S1E14: Mark Twain's The Mysterious Stranger
Nothing exists; all is a dream. God-man-the world,—the sun, the moon, the wilderness of stars: a dream, all a dream, they have no existence. Nothing exists save empty space—and you!
Everything was brought into question when The Mysterious Stranger arrived. The most debated novel of all the works in the vault of author, Mark Twain. S1E14: The Mysterious Stranger
Released:
Click the arrow to play the episode
Click here to discover other podcast platforms to listen to Bag of Bones Podcast
Click here for more Bag of Bones Podcast episodes to choose from Transcript
Bag of Bones Podcast
Season One- Episode 14 -The Mysterious Stranger Released: December 2020 Nothing exists; all is a dream. God-man-the world,—the sun, the moon, the wilderness of stars: a dream, all a dream, they have no existence. Nothing exists save empty space—and you! What would be the consequences if everything you once believed came into question? What if everything you thought to be true was only an illusion? Essentially, what if everything you’ve been taught, felt, practiced, passed on to your children… came into question. In his very last offering to the world, cementing his legacy, one author explored a life of deception, control and manipulation on a people who had no idea… Everything was brought into question when The Mysterious Stranger arrived. The most debated novel of all the works in the vault of author, Mark Twain. Intro Mark Twain was born Samuel Clemmons, in 1835 in a small rural town in Missouri. He was one of six children, being very weak and fragile in his younger years worrying his mother that he might not survive. But he did and spent his days wondering … why. His father tried working as a judge, a lawyer and a shopkeeper dreaming of wealth but it kept slipping though his fingers. He was a stern man. A devout man. His mother, on the other hand was loving and tender making their house a home to the best of her abilities, telling stories to her children and being their foundation. His father died suddenly in 1847 leaving the family near destitute. Mark Twain would have to give up his youth to help support a family. His hometown of Hannibal, Missouri inspired Twain’s writing for the rest of his days. It was a Rivertown and a world of Minstrel shows and circuses, blacksmiths and tanners earning their trade along the banks, the violence of humans, the drunks, the slaves, the dichotomy of life and hard times, were laid at his feet. His writings would forever reflect his impressions and memories. Death was not uncommon and he was no stranger to it. But why? Why this person and not that? Why did his family have to starve while others prospered? His thoughts and questions caused him to drift away from the church and he began a quest for the answers he longed for. He was spiritual, seeing God within the universe and his people within the universe being the life force and could appreciate the world around him, but believed that the Bible had “noble poetry, some good morals” and “upwards of a thousand lies.” Spent his life searching for answers… He longed for social status and when he married the love of his life, Olivia Langdon, the daughter of a rich coal merchant, he achieved it. He would buck against the pious, genteel life that he had dreamt of for most of his life but found refuge in his writings. His curiosity over death inspired him to join the Society for Psychical Research of London in 1885 as his interest in the occult deepened. He was looking for answers that the religion of the time could not and would not give him. He spent the rest of his life writing. He spun stories with his wit and imagination. His writing was real and raw and he wasn’t shy about giving his opinions which changed frequently. But while he was “of that particular state of mind,” the whole world was sure to know about it. Twain had his social standing but was missing his mark at financial status. He spent much of his time dabbling in business ventures convinced that his financial success was just around the corner, but like his father before him, it continued to elude him. He achieved a modicum of success both financial and social standing by writing and publishing the memoirs of his friend and former US President, Ulysses S. Grant. But it wasn’t long after that his publishing house went bankrupt. It was around this time, that his pessimistic views became more and more prevalent in his writing. Death had always been a curiosity. He lost his brother at the age of 19 due to an explosion. Twain felt responsible for his death guiding him into the riverboat life and he carried the guilt with him for the rest of his life. It didn’t help that he had visions of the event prior to it happening. He saw the death, the display of the body even down to the specific arrangements placed on his brother’s chest. He lost his son, Langdon while still a small child to diphtheria but it was in 1896 when his daughter Susy died of spinal meningitis that Twain began exploring spiritualism on a deeper level. It was his wife, Olivia that completely immersed herself in the belief that she could speak with her children that have crossed over. Mark Twain was known to participate in seances, but was never convinced that he ever connected with the dead until his youngest child died. There had to be more. His strict, unyielding religious upbringing and sternness of his father on one side and the colorful, loving, spiritual influence of his mother, left him open to explore other possibilities. His life was on the wane and his years were catching up to him. His body ached and his breathing was labored, and he spent more days than not, unhappy and miserable. He felt his life slipping away and sulked in his home giving up friends and family and people began to avoid the once lauded author and his foul manner. He would dream of his daughter, Susy thinking she was still alive and as his own health declined, he questioned what was real and what lived in his mind. What if everything was just a dream. What if nothing was real? In 1904, his beloved wife passed away from heart trouble. His daughter Jean, who was the youngest was diagnosed with severe epilepsy and in 1909 died of a heart attack at age 29. It was when this child passed, that Mark Twain wrote to his remaining daughter Clara about walking into the room where Jean had died saying, “You know how warm it always is in there, no drafts. All at once I felt a cold current of air about me. I thought the door must be open; but it was closed. I said, ‘Jean, is this you trying to let me know that you have found the others? And the cold air was gone.” His inward life spiraled down, down, down into a bitter and insensitive man despite his pleasant demeanor while entertaining or out in public. By now he had lost most of his family and friends to death or abandonment. He was riddled with pain, public humiliation and always on the fringes of financial despair. He took to his writing desk, and he wrote… Commercial Mark Twain attempted four separate times to convey his feelings. Four beginnings of the same story or variations indicating growth of his thoughts. In one particular section of the Mysterious Stranger, Mark Twain uses Satan as his story-teller to explain how man had lost his creativity… lost his imagination and how important it was for a man to function, for without it, he was doomed to a life of monotony. Twain uses his muse to explain that “each person was made up of a Workaday-Self, a Dream-Self, and a Soul that was eternal. The Dream-Selves would come out when the Workaday-Self was asleep, and it was then that the Dream-Self was allowed to roam free. Mark Twain continues “Man, in himself, was a very boring creature since he worries all day long about trifling measures and the Dream-Self is allowed to roam through time, space, and even the planets themselves.” Twain's belief in the misery of man was prevalent during the last stages of his life since "he had ceased to believe in independence of thought and individuality of personality" The Mysterious Stranger is still believed to be Mark Twain's final work. An anonymous review for the New York Times in 1916, the same year it was released, six years after Twain’s death, focused mainly on the perception of Twain's book as a message of doom and gloom against the human race. They write: “For here we have a last word from him we have always called the greatest American humorist- a word that comes to us after the grave has closed over the speaker, a final and conclusive word. It is difficult to imagine a message carrying a grimmer credo of despair, disillusion, and contempt for human existence. It blows upon the spirit like a cold wind over a dark and desolate land, a land where there is never a light, near or far, promising shelter, home, and love. In such a land, shivering in such a wind, what better is there than to lie down and die?” The dark words and emotion conveyed of The Mysterious Stranger were very unlike Twain's previous works in that he did not hold back his late-in-life pessimistic beliefs about humanity. As an author- you put your work out there and have no idea how your readers will interpret it. You hope that your intentions are received, but when your thoughts are not complete, tampered with and you’re not around to defend it… theological as well as literary debates continue. Twain once confided to a friend writing that he wanted - quote “a chance to write a book without reserves..which should take account of no one's feelings,...prejudices, opinions, beliefs, hopes, illusions, delusions; a book which should say [his] say, right out of [his] heart.” End quote. Perhaps this book was never meant to be interpreted. In the Mysterious Stranger stories, Twain rebels against his youth and never being allowed to question the authority of the church. He uses this platform, his old friend the “story” to bring his character in to plead his case. He creates Phillip also known as 44 or… as Satan to allow the reader to question the religion they have been taught and show the fact from fiction as they watch the characters in the story fall under the spell of Satan. The reader is able to watch as he blurs the lines between right and wrong. Points out that they have been lied to and taught to never question what they have been told. Which, as the story unfolds, Satan proves his words false by his actions time and time again but is believed by his words. Satan enters the picture looking familiar another person of their age, that is obviously more well-off, but nothing to be fearful of. For we all know that it is unlikely that if he appeared in his red suit of horns and spiked tail, he’d be less likely to gain an audience. And even as he tells them who he is, Satan, by name, he distracts by saying that he was named after his uncle… the original. He strips them of their caution by plying them with treats and magical tricks. He drops hints into his conversation that moral sense isn’t real and there is no good or evil, there just is… even though his new friends can see that he behaves in a manner that they know is “wrong” they still follow him for fear of losing his magical friendship. And they are set up in a way that they feel more discomfort for doing the “right” thing rather than following along with the majority of the crowd. For example: The story we know: In the Bible, the story we are familiar with when God’s most favored creatures are introduced to Satan, was when he convinced them to eat from the Tree of Knowledge and they were banished from the Garden of Eden. Twain spins its more like this: What if Satan wasn’t the one who was evil? What if that was the way history portrayed him? Why would God, tempt the couple with one tree in a vast land of everything they could have wanted? Mark Twain asks the question of who really is Satan? And perhaps the One that people have been following and serving was really a hoax. Not that he was not God, but if He was a loving and just God and the creator of all… why create sin? And why tempt his creation at all? In this section, Twain writes as 44: “His error was in supposing that a knowledge of the difference between good and evil was all that the fruit could confer.. .The fruit's office was not confined to conferring the mere knowledge of good and evil, it conferred also the passionate and eager and hungry disposition to DO evil…” And so therein lies the base of the story. No matter which version you read, it is the battle of Christian beliefs, what we should do, and human nature, what we most desire. Twain once wrote: "I have no special regard for Satan; but I can at least claim that I have no prejudice against him. It may even be that I lean a little his way, on account of his not having a fair show. All religions issue bibles against him, and say the most injurious things about him, but we never hear his side. We have none but the evidence for the prosecution, and yet we have rendered the verdict...We may not pay him reverence, for that would be indiscreet, but we can at least respect his talents." Ronald J. Gervais in an essay entitled, "The Mysterious Stranger: The Fall as Salvation adds this continued view, that Satan’s main goal was to bring knowledge to man. The characters in the story are presented with this mysterious man who can perform amazing tricks, feed them and claims that he is a good person saying that he is unable to tell the difference between good and evil. What Gervais believes about this story is that Satan consider’s knowledge a “gift” and since they “cannot be happy with the partial knowledge which they gained when they lost their innocence and since that lost innocence is irrecoverable, a continual fall into more and more knowledge is the only salvation.” The people of the village were taught only one thing and were not allowed outside the borders of their small town. Within the short time Satan has spent with the main characters he has completely put everything they have learned into question and replaced that doubt with more knowledge. In his mind, he has saved them by destroying their innocence and introducing the pain that knowledge often gives. And this… was the master of the quill… Satan creates and destroys and so does Twain in that he has generated a story where he attacks and tries to debase common beliefs often held by people. It is believed that Twain used his Satan character to reach his reader shocking them into hearing the viewpoint, using the story as means to share the injustices that he believed threatened mankind and then hoping that they see it in themselves all the while not destroying the beauty of hope, trust and belief. Commercial The four different versions of the novel are titled “The Chronicle of Young Satan”, “Schoolhouse Hill”, No. 44, The Mysterious Stranger and one more… His life had come full circle. The books that made him a household name, Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn both came from his real-life home town that he fictionalized as St. Petersburg, his final manuscript… the fourth in the Stranger series… The St. Petersburg Segment. After his death in 1910, his literary editors surgically stitched together thier own endings and published the novel posthumously in 1916. Their deception went undiscovered for decades. Over one hundred years has passed since the publication of this novella and it is still much debated. The novel is most often interpreted as Twain’s final lashing out to the world spewing his pessimistic and disenchantment in the Christian movement. When the book was released, posthumously, the world was embroiled in WWI and with the turmoil and chaos of life, Twain’s book did little to bring comfort. And it is easy for that to be the reader’s first take-away. But if you were able to look deeper, you’ll see his powerful insights into morality, deception, modern religion and reality vs. perception. And hopefully, this episode has given you some new perspective that might have been missed on the first go-round. One last thought from Crystal Travis who wrote The Demonology of Mark Twain: Reading the Mysterious Stranger Manuscripts… she writes: “Mark Twain was and still is one of America's greatest satirists. While these stories may be from a very intelligent and humorous source, they were left unfinished for a reason besides the fact that Twain died before he could finish them. He began a tale, which would encompass those things he saw wrong in the world, stopped, started over, and began again. Twain did this three times. In each, something new is expressed and something new is gained, be in a new view of Christianity, a real sense of humanity, or an urge towards the imaginary. Twain urged preconceived notions to be challenged and not to rely on what was taught from childhood. Asking these questions is the beginning of a search for truth. Mark Twain desperately sought for those truths of humanity and self throughout his lifetime.” And as we close this episode, I leave you with these two questions… Without darkness, can we truly see the light? Without wisdom, which is what comes of applying knowledge, are you not doomed to to follow in the footsteps of decisions made for you.
0 Comments
S1E13: Love Survives
You may not recognize her name.
You might not even recognize her sweet little face even though she made over 70 appearances in commercials and television sitcoms, and dramas. But if you've ever watched the animated classics All Dogs Go to Heaven or the Land Before Time, Judith Barsi touched your life. S1E13: Love Survives
Released: December, 2020
Click the arrow to listen to the podcast episode:
Click here to discover other podcast platforms to listen to Bag of Bones Podcast.
