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 --> 00:00:11,200 Speaker 1: is an open book, all of these amazing tales are 3 00:00:11,320 --> 00:00:14,680 Speaker 1: right there on display, just waiting for us to explore. 4 00:00:16,200 --> 00:00:28,560 Speaker 1: Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. We've all mailed a 5 00:00:28,640 --> 00:00:31,920 Speaker 1: letter or two in our lifetime. Most of us understand 6 00:00:31,920 --> 00:00:34,479 Speaker 1: that sending a letter has certain costs attached to it, 7 00:00:34,640 --> 00:00:37,240 Speaker 1: like paying the mail carriers and the people whose sort 8 00:00:37,320 --> 00:00:40,199 Speaker 1: and organize it all. So there's a fee attached to 9 00:00:40,240 --> 00:00:44,400 Speaker 1: each letter literally. In fact, since the forties, people have 10 00:00:44,479 --> 00:00:48,120 Speaker 1: paid for the privilege to mail a letter by purchasing stamps. 11 00:00:49,400 --> 00:00:53,320 Speaker 1: One beautiful spring morning, a man named Bill Robbie left 12 00:00:53,320 --> 00:00:56,400 Speaker 1: the post office with a sheet of stamps. There were 13 00:00:56,480 --> 00:00:59,200 Speaker 1: one hundred of them altogether, and he'd paid a whopping 14 00:00:59,240 --> 00:01:02,319 Speaker 1: twenty four hours for the lot of them. They were 15 00:01:02,320 --> 00:01:05,360 Speaker 1: pretty too, with a bright red border on a background 16 00:01:05,440 --> 00:01:08,080 Speaker 1: of sky blue, and right there in the middle of 17 00:01:08,120 --> 00:01:11,000 Speaker 1: the frame, flanked by the value of the stamp and 18 00:01:11,040 --> 00:01:15,759 Speaker 1: a large US Postage banner across the top was an airplane. 19 00:01:17,240 --> 00:01:19,760 Speaker 1: They were hot off the presses and were sort of 20 00:01:19,760 --> 00:01:23,080 Speaker 1: a commemorative stamp, so to speak. You see the airplane 21 00:01:23,120 --> 00:01:25,840 Speaker 1: featured in the artwork was meant to represent a historic 22 00:01:25,920 --> 00:01:28,680 Speaker 1: flight that was about to take place that very same day. 23 00:01:29,120 --> 00:01:32,240 Speaker 1: The Postal Service was about to enter the era of airmail, 24 00:01:32,560 --> 00:01:36,200 Speaker 1: transporting mail over hundreds of miles with the help of airplanes. 25 00:01:36,720 --> 00:01:39,480 Speaker 1: It was a very big deal. In fact, when the 26 00:01:39,520 --> 00:01:42,600 Speaker 1: flight took place the next day, President Woodrow Wilson showed 27 00:01:42,680 --> 00:01:45,399 Speaker 1: up to watch it. The plane was flown from Washington, 28 00:01:45,480 --> 00:01:47,840 Speaker 1: d c. All the way to New York, and despite 29 00:01:47,880 --> 00:01:51,040 Speaker 1: some early engine troubles, the flight finally took off under 30 00:01:51,080 --> 00:01:54,920 Speaker 1: the guidance of Lieutenant George Boyle. The plane, by the way, 31 00:01:55,240 --> 00:01:58,600 Speaker 1: was a Curtis Model j N four. J N of course, 32 00:01:58,600 --> 00:02:01,160 Speaker 1: sounds a lot like jen which is why most people 33 00:02:01,160 --> 00:02:04,720 Speaker 1: called them Jenny's, and that Jenny took off. It vanished 34 00:02:04,760 --> 00:02:09,239 Speaker 1: over the horizon anyway. The day before, when Bill Robbie 35 00:02:09,280 --> 00:02:12,640 Speaker 1: took those stamps home, he noticed something odd about them. 36 00:02:12,680 --> 00:02:15,959 Speaker 1: The entire sheet appeared to have been printed incorrectly. The 37 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:18,680 Speaker 1: plane in the middle of each tiny frame was flying 38 00:02:18,840 --> 00:02:22,480 Speaker 1: upside down, the product of a simple printing error involving 39 00:02:22,600 --> 00:02:27,840 Speaker 1: a reversed plate. Most importantly, though they were rare. In fact, 40 00:02:27,840 --> 00:02:30,680 Speaker 1: only