So Supernatural - DISAPPEARED: The Franklin Expedition

Episode Date: August 11, 2021

In 1845, the Franklin Expedition left London to chart the Northwest Passage. When Sir Franklin and his crew went missing, his wife turned to the psychic world for answers about his location. But she didn't anticipate those answers coming from the ghost of a child... 

Love is a pretty powerful emotion. It makes us say things we would never ordinarily say. And we can find ourselves doing absolutely wild things for the person we love, even when we know they're not the best idea. And being in love wasn't all that different more than a century ago. In 1845, Lady Jane Franklin was so in love with her husband that she supported, even fought, to land him his dream expedition to the Arctic. She knew the risks. Still, his happiness came first. But when she stopped receiving word from him and his crew a few

months into their journey, her entire world came crashing down. Lady Jane did everything she could to find out where her husband was. She begged the British Navy to go after him, financed her own private voyages, even volunteered to go herself. But the answers to his whereabouts weren't waiting for her at sea. They were on dry land, inside the minds of several clairvoyants, and one psychic ghost by the name of Wheezy. This is Supernatural. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers. This week, we're talking about the Franklin Expedition. In 1845, a British Royal Navy officer named Sir John Franklin set sail to chart the Northwest Passage. When his ships disappeared off the map, Franklin's wife, Jane, turned to some pretty unconventional methods to locate him.

And the weirder her sources became, the closer she got to the truth. I have all that and more coming up. Stay with us. Back in the 1800s, directions didn't just fall from satellites in the sky. You couldn't just type what's the fastest way through the Arctic into a search bar. In fact, nobody really had the answers to that kind of stuff. You had to go out into the world and figure it out yourself. You had to charter ships, pack them with people and supplies, and pray that you would return home in one piece, which is what happened to Sir John Franklin. Well, sort of. His journey begins in early 19th century London. Sir John is kind of a celebrity around England. Aside from being a respected Royal Navy officer, he's extremely well known for his not one, but three life-threatening expeditions to the Arctic.

On one voyage, he and his crew nearly starved to death. Allegedly, they resorted to cannibalism and eating leather to stay alive, earning John a less than flattering nickname upon his return as the man who ate his boots. But it's these survival stories that propel John into fame. He's knighted, writes a best-selling book, even wins awards for his contributions to science and geography. But come 1845, John's no longer this hunky celebrity explorer. He's overweight, nearly deaf, and pushing 60, which is ancient in the 19th century, considering the average lifespan is about 45 years old. On top of it all, Johns just endured a political nightmare, one which got him kind of canceled. So in addition to Johns' storied naval career, he spent the last decade as the governor of Van Diemen's Land,

known now as Tasmania. At the time, the island's a prison colony that does a lot of free work for the people back in the UK. But when Sir John tried to improve life for the prisoners, his colleagues weren't so keen on the idea. They didn't want to hurt their bottom line. As a result, John's been revoked of his position and dragged back to England. The papers make fun of his so-called failure,

and he goes from living legend to total laughingstock. So now, John needs a comeback. Luckily, he has this incredibly supportive wife. She's this modern socialite of a woman named Lady Jane Franklin. And Jane's first thought after they return home from Van Diemen's Land is, how do I cheer my husband up and boost his morale? She knows that if her geriatric husband sits idly by, it could be the literal death of him. So she thinks, why not get you back to the

place where you first became a hero? Let's try and land you one more trip to the Arctic. Now at this point in time, there's only a few blank spaces left on the northmost part of the map. And Britain thinks if we can map out the quickest and safest way to get through the Arctic's Northwest Passage. It'll open up some pretty lucrative trade routes from here to Asia. Sir John and his wife know about this, so they contact the Royal Navy High Command. They practically beg the Admiralty to let John captain their next expedition. And initially, John's the lowest on their list of candidates.

