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 --> 00:00:22,159 Speaker 1: of these amazing tales are right there on display, just 5 00:00:22,200 --> 00:00:28,840 Speaker 1: waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. 6 00:00:36,240 --> 00:00:39,440 Speaker 1: Alvar slowly blinked his eyes open. The sun had been 7 00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:41,519 Speaker 1: beating down on him while he slept, and it was 8 00:00:41,600 --> 00:00:44,599 Speaker 1: time to take his surroundings in. Everything seemed to have 9 00:00:44,680 --> 00:00:48,320 Speaker 1: a blue tint. While his vision adjusted, his skin stung 10 00:00:48,400 --> 00:00:50,920 Speaker 1: all over. It was burnt in raw from the sun, 11 00:00:51,040 --> 00:00:54,160 Speaker 1: the saltwater, and the sand. His beard was caked with 12 00:00:54,200 --> 00:00:58,160 Speaker 1: the latter, but he slowly climbed to his feet. Looking around, 13 00:00:58,160 --> 00:01:00,480 Speaker 1: he saw that he was on an island. The Gulf 14 00:01:00,520 --> 00:01:03,200 Speaker 1: of Mexico stretched out to one side, and a small 15 00:01:03,240 --> 00:01:05,959 Speaker 1: bay leading to a coastline was on the other. As 16 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:08,200 Speaker 1: his mind came back to him, he remembered that it 17 00:01:08,240 --> 00:01:10,760 Speaker 1: was the year fifteen twenty eight. He was on an 18 00:01:10,800 --> 00:01:14,039 Speaker 1: expedition to Florida for the Spanish crown, but it had 19 00:01:14,040 --> 00:01:18,360 Speaker 1: gone terribly wrong. Hundreds had died from disease, starvation, or 20 00:01:18,400 --> 00:01:21,400 Speaker 1: combat with the indigenous peoples. The last of them had 21 00:01:21,440 --> 00:01:24,399 Speaker 1: tried to flee to Mexico City on makeshift rafts, but 22 00:01:24,680 --> 00:01:28,160 Speaker 1: clearly that had gone just as badly. Looking down at 23 00:01:28,160 --> 00:01:31,840 Speaker 1: the beach, he saw several other Spanish sailors recovering as well. 24 00:01:32,240 --> 00:01:35,440 Speaker 1: They were now shipwrecked on an unknown land. Despite the 25 00:01:35,480 --> 00:01:38,680 Speaker 1: glare from the sun, the men were all freezing. It 26 00:01:38,720 --> 00:01:41,720 Speaker 1: was winter, and a cold wind blew across the island. 27 00:01:42,280 --> 00:01:45,839 Speaker 1: Alvar huddled near his fellow sailors, wondering where they would 28 00:01:45,880 --> 00:01:48,560 Speaker 1: go next, but he didn't have much time to mull 29 00:01:48,600 --> 00:01:52,040 Speaker 1: it over before new arrivals to the beach drew his attention. 30 00:01:52,800 --> 00:01:56,040 Speaker 1: Nearly one hundred native warriors waded across the bay and 31 00:01:56,120 --> 00:01:59,640 Speaker 1: onto the island. They were tall and imposing. Their nipples 32 00:01:59,640 --> 00:02:02,360 Speaker 1: and up her lips were pierced with small pieces of wood. 33 00:02:02,720 --> 00:02:05,680 Speaker 1: They were unlike anyone Alvar had ever seen. They all 34 00:02:05,720 --> 00:02:08,440 Speaker 1: carried bows, and Alvar was sure that they were here 35 00:02:08,600 --> 00:02:11,800 Speaker 1: to finish off the expedition. A few of the indigenous 36 00:02:11,800 --> 00:02:14,200 Speaker 1: warriors stepped forward, and he was sure that they were 37 00:02:14,200 --> 00:02:17,480 Speaker 1: about to start firing, but instead they did something else 38 00:02:17,520 --> 00:02:21,840 Speaker 1: that astonished him they started to weep. Soon all the 39 00:02:21,880 --> 00:02:25,640 Speaker 1: other warriors joined in they laid their hands on the sailors. 