WEBVTT - Short Stuff: The Conch Republic

0:00:04.200 --> 0:00:06.560
<v Speaker 1>Hey, and welcome to the short stuff. I'm Josh, there's Chuck.

0:00:06.600 --> 0:00:11.760
<v Speaker 1>There's Josh. Let's go Key West, Florida dateline. Uh, southernmost

0:00:11.760 --> 0:00:15.000
<v Speaker 1>point to the United States. Smugglers Island, That's what it's

0:00:15.000 --> 0:00:19.640
<v Speaker 1>called sometimes. Yeah, because Key West obviously just the location itself,

0:00:19.840 --> 0:00:23.360
<v Speaker 1>it's gonna lend itself to smuggling, smuggling stuff in from

0:00:23.400 --> 0:00:26.799
<v Speaker 1>other places by boat. And I mean it has like

0:00:26.880 --> 0:00:30.360
<v Speaker 1>it's it was a pirate haven for a very long time.

0:00:30.840 --> 0:00:34.319
<v Speaker 1>But apparently that the local population really took to that

0:00:34.960 --> 0:00:37.559
<v Speaker 1>and just kept it up. But like over time when

0:00:37.600 --> 0:00:41.320
<v Speaker 1>they were smuggling just kind of changed. And at this

0:00:41.360 --> 0:00:44.120
<v Speaker 1>point in question, this point in history that we're going

0:00:44.159 --> 0:00:46.839
<v Speaker 1>to kind of dive into right now, it had become

0:00:47.000 --> 0:00:50.159
<v Speaker 1>marijuana and cocaine. Those were what was being smuggled through

0:00:50.240 --> 0:00:54.639
<v Speaker 1>Key West, the glorious eighties Keys of Cocaine and Key

0:00:54.680 --> 0:00:58.560
<v Speaker 1>West shortest shorts you've ever seen, Oh I imagine. So

0:00:59.720 --> 0:01:02.240
<v Speaker 1>uh So, these drugs were coming in through South America,

0:01:02.440 --> 0:01:05.880
<v Speaker 1>through Cuba, and then obviously from there it's a it's

0:01:05.880 --> 0:01:09.000
<v Speaker 1>a quick ninety miles to get to Key West. There's

0:01:09.000 --> 0:01:12.959
<v Speaker 1>a report from the u p I. The uh quote

0:01:13.120 --> 0:01:16.560
<v Speaker 1>cruise on fishing boats brazenly unloaded bales of marijuana. High

0:01:16.600 --> 0:01:19.640
<v Speaker 1>school utes made big money driving the contraband a hundred

0:01:19.640 --> 0:01:23.560
<v Speaker 1>and fifty and mine miles northward to Miami. Drug dealers

0:01:23.840 --> 0:01:27.560
<v Speaker 1>held labash champagne parties at Pier House, the Pos Waterfront Hotel.

0:01:28.160 --> 0:01:30.240
<v Speaker 1>So these kids were driving the stuff up and just

0:01:30.280 --> 0:01:32.119
<v Speaker 1>sitting in the back of their pickup trucks. Well, yeah,

0:01:32.160 --> 0:01:34.320
<v Speaker 1>around the island in particularly, I think when they left

0:01:34.319 --> 0:01:36.679
<v Speaker 1>to drive into Miami, they were a little cooler, but

0:01:36.720 --> 0:01:38.959
<v Speaker 1>it was a tarp over it at least wide open.

0:01:39.680 --> 0:01:43.240
<v Speaker 1>In Key West of the time, like the local law enforcement,

0:01:43.560 --> 0:01:49.240
<v Speaker 1>the local um UH, like city government, everybody seemed to

0:01:49.280 --> 0:01:53.360
<v Speaker 1>either be directly involved in smuggling or turning a blind

0:01:53.400 --> 0:01:56.600
<v Speaker 1>eye to it, probably because they're getting kickbacks or whatever.

0:01:56.880 --> 0:01:58.640
<v Speaker 1>So they are a fire station that was shut down

0:01:59.320 --> 0:02:03.560
<v Speaker 1>because so many firefighters were busted for marijuana smuggling that

0:02:03.640 --> 0:02:05.040
<v Speaker 1>they had to shut the thing down, and one of

0:02:05.080 --> 0:02:07.080
<v Speaker 1>the fire chiefs was actually putting in prison for it.

