1 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:07,480 Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of 2 00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:14,480 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 --> 00:00:22,639 Speaker 1: of these amazing tales right there on display, just waiting 5 00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:28,880 Speaker 1: for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. 6 00:00:36,760 --> 00:00:39,520 Speaker 1: When we're young, we tend to fear the prospect of death. 7 00:00:39,760 --> 00:00:41,760 Speaker 1: We haven't lived our lives yet, and we don't know 8 00:00:41,760 --> 00:00:44,200 Speaker 1: what awaits us on the other side, if there even 9 00:00:44,400 --> 00:00:48,040 Speaker 1: is another side. Those who have lived long, fulfilling lives, however, 10 00:00:48,120 --> 00:00:51,000 Speaker 1: might see death as the next frontier. After all they've 11 00:00:51,120 --> 00:00:53,559 Speaker 1: seen and done it all over here. The idea of 12 00:00:53,640 --> 00:00:57,160 Speaker 1: the unknowing might not seem so terrifying to them. But 13 00:00:57,240 --> 00:00:59,920 Speaker 1: in the nineteen twenties, one man set out to prove 14 00:01:00,080 --> 00:01:04,920 Speaker 1: the unprovable by doing the unthinkable. His name was Thomas Bradford, 15 00:01:05,080 --> 00:01:08,600 Speaker 1: a professor in Detroit, Michigan. Bradford held a number of 16 00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:12,040 Speaker 1: jobs over the course of his life. He dabbled in acting, sports, 17 00:01:12,160 --> 00:01:15,039 Speaker 1: and engineering, but later on he found himself swept up 18 00:01:15,080 --> 00:01:18,000 Speaker 1: in the spiritualism movement that had captivated people during the 19 00:01:18,080 --> 00:01:20,960 Speaker 1: nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He was one of the 20 00:01:20,959 --> 00:01:25,480 Speaker 1: many individuals who conducted and attended seances attempting to communicate 21 00:01:25,520 --> 00:01:29,039 Speaker 1: with spirits from beyond the grave, an interest that no doubt, 22 00:01:29,120 --> 00:01:32,399 Speaker 1: had been catalyzed by the loss of his wife sometime earlier. 23 00:01:32,440 --> 00:01:35,920 Speaker 1: As well. Spiritualism had taken off in the years following 24 00:01:35,920 --> 00:01:39,080 Speaker 1: the Civil War, and although many so called mediums were 25 00:01:39,080 --> 00:01:42,600 Speaker 1: nothing more than opportunistic fraudsters, the idea that the dead 26 00:01:42,640 --> 00:01:45,800 Speaker 1: were never really gone proved comforting to those in mourning. 27 00:01:46,200 --> 00:01:50,040 Speaker 1: Harry Houdini's wife, Bess, famously held a seance every year 28 00:01:50,080 --> 00:01:52,600 Speaker 1: in the hopes of talking to her beloved husband one 29 00:01:52,640 --> 00:01:55,760 Speaker 1: more time, and yet he never showed up. And so 30 00:01:55,840 --> 00:01:58,640 Speaker 1: it was natural for someone like Bradford to look at 31 00:01:58,640 --> 00:02:01,520 Speaker 1: the griffs being carried out and do a little bit 32 00:02:01,520 --> 00:02:04,840 Speaker 1: more digging. More than anything, he just wanted proof, proof 33 00:02:04,880 --> 00:02:08,280 Speaker 1: that these spirits were really there somewhere, waiting to chat 34 00:02:08,320 --> 00:02:11,519 Speaker 1: with their living loved ones. In other words, he wanted 35 00:02:11,560 --> 00:02:15,359 Speaker 1: proof that there was an afterlife. To test this, Bradford 36 00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:18,720 Speaker 1: came up with in experiments, one which required an assistant 37 00:02:18,800 --> 00:02:21,440 Speaker 1: to help complete. He placed an ad in the local 38 00:02:21,480 --> 00:02:25,880 Speaker 1: newspaper seeking someone with a passion for spiritualistic science. He 39 00:02:25,960 --> 00:02:29,400 Speaker 1: received a response from a woman named Ruth Dorin. Dorian 40 00:02:29,560 --> 00:02:32,239 Speaker 1: was not a spiritualist, nor did she believe in the 41 00:02:32,360 --> 00:02:35,960 Speaker 1: veracity of