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00:01:53
Hello. And welcome. To my favorite murder. 2023. That's right. That's Georgia Hardstar.
00:02:09
Thanks, that's Karen Kilgariff. And we're here to podcast in a brand new year, a fresh year.
00:02:16
It's already like the 12th for everyone listening. And the 19th. Still, first month, right?
00:02:24
It is the first month. This is our first recording back from the winter break because we pre-recorded some stuff
00:02:32
because we wanted to keep putting out content as you do. So this is technically our first recording back.
00:02:38
Yeah, I mean, this was, we had to take a Christmas break, right? Because this is America.
00:02:44
So we did some pre-records so you weren't completely alone and abandoned in that time.
00:02:49
So now we're all lightly off schedule. That's right. But I'm glad to be back. I'm glad to be, you know, at least slightly current.
00:02:58
Me too. I am too. But you know what I think I realized while I had all that time to think during our break
00:03:04
is that I don't think my brain ever got the memo that quarantine is over. I think that's what's going on with me.
00:03:10
Yeah, I relate completely. Yep. Like, I think I'm still stuck in that, but we have to stay home.
00:03:17
No one ever told me. And it's not over. Fucking COVID's still happening. Yep. But it's different.
00:03:23
Yes. Like hard quarantine is still the way of the world to me. Can I make a suggestion that is absolutely projection on my part,
00:03:32
but is meant to make you feel better? Yep. Part of us loved quarantine. Part of us was like, oh, holy shit.
00:03:41
This is like forced downtime. Yeah. And forced hermiting. Yeah, forced agoraphobia in a lot of ways.
00:03:50
All the things, it was almost just a different name for a thing that's normally defined in a negative
00:03:55
that suddenly was like, hey, the government's making me do it, man. Hey, you know all those symptoms of depression
00:04:01
that you are normally used to with depression? It's actually government mandated now, depression.
00:04:07
Yeah, it's my state representative's fault that I have depression. They're giving it to me.
00:04:12
The world has depression with me, finally. Yes. Finally. Yes. The world has depression.
00:04:18
The world's overeating carbs. The world is making baked goods for no reason. Like, I'm not alone anymore.
00:04:25
There's a mac and cheese run. I don't think I want to let that go yet. So I think it's now turned into real depression
00:04:32
instead of government-mandated depression. Yes. I got to claw my way out of that somehow.
00:04:39
I think realization is the first step, probably. Yep. And talking about it, not keeping it like a secret.
00:04:45
Yeah. It's never a dirty secret. And I think maybe that's a good way to think about it or frame it
00:04:51
is like, if that's how you feel, that's how a bunch of people feel. Because we all had the same.
00:04:57
Yeah. I don't want to say traumatic experience because now we're using that word so much
00:05:01
in this culture, but we all had a very bizarre, brand new experience together. Yeah, totally. Totally. And since we don't have an office to work from, it's not like
00:05:11
there's a normalcy of going back to the office, you know, or anything like that.
00:05:16
Right. The idea of seeing people on your computer and forcing connection where it doesn't exist
00:05:23
because we're at our houses. We've gotten so used to it that we don't question it anymore.
00:05:29
Like the idea of podcasting in real life and being able to like get that actual in the room
00:05:36
sense of like what people say and how they mean it and what is going on. What a dream that'll be when we start doing that again.
00:05:43
The endorphin rush of connection. Oh. I miss that. Yeah. It's important for human beings.
00:05:50
Yeah, for sure. I still am doing therapy on Zoom. Me too. And it not the same at all I miss person to person Yeah It important And also just the change of pace of like that the way you know quarantine over when you start doing things you didn do
00:06:06
in quarantine. Right. And I haven't done that yet. Like leaving the house. I went to a concert
00:06:12
and the whole time all I could think about was why don't I have a mask on? This room is too small.
00:06:17
Yeah. I was positive I was going to get it and I didn't, which is an important kind of like
00:06:22
watermark of like, I don't know, but that's going to happen to everybody as we go. This is just kind
00:06:27
of the new way. Yeah. Or you're going to get it and it's going to be okay. Yeah. Well, I wanted to
00:06:34
talk about, we had a nationwide shared experience or at least people that follow true crime
00:06:40
because they arrested the suspect for the crimes of the four murders of the students in Moscow,
00:06:47
Idaho, which I couldn't, first of all, I couldn't believe they did it that quickly. So fast.
00:06:52
like compared to most of the stories we talk about or follow, so incredibly fast.
00:06:59
Yeah. So well handled. And then they had a press conference that my, I actually, my dad watched with me.
00:07:07
I kind of was like, dad, I want to watch this. And I was figuring I would go up into a different room and watch it on my laptop.
00:07:12
And he's like, no, we'll put it on right here. He's like, I love the news. He really loves news in any form.
00:07:18
and to watch that police chief, that district attorney, like, first of all, the police chief started by saying,
00:07:27
it doesn't matter what we say today because there is no good news when these four families have lost their children
00:07:33
in this horrible way. And I was like, oh my God, it is a new day in the way people handle crime in cases like this.
00:07:42
I was so blown away that he made that acknowledgement. And then after that, when the DA spoke
00:07:47
And he, I'm sorry to say, did look a little bit like Santa Claus. So it was a little bit kind of like,
00:07:52
It was like around Christmas. Oh, yeah. They're taking care of things. And the DA said, this is not the end of this.
00:07:59
This is the beginning. So please be just as patient as you were before, because we won't be able to tell you anything for a long time.
00:08:08
It was suddenly like they got into this position of almost like teaching people how to be in this with them and how to follow this correctly.
00:08:17
Right. Which I thought was so smart. Instead of wild speculation, which is what happens online of like,
00:08:22
it's some teacher that did it. It's some neighbor. It's this person. And here's the evidence.
00:08:28
And then they just drag people. It's crazy. Dox people. It's crazy. Well, and the thing that's now happening with stuff like that,
00:08:36
when people really don't use their heads about speculation and accusation, is now the people that are speculating are getting sued.
00:08:44
That is not fun. It is not good. They're going to lose a lot of money. They're going to be truly impacted.
00:08:51
So if you are some sort of an influencer and you think you're going to suddenly be like,
00:08:58
oh, I know who did it. Yeah, I solved it. Don't do that. There's no upside to that.
00:09:04
It's bad. It is. So that getting handled in a way where it's like, you're not suddenly going to learn everything about this case.
00:09:12
You're only going to learn it as the court wants you to learn it. is how they explained it, which was very cool.
00:09:18
So yeah, I was just like kind of blown away by the efficiency with which they actually got something done,
00:09:24
which was so impressive. And then the real kindness, I think, that they approached,
00:09:30
it didn't have that normal old feeling. It was really interesting. The whole case is just, it's so shocking.
00:09:37
And then I saw the photo of the house where they lived. You know, in my mind, it was like an apartment
00:09:42
or a dorm situation, but it was a standalone house. living with, what was it? Five, six roommates,
00:09:49
which totally, I did that at that age. Yep. You know, and then finding out they had a dog.
00:09:54
It's just like, oh my God, these poor people, they're poor families. Yeah. What a shock and it's so horrible.
00:10:02
And yeah, I hope this goes as smoothly as it's gone so far for them. Yeah. I was in a couple threads watching what people were saying
00:10:10
and there were a couple people, and this is going to happen. Like you can't get upset really about anything that happens on social media because people are there to kind of make a weird stance and get clout.
00:10:21
That's just what people do on social media. But there were some people who were trying to say things about what the roommates did or didn't do and when they did it and how that means something.
00:10:34
And at first I saw it and I was getting upset because it was just like, these are victims as well.
