Operation Fraud

She was wearing the traditional morning clothes of a widow, a black dress and bonnet and a black veil over her face. Even though it had been almost seven years since her husband passed away, the woman had experienced a shocking amount of grief in the past couple decades. Along with her husband, she had lost three sons and three

of her brothers. But in her darkest days, she found comfort in the belief that the dead aren't really gone, They're just in a different place, and that was why she had traveled all the way to Boston to visit this particular photo studio. The shop's owner, William Mumler, had made a name for himself as a spirit photographer, someone who could capture apparitions of the dead with his camera.

He had discovered his talent a decade prior when he took a self portrait and once it had developed, saw the ghostly figure of his late cousin in the back of the frame, standing right behind him. Mumler had opened a photography business to share his spiritual gift with other grieving families, or to take advantage of them, depending on who you asked. Plenty of people at the time were convinced that Mumler was a fraud and the supposed ghosts in the photos were fake. The woman who walked into

his shop that afternoon was a true believer. She'd been going to seances for years, and she was convinced that she'd spoken to the dead, so why couldn't she see them as well. The woman shook Mumler's hand and introduced herself as Missus Tyndall. She sat down in the chair in front of the camera and waited while he set up his equipment. When the camera was ready, Missus Tyndall lifted her veil and sat perfectly still. When Mummler snapped

the shutter, nothing unusual seemed to happen. She didn't feel any sort of supernatural presence or see any flashes of lights in the corner of her eye. As she left the studio, she couldn't be sure that it had worked at all, but a few days later she came back to pick up the photoprint, hoping for the best. Bumbler sorted through a pile of envelopes until he found the one that had her name on it, and when she opened it and pulled out the photo inside, she gasped.

In the photo, there was a pale figure standing behind Missus Tyndall, hands on her shoulders. It was faint, but if she looked closely, she could make out the angular nose and close cropped beard of her husband. Another customer who was in the shop at the time, leaned over Missus Tyndall's shoulder to take a peek at the photo. She remarked that the figure standing behind her looked just like Abraham Lincoln. Missus Tyndall replied that it did because

it was Abraham Lincoln. The truth was, the woman's name wasn't actually Missus Tyndall. She was Mary Todd Lincoln, the former first Lady of the United States. She had given the photographer a fake name to protect her privacy, and even though Mumbler hadn't figured out her real identity, the apparition in the photo came out looking exactly like her famous husband, who had been assassinated at Ford's Theater seven

years earlier. To some, including Missus Lincoln, this was proof that Mummler was no fraud and his photos really did capture the spirits of the dead. Of course, many skeptics still agree, but more than one one hundred and fifty years later, while experts believe that his photos were manipulated, there is still no consensus on how he created them in the first place, and unless Mummler's ghost reappears to explain his bag of tricks, will likely never know the truth.

The Crusades have undergone a bit of a pr crisis in recent years. Whereas they used to be looked upon as a series of heroic quests undertaken by brave knights, in the modern day, they are seen as violent wars over a religion that preaches peace. There were eight Crusades in total, and most of them were less than successful, But of all of them, the Fourth Crusade was by far the biggest disaster. It began in the year eleven ninety eight, when Pope Innocent the Third called for a

new crusade on Jerusalem. The previous crusade, which was the most famous one with Richard the Lionheart, had ended with many Christian territorial conquests, including Cyprus and much of the Israeli coast, but the Muslims still controlled the all important city of Jerusalem, where Christians believe Jesus died and was resurrected enter Enrico Dandolo, the ruler of Venice. Paintings of Enrico show him with an angry expression on his face, a sharp beak like nose, and a strange, pointed red hat.

The guy looked just like a villain, and he was prepared to act like one as well. As crusaders gathered and prepared for the journey to the Holy Land, he offered to finance their journey with a fleet of warships, but they had to do something for him first. He wanted them to sail across the Adriatic Sea to the city of Zara, which was directly east from Venice in modern day Croatia. The city had recently allied itself with Hungary and Enrico wanted the Crusaders to conquer it and

bring it under Veneti rule. Pope Innocent was completely against this, as this was a Christian city. He threatened to excommunicate Venice and the Crusaders if they went through with this plan. Some of the Crusaders abandoned their mission, but enough, we're willing to go through with the attack. Enrico's money and

ships were just too tempting to pass up. When they arrived, they sacked the city and Venice was excommunicated, but the Pope eventually forgave the Crusaders because you know, he needed to keep them crusading. They traveled around Greece headed for Jerusalem, but once again Enrico proved to have ulterior motives. Years before, he had been ousted from an advisory position in the Byzantine courts at Constantinople. This was a massive, well fortified

city that today we call Istanbul. It's strategically important too, as it serves as a gateway between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. Enrico wanted the Crusaders to attack Constantinople and place a new emperor on its throne, giving him control of the Byzantine Empire. The empire spanned all of Greece and Turkey, and this time he claimed that it was for religious reasons, maybe with giant air quotes there.

The Byzantines had split from the Catholic Church years prior, forming their own Eastern Orthodox Church in an event known as the Great Schism, and Rico's argument was that they could bring the Byzantines back into the Catholic fold and save them from heresy, and a plan started out okay for him. When the Crusaders first surrounded the city, they were able to force the surrender of the current emperor

and put in Rico's puppet on the throne. But as you can imagine, this didn't go over very well with the locals. In their mind, an army from a foreign land two peninsulas over had arrived and forced a new leader and a new church on them, and they were not having it. And so the people rebelled under the leadership and quickly executed in Rico's puppet emperor. But the Crusaders simply couldn't admit their mistakes and head for Jurierusalem.

One of the major issues with any crusade was that it was difficult to keep such a large army well supplied in a foreign land. The Crusaders were now almost out of food, and their ships needed repairs before sailing again, and so they made the most Unchristian decision possible. They decided to attack. On the morning of April ninth, in the year twelve oh four, tens of thousands of Crusaders climbed over the walls and battered down the gates of Constantinople.

Once inside, they murdered and assaulted the citizens they stole from businesses and churches alike. It was a crusade that had led to Christians killing Christians. But of course Enrico now had what he wanted. Venice controlled trade from Italy to Turkey, and a new emperor was installed on the throne, and the Crusaders split up the lands amongst themselves. However, the fractured nature of this arrangement meant that the Byzantines were still able to regroup and retake Constantinople a few

decades later, in twelve sixty one. Not that's en Rico live to see it, mind you, he died just a year after the crusade in twelve oh five. It's a tale as old as time. A rich guy with a bit of power, one who only cares about himself, mind you, puts on the costume of religion as a tool to fool the masses and then steals whatever he wants, and ultimately, like so many other dictators throughout history, all of Enrico's works were eventually undone. 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. Two