things like seances or automatic writing. She was 42 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:39,800 Speaker 1: reported as saying, I answered his advertisement through a simple 43 00:02:39,840 --> 00:02:42,240 Speaker 1: desire to know more about a thing in which I 44 00:02:42,360 --> 00:02:45,959 Speaker 1: was little versed. In a way, they were opposite sides 45 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:49,600 Speaker 1: of the same coin. Both Bradford and Dorian wanted the truth, 46 00:02:49,960 --> 00:02:52,960 Speaker 1: but they each had different motives. He wanted to believe 47 00:02:52,960 --> 00:02:56,040 Speaker 1: the afterlife was real, whereas she was just hoping for 48 00:02:56,120 --> 00:02:58,800 Speaker 1: a little more clarity on a subject that she knew 49 00:02:58,840 --> 00:03:03,359 Speaker 1: nothing about. So Bradford explained his experiment to her. According 50 00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:06,200 Speaker 1: to a note the police found on his typewriter after 51 00:03:06,240 --> 00:03:09,160 Speaker 1: it was all over, it is through scientific facts that 52 00:03:09,240 --> 00:03:13,080 Speaker 1: I proposed to demonstrate clearly the phenomena of spirits and 53 00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:16,040 Speaker 1: prove that all the phenomena is outside the domain of 54 00:03:16,080 --> 00:03:19,720 Speaker 1: the supernatural. How he was able to prove the existence 55 00:03:19,760 --> 00:03:22,520 Speaker 1: of a realm beyond the living, though well, he had 56 00:03:22,560 --> 00:03:25,840 Speaker 1: to go there by taking his own life. He believed 57 00:03:25,840 --> 00:03:28,080 Speaker 1: that once he reached the afterlife, he'd be able to 58 00:03:28,120 --> 00:03:32,000 Speaker 1: communicate with these still alive. Dorian Bradford carried out his 59 00:03:32,080 --> 00:03:35,840 Speaker 1: tests on February fifth of nineteen twenty one. After sealing 60 00:03:35,880 --> 00:03:38,520 Speaker 1: his apartment, he turned on his heater and blew out 61 00:03:38,560 --> 00:03:41,720 Speaker 1: the pilot light. The room filled with gas as Bradford 62 00:03:41,800 --> 00:03:45,040 Speaker 1: laid down on his bed waiting for the inevitable. He 63 00:03:45,120 --> 00:03:49,200 Speaker 1: was only forty eight years old. The police soon discovered 64 00:03:49,200 --> 00:03:52,520 Speaker 1: his body and questioned miss Doran about her involvement. She 65 00:03:52,600 --> 00:03:55,000 Speaker 1: claimed that he had not explained exactly what he was 66 00:03:55,040 --> 00:03:57,520 Speaker 1: going to do, only that he intended to prove that 67 00:03:57,560 --> 00:04:00,680 Speaker 1: the dead and the living could communicate between realm, a 68 00:04:01,120 --> 00:04:03,880 Speaker 1: fishy alibi given her involvement, but it was enough to 69 00:04:03,920 --> 00:04:08,160 Speaker 1: satisfy the police, who ruled his death a suicide. She 70 00:04:08,280 --> 00:04:10,960 Speaker 1: later told the press, I am his friend. If he 71 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:13,120 Speaker 1: can cause his spirit to come back to earth, I 72 00:04:13,200 --> 00:04:16,760 Speaker 1: believe his spirit will come to me. First hours passed 73 00:04:16,760 --> 00:04:19,680 Speaker 1: without a word from Bradford, and over the following days 74 00:04:19,720 --> 00:04:22,480 Speaker 1: a number of stories were published about what he had 75 00:04:22,480 --> 00:04:25,960 Speaker 1: done to himself. It all ended with a fairly definitive 76 00:04:26,040 --> 00:04:29,040 Speaker 1: article published in The New York Times on February eighth 77 00:04:29,120 --> 00:04:32,719 Speaker 1: of nineteen twenty one, three days after the incident. The 78 00:04:32,760 --> 00:04:38,040 Speaker 1: headline read dead spiritualist silent I guess he finally got 79 00:04:38,400 --> 00:04:56,080 Speaker 1: his answer. Boxing is a strategic sport, one that requires 80 00:04:56,120 --> 00:04:58,840 Speaker 1: more than just strong arms and quick feet. It's about 81 00:04:58,920 --> 00:05:02,839 Speaker 1: understanding Europe and knowing