« 99% Invisible

487- Atlas Obscura

2022-04-19 | 🔗

Standing on Beechey island, a peninsula off Devon Island in the Canadian Arctic, are four lonely graves: three members of an ill-fated expedition to the Northwest Passage, and one of the men who went looking for them. In 1845, Sir John Franklin led an expedition to find the Northwest Passage, a direct route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean across the arctic, on two ships that were called "unstoppable" at the time. They were stopped, though the exact circumstances remain murky.

The story of the graves is chronicled on the Atlas Obscura Podcast, a short, daily celebration of the world's strange and wondrous places. The podcast has a mission similar to 99pi, which is to inspire wonder and curiosity about the world.  Today we're featuring two stories from the show.

The second story visits the Unclaimed Baggage Center in Scottsboro, Alabama, which bills itself as "the nation's only retailer of lost luggage." If you've ever lost a bag during air travel, it probably wound up there, along with many other treasures and oddities.

Subscribe to Atlas Obscure on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or wherever you get podcasts.

This is an unofficial transcript meant for reference. Accuracy is not guaranteed.
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regularly. Remove your personal info, like your name and address from ten popular people search websites that could sell your data annul. Do it for free, active. In the discoverer, see terms and learn more at discovered, dotcom, slash, online privacy protection. This is ninety nine percent, invisible, I'm roman mars, and I am standing in, the galapagos in front of a kind miss of marine goin us piled on top of each other. Occasionally you can make it through the sound of the waves, the wind you can hear them spinning out so water from their nose disney's on each other in lay on each other, and they seem like they enjoy life, pretty well, last week I was in the galapagos islands which, for me, is the ultimate, or destination
in fernandina islands, where the marine iguanas are very plentiful, also flightless cormorant, who keeps his wings open standing on a lover of my family height and swam with these astounding creatures in this completely for him, hence game. The ground is black lover vehicle owners to match the lava you can almost step on them. They don't move there, no predators, they have fear of humans at all, wondered uptown, don't touch him, but this was real close to integration six. These only it was life changing I'll. Probably the story about it. Some day does by myself, but fundamentally I was there just to be there and it works amazing for forty here's my life. I could barely concern of doing this kind of trip, but I have that
it was now and after leaving the island's. My first thought was have to do this more often expressed seeing as much of the world as possible is something that I need to place a little closer to the foundation of my hierarchy of needs This is something the team at atlas. Obscura figured out a long time ago. Atlas obscura is the definitive guide to the world's hidden wonders they write books, they host experiences. Excursions and they have a podcast that I really enjoy so in for me to have enough time to take my life changing trap. We are present A couple of life changing trips from atlas obscura that capture there adventurous, incurious spirit. This is the bt island graves way way up. North far,
in the canadian arctic. There's a lonely windswept island, no trees, truth pebble b backfired mom even in summer. It can be well below freezing on this island sheets of ice flow by in the bay. A crisp wind whips across pebble beaches, and there are no signs of life out here. Standing alone on this rock are for simple wooden headstones, these great are the remnants of one of the most infamous arctic expeditions of all time, I'm doing there. S in this
Is atlas obscura, an exploration of the world's strange, incredible and wondrous places. In this two part series we are going to venture out towards those frozen graves following two groups of adventurers separated by more than a hundred and seventy years, and will play witness to that. Disasters that befell them all. So I had a great many ships:
