Episode 40 is the first of October and begins the spooky Halloween season. This week's show kicks it off with the story of Cape Cod's loneliest grave. Located deep in the woods of North Truro. Who was Thomas Ridley and why is he buried so far from civilization?
The next Road Trip segment features Winchester, Virginia. It has a connection to the Civil War but there is so much more to see and do there.
What are the Top 5 Massachusetts North Shore attractions? This week's list was difficult to narrow down with dozens of classic, beautiful, and unique places to visit from Revere north to Salisbury. Find out which ones made the list.
We go way Back In the Day to the bane of many 1980's and 1990's parents' existence, the 900-number. Often referred to as a hotline these numbers cost eager children, or more accurately their parents, loads of money as teen idols, musicians, wrestlers, and more shared top secret information with their fans.
There is a new This Week In History and Time Capsule surrounding the anniversary of the debut of Monty Python's Flying Circus.
Be sure to watch for my livestreams called Without A Map Friday's at 8pm on Instagram which serve as a sort of postgame show for the podcast. Find them on IGTV and YouTube after they've finished.
Helpful Links from this Episode(available through Buzzsprout)
Listen to Episode 39 here.
Episode 40 is the first of October and begins the spooky Halloween season. This week's show kicks it off with the story of Cape Cod's loneliest grave. Located deep in the woods of North Truro. Who was Thomas Ridley and why is he buried so far from civilization?
The next Road Trip segment features Winchester, Virginia. It has a connection to the Civil War but there is so much more to see and do there.
What are the Top 5 Massachusetts North Shore attractions? This week's list was difficult to narrow down with dozens of classic, beautiful, and unique places to visit from Revere north to Salisbury. Find out which ones made the list.
We go way Back In the Day to the bane of many 1980's and 1990's parents' existence, the 900-number. Often referred to as a hotline these numbers cost eager children, or more accurately their parents, loads of money as teen idols, musicians, wrestlers, and more shared top secret information with their fans.
There is a new This Week In History and Time Capsule surrounding the anniversary of the debut of Monty Python's Flying Circus.
Be sure to watch for my livestreams called Without A Map Friday's at 8pm on Instagram which serve as a sort of postgame show for the podcast. Find them on IGTV and YouTube after they've finished.
Helpful Links from this Episode(available through Buzzsprout)
Listen to Episode 39 here.
Intro
Hello world. Welcome to the in my footsteps podcast. I am Christopher Setterlund coming to you from the vacation destination known as Cape Cod, Massachusetts. And this is episode 40 is the first show of October and it's a loaded show and I can't wait to share it with you. We're going to start off with the first spooky story of the month of October. This is the story of Cape Cod's loneliest grade, there's going to be a road trip to the small Civil War town of Winchester, Virginia. We're going to go way way back in the day and talk about the fascination with hotlines and 900 numbers. There's a new top five featuring the top five North Shore Massachusetts attractions. There's going to be a new this week in history and Time Capsule featuring the debut of Monty Python's Flying Circus. All of this and much more on episode 40 of the in my footsteps podcast. Welcome in everyone. It's the first show of October. I'm gonna hope that my voice holds up as my allergies have been killing me for the last few days. We're knee-deep in my favorite time of year and October I love this month. It's a time for me to get to share all of the creepy unusual True Crime Scary all those types of stories in the podcast in the in my footsteps podcast blog. So that's going to be a recurring theme for the podcast for this month. And it's that time of year we've already had the temperatures start to drop, where we've had mornings that it's been in the upper 40s I'm not ready for it to get cold, but having the bite out of the hot weather after the hot and humid summer. I'm just really excited falls my favorite time of year I've said it before. I made a joke the other day to my sister Ashley because she posted something on Facebook saying that tacos were better than pumpkin because everyone's obsessed with pumpkin spice and pumpkin foods this time of year. And I joked. I said Yeah, I had pumpkin pie yogurt for breakfast. I had these pumpkin pastries to go along with dinner. And I have a pumpkin spice air freshener in my room so I know which side of the fence I fall on. What about you folks? Do you love pumpkin? Or is it kind of something like yeah, whatever? Like it gets old fast. I love it because it's only this time of year. If you like the scary and the true crime and the paranormal and all that type of stuff. You'll love this episode. You'll love the podcast coming up check out the in my footsteps podcast blog. Like I said, the most recent article I posted was a really creepy and sad story from the village of Pocasset and born. It's a story of a man named Charles Freeman, who sacrificed his four-year-old daughter in the name of God back in 1879. It's a wild story. It begs the question of insanity versus not insane. It's a kind of fun slash morbid treasure hunt for me as I find stories that I've never heard before as far as true crime and the unusual supernatural stuff around New England, where I'm looking, basically typing in New England murders in New England true crime. It's kind of a morbid curiosity, but I do find a lot of interesting ones that I think you'll enjoy, like this first one here for the first podcast of October. So let's just dive right into the main story, which is the story of Cape Cod's loneliest grave, who was buried where it is and how I found it. So we're going to jump right into that right now on episode 40 of the in my footsteps podcast.