0:02:07.840 --> 0:02:11.119
<v Speaker 1>So by the by two at the latest, if not earlier,

0:02:11.400 --> 0:02:15.919
<v Speaker 1>the Reagan administration said this totally contradicts what Nancy saying.

0:02:16.720 --> 0:02:18.880
<v Speaker 1>We're gonna do something about this, and they set up

0:02:19.520 --> 0:02:25.400
<v Speaker 1>the South Florida Task Force against Crime, which doesn't really

0:02:25.440 --> 0:02:27.679
<v Speaker 1>create any kind of good acronym, which I found a

0:02:27.680 --> 0:02:37.360
<v Speaker 1>little f Come on, Ronnie, right, so by two he

0:02:37.680 --> 0:02:40.720
<v Speaker 1>uh well not he yeah, Ronnie alone. I'm sure he

0:02:40.800 --> 0:02:45.320
<v Speaker 1>named the organization too. They intercepted two billion dollars in

0:02:45.440 --> 0:02:49.120
<v Speaker 1>drugs coming through South Florida in just eight two alone.

0:02:49.560 --> 0:02:53.760
<v Speaker 1>Imagine how much they missed, you know. Yeah, so they

0:02:53.760 --> 0:02:56.200
<v Speaker 1>were really cracking down. They also like basically took over

0:02:56.240 --> 0:03:00.280
<v Speaker 1>the city government, um investigated the police, like they really

0:03:00.320 --> 0:03:02.400
<v Speaker 1>went into Key West and the Keys in general and

0:03:02.440 --> 0:03:04.640
<v Speaker 1>said we were cleaning this place up. And that was

0:03:04.639 --> 0:03:07.680
<v Speaker 1>two billion in street value, right exactly. But that always

0:03:07.720 --> 0:03:10.200
<v Speaker 1>cracked me up. That's they used to always say that. Yeah.

0:03:10.240 --> 0:03:13.240
<v Speaker 1>I think they kind of inflate that to make s

0:03:13.639 --> 0:03:18.280
<v Speaker 1>like the manufactured suggested retail part that's RP. So one

0:03:18.320 --> 0:03:21.840
<v Speaker 1>of the things they did on this task force was

0:03:21.880 --> 0:03:26.320
<v Speaker 1>set up a border patrol checkpoint and between the you know,

0:03:26.360 --> 0:03:28.800
<v Speaker 1>the Florida Keys are off the mainland of Florida, so

0:03:28.919 --> 0:03:30.600
<v Speaker 1>they would set it up between the Keys and the

0:03:30.600 --> 0:03:35.320
<v Speaker 1>mainland at Florida City. Yeah, just right there at Florida City.

0:03:35.440 --> 0:03:41.320
<v Speaker 1>On Highway one just south of that and basically effectively

0:03:41.360 --> 0:03:43.600
<v Speaker 1>what they did was shut off Key West from the

0:03:43.600 --> 0:03:45.840
<v Speaker 1>rest of the United States. Yeah, they raised the only

0:03:45.840 --> 0:03:48.400
<v Speaker 1>way in and out. They raised the border up above

0:03:48.440 --> 0:03:51.800
<v Speaker 1>the Keys and basically made the Keys like another country.

0:03:51.920 --> 0:03:54.880
<v Speaker 1>That's ostensibly that's exactly what happened. And the Keys did

0:03:54.960 --> 0:04:25.320
<v Speaker 1>not like this very much. Should we take a break? Okay? Sure, okay, chuck.

0:04:25.400 --> 0:04:29.000
<v Speaker 1>So the border patrol is now basically doing drug searches

0:04:29.080 --> 0:04:31.920
<v Speaker 1>because they were saying, ostensibly, we have this roadblock to

0:04:32.080 --> 0:04:35.200
<v Speaker 1>keep migrants from coming through illegally. Yeah, that was sort

0:04:35.200 --> 0:04:38.440
<v Speaker 1>of how they dressed it up, right, But they were

0:04:38.440 --> 0:04:41.680
<v Speaker 1>looking for migrants. According to I think Florida history dot org,

0:04:42.120 --> 0:04:45.640
<v Speaker 1>they were looking for migrants in the glove compartment or

0:04:45.720 --> 0:04:47.599
<v Speaker 1>under the seat of the car or something like that.

