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 --> 00:00:11,480
Speaker 1: is an open book, all of these amazing tales right

3
00:00:11,520 --> 00:00:16,640
Speaker 1: there on display, just waiting for us to explore. Welcome

4
00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:29,960
Speaker 1: to the Cabinet of Curiosities. Oliver wasn't like everybody else.

5
00:00:30,400 --> 00:00:32,920
Speaker 1: From the time he was born in nineteen fifty seven,

6
00:00:32,960 --> 00:00:36,360
Speaker 1: he stood up from the pack. Literally. It was his

7
00:00:36,479 --> 00:00:39,240
Speaker 1: unique mannerisms that caught the eyes of Frank and Janet

8
00:00:39,280 --> 00:00:42,440
Speaker 1: Burger in nineteen seventy. They took Oliver from his home

9
00:00:42,440 --> 00:00:45,120
Speaker 1: when he was about thirteen years old and raised him

10
00:00:45,159 --> 00:00:48,040
Speaker 1: as one of their own. But some things about Oliver

11
00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:51,200
Speaker 1: made them question whether he really was what everyone said

12
00:00:51,240 --> 00:00:54,360
Speaker 1: he was. For one, his face was quite flat, and

13
00:00:54,400 --> 00:00:56,760
Speaker 1: he had a tendency to walk on two legs rather

14
00:00:56,800 --> 00:00:59,960
Speaker 1: than with the aid of his arms. Oliver wasn't human,

15
00:01:00,360 --> 00:01:03,280
Speaker 1: but then again, he wasn't supposed to be. Oliver was

16
00:01:03,320 --> 00:01:06,080
Speaker 1: a chimpanzee taken from the Congo by a couple of

17
00:01:06,120 --> 00:01:08,960
Speaker 1: trainers who had hoped to work with him and study him.

18
00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:11,680
Speaker 1: They soon realized that Oliver had been born different from

19
00:01:11,720 --> 00:01:15,720
Speaker 1: his fellow apes in the Congo. He didn't use knuckles

20
00:01:15,760 --> 00:01:18,920
Speaker 1: when he walked, instead opting to walk by petally. He

21
00:01:18,959 --> 00:01:21,920
Speaker 1: stood tall with the shoulders back, just like people. He

22
00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:25,679
Speaker 1: also seemed like being with human females more than female chimpanzees,

23
00:01:25,959 --> 00:01:28,720
Speaker 1: even attempting to mate with Janet when he was sixteen

24
00:01:28,800 --> 00:01:32,000
Speaker 1: years old. It was then the Janet realized Oliver could

25
00:01:32,040 --> 00:01:34,720
Speaker 1: no longer stay with them. A couple decided to sell

26
00:01:34,800 --> 00:01:37,480
Speaker 1: him to a New York attorney, Michael Miller, who took

27
00:01:37,480 --> 00:01:41,440
Speaker 1: the unusual chimpanzee on television all over the world. Oliver

28
00:01:41,640 --> 00:01:44,760
Speaker 1: even appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, sipping sherry and

29
00:01:44,880 --> 00:01:48,520
Speaker 1: smoking a cigar. He was called things like the Missing

30
00:01:48,600 --> 00:01:52,040
Speaker 1: Link and the Human z a human chimp hybrid who

31
00:01:52,080 --> 00:01:56,160
Speaker 1: bridged the gap between species. When the television show stopped calling,

32
00:01:56,240 --> 00:01:59,080
Speaker 1: Miller gave Oliver to Ralph Helfer, the owner of a

33
00:01:59,120 --> 00:02:03,000
Speaker 1: California theme park. Helpher knew his way around training animals.

34
00:02:03,320 --> 00:02:06,080
Speaker 1: He had been responsible for training Zamba the Lion, the

35
00:02:06,320 --> 00:02:09,680
Speaker 1: roaring mascots of the MGM logo. The theme park didn't

36
00:02:09,680 --> 00:02:12,239
Speaker 1: do too well, though, closing up for good only a

37
00:02:12,320 --> 00:02:17,799
Speaker 1: year later, but Oliver's career continued to rise. Helpher started

38
00:02:17,840 --> 00:02:21,000
Speaker 1: a new attraction called Gentle Jungle, which lasted for a

39
00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:23,560
Speaker 1: few years and then closed, just like his last park.

