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Our world is full of the unexplainable,

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and if history is an open book, all

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of these amazing tales right there

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on display, just waiting for us

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to explore. Welcome

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to the Cabinet of Curiosities.

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William Porter was a man of many skills.

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Born in Greensboro, North Carolina, in eighteen

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sixty two, he spent much of his younger

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years under his aunt's tutelage. It

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was his family who helped him develop his

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love of reading and learning. As

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he got older, William's aptitude

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extended to painting, playing the guitar,

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writing, and singing, skills

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that would come in handy when times got tough.

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After he graduated high school, William put

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his education to great use at his uncle's

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drug store, where he became a licensed pharmacist.

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In his spare time, he explored other

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creative endeavors, such as drawing

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and writing. But Greensboro had gotten

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a bit small for William, and the climate

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was even affecting his health. Over the

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years, he developed a bad cough that

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refused to heal. A family

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friend, doctor James Hall, had

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an idea to help him get better. Together,

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they traveled down to Austin, Texas, where

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William took a job working as a ranch hand

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for doctor Hall's son. Being

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outdoors and exercising daily

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improved his health, but he quickly realized

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that ranch hands barely made enough money to

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survive. He went back to his old

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ways, gaining a job as a pharmacist

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and writing short stories in his spare

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time. His stories

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became the talk of the town, and William

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found himself invited to gatherings all

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over Austin, and it was at

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one gathering in eighteen eighty five where

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he met Athel Estes, the woman he

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would eventually marry. Four years

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later, Athel gave birth to a daughter, Margaret.

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Being a new parent, though, came with

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new responsibilities, and those responsibilities

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cost money. Luckily, William's

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relationship with his former employer, Richard

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Hall, had survived over the years.

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When Richard became Texas Land Commissioner,

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he gave his old buddy William a cushy gig

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at the Texas General Land Office, drafting

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maps. The starting salary was one

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hundred dollars a month that's about today

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or thirty thous dollars a year. Nothing

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extravagance, but enough to live on

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and support a family. In turn, of the Century

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Austin through

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it. Although William never gave up on his

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writing. He contributed stories to

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newspapers and magazines whenever he

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could, and when he wasn't drawing maps,

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he was working on novels with characters

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based on the people he worked with. Unfortunately,

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his position within the General Land

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Office had been a political appointment,

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and once his friend Richard Hall was voted

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out in William

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had to resign. He's started working

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as a teller at the First National Bank

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of Austin, where he focused more on

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his writing than the money he was handling

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each day. William was a

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creative soul after all, and staring

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at numbers all day was so much less

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interesting than concocting new

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plots for his short stories. He

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didn't pay close attention to the records

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he kept, and when the bank found out, they

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fired him. Out of steady employment,

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William depended on his writing full

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time to make ends meet. He wrote

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for a weekly publication called The Rolling

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Stone. Then when that fizzled out, he moved

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his family to Houston, where he became a journalist

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for the Houston Post newspaper. Things

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started looking up for William, who had gone

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through several jobs in only a few

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years. His work at the Houston Post

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was even getting his name out there, as

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were his published fiction stories. However,

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unbeknownst to William, his name was

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also on the lips of investigators.

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Back in Austin. Federal auditors

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had discovered the lost uns that had gotten

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him fired. It didn't take long for them

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to officially charge him with embezzlement.

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William tried to run, but his wife's

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health had taken a sharp turn, and with her

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death looming, he decided to turn himself

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in. He was sentenced to five years

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at the Ohio State Penitentiary,

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where his background as a pharmacist came

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in handy. He got a job within the

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prison as the night druggist while

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he continued to publish his writing from

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his jail cell. Now,

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no prison was going to allow one of their inmates

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to have short fiction published while

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that inmate was serving out a sentence for embezzlement.

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But where there was a will, there was

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a way. Pun intended, of

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course, he sent his stories to a friend

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in New Orleans, who would then forward them

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onto publishers to hide the author's

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current situation. If the warden

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had ever found out about William's use of prison

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resources to further his writing career,

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he would have been in a lot of trouble, and

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the privileges he'd earned thus far would

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have been revoked as a fool proof

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way to distance himself from his work. William

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always authored his stories under one of

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many pseudonyms, but there was one

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that really took off during his stay at Ohio

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State. According

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to an interview he gave to The New York Times

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later in his life, he found the name while

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reading a story in the newspaper about

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a notable guest at a fancy ball, but

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that anecdote lacks the pizzazz we've

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come to expect from great historical figures.

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In a book about William Porter from nineteen

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seventy three, the author claimed William's

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pen name was born the same way all

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of his characters were, by using

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the people around him to influence his

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work. This time

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it was a prison guard by the name of

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Oran. Oran Henry. William

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Porter chopped off most of his name

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except for the initial letter, giving

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him a name we still remember today. There's

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even a short story award

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named in his honor, Oh

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Henry.

