May 7, 2020 • 10 mins
People have a way of surprising us, and that's why its common to find their stories in the Cabinet. Today's tour will leave you looking for answers.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to Aaron Menkey's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
I Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is
full of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book,
all of these amazing tales are right there on display,
just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet
(00:28):
of Curiosities. Every year, millions of people are reported missing
around the world. Some only disappear for a short time
and come home safely, while others may never come home
at all. For their loved ones, the time they are
(00:48):
away is harrowing and stressful. Just ask John Perry. In
sixteen sixty, Perry was working as a man servant for
a gentleman named William Harrison. Harrison and his wife lived
in Chipping Campton, a town in England just a few
miles south of Shakespeare's birthplace, Stratford upon Avon. Harrison was
an older fellow around seventy or so, and he liked
(01:10):
to go on long walks to a neighboring village. One
day in August of that year, Harrison set off on
one of his two mile walks into town. Hours passed by,
and when it was time for him to come home.
Harrison was nowhere to be found. This was very unlike him,
so his wife asked Mr. Perry to go look for
her husband, and Perry did as he was told, venturing
(01:33):
out to search for the man when he also failed
to return to the house. Several hours later, Mrs Harrison
asked her own son, Edward, to search for them both.
Eventually Edward found John Perry, but Mr Harrison was still missing.
The two men kept walking until they reached the town
of Ebrington. Mr Harrison had been on his way there
to speak with a tenant of his when he disappeared.
(01:54):
According to that tenant, his landlord had indeed stopped by
the not before, but hadn't been seen since. Edward and
John continued their search around the other towns where the
elder Harrison might have conducted business, but no one had
seen Hyde nor hair of him in days. The two
men eventually called it quits and started on their journey
back home. Not long after, though, they got word of
(02:16):
some items found along the road that had belonged to
mister Harrison. Those items were a bad sign too. A
bloody shirts and neck band had been recovered, as well
as a hat that had been cut with something sharp.
Based on the evidence, it appeared as though William Harrison
had been attacked, but there was nobody to be found.
(02:36):
John Perry suddenly became the prime suspect, as he had
been the last person to have seen William Harrison before
his disappearance, and Mr Perry didn't hold anything back. He
quickly confessed in knowing who had murdered his master. In fact,
it was his mother Joan and his brother Richard who
were the culprits. They had wanted the man's money, and
poor John Perry had gotten caught in the crossfires. No
(03:00):
matter how often they deny the claims, Perry was adamant
that his family was responsible for Mr Harrison's death and
had hidden the body by dumping it in a nearby
mill pond. Unfortunately, that accusation didn't hold up. Authorities dredged
the pond and came up empty. William Harrison's body was
still missing, and without a body, they couldn't be tried
(03:21):
for murder, but all the Perry's, including John, were charged
with premeditated robbery. During the trial, John came forward with
even more evidence of his family's misdeeds. He had been
the one who suggested they steal from his master in
the first place. His brother had also stolen a large
sum from Mr Harrison one year earlier, so they were
familiar with his home as well as his comings and goings.
(03:45):
In the end, the entire Perry family pled guilty, but
they were pardoned under a recent law meant to benefit
offenders of non murderous crimes. After a full year went
by without a sign of William Harrison's body, though, the
Perry's were brought back and tried for or his murder,
and this time their previous guilty pleas worked against them.
Now they had prior records and the jury was ready
(04:07):
to deliver a verdict one year in the making. A
short while later, all three of them were found guilty
of the murder of William Harrison and hanged for their crimes.
Everything was quiet for another year until sixteen sixty two,
that is, when a ship from Portugal docked in England,
and on board that ship was a man with a
wild story. He'd been taken from his hometown at knife
(04:30):
point by smugglers who had beaten him, stripped him of
his clothes, and sold him into slavery to the Ottoman Empire.
