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1:26

were wolves in the woods embarrassed

1:28

to there had been bears

1:30

and wolves in other wild things there in

1:32

the woods since who knows how long people

1:35

first came to the woods twelve thousand years

1:37

ago archaeologists tell us the

1:39

they can't tell us much about who those people were they

1:42

speak with more authority about the prehistoric people

1:44

who followed later civilizations

1:47

who preceded tribes like the seneca the

1:49

ming go the delaware and other peoples

1:52

who can speak for themselves people

1:54

who hunted in the woods contended

1:57

and competed with the bears and wolves

1:59

for some centuries until a new set of people arrived

2:01

in 1795. We

2:03

know that date exactly. When

2:05

a man from Amherst, Massachusetts, a

2:08

judge named Charles Hinkley, bought

2:10

up 16,000 of the many hundreds of thousands

2:12

of acres that had been recently claimed by some big

2:15

land speculators in what we now call Northeastern

2:17

Ohio.

2:20

The judge paid 23 cents per acre. He

2:22

then carved up his purchase into 100 parcels and

2:26

sold those off at a profit to other Easterners

2:28

looking for a new life on the frontier.

2:31

By 1818, the town of Hinkley,

2:34

Ohio was a moderately bustling farming

2:36

community, boasting good soil,

2:39

predictable weather, and abundant water.

2:42

But there were wolves in the woods. And

2:46

so there were farmers in their beds in the homes

2:48

they had built at the edge of those woods, waking

2:51

in the dead of night to the bleeding of sheep

2:54

and the howling of wolves, tearing

2:57

and gnashing, feasting in the

2:59

blue-silver moonlight, unbothered

3:02

by the musket crack and the flip

3:04

of a bullet, fired much too late by a

3:06

man on his porch and his night clothes cursing

3:08

at the shadows. It was

3:10

like that most nights. You

3:12

could lose a dozen sheep in your sleep. One

3:15

night, one farmer lost 34. And

3:18

then on another, the pack of wolves slipped

3:20

beneath fences,

3:20

farm after farm, killing

3:23

more than 100 sheep in a single night. Dragged

3:27

them through blood-slicked grass. The

3:30

farmers had had it. They decided

3:32

to go to war with the wolves.

3:34

Just before dawn on Christmas Eve, 1818, able-bodied

3:39

men and big enough boys encircled

3:42

the woods of Hinkley, Ohio. They

3:46

came armed for battle, with

3:48

rifles and muskets and pitchforks, swords,

3:52

clubs, spiked flails. They

3:55

stood side by side, spread out along

3:57

the borders of the town the judge had drawn up two

3:59

decades before. for for

4:01

commanders have been named former

4:03

military men each placed in

4:06

charge of the men lined up along each of the cardinal

4:08

directions the farms and feals

4:10

in woods before them and

4:13

as the sun rose so

4:16

did a call along the line forward

4:19

march and they did

4:23

six hundred men and boys out

4:26

to kill every single wild animal in higley

4:28

ohio in

4:31

they moved old snow

4:33

crunching beneath their boots gunshots

4:35

and shouts branches snapping

4:38

flocking birds taking wing making their

4:40

escape dear bolted

4:43

bounded and drop some

4:46

charged tried to break through the advancing

4:48

minds try to leap over

4:50

the oncoming man but

4:52

they were brought down with guns and garden

4:54

tools for hours the men move

4:56

forward aiming low by design

4:58

they didn't want to shoot each other as they converged on

5:00

a stand of trees the center of town with

5:02

some buckshot winged a farmer we had

5:04

to be carted away another caught a bullet

5:07

crack the bone in his shoe but by noon

5:09

there were dear hundred stare on the

5:11

ground to turkey's

5:13

fox's raccoons squirrels

5:15

and rabbits no threat just

5:17

killed for meat and sport several

5:20

wolves to bears but

5:23

there were more in the woods in that last patch of

5:25

forest they

5:26

were still on the run still

5:28

on killed and

5:30

that couldn't stand

5:32

the final assault was planned with

5:34

a new strategy they would send in a strike team

5:36

the best of the hunters would go and finish the job

5:39

while

5:39

the rest of the men waited at the tree line for

5:41

those creatures who would dare an escape

5:46

none did escape there

5:49

are stories that the witnesses in historians of the

5:51

great hinckley hunt the came to be

5:53

node their stories a like to

5:55

tell about the end of the war and the wolves

5:57

in the other wild things who lived in that last bit

5:59

of would

6:01

but I will spare you from hearing more of what they thought

6:03

of as heroics.