But lucky for him, everybody else turns down this death sentence of a job. Which makes sense. I mean, a multi-year expedition to unknown parts of the Arctic isn't exactly a day at the blacksmith's cobbling shoes. It's not for the faint of heart. And in February 1845, the Admiralty finally gives in and sends John a letter. His permission has been granted to captain his fourth expedition to the Arctic. John's official instructions arrive three months later. He'll take the helm of the flagship, the HMS Erebus, along with 32-year-old Captain James Fitzjames. Sailing alongside them in the HMS Erebus, along with 32-year-old Captain James Fitzjames.

Sailing alongside them in the HMS Terror was Captain Francis Crozier. Aside from charting the passage, the crew is responsible for studying the Earth's magnetic fields and gathering information on local specimens. You know, typical expedition stuff. As John puts it, that means, quote, observing everything from a flea to a whale. So they have their work cut out for them. John sees to it that his 128-man crew is well taken care of throughout their journey. This means stocking the two boats with more than 60,000 pounds of beef and pork, 23,000 pounds of sugar and tea,

nearly 4,000 gallons of alcohol, a few thousand books, and thanks to Lady Jane, three furry companions, a dog, a cat, and a monkey. This is one of the most well-provisioned voyages in maritime history. Like, what could possibly go wrong, right? At least, that's what Lady Jane is thinking when she bids her husband adieu on the morning of May 19th, 1845. At around 10.30 a.m., Lady Jane, her niece Sophia, and John's daughter from his first marriage, Eleanor, are standing on the docks overlooking the River Thames. They're waving goodbye as Erebus and Terror are towed out to sea. A dove even lands on the flagship's mast, which Eleanor sees as a good omen.

She promises Jane, things are going to be fine, they'll be back in no time. But little does Jane know, this will be the last she sees of her beloved husband. Out at sea, spirits are pretty high, even as the crew sails deeper into the chilling depths of the north. Over the next few months, John spends his evenings dazzling the sailors with stories of his past expeditions as they gorge on all the food and drink. The crew spends the rest of their free time dancing, playing music, writing in their diaries, watching porpoises circle around the ship's bow. It's basically a carnival cruise. They make a few stops in various ports, which lets them stretch their legs and send letters home. And Captain Fitzjames writes that this expedition actually looks pretty good on Sir John. Shockingly, he appears 10 years younger than when they all left.

And whenever they find themselves in an emergency, Sir John commands it with elegance and grace. It's like the sea is exactly where he belongs. With the first sign of an exotic seabird, the crew knows that they're nearing the Arctic waters, which means this little booze cruise is coming to an end and the hard work is about to begin. In July 1845, just two months after their departure from London, the Erebus and Terror arrive in Baffin Bay, which

lies between Canada and Greenland. There, they spend a few nights waiting for the weather to improve. Anchored in the harbor, John invites a neighboring whaling captain aboard Erebus for dinner sometime around July 26th. The crew tells their guests that they have more than enough supplies to get them through their voyage, so everyone's feeling pretty optimistic. But in reality, this dinner will be one of the last interactions they have with the outside world. In the days that follow, the Erebus and Terror leave Baffin Bay and continue west through a body of water called the Lancaster Sound. From there, they plan to penetrate the Barrow Strait, which, if you look on a map,

is this like narrow strip of ocean above Canada, which would spit them out just northwest of Alaska. Considering how far Sir John's crew has already come, there's a relatively small gap left to chart, only about 300 miles. For scale, that's about the same distance between New York City and Portland, Maine, so seemingly doable, right? Back in England, the Franklin Expedition is all people can talk about. But as weeks turn into months, everyone starts thinking like, hey, shouldn't we have heard something from this crew by now? I mean, there has been zero communication. And making it those 300 miles really shouldn't

have taken them this much time. So eventually, the headlines start to report that the Franklin expedition is missing. Coming up, Lady Jane stops at nothing to find her husband. Now back to the story. By 1847, two years after the Franklin expedition set sail, Lady Jane still has not heard from her husband or his crew. But unlike a lot of people in England, she isn't losing hope. She's sure her husband is still out there putting the cherry on his nautical career Sunday. After all, he's a survivor. He's the man that ate his boots, for goodness sake. The problem is the British Royal Navy and other maritime experts can't even agree on where to start looking for his ships, let alone how or when they should set sail, which is kind of justified. I mean, there's over 5 million square miles to cover there.

