Ben Franklin: Secret Spy

REDACTED: Declassified Mysteries with Luke Lamana

Wondery | Ballen Studios

True Crime, History

4.3 • 668 Ratings

🗓️ 18 February 2025

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Benjamin Franklin is known for his role as a Founding Father, inventor, and diplomat. But he had another role: spymaster. As the American colonies fought for independence against the British, Franklin traveled to Paris to help win French support. But as it turned out, he was entering a world of deception and intrigue. British spies lurked everywhere. And one of them had the power to sabotage the revolution before it had even begun.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Love unsettling stories.
0:02.4	Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to redacted, declassified mysteries, early and ad-free,
0:07.8	as well as another twisted tale from Bollin Studios and Wondery called Wartime Stories,
0:12.8	also hosted by me, Early and Ad-Free on Wondry Plus.
0:16.7	Start your free trial today.
0:33.6	Thank you. Start your free trial today. It was a chilly February night in Paris in 1778. Most people were staying indoors, swaddled in blankets or huddled by a fire, but one man ventured out of the estate where he was staying, his breath visible as he made his way toward awaiting carriage.
0:46.6	His name was Edward Bancroft, and he wore a cloak with a high collar, both to fend off the cold and hide his face.
0:54.8	Bancroft had an important mission tonight, and he did not want to be recognized.
0:59.5	As he closed the carriage door, he reached into his coat pocket to make sure he had a very
1:04.4	important envelope.
1:06.3	Then Bancroft told the driver to hurry.
1:09.3	He had to get to the Tullery Gardens near the Louvre Palace
1:12.2	before 9 p.m. When he arrived, Vancroft strode across the garden's south terrace. He looked
1:19.7	over his shoulder as he walked to a familiar tree. He crouched down to peer into a half-hidden hole
1:26.2	at its roots.
1:32.7	He stuck his hand into the dirt and wrapped his fingers around a piece of string that was tied to a large glass bottle. He pulled it out of the hole, then took the envelope from his
1:38.1	pocket and rolled it tight. Then he slid it inside the bottle. This was now the most valuable bottle in the world, because it contained highly classified information
1:49.8	that could decide the fate of the colonies in America.
1:54.4	The Americans were locked in a war with the British for independence, and France was seriously
1:59.5	considering an alliance with the colonies.
2:02.6	It was an alliance that had been carefully orchestrated by Bancroft's employer,
2:07.3	Benjamin Franklin, the famed American writer, inventor, politician, and spy.
	...

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