Some stories are so wild, you’d swear they were made up — but they’re 100% real! We’ve got a bunch of unbelievable tales that actually happened, and they’re crazier than anything you could dream up. You’ll be shaking your head, laughing, and probably questioning reality a little bit. These are the kinds of stories you’ll want to tell your friends just to blow their minds. Think you’ve heard it all? Hit play and get ready to dive into some seriously insane true stories! Animation is created by Bright Side.
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For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me
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This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.
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00:00Throughout history, humans have used tattoos to protect themselves against sorcery,
00:05claim membership in groups, declare their love, honor their loved ones, or simply express themselves.
00:12And it looks like tattoos are going nowhere, because as of 2022, 46% of the United States population has at least one.
00:21That's why it's not shocking that tattooing has taken the sixth spot amongst the fastest growing industries in the country.
00:27And it's safe to assume that this percentage will only go up.
00:32But have you ever stopped and wondered when this form of body modification came into existence, and how it changed over the years?
00:39Let me tell you.
00:41Tattoos date back thousands of years.
00:44Have you ever heard about Otsi the Iceman?
00:47He's the 5,200-year-old mummy who was found embedded in glacial ice in 1991 in the Oatstal Alps.
00:54Yep, that's how he got the nickname Otsi.
00:57The reason I'm talking about him now is that he holds the record for the oldest tattoos in the Guinness World Records.
01:04He had 61 markings across his body that are considered to be tattooed by the experts.
01:10These markings are composed of vertical and horizontal lines, which were created from fireplace ash or soot pigment.
01:18Otsi, however, was not trying to express his true self with them.
01:21When they examined Otsi's bones in detail, they noticed that there was age or injury-related degeneration on the tattooed areas of his body.
01:31This made scientists believe that his tattoos may have been related to discomfort relief treatments similar to acupuncture.
01:38That also explains the somewhat random distribution of those markings on his body.
01:43Experts also believe the fact Otsi had so many tattoos means that others in his culture knew about tattooing and that he wasn't the first person ever to have tattoos.
01:54Although Otsi's tattoos are considered to be therapeutic, evidence of figurative tattoos, which are images of real subjects such as animals and so on, were also discovered on two 5,000-year-old Egyptian mummies.
02:07As well as pushing back evidence of the practice of tattooing in Africa by 1,000 years, this discovery also holds the importance of changing the belief that only Egyptian women got tattoos.
02:21However, other mummies with tattoos have been recovered from at least 49 archaeological sites, including locations in Greenland, Alaska, and the Philippines, which only suggests that tattoos were a worldwide thing.
02:34But despite all this evidence that shows the art of tattooing is ancient and universal, the exact date of when and where it began is unknown.
02:44There are written records that date tattoos back to 5th century BCE Greece, where they were used to mark criminals and enemies so that it would be easier to identify them if they tried to escape.
02:57Romans and Persians also used tattooing for the same purposes.
03:00Other cultures, on the other hand, had different uses in mind.
03:06In the Philippines, tattoos were symbols of tribal identity, kinship, bravery, beauty, and social or wealth status.
03:14They were also believed to have magical abilities and were done as protective talismans against any evil supernatural forces.
03:22Consequently, the process of tattooing was believed to be sacred.
03:26Therefore, it involved some rituals.
03:28For example, if an artist or a person who was about to get a tattoo sneezed before the tattoo began, this was seen as a sign of disapproval by the spirits.
03:39So the session would be called off or rescheduled.
03:42And once a tattoo was complete, a celebration usually would be held on its behalf.
03:47When it came to ancient Egypt, tattoos were originally used to show a dedication to a deity, and they were believed to convey divine protection.
03:58What's worth mentioning here is the fact that many of the tattooed mummies discovered in Egypt were female.
04:05One of those mummies came to be known as Amunet, the tattooed priestess of Hathor, who had a variety of tattoos on her body.
04:13When she was first discovered, experts initially thought that due to the placement of her tattoos, these were either done as a medical treatment for a lower body condition, or they were simply the markings of lower status.
04:26But in recent years, a further examination revealed that she was a person with high social status, so the previous theory was debunked.
04:35This discovery led some to believe that her tattoos possibly functioned as protection against the difficulties of pregnancy and childbirth.
04:43Now let's take a look at Japan's history with tattoos.
04:48Tattooing for spiritual and decorative purposes was widespread in Japan, and it actually extended back to at least 300 BCE.
04:58Some written texts also describe tattooing and other bodily markings to indicate social differences among Japanese people.
05:06By the 17th century, however, most criminals were tattooed as a mark of punishment.
