March 22nd, 1860, Providence, Rhode Island. A group of men are standing around in the backyard of an old house. Some are

huddled over a pile of diagrams, drawings of garden plots that have notes scribbled

all over them. Others stand by with these pointed iron rods

ready to stab them into the earth. They're looking for soil with a soft texture to it,

kind of loose.

That will tell them if anyone has dug there before.

Because this group is looking for a body.

But no one can agree on where it is.

They've gone around to the neighbors, people who've lived in the town for a long time,

to see if they have any memories

about where this body could be. And finally, after digging and digging, they

find something. But it's not quite what they're looking for, unless maybe it is. I'm Delantheros and this is Atlas Obscera, a celebration of the world's strange, incredible and

and wondrous places.

And today we're taking you to Providence,

where the hunt to memorialize Rhode Island's founder

created one of the state's strangest and most enduring myths. That's after this. In the middle of Providence Rhode Island is an old 18th century mansion.

Today it's a museum, the John Brown House.

If you go in the back, there's an exhibit in the house's old wood shed. It's a coffin shaped display behind a chicken wire fence and there's something inside.

We have a lot of really different reactions that we get from people who see it.

Some people are like, what's the stick?

Oh, is this like a divining rod?

Like what is this actual item?

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