Latest / Crime and Horror / If you look like this actor you might die... - MrBallen

Transcript

If you look like this actor you might die... - MrBallen · Crime and Horror

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Today, I'm going to share four stories about people who
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: took big career risks in order to be as successful
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: as possible.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: But in each case, the risk did not pay off.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: But before we get into today's stories, if you're a
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  Speaker 2: Okay, let's get into today's stories.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: Around noon on May 29th, 1975, a 26-year-old man named
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Homer B.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: Lawyer Jr.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: Left the store where he worked as a shoe salesman
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: in Miami, Florida for his lunch break and he walked
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: down the street. He tried not to rush or look
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: like he was in a hurry, but the truth was
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: he was extremely antsy as he walked along here. And
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: the reason for that is he knew that soon he
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: would either be rich or in jail because Homer was
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: actually on his way to rob his very first bank.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: So Homer had decided that he was done being a
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: shoe salesman. He didn't make nearly enough money, and it
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: was just so boring. I mean, every single day felt
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: the same, and again, there's like no money in it.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: And so for the last couple of weeks, Homer had
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: been trying to think of a way to make lots
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: of money really quickly that might also be kind of
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: exciting along the way. Hence how he landed on robbing
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: a bank. And it just so happened there was a
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: bank right around the corner from his work that he
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: decided would be his first target. Now, Homer was aware
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: that he was brand new to robbing banks here. So,
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: you know, before he actually stepped out to go do
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: this thing, he'd put a lot of thought into how
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: to actually do it. He'd spent days preparing for this
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: by mulling over and scribbling down ideas and plans until
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: he'd finally landed on.
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: What he felt was the best way to pull this
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: thing off.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: And so now, as he rounded the corner and he
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: saw the bank up ahead, His stomach fluttered with nerves.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: But he took a breath and told himself that he
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: had a solid plan in place. And the risk was
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: definitely going to be worth the reward. Seconds later, Homer
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: walked into the mostly empty bank with one hand in
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: his pocket. He had a finger stretched out so that
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: it looked like he had a weapon in his pocket,
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: a gun. But he was not armed. He was just
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: hoping to fool people into thinking he was armed. And
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: so with his hand conspicuously located in his pocket... he
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: headed over to the short line where one other customer
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: was at the counter being helped by the only bank
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: teller on duty. And so Homer, you know, doing his
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: best to stay calm, he waited his turn. And then
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: when the other customer was done and had left the bank,
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: Homer walked up to the teller and handed her a
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: note that said he had a gun and he was
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: robbing this bank. And now she just needed to give
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: him all the cash in her register. Homer watched as
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: the teller read this note and then got this terrified
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: look on her face like it suddenly sunk in what
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: was happening here. Then, as calmly as she could, because
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: now she was really frightened and very on edge, she
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: set the note aside, and then with shaking hands, she
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: unlocked a drawer and began pulling out all these stacks
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: of bills from inside of it. And then when she
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: was done pulling all this cash out, she put it
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: into a bag and then slid the bag over to Homer.
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: And for a second, Homer just stared at this bag.
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: I mean, at first he was just totally thrilled that
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: his plan had even worked here. I mean, he was confident,
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: but this is amazing. I can't believe this is going
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: so well. But he quickly snapped out of his, you know,
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: elation here, and he realized that, you know, the bank
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: robbery is far from over here. Like, right now he
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: needs to take this money and get out of here
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  Speaker 1: as fast as he can.
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  Speaker 2: So he grabbed the bag with his free hand.
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: You know, he's still got the other hand in his pocket,
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: you know, pretending there's a gun there.
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  Speaker 2: He grabs the bag, he turns, and he sprints out
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: of the bank.
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: And as soon as he was outside, he just kept
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: on running until he was a few blocks away. And
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: at that point, he stopped and he turned around to
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: look and to listen. But amazingly, there weren't any police
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: following him or he didn't see any. And there weren't
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: any sirens in the distance. And so Homer relaxed because
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: he knew he was safe and that he'd been right
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: to give robbing banks a try. I mean, he was
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: a natural. And now there was no way he'd be
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: going back to his boring shoe sales job ever again.
