August 20, 2020 • 9 mins
Two individuals. Two amazing stories. And even more incredible: both of them are true. You're sure to enjoy their addition to the Cabinet of Curiosities.
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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
(00:27):
of Curiosities. Some soldiers only feel at home on the battlefield.
They know peace when a weapon is in their hand
and pointed at their enemy. Those who make it out
of the military still carry a piece of it with
them forever. It's etched onto them like a tattoo. For William,
(00:52):
the battlefield was more than a home. It was everything.
He was born in Wiltshire, England, in six twenty and
couldn't wait to become soldier. At the age of just thirteen,
he enlisted and fought for King Charles the First. By
the time he turned twenty two, William had already become
a seasoned fighter. In October of sixteen forty two, the
(01:12):
young soldier joined fifteen thousand of his brothers to fight
in the first battle of the English Civil War, known
as the Battle of Edge Hill. The first day of
fighting left hundreds dead, and wounded. After a chilly night
of rest, both sides reconvened the next morning to continue
the fray. Unfortunately, nobody felt like fighting any longer. The
(01:33):
Battle of Edge Hill didn't bode well for the rest
of the Civil War, which ended almost a decade later
with King Charles's execution, Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell would rule
the new English Republic for the next eleven years. William,
now thirty one, retired to a peaceful life until Cromwell's
death in sixteen fifty eight. The age of the Republic
(01:54):
was now over, and Charles's son, Charles the Second, had
become king. Like his father. The new Charles led his
kingdom for almost thirty years. His passing in sixteen eighty five, however,
left the throne vacant, as he had not produced an
air during his reign. Instead, his brother James the Second
took his place. This put Parliament on edge. James was
(02:15):
a Roman Catholic, and with him as king, there was
a possibility of England rejoining with Rome. To prevent this
from happening, Parliament asked William the Third, the Dutch Prince
of Orange, to take the throne. He obliged, moving in
and forcefully taking England, Ireland and Scotland away from James.
But King James wasn't about to go down without a fight.
(02:37):
He planned an invasion of Ireland as a way to
reclaim what he felt was rightfully his. Meanwhile, William was ready.
He joined William of Orange's forces to take on the
former king. In March of sixteen eighty nine, King James
marched into Ireland with France's help, which kicked off the
Williamite War in Ireland. He managed to hold Ireland for
(02:57):
a short time through several key battles, hoping to spin
his victory into a takeover of England and Scotland as well,
but William of Orange's army was too much for James,
and William was there for all of it. For two
and a half years, the seventy two year old soldier
fought on behalf of the Republic and helped them win
the war. And then another age of peace broke out
(03:20):
and William retired again, but not for good. His services
would be required again in seventeen o nine, during the
War of the Spanish Succession. Spain and France were going
to unite, which would have threatened England's power. In what
would become his final and most important fight, William and
one hundred sixty one thousand other troops gathered on the
(03:41):
French border for the Battle of mal Paquet. He joined
up with the Royal Scots Regiment and fought alongside one
of the youngest participants he'd ever seen, the three week
old son of one Private McMain, who fought with his
baby on his back. The eighty nine year old Williams
valiant efforts helped Great Britain defeat France and stop the Union.
(04:02):
It seemed that the time had finally come for the
octogenarian to hang up his uniform for good. As thanks
for his service, William was made a sergeant and given
a comfortable pension of two crowns per week, not a
bad legacy for a man who literally spent his entire
life fighting in wars. But it didn't stop there. William
found love several years later. He married a much younger
(04:24):
woman when he was one hundred and three. Their time
together was short, though, as she passed away before him
in the early seventeen thirties. He wouldn't grieve for long, though.
The super soldier himself died not long after, at the
ripe old age of one eleven. William Hesslin had cheated
death for over one hundred years, but his time had come.
(04:45):
He might have had more love for the battlefield than most,
but no soldier can fight forever. Be careful what you
put out into the world. A careless statement can spell
(05:08):
disaster down the road. James was a humble shoemaker from
the town of Leamington in Warwickshire, England. He owned a
small shop in town and enjoyed a regular drink at
his local pub. Unfortunately, James suffered from two bad habits.
He liked to drink and he liked to gamble. The
problem was that he only gambled when he drank. On
(05:30):
the afternoon of September three, seventy three, James was in
the pub with a few of his drinking buddies. He'd
already had a few pints when he started bragging about
what a great athlete he was. He bet that he
could run from Leamington to Coventry and back again on
the same day. It would be a round trip of
forty miles, but James didn't care. He was ready to
prove himself for the Grand prize of one sovereign a
(05:53):
gold coin worth about one British pound. James headed out
toward Coventry, with three men from the pub following behind
him in a horse drawn cart. There was the unknown
man that he had made the bet with, as well
as a merchant named Barnum Wise and a photographer by
the name of Hammerson Burns. James seemed to be doing
pretty well for the first few miles. He was bright
(06:13):
and alert, showing no signs of slowing down, not bad
considering how drunk he had been when he started the contest.
