Latest / Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities / Fill In The Blankenship

Transcript

Fill In The Blankenship · Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manky's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: I Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: full 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. There are plenty of literary examples of characters
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: based off actual real life people. Dracula, for instance, probably
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: comes from the rather bloody story of Ladi Impaler. Zoro
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: is inspired by the Mexican bandit Joaquin Marietta, and the
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: sick yet suave Hannibal Lector is known in real life
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: by the name Dr Alfredo Bali Trevino. But all of
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: these characters have something and men. A regional ruler, a
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: notorious outlaw, a serial killer turned informant. All carry larger
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: than life stories that make for easy storytelling. Who doesn't
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: love a righteous bandit, after all? Who doesn't ponder the
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: existence of vampires? Mark Twain found his muse in someone
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: a little less clamorous. Raised in the small Missouri town
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: of Hannibal, you can find the influences of his upbringing
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: scattered throughout his renowned works. The port city on the
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: banks of the Muddy Missouri River gave Twain access to
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: such inspiration that had granted him his undying status as
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: one of the best writers to have ever lived. Given
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: all the difficult upbringings centered in the relatively poor sector
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: of the Virgin and United States, Twain had writing fodder
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: all around him. As an adventurous child, he found wonder
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: in the exploration of caves and woods, and he found
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: character in the essence of his classmates and friends, the
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: products of these difficult upbringings, one in particular inspired him
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: more than most, that one being Tom Blankenship, who Twain
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: mentions by name in his own autobiography. Born to Woodson
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: and Mahala Blankenship, Tom had a similar upbringing as just
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: about everyone else in Hannibal at the time, a childhood
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: poverty and scant resources. Although he might well have been
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: at the furthest end of the poverty spectrum. Tom's father, Woodson,
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: came to Hannibal in his late forties, a time when
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: it was especially hard to find work among the sawmill industry.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: Had it not been for the support of kindly relatives,
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: the Blanket Ships would have found themselves homeless in no time.
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: In fact, they may have even been squatters in the
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: first place, since there is actually no evidence that Tom
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: and his family owned any property to begin with, one
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: need only look at the Blanketship House to truly understand
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: the poverty they lived in. Unlike the white picket fence
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: of the Clemens family home, the Blanketship Home looked like
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: it was about one unfortunate gust of wind from tipping
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: sideways and crumbling to dust. All told, though, it was
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: this muse that fueled Twain with the inspiration he needed
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: to take a real life person and turn him into
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: a household name, albeit a much different name. Twain, even
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: in his adult years, clearly recalled Blanketship in detail writing.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: He was ignorant, unwashed, insufficiently fed, but he had as
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: good a heart as ever any boy had. His liberties
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: were totally unrestricted. He was the only really independent person,
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: boy or man in the community, and by consequence he
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: was tranquility and curiously happy and envied by the rest
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: of us. Twain would never forget his childhood friends. When
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: he visited Hannibal in eighteen sixty one, eight years after
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: having moved away, he remarked that many of his friends
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: were still there, Sam Bowen, Ed Stevens, ab Grimes and others,
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: all of whom were characters that had contributed to Twain's
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: own rise in the literary community. With a birth of
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: Tom Sawyer and his gang, one has to wonder what
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: his friends saw in their old school mate, Samuel Clements.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: Perhaps he had changed, become daintier as he rose in
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: the social spheres, or perhaps he too was unchanged at
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: his core, as his writing would suggest, still playful, whimsical,
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: and in many ways the same as he had described
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: Tom Blankenship. Given such richness of detail, it's no wonder
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: that Twain would turn Blankenship into his own character the
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: same way he turned himself into Tom Sawyer. Blankenship's fictional
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: adaptation would go by an equally well known name, a
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: name that first appeared in Tom Sawyer before being given
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: his own story not long after. That name being, of course,
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: Huckleberry Finn. Eustace Buckets life was like an action movie.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: He was a monk born in France in eleven seventy.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: He to study black magic in Spain before traveling back
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: home to joint St. Sam Or Abbey. This was his
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: lot in life, as he was the youngest son of
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: a feudal lord by Duin Buskett, but he was meant
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: to join the church while his older sibling would inherit
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: their father's land. But Eustace was never well suited to
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: religious work. He often found himself at odds with his
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: fellow monks by pulling pranks and shenanigans in the abbey.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: For example, when he and his brothers were supposed to
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: be fasting, he would convince them to eat instead, and
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: it wasn't uncommon for him to pass gas in the
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: cloister and encourage others to do the same. After a
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: short time, though, Eustace received word that his father had
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: been murdered. Unfulfilled as a monk and hell bent on vengeance,
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: he left the abbey in eleven ninety to avenge his father.
