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Speaker 1: Welcome to Unexplained Extra with me Richard McClean smith. For

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Speaker 1: the weeks in between episodes, we look at the stories that,

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Speaker 1: for one reason or other, didn't make it into the show.

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Speaker 1: For the last episode, Lex Talionis, we took an in

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Speaker 1: depth look into the tragic and strange story of Johnny

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Speaker 1: Frank Garrett. In nineteen eighty two, Garrett was sentenced to

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Speaker 1: death for the rape and murder of Sister to day

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Speaker 1: A Benz, a gentle and selfless nun of Saint Francis

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Speaker 1: Convent in Amarillo, Texas. He was eventually executed for the

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Speaker 1: crime ten years later. In recent years, Garrett's execution has

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Speaker 1: begun to look increasingly like a terrible miscarriage of justice,

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Speaker 1: with Jesse Quackenbush's two thousand and eight documentary The Last

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Speaker 1: Word doing much to raise awareness and expose a number

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Speaker 1: of inconsistencies that undermine the state's case against Johnny. Perhaps

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Speaker 1: more than anything, however, what grips many people about the

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Speaker 1: case is the revelation that shortly before Garret's execution, he

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Speaker 1: had written a visceral and passionate final letter placing a

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Speaker 1: curse on all those who had helped to secure his conviction.

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Speaker 1: In the years following Garrett's death, incredibly, it seems many

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Speaker 1: of those seemingly targeted in the letter appear to have

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Speaker 1: succumbed to the hex Like a film from the Final

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Speaker 1: Destination franchise. The apparent curse took no prisoners from news

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Speaker 1: reporter Cathy Jones, who, after reporting on the Garret case,

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Speaker 1: died two years later in a freak plane crash, to

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Speaker 1: the daughter of Jura Nathan Shackelford, who reportedly died after

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Speaker 1: a mysterious accidental gunshot wound to the head. Although many

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Speaker 1: deaths supposedly related to the curse happened many years after

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Speaker 1: Johnny's execution and under regular and mundane circumstances, the scenes

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Speaker 1: little getting away from the enduring, lingering sense of the

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Speaker 1: Garret Curse. Perhaps one of the most famous curses of

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Speaker 1: recent times is that attributed to the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun,

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Speaker 1: of which we will be looking into in a bit

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Speaker 1: more detail later on in the series. The rediscovery of

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Speaker 1: Tutankarman's tomb in November nineteen twenty two by a team

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Speaker 1: led by British archeologist Howard Carter is considered by many

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Speaker 1: in the field to be one of the greatest archeological

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Speaker 1: finds of all time. A series of subsequent deaths and

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Speaker 1: strange events afflicting members of Carter's team had others suggesting

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Speaker 1: the famed archeologist might have been better leaving the tomb

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Speaker 1: well alone. Surely one of the more unexpected curse stories

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Speaker 1: I have come across, However, is that relating to silent

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Speaker 1: movie star and one of Hollywood's first great heartthrops, Rudolph Valentino.

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Speaker 1: Regardless of the curse that some believed took Valentino's life,

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Speaker 1: his is, by all accounts, one of the more extraordinary

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Speaker 1: life stories in Hollywood movie industry history. Valentino was born

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Speaker 1: Rudolfo in eighteen ninety five in the Italian city of Castellanetta.

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Speaker 1: After leaving school, Rudolfo struggled to find work in Italy, and,

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Speaker 1: lured by the glittering promise of the United States of America,

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Speaker 1: decided to seek his fortune there instead. With what little

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Speaker 1: money he had, an eighteen year old Valentino arrived at

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Speaker 1: New York's Ellis Island in December thirteen. After working a

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Speaker 1: series of low paid jobs bussing tables at restaurants, occasionally

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Speaker 1: living on the streets, The charismatic Valentino found work as

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Speaker 1: a taxi dancer, being paid to act as a dancing

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Speaker 1: partner to customers at a venue known as Maxim's Restaurant

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Speaker 1: and Cabaret. While working at Maxim's, Valentino became romantically involved

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Speaker 1: with wealthy heiress Blanca de Soletz, who would later murder

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Speaker 1: her ex husband in the aftermath of a messy and

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Speaker 1: complicated divorce. Having suffered through the publicity of Blanca's divorce

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Speaker 1: hearing and fearing he might be called as a witness

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Speaker 1: to her murder trial, Valentino found work with a traveling

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Speaker 1: operetta company and promptly left town. The young dancer would

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Speaker 1: eventually wind up in Los Angeles, his attention soon turning

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Speaker 1: to the silver screen, where he quickly began securing a

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Speaker 1: number of bit part roles the booming silent film industry.