a description of heroism. Never more apt is when applied to those who braved the arctic have to admit that I am a sucker for true life. Adventure stories, the extraordinary tales, the human spirit against unforgiving odds. I have a kind of eat it up. My bookshelf is embarrassingly full of these kinds of stories and included. Among them, of course, is one of the classics. One engines of the epics by one hundred and the story of the franklin expedition John franklin was, at fifty nine, a veteran of two overland expeditions in the northern Oregon on on the morning of may nineteen. Eighteen, forty five captain John franklin said goodbye to his wife, lady Jane franklin and stepped aboard his new ship. This was the beginning,
of his worth arctic mission. He already had a reputation for being tat. His nickname in the press was the man who ate his boot because during one of his previous arched expeditions, penis crew had survived by eating like in their own leather, We sixty years old franklin was embarking on one more mission, one that he knew would define him franklin was attempting the victoria areas version of the moon shop franklin was going to try and chart the northwest passage finding the passage was all about money about trade. European countries had wanted a faster route to asia, digging you more exporting and the expeditions to find this trade route date back to
fourteen. Ninety seven, the voyage was sailing up and over north america through the incredible expanse of arctic ice in order to ultimately reach suicide, the pacific ocean, and even as the root lost its lustre as an economic possibility. The british stayed obsessed with charting and by the time franklin set sail in eighteen. Forty five many had tried, failed and died the two ships on the expedition, the each airbus and the internet, terror had been reinforced to withstand the ice
and they were being sailed by an experienced crew of a hundred and thirty four sailors and officers, even at a monkey on board jack up, but most of all they have lots and lots of food. Thirty, six thousand pounds of biscuits. Thirty two thousand pounds of salted be eight thousand tins of preserved meat. They had a thousand pounds of just mustard and thirty six hundred gallons of booze. It was enough food to last every sailor for three years. When did you decide to go to the arctic. What kind of incited you d want to take that trip there at all? I know I the other eye. Like adventures, I was interested in the frankfurt expedition, that's John Stuart and in twenty eighteen, a hundred and seventy three years after the franklin expedition sailed
John stewart of thunder by canada, climbed onto a little zodiac inflatable boat, and motored out to a large cruise ship floating in the arctic way. Is Ninety one years old John stewart was certainly the oldest passenger on the expedition like you. I am not one to go on the beach
I like to call a fishery. If I can, the ship John was boarding was called the academic. I often, then it was part of an arctic tourist crews run by a company called one oceans and sailed by an experienced russian grow with the purpose of the crews was to follow in franklin's footsteps to bring franklin, obsess travellers, one step closer to the object of their historical fascination and the ship. The off he was carried a total of one hundred and twenty six people just about the size of franklin's original krill, although to be fair, the crews expedition that John Stewart was on was a little bit cushy. Air than franklin's meals were served via a failing, and there were optional yoga classes. John had opted for the cheaper shared bond.
Option. So I shared a cabin with somebody had never met before, and I were shown to my cabin boy was the only person there, but eventually, yeah, good. Looking fellow step, then then me, I'm eurobonds made, and that fellow was me I think we both hit it off pretty well at a very short period of time. I think we became good friends. That's right! That's right! I was there as part of an atlas. Obscura trip, helping to make sure our travelers got what they needed, but John wasn't actually one of our palace obscure travellers. He was just my delightful spected ninety one year old, bunk mate, but that for night John, and I stayed up talking- and he told me all about his wife and their three sons
matter of fact when they were young. We did a lot of canoeing around here great canoe country out here, but they were quite adventurous. Trip I really enjoyed them. He told me all about his adventures and about who had been traveling alone more since his wife passed away and even how just a short time before our trip, you actually lost one of his three sons in a baking accident to set free, That's why she can't learning about. We had some wonderful parts together Almost every year we were some major all away somewhere. That evening I mean a note to myself John and I m going to stick together.
