a chance to leave your past behind, strike it rich, 187 00:10:56,920 --> 00:11:03,640 Speaker 1: and become whoever you want it to be. I hope 188 00:11:03,640 --> 00:11:06,959 Speaker 1: you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. 189 00:11:07,320 --> 00:11:10,400 Speaker 1: Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about 190 00:11:10,400 --> 00:11:14,960 Speaker 1: the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show 191 00:11:15,200 --> 00:11:18,440 Speaker 1: was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how 192 00:11:18,520 --> 00:11:22,120 Speaker 1: Stuff Works, I make another award winning show called Lore, 193 00:11:22,360 --> 00:11:26,000 Speaker 1: which is a podcast, book series, and television show and 194 00:11:26,040 --> 00:11:28,640 Speaker 1: you can learn all about it over at the Worldoflore 195 00:11:28,920 --> 00:11:34,439 Speaker 1: dot com. And until next time, stay curious.