November 28, 2023 • 22 mins
When a group of miners uncovered a skull deep in a mine shaft on the western slopes of Bald Mountain in Calaveras County, California, it was believed, at least initially, to be a history-changing discovery. The owner of the mine didn't know at first what it was that he'd dug up that day in 1866. And when he shared it with those who might, including the State Geologist of California, things went a bit, well, off the rails.
Executive Producers: Maria Trimarchi and Holly Frey
Producer & Editor: Casby Bias
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership
with iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
When a group of miners uncovered a skull deep in
a mine shaft on the western slopes of Bald Mountain
near a gold mining camp called Angels Camp in Calaveras County, California,
it was believed, at least initially, to be a history
changing discovery. The owner of the mine, Illinois born blacksmith
James Mattinson, had originally gone west during the California Gold Rush.
(00:38):
He had little to no luck finding gold or any
other precious metals or anything really, and it said that
Mattinson didn't know at first what it was that he'd
dug up that day in February of eighteen sixty six.
It was when the skull was sent to the state
geologist of California, J. D. Whitney, who was also a
(00:58):
professor of geology at Harvard Universe when things went a
bit bonkers. Welcome to Criminalia. I'm Maria Tremarchy and.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
I'm Holly Fry. Mattinson had first showed the fossil to
a local man who lived in the mining town, and
he in turn brought it to an Angel's camp merchant
named Philip Scribner. Scribner recognized that it was a human skull,
and he cleaned it up and sent it off to
physician and natural history buff doctor William Jones, who, although
(01:28):
we aren't one hundred percent sure, likely lived in nearby
San Francisco. Jones was blown away by the potential of
the discovery, and he was the one who sent the
skull to J. D. Whitney. Upon examining this skull, Whitney
determined that it was an amazing find. He believed that
it belonged to a ply a scene age man, which
(01:51):
would have made it the oldest known record of human
existence in North America. And that wasn't the only thing.
It also suggests that humans had lived in the Americas
for much longer than scientists had previously thought.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Let's take a minute for a bit of science and
history to get our bearings on this time frame. The
Pliocene is the epic of geologic time scale that extends
from roughly five point four million to two point four
million years ago. Today, most scientists recognize some fifteen to
(02:27):
twenty different species of early humans, though there is disagreement
about how those species are related. As well as which
ones just died out over time. Fossils of the first
known hominids or human like primates, who lived between six
million and two million years ago, universally come from the
African continent. It's believed that early humans first migrated out
(02:51):
of Africa into Asia probably between two million and one
point eight million years ago, and there's no evidence of
humans in Europe until between one point five million and
one million years ago. It took even more time for
humans to populate the rest of the world. When it
comes to the Americas, there's no evidence there were humans
(03:12):
there until the past thirty thousand years or so. So
a Haminid skull dating to the Pla saying that was
both exciting and a bit of a scandalous announcement.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Whitney didn't just examine the skull, though. He went to
Angel's camp, he visited the mine, and he spoke with
both Mattinson and Scribner. The men explained that Mattinson dug
up the skull in his mind, and though he originally
thought it was probably nothing more than a tree route,
when it was cleaned up at Scrubner's store, everyone realized
it was a skull, and that's when they brought in
(03:46):
doctor Jones for his counsel and advice. It's reported that
Whitney believed both Mattinson and Scribner were being truthful, and
he carried on with his investigative work. He concluded that
the skull was authentic and that it dated the Pliocene epoch.
That was definitely a stretch, but at the time it
was almost kind of, sort of within reason to make
(04:08):
that leap. Separate from this find. Others had claimed to
have found ancient stone tools like mortars and pestles under
the hills of Calaveras County. Those finds opened up the
possibility of that older age. The tools, and now the skull,
it was thought, could change what experts thought about human
evolution and in particular in North America.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
On July eighteenth, eighteen sixty six, Whitney presented a paper
to the California Academy of Natural Sciences describing the skull,
explaining it had been recently found in Calaveras County. He
described his discovery in a mine shaft at a depth
of one hundred and thirty feet. It had been found
in oriiferous gravel deposits of a Pliocene river that had
(04:54):
been buried beneath million year old volcanic deposits. The San
Francisco Alta summed up with Beney's talk the following day,
reporting quote, the skull is therefore not only the earliest
pioneer of this state, but the oldest known human being.
