June 25, 2026 • 10 mins
Two curious tales of the delightly lost.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
iHeartRadio and Grimm 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 of Curiosities.
(00:36):
Perhaps you've heard this message before on a speaker above
your heads. Please maintain control of your personal belongings at
all times. Unattended baggage is subject to search, inspection, damage,
and removal. That's the standard tsa security message in an
American airport. Its message is simple and clear too. If
you have a bag, keep it with you at all times,
(00:58):
and if you leave the bag alon, you're essentially giving
up responsibility for what happens to it. But what does
happen to a suitcase that gets left behind? Where does
it go? We know that every airport has a lost
and found, But do items remain there forever? If they
are never claimed? Does security eventually throw them out like
they do with suspicious water bottles and knives on carry
(01:20):
on luggage? If you've ever wondered this, then you wouldn't
be the first person. For decades, people would forget about
their bags in airports and it would go straight to
whatever storage they could find for it. It was a
problem not just for airlines but for all sorts of
mass transit companies. If there's one thing more universal than
the human desire for travel, it's our ability to leave
(01:41):
our important belongings behind at the first opportunity. It's estimated
that half a percent of baggage goes permanently unclaimed at airports,
but with hundreds of millions of people traveling the country
in a year, that still means millions of bags that
need somewhere to go. Well, one curious tale might just
add answer the question. In nineteen seventy, Doyle Owens of Scottsboro, Alabama,
(02:04):
was talking to a bus driver friend on Ham radio.
The bus driver mentioned offhand that the buses always deal
with loads of excess baggage that gets left behind, far
more than they could ever deal with. Owens was just
an insurance salesman, but he knew a market opportunity when
he saw one. Shortly after, he borrowed a pickup truck,
took out a loan, and drove to Washington, d C.
(02:25):
To pick up a load of unclaned baggage from the
bus company's headquarters. Along with his wife, Sue, and his
two sons, he went to work selling the baggage and
its contents thrift store style, first from a rented house,
then from a warehouse. It was enough of a success
that eight years later he partnered with his first airline
in order to handle their leftover baggage for them. Eventually,
(02:48):
all domestic airlines had deals with this little company in Alabama.
Even as it kept expanding, the unique appeal of the
Unclaimed Baggage Center remained intact. It's like a miniature city
of lost and forgotten objects, from the mundane to the
truly strange, and it should come as no surprise that
when news outlets found out about the company, they were
(03:09):
eager to feature them. A nineteen ninety five piece on
the Oprah Show catapulted them into a greater stratosphere of awareness,
and soon the Unclaimed Baggage Center was not just a
small business anymore. It was a tourist attraction. In the
late nineteen nineties, they founded the Museum of Lost Treasures,
a companion building that would feature the strangest and most
(03:31):
interesting items that the Owens family had found over the
years at various times throughout history. They found such items
as a Renaissance loot, a live rattlesnake, an Egyptian burial mask,
and in the late nineteen nineties they found a bag
full of props and puppets from the Jim Henson Company,
and among those Henson objects was the full puppet for
(03:52):
the character Hoggle from the film Labyrinth. Naturally, the Unclaimed
Baggage Center reached out to the Henson Company to see
if they wanted the back back. In a spirit of
good humor, the Henson family allowed them to keep the
puppet of Hoggle, which now lives in the Museum of
Lost Treasures. And it's easy enough to see why, after all,
the Unclaim Baggage Center is it away a special sort
(04:16):
of labyrinth. Marylyn and Maurice watched the sunrise over sixty
four million square miles of endless, deep blue water. They
(04:37):
had sailed over six thousand miles from England across the Atlantic,
through the Panama Canal and past the Galopagus Islands. It
was an absolute triumph. Maurice rested a hand on his
wife's back, taking in the vastness of the Pacific Ocean
from the sun bleached deck of their small ship. They
had named it the Orlon, from a combination of Maurice
(04:59):
and Maryland's first names and a symbol of the adventure
that they were embarking on together. The Baileys were surprised
to find that a life at sea suited them. Setting
sail in June of nineteen seventy two, they'd become closer
than ever before, and nine months later, in March of
nineteen seventy three, the prospect of another few months spent
(05:20):
in tight quarters felt comforting, not daunting. New Zealand Their
final destination lay another five thousand miles away, across the
largest ocean in the world. Marilyn looked up at her husband,
beaming at his tanned brow and newfound freckles. What a
perfect day spent with her perfect husband on this perfect boat.
