Transcript
Mystery Inc 2.15 Completed
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[00:00:00]
[00:00:34] I'm not used to You sitting in a different seat. I know. I'm testing new seats out. Let me get my self situated. Someone was tall in this seat. . Ah, there we are. I was about to get on you for not using a coaster. Oh no. That's implied . It bothers me if there's not a coaster to use. I'm like, it'll leave a ring.
[00:00:57] I know anytime I see someone not using a coaster, I'm like, you must [00:01:00] not have had a grandma who would've beat you all by . I know. . Why aren't there a coaster on that? Well, I know too, as she got older, she wasn't as adamant about coasters. There would be little rings in the. Natural wood and I just don't like that.
[00:01:14] Right. Well, and anytime someone were to come here, you would find coasters all over the table. So I have coasters on all of our stands. Josh and I are recording in the middle of our recording studio, so we have like four chairs set up and we have mics all around, but we also have a room set up so that if there's just one or two people recording, you can just go into this small.
[00:01:37] But even in there, I have two or four coasters in there because I get so annoyed when I see people in there with their drinks just chilling out on the Use a coaster. Yeah. So I'm glad that you're using a coaster, not sponsored, but . . We need to have our own coaster material. There we go. Extra absorbent, because I hate when some [00:02:00] coasters, they'll get that condensation buildup and every time you take a drink, you get like the top of your blouse wet or something.
[00:02:08] the top of your blouse. Speaking of merch, which it sounds like we're trying to sell some merch, but I love that we had that one. Follower on Instagram. Ask about t-shirts. Yes. , because we keep bringing up you saying Jesus. Jesus. Never thought that'd be my no. But I didn't like your idea about, instead of saying, you know, J E S U S, I had to think in my head, how is that spelled?
[00:02:35] You don't remember the song you're going to Hell Shane. But your idea was having it spelled j e e z u S. Yeah. Cause I use a, A place of Jesus. I go, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. Yeah. Which, and less offensive to . Yeah. That reminds me of a quick, funny little thing. I'll tell you before we get into this episode, I, I promise if you're listening, we're gonna get into the episode.[00:03:00]
[00:03:00] But I was recording this interview the other day for Hometown History and it's four block history month, and the interview was for a segregated school back during, you know, segregation in South Carolina. And I was talking to some guys who were on the football team at the segregated school, and you and I grew up where we didn't play sports, so I didn't know anything about football.
[00:03:30] So in this interview, I had to pretend like I knew what they were talking about. Oh, heavens , which I learned. That the Super Bowl is coming up this weekend, which? The Rihanna concert? Yeah, the Rihanna concert. So I'm in this interview and they're talking about all of these football terms and how well they were doing, and they're spitting out how good their numbers were.
[00:03:53] And after the fact I learned like how amazing their numbers were and they go on to become like the [00:04:00] state champions of South Carolina. And the numbers are absolutely astounding, especially to know that they were playing on like a dust field. Hmm. But I, in the moment, I had absolutely zero reference on what they were talking about.
[00:04:17] So I was like, oh, wow, that's crazy. You know? But in the moment, I should have been like, Holy crap, you know? But I had no idea like what they were talking about or what I barely know. Football, I'm the same. I know that they're, I don't know who it is, but I know someone on the team is a tight end and someone else is a wide receiver.
[00:04:37] Other than that, I like the snacks that football parties have, right? I will always go to a Super Bowl party if invited, because I know there'll be some kind of crockpot with some barbecued meat in there. Uh, several kinds of crockpot dips, maybe a giant submarine sandwich. Uh, my favorite. I love it. So let's go ahead and get into our topic.[00:05:00]
[00:05:00] What is so Well, apparently it's your turn to go first. I think it's my turn. We'll let our listeners decide who's right, but go ahead and you'll get to go first. You're getting a taste of our childhood there, right? It's my turn. It's my turn. No, it's my turn. Fine. You do it. Well, I was inspired by watching my favorite Princess movie, which I'm not certain if it's a Disney movie or if it's just off on its own, kind of like Dr.
[00:05:28] Pepper. Not its own, but I was watching the movie Anastasia the other day, who also my Chihuahua is named after, and I was intrigued by the villain of the movie and in real life, Rasputin in the movie he. Kind of portrayed as a ghoulish warlock of sorts with he has actual magical powers and like a little white bat who I remembered had a stuffed one of as a kid.
[00:05:55] Mm-hmm. . But since the movie depicts Anastasia as an adult, it takes place [00:06:00] after his death. And just watching that him portrayed as that actual warlock creature. I wanted to know the facts behind the actual Rasputin. Gregory Rasputin was the mystical advisor to Sarr Nicholas ii. He was responsible for the personal health of the SARS only son and heir who suffered from a hemophiliac blood disorder, which is the only reason Rasputin was even there in the capitol and helping them was because he was able to help the SARS son.
[00:06:38] In what country are we talking about? Russia. Russia. My intrigue with Rasputin comes mostly from all the baffling tales about him, his abilities, and to put it frankly, his dangly bits, which are said to be kept in a jar at a museum and measured around 13 inches. I looked up that museum and. [00:07:00] God bless.
