September 9, 2025 • 9 mins
Two curious tales of events that should never have happened, leading to marks on history that will never go away.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
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. They say, a story
(00:37):
changes with the storyteller, and few tales have had more
revisions than that of James Jesse Strang, the self declared
King of Beaver Island. Depending on who you ask, James
was either a prophet, a tyrant, a genius, or a madman.
But what's certain is that he carved out one of
the strangest footnotes in American history. Life for James started
(00:58):
out conventionally enough.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Born in upstate New York in eighteen thirteen, he spent
time as a lawyer, a newspaper editor, and even as
a Baptist minister. But in eighteen forty four he found
something calling him in the words of a brand new religion.
Following the words of founder Joseph Smith, he converted to Mormonism,
a faith that was just fourteen years old at the time.
Later that year, On June twenty seventh of eighteen forty four,
(01:23):
Joseph Smith was killed by an angry mob, leaving the
Church of Latter day Saints leaderless. Many members threw their
heat into the ring to lead the religion, including James
Jesse Strang. James actually claimed that Smith had named him
his successor in a letter. Of course, this was a
letter that he only revealed the existence of after Smith
was gone, So most Mormons decided to follow a different leader,
(01:46):
a guy named Brigham Young. While Brigham Young led the
majority of the church west to Salt Lake City, Utah,
James split off with his own faction. He claimed an
angel came to him in the night, showing him what
he called a land amidst wide water and covered with
large timber. In eighteen forty eight, he led his followers
to Beaver Island, a remote, force covered outpost in northern
(02:09):
Lake Michigan, and there, in an audacious mix of prophecy
and pageantry, he donned a crown, a scepter, and robes
and declared himself King of the Kingdom of God and
the Earth. The island quickly became a stronghold of James's
particular sect of Mormonism. He banned alcohol, enforced religious laws,
and punished descent. He declared all the Nishannabag, Native Americans
(02:31):
and Irish settlers who were living there to convert or flee,
and by eighteen fifty two most of them were gone.
James quickly found that, as a newly minted king, his
crown was already starting to gain enemies. Locals accused the
Mormons of theft and threats of violence. Many claimed the
Mormons were pirates, luring merchant vessels crossing Lake Michigan to
(02:52):
shore before plundering their cargo. Whether this was true or
merely a result of anti Mormon rumors isn't even clear today.
What was clear was that James was not a beloved monarch.
US President Millard Fillmore, alarmed by the stories about the
Beaver Island King, dispatched his Attorney general to investigate James's sect.
(03:12):
In eighteen fifty three, James successfully defended himself in court
against federal charges of counterfeiting, theft, and treason, gaining himself
a lot of positive name recognition After he won his trial,
he parlayed this good press into political power, gaining a
seat in the Michigan state legislature, and still this wasn't
enough to keep James in the public's good graces. Tensions
(03:35):
grew especially high after James embraced polygamy after years of
denouncing it. In fact, James's support of monogamous marriage had
been one of the original reasons why so many of
his congregation had chosen to follow him over Brigham Young,
who had fifty wives. There were other rumors about why
James was unpopular, from firing a cannon into a crowd
(03:55):
of Irish settlers, to animal sacrifices and stealing followers wives.
In many of these tales, the legend may be taller
than the man, but there was no evidence that he
did any of these things. But the rumors spread nonetheless,
and some of his followers began to push back. James's
rule unraveled in eighteen fifty six after ordering the public
(04:16):
flogging of two dissenters, one of them, a man named
Thomas Bedford, plotted his revenge. On June twentieth, Bedford and
two accomplices ambushed James on a dock as he was
preparing to board a ship. They shot him in the
back while the ships captain and crew stood by. The
assassins fled to nearby Mackinaw Island, where they were celebrated
rather than jailed. Strang lingered for weeks, paralyzed and in pain,
(04:40):
before dying on July ninth. Without their king, his followers
had no protection. Within days, a mob from the mainland
invaded Beaver Island, burning homes and forcibly evicting every last Mormon. Today,
Beaver Island is a peaceful tourist spot. Few visitors realized
that it was once the seat of an American monarch.