40 00:02:25,960 --> 00:02:28,360 Speaker 1: It soon became clear to Alvar and the others that 41 00:02:28,400 --> 00:02:30,720 Speaker 1: the tribe was trying to show them sympathy for what 42 00:02:30,800 --> 00:02:33,280 Speaker 1: had befallen them. It was a far cry from the 43 00:02:33,280 --> 00:02:37,160 Speaker 1: warfare that they had experienced in Florida. These Native Americans 44 00:02:37,160 --> 00:02:39,320 Speaker 1: took the sailors back to their huts on the mainland 45 00:02:39,560 --> 00:02:42,680 Speaker 1: and shared their fires and food. They mostly ate roots 46 00:02:42,680 --> 00:02:45,919 Speaker 1: from the small, water filled plants dotting the arid landscape, 47 00:02:46,080 --> 00:02:49,880 Speaker 1: but they would eat just about anything, lizards, spiders, even 48 00:02:49,919 --> 00:02:53,720 Speaker 1: deer droppings. While many of Alvar's fellow sailors turned their 49 00:02:53,760 --> 00:02:57,120 Speaker 1: noses up at this, he quickly adapted, learning to live 50 00:02:57,240 --> 00:03:00,280 Speaker 1: as the native peoples did. Soon he was even working 51 00:03:00,400 --> 00:03:03,720 Speaker 1: for them, traveling further inland to trade shells and pearls 52 00:03:03,960 --> 00:03:07,400 Speaker 1: for food with other tribes. The Native Americans believed in 53 00:03:07,480 --> 00:03:11,239 Speaker 1: healing by laying on hands and breathing uninjured or infected 54 00:03:11,280 --> 00:03:14,520 Speaker 1: body parts. They thought that the Spanish, with their lighter skin, 55 00:03:14,840 --> 00:03:17,959 Speaker 1: were somehow sent from the heavens and could perform these 56 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:21,720 Speaker 1: healing duties especially well, and so Alvar became known as 57 00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:25,720 Speaker 1: a healer, traveling around this strange land selling shells and 58 00:03:25,800 --> 00:03:28,960 Speaker 1: breathing on injured body parts. It turns out that none 59 00:03:28,960 --> 00:03:32,360 Speaker 1: of the other Spanish sailors were as adaptable as Alvar. 60 00:03:32,639 --> 00:03:36,160 Speaker 1: They slowly died from starvation or exposure to the elements. 61 00:03:36,440 --> 00:03:38,960 Speaker 1: A dozen decided to try their luck, walking south on 62 00:03:39,040 --> 00:03:41,680 Speaker 1: foot to Mexico. At least they thought that it was south. 63 00:03:41,760 --> 00:03:45,480 Speaker 1: They still couldn't be sure where they were, but Alvar stayed, 64 00:03:45,680 --> 00:03:48,400 Speaker 1: partly to learn more about the native people's and partly 65 00:03:48,440 --> 00:03:51,280 Speaker 1: because there was one man there, a Spaniard named Lope 66 00:03:51,320 --> 00:03:54,360 Speaker 1: de Oviedo, who was afraid of water and refused to 67 00:03:54,440 --> 00:03:57,800 Speaker 1: leave the island. But finally, after many months, Alvar convinced 68 00:03:57,880 --> 00:04:00,120 Speaker 1: him to leave by letting him ride across the bay 69 00:04:00,440 --> 00:04:04,600 Speaker 1: on his back. They traveled miles barefoot, eventually reuniting with 70 00:04:04,640 --> 00:04:07,960 Speaker 1: some of their fellow sailors, only three of whom were left. 71 00:04:08,360 --> 00:04:12,120 Speaker 1: They continued south, sometimes meeting friendly native peoples, other times 72 00:04:12,160 --> 00:04:15,840 Speaker 1: being taken captive and having to escape. Eventually, though, they 73 