0:04:47.680 --> 0:04:50.520
<v Speaker 1>So really it was part of this drug crackdown. And

0:04:51.000 --> 0:04:53.480
<v Speaker 1>I mean that was bad enough that they were masquerading,

0:04:53.720 --> 0:04:56.240
<v Speaker 1>you know, one thing for another, but the effect that

0:04:56.279 --> 0:04:59.120
<v Speaker 1>it was having was really negative on the Keys in

0:04:59.160 --> 0:05:01.560
<v Speaker 1>general and Key Way in particular. Yeah, I mean they

0:05:01.800 --> 0:05:04.120
<v Speaker 1>rely a lot on tourism. You couldn't get n er out.

0:05:04.160 --> 0:05:07.640
<v Speaker 1>There was a seventeen mile traffic jam can you imagine,

0:05:07.640 --> 0:05:09.560
<v Speaker 1>I thought, I said, seventeen minutes. At first, I was like, oh,

0:05:09.640 --> 0:05:11.279
<v Speaker 1>it's not that bad. I'd just be like, I just

0:05:11.360 --> 0:05:14.400
<v Speaker 1>drive right into the ocean. Yeah, seventeen miles. Are you

0:05:14.480 --> 0:05:17.680
<v Speaker 1>kidding me? So, you know, hotels are empty, restaurants are

0:05:17.720 --> 0:05:20.719
<v Speaker 1>not doing any business, bars are not doing any business,

0:05:21.279 --> 0:05:23.680
<v Speaker 1>which was a big deal there. It sounds you know,

0:05:24.040 --> 0:05:26.800
<v Speaker 1>it sounds silly to talk about restaurants and bars not operating,

0:05:26.800 --> 0:05:29.160
<v Speaker 1>but well, that's a big part of your income. It's

0:05:29.160 --> 0:05:32.360
<v Speaker 1>a big deal. So they said we've had enough. They

0:05:32.400 --> 0:05:35.800
<v Speaker 1>got together and they filed an injunction against the US

0:05:35.880 --> 0:05:39.320
<v Speaker 1>Border Patrol. This is the people of the Keys, the

0:05:39.360 --> 0:05:42.920
<v Speaker 1>government of the community, the people at large, So we're

0:05:42.920 --> 0:05:45.279
<v Speaker 1>doing this. They took him to federal court in Miami.

0:05:45.640 --> 0:05:48.680
<v Speaker 1>The court said, no, you can. You can keep that roadblock.

0:05:49.360 --> 0:05:52.960
<v Speaker 1>So the mayor of Key West, Dennis Wardlow, which I

0:05:53.000 --> 0:05:54.960
<v Speaker 1>looked him up and I fully expected him to look

0:05:54.960 --> 0:05:58.480
<v Speaker 1>different than he looked. Oh really, yeah, I expected him

0:05:58.520 --> 0:06:01.200
<v Speaker 1>to look kind of like a Jimmy Buffett. I did too,

0:06:01.240 --> 0:06:03.400
<v Speaker 1>and he didn't. What does he look like? He looked

0:06:03.440 --> 0:06:06.680
<v Speaker 1>sort of square? Did he look like the evil banker

0:06:06.760 --> 0:06:09.039
<v Speaker 1>from It's a wonderful life, because that's kind of the

0:06:09.040 --> 0:06:12.000
<v Speaker 1>opposite of Jimmy Buffin. No, but I fully pictured like

0:06:12.040 --> 0:06:15.239
<v Speaker 1>a guy in like a Hawaiian shirt and no shoes

0:06:16.080 --> 0:06:18.760
<v Speaker 1>and long hair. But he looked square. He looked a

0:06:18.800 --> 0:06:21.360
<v Speaker 1>little square. That's fine, but it was two He did

0:06:21.360 --> 0:06:26.480
<v Speaker 1>on with short shorts, but sent time. So the press

0:06:26.520 --> 0:06:28.920
<v Speaker 1>is there. He leaves the courthouse after the defeat and

