0:03

Our world is full of the unexplainable.

0:07

And if history is an open book, all

0:09

of these amazing tales right

0:11

there on display, just waiting

0:13

for us to explore. Welcome

0:17

to the Cabinet of curiosities.

0:27

A good president needs to have a lot

0:29

to win. They need to be likable.

0:32

They must have sound policies that

0:34

benefit the American people. And well,

0:37

none of that is actually true. Politicians

0:39

are a rare breed mix a pinch

0:42

of charm, dash of authority, and

0:44

a whole heaping bowl of hubris, and you'll

0:46

eventually have yourself a red blooded American

0:48

individual with grand dreams of running

0:50

the country. One

0:53

man had such a dream over one d seventy

0:55

years ago when he tried running for president.

0:58

His name was Dan Rice, and he made

1:00

a living as an entertainer. He trained

1:02

animals, he dabbled in political

1:04

comedy, performed in stage shows,

1:07

and parodied Shakespearean plays with

1:09

his own humorous versions. Early

1:12

in his career, when he had no money to his

1:14

name and only one horse, larger

1:16

circuses and troops made fun of his one

1:19

horse show. Although they intended

1:21

to insult him, the aspiring star flipped

1:23

it around and used the phrase to advertise

1:26

his surprisingly enjoyable performance.

1:29

As he gained in popularity, his show

1:31

was able to generate more income and was

1:34

eventually dubbed the Greatest show on

1:36

Earth. Years before P. T. Barnum's

1:38

own traveling circus would fly that flag.

1:41

Legendary American author Mark Twain

1:43

admired Rice so much that his description

1:45

of a circus in Adventures of Huckleberry

1:48

Finn was based on the performer's famous

1:50

spectacle. But Rice was

1:52

best known for his enduring role as a

1:54

circus clown. He didn't just run

1:57

around and perform slapstick for cheering

1:59

kids, though his was more like a stand

2:01

up comedy routine than your typical

2:03

clowning around. He'd perform observational

2:06

humor and sing songs about the news,

2:09

which let audiences in on another passion

2:11

of his politics, Rice

2:14

once invited then candidate Zachary

2:16

Taylor to campaign aboard his circus

2:18

wagon, encouraging the future twelfth

2:20

President of the United States to jump

2:23

on the bandwagon, which, by the way,

2:25

is how that phrase came to be. Later

2:27

on, Rice decided to stop sharing the stage

2:30

with other politicians and enter the

2:32

fray himself. In eighteen

2:34

sixty four, he ran for the Pennsylvania Senate,

2:36

using his immense popularity to help power

2:38

his campaign, But when it later appeared

2:40

that he wouldn't secure enough votes to gain traction

2:43

in the polls, he dropped out. He

2:45

didn't let the experience discourage him, though.

2:48

Rice wanted to serve the people as best he could,

2:50

and as they say, the show must

2:52

go on. When Rice tried

2:55

again four years later to get elected to public

2:57

office, he aimed higher, this time, much

2:59

higher. You see, he wanted to be the president.

3:03

At first, it's seeing the papers were supportive

3:05

of his plans. He was a national treasurer,

3:07

after all, beloved by audiences

3:09

everywhere. Of course, Rice had

3:12

his detractors, and not everyone thought

3:14

that a former circus clown had the ability to

3:16

lead the people. In fact, during the campaign,

3:18

a newspaper called The Somerset Democrat

3:21

mocked his bid for the presidency, claiming

3:23

that he had an I quote amassed

3:25

wealth by catering to the tastes of

3:28

the very lowest order of society

3:30

in the disreputable capacity of

3:32

a clown and showman, and

3:35

that seemed to open the floodgates. More

3:37

papers followed with rebukes of their own,

3:39

and although he tried to respond through open

3:42

letters and opinion pieces. His efforts

3:44

had little effect. It didn't help that a

3:46

popular military general was moving

3:49

up in the polls, no doubt bolstered by

3:51

his impressive performance during the Civil

3:53

War. So when it became clear that

3:55

he wouldn't get the nomination, Rice withdrew

3:57

from the race, allowing Ulysses S.

4:00

Grant to go on and become the eighteenth President

4:02

of the United States. Dan

4:05

was an entertainer, a showman,

4:08

and a patriot. He loved his

4:10

country and thought of no better way to

4:12

show that love than to become an elected

4:14

public servant. But don't think

4:16

of him as a failure. He

4:18

was incredibly patriotic, and those

4:20

images of him with his long white beard

4:23

went on to inspire a character we

4:25

all know from the recruitment posters that were

4:27

printed and distributed during World War

4:29

One and two. He might

4:32

not have become president, but without

4:34

Dan Rice, America wouldn't

4:36

have its most famous mascot of all,

4:39

Uncle Sam.

4:53

Typically when someone here is a tapping

4:55

noise in their house, they tend to think the worst.

4:58

It could be a leaky pipe dripping

5:00

inside the walls, or someone

5:02

on the outside looking for a way in.