It is scarcely necessary to say that the announcement and
remarks of Professor Whitney made a profound sensation at the Academy.
(05:17):
He later exhibited the skull in August of eighteen sixty
eight at the Chicago meeting of the American Association for
the Advancement of Science.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
We're going to take a break here for a word
from our sponsors, and when we return, we will talk
about how there's always a butt.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's talk about the debate over
whether or not the skull was real and if it
was really as old as some people thought.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
So many of our stories that we've told have a
moment where we have to talk about something that sounds
incredibly cool or interesting, and then we have to follow
it up with butt. All right, So here's the butt
for this one. Some scholars challenged the authenticity of the
skull while others did not, and it started a controversy
between those who insisted the skull had been planted at
(06:19):
the mine and those who insisted it was genuine. An
article in the Harvard Register reported that the Calaveras skull
quote has been mercilessly assailed as a hoax, not on
account of any suspicious circumstances attending its discovery, but because
it was predetermined in the minds of many that man
did not live at so ancient a time. The skull
(06:41):
looked others believed like it belonged to a human from
centuries earlier, probably from an indigenous tribe now referred to
as the Northern Sierra Miwok. Some assumed that that's what
it probably was. Prominent geologists, archaeologists, and anthropologists from several
universities examined the skull, but it actually took many decades
(07:03):
before the skull was decisively determined to be a fake.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Scientists were concerned that the artifact had been removed before
anyone with any kind of reputable authority could examine it
in the ground where it was found, but that wasn't
the only problem. There was a lot of disagreement within
the scientific community some people assumed it was the result
of an unfortunate mining accident. Skeptics also believed the skull
(07:30):
was just too modern to come from the Pliocene Age.
Some scholars believed it was just a practical joke played
by miners.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Whitney took the skull to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington,
d C. Where archaeologist William H. Holmes examined it, and
Holmes was well it was not on board with the
idea that this was a genuine find. In his analysis,
he had discovered that the sediment embedded in it, it
(07:59):
turned out, couldn't have come from the mind deposit. When
the skull was exhumed, it was still partially encased in
the material in which it was found. Loose sediment had
been brushed away by Scribner, and in that material Holmes
found bones, a shell bed that resembled those made by
indigenous peoples, and a snail shell from a modern type
(08:20):
of snail. Whitney had thought that the skull had bounced
along an ancient Pliocene river, where it must have settled
in sediments containing these tidbits. Holmes disagreed to him and
to other experts. The findings suggested that the skull had
come from somewhere else and been put in the mind.
He concluded that quote, it thus appears that the so
(08:42):
called Calivera's skull exhibits nothing in its character, condition, or
associated phenomena incompatible with the theory of recent origin, and
very much that may be justly construed as favoring that theory.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
By eighteen sixty nine, skepticism was spread. A mister Blakesley
wrote in an edition of the San Francisco bulletin that year, quote,
we believe the whole story worthy of no scientific credence.
A minister told us the miners freely told him that
the whole affair was a joke. Despite the critics and
(09:17):
the stories, Whitney continued to believe it was a genuine find,
and by the eighteen nineties many in the academic community
continued to accept it as genuine, but it was becoming
more and more obvious among scientists that it really just
didn't fit into the fossil record of human evolution. In
nineteen oh one, F. W. Putnam, who had replaced Whitney
(09:38):
at Harvard, visited California and learned that In eighteen sixty five,
a number of indigenous skulls had been dug up from
a nearby tribal burial site, and that skulls had been
planted in the Bald Mountain mine. Putnam concluded, quote, it
may be impossible, ever to determine, to the satisfaction of
the archaeologist, the place where the skull was actually found.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
So this is a good time to talk about something
that's been the creeping supporting character in this entire forgery season,
and that's confirmation bias. In the twenty twenty two edition
of Comprehensive Clinical Psychology, authors Caleb W. Lac and Jacques
Rousseau describe confirmation bias in the chapter Mental Health, pop Psychology,
(10:24):
and the Misunderstanding of Clinical Psychology, and their description of
confirmation bias reads as follows quote. It is the tendency
of individuals to favor information that confirms their beliefs or
ideas and discount that which does not. This means that,
when confronted with new information, we tend to do one
of two things. If this information confirms what we already believe,
(10:47):
our natural instinct is to accept it as true, accurate,
and unbiased. We unreservedly accept it and are happy to
have been shown it, even if it has some problems,
we forgive and forget those incorporate this new information into
our beliefs and schemas quickly. We are also more likely