Strip. He was the heartiest ninety one year old I had ever met, but I figured we could both use a good crew on July six, eighteen, forty five captain John Franklin wrote home from the whales islands just off the coast of greenland. It was a letter to his wife and daughter telling them not to worry, even if he was gone for many years. Heart of the plan was for the franklin expedition to spend multiple winters in the arctic, and the ship was provision to last that long as the franklin expedition left the coast of greenland, one franklin crew drew a pencil sketch of the greenland by a lovely image of a single ship, floating alone, surrounded by ice and run in with that, the crew began to sail up
over the very top of the globe, because franklin and his crew were not actually the first explores to make it this far into the northwest passage in the idea that they could even discover it was wrong. The arctic waterways running from greenland to Alaska had already Home to arctic in anyone people's river one thousand years by the time franklin came to find it the northwest passage. Had been thoroughly explored by inuit tribes as they hunted fished and settled across thousands of miles of arctic coastline in its franklin's expedition had a deeper and deeper into the arctic. The inuit watch from afar observing his progress through the passage and into the dangers that they already know
we're on beachy island at the upper reaches of the passage the graves of three ordinary seemed doomed by extraordinary circumstances? The during the first winter in the arctic? The franklin expedition hit an impasse, a frozen expanse of ice that they couldn't sail through to the to turn around there duck the way back, had frozen, solid them in and of itself wasn't the end of the world. They were in the arctic, it was full of ice and they had expected something like this
happen, so they settled in for the first winter and during that winter, the first touch of death visited the expedition three men: twenty year old, john torrenting, thirty two year old, william brain and twenty five year old, John heart now all died from some combination of pneumonia. Male nourishment zinc, deficiency in and lead poisoning. In fact, they may well have been ill when they first boarded the ship when he died. Twenty old john norrington only wade eighty five pounds. All three were buried on bt island. The very graze john and I were, I'm off to see on the second day aboard the academic, avi John, and I woke up and along with all the other new passengers, we went into what was called the mud room where we practise putting on our foul weather gear. Is we just huge, waterproof, waiters and boots the ocean? Water temperature was run twenty
greece or just below freezing so these working to. Do you much good if you actually fell into the water, but they are meant to keep you from getting soaked when you went on one of the little zodiac votes. After that, we clamped our way up onto the deck where we all got trained in the use of the lifeboats. As we listened to the instructions we stood along the bow of the ship and looked out this new landscape in front of us, the wind was overpowering. The arctic ocean lapped against bear rocks. There are no trees, water and stone to my unfamiliar eyes. The landscape felt in hospitable and barren just about done with their introductory training. We all filed down below torture,
our point about how to avoid getting my polar bears, a route, the rumours dark showing must have been showing powerpoints, but As we were sitting there, all of a sudden there was a huge I could do here. They are there. I shall do is beady loyal, grumbled steel bars richest, Then memory were thrown forward. off. Archers may we hit the heads up and I think you get safely failure. Between a rock and a hard place, because we had hit rock. We were all centaur cabin and told to stay there. The ship was listing at an angle that made a part
walk in his jonah. My slowly made our way back up the stairs. We saw the russian cruel, which, up until this point, we hadn't seen that much of now run all over the place shouting in russian all wearing their life jackets. The ship continued to sway, and this nauseating angle. John and I made it back to our room and we put on the foul weather gear, we had just been trained to use, ready, potentially to go back out on deck and lower those lifeboats down into the water. These are little tour and then we just sat awaiting further instructions are waiting to hear whether we needed to abandoned ship. So anyway, the funding with adult you to chop up. There, though,
We were keeping our spirits high, but truth be told. I was pretty nervous now. I can't remember his name. I can only think of franklin he's the wrong on the frame of the wrong one to think of legal wrangling. Think of evidence and evidence in pair you would be okay fan of jack up the exactly of your pray for pray for taco pin, As my ninety one year old bunk mean- and I sat in our cabin- we, Very much aware that we and John Franklin were exploring this. marking the water and rocks My windows, we're just like what franklin had sailed past himself and everyone on my boat, including us, knew how the franklin expedition had ended
where he'd the ground very exciting journey. We do exciting for everybody. Sometime in the early nineties, hundreds in the northern islands of the cleaning arctic and any girl named the hut was out with her father, walking across the ice and rocks choose about seven or eight at the time and who mark and her father we're out. Looking for driftwood whistling bright caught her eye the glint of light, the sun, reflecting and I'd metal object and their laying in the snow of the vast arctic plain. She found a single engraved dinner knife
is a relic of a long lost crew in one key, in unlocking the fate of the franklin expedition, there was a huge bump. This was about fifteen twenty minutes after the big bump and it feels like the ship is trying to pull itself off a rock. They said they said. Yeah we've grounded we're back to grab the the ship, your mother, that's john stewart of bunderby canada. He was my ninety one year old, bunk me on the academic I alfie in arctic cruise ship that was following in the path of the franklin expedition. The franklin expedition was a famous arctic voyage that left in eighteen, forty five to chart the northwest passage, but instead found themselves stuck in the ice and on my trip to follow in the footsteps of an arctic voyage where things have gone incredibly wrong. Things
gone incredibly wrong. As John said about fifteen minutes earlier, a cruise ship had hit iraq with an enormous crash, growing people to the ground outside on the deck. You could hear the arctic wind, absolutely The russian crew was running around with their life. Jackets already are shouting in russian john and I sat nor cabin waiting. We ve told of this type could get in every year. And this about where we are right. The wording for our next step inside people were beginning. The mill about the crews had shut the bar down, but the bothy line was still operating. It had to be the most awkward nervous, but there I have ever been a part of and wherever you were on the ship insider out, you can hear and feel the engines finding as they struggled applause off this wrong, at least until they.