05:11And by the mid-19th century, tattoos were banned altogether, and those who had them were viewed as lacking respectability, which in turn created a subculture of outcasts, who formed the roots of the Yakuza.
05:25But how did the modern and more expressionist role of tattoos in the Western world begin?
05:30James Cook was a British explorer and captain, who was famous for his three voyages to the South Pacific, which took place between 1768 and 1779.
05:44During one of these voyages, he traveled to the Tahitian Islands, where he was introduced to the art of tattooing.
05:49When he landed on the island, he was surprised and impressed by the heavily tattooed men and women, and he wanted to make note of them in his logbook.
05:59So, to describe their body art, he used the term tattoo after hearing the locals use a word that sounded similar to it regarding their markings.
06:08Before that, tattooing was simply referred to as scarring, painting, or staining.
06:13Many of Cook's crew returned to England with tattoos from this voyage, which, in return, restarted a tattoo tradition among the sailors.
06:23They started using tattoos as a way to record their travels.
06:27For example, they would get an anchor tattoo if they crossed the Atlantic Ocean successfully, or a shellback turtle tattoo if they crossed the equator.
06:36This paved the way for the traditional style of tattooing.
06:40By the 19th century, although tattoos were still largely associated with sailors, they had spread to British high society as well.
06:49During the 1870s, they had even become fashion statements among some members of the upper classes, as well as royalty.
06:57The people who had them among the high society included British Prime Minister Winston Churchill's mother, Lady Randolph Churchill, Prince of Wales, the future Edward VII, and his sons, as well as several of Queen Victoria's relatives.
07:12It was even rumored that she herself had a tattoo of a tiger fighting a python in the area of her body that could easily be covered with clothes, just in case.
07:21In 1891, the tattoo machine was created by Samuel O'Reilly, who was a New York City tattooer himself.
07:36His design was based on a modification of Thomas Edison's electric pen, which was originally designed to help businesses with document duplication.
07:44It was also around the same years that tattooed women started to make appearances, though mostly in the circuses to entertain people.
07:54Although that industry eventually slowed down, by the 1920s, more women began to get tattoos as a cost-effective alternative to makeup, since products were so expensive at the time.
08:04In 1939, Mildred Hull became the first female to open her own tattoo shop in New York.
08:12It was around this time that the U.S. introduced social security numbers, and many citizens got theirs tattooed on their bodies as a memory aid.
08:21However, despite these tattoos, decorative tattoos continued to be looked down upon.
08:26If you had a tattoo during the 50s or the 60s, you would still be viewed as a rebel or a criminal by the majority of people.
08:35In 1961, the New York City Health Department actually banned tattoos because they saw them as the cause of spreading diseases.
08:43The ban was not lifted until 1997.
08:46Today, tattoos are so common that even toys have them, so there's no ban, no stigma, no style or color restriction, and nothing to stop you from getting the tattoo of your dreams, maybe except your mom.
09:00The theory of parallel worlds has been discussed in the scientific community for a very long time.
09:09Unfortunately, we're not developed enough yet to prove or disprove it.
09:14But it's still an interesting theory, and that's why we have a lot of unusual urban legends about the guests from a parallel reality, according to many.
09:23Let's check out a few of them.
09:26A man from a non-existent country.
09:30This story took place in 1851 in a small German village, Frankfurt an der Oder.
09:37A lost man came out to the local villagers, asking for help.
09:40The man introduced himself as Jopar Voren.
09:44He spoke very poor German and had a very strong accent.
09:48The man himself claimed that he speaks Laxar and Abram, languages that don't actually exist on our Earth.
09:56He claimed to be from Laxaria, a country on the mainland called Sacria, separated from Europe by a huge ocean.
10:05However, none of these places existed on the Earth's map.
10:09People sent Jopar to the local authorities.
10:12He talked to a psychiatrist, but the doctor concluded that the man was totally sane.
10:17An investigation by the local police also revealed nothing suspicious about him.
10:23Jopar Voren claimed that the purpose of his visit to Europe was to find his long-lost brother.
10:29He survived a shipwreck and found himself near the village.
10:33They showed him a map of the world and a globe and asked him to indicate the place where he crashed.
10:38But he didn't recognize anything familiar.
10:42He seemed to have extensive knowledge about his homeworld.
10:45Jopar named five main continents on it.
10:48Sacria, Aflar, Ostar, Auslar, and Euplar.
10:53His story was considered plausible.
10:56Scientists from Frankfurt decided to send the man to Berlin for further research.
11:00However, during the trip, he had something like a seizure.
11:03The man suddenly jumped out of the carriage and disappeared into the surrounding forest.
