Cradle Will Fall

the Future. But there is another car. Its story is one of tragedy and horror, more like something out of a Stephen King novel than reality, but oddly enough, we've never seen it in a single film. The n Poor Spider was built as a racing car, meant for the tracks rather than the open road. Its design was iconic. It's sleek aluminum body sat low on a steel frame, hugging the ground as on horses pulled it along. Two large round headlights stared straight ahead, almost in surprise at

just how fast that tiny car could go. In nineteen fifty five, only one star had the audacity to drive such a machine outside the confines of a closed track. He was a cultural icon a legend, a rebel, James Dean. His story is one of misfortune, a young man taken far too soon. His legacy lives on in his films, which are still regarded as some of the most influential in all of cinema. And that car, well, that car

has a legacy all its own. It was in late September of nineteen fifty five win Dean's Porsche collided with the nineteen fifty Ford Tutor, a hulking two door sedan with chrome bumpers. He'd been on his way to Selina's, California for a race, pushing the car to its limit. The Tutor had attempted to make a left, but didn't see Dean careening down the road in time. The Porsche was a wreck, a crushed heap of metal and rubber that,

following Dean's death, was bought by George Barriss. If that name sounds familiar, it's because George Barriss created some of film and television's most beloved cars, including Adam West's nineteen sixty six Batmobile. Barris had been the one to customize the Porsche for Dean before his crash. He put stripes over the rear wheels, reupholstered the seats, and painted the number one thirty on the doors, engine cover, and hood.

Barriss had the wrecked car towed to his shop, but as it was being loaded onto the trailer, it slipped off, trapping the mechanic underneath. When they removed the chassis, it was clear the man's leg had been broken. Barriss decided it would be better to chop up the car and sell some of the part it's off. A man named Troy McHenry bought the engine, while one William es Grid

bought the drive train. They put the components into their own cars and thought that a race between the two of them would be a perfect display of the Porsche's repurposed engineering. During the race, mckenry's car lost control and hit a tree. He died instantly. Es Grid was almost killed when his own vehicle locked up and flipped during a turn. But Barriss, unconvinced of the spider's supposed curse,

would not be deterred. He sold two unscathed tires to a brand new owner, who ran off the road after both of them blew out at the same time. It seemed no part of this car wanted to be separated from the whole. Of course, owning such an infamous piece of movie history brings its own problems, and no not of the supernatural kind. Two thieves attempted to steal pieces of the Porsche from Barrass's garage, no doubt, to sell them for a quick buck, But I've seen the car

had other ends. The thief who tried to remove the steering wheels sliced his arm wide open, and his cohort, who had been struggling with one of the seats, suffered a similar injury. After all, the stories of various accidents and depth surrounding the car got around, the only people brave enough to take possession of it were the California

Highway Patrol. They wanted a striking display for their highway safety museum to scare people into being more defensive drivers, and what better example than the most famous car wreck of all time. They carded the metal carcass off to a police garage, which quickly burned down after accepting it through the doors. The car, however, suffered no damage, well no more than it already had. The wreck then moved to an exhibit at a local high school, where it

flipped off its mount and broke a student's hip. James Dean's zippy little race car had developed the blood lust of sorts. Having had enough of the bizarre events surrounding the car, the highway patrol did it onto a truck bound for storage. If I were a betting man, I'd bet that truck never made it, and I'd be right. It flipped during transport and the driver was tossed from the cab. He landed somehow in the path of the spider, which fell from the back of the truck and crushed him.

Barris knew something had to give. He bought the car back. No one else needed to get hurt or die over it. But it was during this final transport back to his garage when the strangest thing happened yet the car vanished. No one has seen it ever since. You might think that the curse, if you believe in such a thing, began with James Dean's death, as though his vengeful spirit had inhabited the car. Doo mean all who dared to

own a piece of it. But you'd be surprised if you knew the truth and the other person responsible for it, just after he had the car upgraded by Barriss. James Dean ran into an other famous actor outside a Hollywood restaurant. He invited him to take a look at his new ride parked out front. The actor walked around the little Porsche and then turned to Dean with a sour look on his face and said, if you get in that car, you'll be found dead in it by this time next week.

He was right too. Dean died in that car crash seven days later, and the actor who had given him the ominous warning none other than Obi Wan Kenobi himself, Sir Alec Guinness. There's a reason so many people are afraid of heights, except it's not the heights they're afraid of, rather the risk of falling. The World Health Organization has estimated that each year about sixty thousand people die from some kind of fall, for simple stumbles to Christmas light

disasters on the roof. Humans just can't seem to stay on their feet or land on them well most of the time. That is because many of us have heard stories of people who have fallen from airplanes and lived to tell the tale. In fact, between nineteen forty and two thousand eight, fifty seven people fell from airplanes during crashes and survived. A fall from a great height isn't always a death sentence, as long as you have somewhere

nice and comfy to land. Water works well as the snow. However, in the case of one man in nineteen thirties Detroit, a safe landing meant using whoever was available. Yes, you heard me right, whoever. Joseph Figlock probably didn't expect to be involved in a freak accident that day. He had been sweeping up an alley when it happened. It had fallen from above. No, not a meteor or an airplane, not even a rogue satellite thrown down from its orbit. It was a baby, and it lived four stories above him.

Whoever had been watching the child, perhaps the mother or a nanny, had lost track of him. When he found the open window, seeing a new space to explore, the baby crawled toward it, and, once at the precipice, kept going. It's a good thing Joseph had decided to do a little cleaning that day, otherwise things might have gone much differently. The baby landed right on top of his head and shoulders. Both of them suffered minor injuries, but the baby survived

the ordeal. It was probably more traumatic for the mother, who wondered where her child might have gone, only to panic at the site of the open window. And Joseph Figlock was a hero, albeit an unintentional one, But he didn't let his accidental status go to his head. He carried on with his life as usual, sweeping out the alley each day, expecting what anyone else might have expected, that what had happened to him would be a one

time occurrence. Except the following year, another child, this one a little bit older than the first, decided an open window would be the perfect place to play. He drifted too close and lost his footing, falling four stories towards his impending death below. Well, he would have, except a certain person happened to be standing between the boy and the pavement. Joseph Figlock at once again found himself in

the precarious position of catching a falling child. Neither Joseph nor the toddler were seriously injured in the fall, though I'm sure Joseph kept his eyes to the sky while sweeping the alley. From that point forward, it must have been surprising to learn that while lightning might not strike the same spot twice. Babies certainly can. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the

show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show, and you can learn all about it over at the World of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.