[00:07:01] They're still there. Yeah, they're pickled. It's, oh my God, it's Jesus . It's impressive, but oddly shaped . No. Honest question. You know how like museums sell like merchandise? Oh God. Do they have like, you know, a miniature for me, Or life size? You know, like little gift baggies? Ooh, yeah. A gummy one here. Oh my gosh.
[00:07:33] Well, no, we were at Gettysburg and they sold Oh, what were those like little crickets and you know, like random food things of chocolate bullets that could have a c. Rasputin . Yeah. I mean, if that's what people are into, that's what they're into. Not gonna lie, I would probably buy that. I mean, I wouldn't eat it, but just it's a fun little, you know, this is my chocolate replica and, uh, they are currently kept in a jar at the a Museum of [00:08:00] Erotica in St.
[00:08:01] Petersburg, Russia. If you're ever in St. Petersburg, Russia, in the distant future. Stop by there . Now, hold on. Why did they cut him off and put him in a jar? It's one of the things he was so renowned for. He as I'll get on. Okay and a little bit further. He was a very, I'll say promiscuous man, so he was very well known for his stature down below.
[00:08:30] I'm trying to keep it classy in my head. You can, right girl. Let me tell you. No, . That's for the unmasked episode. Yeah. . He was known for being part of an illegal sect of the Catholic church known as the cls. Their belief was that you became closer to God by committing sins, but then repenting of them, and he would often wear heavy shackles around his ankles on his travels as part of his repentance.[00:09:00]
[00:09:00] He grew up as a peasant in a small village in one of the coldest parts of habitable Siberia. Born in 1869. He was one out of only seven siblings to survive. So he grew to be tough and very survivable. It was very common then. Especially where he lived, for families to have as many children as they could because most of them didn't survive.
[00:09:26] So him being one out of seven to survive isn't more like, oh, he was destined to live. It's, oh, they just kind of keep having them until one makes it to adulthood. Hmm. Some believed he was the second coming of Christ, but others suspected he was the anti-Christ and his gifts were powered by demons.
[00:09:47] Similar to in the movie where the Rasputin's powers come from, this taliman vile thing that he got from demons. He did end up [00:10:00] marrying a woman and had a few children in his twenties, but after studying with monks as punishment for stealing, he did decide to join them. And soon after that he basically stumbled upon the cliff during one of their secret love circles in the woods.
[00:10:18] And after a little bit more exposure to them, he joined them. He would bring their rituals with him to the palace when he was summoned to help by the Czar. His reputation for healing had spread through the influential tube, and the Czar and Czarina were desperate to find help for their young son and air.
[00:10:41] I remember the son had hemophilia and had to live very carefully under the watchful eye of his worried mother. Even a small cut could result in death for him, and he also suffered from a lot of nosebleeds, which were very dangerous. But Rasputin was able to [00:11:00] help him though, and quickly became a very important member of the royal family. But was it some sort of magical power? Was it hypnosis that Rasputin had learned while learning from the monks, or was it because he took him off of the prescribed aspirin?
[00:11:18] A known blood thinning medication? . I'm sure that helped. Right. In the eyes of the royal family, Rasputin could do no wrong Without him, the heir and future of the kingdom could die to the point that Rasputin began to offer his gifts to other nobles. With the treatments being his huge thermometer, often asking husbands to watch as he treated their alien wives, which they did for all sorts of things, including hope with fertility.
[00:11:55] Now remember , this parts what gross me. [00:12:00] Remember that Rasputin grew up in a very poor, freezing village and became a monk. Bathing was definitely not something that he was fond of or even knew a lot about. He was known to be very dirty. Smelly and just plain, nasty that didn't stop these nobles and possibly this arena for being treated often and paying out of the nose for it.
[00:12:31] I mean, they did believe he was God, after all. I'm, that's disgusting. Never showered. They didn't brush their teeth even after all of these. People he was treating, he still wouldn't shower . He was also known to visit brothels almost daily for women in need of repenting, and he wasn't [00:13:00] bathing. So he literally just thought that he was God's gift to women?
[00:13:04] Yes. Yeah. He thought his member was a gift to God, and if they wanted his healing abilities, they had to take God's gift. as dirty as it was. Right? Ugh. But first he wasn't bathing, but now it isn't bathing after any of his physical contact before the next. . I don't know if they actually believed he had magical powers or it was the, just the sheer size, but Jesus, the smell alone, I can't get over this smell and this is where STDs came from.
[00:13:38] This what my mind, I'm, this is where so many things must have came from. Raise your standards, people. I mean, I know bathing wasn't very common among a lot of people then, but how did anyone ever copulate? I'd be like, no. Put the layers back on. Right. His ego became so swollen that [00:14:00] he requested that people start to refer to him as God.
[00:14:04] Oh gosh. One , one noble woman was even seen in a precarious position holding onto him and shouting out. You are Christ. I am yours. Mm-hmm. , Jesus. Even after all of his comings and goings and comings, some more were made public. The royal family still didn't care. They had blinders on to everything he did as long as he kept their son safe and alive.
