1 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:07,480 Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manky's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of 2 00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:13,840 Speaker 1: I Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is 3 00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:17,960 Speaker 1: full of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, 4 00:00:18,280 --> 00:00:21,640 Speaker 1: all of these amazing tales are right there on display, 5 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:27,600 Speaker 1: just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet 6 00:00:27,840 --> 00:00:38,720 Speaker 1: of Curiosities. There are places on this earth so haunted 7 00:00:38,880 --> 00:00:41,760 Speaker 1: you might think they were created that way. The Winchester 8 00:00:41,880 --> 00:00:45,600 Speaker 1: Mystery House, for example, built by Heiress Sarah Winchester, is 9 00:00:45,640 --> 00:00:48,720 Speaker 1: supposedly haunted by the ghosts of every person who has 10 00:00:48,760 --> 00:00:52,040 Speaker 1: ever been killed with a Winchester rifle. With the money 11 00:00:52,040 --> 00:00:55,279 Speaker 1: her husband left her after his death, Sarah renovated her 12 00:00:55,320 --> 00:00:58,800 Speaker 1: home until it was seven stories tall, comprised of staircases 13 00:00:58,800 --> 00:01:02,920 Speaker 1: to nowhere and allow brenth of hallways why to confuse 14 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:07,360 Speaker 1: the ghosts. Meanwhile, in the North Atlantic plains and ships 15 00:01:07,360 --> 00:01:10,600 Speaker 1: traveling through the Bermuda Triangle are often lost at sea, 16 00:01:10,840 --> 00:01:14,200 Speaker 1: never to be found again. Some claim the Bermuda Triangle 17 00:01:14,240 --> 00:01:17,759 Speaker 1: has been the site of extraterrestrial activity, while others believe 18 00:01:17,800 --> 00:01:21,520 Speaker 1: a ghostly paranormal force is to blame. Whatever has caused 19 00:01:21,520 --> 00:01:24,840 Speaker 1: the disappearances, Though has healthy area earned its other nickname, 20 00:01:25,240 --> 00:01:29,479 Speaker 1: the Devil's Triangle. But there is another Haunted Triangle, this 21 00:01:29,520 --> 00:01:34,360 Speaker 1: one located in the unlikeliest of places, Beverly Hills, California. 22 00:01:34,760 --> 00:01:37,759 Speaker 1: Between the streets of North Linden Drive and North Whittier Drive, 23 00:01:37,959 --> 00:01:41,080 Speaker 1: is a tiny patch of land across its well manicured 24 00:01:41,120 --> 00:01:43,480 Speaker 1: lawn or half a dozen palm trees, as though a 25 00:01:43,560 --> 00:01:46,279 Speaker 1: desert island just sprang up one day in the middle 26 00:01:46,319 --> 00:01:50,600 Speaker 1: of the suburbs. Its history as a mainstay of Haunted Hollywood, though, 27 00:01:50,680 --> 00:01:53,640 Speaker 1: can be traced back to aviator and filmmaker Howard Hughes 28 00:01:53,720 --> 00:01:58,280 Speaker 1: in nine Hughes was no stranger to the sky. When 29 00:01:58,280 --> 00:02:01,200 Speaker 1: the time came to test his prototype x F eleven 30 00:02:01,240 --> 00:02:04,360 Speaker 1: aircraft on July seven of that year. He had already 31 00:02:04,360 --> 00:02:07,840 Speaker 1: been flying for over twenty five years. He took off 32 00:02:07,840 --> 00:02:11,120 Speaker 1: in the x F eleven from his airfield in Culver City, California, 33 00:02:11,320 --> 00:02:14,320 Speaker 1: and flew longer than he probably should have. After an 34 00:02:14,320 --> 00:02:17,560 Speaker 1: hour in the air, the propellers started to malfunction, causing 35 00:02:17,560 --> 00:02:19,799 Speaker 1: the plane to pull to the right. It was going 36 00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:22,680 Speaker 1: down fast, and Hughes needed a safe place to land, 37 00:02:22,960 --> 00:02:26,519 Speaker 1: so he headed toward Los Angeles country Club. It's big 38 00:02:26,520 --> 00:02:29,240 Speaker 1: open greens would have provided the perfect place for a 39 00:02:29,280 --> 00:02:33,440 Speaker 1: crash landing, but the XF eleven wasn't going to make it. Instead, 40 00:02:33,520 --> 00:02:37,560 Speaker 1: Hughes found himself flying over Beverly Hills