Let them down and the ship went quiet. I can remember, show you in the cabin waiting to be told what we're gonna do. I don't think anybody panic that I thought everybody was calm and accepted. What will happen member? I think everybody chapter their fate in september of eighteen, forty seven.
John franklin and its arctic expedition had been gone for over two years, franklin had known before he left that it would take years to get through the arctic and no one expected to hear from him within a year and two years didn't seem that far out of the ordinary but friendly wife, lady Jane franklin, she was beginning to worry. She wrote to another famous arctic, explore sir John ross and urged him onward in a rescue mission. She wrote: should it be you to rescue them from parallel death? You will have your reward. Surgeon ross. The explorer lady franklin was hoping would rescue. Her husband had himself spent four years surviving in the arctic and he was a long time friend of the franklin's in eighteen. Forty, eight more than three years after the franklin expedition had departed raw set out, alongside to other expeditions, each approaching from a different angle, on the hopes of finding the franklin expedition instead,
They found nothing. There's captain ross and my name, in vain. They grew brown, the arctic. Those would be the first rescue expeditions of many many tough. Often with lady franklin as the motivating force behind them, the english public Followed along with bated breath, findings Sir John franklin and has lost expedition becoming nationwide obsession. Lady franklin searching through the arctic for her lost husband in taverns across the country. Ballads were so One of lady franklin's lament ten pounds. I would again learn that might do. and bring him back in eighteen, fifty four, nearly a decade after franklin expedition had first set out and after more
than it does in rescue expeditions. One rescue mission leader captain ray returned from the arctic. With particularly grim news, he'd spoken at length with the local inuit jobs and their stories of the expeditions fate. We're pretty clear. Captain re wrote that the unfortunate part- under Sir John Franklin had met with a fate as melancholy and dreadful as it is possible to imagine the bodies of some thirty. persons were discovered on the continent for immunity. State of many of the corpses and the contents of their kettles. It is evident that our wretched countrymen had been driven to the last resource, cannibalism as a means of prolonging existence. In england, this news was met with absolute refuse.
No one wanted to even entertain the idea that their noble hero and his crew might have resorted to cannibalism, least of all his wife, lady franklin, captain re, who brought back the situation into it, was deferred to a wave of racism was unleashed against the inuit. Charles dickens referred to the stories as the vague babel of savages, but the evidence that John franklin and his men were dead was hard to dismiss. The gravestones had already been found on bt island and later a note was discovered under a corn, saying that admiral John franklin had actually died in eighteen, forty, seven long before the first rescue mission had ever even departed, but even so much remained mysterious. None of the dozens of missions to find the franklin expedition was ever able to find out
Finally, we are, the men had gone, much less, find the wreckage of the ships discovering that would have to wait another one hundred and seventy years and for the world actually listen to innovate stories. I noticed come come. I live enjoy haven. I was born and raised here No, It's a local historian, that's louis come a guk louis had been collecting inuit stories for his whole life and humor hook that into a girl who found the dinner knife. The one left behind by the franklin expedition that was actually louis' great grandma This is from a video that macleans canadian newsmagazine made about lily northward sore at my great grandmother, told me they start running all kinds of artifacts. She should be noticed that there was a big tree glued to the ocean.