Cape Cod’s Loneliest Grave
October is a perfect month for hiking in the woods, kind of taking in the crisp weather and the changing leaves and it's a great month a great time for football for family for friends. But on the other side of the coin. It's a perfect time for the Halloween season. It's a perfect time for fear and the unknown and Cape Cod's home to a lot of scary stories. Like I said in the intro, Cape Cod's loneliest grave as an interesting story. I had never heard of it until about 10 years ago, when there was a video that went in conjunction with the Cape Cod Times newspaper. And the man who did the video. His name was Eric Williams. He found this grave deep in the woods of Truro. The big thing is that he essentially he didn't tell you how to get to it. It was very vague. And I'm not sure if it's just that he didn't want to share it with people. So I took it up by myself because I'm into that kind of stuff to go out and try to find it. I parked at a place called Montana's. It's a restaurant on Route 6 in North Truro right near Provincetown. Using the very, very vague descriptions, Eric Williams put in his video, I went back through the woods to try to find this grave that is gray in color. And it's about a foot a little over a foot tall, so it blends in with the ground, especially during the fall season where there are the darker pine needles on the ground. The first time I went out there was I was probably out there an hour and a half didn't come close to finding anything resembling a grave. I went back out a few weeks later and spent another few hours out there. This was in July, it was in the heat. And I was wandering the woods, I made a video about it about me not finding the grave. But again, didn't find anything resembling a grave because there were no directions. It's just walking into the woods and just good luck. So the third time, that's right, I went back out into the woods of North Truro a third time. And I said I'm not going home until I find it. I crisscrossed these woods, which honestly it could represent a couple of hundred acres, basically, and you're trying to look for a grave that's smaller than a mailbox. When I was finally about to give up and just say this is enough, I was walking back towards where my car was using my phone as a GPS. And there it was, I by luck found this grave. It was smaller, and didn't even come up to my knees. It was the same color as the ground. I could have tripped over it. It was just blended in so well. I screamed so loud in joy that all these birds scattered. It took me three trips and about seven hours total of wandering the woods before I found this grave. In order to make sure that I could find it again. I did a pin-drop, opened up the Google Maps app where I was standing and I dropped a pin so that I could always just go back to it so I'd never have the trouble of spending seven hours walking in the woods to find a grave. So I found it. The name on the grave was Thomas Ridley. So who is Thomas Ridley? Why is he buried about three-quarters of a mile behind Montana's restaurant deep in the woods of North Truro? Why is he there? Thomas Ridley the man his life is far more ordinary than the circumstances after his death as far as where he is. He was a fisherman and a seaman. Born in Truro on December 13 1715, the eldest son of Thomas Ridley Sr. and Mary Smalley, Thomas really married Elizabeth cook in 1738. And together they had 10 children, four sons, and six daughters. All things being equal, his life was ordinary until it reached its end. It was in the 1770s that Thomas Ridley contracted smallpox. And sadly at this time, on average, 20 to 60% of adults who contracted smallpox and more than 80% of children infected with it would die, with the survivors usually getting really bad scars that stuck with them forever. Unfortunately for Thomas, the vaccination that helped eradicate smallpox didn't even begin until 1796 under the watch of British doctor Edward Jenner, and it took several more years to perfect. That's kind of the problem is normally when contracting smallpox and after showing symptoms those who died usually passed within 10 to 16 days of the onset of the symptoms. Sometime in 1776. Ridley caught and died from smallpox and fear because it was so contagious. Fear spread throughout the village, and this caused the other residents of Truro to bury Thomas Ridley's body is far from the rest of the village as possible. So he was buried deep in the thick forests of North Truro which back then it was even more isolated than it is today. And that grave is still really isolated even in the 21st century. When Thomas's wife Elizabeth died in 1792. She was buried in Provincetown at the present day Winthrop Street Cemetery. That's five miles as the crow flies from where Thomas Ridley is located. Thomas really has sat out there in this isolated wooded area of North Truro for more than 240 years, and interestingly, has kind of a final slap in his face even more than being buried in a deep part of the woods. Where there's nothing, they even misspelled his last name on the grave. Instead of spelling it rigidly with an L. They spelled it ready with two E's. So when I found his grave, I said, I guess this is him, but his name is spelled wrong. It is something that catches you off guard. I went out there expecting to find this grave. But when you go out there and you actually do see it, and you're standing there in the presence of an actual human life that ended and they're way out here where