00:10:40
Yeah. These are also children. Like, this can't be happening. And then, God bless them, within the next time I check that thread,
00:10:50
here come all kinds of true crime expert follower people who know what they're talking about.
00:10:56
And they were like, how dare you accuse anybody? Or how dare you come in saying you know how this would go?
00:11:03
With wild speculation. Insane and kind of really gross, like bottom of the barrel accusation speculation.
00:11:12
It's not just like, oh, I think that's weird behavior. It's like, that means this.
00:11:17
Right. I did this once and it never went like that. Yeah. That's how I know they're wrong or whatever.
00:11:22
Yeah. So it's cool that there are so many people showing up in that way and really defending
00:11:28
the people who deserve to be defended and basically kind of pushing back against that
00:11:33
weird, like, there's some people who just get in there and like, you know, when you follow a thread
00:11:37
and they keep showing up to like argue with people where you're like, what is this? Why would you do
00:11:43
this? It's just participating like, is this a human being that mattered? Or are you just kind
00:11:50
of trying to do a very self thing so that people interact with you good or bad Totally Totally Yeah I not judging people When we started this podcast I said shit I wish I never said and feel so stupid for saying We were finding our way and it
00:12:06
just all happened to be recorded. We chose to have Steven sit on the floor and record it for us.
00:12:14
But that's kind of my point. It feels like the entire genre of how people pay attention to this
00:12:22
stuff is changing in a very real way. I was really impressed by the people that were showing up and
00:12:28
doing it right and helping other people kind of go the right direction. Very cool.
00:12:34
For a thing that's shocking, I think that's the thing you start to look for. Because this has
00:12:39
all those pieces of like an old fashioned case you follow. The idea that this suspect
00:12:47
was studying criminology. Yeah. I mean, that's like, if it was in a movie, you'd go, that's kind of corny.
00:12:53
Totally. It is. It's mind boggling for sure. The whole thing. Yeah. And then on the other side of that, you saw Dr. Love got arrested again.
00:13:04
Tell everyone who Dr. Love is. Dr. Love. Dr. Love is a case that I covered a while ago, right?
00:13:11
That was pre-COVID, right? Mm-hmm. Sure. Definitely. I think. When did it happen?
00:13:17
I don't remember. It was. It must have been. I think it was. But he's a young man who has a lot of hopes and dreams to be, or at least dress like a doctor and have a doctor's office and see patients.
00:13:30
And he got arrested for it. And it's a really kind of mind-boggling story. And got out of jail.
00:13:37
And I guess the first job that he had relatively soon after, he allegedly, because I think he only got arrested, began to imbecile.
00:13:46
It's just the kind of thing where he just keeps getting into trouble. And then immediately, if there's a news story about it, people will tweet me and go,
00:13:55
look, he's doing it again. He's into fraud. He's really, really into fraud. It's his hobby.
00:14:01
It is. It's wild. How do you get on the straight and narrow if what you love deep down is fraud?
00:14:09
Yeah. That's tough. Yeah. That is a tough one. Like, it can't be a hobby. That's not a hobby.
00:14:15
Learning about people who are into fraud is a hobby. Being into fraud. He needs to go to Wall Street and start working with the people who love embezzling.
00:14:25
They love different ways to steal and rip people off. Get in there. They applaud people who are into fraud.
00:14:32
That's right. They reward them. Get it. Figure out the way to take 0.03% out of every check and put it in your personal bank account.
00:14:42
That is, yes, that's what is done. That's right. Go work for the U.S. government.
00:14:46
Something, you know, where they reward you for being a total fucking psychopath.
00:14:53
Yeah, a lot's happened over Christmas break, the full run. Yeah. Should we tell everyone what's going on
00:15:01
with Exactly Right at the moment? Yeah, might as well get to the real business at hand.
00:15:04
Okay, here's some Exactly Right highlights. That's our podcasting network, everyone.
00:15:09
This week on Parent Footprint, Dr. Dan is joined by science journalist and author of the book Mother Brain.
00:15:14
Chelsea Connaboy. So parents and people who are adjacent to children, please check out Parent
00:15:20
Footprint. You'll love it. If you're child adjacent in any way. Yes. And then over on I Said No Gifts
00:15:27
with Bridger Weininger. Wow, this is an amazing booking. Writer-director Paul Feig. You might know
00:15:32
him from the show Freaks and Geeks. Many other things. He was the director of Bridesmaids. I
00:15:37
think he also directs a couple episodes of Arrested Development. He's a legend. He directs
00:15:42
movies now. And he's a guest on I Said No Gifts. Go over there and listen to their hilarious
00:15:46
conversation. Do it. And if you haven't heard, the MFM store is now home to merch for other
00:15:52
Exactly Right podcasts. And since it's still the cozy season, you can go check out some really fun
00:15:57
sweatshirts from the podcast Bananas. This podcast will kill you. I saw what you did and more. So go
00:16:02
to myfavoritemurder.com and check out the store. That's kind of cool because if you wanted to buy,
00:16:07
say an MFM mug, but then you also love, I saw what you did. You know, you can get all your
00:16:14
shopping done in one spot. That's right. We made it easy for you. It's all we want to do for you.
00:16:20
Well, shit. Am I first? I think we talked ourselves right up to the beginning of the
00:16:24
actual podcast. That was fast. Yeah. Wow. All right. The following ad is sponsored by Pets Best Insurance Services. You knew right away,
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Taxes and fees extra. See full terms at mintmobile.com. Okay, well, I'm first. And this is a story, a cold case that had a big update at the end of 2022.
00:19:11
I thought I'd give everyone the background and the update. And hopefully in 2023, we'll see some more updates on this historic huge case.
00:19:19
So this is the story of the boy in the box. Oh, wow. Yeah. This episode features pretty graphic depictions of child abuse,
00:19:26
including some mentions of sexual abuse, which aren't graphic, but they're mentioned.
00:19:31
So it's just as a warning to listeners. So main sources used in my story today is a New York Times article by David Stout,
00:19:38
a Newsweek article by Gerard Kayinga, a Philadelphia Inquirer article by Jason Narc,
00:19:44
and a People Magazine article by Nicole Acosta. And the rest you can find in our show notes.
00:19:49
So it's February 25th, 1957. So we're going way far back. A teenage boy has set up some illegal muskrat traps
00:19:58
in an empty lot lined with bushes in the Fox Chase area of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
00:20:04
So I think it's in the middle of Philly, but I think it's kind of, you know, some open grassy lot area.
00:20:11
Back in the 50s when they had grass in Philadelphia. Exactly. He's checking on those illegal muskrat traps
00:20:18
when he finds a large cardboard box and he looks inside and he finds something terrifying.
00:20:24
He's freaked out, but is afraid that if he calls the police, they will take his animal traps away.
00:20:29
So he doesn't report what he finds or tell anyone about it. A day later, a college student is walking through the same lot.
00:20:36
He's sneaking around to spy on some girls walking home to their boarding school.
00:20:41
So not cool. Oh no. He notices something in the underbrush and he walks over to look
00:20:46
and he sees that large cardboard box. He looks closer and is horrified by what he sees.
00:20:52
He flees the scene and tries to put what he found in the back of his mind. He doesn't want to report it,
00:20:57
but he's haunted by what he found. And so he confides in his priest the next day.
00:21:02
And finally, the priest immediately tells him to call the police. When the police are finally called,
00:21:08
it's now February 26th, 1957. Officer Elmer Palmer is the first on the scene. It's a cold and rainy day.
00:21:15
and he remembers shivering in his raincoat, walking around the empty lot when he finds the box.
00:21:21
He says later, it looked like a doll and then I saw it wasn't a doll. Inside the box is the body of a dead little boy.
