Legends 42: Written in Stone
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Stone is a powerful tool for recording history. But if the stories are true, the tales it tells can also hide dark and menacing secrets.
Narrated and produced by Aaron Mahnke, with writing by Alex Robinson, and research by Jamie Vargas and Robin Miniter.
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Lore Resources:
- Episode Music: lorepodcast.com/music
- Episode Sources: lorepodcast.com/sources
- All the shows from Grim & Mild: www.grimandmild.com
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©2024 Aaron Mahnke. All rights reserved.
This episode is sponsored by Wildwood. From Leica, the studio behind Coraline, comes a new epic fantasy adventure. And at the heart of Wildwood is a simple question. How far would you go for someone you love? Wildwood is a handcrafted epic fantasy adventure that transports audiences into a secret magical and dangerously alive world just beyond their doorstep. At its heart is the story of a courageous girl, Prue McKeel, on a desperate mission to rescue her baby brother from a forbidden forest filled with enchanted creatures, endearing allies, and formidable adversaries. Her journey unfolds in a spectacular high-stakes adventure where the fate of an entire hidden world hangs in the balance. The film features vocal performances from Carrie Mulligan, Mahershala Ali, and Angela Bassett. And I have to tell you folks, I have seen the trailer for this film so many times, and I cannot wait to park my button to seat and experience this adventure. Wildwood is now playing in theaters everywhere, so grab your tickets today. This episode was made possible by Warby Parker. Before Warby Parker, I had to do that thing that we all hate, stand in front of a wall of frames, and find the needle in the haystack. Just trying to buy glasses shouldn't require a spreadsheet, right? That's why I am obsessed with Warby Parker. Nothing else comes close on quality price selection and customer service. Once you buy from Warby Parker, you'll realize how much easier they've made the entire process. Their virtual try-on has made it possible for me to skip those eye-doctor showrooms entirely since I can literally try-on glasses from my phone before I buy them. I've tried other virtual try-ons that feel pretty janky, but with Warby Parker, you can genuinely tell how the frames are going to look and fit. Warby Parker glasses start at 95 bucks and include prescription lenses with anti-reflective scratch-resistant coatings. They use premium materials in each frame, design every frame in house, and have a collection of silhouettes, colors, and fits for every face. Me, I wear progressive lenses, which are more complicated to get just right, but Warby Parker nailed it and these glasses are absolutely amazing. They look and fit so great. Right now, buy one pair of glasses and get 20% off any additional pairs at warbyparker.com/lore. That's 20% off any additional pairs when you purchase one pair at W-A-R-B-Y, parker.com/lore. Welcome to Lore Legends, a subset of lore episodes that explore the strange tales we whisper in the dark, even if they can't always be proven by the history books. So if you're ready, let's begin. It's safe to assume that he knew what he was doing. Sure, Dr. Jesse William Lazier hadn't started out his mission thinking that he would kill himself. He was there to save lives, not take them. Jesse, you see, was one of the foremost medical researchers in the country, studying yellow fever since 1895. By 1900, the high mortality disease had killed hundreds of thousands of people. Entire cities would be ravaged, and during the Spanish-American War in Cuba, five times as many men died from yellow fever as they did on the battlefield. Something had to be done, and so after the war, the United States Army brought doctors down to Cuba. Reporting to Camaras in 1900, Jesse joined some of the best medical practitioners in the country, and together they formed the yellow fever board, hoping to discover the root cause of the disease. In the end, it was Jesse who figured it out. He believed that infected mosquitoes were transmitting yellow fever through their bites, but there was no way to prove it without sacrificing people by forcing mosquitoes upon them. So, Jesse did what he had to do. He intentionally let a mosquito bite him. Within days, he was dead, and everyone knew exactly what had killed him. Today there is a memorial to Jesse in Washington, D.C.'s National Cathedral, a pane of stained glass depicting a man injecting himself with a deadly shot. It's a part of a larger window entitled Sacrifice for Freedom. There, Jesse's bravery is in shine forever, immortalized in glass and lead. We all want to leave our mark on the world, to leave some kind of legacy behind. Not many of us will be lucky enough to be depicted in a cathedral window, or put into the history books, but there is still hope that somehow we will be remembered long after we're gone. People have left legacies behind for as long as humans have been around. Big or small, we can all carve out a place on this earth. But for some, that mark has been a bit more literal than figurative, because sometimes their legacies were written in stone. I'm Aaron Mankey, and this is Lore Legends. All throughout human history, we've been scribbling on rocks. It makes sense if you think about it. Paper is a relatively modern invention, all things considered. And long before paper or even parchment were in the picture, people still had the very human urge to record their life experiences somewhere. They were just itching to draw out a successful hunting trip, or write an ode to a lover. Rocks were the perfect solution. You could paint on them, carve into them, cut them. It all worked. And most importantly, whatever you put onto stone would last, and it would last for a very, very long time. That's one of the funny things about humans, after all. We all want our mark on the world to last forever. Even if that mark isn't entirely serious, which for many whose writings have survived into the 21st century, it rarely was. See, one of the most prevalent stone carvings we see throughout history is actually graffiti. It may seem modern to us, but graffiti isn't a new thing.
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