11:10Despite a long and thorough search, no traces of Jopar were found.
11:14He seemed to have disappeared as mysteriously as he had appeared.
11:19Inspector Leboeuf, who was assigned to escort him to Berlin,
11:22thought this man could be a being from another world
11:26and that he had returned from where he had come from.
11:30Lady on Highway 167
11:33This incident happened on October 20th, 1969.
11:38It was first reported in 1988 in the magazine Strange.
11:43The article tells about two men, L.C. and his business partner, Charlie.
11:48The names are fictitious.
11:50One afternoon, L.C. and Charlie were driving along Highway 167 in southwest Louisiana.
11:57Discussing work, they drove toward the oil center of Lafayette.
12:00The highway was empty at first, but then the men noticed a very old and very slow car ahead.
12:08The men started discussing this mysterious car.
12:11Such cars hadn't been produced for several decades, but this one looked quite new.
12:16The men thought it was thanks to the owner's care and admired it.
12:20They slowed down to get a better look at the car.
12:24L.C. noticed a bright orange sign on it that said,
12:271940.
12:29They saw a driver.
12:31It was a young woman in old-fashioned clothes.
12:33A hat with a long feather and a fur coat, even though it was warm outside.
12:38There was a child next to her, also dressed in a warm coat and a hat.
12:42L.C. and Charlie wanted to talk to her, but then they noticed the expression on her face.
12:49The woman was looking around in panic, almost on the verge of crying.
12:54L.C. called out to her and asked if she needed help.
12:58She nodded, and he gestured for her to park on the side of the road.
13:02But when the men also parked, they suddenly noticed that the woman's car had disappeared.
13:07They looked around the highway in shock.
13:10She couldn't have gone somewhere far so fast, but the car was nowhere to be found.
13:15After some time, another man drove up to L.C. and Charlie.
13:19He saw everything that happened and claimed that the car had simply disappeared.
13:24The men talked about the incident for several hours.
13:27When they reached the city, they contacted the police.
13:30However, the police couldn't help them in any way.
13:33Apart from their words, there was no confirmation of the existence of the car.
13:38The case was discussed for a while in local newspapers, and then was forgotten.
13:44The Gadianton Canyon Incident
13:46This incident occurred in May of 1972 in southeastern Utah,
13:53near the Modena Railroad Crossing, on the edge of the Escalante Desert.
13:58Jenna North was driving her father's 1971 Chevrolet Nova.
14:02Her friend, Carol Abbott, was in the passenger seat.
14:06In the back seat, there were two other girls, Lisa Rockford and Bethany Gordon.
14:11It was after 10 p.m. when the girls crossed the Utah-Nevada state line.
14:15They wanted to get back to campus before their housekeeper, Mrs. Mortensen, locked the dorm doors.
14:22This stretch of Highway 56 in Utah is pretty deserted.
14:26There's nothing there but sand and a few plants.
14:28The girls were very happy when they finally noticed the Union Pacific Railroad crossing in Modena.
14:34But right behind the railing, Jenna noticed two highways.
14:38One went into the desert, and the other to Gadianton Canyon.
14:42The girls decided to take the road to the canyon.
14:45They thought it would be a shortcut to campus.
14:47The other girls were chatting with each other when Jenna noticed that they were no longer driving on asphalt,
14:53but on white cement.
14:55Watch out!
14:56Suddenly shouted one of the girls.
14:58The road ended abruptly at a high rock wall.
15:01It was a dead end.
15:03They had to go back the same way they came here.
15:06And while Jenna's friends were complaining that now they would have to sleep in the car,
15:10Jenna saw that the landscape had changed dramatically.
15:14They weren't in the desert anymore.
15:15Instead, the canyon turned into an open area with wheat fields, pine thickets, and a small lake ahead.
15:23A full moon was shining in the sky, which was strange, because it shouldn't have been there that night.
15:30The girls had no idea where they were, so they just drove to the light ahead.
15:34It was some building that they thought was a diner or restaurant.
15:38The girls saw a bright neon sign, but none of them could read what was written on it.
15:43These symbols were unlike any language they knew.
15:47Suddenly, several people came out of the building.
15:49They seemed shocked and frightened by Jenna's Chevrolet.
15:53They waved their hands and shouted something, but the girls didn't understand them.
15:58Lisa decided to ask the men for directions.
16:00She stuck her head out of the window and immediately let out a terrifying scream.
16:06Get out of here!
16:07She shouted to Jenna.
16:08The Chevrolet sped away from the building.
16:10Bright headlights illuminated their car from behind.