For almost two years he served a cruel master. But
when that master died, the man made his escape. He
stuck aboard a ship and made his way back home
to England. And who was that man? The missing Gentleman
(04:53):
William Harrison. During World War two, the Jewish people were
stripped of everything, their property, their identities, and in most cases,
(05:15):
their lives. Their homes were raided by Nazi forces and
whatever valuables they might have owned were confiscated. Family heirlooms, silverware, jewelry,
all of it was taken and stored away in German coffers.
Banks in German occupied territories were also subjected to having
their assets ceased, and much of the stolen loot was
stashed in the reichs Bank in Berlin. As the war
(05:38):
raged and certain areas grew less secure, some assets were
moved into the bank's branches throughout Germany, but by February
of the Nazi banking system was essentially no more. Bombings
had destroyed the main branches, as well as the printing
presses they used to make the money. When it became
clear that their gold reserves were at risk of being
lost or captured, the Nazis had it all shipped out
(06:01):
and stored in underground bunkers. The Allies may have been
closing in, but Germany still had an a stuff as
sleeve in the form of its seemingly endless supply of gold.
American and British forces knew that if they didn't repossess
all of it, Germany could keep the war going indefinitely,
or worse, try to start another war. Later in nineteen
(06:22):
forty one, the United States and Great Britain formed a
joint task force to locate the hidden Nazi assets. The
idea was to send everything to humanitarian organizations prepared to
reunite each item with its original owner. In early April
of nineteen forty five, General George Patton's Third Army had
crossed the Rhine River and marched straight through Germany to
the town of Murkers. It was a town that resided
(06:44):
almost dead center in the middle of the country, and
it was a hotbed for access activity. Once they've taken control,
Allied soldiers started interviewing displaced French persons who had been
captured and brought there to perform manual labor for the Nazis.
Two women who had been walking down the street were
stopped by MPs from the ninetieth Infantry. The soldiers asked
(07:06):
them what they knew. The women, it turns out, knew
quite a lot. They'd heard rumors about a large shipment
of gold recently sent out of Berlin. It had allegedly
been smuggled into a potassium mine right there in town.
This information lined up with what others in town had
already told the soldiers. The following day, the same two
French women were on their way to a nearby village.
(07:28):
After being stopped again, one of the women explained how
she was pregnant and on her way to visit a
midwife in the town. She and her companion were driven
back to Mrkers, but on the way, the driver noticed
a particular sight, an entrance to a mine. He asked
them about it, and they repeated their story from the
day before, how she and many other displaced persons had
(07:48):
been tasked with storying a massive shipment of Nazi gold inside,
and not just gold, but works of art as well.
This information worked its way up the chain of command.
A tank Italian was called in to secure the mind's entrance.
The soldiers stepped inside and took an elevator over two
thousand feet down. Once they reached the bottom, they were
(08:08):
surprised by over five hundred bags of German currency lining
the walls. But they kept walking the length of a
tunnel until they reached a steel door, the kind found
protecting most bank vaults. It was impenetrable. They phoned General Patton,
who ordered them to blast it open. All it took
was half a stick of dynamite to blow a hole
(08:29):
in the surrounding brick wall. Once inside, the men saw
what had been so well protected. Over seven thousand bags
of gold, bullion and paper currency million francs, as well
as mark's silver and platinum bars, and even gold fillings
that had been stolen from victims of the concentration camps,
and of course priceless works of art. Millions of dollars
(08:52):
in assets were recovered that day. Oddly enough, much of
it was brought right back to where it had all started,
the reichs Bunk. The Frankfurt branch had been commandeered by
the Allies to use as a storage facility while everything
was cataloged. Unfortunately, the records on the disbursement of the
gold disappeared shortly after the war, and it languished unclaimed
(09:13):
for decades, but then in a group of countries came
together to donate the remaining loot to a Nazi persecution
Relief fund, which would benefit Holocaust survivors and their families,
and in the process finally giving a fifty year old
debt a chance to be repaid. I hope you've enjoyed
(09:36):
today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for
free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show
by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created
by me Aaron Manky in partnership with how Stuff Works.
