Latest / Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities / Lake Placid

Transcript

Lake Placid · 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 are
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: right there on display, just waiting for us to explore.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. The ghosts of our
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: past often come back to haunt us to teach us
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: something about where we've been and where we're going. Navigating
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: life is hard enough without being reminded of our past mistakes.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: But that's how we grow and learn, isn't it. Sometimes, though,
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: those ghosts return in ways that make us question everything,
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: including reality. And on one fateful autumn day, a family
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: in Mesa, Arizona, got a shocking visit from their past
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: that taught them a very valuable lesson drive carefully. Around
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: the middle of October of two thousand five, Lorraine Hamburg
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: received an envelope in the mail. It was from the
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Mesa Police Department, and inside was a photograph of her husband, James,
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: driving himself and her straight through a red light. The
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: camera had caught it all, and now missus Hamburg had
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: a ticket to deal with. Lorraine called her adult son
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: Stephen in a panic that had to be a joke.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: She thought there was no way his father had ran
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: that red light. Stephen also knew the ticket was bogus.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: For one, there was no way his father had been
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: driving that car. Stephen's wife had borrowed it to run
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: errands that day. Furthermore, Lorraine couldn't have been in the
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: passenger seat, since she had been at home that week
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: recovering from open heart surgery. Lorraine's son, Stephen knew this
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: because he had been helping care for her. Stephen told
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: his mother not to worry and offered to handle the
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: whole ticket situation for her. He marched down to the
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: court house and presented all of the fact to Detective
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: Terry Dorn, arguing to have the ticket dismissed. The detective
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: said she'd consider it, but only after she had conducted
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: a thorough investigation. The prevailing theory at the time was
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: that the photo had been an old one on file
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: that had been accidentally mailed to the Hamburgs Police. Forensics
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: enhanced the image and quickly saw that that couldn't be
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: the case. One look at the background revealed one of
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: the buildings behind the car hadn't existed before last year.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: The building certificate on file confirmed it. The traffic cam
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: was in fact recent if only someone had mentioned something
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: to Stephen. Weeks went by and the young Hamburg reached
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: out for an update from the police, but he received
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: only radio silence. With his mother growing more worried by
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: the day, he did what anyone looking to get an
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: answer from the government officials would do. He contacted the press.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: Once the story made it into the local paper, things
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: moved a lot more quickly. They began questioning the police
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: for more information on the case. Could the authorities be
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: covering something up? They thought? Might there be a scandal
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: of foot in Mesa, Arizona? Why, they wondered, weren't they
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: cooperating with Stephen and his family to get the matter resolved.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: The police asked Stephen for one last piece of evidence
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: to clear his parents name. Once he handed it over,
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: they had no choice but to dismiss the ticket, even
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: though the picture clearly showed his father, James, and his
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: mother Lorraine in the car. Ultimately, they realized that there
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: was no possible way James Hamburg could have been driving
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: that day. It wasn't because Stephen Hamburg's wife claimed that
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: she had been using the car when the photo was taken,
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: and it wasn't because his mother was on mandatory documented bedrest.
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: It was because Stephen had provided something that swayed them completely.
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: His father's death certificate, James Hamburg, you see, had been
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: dead for five years. Canada is home to numerous idyllic
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: towns and villages, each boasting their own unique landmarks and
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: features that make them hard to not fall in love with.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: The small mining town of flynn Flon was named after
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: a character in a turn of the century science fiction
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: novel and holds an annual trout festival each July. Ontario's
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: Port Hope makes visitors feel as though they've been traveling
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: back in time to the nineteenth century, and Hudson in
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: Quebec is a haven for artists and crafters along with
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: the vibrant local theater scene. And then there's Minnawonka Landing,
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: located in Canada's Banff National Park. Minnawonka Landing is one
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: of the oldest settlements in Alberta. Nestled within the snow
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: capped peaks of the Canadian Rockies along the shores of
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: Lake Minawanka, the town can trace its history back thousands
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: of years. Archaeologists have found arrowheads, tools and other artifacts
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: left behind by the town's Aboriginal ancestors. Minnawaka Landing and
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: it's thirteen mile long lake have become a draw for
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: tourists and outdoor enthusiasts looking for an escape from their
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: busy city dwelling lives. That all started in the late
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: eighteen hundreds, when visitors to the lake saw an opportunity
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: to cultivate the beautiful, unkept wilderness surround it into something lucrative.
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: The local city folk and Calgary often came to Lake
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: Minawanka to view the splendor of the rocky mountains and
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: to swim in its cool crystalline waters. Without a place
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: to stay, however, their trips were limited unless they felt
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: like camping over for the night. After the first hotel
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: went up, it didn't take long for others to capitalize
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: on the town's potential. People moved in and built cottages.
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: They started small businesses and restaurants, peppering the land with commerce,
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: all framed by nature's majestic beauty. Soon, the hard working
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: people of Calgary had a place to stay and food
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: to enjoy, allowing them to plan trips to the growing
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: resort town. However, Minawonka Landing still resided within the borders
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: of a Canadian National Park. The Park Service wanted to
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: improve the lake shoreline and reduce the surrounding water levels,
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: so they built a dam in Almost twenty years later,
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: a second dam was installed as a way to store
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: water in case of a drought. It wasn't until the
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: start of World War Two when Minawonka Landing was truly
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: put to the test. As North America entered the fight,
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: resources such as rubber and tin became as valuable as gold,
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: and so did something else. Power. The meager power being
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: supplied to Minawonka Landing was enough for a hotel and
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: some shops, but it couldn't sustain the rapidly growing cities nearby,
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: so a power plant was constructed, as well as a
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: third hydro electric dam. The effects were disastrous for this
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: small resort town. The dam and the plant were loud
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: and disrupted the picturesque tranquility that everyone had come to expect.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: As a result, shop owners closed their businesses, people moved away,
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: leaving behind a village lost industry, lost to time. You
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: can still see Minawonka Landing today. It's right where they
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: left it. About seventy miles west of Calgary. It's a
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: ghost town now, and its historical significance has made it
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: even more of a tourist attraction than it was when
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: it was inhabited in thriving. Just make sure you pack
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: your scuba gear when you visit. You see Minawonka landing
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: can't be accessed by car or train, and a boat
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: will only take you so far. To see the town today,
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: you'll need to dive thirty ft below the surface of
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: the lake. It's all still there, the hotel, the cottages,
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: the sidewalks, and the shops and all are mostly intact.
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: Some of the homes still have their windows in place too.
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: It all happened by design. In order for the damned
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: to function properly. During the war, the town at its
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: base had to be flooded, But the water that fills
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: the lake happens to come from Glacier's up north, and
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: that icy flow has kept the town preserved all these
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: years later. Sometimes the most interesting sites to see are
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: often right there in front of you. Just be sure
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: not to forget to take a peek below the surface.
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com.
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: The show was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show,
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: and you can learn all about it over at the
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: World of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: H