Her story was always in my mind, but I didn't have a clue how I started going to school. The teacher starts to to history, and we start talking about the franklin expedition. Louise knowledge of the in your stories in the franklin expedition made him a unique expert on the subject: Let him to believe that he might. Oh no, the location of the missing ships, I got all travel. Well, I started reading more and I started asking more questions to elders about the oral history start, trying to put the puzzle together and go out to the known sites that were mentioned by elders.
for nearly a hundred and sixty years, the whereabouts of each s, airbus and hms terror remained a mystery, but in twenty fourteen, using innua testimony to guide them louis comic book, let a team from ports, canada to the site of the hms, Erebus airbus and recorded map from eighteen sixties is the inuit name of the area where the ship was found and translated. It reads: the boat sank here, When I heard the news about one or two she'd be phone, I think it's kind of emotional for me to think about the elders that every interview they have been right on law and inuit orange, or was powerful It was the only way that everything was passed out through generations. Luca cook died in just a cup.
Five years after the second ship. The item s terror was discovered. Finding it was the result of a lifetime of his work. Collecting inuit stories. The royal canadian geographic society called him. The last grain ringlets searcher those who know more about what happened to the franklin expedition. All of this You're stuck in the ice, thanks largely to stories from the inuit franklin died. Early but the rest of the sailors died a longer slower death by one succumbing to scurvy starvation, zinc, deficiency hypothermia, some of the sailors may have lived as long as six or seven years out on the ice, but in the end none of them ever made it back on over the course of a decade. most thirty two expeditions went out searching for franklin, though those you expeditions, never found franklin they did and of doing.
What franklin was unable to defect, we charted the northwest passage and it was as we navigated by norwegian Splore rolled amazon in nineteen o six, luckily for John, and I we didn't suffer quite the same fate as frankly, we were eventually rescued was really only twenty four hours later, but it was a long. Twenty four hours in the real possibility of disaster had hung over all of us, just the sense that we had come to a place without really knowing how to survive there, as we took zodiac across the ocean and loaded onto our new ship relief washed over everyone was only eight a m. In the morning. The bar was open
and john, and I made ample use of it. It was glorious with family life to forget forty forever. There was almost three years ago calling John so lucky here. I wrote down the information on an index card, and then I took a picture of it. A hello hi. It is this John stewart it is structured. Oh my word John. It is ok return. My name is Dylan and we were ship right now, you're good, I'm
I'm doing fine power. How are you doing now? I'm doing ok, I covered with a mighty tree. The other day when I was writing this story. I knew I needed to give John a call- and when I talked to him, but I found out- was that wasn't johns last trap, Franklin never made it to be challenged in back, and I never even made it to be to ireland, but you know who did I took the next crews. You went back out. You went back on another ship. So are you? I had a great time I you would be there will be covered by ticket. I would have loved that I wished. I would have been grave on I'm so glad to hear that you you made it We were up above the arctic circle actually everywhere.
Ashore landed at the great site is for woody schwab headstone with a brush plaque. Each one at ninety three, you, you ve lived quite a full life. Do you have any advice or ina, I'm I'm thirty. Eight. Now to me feels like well on in my years, I've got to young kids. Do do any advice for for me or any one else always be kind to paypal burn to bring. You have purpose in life. And friends, are you what are your most important asset cherish boom?
I have a memory of John that I will never forget that last time at the bar, when the two of us were together in person having he's been rescued from stranded ship drinking beer in the morning and in the background we put on a famous song about frank people? our began singing I what I meant to or not we're truly gotten to experience a tiny bit of what it felt like to be out on the franklin expedition to follow our curiosity to embark in this spirit of adventure in the sail out in franklin's path. To take one last
the the I see three c. through an age although north was to see a more atlas obscura after this Javert look up from her life and realise that nothing turned out quite like you expect it one day, you're twenty you're working on your phd in genetics, and You have a whole life of academia, just like right there in front of you. If that is what is going to happen and then.
