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By George · 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 are
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  Speaker 1: right there on display, just waiting for us to explore.
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  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. Friends come to us
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  Speaker 1: in unexpected ways. Their timing can seem strange but oddly appropriate,
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  Speaker 1: as they weave themselves so deeply into our lives that
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  Speaker 1: we couldn't imagine life without them. Friends can illuminate the
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  Speaker 1: best in us or amplify the worst in us, and
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  Speaker 1: sometimes we don't know what kind of friend they are
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  Speaker 1: until it's too late. But no matter what, a good
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  Speaker 1: friend is there when we need them the most. George P.
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  Speaker 1: Burdell was that kind of friend. When Ed Smith met
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  Speaker 1: George Burdell and Night teen seven, the two hit it
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  Speaker 1: off immediately. Both men attended Georgia Tech, a university that
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  Speaker 1: claims among its alumni former president Jimmy Carter and golf
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  Speaker 1: legend Bobby Jones. George and Ed took all of the
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  Speaker 1: same classes and often completed assignments together. They even took
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  Speaker 1: the copying each other's homework on more than one occasion,
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  Speaker 1: changing the answers just enough to make it look like
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  Speaker 1: they've done the work. Individually, the two men were inseparable,
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  Speaker 1: but eventually George started to gain notoriety around the campus.
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  Speaker 1: He played varsity football from nine to nineteen thirty, and
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  Speaker 1: upon reaching his senior year, he was offered membership into
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  Speaker 1: the A. N. A. K Society, a secret honor society
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  Speaker 1: founded in nineteen o eight. Ed, however, continued his education
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  Speaker 1: as intended, and in nineteen thirty he and George earned
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  Speaker 1: their bachelor's degrees in engineering. George continued on and received
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  Speaker 1: his master's degree, but as the conflict overseas continued to grow,
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  Speaker 1: he saw an opportunity to put his education and his
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  Speaker 1: medal to the test. After leaving school, he enlisted in
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  Speaker 1: World War Two and joined the crew of a B
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  Speaker 1: seventeen bomber, flying a dozen missions with England's eighth Air Force.
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  Speaker 1: Once the war was over, George met and fell in
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  Speaker 1: love with a young woman by the name of Ramona Cartwright,
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  Speaker 1: who had attended Agnes Scott College, only twenty minutes away
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  Speaker 1: from his alma mater. Their engagement was announced in nineteen
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  Speaker 1: fifty eight in the Atlanta Journal Constitution newspaper, and fifty
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  Speaker 1: years later, the public radio program A Prairie Home companion
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  Speaker 1: celebrated their anniversary live on the air. George pursued his
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  Speaker 1: dreams even after he'd settled down. He joined Mad Magazine
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  Speaker 1: as a member of its board of directors in nineteen
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  Speaker 1: sixty nine and maintained his position there until nine In
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  Speaker 1: two thousand one, Time Magazine nearly chose him to be
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  Speaker 1: their Person of the Year, although he lost to Rudy
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  Speaker 1: Giuliani following the attacks of September eleven. However, despite these
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  Speaker 1: amazing achievements, George never forgot his home, and his home
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  Speaker 1: never forgot him. Georgia Tech is so proud of its
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  Speaker 1: accomplished alumnus it even named a store in the campus
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  Speaker 1: student center Berdell's. And yet no one has ever seen
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  Speaker 1: George P. Burdell. There are no photos, no videos, nor
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  Speaker 1: any eyewitness testimony as to his identity or whereabouts. In
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  Speaker 1: two thousand fifteen, President Barack Obama gave a speech at
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  Speaker 1: Georgia Tech and joked that Mr. Burdell was supposed to
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  Speaker 1: introduce him, but he was nowhere to be found. The
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  Speaker 1: students laughed, of course, but not because they knew where
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  Speaker 1: he was. Rather, they knew that he was never going
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  Speaker 1: to come. George P. Burdell accomplished. Georgia Tech alum, World
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  Speaker 1: War Two veteran, and former Mad Magazine board member never existed.
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  Speaker 1: He was the creation of Ed Smith back in after
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  Speaker 1: Ed had received two enrollment forms to the Universe City
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  Speaker 1: by mistake. He was going to enroll his high school
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  Speaker 1: principle as a joke, but at the last minute decided
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  Speaker 1: to change the last name to Burdell, his best friend's
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  Speaker 1: mother's maiden name. The prank took off in ways that
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  Speaker 1: even surprised Ed. His friends all participated doing George's assignments
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  Speaker 1: and changing the answers just enough to keep teachers from
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  Speaker 1: looking too closely. George Burdell was listed in the official
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  Speaker 1: register as a graduate of Georgia Tech, and as his
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  Speaker 1: classmates started getting drafted into the Second World War, they
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  Speaker 1: took their fake friend with them. They added his name
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  Speaker 1: to the roster on numerous fronts until fellow Georgia Tech
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  Speaker 1: alums noticed his name and had him removed. And even
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  Speaker 1: after he had officially graduated freshman at the school, continued
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  Speaker 1: to enroll him for classes every year, to the point
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  Speaker 1: where it became sort of a tradition. George's name has
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  Speaker 1: appeared in the liner notes of rock albums, in the
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  Speaker 1: signature line of a check from Craft Foods, and even
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  Speaker 1: on credit cards. George had become the biggest celebrity almost
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  Speaker 1: nobody ever heard of. Burdell's legacy has lasted almost a century,
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  Speaker 1: and there's no reason why it wouldn't last another hundred
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  Speaker 1: years beyond. After all, George eventually had a son, George P. Burdell, Jr.
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  Speaker 1: He can be found teaching several classes at Georgia Tech.
