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 --> 00:00:11,200 Speaker 1: is an open book, all of these amazing tales are 3 00:00:11,320 --> 00:00:14,680 Speaker 1: right there on display, just waiting for us to explore. 4 00:00:16,200 --> 00:00:29,040 Speaker 1: Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. Accusing the wrong person 5 00:00:29,160 --> 00:00:32,320 Speaker 1: for a crime can ruin their life. Countless individuals have 6 00:00:32,360 --> 00:00:35,480 Speaker 1: wrongfully gone to jail or been executed, while the real 7 00:00:35,520 --> 00:00:39,000 Speaker 1: perpetrators go free. It often doesn't until much later that 8 00:00:39,040 --> 00:00:41,360 Speaker 1: the truth comes out, but by then it can be 9 00:00:41,360 --> 00:00:44,800 Speaker 1: too late. Those who have been wrongfully convicted can't get 10 00:00:44,840 --> 00:00:47,960 Speaker 1: back that time, and the ones who are executed, well, 11 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:51,040 Speaker 1: it's not like they get a do over. At the 12 00:00:51,040 --> 00:00:54,280 Speaker 1: turn of the century, before forensic science became a standard 13 00:00:54,360 --> 00:00:57,280 Speaker 1: part of police procedure, a man named will West was 14 00:00:57,320 --> 00:01:00,720 Speaker 1: sent to Leavenworth Prison in New York. But clerk checking 15 00:01:00,800 --> 00:01:03,440 Speaker 1: him in took a series of measurements and checked them 16 00:01:03,480 --> 00:01:06,680 Speaker 1: against his current lineup of prisoners. He found a match, 17 00:01:07,240 --> 00:01:11,600 Speaker 1: a man named William West. The only problem was that 18 00:01:11,600 --> 00:01:14,680 Speaker 1: the William West on record was already serving a life 19 00:01:14,680 --> 00:01:17,560 Speaker 1: sentence for murder for the past two years. The will 20 00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:20,760 Speaker 1: West in front of him, whose measurements equaled those of 21 00:01:20,800 --> 00:01:24,640 Speaker 1: the other Mr West, almost exactly had never been convicted 22 00:01:24,680 --> 00:01:28,639 Speaker 1: of a crime before. The clerk checked his data again, 23 00:01:28,959 --> 00:01:32,920 Speaker 1: examining will West's bone structure, how far apart his eyes were, 24 00:01:33,080 --> 00:01:36,440 Speaker 1: the shape of his mouth, everything down to the last detail, 25 00:01:36,720 --> 00:01:40,840 Speaker 1: and this man was practically the convicted murderers twin. As 26 00:01:40,880 --> 00:01:43,640 Speaker 1: far as the clerk could tell, they were the same person. 27 00:01:44,240 --> 00:01:47,200 Speaker 1: The confusion wouldn't be sorted out for another few years, 28 00:01:47,200 --> 00:01:50,480 Speaker 1: when fingerprint analysis would prove the two will Wests to 29 00:01:50,560 --> 00:01:54,840 Speaker 1: be two completely different people. But perhaps the strangest case 30 00:01:54,920 --> 00:01:58,720 Speaker 1: of mistaken identity occurred much earlier. During the Napoleonic Wars, 31 00:02:00,080 --> 00:02:02,760 Speaker 1: happened off the coast of Hartlepool, a small town in 32 00:02:02,840 --> 00:02:06,520 Speaker 1: northeastern England. A French ship was sinking and the people 33 00:02:06,600 --> 00:02:09,680 Speaker 1: of Hartlepool were unsure of what to do. After all, 34 00:02:09,760 --> 00:02:12,200 Speaker 1: that ship could have been a decoy or a kind 35 00:02:12,200 --> 00:02:15,400 Speaker 1: of trojan horse waiting to be accepted onto English shores. 36 00:02:16,360 --> 00:02:18,840 Speaker 1: But the locals didn't really have to worry about much. 37 00:02:19,200 --> 00:02:22,480 Speaker 1: Only one survivor washed up on the beach, still clad 38 00:02:22,560 --> 00:02:26,120 Speaker 1: in his military uniform. He was found, but rather than 39 00:02:26,240 --> 00:02:29,040 Speaker 1: giving him the help he needed, the residents took him 40 00:02:29,040 --> 00:02:32,560 Speaker 1: in as a prisoner of war. They had never seen 41 00:02:32,560 --> 00:02:36,080 Speaker 1: a Frenchman before, and used the satirical cartoons they had 42 00:02:36,120 --> 00:02:40,840 Speaker 1: read about to guide their identification. Those cartoons often depicted 43 00:02:40,840 --> 00:02:44,560 Speaker 1: the French as furry creatures with sharp claws and long tails. 