They should at least have some idea of where they're going to be looking. But Jane doesn't agree. In fact, she's getting kind of pissed. She wants them to go out and start searching already. At this point in history, any good housewife is expected to shut her mouth and keep herself occupied with things like parlor games and embroidery. But not Lady Jane. While the Royal Navy's dragging their feet, she takes matters into her own hands. Jane does pretty much everything she can think of to expedite the search. She buys an apartment near the Admiralty building, just so she can be a constant thorn in the Navy's side.

She pours over maps with Arctic experts and explorers, writes to newspapers to mobilize public support, even has her friend Charles Dickens, yes, the Charles Dickens, write in to drum up support. Because, hey, if the famous Mr. Dickens is disgusted with the Navy's lack of effort, then hopefully his fans will be too. Jane also writes to the U.S. President Zachary Taylor, hoping maybe he'll lead the search for her missing husband. She even offers to get on a boat her frickin' self. Unfortunately, none of these things light a fire

under the Navy's butt. So at this point, Lady Jane is desperate, if not obsessed, with finding her husband. After all, she was the one who suggested he take the trip in the first place. And since the temporal world isn't making any progress, Lady Jane thinks maybe it's time to change tactics. Now, if you've listened to multiple episodes of this show, you've probably heard me cover spiritualism before. In the 19th century, going to psychics is akin to praying to God. As far as anyone can tell, they're as good a source as any. And ever since her husband was declared missing, Jane's been contacted by multiple clairvoyants, not just from Europe, but from the United States and Australia as well. Many of them write to her insisting they

know the status and location of John's ships. Some say they've spoken to Sir John Franklin himself. So in May 1849, Jane and her niece Sophia visit the London home of a young clairvoyant named Ellen Dawson. Ellen comes highly recommended. She's been known to successfully locate missing jewelry and, get this, other missing husbands before. On top of that, she's marketed as a traveling clairvoyant, someone who can physically transport their mind to another place. So she's precisely what Lady Jane needs. At around 8 that evening, Ellen, Sophia, and Ellen's mesmerist, a man named Dr. Hand, gather in one room. Now, just a side note, a mesmerist is basically the one guiding the clairvoyant. So Dr. Hand's purpose is to hypnotize Ellen into this trance and then guide her along the journey,

maybe feeding her locations or cue her up with questions to help her find what they're looking for, something like that. While Ellen's being lured into her trance, Lady Jane is told to hang tight in the adjacent room. Apparently, Dr. Hand doesn't want whatever they find to upset Lady Jane and possibly interrupt their process. And for someone who's never met Sir John or been aboard his vessels before, Ellen comes up with some pretty startling revelations. She tells Sophia that she sees two ships surrounded by ice, which, okay, anyone who's read papers over the last few years might have put that much together. But then she says she sees a man, one who looks rather old and stout with a dark, kind face. Now, this is a little more impressive considering Sir John didn't have the build of your average

explorer, so the fact that she's describing him is probably surprising. Ellen then says she sees the portraits of two women hanging in the man's cabin. One is of his wife, Lady Jane, and the other of Queen Victoria, which is totally accurate. Then Ellen sees men dressed in fur garments, eating salted beef and biscuits, just laughing and carrying on. She can even smell the scent of brandy on their breath. But when Sophia asks for specifics, like which direction are the ships headed or when might they be sailing home, Ellen says that a cloud has come before her, obstructing the answer. Although the biggest takeaway is that, according to Ellen, Sir John is still alive and well. They relay this all back to Lady Jane, and while the visions don't offer any specific details on where to look,