16:13They were being chased by a few vehicles.
16:16These vehicles were egg-shaped, had three wheels, and made a buzzing sound.
16:22The road ahead led back to the canyon.
16:25Jenna didn't have time to slow down and crashed right into it.
16:29The vehicles had disappeared, together with an unfamiliar landscape.
16:33The girls were back in the desert again.
16:35Fortunately, none of them were hurt.
16:37Physically.
16:39But Lisa was in a state of shock.
16:41She was saying again and again,
16:43They weren't human!
16:44The girls had to help her walk.
16:47An hour later, they were able to stop a Utah Highway Patrol car.
16:51They told the police their story.
16:53The details of the report compiled by the police officer were complicated and confusing.
16:58During the investigation, the police couldn't figure out from the tire tracks exactly where the car went astray.
17:04The tracks ended very abruptly, as if the Chevrolet had suddenly disappeared.
17:10The police couldn't explain how the car could have driven two miles without leaving any traces, especially on such solid ground.
17:17There are still disputes about this story.
17:20But in the end, all versions and explanations of what happened are just guesses.
17:25Perhaps we'll never find out the truth.
17:27These were the urban legends about interdimensional traveling.
17:32Of course, there's no proof that any of these stories are real.
17:36Often, the truth turns out to be very mundane.
17:39For example, the famous man from Taured, who people also called a guest from another reality,
17:46turned out to be a simple fraudster named John Allen Kuchar Zegras.
17:50But even so, these stories are still very interesting.
17:57It's winter, 1980.
18:16We're in the small town of Lengbe.
18:1819-year-old Jean Hilliard is driving home after meeting with a friend.
18:23She takes a shortcut and turns into an icy, slippery road.
18:26In the dark, she loses control of the rear-wheel drive car.
18:32The vehicle crashes into a ditch.
18:34Emergency lights, snowfall, night, and a hard frost.
18:39Jean gets out of the vehicle.
18:40She's wearing only a light winter coat, mittens, and cowboy boots.
18:45The air temperature is much lower than in a freezer.
18:48Jean is sure that her friend lives nearby, so she goes that way.
18:52She climbs a high hill and realizes she's taken the wrong route.
18:58It seems she's gotten lost.
19:00The girl wanders a couple more miles and notices her other friend's house in the distance.
19:06Freezing, she walks there.
19:08Then, everything turns black.
19:10Jean loses consciousness.
19:12The next morning, rancher Wally Nelson wakes up in a great mood.
19:28It's the holiday season.
19:30There's a winter fairy tale outside the window.
19:33He leaves his house and notices the body of Jean Hilliard lying just a few feet from his porch.
19:39Wally approaches the girl, shakes her, and is horrified.
19:43Her body is stiff and cold like frozen wood.
19:46Her eyes are open and don't move.
19:49Her hair is frozen.
19:50She just doesn't look alive.
19:52But Wally sees that she's still breathing.
19:56Jean has managed to survive.
19:59Wally wants to put her in his car to bring her to the doctor.
20:02But the girl's body doesn't bend and can't fit into the auto.
20:06It feels like a statue.
20:07He takes a bigger car and rushes to the hospital as fast as possible.
20:13The doctors take Jean, but they don't think she has any chance to make it.
20:18Her hand is so hard and frozen that no needle can penetrate it.
20:22A low temperature, glassy eyes, and muscles as hard as stone are all the results of emergency mode.
20:30Her body has directed all the blood to the vital organs to ensure they're functioning.
20:34That's why other parts of her body look so lifeless, and her skin and muscles don't react to anything.
20:40The doctors decide to put heating pads on the girl to warm her up.
20:45Her family hopes for her recovery, but right now, all they can do is just wait.
20:50Frostbite is so dangerous because all that frozen liquid begins to expand.
20:58Fill a small bottle with water and put it in the freezer for a few hours.
21:02Then take it out, and you'll see that the bottle seems to have expanded or even cracked because of the increased volume of the liquid.
21:09The same thing happens inside our bodies.
21:13We consist of almost 70% water.
21:16When it freezes, its particles turn into ice crystals and tear cell membranes.
21:21Ice fragments can stretch and destroy tissue.
21:24This is called frostbite.
21:26Also, our body can slow down all internal processes in extreme cold conditions to save strength and energy.
21:33The heart makes fewer beats, and the lungs stop consuming lots of oxygen.
21:38Metabolism slows down.
21:41It happened with Jean, and perhaps it is what saved her life that day.
21:46She was lying in the snow in severe frost for about six hours.
21:50But why didn't the ice particle start destroying her cell membranes?
