1 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:07,480 Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Menke'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 00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:18,480 Speaker 1: the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all 4 00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:22,159 Speaker 1: of these amazing tales are right there on display, just 5 00:00:22,239 --> 00:00:28,880 Speaker 1: waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. 6 00:00:36,800 --> 00:00:41,200 Speaker 1: Legendary individuals aren't usually born as legends. They work hard 7 00:00:41,280 --> 00:00:44,640 Speaker 1: and accomplish great things during their lifetime. In other words, 8 00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:48,200 Speaker 1: legends are made. But while some might spend their lives 9 00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:53,240 Speaker 1: earning their legendary status, others find loopholes workarounds to cement 10 00:00:53,320 --> 00:00:59,280 Speaker 1: their place in history. People. Sarah Emma Edmunds was born 11 00:00:59,400 --> 00:01:02,480 Speaker 1: Sarah Edmond in New Brunswick, Canada, in the winter of 12 00:01:02,520 --> 00:01:05,840 Speaker 1: eighteen forty one. She lived on a farm with her parents, 13 00:01:05,920 --> 00:01:09,679 Speaker 1: multiple sisters, and one brother. Apparently, her father had wanted 14 00:01:09,720 --> 00:01:12,360 Speaker 1: another boy to help with the farm, and so Sarah 15 00:01:12,360 --> 00:01:14,920 Speaker 1: often bore the brunt of his abuse simply for being 16 00:01:14,959 --> 00:01:18,320 Speaker 1: born a girl. She passed the time by reading stories 17 00:01:18,319 --> 00:01:21,440 Speaker 1: of fantasy and adventure, like those of Fanny Campbell, the 18 00:01:21,600 --> 00:01:25,560 Speaker 1: female pirate captain. Fanny was a fictional character who had 19 00:01:25,560 --> 00:01:29,040 Speaker 1: set sail during the American Revolution to save her fiancee 20 00:01:29,319 --> 00:01:31,760 Speaker 1: and wound up becoming the captain of a pirate ship. 21 00:01:32,319 --> 00:01:35,840 Speaker 1: These stories swirled around in Sarah's head as an escape 22 00:01:35,840 --> 00:01:38,440 Speaker 1: from her daily life, but they also got her thinking 23 00:01:38,840 --> 00:01:42,120 Speaker 1: there must be something better out there away from her father, 24 00:01:43,040 --> 00:01:45,559 Speaker 1: and so when she was fifteen years old, she left 25 00:01:45,600 --> 00:01:48,240 Speaker 1: home with her mother's help, partly to get as far 26 00:01:48,280 --> 00:01:51,120 Speaker 1: from her father as possible and also because she was 27 00:01:51,160 --> 00:01:53,960 Speaker 1: set to be married soon. She then changed her last 28 00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:57,240 Speaker 1: name to Edmunds and never looked back. Her dad eventually 29 00:01:57,240 --> 00:01:59,480 Speaker 1: trapped her down and she had to flee once more 30 00:01:59,640 --> 00:02:02,360 Speaker 1: to sky. Ing herself as a boy named Franklin Thompson, 31 00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:05,960 Speaker 1: she made her way straightside to Connecticut, where her alter 32 00:02:06,080 --> 00:02:08,120 Speaker 1: ego helped her land a job as a door to 33 00:02:08,160 --> 00:02:12,320 Speaker 1: door Bible salesman. But she never forgot about Fanny Campbell, 34 00:02:12,520 --> 00:02:15,000 Speaker 1: who defied the odds and took on men in male 35 00:02:15,080 --> 00:02:18,720 Speaker 1: dominated fields. Sarah already dressed like a man to make 36 00:02:18,760 --> 00:02:21,400 Speaker 1: a life for herself on her own, so when the 37 00:02:21,440 --> 00:02:24,639 Speaker 1: Civil War broke out in eighteen sixty one, Sarah saw 38 00:02:24,680 --> 00:02:26,720 Speaker 1: her chance to be more than what had been planned 39 00:02:26,760 --> 00:02:30,080 Speaker 1: for her. She had been traveling through Michigan selling bibles. 