to recall this information leader to help buttress our belief
(11:10):
during an argument. On the other hand, if this newly
encountered information contradicts what we already believe, we have a
very natural different response. We become highly critical and defensive,
immediately nitpicking any possible flaw in the information, even though
the same flaw would be ignored if the information confirmed
(11:30):
our beliefs. It also fades quickly from our mind, so
that in the future we cannot even recall being exposed
to it.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
We have seen this bias at play over and over again,
from art experts who want to think they found a
previously unknown work by a particular artist, or in a
buyer who doesn't want to believe they've been duped. Psychological
bias is a powerful thing, so powerful that it can
override actual knowledge that would contradict what someone wants to
(12:01):
believe to us and maybe to you too. This seems
to have been at play for J. D. Whitney, and
he wasn't the only one.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
We're going to take a break for a word from
our sponsor, and when we're back we will talk about
how hard it was to convince even some experts that
the skull was just not what they hoped.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's talk about just how long
it took for experts to agree the skull was fake,
and how the whole thing was actually a practical joke
gone too far.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Decades after first examining the skull, Holmes, feeling unsure about
its age and providence, traveled to Calaveras to investigate further.
He read all of Whitney's reports, which included a description
of the skull. He examined the plant and animal thought
bustle supposedly found in the sediment on the skull. He
wrote of the scene, quote, to suppose that man could
(13:06):
have remained unchanged physically, To suppose that he could have
remained unchanged mentally, socially, industrially, and esthetically for a million years,
roughly speaking, is to suppose a miracle. To suppose again,
that the ancient people disappeared as a result of nature's mutations,
leaving their bones and handiwork, and that another people springing
(13:29):
up or appearing on the same spot in recent years,
have duplicated each and every character, activity and art form
is to suppose the impossible.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
Holmes also spoke with George Stickle, a resident of Angels
Camp and Scribner associate. Stickkell stated that the skull had
come from an indigenous burial place in Salt Spring Valley,
which was located west of Angels Camp. He claimed it
was removed by doctor William Kelly, who gave it to Scribner,
who originally thought it would make a fun gag gift
(14:00):
to doctor Jones.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Holmes was now certain that the skull had been placed
in the mine, but he just couldn't verify it. Scribner
and Jones had both died in eighteen ninety eight. It's
actually pretty difficult to find a primary account of what occurred.
But Holmes heard the same tale again and again from
locals who had been there at the time, and that
(14:22):
story that they told was this. It was Scribner who
was the architect of the prank, along with a few
accomplices who were all friends of doctor Jones. Mattinson was
the sucker that they counted on to find the skull
that they'd planted, which he did, and they bet that
he would kick off a chain of events that would
get it into Jones's hands. He was the real target
(14:45):
of the prank, and Mattinson also did that.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
When the skull arrived, Jones initially thought that it was
a practical joke, and really he should have trusted his
gut here. According to innkeeper jail spare Mary, Jones first
threw the skull into this street, yelling about how quote
the skull had been brought to him as a relic
of great antiquity, but he had just discovered cobwebs in
(15:10):
it and concluded that he had been made the subject
of one of Scribner's practical jokes. But then he had
second thoughts about it and presumably retrieved it from the street.
Never intended as anything more than a prank, the skull
ended up being discussed as a genuine Clyti scene fossil,
first by Jones, then by Whitney.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
At the turn of the century. And yet despite all
these revelations that indicated the tomfoolery of the whole setup,
the skull continued to have defenders. The more experts learned
about it, though the more out of place it seemed.
It took several decades of debate before it was concluded
to be faked. Radiocarbon analysis known also as carbon dating,
(15:55):
was conducted on the skull in nineteen ninety two, so
quite a while after the whole thing started, and results
indicated it likely came from the Late Holocene Age. The
Holocene is the current geological epic in Earth's history. This
skull ultimately is estimated to be about one thousand years old,
(16:15):
and that aligns with Holmes's conclusion made years earlier.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Nearly a century later, Ralph Dexter of the Department of
Biological Sciences at Kent State University concluded of the skull
and its controversy, quote, the desire on the part of
miners to play a practical joke, the anxiety of archaeologists
to prove the existence of early humankind in North America,
(16:42):
and the firm convictions and good faith of those involved
in an honest mistake led to this long drawn out controversy,
unique in the annals of American archaeology. The skull disappeared
from discussion.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Are you ready for a little something to drink while
we contemplate this whole skull story?