00:21:31
This is the moment that the investigation into the horrible death of the boy in the box,
00:21:35
which will last decades, begins. Medical examiners estimate that the boy in the box
00:21:41
is between four and six years old. He's found naked, wrapped in a flannel blanket
00:21:46
in this large box that was meant for a bassinet originally. His fingernails are trimmed
00:21:52
and he has a crude haphazard haircut that seems to have been recent. Little cut hairs are found all over his body
00:21:58
and his hair is really choppy. His right hand and right foot are pruney like they may have been soaked in water.
00:22:06
And a custom-made hat is found near the crime scene and the bassinet box has a serial number on it.
00:22:11
So police are sure they'll have this case solved really quickly. Medical examiners conclude that the boy in the box had been beaten to death.
00:22:19
It's clear that he was abused and neglected for quite some time before he died. He is only 30 pounds and was 40 and a half inches tall.
00:22:27
And that's just a little under three and a half feet. And the average and healthy five-year-old should weigh 30 to 45 pounds
00:22:34
and be 40 to 45 inches tall. So he's really on the light, small side. He seems chronically malnourished
00:22:41
and covered in weird scars that look like surgical incisions. He still had all his baby teeth,
00:22:46
so no dental records exist for him when they check. Almost immediately, the investigation hits a lot of snags
00:22:53
because both the teenager and the college student stalled before reporting the body.
00:22:58
Detectives have lost valuable time. Plus it's February in Philadelphia, which means it's cold out.
00:23:04
The temperatures are really low, which slows down the body's decomposition rate.
00:23:08
so it's impossible to determine the time of death or how long he's been in the box.
00:23:13
Detectives have three main clues from the crime scene, that cardboard box, the hat they found nearby, and the blanket that the boy is wrapped in.
00:23:21
The blanket is a dead end. It was mass-produced and sold widely, which makes it nearly impossible to trace.
00:23:27
But the box is from a local J.C. Penney department store. They're able to figure out that this particular bassinet box
00:23:34
is one of only 12 that were sold between December 3rd, 1956 and February 16th, 1957,
00:23:42
which is just days before the boy in the box was discovered. So they're able to track down
00:23:46
11 of those 12 bassinet buyers, all but one. This is impressive police work, obviously,
00:23:53
because the store also is cash only. So despite that, they're able to track down 11 of the buyers.
00:23:59
Wow. Wow. Yeah. They're able to find out a bit more about the hat. Police track down the store where it was purchased
00:24:05
and the owner even remembers who bought it, but the owner's description is really broad and unspecific.
00:24:11
She describes a white man in his early 20s and he is never found and never comes forward.
00:24:17
So police are becoming desperate for leads. Detectives check hospitals, orphanages, and foster homes,
00:24:23
both in and out of Philly. They make flyers with graphic photos of the boy in the box
00:24:28
and distribute them widely. These posters are disturbing. I'm sure we've all seen them
00:24:33
and feature images of his dead body and a plea for any information anyone might have.
00:24:39
At one point, police even dress up the boy in the box in nice clothes and position him
00:24:44
in a more lifelike way for photographs so that he might be more identifiable, which is, it's so disturbing.
00:24:50
But it's also kind of they're trying their best or they're trying to figure out what is going to actually get results.
00:24:58
Yes. But horrifying to distribute that. It's disturbing for back then, you know,
00:25:03
and they're still, they just hope that that's going to find out who this poor boy is.
00:25:08
Right. Even though they've been following up on every lead and throwing all of their resources at this investigation,
00:25:14
the boy in the box case is not solved quickly like they'd hope. Leads run out. He's buried in a potter's field,
00:25:21
which is a grave site for unidentified people. He's buried with a donated plaque that reads,
00:25:27
heavenly father blessed this unknown boy and he becomes known as America's unknown child.
00:25:33
So here's some theories. At the beginning of the case, there's tons of theories flying around.
00:25:38
People speculate that the unnamed boy is a Hungarian refugee who fled to the United States
00:25:43
after the country's revolution in 1956. They think he might be the son of a local Philadelphia
00:25:48
roofer that people are suspicious of. It's even proposed that he is the child of some carnival
00:25:53
workers who had many of their children die mysteriously. Oh, no. Oh, like an old case?
00:25:59
Yeah. Yeah. Oh, wow. Police investigate all these leads thoroughly and they go nowhere.
00:26:04
Several professionals involved in this case really took the boy in the box to heart.
00:26:09
Many even followed leads way after they'd retired up until they died. Remington Bristow, one of the medical examiners who worked on this case,
00:26:18
was extraordinarily dedicated to the boy in the box. He visited his gravesite regularly with
00:26:23
little gifts and flowers. He made sure that on the anniversaries of the boy's murder that the case
00:26:29
was in the news and Bristow even carried around a death mask of the boy's face in his briefcase.
00:26:36
That's actually very smart. Like if he was looking into something and talked to somebody,
00:26:41
he could immediately say, does this face look familiar to you? Right, totally. I mean, like that's, that is dedicated. Yeah. He spent thousands of dollars of his own money
00:26:52
to investigate. And even though there weren't many breakthroughs during his lifetime, Bristow
00:26:56
always believed that future technology would help solve this case and had creative approaches to
00:27:01
investigating. He spoke with the media a lot and said he, quote, didn't think this was a homicide.
00:27:06
It could have been accidental. However, people close to him say that he didn't actually believe
00:27:10
that. He was just trying to coax the parents to come forward. Bristow died in 1993 without having
00:27:17
seen this case solved. And he's actually credited in a lot of articles that we read about keeping
00:27:22
this case in the news. So let's get more into some theories. The first one I want to talk about
00:27:27
is a theory proposed by Bristow. In 1960, he's contacted by a psychic from New Jersey,
00:27:34
and together they meet in the empty lot where the boy was discovered. The psychic leads Bristow
00:27:39
directly to a foster home about two miles away. This foster home is run by a family,
00:27:44
and Bristow believes that the boy in the box might have been the illegitimate son of the daughter
00:27:49
of the foster home's owner. Unfortunately, despite thorough investigation, this theory falls apart.
00:27:56
And later in 1998, a DNA test clears this family. Another theory comes from a Philadelphia woman
00:28:01
who calls herself M. In 2002, she comes forward with memories that her parents had bought a little boy
00:28:09
in the mid-1950s. Oh. She says her mother was extremely physically abusive, allegedly keeping this little boy hidden in the basement and torturing him for years.
00:28:20
Nightmare. Uh-huh. Em remembers that one night the boy threw up during a bath after eating baked beans and
00:28:27
Em's mother beat him to death in a fit of rage. She has this memory. How awful is that?
00:28:33
Em remembers her mom making her help dump the body in an empty lot where they found an
00:28:38
empty box to hide him in. So she has all these memories of that. She says that a passing man stopped them
00:28:44
and offered to help as they were struggling to move the box, but they ignored him and drove away.
00:28:50
Oh, wow. So that's her memory of what happened. Some investigators believe that Em's story is the key to the case.
00:28:56
The boy in the box did have some kind of brown substance in his stomach when he died,
00:29:01
which something could have been the baked beans. And additionally, a motorist did report seeing two people,
00:29:07
one young and one old, getting something out of a car near where the body was discovered.
00:29:12
So Em first reported these memories to her psychiatrist who supported her in coming forward to the police.
00:29:17
But for some, this throws doubt on her testimony because they claim her, quote, history of mental health issues makes her unreliable.
00:29:25
I disagree. Yeah. I mean, how much more do you have to have your story line up? Right, right.
00:29:32
For what it's worth, neighbors who lived near Em's childhood home dismiss her story.