21:54How did her body withstand such damage and manage to survive?
21:57Back at the hospital, doctors are happy to watch Jean get better.
22:04Warm blood spreads through the frozen vessels and brings her body back to life.
22:09Surprisingly, ice crystals haven't damaged her muscles and skin.
22:14A few hours later, the girl regains consciousness.
22:17By noon, she starts talking.
22:20Jean doesn't know what happened.
22:21She remembers walking to her friend's house and then waking up in the hospital.
22:26What worries her most right now is that her father's car is somewhere in a ditch.
22:35As it turns out, the girl fell down and crawled on all fours to Wally Nelson's house.
22:41She doesn't remember it, but apparently, her brain activated the survival instinct that night.
22:48Unfortunately, she didn't manage to crawl the last few feet.
22:52Jean passed out at the door and stayed there for six hours.
22:56Doctors examine the girl and understand that she's completely healthy.
23:02Soon, she's discharged from the hospital.
23:05This case isn't unique.
23:08One professor of emergency medicine, David Plummer, said he'd seen about 12 similar cases over the past 10 years
23:15when patients had survived severe frostbite.
23:18Jean returns home and finds out that she has become famous.
23:24People write about her in newspapers, want to interview her, and film documentary shows.
23:29Her case has attracted the attention of many doctors around the world.
23:33But no one has been able to find out exactly how she managed to survive.
23:37In the case of humans, such recoveries seem like an absolute miracle.
23:46But many creatures of the natural world can't adapt their bodies to extreme conditions.
23:51One of them is the tree frog.
23:54These animals live mainly in temperate and tropical parts of Eurasia.
23:57Sometimes they have to contend with cold weather.
24:01Their body injects glucose into the bloodstream when they feel they're freezing.
24:05And the content of their cells turns into syrup.
24:09Sugar lowers the freezing point of water.
24:12So, tree frogs have adapted to such conditions.
24:15The water outside their cells can freeze.
24:18Their bodies can get as hard as ice cubes.
24:20But they will be alive, feeling great.
24:23Then, when it gets warmer, they fully recover.
24:26The blood fills their body and puts all their muscles in motion.
24:31But one of the most amazing animals that can withstand freezing temperatures is the ghoulish ice fish.
24:38It's transparent and somewhat like a jellyfish.
24:42It swims in the dark, cold Antarctic waters.
24:45The ghoulish ice fish feels comfortable there because of the antifreeze in its body.
24:50More precisely, it's a unique substance that is like antifreeze in its functions.
24:56This liquid doesn't allow the animal's cells, organs, and the whole body to freeze.
25:01There are no red blood cells in the fish's blood that transport oxygen throughout its body.
25:06This is the only vertebrate with such a superpower.
25:10There are organisms on our planet that use the cold to prolong their life.
25:15Scientists have found some of them in the ice of Siberia.
25:18Those are microscopic, multi-celled creatures, like small worms, that can live in a freezer for about 10 years.
25:27But the worms from Siberia were about 24,000 years old.
25:32The scientists transported them to the laboratory and thawed them.
25:35The worms came to life and began to multiply immediately after all those centuries of sleep.
25:41Their bodies can go into cryptobiosis.
25:45This is when an entire frozen organism has minimal vital functions.
25:50The analysis showed that the worms could stay in this mode for tens of thousands of years.
25:55And there are many such animals on our planet.
25:58Also, these creatures are some of the world's most resistant to radiation.
26:03They are practically invulnerable.
26:07Now, back to our story.
26:10It's possible that Jean Hilliard's body went into short cryptobiosis.
26:15Perhaps there was some non-freezing liquid in the girl's blood.
26:19But no one knows for sure.
26:20These days, she has an ordinary job and almost doesn't remember that day.
26:25Further research on this topic can help scientists create special medicines that can help in freezing temperatures.
26:35Just imagine that you could safely go outside in the winter wearing a t-shirt and a pair of shorts.
26:41Steam would be coming off your body and the ice under your feet would be melting.
26:46You'd feel hot inside.
26:48A dream, perhaps.
26:50But realistically, winter coat manufacturers would, of course, never allow it.
26:55Just like Jack Sparrow from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies,
27:04Captain Kidd was a pirate who sailed around looking for treasure.
27:08Only he was less charming and more dangerous.
27:12As the legend goes, he was so protective of his loot that he is still out there, guarding it as a ghost.
27:18William Kidd, who became famous as Captain Kidd, was born around the 1650s.
27:28He told people his birthplace was Dundee, Scotland, but many people think it was a lie.
27:34When he was a young man, Kidd settled in New York City.
