October 1, 2019 • 10 mins
Today's tour through the Cabinet is all about dreams. Some people dream big, while others are haunted by theirs. Either way, you'll enjoy their stories.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
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 of Curiosities. Very few good decisions
(00:29):
are made when people are drunk, whether they're calling up
an old friend out of the blue or picking a
fight with someone who is much bigger, It's safe to
say that most actions performed under the influence of alcohol
are often followed by regret, unless you're Russell Arundel. Arundel
and his buddies had been drinking rum when they came
(00:49):
up with a brilliant idea, one that would put them
on the map literally. Aaron Dell was an American businessman
who also worked as a lobbyist for pet Sicola. He
had been traveling in Canada with some friends when he
came across a tiny island about three acres inside off
the coast of Nova Scotia. It was called Outer Bald
(01:10):
Tusket Island, and up until that point it had been
nothing more than a fishing camp. The nearby community of
Wedgeport on the mainland had become a popular spot for
tuna fishing thanks to an international tournament that had begun
back in the nineteen thirties. Businessmen and celebrities from all
over North America went there to participate, including Franklin Roosevelt
and Amelia Earhart. Aarondel had come to partake in a
(01:34):
few days of tuna fishing, and he did what many
wealthy capitalists do when they see something they want. He
offered to buy the place. The island's owners sold it
to him for the low low price of just seven
hundred and fifty dollars. All of a sudden, Arundel had
his very own patch of solid ground where he could
wait out his seasickness or grab a bite to eat
without having to row all the way back to the mainland.
(01:56):
He returned one year later with plans to build a
small house on the island, and he hired several locals
to do the work while he and some friends went
off fishing. One night, while waiting for the house to
be completed, he and his buddies went for drinks at
a fishing lodge in Wedgeports. They downed glass after glass
of rum, and as their inhibitions waned, their ambitions grew.
(02:18):
That's when Aaron Dell came up with what he believed
to be a great idea. He was now the king
of a new nation, one that would be separate from
its Canadian neighbor. He and his friends drafted a declaration
of independence, renaming the island Outer Baldonia. According to them,
it would only be populated by fishermen, who would have
the right to lie and be believed. Women were banned,
(02:40):
and in another predictably sexist move, they also made questioning, nagging, shaving,
and interruption illegal acts. The currency of this new land
was called the tunar, and all citizens who caught blue
fin tuna would be declared princes. In fact, Aarondell would
go on to mail over twenty letters to people that
he called acquaintances of caliber, naming them as princes. The
(03:03):
island's primary exports would only be empty beer and rum bottles.
Passports were issued, and at one time it boasted a
navy of seventy admirals commanding all manner of vessels, mostly
of the fishing variety. By all appearances, Outer Baldonia was
as Valida nation as any other, and it had all
been started over drinks at a bar. One year later,
(03:26):
in nineteen fifty, the principality of Outer Baldonia was listed
in the Washington, Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Directory, using Aaron
Dell's office phone number at the US Capitol as its
point of contact. Matt Making company Rand McNally even included
it on a map. For a time. Aaron Dell even
tried to have Outer Baldonia stamps issued, but couldn't get
(03:47):
the project off the ground. As the years went on,
Aaron dal stopped visiting his micro nation as frequently, and
it eventually faded into obscurity. In nineteen sixty seven, reporter
Nancy co interview him for a story about Outer Baldonia
that she was writing for Sports Illustrated. He told her
how President Truman's former vice president had asked to be
(04:08):
the Secretary of Treasury for his country, a nation without
money or assets. By the early seventeen hundreds, Arundel had
stopped visiting the island entirely, so he transferred ownership to
the Nova Scotia Bird Society. Today, the islands still exists,
but it's been converted into a bird sanctuary. Visitors are
welcome to stop by and even hunt during the right season.
(04:32):
Oh and the tuna fishing tournament has also returned after
a forty year hiatus. Participants who catch something aren't named
princes anymore, but they'll at least be able to grab
a drink with friends if they want to, just as
long as no one gets any wild ideas. Maria Martin
(05:00):
was born in Polstead, Suffolk, in the early eighteen hundreds.