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  Speaker 1: Of course, John camitts In, Professor Emeritus at the University
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  Speaker 1: of Massachusetts Medical School, once said, when you pay attention
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  Speaker 1: to boredom, it's incredibly interesting. Recent studies have shown boredom
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  Speaker 1: to be a terrific catalyst for creativity. When the mind
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  Speaker 1: is starved for stimulation, it begins to wander, which leads
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  Speaker 1: to fascinating discoveries and creations. These days, boredom is rarity.
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  Speaker 1: The blinking devices we carry in our pockets occupy every
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  Speaker 1: spare second with cat videos and a scrolling feed of
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  Speaker 1: celebrity roumin nation. However, during the early nineteenth century, boredom
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  Speaker 1: was a fact of life, especially during the Napoleonic Wars
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  Speaker 1: and I know a war doesn't scream boredom, But to
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  Speaker 1: the French prisoners of war biding their time until rescue,
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  Speaker 1: boredom was all they had. As Napoleon's Empire fought throughout
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  Speaker 1: Europe between eighteen o three and eighteen fifteen, numerous French
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  Speaker 1: soldiers fell to bullets and bayonets in the pursuit of
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  Speaker 1: total domination. Those who weren't killed were taken as prisoners
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  Speaker 1: of war, where they waited for weeks, months, and sometimes
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  Speaker 1: even years to be released. The British captors were particularly kind,
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  Speaker 1: giving them an ounce of scotch, a half pound of
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  Speaker 1: meat or fish, and vegetables every day between their meals.
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  Speaker 1: Captive soldiers were left to their own devices, filling their
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  Speaker 1: time with sleep, exercise, and staring at the wall. Not
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  Speaker 1: a very fulfilling lifestyle, but they made the best of it.
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  Speaker 1: Some even developed hobbies. With such a dearth of past
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  Speaker 1: times available to them, they started fashioning what was around
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  Speaker 1: them into trinkets and models. Tiny dioramas, watch displays, and
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  Speaker 1: houses were crafted from the refuse left behind after each meal.
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  Speaker 1: For example, a model guillotine featured an array of guards
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  Speaker 1: at the base of a long ramp leading up to
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  Speaker 1: the blade, dangling precariously over an unfortunate victim. Ornate filigrees
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  Speaker 1: adorned the thin fence around the perimeter of the model,
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  Speaker 1: and simple hearts had even been carved into the center
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  Speaker 1: of each panel. However, the most popular creations made among
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  Speaker 1: the eighty thousand prisoners of war were ships, like the
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  Speaker 1: kind of wooden models that might adorn a living room mantle.
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  Speaker 1: These ships were finally carved to look just like the
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  Speaker 1: French and British gun ships of the time. The men
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  Speaker 1: tightly wove their own hair into sail rigging, enfolded scraps
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  Speaker 1: of tissue paper into sails, and once the British officers
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  Speaker 1: saw the work coming from their prisoners, they started smuggling
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  Speaker 1: in their own materials, such as silk and turtle shells.
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  Speaker 1: Tools were even brought in, an act that could have
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  Speaker 1: ended disastrously if any of the prisoners had decided to
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  Speaker 1: use them to escape, But despite their circumstances and lack
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  Speaker 1: of freedom, they were treated respectfully, fed daily, and assisted
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  Speaker 1: in their unique style of arts and crafts. Of course,
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  Speaker 1: with wood and short supply in a prison cell, the
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  Speaker 1: tissue sails and hair rigging had to be fastened to
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  Speaker 1: something like I said. The soldiers used whatever they could
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  Speaker 1: find to build their models out of, and nothing was
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  Speaker 1: in greater supply than one specific item left behind after
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  Speaker 1: every meal. Bone. After they'd finished eating their daily fish
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  Speaker 1: or lamb, the men would boil the bones and bleached
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  Speaker 1: them in the sun to make them easier to carve.
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  Speaker 1: Larger bones would be used for the ship bodies, while
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  Speaker 1: fish bones and tiniers were turned into masts and cannons.
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  Speaker 1: The pigs that would roam the pow camp also aided
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  Speaker 1: in bone production. Not their own, mind you. The pigs
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  Speaker 1: belonged to the soldiers, But any truffle hunter knows the
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  Speaker 1: value of a pig snout. Except instead of truffles, the
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  Speaker 1: hogs would sniff out shallow graves that still held human remains.
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  Speaker 1: The idea of slicing up human bones into model ships
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  Speaker 1: sounds morbid, I know, but French soldiers thought dying of
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  Speaker 1: boredom was a much worse fate. When completed, the ships
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  Speaker 1: became objects of desire among British naval officers. The money
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  Speaker 1: earned from their sale went back to the soldiers to
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  Speaker 1: buy more supplies, thus allowing them to produce more ships.
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  Speaker 1: What no one's been able to explain in over two
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  Speaker 1: hundred years, though. It's just how the prisoners were able
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  Speaker 1: to craft such accurate representations of these ships that they
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  Speaker 1: couldn't see from their cells. You see, while they weren't
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  Speaker 1: built to scale, the level of artistry and precision in
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  Speaker 1: each model makes one imagine that perhaps the men were
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  Speaker 1: sneaking out each night to study the real thing before
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  Speaker 1: getting back to work. A ludicrous thought, I know, but
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  Speaker 1: no more ludicrous than what has become of the ships today.
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  Speaker 1: They're still around and just as in demand as they
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  Speaker 1: were two centuries ago. French prisoner of war bone ships
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  Speaker 1: can sell at auction for thousands of dollars. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: a model of the British Royal Navy's HMS Victory sold
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  Speaker 1: for over fifty five thousand dollars back in two thousand seven,
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  Speaker 1: not too shabby for something made from spare parts in
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  Speaker 1: at prison cell. 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,
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  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
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  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 come and until
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  Speaker 1: next time, stay curious. H