Wake up and you're in your late forty's and you host a podcast, try explaining that to your twenty year old self. First of all, he would say: ah, what's podcast. but maybe a life of academia were worked out. I loved teaching. You know as much as we try to plan for every moment and life. Sometimes we get stuck in those what s, but no matter what what s life, those your way state farm provides the covered you need to feel supported. They do by showing up for you how and when you need it with a person when you want clarity or digital support when you're seeking something more efficient. Let's imagine what a future could look like. Other state farm customer I'm Gina are met. We ve been together for when they fifteen years now. sixty every bill which they formed almost long after high school than packed it up to move across the country. a photo schools or we could start. I lived together. We really had no clue how much work that would be our first big adult it was really buying the car we drove it. We didn't know that
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first invisible in the late nineteenth eighties A suitcase arrived at a warehouse in scots borough alabama, that wasn't so unusual a lot of. Suitcases showed up at this particular warehouse, but inside this bag was something special. if they open the troll face staring back at you, a four foot tall, goblin puppet with a giant head, a huge nose and piercing blue eyes I'm ago who are you inside the bag? Was the real original haggled on this beloved character from the Jim henson movie labyrinth. Every time. I think about how funny and astonishing that must have been made that we have envelope
If you lose your luggage while travelling, you probably gonna, get it back. Ninety nine point, five percent of lost bags ultimately make their way back to their owners, but once in a while that other point, five percent big slip through the cracks and when that happens, airlines will hang onto the luggage for ninety days. They do their best to reunite bag and owner. But after that, ninety days the big legally becomes the airlines property, and that is when the unclaimed begged centre steps in the unclaimed begged centre buys orphan bay from the airlines and then either donates recycles or resells their contents, and they ve got contracts with all the domestic airlines and let's go, load, these lost bags on semis at the airport and then them all the way back to scots grub, attractive fat fat
we're building and we unload their suitcases, and we have a team of what we call openers that will open this year. This is jennifer creditor and she's. working at unclean baggage for more than twenty years, since she was just five days out of high school bigger each case if you're out, it'd doesn't need to be cleaned death without having to be recycled or does need to be doubted. Personally, I would love to spend the day being a bag opener each bag. It would be like a little christmas morning like what in their what's inside the next one, although that said more than once, beg openers have opened up a suitcase and found a live rattlesnake inside another time. They found an entire bear pelt pact
salt and still in the middle of the curing process. Smell kind, I gave it away so There are some hazards to the job, but there are also some thrills. We ve had aluminum fire. Soon we pass you four seats. The farmer, the message and the thing we ve ever saw, but actually immense platinum, presidential relax, I'm a regional perspective. we're thousand dollars. We sold it in our store to a gentleman chats with this about, went on and he purchased at four thirty, two thousand dollars the final jury that wines up unclaimed baggage gets upraised and I'll just say this is why am. I carry on only kind of guy who, with me now. We have got my time here with a forty year at National law that in the two women, though order, anything I mean they mean
something that's for thirty thousand dollars. Would you see the Tobin tax then with a dirty laundry. That's exactly how it down there finding an emerald in someone's dirty laundry is exciting, but for the vast majority of the time it's just dirty laundry lots and lots and lots of dirty laundry ever bag, tell the story of some of these back on their way to europe trip and some of the banks were coming home from the traps. Again, you can it it's not as glamorous as one might think, but it is very interesting In fact, there is so much dirty laundry that unclaimed baggage has its own laundry facility. They process over fifty thousand items every month that the biggest shot me sir allow me, as a matter of fact, that more than most
dream ass, our processing entire year is that it happens right. Your thoughts were the laundry gets washed and the electronics are sent away to be wiped of their previous owners data and yes, there are a lot, a lot of electronics, headphones laptops, ipads, so easy to leave in those seat back pockets. Finally, everything is ready for its second life. If something doesn't get recycled or donated, it goes out to the store shelves and attention to all bargain hunters out their most items in the store, a resource for about twenty two, eighty percent off their retail price. There, roughly forty five thousand flights every day in the united states, so of the bags that get lost each day, even if only half of one percent of those bags are truly lost, it adds up quick.