[00:14:40] Even after surviving several assassination attempts, it cemented everyone's belief that he was either the second coming of Christ or the anti-Christ. So who's trying to kill him? Like all these husbands, I'm sure other people in. Russia who didn't like his influence of the Czar. Mm-hmm. , so other [00:15:00] noble men, other men in power who just didn't like his influence.
[00:15:04] He was making the czar, they believed he was, influence him to do other things, ar and this was all around World War I and he just had a lot of hate against him. That, and it was a Catholic. Christian country and they didn't care before all the Yeah. Tom of . I remember reading one of the assassination attempts.
[00:15:30] A young woman came up and stabbed him several times and she wanted to make sure that he died even though he didn't, that she reached into him and pulled some of his goodies out through the stab wounds. But he still managed to survive that assassination attempt. And his treatments to all of these people seemed to be working.
[00:15:54] I don't know if it was hypnosis or what, but when he was treating these people for all [00:16:00] of these different types of ailments, they worked, it's probably like a water pill. I know people just assume that. No, cuz I mean at this point he is also supposed to be a monk or something, right? Yes. He studied in the monks basically.
[00:16:17] Stumbled upon them. He had robbed somebody and was being chased by police and ran into the church that the monks were at and begged them to save them, and in return, he joined them for so long. See, it's so weird because I had always thought the monks were supposed to be non-sexual. Well, that's where the, he was a monk, but he was also secretly a member of the lists.
[00:16:43] Mm-hmm. . So he's a monk. , you know, God calls you to do this special thing, so he's doing this special thing that he's called to do. Yes. The monks taught him who God was, and then the lists more aligned with what he wanted to [00:17:00] do. I got you. Yeah, they're very, Kind of, it's very hedonistic as in do whatever you want, but just ask for forgiveness afterwards.
[00:17:10] Mm-hmm. , which grandma said you're not allowed to do that once you are an adult, , kids can get by with that and still get into heaven. But once you reach adulthood, you know what a sin is. And you ain't supposed to do . Oh no. Well, we sound like the water boy. My mom, my, my, my mama says, my mama said . Let's see.
[00:17:31] Lost my spot. I got distracted. I keep thinking about how bad the smell was. I know. And then, and then it's pickled now. That's what gets me. I just keep thinking that it's pickled, gross. Like I want to see it, but I also like, I'm gonna gag and like think that how it's pickled and they probably didn't even have to pickle it.
[00:17:48] It just probably pickled itself. Cause they just put disgust, fresh water. Yeah. It's just pickle itself cuz of all the bacteria. They actually had to rekit the member cuz it was trying to crawl. Yeah. And he probably didn't die cuz of all the, I [00:18:00] mean, cuz imagine how much bacteria he had. So, I mean, his immune system had to have been super high.
[00:18:05] Oh yes. So all these assassination attempts weren't successful because, His immune system was so high , it was often people would try to poison him and he had built up an immunity to poisons cause he had so many visions of being poisoned that he started to consume poisons actively on a regular basis. So he would actually have, I was born tolerance to them.
[00:18:29] Right. , take your meds. People seek professional help. There's no your flinstone, there's no shame in it. , he took his Flinstone vitamins. That's probably what he did. He's just given these people like vitamin C supplements. Right? And they're, I'm healed. No, honey, you just have vitamins for the first time in your life.
[00:18:47] Right? One of his visions he received while he was helping the czar was that if. Rasputin were killed by any member of the Royal family, then the Czar would lose [00:19:00] everything. But if we were killed by someone else, they would remain in power. He had known that he was going to be murdered. His vision came true on December the 29th and the 30th at nighttime, sometime in that date, 1916, after being invited to Prince Felix SPOs home for dinner and fed food and wine laced with cyanide again, Rasputin was no stranger to poisons and had developed a very high tolerance, especially to cyan.
[00:19:35] After that failed to kill him. The prince had shot him at close range, which Rasputin also survived, and he even tried to escape after being shot and poisoned. He was caught though and shot once more at close range and to further make sure that he was dead. He was tied up and [00:20:00] thrown into the freezing waters of the moca River when he was thrown into the water.
[00:20:05] He was still alive this time, making sure he would stay dead. His body was discovered after several days and the prints that was responsible for his. Was a distant cousin and relative of Nicholas. As we know, another vision of his came true. Someone of the royal family murdered Rasputin and Nicholas ii, his Empress Cons.
[00:20:32] Alexandra Fed and their five children were all murdered by Bek revolutionaries shortly after in 1918, but their bodies weren't discovered until 1979 because they were buried in a mass unmarked grave. Was the, I'll just say it. Cult of Rasputin, just a big old bunch of bologna. Did he [00:21:00] have mystical powers from God or the devil that allowed him to rise from his humble beginnings and into the most influential peasant ever to live?
