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Needlework · Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities

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  Speaker 1: Welcomed Aaron Manky's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of I
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  Speaker 1: Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is full
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  Speaker 1: of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book,
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  Speaker 1: all of these amazing tales are right there on display,
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  Speaker 1: just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet
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  Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Some things are just destined for problems. The Titanic,
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  Speaker 1: but the Hindenburg or a recent curiosity here of U
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  Speaker 1: twelve oh six, the World War Two German sub that
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  Speaker 1: was forced to surface after its captain flushed the onboard toilet.
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  Speaker 1: These were all man made vessels that seemed faded to fail. However,
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  Speaker 1: in eighteen twenty Kentucky, the launch of a new Fairy
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  Speaker 1: meant the public be faced with one more doomed craft.
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  Speaker 1: Except this one wasn't felled via a bathroom mishap or
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  Speaker 1: an iceberg. What happened aboard this particular ferry was much worse,
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  Speaker 1: not just for those who wrote it, but also for
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  Speaker 1: the men who built it. It was the brainchild of
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  Speaker 1: Kentucky merchant and entrepreneur Moses Tusci, who thought that he
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  Speaker 1: could make good money by starting his own ferry service
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  Speaker 1: along the Ohio River. His ferry would shuttle people and
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  Speaker 1: cargo from Tuscy Town, Kentucky, named after his family, to Lawrenceburg, Indiana,
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  Speaker 1: and back. But Moses needed help getting his new business
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  Speaker 1: off the ground, so he hired a man named William McGregor.
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  Speaker 1: McGregor and his fourteen year old daughter, Eleanor were new
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  Speaker 1: in town. Eleanor got along great with almost everyone she met,
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  Speaker 1: but her father rubbed everyone the wrong way. He was
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  Speaker 1: a drunk and enjoyed picking fights, but he was also
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  Speaker 1: a skilled builder and Moses needed all the help that
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  Speaker 1: he could get. With Williams help, Moses was able to
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  Speaker 1: get his ferry business running relatively quickly, and it wasn't
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  Speaker 1: law before he was hauling everyone and everything up and
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  Speaker 1: down the Ohio River. Meanwhile, Eleanor had hit it off
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  Speaker 1: with a local schoolmaster named Randolph Chester, a man who
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  Speaker 1: was quite a bit older than the teenage girl he
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  Speaker 1: was courting. Her father stepped in and forbade her from
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  Speaker 1: ever seeing the man again, but Eleanor just went around
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  Speaker 1: his back anyway. The couple continued on in secret until
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  Speaker 1: William found out, and that's when he got to work
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  Speaker 1: preparing to handle things himself. He followed the couple around
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  Speaker 1: town for several days, watching them from afar. Finally he
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  Speaker 1: caught them in each other's arms in a remote area
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  Speaker 1: of forest, far from prying eyes, or so they thought. William,
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  Speaker 1: rifle in hand, emerged from the trees and fired at
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  Speaker 1: the schoolmaster. Unfortunately he missed, hitting Eleanor instead. She died instantly. William,
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  Speaker 1: blind with rage, ran towards Chester, gearing up to bludgeon
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  Speaker 1: him with the butt of his gun, but the schoolmaster
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  Speaker 1: had also come prepared. He withdrew a small pistol and
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  Speaker 1: fired it at his assailant, killing the Gregor with a
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  Speaker 1: single shot to the heart. Everyone in town mourned Eleanor's death,
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  Speaker 1: but her passing marked the beginning of the end of
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  Speaker 1: Tussie Town. It was as though the place was cursed,
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  Speaker 1: with crops dying and numerous incidents of terrible weather hitting
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  Speaker 1: the area regularly. Businesses closed as residents moved away, But
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  Speaker 1: despite the hard times, Moses Tussie's ferry kept going. In
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  Speaker 1: eighteen thirty nine, it was passed on to the Piot
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  Speaker 1: family of Boone County, a pair of brothers who had
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  Speaker 1: served in the Revolutionary War and already owned several other
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  Speaker 1: Ohio ferries, and they upgraded the old ferry, adding a
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  Speaker 1: steampowered version in eight One year later, it was destroyed
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  Speaker 1: in an ice flow, and they replaced it with an
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  Speaker 1: older treadmill style ferry for the next decade or so,
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  Speaker 1: and then in eighteen sixty two, the Piots sold the
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  Speaker 1: ferry to a man named John Kazek, who wasn't much
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  Speaker 1: different from William McGregor. He liked to fight and drink,
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  Speaker 1: which got him into trouble fairly often, like it did
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  Speaker 1: with George Fulture. Vulture had been a Union soldier during
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  Speaker 1: the ongoing Civil War, but he had lost his arm
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  Speaker 1: in battle. Kazek, Southern sympathizer, threatened to kill Fulture as
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  Speaker 1: he was boarding. The former soldier pulled out a large
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  Speaker 1: knife in turn and stabbed Kazk in the chest, killing him.