40
00:02:24,040 --> 00:02:28,520
Speaker 1: Oliver's popularity, however, never diminished. The Los Angeles Times ran

41
00:02:28,600 --> 00:02:31,800
Speaker 1: an investigative piece about the possibility that Oliver could be

42
00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:35,520
Speaker 1: an entirely new species of chimpanzee. From there, he was

43
00:02:35,560 --> 00:02:38,000
Speaker 1: sold and transferred up and down the West Coast of

44
00:02:38,120 --> 00:02:42,239
Speaker 1: various training and research facilities, each one treating Oliver as

45
00:02:42,240 --> 00:02:45,240
Speaker 1: nothing more than a side show exhibits. His had become

46
00:02:45,240 --> 00:02:47,760
Speaker 1: a life spent either in a cage or in front

47
00:02:47,800 --> 00:02:50,840
Speaker 1: of an audience, and things only got worse in nine

48
00:02:51,880 --> 00:02:55,320
Speaker 1: when the Bucksher Corporation of Pennsylvania purchased Oliver for their

49
00:02:55,320 --> 00:03:00,440
Speaker 1: own nefarious purposes. While he didn't have cosmetics tested on

50
00:03:00,520 --> 00:03:03,239
Speaker 1: him like other animals owned by the company, Oliver was

51
00:03:03,320 --> 00:03:05,919
Speaker 1: kept in a small cage for almost a decade. He

52
00:03:05,960 --> 00:03:09,919
Speaker 1: couldn't move or exercise, which caused his muscles to atrophy.

53
00:03:10,080 --> 00:03:13,760
Speaker 1: His freedom finally came in nineteen when the Texas Animal

54
00:03:13,800 --> 00:03:18,679
Speaker 1: Sanctuary Primarily Primates petition to have him released. Upon being

55
00:03:18,720 --> 00:03:22,560
Speaker 1: transferred from Bucksher to Primarily Primates, Oliver walked out of

56
00:03:22,600 --> 00:03:25,079
Speaker 1: his old cage on his two legs and right into

57
00:03:25,200 --> 00:03:28,520
Speaker 1: his new open air enclosure, but the troubled chimp's freedom

58
00:03:28,600 --> 00:03:30,960
Speaker 1: was only visible to the public, who didn't know what

59
00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:33,960
Speaker 1: was going on at his new Texan home. The founder

60
00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:37,680
Speaker 1: of Primarily Primates, it seems, Wallace Sweat, was accused of

61
00:03:37,720 --> 00:03:41,520
Speaker 1: animal cruelty and mismanagement of funds. The cages where Oliver

62
00:03:41,680 --> 00:03:44,720
Speaker 1: and the other apes were being kept had been deemed unsafe.

63
00:03:44,960 --> 00:03:48,520
Speaker 1: The facility also lacked a vet on premises, an oversight

64
00:03:48,600 --> 00:03:51,960
Speaker 1: that caused in part, the death of another research chimp

65
00:03:52,040 --> 00:03:55,640
Speaker 1: by the name of Betty. Sweat was eventually removed from

66
00:03:55,680 --> 00:03:59,200
Speaker 1: Primarily Primates. The state of Texas brought in wildlife expert

67
00:03:59,320 --> 00:04:02,320
Speaker 1: Lee Feasts and Want to help rehabilitate the facility and

68
00:04:02,520 --> 00:04:06,560
Speaker 1: Oliver himself. Her work was instrumental in giving the arthritic

69
00:04:06,640 --> 00:04:10,560
Speaker 1: and partially blind Oliver a happy, peaceful rest of his life.

70
00:04:11,680 --> 00:04:14,160
Speaker 1: Part of that happiness came in the form of a Raisin,

71
00:04:14,360 --> 00:04:17,880
Speaker 1: a female chimpanzee at the primate sanctuary. She helped him

72
00:04:17,920 --> 00:04:21,240
Speaker 1: in his final years, as did his caretakers, who allowed

73
00:04:21,320 --> 00:04:25,440
Speaker 1: him to participate in numerous chim safe activities around the facility.