there's nothing and there's nothing anywhere, and it's sad, it's a sad end for a person. There are several smallpox cemeteries on Cape Cod, including one in Provincetown not far from there. It's another one that's in the woods that's been overgrown. It's weird that Cape Cod has all the secret graves in the woods, but they do and that's the fear of smallpox to get them far away from everyone. There was a smallpox Hospital in Falmouth, where Nobska Lighthouse stands that was way back in the late 1700s. For Thomas Ridley, though, finding him is one of the biggest challenges for anyone on Cape Cod, it is not easy. So you park at Montana's restaurant, it's better to go when they're not open, they're open for dinner. So if you go during the early part of the day, so you're not taking up spots from customers. The grave exists between pilgrim heights road to the north, head of the meadow road to the south, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. So it's approximately 736 acres of just where it could be. Now, granted, I had kind of an idea where it was, but as I said, it took me three trips and seven hours of walking to find it. From the parking lot. It's approximately 1300 feet walking east, there's a 14,000 square-foot sandpit. This marks about the halfway point to Thomas Ridley's grave. Once you find the sandpit, that's where the easy part ends. After that, you've got a scale the sandpit to go back into the really thick, deep woods, because there's fire roads that lead you out there. Not when you get out to Thomas Ridley's grave, it's just pick any wooded area you see driving around anywhere. And just imagine walking straight out into it. That's basically what you have to do. It's essentially about 1200 feet of walking, where you'll find the grave that's just over a foot tall and gray and blends into the surroundings. It's sad because it's a human. Thomas Ridley was a legend for me when I first heard the story. It was like an interesting little Cape Cod, unique story. And then you go out there and then I researched him and wrote an article about the man himself. And it's just sad because he's a real person with a family and he just happened to get smallpox and he is now forgotten. But that's a story of Cape Cod's loneliest grave the story of Thomas really the man who contracted the most contagious deadly disease of the age, smallpox, and was buried Far, far away from everyone. And even right now, at this moment, all of you on Cape Cod listening to this, his grave is out there in the woods waiting to be found. If you go out and find it, let me know if the pennies are still there that I left on his grave every time I go, I leave something out there. It hasn't been that many times a few times. I've brought people out there to show them because it's hard to believe until you see it yourself. That someone's buried way out there in the woods, all alone.
Road Trip: Winchester, VA
For this week's road trip as we go back through my epic jaunt around the eastern United States from 2019 We hit up another civil war site. I had a lot of those that were specifically planned that way, but this is the town of Winchester, Virginia. In episode 39. I talked about Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, and this Winchesters it's kind of in the same vein as Harpers Ferry. It's a much larger town than Harpers Ferry was Harpers Ferry had not even 400 people Winchester, Virginia as of 2019 had a population of 27,897. There's a lot to see in Winchester, but the main reason I went was a part of the town called Old Town. Old Town Winchester is a great place to check out if you enjoy Civil War history and that era of the mid-19th century Old town Winchester and Winchester itself became the scene of six battles during the Civil War and has a deep connection with general Stonewall Jackson during the winter of 1861. And into 1862, Stonewall Jackson made Winchester his home and his headquarters that he had during his time living in Winchester. They're on North Braddock Street, and it's open in the spring and summer months. So you can check out it's a museum. Old Town Winchester is unique because it's essentially a section of street that's been blocked off. So it's a walking area. So you park outside of it, you go underneath the sign, and there are buildings everywhere. It's history all around you. But there are also shops and restaurants, things like that. So it's not just history. Beyond Old Town. Winchester has long been known as the apple capital, surrounded by a lot of orchards, and it's one of the largest apple export markets in the nation. Each spring Winchester plays host to four days of over 250,000 visitors who come to the town for the Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival, usually held in the first few days of May. If you're a fan of country music, especially old-school country music, you can check out the home of Patsy Cline. So Patsy Cline, the singer who's known for her big song was crazy. But she was born in Winchester, Virginia in 1932. And she was at the forefront of country music before dying in a plane crash at the age of 30. She is considered to be a crossover artist too, as she achieved popularity and pop music as well. But her home that's in Winchester was the one that she lived in when she was between 16 and 21 when she married Gerald Klein, and that house is at 608 South Kent street, but back to old town for a minute. So it's been a vital marketplace in the center of town since 1752. So that'll tell you how