July 10, 2018 • 9 mins
The Cabinet holds tales of wonder and impossibility today. Meet a man with a very peculiar vision of the future, and then take a house call from a renowned physician. Neither tale will end the way you expect.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history
is an open book, all of these amazing tales right
there on display, just waiting for us to explore. Welcome
to the Cabinet of Curiosities. Dr Thornwell Jacobs was a
(00:30):
key figure in the life of Atlanta's Oglethorpe University. The
school actually predates him, dating all the way back to
eighteen thirty five, but the Civil War managed to close
the place down for a number of years. It reopened
in eighteen seventy, but went bankrupt just two years later.
For a very long while after that, it seemed the
(00:50):
old college would never come back. But that's where Dr
Jacobs entered the picture. In en he managed to get
a new charter for the school, and two years after
that it opened its doors to the public. It was
a fitting accomplishment for Jacobs too, since his own grandfather
had served on the faculty their years before poetic even
(01:13):
Jacobs was an interesting man. For example, shortly after the
school reopened, he dreamed up the unusual plan to travel
to England and bring back the body of the man
who founded Georgia and who the university was named after,
British General James Oglethorpe. It turns out that after establishing
the colony in what is now Savannah, the general returned
(01:34):
to England, where he passed away in sevent Jacobs had
this dream of burying Oglethorpe beneath the university, so he
traveled to England to locate the general's tomb, which had
been lost to time. Like a real life Indiana Jones,
Jacobs found it and after digging down into it, he
(01:55):
had himself lowered in just to verify his discovery. After that,
he put in his request to have the body moved
back across the Atlantic, and it was declined. Jacob certainly
had a fascination with buried objects. When Ringling Brothers donated
several dead elephants to the university, they first dissected them
(02:16):
and then had them buried under the wilton Er Library.
But that wasn't the weirdest thing Jacob's oversaw. No. His
crowning achievement came a few years earlier, in the late
nineteen thirties, when he started plans for something that had
never been done before. Troubled by the lack of well
preserved artifacts from human history, he set about making sure
(02:39):
future generations wouldn't feel the same about our modern world.
In the basement of Phoebe Hearst Hall, where an old
swimming pool once sat, he began construction of a large chamber.
His design called for a space measuring twenty ft long
by ten feet wide, which would sit on a foundation
of solid granite bedrock. Then the floor and walls were
(03:02):
covered in plates of enameled porcelain and waterproofed with pitch.
It was a massive project with exacting specifications, but that's
because Jacobs had a very particular vision. When it was
completed three years later, the room was filled with a
huge assortment of objects that represented the world of nineteen
(03:23):
forties America. There are micro film records of more than
eight hundred books on every subject known to mankind, voice
recordings of prominent individuals, including Stalin Hitler and a champion
hog collar. I'll let you make your assumptions about that one.
They put hundreds of other objects in there as well,
(03:45):
a television, various pieces of furniture, sewing machines, artwork, even seeds,
but nothing precious or theft worthy. In fact, jewelry wasn't allowed,
or precious metals of any kind. It was a collection
of easy, attainable, everyday objects. And then it was sealed.
(04:05):
They had a massive stainless steel door set into the
wall of the chamber, closed it tight, and then well,
did it shut. Jacobs called it the Crypt of Civilization,
but you and I would probably think of it as
a time capsule. It was, in fact the first of
its kind. Did it work well? Nearly eighty years later?
(04:29):
No one knows. Everything could have rusted into piles of
scrap by now, or it all might be as pristine
as the day they sealed it. We'll never know, though,
because this time capsule isn't one of those one year
projects or something designed to be opened on a significant
national or local anniversary. No, Jacobs had a much bigger
(04:50):
target in mind when he had it built. The Crypt
of Civilization won't be opened for another six thousand, nine years.
I hope your patient. It seems we've got a lot
of waiting to do. Dr Silas Weir Mitchell was an
(05:22):
American physician with a career that straddled the Civil War
and the decades beyond it. During his lifetime, he was
known for his focus on what they called nervous disease,
what we would refer to today as neurological disorders. Basically,
if it had to do with the nervous system, he
took care of it. But that's not all he pioneered.
(05:44):
We've all bumped into his discoveries and ideas in our
modern world. The concept known as the phantom limb. That
was a Mitchell discovery. Headaches being caused by excessive eyestrain,
that was Mitchell too. The idea of bed rest yep.
Mitchell again. He had an intuitive understanding of medicine that
(06:04):
transcended the textbook and moved right into everyday life, and
people respected him for that. But one of his most
memorable encounters happened after office hours. As the story goes,
Dr Mitchell had come home after a long day of work,
had himself a bit of food, and then sat down
in front of the fire to read before bed. It
(06:24):
was one of those quiet winter nights where the snow
is falling in every sound seems to be muffled by it.