Speaker 2 (17:05):
I am. Can you believe how many decades. That's it. Yes,
actually I can't you.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
And that's kind of the inspiration for today's drink, which
is called confirmation bias, because it really is a thing
where people will just dig in and they want something
to be true so bad. So I at least wanted
something to be super delicious and have not the flavor
of the drink that it's a look alike for, but
(17:33):
have a little bit of the same quality. And I'll
explain as we go. This one is a small drink.
One of those drinks is not diluted with anything, so
it is very spirit forward. But it is going to
start with a half ounce of unsweetened cranberry juice, a
splash of agave syrup, a quarter ounce of vanilla liqueur,
(17:54):
so not a whole lot, and then an ounce and
a half of dark rum. And you're going to put
these into a mixing glass with ice and then stir
it to combine it. If you are a drink person,
you may already know what we're making a copy of,
because that's how the original is also made. You're going
to strain that into a cocktail glass that's pre chilled.
(18:16):
I love a Nick and Nora glass for this. One,
which are those smaller volume they're really cute and perfect.
And then you're gonna garnish it with a cranberry that
has been soaked in a gave or brown sugar syrup
for just a little while. You just need a coating
on it because it looks like a Manhattan.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
It does, yeah, I.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Know, And a Manhattan is not dark, round, sweet, vermooth
bourbon and usually samangaster a bitters, so it's also very
spirit forward. It also is stirred in a mixing glass
instead of in a shaker or anything. I also wanted.
I was just fascinated by this idea of the dirt
(18:54):
and so I wanted a brown drink. I knew this
one is definitely on the reddish side of brown, so
that's what led me down this path. But the thing is,
when you drink it, it is like a Manhattan. It
doesn't taste like one at all, but it has a
similar effect psychologically, which is that you're like, Wow, this
(19:14):
is a strong drink, but it's also pretty tasty because
sometimes when you say wow, this is a strong drink,
you're not tasting anything but spirit writing yes, whereas a Manhattan,
if it's made well, you taste the spirit, but you
you know that that sweet vermouth and that little bit
of like a luxado cherry usually gives it that little
bit of sweetness that smooths out the rough edges, and
(19:37):
so you taste the flavors and you're not just like, wow,
that's alcohol. And I will say my one taste tester agreed,
not a big drinker, not a fan of drinks that
taste like alcohol. And he said, this is interesting because
I can taste that it's very spirit forward. But I
don't mind this at all when I was there.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Interesting from him.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Yes, if you want to make the mocktail of this,
it's really easy. You're gonna make everything the same, except
instead of vanilla li cure, you'll use a vanilla syrup,
and instead of dark rum, you're gonna make your favorite
dark like a black tea that has whatever spices you love,
whether it is a tea that comes spiced, or you
(20:18):
like to make your own black tea and then spice
it up with a little nutmeg and cardamom, or I'd
like to put a little pumpkin pie spice in tea.
It gets super yummy, I know. But we're in the
holiday scenes. It's appropriate. Yes, it's appropriate for me year round,
but you can also you know, if you're seasonal that way,
this should be great and that actually makes a really
yummy drink. I actually made one version with a vanilla
(20:41):
tea that I had on hand, and that was quite tasty,
but definitely a little on the more deserty roundy side.
And then I made one with a black tea that
I had added an assortment of things too, also very good,
but just a slightly different flavor profile. So experiment, find
what you like. Because remember, there's no such thing as
cocktail jail. You just want to make the cocktails and mocktails.
(21:02):
It taste most delicious to you, so tweak any recipe,
however you need to make it super yummy. In this case,
if it's two spirit forward, add a little more agave syrup,
add a little more cranberry juice. Although if you're doing
the unsweetened it has its own bite, so you got
to be a little careful with that. But you can
tweak and see what you like. I'm a big fan
of the taste tests. Go what does this need? This
(21:25):
is how you develop your skills as your home bartender,
where you know exactly how to make exactly what you
love and what's better than that. We are so grateful
that you hang out with us to experiment with these
cocktails and hear stories of assorted strange things, including a
lot of confirmation bias. We will be right back here
next week with a little more of that and another cocktail.
