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So Fancy · Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manky's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
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  Speaker 1: iHeart 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 actors, despite their best efforts, become known
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  Speaker 1: for playing a particular role. Sean Connery, for example, acted
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  Speaker 1: in almost a hundred films throughout the years, but most
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  Speaker 1: people remember him best as Agent Double oh seven from
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  Speaker 1: the James Bond franchise. Boris Karloff appeared in eighty films
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  Speaker 1: before he was ever cast in his starring role as
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  Speaker 1: the Lumbering Monster in nineteen ones Frankenstein But to eight.
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  Speaker 1: When people hear the name Karlaf, they can't help but
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  Speaker 1: imagine his massive figure, dressed all in black with a
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  Speaker 1: pair of bolts protruding from his neck. But one actor
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  Speaker 1: is so well known for one particular part it followed
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  Speaker 1: him to his grave. Bell O Blasco was born in
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  Speaker 1: eighteen eighty two in Hungary. Dropping out of school when
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  Speaker 1: he was just twelve years old, he took up acting
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  Speaker 1: one year later and got his start performing in local
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  Speaker 1: productions while trying to make a name for himself. In
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  Speaker 1: nineteen eleven, Blasco moved to Budapest and performed with a
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  Speaker 1: National Theater of Hungary. Although being in a bigger company
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  Speaker 1: didn't bring him fame and fortune, so at the outbreak
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  Speaker 1: of World War One, he enlisted with the Austro Hungarian
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  Speaker 1: Army and fought for two years. When he returned home
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  Speaker 1: due to injuries he sustained, he resumed his acting career
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  Speaker 1: that he had left behind. After that, Blasco bounced from
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  Speaker 1: Hungary to Vienna and then to Berlin for a short
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  Speaker 1: time until finally working his way to America. He earned
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  Speaker 1: rave reviews for his portrayal of a villainous character in
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  Speaker 1: a ninete stage play, staying in the role when the
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  Speaker 1: production moved out to the West Coast. The following year,
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  Speaker 1: he started getting cast in American silent films. As it
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  Speaker 1: turned out, Universal Studios was looking to cast the role
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  Speaker 1: that he originated on Broadway for a film version of
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  Speaker 1: the play. Their first choice, Lon Cheney, who had already
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  Speaker 1: terrified audiences as the Phantom of the Opera, had sadly
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  Speaker 1: died before production could begin. But although Blasgow had to
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  Speaker 1: find the character on the New York stage, producers were
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  Speaker 1: cautious about a relatively unknown actor headlining their next major
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  Speaker 1: motion picture, and yet they hired him for the project.
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  Speaker 1: Both the play and the film told the story of
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  Speaker 1: a Transylvanian vampire whose moved to England caused quite a stir.
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  Speaker 1: Based on the e book by brom Stoker, Dracula became
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  Speaker 1: a huge hit and catapulted Blasgow to great acclaim. But
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  Speaker 1: if you're wondering why you've never heard of Blastgow, there's
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  Speaker 1: a good reason why. At this point he no longer
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  Speaker 1: went by that last name. You see. Early on in
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  Speaker 1: his career he had chosen a stage name to honor
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  Speaker 1: his place of birth in Hungary, the town of Lugos,
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  Speaker 1: So from nineteen oh three onward, audiences had come to
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  Speaker 1: know him as Bella Lugosi. While he had lived in
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  Speaker 1: relative obscurity back in Hungary, Legosi soon found a lucrative
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  Speaker 1: niche for himself as the leading man in horror and
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  Speaker 1: suspense movies. He went on to star in films like
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  Speaker 1: Murders in the Room, Morgue, Son of Frankenstein, and The
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  Speaker 1: black Cat. Sadly, as quickly as his star ascended, it
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  Speaker 1: came crashing back down. For one, Legosi grew tired of
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  Speaker 1: being typecast as a villain. In fact, Universal had offered
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  Speaker 1: him the title role in their upcoming Frankenstein picture after
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  Speaker 1: Dracula's box office success, but he refused, saying that the
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  Speaker 1: part should be played by some half with extra Instead,
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  Speaker 1: the role, of course, went to Boris Karlaf, who would
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  Speaker 1: go on to co star with Legosi in five films
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  Speaker 1: Later in life. Due to his accent and ethnicity, he
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  Speaker 1: found it difficult to break out of the horrors honra.
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  Speaker 1: He acted in numerous B movies over the next two decades,
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  Speaker 1: each one more questionable in quality than the last. By
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  Speaker 1: the time he died in nineteen fifty six, Legosi had
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  Speaker 1: appeared in over one films in roles ranging from mad
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  Speaker 1: doctors to evil scientists and even a heroic magician. But
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  Speaker 1: he was a shadow of his former self, relying on
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  Speaker 1: favors from directors and fellow actors to cast him whenever
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  Speaker 1: he needed the work. But even after all of that,
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  Speaker 1: his fans remembered him best as Count Dracula, looming over
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  Speaker 1: his prey in his white waistcoats and black cape. Bella
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  Speaker 1: Legosi terrified audiences for years as the legendary character, practically
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  Speaker 1: defining how the modern vampire appeared on stage and screen
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  Speaker 1: for the next century. In fact, his costume was so
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  Speaker 1: iconic he was buried in it upon his death. This
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  Speaker 1: coffin can be found at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.