Click here for more episodes to choose from. Transcript
Bag of Bones Podcast
Season One- Episode 13 Love Survives You may not recognize her name. You might not even recognize her sweet little face even though she made over 70 appearances in commercials and television sitcoms, and dramas. She even has a few movies under her belt. But I think there is one way you will recognize Miss Judith Barsi, she was the beloved voice of Ducki in the animated movie A Land Before Time and Anne- Marie in All Dog’s Go to Heaven. On July 25,1988, ten year old Judith Barsi was shot in the head while asleep in her pink canopy bed. The shooter? Her father. Introduction Judith Eva Barsi was born on June 6th, 1978 at only five pounds and six ounces. Her parents, Maria and Joe had both emigrated from Hungary, but didn’t meet until Joe, a plumber, made his way to California and met Maria at the restaurant where she was waitressing. He was known for flashing hundred dollar bills around and Maria thought that he would bring her a sense of security. Not much is available to tell me about their life prior to becoming parents, but Joe fathered a son and daughter that lived in Arizona at the time. After the death of their father, the daughter came forward and admitted to the abuse they suffered while he was married to their mother. It was the reason Joe’s former wife Klara separated from him and eventually divorced. Joe and Maria married in Las Angeles, CA in 1977 and Judith was their only child. Maria, who had at one time wanted to pursue an acting career, began to groom her daughter at a young age to fulfill her former dreams. Her family tried to discourage her, but one fateful evening while at a skating rink in 1983, Judith was discovered when a team was shooting a commercial at the same rink. The casting director was so smitten with Judith that he talked her parents into bringing her in for an audition. Judith is small for her age and She was mistaken for a three-year-old child, but she was actually five. Judith was cute, precocious, intelligent and a lot of fun to work with. They signed her on immediately. Her small size allowed her to be cast in more roles because she looked so much younger, but it prompted the family to get her hormone injections, she grew to only three feet, eight inches by the age of ten. Her first commercial was for Donald Duck orange juice and because of her pleasant personality, her politeness and brilliant smile, they hired her to do several more orange juice commercials but then the other offers started rolling in. Word spread that she was a delight to work with and could understand direction and convey deep emotion with little prompting. Commercials took up the majority of her time. She promoted everything from JIF peanut butter, Lay’s chips, McDonald’s restaurants, Toys R Us, Tide laundry detergent, Campbell’s soup and many others. One interesting story of the behind the scenes of commercial life:They had to do so many takes for the commercial of Campbell’s tomato soup, that she never wanted to eat it again. Around 1985, Jozsef would often get too drunk and would be unable to get to work. He was barely working as a plumber and refused to let Maria work. He resented the attention that Maria poured on their daughter as they were practically inseparable while Maria encouraged and pushed for Judith’s acting career. Maria also tried very hard to give her a normal life. Judith went to a public school at Nevada Avenue Elementary and had many friends. She loved playing outside every chance she got; playing in the sprinklers and riding her bike. Her favorite game is rumored to be Operation no matter how many times it scared her to touch the sides. She was a happy child and people loved to be around her. Maria taught her daughter to speak fluent Hungarian and also brought traditional foods to her for her lunches at school to keep their family heritage alive. The family slipped into an impoverished state for only a bit and had to rely on welfare. This did nothing to help the morale of the head of household. Soon his own daughter would be making more money in a year that he earned in his lifetime. The more he drank the more abusive he became and his co-workers and neighbors recall that more than once he referenced that he wanted to kill his wife. When someone asked how he could hurt his child so much by taking away her mother, he responded, “I gotta kill her too.” He was known to brag about his bravado and the many fights he would get into in his younger days- even serving time in jail for murdering a man during a fist-fight, but there is no record of this. He has had a few run-ins with the police, but not from fights from what I could find, but because of separate accounts of drinking while under the influence. The abuse at home finally escalated enough that Maria went forward to the police to press charges. It was December in 1986. She confessed that he had been verbally abusive saying that he was going to kill her and that he had been physically abusing her for the the past five years, but the police found no visible evidence on her body at the time, and they dismissed the charge. They all but convinced her not to press charges due to the failure of evidence. She returned home. Hindsight is 20/20… if they only knew. Los Angeles Police Detective Sandra Palmer, who was working the case said, “How do we protect someone from threats? We really, honestly can’t.” She went on to add, “I could say ‘I’m going to kill you.’ I have the right because we have a free society to say that. I don’t have the right to carry it out.” It was after this incident that Jozsef gave up drinking and Judith’s career started to really take off. By 1986 and 87, she’s making six figures, enough so that they could purchase a modest home in Canoga Park. They barley had the property a month before Jozsef put up a pointed wrought iron fencing around their estate. Despite his gruff appearance, Jozsef would say that his family is the most important thing to him. That quote “If the family life is gone, then life is not worth living.” So he did everything in his power to keep them close. He was possessive and demanding going so far as to hide a telegram from his wife regarding the death of a family member so that she wouldn’t leave the country. And again, another example is when Judith had to leave California for shooting the film Jaws: the Revenge, he weilded a knife and threatened to cut Judith’s throat if they didn’t return. He hung this over the child’s head until they came back to their home. More on this in a minute… Judith began showing subtle signs that she was abused but no one noticed. Even though she was known to have verbally said things about her father being angry all the time or wanting to kill her mother, she said them so nonchalantly that no one thought things were as bad as they really were. It was just conversation. It was just life as she knew it. It wasn’t until Judith was scheduled for a singing audition that she broke down in uncontrollable sobs in front of her talent agent, Ruth Hansen, that the Child Protection Services were contacted, and Maria took the child to a child psychologist who confirmed the existence of severe mental and physical abuse. After about a month’s worth of counseling, Maria, most likely terrified that her husband would discover the psychologist sessions told the Child Protection Services that she was going to handle things. She was going to get a divorce from Jozsef. So they dropped the case and did no further follow-up. Maria rented an apartment with every intention of leaving the abusive marriage, but her husband noticed that she was taking things from the house and decided to follow her one day, catching her removing some of their furniture from her car. When he asked what she was doing, she told him that she was helping a friend. She knew he didn’t believe her so she returned home. But then she decided that she had worked too hard to get to where she was and that it should be Jozsef who should do the leaving. She had grown accustomed to their way of life and Judith’s career was only just getting started. She did not want to risk her daughter’s chances at future rolls, or leave her things behind. Her plan, knowing that he was a neat freak, was to just “let the house go.” She stopped cleaning and let the filth pile up where it may hoping that he would get tired of it and leave. It did not have that affect. It is so much more difficult for the outside world to deal with the cases of verbal and social abuse when no physical abuse is present, as the abused may keep what is happening behind closed doors or not be believed when they do speak out. Verbal abuse is every bit as damaging, but harder to pin down. Commercial Judith was getting so many offers that her work started interfering with her school but Maria allowed it, and she began to get roles on shows like, Punky Brewster, Knot’s Landing, the Twilight Zone, Remington Steele, Growing Pains where she became good friends with the cast. Judith only appeared in one episode of Growing Pains and they had to use clips from archived footage to do a final scene in the Seaver’s grand finale’. She was already a well known presence on the small screen, but became a recognizable star on the movie screen when she appeared in the movie Jaws: The Revenge in 1987. But, looking back, it was this role, that may have sealed her fate. The paranoia and the fear of separation of Jozsef from his family began to get the better of him. As I touched on briefly before, this was the episode that Jozsef made his intentions clear and his possessiveness was making the decisions for him. Maria and Judith had to leave their California home and travel to the Bahama’s for on location shooting. Jozsef is rumored to have pressed a knife to Judith’s throat telling her that if she doesn’t come home after the filming, he would kill her and her mother. And just to make sure it sunk in, he called her on the phone while her cousin listened in and repeated his threat. Encouraging their return immediately. She was said to have run from the phone crying, her cousin close behind also crying. Maria packs them up and returns home. By now evidence of abuse can’t be ignored. Judith has started plucking her eyelashes and eyebrows in an unconscious cry for help. Neighbors and even the stars of Growing Pains have offered the ladies a safe haven and an escape option, if they would just leave, but Maria chooses to stay. I don’t have a reason for why she chose to stay. It was said that when they were in the Bahamas on location for Jaws: the Revenge, that Maria spoke out about the abuse or made several comments about not wanting to return home, but the others who heard her did not hear a cry for help, they, instead heard of a woman constantly complaining about her husband. They started to avoid conversations with her, knowing that she would just complain again. Judith was offered the role in a new Don Bluth Film, The Land Before Time. The former Disney animator was the director, lead animator and one of the producers along with the brand new Amblin Entertainment Studios. Bluth prefers using children in the roles of children and thought that Judith was a promising addition to the Bluth family entertainment franchise and had quite a few more roles lined up for her future. Judith completely enjoyed the process of animation had said that doing the voice acting was her favorite thing to do and wanted to be a voice actor when she grew up. Her character, Ducky, is sometimes more memorable than any of the other characters and is certainly the one Miss Judith is remembered for. Following her role in Land Before Time, she went into production of Bluth’s All Dog’s Go to Heaven. Life was pretty difficult for the young star at home even though she put on a brave face. She worked harder than most adults, putting in long hours and several acting gigs per month. During the recording of the song, Soon You’ll Come Home, everything came to the surface and Judith broke down in tears and was escorted from the sound stage. Voice actor Lana Beeson was called in to record the song instead, Bluth deciding not to pressure Miss Barsi. Just days following the wrap of her recording the voice of the character Anne- Marie, tragedy ends the life of this budding star. Judith was last seen on the morning of July 25, 1998. She was outside riding her bike and waving to the neighbors. She was scheduled for an audition for a new Hanna Barbara animated series later that day. What happens next is just a blur. According to police reconstruction, Jozsef Barsi went to his daughter’s room and fatally shot her in the head as she slept. Maria, allegedly after hearing the gunshot, ran from her bedroom toward her daughter’s room. She was met in the hallway by Jozsef where he shot her in the head, her body falling limp against the wall in the hallway. For two days, Jozsef wandered about his house and when Judith’s agent Ruth Hansen called the home because Judith had missed an audition, Mr. Barsi told her that a “black car had just come to take them away”. He also told her that he intended to move out for good, he just needed time to quote “say goodbye to my little girl.” And then, this is now July 27th early in the morning, he doused the corpses of his wife and daughter with gasoline and struck a match. He then went to the garage and took his own life turning the same gun on himself and pulling the trigger. The news of the incident shocked the nation as they mourned the short life of Judith Barsi. Don Bluth includes a final song in All Dogs Go to Heaven that is dedicated to Judith called Love Survives. He is said to have personally gone into the art room to make Anne-Marie resemble the actress as much as possible and was so shaken by her death that he had to leave work. Growing Pains episode The Graduation was Judith’s final sitcom tv role and the producers placed an “in loving memory” tag following the episode to honor her death. Tracy Gold, Missy Gold and Brandy Gold from the show, read the poem, A Child of Mine at her eulogy. And Lance Guest, who played her father in the Jaws film was one of the pallbearers. Young Judith Barsi never got to see her last, few roles: An Afterschool Special titled , A Family Affair was filmed only three months before she died and was technically the last time she was seen on television; the Land Before Time which was released November of 1988 and All Dogs Go to Heaven released in November 1989 - all released posthumously. One last interesting piece of the sad, tragic story… Judith Barsi’s first role was the made for television movie Fatal Vision. She plays the part of three-year old Kimberly MacDonald. The true story of a father that kills his wife and daughters. Judith and her mother are buried side by side at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Hollywood CA
S1E12: The Real Story
Today, we are discovering the Real Stories how we have come to celebrate our day of Thanksgiving…
S1E12: The Real Story
Released: November 2020
Click the arrow to listen to the episode.
Click here to discover other podcast platform to listen to Bag of Bones Podcast.
Click here for more episodes to choose from!
Transcript
Bag of Bones Podcast
Season One- Episode 12 The Real Story History is all about change. Things change. Ideas change. People change. We grow and new ideas replace the old. If- as we look back- the changes led to brilliant advances the whole world gets to know. But sometimes… sometimes the most interesting stories are the ones that were swept under the rug. These are the ones that I go in search of. Curiosity mainly. I like to know where I came from. How my country was built from one generation to the next. One curiosity on top of the next… Today, we are discovering the Real Stories how we have come to celebrate our day of Thanksgiving… Intro See if this sounds familiar. Once upon a time, people of all ages would dress up in costumes, go to parties and be rowdy in the streets. And the children would plan out their costumes weeks in advance. Many were home made, but you could also purchase them from stores. Then, in their in costume, they would march in groups around the neighborhood asking adults for goodies. This sounds like shadows of our Halloween celebrations, right. Not right. The former description is actually that of early Thanksgiving shenanigans. Around 1817 in New York, Thanksgiving Masking became the national day of gratitude that our earliest forefathers instituted. George Washington called for a day of Thanksgiving for the first time, issuing a proclamation after the end of the Revolutionary War and other presidents followed suit, by naming A date not necessarily the same date annually. With the exception of Thomas Jefferson who thought, quote: “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.” I’m sure that when they called out for a day to be thankful it had nothing to do with children dressing up in frightening masks going door to door begging for sweets. “Anything for Thanksgiving?” Would be heard about the streets in the 1890s and when they would sing a song or perform a dance or recite a poem, people would toss children candies or coins. In an article from the LA Times of 1897 they wrote “Masks of prominent men and the foremost political leaders are made by some manufacturers, and large-sized false hands, feet, noses, ears, etc, are also new and amusing.” Parrots and other birds and animals, and ragamuffins were also popular. The ragamuffin trend was so popular in some areas that the holiday was referred to as Ragamuffin day. Children would dress up in tattered clothes and dirty up their face and hands (like hobos) and beg for home-baked goodies. Recognizing the potential sales boon, candy stores did what they could to help the holiday along, by adding costumes and mask displays in their shops to cash in. Appleton’s Magazine of 1909 writes, “All toy shops carry a line of hideous and terrifying false faces or ‘dough faces’…”. And the Los Angeles Times of 1887 reports, “Thanksgiving was the busiest time of the year for manufacturers of and dealers in masks and false faces. The fantastical costume parades and the old custom of making and dressing up for amusement on Thanksgiving day keep up from year to year in many parts of the country, so the quantity of false faces sold at this season is enormous.” Another form of revelry grew from this, more for the adults, but a group would walk down the main throuroughfaire while others lined the streets to watch the costumed parade go by with horns, rattles, shouting and singing. The NY Times adds “The throwing of confetti and even flour on pedestrians is an allowable pastime.” The festivities grew and got a bit more rambunctious, the largest celebrations culminating in Cape Girardeau, MO, Montesano, WA, but most popular- New York City. As fast as it grew, it soon got out of control. The cities finally got tired of the rowdy celebration. A shift began to happen in the late 1920s and 30s but it was such a lucrative affair that the merchants did not want to see the holiday quashed. And I’m sure you recognize the similarities we still celebrate today. I know that every Thanksgiving morning, I would wake up early to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, how about you? Where adults and children dress up in costumes and walk down the street singing and dancing and tossing out candy (not so much flour) to the cheering fans along the way. And with the rise of All Saint’s Eve, the view was an attempt to curtail the large bonfires, dressing up as satan, devils or demons, vandalizing, and uh… small animal sacrifice trends that were spilling over from our English neighbors- the marketing experts put their spin on it. It became our Halloween. Just creepy enough that the parents could get on board but civil enough that it wouldn’t destroy the towns and most pets would come out alive the next day. The shops promoted it more for children, who, not wanting to give up their Thanksgiving Masking and going door to door to getting candy or coins or a home-baked treat for a song, a rhyme or doing a card trick, it was an easy solution. Which is why the children say, “trick or treat”. Which technically means, give me some candy and I won’t destroy your home… basically. In all fairness, however, when the whole rearranging and morphing of the fall holidays took place the saying was supposed to be “trick for a treat” which would allow them to still do their songs, or dances, or in my neck of the woods, tell a joke… in exchange for treats. Commercial Now- before we move on to this particularly dark chapter in American History, I need to clarify one thing. But if you hadn’t heard whispers of this before, warning- it’s really going shake you up a bit. That being said, I want you to reflect back to Washington and our earliest presidents. He proclaimed a DAY of Thanksgiving. It could be a random day at any time of the year and it was a reminder to pause. Be grateful for … all the things. This tradition was brought over with them from England and it was common to pause to give thanks for a bountiful harvest, the birth of a child, and optimistic business outcome or many other things. It didn’t become as an actual repeatable holiday with a specific meaning until Lincoln. He put the wheels in motion with the help of Sarah Hale who was an editor for a women’s magazine. She had been working tirelessly for some fifteen years to establish the holiday, with every one she wrote to- dismissing her. Until Lincoln. It was finally locked down with the FDR administration. More on that a bit later. But, now you know- I’ll proceed. Day of thanksgiving. Day. We know that the Pilgrims came over on the Mayflower to settle the new lands. If you happened to catch Episode 10, it tells a bit more detail about the pilgrims that came on that ship’s landing. But in a brief recap- the Mayflower docked and a group of men went to search out a location to start the building of their settlement. They found an abandoned Indian village, but for whatever reason they didn’t care for it, so they stole some corn and maybe an artifact or two from some of the Indian graves…. *clears throat* So the next time they went to shore, they found the perfect spot. It too, was an abandoned Indian village, but I guess they liked this one better. Plus, they were afraid of going back to the other one, knowing that they stole and desecrated…. (by the way, they did end up reimbursing the indians, eventually…) Anyway, having the land already cleared and wood cut it gave them a head start with winter on their heels, in getting the women and children shelter because most were still living on the boat. When they got there, they were able to “move right in” and so they did. All this, you probably pretty much know. (Except maybe the stealing part, I don’t remember hearing that as a child.) Here’s where the truth of the story starts coming to the surface. The truth was, that back in 1616, only a few years prior to the Mayflower, a vicious pandemic killed the inhabitants, which was varying tribes of the Wampanoag people destroying their villages. So they villages hadn’t been vacated because they moved elsewhere, they were empty because everyone was dead. The Native American were killed by an enemy they couldn’t see and it lasted long after the white skinned people left their lands. Therefore, when the English arrived, they were not welcomed with open arms, they were distrusted. For hundreds of years, the English had been invading, slaving and slaughtering the indigenous people. Even so, Massasoit-whose very name means “great leader” opted to help the weak and starving pilgrims. They held back and watched for a time, weighing out strategies and it wasn’t until February that they made contact with an English speaking ally named Samoset. He made it clear that there could be peace or the warriors could kill them all, the Indians were fine either way. Luckily for all the generations to come, an understanding came to pass, an alliance of sorts that the Wampanoag would help them, if they could assure the Indians that the settlement was intended to stay small and that the settlers would help protect them against their enemies. And lo, the pilgrims were protected and assisted by the Wampanoag but when it came time for the feasting and celebrating of the union and the harvest, the Indian’s invitation got lost in the mail. Massasoit and about 100 of his people showed up anyway and there was a breaking of bread, sharing of plunder and toasts to fortuitous tomorrows. In a letter from signed “E.W.” (which was Edward Winslow) that was sent to a friend in England, he writes: “And God be praised, we had a good increase…. Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling that so we might after a special manner rejoice together….” The letter continues, “These things I thought good to let you understand… that you might on our behalf give God thanks who hath dealt so favourably with us.” In 1622, without his approval, Winslow’s letter was printed into a pamphlet and shared. This pamphlet which is referred to a Mourt’s Relation is where we get our first references of the “first” Thanksgiving, the meal and the attendants. However that day… That day of thanksgiving, the one that has been immortalized on canvas and ink and construction paper hats… that’s where the fellowship ended. As soon as November of 1621- their three day feast had barely digested a new ship arrived bringing 37 new settlers but without many supplies throwing the colony into a strain to provide for everyone going into winter. In 1622, after two years of assistance from the Wampanoag, 3 ships arrive carrying over 60 men… And then in 1623, two more ships brought 96 new settlers- and some of these decided to spread out and begin a new settlement elsewhere.… there goes the neighborhood… Trivia: the second ship in 1621 carried a settler by the name of Phillip De la Noye. The name transformed into Delano and descendants can be traced all the way up to… President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who as we mentioned was the very president that put Thanksgiving on the Holiday map. After a few skirmishes between the expanding number of English and the Native Americans, mostly over trade and land settlement, a nasty little massacre in 1637 known as the Pequot (Pee- kwat) Massacre where the pilgrims annihilated some 700 women, children and elders when they raided their fort, shot, stabbed and the fort was set on fire, some being burned alive. The men of a second fort were taken as slaves or killed. Leaving less that twenty hearts still beating. The Governor at the time William Bradford documented the massacre in his writings History of Plymouth by stating, “It was a fearful sight to see them frying in the fryer and the streams of blood quenching the same, and horrible was the stink and scent.” He continues, “But the victory seemed a sweet sacrifice, and they gave the prayers thereof to God, who had wrought so wonderfully for them, thus to inclose their enemies in their hands and give them so speedy a victory over so proud and insulting an enemy.” And the next day, he designated a “day of Thanksgiving”… thus our second reference to the history of our holiday. But wait… Before the Plymouth Colony was merged with the larger Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1691, the pact they had made on their day of thanksgiving a mere decade ago, was all but a memory. More and more settlers came and took over Indian lands, disease that came with them wiped out a huge percentage of the people and others, like the surviving members of the Pequot massacre were taken as slaves and with the burning and ravaging of the villages and settlements, many native Americans starved. In three years, the Native American population diminished by 80%. The wars and skirmishes continued and then escalated. Kidnapping, murder, raids, disease by 1675, the colonists and Wampanoag were embroiled in a war called King Phillip’s war. This is considered the bloodiest war history. Over 9,000 people were killed which equaled over 10% of the entire population. English and Native American included. King Phillip, his Wampanoag name was Metacome was actually the son of Massosoit and his legacy was fight to keep their lands, to save their families. In the meantime, the Colonists wanted to keep their land but also move further west, and they just wanted the Indians out of their way. The war finally came to an end with the Indian tribes acknowledging that they were now outnumbered and didn’t have the same resources for warfare. King Phllip was hunted down in a swamp and shot. The son of the man who introduced the new white settlers to the land, helped sustain them through the harsh winters was beheaded and quartered then his head was mounted on a pike for twenty five years just outside of the Plymouth Colony as a warning for the tribes. Thus, wiping out the Indians basically allowed the European settlers to expand and continue to move west with little to no opposition. David J. Silverman, author of the book This Land is Their Land writes, “As Americans looked for an origin story that wasn’t soaked in the blood of Native Americans or built on the backs of slavery, the humble, bloodless story of the 102 Pilgrims forging a path in the New World in search of religious freedom was just what they needed. Regardless of whether it was rooted in historical fact, it became accepted as such.” commercial And if the stories thus far haven’t soured your taste for cranberry salad, this just might. Brace yourself. Turkey, wasn’t mentioned as being on the first thanksgiving menu. In fact, turkey was a common meat, so it might have just been assumed so need to write it down?. It was one of the first domesticated animals because, they’re not very bright, not too hard to catch since they can’t fly away and they are just so darn yummy, not to mention, it could feed a lot of people, as long as they didn’t all want the just white meat. They did celebrate with the harvests of the time which at this time of year would have been pumpkins, squash, rutabaga, and yes cranberries and they would have, as Mister E. Winslow mentioned, fowl meaning goose and duck… and maybe even turkey. That published description of the First Thanksgiving in Mourt’s Relation that was mentioned earlier was lost for a time. It was rediscovered in Philadelphia around 1820. Reverend Alexander Young included the entire text in his Chronicles of the Pilgrim Fathers from 1841. In the footnotes that accompanied Winslow’s letter, Young writes, “This was the first Thanksgiving, the harvest festival of New England. On this occasion they no doubt feasted on the wild turkey as well as venison.” And if you’re feeling guilty about celebrating the holiday that was based on lies, it really wasn’t. We can blame the advertisers for that blunder. Silverman adds that quote, “The myth is that friendly Indians, unidentified by tribe, welcome the Pilgrims to America, teach them how to live in this new place, sit down to dinner with them and then disappear. They hand off America to the white people so they can create a great nation dedicated to liberty, opportunity and Christianity for the rest of the world to profit. That’s the story—it’s about Native people conceding to colonialism. It’s bloodless and in many ways an extension of the ideology of Manifest Destiny." Advertisers needed an iconic image to link, thus the black clothing with the shiny brass buckles on their shoes … The day of Thanksgiving of 1621 or even of 1637 or even Washington’s day of thanksgiving in 1789… was just a day, not what our holidays are truly based on. In the proclamation that Lincoln issued in October 1863 made no mention of pilgrims or Indians, turkey or pumpkin pie. His idea of this annual day of thanksgiving was one of… being thankful. The county was in the midst of the Civil War and moral was low. At the urging of Sarah Hale (who, for all of my trivia fans out there was also the creator of the nursery rhyme Mary had a Little Lamb) to make it have “national recognition and authoritative fixation to become permanently, an American custom and institution” in October of 1863, Lincoln did just that. It reads in part following a long list of things we have to be thankful for in the midst of ongoing war, quote: “I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.” To heal the wounds of the nation. And then in November 1941 only weeks before the bombing at Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signs Proclamation 2522. The Thanksgiving Day Proclamation states in part: “We have not lost our faith in the spiritual dignity of man, our proud belief in the right of all people to live out their lives in freedom and with equal treatment. The love of democracy still burns brightly in our hearts…. On the day appointed for this purpose, let us reflect at our homes or places of worship on the goodness of God and, in giving thanks, let us pray for a speedy end to strife and the establishment on earth of freedom, brotherhood, and justice for enduring time.” No Indians. No turkey. No green bean casserole, which was also not on the menu for any of the days of thanksgiving that we talked about. That didn’t become a “thing” until 1955 when Campbell’s soup marketing department made it a must have for every holiday gathering. There is, as of the mid 1970s an Unthanksgiving Day, also known as the Indigenous People’s Sunrise Ceremony and the National Day of Mourning celebrated on Alcatraz Island and at Plymouth, Massachusetts respectively. It was created by the International Indian Treaty Council to commemorate the struggles of the Native Americans and a platform to adjust the skew of American history. It allows the people the opportunity to share their heritage, honor their loved ones, inspire tradition and pass on their side of the story. We cannot rewrite history. Today, I like to think that Thanksgiving is about stopping; taking pause from our busy lives and making time for those who matter to us. Food brings people together. So if it’s turkey or shell fish, potatoes or squash. Whether you honor the Lincoln Proclamation or FDR’s or the Day of Mourning, let it be a day of thanksgiving. Enjoy your holiday, my new Bag of Bones family and save me a piece of pumpkin pie. Thank you for embracing this podcast! If you loved it, please invite others to listen and don’t forget to leave a review or a five star rating. I be back next week with another episode. If you have a suggestion for an episode, I’d love to hear about it. Please reach out by visiting my website at elizabethbourgeret.com
S1E11: The Carnton Plantation
Carrie Winder McGavock, a name that is synonymous with the Carnton Plantation in Franklin, TN.
Her name has gone down in history as one of the most benevolent women in the Victorian era. When her home was turned into a field hospital for one of the bloodiest battles of the civil war, she rose above and beyond the task and made their care, her life’s mission. She tended the grounds and cared for the graves and connected the deceased with the living until her own death in 1905. S1E11: The Carnton Plantation
Click the arrow to listen here:
Transcript
Bag of Bones Podcast
Season One- Episode 11 The Carnton House- Franklin, TN Carrie Winder McGavock, a name that is synonymous with the Carnton Plantation in Franklin, TN. Her name has gone down in history as one of the most benevolent women in the Victorian era. When her home was turned into a field hospital for one of the bloodiest battles of the civil war, she rose above and beyond the task and made their care, her life’s mission. She tended the grounds and cared for the graves and connected the deceased with the living until her own death in 1905. At her death Reverend John Hanner quoted a prayer for the Confederate Veteran magazine “We thank thee for the… feeble knees she lifted up, for the many hearts she comforted, the needy ones she supplied, the sick she ministered unto, and the boys she found in abject want she mothered and reared into worthy manhood. In the last days they will rise up and call her blessed.” And brother, let me tell you… they are rising up. Into November 30th, 1864 the Confederate soldiers had been marching all through the night and the day, arriving in Franklin, TN mid afternoon mere hours prior to the sun setting. They were weary from their attempts at thwarting the northern army at Spring Hill but there would be no rest. Union soldiers were already there, waiting. They had built a three- tiered fortification about two miles out of town hours before the Southern army came in. They knew that a battle was destined to happen here because the bridges behind them were damaged. So General John Schofield divided his men. Some to build the fortifications and since their backs were at the river protecting them and they were determined to push through to Nashville, the other portion set to work on repairing the bridge. The sun was sinking behind the horizon, and the 20,000 men under Lt. General John Bell Hood were ordered to move into a frontal assault against the Federals. They came up through the center after covering the two mile gap and managed to hold their own for about three hours of close range combat. Three hours. The Union division attempted to retreat back to the main line with the Confederate not far behind, re-invigorated by their enemy’s change of direction. Afraid of hitting their own men, soldiers at the main line held their fire and watched as both north and south came running at them. And then like the ocean slams against the cliff, both sides were thrown together. Hand to hand combat with fatigued soldiers once again ensued. With this combination it’s no wonder that the Battle of Franklin earned the title of one of the deadliest battles in the war. The Confederates suffered 6,252 casualties, including 1750 killed and 3,800 wounded. Five generals died that day, more than in any other battle of the war. Seven more were wounded and one captured. The Army of Tennessee was all but destroyed. Private Sam Watkins remarked that it was “the blackest page in the history of the war.” Five hours later… and it was done. The Union army was on it’s way to Nashville and they left behind their dead and dying. Much of the actual battle was played out on the property of the Carter family. While they and the neighboring Lutz family hunkered in their cellar while the battle raged on around them, they had no clue that their son, Tod Carter was to be among them. When the foray had quieted and the Carter family dared to come up from their hiding place, they were greeted at the door by Brigadier General Thomas Benton Smith. Todd Carter was his quartermaster and although it was not his duty to fight, being close to home bolstered his courage and pride. He mounted his horse early that morning leading the brigade shouting, “Follow me boys, I’m almost home.” And he was… 500 feet. Only five hundred more feet and he would have been safe in the arms of his family. But he was shot from his horse. He lay in the grass slowly bleeding out as the battle continued on for another four hours. After night fall, Brigadier General Smith and the Carter family headed out by lantern light to find their fallen hero. He was still alive when they found him and he was taken back to his home. Surrounded by family, he survived the night, taking his last breath the following morning. And then… he never left. The spirit of Tod Carter, still wanders the grounds of the Carter House… but he’s not alone. Colonel W.D. Gale wrote home to his wife about the conditions at the McGavock residence that had been turned into a field hospital. “Every room was filled, every bed had two poor bleeding fellows. Every spare space, niche and corner… Under the stairs, in the hall, everywhere…and when the noble old house could hold no more, the yard was appropriated until the wounded and dead filled that.” Even though the battle had come to a close, the south had retreated into the darkness and the north had continued on toward Nashville, the wounded and dying were everywhere. Within hours the inside of the home was filled, and then the barns and slave quarters were filled and then the back porch was filled and then, finally the yard. The front porch was reserved for the fallen Generals to be laid out for a few days following the battle, out of respect. Upon arriving to the area, the McGavock home was commandeered for use by the Confederates as a field hospital, prior to battle giving the family little warning (or options) but they had no way of knowing the amount of wounded they were going to be faced with. The home which is better known as the Carnton Plantation was located at the rear of the Confederate line. The rooms were cleared of furniture and two surgeons were set up in the upstairs bedroom. These were the bedrooms of the children. 9 year old Hattie, and Winder aged 7. They could not have possibly been sheltered from the horrors of war as it raged only a mile away. The family could see the explosions and gun fire light up the chilly night and could feel the rumbling of the cannons shake the foundation of their home. But that was nothing compared to what came next forever disrupting the safety they once knew. But like their mother, they were forced into a dire situation, and so they faced it as best they could. The surgeons worked tirelessly trying to save as many lives as possible. Both Confederate and Union took their turn laying on their table. Blood from open wounds poured over the sides of the tables and down the apron of the doctors as they worked. Useless limbs were piled up in a corner of each of the rooms waiting to be discarded. Buckets, cycling in and out filled with blood and with “clean” water that was used to wash the surgeon’s hands, which only happened when their hands became too slick to hold their tools- it didn’t take long to not be able to distinguish between the two. One hundred and fifty wounded soldiers died on that first night. Over three hundred men were treated for their wounds and laid somewhere to heal either on a spare space on the floor, in the yard or in the servants quarters. Carrie McGavock and her two children where there, every single day tending to the needs of their guests. Gale speaks of the Mistress of Carnton by writing, “she was unawed by horrid wounds, unblanched by ghastly death she walked from room to room, from man to man, her very skirts stained in blood, the incarnation of pity and mercy.” She would sit and talk with the men or take down letters for their loved ones. Many of the letters sent produced family of the men to take them home. And many others, it was their last goodbye. Mrs. McGavock was honored to assist with both She would make bandages from everything from her linen to petticoats. Her voice was a calming presence. Soldiers would relax and rest knowing she came into the room. Here, in the sight of Mrs. McGavock, they were no longer enemies but sons and husbands of women worrying and praying for their safe return. Fires were kept burning all across the grounds trying to keep the men warm. The wounded who were able, returned to making their own meals and sharing it where they could in small camps while they healed. The Carnton Plantation did not go back to “business as usual” once the battle weary soldiers moved on. In fact, the plantation took on a whole new life. The soldiers stayed on at the Plantation until they were well enough to move on. Union soldiers that had healed were taken to prisoner camps. But many did not leave for months and months after the Battle of Franklin. And almost 1,500 never left at all. At first, the men were largely “buried where they fell” on the battlefield; their graves marked with wooden crosses. Soon, the crosses were being used as firewood and the graves became more difficult to recognize. When the Union came back to claim their dead, it left many Confederate soldiers who died for their cause with no where to rest. The McGavocks donated two acres of their land and the town of Franklin raised the fund for the organization and identification of as many of the soldiers as possible, reburying them in the new plot of land. George Cuppett lead the team to organize the venture in the spring of 1866. He took so much time and effort trying to identify as many soldiers as he could and placed them in graves according to the state they were from. The entire process took ten weeks, but by June just under 1,500 rebel soldiers had been given a final resting place. He handed the carefully recorded notebook to the care of Mistress McGavock (which is still at the Carnton Plantation and can be seen under glass. She corresponded with every single person who reached out to her in search of their missing son or husband. It is the largest privately owned military cemetery in the nation. Trivia- because of you reaching out to me, I know how much you like your bits of trivia tucked in each episode: News of the cemetery and character of the Mistress spread across the ocean so that when English author Oscar Wilde came to America during his 1882 tour, he expressed a wish "to meet the Widow McGavock, high priestess of the temple of dead boys" Commercial. It’s a