00:29:36
They say that the story is ridiculous and that there couldn't have been a little boy
00:29:39
living in the basement, which leads us to another theory. Wait, sorry, the neighbors say that
00:29:44
because like they never saw a little boy? Apparently, yeah. I don't know. Yeah. So forensic artist Frank Bender
00:29:52
proposes that the boy in the box might been raised as a girl The only evidence to really support this fact is that the boy appears to have gotten such an abrupt haircut before his body was left in the box But so far there been no leads
00:30:05
about this story, this theory or M's story. In 2008, Bender draws up sketches of the boy
00:30:11
in the box with longer hair and styled as a girl's in hopes that someone might recognize
00:30:16
the child. But so far, there's been no leads that have come forward about this theory and M's story
00:30:21
remains unverified. So this guy Bender, the one who proposed this raised as a girl theory,
00:30:27
is a member of a special group called the Vidoc Society, which you might have heard of.
00:30:32
It's a members-only crime-solving club that describes itself as, quote, a venue where
00:30:37
like-minded persons, both in and outside the field of forensics, could gather to discuss and debate
00:30:43
crimes and mysteries. It's also a big part of the boy-in-the-box story because pretty much
00:30:48
every theory that's been mentioned so far has been explored by this Philadelphia-based group.
00:30:54
Also, many of the original investigators of this case joined the Vidoc Society after they retired
00:30:59
so they could keep working on the case. Oh, wow. It's like part of the founding,
00:31:04
like the reason the group was founded. It seems like it. Yeah, totally. The Philadelphia Police Department
00:31:10
and the Vidoc Society work closely together on this case. Moving forward. So in 1998, police exhume
00:31:17
the boy in the box's body to collect new DNA samples. And then he's reburied at the Ivy Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia.
00:31:25
So he's no longer in a pauper's field. The cemetery donates a new plot. And ever since then,
00:31:31
cemetery employees and community members have taken care of the grave site. So fast forward, in 2019,
00:31:39
the boy in the box is exhumed again and more DNA is collected. The plan for this DNA is to apply more modern testing.
00:31:46
Most importantly, genealogical testing, like what helped catch the Golden State Killer.
00:31:52
A team of investigators, including medical examiners and forensic genealogists, get to work.
00:31:57
They generate a usable DNA profile for the unknown boy and upload it to a database to find relatives.
00:32:04
So finally, just last month, on December 8th, 2022, the Philadelphia Police Department announces that they have finally figured out the name of America's unknown child.
00:32:16
Wow. Joseph Augustus Zarelli. Members of the Vidoc Society are thanked at the press conference.
00:32:24
It turns out they were able to make contact not only with one, but several living siblings and relatives on both maternal and paternal sides.
00:32:32
Whoa. Yeah. Joseph's birth parents have passed away and their names were not announced
00:32:38
in order to protect the privacy of living family members. We now know that Joseph's birthday was January 13th, 1953,
00:32:46
and he was just four years old when he died. So this is still an open and active case, obviously.
00:32:52
That's all the information they've released so far. And police are asking for the public's help.
00:32:57
They have their suspicions about who was responsible for the death, but investigations are ongoing.
00:33:03
During the recent press conference, the Philadelphia Police Department talked about
00:33:07
how they would be applying this genealogical forensic technique to other cold cases.
00:33:12
Obviously, this is important because there's so many unidentified victims out there
00:33:15
who deserve to have their names back. And one of those is another Philadelphia-based cold case
00:33:21
called the girl in the box. When the girl in the box is discovered in 1962, so many of her circumstances are almost the same
00:33:28
as the boy in the box. She's between four and six years old. She's been horribly abused,
00:33:33
and she's seemingly impossible to identify. But this case gets treated completely differently.
00:33:39
she's a young Black girl and seemingly has no advocate to keep her memory alive.
00:33:44
She was buried in the same cemetery for unidentified people as the boy in the box,
00:33:49
but her grave was basically forgotten. And in 2018, when forensic experts decided to exhume her
00:33:55
body to gather DNA to apply these modern technologies, they couldn't find her. The plot where she was supposed to have been buried was empty. And the city records from
00:34:05
the 1960s weren't well kept. And even though other nearby plots were searched, her body has yet to be
00:34:11
found. Oh, so she, they can't find where she really was buried? Yeah. So it's just these, you know,
00:34:19
one horrible story after another. Cold cases need more people to care about them in order to have
00:34:24
any chance of being solved. The boy in the box had loads of people keeping his memory alive.
00:34:29
And because of those efforts, 65 years later, the case of Joseph Augustus Zarelli actually has a real chance of being solved.
00:34:38
And that is the story of The Boy in the Box. Whoa. So we have yet to find out if Em's story is related?
00:34:48
Yeah, could be. So we don't know, yeah, we don't know anything. And who knows when and if we will.
00:34:53
But there might be like an old relative who can finally talk. Yeah, yeah. Or something that, you know, like somebody was keeping a family secret for whatever reason and can now actually tell it.
00:35:05
Especially if there was like horrible abuse. Totally. Totally. Oh, wow. Yeah. Incredible.
00:35:15
Yeah. Wild story. One of those ones that I think true crime people have always just been like, just so curious about this.
00:35:23
How can a child be found and not be identified? It just seems so impossible, you know, but it happens all the time, obviously.
00:35:32
It happens all the time. And it's the kind of thing where people bringing unwanted children into the world,
00:35:38
those children suffer. And that idea, when you start talking about like, let's check foster homes,
00:35:44
we should have a foster system set up where that would never even be considered because their children are protected and loved.
00:35:51
And which is not to say that many are not. Yes. But the ones that are not And then basically don have advocates or if your skin is the incorrect color Yeah And then that happens to you and no one going to put in the time
00:36:05
Totally. It's egregious. And at least after 40 years, something is, or 50 years, I guess.
00:36:12
Yeah. 70 years. 65 years. Jesus Christ. Well, good. I mean, congratulations to those people who kept on investigating and stayed on it.
00:36:25
Totally. You know, there's some like online sleuth that has been like dedicated for 30 years or something.
00:36:33
Definitely. I would love to know about that. Someone who's like, well, here's what I did.
00:36:38
Right. And here's the email I sent. Exactly. Yes. So I'm going to do the thing that you know I like to do,
00:36:45
which is change gears and go in a very different and bizarre direction. It's the craziest story,
00:36:53
but it's really old. It's such a reflection of how old it is. This is the amazing life
00:36:59
and the questionable death of Cuba's first Olympic athlete, Felix Carvajal. Oh. I actually started reading this to my dad
00:37:08
as I was going over it because it was so insane that I was like, dad, listen to this.
00:37:13
So the sources for today, a heavily cited article by a writer named Liam Boylan-Pett
00:37:19
for Lope Magazine, L-O-P-E, entitled, The Barely Believable Life of Felix Carvajal.
00:37:26
There's also an uncredited Courier Journal article from 1905 called Fleet of Foot and Tireless
00:37:33
is Felix Carvajal the Cuban? And then there's a 1906 article by Robert Edgegren that ran in multiple newspapers called
00:37:42
Cuba Well-Represented in Marathon Race at Athens, The Queer Story of Felix Carvajal.
00:37:48
All right. So the rest of the sources are in our show notes if you want to look at those and read those.
00:37:56
So we're starting in 1907. That's 125 years ago. Backwards now. Who can do it? So it's 1907 and a cruise ship docks in Havana, Cuba, where it has just arrived from Spain.
00:38:13
The passengers file off board and they move through customs, handing over their documents to the customs agents.
00:38:19
for inspection before entering the country. Everything is business as usual. Until one very disheveled man approaches the customs counter.
00:38:28
The agent checking his paperwork is instantly suspicious. Not only because the man looks very dirty,
00:38:34
but he's also just landed from a long transatlantic trip, yet he is carrying no luggage.