00:04:15,840 --> 00:04:18,719 Speaker 1: made it back to Mexico, and from there they sailed 74 00:04:18,720 --> 00:04:21,400 Speaker 1: back to Spain, but it had been almost ten years 75 00:04:21,400 --> 00:04:24,279 Speaker 1: since they first set foot in Florida. They had walked 76 00:04:24,320 --> 00:04:28,440 Speaker 1: over two thousand miles barefoot and encountered all kinds of unique, 77 00:04:28,680 --> 00:04:32,159 Speaker 1: fascinating cultures. In fact, Alvar and his friends were the 78 00:04:32,160 --> 00:04:35,720 Speaker 1: first known Europeans to set foot in some of these places. 79 00:04:36,040 --> 00:04:39,400 Speaker 1: Remember that strange land where they were originally shipwrecked. Today 80 00:04:39,440 --> 00:04:42,800 Speaker 1: we call it Texas, and Alvar, better known by his 81 00:04:42,880 --> 00:04:46,719 Speaker 1: full name Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, was the first 82 00:04:46,760 --> 00:04:52,200 Speaker 1: historian of Texas, chronicling everything he saw. His endless curiosity, 83 00:04:52,440 --> 00:04:55,360 Speaker 1: even in the face of death, led to copious journals 84 00:04:55,360 --> 00:04:57,520 Speaker 1: that give us some of our only insights into the 85 00:04:57,640 --> 00:05:01,080 Speaker 1: Native American cultures at that time. Within a few years, 86 00:05:01,400 --> 00:05:04,800 Speaker 1: many would die of disease carried by the Europeans. Others 87 00:05:04,839 --> 00:05:07,120 Speaker 1: would be wiped out by famine or warfare with the 88 00:05:07,200 --> 00:05:10,720 Speaker 1: Spanish or other tribes. So the next time you find 89 00:05:10,760 --> 00:05:14,400 Speaker 1: yourself shipwrecked or lost in a strange land, do yourself 90 00:05:14,400 --> 00:05:17,279 Speaker 1: a favor and stay curious. It might just be the 91 00:05:17,320 --> 00:05:33,919 Speaker 1: best way to make it through alive. Lunch atop a 92 00:05:33,960 --> 00:05:37,440 Speaker 1: skyscraper it's one of the most famous photos ever taken. 93 00:05:37,760 --> 00:05:40,440 Speaker 1: You've most likely seen it before. It depicts a row 94 00:05:40,480 --> 00:05:44,000 Speaker 1: of iron workers sitting along a steel beam. Below them, 95 00:05:44,040 --> 00:05:46,719 Speaker 1: the distant buildings of New York City are as clear 96 00:05:46,760 --> 00:05:49,720 Speaker 1: as day, but the men on this beam seem unaware 97 00:05:49,800 --> 00:05:53,240 Speaker 1: of how high up they are. They're sharing cigarettes, opening 98 00:05:53,240 --> 00:05:56,680 Speaker 1: their lunch boxes, talking amongst one another. The one to 99 00:05:56,720 --> 00:05:58,440 Speaker 1: the far right of the frame is the only one 100 00:05:58,480 --> 00:06:01,440 Speaker 1: who seems aware that they're being footed, squinting toward the 101 00:06:01,480 --> 00:06:05,560 Speaker 1: camera with an empty flask balanced upon his knee. The 102 00:06:05,640 --> 00:06:09,240 Speaker 1: original nineteen thirty two caption of the photo reads, in part, 103 00:06:09,760 --> 00:06:13,200 Speaker 1: while New York's thousands rush to crowded restaurants for their 104 00:06:13,240 --> 00:06:17,360 Speaker 1: noonday lunch, these intrepid steel workers atop the seventy story 105 00:06:17,520 --> 00:06:21,080 Speaker 1: RCA building in Rockefeller Center get all the air and 106 00:06:21,160 --> 00:06:24,000 Speaker 1: freedom they want by lunching on a steel beam with 107 00:06:24,040 --> 00:06:26,280 Speaker 1: a sheer drop of over eight hundred feet to the 108 00:06:26,320 --> 00:06:30,680 Speaker 1: street level. Honestly, it's no surprise that this image is iconic. 