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: The next day when Homer woke up, I mean, he
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: felt the best he had ever felt in his life.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: This successful robbery was like the best thing he had
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: ever done. And so with a big grin on his face,
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: he decided he would leave his house and he would
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: head out and treat himself to a nice expensive breakfast.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: And maybe then after that, go spend some more of
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: that new hard-earned money on whatever he wanted.
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: Because he was rich now.
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: So with a pep in his step, he walked around
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: the house, he got himself dressed and ready to go,
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: and then he headed out the front door, out onto
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: the street. But as soon as he did, he found
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: himself completely surrounded by a swarm of Miami police officers
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: and FBI agents. So it would turn out, somewhat unbelievably,
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  Speaker 1: that Homer was not actually a natural at robbing banks.
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: He had robbed a bank in broad daylight, close to
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: his work. and without even wearing a mask or any
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: sort of disguise. He had just sort of gone in
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: there and done it. And while those are all things
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: that could have gotten him caught and likely would have
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: gotten him caught, the actual reason he got caught so
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: quickly after the robbery was because of one very avoidable
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: and truly just completely idiotic mistake that he made. So
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: when Homer fled the bank, he was so intent on
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: getting out of there as fast as he could that
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: that he had forgotten to grab the note that he
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: had given to the teller with him.
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: He had left it on the counter. That note had
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: been written.
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: On the back of some scrap paper that Homer had
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: been using in the days prior to the robbery to
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: scribble down all his ideas and thoughts about the robbery.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: And one of the things that Homer, in all his thoroughness,
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: had written down on that scrap piece of paper included
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: his own extremely distinctive name. So when the investigators arrived
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  Speaker 1: at the bank to take the teller's statement, the one
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  Speaker 1: who was actually robbed by Homer, and try to collect
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: some evidence, the bank teller literally just handed them that
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: note with the robber's full name on it and also
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: clearly their intention to come and rob this bank. Like
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: it was basically, my name is Homer and I'm going
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  Speaker 1: to rob this bank. Here's how I'm going to do it.
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: Like that's what he gave the teller, in essence. And
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: so using that note, the police located Homer pretty much
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: immediately and arrested him. On an afternoon in early June
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: of 1938, a 21-year-old actor named Jack Dunn paced nervously
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: around the lobby of a film studio in Los Angeles, California,
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: waiting to be called into the next room. Jack was
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  Speaker 1: incredibly anxious, and as he paced around, he kept stopping
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  Speaker 1: in front of this mirror to adjust his outfit and
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  Speaker 1: fiddle with the ring on his finger. So Jack was
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  Speaker 1: actually being considered for a lead role in a major
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: motion picture. And he was about to do this one
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  Speaker 1: final audition. This one would be on camera to prove
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  Speaker 1: to the film's producers that he was the guy for
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: the job and not the others. And this was a
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  Speaker 1: job that Jack not only wanted, but I mean, he
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: desperately needed it. Even though Jack was young, he had
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: been trying to make it as an actor out here
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  Speaker 1: and in Hollywood for years. But everything he'd auditioned for
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: or had actually been cast in had invariably fallen through.
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: So he hadn't actually been in a movie yet. And
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: so he was starting to feel like if he didn't
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: get a big break soon, he would literally just run
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: out of money and then he'd have to go back
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: to England where he was from. But if he got
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: this part, the one he was auditioning for today, I mean,
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  Speaker 1: there was no question in his mind that it would
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: launch him not just into a viable career out here
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: in Hollywood, but Perhaps superstardom. Because this film was a
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: biopic about the life of this Italian actor, Rudolf Valentino,
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  Speaker 1: who was a massive movie star from the 1920s who'd
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: had millions and millions of obsessive fans. And he was
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: considered at the time to be like the biggest sex
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: symbol in Hollywood. Now, Rudolf had unfortunately died young and
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: sort of unexpectedly at just 31 years old from this
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  Speaker 1: sudden illness. But his sudden passing had actually made him
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  Speaker 1: even more legendary and more beloved, so this was like
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: a very iconic film to be involved with. Now, Jack
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: had never met or gotten to know Rudolph, but from
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  Speaker 1: what he'd heard about him, they had a lot in common.
