1 00:00:03,760 --> 00:00:08,000 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 --> 00:00:28,400 Speaker 1: Welcome to the Cabinet of curiosities. Our time on this 5 00:00:28,520 --> 00:00:33,199 Speaker 1: earth is often short. Disease and unforeseen circumstances can make 6 00:00:33,240 --> 00:00:36,120 Speaker 1: it even shorter. Compared to the Red Sea urchin, which 7 00:00:36,200 --> 00:00:38,520 Speaker 1: is known to live for as long as two hundred years, 8 00:00:38,920 --> 00:00:41,480 Speaker 1: our lives can be seen as a blip, a gust 9 00:00:41,520 --> 00:00:44,360 Speaker 1: of wind coming in and blowing out in an instant. 10 00:00:46,360 --> 00:00:48,760 Speaker 1: It's rare for a person to live past ninety years 11 00:00:48,760 --> 00:00:53,040 Speaker 1: of age, even rarer for and one hundred is reserved 12 00:00:53,040 --> 00:00:56,160 Speaker 1: for only the most special people. Less than one percent 13 00:00:56,240 --> 00:00:59,360 Speaker 1: of the American population lives to be one hundred, and 14 00:00:59,520 --> 00:01:02,760 Speaker 1: that entage goes down from there as their ages go up. 15 00:01:04,120 --> 00:01:07,160 Speaker 1: But one man beat the odds. If someone had written 16 00:01:07,160 --> 00:01:09,959 Speaker 1: a novel about him, readers would have called it science fiction. 17 00:01:10,400 --> 00:01:13,280 Speaker 1: He was a man out of time, with firsthand knowledge 18 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:16,120 Speaker 1: of experiences that the rest of us could only read 19 00:01:16,160 --> 00:01:20,600 Speaker 1: about in books. And his name was Sylvester. His story 20 00:01:20,880 --> 00:01:24,960 Speaker 1: is one of a kind. Born on a North Carolina 21 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:29,240 Speaker 1: plantation in eighteen forty one. Sylvester's younger years were tough. 22 00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:32,160 Speaker 1: He was a slave, as were his parents, and he 23 00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:35,800 Speaker 1: worked alongside them until he turned nineteen. That's when his 24 00:01:35,840 --> 00:01:39,760 Speaker 1: owner sold him to another plantation in Mississippi. When the 25 00:01:39,800 --> 00:01:43,240 Speaker 1: Civil War started, he assisted the owner in securing guns 26 00:01:43,280 --> 00:01:46,920 Speaker 1: for the Confederate Army, which automatically made the young slave 27 00:01:47,040 --> 00:01:52,120 Speaker 1: a Confederate soldier. Yeah, Sylvester had unknowingly been enlisted to 28 00:01:52,160 --> 00:01:54,960 Speaker 1: the side trying to keep him a slave. It's not 29 00:01:55,040 --> 00:01:57,320 Speaker 1: like he had a choice, but he eventually got the 30 00:01:57,400 --> 00:01:59,920 Speaker 1: upper hand a few years later when he escaped north 31 00:02:00,320 --> 00:02:03,400 Speaker 1: and joined the Union Army. Once away from his old life, 32 00:02:03,440 --> 00:02:07,600 Speaker 1: Sylvester soon found himself alongside almost scores of other soldiers 33 00:02:07,680 --> 00:02:11,080 Speaker 1: as part of General Grant's Vicksburg's Campaign and the Battle 34 00:02:11,200 --> 00:02:14,440 Speaker 1: of Champion Hill. He had no fighting experience and he'd 35 00:02:14,480 --> 00:02:16,760 Speaker 1: never been in a war before, but he held on 36 00:02:16,840 --> 00:02:19,240 Speaker 1: to his faith, which helped him calm some of the 37 00:02:19,280 --> 00:02:23,600 Speaker 1: more frightened soldiers around him. Sylvester was freed after the 38 00:02:23,639 --> 00:02:26,520 Speaker 1: war and went back to Mississippi, where he found work 39 00:02:26,600 --> 00:02:29,040 Speaker 1: on a farm, eventually settling down to work at a 40 00:02:29,080 --> 00:02:33,840 Speaker 1: local sawmill, and that's where his story ended well, ended 