Needlework

of Curiosities. Some things are just destined for problems. The Titanic, but the Hindenburg or a recent curiosity here of U twelve oh six, the World War Two German sub that was forced to surface after its captain flushed the onboard toilet. These were all man made vessels that seemed faded to fail. However, in eighteen twenty Kentucky, the launch of a new Fairy meant the public be faced with one more doomed craft. Except this one wasn't felled via a bathroom mishap or

an iceberg. What happened aboard this particular ferry was much worse, not just for those who wrote it, but also for the men who built it. It was the brainchild of Kentucky merchant and entrepreneur Moses Tusci, who thought that he could make good money by starting his own ferry service along the Ohio River. His ferry would shuttle people and cargo from Tuscy Town, Kentucky, named after his family, to Lawrenceburg, Indiana,

and back. But Moses needed help getting his new business off the ground, so he hired a man named William McGregor. McGregor and his fourteen year old daughter, Eleanor were new in town. Eleanor got along great with almost everyone she met, but her father rubbed everyone the wrong way. He was a drunk and enjoyed picking fights, but he was also a skilled builder and Moses needed all the help that

he could get. With Williams help, Moses was able to get his ferry business running relatively quickly, and it wasn't law before he was hauling everyone and everything up and down the Ohio River. Meanwhile, Eleanor had hit it off with a local schoolmaster named Randolph Chester, a man who was quite a bit older than the teenage girl he was courting. Her father stepped in and forbade her from ever seeing the man again, but Eleanor just went around

his back anyway. The couple continued on in secret until William found out, and that's when he got to work preparing to handle things himself. He followed the couple around town for several days, watching them from afar. Finally he caught them in each other's arms in a remote area of forest, far from prying eyes, or so they thought. William, rifle in hand, emerged from the trees and fired at

the schoolmaster. Unfortunately he missed, hitting Eleanor instead. She died instantly. William, blind with rage, ran towards Chester, gearing up to bludgeon him with the butt of his gun, but the schoolmaster had also come prepared. He withdrew a small pistol and fired it at his assailant, killing the Gregor with a single shot to the heart. Everyone in town mourned Eleanor's death, but her passing marked the beginning of the end of

Tussie Town. It was as though the place was cursed, with crops dying and numerous incidents of terrible weather hitting the area regularly. Businesses closed as residents moved away, But

despite the hard times, Moses Tussie's ferry kept going. In eighteen thirty nine, it was passed on to the Piot family of Boone County, a pair of brothers who had served in the Revolutionary War and already owned several other Ohio ferries, and they upgraded the old ferry, adding a steampowered version in eight One year later, it was destroyed in an ice flow, and they replaced it with an older treadmill style ferry for the next decade or so, and then in eighteen sixty two, the Piots sold the

ferry to a man named John Kazek, who wasn't much different from William McGregor. He liked to fight and drink, which got him into trouble fairly often, like it did with George Fulture. Vulture had been a Union soldier during the ongoing Civil War, but he had lost his arm in battle. Kazek, Southern sympathizer, threatened to kill Fulture as he was boarding. The former soldier pulled out a large knife in turn and stabbed Kazk in the chest, killing him.

Fulture was arrested and eventually released for acting in self defense, but he spent the rest of his short life in a mental facility. He died in an accident while he was there, with Kasek out of the picture, though, Faery ownership was returned to one of the pilot brothers, who was also killed in a mysterious accident soon after. It seems everyone connected with a ferry in some way was doomed to die. The next person to own the ferry

was George Tarrell, a Kentucky state legislator. By now, the business wasn't making a profit and was operating with a large amount of debt. It got so bad one month that Terrell found himself unable to pay his ferryman, Maurice McNeely. Of course, McNeely was also unhappy that his boss was dating his daughter, which had way heavily on the ferryman's mind. With Terrell responsible for so many of the problems in his life, McNeely challenged him to a duel on the deck,

whoever one would gain ownership of the ferry. McNeely drew first, shooting Terrell dead, but his victory was short lived. On a visit to Memphis shortly after, McNeely was hit by a street car and killed. After that, the ferry business was then purchased by Captain William Huff in eighteen eighty two, who managed to sink the boat after a drunken fight erupted between his crew and the passengers. Huff himself died shortly after that, and the business went on to a

man named William Hartman. Now under Hartman's watch, a passenger by the name of Louis Tarrell board of the ferry, and if that last name sounds familiar, that's because he was the brother of the late George Tarrell, the former owner of the ferry. Louis sadly did not reach his destination. He too was killed after suffering a number of injuries while on board, and the strangest part, he died in

the exact same spot on deck as his brother. After that, Hartman's mental health deteriorated, and just like Fulture, he spent the rest of his life in a sanatorium. The fairy continued to run for a number of years, allegedly until nineteen forty seven, when it was finally closed down, but the rumors and legends surrounding it continue to this day. No other fairy operating at that time had the same problems. None saw death on a regular basis as Moses Tuci's