40 00:02:30,120 --> 00:02:33,080 Speaker 1: When she enlisted with the Union Army there as Franklin 41 00:02:33,160 --> 00:02:36,840 Speaker 1: Flint Thompson, she was eager to support her adopted country 42 00:02:36,840 --> 00:02:40,560 Speaker 1: against the South. Sarah, as Franklin, took on a number 43 00:02:40,600 --> 00:02:42,720 Speaker 1: of duties during the war as part of the Second 44 00:02:42,760 --> 00:02:47,200 Speaker 1: Michigan Infantry. She helped wounded soldiers, worked as a mail carrier, 45 00:02:47,360 --> 00:02:50,079 Speaker 1: and even fought at the siege of Yorktown in Virginia. 46 00:02:50,880 --> 00:02:54,000 Speaker 1: Her loyalty and grace under pressure soon earned her a 47 00:02:54,040 --> 00:02:56,960 Speaker 1: way to win the war from the inside. She was 48 00:02:57,040 --> 00:03:00,640 Speaker 1: made a spy for the Union. According to Sarah's memoirs, 49 00:03:00,639 --> 00:03:04,240 Speaker 1: she donned numerous disguises and identities to slip behind enemy 50 00:03:04,280 --> 00:03:07,919 Speaker 1: lines undetected. In one scenario, she dyed her skin black 51 00:03:08,040 --> 00:03:10,960 Speaker 1: using silver nitrate and wore a wig so that she 52 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:14,720 Speaker 1: looked like a black man. On another occasion, while disguised 53 00:03:14,760 --> 00:03:17,720 Speaker 1: as a black laundress, she stole several papers that had 54 00:03:17,760 --> 00:03:20,640 Speaker 1: fallen out of an officer's jacket and smuggled them to 55 00:03:20,760 --> 00:03:24,040 Speaker 1: her superiors. She also pretended to be an Irish peddler 56 00:03:24,120 --> 00:03:27,680 Speaker 1: named bridget O'Shea who sold various soaps and other goods 57 00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:32,440 Speaker 1: to Confederate soldiers, hoping to learn more about their plans. Unfortunately, 58 00:03:32,480 --> 00:03:36,120 Speaker 1: her life as a spy was cut unceremoniously short. After 59 00:03:36,160 --> 00:03:39,840 Speaker 1: sustaining a fall from her mule while delivering mail, followed 60 00:03:39,840 --> 00:03:42,400 Speaker 1: by a bout of malaria, Sarah was told to visit 61 00:03:42,440 --> 00:03:45,600 Speaker 1: a Union hospital. There was just one problem with that. 62 00:03:46,120 --> 00:03:49,120 Speaker 1: Any doctor who examined her would realize she wasn't a 63 00:03:49,120 --> 00:03:52,280 Speaker 1: man named Frank Thompson, but she was in fact a woman. 64 00:03:53,040 --> 00:03:56,880 Speaker 1: So instead she checked herself into a private facility and recuperated. 65 00:03:57,440 --> 00:04:00,680 Speaker 1: But during that time, Frank Thompson was labor a deserter. 