Ben Franklin EXPOSED: Skeletal Remains Found

Did you answer on the question the poll on Spotify, the one that I put about pizza rat, one about rats? Yeah you didn't? Is this is your answer I put? I pulled without looking it up. Have you heard of pizza rat? Oh? Yeah that was me? Yeah, that was definitely me. It was only one person. Yeah. Welcome to Scary Mystery Surprise, where we talk about scary things that surprised us around the Internet. I'm Edwin, I'm Michelle. Energy up, Energy up. Wow. Okay, so obviously this is a history lesson today. All right, but we don't go in the time machine. This is a we're not going on the time machine. I'm just talking because I you know, we we don't. Well, actually, yeah, we can go in the time machine. Let's go back. We're gonna go back to nineteen ninety seven. Oh, just there, here we go. Okay, we're in nineteen ninety seven in a world where histories, hidden mysteries are brought to light. The camera pans down through a dimly lit, cobweb covered basement. Archaeologists carefully unearthed skeletal remains a groundbreaking discovery in London. Quick shots of headlines and images of Benjamin Franklin beneath the very foundations of America's founding fathers Benjamin Franklin. Cut to a professor examining old documents and maps. Professor, the secrets of the past have a way of reserve. Listen, Oh god, I know where the story's going. A series of dramatic shots showing aged documents and maps and cryptic symbols as the mystery deepens. Cut to an investigator walking through dimly lit corridors. Investigator, this is no ordinary basement. There's something more sinister at play. I'm not quite sure why my investigator is that today. They probably should have been English, but that's what I'm going with. I can see the whole thing right now. Re enactments of historical events. Step into the unknown. Close up of a diary with a hidden compartment the truth, the diaries. This is the diary's voice. How do I what should the diary sound like? Uh? The truth? No, that's the investigator. Uh, just a simple line, the truth must remain buried. That's the diary's voice. Fast paced shots of investigators piecing together the puzzle, which I kind of imagine is just a jigsaw puzzle. But you know that they didn't it didn't specify. From the shadows of the past, a chilling revelation emerges. The camera reveals a hidden chamber with a cryptic, eerie atmosphere. Investigator Benjamin Franklin's legacy is not what we thought. Quick shots of suspenseful chase scenes this summer prepared to unearth the unimaginable OnEarth secrets Benjamin Franklin's basement. What lies beneath will change history forever. Was he a killer? Well, that's what we'll find out. November nineteen ninety seven, when the skeletal remains of at least twenty eight bodies were unearthed in the basement of an elegant townhouse, police feared was the work of a serial killer, But when research indicated that the bones were actually dated to the mid seventeen hundreds, the implication became more dramatic. Thirty six Craven Street was the former residence of Benjamin Franklin. So was Benjamin Franklin a serial killer? I mean he looks like a serial killer. So he does look like a serial killer. I mean like he realized that, Yeah, I'm one hundred dollars I have I'm hiding something for the who don't know. Benjamin Franklin was a real Renaissance man. He is a founding father obviously for American history. He's the only person to have signed the Declaration of Independence in seventeen seventy six, the Treaty of Alliance with France in seventeen seventy eight, the Treaty of Paris in seventeen eighty three, and the US Constitution in seventeen eighty seven. So he is like an og founding father. He was a prolific writer. He wrote and publisher. He ran a printing press. He wrote this thing called Poor Richard's Almanac, which is famous, I think still. He was an inventor. Among many of his creations were the lightning rod, the Franklin stove, bifocal glasses, and a flexible urinary cafeter, which he's a go figure that one. I don't know. He never patented any of his inventions. He was like there, you know, to serve others, which was very you know, nice. Uh. He also invented the prone con list really yeah, for decision making. The decision making technique, isn't that cool? Yeah? And he was the first postmaster general and he was the first diplomat to Frank. Okay, so this this guy's done, he's he's done a lot. I mean he makes everybody look lazy, So I mean, can you and he's one hundred dollars bill, so can we add serial killer to this list? But also I want to before we put him too high on a pedestal. Uh. He did own at least seven enslaved people in his lifetime. He posted paid ads for sale four enslaved people, and he posted slaves for