00:38:42
When the agent checks the man's papers, his suspicion turns to shock. The name on the paperwork is well known to him and to many Cubans, Felix Carvajal, Cuba's first Olympic athlete.
00:38:54
Just three years before in the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis, Felix made a huge name for himself in the marathon event.
00:39:01
But this messy looking man couldn't possibly be Felix Carvajal because Felix Carvajal is dead.
00:39:09
So, now we have to rewind about 30 years. I'll tell you about basically the beginning of the life
00:39:16
of Felix de la Caridad Caraval y Soto. He's born in March of 1875 in Havana, Cuba.
00:39:24
His family is very poor and he doesn't have much in the way of material possessions.
00:39:28
But what he does have is a seemingly inexhaustible supply of energy. God, I'd love to have that.
00:39:35
I want to be nice. Felix is always on the move and he's a little cocky. So, so much so that when he's 14 years old, he has no athletic credentials to his name.
00:39:47
He is not ranked, rated, anything. And he challenges a much older decorated Spanish athlete to an endurance race.
00:39:56
So at this point in history, Spain has controlled Cuba for hundreds of years. Tensions between the two countries are palpable.
00:40:04
So this race actually becomes political. The two runners start at eight in the morning
00:40:09
and they are still racing well into the evening. When his Spanish competitor finally throws in the towel around 5 p.m.,
00:40:18
14-year-old Felix keeps going for another two hours. Oh, my God. So he wins and then he does a kind of in-your-face thing.
00:40:27
By the time Felix finally stops at 7 p.m., he's been running for 11 hours straight.
00:40:33
The website Cuba Paradisas says that, quote, the joy of Felix's neighbors and friends was intense
00:40:41
and they carried him on their shoulders through the streets. Felix is so overcome with emotion that he bursts into tears.
00:40:47
He's a hometown hero, basically. So by 1895, Felix is 20 years old. He's five foot three and he has this enormous mustache,
00:40:58
like a glorious, gigantic, a little bit twisty at the end mustache. Very nice. At this point, Cuba is in a full-fledged war
00:41:07
against Spain for its independence. And Felix is serving as the personal mailman
00:41:12
for Calixto Garcia, who was a top Cuban general. The job requires Felix to run up to 30 miles a day
00:41:21
delivering important military messages all across the island. Yeah, right? It's incredibly dangerous work.
00:41:27
Also, to us, very tiring. And before long, Felix winds up on the radar of the Spanish military.
00:41:34
And at one point, he is almost killed by an enemy soldier. But when the war ends in 1898,
00:41:40
despite his service, Felix is barely scraping by. He takes jobs as a civilian postman.
00:41:46
He's a hotel doorman. He's a barber. He's a handyman. And then the little free time he does have,
00:41:52
he spends it running. So he never had the means to travel to a formal race like the Boston Marathon but still Felix is confident that he one of the best long distance runners there is So when he hears that the 1904 Olympic Games will be held in St Louis
00:42:08
he becomes consumed with the idea of competing in the marathon of the Olympic Games
00:42:14
and winning the gold for his country. Felix figures that if he can just get there,
00:42:19
he'll bring glory to Cuba and get recognized finally as one of the world's best athletes.
00:42:25
Gotta be that cocky. Right? Wouldn't that be nice? To just be like, it's me. I just need to be able to show up somehow.
00:42:33
Yeah, I'm the best, so. Yeah. I don't think there's anything wrong with thinking that way.
00:42:37
No, absolutely not. It helps. Yeah. I think. For sure. That and a gigantic mustache.
00:42:43
That truly looks like a small broom. Okay. But in the early 1900s, getting to Missouri from Havana is tough enough.
00:42:51
But for Felix, who's basically destitute, it's borderline impossible. So he decides to go ask the mayor for help.
00:42:59
But once he gets there, he's stopped outside the mayor's office door by a secretary who is not buying his sales pitch.
00:43:06
And it's hard to blame her. Felix is a complete unknown. He has no proof to back up his claims
00:43:11
that he is this excellent athlete. So she asks him to leave. but Felix can't let it go.
00:43:17
He pushes his way past her. He goes into the mayor's office where the elegantly dressed man
00:43:22
is sitting in a big leather chair, puffing a cigarette and the mayor's clearly taken aback
00:43:28
by this scraggly looking intruder and like his secretary, he thinks Felix is delusional.
00:43:34
He's not buying it either. In fact, the mayor reportedly laughs in Felix's face before telling him to get out.
00:43:39
But Felix is not discouraged. Of course not. I mean, can you imagine just not giving a shit about rejection to this degree?
00:43:48
He takes matters into his own hands, exits the mayor's office, says goodbye to the secretary,
00:43:54
steps out into the plaza, and starts running. Felix completes one full lap around the building, then another.
00:44:00
He just keeps going. One article says that each time he made another lap, quote,
00:44:06
more people were watching for him, and as he passed, they could not restrain a smile.
00:44:11
Next time, they roared with laughter. Clerks and office boys swelled the crowd of spectators.
00:44:17
So legend has it that at six o'clock that night, the mayor, who has been inside the whole time
00:44:22
with his blinds drawn, packs up his stuff, heads home for the day, and when he steps outside,
00:44:27
he's shocked to discover that an enormous crowd has gathered to watch Felix run in circles
00:44:32
around the building. He's inspired to march back to his desk, cut a check, hand it over to Felix, saying, quote,
00:44:39
this is for your transportation to St. Louis. Now go and do your best. Nice. Right?
00:44:44
It's a great story. It's not entirely verifiable. People say it's more likely that Felix fundraised for the Olympics all on his own.
00:44:53
There are stories that he ran around Havana with a sign strapped to his body that said,
00:44:59
quote, help an athlete that wants to participate in the Olympics. But either way, the truth is he raised enough money to make it to the United States.
00:45:08
Yeah. So he sets out for St. Louis, beginning with a trip on a steamship to New Orleans.
00:45:14
But then once he gets off that steamship and gets into New Orleans, he needs to find a way to get to Missouri, and he's already running low on money.
00:45:23
He didn't raise enough money to cover food, hotels, or any athletic wear that he needs to raise.
00:45:31
He just basically has ticket money and a tiny bit more. But he's not stressed about it, not Felix.
00:45:37
Instead, he has too much fun hanging out in New Orleans bars and casinos, and he ends up losing every excess penny he has playing dice.
00:45:47
No. Yeah. So now he has absolutely no means to get to St. Louis, which is 700 miles away from New Orleans,
00:45:54
but he's not discouraged. He can't pay for transportation, so he figures he'll just walk there.
00:46:01
So he sets out, occasionally hitching a ride here and there, And he ends up making it to St. Louis just four hours before the Olympic marathon begins.
00:46:13
Love it. When he arrives at the starting line, he hasn't eaten anything for days.
00:46:18
His body's exhausted. He's wearing the worst possible outfit for marathoning, which is a billowy long sleeve shirt,
00:46:27
long slacks, which are his only pair of pants, heavy homemade boots, which weigh around four pounds total.
00:46:36
And to top it all off, a felt beret. And it's 90 degrees outside. So it's not just improper clothing for running,
00:46:49
but it is a terrible outfit just for walking around outside. The website Cuba Paradistas says that the crowd of onlookers jeer at Felix.
00:46:58
They, quote, saw this scrawny five-foot-tall runner and doubted that he could even finish half the race, end quote.
00:47:06
So at the starting line, an American named Martin Sheridan pulls out his pocket knife and cuts Felix's slacks into Bermuda-length shorts to basically to help Felix run better.
00:47:17
and a 1907 article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says that Felix, quote, carefully hid the pieces
00:47:24
so that he could sew them on again after the race because they were the only trousers he had.