it does give Jane some hope. More importantly, it inspires her to keep pursuing the psychic path. It's not long before another clairvoyant is involved, a woman named Emma, also known as the Cirrus of Bolton. Emma is a domestic servant to a surgeon named Dr. Joseph Haddock, who acts as her mesmerist. But their process is a little servant to a surgeon named Dr. Joseph Haddock, who acts as her mesmerist. But their process is a little different from Ellen's. It's not entirely clear how they operate, but it seems like first Dr. Haddock puts Emma into this deep trance.

Then he places, say, a handwritten letter or a lock of hair, something with a connection to the missing, on Emma's forehead. Allegedly, these personal objects help her find whatever or whoever she's looking for. In the fall of 1849, a close confidant of Sir John's, a captain named Alexander McConaughey, is dining with this Dr. Haddock's niece. During their meal, he learns about Emma, the seeress of Bolton, and the niece is happy to make the introduction. While Lady Jane herself doesn't meet Emma, Alexander does take a lock of hair given by the family, along with one of Sir John's letters. That fall, Alexander travels to Bolton for at least three separate sessions with Emma. In their first session, Emma also sees two ships, only she says that one's underwater

and the other is abandoned, shipwrecked on shore. But she also says that Sir John is still alive along with three to four other men. The rest are long dead, buried under the snow. She describes John's balding head, which isn't exactly common knowledge at the time. But Alexander wants something tangible, something useful that could help him locate John and bring him home. He begs Emma to give him knowledge of their geographical location, which she does, sort of. By remotely reading the time on Sir John's watch, Emma is able to discern a seven-hour time difference between him and London. Then, using a map, she points to a northwestern part of Canada known as

Hudson Bay, which is significantly south of Baffin Bay, where John was last seen by those whalers. Now, this is an area neither Captain Alexander nor his contemporaries had considered looking for Sir John. See, if he did go south towards Hudson Bay, he would have had to sail his ship around a massive chunk of land, a journey that would have taken him nearly a thousand miles out of his way. Not impossible, just not sensible, because it would have erased so much of the progress John had made thus far. So Captain Alexander's intrigued, but not totally buying it. And the next time he visits Emma, she places the abandoned ships in a totally different region of the Arctic.

This time, she says they're near the Prince Regent Inlet, which is further east of Baffin Bay, but it is closer to where Sir John needed to go. Then, the time after that, she says the crew in those ships are extremely far north, almost 500 miles west of Prince Regent Inlet, near the Perry Islands. So yeah, it seems like Emma's not all she's cracked up to be. And since there's not much Alexander can do with this assortment of information, Emma becomes another dead end. Meanwhile, Lady Jane's consulting with a bunch of clairvoyants, including a 13-year-old boy who supposedly sees Sir John alive and well inside of a crystal ball. The constant descriptions of her husband are certainly reassuring, but no one can give Lady Jane that concrete answer of where the heck to find him. Until October 1849, four years after John was

last seen. 500 miles away in Londonderry, Ireland, a man named Captain William Copen and his family are mourning the loss of their four-year-old daughter to typhoid. But Louisa, or Wheezy as they called her, isn't totally gone per se. William's three other children still see the ghost of their sister regularly. She appears as this bluish light, one that's fully able to communicate with her siblings. In fact, Wheezy comes to dinner so often

the family just leaves an empty chair and place setting out for her. Her brother's so excited to see her one night he literally smashes into a wall trying to hug her. But it gets creepier. One evening, Wheezy's nine-year-old sister Anne finds the words, Mr. McKay is dead, written in this glowing light on her bedroom wall. The following morning, Anne tells her aunt about this message Wheezy supposedly left her. Now, the aunt actually knows a Mr. McKay. He's an old family friend, so she goes to check on him. And sure enough, Mr. McKay had passed in the night. So not only are the Copan siblings communicating with their deceased sister, they're also receiving her psychic messages.

