Latest / Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities / Washed Up

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Washed Up · Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities

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  Speaker 1: Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history
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  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. There's an old joke about
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  Speaker 1: how everything in Australia wants to kill you, from honey
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  Speaker 1: bees to Eastern brown snakes the bull sharks. It seems
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  Speaker 1: every living creature was designed to inflict the most damage
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  Speaker 1: possible on the local population. But there is one death
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  Speaker 1: on record there that can't be blamed on the wildlife.
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  Speaker 1: The victim's identity is still a mystery today, known only
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  Speaker 1: by where the police found him, on a beach south
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  Speaker 1: of Adelaide, Australia, near Somerton Park. It's unlikely though, that
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  Speaker 1: he was killed by a snake or a shark, because
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  Speaker 1: there were no white marks anywhere on his body. When
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  Speaker 1: the police found him on the morning of December one,
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  Speaker 1: he was lying face up in the sand with his
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  Speaker 1: legs crossed at the ankles. At first glance, he looked
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  Speaker 1: to be sleeping, but as the officers got closer they
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  Speaker 1: realized the situation was far worse. They searched the body
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  Speaker 1: for identification, wallets or a driver's license, anything to help
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  Speaker 1: their investigation. What they found instead was an unlit cigarette
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  Speaker 1: resting on his collar, a collection of unusual artifacts in
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  Speaker 1: his pockets, including an unpunched second class train ticket to
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  Speaker 1: Henley Beach about eleven kilometers away, an unused bus ticket,
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  Speaker 1: an American hair comb, some chewing gum, half a pack
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  Speaker 1: of cigarettes, and a match box. He had been a
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  Speaker 1: fit man, and according to the corner, his feet and
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  Speaker 1: legs were those of a dancer or someone who often
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  Speaker 1: wore high heeled boots with pointed toes. The labels on
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  Speaker 1: his clothes had been removed, and he carried no wallet
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  Speaker 1: or hat. Even dental records proved fruitless. By all accounts,
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  Speaker 1: the man didn't exist, and he appeared to have committed suicide.
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  Speaker 1: An investigation into his death began almost immediately after he
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  Speaker 1: was brought in for examination. According to the Corner, his
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  Speaker 1: organs had become congested and there was blood in his stomach.
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  Speaker 1: His spleen had grown to three times its normal size,
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  Speaker 1: and all these signs pointed to the man having been
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  Speaker 1: poisoned hours before his death. Witnesses soon came forward and
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  Speaker 1: described the man who the night before. They had seen
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  Speaker 1: in the same area around seven p m. He had
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  Speaker 1: extended his right arm about as far as it would
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  Speaker 1: go and then let it drop to his side. He
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  Speaker 1: didn't move again after that. Despite the numerous reports, though
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  Speaker 1: no one was ever able to identify the stranger on
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  Speaker 1: the beach. It wasn't until over a month later when
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  Speaker 1: another clue showed up. A suit case had been discovered
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  Speaker 1: at a local train station after being checked into the
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  Speaker 1: station's coat room towards the end of November, but it
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  Speaker 1: was never reclaimed. Its label had been removed, so identifying
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  Speaker 1: its owner would have been problematic, but a suitcase full
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  Speaker 1: of clothing lacking identifying information seemed to fit what they
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  Speaker 1: were looking for already, so it was assumed that this
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  Speaker 1: luggage belonged to the victim. The only items in the
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  Speaker 1: suitcase with any kind of name on them were a tie,
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  Speaker 1: a laundry bag, and a vest, all of which bore
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  Speaker 1: the last name Keen, but no one by that name
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  Speaker 1: had been on any incoming trains at all. In June
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  Speaker 1: of nine, an inquest was launched by the coroner's office
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  Speaker 1: to determine the true cause of death beyond a reasonable doubt,
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  Speaker 1: which meant Examining all the evidence, This included the man's clothing.