5:05

In the case of the Irving family, it was an

5:07

animal that had found its way inside. However,

5:10

in ninety one, on the Isle of

5:12

Man, it wasn't just an animal. The

5:14

Irvings encountered. On one fateful

5:16

September night, James, Margaret

5:19

and their daughter Voiri came face to

5:21

face with a creature unlike anything

5:23

they'd ever seen before or

5:25

heard. It

5:27

started with scratching and bizarre

5:29

sounds emanating from the walls. The

5:32

noises, which sounded like a cross between

5:34

a baby's cooing and the squeaks

5:36

of a rodent, caused them to investigate.

5:39

And that's when they were introduced to Geff, a

5:42

mongoose from India. And when

5:44

I say introduced, I mean Geff

5:46

introduced himself to them

5:49

with his voice. Geff

5:51

explained to the Irvings that he was a ghost

5:54

that had taken the form of a mongoose.

5:56

Rather than shoo him away or capture

5:58

him and invite the press photograph him,

6:01

the Irvings instead invited him to stay with

6:03

them. He guarded the house from intruders

6:05

and hunted mice that had found their way inside.

6:08

He put out the fire at night after everyone

6:10

had gone to bed, and acted like the Irvings

6:12

alarm clock, waking them up when they slept

6:15

too late. The

6:17

family rewarded Geff with food like chocolates

6:19

and bananas, and often brought him with

6:22

them to the grocery store, although he usually

6:24

stayed outside and talked to himself. Eventually

6:27

word got around about the Irvings chatty

6:29

house guest, and the papers did come knocking.

6:32

Everyone wanted a glimpse of the talking

6:34

animal. Some allegedly did,

6:37

claiming that they even heard him speak, but

6:40

not Everyone was willing to believe the family

6:42

story, though for one, Geff had never

6:44

been caught on camera. There were photos

6:47

of parts of the house where Geff was supposedly

6:49

heard, as well as one of James Irving

6:51

pointing to a set of pause coming out

6:54

of the wall. Any attempts to snap

6:56

a picture of the mongoose himself, though, resulted

6:58

in shapeless blurs captured on film.

7:02

And Geff didn't just talk. He

7:04

made grandiose claims about his abilities.

7:07

He said he could split the atom and

7:09

read people's minds. He once told

7:11

the Irvings, I could kill you all, but

7:13

I won't. Geff also

7:16

had a strong attachment to the family's thirteen

7:18

year old daughter Fire. James

7:20

once tried to pull her bed into their bedroom,

7:22

and the mongoose screeched that he would follow

7:24

her wherever they moved her. This was

7:26

seen by some as evidence that Vary herself

7:29

had learned to throw her voice, making it sound

7:31

as though it was coming from some small animal

7:33

in the room when it wasn't naturally.

7:36

People wanted proof. There were plenty

7:38

of stories, for sure, but very little in

7:40

the way of actual evidence. The Irvings

7:43

allowed photos of footprints and stains

7:45

on the walls to be taken. They also provided

7:48

a first sample for study. Once

7:50

everything was analyzed, though it was clear

7:52

what the Irvings really had on their hands.

7:55

A sheep dog, not a talking

7:58

sheep dog, just a regular kin

8:00

sheepdog, their own named

8:02

Mona. The fur, the stains,

8:04

and the footprints all belonged to her,

8:07

and the blurry photos they claimed her of Geff

8:10

those were of Mona. To just on

8:12

the move, and after James died in Margaret

8:15

and Voirie sold the house, claiming

8:18

they left Geff the mongoose behind. Vary

8:22

claimed until the day she died in two thousand

8:24

five, that Geff had been real. She

8:26

hadn't made him up, nor had she performed

8:28

ventriloquism to fool everyone into thinking

8:31

they lived with a talking mongoose. In

8:33

the years following their departure from the house,

8:35

though, psychic investigators and

8:37

ghost hunters stayed there for extended

8:40

periods hoping to hear from the elusive

8:42

mongoose. What they discovered, though,

8:44

were possible explanations for gifts

8:46

tiny chatty voice. As

8:49

it turned out, the walls of the house had been

8:51

built with significant airspace between

8:54

the wood on the inside and the stone

8:56

on the outside. That gap basically

8:58

turned the walls into eight big amplifiers,

9:01

able to carry voices all over the house

9:03

without anyone having to shout. As

9:06

for Geff himself, few actually

9:08

believed a talking mongoose had lived with

9:10

the Irvings. A member of the International

9:13

Institute for Psychical Research, theorized

9:15

that Geff was nothing more than a creation

9:17

of James Irving, a kind of split

9:20

personality he created to help him

9:22

deal with the stresses of daily life.

9:25

But that's all. It was just a theory.

9:28

Even though much of the physical evidence points

9:30

to the Irvings dog rather than a talking

9:32

mongoose. The fact is that no one

9:34

knows who Geff was or where

9:36

he came from. Was he a ghost

9:38

that had taken the form of a small weasel

9:41

like creature, or was he a figment

9:43

of James Irving's imagination. Whether

9:46

we discover the truth or not, there's

9:49

no denying that the possibilities are

9:51

very curious. I

9:56

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

9:58

Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe

10:00

for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn

10:02

more about the show by visiting Curiosities

10:05

podcast dot com.

10:07

The show was created by me Aaron

10:09

Mankey in partnership with how Stuff

10:11

Works. I make another award winning

10:13

show called Lore, which is a podcast,

10:16

book series, and television show, and

10:18

you can learn all about it over at the World

10:21

of Lore dot com. And

10:23

until next time, stay curious.