6:06

In that handful of hours in November 1818, 600 men and

6:08

boys killed 21 bears, 17 wolves,

6:16

300 deer, and some

6:18

unknown number of other creatures. Bounties

6:21

were paid

6:22

out, $15 per wolf, I do not know

6:24

how much per bear. And then there was

6:26

a party and bonfire,

6:29

and there was food to last the winter and beyond.

6:34

And there were no more wolves or bears in Inglie, Ohio.

6:38

Now and then a few would wander back in,

6:40

but what's one bear against men with

6:42

guns determined to keep every last sheep,

6:45

determined to get a good night's sleep? And

6:49

so before long, really just a handful

6:51

of years, wolves

6:52

and bears went extinct in that part

6:55

of the world.

6:57

That one hunt, those

6:59

several hours one wintery morning in late

7:01

fall of 1818 tamed the wilderness, turned

7:05

the frontier into Ohio,

7:08

as we still know it. There

7:10

were no more wolves in the woods,

7:13

but there were buzzards. Turkey

7:15

vultures started circling well before the men of

7:17

Inglie, Ohio made that final assault in the forest.

7:21

They had, and this is a little bit scientific

7:23

speculation and a little bit local

7:25

legend, but they'd been in the area

7:27

flying from parts farther north to South

7:30

America in their annual migration, when

7:33

they came upon this unbelievable feast, 300 deer, 21

7:36

bears, 17 wolves, just lying

7:39

there. I can't know what they

7:41

thought, of course, if they think

7:43

really, but they'd certainly

7:45

never encountered anything like it.

7:48

And because of that remarkable bounty, two

7:50

centuries ago, buzzards

7:52

still return every year.

7:55

We do not know how they do it. We

7:58

do not know exactly why the disaster... then it's of

8:00

those first circling bird still come but

8:03

they do every march

8:05

fifteenth the

8:07

are two hinkley ohio what the swallows

8:09

are to san juan capistrano

8:13

and people some

8:15

possibly descendants of the very men

8:17

and boys who could no longer a by living

8:19

alongside wild animals come

8:22

out on an early morning and

8:23

late winter to

8:25

watch them as they arrive and

8:27

circle above woods where there are no

8:30

wants

9:28

this episode of the memory palace was written and

9:30

produced by me de de mayo in

9:32

april twenty twenty three the

9:34

show gets research assistance from allies mcgraw

9:37

this a proud member of radio tapia network

9:40

of independently owned and operated listener supported

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podcast from pure x not

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for profit public media company in

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i could not be happier to tell you that

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that network just got bigger it

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is my profound pleasure to welcome

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one of my very favorite shows normal

9:57

gossip to the radio toby family

10:00

this show is delightful

10:03

it's host kelsey mckinney is the best

10:05

virtual paris social heck you could possibly

10:08

ask for and and you know that

10:10

thing when you're at a bar or you're hanging old friends

10:12

porch or whatever and they tell you the crazy

10:14

story about someone you don't even know

10:16

just some friend of a friend some

10:19

wild wonderful thrilling

10:21

gossip about regular people

10:24

in it just feels like the best or you've ever heard that

10:27

is the show anonymous

10:30

twisting turning gasp

10:32

or these stories it is the simplest

10:34

idea it is perfectly executed i

10:37

love it and you went to

10:39

so find out more about normal gossip

10:42

in all the other ready to v shows a radio toby

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a dot effect john

10:46

know more about the show or

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you could get my website the memory palace dot u s

10:51

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