41 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:37,640 Speaker 1: is the wrong word. Paused is more like it. You see, 42 00:02:37,680 --> 00:02:40,320 Speaker 1: many years later, the people of Collins, Mississippi held a 43 00:02:40,360 --> 00:02:43,040 Speaker 1: birthday party for him. A five layer cake was brought 44 00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:46,320 Speaker 1: in adorned with a lot of candles. That's because this 45 00:02:46,320 --> 00:02:51,520 Speaker 1: party was held in nineteen sixty five. Yes, the Civil 46 00:02:51,520 --> 00:02:54,000 Speaker 1: War veteran had lived to the unheard age of one 47 00:02:54,040 --> 00:02:57,920 Speaker 1: hundred twenty four and naturally his story reached the historian 48 00:02:58,000 --> 00:03:01,800 Speaker 1: named Alfred Andrews, who helped get so investor classified officially 49 00:03:01,919 --> 00:03:04,519 Speaker 1: as a veteran of the Civil War, despite there being 50 00:03:04,560 --> 00:03:08,880 Speaker 1: no record of his ever having served. But Sylvester didn't 51 00:03:08,880 --> 00:03:10,840 Speaker 1: need a piece of paper saying he'd been a soldier. 52 00:03:11,200 --> 00:03:14,919 Speaker 1: He told Andrews stories about the war, about specific battles 53 00:03:14,919 --> 00:03:17,559 Speaker 1: no one else would have known. He spoke in exceptional 54 00:03:17,639 --> 00:03:21,560 Speaker 1: detail about his experiences, establishing himself as the oldest and 55 00:03:21,720 --> 00:03:25,880 Speaker 1: last surviving former American slave. When you think about a 56 00:03:25,919 --> 00:03:29,600 Speaker 1: life as long as Sylvester McGee's, you realize he didn't 57 00:03:29,639 --> 00:03:33,440 Speaker 1: just survive one war. He also lived through two World wars, 58 00:03:33,720 --> 00:03:37,480 Speaker 1: the Korean War and Vietnam, until finally passing away in 59 00:03:37,640 --> 00:03:41,320 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy one. And what makes his story even more 60 00:03:41,360 --> 00:03:45,840 Speaker 1: powerful is what else he witnessed. He began his life 61 00:03:45,880 --> 00:03:48,800 Speaker 1: in servitude, only to see the end of the Civil 62 00:03:48,800 --> 00:03:51,320 Speaker 1: War and the end of slavery in the United States. 63 00:03:51,880 --> 00:03:54,760 Speaker 1: One years later, he saw the signing of the Civil 64 00:03:54,840 --> 00:03:58,240 Speaker 1: Rights Act of nineteen sixty four, a law that prohibited 65 00:03:58,280 --> 00:04:02,760 Speaker 1: discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. 66 00:04:03,240 --> 00:04:06,120 Speaker 1: He watched the first black woman win an Academy award. 67 00:04:06,560 --> 00:04:10,880 Speaker 1: He saw schools desegregate, and sadly, he lived to see 68 00:04:10,920 --> 00:04:15,520 Speaker 1: the assassination of Dr Martin Luther King. Despite the bad 69 00:04:15,560 --> 00:04:18,400 Speaker 1: news he witnessed, though there was a lot of good too. 70 00:04:18,960 --> 00:04:23,159 Speaker 1: And one thing is certain, Sylvester McGhee lived a full life, 71 00:04:23,640 --> 00:04:28,200 Speaker 1: perhaps more than any other American citizen. Time is a 72 00:04:28,200 --> 00:04:31,120 Speaker 1: funny thing, after all, But if we managed to stick 73 00:04:31,160 --> 00:04:34,159 Speaker 1: around long enough, there's no telling the kinds of stories 74 00:04:34,279 --> 00:04:38,840 Speaker 1: we'll be able to tell. Sylvester McGee knew that better 75 00:04:38,880 --> 00:04:55,600 Speaker 1: than anyone else. Benjamin Franklin is best known as one 76 00:04:55,640 --> 00:04:59,680 Speaker 1: of America's founding fathers, partly responsible for our independence from 77 00:04:59,720 --> 00:05:04,760 Speaker 1: great Written a politician, inventor, author, and Polly Maath, Franklin 78 00:05:04,880 --> 00:05:08,839 