sale, and he posted advertisements for the capture of runaways, and he had people's sales at his store that he owned. He later, however, became an outspoken critic of slavery, so he did change his tune, but he refused to debate it publicly in seventeen eighty seven at the Constitutional Convention because George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison all owned a ton of enslaved people, so he was a coward. Yeah, so no rock in the boat so everyone would sign the constitution. Oh yeah, smart. Well it's smart, but you know, just remember that people are complex, I mean, especially people who get exalted as heroes. You know, you always gotta be aware. But why the fuck were there so many dead bodies in house he lived? I thought, this is a full long we were you just gonna cancel him right now? I mean, you know he could be canceled. The police were called when they found these bodies in ninety seven. And this is a quote I would say in my I would say, in my thirty years, if, oh that's Australian. What an Australian was interviewed? How did I get Australia. I always have such a word like such trouble getting to Australian and it just came out naturally just then, channeling, channeling Steve Irwin, I would say, in my thirty years, oh it's still Australian. That's crazy. I would say, in my thirty years in the police service, what this is the best accent I've ever done in Australian. This is the first private address I've I have been where there have been bones found actually concealed on the property, says retired Inspector Jim O'Connell. I guess I could gun Irish with that of the Metropolitan Police Service, New Scotland yard. I thought I need to get some expits in here. Why is the Australia. I can't control list. We called the ConA, the local ConA, to come give us some assistance. An investigation by doctor Paul Knapman, retired corner of the City of Westminster, revealed that the bones were more than a century old, but a precise date of the bones was needed to pinpoint when they were stashed. But tests concluded by Simon Hilson at the University College of London, a specialist in biology and history of human remains, uncovered findings that proved pivotal in dating the bones to the mid seventeenth Fucking Robert surprisingly the time when Francoin did occupy Craven Street, and frankly did have ties to the occult. So like he was a big fan of secret societies. He was the Freemason Grand Master of Philadelphia. He was like in the Freemasons for like sixty years. He lived to be eighty three, so he was a Freemason for sixty years, so you know all those weird secrets in magic. He was also known to occasionally attend the Hellfires Club, you know that group in England. Zach Meg has actually went and investigated some of these random oh the Hellfire Club they used to do their things here. Like he'll go to a haunted location and it'll be like, oh, the Hellfire Club was here, But he wasn't an official member. He just went to some of the gatherings. And when I the Hellfire Club, well, it sounds ominous. It sounds like it was more meant to shock people in the outside world. The supposed president of the club was the Devil, although the members themselves did not apparently worship demons or the Devil, but they called themselves devils. So yeah, I don't know. So what did they do? What they did pranks and they did weird like they were like pranks, debauchery, you know, like sex, drugs, and rock and roll, I think is what generally was going on whatever that version is of the seventeen hundreds. And yes, they might have been doing some sort of magic, but it sounds like that might have gotten exaggerated, like how like it doesn't sound like that was their main thing. Cool. It sounds like a like a I don't know, like these creepy people that were I mean, it's a it's a great name. I mean it was. It was started by aristocrats, four other weird little aristocrats. They also let women in, which is kind of cool, cool, their weird little club. Yeah, but other than that, all the rec were destroyed, so no one knows who an official member was back in the seventeen hundreds. But they've guessed that Franklin went to these meetings because of letters, So like that's another tie to the occult, you know, like whatever was going on at the hell Fires Club, you know it was a freemason whatever. But anyway, back to the hole, back to this pit that we're at in nineteen ninety seven, you know, ancient times in nineteen ninety seven were standing around this hole that they've dug, and twelve hundred pieces of bone were found in a one meter deep, one meter wide pit, six of which determined to be bodies of children, no way, And there were marks embedded in the bone indicating the arms and legs had been amputated and holes had been drilled