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  Speaker 1: Inside a small pocket sewn into his trousers, the police
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  Speaker 1: found a tiny slip of rolled up paper with the
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  Speaker 1: words to mom should written in a strange font. It
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  Speaker 1: had come from an English translation of a Persian poem
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  Speaker 1: called the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayam. The authorities conducted a
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  Speaker 1: nationwide hunt for a copy, releasing a photo of the
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  Speaker 1: tiny rectangle of paper to the public. It didn't take
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  Speaker 1: long for someone to step forward. A man with a
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  Speaker 1: nineteen forty one edition of the book took it to
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  Speaker 1: police headquarters, where he not only showed the page where
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  Speaker 1: the words had been cut out, but also where someone
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  Speaker 1: had used the book to write something down. Indentations were
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  Speaker 1: detected on the back cover. Someone had written down a
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  Speaker 1: phone number and a kind of coded message, using the
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  Speaker 1: Rubaiyat as a flat surface. More experts were called in,
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  Speaker 1: hopefully trying to decrypt the message, but there was too
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  Speaker 1: little information to use. It seemed everything about the victim
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  Speaker 1: had led to this dead end, his identity, his life,
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  Speaker 1: and the message he had left behind. Even after all
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  Speaker 1: these years, no one has been able to identify the
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  Speaker 1: summer to man. The only part of the case that
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  Speaker 1: bears any kind of closure is that scrap of paper
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  Speaker 1: found in his pants pocket. We know where it came from,
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  Speaker 1: and we know at the raise to mom should means finished,
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  Speaker 1: a message that tells us absolutely nothing new about the
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  Speaker 1: mystery man, and yet summarizes his story perfectly. A curious
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  Speaker 1: end to a curious tail, however frustrating that might be.
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  Speaker 1: The world has a way of breaking a person down.
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  Speaker 1: Suffer enough failures, and you'll find yourself at rock bottom,
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  Speaker 1: clawing your way back to the top, or at least
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  Speaker 1: out of the hole you've dug for yourself. However, while
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  Speaker 1: some wallow in self pity and wait for something good
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  Speaker 1: to happen, a rare few actually find the strength to
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  Speaker 1: get out there and do what needs to get done
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  Speaker 1: to succeed, pulling oneself up by the bootstraps and seeking
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  Speaker 1: out a better life, even if they have to take
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  Speaker 1: it by force. And that's or Joshua comes in. Born
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  Speaker 1: around eighteen eighteen in England, he moved to South Africa
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  Speaker 1: with his family as part of a group known as
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  Speaker 1: the eighteen twenties Settlers, in order to colonize South Africa
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  Speaker 1: on behalf of the British. He lived there for many
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  Speaker 1: years until eighteen forty nine, when he got word of
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  Speaker 1: the gold rush happening on America's West coast. His goal
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  Speaker 1: was to pursue the elusive American dream. He found a
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  Speaker 1: niche for himself in San Francisco as a real estate developer,
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  Speaker 1: but as greed quickly tripped him up. Several years later,
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  Speaker 1: he saw a new opportunity though, and entered yet another market,
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  Speaker 1: rice speculation. You See, back then, China was facing a
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  Speaker 1: famine and had stopped shipping rice outside the country. The
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  Speaker 1: price went through the roof here in the United States,
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  Speaker 1: and when Joshua got word of a cargo ship hauling
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  Speaker 1: two thousand pounds of it from Peru, he bought the
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  Speaker 1: whole shipment. His strangle hold on the rice industry didn't
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  Speaker 1: last long, though more cargo ships had already been dispatched
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  Speaker 1: to the US. The demand for Joshua's stock plummeted, as
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  Speaker 1: did his prices, and after a lengthy and expensive litigation process,
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  Speaker 1: poor Mr Norton had to face the treacherous new frontier
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  Speaker 1: of bankruptcy. The losses and failures had all become too
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  Speaker 1: much for him, so Joshua left San Francisco for well
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  Speaker 1: somewhere no one really knows where, But he returned a
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  Speaker 1: year later as a different man. A very different man.
