April 7, 2026 • 10 mins
Sometimes stories are curious for two separate reasons: their content, and their truth.
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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):
The ocean was dark, foggy, thickly around the ships on
every side, but even in such poor visibility, the ships
pressed onward. The Convoy was a substantial one, flanking the
USS Abraham Lincoln, the second largest ship in America's fleet.
As they sailed through the night, someone spotted something in
(00:57):
the distance, a far off blinking light bearing right towards them.
Men in the Lincoln's radio room got to work attempting
to contact the oncoming vessel. Fortunately, they were able to
establish radio contact quickly and sent out the message, oncoming vessel,
this is the USS Lincoln. Please divert your course fifteen
(01:19):
degrees north to avoid collision. And the other vessel replied promptly,
but not in the way the Americans were expecting. The
other ship requested that the Convoy divert fifteen degrees to
the south. Instead. Annoyed by the backtok the captain took
control of the radio, issuing an order for the other
ship to turn, and again the ship only responded with
(01:40):
its request. You first. The captain practically bellowed over the radio,
this is the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, accompanied by
three destroyers, three cruisers and numerous support vessels. Get out
of our way, or we will take measures to protect
our ships. The other radio simply replied, this is a lighthouse.
(02:03):
It's your call. Chastened, the aircraft carrier complied without another
word of complaint. And you may have heard this story before.
It's a popular one among naval officers and sailors, and
in recent years it's become a popular Internet meme. Online
retellings claim to be transcripts of the conversation, but curiously,
(02:24):
no one ever supplies a proper date for this encounter.
As far as researchers can tell, it seems to date
back as far as the nineteen thirties. The USS Abraham Lincoln,
which is often cited as the main vessel in this story,
was constructed in the late nineteen eighties, meaning that the
original version of the story belongs to an entirely different ship.
(02:45):
But whose ship was it that made this iconic blunder?
And did the famous and now memed encounter even happen
at all? Over the years, naval enthusiasts have poked a
number of holes in the story. No one has found
any wrecks of this specific encounter, thanks to the variable
details of each retelling. Moreover, the facts of the story
(03:07):
itself strain believability. After all, even in thick fog, it's
borderline impossible for an experienced seamen to mistake a lighthouse
for an approaching vessel. The steady blinking of a single
powerful light looks very different from the scattering of lights
across the deck of a ship in the dark. Besides,
depending on the time period, it's possible that the lighthouse
(03:28):
wouldn't even have a manned radio station like the story suggests.
Reporters doing deep dives into the oral history of the
so called lighthouse versus naval vessel story often find themselves
coming up short with actual facts. The encounter has subsequently
been relegated to the realm of urban legend, but calling
it an urban legend sort of misses the point. The
(03:51):
story isn't retold over and over again because it might
have happened. It's retold because behind the clever ending punchline,
there is a theme that we all recognize even as
we laugh. The captain of the aircraft carrier is characterized
as arrogant and overconfident. He thinks that because he has
the bigger ship, he has the right of way, regardless
(04:13):
of who is on the other ship. That's why this
story always involves a major naval power, whether it's the
US or the UK. Sailors retelling this story get to
chuckle as their commanding officer gets chastened by a simple
lighthouse manned by we assume a person the captain would
never listen to under normal circumstances. In short, this story
(04:35):
is less of an urban legend than it is a
morality tale, reminding us that when we're sailing blind into
uncharted waters, we should keep our ears open as well.
It's a bad idea to let self importance steer the ship.
(05:02):
John Price Roberts watched in horror as his wife was
sentenced to death. They were living in the town of
Blackburn in northwest England in nineteen thirteen, and his wife
Sarah had just been found guilty of murder and witchcraft.
Needless to say, John was as confused as he was terrified.
He did not know what was going on. All he
(05:25):
could do was watch as his screaming wife was dragged
down from the witness stand, across the courtroom and out
into the yard in front of the courthouse. A lead
lined coffin was waiting there for her. Sarah wasn't actually
going to be executed. She was going to be buried alive.