74
00:04:25,520 --> 00:04:30,760
Speaker 1: He particularly enjoyed painting. Oliver sadly passed away in his

75
00:04:30,839 --> 00:04:33,719
Speaker 1: sleep in two thousand twelve, with Raisin by his side.

76
00:04:34,240 --> 00:04:36,840
Speaker 1: He was fifty five years old. He had led an

77
00:04:36,839 --> 00:04:40,360
Speaker 1: extraordinary life with countless ups and downs. But was he

78
00:04:40,440 --> 00:04:44,160
Speaker 1: the missing link everyone thought he was? Could this chimpanzee

79
00:04:44,200 --> 00:04:46,920
Speaker 1: with a human like face who walked upright on two

80
00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:50,279
Speaker 1: legs and fancied human women really fill in the gap

81
00:04:50,320 --> 00:04:54,280
Speaker 1: in our evolutionary history? The Bucksheer Company had asked the

82
00:04:54,320 --> 00:04:58,320
Speaker 1: same question back in back when Oliver was still being

83
00:04:58,320 --> 00:05:01,400
Speaker 1: housed in their facility. They ran a DNA test to

84
00:05:01,400 --> 00:05:05,040
Speaker 1: find the answer, and Oliver turned out to be normal.

85
00:05:05,640 --> 00:05:09,120
Speaker 1: He had the standard forty chromosomes that all chimpanzees possessed.

86
00:05:09,560 --> 00:05:11,599
Speaker 1: Even though his face looked more human than that of

87
00:05:11,600 --> 00:05:15,359
Speaker 1: other chimps, it was not out of the ordinary. Oliver

88
00:05:15,760 --> 00:05:19,040
Speaker 1: just wanted to be more like his human counterparts, despite

89
00:05:19,080 --> 00:05:23,239
Speaker 1: experiencing the exact opposite of humanity from them. He wasn't

90
00:05:23,279 --> 00:05:27,200
Speaker 1: the human z or even the missing link. Oliver was

91
00:05:27,360 --> 00:05:31,400
Speaker 1: just a living creature, and he never understood that the

92
00:05:31,440 --> 00:05:48,000
Speaker 1: greatest threat to his well being it was us. When

93
00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:50,680
Speaker 1: we think of the lasting devastation of World War Two,

94
00:05:50,800 --> 00:05:54,000
Speaker 1: we tend to think of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the two

95
00:05:54,080 --> 00:05:57,960
Speaker 1: Japanese cities were leveled when American forces dropped two nuclear bombs,

96
00:05:58,240 --> 00:06:02,080
Speaker 1: killing hundreds of thousands of jet and these citizens. After

97
00:06:02,120 --> 00:06:05,279
Speaker 1: the Japanese surrendered on August fifteenth of nineteen forty five

98
00:06:05,400 --> 00:06:07,880
Speaker 1: and World War Two ended less than a month later,

99
00:06:08,160 --> 00:06:11,240
Speaker 1: the use of atomic bombs was studied by military experts

100
00:06:11,240 --> 00:06:15,000
Speaker 1: and scholars alike. There had been numerous ethical questions about

101
00:06:15,080 --> 00:06:19,279
Speaker 1: unleashing such weapons upon the public. Even J. Robert Oppenheimer,

102
00:06:19,440 --> 00:06:22,479
Speaker 1: long regarded as the father of the atomic bomb, baviously

103
00:06:22,520 --> 00:06:26,919
Speaker 1: quoted the Bagavadgita when he remarked, now I am become death,

104
00:06:27,320 --> 00:06:31,000
Speaker 1: the destroyer of worlds. He understood that as long as

105
00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:33,800
Speaker 1: these weapons existed, no one on the planet would be safe.

106
00:06:34,160 --> 00:06:37,400
Speaker 1: But the A bomb wasn't the only unethical incendiary device

107
00:06:37,480 --> 00:06:40,760
Speaker 1: being developed during the war. There was another smaller bomb

108
00:06:40,800 --> 00:06:44,200
Speaker 1: being considered, and just like with the atomic one, Japan

109
00:06:44,440 --> 00:06:48,400
Speaker 1: was the primary target. It all started after the attack

110
00:06:48,400 --> 00:06:52,160
Speaker 1: on Pearl Harbor on December seventh of ninety one. US

111
00:06:52,240 --> 00:06:54,920
Speaker 1: forces were looking for a way to retaliate against Japan,

112
00:06:55,240 --> 00:06:57,680
Speaker 1: and they turned to an unlikely source for a solution.

