Futility Closet - 037-Edgar Allan Poe's Graveyard Visitor

Episode Date: December 8, 2014

For most of the 20th century, a man in black appeared each year at the grave of Edgar Allan Poe. In the predawn hours of January 19, he would drink a toast with French cognac and leave behind three roses in a distinctive arrangement. No one knows who he was or why he did this. In this episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll review the history of the "Poe Toaster" and his long association with the great poet's memorial. We'll also consider whether Winnie-the-Pooh should be placed on Ritalin and puzzle over why a man would shoot an unoffending monk. Sources for our segment on the Poe Toaster: "Mystery Man's Annual Visit to Poe Grave," China Daily, Jan. 20, 2008. "Poe Toaster Remains a Mystery," WBAL Radio, Jan. 19, 2013. "'Toaster' Rejects French Cognac at Poe's grave," Washington Times, Jan. 19, 2004. Sarah Brumfield, "Poe Fans Call an End to 'Toaster' Tradition," AP News, Jan. 19, 2012. Liz F. Kay, "Poe Toaster Tribute Is 'Nevermore'," Baltimore Sun, Jan. 19, 2010. Michael Madden, "Yes, Virginia, There Is a Poe Toaster," Baltimore Sun, Jan. 26, 2011. Mary Carole McCauley, "Poe Museum Could Reopen in Fall," Baltimore Sun, Jan. 20, 2013. Ben Nuckols and Joseph White, "Edgar Allan Poe's Mysterious Birthday Visitor Doesn't Show This Year," Huffington Post, March 21, 2010 (accessed Dec. 1, 2014). Here's the only known photo of the toaster, taken at his 1990 apparition and published in the July 1990 issue of Life magazine: The psychiatric diagnoses of Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends appear in Sarah E. Shea, Kevin Gordon, Ann Hawkins, Janet Kawchuk, and Donna Smith, "Pathology in the Hundred Acre Wood: A Neurodevelopmental Perspective on A.A. Milne," Canadian Medical Association Journal, Dec. 12, 2000. Many thanks to Harry’s for supporting this week’s episode. Enter coupon code CLOSETHOLIDAY and get $5 off a Winter Winston set at Harrys.com. You can listen using the player above, download this episode directly, or subscribe on iTunes or via the RSS feed at http://feedpress.me/futilitycloset. Many thanks to Doug Ross for the music in this episode. If you have any questions or comments you can reach us at [e-mail]. Thanks for listening!

Welcome to Futility Closet, a celebration of the quirky and the curious, the thought-provoking and the simply amusing. This is the audio companion to the website that catalogs more than 8,000 curiosities in history, language, mathematics, literature, philosophy, and art. You can find us online at futilitycloset.com. Thanks for joining us. Welcome to Episode 37. I'm Greg Ross. And I'm Sharon Ross. In today's show, we'll learn about the Poe Toaster, a mysterious figure who left cognac and roses each year on the grave of Edgar Allan Poe. We'll also consider whether Winnie the Pooh should be placed on Ritalin, and puzzle over why a man would shoot an unoffending monk.

Next month marks the 206th anniversary of Edgar Allan Poe's birth. He was born on January 19, 1809. And in the early hours of next January 19, before dawn, a small group of onlookers will gather outside the Westminster Burial Ground in what's now downtown Baltimore, where Poe is buried, in hopes of seeing a mysterious man show up and leave three roses and a bottle of cognac at Poe's grave. That's a tradition apparently that's been going on since the early 20th century. No one knows very much about it. It went up through 2009, but hasn't happened in the last five years. This was all discovered by a man named Jeff Jerome, who's a Baltimore native who became curator of the Poe House and Museum in Baltimore. He became a tour guide for Westminster Hall in 1976 and was just researching Poe and discovered a newspaper clipping from the Baltimore Evening Sun about an effort to restore the cemetery.

And there was an interesting passage in that article. sun about an effort to restore the cemetery. And there was an interesting passage in that article. It made a reference to roses and cognac that were left every year at Poe's grave, referring to, quote, an anonymous citizen who creeps in annually to place an empty bottle of excellent label against the gravestone. That's interesting, but it dates from 1950. It was 26 years since that Jerome had discovered it. So it was kind of ancient history, but he started looking into it. He spoke to some older members of the church congregation that once worshiped there.