(05:41):
And then came the whale, an injured, confused sperm whale,
rising to the surface for a breath of air and
destroying the Orelan in one fell swoop. Maurice and Maryland
couldn't believe their bad luck. Here they'd been floating through
the middle of the Pacific Ocean, literally millions of square
miles of water, and they were rear ended by a whale.
(06:03):
Needless to say, this was not what they were expecting.
Maurice and Maryland Bailey were not particularly adventurous people. The
whole point of the sailing trip had been to break
up the monotony of their quiet, middle aged lives back
in England, and they weren't professional sailors either. In fact,
Maryland couldn't even swim. They sold all their possessions to
buy the Orland and pay for Maurice's sailing lessons. Down
(06:26):
at a nearby harbor. Now thousands of miles away from home,
they were literally on a sinking ship, in close proximity
to at least one massive whale, and no idea how
to call for rescue. The Orland sank within minutes. Fortunately,
Maryland and Maurice were calm in the crisis. Maurice retrieved
the circular rubber life raft, about the size of a
(06:49):
kiddie pool, while Maryland raced to find medical supplies, a compass,
and enough provisions in case rescue took a few days.
Minutes earlier, they'd been enjoying a beautiful sunrise aboard the ship.
They called home a ship that was currently sinking to
the bottom of the Pacific, taking all their worldly possessions
with it. The first week passed easily. Yes, the small
(07:11):
raft was uncomfortable, Yes, alone, time became a forgotten luxury.
But each day the Baileys were sure they'd be rescued.
They rationed their canned food, calculated their approximate location, and
took turns watching for passing ships. By the end of
the first month, things started to look dire. Several ships
had passed without seeing the Bailey's raft or their signal flares.
(07:35):
They were out of food and out of water. They
were sunburnt, exhausted, and significantly less hopeful than before. Sharks
bumped against the bottom of the rubber raft and to survive,
the Baileys ate raw fish and turtles caught with their
bare hands, and drank rain water collected in their empty cans.
But surprisingly, this turn of events also pushed Maurice and
(07:57):
Maryland closer than ever before. They played games together. Imaginary
dinner party was their favorite. What a delicious roast beef,
Maurice would comment when Marylyn handed him a strip of
turtle meat, and those buttered rolls smell incredible lovely Marilyn
would agree. She would jab her finger at Maurice's ribs,
(08:17):
poking through his skin, but save room for dessert. I
think it's a lemon tart. On June thirtieth, over a
year since the Baileys had set sail, and nearly four
months after the Orland sank, a South Korean fishing boat
spotted a piece of debris floating on the surface. The
Baileys had done everything they could to flag down the ship,
(08:37):
but they were weak with malnutrition and they were out
of flares. Since becoming stranded on the open sea, seven
ships had passed Maurice and Maryland by, and as this
fishing boat, the eighth ship passed through the Bailey's lost hope,
But then the fishing boat turned around and it headed
straight for them. When the Baileys were finally pulled aboard,
(08:58):
they were skeletal. Each of them had lost approximately forty
pounds and were covered in sores from the disintegrating rubber
raft and more than that. After months trapped in four
square feet of space, they were unable to stand, but
what they could do was eat and finally enjoyed the
real food they've been dreaming of while scarfing down raw
turtle meat for the past few months. Their first proper
(09:21):
meal was a bowl of warm noodles and a mug
of sweet hot coffee. It was the best thing either
of them had ever eaten. No one would blame the
Baileys if they returned home to England and vowed never
to lay eyes on the sea again. But within two
years of being rescued, they built a new boat, and
they named it, of course, the orel In two. I
(09:45):
hope you enjoyed today's guided tour through the Cabinet of Curiosities.
This show was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership
with iHeart Podcasts, researched and written by the Grim and
Mild team, and produced by Jesse Funk. Learn more about
the show and the people who make it over at
Grimandmild dot com slash Curiosities. You'll also find a link
(10:05):
to the official Cabinet of Curiosity's hardcover book, available in
bookstores and online, as well as ebook and audiobook. And
if you're looking for an ad free option, consider joining
our Patreon. It's all the same stories, but without the
interruption for a small monthly fee. Learn more and sign
up over at patreon dot com slash Grimandmild, and until
(10:26):
next time, stay curious,
Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
iHeartRadio and Grimm 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 of Curiosities.