everything about them, from their strengths 82 00:05:02,920 --> 00:05:05,599 Speaker 1: and weaknesses to their go to moves in the ring. 83 00:05:06,240 --> 00:05:09,000 Speaker 1: Boxing is just as much about your mind as it 84 00:05:09,040 --> 00:05:11,520 Speaker 1: is about your fists. Although every now and then a 85 00:05:11,560 --> 00:05:14,680 Speaker 1: fighter can find themselves getting help without even knowing it. 86 00:05:14,720 --> 00:05:18,400 Speaker 1: Could it be intervention from a higher power maybe, or 87 00:05:18,440 --> 00:05:20,560 Speaker 1: maybe they can see what's going to happen on fight 88 00:05:20,680 --> 00:05:25,200 Speaker 1: nights before anybody else, like Sugar Ray Robinson. Robinson was 89 00:05:25,240 --> 00:05:28,880 Speaker 1: actually born Walker Smith Junior in nineteen twenty one. His 90 00:05:28,880 --> 00:05:31,400 Speaker 1: father had started out as a farmer before moving the 91 00:05:31,400 --> 00:05:34,680 Speaker 1: family to Detroit, where he found jobs in construction and 92 00:05:34,800 --> 00:05:38,279 Speaker 1: as a sewer worker. After his parents divorced, though, Smith 93 00:05:38,279 --> 00:05:40,479 Speaker 1: and his mother moved to Harlem in New York City, 94 00:05:40,560 --> 00:05:43,359 Speaker 1: where he had originally planned on becoming a doctor, but 95 00:05:43,600 --> 00:05:47,039 Speaker 1: come high school, he quickly realized that his passions lived elsewhere. 96 00:05:47,440 --> 00:05:50,279 Speaker 1: He dropped out of school and started training as a boxer. 97 00:05:50,600 --> 00:05:53,000 Speaker 1: He tried to compete in his first boxing tournament when 98 00:05:53,040 --> 00:05:56,440 Speaker 1: he was only fourteen years old, but the Amateur Athletic 99 00:05:56,560 --> 00:05:59,159 Speaker 1: Union required him to be a member first, a feat 100 00:05:59,200 --> 00:06:02,440 Speaker 1: he'd be unable to accomplish for another two years. But 101 00:06:02,520 --> 00:06:06,200 Speaker 1: Smith was resourceful. He borrowed the identity of another young 102 00:06:06,240 --> 00:06:09,400 Speaker 1: boxer named Ray Robinson, who had given up the sport, 103 00:06:09,520 --> 00:06:12,440 Speaker 1: and so from that point on, Walker Smith Junior became 104 00:06:12,480 --> 00:06:15,799 Speaker 1: known as Ray Robinson. The nickname Sugar Ray came about 105 00:06:15,800 --> 00:06:19,279 Speaker 1: what a spectator was heard describing him as sweet as sugar, 106 00:06:19,640 --> 00:06:22,960 Speaker 1: and it stuck. Robinson worked his way up, gaining a 107 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:27,160 Speaker 1: reputation as an unbeatable opponent. He fought and won forty 108 00:06:27,160 --> 00:06:30,320 Speaker 1: matches before facing his first loss in a rematch against 109 00:06:30,440 --> 00:06:34,040 Speaker 1: rival Jake Lamatta in the early nineteen forties. As a 110 00:06:34,040 --> 00:06:37,039 Speaker 1: welterweight fighter, in nineteen forty six, he secured a record 111 00:06:37,080 --> 00:06:40,600 Speaker 1: of seventy three wins and the title, which he successfully 112 00:06:40,640 --> 00:06:44,640 Speaker 1: defended several times over the next year. In nineteen forty seven, 113 00:06:44,680 --> 00:06:47,239 Speaker 1: though Robinson would come face to face with an opponent 114 00:06:47,360 --> 00:06:50,480 Speaker 1: he couldn't knock out. It wasn't another fighter. Maybe it 115 00:06:50,520 --> 00:06:52,880 Speaker 1: was fear, or perhaps fate had laced up its own 116 00:06:52,880 --> 00:06:55,279 Speaker 1: pair of gloves to take him on. Whatever it was 117 00:06:55,320 --> 00:06:58,760 Speaker 1: it scared him enough to make him want out. Robinson 118 00:06:58,839 --> 00:07:02,159 Speaker 1: was slated to fight old boxer named Jimmy Doyle. Doyle 119 00:07:02,279 --> 00:07:04,839 Speaker 1: was a few years younger than Sugar Ray. His parents 120 00:07:04,920 --> 00:07:07,760 Speaker 1: came from New Orleans before moving to Los Angeles, California, 121 00:07:07,800 --> 00:07:11,200 Speaker 1: in nineteen twenty one. This wasn't a regular match either. 