Villagers held John back and forced him to watch as
(05:46):
his wife was shoved into the coffin. The lid was
sealed shut and John was forbidden from opening it. But
just before the lid closed, Sarah's screaming turned into a
coherent threat. She promised to return in eighty years to
take her revenge. As far as the villagers were concerned,
now they felt more justified than ever for their actions.
(06:07):
John was forced to consider that maybe his wife was
actually a witch or something even worse. But things weren't
over for John. He now had to find somewhere to
bury the coffin. The people of Blackburn certainly didn't want
her buried there, so he traveled all over England looking
for a cemetery that would take Sarah's coffin. But the
(06:27):
local priests that he encountered had all heard what she was,
and in the more distant towns, they were naturally suspicious
of a stranger looking to bury his wife far away
from home. It was at this point that John received
a letter from his brother Thomas, who was working at
a cotton mill all the way in Lima, Peru. It
was a lucrative business that he hoped Thomas would take
(06:48):
part in. Not only was this a promising business opportunity,
it was the perfect opportunity to finally be rid of Sarah.
John traveled across two oceans before finally arriving in the
palm filled jungles of Peru. When he finally arrived, he
told his brother that Sarah had died recently and he
couldn't bear to leave her body behind. Thomas understood, and
(07:11):
they quickly arranged to have Sarah buried in a local cemetery.
John's nightmare was over, Belima's had only just begun. Eighty
years later, in nineteen ninety three, the people of Lima
were terrified to find that a large crack had appeared
across Sarah's gravestone. Surely this was a sign that her
curse had been real and she would return not just
(07:33):
as a witch, but a true undead. They believed that
Sarah was a vampire. Thousands flocked to the city to
see the grave of the one and only Peruvian vampire.
Local merchants sold crosses, garlic, and pamphlets that shared Sarah's legend.
The day of her resurrection came, and there was such
a panic that pregnant women were sent away for fear
(07:55):
that Sarah would somehow reincarnate in their unborn children. Authorities
hired mystics to perform a ceremony over the grave, sprinkling
blood on it and chanting. The hour came exactly eighty
years since Sarah's promise, and nothing happened. Sarah remained as
dead as ever. Everyone, of course, breathed a sigh of relief.
(08:18):
Some thought that it had been a panic over nothing,
but others still thought that the mystics had done their
job and prevented a great evil from rising in Lima. Ultimately,
it seems the skeptical group was more in the right
that whole story of Sarah being charged with witchcraft and
buried alive. There is no record in Blackburn of that's
ever happening. In fact, there really aren't any records to
(08:40):
indicate that the Roberts family was remarkable in any way.
John and Sarah had a couple of sons. John's brother
did indeed invite him to join him in Peru, and
John and Sarah went alone, and somehow while there, Sarah
passed away in her early forties. Historians have theorized that
perhaps this was due to an unexpected pregnant and that
led to sarah dyne and childbirth, but it could have
(09:03):
just as easily been from an accident or an illness. Regardless,
Sarah was buried in Lima. This alone was enough to
cause the legend to grow over the years. It was
unusual for a European woman to be buried there, and
so the locals thought that it must be for some
evil reason. More likely, her body just wasn't in a
condition to be transported all the way back to England,
(09:25):
or John simply didn't want to put himself and Sarah's
remains through all of that. He did return to Blackburn, though,
where he only lived a few more years. In the end,
there seems to be one curiosity that isn't actually true,
but the subsequent hysteria around the legend of Sarah Roberts,
the Vampire of Peru is curious enough all on its own.