And some of them recalled hearing about a visitor like this as early as the 1930s, but no one knew anything more about it. So Jerome figured the tradition, whatever it had been, was long gone. And so he was astonished to discover on January 19th, 1977,

the next time Poe's birthday rolled around, he found cognac and flowers at the gravesite. This was 27 years after the article had been published, so it appeared that one or more people had been keeping up this tradition, whatever it meant, since at least 1950 and possibly, you know, as early as the middle of the 1930s, apparently. But no one knows what it means. No one knows how it began or what the significance is. So Jerome was obviously intrigued by this, and he started watching. He would stay inside Westminster Hall and observe the churchyard on the night of Poe's birthday to see what he could discover and found indeed that a man, or we think now two men in succession,

would visit Poe's grave in the early hours of his birthday, January 19th, each year. He did this, whoever it was, surreptitiously. He was rarely seen. He didn't seek publicity. In fact, he seemed to shun it. He dressed each year in black with a wide-rimmed hat, a white scarf, and he carried a silver-tipped cane. He would arrive at the grave. He'd toast

Poe's memory with Martel cognac and then vanish, leaving behind the bottle and three roses, which he would always leave in a distinctive arrangement. That's about as mysterious as it can possibly be. So Jerome sort of made a tradition of watching this. He didn't interfere, but he would stay inside Westminster Hall with a group of other people he would invite, friends and teachers and special particular fans of Poe, just to observe this. Those gatherings were close to the public, but in 1990, Life magazine somehow got wind of all this and staked out the whole ongoing thing one January and got a photograph, the only known photo of the Poe toaster, which they published. And that obviously publicized the whole thing much more widely,

and people started to show up outside the gates each year. Apparently what happened each year was quite simple. Jerome said the toaster usually arrived between midnight and 5.30 a.m. Jerome said he sometimes kneels at the tombstone or puts his hands on it. He said there's no elaborate ceremony. It's very short and touching. Around 1990, about the same time that Life published that photo, Jerome had the presence of mind to state publicly that it would be useful if the visitor, whoever he was, came up with some kind of a special sign so he could be distinguished from imposters and copycats who started inevitably showing up. And the visitor, the toaster, apparently read this and obliged.

He started to perform two signs at the gravesite, both of which Jerome said were so subtle that he himself needed three years to pick up on them. But that's one way that they can tell reliably who's the real guy. I don't think Jerome has revealed what the signs are. He said as recently as 2013, one of these days I'll reveal the signs, but I'm not aware that he's done that yet. So this continued from the discovery in 1977 up through 1993

when the Poe toaster left a note at the grave saying the torch will be passed. And then six years after that, in 1999, another note announced that thee toaster left a note at the grave saying the torch will be passed. And then six years after that, in 1999, another note announced that the original toaster had died the previous year and passed the tradition on to what it called a son. We don't know if that means his actual son or just a successor of some kind. And the onlooker said that after that, the toaster appeared to be a younger man, which would make a lot of sense.

If this thing had actually started in the mid-30s and he went up through 1993, that's 60 years of a tradition if that was one man doing all of that. So it would have been about time to pass it on. The son or the successor took on the tradition but doesn't seem to have taken it as seriously as his forebear. He left some rather odd notes himself. In 2001, he left a note that made an uncharacteristic reference to sports. Quote, the New York Giants, darkness and decay and the big blue hold dominion over all. The Baltimore Ravens, a thousand injuries they will suffer. Edgar Allan Poe evermore. Apparently,

that's a reference to Super Bowl 35, which took place shortly afterward between the Baltimore Ravens and the New York Giants. Didn't come true either. Baltimore won 34 to 7. And then in 2004, there's another somewhat more cryptic one. He wrote, The sacred memory of Poe in his final resting place is no place for French cognac. With great reluctance, but for respect for family tradition, the cognac is placed. The memory of Poe shall live evermore. No one's quite sure what that means, but it appears to be a reference

to France's opposition to the Iraq War, which is going on at the time. You're seeing that by opposing the war, France had disgraced itself as a nation and its cognac had no place at the grave of a great poet. That's what people think. It's like a political reference. Okay. Yeah. So you've got sports and politics coming into this now, which hadn't happened before. But tradition kept going.

