Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all of these amazing tales are right there on display, just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. When you think of movie stars, there are way too many to pick from these days, and each year it seems those names and faces get swapped out for a brand new crowd. But a century ago, the list was a lot smaller, and sitting right at the top of it all was Rudolph Valentino.
He was the original pop culture icon. Born in Italy, he came to New York in nineteen twelve, where he worked odd jobs bussing tables and gardening. It wasn't until he was hired as a dancer when his luck started to change. He found work in a traveling musical that took him from New York all the way to California, where he went on to pursue a stage career, although he'd only ever performed in front of life audiences up to that point, another actor took one look at Valentino
and suggested he try his hand at films. With his striking good looks and his knack for wooing the ladies. Rudolf Valentino became known around Hollywood as the Latin Lover, and eventually only by his last name Valentino. He came up in the era of silent movies, of which he performed in almost forty Unfortunately, like other notable film legends such as James Dean and Bruce Lee, Valentino's career was cut short. He died at the young age of just
thirty one. Over one hundred thousand people line New York streets to pay their respects to him. There were reports of suicidence by mourning fans, as well as a public riot. However, as strange and unexpected as his passing us, the circumstances surrounding it were even stranger. In fact, Valentino's death may have been the first of several linked to one common culprit. A ring. That's right, a tiny piece of jewelry he wore on his pinkie. He bought it in San Francisco
from a shopkeeper with a dire warning. The ring, a silver band with the stone in the middle, was cursed. Valentino didn't want to hear it. He was a success now and he wanted something to show how far he'd come. He purchased the ring despite the owner's cautionary tale, and it quickly became his signature. He wore it in publicity photos and even in his motion pictures, most notably Two is the Young Rajah. It was a commercial and critical flop, the first of several for the young actor. His next
three films were all box office disappointments. Despite Valentino's immense talents and dashing good looks. It seemed like the shopkeeper had been right. The actor's signature ring had been holding him back. Unfortunately for Valentino, it was too late to do anything about it. While on tour to promote his last film, The Son of the Chic, Valentino came down
with a case of bleeding ulcers and required surgery. At first, everything seemed to be okay, but doctors discovered he developed an infection known as peritonitis, an inflammation of lung tissue leading to fluid build up inside the lungs. Nothing could be done, His condition got worse, and by the end of August of NIX he was gone. The ring, however,
did not go with him. Instead, it was passed down to his lover, another actor Poland Negri, but she immediately fell ill after taking possession of it, and her career suffered. She managed to survive, but passed the ring onto singer and actor Russ Colombo. Colombo had been described as a doppelganger of sorts to Valentino, and it turned out to be true in more ways than one. Days after he accepted Negri's gift, Colombo died after a bizarre shooting accident
involving a friend. The ring then bounced to another of Columbo's acquaintances, a man named Joe Casino, who was so afraid of the curse he locked the ring away and refused to take it out for anyone. But the allure proved to be too great, and even Joe succumbed to its call. He'd only been wearing the ring a week when he was struck and killed by a truck. Casino's brother, Del was the next to claim the ring and decided
to lend it to a Rudolph Valentino memorabilia collector. Perhaps he hoped that the curse hadn't been a curse at all, Maybe the ring had just been an innocent part of a bunch of odd coincidences. Well, you might think that if the ring's journey ended there, but it didn't. One night, Dell came home to find his house had been robbed. Guess what had been taken. That's right, Valentino's ring. The thief was quickly caught by police, though, but didn't go quietly.
An officer fired a warning shot that ended up killing him instead. Several years later, figure skater Jack Dunn slipped the ring onto his finger for a screen test the film, a biopic about the late Valentino. Ten days later, Done passed away from a rare blood disease. After that, the ring was locked away, never to be seen or worn again. Today, no one knows where it is, and Valentino's spirit is said to haunt many locations around Los Angeles searching for it.
That bus boy from Italy certainly made a name for himself in his short time on Earth. While his career had not been as prolific as some of his peers, he still remembered and watched to this day, and the name Valentino has become synonymous with the notion of the Hollywood heartthrob. After all, it does have a nice ring to it, doesn't it. We're taught from a very young age that lightning never strikes in the same place twice.
But lightning is unpredictable and controllable, and it lacks an agenda. You might say that lightning is definitely not a serial killer. Because serial killers do have an agenda. They can and do hunt the same areas for new victims. They often have a particular victim type or compulsion for what they do or who they do it too. That was the case in Birmingham, England. Her name was Mary Ashford and she had plans to go dancing with her friend Hannah Cox.
One Monday evening. She walked from her home in Langley Heath to Hannah's house and dropped off her party dress for that night. After work, she came by to change, and then the two of them headed out to the party together. Mary and Hannah had danced with several men throughout the night, but two had entirely captured their attentions, Benjamin Carter and Abraham Thornton. The two couples departed the dance around midnight, but after walking Hannah to her door,
Benjamin headed back to the dance. Mr. Thornton and Mary, however, had other plans They walked the route to Mary's grandfather's house, talking until about four in the morning, when Mary went back to Hannah's to pick up her work clothes from the night before. That was the last time anyone saw her alive. Early the next morning, a man walking through pipe Hayes Park came across a pile of women's clothing
next to a large pit filled with water. He told the locals what he'd found, and, filled with a growing sense of dread, they knew what had to be done. They dredged the pit and came up with the body a woman who, according to the police, had been drowned. She had bruises up and down her arms, clear signs of a struggle just before her murder. Beside the pit, authorities also found two sets of footprints in the mud. One had been Mary Ashford's, another set belonged to Abraham Thornton.
He admitted to spending the evening with the late miss Ashford, but swore up and down that he didn't kill her. The police didn't see it that way, and despite having no evidence beyond his muddy footprints, Thornton went on trial for her murder. He was their only suspect and his
odds of beating the rap were slim. Everyone, especially the public, thought that he was guilty, but public opinion was not enough to build a case upon the police just didn't have the evidence to convict him, and Thornton was acquitted of the charges. Even after numerous petitions for retrials by Mary's family, it could never be proven that he killed her.
When one of Mary's brothers attempted to ask the judge for a retrial, Thornton defended himself by dredging up a piece of medieval law that allowed him to challenge Mary's brother to a trial by battle. If he won, he would be acquitted. If he lost, then he would be hanged. Mary's brother refused the challenge and Abraham Thornton was once again a freeman. Then another body turned up. She was found in the same place, pipe Hayes Park, under the
same circumstances. Her name was Barbara Forrest and she worked as a nurse at a children's hospital. She too had been assaulted and strangled after a night of dancing and guess where the police began their questioning. That's right, with a man named Thornton. As it turned out, he'd been her co worker at the children's home, and there was blood on his pants. Unfortunately, DNA testing still had years to go before it would be used in police investigations.
It just wasn't enough evidence to convict him, and Thornton walked away without ever seeing the inside of a cell. People close to the victims remember both women feeling uneasy about their lives just before they were taken. Mary had told Hannah's mother she had bad feelings about the week to come. Barbara Forrest had told a coworker a little over a week before her murder, this is going to
be my unlucky month. I just know it. Both murders had been committed in the same place, using the same method, under similar circumstances, all by a man named Thornton. But it wasn't the work of a serial killer. And we know that to be true. Why because Mary Ashford was murdered in eighteen seventeen, while Barbara forrest death occurred much later, one fifty seven years later, to be precise. 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 Mankey 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.