sign of a good leader not to leave your men behind. And some take their job… quite seriously. Among the many apparitions that make themselves known, one is believed to be General Pat Cleburne. He is seen pacing back and forth along the rear portico and around the parameter of the house and is recognized by his mustache and short beard. If you happen to be out there alone, he has been known to engage in conversation. You might want to brush up on your military tactics if this opportunity is in your future… you wouldn’t want to be a rude conversationalist And his men are still very active. You can feel eyes on you as you walk through the house and in the upstairs area, there is definitely pressure in the air, sometimes almost stifling. There is too, the haunting remnants of the hundreds of surgical procedures by blood stains on the wooden floors that soaked through the thick carpets and remain behind as haunting reminders of the death of the day. The outlines of buckets and even the silhouette of where the surgeons stood were clearly marked with the blood of the fallen. And rumor has it, where there is blood, there is a spirit still connected to it. The grounds and of course the cemetery have lots of accounts of ghostly presence. In the 50s and 60s it was a place for teens to hang out and more than once, the soldiers policed the area of those who may have been contemplating doing harm to the grounds or gravestones. Soldiers can be seen walking the fields, a scene as if on replay happens near the Carter house where a soldier is seen falling from his wounds to the ground only to “live” through the whole thing over and over again. One report told of a full-body apparition kneeling over one of the graves and when the couple got closer, he turned to look at them. They stayed only long enough to see the sorrow engraved on his features. Horses hooves, hammering, wood being splintered, footsteps and moaning… this location is a melting pot of all the spooky things. And if you were to look up toward the open attic, your bravado might fail you to linger too long for fear or sense of what you know is looking back at you, may actually show itself. While I was there, it was just before the sun was setting and I felt the eyes of what I thought might be a small child. I don’t know for sure, as I didn’t stick around long enough to find out. After coming home, and doing my research, there are several “children” still making their presence known. Three of the McGavock young children passed away, and the two who survived the field hospital fiasco Hattie who was only nine at the time and her brother Winder who was seven, may have chosen to stay to be close to their mother. The Mistress of Carnton is still running her household as if no one told her that her job was over and she can now rest. She is seen both inside and outside of the home in her large hoop skirts. How do we know it’s her? The tell-tale ring of blood stains along the bottom edge of her dress. If you can hang on for just one more minute, I have one more interesting story I’d like to share with you about the Battle of Franklin. Commercial. He was known as “the Boy Colonel”. He enlisted in the 24th Wisconsin Infantry regiment at the beginning of the war. By 1863, he was already a first lieutenant at the age of 18. In November of that year at the Battle of Missionary Ridge, he daringly captured the flag from a deceased soldier and lead the troops to an unbelievable victory. He was awarded the Medal of Honor and promoted to colonel. Leading his men into Franklin, he was part of the foray around the Carter House. Our Boy Colonel was shot from his horse. He rose to his feet, and while bleeding from his shoulder, he would draw his sword, he fight his way forward. As he pushed through the throngs of soldiers halting only until he faced off with a Confederate that leveled his gun at the Colonel’s chest. Now let me slow this next part down… picture this, hand to hand combat is going on all around you. Swords clanging against one another, Shots being fired at close range and here are just two of the thousands facing off. The rest of the battle slips into silence. The Confederate did not falter and fired his gun hitting the Colonel in the chest. A shot that should have killed him. Not defeated, he swung his sword with a last burst of strength and thrust it through the gut of his opponent but not before a second shot was fired, striking him in his leg. The two men fell to the ground. Their limp bodies being trampled and tossed about within the melee. The Colonel’s men discovered him and drug him to safety. The young Colonel survived. He continued to fight in the Civil War until June of 1865. Then on to the American Indian Wars being promoted to Major General in 1898. He fought in the Philippine- American War and was promoted to Major General 1901. He was promoted to Lieutenant General in 1906. More than 50 years in service to his country Lieutenant General Arthur MacArthur retired from military service in 1909. His son, Arthur MacArthur 3rd rose to rank of Captain in the Navy and was awarded the Navy Cross in WWI And son Douglas MacArthur, became a five- star General in WWII If…If the Boy Colonel hadn’t survived his bullet wounds and bone fractures from the Battle of Franklin that cold day in November, just think of what affects it might have had for all the major American Battles thereafter. And if that isn’t distinguishing enough, here’s one last piece of trivia… Lieutenant General Arthur MacAuthor and his son, Douglas MacArthur are the only father and son pair (other than Teddy Roosevelt Jr. and Teddy Roosevelt III) to rise to the rank of General and win the Medal of Honor. I hope this satisfies your request for both an American battle and a good old fashioned haunting. Please let me know if you have a topic you’d like to hear more about by reaching out to me on my website at elizabthbourgeret.com/contact. Thank you for listening and if you like what you hear, please be sure to rate it, five stars would be nice and share it others
S1E10: The Story of Stephen Hopkins
In a story that you have probably never heard before but will recognize the character's names from other mentions in history, with perhaps the lead character in our story, Stephen Hopkins and we're here to remedy that.
S1E10: The Story of Stephen Hopkins
Click the arrow to listen.
Transcript:
Bag of Bones
Season One: Episode 10- The Story of Stephen Hopkins He didn’t sign the Declaration of Independence. He wasn’t even considered one of America’s forefathers. Nor was he the drunken clown as Shakespeare’s charicture of him would lead you to believe. He was however, a man who helped settle two of England’s colonies, a signer of the Mayflower Compact and Indian Ambassador for the new world. let me share with you how this opinionated inn-keeper’s story has impacted a nation. Introduction The Virginia Company was charged with settling colonies in the New World for the glory of England. They were to be self-governing and it’s main purpose was to find gold, silver and other minerals or profits to payback the investors. The company chose it’s own leaders, and officials and they were responsible to provide settlers, ships and supplies to ensure success of the colonization. It is thanks to the many letters and journals and secretaries of the company and settlers that we have so much information about how the colonies grew and their shortcomings and the intimate details of day to day life. William Strachey, was one such scribe and thirsty for the knowledge of the New World and its inhabitants. He longed to known as a poet and author and hoped his new adventure would help him accomplish this. He signed on as a farmer for the Virginia Company, since the position of secretary was taken. And because of his careful notes and his manuscript AND being BFFs with William Shakespeare and Ben Jonson, that our boy Stephen Hopkins was put on history’s radar. Strachey’s narrative, The True Reporotory of the Wreck and Redemption of Sir Thomas Gates Knight gave full account of his participation in the truth-is-stranger-than-fiction tale that Stephen Hopkins was very much a part of- THEN gave Shakespeare the inspiration for his last play called the Tempest. Shakespeare was known to “borrow” ideas from others so imagine Strachey’s surprise while sitting at the Blackfriars Theatre and seeing his letters transformed into a stage play- giving him no credit but using some of his exact phrasing- thus, with the popularity of the Tempest, it left no room or interest for his manuscript… Have I lost you? Let me back up a bit… Stephen Hopkins was a common man. He was born in England to common parents and married into the tavern life as his wife’s family ran a local “inn”. But as his family grew, he sought out work as a minister’s clerk who’s job involved reading psalms to the workers of the Virginia Company. In 1609, his ministerial duties took him aboard the ship Sea Venture bound as a supply ship for the new world and England’s second attempt at a Settlement- Jamestown. The ship was one of 9 that promised to bring food, tools, new settlers, it’s new governor, Sir Thomas Gates and introduced Strachey to Hopkins. In May of 1607, 104 men and boys landed and broke ground for what would become Jamestown. Jamestown was depicted as an “earthly paradise” in a promotional pamphlet saying the first settlers were quote “ravished with the admirable sweetness of the stream and with the pleasant land trending along on either side.” For those who were concerned of the savages, the pamphlets continued : the use of guns and armor was endorsed if the gifts of Christianity and Western civilization were not readily accepted. (Meaning, quote “Our soldiers trained up in the Netherlands to square and prepare them to our preacher’s hands.”) And to ease any fears of the ocean crossing, the pamphlet continued quote “most winds that blow are apt and fit for us, and none can hinder us.” The promise of riches and precious metals encouraged folks to raise their hand to the prospect of owning their own parcel of land and a share in the profits. But if that wasn’t enough, the black plague was daily sweeping away the lives by the thousands… and so the English noblemen, artisans, farmers and laborers alike set out to the New World. In June of 1609, Stephen Hopkins left his wife and three children and from the River Thames the Sea Venture headed out into open waters. They were already two months into their trip and more than half way to their destination when the flotilla of ships were hit by a vicious hurricane. For three days and three nights the waves swirled up and tossed the boats challenging them to stay upright. One ship was swallowed up, taking its stock and crew down with it. The Sea Venture, which was the largest of the vessels, and carried most of the supplies, and the most prominent of passengers was assumed lost at sea. But it struggled against the constant battering to carry it’s passengers to safety. It was damaged and water was pouring in through separated planks of the hull. Everyone on board nobleman and common man alike pumped water from the hold while others poured out buckets of water over the side in attempt to save their lives. The water found new ways to seep in even though they attempted to patch up the holes with everything from cloth to salted beef. They were exhausted and at their end. The more they poured out water, more poured in. They were worn down. Their muscles ached, their bellies were empty and they were tired. The crew and passengers had finally succumb to their fate, when some shouted the sighting of land. “Hearing the news of land,” Strachey would write, “they grew to be somewhat revived, being carried with will and desire beyond their strength, every man bustled up and gathered his strength and feeble spirits together to perform as much as their weak force would permit him.” The Sea Venture turned toward the island onto a reef about a mile from shore. The survivors scavenged what weapons, food, tools they could and took all 153 souls to shore. The exhausted, nearly drown voyagers were confronted with a tropical paradise. Plenty of fish, fruit, ample timber, fresh water sources, birds and wild pigs. Bermuda had everything they needed and was a far cry from the situations happening at Jamestown. While the lost ship of England’s Third Resupply, attempted to get their bearings, Jamestown was in utter turmoil. The new settler’s were made up of noblemen with titles who thought it beneath them to work, inexperienced farmers who came on the journey for a chance at a new life, and soldiers, hired to protect and fortify the settlement. This lead to a large number of mouths to feed and no one planning for a future to feed them. No one planted but instead tried to barter with the local natives, but when Indians grew tired of supporting their unwelcome needy neighbors, the settlers resorted to stealing and killing the natives. When the other ships of the Third Resupply showed up in Chesapeake Bay, there were only about 40 lean and starving men left. The new ships which were supposed to be a saving grace to the settlers fighting for their life, instead, it plunged them deeper into physical depression. The new settlers, barely surviving the storms, stumbled off the ships to the welcomed dry land battered and beaten with hardly any supplies. There was little to no food available before they got there, but now the combination of original settlers and new arrivals greedily devoured what they had not thinking about their tomorrows. It was May of 1609 when the on again- off again president John Ratcliffe (who had left the colony in order to bring back more supplies) returned with more food, 300 more settlers, but it wasn’t enough, the damage was already done and they were at the mercy of the Indians once again. Chief Powhatan allowed for John Ratcliffe and a dozen of his men to come to his campfire to discuss the matter. It was a ruse. Most of the men were killed and Ratcliffe was bound in front of the fire and stripped naked. His skin was flayed from his body with the sharp edges of mussel shells and tossed into the fire as he watched. In the slow, torturous death, his face was peeled last. The memoirs say that he was still alive until they burned his body at the stake. Meanwhile, back on the Island of Paradise, most of the castaways from the Sea Venture are perfectly happy to stay in their new surroundings and don’t want to leave. They had settled into a life with gardens, fishing boats and nets, huts and a possible future. “the climate is so temperate and agreeable to our English constitutions” one castaway would later write. Governor Thomas Gates has no intention of staying, but rather completing his mission to get to Jamestown, Virginia. He believed that the obligation of all lay with the Virginia Company that had financed the fleet and supplies and to whom everyone on the island pledged loyalty. He ordered a group of men to start building a boat from the scavenged planks of the Sea Venture and the Bermuda cedars on the island saying that every person who rode the Sea Venture was bound by contract and reputation to go to Virginia. Building of the new ship was slow going as the men did not want to hasten it’s completion. Finally a group planned to escape and make a new home for themselves on another island, but Gates discovered their plot. Convicting them of mutiny, their punishment was that they were sent to that other to an island but without tools or food or supplies for several days. Near starvation, they were brought back and forced to beg for mercy. Gates was relentless in their treatment of the castaways. He gave them no opportunity for rest or leisure, kept a tight fist on how much food was doled out and worked them from morning until night. They were counted in the morning and again in the evening to make sure no one attempted to abandon the camp. By January of 1610, one of the new hybrid ships was almost complete. The day of everyone leaving the island and sailing on to lies fed to them about the “New Britian” was almost upon them. Stephen Hopkins could stay quiet no more. He gathered a few of the settlers and reminded them that they had all contracted with the Virginia Company for x number of years and in exchange for that contract, they would feed and clothe them and deliver they safely to Jamestown. But the hurricane thwarted the original plan and landed them in Bermuda. The shipwreck, Hopkins decided, dissolved their contract with the Virginia Company and they were “freed from the government of any man.” Hopkins declared that everyone was free of their contract and could choose for himself if they would complete the boat and continue on to Jamestown, strike out on their own or create a new settlement right here. He went on to say that, “in light of the discovery of the potentially lucrative resources of Bermuda, they had a new obligation to claim Bermuda for the Company. Similarly, they owed it to their families to seize the opportunity for enrichment they discovered by chance and at great risk to their lives.” The people all knew how Gates felt about even discussing the matter of altering the course of the expedition would not be tolerated, but listening to to Stephen Hopkins speak for the people and a future of their own choosing was enticing. However… the plot had been discovered and this time Hopkins was put on trial on January 24th. He was chained and sentenced to death. After days of settlers begging for his clemency, finally Stephen Hopkins, himself was put in front of the assembly to beg for his life. Strachey writes, “So penitent was he and made so much moan alleging the ruin of his wife and children in this- his trespass, as it wrought in the hearts of all the better sort of the company who therefore with humble entreaties and earnest supplications went to our governor whom they besought, likewise did Captain Newport and myself, and never left him until we had got his pardon.” Gates forgave the crime. The castaways had been on the island of Bermuda for eight months now- one final rebellion had reared up to attempt to stay on the island but this time, Gates had reached the end of his patience. The main perpetrator Henry Paine, was condemned to hang… immediately. Paine resigned to his fate made the request that since he was a gentleman, he requested a gentleman’s death. Instead of a hanging, he was “allowed” to be taken into the wood, placed against a tree and shot. This marked the end to any more thoughts of remaining on the Bermuda Islands. Hopkins planted the seeds of a life in an ideal commonweath but it was not meant to be on the island, but glimpses of his thoughts will appear again… By spring of 1610 two ships were complete and the castaways were put to the task of gathering food for the trip. Five hundred fish were caught, salted and packed in barrels. Live conch in their shells were immersed in seawater in barrels. Hogs and the large seabirds were butchered and salted and turtles were caught and kept alive by placing them on their backs for the voyage. The island was also a welcome place for hundred of birds to come and nest and the eggs were easily collected. In May of 1610, almost a year after leaving England, the castaways set out for Jamestown, Virginia once again. Trivia: only one man died of the original 153, and then one was born. She was called Bermuda Rolfe. Her father was John Rolfe. And no, this was not Pocahontas, but his first wife who gave birth to the first English Bermudian child. She would only live a few weeks. Another month following another birth occured. The first boy English Bermudian child was born. Bermudas Eason. He lived to see the Virginia colony and beyond. Their “side trip” to Bermuda had actually saved their lives. The winter of 1609 to the Spring of 1610 was named the Starving Time in the history of Jamestown. The struggle for enough food has always plagued the new colony but when you add a fractured leadership, poor relations with an aggressive native tribe, dysentery, typhoid and the marshes ebb and flow of salt water you have a pretty nasty recipe for failure. The Powhatan Indians retaliated by threatening to kill anyone who leaves the fort. The settlers, trapped in their own fort, resorted to tearing apart their structures for firewood, sneaking out for game after dark and burying their dead inside the walls of the fort. President George Percy writes, “Indians killed as fast without the fort as famine and pestilence did within.” They had long killed their horses for meat and Percy writes, “we were glad to make shift with vermin, as dogs, cats and mice.” Some tried to sneak outside the walls to hunt for game or roots but were killed by the Indians. He also claims that the starving settlers resorted to cannibalism quote “they dug dead corpses out of graves” to eat them. The supplies that the Sea Venture were able to provide would only last a short time, so Governor Thomas Gates decided that they should abandon the settlement and sail for England. And just as they got everything buried, and pack up, loaded on the ship, their path was blocked by the newest ship led by the new governor of the colony Lord De la Warr (Delaware). He insisted that they turn around and salvage and rebuild Jamestown. And so they did. Stephen Hopkins kept his head down and his opinions to himself and really dug in helping to save the colony. Under the leadership of Delaware, despite the fact that he was on his deathbed for much of the time, his leadership was able to bring the colony back around. Hopkins became an asset to the colony expanding his knowledge on the tribes and their languages, farming and his oratory skills, were still there, but he remained a student, learning the ways of building a colony. At some point, Stephen received a letter telling him of the death of his wife, so he joined the crew of a ship sailing back to London, England. Commercial At this point, we really don’t know what Stephen Hopkins did to pass the time back in London, England, but he was successful. By the time Hopkins rejoins our story he got remarried, this second wife was Elizabeth Fisher, they had their first child together, plus his other three, gained prosperity and had two men servants. In 1620, The Merchant Adventurers, which was a different group of investors that financed the sailing and planting of the new settlements invited Stephen Hopkins to join the Mayflower voyage and stay to help the colonists with his advice (knowing his way around new colonies and as a laborer was the Adventurers way to ensure the colonists strived to repay their