long the history goes back to the street that you walk as you're going through old town. The Loudoun street pedestrian mall, as it's also part of has earned the listing on the National Register of Historic Places. There are a lot of events surrounding old town I mentioned the Apple Blossom Festival, there's rockin independence Eve, they've got free outdoor movies, they do Oktoberfest so that's going on right now, and a lot more. I went there just on my own looking at things just whatever looked interesting to me. If you're not in the mood to kind of wander and find your own way they do guided walking tours, on some weekends from May through October. So they may still be going on. You can go and check out George Washington's office Museum. He used the little log building now the middle room of the George Washington office museum as a military office between 1755 and 1756 while fort Loudoun was being constructed at the north end of town. It's Open daily for tours from April 1 Through October 31. And it's located at 32 West Cork Street. And that's just another piece of history going way back beyond the civil war now to before the American Revolution. So there are connections to George Washington, to the Civil War to Patsy Cline. They also do a walking food tour, taste Winchester, and you can check them out at taste Winchester history.com, where you get to be introduced to restaurant owners and sample the dishes and learn about the history and architecture of Winchester along the way. There's a lot of unique stuff there. Even for those of you that might be civil war buffs or people that enjoy that history. If I asked you to name the most important sights from the Civil War, you're not going to mention Winchester, Virginia, until you go there. And then there's so much else that draws you in. If you're looking to go there and take in more than just walking through old town, you can stay at the George Washington hotel. It's a throwback to the roaring 20s as it was completed in 1924. It's got marble floors and huge soaring ceilings, but it's not super expensive. However, they have been at times ranked among the top 1% of hotels worldwide. So I would definitely recommend checking them out there at 103 East Piccadilly street or you can look them up through wyndham.com for the George Washington Hotel. There's so much to see there. So I definitely recommend that it's only 60 miles northwest of Washington, DC Go and give it a shot. Stay at the George Washington Hotel. Make sure to visit Old Town. Check out the apple orchards, Patsy Cline's house there's so much there, you can learn more at visit Winchester va.com. For something specific about Old Town Winchester, you can go to Old Town Winchester va.com, that'll do a way better job of explaining and showing you what there is to offer down there. Whether you just take a stroll through old town through the marketplace, or whether you spend a few days there and you take in all the scenery around it, just check it out. I enjoyed it. I think you will too. You don't have to be any sort of history buff. And coming up next in Episode 41. We'll go to the next spot on my epic road trip. And this one is going to be a good one but a funny one because it's the biggest fail of the road trip. So we'll dive into that in next week's episode my epic fail from one of my spots on the road trip
Sponsor: Wear Your Wish
Fall is here. Fall Fashion is coming back around. The days are still warm the nights get cool. It's the best of both worlds right now. And what better time to get all your favorite clothing, apparel, accessories and more from Wear your wish visit Wear your wishes.com to see all of the new stuff they've got to offer and all of the old favorites that are still there. For October for Halloween. Check out the love pumpkin t-shirt. They've got a funny boobies t-shirt which is bees with Ghost sheets over them. They've got sweatshirts for when the nights get colder including one that says always cold. Check out the Zen corner with the new wearable aromatherapy that has just come out for the fall. There are worry stones dream catchers, the intentions collections which include necklaces, earrings, and bracelets, there is so much to see so much to get. It always changes with the seasons. It's growing, it's evolving. Katie marks has worked so hard to make this brand something desirable to wear anytime anywhere. Visit Wear your wishes.com to see more of what they have to offer. There's always new stuff going up. Follow them on Facebook, follow them on Instagram, new fall fashions T shirts, sweatshirts, wearable aromatherapy, there's so much to get at Wear your wish, wish dream inspired. It's all about the good stuff at Wear your wish
This Week In History