113
00:06:58,320 --> 00:07:02,520
Speaker 1: A dentist, Dr. Little S. Adams was more than a dentist,

114
00:07:02,600 --> 00:07:04,880
Speaker 1: though he was also an inventor, and he had a

115
00:07:04,880 --> 00:07:07,720
Speaker 1: wild idea about how to drop a bomb on almost

116
00:07:07,800 --> 00:07:11,520
Speaker 1: every house in Japan without anyone knowing. The key was

117
00:07:11,600 --> 00:07:14,680
Speaker 1: their size. Each bomb was tiny, but could do quite

118
00:07:14,680 --> 00:07:17,400
Speaker 1: a lot of damage to Japanese homes, which were constructed

119
00:07:17,400 --> 00:07:21,160
Speaker 1: mainly of paper and wood. When deployed from a plane.

120
00:07:21,320 --> 00:07:23,960
Speaker 1: Parachutes attached to the bombs would allow them to float

121
00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:26,920
Speaker 1: safely to the ground and nest in various structures, where

122
00:07:26,920 --> 00:07:31,160
Speaker 1: they would wait until the appropriate time, then kaboom. It

123
00:07:31,240 --> 00:07:35,560
Speaker 1: was dubbed Project X ray. Adam's plan seemed crazy at

124
00:07:35,560 --> 00:07:38,600
Speaker 1: the time, but his friendship with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt

125
00:07:38,600 --> 00:07:40,680
Speaker 1: gave him the clearance to build a team to test

126
00:07:40,720 --> 00:07:44,960
Speaker 1: it out. Louis Freezer, an organic chemist and inventor of napalm,

127
00:07:45,160 --> 00:07:48,400
Speaker 1: came on board and was instrumental in designing the bombs themselves.

128
00:07:48,800 --> 00:07:51,800
Speaker 1: He started by filling the gun cotton case with kerosene.

129
00:07:52,080 --> 00:07:54,800
Speaker 1: Then he attached a small timed fuse and a trigger

130
00:07:54,840 --> 00:07:58,840
Speaker 1: that could fire when the timer ran out. Initial tests

131
00:07:58,840 --> 00:08:02,600
Speaker 1: were a surprising sect says, in some cases too successful.

132
00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:06,320
Speaker 1: Several bombs were launched accidentally which destroyed a hangar, a

133
00:08:06,360 --> 00:08:09,680
Speaker 1: fuel tank, and a general's car. The method of deployment

134
00:08:09,720 --> 00:08:12,520
Speaker 1: required further adjustments to make sure each bomb made it

135
00:08:12,560 --> 00:08:16,640
Speaker 1: to its destination without going off too early. The Marine

136
00:08:16,680 --> 00:08:20,000
Speaker 1: Corps pushed Freezer, Adams and their team back to hard work.

137
00:08:20,480 --> 00:08:23,240
Speaker 1: One million bombs were commissioned to be dropped on Japan

138
00:08:23,280 --> 00:08:25,960
Speaker 1: as soon as they were ready. However, despite working around

139
00:08:25,960 --> 00:08:28,880
Speaker 1: the clock to get everything perfect, there was a competition

140
00:08:28,880 --> 00:08:32,560
Speaker 1: heating up with the folks at Los Alamos. Oppenheimer and

141
00:08:32,559 --> 00:08:34,640
Speaker 1: the other scientists behind the A Bomb a k a.

142
00:08:34,960 --> 00:08:37,880
Speaker 1: The Manhattan Project were on the verge of a breakthrough.

143
00:08:38,200 --> 00:08:40,839
Speaker 1: Since both projects were scheduled to be completed around the

144
00:08:40,880 --> 00:08:43,360
Speaker 1: same time, and the small bombs had already cost the

145
00:08:43,360 --> 00:08:47,280
Speaker 1: military upwards of two million dollars, project x ray was scrapped.