66 00:04:01,280 --> 00:04:04,000 Speaker 1: Posters were put up, and Sarah realized that her other 67 00:04:04,080 --> 00:04:07,360 Speaker 1: identity was now a wanted man. Rather than go back 68 00:04:07,400 --> 00:04:10,520 Speaker 1: and face military action for desertion from her post, she 69 00:04:10,600 --> 00:04:13,560 Speaker 1: traveled to Washington, d C. Where she enlisted as a 70 00:04:13,560 --> 00:04:17,800 Speaker 1: female nurse under the name Sarah Edmonds. She published an 71 00:04:17,800 --> 00:04:20,600 Speaker 1: account of her time with a second Michigan infantry, as 72 00:04:20,640 --> 00:04:22,919 Speaker 1: well as her brief stint as a spy in a 73 00:04:22,960 --> 00:04:26,719 Speaker 1: memoir titled The Female Spy of the Union Army. But 74 00:04:26,839 --> 00:04:30,200 Speaker 1: barely twenty years after its publication, people started to question 75 00:04:30,320 --> 00:04:33,680 Speaker 1: the book's veracity. A reporter once asked her if her 76 00:04:33,680 --> 00:04:37,640 Speaker 1: book could be considered authentic, to which Sarah replied not 77 00:04:37,839 --> 00:04:40,440 Speaker 1: strictly so. In fact, she admitted that much of what 78 00:04:40,560 --> 00:04:44,760 Speaker 1: she had written was fiction. Ever since then, historians have 79 00:04:44,839 --> 00:04:48,040 Speaker 1: picked apart her story, suggesting that even though she served 80 00:04:48,080 --> 00:04:51,680 Speaker 1: in the military, she probably was never a spy. There 81 00:04:51,720 --> 00:04:54,919 Speaker 1: were no records of Frank Thompson mentioned in any surviving 82 00:04:55,040 --> 00:04:58,080 Speaker 1: rosters or memos, and according to the men she served with, 83 00:04:58,160 --> 00:05:00,440 Speaker 1: her real identity was well known to them by the 84 00:05:00,560 --> 00:05:03,159 Speaker 1: end of the war. Then they said that she was 85 00:05:03,200 --> 00:05:07,000 Speaker 1: a great soldier. So was she really a spy? The 86 00:05:07,000 --> 00:05:09,720 Speaker 1: only people who know for sure are long gone by now. 87 00:05:09,920 --> 00:05:12,479 Speaker 1: But Sarah Edmunds did contribute quite a lot to the 88 00:05:12,560 --> 00:05:14,919 Speaker 1: Union effort during the war. She might not have been 89 00:05:14,960 --> 00:05:18,159 Speaker 1: a legend, but she certainly was a hero, just one 90 00:05:18,160 --> 00:05:35,599 Speaker 1: who might have embellished a bit on her resume. May 91 00:05:35,640 --> 00:05:38,240 Speaker 1: could hear the children long before she could see them. 92 00:05:38,800 --> 00:05:41,640 Speaker 1: As her mule climbed the last hill on the Appalachian 93 00:05:41,640 --> 00:05:44,560 Speaker 1: Mountain trail. Shrieks and laughter could be heard from the 94 00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:48,200 Speaker 1: little one room schoolhouse just beyond the trees. As she 95 00:05:48,320 --> 00:05:50,800 Speaker 1: rounded the corner, the children rushed to greet May and 96 00:05:50,880 --> 00:05:53,800 Speaker 1: her mule, shouting to the others to hurry up. If 97 00:05:53,839 --> 00:05:56,440 Speaker 1: they didn't come soon, they would miss the book woman. 98 00:05:57,640 --> 00:06:00,720 Speaker 1: The nineteen twenty nine stock market crash plunged the whole 99 00:06:00,760 --> 00:06:04,719 Speaker 1: of America into a deep depression, with widespread poverty becoming 100 00:06:04,760 --> 00:06:07,320 Speaker 1: a fact of daily life. One of the hardest hit 101 00:06:07,400 --> 00:06:11,200 Speaker 1: areas was the Appalachian Mountains of eastern Kentucky. To fight 102 00:06:11,240 --> 00:06:14,960 Speaker 1: back against the depression and provide work for Americans, President 103 00:06:14,960 --> 00:06:18,599 Speaker 1: Franklin Delano Roosevelt announced a series of federal work programs 104 00:06:18,640 --> 00:06:22,640 Speaker 1: in nineteen thirty three, called the New Deal. And already 