(00:36):
Perhaps you've heard this message before on a speaker above
your heads. Please maintain control of your personal belongings at
all times. Unattended baggage is subject to search, inspection, damage,
and removal. That's the standard tsa security message in an
American airport. Its message is simple and clear too. If
you have a bag, keep it with you at all times,
(00:58):
and if you leave the bag alon, you're essentially giving
up responsibility for what happens to it. But what does
happen to a suitcase that gets left behind? Where does
it go? We know that every airport has a lost
and found, But do items remain there forever? If they
are never claimed? Does security eventually throw them out like
they do with suspicious water bottles and knives on carry
(01:20):
on luggage? If you've ever wondered this, then you wouldn't
be the first person. For decades, people would forget about
their bags in airports and it would go straight to
whatever storage they could find for it. It was a
problem not just for airlines but for all sorts of
mass transit companies. If there's one thing more universal than
the human desire for travel, it's our ability to leave
(01:41):
our important belongings behind at the first opportunity. It's estimated
that half a percent of baggage goes permanently unclaimed at airports,
but with hundreds of millions of people traveling the country
in a year, that still means millions of bags that
need somewhere to go. Well, one curious tale might just
add answer the question. In nineteen seventy, Doyle Owens of Scottsboro, Alabama,
(02:04):
was talking to a bus driver friend on Ham radio.
The bus driver mentioned offhand that the buses always deal
with loads of excess baggage that gets left behind, far
more than they could ever deal with. Owens was just
an insurance salesman, but he knew a market opportunity when
he saw one. Shortly after, he borrowed a pickup truck,
took out a loan, and drove to Washington, d C.
(02:25):
To pick up a load of unclaned baggage from the
bus company's headquarters. Along with his wife, Sue, and his
two sons, he went to work selling the baggage and
its contents thrift store style, first from a rented house,
then from a warehouse. It was enough of a success
that eight years later he partnered with his first airline
in order to handle their leftover baggage for them. Eventually,
(02:48):
all domestic airlines had deals with this little company in Alabama.
Even as it kept expanding, the unique appeal of the
Unclaimed Baggage Center remained intact. It's like a miniature city
of lost and forgotten objects, from the mundane to the
truly strange, and it should come as no surprise that
when news outlets found out about the company, they were
(03:09):
eager to feature them. A nineteen ninety five piece on
the Oprah Show catapulted them into a greater stratosphere of awareness,
and soon the Unclaimed Baggage Center was not just a
small business anymore. It was a tourist attraction. In the
late nineteen nineties, they founded the Museum of Lost Treasures,
a companion building that would feature the strangest and most
(03:31):
interesting items that the Owens family had found over the
years at various times throughout history. They found such items
as a Renaissance loot, a live rattlesnake, an Egyptian burial mask,
and in the late nineteen nineties they found a bag
full of props and puppets from the Jim Henson Company,
and among those Henson objects was the full puppet for
(03:52):
the character Hoggle from the film Labyrinth. Naturally, the Unclaimed
Baggage Center reached out to the Henson Company to see
if they wanted the back back. In a spirit of
good humor, the Henson family allowed them to keep the
puppet of Hoggle, which now lives in the Museum of
Lost Treasures. And it's easy enough to see why, after all,
the Unclaim Baggage Center is it away a special sort
(04:16):
of labyrinth. Marylyn and Maurice watched the sunrise over sixty
four million square miles of endless, deep blue water. They
(04:37):
had sailed over six thousand miles from England across the Atlantic,
through the Panama Canal and past the Galopagus Islands. It
was an absolute triumph. Maurice rested a hand on his
wife's back, taking in the vastness of the Pacific Ocean
from the sun bleached deck of their small ship. They
had named it the Orlon, from a combination of Maurice
(04:59):
and Maryland's first names and a symbol of the adventure
that they were embarking on together. The Baileys were surprised
to find that a life at sea suited them. Setting
sail in June of nineteen seventy two, they'd become closer
than ever before, and nine months later, in March of
nineteen seventy three, the prospect of another few months spent
(05:20):
in tight quarters felt comforting, not daunting. New Zealand Their
final destination lay another five thousand miles away, across the
largest ocean in the world. Marilyn looked up at her husband,
beaming at his tanned brow and newfound freckles. What a
perfect day spent with her perfect husband on this perfect boat.