This week in history, we are going back to the dawn of one of the greatest comedy acts in the history of comedy, the British group called Monty Python 52 years ago this week on October 5 1969. Monty Python's Flying Circus television show debuted in all it lasted for four seasons and 45 episodes. And I can't describe it. It's a sketch comedy show. But it's got the British humor and it's the surreal and odd type of humor that if you aren't ready for it, you might not get it. The men who made up Monty Python included Eric Idle, Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Jones and Michael Palin. Their success with Monty Python's Flying Circus led to a series of movies, including Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which is a huge part of my childhood, because I discovered Monty Python and fifth grade. So I was introduced to the movie and to the flying circus show, the live at the Hollywood Bowl comedy show that I used to rent from the video store. But they had the TV show had the animation in it. And it'd be just weird. Like there'd be either a giant foot stepping on things or giant people's faces eating stuff, which is weird, but funny. There are so many iconic skits, the one about spam and the man dressed as a woman that hates spam, and the person that the Silly Walks coming in and with a Dead Parrot trying to figure out what's wrong with it. The influence of Monty Python in the world of comedy has sometimes been likened to the influence of the Beatles on popular music besides just the connection to They're both British. It helped that the group had creative control over Monty Python's Flying Circus and the movies. So they could just go wild with whatever their imagination desired with these skits and movies, it was such a huge part of my childhood to once I discovered Monty Python, then it was just wild. And the funny thing is, you know, fifth grade was 1989. So here I am, with friends just reciting things from the Holy Grail movie, and its stuff that was even at the time was over 15 years old. It's like being late to the party. I would highly recommend just going onto YouTube and typing in Monty Python and just finding whatever pops up and just watching a few of the skits. Maybe you'll love it. Maybe you'll hate it. It might not be for everyone. But 52 years ago, this week in history, Monty Python's Flying Circus made his debut on the BBC One Channel and comedy was changed forever. And now we've got a new time capsule. We're going to go back 35 years ago this week to October 7 1986. Why? There is no why I just wanted a random date to throw in and give you what was going on back then. The number one song was when I think of you by Janet Jackson. This was off of her control album. It was Janet's third studio album and was her real big breakthrough. It had so many hit songs, including control and nasty and what have you done for me lately, but when I think of you became her very first number-one song on the Billboard Top 100 And in the time since Janet Jackson has had a total of 10 number one singles on that chart. The number one movie was Crocodile Dundee starring Paul Hogan, and Linda Kozlowski, Crocodile Dundee was from Australia. This movie created so many catchphrases and memorable scenes. It's that classic fish out of water-tight movie, where you've got a guy from the Australian outback that comes to downtown Manhattan. It was a massive hit, making $328 million on a budget of $8.8 million. It also spawned a pair of sequels, Crocodile Dundee two which was, you know, not as successful, but it was still passable, and then Crocodile Dundee and Los Angeles from 2001, which was pretty much an epic fail. The number one TV show was the Cosby Show, which anchored the Thursday night lineup on NBC. It was on for eight seasons, and 201 episodes. And basically from the time it debuted until it went off the air. Basically the show was number one every time it was on. It was groundbreaking for showing a successful African American family living in Brooklyn Heights with the Huxtable family being led by Cliff who was an obstetrician and his wife, Claire, who was a lawyer, it's widely considered to be one of the top sitcoms ever and one of the most influential TV shows ever. The Cosby Show was one of the defining shows of my childhood end of the 1980s in general, and for a little fun if you were going back to October 7 1986. This one is to my family who may be listening to the podcast. If you needed some clothes dry-cleaned on Cape Cod back in 1986. You could go to Roberts one hour cleaner, which was owned by my great uncle Roland at the time he had three locations. Orleans Hyannis, the one in Yarmouth was one I remembered the building is still there, but you could go to Uncle Roland’s dry cleaner, get a two-piece suit dry clean for $4.10 or a three-piece suit for $5.10. My uncle Roland was a very unique character. He was very good at dry cleaning, obviously with three locations, but that one's for the family. So go back to October 1986. You can find those ads in the local newspaper archives, which was a fun little trip down memory lane. And that's going to wrap up this week's time capsule and this week in history. We'll be back next week with another one which may or may not include a special birthday shout out Well it definitely will. But now we're going to jump into the new top five top five North Shore attractions in Massachusetts. This is one of my favorite places to visit anywhere. And this was a hard list to come up with. So here I go trying to narrow it down
Top 5: Massachusetts North Shore Attractions