00:47:30
So he took the bottoms of his pants and like put them in his pockets so he could keep them.
00:47:36
Now there's a really great picture of all of the marathoners like before the race
00:47:41
and they all are basically wearing like white tank tops with numbers on them and white shorts.
00:47:47
And some of them are wearing belts. Like they almost look like weightlifters belts.
00:47:52
And then Felix is standing over there in like a dress shirt. And then these kind of Bermuda shorts.
00:48:00
and then big old boots. So the men's marathon is billed as the top athletic event at the 1904 Olympics.
00:48:07
So there's thousands of spectators and they're gathered in a brand new stadium to watch the 32 runners take off.
00:48:14
So at 3.03 PM, the starting pistol fires. The runners start by running five laps inside the stadium
00:48:21
and then they move outside where they are hit with a wall of heat because it's 90 degrees outside.
00:48:28
So it's so insane. This marathon course is strenuous, it's hilly, and it is arguably unsafe.
00:48:36
A journalist named Karen Abbott writes that, quote, the men had to constantly dodge crosstown traffic, delivery wagons,
00:48:44
railroad trains, trolley cars, and people walking their dogs. Perfect. So it's not in any way fenced off.
00:48:52
They just have to run through St. Louis. Wow. Kind of great. It's later described by one marathoner as, quote,
00:48:59
the most difficult course a human being was ever asked to run over. So on top of that, most of the outdoor track is dirt road.
00:49:07
It's the late summertime in the American Midwest. So on certain parts of the course, there are inches of thick dust.
00:49:14
And as the runners move through, they kick it up into their own mouths and faces.
00:49:20
All the passing vehicles, carriages, and pedestrians add to a literal dust cloud that follows the runners as they go.
00:49:29
And before long, multiple athletes drop out because they can't see, breathe, or they're vomiting dirt.
00:49:36
Cool. So that's bad for running, apparently. How would we know? So now, but there's Felix.
00:49:43
Weirdly, he seems to be handling it all like a pro. for the first few miles, he's leading the group, which is a miracle considering how hungry, tired,
00:49:52
and thirsty he must be. But what's interesting is all the runners are thirsty because of course,
00:49:57
today it's a no brainer that hydration is essential for athletes, especially on a hot
00:50:02
summer day. But back in 1904, it was up for debate. So the organizers in St. Louis are using this race
00:50:10
as a research opportunity to test whether, quote, purposeful dehydration improves athleticism.
00:50:16
Oh, no. If we're going to do the Olympics, we might as well do some scientific testing at the same time.
00:50:22
Guinea pigs. Yeah. So accordingly, organizers have only set out two water stations
00:50:29
along the marathon route. One is at mile six, the other at mile 12. Wow. So everyone's thirsty and dusty.
00:50:37
It's all a recipe for disaster. Before long, the race devolves into absolute mayhem.
00:50:42
A South African runner named Len Tanyani, who makes history as one of the first Black Olympians,
00:50:49
has an incredible start, but he's later sabotaged by, you guessed it, a feral dog that chases him a mile off course.
00:50:58
Oh, no. Just rando danger. Shit. All through. Then an American runner named William Garcia
00:51:05
collapses on the side of the road and has to be hospitalized because dust has, quote, coated his esophagus and ripped his stomach lining.
00:51:14
Oh my God. And they later say that had he gone unaided an hour longer, he might have bled to death.
00:51:20
Jesus. It's kind of like a post-apocalyptic marathon in a lot of ways. There's a lot of extra shit happening.
00:51:29
In fact, stomach issues soon start wreaking havoc on a lot of the marathoners. A front runner named Sam Meller taps out around mile 13 because of debilitating cramps.
00:51:40
And then a runner named Fred Lors drops out in style and hitches a ride back to the stadium in a car.
00:51:47
So now our boy Felix, who's clip-clopping along in his big boots, is falling behind.
00:51:53
But not because of exhaustion or improper running gear or dehydration. And he's trailing because he's such a ham
00:52:00
that he can't keep himself from stopping to greet spectators along the route. Oh my God.
00:52:07
He keeps having conversations with people in broken English. At one point, he even steals a couple peaches
00:52:13
from someone on the sidelines. He loves having an audience, but of course it comes at a cost.
00:52:19
Later, race officials will determine that Felix loses an entire hour to these trackside chats.
00:52:26
So nevertheless, he persists. But with each mile, Felix's hunger intensifies. Eventually, he can't ignore it anymore.
00:52:34
Luckily, the course rungs alongside an apple orchard. So Felix decides to take yet another break from the race.
00:52:41
He hops a fence and goes into the orchard and helps himself to a generous number of apples.
00:52:47
But in yet another unfortunate turn of events, those apples turn out to be rotten.
00:52:53
So within minutes, Felix has shooting stomach cramps and is in so much pain, he has to lay down and rest.
00:53:01
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See full terms at mintmobile.com. Okay, we're back. This is so weird for everyone at home.
00:55:10
We had just had a 24-hour pause in this podcast. Mid-story. Mid-story. Yesterday, as Karen was telling her story, I was trying so hard to keep it together.
00:55:21
but I, as we started recording, was getting a migraine that kept coming on and on.
00:55:27
And then throughout Karen's story, which was like people throwing up and people getting sick.
00:55:33
And I had to stop and be like, I can't do this today. And I went and threw up. I get a migraine like once every few months
00:55:41
and I have to throw up and lay down. So- They're the worst. It's the worst. Truly the worst.
00:55:46
Thank you for letting me pause, but we're back. Yeah, so of course. Oh, wait. We jumped ahead 24 hours. We're different people. For you, it seems the same.
00:55:55
It's so different. I have different pajamas on, Ethan. I have the same clothes. Okay.
00:56:01
All right. So let's get back into it. I feel 100% better. Okay, good. We're getting right back in. All right. We're mid-marathon. Wouldn't it be
00:56:10
interesting? I was about to say, for those of you who just joined us, what if someone started
00:56:13
the podcast here? That would be really fascinating. That would be weird. They accidentally skipped forward.
00:56:18
Okay. So now up ahead on the marathon route, way ahead of Felix is a man named Thomas Hicks,
00:56:26
who in fact is a professional clown. I love it. He loves to bring joy to the people
00:56:31
and also he loves to run, run, run away. So he's managed to reach the first place spot in this race,
00:56:38
but things are not going well for him either. Back at mile 10, he'd exhausted himself sprinting to the front of the pack.
00:56:43
So now he's depleted. He wants to give up. Oh, this is the part that broke you. Yeah.
00:56:51
But his trainers aren't ready to let that happen. So Thomas Hicks trainers run onto the course
00:56:58
and give him one of the first known performance enhancing substances ever used at the Olympics.
00:57:04
Oh, the river that... I was so sick yesterday. I was, while we were recording, I kept getting lower and lower on the couch
00:57:11
and like almost laying down. And then I hit her with this factoid, which is mid-marathon, a guy's trainers run on and give him a combination of strychnine and egg whites.
00:57:25
That's right. And then I was like, we need to stop. That's when Georgia called it and said, this marathon podcast recording session is over.
00:57:33
I mean, that's how good your story was, you know? Hey, we're making it real. Please let us know if we instigated any other migraines or really anything.
00:57:42
It's pretty challenging, this story. So the trainers come on and give him basically a very strange, like a keto egg white strychnine omelet.
00:57:53
Don't try this at home, anyone. Yeah. Apparently back then, well, in small amounts, strychnine, which is also found in rat poison, used to be sometimes used as a stimulant.
00:58:04
Oh, interesting. The idea that anybody survived back then is incredible. And they also, these trainers also have brandy on hand because, quote, runners at the time apparently believed against all evidence that alcohol would give them a boost and champagne was often drunk during races instead of water.