27:37He became friends with powerful people, including three governors.
27:41Some stories suggest he started his maritime adventures as a rookie on a pirate ship before becoming a well-known sailor.
27:49By 1689, Kidd had already become part of a pirate crew.
27:54When they were sailing in the Caribbean, Kidd and other men on the ship rebelled.
27:58They overpowered the captain and renamed their ship, Blessed William, making Kidd the new captain.
28:06Kidd gained experience and even assisted certain countries during battles.
28:11Once, the governor didn't pay the crew for their services,
28:15and Kidd and his team attacked a French island, Marie Gallant, and looted it, collecting a huge amount of money.
28:22In 1691, Kidd married a woman named Sarah Bradley, who was one of the richest women in New York.
28:29She had been married twice before him and was a widow.
28:32Her money came as an inheritance from her previous husbands.
28:39A few years later, the man in charge of New York, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire asked Captain Kidd to go after some pirates.
28:47This wasn't just any request.
28:48It had the support of the king and carried a lot of importance.
28:54If Kidd had said no, people would have thought he was disloyal and looked down on him.
29:00This was the start of the journey that made Captain Kidd famous as a pirate and a character in stories.
29:07This trip was funded by a few noble lords, who were some of the most powerful people in England at that time.
29:14The king himself signed a letter that gave Kidd permission to be a privateer,
29:19which is basically a pirate who can do all piratey things with a legal license.
29:24This letter said that 10% of the treasure he may find would go to the king.
29:29To get some extra cash for the trip, Kidd had to sell one of his ships, the Antigua.
29:34And for his special voyage, Kidd got a new ship called the Adventure Galley.
29:40It was perfect for chasing pirates, with 34 cannons, oars, and a crew of 150 men.
29:47The oars were handy because they let the ship move, even when the wind wasn't blowing.
29:52Kidd was very picky about his crew, choosing only the best and most loyal officers.
29:57But as the Adventure Galley sailed, something strange happened.
30:06Kidd was expected to salute a Navy yacht, but he did not.
30:11So, the Navy yacht fired a shot to show Kidd he needed to pay respect.
30:16But Kidd and his crew decided to do the opposite.
30:20They turned around and slapped their backsides in disrespect.
30:22After this, the Navy captain got angry and took many of Kidd's crew members to work for the Navy,
30:29even though privateer crews were usually free from this obligation.
30:34Kidd, short of men, sailed to New York, where he captured a French ship.
30:38To replace his lost crew, he hired a lot of known criminals, some of whom were likely former pirates.
30:45In September 1696, Captain Kidd set sail for the Cape of Good Hope in Africa.
30:52His journey faced troubles right from the start.
30:56Chollera caused many of his crew to get sick and pass away.
30:59Even worse, their brand new ship started to have lots of leaks.
31:05Kidd was also on a mission to catch some pirates in the Indian Ocean, but he couldn't find them.
31:09As his big plan started falling apart, Kidd got desperate to make money to cover his costs.
31:19The worst happened a few months later.
31:21Kidd attacked one of his own crew members because the man wanted to board a Dutch ship.
31:26But it would have been considered an act of piracy.
31:29The man passed away due to his injury.
31:31Things were going downhill fast for Kidd, and a Royal Navy officer declared him a pirate.
31:37Kidd changed his ship's flag to look like it was French, and captured a big Indian ship called the Quedig Merchant.
31:44It was loaded with valuable stuff like silk, gold, and silver.
31:49Kidd decided to keep the Quedig Merchant and sailed to Madagascar.
31:53There he met another pirate named Robert, who had taken Kidd's ship years ago.
31:58There are two different stories about how it went.
32:00One says Kidd was nice to him, and the other says Kidd was scared and wanted to wait for his backup to attack.
32:07But whatever the case, most of Kidd's crew left him to join Robert.
32:15Kidd decided to give up and go back home.
32:18He left his old ship, the Adventure Galley, behind as it was falling apart.
32:23Before he set it on fire, he took all valuables from it and boarded the Adventure Prize.
32:28The British authorities had a law that offered pardons to pirates in the Indian Ocean, but they made sure Kidd couldn't get one.
32:35They didn't want to forgive him because he was connected to some powerful people in England.
32:40Kidd found out he was wanted as soon as he reached Anguilla, and he couldn't use the pardon.
32:45The government had changed, and new leaders wanted to use him to make their rivals look bad.
32:51They thought Kidd would spill the beans about his powerful supporters.
32:55However, Kidd refused to reveal any names, believing that his friends would come to his rescue, but they failed him.
33:03Some say he might have escaped punishment if he had talked, but he didn't.