Massachusetts North Shore is filled with amazing places to see it is a spot that I love. to go and visit, for me, it's more than an hour and a half drive to get there. So usually when I go it has to be an epic day trip or something. It's not just to go there and take a few pictures and come home, it's got to be a full day. And I wanted to share my favorite places to go and visit. And when I started making this list, I realized how difficult that was going to be. I immediately came up with two dozen places I wanted to share, but because this is a top five, I narrowed it down to five and then I threw in some honorable mentions. For those of you not familiar with the North Shore, I'll do my best to describe these places. But for the rest of you, you know what I'm talking about. You'll hear them and shake your head. Yes. Honorable Mentions for top five places on the Massachusetts North Shore include Thatcher Island twin lights, Revere Beach, Parker River Wildlife Refuge, Castle Hill, Eastern Point Lighthouse, and Hammond castle. I don't want to go too deep into descriptions of all of those because I try to keep these segments relatively manageable in length, so just feel free to look them up. I will put as many links in the description of the podcast as I can to help you find them. And if you have any questions on any of them, just shoot me an email Christopher setterlund@gmail.com. So let's dive into the actual top five North Shore Massachusetts attractions number one is Marblehead lighthouse. This is part of Chandler Hovey Park in Marblehead. This lighthouse, it's a skeleton tower. It overlooks Marblehead Harbor, which is always filled with boats. It's just an incredible scene. It's 105 feet tall and is the second lighthouse on the site, replacing the old tower in 1895. It's the only skeleton-type Tower in New England. And for photographers, there are so many different vantage points to get this lighthouse either against the sky or with the boats. You have to go and see it. Number two is Lynch Park in Beverly, located at 55 Ober Street, it's right on the water. But the main thing that this is known for that puts it in my top five is the Rose Garden. The flowers are beautiful, but the architecture that makes up this garden is what really makes it stand out. And what makes it unique is that it's basically the foundation of what was President Taft's summer White House. You can go any time of year but I would recommend obviously and when things are in bloom, so you can get the full scope of color mixed in with the ocean view and the architecture of this garden. Number three, motif number one in Rockport. This is one of the most painted sites I believe and all of the country. You know it when you see it if you don't know the name motif number one, you know the red fishing shack adorned with buoys out in the harbor at Rockport near Bearskin neck. It's located on Bradley Wharf in Rockport. It got its name from French painter Lester Hornby. He would teach painting classes up on the north shore in the summer, and it said that one of his students came to him with the painting of motif number one, and I guess everyone painted it because it's an easy spot to paint. And he exclaimed what motif number one again, and the name stuck. It was originally built in the 1840s and was destroyed in the blizzard of 1978 and was rebuilt. So what you see is a replica, an exact replica of the original. Number four is the entire peninsula of Nahant. This may be a little bit of a cheat, but the hunt itself which is a little fist of land connected by a thin causeway. It's just the whole thing is incredible. It reminds me of being able to drive either to the vineyard or Nantucket. It is the smallest town based on land area in the state with only one square mile of actual inhabitable land. But there are incredible views all around its ocean. You can see the Boston skyline. It's right near Lynn. There's no hot beach. When I went there the first time they had a Dunkin Donuts Cafe which looked like something from the Florida Keys. Despite its small size, it still has a population of over 3500 As of 2019. But even if you don't go to the hot beach or stop anywhere to take in the sights if you just drive it there's just a feeling and a vibe with Nahant. It's like an escape from an escape because the whole North Shore especially along the coast is incredible. But then Nahant sticks out into the water and you can look back at Marblehead and Lynn and Swampscott and just see it all. So it's a cheat, but it's not a cheat because I definitely recommend even taking the drive. It'll take you five minutes to drive around Nahant, but definitely stop and check things out along the way. And finally, number five on the top five, Massachusetts North Shore attractions is the man at the wheel statue in Gloucester. It's officially known as the Gloucester fisherman's Memorial. I've always heard it referred to as the man at the wheel. It's literally a fisherman with a big ship steering wheel. He's got the rain gear on in the hat and he's overlooking the water. It's iconic. It was built in 1925. And it's dedicated to all the fishermen who have died doing their jobs in Gloucester because Gloucester is a huge fishing village, and it's got the inscription on the statue, they that go down to the sea in ships. And in front of it, there are several memorials with lists of the ships that have gone down out there, including the ship the Andrea Gale, which was made famous in the movie the perfect storm that sunk in 1991 Gloucester is one of my favorite places to go period and it's gonna get its own road trip segment later down the line in the podcast, but the man at the wheel, the Gloucester fisherman's Memorial, might be its most well-known spot, but who knows, you may agree or disagree. That's the top five North Shore attractions in Massachusetts in my opinion, in no particular order. We had marble head light Lynch Park motif number one, Nahant and the man at the wheel. What did you think of those of you had been to? Do you think there were others that should have made the list I had a lot I had to whittle down. But that's what happens when it's a place as awesome as Massachusetts North Shore.