(09:52):
I hope you enjoyed today's guided tour through the Cabinet
of Curiosities. This show was created by me Aaron Manke
in partnership with I Heeart 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 to the official Cabinet of Curiosity's hardcover book,
(10:15):
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 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):
The ocean was dark, foggy, thickly around the ships on
every side, but even in such poor visibility, the ships
pressed onward. The Convoy was a substantial one, flanking the
USS Abraham Lincoln, the second largest ship in America's fleet.
As they sailed through the night, someone spotted something in
(00:57):
the distance, a far off blinking light bearing right towards them.
Men in the Lincoln's radio room got to work attempting
to contact the oncoming vessel. Fortunately, they were able to
establish radio contact quickly and sent out the message, oncoming vessel,
this is the USS Lincoln. Please divert your course fifteen
(01:19):
degrees north to avoid collision. And the other vessel replied promptly,
but not in the way the Americans were expecting. The
other ship requested that the Convoy divert fifteen degrees to
the south. Instead. Annoyed by the backtok the captain took
control of the radio, issuing an order for the other
ship to turn, and again the ship only responded with
(01:40):
its request. You first. The captain practically bellowed over the radio,
this is the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, accompanied by
three destroyers, three cruisers and numerous support vessels. Get out
of our way, or we will take measures to protect
our ships. The other radio simply replied, this is a lighthouse.
(02:03):
It's your call. Chastened, the aircraft carrier complied without another
word of complaint. And you may have heard this story before.
It's a popular one among naval officers and sailors, and
in recent years it's become a popular Internet meme. Online
retellings claim to be transcripts of the conversation, but curiously,
(02:24):
no one ever supplies a proper date for this encounter.
As far as researchers can tell, it seems to date
back as far as the nineteen thirties. The USS Abraham Lincoln,
which is often cited as the main vessel in this story,
was constructed in the late nineteen eighties, meaning that the
original version of the story belongs to an entirely different ship.
(02:45):
But whose ship was it that made this iconic blunder?
And did the famous and now memed encounter even happen
at all? Over the years, naval enthusiasts have poked a
number of holes in the story. No one has found
any wrecks of this specific encounter, thanks to the variable
details of each retelling. Moreover, the facts of the story
(03:07):
itself strain believability. After all, even in thick fog, it's
borderline impossible for an experienced seamen to mistake a lighthouse
for an approaching vessel. The steady blinking of a single
powerful light looks very different from the scattering of lights
across the deck of a ship in the dark. Besides,
depending on the time period, it's possible that the lighthouse
(03:28):
wouldn't even have a manned radio station like the story suggests.
Reporters doing deep dives into the oral history of the
so called lighthouse versus naval vessel story often find themselves
coming up short with actual facts. The encounter has subsequently
been relegated to the realm of urban legend, but calling
it an urban legend sort of misses the point. The
(03:51):
story isn't retold over and over again because it might
have happened. It's retold because behind the clever ending punchline,
there is a theme that we all recognize even as
we laugh. The captain of the aircraft carrier is characterized
as arrogant and overconfident. He thinks that because he has
the bigger ship, he has the right of way, regardless
(04:13):
of who is on the other ship. That's why this
story always involves a major naval power, whether it's the
US or the UK. Sailors retelling this story get to
chuckle as their commanding officer gets chastened by a simple
lighthouse manned by we assume a person the captain would
never listen to under normal circumstances. In short, this story
(04:35):
is less of an urban legend than it is a
morality tale, reminding us that when we're sailing blind into
uncharted waters, we should keep our ears open as well.
It's a bad idea to let self importance steer the ship.
(05:02):
John Price Roberts watched in horror as his wife was
sentenced to death. They were living in the town of
Blackburn in northwest England in nineteen thirteen, and his wife
Sarah had just been found guilty of murder and witchcraft.
Needless to say, John was as confused as he was terrified.
He did not know what was going on. All he
(05:25):
could do was watch as his screaming wife was dragged
down from the witness stand, across the courtroom and out
into the yard in front of the courthouse. A lead
lined coffin was waiting there for her. Sarah wasn't actually
going to be executed. She was going to be buried alive.