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  Speaker 1: You see, he'd had a revelation. Rather than try and
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  Speaker 1: work his way back up to his old standing as
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  Speaker 1: a successful businessman, Joshua chose to reach higher, and no
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  Speaker 1: one was going to stop him. He started sending in
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  Speaker 1: letters to local newspapers urging congressman from all over the
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  Speaker 1: country to come meet with him. Why because Joshua, as
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  Speaker 1: it so happened, had declared himself Emperor of the United States.
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  Speaker 1: He had big ideas for the country, including the disillusion
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  Speaker 1: of the United States Congress. He also wanted to break
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  Speaker 1: up the country into smaller factions and eliminate the two
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  Speaker 1: party system from the political process. He often strutted up
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  Speaker 1: and down San Francisco streets in a blue military uniform
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  Speaker 1: adorned with gold epaulets and a hat out of which
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  Speaker 1: stuck a peacock feather. He regaled the public with lectures
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  Speaker 1: about many topics, and surprisingly, everyone loved him. He was
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  Speaker 1: a local celebrity who often ate for free at any
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  Speaker 1: restaurant of his choosing. He never had to buy tickets
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  Speaker 1: to shows or concerts, and he even created his own
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  Speaker 1: currency to pay for whatever he wanted, called Norton dollars,
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  Speaker 1: and people simply accepted it as real money. Unfortunately for Joshua,
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  Speaker 1: while his exploits earned him the favor of his fellow
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  Speaker 1: San Franciscan's, the local police weren't as hospitable. One officer
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  Speaker 1: even arrested him with the intention of having him committed
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  Speaker 1: to a mental health facility for his wild declarations and
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  Speaker 1: odd behavior. But the people wouldn't have it. Both the
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  Speaker 1: public and the local media voiced their displeasure with the arrest.
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  Speaker 1: The police chief had no choice but to release him
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  Speaker 1: as an act of good faith, Emperor Norton proceeded to
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  Speaker 1: pardon the officer who had arrested him. Throughout his rule,
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  Speaker 1: if you could call it that, Joshua Norton ordered numerous
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  Speaker 1: acts as Emperor of the United States. None of his
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  Speaker 1: decrees were ever carried out, of course, seeing as how
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  Speaker 1: the official US government didn't acknowledge him as emperor of anything. However,
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  Speaker 1: there was one idea he proposed that the town didn't
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  Speaker 1: throw away. It just took them a while to realize
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  Speaker 1: its greatness. In eighteen seventy two, Joshua started looking for
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  Speaker 1: a way to connect San Francisco with Oakland across the
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  Speaker 1: San Francisco Bay. He ordered a suspension bridge be built
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  Speaker 1: between the two cities. Although without any political or financial pull,
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  Speaker 1: he was ignored. After all, it was nothing more than
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  Speaker 1: a pipe dream from a man with no power or authority.
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  Speaker 1: Emperor Norton passed away unexpectedly eight years later at the
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  Speaker 1: corner of California Street and what is now Grant Avenue.
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  Speaker 1: He'd been on his way to deliver a speech to
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  Speaker 1: a group of college students. But although he has faded
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  Speaker 1: from the memory of most, his dream was not forgotten.
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  Speaker 1: Over fifty years later in construction was finally completed on
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  Speaker 1: the San Francisco Oakland Bay Suspension Bridge. It connected the
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  Speaker 1: two cities exactly as Norton had imagined it. Looking back,
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  Speaker 1: one thing is certainly clear. The Emperor might not have
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  Speaker 1: had any power, but he certainly had vision. I hope
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  Speaker 1: you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities.
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  Speaker 1: Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about
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  Speaker 1: the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show
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  Speaker 1: was created by me Aaron Manky. In partnership with how
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  Speaker 1: Stuff Works, I make another award winning show called Lore,
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  Speaker 1: which is a podcast, book series, and television show and
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  Speaker 1: you can learn all about it over at the world
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  Speaker 1: of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.
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  Speaker 1: H