Back In the Day: 900 Numbers/Hotlines
Growing up in the 1980s and the 1990s, there were a lot of unique fads that went on that went out of style as time passed on. One such fad that cost parents lots of money at times was the 900 number/hotline fad that went on. Basically, it was different bands, and different movie stars, where you would call a number and they would tell you things, they would typically charge you a certain amount for the first minute and then usually a little less for the additional minutes. And they would try to keep you on the line to charge you as much as possible. And a lot of kids got charged roll it should say their parents got charged. But 900 numbers didn't become the bane of existence for parents of the 80s and 90s. At first, it was Information Services. And the way they got started was in 1980, when ABCs Nightline asked viewers who they thought would win the presidential debate between Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter. And for 50 cents viewers could call one of two numbers. And AT and T recorded the number of calls for each to see who the viewers would think would be the winner. Based on the success of that debate polling the 900 numbers services kind of grew from there, where people could call a 900 number and hear recorded or a live message. The first real big one to take off was in 1982 when more than a million people called what eventually will become known as the dial a shuttle 1-900-909-NASA to listen to live conversations between ground control and the astronauts. Later in 1982 when the Tylenol tampering scare came Johnson and Johnson used a 900 number to release updates to the public. In the beginning there was no interactivity, there was no using the touch-tone phone to select Options. It was just straightforward. But that all changed real quick. So when the first full year of service that AT and T did 900 numbers, they recorded 10 point 9 million calls. And that may sound like a lot but it was nothing compared to what came. It was in 1987 that at&t started the national program that allowed 900 numbers that provided information or audio content, it allowed them to earn money from their numbers. So that's where the idea of the 900 numbers saying you'd set up a price of say $2 For the first minute and whatever for each additional minute. This new concept took off. Of course the first numbers while at least the majority of the first numbers that came along for the 900 numbers that you had to pay for were adult chat lines. And the Rumors were that these people that had those basically phone sex numbers became immediately wealthy practically overnight by 1989 AT&T had been joined by MCI and Sprint with the 900 numbers, a company called advanced telecom services from 1989. They first came out with crossword puzzle line news in conjunction with the New York Daily News. Before the days of the internet, they also created a large network of sports lines and emphasize college football recruiting. So for example, they had a Florida Gators one called the gator bait hotline. And one fan in 1992 said he spent $400 monthly on calls to that hotline. There were personal ads similar to match.com. Now, but that was predating it, there were celebrity hotlines. By 1993 There were more than 10,900 numbers. And it ran the gamut everything from like I said phone sex numbers to interactive Wheel of Fortune, hurricane relief assistance, voting for Miss America or even Microsoft technical support. For $60, you could call a 900 number and listen to a full three-hour live broadcast of Penn State football 60 bucks. But it was really under-regulated at the beginning. It was like the Wild West. So in 1988, just after the real big rise of 900 numbers, Congress passed a law that banned phone sex lines. And besides that there were a lot of problems with scams and fraud with these numbers. A few of the most notorious cases involving children with these hotlines included a 17-year-old who charged $10,500 on the phone bill for using chat lines. A boy with a disability was charged $8,000 for a phone quiz. And there was a girl who called Corey Haim’s hotline 216 times. By 1992, the Supreme Court had followed through on the blocking of phone sex lines, which basically moved all of the adult numbers over to 800 numbers were billing was done by credit cards instead. The year before that. So 1991 was the biggest year for 900 numbers, and the overall billing was $975 million charged for 900 numbers in 1991. Interestingly, though, in 1992, the year after the Supreme Court passed that law, the billing dropped from 975 million to 550 million. So that leads me to believe that 400 Something million dollars was for phone sex. By the dawn of the 21st century, though the 900 number was dying with the rise of the Internet. And it was becoming harder for these phone companies to collect from people for the 900 numbers because they would challenge them, especially if it was their kids doing it. The end of the 900 number boom came in 2012 That was when Verizon who owned MCI announced that they were done carrying 900 numbers. So that was basically the end of it. I remember my sister Kate calling the New Kids on the Block hotline. I'm sure she'll love me sharing that. But what were some of the most well-known 900 numbers that ever came around. Well, I mentioned the Corey Haim fan hotline, Corey Haim and Corey Feldman had one together. There was a HeMan hotline. Paula Abdul's hotline, there was Hair Metal bands like Warrant had their own hotline. There were phone lottery games, where basically you would call in and if you were the lucky caller, you'd win it was like a scratch ticket with a phone but I mean, talk about a scam. They had the grandfather from the monsters had his own hotline. Tiffany the singer from the 80s dial a joke hotline. They had dial an insult hotline, Spin magazine playlist. They had one for video game hints. They had a weird one that crying hotline that was basically said what makes people all over America break down and cry like this in the ad and it was $2 a minute. 