debt. So despite, surviving a hurricane, getting stranded on a deserted island, being charged with mutiny, almost hanged, building two ships only to face near death and starvation… he said yes. September 6, 1620, Stephen Hopkins, his very pregnant wife, children, two servants and all of their earthly belongings, join the other 102 passengers and crew on the Mayflower bound for the New World. There may not have been a hurricane this time around for Stephen, but his newest son was born on the ship as it fought with turbulent storms and violent waves. And while a baby is a thing of joy and Stephen gets to have the honor of the olny child born enroute, Baby Boy Oceanus was born under the most terrible, unsanitary conditions. Because of the storms, there were to have been no dry beds, as the ship was leaking due to the extra weight and many suffered from seasickness, And because of the turbulence, no one was allowed to go to the upper deck for fresh air or… uh relief, so all they had was chamberpots… and I’m sure you can imagine that it would be difficult to keep a full chamber pot still… After two months on the over populated and over stocked cramped quarters of the Mayflower, fierce storms blew them off course causing them to land further north than their designated lands in Cape Cod in Massachusetts instead of Virginia. The provisions were running low so it was suggested that they scout out the area and stay where they landed. SOME of the passengers even went so far as to say that the contract made with the Merchant Adventurers of London was for Virginia and since they were NOT safely deposited in Virginia, they believed that they were no longer obliged to uphold the original contract and once they stepped off the boat, they were a “free agent”, in modern day vernacular. Now, I won’t mention any names, but They were quoted as saying, they would “use their own liberty: for none had power to command them.” Sounds a bit familiar, don’t you think? The pilgrims desperately needed the help so they agreed to establish their OWN government while still on the Mayflower, but were still abiding in their allegiance to England. The Mayflower Compact was created and signed by 41 men. It basically states that they must adhere to the government of the king, but within the colony, it would fall to a majority rules. “…we… do by these Presents, solemnly and mutually… covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid…” A few more words and some thee’s and thou’s, 41 signatures and it was done. 16 men left the ship to scout out the land, they found the remains of an Indian burial and stole the corn that was left for the Indian’s afterlife. A second expedition was cut short due to bad weather and the third time resulted in their first encounter with the native Americans in which they fired upon. The colonists decided to look elsewhere after not finding suitable grounds to host their new colony but many feared that they angred the Indians for stealing their dead’s corn and of course… shooting at them. They backed out and moved the Mayflower with it’s uncomfortable, and exhausted human cargo to their original destination of Plymouth Harbor, where they were supposed to be in December. They spent three days scouting the land and finally agreed on a recently abandoned Native American site. Bad weather and a harsh winter kept the passengers on the Mayflower longer than expected and it surely aided in the deaths of almost half of the original voyagers. Stephen Hopkins and his entire family, managed to survive the first winter in the New World. Hopkins would be instrumental to the development of Plymouth. He helped in building the residences and the common houses and in the spring of 1621, he acted as host to their first Indian guest, Samoset, and invited him to stay with his family for the night. Because of his time with the settlers and the Indians in Jamestown, Hopkins became the assistant to the Governor and first formal meeting with the natives was held at his home. The town grew, thanks in part to Stephen adding ten of his own children to the mix, but he finally settled in opening his own ordinary. (An “ordinary” is another term for tavern or inn. They would offer drinks and food: sometimes games such as shuffleboard and sometimes lodging. He kept his tavern and his stubborn ways until his death in 1644. It was documented that he was reprimanded and fined for “serving men drink in his house on the Lord’s day”, and allowing his patrons to get drunk was also frowned upon and also price-gouging… yeah, it was a thing back then too. If you got caught charging more for your “wine, beer, strong waters or nutmegs at excessive rates, you would be fyned. At his death, he was considered perhaps not rich, but had done quite well for himself. He requested to be buried next to his wife and his remaining living children, he left his belongings in great detail. The 1600s was a time of great adventure for those who had the stomach for it, and Stephen Hopkins proved that he was quite an asset to the founding of this great nation and in part, we can thank him for introducing in a round-about way the acceptance of majority rule and a glimpse of what we would later called… democracy. Trivia: Anne Buras, one of the first two women to arrive in Jamestown in 1608 marries John Layden in the first wedding at Jamestown only two months later.
S1E9: Stories & People from Death Valley
Death Valley… the hottest and lowest place in America reaching temperatures of 100 degrees and more in the summer, while snow caps the mountains in other places. Welcome to just a few stories and just one of the people’s to come from Death Valley. S1E9: Stories & People from Death Valley
Click the play button below to listen to the episode:
Transcript:
Bag of Bones Podcast
Season One: Episode Nine Stories & People from Death Valley The California Gold Rush called out to many “would-be” minors who thought that all they needed was a little ambition and a sifter to become rich, to give up their homes, pack their lives and families in a wagon and cross the country for a new adventure. This group of 49ers, so named for the rush of wagon trains headed to California in 1849 in search of gold followed the trails set by those before them from the Oregon Trail until they came to the final opportunity for supplies on the outskirts of Salt Lake City. They knew that they had to cross the Sierra Nevada safely in order to reach their destination but it was impassible during the winter and here it was, already October. The group of 107 wagons heard of another option called Old Spanish Trail with a newly discovered “short cut” called Walker Pass. The lure to follow it was that someone said it to be accessible during the winter months and would shave off 500 miles from their trip. 20 or so wagons made the impetuous decision to follow this path to save time and effort and not have to wait out the winter- possibly missing out on all the gold that was being mined by the wheelbarrow full. What they didn’t know, was if wagon trains could make the trip; the only map they had was unreliable and couldn’t tell them about the hardships and trials that were about to come. After an additional four months, near starvation, exhaustion, the loss of men, supplies, horses, oxen and wagons, the majority of the travelers made it to San Clarita Valley. This group of brave men, women and children were forever named the Lost 49ers. Rumor has it that once they stood at the ridge of the Panamint mountain range one of the minors called back, “So long, Death Valley…” and the name stuck. Death Valley… the hottest and lowest place in America reaching temperatures of 100 degrees and more in the summer, while snow caps the mountains in other places. Welcome to just a few stories and just one of the people’s to come from Death Valley. Introduction The Paiute tribe, cousins of the Shoshone, have tamed the volatile extremes of Death Valley for centuries. They wandered in search for food, but were content to live off of seeds, roots and bulbs when game was scarce. The Paiute religion was made up of sorcery, bodily torture, Drug induced visions and dreams that the Paiute medicine men used to interpret and regulate the actions of the tribe. Bourke Lee in his book titled Death Valley has done a great deal of research on the people of the Paiute Nation. He says, quote: “The Great Basin Paiute lived surrounded by unearthly beings. They lived in the air above him and in the ground beneath him. They were in the trees, below the surface of the water, in caves and in niches in the rock, on the plains and high in the mountains.” They believed evil spirits would hide along the cliffs and mountains and would trip or push someone over the edge. It was never considered an accident or erosion of the path. The spirits caused it. Witches would lurk about in forests and along still passageways to distract the hunters and scare away the game. The witches in this instance are not from a spiritual realm or the animal kingdom, but are former elders of the Paiute people who …overstayed their welcome. One of the greatest sins of the people and a sure way to remain on earth to suffer and taunt others for all eternity is to become a burden to your tribe. Elders of a tribe are highly respected. But women, once they were beyond child bearing years and men were beyond their ability to help provide, they are encouraged to get away and force the hand of death or be doomed to an eternal life walking the earth as a witch having a horrifying appearance of snake skin covering their body. You heard correctly. Suicide was encouraged. If their presence slowed down the movements of the tribe or they were unable to fulfill their duties, they were left behind to starve. If they chose for themselves, they were rewarded after death. The springs had their own evil spirits as well. Yan-tups, They were said to come up from their deep hiding places in the ground and rest on the water, singing to lure small children close to them. They would seize the disobedient children and take them away to the deepest part of their underground caves. But the Yan-tups main purpose was to cause sickness. She would make the people sick to their stomach causing them to have trouble keeping their food down; bloated stomachs or even vomit blood until they died. Today, we know the cause- magnesium sulfate. While drinking the water from the spring in small doses, it can be beneficial but in large quantities it can be quite dangerous. The Paiutes interpreted that the people who got sick were either tricked by the water spirit or they were being punished, depending on the medicine man’s interpretation. Another water creature that preyed on the men, were Pa- O- Hass. They were half woman and half fish. They were very beautiful to look upon but had wickedness in their hearts. Lee says, “The Paiute knew that some of the spirits were mostly friendly, but others he suspected of luring him into danger. What sign was a warning? What good portent was a snare? The poor Paiute was ever in unhappy doubt. He had no confidence in the accuracy of his interpretations” The Paiutes lived a hard life. They were nomads and wandered following sources for food. They were hunters and gatherers and the land they called home was most unforgiving and yet they fought and struggled every day to maintain their way of life. Direct descendants of the Paiute and Shoshone Tribes still live in a reservation along the edge of Death Valley. They were an aggressive people not afraid to take life and collect scalps as they went scavenging for food. So death to them was not a big deal. They knew that they had one more hard and painful trial to face before they could find rest. They had to pass through an obstacle course of sorts to reach their heaven which was called Na-gun-tu-wip. When the native died, his bows and arrows were strapped to his body to use for his challenge in the afterworld, and he was wrapped in the skin of his horse with his possessions buried around him. But on the other side, in his spirit world, he had to face and conquer the obstacle course before his bones and soul could rest. Witches and spirits would bait him and test his courage along the deep caverns to the land of the dead. He would struggle along the damp and foul smelling sands, trip and climb over the huge tracks of monstrous animals that he could hear growling and taunting him along his way through the dark cave. Only the brave reached the bright and beautiful land. And he could see a glimpse of it at the preface of the final challenge. The daughters of Na-gun-tu-wip beckoned him forward. And once he passed the final test, he would suffer no more. The final test was a narrow rock bridge hovering over a bottomless chasm, with birds taunting and screaming, swooping and flapping around him… he must cross. Waiting for him on the other side was Na-gun-tu-wip, where there was plenty of food and no hard labor. There was no want, no pain and no sorrow. For those who pass on but are not brave enough to make the journey into the afterlife: those who turn away from their challenge and run screaming from the tortures within the caverns; those lost souls are doomed to walk the earth as cowardly ghosts, despised by gods and men. Terrifying all that see him approach. The stories of the ghosts of Death Valley are still told, and experienced today. The Queen City- Rhyolite It all started with two men and a mountain of ore that looked like a frog’s back. And suddenly the Bullfrog gold rush was on. Within two weeks the area burst with over 1,200 new residents and a town that built up around them adding another 1,300 residents less than a year later. The Queen City of Rhyolite boasted 2 churches, 50 saloons, 18 stores, 2 undertakers 8 doctors, 2 dentists, it’s own red light district, 6 barbers, a bath house, a stock exchange, a weekly newspaper and an opera. Thousands upon thousands of dollars were being mined from Bullfrog Mountain and its neighboring mine, Shoshone Montgomery. Charles M. Schwab (not THAT Schwab, This is the steel magnet, not the broker) purchased the Montgomery Mine and expanded the operation even further. He expanded the tunnels, hired more workers had water and electric brought in (from over 100 miles away). He eventually had three railway lines serving the Queen City. By 1907 the town’s population jumped to anywhere between 5-7,000 people. (It’s hard to keep track of folks in a mining town.) By this time, Rhyolite had sidewalks, and running water. Electric lights and telephone lines. A fire department, a public swimming pool, a two- story, eight-room school house, a hospital and up to three publications. But the feather in the town’s cap was the three story bank on the corner of Golden Street. It boasted an Italian marble staircase and imported stained glass. The building housed the brokerage offices, the post office as well as the bank. In 1906, a minor named Tom Kelley built a house entirely out of beer and liquor bottles (over 50,000 bottles were used and that building still stands today. The stock exchange sold shares to the Bullfrog Mine and closed out its first day with 60,000 shares changing hands. By the end of the second week, that number exploded to 750,000 shares. In 1907, shares were going for $23 per. But by 1908, the shares plummeted to only $3. And then, following an unfavorable engineers inspection of the mines, they dropped down to 75 cents. By 1909, the mine was considered “dry” and no new ore was produced dropping the shares down to 10 cents. And when the mines finally closed its doors in 1910, the shares were down to a paltry 4 cents and was operating at a loss for most of the year. March 14, 1911- the mines were closed and the shares dropped completely off the market. As you can imagine, the town declined rapidly. Businesses failed left and right as the minors left the town in search for work elsewhere. By 1910, there were less that 700 people living in the once glorious town called the Queen City. The banks were closed, most of the businesses closed their doors, the newspapers quit printing and finally gave up a year later. The post office closed in 1913. The last train left the train depot in Rhyolite in 1914. The lights were turned out and disconnected by 1916. It was all gone. And just like that, a city was built and abandoned in less than a decade. It’s a true ghost town now. Only a few buildings remain. Other mining towns that sprung up in the area scavenged the building materials from Rhyolite to create a new town. Whole buildings were moved and re-purposed in the neighboring town of Beatty. The Bottle House is still there as well as the infrastructure of the three story bank, but all of it’s elegant details are long gone. The ghost town has been used for movie sets and is still a popular destination for tourists. A bit of trivia- Steel mogul, and gold mine investor, Charles M. Schwab was considered a risk taker. And because of his frivolous spending and rash choices, when he died, he was living in a one-room apartment and $300,000 in debt. (His $7 million, 75 room home Riverside in NY, that was built by a French architect was razed to the ground and a block of apartment buildings were built. And his 44 room summer home on 1,000 acres is now part of St. Francis University in Pennsylvania, and if he put Italian marble stairs in a bank, I can only imagine what his homes would have looked like. Unfortunately, We will never see that piece of history.) The Haunted Amargosa Hotel and Opera House In 1907 there was a post office just along the edge of Death Valley. And once you have a post office you officially have a town on your hands. Not sure if this is where the “build it and they will come” had originated, but that seems to have been what happened for this sleepy little town of Death Valley Junction. In 1914, the Pacific Coast Borax Company brought a narrow railroad into town to be able to transport the borax from the mines to Ryan, CA. The village grew from a tent town to a booming mining town. As other mining opportunities were discovered, more permanent buildings and business began to develop. The Pacific Coast Borax Company invested in a Spanish Colonial designed, U- shaped plaza for their offices and dormitory for their workers. It also included a theatre, a store, a 23 room hotel and a dining room. And then a recreation hall was built near the complex to be used for dances, movies, town meeting and it was also used for town’s church and funeral services. The entire city’s population peaked at around 300 people and lasted only about 3- 5 years. When the Borax Company moved it’s headquarters elsewhere in 1927, the town quieted down serving as a tourist attraction. It wasn’t until 1967 when dancer, artist and visionary Marta Becket and her husband had a flat tire in Death Valley. They were taken to Death Valley Junction, and as they walked around the dilapidated buildings, Marta fell in love with the theatre. It was decided that she would re-open the theatre… and she did. Slowly, she brought it back to life and opened it to the public a year later. Sometimes she had an audience of twelve… sometimes none. So she started painting an audience on the walls so she would never dance alone. And she kept painting until the walls and ceiling were covered. She stayed there offering performances for the rest of her life. Her last performance was in Feb of 2012 when she released her life’s work over to a non-profit art sanctuary. She was then 82 years old. The hotel and theatre are still open and welcoming guests, and while you may not be able to view one of Ms. Becket’s original performances, her art work and theatre are open for tours, but there are also many other guests that may grab your attention… or your feet… while you’re trying to sleep… in room 9 of the hotel. For the complex being around since the 1920’s there has been a lot of guests who have come to stay and decided not to leave. In the area that housed the dormitory, hospital and morgue that hadn’t been remodeled is referred to as Spooky Hollow because of all the unexplainable, strange things that happen down the long dark corridors. Rooms 32,24 and 9 claim to be the most haunted. Guests have noted a crying child in the middle of the night. A heavy, dark presence watching you, door knobs turning and showers turning on, when no one is there, footsteps running down the hallway, laughing and giggling, plus a high-pitched woman’s voice that stands out in a group of voices in the dining hall, plus shadows of people lurking around the edges of the rooms. And while I would love to visit this historic location- during the day, I’ll leave the information for the Amargosa Opera House in the show notes, just in case you’re interested too. And finally, one last story… A Backdrop for Murder Vandalism along the north side of the Death Valley Monument, led the Inyo County sheriff’s department, California Highway Patrol, and the National Park Service to raids in October of 1969 leading to the arrest of a group wanderers and one Charles Manson. About two dozen people were arrested for burning some heavy equipment and stealing vehicles. They had no idea the significance of the arrest and it wasn’t until later, that they realized the mass murder that Manson and his family were accused of. It was 1968 when Manson moved his family of followers out to a small mining ranch called Barker’s Ranch with the permission of then owner, Arlene Barker. Manson and his followers weren’t just hiding out, they were looking for a lost city rumored to be under Death Valley. They believed that they were to be beneficiaries of the race war and that Manson would be their leader. They were preparing for a nuclear attack from which Manson’s prophecy has told them they would be safe in the underground world. Once clan member Susan Atkins confessed to the killings to her bunkmate while in detention allowed police and investigators to put the puzzle pieces together to the Hinman murders, the Tate & LaBianca murders, as well as many other murders, vehicle theft and petty crimes that could now all be traced back to Charles Manson, his followers and their communal life in Death Valley. Trivia: The search for the Hidden City under Death Valley has been around since the stories of two explorers turned minors in 1931 and their tales of the deep, miles and miles of tunnels, stores of gold artifacts, giant mummies and “natural” green, glowing light. Thus ends our visit to the legends of Death Valley this trip. There are many more to be found in this beautiful and harsh terrain, plus the location itself is amazing story all on it’s own.