44 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:48,200 Speaker 1: In a way, they looked a bit like monkeys, which 45 00:02:48,280 --> 00:02:51,880 Speaker 1: was bad news for the castaway who washed ashore because 46 00:02:51,880 --> 00:02:55,120 Speaker 1: he was a monkey. He'd been dressed as one of 47 00:02:55,160 --> 00:02:57,920 Speaker 1: the soldiers, probably to amuse the crew on the ship, 48 00:02:58,400 --> 00:03:01,600 Speaker 1: but the locals had no idea the animal had been entertainment. 49 00:03:02,080 --> 00:03:04,799 Speaker 1: To them, he must have been a French spy sent 50 00:03:04,919 --> 00:03:09,360 Speaker 1: to obtain information about their town. So they did the 51 00:03:09,360 --> 00:03:12,000 Speaker 1: only logical thing they could think of. They put the 52 00:03:12,040 --> 00:03:15,000 Speaker 1: monkey on trial, since it couldn't answer any of the 53 00:03:15,120 --> 00:03:18,640 Speaker 1: questions or defend itself in any way. It was eventually 54 00:03:18,639 --> 00:03:22,000 Speaker 1: found guilty of being a spy, and the townsfolk didn't 55 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:25,359 Speaker 1: waste any time doling out justice to the interloper. They 56 00:03:25,360 --> 00:03:27,720 Speaker 1: took it to the town square and fitted it for 57 00:03:27,760 --> 00:03:32,000 Speaker 1: a noose, hanging the animal for all to see. At 58 00:03:32,080 --> 00:03:35,400 Speaker 1: least that's the legend according to modern day residents of 59 00:03:35,480 --> 00:03:38,360 Speaker 1: the town. That is, there's an alternate version of the 60 00:03:38,400 --> 00:03:43,280 Speaker 1: story that's much darker. Cannons on military ships were often 61 00:03:43,320 --> 00:03:47,480 Speaker 1: primed with gunpowder by adolescent boys called powder monkeys. It's 62 00:03:47,520 --> 00:03:49,920 Speaker 1: possible that one of the boys had made it off 63 00:03:49,960 --> 00:03:52,800 Speaker 1: the ship only to find himself at the center of 64 00:03:52,840 --> 00:03:56,720 Speaker 1: an international conspiracy. But it's not like the town is 65 00:03:56,760 --> 00:03:59,320 Speaker 1: eager to own up to the more macabre version of 66 00:03:59,360 --> 00:04:02,600 Speaker 1: the tail. They're sticking with the monkey, And if you 67 00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:05,960 Speaker 1: attend to Hartlepool United football match, you'll probably hear the 68 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:09,640 Speaker 1: crowd chant who hung the monkey. The team's mascot is 69 00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:12,840 Speaker 1: even a monkey named Angus. In fact, the town is 70 00:04:12,880 --> 00:04:15,720 Speaker 1: so dedicated to the legend that Stuart Drummond, a two 71 00:04:15,720 --> 00:04:18,880 Speaker 1: thousand two candidate for mayor of town, dressed up as 72 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:22,720 Speaker 1: Angus the Monkey and promised free bananas for school children 73 00:04:22,839 --> 00:04:26,160 Speaker 1: as part of his platform, and the voters liked him 74 00:04:26,279 --> 00:04:32,040 Speaker 1: enough to elect him to office not once but three times. Sadly, though, 75 00:04:32,640 --> 00:04:49,039 Speaker 1: the children never got their free bananas. John Montague, the 76 00:04:49,200 --> 00:04:52,560 Speaker 1: second Duke of Montagu, accomplished a lot in his short 77 00:04:52,600 --> 00:04:56,200 Speaker 1: forty years on this earth. During the early seventeen hundreds, 78 00:04:56,240 --> 00:04:59,240 Speaker 1: he governed the islands of St. Vincent and St. Lucia. 79 00:04:59,640 --> 00:05:02,120 Speaker 1: He was a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, 80 00:05:02,480 --> 00:05:05,960 Speaker 1: and he helped build the Foundling Hospital, a first combination 81 00:05:06,080 --> 00:05:09,839 Speaker 1: medical center and children's home in London. He was also 82 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:12,880 Speaker 1: father to five children, three of whom died quite young. 