I make another award winning show called Lore, which is
a podcast, book series, and television show and you can
(09:59):
learn all about it. Were at the World of Lore
dot com and until next time, stay curious. Yeah h
Welcome to Aaron Menkey's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
I Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is
full of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book,
all of these amazing tales are right there on display,
just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet
(00:28):
of Curiosities. Every year, millions of people are reported missing
around the world. Some only disappear for a short time
and come home safely, while others may never come home
at all. For their loved ones, the time they are
(00:48):
away is harrowing and stressful. Just ask John Perry. In
sixteen sixty, Perry was working as a man servant for
a gentleman named William Harrison. Harrison and his wife lived
in Chipping Campton, a town in England just a few
miles south of Shakespeare's birthplace, Stratford upon Avon. Harrison was
an older fellow around seventy or so, and he liked
(01:10):
to go on long walks to a neighboring village. One
day in August of that year, Harrison set off on
one of his two mile walks into town. Hours passed by,
and when it was time for him to come home.
Harrison was nowhere to be found. This was very unlike him,
so his wife asked Mr. Perry to go look for
her husband, and Perry did as he was told, venturing
(01:33):
out to search for the man when he also failed
to return to the house. Several hours later, Mrs Harrison
asked her own son, Edward, to search for them both.
Eventually Edward found John Perry, but Mr Harrison was still missing.
The two men kept walking until they reached the town
of Ebrington. Mr Harrison had been on his way there
to speak with a tenant of his when he disappeared.
(01:54):
According to that tenant, his landlord had indeed stopped by
the not before, but hadn't been seen since. Edward and
John continued their search around the other towns where the
elder Harrison might have conducted business, but no one had
seen Hyde nor hair of him in days. The two
men eventually called it quits and started on their journey
back home. Not long after, though, they got word of
(02:16):
some items found along the road that had belonged to
mister Harrison. Those items were a bad sign too. A
bloody shirts and neck band had been recovered, as well
as a hat that had been cut with something sharp.
Based on the evidence, it appeared as though William Harrison
had been attacked, but there was nobody to be found.
(02:36):
John Perry suddenly became the prime suspect, as he had
been the last person to have seen William Harrison before
his disappearance, and Mr Perry didn't hold anything back. He
quickly confessed in knowing who had murdered his master. In fact,
it was his mother Joan and his brother Richard who
were the culprits. They had wanted the man's money, and
poor John Perry had gotten caught in the crossfires. No
(03:00):
matter how often they deny the claims, Perry was adamant
that his family was responsible for Mr Harrison's death and
had hidden the body by dumping it in a nearby
mill pond. Unfortunately, that accusation didn't hold up. Authorities dredged
the pond and came up empty. William Harrison's body was
still missing, and without a body, they couldn't be tried
(03:21):
for murder, but all the Perry's, including John, were charged
with premeditated robbery. During the trial, John came forward with
even more evidence of his family's misdeeds. He had been
the one who suggested they steal from his master in
the first place. His brother had also stolen a large
sum from Mr Harrison one year earlier, so they were
familiar with his home as well as his comings and goings.
(03:45):
In the end, the entire Perry family pled guilty, but
they were pardoned under a recent law meant to benefit
offenders of non murderous crimes. After a full year went
by without a sign of William Harrison's body, though, the
Perry's were brought back and tried for or his murder,
and this time their previous guilty pleas worked against them.
Now they had prior records and the jury was ready
(04:07):
to deliver a verdict one year in the making. A
short while later, all three of them were found guilty
of the murder of William Harrison and hanged for their crimes.
Everything was quiet for another year until sixteen sixty two,
that is, when a ship from Portugal docked in England,
and on board that ship was a man with a
wild story. He'd been taken from his hometown at knife
(04:30):
point by smugglers who had beaten him, stripped him of
his clothes, and sold him into slavery to the Ottoman Empire.
For almost two years he served a cruel master. But
when that master died, the man made his escape. He
stuck aboard a ship and made his way back home
to England. And who was that man? The missing Gentleman
(04:53):
William Harrison. During World War two, the Jewish people were
stripped of everything, their property, their identities, and in most cases,
(05:15):
their lives. Their homes were raided by Nazi forces and
whatever valuables they might have owned were confiscated. Family heirlooms, silverware, jewelry,
all of it was taken and stored away in German coffers.