S1E8: Campfire Stories
History is made up of stories. Long before the printing press, stories were handed down through families, through cultures… around campfires.
As the stories become older and older and are altered slightly or grow more grand with each telling, the line between fact and fiction gets blurred as they are passed through history. The stories presented to you today are said to come from true life. Based in fact and if that is so, they are a terrifying link to our history and it’s culture. Are you brave enough to entertain the stories passed down to make your hair stand on end? Fact or fiction… I leave that for you to decide… S1E8: Campfire Stories
Click the play button below to listen to the episode:
Transcript
Bag of Bones Podcast
Season One: Episode Eight Released: October 2020 October is the month that we give ourselves the permission to tolerate just a little bit more scare into our life. We are willing to watch a scary movie, or dabble in bloody make-up, brave a seance and …engage in scary stories. History is made up of stories. Long before the printing press, stories were handed down through families, through cultures… around campfires. As the stories become older and older and are altered slightly or grow more grand with each telling, the line between fact and fiction gets blurred as they are passed through history. The stories presented to you today are said to come from true life. Based in fact and if that is so, they are a terrifying link to our history and it’s culture. Are you brave enough to entertain the stories passed down to make your hair stand on end? Fact or fiction… I leave that for you to decide… Intro The BooHag The slaves that were brought to the low country in the 1500s came from all over Africa. The many tribes were placed together and each was introduced to another people and their knowledge. The Gullah/Geechee culture was created from the descendants of the original slaves and they literally steeped a culture of their own. The Gullah people developed their own language, traditions, rituals, cuisine, music… all derived from their African roots. And stories… they shared their stories. Today hundreds of thousands of the Gullah people live along the coast from Florida to North Carolina. You can see their craft, taste their unique food and hear the blend of the Southern words and African phrases and dialect and they are more than happy to share the warnings of their ancestors… like from those of the BooHag. The BooHag is sometimes considered a powerful witch that can be called upon to curse some one. The Boohag will “ride” the victim until she is discovered and stopped or the victim has gone mad or too weary from lack of sleep or even death depending on the strength of the voodoo that placed the curse. Sometimes the BooHag closer resembles a vampire-like creature that sucks the air from your lungs instead of blood from your veins. She is able to slip into any skin and walk among the people but can only use the skin until it expires and then must find someone else to breathe for her. Whether she is brought to you by a curse or seeks you out on her own, she can enter your home through the tiniest crack or keyhole, but is more drawn to an open window. It is believed in the Gullah culture that the color blue is a powerful color to keep away the demons, spirits and haints so much so that you’ll see that the trim around the windows and the doors, even the porches are painted blue to repel the harmful creatures of the underworld. She comes at night and hovers over the body or presses down on your chest and draws in your breath making you feel tired and weak the next day. You fall into a sleep paralysis that you are aware of your surroundings, may even be able to see the BooHag but are unable to move or stop her. Or she can enter your body and drain the night’s life from you and you’ll know she was there because you’ll feel as if you’ve been beaten and your bones ache and you are as weary as if you had walked for hundreds of miles. Some have woken with scratch marks and reoccurring nightmares or the curse plagues them to insanity She comes out at night and her having no skin of her own, she is a blood red muscle mass and yet so thin you can see her bright blue veins and organs. If you see her she will steal your voice so you aren’t able to scream out. The BooHag will perish if she is between skins when the sun comes up, so the only way to defeat her is to take advantage of her weakness. She is a curious creature and must keep count of everything in the room. One chair. One, two lamps, One, two, three, four pairs of shoes…. Knowing that she must count, and that in order to destroy her, she must be caught by the dawn. So the Gullah people would have a broom or sieve in their bedrooms for just such an occasion. Virginia Hamilton says in her book, Her Stories: African American Folktales, Fairytales and True Tales- quote- “The Boohag will stop to count every straw in a broom, every hole in a sieve, and as many needles as can be placed in the cork of a bottle. By the time she’s finished, dawn will break to stop her wickedness. For she dare not be seen by the light of day.” The BooHag is still a powerful tale of warning to live a good life so as not to be cursed and the Gullah folk today are willing to sell you a bundle of fresh, potent parsley as repellant or decorative whisk broom to protect your night’s slumber -but just to be safe, you might want to close those windows or paint your porch a lovely sky blue. Skinwalkers Wolves and coyotes in the Navajo culture are regarded as helpers, workers, teachers even… but not friends. In the Southwest, as the tribes moved deeper into the area, they believed that the wild dogs were symbolic to witches. A sign of danger, warning… potential disaster. To this day, it is believed that the Skinwalkers still roam about searching for souls to possess. Stories are passed down of dog-like creatures peering into windows, standing ominously only yards away, seen but not overtly so. Wolves having amazing supernatural speed- being able to keep up with vehicles or even shooting a wolf and watching it turn back into human form before dying. Skinwalker. A word that rarely muttered outloud among the Navajo and even when it is brought up, it tempered with reverence. Not something to be taken lightly. Smelling a strong foul odors, red eyes glowing in the distance, scratching noises… all these were considered signs that a Skinwalker was near or that danger was imminent. The tales of coyotes and wolves are told around the campfires not only for entertainment or to thrill their attentive audience, but have also been used for generations as moral instruction. The knowledge of the connection between wolves and witches is a dangerous one and in the wrong hands, can be deadly. Witches according to this legend, are those who intend to do evil to others. They are considered having close contact with death and are always looking for dark souls to induct into their den. Therefore, when someone displays characteristics outside of the Navajo culture such as greed, uncontrollable sexual appetites, rage and murder, it is believed that they must be under the influence of witchcraft. The deeper they follow the dog-like creature down this path of aggression, acquisition, competition and other dominant predatory hunting behaviors, the more dark powers they will gain. The more they shift from human to a skin-walker. There is a crossroads where a person must choose to go forward harnessing the powers of good… or evil. They absorb the powers of the animal kingdom and even transform completely to carry out their task. They become more powerful the more they call on the darkness and soon, it is no longer something they can control. These creatures are considered strong, powerful, shape-shifiting witches that are constantly searching for those ready to follow their path down the dark road or the next victim to ensure their survival. For they must hunt or be in fear of perishing themselves. They feed on random victims, but they thrive from those who are feeding a black heart. They can gain access when you make eye contact, making them capable of taking over your thoughts, words, actions even possessing your body. Once they use your body for a crime, they know that it’s just a matter of time that they can claim you. So if you are feeling eyes on you or sensing any of the other clues that a skinwalker may be near, then perhaps you should check your guilt. You may think you have gotten away with something but they know… and they will be looking for you. La Llorona A beautiful, young widow named Maria fell in love with a rich man. The rich man wanted to marry her, but did not want to be a father as Maria already had two sons from her first marriage. At first she denied him. She loved him deeply, but couldn’t bare to leave her sons behind. The man pursued her but made himself clear that he wanted only her. Maria lost her job and had no way to feed her family and emplored the rich man to reconsider. He denied her pleas. Maria made the fateful decision and took her boys to a bridge. She stabbed them in the heart and tossed their bodies into the river below. When she showed up at the door of her beloved and tells him what she has done to prove her love to him, he was so repulsed at the sight of her blood soaked clothes that he slammed the door in her face telling her never to return. Maria ran back to the water’s edge to try and save her children but it was too late. She took her own life there on the banks of the river and when she woke at the gates of heaven, she was told that she was not allowed to enter without her children. So she wanders… she cries and calls out to her slain children along the riverbank, searching. Forever searching. Her story, the one of La Llorona, the Crying Woman has been traced back to the ancient Aztec people and carried along through Hispanic legend folklore ever since. Though the stories vary from culture to culture, making the Crying woman either a saint or a sinner. Either driven to committing the horrific crime of taking away her children’s life for their sake, or that she was unfeeling and only seeks the attention of men, the hauntings and the warnings remain the same. In the Hispanic legend, she is often seen in either white or black dress walking along side the Rio Grande calling out “Donde estan mis hijos?” (ee-hose). Meaning where are my children? She is a symbol of pain and suffering caused by selfishness. Dogs howl when she is nearby and she is heard crying and wailing along the riverbanks and near Crybaby bridges looking for drown children. She had mostly been seen or heard in New Mexico & Texas but as the Mexican and Spanish cultures move inward, deaths are attributed to her anywhere a child drowning has occurred. Hispanic and Latin parents warn their children about walking near the water after dark. If La Lloroa sees them, she may mistake them for her children and take them away. Anyone can hear her wails … and stories of this happening are many, but she can only be seen by a person who is about to die. Her presence and whispers of death are the basis of many filicide cases throughout history and in recent days. A bit of Trivia: In 2002, in Pilar New Mexico, Bernadine Flores claimed to have been called by La Llorna just before she drown her two children and herself in the Rio Grande. Only a few days before shooting the pivotal scene for the movie The Cry ( a movie about the mythical La Laorna) they cast and crew discover that they are on the exact ground of the Flores murder/suicide. To tame the legend a park was built in Las Cruces, NM called La Llora Park. It boasts beautiful scenery, happy playgrounds, hiking trails and more. And while it is visited by many, it is built along the Rio Grande… and recommend to leave the park before dark. To this day, it is said that La Llorna still walks the earth looking for her missing children attempting to redeem her crimes and enter into heaven, but her selfish and jealous side causes her to call out to others to join her in her pain. Walking Sam These days you may have heard of Slenderman and may think that he is just the fictional creation of Eric Knudson in 2009… but the idea of shadow people and whispers on the wind that bring about darkness or even death goes back to the beginning. The Native American’s reluctantly tell of an ancient tribe that was living in the woods when a winter storm hit them. They were caught off guard and were therefore not prepared to fight off the natural elements. They ran out of food and began to whither away. The blood in their veins ran slow and thick, as their organs shrunk from lack of nutrients. The hair that didn’t fall out, became long and stringy, their skin taunt and tough. Their nails grew hard and sharp as they scratched away at trees for some kind of nourishment. Their voices turned hoarse and shrill. Their skin clung to their bones as they slowly starved. One night, they followed the sounds of whistling to a neighboring village. The starving people could not hold back. They tore into the unsuspecting tribe, ripping the flesh from their bones, satisfying their hunger. Their terrifying screams could be heard through the darkness to villages for miles. There were those, mere shadows of who they once were who tried to resist, but the need to survive outweighed their moral compass. They ate until their bellies were swollen with the flesh of beings that they once resembled. They were so hungry that even licked the blood from the soil that spilled from their victims leaving no trace that humans ever lived there. So that even today, if a person disappears by being lured by a Stick Indian, nothing is ever found. The night creature devours every single thing. The Stick Indians now lure lone victims to them by whistling or animal sounds hoping that you will follow the sound. The legend says that if they are able to lure you into the woods, they can paralyze you, hypnotize you or drive you mad… if you survive. And after dark, the Native Indians do no allow whistling of any kind for fear of the Stick Indians. While this story is frightening as it is, there’s more… There is one who stands alone and has taken the tale of the Stick Indians to another level. He is known as Walking Sam. He is far more malevolent, far more wicked… far more terrifying. His sole purpose is to seek out those he can convince to take their own life. Many have seen him lurking in the shadows wearing a tall hat. He is slender and no matter how far away he appears you can hear his whispers as if he were right next to you. Or worse, he gets in your head and stays with you until he has fixed your mind on your death. He whispers that you are not worthy of life. He tells those who give him audience that they are better off dead. He is said to have the ghosts of his victims dangling from his arms, keeping them as trophies, always with him. Always searching for more. His method of choice is hanging and is said to prepare a noose leaving it dangling on a tree for his victims. His greatest achievement is to keep his presence a secret, the mere speaking of his name causes fear among those who know his story so he is free to prey upon the susceptible. He targets youth who are more open to his words and is relentless in his methods. In 2015, there were 103 suicide attempts attributed to the presence of Walking Sam. Whether you believe or chalk it up to folklore, many teen lives have been lost in his name. So many, in fact, it has triggered suicide prevention programs to combat the belief of Walking Sam. America was built on stories. We all have stories. But when the voices of the past conjure up tales of horror and death, warnings and premonitions, we can always just chalk them up to stories… cant’ we?