[00:21:11] All I know is that after this story, I need a shower and a bath and a strong exfoliator because it made me feel real dirty. . Yeah. That's crazy. It's so funny that you bring this up because. . I am a little bit familiar with the czars of the story and their family. I don't know anything about the guy. The Rasputin in his pickled member, , the Czar I'm familiar with because of one of their daughters.
[00:21:41] I think that one of their daughters might, her name might have been like Alexandra or something. I did have their names. We have Anastasia, Anastasia. That's one of the daughter's names, right? Yeah. That's what inspired my story. The movie Anastasia, and that's my dog's name. Yeah, so I think it's [00:22:00] her. There was a whole scenario that had played out because when they were assassinated by the revolutionists, they were taken down and they were all lined up.
[00:22:12] I don't know if you know how they were assassinated. Mm-hmm. , but they were taken and they were all lined up and they were shot. And stabbed with the Bay and X. Mm-hmm. . However, what they know is that they had sewn all of their diamonds and jewelry into their clothing because the women knew that at some point they might have to flee their home.
[00:22:37] Right. So when they were being shot at, some of the bullets weren't penetrating their clothes. And that might be why they were then being bayoneted, not these diamonds, right? Because for some reason these bullets weren't penetrating their clothing. But can you imagine that being there and like firing shots of these people, and it's [00:23:00] not penetrating them, but when they go to dispose of their bodies, it later comes out that there's this story of this woman.
[00:23:10] This is years later, this woman comes forward saying that she is Anastasia. Oh yes. And they have to go through all of this thing to try to prove if this is her or not. And someone from Russia comes over who was supposed to have known her, I think it was her nanny or something, and says that they think it might be her.
[00:23:30] And so for a long time there was this big question on if this woman was really her. Come to find out, DNA testing will prove, I think it's DNA testing will prove that it's not her, but they were able to prove it's not, and they're able to find a mass grave of those bodies, but, Initially when they find the mass graves, they believe that the body of Anastasia was not there.
[00:23:54] Mm-hmm. . But I believe when they go to revisit that, they're able to find those bodies or something like [00:24:00] that. Yes, they found them in 1979, but the bodies weren't real. Definitive testing wasn't done until after the Soviet Union was brought down, and I think it was 1991, that they discovered that they were all there.
[00:24:15] Mm. But that's the plot of the whole movie of Anastasia is played. Anastasia, played by Meg Ryan is the actual. Anastasia, she just has amnesia and doesn't remember, and then they take her to Paris to go meet her grandma in this lovely music box, which now saying it is probably where my fascination with Paris came from at a young age,
[00:24:39] But it's a real intriguing. Family and story. And when I say that, I'll say, if you ever look up the czar was Queen Elizabeth's father, the one who just passed away with the Queen Elizabeth ii. Her father and the Czar were first [00:25:00] cousins, and if you ever see a picture of them, they look identical. Like they could be identical twins, the only difference be in their facial hair.
[00:25:09] So they were very close family and. Even in, there's an episode of The Crown where it talks about in the nineties when Queen Elizabeth II actually traveled to Russia to help get the bodies exhumed and D N A testing because they were her family. And there's myth, I don't know a hundred percent on how much as factual that Queen Elizabeth's grandmother was responsible partially for.
[00:25:39] The executions. Not saying that she signed the order for them to be killed, but they begged her to harbor them and she refused. Mm-hmm. . So they were hoping, you know, Hey, let's go stay with our cousins. And she told 'em no, she didn't want to get, get involved. Yeah. Mm-hmm. . So she has a little bit of blood on her hands per [00:26:00] se, if that is.
[00:26:03] so I've never seen, you said it was a movie that you had watched? Yeah, it's an animated movie called Anastasia. It's from the nineties, so I'm wondering if the animated show is based on that woman's story. I didn't watch it a lot as a kid because I don't believe it's a Disney movie, so it didn't have like steady platform to be played on. So in it constantly. How old is she? Is she an adult? Yeah, she just reached adulthood, like 17, 18, because it starts off, she's staying at like an orphanage, but then she reaches the age where she can't stay there and she has to go out on her own.
[00:26:39] The first place she wanders to is the abandoned castle where she meets another. Guy her age who happened to work at the Castle and they come up with a scheme to get her to Paris where her grandmother lives in the movie. Everyone's trying to do that. Like the grandma's seen person after [00:27:00] person who says they're her granddaughter, but she actually turns out to be the real Anastasia.
[00:27:07] It was the nineties. Meg Ryan does the voice . It was a nineties girls dream, you know? So what happened to her? in the animated show they were killed, but in a very animated, you know, it shows them in a room and then someone comes in the door and you see shadows screaming. There are a little bit of dark parts in the movie, but I mean, it's a animated, how does she survive it?
[00:27:33] The boy who grows into the man that helps her, he worked at the palace and he knew of a secret. Thing, and she managed to get out, but she fell somehow and hit her head and ended up with amnesia and. ended up in, at Children's home in the neighboring town. It was very, very plausible. Especially, I mean, I was six or seven [00:28:00] when I watched it, so I, you know, I was just Paris.
