1 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:07,400 Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manky's Cabinet of Curiosity is a production 2 00:00:07,400 --> 00:00:13,560 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world 3 00:00:13,760 --> 00:00:17,360 Speaker 1: is full of the unexplainable, and if history is an 4 00:00:17,360 --> 00:00:20,880 Speaker 1: open book, all of these amazing tales are right there 5 00:00:20,920 --> 00:00:26,920 Speaker 1: on display, just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to 6 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:38,800 Speaker 1: the Cabinet of Curiosities. Everyone loves a good invention, something 7 00:00:38,800 --> 00:00:41,760 Speaker 1: that took time to design. An engineer to solve a 8 00:00:41,800 --> 00:00:45,080 Speaker 1: particular problem, come up with an idea that scratches an itch, 9 00:00:45,200 --> 00:00:47,440 Speaker 1: and people will line up to buy it in droves. 10 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:51,440 Speaker 1: Some are novel, like liquid paper or the super soaker, 11 00:00:51,520 --> 00:00:54,440 Speaker 1: while others change the world, like the television or the 12 00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:58,720 Speaker 1: printing press. But some inventions aren't inventions at all. They're 13 00:00:58,760 --> 00:01:02,520 Speaker 1: simply ingenious. Way is to use existing products, And even 14 00:01:02,560 --> 00:01:05,560 Speaker 1: though nobody spent thousands of dollars building a prototype, that 15 00:01:05,640 --> 00:01:09,520 Speaker 1: doesn't make these products any less useful. Perhaps no one 16 00:01:09,560 --> 00:01:12,520 Speaker 1: knows the utility of a common, everyday item better than 17 00:01:12,680 --> 00:01:16,479 Speaker 1: Ed Low. Low was born in nineteen twenty in St. Paul, Minnesota. 18 00:01:16,680 --> 00:01:20,880 Speaker 1: Several years later, his family up and moved everyone to Kassopolis, Michigan, 19 00:01:21,040 --> 00:01:23,600 Speaker 1: just over the border from Indiana. When he was in 20 00:01:23,640 --> 00:01:26,240 Speaker 1: his twenties. Low enlisted to serve in World War Two 21 00:01:26,520 --> 00:01:29,000 Speaker 1: and returned home in nineteen forty six to work for 22 00:01:29,080 --> 00:01:31,920 Speaker 1: his father, Henry, who owned a company that sold blocks 23 00:01:31,959 --> 00:01:36,080 Speaker 1: of ice and absorbents such as sawdust to local customers. 24 00:01:36,720 --> 00:01:39,520 Speaker 1: The company sold another kind of absorbent as well. It 25 00:01:39,640 --> 00:01:42,200 Speaker 1: was called Fuller's Earth, a type of clay used to 26 00:01:42,240 --> 00:01:45,240 Speaker 1: clean up oil and grease. In some cases, it has 27 00:01:45,280 --> 00:01:47,880 Speaker 1: been used to save people from being poisoned, as the 28 00:01:47,920 --> 00:01:50,440 Speaker 1: clay is able to mop up and break down certain 29 00:01:50,520 --> 00:01:53,800 Speaker 1: chemical agents in the stomach. One day in January of 30 00:01:53,880 --> 00:01:57,320 Speaker 1: ninety seven, a friend of Lowe's named Cage Draper approached 31 00:01:57,360 --> 00:02:00,280 Speaker 1: him with a problem. She had a roommate who went 32 00:02:00,320 --> 00:02:03,360 Speaker 1: to the bathroom in a tray lined with ashes. When 33 00:02:03,360 --> 00:02:06,680 Speaker 1: the roommate was finished doing their business, they tracked throughout 34 00:02:06,720 --> 00:02:10,720 Speaker 1: the house, leaving footprints everywhere. She asked low for sand 35 00:02:10,800 --> 00:02:13,280 Speaker 1: to fill the pan instead. She had her own, but 36 00:02:13,360 --> 00:02:15,880 Speaker 1: it had been so cold outside that her sandpile had 37 00:02:15,919 --> 00:02:19,080 