nine of those upside down sheets were printed before 41 00:02:30,720 --> 00:02:35,119 Speaker 1: the mistake was fixed, making them extremely valuable. I think 42 00:02:35,160 --> 00:02:37,880 Speaker 1: most people have seen them before too. These stamps are 43 00:02:37,919 --> 00:02:41,200 Speaker 1: a textbook example of how manufacturing errors can turn a 44 00:02:41,240 --> 00:02:45,639 Speaker 1: common object into something that's incredibly desired to collectors. And 45 00:02:45,760 --> 00:02:51,000 Speaker 1: let me tell you, these things were desirable. Bill ended 46 00:02:51,080 --> 00:02:53,600 Speaker 1: up selling his twenty four dollar sheet a week later 47 00:02:53,800 --> 00:02:57,639 Speaker 1: four fifteen thousand dollars. The man who bought it sold 48 00:02:57,639 --> 00:03:00,720 Speaker 1: it a week later for twenty tho dollars. From there, 49 00:03:00,720 --> 00:03:04,200 Speaker 1: the prices just skyrocketed over the years. The sheet was 50 00:03:04,240 --> 00:03:07,120 Speaker 1: separated into blocks to sell off one or two stamps 51 00:03:07,160 --> 00:03:09,760 Speaker 1: at a time, and by the nineteen sixties, a single 52 00:03:09,880 --> 00:03:13,160 Speaker 1: stamp price was in the tens of thousands of dollars. 53 00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:16,120 Speaker 1: By the nineteen eighties, one stamp would run you nearly 54 00:03:16,200 --> 00:03:21,239 Speaker 1: two hundred thousand dollars. In May of two thousand sixteen, 55 00:03:21,480 --> 00:03:24,600 Speaker 1: the old Inverted Jenny set a new record with a 56 00:03:24,639 --> 00:03:27,919 Speaker 1: single stamp selling at auction for nearly one point two 57 00:03:28,040 --> 00:03:31,720 Speaker 1: million dollars. And honestly, I can't help but wonder at 58 00:03:31,720 --> 00:03:34,680 Speaker 1: the power of rarity and time to make something as 59 00:03:34,680 --> 00:03:37,560 Speaker 1: small as a postage stamp become worth more than a 60 00:03:37,600 --> 00:03:41,600 Speaker 1: million bucks. It's crazy for sure, but it's not the 61 00:03:41,680 --> 00:03:46,240 Speaker 1: craziest part of this story. These stamps were released on 62 00:03:46,360 --> 00:03:49,600 Speaker 1: May tenth of nineteen eighteen, just a few days ahead 63 00:03:49,640 --> 00:03:52,920 Speaker 1: of the flight they were meant to commemorate. On May fifteenth. 64 00:03:53,040 --> 00:03:55,839 Speaker 1: The crowd gathered to watch the plane take off and 65 00:03:56,000 --> 00:04:00,400 Speaker 1: then watched it slowly disappear in the distance, except headed 66 00:04:00,480 --> 00:04:03,920 Speaker 1: in the wrong direction. It was supposed to fly north, 67 00:04:03,960 --> 00:04:08,240 Speaker 1: but instead headed south. The pilot, George Boyle, blamed it 68 00:04:08,320 --> 00:04:10,960 Speaker 1: on a broken compass when he called his boss for help. 69 00:04:11,560 --> 00:04:14,120 Speaker 1: You see, it turns out he had landed somewhere in 70 00:04:14,200 --> 00:04:16,760 Speaker 1: Maryland and needed someone to come and get him and 71 00:04:16,920 --> 00:04:21,479 Speaker 1: the plane, and not just landed, Boyle actually crashed landed 72 00:04:21,520 --> 00:04:26,120 Speaker 1: that jenny, which was a bit more embarrassing. The plane 73 00:04:26,120 --> 00:04:28,920 Speaker 1: had crashed in a cornfield, and to be honest, it 74 00:04:29,040 --> 00:04:32,200 Speaker 1: was a miracle that Boile survived to talk about it later. 