S1E7: The Universal Monsters
If you love the modern day horror genre themes, you have the Big Six to thank for that. Thanks to Universal Studios taking a chance on terrifying the very people who paid them to entertain them, paid off in a big way! S1E7: The Universal Monsters
Released October 2020
Click the arrow to listen here: 
Transcript
The Universal Studio’s Monsters
Bag of Bones Podcast Season 1: Episode 6 October 2020 If you love anything about the horror genre in movies, you have the Big Six to thank for that. Dracula Frankenstein The Wolf Man The Mummy The Bride of Frankenstein And The Creature from the Black Lagoon Universal Studios made these creatures a house hold name and giving actors like Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney and Boris Karloff a creepy place in our hearts, it spawned an entire new generation of film lovers. Intro In 1923, a very young Universal Studios created and led by the motion picture patriarch,Carl Laemmele offered up the thriller Hunchback of Notre Dame featuring popular character actor, Lon Chaney. The film boasted lavish sets, an amazing cast and cutting edge filming effects. The movie grossed over three million dollars and Universal got a glimpse of the amount of money people would be willing to pay to be frightened. In 1922, the novel by Bram Stoker, Dracula had been filmed without permission and the film Nosferatu was sued for plagiarism and copyright infringement by Stoker’s wife. She won and all the prints of the foreign silent film were ordered to be destroyed. (Now we know that didn’t happen… I personally have watched this version and it was a far cry from the romanticized image that we are familiar with today, but actually more in line with the author’s original creation.) Universal knew they wanted that story, so they went about things in the correct manner and won the rights, legally. They of course wanted Lon Chaney to take the lead role, he unfortunately passed away from throat cancer only a few months prior. Believe it or not, the studio looked every where but at Bela Lugosi, who, by the way was already playing the role in the Broadway version and ended up touring with the troupe. The tour just happened to be in L.A. when Universal was searching for their Dracula. Lugosi tried again and again to get the part, but the director, just didn’t want to give him a chance. It wasn’t until Lugosi agreed to do the part for a ridiculously low pay, that the studio decided to bring him on. Dracula and Lugosi were a HUGE box office success! Released in February of 1931 at the Roxy Theatre in NY the theatre was sold out for the first two weeks. The publicity department placed fainting audience members strategically to ensure continued headlines. It was Bela Lugosi we have to thank for the Dracula we know today. His version opened the door to the thick, almost always imitated accent. The elegant, sophisticated, gentlemanly manner and the subtleties of fear that you know are there, but just can’t quite grasp where or why. And while the world recognizes Bela Lugosi as THE Dracula of Draculas- Of all the vampire movies to come from Universal, Lugosi only donned the costume two times on film. For Dracula, the original film of 1931 and then again in 1947 for Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein. The other “Draculas” were played by Lon Chaney, Jr and John Carradine. (Side note: I’m sure the Carradine name might sound familiar to many of you. You would be correct at assuming this John Carradine, is in fact, was the patriarch of the eight son, acting legacy.) Interesting piece of Trivia: all the things Dracula is known for, the fangs, the widow’s peak, bite marks… none of those things showed up in the 1931 version. Lugosi admits to painting on the widow’s peak in future appearances, but he actually wore minimal make-up for the original. His piercing stare, by the way was not created with contacts but with small pen lights pointed at his eyes while filming. And yes- I know you’ll want me to bring this up because everyone wants this brought up- Bela Lugosi WAS buried in one of his Dracula costumes, however, it was not HIS wishes. It was decided for him by his son and his ex-wife number four Lilian Arch. After his death, the son- also a Bela Lugosi, attempted to sell another of the capes at auction asking for over 1.2 million dollars. He did not get the amount and was strongly encouraged to donate the item to a movie museum. Frankenstein. The 1931 film classic released only nine months after Dracula is still considered one of the top fifty BEST in the horror genre and one of the most iconic in the history of film, and that is in part, is thanks to the creative make-up of Jack P. Pierce The process to turn character actor Boris Karloff into the green-faced bolt-sporting monster took four hours each day of filming and the entire ensemble added an additional forty-eight pounds for Karloff to have to tote around. The Frankenstein movie script was based on the stage play version by Peggy Webling which of course was based on the 1818 novel by Mary Shelly. Cinematic history was made with this film because of the lighting special effects, the make-up and set design but it was the ability of Karloff’s portrayal of what was originally supposed to be a killing machine into an innocent and confused creature thrust into an unknown world that makes this monster story stand out. So well embodied by Karloff, it solicits empathy from the audience that sets him apart from the monster dynasty. And also causes the continued debate even today, (keeping the movie timeless) “Who is the REAL monster? The one who has been created or his creator?” Anxious to cash in on the popularity of the horror film, sequels for Dracula and the Frankenstein monster were already in the works. And not slowing down in the search for new ways to illicit fear, Universal introduced The Mummy starring Boris Karloff as Imhotep in 1932. It was a time when movie studios could produce new movies every thirty to forty-five days. The Mummy was an original script based on the opening of King Tut’s Tomb in 1922 and the curses that were associated with the event (another subject still discussed these days!). Karloff, by this time used to sitting in the make-up chair, found that this character doubled in time as his Frankenstein make-up. Eight hours to put on and two to get back off. The full, complete make-up work of the Mummy are really only seen a few times and the rest only partial make-up was used. Karloff focused on his monster’s humanistic qualities of loneliness and lost love instead of killing for the sake of killing. The 1940s movie The Mummy’s Hand was a spin-off of the Mummy not so much a sequel and was actually made up of recycled footage from the Mummy so much so that Karloff’s character is clearly seen but he is not credited as being in the movie at all. This makes The Mummy, the only one of the Big Six to not have a trail of sequels in its wake. As far as the Big Six is concerned and rounding out our Boris Karloff features, The Bride of Frankenstein comes next in 1935. I’m honestly not sure how she became one of the Big Six, I guess they needed female representation, but as far as icons go, she’s definitely up there. This movie could have been just one of the many Frankenstein monster sequels but this one can stand on it’s own. It was in the back of the minds of the creators from the very beginning, and this script is actually considered a continuation from the Mary Shelly novel, being one of the subplots. Which explains why it may have a slightly better quality script than the many that followed. It paid off by becoming one of the greats earning over two million dollars at the box office. The New York Times described it as quote “… a grotesque, gruesome tale which, of it’s kind, is swell.” Boris Karloff’s genius is revived once again as the monster, the make-up, repeated by Jack Pierce upgrading it to reflect the past struggles and injuries creating a continuous timeline, but this time the monster speaks. The audience was anxious for this very moment… that Karloff fought against. He felt that the monster shouldn’t have a vocabulary (and looking back, it is almost laughable) Karloff’s foresight had been for all the right reasons, but was, of course was veto’d. Karloff said publicly, quote “My argument was that if the monster had any impact or charm, it was because he was inarticulate…” end quote They kept his speech to forty-four different words, and Karloff was still able to endear his creature to the audience. His performance in this movie is lauded almost as much as the original and considered the “best sequel of all time.” This film, brings back Colin Clive as the excitable Doctor Frankenstein. Director James Whale insisted on his original players and even adjusted the filming to accommodate Clive’s broken leg (which is why he is viewed sitting in so many scenes and his escalating alcohol abuse- Trivia- Boris Karloff broke his hip during the shooting as well and he toughed through all of his scenes, not getting his hip professionally set until the movie’s wrap. Which brings us to the she-monster played by Elsa Lanchester. She is also seen in the movie’s prologue (in some versions) as the author Mary Shelley. The visual of the Bride was a co-creation by director James Whale and Make-up artist Jack Pierce. She was based on the Egyptian princess Nefretitti. Her hair was built out on a wire cage and she had to be fitted into her dress and bandages with the assistance of several dressers. And for all of her iconic recognition, her character gets to claim only three minutes of screen-time Commercial Moving along to 1941 with The Wolf Man. Now over ten years in to the monster making game, Universal had it down to a science. With almost forty horror films, made up of sequels and expanding their horror palette, Universal Pictures was at the top of the horror movie mountain. And that even included the 1936 British Ban on Horror films. So when the The Wolf Man came along as a huge success, following the Universal Magic, it was no surprise. With an original script created from stories of folklore and myth and Lon Chaney, Jr leading the cast, they knew they were down for another win. This was actually the second werewolf movie by Universal. The first, Werewolf of London in 1935 starring Henry Hull, was considered successful, but it was the 1941 version that became the iconic vision of the werewolf that we still conjure up today. And as with Dracula, many of the werewolf idioms that we are familiar with such as becoming a werewolf through a bite, transformation under a full moon, killing the beast requiring a silver bullet- don’t show up until later sequels. Also, the idea that werewolves are immortal came up in a later wolf- movie, just to be able to keep the sequels rolling! While looking back on this movie with today’s eyes, you can see all the slips and technical faux-pas but back in the day- it was on the cutting edge of special effects. The original Wolf Man doesn’t show a full transformation but does show the last few minutes and there’s also a pretty nifty furry foot transformation. The make-up was layered and then filmed and the process was repeated for ten hours to get the few minutes we see on screen. But the lap-dissolve technique was refined in The Wolf Man and perfected in it’s many sequels. Trivia bit: Lon Chaney, Jr (cashing in on his famous father’s name was actually born Creighton) was the only one of the Universal monsters who played his character for every appearance in the 1940s and 50s. The Wolf Man was released in theaters in December of 1941 only three days after the attack on Pearl Harbor but still managed to be one of the top grossing films of 1942. Closing out the Big Six, we begin to see the shift in Monsterland with the release of The Creature from the Black Lagoon in 1954. The entertainment industry is beginning to embrace the sci-fi trend that will eventually launch future classics like Tarantula, The Mole People and the Deadly Mantis. The Creature is the first film that combines science fiction aspects and the docu-realism that makes an audience member wonder, even if for just a moment, that something like this could actually happen. Even going so far as to give the audience an authoritative narration of evolution and the theory of the half man, half fish. Interestingly enough, the original script was developed from a rumor that someone had found a specimen of half man/half fish swimming in the Amazon. Again, looking back, we see the blunders of a man wearing a rubber suit, but the director Jack Arnold uses the fear of the unknown to make this movie a home run in the horror genre. He’s quoted as saying, “it plays upon a basic fear that people have about what might be lurking below the surface of any body of water. It's the fear of the unknown. I decided to exploit this fear as much as possible." It took two men to pull off the creature for the film. Ben Chapman did the filming for the land scenes and Ricou Browning took the underwater scenes having to hold his breath for up to four minutes at a time to get the right shot! Trivia: Browning was the only actor to portray the underwater monster in all of the Creature movies. Want more trivia… It took twenty years for the two men who played both sides of Creature to finally meet at a convention. The movie was released in 1954 as one of the first 3D films created by Universal (It Came from Outer Space was actually the first released a year prior) and grossed over a million dollars at the box office for only seventy nine minutes of screen time. The Big Six- these creatures are known for putting monsters on the map. To round out this historical group of icons though, it’s only fair to also include: The Invisible Man released in 1933 based on the H.G. Wells book, put actor Claude Reins on the stars map with his first American performance of the witty and sadistic Dr. Jack Griffin, and is remembered by once again, state of the art special effects of it’s time. The Phantom of the Opera which was originally made in 1925, staring Lon Chaney the silent version and again staring Claude Reins and Nelson Eddy in 1943, being the first horror film in color. The Hunchback of Notre Dame, which is often crowned Universal’s first monster- released in 1923 as mentioned at the top of this episode. The sets for this movie lasted for many years and can be seen in many other movies including the The Wolf Man which by the way, in case you’ve been taking notes, means that both father and son appeared on the same set almost a quarter of a century apart. ... And finally Jekyll and Hyde- which, by the way was actually the first. The very first monster film by a very baby Universal, released in 1913 starring King Baggot, and was also the first to use the lap-dissolve special effect technique for the shots of human to monster transformation. While the stories and novels of things that go bump in the night have been around for decades,Universal harnessed it, and processed it, brought it to our theatres and living rooms, making horror it what it is today. New generations that are enjoying the next round of re-makes and sequels may not realize where these frighting images came from and the classics themselves might still stir up a shiver or two but the art form of creating the horror movie monster and it’s legacy is found at the feet of Universal Studios. The Phantom of the Opera thrilled audiences in 1925, with Lon Chaney again taking the lead role. The Phantom, Erik, in this version is the closest to the actual author’s rendition. In the original novel, he was born a grotesque creature with thin strips of hair covering his head and deep hollow eyes. And it was because of his appearance that he was “doomed” to live in the catacombs beneath the opera house. It wasn’t until later versions the story changed and made it that his face was scarred with acid. It was originally released as a silent film but dubbed over in 1930 as a talkie, but not using Chaney’s voice because he died of throat cancer by the time the re-release. The film grossed over two million and they new they were on a roll. Not wasting any time, the Studio was on the look-out for their next horror film.
S1E6: The Deadly Price of Beauty
S1E6: The Deadly Price of Beauty
Released October 2020
Listen right here by clicking the Play button
Or choose one of these other great podcast platforms to listen!
