Latest / Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities / Missing, Presumed Dead

Transcript

Missing, Presumed Dead · Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Welcomed Aaron Manky's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of I
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is full
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: all of these amazing tales are right there on display,
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: of Curiosities. It's important to take pride in one's home,
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: from the lush green grass on the front lawn to
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: the crumb free carpet in the living room. Our houses
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: and apartments are reflections of ourselves. No one wants to
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: live in a place with holes in the roof and
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: dirt everywhere. The people of kit Salt no better than anyone.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: Kit Salt is a remote town located on the north
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: coast of British Columbia, only a puddle jump away from
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: the shores of Alaska. Uh In nineteen seventy nine, the
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: town was officially established to provide homes for the miners
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: working in the nearby molybdenum mines. The area was no
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: stranger to the mining business. Since nineteen eighteen, mines opened
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: near kit Salt had produced a variety of metals such
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: as silver, lead, copper and zinc. This new one, though
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: molybdenum was an element used in producing steel alloys to
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: make them harder and more corrosion resistant. It was a
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: lucrative business, so much so that the town attracted twelve
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: hundred residents to live and work there. The town also
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: became a major opportunity for construction companies from all over
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: North America. They flocked to kit Salt to build everything
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: from single family homes to apartment buildings, even a hospital
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: and a shopping center. Locals lacked for nothing. They had
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: a library, several restaurants, a post office, banks, everything a
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: modern suburban enclave needed to keep its residents happy. Heck,
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: the sewage treatment plant was so advanced. Kit Salt had
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: the cleanest water in the province, and from the street level,
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: it looked like any other suburb, with well manicured lawns,
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: simple homes, and trees and greenery surrounding the town. This
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: little corner of Canada was a slice of heaven on
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: earth for just two years. Around After eighteen months or so,
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: the molybdenum market collapsed. The mines were forced to close,
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: and the town's folk had no choice but to uproot
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: their lives once again and find steady work elsewhere. The
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: company behind that mine, American Metal Company, evacuated everyone fairly quickly.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: The people living there took almost all of their belongings,
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: save for the furniture and large appliances like television sets. Now,
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: when we think of ghost towns, we usually pictured dilapidated
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: homes and buildings covered in graffiti, with caved in roofs,
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: shattered windows, and ruins claimed by the elements. Kits Sold, however,
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: was different. American Metal Company didn't think the malebdenum crash
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: would last forever. It hired a caretaker to watch over
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: the town until it was able to welcome everyone back. Well,
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: that time never came, and Kits Salt sat vacant for
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: over twenty years. In two thousand five, the town was
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: purchased by an entrepreneur from India named Krishnan Sutan Theoren.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: He spent seven million dollars to own what has become
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: something of a time capsule of a lost era the
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: early nineteen eighties. Since he bought it, Krishnan has spent
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: at least twenty five million dollars sprucing up the grounds
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: and maintaining each property he's hired a fleet of cleaners
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: and caretakers to make sure the grass stays mode and
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: the streets stay clean up. Until recently, the public could
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: tour Kit Salt and walk through the buildings. Old TV
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: sets in wooden frames still sit against living room walls.
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: The carpet and furniture are all original, as is the
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: wallpaper in rooms that still have it. The grocery store
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: shelves are empty, but the registers and the shopping carts
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: are still intact. Books even sit on the library shelves,
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: and the hospital's various medical equipment is right where it
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: was left forty years ago. A gymnasium stands empty, it's
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: hardwood flooring waiting for the scuffs and squeaks of sneakers
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: during a pickup game of basketball, and the red upholstered
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: seats in the abandoned theater patiently wait for viewers who
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: will never come back. The shopping center boasts would paneling
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: and signs for stores like Sears with painted window designs
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: still intact. And it may not seem like it given
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: how modern it is, but Kit Salt is a historic village.
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: It's a snapshot of a time period many people didn't
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: live through and don't remember. For others, it's an eerie
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: trip down memory lane. Will it's homes and businesses ever
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: be filled with new tenants. No one knows except for
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: the current owner. But I kind of hope it stays
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: just like it is. We already have ghost towns from
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: the Old West and the Turn of the century. But
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: a ghost town that looks like it was plucked from
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: the pages of a Stephen King novel. That's something you
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: don't see every day. Few television shows hold up as
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: well as the nineteen sixties anthology series The Twilight Zone.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: It was acclaimed for its brilliant writing, moralistic plot lines,
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: and mind bending twists. Of its many timeless episodes, One
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: of my favorites tells the story of Flight thirty three,
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: a Boeing seven oh seven aircraft heading from London to
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: New York in nineteen sixty one. After the airplane inexplicably accelerates,
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: it appears over what should be New York City. Instead,
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: the pilots looked down only to see dinosaurs roaming the earth.
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: The plane has traveled back in time, hoping to make
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: it back to nineteen sixty one. The pilots catched the
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: same jet stream that brought them millions of years into
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: the past and make it back to New York City
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: of nineteen thirty nine. As far as the audience knows,
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: the plane never returns to nineteen sixty one. Its crew
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: and passengers are lost to time. Something similar happened in
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: San Francisco in nineteen forty two, but this aircraft didn't
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: go back in time, at least I don't think so.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: The Goodyear Company is known for two things, tires and blimps.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: Except before they were flying over football stadiums, the blimps,
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: or airships as they were known, made by the Goodyear
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: Aircraft Company, were being used by the United States military.