Speaker 1: frozen salad. It had been her reason for switching to 38 00:02:19,080 --> 00:02:22,720 Speaker 1: ashes in the first place. Unfortunately, sand presented its own 39 00:02:22,760 --> 00:02:25,440 Speaker 1: set of issues. It would track everywhere too, and be 40 00:02:25,560 --> 00:02:28,320 Speaker 1: just as messy as the ashes that she was currently using, 41 00:02:28,760 --> 00:02:33,120 Speaker 1: so instead, Low suggested that she used Fuller's Earth. The 42 00:02:33,200 --> 00:02:36,200 Speaker 1: clay material was far more absorbent and wouldn't leave a 43 00:02:36,240 --> 00:02:39,120 Speaker 1: residue all over her floors. He gave her a bag 44 00:02:39,120 --> 00:02:40,880 Speaker 1: of it from the trunk of his car and then 45 00:02:41,080 --> 00:02:44,639 Speaker 1: didn't think anything more about it. Mrs Draper returned sometime 46 00:02:44,760 --> 00:02:47,520 Speaker 1: later and asked for another bag. The first had worked, 47 00:02:47,560 --> 00:02:51,440 Speaker 1: wonders her roommate no longer left her floors soot stained 48 00:02:51,520 --> 00:02:55,200 Speaker 1: or sandy. You see, k Draper's roommates was a cat, 49 00:02:55,480 --> 00:02:57,720 Speaker 1: and ed Lowe had just given her the first ever 50 00:02:57,800 --> 00:03:01,280 Speaker 1: bag of kitty litter. He had originally tried to market 51 00:03:01,320 --> 00:03:03,679 Speaker 1: it as a type of poultry litter that was more 52 00:03:03,720 --> 00:03:06,840 Speaker 1: sanitary than the usual stuff, which was made of feathers, 53 00:03:06,919 --> 00:03:10,680 Speaker 1: chicken feces, excess feed, and other bedding material. Like the 54 00:03:10,760 --> 00:03:13,880 Speaker 1: chickens it was meant to help. However, that product really 55 00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:17,160 Speaker 1: didn't fly, but Mrs Draper saw how useful it was 56 00:03:17,280 --> 00:03:20,000 Speaker 1: for her. Once low realized that he had a hit 57 00:03:20,040 --> 00:03:22,800 Speaker 1: product on his hands, he bagged up more clay, wrote 58 00:03:22,800 --> 00:03:25,480 Speaker 1: the words kitty litter across the front of each bag, 59 00:03:25,760 --> 00:03:28,320 Speaker 1: and took them to a local store to sell. The 60 00:03:28,320 --> 00:03:31,480 Speaker 1: shop owner refused, no one was going to pay sixty 61 00:03:31,520 --> 00:03:34,120 Speaker 1: five cents for a five pound bag of clay when 62 00:03:34,120 --> 00:03:36,160 Speaker 1: they could spend a penny on a bag of sawdust, 63 00:03:36,200 --> 00:03:39,000 Speaker 1: and said, but Low was sure that what he had 64 00:03:39,040 --> 00:03:41,600 Speaker 1: was better than sawdust. He told the owner to give 65 00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:44,080 Speaker 1: away the bags to his customers. It didn't take long 66 00:03:44,160 --> 00:03:46,600 Speaker 1: for those same customers to come back clamoring for more, 67 00:03:47,120 --> 00:03:51,200 Speaker 1: and sixty cents was just fine to them. Despite selling 68 00:03:51,200 --> 00:03:54,040 Speaker 1: out at one store, Low's product was anything but an 69 00:03:54,080 --> 00:03:57,520 Speaker 1: overnight success. He didn't cross a million dollars in sales 70 00:03:57,600 --> 00:04:02,200 Speaker 1: until eight years later. Eight years of trade shows, convention halls, 71 00:04:02,280 --> 00:04:05,560 Speaker 1: and good old face to face marketing as a traveling salesman, 72 00:04:05,880 --> 00:04:08,520 Speaker 1: but it eventually got him over that hump. He even 73 00:04:08,520 --> 00:04:11,120 Speaker 1: went to cat shows and volunteered to clean the litter 74 00:04:11,160 --> 00:04:14,160 Speaker 1: boxes with his own product, just to show how absorbent 75 00:04:14,240 --> 00:04:18,279 Speaker 1: it was and