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: They were both tall, dark, and handsome, and they were.
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: Both immigrants and accomplished athletes.
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: Jack had been an ice skater, and Rudolph had been
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: a dancer.
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: Now, Jack hoped the producers also could see these similarities
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: as well. But he knew even if they did, that
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: still wouldn't be enough to get him the part. Rudolph
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  Speaker 1: was singular and special, and so Jack really needed to
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: actually become him if.
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: He wanted a shot at this.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: Role. So today, for this screen test, Jack had dressed
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: up like Rudolph and put on a very expensive, flashy outfit,
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: since that's the kind.
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: Of thing that Rudolph liked to wear.
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: And Jack had even gone one step further and managed
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: to get a hold of this vintage ring that Rudolph
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: himself had actually owned. It had this huge yellow stone
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: and this really ornate platinum setting. And apparently at some
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: point in the history of this ring, in part because
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: Rudolph had owned it, it had gotten this sort of
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: over-the-top nickname.
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: It was called the Destiny Ring.
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: And now Jack hoped that by wearing this Destiny Ring,
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: that it would help him sort of get the role
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: that he felt destined to play. And so now as
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: he looked into the mirror for the umpteenth time and
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: checked his hair and his outfit. He heard the door
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: open and the producer's voice called out, asking if Jack
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: was ready. Jack took one last deep breath and then
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: silently told himself that once he walked out of this lobby,
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: he was no longer Jack Dunn. He was Rudolph Valentino.
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: Then he straightened his shoulders, he adjusted his destiny ring,
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: and followed the producer through the doorway.
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: And wouldn't you know it.
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: Just a few days later, almost every paper in Hollywood
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: had a new headline. Newcomer Jack Dunn has been cast
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: as the icon Rudolph Valentino.
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: He got the part.
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: At the end of June, so now about two weeks
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: after Jack officially got the part, he was out in
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: the California desert, less than 100 miles from Los Angeles,
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: and he was carrying a rifle through some brush. So
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: ever since Jack had been officially cast as Rudolph, His
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: life had become a whirlwind. The movie was set to
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: shoot in the fall, but he was already getting a
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: ton of attention and lots of press about his casting. However,
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: to Jack's surprise, a lot of this attention was pretty negative.
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: The media seemed to think that Jack himself was just
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: too inexperienced to handle playing someone as famous and iconic
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: as Rudolph. And also, Jack had received literally thousands of
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: letters from Rudolph's fans saying, who had basically said the
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: same thing, only more rudely. Now, Jack had always coveted,
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: you know, the life of famous actors and actresses who
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: were in the public eye, but he had never been
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: in the public eye. And so this criticism had been
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: really hard to hear, like he wasn't used to this.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: But the criticism had also made him want to prove
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: the naysayers wrong here. So ever since getting cast, Jack
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: had been working even harder on this role. Like, He
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: had really tried to become Rudolph Valentino, to really show
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: that he could do this. And so after being cast,
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: he just kept on dressing like Rudolph. He'd used Rudolph's
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: dance moves at clubs and actually invented a dance that
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: he called the Valentino Roomba. He'd also started dating around,
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: sort of seeing a bunch of women all the time,
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: just like apparently Rudolph had. Like he was trying to
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: really be this guy. And today, you know, sort of
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: in keeping with this trend... Jack had come all the
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: way out here to the desert to hunt, which had
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: been a hobby of Rudolph's.
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: And so Jack, he's trudging.
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: Across the desert landscape, trying to act like this hardened
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: hunter that he really wasn't. And at some point, he
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: looked down at his hand and he saw there was
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: a tick that was actually on his hand near where
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: his destiny ring was.
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: Now, the tick had not bit him yet.
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: And so quickly, Jack squeezed his hand and crushed it
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: with his thumb against Rudolph's. Rudolph's destiny ring. Fast forward
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: a few days. Jack has now come back home. You know,
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: he's back to fully pretending to be Rudolph. And he's
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: getting ready to shoot that fall. Like, he's doing all
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: the things he's supposed to be doing. But he started
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: to feel like he was having a hard time being
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: able to focus. Like, it was like every time he
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: tried to work, it's like his mind would just wander.