Triangle, skidding across 41 00:02:37,600 --> 00:02:40,920 Speaker 1: the tops of three houses on North Whittier Drive. He 42 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:44,440 Speaker 1: managed to survive, but barely. He pulled himself from the 43 00:02:44,440 --> 00:02:48,040 Speaker 1: wreckage as the fuel tanks exploded. The accident caused several 44 00:02:48,080 --> 00:02:52,919 Speaker 1: broken bones, and Hughes suffered from third degree burns. One 45 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:56,720 Speaker 1: year later, another episode struck the area. Bugsy Siegel, the 46 00:02:56,800 --> 00:02:59,880 Speaker 1: infamous gangster and founder of the Murder inc crimes in 47 00:03:00,040 --> 00:03:03,800 Speaker 1: the Kids, was visiting his girlfriend, Virginia Hill. Hill lived 48 00:03:03,800 --> 00:03:06,680 Speaker 1: in Beverly Hills, just across the street from the Triangle. 49 00:03:07,040 --> 00:03:10,280 Speaker 1: On the night of June, someone fired several thirty caliber 50 00:03:10,400 --> 00:03:12,880 Speaker 1: rounds from an M one carbine rifle through the window, 51 00:03:13,360 --> 00:03:17,400 Speaker 1: killing seagull. It's been alleged that Bugsy had been stealing 52 00:03:17,440 --> 00:03:19,720 Speaker 1: from the mob, but no one knows quite for sure 53 00:03:19,800 --> 00:03:22,640 Speaker 1: why he was targeted that night. The murder is still 54 00:03:22,680 --> 00:03:25,519 Speaker 1: unsolved to this day, and the incidents only added to 55 00:03:25,560 --> 00:03:29,959 Speaker 1: the triangles mythos. But perhaps the strangest occurrence attributed to 56 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:33,160 Speaker 1: the Triangle involved one half of the nineteen sixties surf 57 00:03:33,200 --> 00:03:36,280 Speaker 1: group Jan and Dean. It was April twelfth of nineteen 58 00:03:36,320 --> 00:03:39,360 Speaker 1: sixty six and Jan Barry was driving his Corvette along 59 00:03:39,360 --> 00:03:42,320 Speaker 1: Whittier Drive. He had driven past the Triangle on his 60 00:03:42,360 --> 00:03:44,200 Speaker 1: way to a business meeting when he came to the 61 00:03:44,240 --> 00:03:47,880 Speaker 1: intersection at Whittier and Sunset Boulevard, also known as dead 62 00:03:47,920 --> 00:03:51,560 Speaker 1: Man's Curve. Barry was speeding that day and lost control 63 00:03:51,600 --> 00:03:54,280 Speaker 1: of the car. He drove it straight into a park truck, 64 00:03:54,360 --> 00:03:57,640 Speaker 1: totaling the Corvette and nearly losing his life. In fact, 65 00:03:57,680 --> 00:04:00,400 Speaker 1: the paramedics who first arrived at the crash I thought 66 00:04:00,400 --> 00:04:04,000 Speaker 1: he was dead. Barry spent the next two months in 67 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:07,040 Speaker 1: a coma, finally waking up on June six of nineteen 68 00:04:07,080 --> 00:04:09,960 Speaker 1: sixty six. He lost most of the use of his 69 00:04:10,080 --> 00:04:12,360 Speaker 1: right arm and had to learn to walk again due 70 00:04:12,400 --> 00:04:15,760 Speaker 1: to the brain damage and partial paralysis caused by the accident. 71 00:04:16,240 --> 00:04:19,760 Speaker 1: Berry eventually recovered and returned to the studio a year later. 72 00:04:21,360 --> 00:04:23,800 Speaker 1: Jan and Dean were known for several hit songs during 73 00:04:23,800 --> 00:04:27,640 Speaker 1: the sixties, including Little Old Lady from Pasadena Surf City 74 00:04:27,920 --> 00:04:30,000 Speaker 1: and a tune about a young man who races his 75 00:04:30,120 --> 00:04:33,479 Speaker 1: corvette against another driver. In the song, the singer and 76 00:04:33,520 --> 00:04:37,080 Speaker 1: the unknown race driver zoom down Sunset Boulevard around a 77 00:04:37,160 --> 00:04:40,440 Speaker 1: dangerous stretch of road before the singer loses control of 78 00:04:40,520 --> 00:04:43,960 Speaker 1: his vehicle. In the end, the singer tells his story 79 00:04:44,040 --> 00:04:46,479 Speaker 1: to a doctor as the listener hears the sounds of 80 00:04:46,520 --> 00:04:49,919 Speaker 1: screeching tires and a crash, giving the impression that he 81 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:53,760 Speaker 1: does really make it out alive, but barely. The name 82 00:04:53,800 --> 00:05:11,400 Speaker 1: of the song dead Man's Curve. Competition always breeds innovation. 