33:07Kidd was sent to London to stand trial before the High Court of Admiralty.
33:11They accused Kidd of piracy on the high seas and the accident with a crew member.
33:17While he waited for his trial, he was locked up in the notorious Newgate prison.
33:24They found him guilty on all counts and sentenced him to public execution,
33:29though many questioned if the evidence was enough for such a harsh verdict.
33:33He was executed on May 23rd, 1701.
33:38His body was displayed over the River Thames for three years as a warning to anyone thinking about becoming a pirate.
33:46Some of Kidd's crewmen were supposed to be punished in the same way, but they were set free before their executions.
33:53The loot Captain Kidd had collected over the years made people believe he must have hidden it somewhere.
33:59This sparked loads of treasure hunts in different places.
34:03Some people say that Kidd might have hidden the treasure on the Raway River in New Jersey, just across from Staten Island.
34:11Evidence suggests that Captain Kidd hid a small stash of treasure on Gardner's Island, near New York.
34:18It was supposedly found and sent to England as proof against Kidd in his trial for piracy.
34:23Around the Bay of Fundy, people have been looking for Kidd's treasure since at least 1875.
34:29They believed he hid it there during his time as a privateer.
34:33There's a place on the island called Money Cove because of these stories.
34:40Considering how Kidd met his sad and unfair fate, it's not surprising that people have claimed to see the ghost of Captain Kidd.
34:48Some people reported spotting him at Trinity Churchyard as if he was searching for his own grave.
34:55There's also a story of two men who tried to look for Kidd's jewels in 1825.
35:01They actually found a treasure box.
35:03But before they could crack it open, the ghost of Captain Kidd himself rose up from the ground next to the treasure chest.
35:10What if I told you there was once a guy who sold coal to Newcastle, bed warmers to the tropics, and stray cats to the Caribbean?
35:40It all sounds like some good material for a stand-up comedian sketch.
35:44But it was, in fact, the true story of Timothy Dexter.
35:49He was born in the winter of 1747 in Malden, Massachusetts.
35:54The family's financial situation was far from perfect, so they couldn't afford to give the boy a decent education.
36:01At the age of 8, he dropped out of school and started working at a farm.
36:05At 16, Timothy became a tanner's apprentice in Boston.
36:10This job was considered a lower-class one, but the salary was pretty good.
36:14His teacher had unique knowledge of how to work with Moroccan leather, which was a hit among the fashionistas of those times.
36:22At 21, Dexter was ready to start his own business, making leather gloves and moose-hide breeches.
36:28Things got rowdy in Boston after the new taxes and the famous tea party.
36:34But Timothy didn't want to leave the city.
36:36His loyalty was soon rewarded as he met a wealthy, newly widowed Elizabeth Frothingham.
36:43She fell in love with Dexter, and they got married.
36:46Mr. Dexter was thrilled to have moved to Boston's posh Charleston neighborhood.
36:51But the neighbors didn't share his desire to be friends.
36:55Nobles like John Hancock and Thomas Russell, who was then one of the richest people in the country,
37:01didn't see Timothy, an uneducated guy who had married into money, as their equal.
37:07Our hero couldn't accept that and decided to prove to them that he was worthy of respect.
37:13First, he decided to secure a position in public office.
37:16He submitted dozens of petitions to his hometown governing body.
37:21Finally, they agreed to create a post just for him, in former of deer.
37:27His task would be to watch over the deer population in town,
37:31although the last fawn had left the nearby woods 19 years before.
37:36Still, Mr. Dexter loved his new position and moved on to the second part of his master plan,
37:42to become rich.
37:43He opened a shop in the basement of his wife's house and managed to save several thousand dollars.
37:50In 1775, the Continental Congress issued around $250 million worth of a new paper currency,
37:58the Continental Dollar.
38:00Shop owners refused to accept this new money, yet even more of it was printed,
38:05and it soon flooded the market and went down in value.
38:09They even coined a new expression,
38:11not worth a Continental.
38:13Dexter's wealthy neighbors wanted to look good in the public eye
38:16and support the common folk by buying some of those nearly worthless bills from them.
38:22Our hero decided it was a great idea,
38:25and so he took all his and his wife's savings and bought tons of those depreciated bills.
38:31And his risk totally paid off.
38:33Once the United States Constitution came into the picture,
38:37holders of Continentals were able to trade them for 1% of the original value.
38:43Because Dexter had a lot of that money,
38:45it was enough to make him extraordinarily rich.
38:49He was sure that would be enough to become friends with the neighbors,
38:52but they rejected him again.