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  Speaker 1: But now that I think about it, maybe someone should
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  Speaker 1: go check on it, you know, just to make sure
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  Speaker 1: he's still inside. One might not consider a pirates in
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  Speaker 1: the traditional sense as fancy, but that's apparently what Henry
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  Speaker 1: Every wanted to be and successfully ended up being. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: when he led a mutiny as the first mate aboard
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  Speaker 1: the Charles the Second, he renamed his new ship exactly that,
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  Speaker 1: the fancy, a word that perhaps captures Every's essence more
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  Speaker 1: than we yet know. After all, by definition, the word
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  Speaker 1: fancy is a faculty of imagination or delight, and that
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  Speaker 1: is exactly how you might likewise define the life and
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  Speaker 1: legacy of the pirates in question. No now as the
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  Speaker 1: King of pirates or the arch pirate, depending on who
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  Speaker 1: you ask. Henry Every does not have a lot in
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  Speaker 1: common with his fellow pirate lords. Sure he has an
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  Speaker 1: unclear beginning and arise to captaincy by seizing the opportunity,
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  Speaker 1: But beyond that he is something of a unicorn. He
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  Speaker 1: did not need multiple acts of piracy to cement his legend.
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  Speaker 1: He did not need to die in battle or be
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  Speaker 1: hanged for his crimes. He was well a bit fancier
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  Speaker 1: than all of that. In six Henry sailed for the
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  Speaker 1: volcanic island of param up the coast of Madagascar. There
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  Speaker 1: he and his small pirate squadron waited for their pay day,
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  Speaker 1: the pay day of all pay days, you could say,
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  Speaker 1: And on September seven they spotted that prize, a twenty
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  Speaker 1: five ship convoy led by the Grand Mogul on their
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  Speaker 1: annual pilgrimage to Mecca. The convoy was laden with treasures
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  Speaker 1: from South Asia, treasures intended to be used as offerings
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  Speaker 1: once they reached the holy city. Only they would never
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  Speaker 1: reach it. They did, however, put up a fight. Armed
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  Speaker 1: with a massive sixteen hundred ton eighty cannon ship as
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  Speaker 1: well as a six hundred ton escort, they held their
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  Speaker 1: own renowned pirate, Thomas two, was killed during the battle
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  Speaker 1: with the mogul vessel and numerous ships in the Pirates
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  Speaker 1: squadron were left behind because they simply could not keep up.
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  Speaker 1: Perhaps you could say that they just weren't fancy enough.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, the forty six gun Fancy soon found itself
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  Speaker 1: accompanied by only two other comrades, the Pearl and the
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  Speaker 1: Portsmouth Adventure. So massively outgunned and out numbered, Henry even
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  Speaker 1: to the odds with an opening broadside that crippled the
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  Speaker 1: mast of the Mogul's ship, the six ton Behemoth, although
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  Speaker 1: the ship itself still boasted four hundred well armed soldiers,
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  Speaker 1: and while Henry Every led the boarding alongside his men,
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  Speaker 1: the Mogul captain Ibrahim fled below decks without a leader.
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  Speaker 1: The Moguls buckled under the ferocity of the Pirates, Henry
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  Speaker 1: and his men overtook the vessel, claiming a treasure worth
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  Speaker 1: over six hundred thousand pounds at the time roughly ninety
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  Speaker 1: three million English pounds today. It is far and away
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  Speaker 1: the biggest heist in the history of heists, and it
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  Speaker 1: led to the first old wide man hunt all for
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  Speaker 1: the man who engineered it all, Henry Every. The raid
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  Speaker 1: had soured the already strained relationship between England and the moguls,
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  Speaker 1: with the English now fearing they may lose all of
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  Speaker 1: their trade opportunity with India, the only thing that would
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  Speaker 1: repair it was the prompt arrest of the man who
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  Speaker 1: had caused the whole fiesco. Only no one knew where
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  Speaker 1: he was or where he put the treasure. Last anyone
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  Speaker 1: had heard, Henry Every had docked the Fancy at Royal
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  Speaker 1: Island in the Bahamas in six before moving on to NASA,
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  Speaker 1: where he assumed a new name, Captain Bridgeman. When word
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  Speaker 1: reached the governing body that Bridgeman was, in fact Henry Every,
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  Speaker 1: they issued a warrant for his arrest, but before they
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  Speaker 1: could capture him, he had simply disappeared, as if by
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  Speaker 1: magic of his men. Only twenty four were ever found
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  Speaker 1: of them. Numerous stories were reported as to where Every
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  Speaker 1: intended to go, but no two stories ever matched stup.
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  Speaker 1: Either they were protecting their captain or Henry Every had
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  Speaker 1: told different crew members different things to purposely throw off pursuit.
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  Speaker 1: Whatever the case, it worked. After there is not a
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  Speaker 1: single record of Henry Every, nor his riches, nor the
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  Speaker 1: aptly named Fancy. There are some who believe that Every,
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  Speaker 1: in true pirate fashion, squandered his riches and died a
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  Speaker 1: poor man in England, although there is no evidence to
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  Speaker 1: back up that claim. As such, the end of Henry
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  Speaker 1: Every Story is still a mystery, as is the question
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  Speaker 1: of what happened to that massive wealth he accumulated, all
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  Speaker 1: from a single act of piracy. Now I'd call that fancy.
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  Speaker 1: I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet
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  Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn
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  Speaker 1: more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com.
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  Speaker 1: The show was created by me and Mankey in partnership
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  Speaker 1: with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show
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  Speaker 1: called 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,