0:06:28.920 --> 0:06:30.240
<v Speaker 1>they said, you know what's going on. What are you

0:06:30.240 --> 0:06:33.919
<v Speaker 1>gonna do? And he says, a very I attention grabbing,

0:06:34.000 --> 0:06:37.240
<v Speaker 1>ear grabbing thing. Tomorrow at noon, the Florida Keys will

0:06:37.279 --> 0:06:40.400
<v Speaker 1>seceed from the Union. So he had a sense of humor,

0:06:41.240 --> 0:06:43.240
<v Speaker 1>he did, but he also had a lot of follow

0:06:43.279 --> 0:06:45.080
<v Speaker 1>through on a sense of humors. Oh yeah, it wasn't

0:06:45.120 --> 0:06:48.320
<v Speaker 1>just a joke, no, because the next day people showed

0:06:48.400 --> 0:06:51.360
<v Speaker 1>up to see what would happen. And at noon he

0:06:51.440 --> 0:06:54.280
<v Speaker 1>came out and he said, okay, first things first, the

0:06:54.880 --> 0:06:59.040
<v Speaker 1>Key West is no longer a part of the United States.

0:06:59.080 --> 0:07:02.360
<v Speaker 1>It's its own dependent nation called the Conquer Republic. Yes,

0:07:02.480 --> 0:07:06.839
<v Speaker 1>a sovereign nation of the Fifth World. Yeah, and there's

0:07:06.880 --> 0:07:10.600
<v Speaker 1>this really great Atlas Obscure article about the Conquer Republic

0:07:11.080 --> 0:07:14.320
<v Speaker 1>and they described the Fifth world as um. So you know,

0:07:14.640 --> 0:07:18.040
<v Speaker 1>the first World, the second World, third world is everybody

0:07:18.080 --> 0:07:22.840
<v Speaker 1>we should say this is an outdated Cold War thing, exactly. Yeah.

0:07:22.880 --> 0:07:25.160
<v Speaker 1>So the United States and its allies were first World,

0:07:25.400 --> 0:07:28.320
<v Speaker 1>the Soviet Union and its allies were second World on

0:07:28.480 --> 0:07:32.920
<v Speaker 1>aligned countries or developing countries, Third World, fourth World, where

0:07:32.920 --> 0:07:36.760
<v Speaker 1>people who were stateless. I'd never heard that before. Apparently

0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:39.520
<v Speaker 1>Dennis Wardlow had because he said that the Conquer Republic

0:07:39.600 --> 0:07:43.120
<v Speaker 1>was the first fifth World nation smart which existed as

0:07:43.160 --> 0:07:45.920
<v Speaker 1>a state of mind. He said, we exist as a

0:07:46.000 --> 0:07:49.720
<v Speaker 1>state of mind and aspire only to bring more warmth, humor,

0:07:49.880 --> 0:07:52.920
<v Speaker 1>and respect to a planet we find in sore need

0:07:53.240 --> 0:07:55.960
<v Speaker 1>of all three that. By the way, you guys don't

0:07:55.960 --> 0:08:00.080
<v Speaker 1>know this was an exceptional Dennis Wardlow I president. He

0:08:00.120 --> 0:08:04.080
<v Speaker 1>sounds exactly like me, Vice Persa. That's crazy. So he

0:08:04.280 --> 0:08:08.160
<v Speaker 1>officially changes his position from in his title from Mayor

0:08:08.160 --> 0:08:10.280
<v Speaker 1>of Key West to Prime Minister of the Conquer Republic.

0:08:11.280 --> 0:08:13.400
<v Speaker 1>And I felt like I had heard this somewhere before,

0:08:13.760 --> 0:08:16.760
<v Speaker 1>but I might just be thinking of other crackpot weirdos

0:08:16.800 --> 0:08:21.240
<v Speaker 1>like Sea Land and the Pineapple called There's a history

0:08:21.240 --> 0:08:23.960
<v Speaker 1>of people that do things like this. Yeah, and we've

0:08:23.960 --> 0:08:28.640
<v Speaker 1>talked about a lot of them. Remember Sea Land, Yeah,

0:08:29.080 --> 0:08:31.840
<v Speaker 1>not impressed. No, and I had forgotten about them. Did

0:08:31.880 --> 0:08:35.240
<v Speaker 1>they declare themselves sovereign? Yeah? Oh yeah yeah yeah. Then

0:08:35.320 --> 0:08:37.439
<v Speaker 1>the ocean, it was like a floating up marge or something.