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: And he started to realize what was going on here
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: is he was getting sick. He could sort of feel
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: it coming on. And then shortly after that, one of
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: his eyes got really swollen and his throat became raw.
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: And then he had this really bad fever. And then
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: not long after that, he became completely delirious, like just.
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: Out of his mind.
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: And so it was around this time where it's like
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: Jack is losing touch with reality that he knew, you know,
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: his acting career really needed to be set aside for now.
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: He needed to go to the hospital. And so Jack,
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: he goes to the hospital. And as soon as he
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: is admitted, His condition only got worse. Like no matter
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: what they did, it's like they could not stop whatever
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: was happening to him. And he declined really quickly to
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: the point where it was clear Jack's body was shutting down.
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: And even though the doctors, the nurses, the staff did
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: everything they could to try to save him, about a
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: week after being admitted to.
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: The hospital, he died.
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: So when Jack was out hunting, doing his best Rudolph impersonation, Well,
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: that tick that he saw on his hand that he
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: ultimately killed by crushing against the destiny ring, well, he
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: was smart to kill it because it was infected with
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: this rare illness called tularemia.
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: And it had not bit him yet.
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: So it was like he saved himself by crushing this tick, right?
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: Except later that day, like after he got back, he
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: rubbed his eye with his fist and his destiny ring
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: and the guts of that tick and this disease disappeared.
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: Were still on the ring.
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: And so he basically rubbed it directly into his eyeball
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: and then it got into his bloodstream and that literally
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: killed him. And so in a weird way, that destiny ring,
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: which had become such a part of Jack's identity as
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: he took on this persona as Rudolph, it's like the
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: ring kind of is the reason he died. Like the
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: ring is the mechanism by which he got this disease.
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: But it actually goes Much deeper. So the Destiny Ring
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: was famous not just because Rudolph Valentino had at one
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: time owned it, but also because the Destiny Ring was
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: said to be cursed. Specifically, that the owner of the ring,
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: the possessor of this Destiny Ring, could potentially be killed. Basically,
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: the curse could kill them. And so it's very likely
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: that Rudolph Valentino was aware of the lore behind this
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: ring because he was known.
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: To collect superstitious objects.
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: He didn't believe in things like curses, but he really
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: liked things that had sort of scary lore around them.
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: And so he very likely bought this ring in part
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: because it was cursed. But then he dies this sudden
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: tragic death when he's really young while wearing this ring.
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: And it only added to the lore of this ring.
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: And then from there, the ring did not go directly
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: to Jack Dunn. No, there were three people in the middle.
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: There was a radio star, a singer, and a burglar
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: who all possessed this ring following Rudolph. And each of them,
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: while wearing the ring, died sudden, unexpected deaths. And then finally,
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: the ring winds up on Jack Dunn's finger, who's playing
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: the role of Rudolph Valentino, and he too dies. would
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: die a sudden, unexpected, tragic death young while wearing the
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: Destiny Ring. Since Jack Dunn's death, the Destiny Ring has
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: seemingly disappeared, and nobody.
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: Knows who has it now, or whether they know about
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: the curse.
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: One afternoon in the summer of 1909, a man named
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: Andrew Dunn knelt inside of a wooden shack just outside
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: the very remote town of Galganda, Canada, taking sticks of dynamite.
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: Out of a crate.
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: And Andrew was really excited because he was about to
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: use this dynamite to get at this huge deposit of
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: silver that would make him and his team very rich.
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: So Andrew was a miner, and up until recently, he'd
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: been living in this town called Cobalt which was about
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: 100 miles east of where they were right now and
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: was famous for its very lucrative silver mines.
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: Andrew had made a ton.
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: Of money there, but recently cobalt had been overrun by
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: other miners also trying to get rich. So Andrew and
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: two of his friends from cobalt had come out to
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: this more remote area where they'd been able to find
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: these new untouched silver deposits. And this one that they
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: had just found would be their biggest haul so far.
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: And so very excitedly, Andrew continues pulling out all this
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: dynamite until he has enough, at which point he scoops
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: it all up and he leaves the shack and he
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: walks over to where his partners are standing in front
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: of all these huge rocks that they're going to blow
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: up to get to the silver. And so he goes
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: over and he hands out the dynamite and they place
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: them strategically in the rocks and tether them all together
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: to a single fuse.