how it killed odors. Eventually, his kitty 76 00:04:18,360 --> 00:04:23,240 Speaker 1: litter became a nationwide phenomenon. He secured hundreds of patents, trademarks, 77 00:04:23,240 --> 00:04:27,400 Speaker 1: and copyrights and single handedly created an industry worth almost 78 00:04:27,480 --> 00:04:31,000 Speaker 1: three billion dollars today. It may have started out as 79 00:04:31,040 --> 00:04:33,880 Speaker 1: just a pile of clay, but ed Lowe managed to 80 00:04:33,920 --> 00:04:50,440 Speaker 1: turn his product into the Cat's Pajamas. If you tell 81 00:04:50,480 --> 00:04:53,080 Speaker 1: people that you're going to do something, it's expected that 82 00:04:53,160 --> 00:04:55,919 Speaker 1: you do it. Right to try and fail means that 83 00:04:56,000 --> 00:04:57,880 Speaker 1: you've at least put in the attempt, even if it 84 00:04:57,880 --> 00:05:00,240 Speaker 1: didn't turn out the way that you hoped to. Never 85 00:05:00,320 --> 00:05:02,480 Speaker 1: make a try at all makes you a disappointment in 86 00:05:02,520 --> 00:05:05,599 Speaker 1: the eyes of those who supported you. But to lie 87 00:05:05,640 --> 00:05:08,440 Speaker 1: about your accomplishment, to make people think that you've done it, 88 00:05:08,440 --> 00:05:11,520 Speaker 1: when in reality you haven't done anything at all, well 89 00:05:11,560 --> 00:05:15,160 Speaker 1: you better hope they never find out. Donald Crowhurst told 90 00:05:15,160 --> 00:05:17,400 Speaker 1: people that he was going to sail around the world. 91 00:05:17,800 --> 00:05:22,120 Speaker 1: What actually happened it was far stranger. Crowhurst lived in 92 00:05:22,160 --> 00:05:24,800 Speaker 1: British India until he was fifteen years old, when his 93 00:05:24,880 --> 00:05:27,480 Speaker 1: family left to return to England. It had been a 94 00:05:27,600 --> 00:05:30,280 Speaker 1: rough childhood for him. His father died one year after 95 00:05:30,320 --> 00:05:32,800 Speaker 1: returning to England, and for the next five years Crowhurst 96 00:05:32,839 --> 00:05:36,680 Speaker 1: served as the apprentice to the Royal Aircraft Establishment, after 97 00:05:36,720 --> 00:05:38,880 Speaker 1: which he became a pilot for the Royal Air Force. 98 00:05:39,240 --> 00:05:41,480 Speaker 1: For unknown reasons, though he left the r a F 99 00:05:41,640 --> 00:05:44,120 Speaker 1: to pursue a career in the army but that didn't 100 00:05:44,200 --> 00:05:46,800 Speaker 1: last long either, as he was implicated in an incident 101 00:05:46,880 --> 00:05:50,520 Speaker 1: involving a stolen car. By nineteen sixty two, he had 102 00:05:50,560 --> 00:05:53,599 Speaker 1: started his own electronics business and married a woman named 103 00:05:53,640 --> 00:05:56,520 Speaker 1: Claire O'Leary. It seems the high jinks of his youth 104 00:05:56,520 --> 00:05:58,960 Speaker 1: were behind him and he had settled down to become 105 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:01,560 Speaker 1: a family man. On the weekends, he would go sailing 106 00:06:01,600 --> 00:06:03,960 Speaker 1: and build small gadgets to help him on the water. 107 00:06:04,800 --> 00:06:08,440 Speaker 1: One such device was called the Navigator, which relied on 108 00:06:08,560 --> 00:06:12,640 Speaker 1: radio signals to pinpoint a boat's location. Crowhurst used it 109 00:06:12,680 --> 00:06:14,480 Speaker 1: on his own vessel and thought that it might be 110 00:06:14,520 --> 00:06:18,240 Speaker 1: a big seller among the wider sailing market. Unfortunately, it 111 00:06:18,360 --> 00:06:20,279 Speaker 1: didn't take off the way he had hoped, and the 112 00:06:20,360 --> 00:06:23,320 Speaker 1: money he desperately needed to keep himself and his business 113 00:06:23,320 --> 00:06:27,640 Speaker 1: afloat just