She lived with her stepmother and her father, who worked
as a mole catcher. By the time she was twenty four,
she'd already had two children out of wedlock, something that
was pretty scandalous in her day. William, quarters older brother,
was one of the children's father's but William was the
(05:21):
one who fancied Maria. His reputation as a con man
and a womanizer preceded him wherever he went. Though He
once sold the pigs on his father's farm without telling
him and then pocketed all the money. His father settled
the dispute without need for police or courts, letting William
off the hook and teaching him absolutely nothing in the process.
(05:41):
Later on, the young William graduated from petty theft to fraud.
Upon being found out, he was exiled to London until
his family started to dwindle. His older brother Thomas died
after falling through some thin ice while trying to cross
a frozen pond. His father and his remaining brothers didn't
survive the next two years, leaving William and his mother
to run the family farm together, and all the while,
(06:03):
he and Maria Martin carried on a secret love affair.
In eighteen twenty seven, she gave birth to her third child,
this time by William. The arrival of the baby changed
something in quarter, though, and he insisted that he and
Maria get married. Even after the child died a short
while later, he still wanted her to be his wife
now because of her previous children, the church would never
(06:25):
allow them to get married in a typical ceremony. Instead,
William suggested Maria meet him at a local site known
as the Red Barn, a house with a red clay
tiled roof that had become sort of a landmark. From
there they would travel to Ipswich and Elope. A few
days before they were set to leave, William came to
Maria's home and warned her that the local constable was
(06:47):
on his way to arrest her. He urged her to
sneak off to the Red barn as soon as possible.
William would take her belongings ahead first, while she disguised
herself in men's clothing and snuck out before the authorities arrived.
She'd meet him in the barn and the two of
them would leave for Ipswich. The barn was close by
Maria's home. The journey wouldn't take long on foot, and
(07:08):
once she and William were married, her legal problems would
finally be behind her. She left right behind him and
the two began their future together. William returned to town
sometime after the wedding, except Maria wasn't with him. He
said he couldn't risk to bring her along without angering
her family, but they said they didn't care. They wanted
to see her. Unable to fend off her loved ones
(07:31):
any longer, William returned to his wife, but they never
came back from there. He wrote letters to her family
about what they were up to and that they had
moved from Ipswich to the Isle of Wight, but he
wrote the letters, not Maria. Her family kept repeatedly asking
to see her to get some kind of update directly
from her, but William kept telling them that his wife
(07:52):
was sick. Or that her letters must have been lost
in the mail. Meanwhile, Maria's stepmother was having dreams, vi
bid dreams about her stepdaughter and her whereabouts. She dreamt
that the young woman had been murdered and left to
rot in the Red Barn, and after several nights of
having the same dream over and over again, her husband,
(08:12):
Maria's father, walked over to the Red Barn to put
her fears to rest. Once there, he started digging where
his wife told him the right hand bay of the
far side of the barn. She'd seen it in her
dream so clearly, and as he dug, his fingertips brushed
against something. It was cloth, a cloth sack to be precise,
(08:34):
and after pulling it out and looking inside, he recognized
its contents immediately. It was his daughter Maria. The only
suspect who came to mind was William Corter, the last
person to have seen her alive. They finally tracked him
down to a lady's boarding house in West London, a
business he ran with his new wife Mary. The police
(08:55):
arrested him and brought him back to Polstead for a trial.
At first, he denied having killed her, but all the evidence,
such as witness testimony and a green handkerchief of his
that had been tied around her neck were enough to
convict him. He spoke with a priest and decided that
if he was going to hang for his crimes, he
might as well do it with a clear conscience. So
(09:16):
he finally made a formal confession. Yes, he had killed Maria,
but it had been an accident, he claimed. After his execution,
the crowd bought pieces of the rope he was hanged
with for one guinea per inch. But the dream that
led to his capture, that, my friends, it was priceless.