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: They've been built as commercial vehicles, literally vehicles to be commercials,
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: meant for advertising Goodyear's new range of tires. However, after
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: the attack on Pearl Harbor, the U. S. Navy commandeered
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: the fleets and designated them under the L class of
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: military airships. One in particular, the L eight, was instrumental
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: in the Doolittle raid of Tokyo in nineteen forty two.
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: It had delivered modification parts for the B twenty five
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: bomber to the USS Hornet aircraft carrier which was taking
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: the Doolittle Raiders to their destination. That was in April
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: of that year. Four months later, on August sixteen, the
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: L eight airship was ordered to perform a routine patrol
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: off the coast of San Francisco. It's two man crew,
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: Lieutenant Ernest DeWitt Cody and Ensign Charles Ellis Adams, were
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: tasked with searching for Japanese submarines, which had been taking
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: out Allied ships in the area for some time. The
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: L eight was outfitted with a thirty caliber machine gun,
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: three hundred rounds of ammunition, and a pair of three
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: D and twenty five pound depth charges to handle water
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: bound enemies. Cody was a twenty seven year old senior
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: aviator and Navy veteran. He didn't just know his way
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: around that aircraft, he also knew how to keep a
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: level head in tough situations. His commanding officer once referred
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: to him as one of the most capable pilots and
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: one of the most able officers that he had ever
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: worked with. In fact, Lieutenant Cody had been the one
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: flying the L A during the delivery mission to the U.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: S s. Hornet four months prior ensign Adams was older
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: than Cody by eleven years and had survived the crash
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: of the USS make An airship off the coast of
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: California in nineteen thirty five. He'd just recently been commissioned
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: as an officer and had twenty years of airship experience
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: under his belt. The German government even decorated him after
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: he helped rescue passengers from the Hindenburg disaster in nineteen
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: thirty seven. On the morning of August sixteenth of nineteen
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: forty two, at six oh three a m. Cody and
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: Adams took off in the l A from Treasure Island
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: in San Francisco. They were to travel to the Farallon Islands,
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: followed by a fly by of the Golden gate Bridge,
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: all in all a round trip within a fifty mile radius.
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: Conditions were clear that morning for the Blimps one thousand
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: and ninety third trip, with the previous trips all having
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: been completed without incident. Roughly an hour and a half
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: after takeoff, Cody and Adams radioed back to Treasure Island
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: with reports of an oil slick. Not far from the
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: Farallon Islands. The airship dropped down to thirty feet above
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: the slick and circled it for a closer look before
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: heading back up into the sky. Around eight fifty a m.
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: A nearby Liberty cargo ship and fishing boat watched the
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: L A do its inspection before it disappeared. For hours,
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: no one knew what to make of it. The blimp's
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: crew wasn't responding to calls from Treasure Island, nor could
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: anyone see its bulbous frame hovering above. It had simply vanished.
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: Navy planes went out looking for it to no avail. Then,
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: at fifteen am, just over two hours after its last sighting,
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: the L eight popped up again off the coast of
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: Ocean Beach. Now it was floating low enough for two
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: local fishermen to grab ahold of its tie lines and
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: pull it down. They managed to hold it long enough
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: to check the control car, and what they found shocked them.
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: There was no one inside. Cody and Adams, we're gone. Eventually,
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: the fishermen could no longer hold onto the blimp and
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: let it go, at which point it hit a hill
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: and damaged one of its propellers. One of the two
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: depth charges even came loose as well, and wound up
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: on a golf course nearby. Now even lighter, the ship
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: ascended again until an automatic valve started releasing helium from
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: the envelope, that giant bag of air that gives the
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: blimp it's distinction shape. It drifted over parts of San
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: Francisco for a while until it finally crashed in front
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: of someone's house in the suburbs. Well, crashed isn't exactly
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: the right word. Suffered. A bumpy landing is more like it.
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: It had caused some scraped roofs and downed electrical wires
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: by the time that police arrived on scene, but it
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: was the kind of landing that wouldn't have killed or
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: even seriously injured Cody or Adams had they been inside.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: Investigators noted that the control card doors were open, all
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: three parachutes were still on board, as was an emergency
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: life raft. Radios and engines were fully functional, and no
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: one had sent out any distress calls. Whatever had happened
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: to cause the two men to disappear, it had been sudden.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: The prevailing theory was that one of the men had
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: opened the rear hatch and deployed a smoke marker over
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: the oil slick, but had slipped the other crew member
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: in an effort to help him back on board. Also
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: must have fallen in the water, making the blimp light
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: enough to rise back up on its own. Other of
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: suggestions have come up over the years as well, that
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: the men had deserted the Navy and defected to Japan,
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: or that they had been captured, but nothing definitive could
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: be proved. The truth was that nobody had any answers.
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: Lieutenant Cody and Ensign Adams were declared legally dead in nineteen,
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: one year after their disappearance. But who knows. Maybe they
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: took a trip to the Twilight Zone and ended up
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: in an ancient version of San Francisco. I hope you've
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: created by me Aaron Manky in partnership with how Stuff Works.
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: I make another award winning show called Lore, which is
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: a podcast, book series, and television show, and you can
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: learn all about it over at the World of Lore
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: dot com. And until next time, stay curious. Oh