Speaker 1: was a man with an insatiable curiosity. However, behind his 79 00:05:08,920 --> 00:05:12,720 Speaker 1: striking wit and boundless intellect beat the heart of someone 80 00:05:12,880 --> 00:05:17,760 Speaker 1: with more than a few secrets. Remember, Franklin's work took 81 00:05:17,839 --> 00:05:20,640 Speaker 1: him all over the world. In seventeen sixty four, he 82 00:05:20,760 --> 00:05:23,520 Speaker 1: traveled to London to advocate on behalf of the American 83 00:05:23,560 --> 00:05:27,960 Speaker 1: colonists against new taxes being imposed on them. For ten years, 84 00:05:28,040 --> 00:05:30,320 Speaker 1: he tried to make the case for lower taxes on 85 00:05:30,400 --> 00:05:34,880 Speaker 1: his people back home, but found himself blocked at every turn. However, 86 00:05:35,040 --> 00:05:37,880 Speaker 1: while living in England during this period of time, Franklin 87 00:05:37,960 --> 00:05:41,280 Speaker 1: needed to occupy his days with other pursuits. He was 88 00:05:41,360 --> 00:05:45,160 Speaker 1: used to expanding his mind with scientific and artistic endeavors 89 00:05:45,160 --> 00:05:48,440 Speaker 1: back in Philadelphia, so he continued to invent and write. 90 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:51,880 Speaker 1: But it was inside his London home that evidence of 91 00:05:51,920 --> 00:05:55,080 Speaker 1: some of his more questionable work would be discovered. Over 92 00:05:55,120 --> 00:06:00,400 Speaker 1: two hundred years later, in a group calling them selves 93 00:06:00,560 --> 00:06:04,400 Speaker 1: the Friends of Benjamin Franklin, House had started turning Franklin's 94 00:06:04,440 --> 00:06:08,000 Speaker 1: former London abode into a museum all about him. A 95 00:06:08,040 --> 00:06:11,680 Speaker 1: worthy pursuit and a noble cause, for sure. A few 96 00:06:11,720 --> 00:06:14,360 Speaker 1: weeks into the process, though, one of the construction workers 97 00:06:14,400 --> 00:06:16,840 Speaker 1: who had been renovating the basement came across a pit 98 00:06:16,960 --> 00:06:19,840 Speaker 1: in the floor, big enough to hold a person. It 99 00:06:19,880 --> 00:06:22,080 Speaker 1: was in the middle of a room devoid of windows 100 00:06:22,120 --> 00:06:24,960 Speaker 1: and positioned far from the street, a room that was 101 00:06:25,200 --> 00:06:29,679 Speaker 1: for all intents and purposes hidden and soundproof. And down 102 00:06:29,720 --> 00:06:33,120 Speaker 1: in the pit, sticking straight out like a weed, was 103 00:06:33,160 --> 00:06:37,320 Speaker 1: a human bone. The worker called the police, who allowed 104 00:06:37,320 --> 00:06:40,200 Speaker 1: the team to continue their work. Bit by bit, a 105 00:06:40,240 --> 00:06:44,160 Speaker 1: team of workers carefully uncovered over one thousand bone fragments 106 00:06:44,160 --> 00:06:47,159 Speaker 1: in Franklin's basement, some of which had been carved into, 107 00:06:47,240 --> 00:06:50,200 Speaker 1: while others had been sawed straight through, and there was 108 00:06:50,240 --> 00:06:53,760 Speaker 1: evidence someone had drilled into several of the skulls. They found. 109 00:06:54,839 --> 00:06:58,479 Speaker 1: The shards belonged to ten victims, six of whom were children, 110 00:06:58,800 --> 00:07:01,960 Speaker 1: all of which were over two hundred years old. Perhaps 111 00:07:02,040 --> 00:07:05,520 Speaker 1: the charming diplomat who had invented bifocals and the glass 112 00:07:05,600 --> 00:07:11,320 Speaker 1: armonica also pursued a career as a serial killer. The police, 113 00:07:11,520 --> 00:07:14,040 Speaker 1: upon learning of the age of the bones, chose not 114 00:07:14,080 --> 00:07:17,520 Speaker 1: to pursue an investigation. After all, how do you prosecute 115 00:07:17,520 --> 00:07:21,800 Speaker 1: a founding father. But historians were curious. They documented all 116 00:07:21,800 --> 00:07:25,280 Speaker 1: the fragments and began running tests. It was clear something 117 00:07:25,280 --> 00:07:29,720 Speaker 1: heinous had gone down in Franklin's home well heinous by 118 00:07:29,800 --> 00:07:34,200 Speaker 1: today's standards. No, Benjamin Franklin was not a serial killer. 