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When I look back on my middle and high school

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English classes. Certain authors come

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to mind immediately, Hemingway, of

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course, but also Jack London, J.

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D. Salinger, and one other writer

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in particular. His tale of Pirates,

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buried treasure and Tropical Islands

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is taught in schools all over the world and

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has been translated into countless languages.

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But it's his other story, the Gothic

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tale about dual personalities,

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that's really stuck with me over the years,

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and it's stuck with its author, Robert Louis

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Stevenson as well. The

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Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr

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Hyde was first published in eight six,

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but parts of it were published in plays and

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short stories before then. Stevenson

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had searched for years for a way to tell

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the perfect good versus evil story,

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until the idea came to him in a dream.

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Suddenly inspired one night, he toiled

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for days, maybe even weeks, on

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the novella, oftentimes coming downstairs

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from his bedroom to read portions aloud

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to his wife and stepson. Stevenson

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called it his greatest work yet, and

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while the main story may have begun in a dream,

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he'd almost certainly pulled details from

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his real life. Some

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of those details were in the news wealthy

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cabinet maker Deacon William Brody had

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been caught and convicted from multiple charges

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of theft. He had led a secret

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double life involving hidden rooms

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and a costume for his nocturnal crime

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spree, and it was certainly an inspiring

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tale. But other details came

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to Stevenson from people he was close to.

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One of his friends, a French teacher named

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Eugene Chantrelle, had been accused

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of poisoning his wife. Stevenson

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sat in the gallery during the trial. He

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recalled the looks of horror and disgust

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on his friend's face as the prosecution

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and went through the details of the murder

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as though it had been committed by someone else

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entirely. The jury, though i

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didn't agree and Eugene was executed

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a short while later. Stevenson

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used this courtroom experience as inspiration

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for the story, and after the novella's

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completion, he did what he always

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did with his first draft. He gave

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it to his wife, Fanny. In fact,

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we wouldn't have Robert Louis Stevenson

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at all if it wasn't for her. Bannie's

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opinion was of the utmost importance to

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him. She knew what made for a good

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story, and often wrote her comments

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in the margins of the pages for her husband's

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benefit. You might call her his number

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one editor. You might also call her

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his greatest critic. On this occasion,

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Bannie's criticisms were not exactly

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constructive. She

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referred to her husband's seminal work, a story

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that has been adapted for the stage and screen

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over one times since its publication,

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as acquire full of utter

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nonsense. She knew it could

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be better, but her husband needed a bit

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of motivation. In a letter she

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wrote to a friend shortly after she'd read

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the draft, Banny said she'd planned on

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burning it before it ever reached reader's

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hands, but she never got

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the chance. Robert read through

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his wife's marginal notes, and, in

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a fit of rage over his wasted time

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and effort, tossed the pile of pages

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into the fireplace himself, watching

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the flames reduce it all to ashes.

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Upon realizing what he'd done, he

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spent the next three days feverishly

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rewriting the draft while sitting up in bed.

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According to some biographers, Robert

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had been sick for weeks and was hopped

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up on cocaine. The entire time he wrote

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it, adding a bit of real life inspiration

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to Dr Jekyl's ingestion of a serum

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to become a completely different person. The

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Strange Case of Dr Jekyl and Mr

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Hyde became a great success almost

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immediately. It made Robert Louis

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Stevenson a household name. But

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we might not be teaching it in classrooms

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today if it wasn't for his wife,

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who saw its potential even at

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its worst. She said

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as much in that letter written to a Mr.

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William Henley. Henley was a

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poet and editor in his own right,

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but also a longtime friend to both Fannie

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and Robert, and for good reason. Robert

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saw something in him, a cleverness

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and a joy that warmed everyone around

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him. But he also saw something else,

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well, not exactly according

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to him, there was something about William Henley that

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wasn't visible, that was inspiring. Years

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before he had completed that rewrite of Dr

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Jekyl's Tale of Transformation, Robert

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Louis Stevenson had worked on another story.

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It was a novel that needed an antagonist.

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Now. Henley wasn't a mean guy.

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Everyone who knew him thought only the best

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of him, and his jovial nature, but

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Henley had suffered from tuberculosis

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at the age of twelve. The complications

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from the disease had cost him dearly, and

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doctors had amputated his left

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leg below the knee. And that

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was the key detail. Robert borrowed, just

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as he had done so many times before,

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for one of the most famous villains in

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all of English literature, the

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legendary pirate himself long

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John Silver. I

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hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the

11:26

Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe

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for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn

11:30

more about the show by visiting Curiosities

11:33

podcast dot com.

11:35

The show was created by me Aaron

11:37

Manky in partnership with how Stuff

11:39

Works. I make another award winning

11:41

show called Lore, which is a podcast,

11:44

book series, and television show, and

11:46

you can learn all about it over at the World

11:48

of Lore dot com. And

11:51

until next time, stay curious.