Live Forever

As he made his way around the circus, he passed all the usual sideshow acts, clowns with fake red noses, a man swallowing a shiny metal sword, a woman doing flips on a trapeze, and then something unique caught his eye, a booth with a big painted sign that read mister Electrico. The boy couldn't help it, he was curious. He scampered into the booth and took a seat near the front. A few minutes later, the lights dimmed and a man wearing a three piece suit waltzed out, taking a seat

in a metal chair at the center stage. He then pulled out a sword from where the boy wasn't quite sure and held it in one hand, and suddenly a loud, buzzing sound cut through the air. The boy watched as sparks seemed to dance along the surface of the man's skin. His teeth chattered, his hair stuck straight out. He was sitting in an electric chair being bombarded with tens of thousands of volts of electricity, and then with a current still flowing through him. The man stood up and held

his sword out about the audience. The boy later wrote, and I quote, mister Electrico brushed an ex caliber sword over the heads of the children, nighting them with fire. When he came to me, he tapped me on both shoulders and and the tip of my nose. The lightning jumped into me. Mister Electrico cried, live forever, but well, immortality is kind of a lot to ask of a twelve year old kid. Nonetheless, the boy left that night feeling electrified, so much so that the following day he

went back to the circus. The boy tracked down mister Electrico, who seemed almost weirdly happy to see him. He led the boy all around the circus, introducing him to the other performers, and at the end of the night, just as they were about to part ways, mister Electrico told the boy and I quote, we have met before. You were my best friend in France in nineteen eighteen, and you died in my arms in the Battle of Arden Forest that year. And here you are born again in

a new body with a new name. Welcome back. Which is the kind of claim that really needs some further explanation, I know, but these were apparently mister Electrico's final words. The boy went home feeling a bit dazed, a bit special, and more than a little inspired. Mister Electrico and the other circus performers were such vibrant, strange characters too. They were stories unto themselves, and meeting them inspired the boy to start writing his own stories. He started with shorter

pieces and eventually moved up to writing novels. There was The Illustrated Man, inspired by a heavily tattooed circus performer. There was Something Wicked This Way Comes, which features a character named mister Electrico, and maybe most famous of all, Fahrenheit four fifty one. That little boy was Ray Bradbury, and he would go on to become one of the most important names in American literature. Bradbury later called mister Electrico his catalyst the reason he became a writer, which

is a really nice story. But here's the other thing about Ray Bradbury. He wasn't above embellishing some details or making things up altogether. For example, he claimed that he could remember his own birth. If it's true, it would make him the most brilliant newborn who had ever lived. Honestly, though it's probably just a story. Experts generally believe that this isn't possible, and just like it, the circus story

in Chicago might be a tall tale too. Historians and scholars have dug through the records, and while electric chair circus performances definitely existed, there isn't anything to suggest that mister Electrico did much less that united Ray Bradbury with an electrified sword and told him to live forever. Chances are it's a sort of origin story that Bradbury created for himself, a way to mythologize his own past and make it seem more magical than it actually was, But

the jury is still out. At least two Bradbury scholars have gone on the record to say that despite the lack of evidence, they believe Bradbury's circus tale, and who am I to say different? After all, more curious things have happened. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is one of the most iconic children books ever written. The characters are unforgettable. We all recognize Alice in her blue dress, the Mad Hatter in his suit and top hat, and the striped

cheshire Cats crawling through the trees. Since its publication in eighteen sixty five, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has never been out of print. It's been translated into one hundred and seventy four languages and sold over one hundred million copies worldwide. But when the book was originally published, no one knew it would become such a massive success. In fact, the story of its first edition printing is stranger than you might imagine. You see, way back in eighteen sixty five,

Lewis Carroll signed a contract with McMillan and Company. They agreed to print two thousand copies of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, which, knowing how huge the story would get, seems like nothing right, But at the time Lewis Carroll was super happy to have the contract and the money that came along with it. A few weeks before the book's official release, though Carol received fifty author copies to give to family, friends and whoever else he wanted, he gave one to the man

who illustrated the book, John Teniell. Teniell flipped open the advanced copy, and right away he told Carroll there was a problem. He was and I quote entirely dissatisfied with the printing of the pictures. Apparently the illustrations just didn't look quite right. Teniell was so upset about it that he convinced Carol to halt the production of that version of the book. The first edition print run was literally stopped in its tracks, and Carol asked everyone who had

received an advanced copy to give it back. He later wrote in his diary that the original versions of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland should and I quote be sold as waste paper. Over the next month, Carol and Teniel worked with the publisher to create a new first edition that they were happy with. Carol ended up losing a pretty significant amount of money on the deal, but he hoped that if the book sold well enough, he'd be able to recuperate those losses, and of course he did just

that many many times over. In fact, Alice and her Journey down the Rabbit Hole became a universally beloved story. But here's the kicker. When Lewis Carroll asked for his author copies back from those people, well, he didn't get a single one back. Exactly twenty two copies of the first first edition remained, and as the years passed, those books became incredibly valuable. Of the twenty two, sixteen of

them now reside in museums around the world. They're bound in red cloth and feature a golden emblem of Alice on the front. The paper, now over one hundred and fifty years old, is too delicate to touch, although the books are often open to pages with illustrations so that curious onlookers can see the printing that John Teniel believed was disgraceful. As for the other six copies, they belong to private owners. One of them was once owned by

a man named George William Kitchen. He went to church with Lewis Carroll and received an advanced copy in eighteen sixty five. When Carol asked for the book back, Kitchen didn't comply. Instead, he passed it down to his daughter, who eventually sold it at auction in nineteen twenty five. It briefly belonged to a library, then to a few more private owners, before being purchased by John Lindzyth, a scholar and bibliographer. In twenty sixteen, Lindzyth decided it was

time to part with his beloved book. He put it up for auction through Christie's, one of those big name auction houses that specifically caters to people with a lot of money to blow. As you'd expect, the listing of this ultra rare book made headlines and it was expected to fetch anywhere from two to three million dollars, not

bad for something that Carol himself called waste paper. Part of the reason it was worth so much was because of these six privately owned copies, this one had a particularly well documented provedance, meaning the chain of ownership was clearly recorded, and it was also in pristine condition. For wealthy bibliophiles, this was an amazing opportunity. Only, on the day the book went up for six nobody bought it. The auction house said that there was spirited interest in

the bidding, but clearly it wasn't spirited enough. Perhaps this would be a good time to quote Alice herself when she said, curiouser and curiouser. 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 Worldolore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.