Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff. Lauren Bogebaum here. The story of Paul Bunyan,
Speaker 1: the Giant Lumberjack is one of the most enduring tall
Speaker 1: tales in North America. The folk tale is a favorite
Speaker 1: in children's classrooms and is immortalized in cartoons and tourist
Speaker 1: attractions all over the United States. But was this based
Speaker 1: on a real person? According to legend, Paul Bunyan was
Speaker 1: so huge at birth it took five exhausted storks to
Speaker 1: deliver him to his parents. When Bunyan was a mere
Speaker 1: week old, he already fit into his father's clothes. Junior
Speaker 1: Bunyan downed forty bowls of porridge a day, they say,
Speaker 1: and received a big blue ox named Babe for his
Speaker 1: first birthday. This Bunyon of legend grew up to become
Speaker 1: a skilled lumberjack, with Babe as outsized an ox as
Speaker 1: Bunyan was a man always at his side. As a
Speaker 1: logging team, the two were on beatable, able to clear
Speaker 1: forests with amazing speed. At one point, Bunyan headed south
Speaker 1: and created the Grand Canyon simply by dragging his axe
Speaker 1: behind him, and Babe well, she tromped all around Minnesota's
Speaker 1: logging country. As she did so, her footsteps filled with
Speaker 1: water behind her, forming the states famed ten thousand Lakes.
Speaker 1: Of course, these are all literally and figuratively tall tales.
Speaker 1: But are they based in any fact. Well maybe. Some
Speaker 1: historians believe that the legendary Paul Bunyan was based on
Speaker 1: a real person, a French Canadian logger named Fabian Fourgnye,
Speaker 1: or perhaps it would have been pronounced Fournier. I couldn't
Speaker 1: find a solid answer either way. He was born in
Speaker 1: Quebec around eight then moved to Michigan after the Civil
Speaker 1: War to take advantage of the high paying logging jobs
Speaker 1: that were readily available there. His brawn and six foot height,
Speaker 1: which is just shy of two meters, were noteworthy for
Speaker 1: the time him and made him quite intimidating, as did
Speaker 1: his drinking and brawling. He died in eighteen seventy five
Speaker 1: during a fight in Bay City, Michigan, a wild town
Speaker 1: where lumberjacks went to party after every pay day. His
Speaker 1: alleged killer, who struck him in the back of the
Speaker 1: head with a mallet, was acquitted in a subsequent trial
Speaker 1: that drew a lot of attention, helping spread the legend
Speaker 1: of Paul Bunyan to lumberjacking hotspots in Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota,
Speaker 1: and beyond. At some point, bunyan story became intertwined with
Speaker 1: that of another French Canadian, a war hero by the
Speaker 1: name of bon Jean. The tales of bon Jean and
Speaker 1: Fabian combined to create one ferocious, athletic, intelligent lumberjack by
Speaker 1: the name of Paul Bunyan, with Bunyan believed to be
Speaker 1: a melding of bon Jean of bon Jan. Anyway, as
Speaker 1: the nineteenth century drew to a close, Paul Bunyan Tales
Speaker 1: spread across logging camps throughout North America, and with every
Speaker 1: retelling of the tales, the lumberjacks greatly embellished them. Yet,
Speaker 1: despite the popularity of Paul Bunyan among the lumberjack in community,
Speaker 1: the general public knew nothing of him. The first written
Speaker 1: mention of Paul Bunyan two people outside of the lumberjacking
Speaker 1: world came in nineteen ten, when one James mcgillifray penned
Speaker 1: the first of the Logging Tall Tales series that would
Speaker 1: become popular across the nation. The piece ran in the
Speaker 1: Detroit News Tribune. Then in nineteen fourteen, the Red River
Speaker 1: Lumber Company stepped in the business, which sold its wood
Speaker 1: to local lumber yards through a national distribution network, developed
Speaker 1: an advertising campaign for its new mill in California. As
Speaker 1: part of the campaign, the business created a series of
Speaker 1: pamphlets featuring Bunyan, but which were largely ignored, but the
Speaker 1: company published a revised version of them via a nineteen
Speaker 1: twenty two bucklet titled The Marvelous Exploits of Paul Buny
Speaker 1: In As before, the booklet was intended for lumber industry workers,
Speaker 1: but the Kansas City Star happened to publish a lengthy
Speaker 1: review of the booklet, introducing Bunyan to the masses, and
Speaker 1: the rest, as they say, is history. The American public
Speaker 1: quickly became enamored with the massive lumberjack and his colorful
Speaker 1: bovine companion, especially kids. Soon, Bunyan was the subject of comics,
Speaker 1: books and operetta, and even poems by the likes of
Speaker 1: Robert Frost and Carl Sandberg, and numerous towns began claiming
Speaker 1: him as their own, from Minnesota to Bangor, Maine, which
Speaker 1: boasts to have possession of his birth certificate. Today, many
Speaker 1: towns hold festivals in his honor. You can catch up
Speaker 1: Paul Bunyan Lumberjack Show in states like Wisconsin and Florida,
Speaker 1: where lumberjacks and jills compete in activities such as axe
Speaker 1: throwing and log rolling, and June is now known as
Speaker 1: National Paul Bunyan Day, making Bunyan one of America's official
Speaker 1: folklore hero. Today's episode is based on the article was
Speaker 1: There a Real Paul Bunyan on how Stuffworks dot Com?
Speaker 1: Written by Deborah Ronka and Melanie rad Zeki McManus. Brain
Speaker 1: Stuff is production by Heart Radio in partnership with how
Speaker 1: Stuffworks dot Com, and it's produced by Tyler Clang. Four
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