119 00:07:34,520 --> 00:07:37,560 Speaker 1: He didn't cut up people in his basement. He let 120 00:07:37,640 --> 00:07:41,440 Speaker 1: his friend William Houston do that. Houston was a medical 121 00:07:41,480 --> 00:07:44,400 Speaker 1: student with a passion for studying the internal workings of 122 00:07:44,400 --> 00:07:47,560 Speaker 1: the human body. However, once he and his former teacher 123 00:07:47,640 --> 00:07:51,320 Speaker 1: parted way, Houston was left without a laboratory to continue 124 00:07:51,320 --> 00:07:55,840 Speaker 1: his work. Luckily, his friend Benjamin Franklin lived nearby with 125 00:07:55,960 --> 00:07:58,640 Speaker 1: a basement large enough for him to dissect his bodies 126 00:07:58,640 --> 00:08:01,360 Speaker 1: in peace. It's best. Woman's were hard to come by, 127 00:08:01,520 --> 00:08:04,760 Speaker 1: so Houston resorted to grave robbing. He'd sneak the bodies 128 00:08:04,800 --> 00:08:07,800 Speaker 1: in under cover of night, perform his work, and then 129 00:08:07,840 --> 00:08:10,440 Speaker 1: bury what remained so he wouldn't get caught trying to 130 00:08:10,440 --> 00:08:12,920 Speaker 1: get rid of the evidence. He never killed anyone on 131 00:08:12,960 --> 00:08:15,920 Speaker 1: his own, but that didn't mean his methods were ethical. 132 00:08:17,640 --> 00:08:21,559 Speaker 1: It's not clear whether Franklin participated or even knew about 133 00:08:21,560 --> 00:08:24,720 Speaker 1: the experiments going on in his basement. When he returned 134 00:08:24,720 --> 00:08:27,440 Speaker 1: to America, he continued to let Houston use the house 135 00:08:27,480 --> 00:08:30,640 Speaker 1: for his work. If only his friend had been more careful. 136 00:08:31,640 --> 00:08:35,240 Speaker 1: In the spring of seventeen seventy four, while dissecting a cadaver, 137 00:08:35,679 --> 00:08:39,640 Speaker 1: Dr Houston cut himself and contracted an infection which eventually 138 00:08:39,679 --> 00:08:42,920 Speaker 1: turned into sepsis. He died a short while later, but 139 00:08:43,200 --> 00:08:46,640 Speaker 1: don't worry, his bones were not among the others found 140 00:08:46,640 --> 00:08:50,959 Speaker 1: in Franklin's house. Dr William Houston was given a proper 141 00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:54,080 Speaker 1: burial in Saint Martin in the Fields Churchyard in London, 142 00:08:54,640 --> 00:08:58,520 Speaker 1: and Franklin, well, he really didn't have any skeletons in 143 00:08:58,600 --> 00:09:01,719 Speaker 1: his closet after all, but he did keep quite a 144 00:09:01,760 --> 00:09:09,120 Speaker 1: few in his basement. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided 145 00:09:09,160 --> 00:09:12,560 Speaker 1: tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on 146 00:09:12,640 --> 00:09:15,640 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show by visiting 147 00:09:15,760 --> 00:09:20,360 Speaker 1: Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created by me 148 00:09:20,520 --> 00:09:24,200 Speaker 1: Aaron Manky in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make 149 00:09:24,240 --> 00:09:27,800 Speaker 1: another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, 150 00:09:27,880 --> 00:09:30,840 Speaker 1: book series, and television show, and you can learn all 151 00:09:30,880 --> 00:09:34,400 Speaker 1: about it over at the World of Lore dot com. 152 00:09:34,440 --> 00:09:36,840 Speaker 1: And until next time, stay curious.