0:08:38.679 --> 0:08:41.320
<v Speaker 1>Can you start your own country? I think was the episode. Yeah,

0:08:41.360 --> 0:08:45.559
<v Speaker 1>that was it. So, uh, Prime Minister of the Conquer Republic,

0:08:45.679 --> 0:08:49.480
<v Speaker 1>and he had a mock secession, a declaration of war

0:08:49.760 --> 0:08:51.840
<v Speaker 1>on the United States right off the bat. That's a

0:08:51.840 --> 0:08:55.319
<v Speaker 1>big one. He declared war and uh it ended with

0:08:55.960 --> 0:08:59.600
<v Speaker 1>loaves of Cuban bread being broken over the head of

0:08:59.640 --> 0:09:02.240
<v Speaker 1>a man dressed as a U. S. Naval officer. That

0:09:02.320 --> 0:09:05.280
<v Speaker 1>was the war of aggression that the Conquer Republic inflicted

0:09:05.320 --> 0:09:07.360
<v Speaker 1>on the United States. So they're having fun at this

0:09:07.440 --> 0:09:09.679
<v Speaker 1>point because the press is there, and this is the

0:09:09.720 --> 0:09:12.800
<v Speaker 1>whole point, because they're trying to get pressed. They are

0:09:12.840 --> 0:09:15.120
<v Speaker 1>they're trying to draw attention to the roadblock. They're also

0:09:15.160 --> 0:09:18.240
<v Speaker 1>trying to draw attention to their tourism. Um. And then

0:09:18.320 --> 0:09:23.640
<v Speaker 1>after after a minute of this war, Wardlow officially surrenders

0:09:23.960 --> 0:09:27.520
<v Speaker 1>the Conquer Republic to the United States. And um, he

0:09:27.559 --> 0:09:30.079
<v Speaker 1>went to a Navy base and surrendered right and then

0:09:30.120 --> 0:09:33.120
<v Speaker 1>requests a billion dollars in aid foreign aid from the

0:09:33.200 --> 0:09:37.560
<v Speaker 1>US to rebuild after the war. Pretty great, It is great.

0:09:37.640 --> 0:09:39.640
<v Speaker 1>Of course, the U S didn't give him a dime.

0:09:39.760 --> 0:09:42.200
<v Speaker 1>Did you ever see that movie The Mouse That Roared?

0:09:42.960 --> 0:09:46.880
<v Speaker 1>It was basically the same thing. Yeah, so I'm guarantee

0:09:46.920 --> 0:09:51.160
<v Speaker 1>Wardlow saw that. Probably, um so he they the U

0:09:51.240 --> 0:09:53.200
<v Speaker 1>S didn't give any of this foreign aide. There wasn't

0:09:53.280 --> 0:09:58.240
<v Speaker 1>a cent given. But that roadblock ended almost immediately, very

0:09:58.280 --> 0:10:00.400
<v Speaker 1>quickly afterwards, so it had the effect that he was

0:10:00.400 --> 0:10:03.360
<v Speaker 1>looking for. That's right, and they still celebrate it today.

0:10:04.000 --> 0:10:07.920
<v Speaker 1>They will issue a passport to you for the conquer Republic.

0:10:08.200 --> 0:10:10.720
<v Speaker 1>I saw, and I couldn't verify this. I saw the

0:10:10.720 --> 0:10:12.920
<v Speaker 1>same thing in multiple places, so you know, it's like

0:10:14.040 --> 0:10:18.680
<v Speaker 1>that they'll stamp your passport, which I'm like, I'm sure

0:10:18.720 --> 0:10:21.280
<v Speaker 1>they do, but do you want them to do that?