105 00:06:22,720 --> 00:06:26,280 Speaker 1: lacking the modern highways, electricity, and telephones of the rest 106 00:06:26,320 --> 00:06:29,520 Speaker 1: of the nation, Eastern Kentucky became a prime target for 107 00:06:29,640 --> 00:06:35,720 Speaker 1: Roosevelt's ambitious new project. FDR's Works Progress Administration, or WPA, 108 00:06:36,160 --> 00:06:39,679 Speaker 1: soon descended on Eastern Kentucky, putting men to work building 109 00:06:39,760 --> 00:06:43,200 Speaker 1: roads and bridges. But the folks of Appalachia weren't just 110 00:06:43,279 --> 00:06:47,360 Speaker 1: hungry for infrastructure. They craved knowledge. You see, nearly a 111 00:06:47,360 --> 00:06:50,240 Speaker 1: third of Eastern Kentuckians could not read at this time, 112 00:06:50,400 --> 00:06:52,279 Speaker 1: and with many of them out of work, they saw 113 00:06:52,440 --> 00:06:55,560 Speaker 1: education as a way out of poverty. Their only problem 114 00:06:55,839 --> 00:07:00,000 Speaker 1: living in rural Appalachia, access to books wasn't exactly easy, 115 00:07:00,440 --> 00:07:02,839 Speaker 1: it sounded like the perfect job for the book women. 116 00:07:03,680 --> 00:07:06,320 Speaker 1: Back in nineteen thirteen, a woman named May Stafford had 117 00:07:06,360 --> 00:07:08,840 Speaker 1: tried to start a program bringing books to far off 118 00:07:08,920 --> 00:07:12,080 Speaker 1: hills and haulers on horseback, but had to stop after 119 00:07:12,160 --> 00:07:15,280 Speaker 1: she ran out of funding. Now in nineteen thirty five, 120 00:07:15,520 --> 00:07:18,240 Speaker 1: with the backing of FDR's new deal, she was back 121 00:07:18,240 --> 00:07:21,559 Speaker 1: in the saddle. The pack horse library program was ready 122 00:07:21,600 --> 00:07:25,360 Speaker 1: to ride again. The idea was simple. Each county in 123 00:07:25,400 --> 00:07:29,400 Speaker 1: eastern Kentucky would establish a library with donated books. Twice 124 00:07:29,400 --> 00:07:32,720 Speaker 1: a month, an army of women riding mules and horses 125 00:07:32,880 --> 00:07:35,600 Speaker 1: would fill their saddle bags with texts and take them 126 00:07:35,640 --> 00:07:38,800 Speaker 1: out to the mountains, circulating books and magazines to the 127 00:07:38,840 --> 00:07:43,160 Speaker 1: furthest rural communities. This was easier said than done. Of course, 128 00:07:43,480 --> 00:07:46,200 Speaker 1: the government would pay for the writers, but nothing else. 129 00:07:46,600 --> 00:07:49,120 Speaker 1: This meant communities had to find way to buy or 130 00:07:49,160 --> 00:07:52,600 Speaker 1: rent mules, horses, and books. With no roads in many 131 00:07:52,640 --> 00:07:55,800 Speaker 1: parts of the mountains, pack horse librarians were forced to 132 00:07:55,880 --> 00:07:58,720 Speaker 1: ride through mountain trails and creek beds. They had to 133 00:07:58,720 --> 00:08:01,520 Speaker 1: travel nearly one hundred minth miles a week through rain 134 00:08:01,680 --> 00:08:04,840 Speaker 1: and snow, sometimes arriving home with their feet frozen to 135 00:08:04,920 --> 00:08:08,400 Speaker 1: the stirrups. When one woman's mule died mid ride, she 136 00:08:08,480 --> 00:08:11,240 Speaker 1: had to hike the rest of her routes herself. Not 137 00:08:11,360 --> 00:08:16,080 Speaker 1: to mention, these writers faced constant threats from copperhead snakes, bears, 138 00:08:16,400 --> 00:08:21,400 Speaker 1: mountain lions, and suspicious neighbors. Despite the early challenges, the 139 00:08:21,440 --> 00:08:25,880 Speaker 