As for James Jesse strang his story remains a slippery one,
(05:04):
half legend, half history, shaped by those who loved him
and by those who didn't. Looking back, the legend of
the Mormon King of Beaver Island has some truth to it,
but there's no denying that it's definitely a little strang.
(05:31):
Ever since the dawn of aviation, human pilots have had
to face an unshakable reality. Although aircraft may be the
biggest thing in the sky, they aren't the only ones.
If you've ever spent any time reading about airplane hazards,
you may have heard the term bird strike. It means
exactly what it sounds like when a bird collides with
a plane, doing some degree of damage and forcing a landing.
(05:54):
They're relatively rare these days, but still a present concern
among the designers of airplane. For that reason, manufacturers test
rigorously to make sure that their planes are as resistant
as possible to encounters with birds at extremely high speeds.
When a plane is built, it will be taken to
a facility that has a chicken gun, an air powered
(06:15):
cannon that fires boneless chickens at stationary aircraft to simulate
a bird strike, because chickens have higher bone density than
most high altitude birds. If the hull of an airplane
can resist this weapon, it is deemed safe to fly. However,
some aerial hazards are too esoteric to plant for as
one test pilot found out in nineteen fifty six. The
(06:37):
pilot's name was Thomas Atridge. He was employed to test
the combat capabilities of the new Grooman F eleven Tiger
jet engine. It was a plane capable of supersonic speeds,
flying faster than seven hundred and fifty miles per hour,
a speed designated as mock I. Nobody had ever engaged
in aerial combat while flying this fast. They didn't even
(06:59):
know if it was possible. Atridge took the plane out
over the Atlantic, bound for a designated firing range. His
altitude was twenty thousand feet. The plane's four guns were
loaded with dummy rounds, and as planned, he turned into
a dive, descending to thirteen thousand feet and firing a
four second burst with the plane's guns. He paused for
a few seconds, and then he dove again, emptying the
(07:22):
guns as he went. So far, everything was going smoothly,
but when he reached seven thousand feet, everything went wrong.
The windshield cracked and then it shattered. The plane started
losing power, its engines stuttering. Atridge did his best to
maintain a level head. He reduced the speed to two
hundred and thirty miles per hour, turning the plane back
(07:43):
toward the groom in Factory. The engine was weakening with
each passing minute, and he had to hold the windshield
in place with one of his hands while he flew.
Aside from the very obvious damage to the glass, there
appeared to be a hole near the engine, but he
couldn't tell what had caused it. The jet continued slowing
before finally stalling out more than a mile short of
(08:03):
his landing zone, the plane caught fire and plummeted the
rest of the way into a crash landing Atridge was
severely injured in the crash, but he managed to pull
himself free of the wreckage. The mechanics were left to
determine what had happened to cause the plane to falter
so suddenly, but the answer was simple. It was the
dummy rounds from the F eleven's guns. You see. Atridge
(08:25):
had opened fire while in a downward dive, just as instructed,
and the bullets had slowed due to intense wind resistance.
By the time he reached seven thousand feet, he was
traveling at well over eight hundred miles per hour, and
the bullets that he had fired were traveling closer to
four hundred, So the jet had caught up with its
own bullets, running face first into a handful of non
(08:47):
lethal but still very solid projectiles. The US Air Force
did wind up using the groom in F eleven Tiger
in the late nineteen fifties and early sixties. After its
retirement as a fighter jet, it would be employed by
the Blue Angels for aerial performances throughout the rest of
the nineteen sixties, all at all a relatively short career
(09:07):
for a fighter jet, quickly surpassed by subsequent models. In
a way, you could say this aircraft peaked early. After all,
the F eleven Tiger is the first, and to date,
the only aircraft that has ever managed to shoot itself down.
I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet
(09:29):
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 Mankey 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
(09:51):
Worldoflore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.
Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
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. They say, a story
(00:37):
changes with the storyteller, and few tales have had more
revisions than that of James Jesse Strang, the self declared
King of Beaver Island. Depending on who you ask, James
was either a prophet, a tyrant, a genius, or a madman.
But what's certain is that he carved out one of
the strangest footnotes in American history. Life for James started
(00:58):
out conventionally enough.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Born in upstate New York in eighteen thirteen, he spent
time as a lawyer, a newspaper editor, and even as
a Baptist minister. But in eighteen forty four he found
something calling him in the words of a brand new religion.
Following the words of founder Joseph Smith, he converted to Mormonism,
a faith that was just fourteen years old at the time.
Later that year, On June twenty seventh of eighteen forty four,
(01:23):
Joseph Smith was killed by an angry mob, leaving the
Church of Latter day Saints leaderless. Many members threw their
heat into the ring to lead the religion, including James
Jesse Strang. James actually claimed that Smith had named him
his successor in a letter. Of course, this was a
letter that he only revealed the existence of after Smith
was gone, So most Mormons decided to follow a different leader,
(01:46):
a guy named Brigham Young. While Brigham Young led the
majority of the church west to Salt Lake City, Utah,
James split off with his own faction. He claimed an
angel came to him in the night, showing him what
he called a land amidst wide water and covered with
large timber. In eighteen forty eight, he led his followers
to Beaver Island, a remote, force covered outpost in northern
(02:09):
Lake Michigan, and there, in an audacious mix of prophecy
and pageantry, he donned a crown, a scepter, and robes
and declared himself King of the Kingdom of God and
the Earth. The island quickly became a stronghold of James's
particular sect of Mormonism. He banned alcohol, enforced religious laws,
and punished descent. He declared all the Nishannabag, Native Americans
(02:31):
and Irish settlers who were living there to convert or flee,
and by eighteen fifty two most of them were gone.
James quickly found that, as a newly minted king, his
crown was already starting to gain enemies. Locals accused the
Mormons of theft and threats of violence. Many claimed the
Mormons were pirates, luring merchant vessels crossing Lake Michigan to
(02:52):
shore before plundering their cargo. Whether this was true or
merely a result of anti Mormon rumors isn't even clear today.
What was clear was that James was not a beloved monarch.
US President Millard Fillmore, alarmed by the stories about the
Beaver Island King, dispatched his Attorney general to investigate James's sect.
(03:12):
In eighteen fifty three, James successfully defended himself in court
against federal charges of counterfeiting, theft, and treason, gaining himself
a lot of positive name recognition After he won his trial,
he parlayed this good press into political power, gaining a
seat in the Michigan state legislature, and still this wasn't
enough to keep James in the public's good graces. Tensions
(03:35):
grew especially high after James embraced polygamy after years of
denouncing it. In fact, James's support of monogamous marriage had
been one of the original reasons why so many of
his congregation had chosen to follow him over Brigham Young,
who had fifty wives. There were other rumors about why
James was unpopular, from firing a cannon into a crowd
(03:55):
of Irish settlers, to animal sacrifices and stealing followers wives.
In many of these tales, the legend may be taller
than the man, but there was no evidence that he
did any of these things. But the rumors spread nonetheless,
and some of his followers began to push back. James's
rule unraveled in eighteen fifty six after ordering the public
(04:16):
flogging of two dissenters, one of them, a man named
Thomas Bedford, plotted his revenge. On June twentieth, Bedford and
two accomplices ambushed James on a dock as he was
preparing to board a ship. They shot him in the
back while the ships captain and crew stood by. The
assassins fled to nearby Mackinaw Island, where they were celebrated
rather than jailed. Strang lingered for weeks, paralyzed and in pain,
(04:40):
before dying on July ninth. Without their king, his followers
had no protection. Within days, a mob from the mainland
invaded Beaver Island, burning homes and forcibly evicting every last Mormon. Today,
Beaver Island is a peaceful tourist spot. Few visitors realized
that it was once the seat of an American monarch.