[00:28:03] Oh, it's so shiny. Right. And you get a boy. A man too. Oh, and a music box. Yeah. I'm almost certain then that it has to be based on that woman's story, because my memory of it is that that was, Her belief was that happened that she had some type of amnesia and couldn't remember exactly how she escaped, but that they were able to try to prove that this was her and Hmm.
[00:28:29] Me too. I am Queen Elizabeth. Second long lost grandson. Right. The fabulous one. Yeah. And I, I believe she even petitioned the court to try to get access to like, you know, their funds and stuff from the czar, but she wasn't able to prove that she was this person, so she was never able to get access to any of those.
[00:28:56] I believe it might have been a trust or something, I can't remember exactly, [00:29:00] but she was never able to prove it to the satisfaction of the court. So she ended up dying without being able to prove any of it. And then later on they were able to find that doing more testing, they were able to find that Anastasia's body was in fact, One of the bodies, they did find out in one of those mass graves.
[00:29:20] Yes. And the way they found the bodies too, they were all buried naked, I believe. And I believe that they had acid thrown over the bodies. So they, whoever the men who killed them wanted to make sure that they were not discovered. It was. Very dark. Well, and you can imagine too, if they were new, it might have been because they might have had nice clothing, and if it's true that they had diamonds and stuff in their clothing, they probably would've kept that.
[00:29:51] Right? I know. After they were killed and the palace was just stripped bears. Oh yeah. Everybody just ran in there and [00:30:00] took what they could. Well, you have to also remember at the time, you probably had a lot of people who saw the czar. and in the people's mind, they might have been struggling a lot. Oh, they were.
[00:30:12] And Lizar was a family who still had money and you know, that's probably why they ended up having enough of it. . So I can definitely see both sides of it. You know, I'm not saying, oh yeah. That I support violence at all. Oh, no . But when you're put in that situation and then suddenly you have an opportunity to raid a palace and Right.
[00:30:35] And get some, they're sitting there starving and don't even have bread, tea. Yeah. And meanwhile, the czar and his children are sewing their diamond, you know, . Yeah. Sewing their diamonds inside of their coat. , they're like being kept in a prison house, but that prison house is still better conditions than the best of the peasants.
[00:30:54] Right. And they've been going through it for months and years, and they just [00:31:00] kind of got fed up with it and mm-hmm. sought their own vengeance. Right. So it's my turn to tell my story. Dun dun dun. I know . So we talked about Larry Hall last time and this story kinda will match what we talked about. A little bit about him.
[00:31:20] We're not talking about a serial killer though, but Josh and I just returned from Gettysburg. We actually did a little side trip to Gettysburg because I had a history story that I recorded in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Such a cute town. Yeah, dairy, Pennsylvania, . We ended up recording with the Hershey people about Mr.
[00:31:45] Hershey, who started the Hershey Chocolate Factory and then. I ended up going to see the Winona concert to see the Judds and Josh isn't gonna be sour cuz I got to meet Winona. I went to [00:32:00] the same concert in October and I didn't get a muted . I know I ain't bitter though. I'm real happy for ya. . I know, I, I have a picture of myself with by Nona.
[00:32:12] I'll make sure that we post it on the uh, Instagram. When we release this episode so you guys can see it. Gonna Photoshop my face ? No, but when I got my picture taken with her, I walked up to her and she goes, okay, I'm gonna stand on my tippy toe so I don't feel so short. So I was cracking up laughing. Uh, one thing that I didn't want to ask you, does she dye her hair?
[00:32:32] Okay. Oh yeah. That ain't real red. No, I, I just didn't know if she was a real redhead or not. Oh, no. She is a real redhead, but just not has shade of red. Yeah. . No one's that real , that rude her . But anyway, so after we left Hershey, we went over to Gettysburg and the mystery machine, and Josh and I. Did a tour of their museum, which was really cool.
[00:32:57] This is like really the best time for us to go to [00:33:00] Gettysburg because there was no one there. It's kind of too cold for other people. I liked it. Yeah. Which is perfect for us because we don't like to deal with people. , there was maybe a couple elderly people out there in their little Hyundais, but it was nice.
[00:33:15] Right. But it was really, really cool. And Josh and I got a picture, they have a statue of Lincoln, so we'll post a picture of that that we got by their museum. But Gettysburg was really cool and we, you know, did the audio tour from the mystery machine. So we went around to the different battlefield sites and one of the things that I was really surprised about is how widespread the battle was.
[00:33:42] Yes. That was really shocking to me. Because Gettysburg is, you know, a small town and the battle took place kind of on the outskirts of town, but really the entire town is involved. That was really surprising to me. Was there anything else [00:34:00] surprising about being there to you? . Just the sheer size of it, learning about it in school.
[00:34:05] You think like at least I did like, oh, a single field. Maybe a little bit of woods. But yeah, I mean, between the stops on that audio tour, they'd be like, your next stop is two miles away. Right. I'm like, how far is the, you know? And there are so many monuments. Yes. Every. I did love in the audio tour, they said one of the most asked questions is, why aren't there bullet holes in any of the monuments?