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Speaker 1: By nineteen twenty one, with the release of his most

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Speaker 1: popular film, The Shake, Valentino had become one of Hollywood's

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Speaker 1: biggest stars. It was the year before. While in San Francisco,

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Speaker 1: shortly after completing filming on The Shake, Valentino was out

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Speaker 1: shopping one afternoon when he was strangely drawn to a

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Speaker 1: peculiar looking ring in a jeweler's window. It is said that,

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Speaker 1: having recognized the young star, the shopkeeper made attempt to

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Speaker 1: dissuade Valentino from buying the item, since he had come

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Speaker 1: to believe it was cursed, but Valentino would not be

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Speaker 1: put off. Known as a tiger's eye, the ring was

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Speaker 1: comprised of a thick gold band in set with a

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Speaker 1: large brown and amber quartz crystal. Valentino was so taken

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Speaker 1: by the item that he wore it as part of

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Speaker 1: his costume on his next feature, The Young Rajah. As

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Speaker 1: it would happen, the film was a complete disaster, performing

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Speaker 1: dreadfully at theaters and much derided by the critics. Perhaps

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Speaker 1: heeding the shopkeeper's advice, Valentino decided not to wear the

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Speaker 1: ring any longer and kept it hidden away in a

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Speaker 1: jewelry box. That was until five years later, when he

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Speaker 1: reprised his role as the Shaik in the nineteen twenty

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Speaker 1: six film Son of Shaik and decided to use the

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Speaker 1: ring again as part of his costume. A few months

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Speaker 1: after the film was completed, the thirty one year old

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Speaker 1: Valentino collapsed at the Hotel Ambassador on Park Avenue in Manhattan.

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Speaker 1: What was first thought to be appendicitis was in fact

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Speaker 1: a series of perforated gastric ulcers. The condition was worsened

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Speaker 1: when Valentino soon after contracted peritonitis and pleuritis. After spending

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Speaker 1: eight days in hospital, he died on August the twenty third,

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Speaker 1: nineteen twenty six. Are you always taking care of your family?

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Speaker 1: Do you often take care of others and not yourself?

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Speaker 1: Now it's time to take care of yourself, to make

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Speaker 1: time for you. You deserve it. Teledoc gives you access

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Speaker 1: to a licensed therapist to help you get back to

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Speaker 1: feeling your best, to feeling like yourself again. With teledoc,

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Speaker 1: you can speak to a licensed therapist by phone or video.

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Speaker 1: Therapy appointments are available seven days a week from seven

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Speaker 1: am to nine pm local time. If you feel overwhelmed

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Speaker 1: sometimes maybe you feel stressed or anxious, depressed or lonely,

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Speaker 1: or you might be struggling with a personal or family issue,

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Speaker 1: teledoc can help. TELEDOC is committed to facilitating great therapeutic matches,

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Speaker 1: so they make it easy to change counselors if needed.

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Speaker 1: For free teledoc therapy is available through most insurance or

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Speaker 1: employee download the app, or visittelldoc dot com Forward slash

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Speaker 1: Unexplained podcast Today to get started. That's t e LA

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Speaker 1: DC dot com Slash Unexplained podcast. Valentino was thought to

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Speaker 1: have been involved with a number of women prior to

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Speaker 1: his death, one of whom was the Polish born film

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Speaker 1: star Poland Negri. After being given the opportunity to claim

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Speaker 1: some of Valentino's possessions, Negri elected to take the peculiar

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Speaker 1: signet ring he had bought six years previously while shopping

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Speaker 1: in San Francisco. The following year, Negri married the Georgian

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Speaker 1: aristocrat Sergey M. Devani and became pregnant shortly after, but

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Speaker 1: sadly lost the baby when she suffered a sudden miscarriage.

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Speaker 1: After a long absence from acting due to a series

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Speaker 1: of illnesses, Negri returned to work in nineteen thirty two

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Speaker 1: when she met and became involved with the young actor

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Speaker 1: Russ Columbo while working with him on a show in

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Speaker 1: New York. Negri was so taken with the young Columbo,

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Speaker 1: who she thought bore a striking resemblance to her old

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Speaker 1: flame Valentino, she gave him the tiger eye ring as

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Speaker 1: a present. Two years later, Russ Columbo was visiting the

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Speaker 1: home of his friend, photographer Lancing brown when Browne decided

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Speaker 1: to show Columbo his large collection of firearms. While fooling