I imagine. It didn't take long for his exhaustion to
catch up with him, and before long he was sleeping
right there in his chair. It was his doorbell that
ended the brief nap, though Dr Mitchell found his way
to the door and opened it to find a young
(06:46):
girl standing in the snow. She was thin and pale,
and had nothing warmer on than a well worn shawl
pulled around her narrow shoulders. Without pausing, the girl motioned
towards the street. My mother, she said, she's not well.
Can you come and help her? Please? Before Mitchell could answer,
(07:07):
the girl was off, heading down the steps of his
house and into the snow covered streets of Philadelphia. Mitchell
grabbed his coat and bag and quickly followed her. Maybe
it was the excitement of the moment, or perhaps it
was just the chill of the winter air, but all
of a sudden he no longer felt tired. She led
(07:27):
him to a worn down tenement house, up a set
of stairs, and then through the maze like hallways to
her own door. Inside, Mitchell was greeted by a familiar face,
the girl's mother, it turned out, was a former housekeeper
of his, although she was in much worse health than
he had ever seen her before. Feeling a sense of urgency,
(07:48):
Mitchell got to work Soon enough. He determined that the
woman was suffering from pneumonia and found the necessary medication
to administer. After rounding the critical corner, Mitchell sat back
with relief, lad for a break, but also glad for
the girl's quick timing. So he said as much, letting
the woman know her daughter most likely saved her life.
(08:12):
That can't be, she replied, My daughter died more than
a month ago. Shocked, Mitchell described the girl who had
led him there and the tattered shawl she had worn
against the winter chill. The woman nodded in recognition. Yes,
she replied, that sounds like my daughter. But her things
(08:33):
are all put away over there in that cupboard, and
she pointed to a small cabinet in the room. Mitchell
approached it and then slowly opened the door. Inside he
found a small pair of shoes and a perfectly folded shawl.
The fabric was very worn, with carefully mended holes and
(08:53):
faded colors, but it was also dry and warm. Confused,
the good doctor quickly looked in the other rooms of
the home, lancing around for the familiar face. Try as
he might, he wasn't able to find her, the mysterious
girl who had guided him to the woman's rescue. That night,
(09:14):
It was no longer in the house. She was gone.
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.
(09:36):
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 learn all about it over at the
World of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.
Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history
is an open book, all of these amazing tales right
there on display, just waiting for us to explore. Welcome
to the Cabinet of Curiosities. Dr Thornwell Jacobs was a
(00:30):
key figure in the life of Atlanta's Oglethorpe University. The
school actually predates him, dating all the way back to
eighteen thirty five, but the Civil War managed to close
the place down for a number of years. It reopened
in eighteen seventy, but went bankrupt just two years later.
For a very long while after that, it seemed the
(00:50):
old college would never come back. But that's where Dr
Jacobs entered the picture. In en he managed to get
a new charter for the school, and two years after
that it opened its doors to the public. It was
a fitting accomplishment for Jacobs too, since his own grandfather
had served on the faculty their years before poetic even
(01:13):
Jacobs was an interesting man. For example, shortly after the
school reopened, he dreamed up the unusual plan to travel
to England and bring back the body of the man
who founded Georgia and who the university was named after,
British General James Oglethorpe. It turns out that after establishing
the colony in what is now Savannah, the general returned
(01:34):
to England, where he passed away in sevent Jacobs had
this dream of burying Oglethorpe beneath the university, so he
traveled to England to locate the general's tomb, which had
been lost to time. Like a real life Indiana Jones,
Jacobs found it and after digging down into it, he
(01:55):
had himself lowered in just to verify his discovery. After that,
he put in his request to have the body moved
back across the Atlantic, and it was declined. Jacob certainly
had a fascination with buried objects. When Ringling Brothers donated
several dead elephants to the university, they first dissected them
(02:16):
and then had them buried under the wilton Er Library.
But that wasn't the weirdest thing Jacob's oversaw. No. His
crowning achievement came a few years earlier, in the late
nineteen thirties, when he started plans for something that had
never been done before. Troubled by the lack of well
preserved artifacts from human history, he set about making sure
(02:39):
future generations wouldn't feel the same about our modern world.
In the basement of Phoebe Hearst Hall, where an old
swimming pool once sat, he began construction of a large chamber.
His design called for a space measuring twenty ft long
by ten feet wide, which would sit on a foundation
of solid granite bedrock. Then the floor and walls were
(03:02):
covered in plates of enameled porcelain and waterproofed with pitch.