1: Packhorse Library Program was an instant hit. People loved the books, 140 00:08:26,120 --> 00:08:29,520 Speaker 1: whether they were practical guides to quilting or canning, beautiful 141 00:08:29,560 --> 00:08:33,520 Speaker 1: books of poetry, or fanciful adventure novels set in far 142 00:08:33,559 --> 00:08:37,120 Speaker 1: off lands. By nineteen thirty seven, the program served over 143 00:08:37,200 --> 00:08:40,840 Speaker 1: fifty thousand families and nearly two hundred public schools. The 144 00:08:40,920 --> 00:08:43,959 Speaker 1: most popular books in circulation were novels by Mark Twain 145 00:08:44,080 --> 00:08:48,720 Speaker 1: and Daniel Dafoe, with beautifully drawn illustrations. It wasn't uncommon 146 00:08:48,720 --> 00:08:51,439 Speaker 1: for families to read them together, with the children helping 147 00:08:51,480 --> 00:08:55,319 Speaker 1: their parents learn to read. By the early nineteen forties, 148 00:08:55,360 --> 00:08:57,520 Speaker 1: as the war breaking out in Europe led to an 149 00:08:57,520 --> 00:09:01,320 Speaker 1: industrial boom in America, Franklin Rose brought many new deal 150 00:09:01,360 --> 00:09:05,400 Speaker 1: projects to an end. The Packhorse Library Program officially ended 151 00:09:05,440 --> 00:09:09,319 Speaker 1: in nineteen forty three. After serving most of eastern Kentucky 152 00:09:09,520 --> 00:09:12,440 Speaker 1: for the better part of a decade, While the book 153 00:09:12,480 --> 00:09:15,720 Speaker 1: women no longer rode through the mountain trails, books found 154 00:09:15,760 --> 00:09:18,920 Speaker 1: a new way to travel around Kentucky. During the decade 155 00:09:18,920 --> 00:09:22,439 Speaker 1: the WPA was modernizing the state. Many new roads had 156 00:09:22,440 --> 00:09:24,920 Speaker 1: been built through the mountains, which gave some of the 157 00:09:24,920 --> 00:09:28,400 Speaker 1: out of work bookwomen an idea. In nineteen forty six, 158 00:09:28,520 --> 00:09:33,240 Speaker 1: Kentucky's first motorized bookmobile began driving through the mountains, bringing 159 00:09:33,320 --> 00:09:37,080 Speaker 1: books to the people. Nearly seventy years later, their legacy 160 00:09:37,160 --> 00:09:41,880 Speaker 1: still has a lasting impact. Today, Kentucky's Libraries operates seventy 161 00:09:41,880 --> 00:09:46,200 Speaker 1: five bookmobiles across the state. It truly is a miracle, 162 00:09:46,400 --> 00:09:49,880 Speaker 1: an evidence of the enduring power of books. Over one 163 00:09:49,960 --> 00:09:53,439 Speaker 1: hundred years after its story first began, the pack Horse 164 00:09:53,520 --> 00:10:00,959 Speaker 1: Library is still delivering Hope Hope. If you've enjoyed today's 165 00:10:00,960 --> 00:10:04,600 Speaker 1: guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities, subscribe for free 166 00:10:04,640 --> 00:10:07,360 Speaker 1: on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show by 167 00:10:07,400 --> 00:10:12,400 Speaker 1: visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created by 168 00:10:12,440 --> 00:10:16,080 Speaker 1: me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how Stuff Works. I 169 00:10:16,160 --> 00:10:19,959 Speaker 1: make another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, 170 00:10:20,040 --> 00:10:23,000 Speaker 1: book series, and television show, and you can learn all 171 00:10:23,040 --> 00:10:27,120 Speaker 1: about it over at the worldoflore dot com. And until 172 00:10:27,120 --> 00:10:29,640 Speaker 1: next time, stay curious.