(09:38):
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 Stuff Works. I make another award winning show
called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, end television
(10:00):
show and you can learn all about it over at
the World of Lore dot com. And until next time,
stay curious. Yeah h
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 of Curiosities. Very few good decisions
(00:29):
are made when people are drunk, whether they're calling up
an old friend out of the blue or picking a
fight with someone who is much bigger, It's safe to
say that most actions performed under the influence of alcohol
are often followed by regret, unless you're Russell Arundel. Arundel
and his buddies had been drinking rum when they came
(00:49):
up with a brilliant idea, one that would put them
on the map literally. Aaron Dell was an American businessman
who also worked as a lobbyist for pet Sicola. He
had been traveling in Canada with some friends when he
came across a tiny island about three acres inside off
the coast of Nova Scotia. It was called Outer Bald
(01:10):
Tusket Island, and up until that point it had been
nothing more than a fishing camp. The nearby community of
Wedgeport on the mainland had become a popular spot for
tuna fishing thanks to an international tournament that had begun
back in the nineteen thirties. Businessmen and celebrities from all
over North America went there to participate, including Franklin Roosevelt
and Amelia Earhart. Aarondel had come to partake in a
(01:34):
few days of tuna fishing, and he did what many
wealthy capitalists do when they see something they want. He
offered to buy the place. The island's owners sold it
to him for the low low price of just seven
hundred and fifty dollars. All of a sudden, Arundel had
his very own patch of solid ground where he could
wait out his seasickness or grab a bite to eat
without having to row all the way back to the mainland.
(01:56):
He returned one year later with plans to build a
small house on the island, and he hired several locals
to do the work while he and some friends went
off fishing. One night, while waiting for the house to
be completed, he and his buddies went for drinks at
a fishing lodge in Wedgeports. They downed glass after glass
of rum, and as their inhibitions waned, their ambitions grew.
(02:18):
That's when Aaron Dell came up with what he believed
to be a great idea. He was now the king
of a new nation, one that would be separate from
its Canadian neighbor. He and his friends drafted a declaration
of independence, renaming the island Outer Baldonia. According to them,
it would only be populated by fishermen, who would have
the right to lie and be believed. Women were banned,
(02:40):
and in another predictably sexist move, they also made questioning, nagging, shaving,
and interruption illegal acts. The currency of this new land
was called the tunar, and all citizens who caught blue
fin tuna would be declared princes. In fact, Aarondell would
go on to mail over twenty letters to people that
he called acquaintances of caliber, naming them as princes. The
(03:03):
island's primary exports would only be empty beer and rum bottles.
Passports were issued, and at one time it boasted a
navy of seventy admirals commanding all manner of vessels, mostly
of the fishing variety. By all appearances, Outer Baldonia was
as Valida nation as any other, and it had all
been started over drinks at a bar. One year later,
(03:26):
in nineteen fifty, the principality of Outer Baldonia was listed
in the Washington, Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Directory, using Aaron
Dell's office phone number at the US Capitol as its
point of contact. Matt Making company Rand McNally even included
it on a map. For a time. Aaron Dell even
tried to have Outer Baldonia stamps issued, but couldn't get
(03:47):
the project off the ground. As the years went on,
Aaron dal stopped visiting his micro nation as frequently, and
it eventually faded into obscurity. In nineteen sixty seven, reporter
Nancy co interview him for a story about Outer Baldonia
that she was writing for Sports Illustrated. He told her
how President Truman's former vice president had asked to be
(04:08):
the Secretary of Treasury for his country, a nation without
money or assets. By the early seventeen hundreds, Arundel had
stopped visiting the island entirely, so he transferred ownership to
the Nova Scotia Bird Society. Today, the islands still exists,
but it's been converted into a bird sanctuary. Visitors are
welcome to stop by and even hunt during the right season.
(04:32):
Oh and the tuna fishing tournament has also returned after
a forty year hiatus. Participants who catch something aren't named
princes anymore, but they'll at least be able to grab
a drink with friends if they want to, just as
long as no one gets any wild ideas. Maria Martin
(05:00):
was born in Polstead, Suffolk, in the early eighteen hundreds.
