A Rumor, An Exhumation (1991)

This Day in Esoteric Political History

Jody Avirgan & Radiotopia

History

4.6 • 982 Ratings

🗓️ 17 June 2021

⏱️ 17 minutes

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Summary

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It’s June 17th. This day in 1991, authorities in Louisville, KY dug up the body of former president Zachary Taylor, who had died in 1850. They were trying to put to rest a rumor that Taylor had been poisoned.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss why one woman’s theory that Taylor was killed was able to convince everyone to go forward with the exhumation, the gruesome details of Taylor’s death, and what the body revealed when it was dug up 140 years later.

Find a transcript of this episode at: https://tinyurl.com/esoterichistory

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to this day in esoteric political history from radiotopia.
0:06.7	My name is Jody Avergan.
0:10.2	This day, June 17, 1991, researchers exhumed, they dug up, the body of former President
0:17.8	Zachary Taylor to try and clear up rumors, rumors that had sprung up some 130 years after he actually died but these
0:24.5	rumors were starting to call into question what actually killed him
0:27.9	so look listeners it is worth acknowledging that the last time we talked about
0:32.0	exhuming a president on this show.
0:33.7	It was during our April Fool's episode where we made up a story about digging up George Washington.
0:38.2	But I promise, this is real.
0:40.7	You can trust us.
0:42.0	They really did dig up Zachary Taylor and there have actually been other notable
0:46.6	exhumations over the years which we can get to. So here to do that as always you hear them in the background there.
0:52.0	Nicole Hammer of Columbia and Kelly Carter Jackson of Wellesley hello there
0:56.2	Jody hey there do you raise your right hand and play that this exclamation
1:01.2	is not gonna promise that I don't talk about lizard people
1:04.0	sometime in this episode.
1:05.0	All facts herein are true.
1:08.0	So there's a lot of steps here and we'll get to the exclamation and Zachary Taylor's death which is the whole thing so this can be our entry into that but I do think Nicky we need to start with the rumor 130 years after he died, he died in 1850, the rumor that causes him to dig him up,
1:26.7	what is this rumor and why does it have the power to cause people to grab shovels and
1:30.7	dig up a former president.
1:33.0	You know, in some ways I feel like it's almost too much to call this a rumor because it does
1:36.7	seem to be the fever dream of one person's mind and that is clarifying.
	...

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