The only time that I can find that anyone ever even tried to detain the toaster was in 2006, and they weren't successful. Most people are, there are more and more of them observing this. There were 150 of them in 2008, but they don't try to interfere with them. They just want to see it happen. The last note was left sometime between 2005 and 2008, and we don't even know what that said. Jeff Jerome said that he withheld it, I guess, because he thought it was somehow offensive or unsuitable to the tradition. He said only that the new toaster apparently didn't take the tradition as seriously as the former had.

So we don't even know what that said. But he said in hindsight, it seems to show, to hint, that the end of the tradition was coming. And as I said, the last visit was in 2009, five years ago. When he didn't show up in 2010, Jerome pointed out that Poe had been born in 1809, and so this would be sort of a round number. It was 200 years after his birth,

so that he said that if he was going to end, that would be the perfect time to end it. But Jerome did say he was surprised at no indication. The toaster hadn't left a note saying farewell or explaining any of this. He just stopped coming, which is odd because he'd left notes before. So since then, people have still been going to the burying ground, hoping the tradition picks up again, but it hasn't yet. In 2011, four imposters showed up, but they didn't behave the way the real Poe Toaster had. They didn't try to evade observation

or give this secret signal or arrange the roses in a characteristic pattern. No one showed up in 2012 either, which is a shame because some watchers had come from as far away as California and Chicago, and the temperatures were around 30 degrees, so we waited all night for nothing. Jerome seems to be reconciling himself to the end of it. He says, it'll probably hit me later, but I'm too tired now to feel anything else. By 2013, it was getting, frankly, silly. Jerome said, the real Poe Toaster didn't show up, but six imitators did. Two of them almost bumped into each other, and a third nearly impaled himself on the fence.

I think we should let the tradition die a dignified death. If someone wants to pay a tribute to Poe, they should come visit his grave during the daytime on his birthday or read one of his poems. Incidentally, I should say here that Jerome himself, the curator, has occasionally been named as a suspect because he's the guy who supposedly uncovered the tradition and seems to become the de facto authority on all this. So it would be easy for him just to have invented out of a whole cloth. I think we can call this the Scooby-Doo theory. He denies it, pointing out that he was the curator of the museum, which is bringing all this fame and notoriety and traffic to it, so it wouldn't make any sense for him to quit

for no reason. And he said, if I was doing it, that is fraud, pure and simple. I could lose my job. But there were also times where he was supposedly with a whole group of people watching it yes unless he's got a twin brother or somebody who right acts on his yeah that'd be a lot of trouble to go to yeah um so he said there are some kind of some sad quotes from jerome i haven't talked to him but he sounds like a nice guy he says i've been part of a ritual that people around the world read about i'll'll miss it. In 2013, he said, it never leaves my mind how special this was, how unique, one of a kind. It had the flair,

the drama attached to it. I feel privileged. I was honored to fall into this. It's been a part of my life. So as I say, January, this next month, it'll have been six years since the last appearance. And if the Poe Toaster fails again to show up, that'll have been six years since the last appearance um and if if the poe toaster fails again to show up that'll have been a tradition of i guess about possibly up to 75 years and possibly longer because nobody knows when it started yeah and to this day nobody knows what any of this means a couple sort of related things just while we're talking about this because no one knows what his name is this person is referred to as the Poe Toaster because he toasts Poe's memory with cognac, which makes sense. But there's a sort of unfortunate inadvertent pun here. There's a word poetaster, which is spelled almost the same way,

P-O-E-T-A-S-T-E-R, one word, so it's all the same except for the O is left out. And poetaster unfortunately means a writer of inferior poetry. There's no significance to that, it's just a coincidence, but every time I see the phrase Poe Toaster, I kind of wince because this person, I think, was trying to honor Poe's memory as a great writer, and yet the phrase that we use to describe him means a writer of inferior poetry. It just brings me up short every time I read that. The other thing is, as long as we're talking about Poe and his grave, it's an interesting fact that no one quite understands how Poe died. On that year, 1849, he'd left Richmond, Virginia on September 27th on his way to New York, and then showed up on October 3rd outside a tavern delirious in the streets of