0:10:21.360 --> 0:10:24.600
<v Speaker 1>Because I could see um US Customs being like, what

0:10:24.760 --> 0:10:27.240
<v Speaker 1>is this your passports void? Now? You can't just go

0:10:27.360 --> 0:10:31.599
<v Speaker 1>stamping a passport with whatever you want. That's what I

0:10:31.640 --> 0:10:33.840
<v Speaker 1>would think, But of course I'm not at all. There's

0:10:33.840 --> 0:10:36.840
<v Speaker 1>a Pokemon stamp on the next page. I probably shouldn't

0:10:36.840 --> 0:10:40.440
<v Speaker 1>have told you that. Oh I imagine that Customs has

0:10:40.480 --> 0:10:43.600
<v Speaker 1>seen a Conquer Republic stamp. I I how about this,

0:10:43.800 --> 0:10:47.120
<v Speaker 1>if we have any customs agents for the US listening,

0:10:48.200 --> 0:10:51.280
<v Speaker 1>If you get your passport stamp with a Conquer Republic

0:10:51.360 --> 0:10:55.280
<v Speaker 1>or some other made up stamp, pokemon whatever, like, does

0:10:55.280 --> 0:10:58.760
<v Speaker 1>it what you invalidate your passport? You know? Customs officers

0:10:58.760 --> 0:11:01.680
<v Speaker 1>are famous for their sense of humor. Sure, they're just

0:11:01.720 --> 0:11:05.680
<v Speaker 1>tickled by just about thing. Uh so they also fly

0:11:05.960 --> 0:11:10.640
<v Speaker 1>a um a flag with a motto we succeeded where

0:11:10.679 --> 0:11:16.480
<v Speaker 1>others failed. And then every April they celebrate still they're

0:11:16.480 --> 0:11:18.839
<v Speaker 1>a little nutty down there in Key West. Well they

0:11:18.840 --> 0:11:21.840
<v Speaker 1>are island people. They celebrate the independence of the Conquer

0:11:21.880 --> 0:11:25.360
<v Speaker 1>Republic still in April. Yeah, for like nine days. And

0:11:25.400 --> 0:11:27.280
<v Speaker 1>I looked at there was a guy chance to party

0:11:27.320 --> 0:11:31.120
<v Speaker 1>down there. There was a guy named Peter Anderson who

0:11:31.720 --> 0:11:36.680
<v Speaker 1>was the Prime Minister. No, I'm sorry. He was the

0:11:36.679 --> 0:11:39.080
<v Speaker 1>Secretary General of the Conquer Republic and he was like

0:11:39.080 --> 0:11:42.120
<v Speaker 1>a guiding light keeping things going. And he died. But

0:11:42.200 --> 0:11:44.240
<v Speaker 1>they still they still do it. I thought maybe they

0:11:44.240 --> 0:11:46.640
<v Speaker 1>would have discontinued, but they still keep it up. Have

0:11:46.679 --> 0:11:49.079
<v Speaker 1>you ever been down there? Yeah, I've never been to

0:11:49.160 --> 0:11:51.640
<v Speaker 1>Key West. I did not realize they don't have beaches,

0:11:51.840 --> 0:11:53.360
<v Speaker 1>and that's what we went there for, and we were

0:11:53.440 --> 0:11:55.920
<v Speaker 1>kind of surprised. Is it just like little Rocky Islands?

0:11:55.920 --> 0:11:57.880
<v Speaker 1>It is a rock and buddy, if you like to

0:11:57.960 --> 0:12:02.200
<v Speaker 1>fish or scuba dive or drink, you're gonna love it

0:12:02.240 --> 0:12:04.400
<v Speaker 1>down there. If you go for beaches, you're gonna be

0:12:04.480 --> 0:12:08.600
<v Speaker 1>unpleasantly surprised. Yeah, well you should take up scuba diverver

0:12:08.640 --> 0:12:14.240
<v Speaker 1>Snorklingsherman Fisherman's paradise there. It's it's one of the most

0:12:14.320 --> 0:12:18.080
<v Speaker 1>otherworldly looking places I've ever been. It's like a rock

0:12:18.200 --> 0:12:23.480
<v Speaker 1>coming out of like uhh yeah, and ocean so blue.