As for James Jesse strang his story remains a slippery one,
(05:04):
half legend, half history, shaped by those who loved him
and by those who didn't. Looking back, the legend of
the Mormon King of Beaver Island has some truth to it,
but there's no denying that it's definitely a little strang.
(05:31):
Ever since the dawn of aviation, human pilots have had
to face an unshakable reality. Although aircraft may be the
biggest thing in the sky, they aren't the only ones.
If you've ever spent any time reading about airplane hazards,
you may have heard the term bird strike. It means
exactly what it sounds like when a bird collides with
a plane, doing some degree of damage and forcing a landing.
(05:54):
They're relatively rare these days, but still a present concern
among the designers of airplane. For that reason, manufacturers test
rigorously to make sure that their planes are as resistant
as possible to encounters with birds at extremely high speeds.
When a plane is built, it will be taken to
a facility that has a chicken gun, an air powered
(06:15):
cannon that fires boneless chickens at stationary aircraft to simulate
a bird strike, because chickens have higher bone density than
most high altitude birds. If the hull of an airplane
can resist this weapon, it is deemed safe to fly. However,
some aerial hazards are too esoteric to plant for as
one test pilot found out in nineteen fifty six. The
(06:37):
pilot's name was Thomas Atridge. He was employed to test
the combat capabilities of the new Grooman F eleven Tiger
jet engine. It was a plane capable of supersonic speeds,
flying faster than seven hundred and fifty miles per hour,
a speed designated as mock I. Nobody had ever engaged
in aerial combat while flying this fast. They didn't even
(06:59):
know if it was possible. Atridge took the plane out
over the Atlantic, bound for a designated firing range. His
altitude was twenty thousand feet. The plane's four guns were
loaded with dummy rounds, and as planned, he turned into
a dive, descending to thirteen thousand feet and firing a
four second burst with the plane's guns. He paused for
a few seconds, and then he dove again, emptying the
(07:22):
guns as he went. So far, everything was going smoothly,
but when he reached seven thousand feet, everything went wrong.
The windshield cracked and then it shattered. The plane started
losing power, its engines stuttering. Atridge did his best to
maintain a level head. He reduced the speed to two
hundred and thirty miles per hour, turning the plane back
(07:43):
toward the groom in Factory. The engine was weakening with
each passing minute, and he had to hold the windshield
in place with one of his hands while he flew.
Aside from the very obvious damage to the glass, there
appeared to be a hole near the engine, but he
couldn't tell what had caused it. The jet continued slowing
before finally stalling out more than a mile short of
(08:03):
his landing zone, the plane caught fire and plummeted the
rest of the way into a crash landing Atridge was
severely injured in the crash, but he managed to pull
himself free of the wreckage. The mechanics were left to
determine what had happened to cause the plane to falter
so suddenly, but the answer was simple. It was the
dummy rounds from the F eleven's guns. You see. Atridge
(08:25):
had opened fire while in a downward dive, just as instructed,
and the bullets had slowed due to intense wind resistance.
By the time he reached seven thousand feet, he was
traveling at well over eight hundred miles per hour, and
the bullets that he had fired were traveling closer to
four hundred, So the jet had caught up with its
own bullets, running face first into a handful of non
(08:47):
lethal but still very solid projectiles. The US Air Force
did wind up using the groom in F eleven Tiger
in the late nineteen fifties and early sixties. After its
retirement as a fighter jet, it would be employed by
the Blue Angels for aerial performances throughout the rest of
the nineteen sixties, all at all a relatively short career
(09:07):
for a fighter jet, quickly surpassed by subsequent models. In
a way, you could say this aircraft peaked early. After all,
the F eleven Tiger is the first, and to date,
the only aircraft that has ever managed to shoot itself down.
I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet
(09:29):
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 Mankey 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
(09:51):
Worldoflore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.
Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities News
Host
Aaron Mahnke
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