109 00:06:31,080 --> 00:06:34,720 Speaker 1: It's both deeply humanizing of these steel workers and also 110 00:06:35,040 --> 00:06:39,039 Speaker 1: vertigo inducing, almost impossible to look at without swaying on 111 00:06:39,120 --> 00:06:41,560 Speaker 1: your feet a little and being glad that you are 112 00:06:41,600 --> 00:06:45,120 Speaker 1: on firm ground. But as with every photograph of daring 113 00:06:45,200 --> 00:06:48,760 Speaker 1: and impossible feats, there's one question that many asked themselves 114 00:06:49,200 --> 00:06:52,120 Speaker 1: who took this picture? Well, it turns out there are 115 00:06:52,200 --> 00:06:55,120 Speaker 1: more photographs from the RCA building, and some of them 116 00:06:55,160 --> 00:06:58,400 Speaker 1: are just as dizzying as the lunch picture. One picture 117 00:06:58,440 --> 00:07:02,120 Speaker 1: shows a slim man in nineteen thirties attire you know, suspenders, 118 00:07:02,160 --> 00:07:05,440 Speaker 1: a tie, high waisted pants, and spats, perched on a 119 00:07:05,480 --> 00:07:08,640 Speaker 1: steel beam with both his hands around a bulky camera 120 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:11,640 Speaker 1: pressed up against his chin. It looks as if a 121 00:07:11,840 --> 00:07:14,840 Speaker 1: stray gust of wind might blow him away. And this 122 00:07:14,960 --> 00:07:18,720 Speaker 1: man is the photographer Thomas Kelly, one of several photographers 123 00:07:18,760 --> 00:07:21,840 Speaker 1: who were present on September twentieth of nineteen thirty two, 124 00:07:22,200 --> 00:07:24,960 Speaker 1: the day that the famous picture was taken for RCA. 125 00:07:25,480 --> 00:07:28,800 Speaker 1: Two of the others were William Lefwich and Charles Ebitts, 126 00:07:29,000 --> 00:07:31,200 Speaker 1: and no one can be quite sure which of them 127 00:07:31,280 --> 00:07:34,880 Speaker 1: snapped the famous lunch photograph. Like every other case of 128 00:07:34,960 --> 00:07:39,840 Speaker 1: contested authorship, this topic is hotly debated among enthusiasts. Originally, 129 00:07:39,920 --> 00:07:43,680 Speaker 1: Lewis Hine received credits. He had famously photographed the construction 130 00:07:43,760 --> 00:07:46,400 Speaker 1: of the Empire State Building as well, but it's likely 131 00:07:46,440 --> 00:07:49,640 Speaker 1: that he was not present for the RCA shoot. So 132 00:07:50,080 --> 00:07:52,520 Speaker 1: how do we determine which of these long dead men 133 00:07:52,600 --> 00:07:56,040 Speaker 1: took the photo. While Internet sleuths have taken to image 134 00:07:56,040 --> 00:07:59,080 Speaker 1: analysis by looking at the skyline behind each of the 135 00:07:59,080 --> 00:08:03,240 Speaker 1: photographers and their relative positions on the construction site, they 136 00:08:03,240 --> 00:08:06,120 Speaker 1: can make educated guesses about which part of the city 137 00:08:06,400 --> 00:08:08,880 Speaker 1: should be on the other end of the camera and 138 00:08:08,960 --> 00:08:12,800 Speaker 1: the results. None of the photographs of the photographers show 139 00:08:12,840 --> 00:08:16,760 Speaker 1: them taking the famous shot, so back to square one. 140 00:08:16,800 --> 00:08:20,320 Speaker 1: In two thousand and three, Corbis Images, a company specializing 141 00:08:20,400 --> 00:08:24,360 Speaker 1: in archival images, hired a private investigator to track down 142 00:08:24,400 --> 00:08:28,400 Speaker 1: the photographer of the famous picture. The investigator located an 143 00:08:28,440 --> 00:08:31,960 Speaker 1: old newspaper article which credits a man known as Hamilton Wright. 