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  Speaker 1: Fulture was arrested and eventually released for acting in self defense,
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  Speaker 1: but he spent the rest of his short life in
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  Speaker 1: a mental facility. He died in an accident while he
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  Speaker 1: was there, with Kasek out of the picture, though, Faery
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  Speaker 1: ownership was returned to one of the pilot brothers, who
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  Speaker 1: was also killed in a mysterious accident soon after. It
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  Speaker 1: seems everyone connected with a ferry in some way was
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  Speaker 1: doomed to die. The next person to own the ferry
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  Speaker 1: was George Tarrell, a Kentucky state legislator. By now, the
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  Speaker 1: business wasn't making a profit and was operating with a
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  Speaker 1: large amount of debt. It got so bad one month
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  Speaker 1: that Terrell found himself unable to pay his ferryman, Maurice McNeely.
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  Speaker 1: Of course, McNeely was also unhappy that his boss was
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  Speaker 1: dating his daughter, which had way heavily on the ferryman's mind.
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  Speaker 1: With Terrell responsible for so many of the problems in
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  Speaker 1: his life, McNeely challenged him to a duel on the deck,
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  Speaker 1: whoever one would gain ownership of the ferry. McNeely drew first,
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  Speaker 1: shooting Terrell dead, but his victory was short lived. On
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  Speaker 1: a visit to Memphis shortly after, McNeely was hit by
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  Speaker 1: a street car and killed. After that, the ferry business
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  Speaker 1: was then purchased by Captain William Huff in eighteen eighty two,
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  Speaker 1: who managed to sink the boat after a drunken fight
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  Speaker 1: erupted between his crew and the passengers. Huff himself died
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  Speaker 1: shortly after that, and the business went on to a
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  Speaker 1: man named William Hartman. Now under Hartman's watch, a passenger
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  Speaker 1: by the name of Louis Tarrell board of the ferry,
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  Speaker 1: and if that last name sounds familiar, that's because he
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  Speaker 1: was the brother of the late George Tarrell, the former
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  Speaker 1: owner of the ferry. Louis sadly did not reach his destination.
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  Speaker 1: He too was killed after suffering a number of injuries
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  Speaker 1: while on board, and the strangest part, he died in
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  Speaker 1: the exact same spot on deck as his brother. After that,
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  Speaker 1: Hartman's mental health deteriorated, and just like Fulture, he spent
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  Speaker 1: the rest of his life in a sanatorium. The fairy
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  Speaker 1: continued to run for a number of years, allegedly until
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  Speaker 1: nineteen forty seven, when it was finally closed down, but
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  Speaker 1: the rumors and legends surrounding it continue to this day.
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  Speaker 1: No other fairy operating at that time had the same problems.