0:12:24.200 --> 0:12:28.120
<v Speaker 1>It doesn't it doesn't even look real. It's a neat

0:12:28.160 --> 0:12:31.240
<v Speaker 1>place and like there's a really crazy, awesome, like gay

0:12:31.280 --> 0:12:33.760
<v Speaker 1>community there. I'm sure you've seen Unseen Man on New

0:12:33.840 --> 0:12:37.760
<v Speaker 1>Year's Eve um and it's just a cool place. It's

0:12:37.760 --> 0:12:39.840
<v Speaker 1>a neat place. But I like the Keys in general.

0:12:40.120 --> 0:12:42.679
<v Speaker 1>Oh one other thing, if you go down there, there

0:12:42.760 --> 0:12:44.959
<v Speaker 1>is a museum. I think it's just called the Key

0:12:45.000 --> 0:12:50.080
<v Speaker 1>West Museum, but it has no there's Hemingway's House. This

0:12:50.120 --> 0:12:53.839
<v Speaker 1>is different. This is some weird, clunky museum that it's

0:12:53.880 --> 0:12:57.520
<v Speaker 1>almost like somebody who's never been to a museum said

0:12:57.520 --> 0:12:59.480
<v Speaker 1>I'm going to put a museum together, and this is

0:12:59.520 --> 0:13:01.880
<v Speaker 1>what they can up with. There's rooms where you're like,

0:13:02.040 --> 0:13:04.040
<v Speaker 1>is this a storage room or is this like part

0:13:04.080 --> 0:13:07.320
<v Speaker 1>of the museum. It's in an old stone fort. But

0:13:07.400 --> 0:13:10.120
<v Speaker 1>there's this one exhibit. There's a bunch of them. There's

0:13:10.480 --> 0:13:14.040
<v Speaker 1>Robert the famous doll um who's like haunted and cursed.

0:13:14.080 --> 0:13:16.440
<v Speaker 1>They have him there. It's really neat to see. But

0:13:16.520 --> 0:13:19.760
<v Speaker 1>there's one exhibit is just amazing. There was a famous

0:13:19.840 --> 0:13:25.520
<v Speaker 1>Key West resident who engaged in necrophilia for decades with

0:13:25.600 --> 0:13:29.440
<v Speaker 1>the love of his life, could not let her go um,

0:13:29.640 --> 0:13:32.440
<v Speaker 1>And there's like a whole thing on him there that's

0:13:32.480 --> 0:13:35.160
<v Speaker 1>really neat, And they like redid this mannequin that he

0:13:35.240 --> 0:13:38.720
<v Speaker 1>basically turned his wife into trying to preserve her. It's

0:13:38.760 --> 0:13:42.120
<v Speaker 1>definitely worth going to. Well, if we're plugging very quickly

0:13:42.559 --> 0:13:46.600
<v Speaker 1>weird museums, I should plug the Museum of Umbrella Covers

0:13:47.520 --> 0:13:50.880
<v Speaker 1>what and that is on Peaks Island, Maine, right off

0:13:50.880 --> 0:13:53.640
<v Speaker 1>of Portland, Maine. Take the ferry out to Peaks Island,

0:13:54.240 --> 0:13:57.840
<v Speaker 1>go to the Museum of Umbrella Covers, not Umbrella's Umbrella covers,

0:13:57.880 --> 0:14:00.560
<v Speaker 1>umbrella covers. I didn't even know the West is put

0:14:00.600 --> 0:14:03.280
<v Speaker 1>your umbrella in a little sleeve. Yeah, that's it. Okay,

0:14:03.440 --> 0:14:06.160
<v Speaker 1>it's so you've got a bunch of on them. So

0:14:06.360 --> 0:14:09.040
<v Speaker 1>there you have it from Chuck. That's right. Uh, if

0:14:09.120 --> 0:14:11.480
<v Speaker 1>you want, no, we don't do that on this do

0:14:11.600 --> 0:14:16.800
<v Speaker 1>we know? Short stuff out? Stuff You Should Know is

0:14:16.800 --> 0:14:19.600
<v Speaker 1>a production of iHeart Radio's How Stuff Works. For more

0:14:19.640 --> 0:14:22.240
<v Speaker 1>podcasts for my heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app,

0:14:22.320 --> 0:14:25.080
<v Speaker 1>Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

0:14:28.080 --> 0:14:28.120
<v Speaker 1>H