unclaimed baggage center stocks, anywhere from five thousand to seven thousand new items every single day today, unclaimed baggage center is this huge sprawling place it's bigger than a city block, but it started much much. Waller in nineteen seventy doyle owens was working part time as an insurance salesman in scottsboro when he got a call from a friend who worked for a bus company in Washington d c, the friend told Doyle about a unique problem. He had hit too many pieces of lost luggage that were just piling up. I borrowed my dad's pickup truck and three hundred dollars as my first load when washington d c, and picked up. The bag. Doyle died in two thousand and sixteen- and this is footage from an oral history made by unclaimed baggage. We look like Jed clampett plan coming back down from wash
they say the alabama would Doyle got back to scotch bureau with his very first luggage hall. He set up a handful of card tables in an old rented house and he ran an ad in the local paper. He planned to be open for just two days, but by the end of the first day he was already complete. Sold out and that's what doyle knew he was onto something called how old the guy up, I said: hey you got small behaves. We were out of merchandise. A few years later, Doyle landed his first contract with an airline company and eventually locked in contracts with other domestic carriers. He quit his insurance job and the business bopped along steadily, but then in nineteen. Ninety five, a little talk show picked up. The story. the gold necklace that's about rights. Actually I, whereby largely ignored airport five years ago on right, well, there's lots of jewellery inside opera and the way they price drill
is there if we can't, I felt like a queen of england arrived in shrewdly from that date forward. It changed every day, Game changer today, all kinds of people shop to shop at the unclaimed baggage centre, tourists locals people who make one end well, giant shopping pilgrimage, millionaire shop for discount rolexes next to everyday people, looking for a new, cheap winter jacket, or just maybe, if they're, lucky oprah gold necklace. But a few of the items that come through unclaimed baggage are just too special to sell like cargo from labyrinth piece still there as soon as you walk through the front door. Hagel is there on your left, then
workers open up a bag and found a camera from the space shuttle. This was one of the earliest innovations of the digital camera. Only three, wherever made so unclaimed baggage, give our back other things that turn up at unclaimed judge are genuinely rare and contain these huge stories of humanity and culture back over my time I can remember shrunk. Psyche runway gowns became greatest pressure. The runway amount, hi. There was a trifle about neighbouring him. Peanut butter, better ceremonial heart a hand me polynesian grass skirt a medicine. Stick likely from tribe in the amazon, with a ceremonial shrunken head still attached to one day. This well gucci suitcase, showed up at the store and inside it was filled with egyptian artifacts, including a burial mask that dated to about fifteen
would be see just around the time when the phoenicians were putting the final touches on this thing called the alphabet, so you know old. Each nondescript rolling back that arise, the unclaimed baggage centre brings. A story with it, not always as exciting as a Why rattlesnake or ancient egyptian artifacts, but still there's a story there? Who was this person? Where were they going. Why do they still have a hare creamer? Where were they going to those glittery golden sneakers, were they Using this ipod nano, or did it just slip into a crevice in their bag and get lost twice over? Does the toddler who lost their panda? Blanqui, Miss it all of this all of the world contained
in one half of one percent of lost luggage or bags, and ourselves all there at the unclaimed baggage center. The unclaimed begged centre is open every day of the week except sundays, and if you can't make a trip to scots borough alabama these days, you can still do your bargain hunting in their online store. But it really just gives you a taste of why you and in their real brick and mortar store. So if you're looking for suit of armor or huddled doll. You better make away down the scots brown. the atlas? Obscure podcast is hosted by dylan thirst and as a co production of atlas obscure and witness dies. The broken team includes chris knocker doug balding camille to Sarah one
morocco is john to lure willis peter, Jonah palmer, Tracy's him, Baudelaire, sues Peter, cloudy and casey hope theme by seem tyndall mixed by lose than the other and baggage observed, was produced by Johan, a mayor, percent, invisible, is king Gonzales mixed this episode for us swan rio de lady home her course there fitzgerald plebeian, lay Joe Rosenberg crisper, ruby, christopher Johnson Marshall, madonna jason De Leon Sophia clasped her and me roman mars. We are part: stature and serious example cast family, no headquartered, six box north in the pandora building in beautiful uptown, oakland for you, you can find the show join discussions about the show on facebook. You can tweet me at roman mars and the show at ninety nine poi or run instagram, and reddit too. You can find other deters shows, I love as well as every
asked episode of ninety nine p. I and many nine p. I gotta work the. The.
Transcript generated on 2022-11-13.