But he was also egged on by the three men
behind him, who did their best to motivate him by
poking fun. Then, without warning, James tripped over something in
the road. He fell forward and shouted out. The men
got out of their cart to check on their friend,
(06:35):
but they couldn't see anything. James was gone. He hadn't
left an imprint in the dirt where he had landed,
because he had never landed in the first place. It
was as though he had evaporated instantly. Burns, Wise and
the unnamed third man searched the area for some time
before accepting that James was gone and gone for good.
(06:56):
They climbed into the carts and rode back the town,
unsure of what they were going to tell everyone. The
police heard their story, but they didn't buy it. Instead,
they arrested the men for James's disappearance and possible murder.
The trio were questioned again. The police conducted an investigation,
talking to character witnesses and other people in town, hoping
(07:16):
to find some kind of motivation for the killing. But
the authorities couldn't find anything, and because the men had
no prior records and were thought highly of in town,
the charges were dropped and the men were released. Sadly,
James Warson was never found, which makes sense seeing as
how he had never existed in the first place. He
was the main character of a short story written in
(07:39):
eight by author and journalist Ambrose Beers. Throughout Beers's seventy
two years on Earth, he produced almost two hundred fifty
short stories and over a thousand other works. It's fair
to say that he was prolific. He was also ahead
of his time, so to speak. Beers had fought for
the Union Army during the American Civil War fifty years
(08:01):
and many published works later. In nineteen thirteen, he took
a trip down through Louisiana in Texas on a tour
of old Civil War battlegrounds before anding up in Mexico.
While south of the border, Beers saw war once again
during the Mexican Revolution as part of Poncho Villa's army.
He didn't fight, though, he was merely an onlooker, watching
(08:21):
VIA's rebellion overcome state forces during the Battle of Tierra Blanca. Afterward,
he followed Villa for several months, eventually arriving in the
city of Chihuahua. It was during his stop there in
December of nineteen thirteen, when Beers wrote a letter to
a colleague back home, Blanche Partington. He ended his letter
with these words, as for me, I leave here tomorrow
(08:44):
for an unknown destination. It was the last thing he
ever wrote. Just like his character of James Warson Ambrose,
Beers disappeared and was never heard from again. Stories spread
throughout Mexico as to what might have happened to him,
but no one us the definitive answer. He simply vanished
into thin air. And if that's not a case of
(09:06):
foreshadowing coming true, I don't know what is. I hope
you've enjoyed 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
(09:28):
Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore,
which is a podcast, book series, and television show and
you can learn all about it over at the World
of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious. Yeah,
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
(00:27):
of Curiosities. Some soldiers only feel at home on the battlefield.
They know peace when a weapon is in their hand
and pointed at their enemy. Those who make it out
of the military still carry a piece of it with
them forever. It's etched onto them like a tattoo. For William,
(00:52):
the battlefield was more than a home. It was everything.
He was born in Wiltshire, England, in six twenty and
couldn't wait to become soldier. At the age of just thirteen,
he enlisted and fought for King Charles the First. By
the time he turned twenty two, William had already become
a seasoned fighter. In October of sixteen forty two, the
(01:12):
young soldier joined fifteen thousand of his brothers to fight
in the first battle of the English Civil War, known
as the Battle of Edge Hill. The first day of
fighting left hundreds dead, and wounded. After a chilly night
of rest, both sides reconvened the next morning to continue
the fray. Unfortunately, nobody felt like fighting any longer. The
(01:33):
Battle of Edge Hill didn't bode well for the rest
of the Civil War, which ended almost a decade later
with King Charles's execution, Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell would rule
the new English Republic for the next eleven years. William,
now thirty one, retired to a peaceful life until Cromwell's
death in sixteen fifty eight. The age of the Republic
(01:54):
was now over, and Charles's son, Charles the Second, had
become king. Like his father. The new Charles led his
kingdom for almost thirty years. His passing in sixteen eighty five, however,
left the throne vacant, as he had not produced an
air during his reign. Instead, his brother James the Second
took his place. This put Parliament on edge. James was
(02:15):
a Roman Catholic, and with him as king, there was
a possibility of England rejoining with Rome. To prevent this
from happening, Parliament asked William the Third, the Dutch Prince
of Orange, to take the throne. He obliged, moving in
and forcefully taking England, Ireland and Scotland away from James.
But King James wasn't about to go down without a fight.
(02:37):
He planned an invasion of Ireland as a way to
reclaim what he felt was rightfully his. Meanwhile, William was ready.