[00:34:31] In the monuments? And yes, that is why I can't do a public tour because I'd get off that bus right then and there if someone has that question. No, that's when you have a fly. Swatter . No. Come stupid questions. Get the fly swatter. But it is the largest monument field. The largest field with monuments. Yes.
[00:34:51] Yeah. Most amount of monuments. And it was beautiful there. Just the scenery, the hills. Yeah, the purple sky. We went, it was towards [00:35:00] sunset, so. Mm-hmm. like I remember in the audio tour part they said as they shot over the purple skies during the sunset, and I was like, oh, that's this time right now. Right. It was really impressive.
[00:35:12] And I've been to, uh, you know, a few other Civil War battles. I've been to Anum. Anum was the bloodiest day of the Civil War. It was only one day, but Gettysburg was the bloodiest battle of the Civil War. So just to give a little background of Gettysburg and my topic's gonna be of. Gettysburg, but I'm gonna give you a good mystery that it came across of Gettysburg.
[00:35:38] So it's gonna be a good little ghost mystery of Gettysburg. So this comes up because when we were talking about Larry Hall, I had mentioned that he was at Gettysburg doing the reenactment during the film Gettysburg. Okay. So he was there. For that film during the reenactment, and that's [00:36:00] gonna be important when we talk about the ghost story that I have.
[00:36:04] So for a little background on Gettysburg, I'm sure if you're an American, and even if you're not, you've heard of the Battle of Gettysburg, but just to refresh your memory and give you a little background, the Battle of Gettysburg was fought between July 1st and July 3rd, 1863, so that's between three days, and it happened in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
[00:36:30] It took place between the Union and Confederate forces during the American Civil. To put the battle into context, the Confederate forces had been having a year of defensive victories. The Confederate Robert e Lee's objective was to win a battle north of the Mason Dixon line, hoping that it would force Abraham Lincoln, who was the president to negotiate an end to the war.
[00:36:57] Josh, do you know what the Mason Dixon line? [00:37:00] I don't, I've heard of it, but I can't tell you where it's at. sounds fun. It does. So the Mason Dixon line is in an L shape. So the L would be going parallel to the ground, and then the other side of the L would be perpendicular to the ground. Okay. So, It's an L-shaped line that forms the border between Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware.
[00:37:28] And a little of it will hit West Virginia. Okay. So basically it's the northern border of Maryland, which is the top of the L between Maryland and Pennsylvania, and then it continues down to separate Maryland and Delaware. And they call it the Mason Dixon line because there were two men named Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, who were called in to survey the best place for the border between 1763 and [00:38:00] 1767 to resolve a border dispute between the states at the time when they were developing the states.
[00:38:10] there was just a big border dispute between where the land was and what state owned that land. Right. So the Union Army will end up winning the Battle General Lee. His quest to invade the north was very ambitious. It was going up very far into the north and attacking, going basically uphill attacking the Union Army.
[00:38:36] And. He was also slightly outnumbered, so it wasn't the best move, but it was very ambitious. He wanted to bring the Civil War to a quick and a very swift end. So the loss ended up dashing the hopes of the Confederate states of America to become an independent nation. The defeated general [00:39:00] ends up f fleeing south with a wagon train of wounded soldiers toward the Potomac, which is a river.
[00:39:06] Mm-hmm. . The Union General Mead did not pursue that retreating army, which meant that he missed out on a critical opportunity to trap Lee and force a Confederate surrender. So then the war would rage on for another two years. Now Lee's escape was even hampered by flooding of the Potomac. So Lincoln, when he finds out that me didn't chase down Lee, he would say, quote, we had to only stretch forth our hands, and they were ours.
[00:39:40] So why me didn't chase down Lee? Is a huge question mark because it could have ended the entire Civil War right then and there, but needless to say, he did not. That's why you always make a checklist for anything . That way you don't forget something. [00:40:00] Yeah, and we don't know why Mead didn't do it. Maybe Mead was just not prepared.
[00:40:05] Maybe Mead shell shocked, kind of, you know, just was, yeah, maybe he just was sitting there and there were so many bodies all around because we're talking about a lot of people who were suddenly dead and Right. You know, who knows? But for whatever reason, he ends up not chasing. , and maybe he thought I was a trap.
[00:40:24] I'm, who knows? I'm featuring it like a week later. He's like sitting around the fire like, oh, darn it. Yeah. You know what I could have done. Yeah. And hindsight's 2020, but he did have a victory. So that's a positive. Right? But. Could have done a little more . Just a little side note that I wanted to share. The Confederate general that we're talking about, Lee, he was married to Mary Anna Randolph Cuus, and she was the step great-granddaughter of George Washington, who was of course the first president of the United States.
[00:40:59] Mm-hmm. . [00:41:00] And initially Lee wrote letters expressing privately that he opposed the Confederate states of America. Saying that secession was an unconstitutional betrayal of the efforts of the founding fathers. But when the southern states start to succeed, and Lincoln calls on Lee to lead the Union Army, he ends up deciding that he couldn't take arms against his home state of Virginia.