(21:56):
Criminalia is a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership with iHeartRadio.
For more podcasts from Shondaland Audio, please visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership
with iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
When a group of miners uncovered a skull deep in
a mine shaft on the western slopes of Bald Mountain
near a gold mining camp called Angels Camp in Calaveras County, California,
it was believed, at least initially, to be a history
changing discovery. The owner of the mine, Illinois born blacksmith
James Mattinson, had originally gone west during the California Gold Rush.
(00:38):
He had little to no luck finding gold or any
other precious metals or anything really, and it said that
Mattinson didn't know at first what it was that he'd
dug up that day in February of eighteen sixty six.
It was when the skull was sent to the state
geologist of California, J. D. Whitney, who was also a
(00:58):
professor of geology at Harvard Universe when things went a
bit bonkers. Welcome to Criminalia. I'm Maria Tremarchy and.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
I'm Holly Fry. Mattinson had first showed the fossil to
a local man who lived in the mining town, and
he in turn brought it to an Angel's camp merchant
named Philip Scribner. Scribner recognized that it was a human skull,
and he cleaned it up and sent it off to
physician and natural history buff doctor William Jones, who, although
(01:28):
we aren't one hundred percent sure, likely lived in nearby
San Francisco. Jones was blown away by the potential of
the discovery, and he was the one who sent the
skull to J. D. Whitney. Upon examining this skull, Whitney
determined that it was an amazing find. He believed that
it belonged to a ply a scene age man, which
(01:51):
would have made it the oldest known record of human
existence in North America. And that wasn't the only thing.
It also suggests that humans had lived in the Americas
for much longer than scientists had previously thought.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Let's take a minute for a bit of science and
history to get our bearings on this time frame. The
Pliocene is the epic of geologic time scale that extends
from roughly five point four million to two point four
million years ago. Today, most scientists recognize some fifteen to
(02:27):
twenty different species of early humans, though there is disagreement
about how those species are related. As well as which
ones just died out over time. Fossils of the first
known hominids or human like primates, who lived between six
million and two million years ago, universally come from the
African continent. It's believed that early humans first migrated out
(02:51):
of Africa into Asia probably between two million and one
point eight million years ago, and there's no evidence of
humans in Europe until between one point five million and
one million years ago. It took even more time for
humans to populate the rest of the world. When it
comes to the Americas, there's no evidence there were humans
(03:12):
there until the past thirty thousand years or so. So
a Haminid skull dating to the Pla saying that was
both exciting and a bit of a scandalous announcement.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Whitney didn't just examine the skull, though. He went to
Angel's camp, he visited the mine, and he spoke with
both Mattinson and Scribner. The men explained that Mattinson dug
up the skull in his mind, and though he originally
thought it was probably nothing more than a tree route,
when it was cleaned up at Scrubner's store, everyone realized
it was a skull, and that's when they brought in
(03:46):
doctor Jones for his counsel and advice. It's reported that
Whitney believed both Mattinson and Scribner were being truthful, and
he carried on with his investigative work. He concluded that
the skull was authentic and that it dated the Pliocene epoch.
That was definitely a stretch, but at the time it
was almost kind of, sort of within reason to make
(04:08):
that leap. Separate from this find. Others had claimed to
have found ancient stone tools like mortars and pestles under
the hills of Calaveras County. Those finds opened up the
possibility of that older age. The tools, and now the skull,
it was thought, could change what experts thought about human
evolution and in particular in North America.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
On July eighteenth, eighteen sixty six, Whitney presented a paper
to the California Academy of Natural Sciences describing the skull,
explaining it had been recently found in Calaveras County. He
described his discovery in a mine shaft at a depth
of one hundred and thirty feet. It had been found
in oriiferous gravel deposits of a Pliocene river that had
(04:54):
been buried beneath million year old volcanic deposits. The San
Francisco Alta summed up with Beney's talk the following day,
reporting quote, the skull is therefore not only the earliest
pioneer of this state, but the oldest known human being.
It is scarcely necessary to say that the announcement and
remarks of Professor Whitney made a profound sensation at the Academy.