(05:41):
And then came the whale, an injured, confused sperm whale,
rising to the surface for a breath of air and
destroying the Orelan in one fell swoop. Maurice and Maryland
couldn't believe their bad luck. Here they'd been floating through
the middle of the Pacific Ocean, literally millions of square
miles of water, and they were rear ended by a whale.
(06:03):
Needless to say, this was not what they were expecting.
Maurice and Maryland Bailey were not particularly adventurous people. The
whole point of the sailing trip had been to break
up the monotony of their quiet, middle aged lives back
in England, and they weren't professional sailors either. In fact,
Maryland couldn't even swim. They sold all their possessions to
buy the Orland and pay for Maurice's sailing lessons. Down
(06:26):
at a nearby harbor. Now thousands of miles away from home,
they were literally on a sinking ship, in close proximity
to at least one massive whale, and no idea how
to call for rescue. The Orland sank within minutes. Fortunately,
Maryland and Maurice were calm in the crisis. Maurice retrieved
the circular rubber life raft, about the size of a
(06:49):
kiddie pool, while Maryland raced to find medical supplies, a compass,
and enough provisions in case rescue took a few days.
Minutes earlier, they'd been enjoying a beautiful sunrise aboard the ship.
They called home a ship that was currently sinking to
the bottom of the Pacific, taking all their worldly possessions
with it. The first week passed easily. Yes, the small
(07:11):
raft was uncomfortable, Yes, alone, time became a forgotten luxury.
But each day the Baileys were sure they'd be rescued.
They rationed their canned food, calculated their approximate location, and
took turns watching for passing ships. By the end of
the first month, things started to look dire. Several ships
had passed without seeing the Bailey's raft or their signal flares.
(07:35):
They were out of food and out of water. They
were sunburnt, exhausted, and significantly less hopeful than before. Sharks
bumped against the bottom of the rubber raft and to survive,
the Baileys ate raw fish and turtles caught with their
bare hands, and drank rain water collected in their empty cans.
But surprisingly, this turn of events also pushed Maurice and
(07:57):
Maryland closer than ever before. They played games together. Imaginary
dinner party was their favorite. What a delicious roast beef,
Maurice would comment when Marylyn handed him a strip of
turtle meat, and those buttered rolls smell incredible lovely Marilyn
would agree. She would jab her finger at Maurice's ribs,
(08:17):
poking through his skin, but save room for dessert. I
think it's a lemon tart. On June thirtieth, over a
year since the Baileys had set sail, and nearly four
months after the Orland sank, a South Korean fishing boat
spotted a piece of debris floating on the surface. The
Baileys had done everything they could to flag down the ship,
(08:37):
but they were weak with malnutrition and they were out
of flares. Since becoming stranded on the open sea, seven
ships had passed Maurice and Maryland by, and as this
fishing boat, the eighth ship passed through the Bailey's lost hope,
But then the fishing boat turned around and it headed
straight for them. When the Baileys were finally pulled aboard,
(08:58):
they were skeletal. Each of them had lost approximately forty
pounds and were covered in sores from the disintegrating rubber
raft and more than that. After months trapped in four
square feet of space, they were unable to stand, but
what they could do was eat and finally enjoyed the
real food they've been dreaming of while scarfing down raw
turtle meat for the past few months. Their first proper
(09:21):
meal was a bowl of warm noodles and a mug
of sweet hot coffee. It was the best thing either
of them had ever eaten. No one would blame the
Baileys if they returned home to England and vowed never
to lay eyes on the sea again. But within two
years of being rescued, they built a new boat, and
they named it, of course, the orel In two. I
(09:45):
hope you enjoyed today's guided tour through the Cabinet of Curiosities.
This show was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership
with iHeart Podcasts, researched and written by the Grim and
Mild team, and produced by Jesse Funk. Learn more about
the show and the people who make it over at
Grimandmild dot com slash Curiosities. You'll also find a link
(10:05):
to the official Cabinet of Curiosity's hardcover book, available in
bookstores and online, as well as ebook and audiobook. And
if you're looking for an ad free option, consider joining
our Patreon. It's all the same stories, but without the
interruption for a small monthly fee. Learn more and sign
up over at patreon dot com slash Grimandmild, and until
(10:26):
next time, stay curious,
Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities News
Host
Aaron Mahnke
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