83 00:05:11,720 --> 00:05:14,000 Speaker 1: When one company hits the market with a product that's 84 00:05:14,040 --> 00:05:16,679 Speaker 1: new and exciting, it's only a matter of time before 85 00:05:16,760 --> 00:05:20,480 Speaker 1: someone else steps up with something even better. From smartphones 86 00:05:20,520 --> 00:05:23,679 Speaker 1: to computers to the number of blades in our shaving razors, 87 00:05:23,920 --> 00:05:28,080 Speaker 1: competition forces companies to up the ante and we the consumer, 88 00:05:28,480 --> 00:05:32,200 Speaker 1: reap the rewards. But sometimes competition doesn't just lead to 89 00:05:32,279 --> 00:05:38,159 Speaker 1: something mildly better, it spawns something entirely new. Walter Diamer 90 00:05:38,320 --> 00:05:42,560 Speaker 1: wasn't much for competition. He was working as an accountant 91 00:05:42,600 --> 00:05:47,280 Speaker 1: for Flear, a gum manufacturer based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its founder, 92 00:05:47,440 --> 00:05:49,800 Speaker 1: Frank Henry Flear, had come up with a new kind 93 00:05:49,800 --> 00:05:53,000 Speaker 1: of gum he called blibber Blubber, but it wasn't too popular. 94 00:05:53,360 --> 00:05:56,120 Speaker 1: It didn't hold together very well, and customers found it 95 00:05:56,160 --> 00:06:00,920 Speaker 1: too sticky to be enjoyable. When Diamer wasn't crunching the numbers, however, 96 00:06:00,960 --> 00:06:04,000 Speaker 1: he fancied himself a kind of gum chef. One day, 97 00:06:04,040 --> 00:06:06,400 Speaker 1: while trying out a recipe for a new gum base, 98 00:06:06,480 --> 00:06:10,520 Speaker 1: he inadvertently created something far less sticky than blibber Blubber. 99 00:06:10,880 --> 00:06:13,719 Speaker 1: He also stretched it further too. He thought he was 100 00:06:13,760 --> 00:06:17,119 Speaker 1: onto something, but there was only one problem. It was ugly. 101 00:06:17,760 --> 00:06:21,000 Speaker 1: It's dull gray color did not make it look appetizing, 102 00:06:21,160 --> 00:06:23,760 Speaker 1: so Diamer looked around for some food coloring to brighten 103 00:06:23,800 --> 00:06:25,760 Speaker 1: it up a bit. The only color he could find 104 00:06:25,760 --> 00:06:27,919 Speaker 1: in the factory it was red, so he poured it 105 00:06:27,960 --> 00:06:31,080 Speaker 1: into the batch, changing the gums hue from gray to pink. 106 00:06:32,440 --> 00:06:35,119 Speaker 1: Rather than bringing it to his superiors first, he wanted 107 00:06:35,120 --> 00:06:37,440 Speaker 1: to see if it would be something people even wanted. 108 00:06:37,839 --> 00:06:40,039 Speaker 1: He packaged five pounds of it on his own and 109 00:06:40,160 --> 00:06:43,520 Speaker 1: set up shop at a local candy store. Diamer's new gum, 110 00:06:43,520 --> 00:06:46,320 Speaker 1: which he priced at a penny apiece, sold out in 111 00:06:46,440 --> 00:06:50,320 Speaker 1: less than a day. With his test. Having been proven successful, 112 00:06:50,360 --> 00:06:53,200 Speaker 1: he gave his formula to Flear, which they turned into 113 00:06:53,240 --> 00:06:56,640 Speaker 1: a new gum called Double Bubble. They even kept Dimer's 114 00:06:56,640 --> 00:06:59,680 Speaker 1: original price of a penny per piece and packaged a 115 00:06:59,760 --> 00:07:02,880 Speaker 1: small comic strip called the Fleer Funnies inside the wrapper. 116 00:07:04,120 --> 00:07:06,640 Speaker 1: For twenty years, Double Bubble was one of the most 117 00:07:06,680 --> 00:07:10,800 Speaker 1: popular candy items in America. Dimer didn't really chew gum himself, 118 00:07:10,800 --> 00:07:13,200 Speaker 1: but children often wrote to him to thank him for 119 00:07:13,280 --> 00:07:16,280 Speaker 1: his invention. He and his wife also judged their fair 120 00:07:16,320 --> 00:07:20,560 Speaker 1: share of bubble blowing contests in their home. Flear ceased 121 00:07:20,600 --> 00:07:23,120 Speaker 1: production of their popular chewing gum during World War Two, 122 00:07:23,320 --> 00:07:25,680 Speaker 1: as the sugar and latex needed to make it were 123 00:07:25,720 --> 00:07:28,600 Speaker 1: in short supply. However, after the war ended and things 124 00:07:28,600 --> 00:07:31,800 Speaker 1: started back to normal, another competitor stepped into the ring. 125 00:07:32,840 --> 00:07:35,760 Speaker 1: A small rectangle of pink gum wrapped in red, white 126 00:07:35,800 --> 00:07:38,960 Speaker 1: and blue wax paper, also sold for a penny a piece. 