The Stars Align

Not only that, but to thrive. We need people to talk to, to relate to, to share our thoughts and emotions with. Life is already hard enough. We don't want to go it alone. Sometimes, though we don't have a choice, we could be forced to venture out on our her own, or we might be cast out of society, or sometimes, like in the case of the Lone Woman of San Nicholas, we are left behind. In the summer of eighteen fifty three, hunter George Nidiver landed on the tiny windswept island of

San Nicholas, off the coast of southern California. He had come to the island on a mission to finally find the woman rumored to live there before long, they came upon a small hut where two dogs growled at the intruders. Sitting in the yard by a small cook fire was a figure in a dark cloak. As she rose to her feet to greet them, nidover realized that it was a woman wearing a dress made from cormorant feathers, and they were the first humans to interact with her in

nearly eighteen years. The Lone Woman of San Nicholas did not begin her life in isolation. When she was born in the early eighteen hundreds, she was a member of the Nicolana. They were an indigenous group of about three hundred people who had lived on the island for thousands of years. Shortly after the Lone Woman's birth, their way of life came to a violent end. In eighteen eleven, a ship full of Russian and Native Alaskan seal hunters landed on the island in search of first to trade.

A conflict broke out, and the Alaskans and Russians massacred most of the Nicolinea men on the island. After they left, the population dwindled until in eighteen thirty five, there were only seven people left. That November, the missionaries in Santa Barbara on the mainland sent a ship for the remaining Nicolinya's. It might have been a humanitarian mission, seeing them struggling after the massacre. It may also have been to claim more converts for the Catholic Church and with that more

workers to labor at the mission. The sailors rounded up six of the Nicolineas, but grew nervous when a storm started to brew, so they cast off, leaving the seventh person, a young woman, behind. It's hard to say what happened to the woman during the next eighteen years, because when she was finally contacted by night of her in eighteen fifty three, she wasn't able to communicate. The only other people who spoke her language, the other six Nicolanos had

either moved to Los Angeles or passed away. She could speak, but no one could understand her. What we do know about her is that she adapted well to solo life. She hunted seals and seabirds, fished in the sea, and foraged for roots on the island. She carved stone fish hooks, woven fiber baskets, and even braided ropes of animal sinew. Perhaps the hardest part of survival for her, though, was the loneliness. She trained two wild dogs as pets, who

undoubtedly kept her company over the long years. Still it must have been hard. San Nicholas was not a remote island. On a clear day, she could likely see the other nearby islands, even the mainland, but she couldn't reach them. Night of HER's expedition spent several weeks on the island, and the Lonely Woman grew to like them. It seemed that even for her, the loneliness was getting to be too much, so when Night of Her and his crew

set sail for Santa Barbara, she came with them. Just weeks after leaving her island, The Lonely Woman contracted dysentery while living on Santa Barbara. Shortly before death, the missionaries baptized Herjuana Maria. Due to the language barrier, no one ever learned her real name. Over the years, the story of the Lone Woman inspired many, including Scott O'Dell, author of the nineteen sixty novel The Island of the Blue Dolphins. In recent years, however, a surprising twist has appeared in

her take. It seems that she was not alone. According to new contemporaneous accounts unearthed by researchers, she may have had a reason to stay behind. In eighteen thirty five, a baby boy the lone woman allegedly remained on the island to care for her son, and the two lived together for years until the teenage boy was killed by a shark attack. This is probably the reason why, after years of hiding from visitors to Sant Nicholas, she finally

decided to come to Santa Barbara. For eighteen years, the a woman and her son may have been alone, they were never lonely. The fall of nineteen forty is often remembered as the darkest hour of World War two. France had just surrendered to the Nazis, the Allied forces had evacuated from Dunkirk, and England stood alone as the only

major power facing Germany and Italy. In this moment of desperation, when victory seemed impossible, some British intelligence officers looked to the stars for hope, or at least, they turned to a man who claimed to be able to read them. His name was Lewis de Wall, a German born author of Hungarian and Jewish descent who had fled to London

before the start of the war. After struggling for years as a novelist and screenwriter, he found success as a high society astrologer, performing private horoscope readings for wealthy clients. His career really took off when he published a book containing Hitler's horoscope. By analyzing the fearers star sign Taurus with Libra Rising, he concluded that Hitler's success was all thanks to the positions of heavenly bodies, especially Saturn and Jupiter.

Fortunately for the Allies, the stars foretold that Hitler's luck was about to run out. The book sold like hotcakes and eventually got the attention of mi I five, Britain's domestic intelligence agency. They saw Dewall's work as a powerful propaganda tool, which would be made even more effective by bringing him on in an official capacity. Besides, it was already widely believed that Hitler took advice from a team of astrologers. Wasn't at high time that the Allies had

their own stargazer. Churchill decided that it was at least worth a shot. Dewall was given a paycheck and an office which he the Psychological Research Bureau. He took to the role with Gusto strutting about London in his new military uniform while continuing to published astrology essays that predicted Germany's collapse. At least at first, that's all the intelligence

agencies wanted from him. They saw astrology as a way of distracting the populace from the grim monotony of war, and by encouraging Dwall to continue predicting Hitler's demise, they could help him keep the nation's spirits up. But Dwall

wanted to be more than just a propaganda tool. He badgered his handlers with suggestions, promising that he could help them by predicting Hitler's next attack or by telling them when they should attack, to catch Hitler at his most fearful, and some of his superiors were eager to take him up on the offer. As the director of Naval Intelligence argued, you didn't have to believe in astrology to use it

against Germany. If Hitler was making decisions based on the movements of stars and planets, then someone with Dewall knowledge could get inside his head. But there was one major flaw in this thinking. Hitler had already lost faith in astrology after a falling out with a Cabinet member who had supported its use. In nineteen forty one, he ordered a purge of astrologers, occultists, and faith healers. His top astrologer was arrested and sent to a concentration camp, dying

from the poor conditions before he even got there. As a result, Duwal had very little useful insight into Hitler's mindset. Few of his predictions panned out, and British intelligence quickly lost faith in his value as a seer. MI five documents reveal that he was internally viewed as a huckster and a charlatan, possibly even a Nazi plant. To get him out of their hair, they sent him on a tour of the United States, where he gave a series

of presentations predicting Germany's defeat. It was far from the impressive role Duwall wanted, but he did end up having a massive impact on the war, even if he wasn't aware the whole time that he was on their payroll. You see, British intelligence used the wall as a smoke screen to cover for work being done by their code breakers. Whenever the Allies foiled an attack that they shouldn't have known about or landed their troops at exactly the right place.

They spread the word that it was all thanks to Dwall's psychological research Bureau. In reality, the Allies didn't need astrology to predict Hitler's decisions. Alan Turing and a team of British mathematicians had already cracked the German Enigma code, allowing them to decipher messages radioed between Nazi commanders. The team decoded thousands of messages each month for several years, leading to critical Allied victories and ultimately shortening the war

by an estimated two to four years. Of course, if the Nazis had known their code was cracked, they would have stopped using it immediately. By serving as a plausible cover to explain how the Allies were always one step ahead, Dwall helped change the course of history. So, no matter how many times his predictions missed the mark, he was right about one thing. Hitler's defeat was indeed written in the stars. 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 Worldoflore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.