[00:41:26] So then he ends up leaving and leads the Confederate army instead. So just a little. Fun history on Lee because I also have a history podcast and I enjoy history . I have a little bit more that I'll add for the Unmasked episode that I find very interesting, but during the Battle of Gettysburg, this is where the numbers start to become crazy to us.
[00:41:54] So there's 165,620 forces that are [00:42:00] engaged. That's on both sides that are engaged. That breaks down to 93,921 Union Soldiers, 71,699 Confederate Soldiers. Jesus, Jesus. For casualties, this includes the killed, wounded, missing and Captured. There are 51,112. That breaks down to 20 3049 Union Soldiers and 28,063 Confederates Utters.
[00:42:38] And I also wanted to add, Which I feel like a lot of people don't add this, that they estimate that around 5,000 horses also got killed on the battlefield. And a dog. Yeah, and at least one dog that we learned about. Can you imagine like being there and fighting and then all of a sudden, like all these people are dying [00:43:00] and the bodies are just sitting there and you're trying to keep your motivation up to keep fighting for the other two days, but you see all these dead bodies and dead horses everywhere at those numbers that really, I mean, When it's just, you know, it was us and Kim there.
[00:43:19] It makes the battlefield seem very large. But yeah, at those numbers, I mean that they would still be very close quarters. And you also have to imagine too, like for me, when I was there, I was imagining the number of 51,000 people who are casualties. But among that 51,000 people, you're also battling alongside your brothers.
[00:43:44] Your uncles. Your neighbors. Mm-hmm. . So if you are surviving, your brother's not right or your uncle's not, or your neighbor or your friend. Sometimes it was brother fighting [00:44:00] brother. Yeah. On either side. And that's a good point I just talked about Lee for a moment. Most of Lee's family end up fighting for the union and.
[00:44:09] So even though Lee ends up becoming the leader of the Confederate forces, he's fighting against most of his family. So you have a lot of people who are fighting against their family members who are fighting for the other side. So although you might be a union soldier, you're fighting on a battlefield against what could be.
[00:44:34] Your brother who is fighting for the Confederate cause. Right. So you just have a lot of mixed emotions. Mixed emotions, yeah. Is the best way that you can put it. It said that there was so much blood because of all the carnage of the people and the horses that the water and the creeks even ran red. Oh, god, yeah.
[00:44:56] Just because of all the carnage. The bodies [00:45:00] were everywhere and the area was widely unprepared for how much dead people and dead horses there were. And one of the things that we heard while we were in Gettysburg was, The bodies and the horses laid there for some time in the middle of summer. Yeah. And so there were politicians who would come in and see all these bodies and they're like, okay, now we really need to do something about this.
[00:45:27] And that's when they decided to put together a national cemetery that's there now and start burying people. and after they ended up putting the bodies in the ground there for the cemetery, that's when Lincoln comes in and does the Gettysburg address. Mm-hmm. a little side note about that. We all know the Gettysburg address.
[00:45:47] It's one of the most famous speeches in history, but at the time it was. Probably the most hated speech in history. I actually did a hometown history episode specifically [00:46:00] on that speech because when he gave it, people hated it because it was so short and at the time, speeches were known to be very long and long-winded because they had no other forms of entertainment.
[00:46:14] It was like less than three minutes, wasn't it? Yeah. So like people would go to these speeches, bring in their chairs, and expecting a performance, you know, and they went to this speech expecting a performance, and even the preacher who spoke before Lincoln gave a very long, long drawn out prayer slash very long speech.
[00:46:39] And then Lincoln got up there and gave a very short speech , and everyone was like, is that it? What? What is this? Thanks for coming folks. . Yeah. So now you know, we remember it and we love it and we think that it's perfect, but at the time people were like, is that it? You got more for us. Yeah. So [00:47:00] imagine after learning all of this, after being there and having to fight, I just can't put myself in the situation having to, cuz there are, I mean, we have a lot of young children and even older people who were there fighting for the cause.
[00:47:14] and having to be around all of the death. You know, these are people who are not trained for battle and they're sitting there having to battle being wounded. It's just absolutely unbelievable to me. So having to spend three days there, emotions would have to be so high, and there's just so much carn. So as you can imagine, there have been many, many, many ghost stories and sightings reported at Gettysburg over the years, and many of these stories have been from Civil War reenactors, and I think that's very significant because these reenactors are dressing in period [00:48:00] costumes their.
[00:48:02] Performing these battles that historians are telling them happened in a certain way on a certain battlefield at a certain time, and they're reperforming them. Mm-hmm. . So if there is some type of lingering emotions or spirits, however you want to call it, energies, I can just see that's the moment where those energies will come forth and.
[00:48:29] Want to relive that moment because it would be such an emotional time. Right. Those men are kind of tapping into the energies of that place and Yeah, and for me, I can see just memories, just constantly being replayed and you can just imagine that re rehabing when you're reenacting things that have gone on, especially something so tragic.