127 00:07:39,280 --> 00:07:43,400 Speaker 1: It went by one explosive word, Bazooka, and people loved it. 128 00:07:43,800 --> 00:07:46,320 Speaker 1: For a long time, Bazuka and Double Bubble went head 129 00:07:46,360 --> 00:07:49,320 Speaker 1: to head in candy shops and convenience stores all over, 130 00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:53,119 Speaker 1: but in nineteen fifty Bazuka's parent company changed the game. 131 00:07:53,520 --> 00:07:56,160 Speaker 1: Looking to increase gum sales, they entered into a brand 132 00:07:56,240 --> 00:08:00,360 Speaker 1: new market trading cards. Instead of focusing on singlesticks of 133 00:08:00,360 --> 00:08:03,080 Speaker 1: gum for a penny each, they enticed kids to buy 134 00:08:03,160 --> 00:08:07,640 Speaker 1: cards featuring their favorite actors and later on baseball players. 135 00:08:07,840 --> 00:08:11,120 Speaker 1: By including a stick of gum in each pack. The 136 00:08:11,200 --> 00:08:14,720 Speaker 1: cards became instant collectible items for kids and adults alike, 137 00:08:15,080 --> 00:08:18,120 Speaker 1: but nobody really cared for the gum. Collectors didn't like 138 00:08:18,160 --> 00:08:20,320 Speaker 1: how it stained the cards if it had been inside 139 00:08:20,320 --> 00:08:22,840 Speaker 1: the pack too long, and the kids didn't like how 140 00:08:22,840 --> 00:08:25,840 Speaker 1: it tasted. They were more interested in buying new packs 141 00:08:25,840 --> 00:08:30,200 Speaker 1: to find cards missing from their growing collection. By the 142 00:08:30,200 --> 00:08:32,960 Speaker 1: company had phased out bubble gum from their sports card 143 00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:36,520 Speaker 1: lines entirely, and despite them still owning the Bazooka brand 144 00:08:36,559 --> 00:08:39,560 Speaker 1: to this day, they're better known for their extensive lines 145 00:08:39,600 --> 00:08:44,559 Speaker 1: of collectible baseball, football, soccer, and licensed movie cards. Walter 146 00:08:44,679 --> 00:08:48,400 Speaker 1: Diamer helped Flear reinvent chewing gum with his accidental formula, 147 00:08:48,600 --> 00:08:51,560 Speaker 1: allowing it to eventually branch off into lines of baseball 148 00:08:51,600 --> 00:08:54,920 Speaker 1: and basketball cards of its own. Sadly, Diamer never saw 149 00:08:54,960 --> 00:08:58,280 Speaker 1: any residuals or royalties from his efforts. He never filed 150 00:08:58,320 --> 00:09:00,680 Speaker 1: for a patent, but he did shall he become the 151 00:09:00,679 --> 00:09:05,360 Speaker 1: company's vice president. After he retired in nineteen seventy, Fleer 152 00:09:05,440 --> 00:09:08,560 Speaker 1: struggle to compete with that other major card company and 153 00:09:08,600 --> 00:09:11,719 Speaker 1: gun brand. It was bought by Marvel Entertainment Group in 154 00:09:13,120 --> 00:09:16,880 Speaker 1: while the company behind Bazooka Joe kept getting bigger and bigger, 155 00:09:17,280 --> 00:09:21,679 Speaker 1: dominating the markets almost entirely. And you know it continues 156 00:09:21,720 --> 00:09:25,880 Speaker 1: to live up to its name today, the card company Tops. 157 00:09:28,679 --> 00:09:31,360 Speaker 1: I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet 158 00:09:31,360 --> 00:09:35,240 Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn 159 00:09:35,320 --> 00:09:39,880 Speaker 1: more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. 160 00:09:39,920 --> 00:09:43,440 Speaker 1: The show was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership 161 00:09:43,520 --> 00:09:46,800 Speaker 1: with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show 162 00:09:46,920 --> 00:09:51,000 Speaker 1: called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show, 163 00:09:51,240 --> 00:09:53,120 Speaker 1: and you can learn all about it over at the 164 00:09:53,280 --> 00:09:58,079 Speaker 1: World of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.