Unsolved Leatherman Mystery
Hi!
Here is your weekly dose of “Everything Strange,” literally a list of everything strange happening around us. So let’s start with
Today's Strange History (April 15, 2020)
Titanic Sank: Exactly 108 years ago, today in 1912 at 2:27 AM RMS Titanic sank off Newfoundland after being hit by an iceberg. The ship with 2,200 passengers and crew on board on its maiden voyage was thought to be ‘unsinkable’ but it sank just after 2.5 hours. As the band played on, the ship broke into two parts in the Atlantic Ocean, with more than 1,500 people lost to the sea. National Geographic made a CGI of how Titanic sank:
Nazi Camp Liberated: In 1945, British Army liberated Nazi concentration camp Bergen-Belsen. From 1941 to 1945, almost 20,000 Soviet prisoners of war and a further 50,000 inmates died here. Overcrowding, lack of food and poor sanitary conditions caused outbreaks of typhus, tuberculosis, typhoid fever, and dysentery, leading to the deaths of more than 35,000 people in the first few months of 1945, shortly before and after the liberation.
After liberating the camp, the soldiers discovered approximately 60,000 prisoners inside, most of them half-starved and seriously ill, and another 13,000 corpses lying around the camp unburied. A video of the liberation:
Hillsborough Disaster: Today in 1989, a fatal human crush during an association football match at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, England occurred during an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.
The event turned into tragedy when at least 200 people were injured and 96 crushed to death, many of them teenagers and children. The problems were caused by too many Liverpool fans being allowed into the back of an already full stand at the Leppings Lane end of the ground. As more fans were allowed in, those already there were pushed forward and crushed against the high, wired-topped safety fences. Till date, the unfortunate event is remembered as the Hillsborough disaster. BBC News made a segment about this:
Kim Jong-un’s 1st Speech: In 2012, the new Supreme Leader of North Korea Kim Jong-un made his first major public speech during a celebration of the centenary of the country's founder's birth. The young leader praised the military first doctrine of the country and offered respects to Kim Il-sung (his grandfather and founder of North Korea) and the recently deceased Kim Jong-il. Part of his speech:
Boston Marathon bombing: In 2013, 2 pressure cooker bombs were set off 14 secs apart at the Boston Marathon near the finish line, killing 3 people and injuring another 250+ including 16 who lost limbs. The suspected bombers were named as D and T. Police eventually chased down the suspects during a confrontation in which T was run over by D while trying to escape. Though emergency physicians said that he did not appear to have been run over. An eyewitness says that he was struck by a police SUV before he was shot multiple times.
4 days later, D was found hiding in a residential area and police took him into custody after a standoff. Later he was sentenced to death. (Note: I don't name cowards who are alive.) 60 Minutes did a segment of this:
Boko Haram Kidnapping: Today in 2014, an estimate of over 200 girls were taken from their school after an attack by the Boko Haram militant group in Chibok, Nigeria. The girls were thought to be taken to a remote area of forest in the country or out of the country.
50+ girls had been able to escape. The Nigerian government tried to hold talks with the group to release the children but they were still largely unsuccessful and experts say it could take years to find and free these girls.
Boko Haram is a terrorist organization based in northeastern Nigeria, also active in Chad, Niger and northern Cameroon. 2019 saw a major decline of Boko Haram as they lost much of the territory it once reportedly controlled.
Notre Dame Fire: In 2019, Paris cathedral Notre Dame caught fire, toppling its spire and destroying its roof. Because of that, the Cathedral did not host Christmas services for the first time since the French Revolution.
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Strange Case of the day: 'Leatherman' Mystery
In the 1800s, a man wearing a head-to-toe leather suit walked a 365-mile route between the Connecticut and Hudson rivers, sleeping in cave shelters and completing his journey in precisely 34 days. And he kept that preciseness for more than 30 years.
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Who was he?
He was thought to be a French-Canadian, because of his fluency in the French language and his "broken English".
He was fluent in French but mostly communicated with grunts and gestures. When asked about his background, he would abruptly end the conversation.
He used to live in rock shelters, which are now locally known as - "Leatherman caves"
That "boot suit" he wore weighed 60 pounds, and he wore it even in the hottest days of summer.
Along his 365-mile loop, he stopped at a staggering 49 towns precisely about every 5 weeks for food and supplies.
It is completely unknown how he earned money.