But Wheezy's got more up her sleeve than a dead neighbor. She also happens to know precisely where two 350-ton vessels are stranded out in the Arctic. Coming up, Wheezy guides the way for a private expedition. Now back to the story. By October 1849, the ghost of Louisa Copin has proven she can offer psychic intel through her sister Anne. So their aunt figures, why don't we ask little Wheezy about that Franklin expedition everyone's talking about? And apparently, it works. That evening, Anne and her aunt are gathered in one of the bedrooms, conjuring the ghost of Wheezy, who projects this incredible vision on the floor, one that only Anne can see.

Anne relays it all back to her aunt. She says she sees the Arctic Ocean with two boats surrounded by ice, which, okay, we've heard that before. But Anne isn't just seeing the Arctic, she's feeling it. She begins to shiver and she clutches her aunt's dress for warmth. The aunt coaxes her to go on. So Anne asks Wheezy, exactly where can Sir John Franklin be found? In a glowing flash along the wall, more words appear. They read Erebus and Terror, Lancaster Sound, Prince Regent Inlet, Point Victory, and Victoria Channel. Okay, so a little pause to explain what all these coordinates mean. Lancaster Sound is part of the route Sir John planned to take all along.

The Prince Regent Inlet is just a little west of that, so still in the direction he would have been headed. But Point Victory is a location on King William Island, which is further south than anyone expected Sir John to travel. And at this point in time, the Victoria Channel, better known as the Victoria Strait, hasn't even been discovered yet. So the ants, like Victoria Channel, never heard of it. But after receiving the message, Anne draws a shockingly accurate map of this section of the Arctic, like the landmasses and the waterways, all based on what Wheezy's shown her. Anne's father, William Copen, hears about their little seance, and he's like, this is bananas. I got to get this

information to Lady Jane Franklin ASAP. Which is perfect timing to say the least because Jane has finally drummed up enough interest and money to get her own private expedition off the ground. Like that's how determined this woman is to find the love of her life. We're talking five years later and she still has not given up hope. According to the love of her life. We're talking five years later and she still has not given up hope. According to the papers, her ship, the Prince Albert, is scheduled to set sail in May 1850. So William figures she might want some direction before she sets sail, even if it does come from a ghost child. He writes a letter, which he sends along with Wheezy's map, and they reach Jane just in time. In the weeks, maybe even days, before the Prince Albert is scheduled to leave, Lady Jane and William meet up.

William runs through the details of his daughter's revelation, and something clicks for Jane. She remembers what her husband told her just before he left. If he got into any trouble, he'd sail toward the Great Fish River, which is about 100 miles south of Canada's King William Island, and home to Point Victory, one of the locations mentioned in Wheezy's message. Now, Jane is pretty shook. Wheezy's revelation may be the closest thing she has to a real lead, and she plans to use it. Before the Prince Albert leaves port, Jane convinces the captain of her ship, William Snow, to search further south towards King William Island. This is instead

of their original plan to go further north, which was the Navy's best theory of where the Franklin expedition ended up. Unfortunately for all involved, the rescue mission doesn't go exactly as planned. Once the Prince Albert reaches the Arctic, the ship hits extremely thick ice. They're forced to turn back empty-handed. Meanwhile, completely separate from Lady Jane's endeavors, a man named Captain John Ray is surveying the same region of the Arctic. In 1851, he comes across this narrow body of water to the west of King William Island, one that he names the Victoria Strait. So obviously this is a big aha moment for Lady Jane because up till now, that part of Wheezy's message didn't really make sense. And that's not the only epiphany.