ferry did. Was it cursed or just coincidence, It's hard to say, but one thing is certain. All of it started after Eleanor McGregor was killed by her father Albanian Ottoman governor Mohammed Ali was dealing with a lot back in the early eighteen hundreds. He was in charge of Egypt, Sudan, and a few other regions while also fending off a potential French invasion by Napoleon. Luckily, he had helped from

the British. To thank them for their assistance, Ali gifted Great Britain with a sixty eight and a half foot tall monolith wayne more than two d and twenty four tons. It was known as Cleopatra's Needle, although it had nothing to do with the Egyptian ruler herself. It was actually carved out of red granite over a thousand years before

her reign. The reason for its name, it turns out, was that it had been moved from its original home in Heliopolis, Egypt, to Alexandria, Cleopatra's royal city, back in twelve VC. Although the British were grateful for the gesture, they had no way of transporting the massive stone column home. It was too big and the cost was too great. Instead, they tabled the idea for decades until a man named

Lieutenant General Sir James Alexander found a way. Sir James traveled to Alexandria in eighteen seventy five to see the obelisk for himself. He consulted with a civil engineer there named John Dixon, who had been studying it on his own. The following year, the two men spoke to English surgeon Sir Erasmus Wilson, who donated ten thousand pounds to getting

the Obelisk out of Egypt and back to England. Dixon chipped in as well and coordinated everything, including designing the ship that would carry Cleopatra's needle to its new home. What he outlined was a barge with ten watertight compartments below. The needle would then be placed on its side on deck, at which point the two ft long by sixteen foot wide cylinder would be constructed around it to protect it

during the journey. Dixon had a cabin built to keep the crew safe, and once all of that was done, the vessel was shuttled in pieces to Alexandria, where it was reassembled and outfitted with everything else that needed. This included bilge keels, a rudder, astern and a few more finishing touches. When the vessel was finished, she was dubbed the Cleopatra. She was manned by a crew of eight and commanded by one captain Carr, who kept an eye on her as she was towed to London behind the

steamship the Olga. The two vessels were traveling through the Bay of Biscay between France and Spain on October fourteenth, eighteen seventy when a storm hit. The Cleopatra tossed and turned on the water. Her iron rails broke away, and her crew alerted the crew of the Olga that they needed help. The Olga's captain, a man named Booth, sent a small rowboat with six volunteers to lend a hand.

They approached the Cleopatra and tossed a few ropes to the hopeful crew so that they could safely tether to the side of the smaller ship. Unfortunately, something happened with the ropes and the rowboat as well as the men inside it, and they were swallowed by the sea. Seeing the conditions were getting worse, the Olga collected the Cleopatra's crew and then cut her loose, hopeful that she would remain afloat and they could find her once the storm

had passed. Miraculously, she was seen bobbing in the water. Less than a week later, the obelisk still firmly held in place, unharmed. The Cleopatra was collected by another steamship and then transferred to one final vessel, which carried at the final leg of the journey back to England. It took some work, but Cleopatra's needle was finally re erected on the Victoria embankments in Westminster, London, to a cheering crowd of spectators, and ever since then it's been the

source of some really spooky tales. Some say it's cursed, like other important artifacts removed from their native lands. For example, some who have gotten close to the needle at night have heard creepy laughter emanating from inside it. Witnesses have claimed to see a spectral naked man charging toward the water from behind the obelisk. Just when he jumps in,

he doesn't make a sound, not even a trickle. Another story describes the plight of a twenty seven year old woman named miss Davies, who in eighteen eighty felt herself being drawn to the obelesque. The closer she got to it, however, the more she heard the laughter. She threw herself into the water and nearly drowned, but she was saved by

a homeless person who happened to be nearby. While in the hospital, Miss Davies started to have awful nightmares that featured a tall woman whose stark white face and midnight dark eyes terrified her. The ghostly visage would open her mouth and brandish sharp dagger like teeth before ripping her face off. Someone else with an Obelisk story to tell

was a cultist and writer Alistair Crawley. Crawley loved to spin a good yarn and claimed to have conducted dark sorcery around the obelisk one night in order to release the spirit of Ramsey's, who he believed was trapped inside. Crowley performed a ritual in which he fed animal blood to a human skeleton in order to break the spirit free. Except it didn't work. Ramsey's just laughed at him for

blowing the ritual altogether. And if all of that weren't enough, Cleopatra's needle was also hit by a bomb during World War One. Its pedestal was marred and it has stayed that way ever since. Some believe that the curse drew the bomb toward it. Today, The obelisk is flanked by two sphinxes, but don't worry, they weren't stolen from Egypt as well. They were sculpted by George John Fuliami, an English architect who also crafted the pedestal on which the

obelisk stands. However, when he made them, he didn't position them facing outward, like the protectors they were designed to be. Rather, he turned them around so that they were facing the obelisk itself. Did Vulliamy know something that we didn't? Maybe Alistair Crawley was onto something. Perhaps there really is an evil spirit locked away inside Cleopatra's needle, and the only thing keeping it there are the two sphinxes watching over it.

Feel free to check it out for yourself, just don't go at night, and maybe watch your step two, because, as we've heard, curious things are known to happen. 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 Curiosity Cities 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. Yeah,