Baltimore. And no one knows how he got there or what the circumstances were. A printer named Joseph Walker discovered him on the streets and sent a note to an acquaintance of Poe's named Joseph Snodgrass. The note said, Dear Sir, There is a gentleman, rather the worse for wear, at Ryan's 4th Ward Poles, who goes under the cognomen of Edgar A. Poe, and who appears in great distress, and he says he is acquainted with you, and I assure you he's in need of immediate assistance. Yours in haste, Joseph W. Walker. They got him into a hospital, and he went under the care of the attending physician named John Moran, who didn't allow any visitors. And unfortunately, Moran's reliability as a witness has been called into question. He gave a bunch of varying accounts in subsequent years, so we have very little information to go on here. Poe lingered in the hospital from September

27th to October 7th when he died. He was just apparently incoherent through that whole time. He's rumored to have called out the name Reynolds repeatedly. No one knows what that means, and to have referred to his wife in Richmond, who was now dead, actually. He was only 40 years old. The strangest part of all of this is that he was wearing someone else's clothes. He was wearing clothes that were definitely not his own, and he was never coherent enough to explain that. So there's sprung up a whole cottage industry of speculation about what killed Edgar Allan Poe, and to this day no one can say. I've made a little collection of theories. Speculation has included cholera, influenza, delirium tremens, syphilis,

epilepsy, heart disease, meningeal inflammation, hypoglycemia, diabetes, apoplexy, suicide, and rabies. You can take your pick of one of those. The scariest one, and I fear the one that might be most likely to be true, is something called cooping, which I'd never heard of before. Apparently, this was a sort of voter fraud that was rife in that area in the 1800s, in which an unscrupulous politician would hire people to sort of waylay people in the street, take them into a room, which they called a coop, apply them with alcohol and drugs until they were compliant enough, and then take them out in various disguises to get them to vote multiple times for the candidate, just to run up the ballot numbers.

That's absolutely wild. It's horrible. Who even comes up with this? Oh, my gosh. So it's thought that would explain this ballot box stuffing scam might explain why Poe was discovered apparently drugged and wearing someone else's clothes. If that's not the explanation, it's hard to understand how that could have happened. So what would have killed him in that case would be the drugs, which Moran never figured out what they were.

And now the medical records have been lost, including the death certificate, so it's unlikely we'll discover it now. But it's an awful way for anyone to die, but particularly sad for Poe, who's only 40 years old. I suppose we'll never know, though. This week's episode is brought to you by Harry's. Do you have someone on your gift list who's impossible to shop for? A guy in your life who already has everything? It can be stressful buying gifts for anyone in your life.

There's a trade-off between giving a gift that's useful and one that's personalized, and going to the mall can be frustrating and time-consuming. Have you considered giving razors? You probably never think of giving an ordinary razor as a gift. There's certainly nothing exciting about the standard razors you buy at the drugstore. But a Harry's razor is not the typical razor. You've heard me talk about Harry's before. The company was started by two guys passionate about creating a better shaving experience for all men. These are high-quality, high-performing, German-engineered blades shipped right to your door with factory-direct pricing. And they have a special deal for the holidays.

Harry's Winter Winston set is only $30 for a chrome razor, three high-quality blades, and their foaming shave gel or shaving cream. It's already wrapped, and shipping, as always, is free. cream. It's already wrapped and shipping, as always, is free. And as a special holiday offer, Harry's is giving all listeners of this show $5 off a Winter Winston set with promo code CLOSETHOLIDAY. You'll get the razor, three blades, and a tube of their foaming shave gel or shave cream for just $25. That's right, even if you're already a Harry's user, you'll get $5 off with the promo code CLOSETHOLIDAY. That's one word. In fact, Harry's has come out with a whole limited edition line just for the holidays. Their gift sets start at just $15 and shipping

is always free with Harry's. And Harry's supports the community by donating 1% of its sales and volunteering 1% of all of its employees' time with their community partner, City Year. The holidays are a time for thanks and giving Harry's is something you can feel good about. So go to harrys.com now and Harry's will give all listeners

to this show $5 off a Winter Winston set with the code CLOSETHOLIDAY, one word. That's harrys.com, H-A-R-R-Y-S.com, and enter coupon code CLOSETHOLIDAY at checkout for $5 off the Winter Winston, Harry's, a shave good enough to gift. The December 12, 2000 issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal contained an article by Sarah Shea and some co-authors titled Pathology and the Hundred Acre Wood, a neurodevelopmental perspective on A.A. Milne, that basically gave psychiatric diagnoses for the various characters in the Winnie the Pooh stories. I just thought I'd read some of these.