[00:48:54] One report that I found very, very credible. It's from a Reenactor. [00:49:00] His name is Ray Hawk. He and a friend were approached during one of these reenactments by what they described as a haggard figured person. I'm not really sure what a haggard figured is, , but I never heard of that. You're a wizard, Harry, right?
[00:49:18] A haggard figured. But I think it's more of like a guy who, yeah, like a guy who looked like he's seen some things more, I'm thinking like a tramp, but like hairier and dirtier. Yeah. Some guy who looks like he's seen some things. For me, the way that he was describing him just is how I would describe someone who has served.
[00:49:43] Like if I were to see someone who. Would've been on the battlefield that day, like who had seen things and you know, was tired. Mm-hmm. and worn out and exhausted. That's probably how I would describe them. [00:50:00] And him and the other guy describe this person as being way too realistic to be just another actor.
[00:50:07] And that's significant because these reenacters are constantly seeing other reenacters, right? So they're constantly seeing themselves and other reenactors. So you. These are the experts. You know, you're constantly seeing yourself and other people. You know what you look like. You know what your other people aren't looking like.
[00:50:27] Right. I'm sure they're all the same. No matter what battles they're reenacting. They all know each other. Yeah. So this guy was just very realistic, looked way too much like the part to be what they felt like to be a reenactor. And this is a quote from him. I think I had seen a ghost. I think this guy had original equipment on original coat.
[00:50:52] Everything to me points out that it was original. And he held his arm in his right hand . [00:51:00] So the mysterious man came up and handed Ray and the other guy, each two authentic looking cartridges. So basically spent bullets. They looked down at them, and when they looked back up, the man disappeared. Now, That's unexplainable.
[00:51:21] You can't just on a battlefield. Yeah. Like you can just like suddenly gone. So they look up and he is gone. Something to keep in mind is that you are not allowed to bring live ammunition to the battlefield. So that's not been allowed for about a hundred years at Getty. Something else to keep in mind is that Ray is a professional, he is a university expert when it comes to this kind of thing, and they were able to determine that these cartridges [00:52:00] were genuine Civil war issue.
[00:52:03] Jesus. Yeah. So they were from that time period that they would've been used during Gettysburg, a ghost that gives souvenirs. I'm about it. Yeah. People can say, oh, I saw this, I saw that. And normally they don't have a picture. They don't have anything to show for it. They just have their word for it. But I felt like that was very credible, that not only do you.
[00:52:25] two people that see it. You also have one guy who works at a university, but you also have four pieces of evidence that are from that time period, and for them to show that this person or spirit handed it to them, that's very telling because you also have to keep in mind that. for them to be lying about it is also very severe because you're not allowed to go around a battlefield and collect [00:53:00] those things.
[00:53:00] Right. You know, that is illegal to do. There were signs everywhere. Yeah. It is a federal offense to go around a battlefield collecting or searching for those type of things, you have to be very careful. So I just felt like out of all the ghost stories and all of the encounters I came across, that was one of the more credible ones that I wanted to bring up.
[00:53:22] Man, I want to find like an old queen's ghost. Hey honey, you have any jewels laying around, , I'll watch 'em for you. Right. Well, I think that's all that I have, just driving around there. I know. I remember seeing some homes in the middle of the battlefield, like some nicer homes and thinking, oh, I, you know, those places are haunted.
[00:53:44] They probably have to sage the house every week or so. , but ugh, I can't wrap my head around a ghost that gives souvenirs. I'm sitting here thinking of so many dead people throughout history that I'd be like, Hey, I, I know you got [00:54:00] any memorabilia. That would be awesome. Yeah. I mean, and for them to be lying about, you know, it's one thing to lie about seeing something, but for them to be lying about seeing something and then.
[00:54:15] Lying about something, giving you something you could easily, more easily prove that something didn't give you those things, you know? Right. Like they could then go in later test that, oh no, those didn't come from that time period, and your story has to be false because those came from Target, you know, or whatever.
[00:54:35] These are made from Mountain Dew melted down cans. Right. Right. . Yeah, and like I said, his whole story and his background just made me think that this was more likely to be a scenario of them telling the truth. And I've heard of those haunting stories as well from a lot of those reenactors. I mean, like you said, they're going there and whatever they're [00:55:00] doing kind of stirs up the energies left there.
[00:55:03] And yeah, they want to rejoin for a little while. And how funny is it that we were just talking in the last episode about Larry Hall going there doing a reenactment at Gettysburg for the movie Gettysburg. That's my favorite thing about picking topics is there's no rhyme or reason to picking a topic.
[00:55:23] Yeah, sometimes. I'll get one off of a story I'm already covering and find something interesting about, or even, you know, just watching an old childhood movie, right. And thinking, Hmm, that guy, he was real. Let me find out about him. . Alright, well let's go ahead and stop him more. Start our unmasked episode. All righty. If you enjoyed Mystery Inc. Please like us on Instagram and follow us on wherever you listen to your podcast at. And we also have a Patreon under Its Mystery, Inc.
[00:55:56] Have a good day.
[00:55:57] [00:56:00]
