Shore Thing

that took his leg. Moby Dick is a cautionary tale about the price of fanaticism, how it can cloud our judgment. But even though the book was already thirty years old by the time some Scottish whalers found their own Moby Dick, they didn't seem to let it stop them from suing the animal for fame and fortune. Whalers from Dundee, major whaling port on the eastern coast of Scotland, often hunted

in the Arctic. However, the winter months had brought in cold that prevented them from sailing to their usual waters up north, so instead they decided to hunt closer to home. Their local newspaper had been reporting for weeks on a whale sided in the area, first in the river, then in a narrow inlet known as the Firth of Day. Not long into their first trip, they spotted the humpback whale, just the kind of animal that would net them a

small fortune once harvested for its blubber and bones. They hurled harpoons at it, hoping to injure it enough so they could tow it to shore, but the whale had other plans. It towed to rowboats and two steamboats instead for miles down the Scottish coast. The whalers worked until morning trying to reel in the massive humpback, but it eventually snapped the ropes on the harpoons and swam away. Unbeknownst to the men on the boats. However, the whale

had taken on too much damage. One week later, some fishermen found it floating just off the coast of Stonehaven, toward the north of Scotland. They brought it ashore, where a local anatomy professor named John Struthers took its measurements. The whale that had led the men of Dundee on an all night chase was forty ft long with eleven and a half foot long flukes. This was one of the largest whales ever captured on record. A windfall, to say the least, but not in the way that they

had expected. Rather than strip it of its skin and bones as with other whales, a local oil merchant named John Wood paid to have the whale brought to his yard. It took twenty six hours and twenty horses to card it to Woods property. From there, he charged visitors a small price to gaze upon the whale, like a kind of sideshow curiosity. Over twelve thousand people paid to see it on the first day. Of course, even though the winter cold may have slowed the whales decay, it didn't

completely stop it. Three weeks later, the routing carcass was stinking up the neighborhood and Dr Struther's returned to dissect what was left. Would charge spectators to watch. Struthers removed the whale skeleton, and when the dissection was done, the whale's flesh was embalmed. Not one to give up on his cash cow or cash whale in this instance, would had the whole animal reassembled over a wooden frame so

that it could be toured all over Britain. The tay whale traveled through Ireland, Liverpool, London and finally rested back home in Dundee. For decades, the whale remained on display for the folks of Dundee as well as visiting tourists to see the creature that had taken a group of sailors on an all night hunt. Today, the whale skeleton is still on display in Dundee's McManus Museum, although its

skin has long since fallen away. It hangs from the ceiling far from the waters at once swam as a reminder of our brutal passed and that it doesn't take a lost leg to drive one man's obsession. Some times, all he's after is a quick buck. From nineteen thirteen to nineteen forty, popular comic strip by Arthur Momon, also known as Pop showed the unsuccessful exploits of a family

struggling to measure up to their wealthy neighbors. The strip, titled keeping Up with the Joneses, inspired that popular saying still used to this day to describe the endless pursuit of a higher social status as compared to others. Although the saying became popular while the strip was in circulation. The name Jones was used as a comparative benchmark long before that, going all the way back to the eighteen fifties.

In fact, a man named Whittaker Wright spent much of his life keeping up with the Joneses around that time, when he was living in both the US and England. While living in Philadelphia in the eighteen eighties, Right made his money as a promoter of silver mining companies in Colorado and New Mexico. His goal was to get investors to fund expeditions into the minds, presumably to harvest the

supposed silver inside. The shareholders for these companies didn't make any money, but Right certainly took home a sizeable paycheck With a small fortune to his name. He eventually moved back to England, where he started the London and Globe Company. This was another venture into mining, except this time it dealt with stocks and bonds pertaining to the minds rather

than straight investments. By the eighteen nineties, Right had accumulated enormous wealth for himself and his family, and he felt it only proper to use that wealth to elevate his status within the upper crust of English Society. The first thing he bought was a yacht, which was one of the fastest ever built at the time. Next, he purchased two estates in Surrey, one named Lee Park and one

named South Park Farm. They were enormous properties and he developed them into one massive estate known today as Whitley Park. Whilly Park would become famous for its thirty two room mansion, complete with its own observatory, personal theater, and a fifty horse set of stables. There were also three man made lakes, which got right into hot water with locals who didn't appreciate the nine thousand acres of farmland that he drowned

when making them. Aside from the lakes, observatory, and theater, Whitley Park also boasted its own race track known as the Velodrome, as well as a hospital meant just for Mr Wright and his loved ones. But the most unique room in the house, and the one he was most proud of, was the smoking room. The smoking rooms domed ceiling was made almost entirely of glass. Outside right had an aquarium constructed where guests could pass the time by

puffing on cigars while watching fish swim by. Visitors would access the room by descending stairs that led down and out of the main house and into the lake. That's right, the lake. The roof aquarium outside of right smoking room was actually one of the lakes, and the fish swimming by lived inside it. The whole structure was built underwater. Anyone looking out at the lake from the shore would only see a statue of Neptune seemingly rising out of

the water. It was attached to the top of the dome, and if there were people smoking down below, smoke would often waft out from the statue's mouth, which acted as a kind of ventilation shaft. Rights estate and his unique eye for underwater architecture made him very popular among Victorian elites. However, his shady business practices would soon catch up with him. In nineteen o four, he was convicted of fraud for funneling money from one of his companies to another that

had been on the verge of bankruptcy. Investors had been duped out of their returns, and Right couldn't bear the thought of spending seven years in prison. He passed away just after the trial ended, and his estate was quickly sold off. A man named Lord Piery bought it all, which seemed kind of fitting. You see, Lord Pierry knew

all about oceanic architecture. In fact, he would go on to play a huge role in building another large structure that would eventually end up living beneath the waves, that structure, the Titanic. 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. Yeah,