It was a massive project with exacting specifications, but that's
because Jacobs had a very particular vision. When it was
completed three years later, the room was filled with a
huge assortment of objects that represented the world of nineteen
(03:23):
forties America. There are micro film records of more than
eight hundred books on every subject known to mankind, voice
recordings of prominent individuals, including Stalin Hitler and a champion
hog collar. I'll let you make your assumptions about that one.
They put hundreds of other objects in there as well,
(03:45):
a television, various pieces of furniture, sewing machines, artwork, even seeds,
but nothing precious or theft worthy. In fact, jewelry wasn't allowed,
or precious metals of any kind. It was a collection
of easy, attainable, everyday objects. And then it was sealed.
(04:05):
They had a massive stainless steel door set into the
wall of the chamber, closed it tight, and then well,
did it shut. Jacobs called it the Crypt of Civilization,
but you and I would probably think of it as
a time capsule. It was, in fact the first of
its kind. Did it work well? Nearly eighty years later?
(04:29):
No one knows. Everything could have rusted into piles of
scrap by now, or it all might be as pristine
as the day they sealed it. We'll never know, though,
because this time capsule isn't one of those one year
projects or something designed to be opened on a significant
national or local anniversary. No, Jacobs had a much bigger
(04:50):
target in mind when he had it built. The Crypt
of Civilization won't be opened for another six thousand, nine years.
I hope your patient. It seems we've got a lot
of waiting to do. Dr Silas Weir Mitchell was an
(05:22):
American physician with a career that straddled the Civil War
and the decades beyond it. During his lifetime, he was
known for his focus on what they called nervous disease,
what we would refer to today as neurological disorders. Basically,
if it had to do with the nervous system, he
took care of it. But that's not all he pioneered.
(05:44):
We've all bumped into his discoveries and ideas in our
modern world. The concept known as the phantom limb. That
was a Mitchell discovery. Headaches being caused by excessive eyestrain,
that was Mitchell too. The idea of bed rest yep.
Mitchell again. He had an intuitive understanding of medicine that
(06:04):
transcended the textbook and moved right into everyday life, and
people respected him for that. But one of his most
memorable encounters happened after office hours. As the story goes,
Dr Mitchell had come home after a long day of work,
had himself a bit of food, and then sat down
in front of the fire to read before bed. It
(06:24):
was one of those quiet winter nights where the snow
is falling in every sound seems to be muffled by it.
I imagine. It didn't take long for his exhaustion to
catch up with him, and before long he was sleeping
right there in his chair. It was his doorbell that
ended the brief nap, though Dr Mitchell found his way
to the door and opened it to find a young
(06:46):
girl standing in the snow. She was thin and pale,
and had nothing warmer on than a well worn shawl
pulled around her narrow shoulders. Without pausing, the girl motioned
towards the street. My mother, she said, she's not well.
Can you come and help her? Please? Before Mitchell could answer,
(07:07):
the girl was off, heading down the steps of his
house and into the snow covered streets of Philadelphia. Mitchell
grabbed his coat and bag and quickly followed her. Maybe
it was the excitement of the moment, or perhaps it
was just the chill of the winter air, but all
of a sudden he no longer felt tired. She led
(07:27):
him to a worn down tenement house, up a set
of stairs, and then through the maze like hallways to
her own door. Inside, Mitchell was greeted by a familiar face,
the girl's mother, it turned out, was a former housekeeper
of his, although she was in much worse health than
he had ever seen her before. Feeling a sense of urgency,
(07:48):
Mitchell got to work Soon enough. He determined that the
woman was suffering from pneumonia and found the necessary medication
to administer. After rounding the critical corner, Mitchell sat back
with relief, lad for a break, but also glad for
the girl's quick timing. So he said as much, letting
the woman know her daughter most likely saved her life.
(08:12):
That can't be, she replied, My daughter died more than
a month ago. Shocked, Mitchell described the girl who had
led him there and the tattered shawl she had worn
against the winter chill. The woman nodded in recognition. Yes,
she replied, that sounds like my daughter. But her things
(08:33):
are all put away over there in that cupboard, and
she pointed to a small cabinet in the room. Mitchell
approached it and then slowly opened the door. Inside he
found a small pair of shoes and a perfectly folded shawl.
The fabric was very worn, with carefully mended holes and
(08:53):
faded colors, but it was also dry and warm. Confused,
the good doctor quickly looked in the other rooms of
the home, lancing around for the familiar face. Try as
he might, he wasn't able to find her, the mysterious
girl who had guided him to the woman's rescue. That night,
(09:14):
It was no longer in the house. She was gone.
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.
(09:36):
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 learn all about it over at the
World of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.
Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities News
Host
Aaron Mahnke
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