in the skulls. What yeah, torture like tortures. It's pretty weird. I mean, that's like pretty weird. So like this is pretty shady and sinister, right like, And he wouldn't be the first monster to hide behind accomplishments. Dang big words right now, you're at fighting words, where are you going after him? I know, but but I mean this is I mean, that was pretty gruesome. But Ben Franklin a serial killer, right, so researchers had to Like researchers are like, let's figure something else. Let's figure it, like what else we got to figure this out? Uh, while it's still pretty shady, it's probable that this was not a mass murder but likely an anatomy school run by a name William Houston, a friend and young protege of Ben Franklin's. According to the article by The Guardian in two thousand and three, while the simple explanation of anatomy practices sounds much better than murder, it was still highly frowned upon. During Franklin's time, anatomy lessons were considered dark and ethically ambiguous business. Anatomy was frowned on by social standards at the time, making it illegal to come by a steady supply of human bodies for research for doctors to learn, so in order to get bodies, they had to go grave robbing when they die, whether they dug them up themselves or paid professionals not as resurrection men at the time to do the digging for them. We do not know. The bodies could have been smuggled from their resting place in a graveyard or brought from the gallows. You know, we don't know what was going on with that. Once he finished with the bodies, Uston would have buried the remains in the basement to avoid the risk of getting caught while trying to properly dispose of them. If caught, he would have been prosecuted for dissection and grave robbinow. And I'm pretty sure he had connections that would get the stuff. You'd think, if you can get a resurrectionist to deliver a body, why can't you get someone to take a body out? You know what I mean? I don't know. We can easily assume that Ben Franklin was aware of these illegal studies that were going on in his house. But no, he probably wasn't a serial killer. But always remember if people were complex, especially people who get exalted as heroes. Geez, what is that that saying like we all have our so there's a skeleton in the closet or like a we all have uh you know, people have secrets. Yeah, It's like, yeah, guy literally had SkELL He literally had skeletons of the pan. I have a lot of skeletons in my pace, but I just murdered them. But it's for the I mean here, okay, this is my conflict, right. I think anatomy is very important, like and at the time, you're trying to learn stuff, like you really want to so in exchange for knowledge, you trade you committed crimes. And they're not like you're killing people. It's famous resurrection men who are notorious were Burke and Hare, who who actually murdered people to give to the doctors. So that was like, that's why it was frowned upon. That's why it became illegal is because of that. I really thought he was going to be a serial killer. I mean he could have added serial killer on there. There's I mean, I only like briefly touched on him to give a you know, aren't they supposed to be really smart? Yeah, he's like a genius. So serial killers are very smart sometimes sometimes some serial killers are I wouldn't say they're and I think sometimes they're just really smart in their killing part and not like in their life you know. Yeah, oh man, Oh but anyway, he's not a serial killer, folks. Uh. Sorry, to fake you guys out. I fell for it. Well we are used to. You know, our folk hero is becoming monsters. So and that's the surprise surprise, everybody, Be careful who you worship, That's all I gotta say. And it'll still be timely. Whenever you listen to this episode. I'm sure some sort of scandal will have just happened, and it'll always be timely. This is an evergreen show, so I don't know who it'll be tomorrow. I don't know. Just be careful. I did my third grade, my fourth grade report, like the end of the year report on Benjamin Franklin, and I remember thinking of all the stuff he did, the inventions, the letters he wrote to how he changed, like the whole international thing. But serial Killer no, I mean, the bodies in the base weren't weird. Never really liked him though, Like I just felt like, I don't know he sound I mean, he sounded like a cool guy, but he's a vegetarian. That's why he's still I mean, you're just reminded me like what he looks like. He's just like this important dude who looks like he's hiding something in that picture in the in the hundred dollars bill. Yeah, but they all look like that. But anyway, what are we going to talk about next week, Edwin? I don't know. I think it'll be a surprise. Whoo.