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Parallel Paths · Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: is an open book, all of these amazing tales right
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  Speaker 1: there on display, just waiting for us to explore. Welcome
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  Speaker 1: to the Cabinet of Curiosities. If we were in an
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  Speaker 1: actual cabinet of curiosities, a massive room full of oddities
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  Speaker 1: and wonders that we could browse and admire, I would
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  Speaker 1: probably lead you over to a corner where two paintings
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  Speaker 1: hung on the wall. Looking up, you would recognize each
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  Speaker 1: of the subjects immediately, Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: I don't need to tell you how similar these two
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  Speaker 1: men were, right, you can put the pieces together yourself.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: Both served as presidents of the United States, and both
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  Speaker 1: were assassinated while in office. They each represented sad moments
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  Speaker 1: in American history where great leaders were struck down before
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  Speaker 1: their time. For the generations that went through the aftermath
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  Speaker 1: of these tragedies, they were foundational, unforgettable events. But you
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  Speaker 1: don't know everything, such as why I might have placed
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  Speaker 1: their portraits here in a place where you come to
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  Speaker 1: find the unusual and unexplainable. Don't worry, though, what sort
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  Speaker 1: of tour guide would I be if I didn't reveal
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  Speaker 1: it all to you first, It's helpful to look at
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  Speaker 1: the numbers. Lincoln and Kennedy both served in Congress before
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  Speaker 1: ascending to the presidency, and each of them was elected
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  Speaker 1: to those roles in years that ended in forty six.
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  Speaker 1: When they were elected to the White House, both of
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  Speaker 1: them did so in years ending in sixty weird, right,
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  Speaker 1: It gets weirder though. Kennedy was killed in the seventh
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  Speaker 1: car of his motorcade, while Lincoln was shot in theater
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  Speaker 1: box number seven. Both men were shot in the head.
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  Speaker 1: Both assassin nations happened on a Friday. Even the killers
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: were similar. John Wilkes Booth escaped the theater and was
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  Speaker 1: found in a barn sort of a nineteenth century warehouse.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: Lee Harvey Oswald fled from a warehouse and was caught
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  Speaker 1: in a theater, and both of them were killed before
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  Speaker 1: they could go to trial. When it was all over,
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  Speaker 1: each man was succeeded by their vice president, as is
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  Speaker 1: the tradition, except both of those men were named Johnson,
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  Speaker 1: each were born in years ending oh eight, and each
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  Speaker 1: were from the South. I know, it's easy to look
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  Speaker 1: at a lot of that and just shrug coincidences happen, right,
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  Speaker 1: especially when they have a century to line up and
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  Speaker 1: counting the letters, and a person's name is pretty weak
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  Speaker 1: according to some. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. I'll
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  Speaker 1: leave that up to you. One last thing. It said
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  Speaker 1: that Lincoln had a dream about his assassination. In it,
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  Speaker 1: he found himself standing in the White House, which was
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: fully decorated for a state funeral. There in the east room,
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  Speaker 1: he could see a body laid out for burial. Who
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  Speaker 1: is dead in the White House? Lincoln asked one of
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  Speaker 1: the nearby soldiers guarding the body. The president came the
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  Speaker 1: soldier's reply, killed by an assassin. Here's the odd thing, though,
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  Speaker 1: other than dreaming about a murdered president. Of course, Lincoln
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  Speaker 1: told some friends about his dream a short time after
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  Speaker 1: it happened, and he told them something else. It turns
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  Speaker 1: out the body on display was not him, but another
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  Speaker 1: man that Lincoln did not recognize. Knowing what we do
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  Speaker 1: about the deep similarities between Lincoln and Kennedy, it wouldn't
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  Speaker 1: hurt to stop and wonder and ask the most obvious
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  Speaker 1: question of all the questions. Yet, was Kennedy the man
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  Speaker 1: that Lincoln dreamed about when he checked into the hotel
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  Speaker 1: on Long Island. He did so under a false name.
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  Speaker 1: It was April seventeen night, and the man listed as
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  Speaker 1: Albert C. White was very much not who he claimed
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  Speaker 1: to be. He was actually the twenty eight year old
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  Speaker 1: nephew of legendary steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, and even shared
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  Speaker 1: his name. He was Andrew Carnegie Whitfield. He paid in
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  Speaker 1: advance four dollars for a single night if you're curious
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  Speaker 1: what hotel rates were like in nineteen thirty eight, and
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  Speaker 1: deposited his belongings in the room before taking a card
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  Speaker 1: to the nearby Roosevelt Field Airport, where he had a
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  Speaker 1: plane waiting for him. It was silver and red, very
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  Speaker 1: flashy and very noticeable, and he planned to take it
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  Speaker 1: for just a quick flight. His destination, he claimed, was
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  Speaker 1: an airfield in Brentwood, New York, about twenty two miles away.
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  Speaker 1: He had plenty of fuel, perfect weather, a heavily populated
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  Speaker 1: landscape to fly over, and hundreds of hours of flight
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  Speaker 1: time under his belt. He was happily married, was enjoying
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  Speaker 1: success as an executive for a large company, and was
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  Speaker 1: even planning to relocate his family to a better home
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  Speaker 1: at the end of the month. He had everything going
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  Speaker 1: for him on land and in the air, and then
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  Speaker 1: he vanished. When they searched his hotel room, they found
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  Speaker 1: a lot of things to raise questions. There were records
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  Speaker 1: of a phone call to his own home. His clothing
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  Speaker 1: was still there in the room too, along with his
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  Speaker 1: monogrammed cuff links. Oddly, he had even brought along to
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  Speaker 1: life insurance policies and several stock and bond certificates that
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  Speaker 1: had his name on them. But Andrew Whitfield was nowhere
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  Speaker 1: to be found. It didn't make sense, and no matter
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  Speaker 1: how hard they tried, the authorities couldn't locate him or
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  Speaker 1: his red and silver airplane. They had simply vanished into
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  Speaker 1: thin air. One other thing, though, remember that phone call
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  Speaker 1: he made to his home from the hotel room. Well,
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  Speaker 1: it was unusual for two reasons. First, when no one answered,
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  Speaker 1: the operator who was trying to connect their call overheard
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  Speaker 1: him mutter, well, I'm going to carry out my plan. Weird, right,
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  Speaker 1: Not as weird as the second detail. That call, it seems,
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  Speaker 1: took place while his family was out of the house.
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  Speaker 1: They were out of the house because they'd gone to
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  Speaker 1: join the search party looking for him. The call, you
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  Speaker 1: see didn't happen before his flight. It was placed hours
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  Speaker 1: after he vanished. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour
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  Speaker 1: of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts,
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast
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  Speaker 1: dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Manky
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  Speaker 1: in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make another award
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series,
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  Speaker 1: and television show, and you can learn all about it
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  Speaker 1: over at the World of Lore dot com. And until
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  Speaker 1: next time, stay curious.