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: And then when they're ready.
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: They light the lead fuse that would burn into all
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: the dynamite.
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: So they have a little bit of a lead time here.
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: They light the fuse and they all turn and they
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: run over to the shack where they're going to take cover.
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: They get inside.
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: They're behind the wall. They crouch down and they're waiting
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: and they're waiting. And it's going to be a minute
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: before it explodes. But as they're waiting, Andrew hears something
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: outside the shack. And immediately it prompts him to just
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: peek out the window just to see what it is.
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: Because he knows he's got a little bit of time
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: before this detonates. And he looks out the window and
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: specifically he looks down at what's right outside the window
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: and he can't believe what he's looking at.
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: But it was already too late.
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: So it would turn out Andrew, despite being really excited
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: about being in this new area to get to the silver,
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: that was all true. But also Andrew was a big
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: family man. And it was really hard for him to
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: be so far away from his family.
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: He would get homesick.
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: And so to combat the homesickness for this trip, he
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: had brought with him his beloved dog for company. And
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: this dog was so loyal. It basically followed him everywhere.
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: It kept things light at camp. It was like this
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: great dog. Everybody loved the dog. And on this day,
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: after lighting the fuse and sort of putting the dynamite down,
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: the lit dynamite, they run.
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: Back over to the shack.
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: And Andrew, he thinks his dog is with him, that
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: the dog has run with them as he has in
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: the past into the shack with him. But when he's
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: crouched down in the shack, he realizes he can't see
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: his dog. The dog's not in the shack. He panics
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: for a second. Then he thinks he hears the dog.
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: He looks out the window and there's his dog. And
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: what has the dog done? It's begun to play its
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: favorite game, fetch. He saw Andrew put that stick of
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: dynamite down after lighting it. And the dog thought that
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: was the beginning of a game of fetch. And so
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: as soon as they had bolted and ran back to
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: the shed, the dog had scooped up one of those
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: lit sticks of dynamite and ran it right back over
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: and dropped it right outside the shack. And the dog's
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: looking up at Andrew. Andrew looks out the window, sees
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: the stick of dynamite, sees the dog. The dog's stoked,
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: turns and runs off, ready for his master to throw
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: this stick to him. But after the dog ran off
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: into the distance. There was nowhere for Andrew or his
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: partners to go.
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: They were trapped.
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: And so the dynamite exploded, ultimately killing Andrew and horribly
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: maiming his partners. And as for the dog, who had
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: playfully run off, totally unharmed. Around 7 a.m. on August 22, 1913,
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: a 21-year-old businessman named Abraham Wells Boyd Jr. quietly got
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: dressed in his bedroom in Chattanooga, Tennessee. On the bed
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: just behind him was his wife and their two-year-old son,
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: who were fast asleep. And as Abraham watched them, you know,
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: the two things that he treasured most in the world,
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: he couldn't help but feel unbearably sad.
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: Because these days, he was never.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: Home when his family was actually awake. So Abraham was
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: a part owner of an automobile racetrack that was currently
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: under construction. Now, this construction project was supposed to be
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: a huge step forward in his career, and he was
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: supposed to make a ton of money once the track
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: was open again. But for right now, Abraham felt like
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: this construction project was kind of like a nightmare. I mean,
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: on the one hand, yeah, like in the future, this
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: is going to make me a lot of money. But
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: But it was like the project is enormous, it's expensive,
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: and it also means he's not earning money while he's
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: putting money into doing the project. And then on top
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: of all that, he had this huge issue with thieves.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: Thieves were breaking into the construction site and stealing lumber.
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: And because of these thefts, in addition to all the
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: costs Abraham was incurring just to do the construction, he
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: had also had to hire a full-time security guard. But
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: then last night, the security guard hadn't shown up on time.
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: And so Abraham's the guy, the part owner of this place,
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: who's stepping in as a security guard, staying up all night,
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: doing a job he has no idea how to do, like,
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: you know, pretending to be a security guard. And now
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: he's back home and he's exhausted and like, he can't
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: just go to bed.