wasn't coming in. But an opportunity soon presented 114 00:06:27,680 --> 00:06:30,599 Speaker 1: itself that would lip the struggling entrepreneur out of the 115 00:06:30,600 --> 00:06:33,440 Speaker 1: red and into the history books. It was a race 116 00:06:33,640 --> 00:06:37,279 Speaker 1: sponsored by the British Sunday Times that pits sailing experts 117 00:06:37,279 --> 00:06:41,400 Speaker 1: and amateurs against each other their goal to circumnavigate the 118 00:06:41,440 --> 00:06:45,600 Speaker 1: globe single handedly. The grand prize was five thousand pounds 119 00:06:45,640 --> 00:06:50,760 Speaker 1: about seventy five thousand American dollars by today's standards. Competitors 120 00:06:50,760 --> 00:06:53,599 Speaker 1: had to begin their voyage anytime between June one and 121 00:06:53,720 --> 00:06:57,800 Speaker 1: October thirty one of nineteen sixty. Crowhurst had a boatyard 122 00:06:57,800 --> 00:07:01,040 Speaker 1: in Norfolk build his boat, a forty ftlaw trimaran dubbed 123 00:07:01,080 --> 00:07:05,040 Speaker 1: the Tenmouth Electron. Sponsorship money was meager and the deadline 124 00:07:05,040 --> 00:07:07,839 Speaker 1: to leave was closing in, so corners were cut to 125 00:07:07,880 --> 00:07:10,440 Speaker 1: finish the boat on time. He finally set out on 126 00:07:10,480 --> 00:07:13,360 Speaker 1: the last day possible according to the rule book, but 127 00:07:13,560 --> 00:07:15,800 Speaker 1: his rushing and his lack of funds meant that many 128 00:07:15,840 --> 00:07:19,680 Speaker 1: of the boat's safety features just weren't completed. He departed 129 00:07:19,720 --> 00:07:23,320 Speaker 1: on Halloween from the seaside town of ten Mouth in Devon, England. 130 00:07:23,840 --> 00:07:25,840 Speaker 1: Right away it was clear that he was not cut 131 00:07:25,840 --> 00:07:29,000 Speaker 1: out for a trip around the world, especially by himself. 132 00:07:29,480 --> 00:07:32,160 Speaker 1: His pace was dismal. He was traveling at half the 133 00:07:32,200 --> 00:07:35,560 Speaker 1: speed necessary to keep up with the other contestants, and 134 00:07:35,640 --> 00:07:38,760 Speaker 1: he was still fixing things as he was going, including 135 00:07:38,920 --> 00:07:42,080 Speaker 1: leaks in the boat itself. Based on his logs from 136 00:07:42,120 --> 00:07:45,040 Speaker 1: the event, Crowhurst believed that even then he had a 137 00:07:45,120 --> 00:07:48,480 Speaker 1: fifty fifty shot at even finishing the race alive, let 138 00:07:48,480 --> 00:07:51,320 Speaker 1: alone winning, he had to come up with a plan 139 00:07:51,600 --> 00:07:54,880 Speaker 1: and fast, otherwise he was liable to die on board 140 00:07:54,960 --> 00:07:57,920 Speaker 1: within the next several weeks. After more than two months 141 00:07:57,920 --> 00:08:00,960 Speaker 1: without any updates that left his family desperate for a 142 00:08:01,000 --> 00:08:04,240 Speaker 1: glimmer of hope that he was okay, Crowhurst radioed in 143 00:08:04,360 --> 00:08:07,760 Speaker 1: that he had covered two and forty three nautical miles 144 00:08:07,760 --> 00:08:11,040 Speaker 1: in a single day. It was a record, just not 145 00:08:11,200 --> 00:08:13,840 Speaker 1: a real one. He had come up with an elaborate 146 00:08:13,920 --> 00:08:16,760 Speaker 1: ruse early in his trip, one that had him turning 147 00:08:16,800 --> 00:08:20,240 Speaker 1: off his radio and hanging out in the South Atlantic 148 00:08:20,320 --> 00:08:23,000 Speaker 1: for just a few months. After some time, he would 149 00:08:23,040 --> 00:08:25,120 Speaker 1: show up in England as though he had completed the 150 00:08:25,120 --> 00:08:28,360 Speaker 1: whole trip. He didn't expect to win. In fact, he 151 00:08:28,400 --> 00:08:31,320 Speaker 1: wanted to make