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: Eustace met with a man named Renault Dave den Martin,
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: the count of Boulogne, seeking justice for his father's murder.
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: You see, he had discovered that a man named han
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: Freud had killed him and used to requested a trial
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: by combat. He chose a champion to fight on his
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: behalf against Henfrey, but the champion was felled in combat
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: and the accused was released. Eustace was then hired by
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: the Count to be his seneschal, or administrative officer to
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: assist with his financial matters. He served the Count for
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: about four years until a figure from his past resurfaced
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: and threw a wrench into his life. Once again, his
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: father's killer, the alleged murderer began spreading rumors about Eustace,
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: which the Count was quick to believe. He accused the
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: monk of embezzlement and sent him fleeing into the surrounding
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: forest to hide out and plan his next move on
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: his own. Fueled by revenge and branded an outlaw by
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: the man who had helped him, Eustace embraced his new situation.
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: He became a pirate. He recruited others to help him
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: in his plot against the Count as well. However, the
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: harmless jokes and tricks he was known for now took
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: on a much darker and in some cases, more sinister
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: to o. For one, he committed arson by setting two
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: of the Count's mills on fire. He also disguised himself
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: as a leper and convinced the Count to give him money.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: The way a person might toss some loose change into
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: the cup of a homeless person on the street today.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: One time, Eustace dressed up like a woman and seduced
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: one of the count's knights, offering to spend time with
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: him if he would let the undercover monk climb atop
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: the horse. The knight obliged, at which point used to
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: let out a large fart and stole the knight's horse instead.
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: Though many of the stories of Eustace's exploits ended in
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: theft or destruction with only minor injuries, there are also
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: tales of a much more grim variety, like when he
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: captured five of the count's men at arms and cut
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: the feet off four of them. He let the fifth
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: go free to tell the count about what he had done.
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: Around twelve or six, used to traded the forest for
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: the sea and became a true pirate. He sailed the
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: English Channel and the Strait of Dover as a mercenary
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: for King John of England for a number of years.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: John was in the middle of a land dispute over
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: the Duchy of Normandy, which was currently under French control.
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: To help his cause, the king employed Eustace and gave
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: him two dozen galleys to disrupt French trade along the channel.
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: With that much firepower, it wasn't hard for the monk
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: to take over one of the nearby islands as his
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: home base and orchestrate his attacks from there. He didn't
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: discriminate either, He went after ships from all countries, including
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: English ships belonging to King John. Unfortunately, after six or
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: seven years, his relationship with the King went sour. Surprise surprise,
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: Eustace and his wife were imprisoned. His daughter, sadly, was
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: even killed. The monks soon found himself on the other
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: side of the fight, working for the French instead. Francis
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: King Philip Augustus was only too happy to employ Eustace
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: and pick his brain about how England's forces operated. Philip
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: made him an admiral and had him transporting supply, eyes
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: and soldiers across the English Channel, resulting in several major
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: victories for the French. But all good things must eventually
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: come to an end, as they say, and in the
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: case of Eustace the Monk, that end was particularly violent.
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: In twelve seventeen, the French prince was hiding out in
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: London after a crippling defeat against England, he was waiting
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: for Eustace to bring him some much needed supplies. When
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: the Monk's ship was caught by English forces, Eustace was executed.
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: His days of pirating were obviously over, but his story
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: doesn't end there. In fact, it only grew. You see,
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: the former monk was of noble birth, hid in the
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: forest with a band of fellow outlaws, stole from the rich,
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: and often used disguises to fool the greedy counts men.
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: While people today may not be familiar with Eustace the Monk,
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: they most certainly know the character that he would one
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: day help inspire Robin Hood. I hope you've enjoyed today's
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show by
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created by
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how Stuff Works. I
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: make another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast,
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: book series, and television show, and you can learn all
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: about it over at the World of Lore dot com.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: And until next time, stay curious. Ye