(05:17):
He later exhibited the skull in August of eighteen sixty
eight at the Chicago meeting of the American Association for
the Advancement of Science.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
We're going to take a break here for a word
from our sponsors, and when we return, we will talk
about how there's always a butt.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's talk about the debate over
whether or not the skull was real and if it
was really as old as some people thought.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
So many of our stories that we've told have a
moment where we have to talk about something that sounds
incredibly cool or interesting, and then we have to follow
it up with butt. All right, So here's the butt
for this one. Some scholars challenged the authenticity of the
skull while others did not, and it started a controversy
between those who insisted the skull had been planted at
(06:19):
the mine and those who insisted it was genuine. An
article in the Harvard Register reported that the Calaveras skull
quote has been mercilessly assailed as a hoax, not on
account of any suspicious circumstances attending its discovery, but because
it was predetermined in the minds of many that man
did not live at so ancient a time. The skull
(06:41):
looked others believed like it belonged to a human from
centuries earlier, probably from an indigenous tribe now referred to
as the Northern Sierra Miwok. Some assumed that that's what
it probably was. Prominent geologists, archaeologists, and anthropologists from several
universities examined the skull, but it actually took many decades
(07:03):
before the skull was decisively determined to be a fake.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Scientists were concerned that the artifact had been removed before
anyone with any kind of reputable authority could examine it
in the ground where it was found, but that wasn't
the only problem. There was a lot of disagreement within
the scientific community some people assumed it was the result
of an unfortunate mining accident. Skeptics also believed the skull
(07:30):
was just too modern to come from the Pliocene Age.
Some scholars believed it was just a practical joke played
by miners.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Whitney took the skull to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington,
d C. Where archaeologist William H. Holmes examined it, and
Holmes was well it was not on board with the
idea that this was a genuine find. In his analysis,
he had discovered that the sediment embedded in it, it
(07:59):
turned out, couldn't have come from the mind deposit. When
the skull was exhumed, it was still partially encased in
the material in which it was found. Loose sediment had
been brushed away by Scribner, and in that material Holmes
found bones, a shell bed that resembled those made by
indigenous peoples, and a snail shell from a modern type
(08:20):
of snail. Whitney had thought that the skull had bounced
along an ancient Pliocene river, where it must have settled
in sediments containing these tidbits. Holmes disagreed to him and
to other experts. The findings suggested that the skull had
come from somewhere else and been put in the mind.
He concluded that quote, it thus appears that the so
(08:42):
called Calivera's skull exhibits nothing in its character, condition, or
associated phenomena incompatible with the theory of recent origin, and
very much that may be justly construed as favoring that theory.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
By eighteen sixty nine, skepticism was spread. A mister Blakesley
wrote in an edition of the San Francisco bulletin that year, quote,
we believe the whole story worthy of no scientific credence.
A minister told us the miners freely told him that
the whole affair was a joke. Despite the critics and
(09:17):
the stories, Whitney continued to believe it was a genuine find,
and by the eighteen nineties many in the academic community
continued to accept it as genuine, but it was becoming
more and more obvious among scientists that it really just
didn't fit into the fossil record of human evolution. In
nineteen oh one, F. W. Putnam, who had replaced Whitney
(09:38):
at Harvard, visited California and learned that In eighteen sixty five,
a number of indigenous skulls had been dug up from
a nearby tribal burial site, and that skulls had been
planted in the Bald Mountain mine. Putnam concluded, quote, it
may be impossible, ever to determine, to the satisfaction of
the archaeologist, the place where the skull was actually found.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
So this is a good time to talk about something
that's been the creeping supporting character in this entire forgery season,
and that's confirmation bias. In the twenty twenty two edition
of Comprehensive Clinical Psychology, authors Caleb W. Lac and Jacques
Rousseau describe confirmation bias in the chapter Mental Health, pop Psychology,
(10:24):
and the Misunderstanding of Clinical Psychology, and their description of
confirmation bias reads as follows quote. It is the tendency
of individuals to favor information that confirms their beliefs or
ideas and discount that which does not. This means that,
when confronted with new information, we tend to do one
of two things. If this information confirms what we already believe,
(10:47):
our natural instinct is to accept it as true, accurate,
and unbiased. We unreservedly accept it and are happy to
have been shown it, even if it has some problems,
we forgive and forget those incorporate this new information into
our beliefs and schemas quickly. We are also more likely
to recall this information leader to help buttress our belief
(11:10):
during an argument. On the other hand, if this newly
encountered information contradicts what we already believe, we have a
very natural different response. We become highly critical and defensive,
immediately nitpicking any possible flaw in the information, even though
the same flaw would be ignored if the information confirmed
(11:30):
our beliefs. It also fades quickly from our mind, so
that in the future we cannot even recall being exposed
to it.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
We have seen this bias at play over and over again,
from art experts who want to think they found a
previously unknown work by a particular artist, or in a
buyer who doesn't want to believe they've been duped. Psychological
bias is a powerful thing, so powerful that it can
override actual knowledge that would contradict what someone wants to
(12:01):
believe to us and maybe to you too. This seems
to have been at play for J. D. Whitney, and
he wasn't the only one.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
We're going to take a break for a word from
our sponsor, and when we're back we will talk about
how hard it was to convince even some experts that
the skull was just not what they hoped.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's talk about just how long
it took for experts to agree the skull was fake,
and how the whole thing was actually a practical joke
gone too far.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Decades after first examining the skull, Holmes, feeling unsure about
its age and providence, traveled to Calaveras to investigate further.