He was so reliable in his rounds, that people would have food ready for him, which he often ate on their doorsteps.
The Leatherman was so punctual that people could tell the time by his schedule. "If normally he would stop at your house at 10, he would be there around 10, give or take 5 to 10 minutes," researcher & author Dan DeLuca said.
What he ate?
Though it is totally unknown, one store kept a record of one of his orders: "one loaf of bread, a can of sardines, one-pound of fancy crackers, a pie, two quarts of coffee, one gill of brandy and a bottle of beer."
He declined meat on Fridays, giving rise to speculation that he was Roman Catholic.
People began offering the Leatherman food, considering it an honor if he stopped at their home.
Even some schools let the best student go outside to give him food when he passed by on "Leatherman Day."
His health?
The Leatherman survived blizzards and other foul weather by heating his rock shelters with fire.
Though there are several reports of his face to be frostbitten at times during the winter, but by the time of his death he had not lost any fingers, unlike other tramps of the time and area.
The Connecticut Humane Society had him arrested and hospitalized in 1888, which resulted in a diagnosis of "sane except for an emotional affliction" and was later released, as he had money and desired freedom.
His death?
His ultimate demise was from cancer of the mouth due to tobacco use.
His body was found on March 24, 1889 in his Saw Mill Woods cave on the farm of George Dell in the town of Mount Pleasant, New York near Ossining, New York.
A French-language prayer book was also found near him after his death.
Aftermath
He was buried with the following inscription carved on his original tombstone:
FINAL RESTING PLACE OF
Jules Bourglay
OF LYONS, FRANCE
"THE LEATHER MAN"
who regularly walked a 365-mile route
through Westchester and Connecticut from
the Connecticut River to the Hudson
living in caves in the years
1858–1889
Later when the grave was dug up, surprisingly no traces were found of the Leatherman's remains, only some coffin nails. Nicholas Bellantoni, a University of Connecticut archaeologist and the supervisor of the excavation, cited time, the effect of traffic over the shallow original gravesite, and possible removal of graveside material by a road-grading project for the complete destruction of hard and soft tissue in the grave.
A new tombstone was then installed on May 25, 2011 which simply reads, "The Leatherman". So why the name Jules Bourglay was displayed on the 1st grave? There was a legend that a Frenchman by that name lost the chance to marry his true love after he blew a fortune in the leather business, and wandered Connecticut and New York in a leather suit as a penance. This name then appeared in a story published in the Waterbury Daily American, August 16, 1884, but was later retracted on March 25, 26 and 27, 1889 and also in The Meriden Daily Journal, March 29, 1889. According to researchers, including Dan W. DeLuca and his New York death certificate, his real identity remains unknown to this day.
He was and is so popular that still to this day, his caves are visited by Leatherman enthusiasts. Not only that, the band Pearl Jam also recorded a song about him. And there's a race in Pound Ridge, N.Y., named after him.
There have been many attempts to solve this mystery. But the plan to take the DNA became a bit of a controversy. Don Johnson a middle school history teacher in North Haven, Connecticut, who teaches his students about the Leatherman and is also the creator of the website LeaveTheLeathermanAlone.com said,
"30 years, 100,000 miles, never telling anybody who he was. That legacy to me should speak to us today as, do we want to respect him and memorialize him properly? Then leave him alone. Leave his bones alone."
Extra: npr did an amazing piece on this - Search For Clues Only Deepens 'Leatherman' Mystery
Something Strange, Something Personal
What I am watching?
Serial killer Ted Bundy targeted Florida college students in one of his final attacks – 3 of the women survived and shared their terrifying ordeal and the long road to recovery to CBS News - Surviving Ted Bundy: Women Attacked By Notorious Serial Killer Share Their Stories
A month after these attacks, Ted Bundy was arrested.
News, that am going through:
Chernobyl fire: rain has helped extinguish flames, says Ukraine
Is Samuel Little the most prolific serial killer in the USA?
Quote, I am deeply thinking about:
“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.” - H.P. Lovecraft
So will end today’s strangeness here. As always, please give me feedback on Twitter. What do you want more or less of? Other suggestions? Let me know! Just send a tweet to @StrangeButTrue_
Thanks for reading! Everything I write here is completely for free, just out of my love for researching history, crime, criminals & the paranormal. It would mean a lot to me if you could share this with 1 of your "Strange" friends; a Twitter or Whatsapp share works too. Bye, talk to you on Saturday.