Banks in German occupied territories were also subjected to having
their assets ceased, and much of the stolen loot was
stashed in the reichs Bank in Berlin. As the war
(05:38):
raged and certain areas grew less secure, some assets were
moved into the bank's branches throughout Germany, but by February
of the Nazi banking system was essentially no more. Bombings
had destroyed the main branches, as well as the printing
presses they used to make the money. When it became
clear that their gold reserves were at risk of being
lost or captured, the Nazis had it all shipped out
(06:01):
and stored in underground bunkers. The Allies may have been
closing in, but Germany still had an a stuff as
sleeve in the form of its seemingly endless supply of gold.
American and British forces knew that if they didn't repossess
all of it, Germany could keep the war going indefinitely,
or worse, try to start another war. Later in nineteen
(06:22):
forty one, the United States and Great Britain formed a
joint task force to locate the hidden Nazi assets. The
idea was to send everything to humanitarian organizations prepared to
reunite each item with its original owner. In early April
of nineteen forty five, General George Patton's Third Army had
crossed the Rhine River and marched straight through Germany to
the town of Murkers. It was a town that resided
(06:44):
almost dead center in the middle of the country, and
it was a hotbed for access activity. Once they've taken control,
Allied soldiers started interviewing displaced French persons who had been
captured and brought there to perform manual labor for the Nazis.
Two women who had been walking down the street were
stopped by MPs from the ninetieth Infantry. The soldiers asked
(07:06):
them what they knew. The women, it turns out, knew
quite a lot. They'd heard rumors about a large shipment
of gold recently sent out of Berlin. It had allegedly
been smuggled into a potassium mine right there in town.
This information lined up with what others in town had
already told the soldiers. The following day, the same two
French women were on their way to a nearby village.
(07:28):
After being stopped again, one of the women explained how
she was pregnant and on her way to visit a
midwife in the town. She and her companion were driven
back to Mrkers, but on the way, the driver noticed
a particular sight, an entrance to a mine. He asked
them about it, and they repeated their story from the
day before, how she and many other displaced persons had
(07:48):
been tasked with storying a massive shipment of Nazi gold inside,
and not just gold, but works of art as well.
This information worked its way up the chain of command.
A tank Italian was called in to secure the mind's entrance.
The soldiers stepped inside and took an elevator over two
thousand feet down. Once they reached the bottom, they were
(08:08):
surprised by over five hundred bags of German currency lining
the walls. But they kept walking the length of a
tunnel until they reached a steel door, the kind found
protecting most bank vaults. It was impenetrable. They phoned General Patton,
who ordered them to blast it open. All it took
was half a stick of dynamite to blow a hole
(08:29):
in the surrounding brick wall. Once inside, the men saw
what had been so well protected. Over seven thousand bags
of gold, bullion and paper currency million francs, as well
as mark's silver and platinum bars, and even gold fillings
that had been stolen from victims of the concentration camps,
and of course priceless works of art. Millions of dollars
(08:52):
in assets were recovered that day. Oddly enough, much of
it was brought right back to where it had all started,
the reichs Bunk. The Frankfurt branch had been commandeered by
the Allies to use as a storage facility while everything
was cataloged. Unfortunately, the records on the disbursement of the
gold disappeared shortly after the war, and it languished unclaimed
(09:13):
for decades, but then in a group of countries came
together to donate the remaining loot to a Nazi persecution
Relief fund, which would benefit Holocaust survivors and their families,
and in the process finally giving a fifty year old
debt a chance to be repaid. I hope you've enjoyed
(09:36):
today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for
free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show
by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created
by me Aaron Manky in partnership with how Stuff Works.
I make another award winning show called Lore, which is
a podcast, book series, and television show and you can
(09:59):
learn all about it. Were at the World of Lore
dot com and until next time, stay curious. Yeah h
Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities News
Host
Aaron Mahnke
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