He read all of Whitney's reports, which included a description
of the skull. He examined the plant and animal thought
bustle supposedly found in the sediment on the skull. He
wrote of the scene, quote, to suppose that man could
(13:06):
have remained unchanged physically, To suppose that he could have
remained unchanged mentally, socially, industrially, and esthetically for a million years,
roughly speaking, is to suppose a miracle. To suppose again,
that the ancient people disappeared as a result of nature's mutations,
leaving their bones and handiwork, and that another people springing
(13:29):
up or appearing on the same spot in recent years,
have duplicated each and every character, activity and art form
is to suppose the impossible.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
Holmes also spoke with George Stickle, a resident of Angels
Camp and Scribner associate. Stickkell stated that the skull had
come from an indigenous burial place in Salt Spring Valley,
which was located west of Angels Camp. He claimed it
was removed by doctor William Kelly, who gave it to Scribner,
who originally thought it would make a fun gag gift
(14:00):
to doctor Jones.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Holmes was now certain that the skull had been placed
in the mine, but he just couldn't verify it. Scribner
and Jones had both died in eighteen ninety eight. It's
actually pretty difficult to find a primary account of what occurred.
But Holmes heard the same tale again and again from
locals who had been there at the time, and that
(14:22):
story that they told was this. It was Scribner who
was the architect of the prank, along with a few
accomplices who were all friends of doctor Jones. Mattinson was
the sucker that they counted on to find the skull
that they'd planted, which he did, and they bet that
he would kick off a chain of events that would
get it into Jones's hands. He was the real target
(14:45):
of the prank, and Mattinson also did that.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
When the skull arrived, Jones initially thought that it was
a practical joke, and really he should have trusted his
gut here. According to innkeeper jail spare Mary, Jones first
threw the skull into this street, yelling about how quote
the skull had been brought to him as a relic
of great antiquity, but he had just discovered cobwebs in
(15:10):
it and concluded that he had been made the subject
of one of Scribner's practical jokes. But then he had
second thoughts about it and presumably retrieved it from the street.
Never intended as anything more than a prank, the skull
ended up being discussed as a genuine Clyti scene fossil,
first by Jones, then by Whitney.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
At the turn of the century. And yet despite all
these revelations that indicated the tomfoolery of the whole setup,
the skull continued to have defenders. The more experts learned
about it, though the more out of place it seemed.
It took several decades of debate before it was concluded
to be faked. Radiocarbon analysis known also as carbon dating,
(15:55):
was conducted on the skull in nineteen ninety two, so
quite a while after the whole thing started, and results
indicated it likely came from the Late Holocene Age. The
Holocene is the current geological epic in Earth's history. This
skull ultimately is estimated to be about one thousand years old,
(16:15):
and that aligns with Holmes's conclusion made years earlier.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Nearly a century later, Ralph Dexter of the Department of
Biological Sciences at Kent State University concluded of the skull
and its controversy, quote, the desire on the part of
miners to play a practical joke, the anxiety of archaeologists
to prove the existence of early humankind in North America,
(16:42):
and the firm convictions and good faith of those involved
in an honest mistake led to this long drawn out controversy,
unique in the annals of American archaeology. The skull disappeared
from discussion.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Are you ready for a little something to drink while
we contemplate this whole skull story?