146
00:08:48,280 --> 00:08:51,520
Speaker 1: The costs weren't the only factor hindering x rays development.

147
00:08:51,960 --> 00:08:54,000
Speaker 1: In order for the bombs to find their way into

148
00:08:54,120 --> 00:08:56,960
Speaker 1: Japanese homes and buildings, they needed to be placed there.

149
00:08:57,320 --> 00:08:59,959
Speaker 1: Remember this was long before the age of computer guy

150
00:09:00,080 --> 00:09:04,040
Speaker 1: in systems and heat seeking missiles, so more organic methods

151
00:09:04,040 --> 00:09:08,560
Speaker 1: were considered. Dr Adam's original plan hinged on one important factor,

152
00:09:08,920 --> 00:09:11,959
Speaker 1: a factor that could fly into buildings and carry double

153
00:09:12,000 --> 00:09:15,800
Speaker 1: its own weight. Project X Ray, the U s military's

154
00:09:15,840 --> 00:09:21,439
Speaker 1: cutting edge weapon, depended on a secret tool bats, thousands

155
00:09:21,520 --> 00:09:25,480
Speaker 1: and thousands of bats. The bombs you see were tied

156
00:09:25,520 --> 00:09:28,200
Speaker 1: to the bats with wire. When lifted, the weight of

157
00:09:28,200 --> 00:09:30,839
Speaker 1: each bat would trigger the fuse as it flew into

158
00:09:30,880 --> 00:09:34,120
Speaker 1: a home and nested in its attic or roof. Prior

159
00:09:34,160 --> 00:09:36,760
Speaker 1: to deployment in Japan, the tiny flyers would be tucked

160
00:09:36,800 --> 00:09:39,600
Speaker 1: into ice cube trays and cooled into a deep sleep

161
00:09:39,679 --> 00:09:42,520
Speaker 1: so that they could be transported safely from the United States.

162
00:09:43,559 --> 00:09:46,840
Speaker 1: Once over Japan, B twenty fours would drop thousands of

163
00:09:46,840 --> 00:09:49,040
Speaker 1: bats at a time, all of which had been placed

164
00:09:49,040 --> 00:09:53,040
Speaker 1: into bomb shaped capsules. Parachutes would then float them safely

165
00:09:53,080 --> 00:09:55,880
Speaker 1: to the ground, where the containers would open, releasing the

166
00:09:55,920 --> 00:09:59,360
Speaker 1: creatures into Japanese cities to hide and wait. But the

167
00:09:59,360 --> 00:10:03,400
Speaker 1: project was both financially and ethically a failure. But they

168
00:10:03,440 --> 00:10:07,040
Speaker 1: weren't the only ones to consider such a method. Coincidentally,

169
00:10:07,160 --> 00:10:11,600
Speaker 1: British forces were also experimenting with animal based explosives around

170
00:10:11,600 --> 00:10:14,960
Speaker 1: the same time. Instead of bats, though they chose to

171
00:10:14,960 --> 00:10:18,640
Speaker 1: shove explosives into another type of creature and leave them

172
00:10:18,720 --> 00:10:21,960
Speaker 1: near German boiler rooms. A belief was that the Germans

173
00:10:21,960 --> 00:10:24,320
Speaker 1: would get rid of the animals by tossing them into

174
00:10:24,360 --> 00:10:28,280
Speaker 1: the boilers, which would set off the explosion and cause destruction.

175
00:10:29,280 --> 00:10:36,400
Speaker 1: And what was their choice of animal dead? Rats? I

176
00:10:36,440 --> 00:10:39,959
Speaker 1: hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities.

177
00:10:40,320 --> 00:10:43,400
Speaker 1: Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about

178
00:10:43,440 --> 00:10:48,000
Speaker 1: the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show

179
00:10:48,200 --> 00:10:51,480
Speaker 1: was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership with how

180
00:10:51,559 --> 00:10:55,160
Speaker 1: Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore,

181
00:10:55,360 --> 00:10:59,000
Speaker 1: which is a podcast, book series, and television show, and

182
00:10:59,040 --> 00:11:01,280
Speaker 1: you can learn all about it over at the World

183
00:11:01,280 --> 00:11:06,720
Speaker 1: of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious, Yeah,