They start by saying, We've done an exhaustive review of the works of A.A. Milne and offer our conclusions about the inhabitants of the Hundred Acre Wood in hopes that our observations will help the medical community understand that there is a dark underside to this world. They start with Winnie the Pooh, who they say has ADHD inattentive subtype, a provisional diagnosis of OCD, borderline intellectual functioning, poor diet, obesity, and binge eating. This unfortunate bear embodies the concept of comorbidity. Most striking is his attention deficit hyperactivity disorder inattentive subtype. As clinicians, we had some debate about whether Pooh might also demonstrate significant impulsivity as witnessed, for example, by his poorly thought out attempt to get honey from a rain cloud. We concluded, however, that this reflected more on his comorbid

cognitive impairment, further aggravated by an obsessive fixation on honey. The latter, of course, has also contributed to his significant obesity. Piglet has generalized anxiety disorder and a failure to thrive. Oh, that sounds so sad when you say it that way. Poor, anxious, blushing, flustered little piglet. Had he been appropriately assessed and his condition diagnosed when he was young, he might have been placed on an antipanic agent such as paroxetine and been saved from the emotional trauma he

experienced while attempting to trap heffa-lumps. Eeyore has dysthymic disorder related to the traumatic amputation of his tail. We do not have sufficient history to diagnose this as an inherited endogenous depression or to know whether some early trauma contributed to his chronic negativism, low energy, and anhedonia. Eeyore would benefit greatly from an antidepressant perhaps combined with individual therapy, maybe with a little

fluoxetine. Eeyore might see the humor in the whole tail losing episode. A few others quickly. Owl has a reading disorder and housing problems. There are a lot of housing problems in the 100 Acre Wood. Tigger, perhaps not surprisingly, has ADHD, hyperactivity impulsivity subtype. Kanga is an unemployed single parent who's overprotective of her child. And Rue, apart from being the child of a single parent, is hanging out with an undesirable peer group in Tigger. All of this is traceable to Christopher Robin, ultimately. They say there's the obvious problem of a complete absence of parental supervision, not to mention the fact that this child is spending his time talking to animals.

We also noted in the stories early signs of difficulty with academics and felt that E.H. Shepard's illustrations suggest possible future gender identity issues for this child. The more psychoanalytical member in our group indicated that there could be some Freudian meaning to his peculiar naming of his bear as Winnie the Pooh. So they closed by saying, somewhere at the top of the forest, a little boy and his bear play. Sadly, the forest is not, in fact, a place of enchantment, but rather one of disenchantment, where neurodevelopmental and psychosocial problems go unrecognized and untreated. We'll have a link to the full paper in our show notes at futilitycloset.com. If you're working on your holiday gift buying this year, and there's someone on your list that a razor won't work for,

check out the Futility Closet books. Both are filled with hundreds of quirky oddities and curiosities, offbeat inventions, odd words, and brain-teasing puzzles, perfect for anyone who enjoys small bites of mental candy. Look for them on Amazon and discover why other readers have called them a fascinating compendium of interesting bits of information and fun books that can really be enjoyed by all. This week for our lateral thinking puzzle, Greg's going to get to try to solve an odd sounding situation and he only gets to ask yes or no questions. Okay. This week, the puzzle was sent in by David White who writes,

here's another puzzle. It is not a true story this time, but it is original, so I don't have to worry that it's in your books or on the Internet. Enjoy. All right. Okay? So David sent in The Silent Monk. A man enters a monastery, greets the abbot, and begins conversing with the monks. One of them does not respond, however,

which the abbot explains by telling the visitor that the monk has taken a vow of silence. The visitor thinks for a moment, then speaks a single word. Nobody says anything, but immediately the visitor pulls out a gun and shoots the silent monk. Why? Okay. I like this puzzle. Okay, the man, the visitor. The visitor. Do I need to know more about him?

His occupation? His past history? Possibly. Possibly. Did this, I have to ask, did this really happen? No, David says it's not a true story. Okay. Do I need to know where this happens, like what country or culture it's in?

Yeah, that might help some. Do I need to know what this happens, like what country or culture it's in? Yeah, that might help some. Do we need to know what country? That could help. Is it in Asia? No. In the Americas? No. In Europe?