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  Speaker 1: None saw death on a regular basis as Moses Tuci's
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  Speaker 1: ferry did. Was it cursed or just coincidence, It's hard
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  Speaker 1: to say, but one thing is certain. All of it
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  Speaker 1: started after Eleanor McGregor was killed by her father Albanian
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  Speaker 1: Ottoman governor Mohammed Ali was dealing with a lot back
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  Speaker 1: in the early eighteen hundreds. He was in charge of Egypt, Sudan,
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  Speaker 1: and a few other regions while also fending off a
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  Speaker 1: potential French invasion by Napoleon. Luckily, he had helped from
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  Speaker 1: the British. To thank them for their assistance, Ali gifted
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  Speaker 1: Great Britain with a sixty eight and a half foot
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  Speaker 1: tall monolith wayne more than two d and twenty four tons.
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  Speaker 1: It was known as Cleopatra's Needle, although it had nothing
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  Speaker 1: to do with the Egyptian ruler herself. It was actually
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  Speaker 1: carved out of red granite over a thousand years before
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  Speaker 1: her reign. The reason for its name, it turns out,
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  Speaker 1: was that it had been moved from its original home
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  Speaker 1: in Heliopolis, Egypt, to Alexandria, Cleopatra's royal city, back in
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  Speaker 1: twelve VC. Although the British were grateful for the gesture,
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  Speaker 1: they had no way of transporting the massive stone column home.
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  Speaker 1: It was too big and the cost was too great. Instead,
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  Speaker 1: they tabled the idea for decades until a man named
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  Speaker 1: Lieutenant General Sir James Alexander found a way. Sir James
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  Speaker 1: traveled to Alexandria in eighteen seventy five to see the
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  Speaker 1: obelisk for himself. He consulted with a civil engineer there
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  Speaker 1: named John Dixon, who had been studying it on his own.
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  Speaker 1: The following year, the two men spoke to English surgeon
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  Speaker 1: Sir Erasmus Wilson, who donated ten thousand pounds to getting
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  Speaker 1: the Obelisk out of Egypt and back to England. Dixon
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  Speaker 1: chipped in as well and coordinated everything, including designing the
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  Speaker 1: ship that would carry Cleopatra's needle to its new home.
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  Speaker 1: What he outlined was a barge with ten watertight compartments below.
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  Speaker 1: The needle would then be placed on its side on deck,
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  Speaker 1: at which point the two ft long by sixteen foot
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  Speaker 1: wide cylinder would be constructed around it to protect it
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  Speaker 1: during the journey. Dixon had a cabin built to keep
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  Speaker 1: the crew safe, and once all of that was done,
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  Speaker 1: the vessel was shuttled in pieces to Alexandria, where it
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  Speaker 1: was reassembled and outfitted with everything else that needed. This
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  Speaker 1: included bilge keels, a rudder, astern and a few more
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  Speaker 1: finishing touches. When the vessel was finished, she was dubbed
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  Speaker 1: the Cleopatra. She was manned by a crew of eight
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  Speaker 1: and commanded by one captain Carr, who kept an eye
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  Speaker 1: on her as she was towed to London behind the
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  Speaker 1: steamship the Olga. The two vessels were traveling through the
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  Speaker 1: Bay of Biscay between France and Spain on October fourteenth,
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  Speaker 1: eighteen seventy when a storm hit. The Cleopatra tossed and
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  Speaker 1: turned on the water. Her iron rails broke away, and
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  Speaker 1: her crew alerted the crew of the Olga that they
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  Speaker 1: needed help. The Olga's captain, a man named Booth, sent
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  Speaker 1: a small rowboat with six volunteers to lend a hand.
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  Speaker 1: They approached the Cleopatra and tossed a few ropes to
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  Speaker 1: the hopeful crew so that they could safely tether to
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  Speaker 1: the side of the smaller ship. Unfortunately, something happened with
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  Speaker 1: the ropes and the rowboat as well as the men
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  Speaker 1: inside it, and they were swallowed by the sea. Seeing
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  Speaker 1: the conditions were getting worse, the Olga collected the Cleopatra's
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  Speaker 1: crew and then cut her loose, hopeful that she would
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  Speaker 1: remain afloat and they could find her once the storm
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  Speaker 1: had passed. Miraculously, she was seen bobbing in the water.