She lived with her stepmother and her father, who worked
as a mole catcher. By the time she was twenty four,
she'd already had two children out of wedlock, something that
was pretty scandalous in her day. William, quarters older brother,
was one of the children's father's but William was the
(05:21):
one who fancied Maria. His reputation as a con man
and a womanizer preceded him wherever he went. Though He
once sold the pigs on his father's farm without telling
him and then pocketed all the money. His father settled
the dispute without need for police or courts, letting William
off the hook and teaching him absolutely nothing in the process.
(05:41):
Later on, the young William graduated from petty theft to fraud.
Upon being found out, he was exiled to London until
his family started to dwindle. His older brother Thomas died
after falling through some thin ice while trying to cross
a frozen pond. His father and his remaining brothers didn't
survive the next two years, leaving William and his mother
to run the family farm together, and all the while,
(06:03):
he and Maria Martin carried on a secret love affair.
In eighteen twenty seven, she gave birth to her third child,
this time by William. The arrival of the baby changed
something in quarter, though, and he insisted that he and
Maria get married. Even after the child died a short
while later, he still wanted her to be his wife
now because of her previous children, the church would never
(06:25):
allow them to get married in a typical ceremony. Instead,
William suggested Maria meet him at a local site known
as the Red Barn, a house with a red clay
tiled roof that had become sort of a landmark. From
there they would travel to Ipswich and Elope. A few
days before they were set to leave, William came to
Maria's home and warned her that the local constable was
(06:47):
on his way to arrest her. He urged her to
sneak off to the Red barn as soon as possible.
William would take her belongings ahead first, while she disguised
herself in men's clothing and snuck out before the authorities arrived.
She'd meet him in the barn and the two of
them would leave for Ipswich. The barn was close by
Maria's home. The journey wouldn't take long on foot, and
(07:08):
once she and William were married, her legal problems would
finally be behind her. She left right behind him and
the two began their future together. William returned to town
sometime after the wedding, except Maria wasn't with him. He
said he couldn't risk to bring her along without angering
her family, but they said they didn't care. They wanted
to see her. Unable to fend off her loved ones
(07:31):
any longer, William returned to his wife, but they never
came back from there. He wrote letters to her family
about what they were up to and that they had
moved from Ipswich to the Isle of Wight, but he
wrote the letters, not Maria. Her family kept repeatedly asking
to see her to get some kind of update directly
from her, but William kept telling them that his wife
(07:52):
was sick. Or that her letters must have been lost
in the mail. Meanwhile, Maria's stepmother was having dreams, vi
bid dreams about her stepdaughter and her whereabouts. She dreamt
that the young woman had been murdered and left to
rot in the Red Barn, and after several nights of
having the same dream over and over again, her husband,
(08:12):
Maria's father, walked over to the Red Barn to put
her fears to rest. Once there, he started digging where
his wife told him the right hand bay of the
far side of the barn. She'd seen it in her
dream so clearly, and as he dug, his fingertips brushed
against something. It was cloth, a cloth sack to be precise,
(08:34):
and after pulling it out and looking inside, he recognized
its contents immediately. It was his daughter Maria. The only
suspect who came to mind was William Corter, the last
person to have seen her alive. They finally tracked him
down to a lady's boarding house in West London, a
business he ran with his new wife Mary. The police
(08:55):
arrested him and brought him back to Polstead for a trial.
At first, he denied having killed her, but all the evidence,
such as witness testimony and a green handkerchief of his
that had been tied around her neck were enough to
convict him. He spoke with a priest and decided that
if he was going to hang for his crimes, he
might as well do it with a clear conscience. So
(09:16):
he finally made a formal confession. Yes, he had killed Maria,
but it had been an accident, he claimed. After his execution,
the crowd bought pieces of the rope he was hanged
with for one guinea per inch. But the dream that
led to his capture, that, my friends, it was priceless.
(09:38):
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 Stuff Works. I make another award winning show
called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, end television
(10:00):
show and you can learn all about it over 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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