38:54Mr. Dexter decided the problem was their character and not him,
38:59and moved to the coastal mercantile town of Newburyport, Massachusetts, with his family.
39:05He now had enough funds to buy a fleet of shipping vessels,
39:09a stable full of horses,
39:10a fancy chateau with a sea view and lavish furniture,
39:14including a coach with his initials.
39:16Dexter loved it when people addressed him as Lord.
39:20He hired the best artists of European architecture
39:23to create over 40 giant wooden statues to adorn his property.
39:28Among them, there were figures of George Washington,
39:31Thomas Jefferson, John Adams,
39:33and, of course, Timothy Dexter himself.
39:36The plaque under his statue described him as the first in the East and in the West
39:41and the greatest philosopher in the Western world.
39:44All those statues cost as much as the entire estate
39:48and made people stare.
39:50Dexter's wife was so embarrassed, he even moved out,
39:54and the house turned into a palace of frivolity.
39:59His new neighbors didn't enjoy his company
40:01and were hoping they could make Dexter go bankrupt with her bad financial advice.
40:06One of them suggested that Dexter sell warming pans to the West Indies.
40:11Warming pans were a real hit in the 18th century,
40:14made out of brass with long handles and were used for keeping the bed warm.
40:19But the West Indies?
40:20Yeah, that place where it's always warm.
40:23Well, it didn't stop our hero.
40:25And he purchased 42,000 of those,
40:28loaded nine shipping vessels with them,
40:30and set off on a journey with his neighbors chuckling around.
40:34Once he arrived in the West Indies and figured no one needed warming pans there,
40:39he rebranded the goods and sold them as molasses ladles to owners of sugar plantations.
40:45Everyone wanted to buy at least three or four,
40:48and he made some really good money with a markup of 79% for each item.
40:53He also managed to sell wool mittens in the same place.
40:57Asian merchants bought them for export in Siberia.
41:01So selling a heating device to the tropics worked out well.
41:05But no one would carry coal to Newcastle, right?
41:08One trader managed to convince Dexter that anthracite coal was in huge demand
41:14in Britain's largest coal mining town.
41:16He had no idea about that little detail and set off to the UK.
41:22When he arrived, though, the workers were on strike,
41:25and he managed to sell coal to Newcastle with a big markup.
41:29Dexter returned to his chateau as a winner with a barrel and a half of silver.
41:35Then he made another eccentric business decision
41:38and shipped winter gloves to the South Pacific.
41:42He arrived there just in time to run into Portuguese sailors
41:45who saved the day and bought the gloves on their way to colder climates
41:49as they'd need them there.
41:51He also managed to market 340 tons of whale bones
41:55he had stocked up on to monopolize the market
41:58as ladies' corsets, collar stays, buggy whips, toys, and typewriters
42:03and made some good profit.
42:06Once, Newburyport's stray cat situation went out of control.
42:10The town meeting voted to get rid of them all,
42:12but Dexter offered to buy the cats and take good care of them.
42:16And yes, he found a way to sell them at a premium price as well.
42:21Warehouse owners in the Caribbean
42:22were desperately looking for a solution to their rat problem.
42:27It might seem like his choices were just eccentric and emotional,
42:31but biographers who analyzed his decisions later
42:34believed he actually developed a strategy.
42:37Dexter came to realize his key to success
42:40was to find out which goods were missing from the market,
42:44stock up on them to the brim,
42:45and then sell them at the price of his choice.
42:48The choice of those goods was often odd,
42:51but it all worked out in the end.
42:55When he was 50, Dexter wrote a book,
42:58A Pickle for the Knowing Ones,
43:00in which he complained about those in power of country and his wife.
43:04The book had nearly 9,000 words,
43:07but not a single punctuation mark
43:09and his own unique spelling and capitalization.
43:12One section opened like this.
43:15He published the first edition for his own money
43:17and distributed the book for free.
43:20And yes, it became a hit and was reprinted eight times.
43:25In the second edition,
43:26Dexter added an extra page of 11 lines of punctuation marks.
43:30It was his response to all those people
43:33who complained there weren't any of those in the first edition.
43:37He offered them to feel free to insert the signs wherever they wanted.
43:42Dexter really cared what other people thought about him all his life.
43:46He even staged his own passing away
43:49to see who'd show up at the ceremony and how they behave.
43:53He revealed that it was all a joke
43:55when he noticed his wife wasn't mourning enough.
43:58That's it for today.
44:00So hey, if you pacified your curiosity,
44:03then give the video a like and share it with your friends.
44:05Or if you want more,
44:07just click on these videos and stay on the bright side.