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Speaker 1: around with one of the guns, an antique jeweling pistol,

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Speaker 1: Browne supposedly triggered it accidentally. The ball in the chamber

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Speaker 1: ricocheted off a nearby table and struck Columbo in the head,

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Speaker 1: just above the left eye. He died in hospital six

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Speaker 1: hours later. Incredibly, many miles away and completely unaware of

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Speaker 1: the event, Columbo's mother suffered a heart attack at almost

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Speaker 1: exactly the same time that her son was shot. The

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Speaker 1: ring was then said to have been given to a

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Speaker 1: friend of Columbo's named Joe Casino. Wary of the ring's history,

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Speaker 1: Casino is believed to have kept it in a glass

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Speaker 1: cabinet as a memento to his dear departed friend. Some

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Speaker 1: time later, deciding that the curse would by now have

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Speaker 1: been lifted, Casino removed the ring from the cabinet and

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Speaker 1: placed it on his finger. A week later, Casino was

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Speaker 1: hit by a heavy goods vehicle and killed instantly, but

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Speaker 1: it doesn't end there. After Casino's death, the ring passed

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Speaker 1: into the hands of his brother, Del. Not one for

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Speaker 1: super stition, Dell proudly wore the ring for a considerable time,

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Speaker 1: suffering no ill effects whatsoever. It was sometime in early

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Speaker 1: nineteen thirty eight that Del Casino's home was broken into.

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Speaker 1: With the police having been alerted to the break in,

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Speaker 1: one officer caught sight of the assailant running away from

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Speaker 1: the building. The officer fired a warning shot which inavertibly

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Speaker 1: struck the man in the stomach, who died minutes later

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Speaker 1: at the scene. Amongst the pieces he had stolen from

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Speaker 1: the property was the large tiger eye signet ring that

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Speaker 1: had once belonged to Rodolfo Valentino. Dell remained unmoved by

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Speaker 1: the ring sinister reputation and thought little of lending it

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Speaker 1: to his friend Edward Small. A few months later, Small,

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Speaker 1: a Hollywood film producer, was developing a film about Valentino's life,

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Speaker 1: and had just invited British ice skater Jackie Done to

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Speaker 1: try out for the leading role. Small encouraged Done to

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Speaker 1: dress up in Valentino's old clothes for the screen test,

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Speaker 1: also suggesting that he wear the tiger eye ring to

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Speaker 1: complete the outfit within ten days. The twenty one year

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Speaker 1: old Done would be dead after contracting to laremia, an

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Speaker 1: extremely rare blood disease, which he is thought to have

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Speaker 1: caught after handling rabbit carcasses on a hunting trip. At

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Speaker 1: some point, the ring was placed in storage in a

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Speaker 1: safety deposit box in the vault of a Los Angeles bank.

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Speaker 1: The following year, a team of robbers led by a

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Speaker 1: man named Alfred Hahn apparently raided the bank, making off

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Speaker 1: with over two hundred thousand dollars. A few days later,

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Speaker 1: the police ambushed the robbers, resulting in the capture of

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Speaker 1: two of them, including the team's leader, Alfred Hahn. At

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Speaker 1: his subsequent trial, Hahn was said to have regretted his

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Speaker 1: choice of bank, insisting that had he known it was

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Speaker 1: also the home to Valentino's ring, he would have picked

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Speaker 1: himself another one. Today, the precise whereabouts of Valentino's ring

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Speaker 1: remains a mystery. If you enjoy listening to Unexplained and

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Speaker 1: would like to help supporters, you can now go to

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Speaker 1: Unexplained podcast dot com forward slash support. All donations, no

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Speaker 1: matter how large or small, are massively appreciated. All elements

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Speaker 1: of Unexplained are produced by me, Richard McClain smith. Please

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Speaker 1: subscribe and rate the show on iTunes. Feel free to

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Speaker 1: get in touch with any thoughts or ideas regarding the

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Speaker 1: stories you've heard on the show. Perhaps you have an

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Speaker 1: explanation of your own you'd like to share. You can

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Speaker 1: reach us online at Unexplained podcast dot com or on

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Speaker 1: Twitter at Unexplained Pod. Now. It's time to take care

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Speaker 1: of yourself. To make time for you, teledoc gives you

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Speaker 1: access to a licensed therapist to help you get back

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Speaker 1: to feeling your best. Speak to a licensed therapist by

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Speaker 1: phone or video anytime between seven am to nine pm

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Speaker 1: through most insurance or employers. Download the app, or visit

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Speaker 1: That's t e l a DC dot com Slash Unexplained

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