Transcript
The Bag of Bones Podcast
Season One Episode 6 The Deadly Price of Beauty October 2020 Cosmetics and beauty rituals can be traced back to Biblical times. The Egyptians were known for their severe black-rimmed eyes and startling red lips. The 1700s French and English brought us the pale, gaunt faces with bright cheeks and lips worn by the aristocratic class And in the young Americas, the harsh white painted face was replaced with a more powdery natural look but still keeping the appearance of smooth, pale skin with softer pink cheeks. For no one wanted to be accused of manual labor or having to spend too much time in the sun. But if these women (& men) would have known of the toxic properties they were putting directly on their skin, would it have changed the face of beauty? If they had known that the thick white paste they smeared on the face and shoulders was made with lead and that the rouge for their cheeks was laced with mercury- leading to many of the ailments of the aristocracy of that time… Would they have seen the error of their ways and let go of their perception of beauty? I think not… Introduction With the Europeans making their home in the new America, fashions saw a change. While it’s not until we look back at the practices of the day are we able to piece together the cause for the day to day maladies and even death were in part due to their daily beauty regiments. Even today we take our cue of what is in style and what is not from celebrities and influencers. It was not so different in the days gone by. Long hair, short hair. Heavy make-up, light make-up, full- voluptuous figures, thin, frail fragile frames. No matter what is considered in Vogue, the masses will set aside our long term health to “fit in” with the fashion of today. These days we may roll our eyes and cringe at the beauty regiments of time gone by. We wouldn’t dream of putting lead based-products on our skin, would we? But then, It was the style and no one wanted to be considered “out of style.” So they took the risk, as it was the only way to achieve that white, almost translucent skin that was very much in style. The practice of slathering your skin in thick white lead-based pastes and creams and then dusting with powder, was not only the fashion but necessity. It was the method of hiding the skin blemishes of the time caused by small pox and other diseases. But they soon discovered that it could even hide the signs of aging. No matter what century you’re in, apparently no one wants to admit how old they really are. In the 1700s, women would want to look so pale that they even used blue pencils to trace their veins. The rouge they used for their cheeks and sometimes lips was made from cinnabar which contains mercury, or carmine which is the color you get after boiling and crushing beetles. The affects of these products caused hair loss, abdominal pain, dry skin, birth defects, skin rashes, nerve damage and eventually death. As the century went on, the heavy make-up went away, but the desire to have pale skin was still very popular. It was also considered a status even in the later centuries as those who didn’t have to work outside in the fields. Woman turned to products that could “erase” what they considered blemishes such as freckles, moles, sunspots… the popular fix-all product of the time? Arsenic. Oh sure, we know the deadly, damaging outcome of using arsenic today, and if they knew it back then, it was quietly swept under the rug or blatantly ignored as products of all kinds were released to the public proudly proclaiming the benefits of arsenic. These were the “safe” benefits, of course. Since the new trend was wearing less make-up, arsenic was able to brag about its properties being lightweight and the one product that would take away all of your skin woes. Advertisements proclaimed that arseinc wafers, lotions, tonics, creams and soaps could… assist with the removal of pimples, blackheads and freckles. It would eliminate dark circles, liver spots and wrinkles… quote “brightening and beautifying the face in a very short time making the skin clear, soft and velvety.” Now who wouldn’t want that? And it worked. The advertisements, for once, spoke true. However- Instead of “hiding” the blemishes, the harsh properties of the toxin destroyed red blood cells, leaving the skin smooth, pale and… paper thin. Besides, ‘just” death, who wouldn’t be willing to tolerate a little baldness, abdominal pains, and organ failure to get all the beauty benefits from arsenic. And what’s worse, just in case they had a glimmer of common sense and stopped using the product, every “symptom” that the arsenic products were quote-unquote curing would come back almost overnight as if on steroids along with instant death- Herein lies the rub-By injesting the poison in small doses on a regular basis helped them create an immunity but the moment they stopped it was as if all the past poison caught up to them- so it would prompt the user to keep… using. And it’s not that the women didn’t “know” necessarily… if they couldn’t afford the store-bought version of arsenic laced products, they made them at home by distilling arsenic from fly paper in water and purchasing rat poison to add to their lotions and powders. As the ideal of beauty shifted in the 1800s and painted faces were more associated with actors and uh… women of ill-repute, the trend for a more natural look started making its way across the nation. In the newly expanded America, women on the western front, barely wore make-up at all (endangering their lives in a million other ways at the time- but that’s for another episode), but the beauty trend was more natural. Pinching of the cheeks and biting the lips bringing blood to the surface for a pinkish tone, and in the cities, make-up was used, but rarely mentioned and never acknowledged. Thus the popular fallacy (still practiced today) of “I just woke up this way.” Hair color and cosmetics were available in stores but were purchased on the down-low and hidden in medicine containers and tins so no one would “suspect” that the lady of the house was using such vulgar tools of beauty. While the women were still nibbling on arsenic biscuits, and washing their faces with bleach based cleansers and smoothing in ammonia-based skin cream, that didn’t stop them from staining their eye lashes with soot mixed with oil or for thicker lashes, the bold would use the residue of nitric oxide mixed with lard. And for that “natural” blush, you guessed it mercury was still a favorite and we include copper as a popular “new” ingredient. How have we not killed off the female population with their beauty regiment thus far? I’m not really sure… But wait, we’re just getting to the good stuff with the discovery of radium. Commercial Crossing into the 1900s America held on to the soft feminine fresh look or the sickly, frail, corpse look for just a bit longer until the mold-breaking, fashion-setting flapper girl of the 1920s set beauty on it’s ear. Long hair was chopped off, dark, smokey eye make-up and dramatic lips were all the rage. The desire for a glowing complexion was in high demand and thanks to Marie Curie and her discovery of radium, that was not too far out of reach. For a high price, luckily, you could purchase any number of beauty products containing radium including soaps, creams and lotions. promising to “revitalize and energize the skin”. Even tooth paste got into the radium game with advertisements stating their toothpaste could “increase the defenses of teeth and gums.” “… gently polishes the dental enamel so it turns white and shiny…” Yeah, well… it also caused cancer. A wide spread rash of cancer and radiation sickness ending in death. So again, luckily, with his expensive creation process and path of death, this fad didn’t last too long. Moving on- in the age of scientific advances and new-fangled inventions why not see if those could cross over to the beauty industry! How about using x-ray machines to remove unwanted hair? Sure, it worked, long term exposure to the rays would make your hair fall out- but it also thickened your skin, burned or scarred and changed the pigment… Electrolysis was actually introduced in 1875, but didn’t become popular for hair removal (specifically unwanted eyelashes or scultping of the eyebrows.)until much later. It was painful, time consuming and not always permanent and not to mention, in the hands of the unexperienced, scarring. Around this time, the pendulum swung far in both directions, concerning eyebrows and eyelashes. From using mouse fur to create eyebrows to plucking them completely off and painting on new ones, the fashion trends for eyebrows changed from one decade to the next. And the search for thicker, fuller lashes is still a much sought-after commodity and easily acquired. But in the 1800s, women would glue hair to their eyelids, (which is not unfamiliar to us these days, but it was far more dangerous) they would coat their eyelashes with greasy pomades before bed, rising to swollen eyes that was to be expected so they were told to rinse them with milk… and if that sounds extreme, there were those in the 1890s that would actually SEW hair on to the eye lid… don’t worry, the skin was first numbed with cocaine… not a problem… In 1902 Charles Nessler (later known as Karl Nessler) patented a “A New or Improved Method and Means for the Manufacture of Artificial Eyebrows, Eyelashes and the Like.” No one really knows what the “artificial eyebrow method from the patent did, but- interesting note, Nessler went on to create the first permanent wave machine in 1909. Beauty practices then and even to some extent today are not consistent in their regulations and back then, not at all. So that in the years of the “traveling salesman” or the mercantile stores even to the expansion of the cosmetic counters of the modern age… people don’t really know what they are putting on their skin or even ingesting for the sake of beauty for that matter. And while we may look back and shake our heads at the choices men and woman made for vanity’s sake, we only have to look at the continuing trends throughout time to see that things haven’t changed very much. We may have changed up our choice of poisons, these days they are mostly man made and have a lot more syllables, but they are still there. You may be surprised that lead and mercury can still be found in cosmetics today and that our toxins of choice are more along the asbestos, formaldehyde, baby foreskin and paralyzing and nerve blocking toxins for the sake of youth-type. So try not to judge our ancestors too harshly, as we will come under the same scrutiny by our next generation of investigators of creepy history. So now I ask you… what’s in your cosmetic collection?
S1E5: The First True Crime Novel
The life and death of the beautiful Mary Rogers the "cigar girl" who worked at a local men's club would inspire the curious and moody arm chair sleuth to pen what is considered the first true crime novel, creating a new genre and paving the way for others including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. S1E5: The First True Crime Novel
Released October 2020
Listen here, by clicking the Play button
Or find us on one of these great podcast platforms!
Transcript
The Bag of Bones Podcast
Season One Episode 5 The First True Crime Novel October 2020 Edgar Allan Poe, author of short stories and poetry has been both heavily criticized and highly praised for his volumes of work over his lifetime. And while his morbid subject matter is usually how he is remembered with such titles a The Raven, Tell-Tale Heart, The Fall in the House of Usher and The Murders in the Rue Morgue, his personal tales of woe, not only makes one understand the emotion and darkness of his words but almost feel the anguish of his poor choices and life’s outcome. “I think,” Poe wrote, “that I have already had my share of trouble for one so young.” This was documented almost fifteen years prior to his death. It’s true that he had a troubled youth and his rebelliousness of young adulthood cost him the security of a good career and the love of the only family he had really ever known. And even under these dark circumstances he forged the way for others to make a living (while perhaps not affluent) a living none the less from his writing. In his role as literary critic and editor was how he earned the bulk of his wages but was known to be especially harsh. While some praised him for his keen eye and deep insight into the art of writing and literary works others would say that he was quite blunt and downright cruel in his reviews. In his defense, he was known to say, quote “feeble puffery is not my forte. It will do these fellows good to hear the truth and stimulate them to worthier efforts.” End quote. He was equally hard on his own creations as well. Though the representations of his past may fail to show it. He was equal parts confident and insecure, as most writer’s find themselves to be. When he was feeling accomplished and appreciated for his hours of work either at the publication he worked for or while creating his own works of prose or fiction, he was the model employee, spending as many hours as it would take to improve, promote, edit and produce the magazine increasing their income and readers. But when he was not paid for his efforts or acknowledged for his works, is when his fragile ego would destroy his current world and he would slip into drunken rages and his words would be written in venomous ink writing vicious letters causing him to lose many jobs, and friendships. “…the human thirst for self-torment” he would say in acknowledgement about his uncontrollable outbursts. This roller-coaster of glory and self-sabotage would carry him through all the days of his life. But it was during a window of self-improvement that brings this story to light and changes the course of fiction forever. Introduction Poe was enjoying some acclaim for his recent short story The Murders in the Rue Morgue which was printed in the publication, The Graham’s Lady’s and Gentleman’s Magazine in which he was the editor. Here, he introduced the character of detective C. Auguste Dupin. In the story, using Paris as the backdrop, Dupin uses his powers of observation and deductive reasoning to solve the case of two murdered women, while being told through the eyes of his nameless companion. In the world of fiction, this story is considered the first in the modern detective genre where the reader follows along in the detectives own time while solving the crime. Dupin is the predecessor to famed Sherlock Holmes. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would say, quote, “Poe is the master of all… to him must be ascribed the monstrous progeny of writers on the detection of crime…” Shortly after the release of his detective story, a real-life story rocks the world and dominates the news publications. It is the murder of a young, beautiful girl by the name of Mary Rogers of New York in the summer of 1841. She had reached the status of “local celebrity” from being the first cigar girl. A forerunner to the spokes model, so to speak. She was pretty and would stand there behind a counter and sell cigars to men. Mary Rogers became the reason why men would choose John Anderson’s Tobacco Emporium over the many others in the busy and bustling city of New York. Her likeness would appear in the advertisements and on flyers and in reference to long flowery romantic poetry. She was known as the “Beautiful Cigar Girl”. On July 25th, Mary Rogers disappeared and her floating, lifeless body reappeared on the 28th in the Hudson River, in Hoboken, NJ. The body had finger depressions on the throat, in addition to a strip of fabric that was torn from the hem of her dress was tied around her neck ensuring strangulation. Her face had been beaten and initial reports attest to her being “violated”. Which was later attributed to an abortion gone wrong. The murder of the Beautiful Cigar Girl” received national attention and every newspaper clammered to have the newest bits on information concerning the case, real or fabricated. It’s also worth mentioning, that this particular case became the catalyst that “changed the face of newspaper reporting forever.” In the book by Daniel Stashower he mentioned, quote, “The drama of Mary Rogers would be one of the earliest, most significant murder cases to play out in the pages of the American press laying the groundwork for every “crime of the century” to follow.” End quote. THis particular case, in order for each publishing house, newspaper or magazine to out do the other, the etiquette of the rules of print were thrown out the window. Reporters turned to the most graphic and scandalous scenes to throw above the fold for the attention of readers. (And on a personal note, it has been a continual slippery slope ever since. You can’t put the cap back on the bottle and today, nothing… nothing is left to the imagination.) At the first hint of a “break in the case” newspapers rushed to print. The police were pulled in every direction and speculation was abound. Enter: Edgar Allan Poe. He decided to take on the case of Mary Rogers in his own way. Disgusted with the way the case was being handled and convinced that his detective character Dupin could do better, he decided to take the entire fiasco to Paris. Fictionally, of course. Edgar Allan Poe created the serial story The Mystery of Marie Roget. He studied the facts, right along with the police, made his own conclusions and created a “fictional” murder case from the actual murder case. This had never been done before. Even though he changed the names and the locations, he was very upfront with his audience that he was paralling the two stories. That Marie was the French version of Mary in every way. Some of his story includes actual quotes from the American newspapers. Poe has written, ”under the pretense of showing how Dupin ... unravelled the mystery of Marie's assassination, I, in fact, enter into a very rigorous analysis of the real tragedy in New York,” What makes this so unique, is that he was sluething right along with the NY detectives. Through the eyes of fiction Poe, or rather his top notch detective Dupin would conduct his research and write his book as if he were solving the murder of Mary Rogers, even to the point of calling out if not a valid suspect, but the actual murderer. “THe death of a beautiful woman,” Poe would write, “is unquestionably the most poetical topic in the world.” With this story catching headlines across the nation, the iron was hot for him to sell his idea to the leading publications. He was turned down (probably due to his past history of temper tantrums with them) by two major magazine publications but eventually it was taken on by The Ladies’ Companion magazine. A publication that Poe loathed, but as mentioned before, burned many a bridge by this point, and he desperately wanted to sell this story. He claimed that the Ladies Companion was ridiculous for its quote “ill- taste and humbuggery.” (Side note: I don’t know if that’s really a vital piece of the story but who would pass up the opportunity to say the word humbuggery if they got the chance?) He sold the story and it was to be presented in three sections, delivered over three months. This would not only increase the anticipation of his readers, but allow him to work through the case himself. THis story would push his own writing and detective skills to the edge. He was testing himself, pushing himself the way he insisted other writers improve their craft. Even though his first detective mystery, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, received praise by his peers he scoffed at their being so easily impressed saying, quote “Where is the ingenuity of unravelling a web which you yourself the author have woven for the express purpose of unraveling? The reader is made to confound the ingenuity of the ( SUH- POZ-A- TI- SHUS) supposititious Dupin with that of the writer of the story.” End quote. Poe was upping the stakes in his own game. As a writer myself, I think the entire web-creation of a well thought out mystery is a skill and not to be dismissed, but to Poe, it was… in modern vernacular, “a cop out.” He believed that there was no great skill in presenting a solution to a mystery of the author’s own devising. “A real-life detective had no pre-ordained solution to guide his investigations.” End quote. He released the Mystery or Marie Roget Part One in November of 1842 and Part 2 in December. He had part three all set and ready to go and then, only days prior to its scheduled release, new evidence surfaced in the real-life story of Mary Rogers. Poe went back in and and adjusted his version to accommodate the new findings. The third and final act of his detective drama was released in February of 1843. Side note: In 1845 he did a complete reprint of the story as a whole with a few minor adjustments to support his verdict as if Detective Dupin knew those details all along. So, you’ll probably ask if he got the answer right. Did he, Poe as Detective Dupin solve the mystery of the death of Mary Rogers and in turn the fictional Marie Roget? We don’t know. The death of Mary Rogers is still considered unsolved to this day. And even in Poe’s closing, he leaves it cleverly open-ended to interpretation. While the abortion would have guaranteed her death, the strangulation hastened it. He uses quotation marks to name and yet not-name the culprit and reading further hints at other parties that may or may not have been involved. So, It is also believed that he knew more than what he revealed with his quote from the story, “Nothing was omitted in Marie Roget but what I omitted myself…” he continues in his statement with, “but for the sake of relatives, this is a topic on which I must not speak further.” And to the actual cause of her death, which if you recall was attributed to a botched abortion was also written in a way to evoke interpretation. Was it a mistake of a medical procedure making it an accidental death? Or was it murder when the procedure is handled by the inept hands of an abortionist? Poe gives only ambiguity and possibility. Did he know the real answer? He tells the world he did, but was it truth based on Mary or fiction based on Marie? At the time, this book got mixed reviews and Poe was not to achieve full acclaim until he released his work The Raven. But looking back to see his brilliant spin on sentence structure and his use of descriptive words and visual concepts its easy to see how his skill as a writer has impacted authors from that day forward. Many giving him the credit of their inspiration. Oscar Wilde for example referred to him as “this marvelous lord of rhythmic expression.: Poe died penniless and alone in a hospital in October 1849 at the young age of 40. The cause of his death is still discussed at lenghth even today. It always saddens me that his true genius was not appreciated in the time of his life but like so many other artists is only recognized after death. Love him or hate him, he has changed the world of writing and in turn for readers and these days, he is celebrated for paving such a path. I leave you with this final Quote “I have perseveringly struggled, against a thousand difficulties, and have succeeded, although not in making money, still in attaining a position in the world of Letters, of which under the circumstances, I have no reason to be ashamed.”
|
AuthorAuthor and Host Elizabeth Bourgeret takes you behind the curtain and down the rabbit hole in some of the most interesting stories in American history! 
Use our Coupon Code for 10% off your order!
BAGOFBONES ArchivesCategories |
RSS Feed