00:58:24
No, just no. Yes. I mean, this is an argument to become interested in history. Yeah.
00:58:31
Any students out there? It was so weird back then. Yes. You need to find out what they were doing.
00:58:37
Truly. Against all evidence. It sounds like a lot of people today, actually. Yeah, that's true.
00:58:43
It's like, I don't know. I don't know about science. Fuck science. I'm going to do this on my own.
00:58:49
I have depression. I probably should drink champagne through it. Yeah. That's what's going to do it.
00:58:53
Hey, it's me. So, meanwhile, Fred Lors, you might remember him. He was the runner who forfeited because he was having stomach cramps.
00:59:03
He got into a car and he was heading back to the stadium, which is where the finish line was.
00:59:09
So along the way of him riding back to the stadium in a car, he's smiling and waving to spectators.
00:59:16
You know, he's remembering the glory of the race. And then he decides to do something
00:59:21
that ended up being very controversial. As a crowd of spectators and race officials watch,
00:59:26
he hops out of the car, gets back on the marathon route and starts running the race again in front of everybody.
00:59:32
he actually ends up running all the way back into the stadium he goes inside he crosses the finish
00:59:39
line and inside of course the people inside the stadium are now the wiser so thousands of people
00:59:45
in the stadium erupt in cheers thinking they're watching the man win the gold for the marathon
00:59:50
yeah bro bro all the way to the point where alice roosevelt who was president theodore roosevelt daughter she there to give out medals And she puts a wreath on Fred head and she is about to put the gold medal around his neck
01:00:08
But before she does, a mob bursts through the stadium doors and exposes Fred as a fraud.
01:00:16
He would later go on to apologize and claim it was just a joke that he took too far, which I really relate to and understand.
01:00:23
where it's like, wouldn't it be funny if, and then you don't think about it. I'll tell them after.
01:00:28
I'm not going to keep it. It's just, yeah. I'll let Alice Roosevelt know this isn't real.
01:00:34
Let's go back to the orchard where Felix is literally laying on the ground napping.
01:00:38
Right, the apples. Another thing that probably made you feel awful. This is real time effects of the power of storytelling.
01:00:47
I was like, this is me. They're going to make me do this next. I can't run a marathon.
01:00:52
Get up and run. Yeah. So back in the orchard, Felix is recovering from his rotten apple poisoning.
01:00:58
He manages to get himself back over the fence. He gets himself back onto the course.
01:01:02
He starts running again. He feels like shit. He has knots in his stomach. He's having hot and cold flashes.
01:01:08
Oh my God, I'm glad we didn't get to this. Oh, seriously. He's having hot and cold flashes.
01:01:13
He's actually in so much pain that his vision is spotty. This is too ironic. It's so dead on.
01:01:20
Yeah. He's also so far behind at this point that the race officials have assumed he's just dropped out
01:01:26
because he's that far behind. They aren't even charting his progress anymore. But then he gets a second wind,
01:01:32
which if you remember back when he was 14 challenging that Spanish athlete, he ran for 11 hours.
01:01:39
This man, he's got it in him. Yeah. So within minutes, Felix has run through the pain.
01:01:46
He's caught up to another marathoner and then another. Now race officials start tracking his progress again.
01:01:52
They're like, hold on a second. Felix is back. And then they watch in total shock
01:01:57
as he moves into 18th place, picking up speed, passing a few more runners, moves into 11th place,
01:02:04
then 7th, then 6th. Damn. Right? Now, meanwhile, Hicks, the professional clown runner
01:02:11
who had the omelet, Strychnine omelet, Strychnine omelet, he's still holding down first place,
01:02:19
but he is not doing well. He is now hallucinating. He can barely walk. Great. Which you would, you know,
01:02:25
it's not, has nothing to do with his athleticism. His trainers have literally poisoned him.
01:02:31
Yeah, yeah. Old school style. Even though he's not running, he's doing what was described as more of a shuffle.
01:02:37
He finally enters the stadium. Now, a writer named Mike Vago says that Hicks, quote,
01:02:42
had to be bodily carried over the finish line as his trainers lifted him off the ground
01:02:47
while he continued to shuffle his feet in a running motion. Oh, like a dog going into water.
01:02:52
Oh my God, that's so humiliating. By the end of this race, Hicks had lost eight pounds of water weight.
01:03:02
Oh my God. They say that he would have died had there not been four doctors on site
01:03:07
to immediately treat him once he crossed the finish line. So now with the first runner having won legitimately,
01:03:15
the first real runner who really earned it, I think. Felix charges ahead. He's now moving toward the front of the pack
01:03:22
in this unbelievable upset from last place. The 1905 edition of the Courier-Journal newspaper
01:03:29
describes Felix running style as, quote, crossing one foot over the other like a skater would
01:03:35
in making a turn. That's how he ran forward, which is kind of amazing. Maybe it was because of those gigantic boots.
01:03:43
Sure. So finally, covered in dust and sweat, Felix enters the stadium. He sprints his last lap
01:03:49
and he throws himself over the finish line. As he catches his breath, a race official comes to congratulate him.
01:03:56
And this is where Felix learns his final position in the race. After everything, walking from New Orleans,
01:04:03
running entirely, if not prohibitively overdressed, wearing homemade boots on his feet,
01:04:08
stopping to chat, getting sick from apples and then taking a nap, All of it. Georgia getting a migraine.
01:04:15
All of it. Everything he's been through. He manages to finish fourth place in the 1904 Olympic marathon.
01:04:24
Holy shit. Felix, as you might guess, he starts sobbing right there in the finish line
01:04:30
because he's so heartbroken that he didn't win. Buddy, there's always next time.
01:04:37
Right? There really is with this guy. Yeah. So even though he didn't win, of course, he gets a ton of attention after this race.
01:04:44
Reporters go on the record saying that despite his fourth place finish, Felix was arguably the strongest runner and only lost because he was totally unprepared and distracted during the event.
01:04:55
Yeah, a little bit. And this also, they don't even, because it was the turn of the century, they don't even talk about the socioeconomic factors that held him back, like a lack of transportation, money, proper athletic gear, any of that stuff.
01:05:09
Somewhere to sleep the night before, like properly sleep. He walked there. He kind of did win in a lot of ways.
01:05:18
But even as his profile rises, he's still broke. He can't afford to pay for his trip home after this event.
01:05:25
So Felix sticks around in the United States, hoping to make some money. He joins a local running club and he continues training.
01:05:33
A 1905 St. Louis Democrat article describes his training regimen, saying, quote,
01:05:37
Almost any day, a person may go into the gym and see Felix plugging around the track.
01:05:43
Two hours later, a return visit will still show Felix going around and around, sometimes sprinting and other times
01:05:50
barely moving at a dog trot, but never walking. Wow. He keeping it up Yeah It Felix so he also manages to get into a little bit of trouble during his stint in the United States He goes to visit friends in New York and during that time he quote
01:06:05
jogged beside cable cars until police arrested him and sent him to Bellevue Hospital as an insanity suspect.
01:06:14
Huh. So, but that was just his style. Like, it was like he, and I'm sure he was probably talking to people on those cable cars,
01:06:21
is my guess. So Felix spends three days at Bellevue before his friends finally figure out where he is
01:06:29
and they go pick him up. And when they do, the police ask them, how long has he been crazy?
01:06:35
And to which his friends reply, quote, he isn't crazy, he's a runner. So when Felix goes back to Cuba,
01:06:43
he brings back with him all these medals and prizes from races in Chicago, Washington, and beyond.
01:06:50
He's even profiled by a Cuban magazine. Basically, he is, you know, he's now a lauded, celebrated long distance runner.