sure of it, as his falsified logs 152 00:08:31,320 --> 00:08:33,440 Speaker 1: wouldn't be looked at too closely if he came in 153 00:08:33,520 --> 00:08:36,440 Speaker 1: at last place. But Crowhurst put about as much thought 154 00:08:36,440 --> 00:08:39,920 Speaker 1: into fabricating his navigation logs as he did into the 155 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:43,440 Speaker 1: preparation for the race itself. His times and dates were 156 00:08:43,640 --> 00:08:46,760 Speaker 1: all wrong, claiming that he was sailing to certain locations 157 00:08:47,120 --> 00:08:50,640 Speaker 1: much more quickly than could reasonably have been expected. But 158 00:08:50,760 --> 00:08:53,720 Speaker 1: he didn't care. In one of his last transmissions, he 159 00:08:53,760 --> 00:08:56,560 Speaker 1: told his family and race officials that he was near 160 00:08:56,679 --> 00:09:00,160 Speaker 1: the southern tip of Africa, and then in July of 161 00:09:00,240 --> 00:09:03,680 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty nine, the truth came out. His boat was 162 00:09:03,720 --> 00:09:07,280 Speaker 1: discovered drifting in the mid Atlantic by another ship. Almost 163 00:09:07,320 --> 00:09:11,200 Speaker 1: everything was still on board, including his maps, navigational charts, 164 00:09:11,640 --> 00:09:15,560 Speaker 1: and the doctored logs that he had left behind. Crowhurst, however, 165 00:09:16,160 --> 00:09:19,720 Speaker 1: was nowhere to be found. It's believed that he took 166 00:09:19,760 --> 00:09:22,280 Speaker 1: his own life at sea. His logs were filled with 167 00:09:22,320 --> 00:09:25,000 Speaker 1: the words of a man who, according to some biographers, 168 00:09:25,280 --> 00:09:27,760 Speaker 1: could not live with the guilt of committing fraud nor 169 00:09:27,840 --> 00:09:31,400 Speaker 1: the reality of coming clean and losing everything. He wrote 170 00:09:31,480 --> 00:09:35,720 Speaker 1: rambling diet tribes and imaginary arguments between himself and God, 171 00:09:36,080 --> 00:09:38,880 Speaker 1: signs that his mental state was crumbling the closer he 172 00:09:38,960 --> 00:09:42,360 Speaker 1: got to the end of the race. Donald crowhurst body 173 00:09:42,480 --> 00:09:44,720 Speaker 1: was never found. The last thing he said to his 174 00:09:44,760 --> 00:09:47,160 Speaker 1: son before he left on that fateful day in October 175 00:09:47,600 --> 00:09:50,679 Speaker 1: was look after your mother. As if he'd known all 176 00:09:50,720 --> 00:09:53,880 Speaker 1: along that he wasn't coming home. He just wanted to 177 00:09:53,880 --> 00:09:56,720 Speaker 1: show the world and his family that he could do 178 00:09:56,760 --> 00:09:59,920 Speaker 1: what he set his mind to do. Instead, he was 179 00:10:00,040 --> 00:10:04,120 Speaker 1: swallowed whole by his own stubbornness, allowing the ocean to 180 00:10:04,200 --> 00:10:11,160 Speaker 1: claim one more poor soul. I hope you've enjoyed today's 181 00:10:11,160 --> 00:10:14,800 Speaker 1: guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free 182 00:10:14,880 --> 00:10:17,520 Speaker 1: on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show by 183 00:10:17,640 --> 00:10:22,600 Speaker 1: visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created by 184 00:10:22,640 --> 00:10:26,280 Speaker 1: me Aaron Manky in partnership with how Stuff Works. I 185 00:10:26,360 --> 00:10:30,160 Speaker 1: make another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, 186 00:10:30,280 --> 00:10:33,200 Speaker 1: book series, and television show, and you can learn all 187 00:10:33,240 --> 00:10:36,800 Speaker 1: about it over at the World of Lore dot com. 188 00:10:36,800 --> 00:10:39,280 Speaker 1: And until next time, stay curious.