75 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:36,080 Speaker 1: And that's because of the position the plane ended up in. 76 00:04:37,560 --> 00:04:54,440 Speaker 1: It was upside down. Alan was born in Scotland in 77 00:04:54,440 --> 00:04:57,640 Speaker 1: the early eight hundreds and from the very beginning life 78 00:04:57,680 --> 00:05:00,880 Speaker 1: was rough. His neighborhood in Glasgow was known for its 79 00:05:00,920 --> 00:05:04,000 Speaker 1: poverty and crime, making it very difficult to break outside 80 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:08,520 Speaker 1: of that pattern, but Alan tried. His father passed away 81 00:05:08,520 --> 00:05:11,320 Speaker 1: before he turned ten, causing him to enter the workforce 82 00:05:11,400 --> 00:05:14,360 Speaker 1: to help support his family. As he grew and worked 83 00:05:14,400 --> 00:05:18,279 Speaker 1: over the years, though, he encountered new ideas and movements, 84 00:05:18,320 --> 00:05:21,200 Speaker 1: one of which was known as chartis Um. It was 85 00:05:21,240 --> 00:05:24,599 Speaker 1: a mid nineteenth century reform movement in Britain that called 86 00:05:24,640 --> 00:05:28,440 Speaker 1: for better rights for the working class. It wasn't a 87 00:05:28,480 --> 00:05:32,000 Speaker 1: bad thing. At its core. The Chartist movement was demanding 88 00:05:32,040 --> 00:05:35,280 Speaker 1: better voting rights and representation in a government that had 89 00:05:35,320 --> 00:05:38,240 Speaker 1: been a bit too inaccessible for a very long time. 90 00:05:38,720 --> 00:05:41,280 Speaker 1: But like all big movements, there were some who took 91 00:05:41,320 --> 00:05:45,719 Speaker 1: things too far. Violent protests and demonstrations led to arrest 92 00:05:45,760 --> 00:05:49,080 Speaker 1: warrants for a number of Chartists, and Alan's name was 93 00:05:49,160 --> 00:05:53,479 Speaker 1: among them. To avoid arrest, Alan hit out at the 94 00:05:53,520 --> 00:05:57,400 Speaker 1: home of friends for months. In April of eighteen forty two, 95 00:05:57,440 --> 00:05:59,960 Speaker 1: though those friends managed to sneak him aboard a ship 96 00:06:00,120 --> 00:06:02,960 Speaker 1: that was headed to the United States. For a long while, 97 00:06:03,200 --> 00:06:06,200 Speaker 1: he seemed to be safe until that is, the ship 98 00:06:06,320 --> 00:06:09,480 Speaker 1: was wrecked off the coast of Nova Scotia. Thankfully, though 99 00:06:09,920 --> 00:06:14,880 Speaker 1: Alan survived. He eventually made his way to the Chicago area, 100 00:06:14,960 --> 00:06:17,720 Speaker 1: where he set up life in a Scottish community known 101 00:06:17,760 --> 00:06:21,320 Speaker 1: as Dundee. Alan was safe there. He had left his 102 00:06:21,400 --> 00:06:24,680 Speaker 1: troubled past behind anovated the authorities. He might have had 103 00:06:24,680 --> 00:06:27,039 Speaker 1: a price on his head back home, but in America 104 00:06:27,240 --> 00:06:29,760 Speaker 1: he was a freeman. All he needed to do now 105 00:06:29,960 --> 00:06:33,080 Speaker 1: was keep a low profile and everything would be all right. 106 00:06:34,520 --> 00:06:37,440 Speaker 1: Five years after moving to Dundee, though, something happened to 107 00:06:37,600 --> 00:06:40,880 Speaker 1: change that. Alan had rode out to a small island 108 00:06:40,880 --> 00:06:42,760 Speaker 1: in the middle of the Fox River to cut some 109 00:06:42,839 --> 00:06:46,520 Speaker 1: timber and encountered evidence of a large campsite. It was 110 00:06:46,640 --> 00:06:49,520 Speaker 1: unusual enough that Alan returned to town and told the 111 00:06:49,560 --> 00:06:52,520 Speaker 1: sheriff about it, and together they set up watch to 112 00:06:52,560 --> 00:06:55,200 Speaker 1: see who might be using the island and for what. 113 00:06:56,440 --> 00:06:59,360 Speaker 1: When they discovered who it was, the sheriff was astounded. 114 00:06:59,680 --> 00:07:02,919 Speaker 1: All known counterfeit operation had been using the island for 115 00:07:02,960 --> 00:07:06,640 Speaker 1: gatherings in between crimes, and thanks to Alan, all of 116 00:07:06,680 --> 00:07:09,760 Speaker 1: them were captured and taken to jail. The sheriff was 117 00:07:09,920 --> 00:07:12,680 Speaker 1: more than grateful for Alan's help and made the young 118 00:07:12,720 --> 00:07:17,600 Speaker 1: man a deputy as a reward. Within two years, Alan 119 00:07:17,640 --> 00:07:20,160 Speaker 1: had moved to Chicago, where he joined the police force. 