Villagers held John back and forced him to watch as
(05:46):
his wife was shoved into the coffin. The lid was
sealed shut and John was forbidden from opening it. But
just before the lid closed, Sarah's screaming turned into a
coherent threat. She promised to return in eighty years to
take her revenge. As far as the villagers were concerned,
now they felt more justified than ever for their actions.
(06:07):
John was forced to consider that maybe his wife was
actually a witch or something even worse. But things weren't
over for John. He now had to find somewhere to
bury the coffin. The people of Blackburn certainly didn't want
her buried there, so he traveled all over England looking
for a cemetery that would take Sarah's coffin. But the
(06:27):
local priests that he encountered had all heard what she was,
and in the more distant towns, they were naturally suspicious
of a stranger looking to bury his wife far away
from home. It was at this point that John received
a letter from his brother Thomas, who was working at
a cotton mill all the way in Lima, Peru. It
was a lucrative business that he hoped Thomas would take
(06:48):
part in. Not only was this a promising business opportunity,
it was the perfect opportunity to finally be rid of Sarah.
John traveled across two oceans before finally arriving in the
palm filled jungles of Peru. When he finally arrived, he
told his brother that Sarah had died recently and he
couldn't bear to leave her body behind. Thomas understood, and
(07:11):
they quickly arranged to have Sarah buried in a local cemetery.
John's nightmare was over, Belima's had only just begun. Eighty
years later, in nineteen ninety three, the people of Lima
were terrified to find that a large crack had appeared
across Sarah's gravestone. Surely this was a sign that her
curse had been real and she would return not just
(07:33):
as a witch, but a true undead. They believed that
Sarah was a vampire. Thousands flocked to the city to
see the grave of the one and only Peruvian vampire.
Local merchants sold crosses, garlic, and pamphlets that shared Sarah's legend.
The day of her resurrection came, and there was such
a panic that pregnant women were sent away for fear
(07:55):
that Sarah would somehow reincarnate in their unborn children. Authorities
hired mystics to perform a ceremony over the grave, sprinkling
blood on it and chanting. The hour came exactly eighty
years since Sarah's promise, and nothing happened. Sarah remained as
dead as ever. Everyone, of course, breathed a sigh of relief.
(08:18):
Some thought that it had been a panic over nothing,
but others still thought that the mystics had done their
job and prevented a great evil from rising in Lima. Ultimately,
it seems the skeptical group was more in the right
that whole story of Sarah being charged with witchcraft and
buried alive. There is no record in Blackburn of that's
ever happening. In fact, there really aren't any records to
(08:40):
indicate that the Roberts family was remarkable in any way.
John and Sarah had a couple of sons. John's brother
did indeed invite him to join him in Peru, and
John and Sarah went alone, and somehow while there, Sarah
passed away in her early forties. Historians have theorized that
perhaps this was due to an unexpected pregnant and that
led to sarah dyne and childbirth, but it could have
(09:03):
just as easily been from an accident or an illness. Regardless,
Sarah was buried in Lima. This alone was enough to
cause the legend to grow over the years. It was
unusual for a European woman to be buried there, and
so the locals thought that it must be for some
evil reason. More likely, her body just wasn't in a
condition to be transported all the way back to England,
(09:25):
or John simply didn't want to put himself and Sarah's
remains through all of that. He did return to Blackburn, though,
where he only lived a few more years. In the end,
there seems to be one curiosity that isn't actually true,
but the subsequent hysteria around the legend of Sarah Roberts,
the Vampire of Peru is curious enough all on its own.
(09:52):
I hope you enjoyed today's guided tour through the Cabinet
of Curiosities. This show was created by me Aaron Manke
in partnership with I Heeart 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 to the official Cabinet of Curiosity's hardcover book,
(10:15):
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 next time, stay curious.
Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities News
Host
Aaron Mahnke
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