83 00:05:13,200 --> 00:05:15,920 Speaker 1: In fact, he outlived all of them, which might explain 84 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:20,000 Speaker 1: Montague's peculiar quirk. He kind of let his inner child 85 00:05:20,120 --> 00:05:24,400 Speaker 1: run his life. You see, Montague love to be entertained. 86 00:05:24,920 --> 00:05:28,080 Speaker 1: More than that, he loved to entertain, to joke around 87 00:05:28,080 --> 00:05:31,320 Speaker 1: with friends and family. He was known to playfully lure 88 00:05:31,400 --> 00:05:34,320 Speaker 1: people into his garden and then squirt them with water, 89 00:05:34,760 --> 00:05:37,239 Speaker 1: or to invite guests to stay in his home only 90 00:05:37,320 --> 00:05:40,880 Speaker 1: to put itching powder in their beds. Whether that was 91 00:05:40,920 --> 00:05:43,600 Speaker 1: more entertaining for him than the people staying with him, 92 00:05:43,920 --> 00:05:46,640 Speaker 1: well that remains to be seen. But he wanted more. 93 00:05:47,080 --> 00:05:50,200 Speaker 1: He wanted to be enthralled by something he'd never seen before, 94 00:05:50,680 --> 00:05:55,039 Speaker 1: something astounding he'd heard of. A man called the bottle 95 00:05:55,120 --> 00:05:58,520 Speaker 1: conjuror a performer who could do things most people only 96 00:05:58,600 --> 00:06:01,839 Speaker 1: dreamt about. For example, if someone was wearing a mask 97 00:06:01,920 --> 00:06:05,440 Speaker 1: during the show, the bottle conjurer could name them without hesitation, 98 00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:08,279 Speaker 1: even if he had never met them before. He would 99 00:06:08,320 --> 00:06:11,160 Speaker 1: then ask an audience member to name someone they knew 100 00:06:11,200 --> 00:06:14,000 Speaker 1: who had passed away. For the next several minutes, he 101 00:06:14,040 --> 00:06:17,720 Speaker 1: would become the deceased person, talking with that audience member 102 00:06:17,760 --> 00:06:20,240 Speaker 1: as if he was their loved one and had returned 103 00:06:20,279 --> 00:06:24,200 Speaker 1: from the dead. The Bottle Conjurer was a wonder. He 104 00:06:24,240 --> 00:06:26,960 Speaker 1: could look at someone and tell them their deepest, darkest 105 00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:29,760 Speaker 1: secrets from a past life. He could take a walking 106 00:06:29,839 --> 00:06:32,720 Speaker 1: stick from a random person in the crowd and play 107 00:06:32,760 --> 00:06:36,800 Speaker 1: it like any musical instrument, all while singing perfectly at 108 00:06:36,800 --> 00:06:39,880 Speaker 1: the same time. And then there was the reason for 109 00:06:39,960 --> 00:06:43,400 Speaker 1: his name. His most impressive feet would always come later 110 00:06:43,440 --> 00:06:45,880 Speaker 1: in the evening, when he would present a simple wine 111 00:06:45,880 --> 00:06:49,120 Speaker 1: bottle to the audience. Someone would be invited on stage 112 00:06:49,160 --> 00:06:51,520 Speaker 1: to examine the bottle to make sure there was nothing 113 00:06:51,560 --> 00:06:54,800 Speaker 1: funny or strange about it, and once it was confirmed 114 00:06:54,839 --> 00:06:57,840 Speaker 1: to be a normal tavern bottle, the Conjurer would place 115 00:06:57,880 --> 00:06:59,720 Speaker 1: it on a table in the middle of the stage, 116 00:07:00,279 --> 00:07:04,479 Speaker 1: lean in, squeeze his entire body inside of it, and 117 00:07:04,520 --> 00:07:08,680 Speaker 1: then sing for the crowd. And Lord Montague wanted to 118 00:07:08,720 --> 00:07:11,600 Speaker 1: see this for himself, and he wanted as many people 119 00:07:11,640 --> 00:07:14,400 Speaker 1: as possible to see it with him, so he put 120 00:07:14,400 --> 00:07:17,600 Speaker 1: an advertisement in the local newspaper on the night of 121 00:07:17,680 --> 00:07:22,440 Speaker 1: January seventeen forty nine, the Bottle Conjurer would appear at 122 00:07:22,440 --> 00:07:25,760 Speaker 1: the theater in the