120 00:07:20,240 --> 00:07:22,840 Speaker 1: There he was good at his job and had an 121 00:07:22,840 --> 00:07:25,000 Speaker 1: eye for details that no one else seemed to have. 122 00:07:25,600 --> 00:07:31,720 Speaker 1: Before long, he became Chicago's first official detective. His career 123 00:07:31,760 --> 00:07:35,760 Speaker 1: would become something of a legend. Hated by criminals, he 124 00:07:35,800 --> 00:07:39,520 Speaker 1: was plagued by assassination attempts for years. A decade after 125 00:07:39,600 --> 00:07:42,960 Speaker 1: arriving in Chicago, though, it was another man's assassination that 126 00:07:43,040 --> 00:07:46,240 Speaker 1: Alan managed to stop. A group of people had planned 127 00:07:46,280 --> 00:07:49,600 Speaker 1: to kill newly elected President Abraham Lincoln as he was 128 00:07:49,640 --> 00:07:53,960 Speaker 1: traveling to Washington, d C. For his inauguration. Alan managed 129 00:07:54,000 --> 00:07:57,840 Speaker 1: to stop it. Though he went on to build a 130 00:07:57,840 --> 00:08:01,400 Speaker 1: business around his skills. He of the official police force 131 00:08:01,480 --> 00:08:05,680 Speaker 1: and became a freelancer, offering his private investigation services to 132 00:08:05,720 --> 00:08:09,040 Speaker 1: anyone who needed them. His reputation became so great that 133 00:08:09,080 --> 00:08:11,920 Speaker 1: when the Department of Justice needed to supplement their team 134 00:08:11,920 --> 00:08:17,000 Speaker 1: of investigators in eighteen seventy one, they hired Allen's company. 135 00:08:17,600 --> 00:08:21,080 Speaker 1: It's all a bit ironic, isn't it. A man who 136 00:08:21,080 --> 00:08:24,960 Speaker 1: fled his homeland to avoid arrest for criminal activities ended 137 00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:28,800 Speaker 1: up becoming the premier detective of the nineteenth century. His 138 00:08:28,920 --> 00:08:32,600 Speaker 1: team helped track down the notorious serial killer H. H. Holmes. 139 00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:35,719 Speaker 1: They toppled the largest New York crime syndicate of the 140 00:08:35,840 --> 00:08:40,840 Speaker 1: day and did battle with the outlaw Jesse James. Most 141 00:08:40,840 --> 00:08:44,440 Speaker 1: people today would recognize Alan's company if they heard the name, 142 00:08:44,800 --> 00:08:48,680 Speaker 1: because it's so unusual. And that's not Allan's fault though, 143 00:08:49,120 --> 00:08:51,560 Speaker 1: because as far back as he was concerned, he did 144 00:08:51,600 --> 00:08:55,559 Speaker 1: the logical thing and named the business after himself. As 145 00:08:55,600 --> 00:08:59,320 Speaker 1: a result, his surname has become synonymous with the concept 146 00:08:59,440 --> 00:09:07,720 Speaker 1: of a detective agency, the Pinkerton's. I hope you've enjoyed 147 00:09:07,720 --> 00:09:11,480 Speaker 1: today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for 148 00:09:11,520 --> 00:09:14,280 Speaker 1: free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show 149 00:09:14,360 --> 00:09:19,400 Speaker 1: by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created 150 00:09:19,400 --> 00:09:22,720 Speaker 1: by me Aaron Manky in partnership with how Stuff Works. 151 00:09:23,120 --> 00:09:26,280 Speaker 1: I make another award winning show called Lore, which is 152 00:09:26,400 --> 00:09:29,800 Speaker 1: a podcast, book series, and television show, and you can 153 00:09:29,880 --> 00:09:32,200 Speaker 1: learn all about it over at the World of Lore 154 00:09:32,480 --> 00:09:36,160 Speaker 1: dot com. And until next time, stay curious.