Yes. In a particular European country? Yeah, but it doesn't have to be. He's got it set in one, but it... The language then is important? The language spoken there? Somewhat, yeah. If I tried to narrow down on the country? I mean, I have the country that David set it in.

Sure. Okay. Is it, I'll just go. France? No. Spain? No. Germany?

No. Italy? Yes. Okay, an Italian monastery. Yes. And I just want to be clear here. So there's an abbot, there's more than one monk, but only one of the monks has taken a vow of silence. Is that right? Correct. Correct. Okay. And I think you said, so the visitor, who we'll get to in a second, can you read it again? He asked to interact with the silent monk? Yes. A man enters a monastery, greets the abbot, he asked to interact with the silent monk yes a man enters a monastery greets the abbot and begins conversing with the monks one of them does not respond

however which the abbot explains by telling the visitor that that monk has taken a vow of silence right the visitor thinks for a moment then speaks a single word nobody says anything but immediately the visitor pulls out a gun and shoots the silent monk. Do I need to know the language in which the single word is spoken? No. Do the monks speak Italian, or is that important? Yes. Yes, they do, and yes, it is? Yes. Okay. Is the visitor Italian? No. Is the single word spoken in Italian? No. Is the single word a word, like a language?

Does it have meaning? Yes. You sound very guarded. I hate to mislead you. Okay, no, no, no. Let me keep going. All right. So what's confusing me here is the visitor says a single word.

Yes. No one says anything. Correct. So no one's responding to what he said. Incorrect. Ah. All right. Let me back up.

The visitor says a single word. Yes. No one says anything. Correct. And then the visitor draws a gun and shoots the silent monk? Correct. All right. Now, you said it's wrong to say that no one responds. I stand by that. I stand by that statement. Okay. So does the silent monk

respond to this word? Yes. Does anyone else respond to it? okay so he says the word yes um to evoke this response in the silent monk i guess to get him to reveal his identity in some way yes yes so the visitor is he like with law enforcement or something um not exactly is the monk really a monk he's not like trying to evade he's not a monk he's not a monk he's pretending to be a monk? He's not, like, trying to evade... He's not a monk. He's not a monk. He's pretending to be a monk. Yes. And pretending to take a vow of silence so he doesn't have to speak and reveal his identity. Right, yes. All right, I'm dancing all around the point here.

No, no, no, you're making really good progress. Okay. So the... And the visitor has come to the monastery seeking... Looking for this man who... Yes, yes. All right. All right, All right.

Let's work on how the silent monk responds. So the silent monk hasn't actually taken a vow of silence. Correct. He's not actually a monk at all. Correct. He's just trying to evade. Yes. Detection.

Yes. Okay. He responds not verbally. Right. So the guy says a word. Yes. And the silent monk makes a movement of some kind? Sure.

Do you know specifically what that is? Somewhat, yeah. Is the word just his name, for instance? Yes. Oh, it is his name? Yes. Okay. So the guy comes to the monastery.

Yes. The abbot says, don't talk to that guy. He doesn't say anything. Right. The visitor says someone's name yes it turns out to be the silent monk's name right then the monk blanches or jumps or yeah startles or something and the guy shoots him right right so i need to know why he shoots him yeah okay and you said he's not with law enforcement not exactly not you wouldn't say

that and the monk i'm just going to keep calling him sure he's not a criminal he's not with law enforcement. Not exactly. You wouldn't say that. And the monk, I'm just going to keep calling him a monk. Sure. He's not a criminal. He's not a criminal. But he's done something. This is revenge, basically. No? Or punishment of a kind?

I don't know that I'd say yes to those. But these two have some past history together. No. No. I was doing fine there. That's just got a lot harder. Shoots him intending to kill him. Yes.

And does kill him? Yes. And he's dead. Yes. And the shooter guy is, I guess, glad or feels satisfied that he accomplished his goal. Yes. But he's never met him before. Correct.

All right. All right. Does the shooter guy shoot him out of, I don't know, anger or retribution or... Not exactly, no. Would he call this justice? Maybe. I don't know. Did he feel wronged? No, I don't think so. But he wants this guy dead. Yes.

He doesn't feel wronged, though. Does he feel wronged by someone else? No, I don't think this is... I don't think you're on the right track here. Wow, I thought it was doing so well. You are doing so well. You've got a lot of hard stuff. Why would you shoot someone? He's not angry? You wouldn't say angry, no.