01:06:59
And now he's got his eyes on the 1906 Athens Marathon. So he's like, I'm going to do it again.
01:07:07
This is going to be my life calling. So after all that training and experience, Felix is certain he can win that race.
01:07:14
And the rest of the world thinks so too. But even with all the acclaim he's earned
01:07:18
as a premier Olympic athlete, Felix is still clocking into his postman job every day
01:07:23
and trying to earn a living. But unlike before, no one questions his athletic abilities.
01:07:28
So for his trip to the 1906 Athens Marathon, Felix raises enough money to fully fund his trip to Europe,
01:07:35
as well as pay for a trainer, meals, and proper running gear. You know, what other people call the basic standard ship.
01:07:45
So when it's time for him to leave for Greece, Felix boards a ship that'll take him from Cuba to Italy,
01:07:51
which is the first stop on his long trip to Athens. And now there's no doubt in his mind
01:07:55
that this marathon is the one that'll catapult him to a whole new level of sports stardom
01:08:00
and change his life for the good. But once he gets off the ship in Italy, Felix vanishes.
01:08:06
After devoting everything he has into this event, the day of the race comes and goes,
01:08:11
and he is a no-show. Yeah. So days turn to weeks, weeks turn to months, months and still no one has heard from Felix. One newspaper in 1907 says, quote,
01:08:23
the end of Felix Carvajal became an unexplained mystery. He had disappeared like a ship lost in a
01:08:30
storm at sea, leaving no trace. At last, it was generally believed that he had lingered in Italy
01:08:36
and had like a fool shown his Cuban gold in some Neapolitan dive and drifted out on the tide
01:08:43
that night with his throat cut. Subtle. Quite an assumption. Felix's obituary runs in Cuban newspapers
01:08:52
and his fans and fellow countrymen mourn the loss of Cuba's first Olympian. So now we're back where we started
01:08:59
at the very beginning at the customs counter in Havana, the agent looking at the man
01:09:03
who's just handed over a dead man's travel documents. And because it's the early 1900s
01:09:08
when everything was way more chill, the agent lets him pass without any further questions.
01:09:13
I thought you were dead. Go on in. Thought you were dead. Maybe you're just using this guy's papers.
01:09:18
Whatever it is, welcome to Cuba. And then whatever doubts the agent has are quickly erased
01:09:24
because as he watches, this disheveled man goes from a walk to a full sprint. And now there's no mistaking it.
01:09:32
It actually indeed is the Felix Carvajal. So it turned out the reason Felix disappeared,
01:09:39
it's not creepy. It's not mysterious. His throat was not even attempted to be slit.
01:09:45
He got the date of the race wrong. Bro. It's my life story. Bro. Just like some basics.
01:09:57
You had one job. You have one job. You cared so much about this race that you focused on the wrong detail.
01:10:05
So by the time Felix gets to Athens, the marathon had already happened. Oh, buddy.
01:10:11
So instead of jumping on the next ship home, he decides to make the best of it. And he ran races in France, Spain, and Italy before he finally earned enough prize money to make the trip home.
01:10:23
So now word quickly spreads that Cuba's first Olympian is alive and well. And newspapers start correcting their early reporting with publications as far away as North America,
01:10:34
running headlines like Cuban marathoner runner Carvajal comes to life. So Felix is back in Cuba.
01:10:41
He keeps on training. In 1908, he's in his mid-30s. He goes professional. The next year, he's billed as the man to watch
01:10:48
in a marathon in New York State. 20 years later, when he's 53, he runs over 4,000 laps in six days
01:10:56
around a Havana mall. Holy shit. And 20 years after that, in January of 1949, when he is 73 years old,
01:11:06
a young athlete from Argentina challenges Felix to an endurance race. Oh my God.
01:11:11
Just like when he was a kid. And of course, he manages to pull a crowd because it's Felix and they love him.
01:11:19
But he ends up losing the race because he's 73 fucking years old. Okay, good. Yes.
01:11:24
I would love it if he still had his boots on. After the race, he sticks around, chats with fans.
01:11:29
That's what he's really in it for, obviously. And this will be his last race because just a few days later,
01:11:35
Felix Carvajal dies at the age of 73. Again, the local papers run his obituary, but sadly this time there are no corrections.
01:11:45
So over the course of his life, Felix Carvajal won 55 trophies for marathons and races around
01:11:51
the world. He is remembered in Cuba as Andarin or the walker, and his story has endured for over
01:12:00
a century. Countless magazine features, books, newspaper articles have been written about him.
01:12:05
He was even the subject of a 30-minute Cuban TV special. And he's remembered not only as an
01:12:11
incredible athlete who was born with unique greatness, but as someone who lived life to
01:12:16
the very fullest. Writer Liam Boylan Pett summarizes Felix's legacy beautifully, saying,
01:12:22
quote, living in a shack in a poor neighborhood is not the life expected for an Olympian,
01:12:27
the country's first Olympian. Nothing is said about his family or his personal life.
01:12:33
The profiles and newspaper clippings hinted at it, but it seems that Carvajal was never able to escape poverty.
01:12:40
He was born with almost nothing, showed up to his races with almost nothing, and died with almost nothing.
01:12:46
The few times he had enough money to travel, he took advantage of it, he saw the world,
01:12:51
and he always did it running. By all accounts, even when he was down, he ran his ass off.
01:12:56
And that is the legend of Cuba's first Olympian, Félix de la Caridad Carvajal. Wow.
01:13:05
Wow. Right? Yeah. Legendary. For sure. A 2023 inspirational kickoff. Yeah. No matter what Do it Let be like this guy It almost like he invented just do it The phrase just do it It almost like Nike owes him a couple hundred billion dollars
01:13:25
That's right. Very cool. That was great. I'm glad I stuck around for it. Me, I'm glad you came back.
01:13:33
I really appreciate it. I think Maren McClashen, our researcher, is the one who suggested that story.
01:13:39
And she was like, I know it's crazy because there's not, you know, It's certainly not really true crime except for his disappearance.
01:13:47
Yes. But the story itself is so truly nutso that it's going to be fun to talk about.
01:13:53
Good one. I love it. All right. Well, great job. That was maybe the longest podcast we've ever done.
01:13:59
Yeah. 24 hours. Yeah, at least 24. Yeah. We did it. We did. Great job. Thanks, everybody, for listening.
01:14:08
That's right. For being with us. I think we're coming up on our seven-year anniversary, by the by.
01:14:12
We fucking are. Holy shit. Yeah. Me, you, Steven, we've been doing this fucking thing for seven years.
01:14:20
That is crazy. Thanks, everyone. We're going to have to have a celebration, but thank you guys for,
01:14:26
especially our day one listeners, our early days listeners, everybody that is, I mean, this, you know,
01:14:32
we say it all the time. It a crazy thing to be able to do this for a living I just told you that story You got to have a migraine in the middle Yeah We didn have a boss that came in and told us we were both fired That right I love it
01:14:45
Pretty amazing. Yeah. Thanks, everyone. We appreciate you. And thanks, Steven, for being here with us this whole time.
01:14:50
Yeah. And stay sexy. And don't get murdered. Goodbye. Elvis, do you want a cookie?
01:14:57
This has been an Exactly Right production. Our senior producer is Hannah Kyle Crichton.
01:15:09
Our producer is Alejandra Keck. This episode was engineered and mixed by Stephen Ray Morris.
01:15:14
Our researchers are Maren McClashen and Sarah Blair Jenkins. Email your hometowns and fucking hoorays to myfavoritemurder at gmail.com.
01:15:21
Follow the show on Instagram and Facebook at My Favorite Murder and Twitter at My Fave Murder.
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