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  Speaker 1: Less than a week later, the obelisk still firmly held
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  Speaker 1: in place, unharmed. The Cleopatra was collected by another steamship
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  Speaker 1: and then transferred to one final vessel, which carried at
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  Speaker 1: the final leg of the journey back to England. It
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  Speaker 1: took some work, but Cleopatra's needle was finally re erected
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  Speaker 1: on the Victoria embankments in Westminster, London, to a cheering
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  Speaker 1: crowd of spectators, and ever since then it's been the
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  Speaker 1: source of some really spooky tales. Some say it's cursed,
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  Speaker 1: like other important artifacts removed from their native lands. For example,
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  Speaker 1: some who have gotten close to the needle at night
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  Speaker 1: have heard creepy laughter emanating from inside it. Witnesses have
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  Speaker 1: claimed to see a spectral naked man charging toward the
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  Speaker 1: water from behind the obelisk. Just when he jumps in,
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  Speaker 1: he doesn't make a sound, not even a trickle. Another
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  Speaker 1: story describes the plight of a twenty seven year old
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  Speaker 1: woman named miss Davies, who in eighteen eighty felt herself
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  Speaker 1: being drawn to the obelesque. The closer she got to it, however,
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  Speaker 1: the more she heard the laughter. She threw herself into
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  Speaker 1: the water and nearly drowned, but she was saved by
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  Speaker 1: a homeless person who happened to be nearby. While in
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  Speaker 1: the hospital, Miss Davies started to have awful nightmares that
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  Speaker 1: featured a tall woman whose stark white face and midnight
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  Speaker 1: dark eyes terrified her. The ghostly visage would open her
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  Speaker 1: mouth and brandish sharp dagger like teeth before ripping her
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  Speaker 1: face off. Someone else with an Obelisk story to tell
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  Speaker 1: was a cultist and writer Alistair Crawley. Crawley loved to
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  Speaker 1: spin a good yarn and claimed to have conducted dark
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  Speaker 1: sorcery around the obelisk one night in order to release
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  Speaker 1: the spirit of Ramsey's, who he believed was trapped inside.
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  Speaker 1: Crowley performed a ritual in which he fed animal blood
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  Speaker 1: to a human skeleton in order to break the spirit free.
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  Speaker 1: Except it didn't work. Ramsey's just laughed at him for
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  Speaker 1: blowing the ritual altogether. And if all of that weren't enough,
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  Speaker 1: Cleopatra's needle was also hit by a bomb during World
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  Speaker 1: War One. Its pedestal was marred and it has stayed
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  Speaker 1: that way ever since. Some believe that the curse drew
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  Speaker 1: the bomb toward it. Today, The obelisk is flanked by
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  Speaker 1: two sphinxes, but don't worry, they weren't stolen from Egypt
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  Speaker 1: as well. They were sculpted by George John Fuliami, an
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  Speaker 1: English architect who also crafted the pedestal on which the
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  Speaker 1: obelisk stands. However, when he made them, he didn't position
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  Speaker 1: them facing outward, like the protectors they were designed to be. Rather,
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  Speaker 1: he turned them around so that they were facing the
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  Speaker 1: obelisk itself. Did Vulliamy know something that we didn't? Maybe
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  Speaker 1: Alistair Crawley was onto something. Perhaps there really is an
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  Speaker 1: evil spirit locked away inside Cleopatra's needle, and the only
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  Speaker 1: thing keeping it there are the two sphinxes watching over it.
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  Speaker 1: Feel free to check it out for yourself, just don't
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  Speaker 1: go at night, and maybe watch your step two, because,
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  Speaker 1: as we've heard, curious things are known to happen. I
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  Speaker 1: hope 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 Curiosity Cities podcast dot com. The
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  Speaker 1: show was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership with
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  Speaker 1: How Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called
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  Speaker 1: Lore which is a podcast, book series, and television show
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  Speaker 1: and you can learn all about it over at the
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  Speaker 1: world of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious. Yeah,