Despondent? No, no, no. He wants this guy dead, but he's never met him. Correct. Did you say they haven't met before? They have not met before. And he doesn't feel that he's been wronged by him, and he's not with law enforcement. Right.

He's not helping him by ending his life, is he? No. Are the other monks involved in any way, except... No. And the abbot? Correct. And I don't need to know more about the monastery? You do not.

Does it matter that this is in Italyaly somewhat yeah yeah because i don't really see yet why that matters um all right all right figure out where the other people are from the two people who do matter in the story okay let's talk about the shooter guy so I can stop calling him that. Yeah. Did you say his occupation is important? Yeah. And he's... Is he a criminal? No. Is he... I asked you this. Is he Italian? No, he is not. You know for a fact he's not Italian. I know for a fact he is not.

Do you know where he does come from? Yes. Another country? Yes. Is he American? No. He's from another European country? Yes. Alright, is he French? No. Spanish? No. from? Yes. Another country? Yes. Is he American? No. He's from another European country? Yes. All right. Is he French? No. Spanish? No. German? Yes. He's German? Yes. Specifically German? Specifically German. Okay. Is the silent monk German? No. He's Italian? No. Oh, for God's sake. You get to blame David for this. All right. You get to blame David for this. All right. Is the monk from another European country?

No. Do you know where he's from? Yes. Is he American? Yes. All right, let me just get this straight. A German guy with a gun is seeking a fleeing American who he's never met. Right.

But he's seeking him with the intention of shooting him. Yes. And he goes, and he's got that straight in his head before he even enters the monastery. Yes. He finds out somehow that, okay, and the guy he's chasing, who is, I've lost track here, Italian? No, the guy he's chasing is American.

American. And he's hiding in an Italian monastery. Okay, is his name in particular important? Not what his name specifically is, but... There's something to do with the languages here. Yeah, well... The word spoken by the... Yeah.

By the German? German, yeah. The German is the shooter. Is it a German word? No. Is it... Do you know what the word is? Yeah, I do.

I mean, would that help me to figure out specifically? It would help you what kind of word it is, yeah. Okay. Well, you said it was his name. It is his name, right, exactly. The name of the fleeing. It's the name of the guy, right. Right, I forgot, we covered this.

And he responds to it. Okay. Because the Germans never met him. So I think this turns on the, like a double meaning or something in the word. No. No, no, no, no no no no one thing you're missing if i could give you a hand sure it's the time period oh is this in the present day no really time period okay is it in the 20th century yes 20th century is it during a war or

some oh okay is it during world war ii yes all right let me get this straight again there's a there's a german chasing an American. Oh, is that why he shoots him then? I'm sorry. Yes, yes. So it's just a German, say a Nazi. Yes. Trying, he's chasing what he thinks is an allied, a fleeing allied soldier or spy.

Yes. Okay. Yes. I'm making progress. You're making great progress. Okay. During World War II, a German soldier chases an American spy into a monastery. Or is pursuing him and believes he might be in the monastery.

Right. The American spy tries, he can't get away, so he pretends to be a monk who's taken a vow of silence. Right. So he can just lay low. He doesn't have to try to speak italian the abbot tells the german you can't talk to that guy he's taking a vow of silence right the german is still i guess suspicious yes so he says one word which is which is the american's name yes and the american response betrays his right identity by responding to his name and the German shoots him

yes and that's the story is that it? that's it you got it that was brilliant thank you David that's a good one

that was a very good puzzle David thank you very much for being so original and if you have a puzzle you'd like to send in for us to use you can send them to us at podcast

at futilitycloset.com that's another episode for us. If you're looking for more Futility Closet, check out our books on Amazon or visit the website at futilitycloset.com, where you can sample over 8,000 absorbing tidbits. At the website, you can also see the show notes for the podcast and listen to previous episodes. Just click podcast in the sidebar. If you'd like to support Futility Closet, you can tell your friends about us, leave a review of the books or podcast on Amazon or iTunes,

or click the donate button on the sidebar of the website. Thanks so much to those of you who have already been doing these things. We always appreciate your help. And if you have any questions or comments about the show, you can reach us by email at podcast at futilitycloset.com. Our music was written and produced by Doug Ross. Thanks for listening, and we'll talk to you next week.