Haymarket and perform all the amazing 123 00:07:25,800 --> 00:07:31,040 Speaker 1: feats described. The show sold out. The theater was packed 124 00:07:31,080 --> 00:07:34,520 Speaker 1: that night as people waited for the Conjurer button. By showtime, 125 00:07:34,760 --> 00:07:38,480 Speaker 1: he still hadn't appeared. Minutes passed and the crowd grew 126 00:07:38,520 --> 00:07:43,160 Speaker 1: increasingly agitated. Ushers and management assured the audience that if 127 00:07:43,160 --> 00:07:46,240 Speaker 1: the Conjuror didn't begin soon, they would all be refunded 128 00:07:46,240 --> 00:07:49,480 Speaker 1: their money, but that didn't help. Everyone had come to 129 00:07:49,560 --> 00:07:53,880 Speaker 1: see a show unlike anything they could have imagined. Eventually, 130 00:07:54,080 --> 00:07:56,200 Speaker 1: someone in the audience, who felt that they had waited 131 00:07:56,200 --> 00:07:59,560 Speaker 1: long enough, shouted for double the prices the Conjurer will 132 00:07:59,560 --> 00:08:02,400 Speaker 1: go into to a pint size bottle, and that did it. 133 00:08:02,680 --> 00:08:05,600 Speaker 1: Everyone leapt to their feet and anger. They knew that 134 00:08:05,680 --> 00:08:07,960 Speaker 1: they had been had and no refund was going to 135 00:08:08,040 --> 00:08:12,120 Speaker 1: satisfy them. Spectators started pulling down curtains and ripping their 136 00:08:12,160 --> 00:08:15,200 Speaker 1: seats out of the floor. They tossed everything into a 137 00:08:15,240 --> 00:08:18,840 Speaker 1: giant bonfire outside the theater and watched it all burn. 138 00:08:21,200 --> 00:08:24,680 Speaker 1: One audience member managed to get away with the ticket receipts, 139 00:08:24,720 --> 00:08:26,960 Speaker 1: so no one was able to get their money back. 140 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:30,560 Speaker 1: In the end, however, despite their protests and rage, no 141 00:08:30,600 --> 00:08:33,120 Speaker 1: one could figure out who had placed the ad or why. 142 00:08:33,679 --> 00:08:37,120 Speaker 1: Some names were floated around as possible perpetrators, but all 143 00:08:37,160 --> 00:08:40,040 Speaker 1: of them denied it until one day when it was 144 00:08:40,080 --> 00:08:42,520 Speaker 1: revealed that it had all been John Montague, who had 145 00:08:42,559 --> 00:08:46,720 Speaker 1: promised everyone a show featuring the bottle conjuror apparently it 146 00:08:46,800 --> 00:08:49,880 Speaker 1: had all started been the Duke, talking with another nobleman, 147 00:08:50,240 --> 00:08:53,160 Speaker 1: had made a bet. He wagered that if he advertised 148 00:08:53,160 --> 00:08:56,360 Speaker 1: an impossible spectacle for the public to witness, it would 149 00:08:56,400 --> 00:09:00,440 Speaker 1: draw and I quote, enough fools in London to fill 150 00:09:00,480 --> 00:09:04,360 Speaker 1: a playhouse. That nobleman took him up on that bet 151 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:08,400 Speaker 1: and lost, and the Duke of Montague turned the English 152 00:09:08,520 --> 00:09:12,440 Speaker 1: into a punchline for years to come, much to their dismay. 153 00:09:13,400 --> 00:09:16,200 Speaker 1: And I guess that means the old saying really is true. 154 00:09:17,120 --> 00:09:23,480 Speaker 1: Some people just can't take a joke. I hope you've 155 00:09:23,559 --> 00:09:27,520 Speaker 1: enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe 156 00:09:27,559 --> 00:09:30,160 Speaker 1: for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the 157 00:09:30,200 --> 00:09:34,960 Speaker 1: show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was 158 00:09:35,080 --> 00:09:38,880 Speaker 1: created by me Aaron Manky, in partnership with how Stuff Works, 159 00:09:39,280 --> 00:09:42,440 Speaker 1: I make another award winning show called Lore, which is 160 00:09:42,559 --> 00:09:45,959 Speaker 1: a podcast, book series, and television show and you can 161 00:09:46,040 --> 00:09:48,360 Speaker 1: learn all about it over at the world of Lore 162 00:09:48,640 --> 00:09:52,320 Speaker 1: dot com. And until next time, stay curious.