122 00:07:11,560 --> 00:07:15,040 Speaker 1: Robinson was defending his title once again and Doyle was 123 00:07:15,120 --> 00:07:17,440 Speaker 1: ready to take it. But the night before the bout, 124 00:07:17,800 --> 00:07:22,040 Speaker 1: Robinson was awakened by a dream, well more like a nightmare. 125 00:07:22,560 --> 00:07:25,000 Speaker 1: He dreamt that he had knocked out Doyle, not an 126 00:07:25,080 --> 00:07:27,680 Speaker 1: uncommon feat in the fighter's line of work. He had 127 00:07:27,760 --> 00:07:30,800 Speaker 1: knocked out plenty of guys before, but this felt different. 128 00:07:31,320 --> 00:07:34,440 Speaker 1: In the dream, Sugar Ray kept screaming at his unconscious 129 00:07:34,440 --> 00:07:37,440 Speaker 1: opponent to get up, Get up, Jimmy. He kept shouting, 130 00:07:37,720 --> 00:07:41,760 Speaker 1: but the rival boxer wouldn't budge, and then Robinson woke 131 00:07:41,880 --> 00:07:45,120 Speaker 1: up to him. It was more than a dream. It 132 00:07:45,160 --> 00:07:48,240 Speaker 1: was a premonition that he wouldn't just beat Jimmy Doyle. 133 00:07:48,560 --> 00:07:51,720 Speaker 1: He believed that he was going to kill him. Robinson 134 00:07:51,720 --> 00:07:53,840 Speaker 1: told the promoters the next morning that he didn't want 135 00:07:53,880 --> 00:07:56,000 Speaker 1: to go through with the fight, but they assured him 136 00:07:56,040 --> 00:07:58,280 Speaker 1: that he had nothing to worry about. It had just 137 00:07:58,400 --> 00:08:01,040 Speaker 1: been a dream, nothing more. He even spoke to a 138 00:08:01,080 --> 00:08:04,320 Speaker 1: Catholic priest who also told him everything would be fine. 139 00:08:04,520 --> 00:08:07,600 Speaker 1: That was enough to put Robinson's fears to bed. On 140 00:08:07,720 --> 00:08:11,000 Speaker 1: June twenty fourth of nineteen forty seven, Sugar Ray, Robinson, 141 00:08:11,040 --> 00:08:14,200 Speaker 1: and Jimmy Doyle entered the ring. They punched and jabbed 142 00:08:14,240 --> 00:08:17,760 Speaker 1: for seven rounds until the eighth, when Robinson scored a 143 00:08:17,840 --> 00:08:21,040 Speaker 1: left hook that sent Doyle to the mat. He hit 144 00:08:21,080 --> 00:08:24,680 Speaker 1: the canvas hard and lost consciousness before being taken to 145 00:08:24,760 --> 00:08:29,360 Speaker 1: a local hospital. Doyle sadly never woke up. Hours after 146 00:08:29,400 --> 00:08:32,800 Speaker 1: being admitted, he was pronounced dead. It was the first 147 00:08:32,800 --> 00:08:35,480 Speaker 1: death of a boxer during a title fight, and it 148 00:08:35,520 --> 00:08:40,000 Speaker 1: shook Robinson to his core. Distraught over what had transpired, 149 00:08:40,240 --> 00:08:42,760 Speaker 1: Sugar Ray set up a trust fund for Doyle's parents, 150 00:08:43,000 --> 00:08:45,360 Speaker 1: which he paid fifty dollars into every month for the 151 00:08:45,440 --> 00:08:48,319 Speaker 1: next ten years. Robinson went on to become one of 152 00:08:48,360 --> 00:08:51,559 Speaker 1: the most famous and well respected boxers in the sport's history, 153 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:53,760 Speaker 1: but he would be haunted by the death of Jimmy 154 00:08:53,800 --> 00:08:57,320 Speaker 1: Doyle his entire life. It had been a dream come 155 00:08:57,360 --> 00:09:05,440 Speaker 1: true in the worst way possible. I hope you've enjoyed 156 00:09:05,440 --> 00:09:09,160 Speaker 1: today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for 157 00:09:09,240 --> 00:09:12,000 Speaker 1: free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show 158 00:09:12,080 --> 00:09:17,080 Speaker 1: by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created 159 00:09:17,120 --> 00:09:20,440 Speaker 1: by me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how Stuff Works. 160 00:09:20,880 --> 00:09:24,000 Speaker 1: I make another award winning show called Lore, which is 161 00:09:24,120 --> 00:09:27,480 Speaker 1: a podcast, book series, and television show, and you can 162 00:09:27,559 --> 00:09:31,440 Speaker 1: learn all about it over at the Worldoflore dot com. 163 00:09:31,480 --> 00:09:36,040 Speaker 1: And until next time, stay curious.