144 00:08:32,400 --> 00:08:34,800 Speaker 1: But it's possible that mister Wright was not even on 145 00:08:34,920 --> 00:08:37,120 Speaker 1: the building at the time. He was the head of 146 00:08:37,160 --> 00:08:39,760 Speaker 1: a photography company and he would often get credit for 147 00:08:39,800 --> 00:08:43,240 Speaker 1: images taken by people working under his employ But it 148 00:08:43,280 --> 00:08:46,040 Speaker 1: does give us at least a possible connection, because at 149 00:08:46,080 --> 00:08:48,800 Speaker 1: least one of the photographers that we know of was 150 00:08:48,880 --> 00:08:53,200 Speaker 1: employed by the Hamilton Wright company, Charles Ebbitts. Ebitts was 151 00:08:53,240 --> 00:08:56,320 Speaker 1: now the favorite candidate for authorship, but the presence of 152 00:08:56,400 --> 00:08:59,680 Speaker 1: so many other photographers on the day still cast doubts 153 00:08:59,679 --> 00:09:03,520 Speaker 1: on who who was actually responsible. The original glass negative 154 00:09:03,559 --> 00:09:07,439 Speaker 1: of the photograph is housed in a storage facility in Pennsylvania. 155 00:09:07,559 --> 00:09:10,280 Speaker 1: It's broken in several places, but has been kept in 156 00:09:10,320 --> 00:09:13,840 Speaker 1: temperature controlled facilities ever since to make sure the pieces 157 00:09:13,840 --> 00:09:16,520 Speaker 1: did not degrade with age. And as for the men 158 00:09:16,640 --> 00:09:19,920 Speaker 1: in the photograph itself, well, their identities are even less 159 00:09:19,960 --> 00:09:23,640 Speaker 1: certain than the photographer. They were most likely immigrant laborers, 160 00:09:23,880 --> 00:09:27,760 Speaker 1: never credited in their time. Whole documentaries have been produced 161 00:09:27,840 --> 00:09:30,880 Speaker 1: seeking out the identities of these men in the picture. 162 00:09:31,240 --> 00:09:34,800 Speaker 1: Some of them have been positively identified, but others are 163 00:09:34,800 --> 00:09:39,360 Speaker 1: lost to history, or perhaps not quite lost. That's the 164 00:09:39,400 --> 00:09:43,560 Speaker 1: beautiful thing about photographs like lunch atop a skyscraper. It 165 00:09:43,600 --> 00:09:46,880 Speaker 1: may not be much, but an image like this transcends time, 166 00:09:47,040 --> 00:09:51,200 Speaker 1: location and profession create an empathy between us and the 167 00:09:51,240 --> 00:09:54,880 Speaker 1: men who are working there eighty years ago. That's an 168 00:09:54,920 --> 00:10:03,080 Speaker 1: even more towering achievement than the tallest of skyscrapers. I 169 00:10:03,120 --> 00:10:06,640 Speaker 1: hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. 170 00:10:07,000 --> 00:10:10,080 Speaker 1: Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about 171 00:10:10,080 --> 00:10:14,679 Speaker 1: the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. This show 172 00:10:14,880 --> 00:10:18,120 Speaker 1: was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how 173 00:10:18,200 --> 00:10:21,800 Speaker 1: Stuff Works, I make another award winning show called Lore, 174 00:10:22,040 --> 00:10:25,679 Speaker 1: which is a podcast, book series, and television show and 175 00:10:25,720 --> 00:10:28,319 Speaker 1: you can learn all about it over at the Worldoflore 176 00:10:28,600 --> 00:10:34,080 Speaker 1: dot com. And until next time, stay curious.