Captain Ray also meets some of the local Inuit people on King William Island, home to Point Victory. The locals say that back in 1849, they came across several dozen white men. They even show Captain Ray a few artifacts, things like telescopes, guns, silver spoons, and forks. Oh, and a silver plate engraved with Sir John Franklin's name. Now, as a fellow explorer, I'm sure Captain Ray's at least heard of the missing Franklin expedition. So this has got to be a pretty huge moment in the guy's career. After all, he is the first person to retrieve a physical clue.

And honestly, if Sir John and his men were seen on foot, it could mean they are still alive and well out there. Maybe they sought shelter with other local Inuit peoples. Once this bombshell reaches England, Lady Jane frantically sends another private mission to explore the area further, this time with Captain Francis McClintock at the helm. When McClintock reaches King William Island in 1859, his crew finds even more shocking evidence of the Franklin Expedition, but not the good kind. He comes across one of their boats and skeletons apparently belonging to the crew. Not only that, he uncovers a few letters

and those letters finally explain what happened. Apparently, Sir John's crew continued west that summer of 1845 and made it through the Lancaster Sound just as planned. But after wintering about halfway through the Northwest Passage, their ships got locked in the ice and the crew lost three men. Sir John had no choice but to wait until the ice thawed. After that, he had two options. Stick with his mission and continue westward to keep charting the fastest way through the passage, or head south for a longer but potentially safer route. John chose south. At this point, the lives of his crew were

more important. But around September 1846, the Erebus and Terror got trapped in the ice again, this time in the northern part of the Victoria Strait. I won't get into the geography, but apparently this was a route that no one had anticipated, mainly because it's really far south from where they were supposed to be headed. Nine months after being trapped this second time, Sir Franklin died suddenly. It was June of 1847. The rest of the crew abandoned the ships in 1848 and, based off Captain Ray's discovery, migrated to King William Island, where the Inuit group encountered them. After that, they went missing for good. So apparently, if Sir Franklin died in 1847, any psychic to have seen him alive and well after that

didn't have their facts straight. But Wheezy? She was eerily spot on. News of these letters gets back to Lady Jane, and naturally she is devastated to learn of her husband's death. She always knew it was possible, but when you have dozens of psychics telling you everything's fine, he's probably just busy, it's hard to give up hope. But at least now she has some closure. Meanwhile, Wheezy's dad, William Copen, pours a little salt on the wound by trying to capitalize on the discovery. He writes to Lady Jane, who is obviously grieving and is like, excuse me, how about giving my daughter's ghost some credit here? And Lady Jane, as nice as she is, writes back to William one final time before cutting contact with him. She says, yes, it's true, your ghost daughter did suggest to look in the direction of Point Victory on King William Island, where McClintock discovered those ships and skeletons. But Jane

never goes public with this information, nor does she return Wheezy's maps? Apparently, now that her husband's mystery is solved, Jane's kind of embarrassed to admit she used a psychic ghost for intel. Meanwhile, the Erebus and Terror are still wasting away somewhere in the Arctic Sea. Search efforts continue well into the 21st century. It's not until 2014, with the help of the local Inuit communities, that Parks Canada finally locates the flagship HMS Erebus. Part of the boat is sticking out of the thick Arctic ice, while the rest is submerged in the 36 feet of water below. Where exactly? In the Victoria Strait, just like Wheezy's message said. Two years later, they find the HMS Terror on the southwestern coast of King William Island,

which again is home to Point Victory, the other location in Wheezy's message. So in the end, nothing about Wheezy's directions was off. You have to wonder if the Erebus and Terror would have been discovered without her help. And yeah, probably, especially considering Captain Ray was the one who stumbled upon the evidence of Sir John Franklin.

But that doesn't take away from the accuracy of her predictions, especially at a time when knowledge about the Arctic was so incredibly scarce. She knew exactly where those ships had met their icy graves, especially at a time when knowledge about the Arctic was so incredibly scarce. She knew exactly where those ships had met their icy graves. And that is something I can't really explain. Thanks for listening. I'll be back next week with another episode.

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