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: He has to go back out to work.
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: But before he could go to work, he had to
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: take some equipment that he had accidentally taken with him
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: from his His shift as the security guard, he had
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: brought something home he wasn't supposed to. He had to
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: go drop that off. Then he had to go back
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: to work. It's like his whole life is a mess
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: right now. And all he wants is this stupid project
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: to be over so he can start earning real money
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: again and can see his family in the daytime hours.
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: But it just felt like that was eons away. So
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: with one more glance over at.
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: His wife and kid, who he wished he could just
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: crawl in bed with, Abraham sighed and began gathering up
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: all the things he would need for work that day.
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: His briefcase, some paperwork.
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: And also that equipment that he had to return to
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: the job site, and then also his coat and his hat.
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: And then at some point as he was doing this,
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: Abraham's wife woke up, which Abraham was very happy about.
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: He wanted to talk to her, but he felt bad
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: waking her up, and so she gets up, and they
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: talk for.
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: A minute, and she helps him finish getting ready. And
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: then after saying.
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: Bye to her, Abraham went over to the bed to
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: bend over and say goodnight to his son before he left.
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: I mean, in some ways, his son was like the
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: reason he was putting up with all of this. Like
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: it was to give he and his wife's child the
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: best life he possibly could. And so he goes over
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: and he bends over and he gives the kid a kiss. However,
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: as he bent over to give his son a kiss,
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: there was this sudden, really loud noise coming from somewhere.
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: It was like off to the side of Abraham, or
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: at least it felt like it was over here. And
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: it's so loud that Abraham actually jumped up. It startled him.
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: And he noticed his son, who had been soundly sleeping, also,
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: you know, is now awake and crying.
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: Like it's sort of madness in the room.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: But Abraham has no idea what this noise was or
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: where it came from. Abraham's wife, who had sort of
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: been off to the side of the room at this point,
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: she rushes over because obviously she's heard this sound.
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: She sees the commotion.
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: She's totally bewildered. And she's asking her husband, what's going on?
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: And Abraham was about to reply to her that he
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: had no idea. But all of a sudden, he started
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: feeling really dizzy and really hot.
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: He took off his.
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: Coat and he tried to balance himself against the dresser,
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: but his vision started to get really blurry. And then
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: his legs gave out. And the next thing he knew,
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: he had crumpled to the ground and was lying on
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: his back on the floor. So it would turn out
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: that Abraham filling in for that security guard who missed
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: his shift that night, you know, suddenly Abraham's up all
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: night being the security guard. Even though that specific example
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: only happened one time, it was like across this whole
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: construction project, there were always so many problems that seemed
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: to all fall in Abraham's lap. And so he was
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: constantly overextending himself and and pulling overtime shifts and doing
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: things that he wasn't even getting paid to do. It
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: was like his mind and his energy and everything was
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: being spread across every single place in his life.
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: He was just totally, completely burned out.
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: And for the most part, this really only affected Abraham.
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: He just sort of felt really run down all the time.
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: But on the night of the loud sound in the room, well,
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: his overextension of himself, his total exhaustion, had put him
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: and his whole family in danger. So the equipment that
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: Abraham had accidentally taken home with him from having been
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: a fill-in security guard the night before, well, it was
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: a gun because he had been a security guard. He
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: was borrowing someone's gun in order to be the security guard.
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: And then he had brought it home with him.
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: And that morning, as Abraham is looking at his wife
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: and son and just sort of run down, like he
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: was especially groggy and He was not a gun owner himself,
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: so he didn't have really any experience handling a loaded weapon.
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: So even though he had put the gun in its holster,
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: he hadn't actually fastened it in. So it's not locked
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: in there, it's just sitting in the holster. So when
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: he bent down to give his son a kiss, the
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: pistol had slipped out of the holster, hit the floor,
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: and went off, firing a single round into Abraham's chest.
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: Abraham, unfortunately... died of his injuries.
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for watching today's episode. Let me
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: know what you thought of it in the comments below.
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: And remember, we have a whole playlist of Places You
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: Can't Go episodes ready for you to binge right now.
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: So go ahead and click here and give them a watch. Alright,
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: until next time, see ya.