He joined William of Orange's forces to take on the
former king. In March of sixteen eighty nine, King James
marched into Ireland with France's help, which kicked off the
Williamite War in Ireland. He managed to hold Ireland for
(02:57):
a short time through several key battles, hoping to spin
his victory into a takeover of England and Scotland as well,
but William of Orange's army was too much for James,
and William was there for all of it. For two
and a half years, the seventy two year old soldier
fought on behalf of the Republic and helped them win
the war. And then another age of peace broke out
(03:20):
and William retired again, but not for good. His services
would be required again in seventeen o nine, during the
War of the Spanish Succession. Spain and France were going
to unite, which would have threatened England's power. In what
would become his final and most important fight, William and
one hundred sixty one thousand other troops gathered on the
(03:41):
French border for the Battle of mal Paquet. He joined
up with the Royal Scots Regiment and fought alongside one
of the youngest participants he'd ever seen, the three week
old son of one Private McMain, who fought with his
baby on his back. The eighty nine year old Williams
valiant efforts helped Great Britain defeat France and stop the Union.
(04:02):
It seemed that the time had finally come for the
octogenarian to hang up his uniform for good. As thanks
for his service, William was made a sergeant and given
a comfortable pension of two crowns per week, not a
bad legacy for a man who literally spent his entire
life fighting in wars. But it didn't stop there. William
found love several years later. He married a much younger
(04:24):
woman when he was one hundred and three. Their time
together was short, though, as she passed away before him
in the early seventeen thirties. He wouldn't grieve for long, though.
The super soldier himself died not long after, at the
ripe old age of one eleven. William Hesslin had cheated
death for over one hundred years, but his time had come.
(04:45):
He might have had more love for the battlefield than most,
but no soldier can fight forever. Be careful what you
put out into the world. A careless statement can spell
(05:08):
disaster down the road. James was a humble shoemaker from
the town of Leamington in Warwickshire, England. He owned a
small shop in town and enjoyed a regular drink at
his local pub. Unfortunately, James suffered from two bad habits.
He liked to drink and he liked to gamble. The
problem was that he only gambled when he drank. On
(05:30):
the afternoon of September three, seventy three, James was in
the pub with a few of his drinking buddies. He'd
already had a few pints when he started bragging about
what a great athlete he was. He bet that he
could run from Leamington to Coventry and back again on
the same day. It would be a round trip of
forty miles, but James didn't care. He was ready to
prove himself for the Grand prize of one sovereign a
(05:53):
gold coin worth about one British pound. James headed out
toward Coventry, with three men from the pub following behind
him in a horse drawn cart. There was the unknown
man that he had made the bet with, as well
as a merchant named Barnum Wise and a photographer by
the name of Hammerson Burns. James seemed to be doing
pretty well for the first few miles. He was bright
(06:13):
and alert, showing no signs of slowing down, not bad
considering how drunk he had been when he started the contest.
But he was also egged on by the three men
behind him, who did their best to motivate him by
poking fun. Then, without warning, James tripped over something in
the road. He fell forward and shouted out. The men
got out of their cart to check on their friend,
(06:35):
but they couldn't see anything. James was gone. He hadn't
left an imprint in the dirt where he had landed,
because he had never landed in the first place. It
was as though he had evaporated instantly. Burns, Wise and
the unnamed third man searched the area for some time
before accepting that James was gone and gone for good.
(06:56):
They climbed into the carts and rode back the town,
unsure of what they were going to tell everyone. The
police heard their story, but they didn't buy it. Instead,
they arrested the men for James's disappearance and possible murder.
The trio were questioned again. The police conducted an investigation,
talking to character witnesses and other people in town, hoping
(07:16):
to find some kind of motivation for the killing. But
the authorities couldn't find anything, and because the men had
no prior records and were thought highly of in town,
the charges were dropped and the men were released. Sadly,
James Warson was never found, which makes sense seeing as
how he had never existed in the first place. He
was the main character of a short story written in
(07:39):
eight by author and journalist Ambrose Beers. Throughout Beers's seventy
two years on Earth, he produced almost two hundred fifty
short stories and over a thousand other works. It's fair
to say that he was prolific. He was also ahead
of his time, so to speak. Beers had fought for
the Union Army during the American Civil War fifty years
(08:01):
and many published works later. In nineteen thirteen, he took
a trip down through Louisiana in Texas on a tour
of old Civil War battlegrounds before anding up in Mexico.
While south of the border, Beers saw war once again
during the Mexican Revolution as part of Poncho Villa's army.
He didn't fight, though, he was merely an onlooker, watching
(08:21):
VIA's rebellion overcome state forces during the Battle of Tierra Blanca. Afterward,
he followed Villa for several months, eventually arriving in the
city of Chihuahua. It was during his stop there in
December of nineteen thirteen, when Beers wrote a letter to
a colleague back home, Blanche Partington. He ended his letter
with these words, as for me, I leave here tomorrow
(08:44):
for an unknown destination. It was the last thing he
ever wrote. Just like his character of James Warson Ambrose,
Beers disappeared and was never heard from again. Stories spread
throughout Mexico as to what might have happened to him,
but no one us the definitive answer. He simply vanished
into thin air. And if that's not a case of
(09:06):
foreshadowing coming true, I don't know what is. I hope
you've enjoyed 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
(09:28):
Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore,
which is a podcast, book series, and television show and
you can learn all about it over at the World
of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious. Yeah,
Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities News
Host
Aaron Mahnke
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