Speaker 2 (17:05):
I am. Can you believe how many decades. That's it. Yes,
actually I can't you.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
And that's kind of the inspiration for today's drink, which
is called confirmation bias, because it really is a thing
where people will just dig in and they want something
to be true so bad. So I at least wanted
something to be super delicious and have not the flavor
of the drink that it's a look alike for, but
(17:33):
have a little bit of the same quality. And I'll
explain as we go. This one is a small drink.
One of those drinks is not diluted with anything, so
it is very spirit forward. But it is going to
start with a half ounce of unsweetened cranberry juice, a
splash of agave syrup, a quarter ounce of vanilla liqueur,
(17:54):
so not a whole lot, and then an ounce and
a half of dark rum. And you're going to put
these into a mixing glass with ice and then stir
it to combine it. If you are a drink person,
you may already know what we're making a copy of,
because that's how the original is also made. You're going
to strain that into a cocktail glass that's pre chilled.
(18:16):
I love a Nick and Nora glass for this. One,
which are those smaller volume they're really cute and perfect.
And then you're gonna garnish it with a cranberry that
has been soaked in a gave or brown sugar syrup
for just a little while. You just need a coating
on it because it looks like a Manhattan.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
It does, yeah, I.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Know, And a Manhattan is not dark, round, sweet, vermooth
bourbon and usually samangaster a bitters, so it's also very
spirit forward. It also is stirred in a mixing glass
instead of in a shaker or anything. I also wanted.
I was just fascinated by this idea of the dirt
(18:54):
and so I wanted a brown drink. I knew this
one is definitely on the reddish side of brown, so
that's what led me down this path. But the thing is,
when you drink it, it is like a Manhattan. It
doesn't taste like one at all, but it has a
similar effect psychologically, which is that you're like, Wow, this
(19:14):
is a strong drink, but it's also pretty tasty because
sometimes when you say wow, this is a strong drink,
you're not tasting anything but spirit writing yes, whereas a Manhattan,
if it's made well, you taste the spirit, but you
you know that that sweet vermouth and that little bit
of like a luxado cherry usually gives it that little
bit of sweetness that smooths out the rough edges, and
(19:37):
so you taste the flavors and you're not just like, wow,
that's alcohol. And I will say my one taste tester agreed,
not a big drinker, not a fan of drinks that
taste like alcohol. And he said, this is interesting because
I can taste that it's very spirit forward. But I
don't mind this at all when I was there.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Interesting from him.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Yes, if you want to make the mocktail of this,
it's really easy. You're gonna make everything the same, except
instead of vanilla li cure, you'll use a vanilla syrup,
and instead of dark rum, you're gonna make your favorite
dark like a black tea that has whatever spices you love,
whether it is a tea that comes spiced, or you
(20:18):
like to make your own black tea and then spice
it up with a little nutmeg and cardamom, or I'd
like to put a little pumpkin pie spice in tea.
It gets super yummy, I know. But we're in the
holiday scenes. It's appropriate. Yes, it's appropriate for me year round,
but you can also you know, if you're seasonal that way,
this should be great and that actually makes a really
yummy drink. I actually made one version with a vanilla
(20:41):
tea that I had on hand, and that was quite tasty,
but definitely a little on the more deserty roundy side.
And then I made one with a black tea that
I had added an assortment of things too, also very good,
but just a slightly different flavor profile. So experiment, find
what you like. Because remember, there's no such thing as
cocktail jail. You just want to make the cocktails and mocktails.
(21:02):
It taste most delicious to you, so tweak any recipe,
however you need to make it super yummy. In this case,
if it's two spirit forward, add a little more agave syrup,
add a little more cranberry juice. Although if you're doing
the unsweetened it has its own bite, so you got
to be a little careful with that. But you can
tweak and see what you like. I'm a big fan
of the taste tests. Go what does this need? This
(21:25):
is how you develop your skills as your home bartender,
where you know exactly how to make exactly what you
love and what's better than that. We are so grateful
that you hang out with us to experiment with these
cocktails and hear stories of assorted strange things, including a
lot of confirmation bias. We will be right back here
next week with a little more of that and another cocktail.
(21:56):
Criminalia is a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership with iHeartRadio.
For more podcasts from Shondaland Audio, please visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Hosts And Creators
Holly Frey
Maria Trimarchi
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