1-900-740-3500 to call and have someone make you cry. Then there was Freddy Krueger is hotline. I'm sure that was good to hear before bed Santas hotline naturally. I'm sure kids really dialed that one up. You could call the LA nightclub guide hotline to find out where to go and party 1-900 This B I T, this B it says Jose Canseco’s hotline where he basically says in the video, if you want to know if I do steroids call my number. I mean, she's some of these when I went through him to look them up, I just had to laugh imagining calling them. I don't remember if I called any 900 numbers, maybe a wrestling hotline once, but that New Kids on the Block one boy that got a lot of mileage out of my sister, did you call any 900 numbers back in the day? Do you remember any I wanted to make sure that I gave kind of the history, but then shouted you out some of the most well-known ones, so that you could maybe get something triggered in your head. Everyone from sports teams to wrestling to Santa to jokes and insults to famous bands and then not so famous bands, everyone had seemed had a 900 number. Those of you that grew up past the 90s You'll never know what it was like to call a special hotline and have someone talk real slow on it to make sure that you stayed on the line to milk you out of as much money as possible. But that was a trip way back in the day to the heyday of the 900 number, the hotlines and mostly scams that went with it.
Closing
And that'll wrap up the Big 4-0, the 40th episode of the podcast is done. My voice held up pretty well. I had to pause at times to get a drink. But I made it and I hope you enjoyed everything that was featured in this week's podcast. Make sure to check me out on Instagram. For the without a map live streams every Friday night at 8pm. Find me on Twitter, subscribe on YouTube where I put up a lot of videos I'm trying to do more for K New England videos. It's beautiful in the fall so you might get some nice colorful foliage videos. All six of my books are available through Amazon Schiffer Publishing the history press. Or you can go to my website Christopher setterlund.com, which was created and is updated by my oldest friend Barry Menard, I always mention him. Be sure to go check out the in my footsteps podcast blog where I'm going to be sharing all sorts of scary and creepy stories from New England throughout the month of October. If you want to buy me a coffee and support the podcast, you can go to buy me a coffee.com Find the in my footsteps podcast there any donations go to advertising the podcast, kind of reinvest in myself. The best thing you can do though, for the podcast is just to share it. Tell people to check it out. New England travel history, lifestyle, nostalgia, all that stuff's sewn up into one nice quilt. That's really the best thing you can do to get more eyes on it. And I appreciate each and every one of you that has taken the time to listen to this. Interact with me through social media. That's what makes it great is I love doing this. Recording this even with my allergies kicking in, it's still a lot of fun because it's topics that I find that I think you'll enjoy, and then talking about them and laughing about them like the 900 numbers. content creation is a lot of fun. It can be a lot of work, but I enjoy it and I hope you enjoy what I put out there. So without giving away spoilers I want to give a special shout out Happy birthday to my niece Emma that's going to turn 20 Before the next podcast comes up. So I didn't want to do a birthday Time Capsule this week because this podcast technically went up before your birthday. So next week, episode 41. You'll get a time capsule for your birthday. And I hope you like it and I hope it embarrasses you somewhat. I won't embarrass you much here. Speaking of episode 41 coming next week will be the 41st episode, I'm going to have another creepy tale from New England it's going to be the Smuttynose axe murders. I won't give much more away the title kind of tells you what happened. We're going to do another road trip. This is going to be an epic fail of my attempt to drive the Blue Ridge Parkway. That's a funny one to laugh at me about. We're going to have a new top five list that's going to be my picks for the top five underrated Cape Cod attractions. We're going to go way way back in the day where I talked about what it was like reading Fangoria magazine, which was a horror movie magazine. I think it's still around but back in the 80s It was great. So we're gonna dive into what that was like. And as I said, there'll be a new this week in history and time capsule with a time capsule centered around my knees, Emma's birth date from 2001. All of that and more coming up next week. on Episode 41, fall is beautiful in October is beautiful on Cape Cod in New England. Make sure you get out there and enjoy the sun, get that vitamin D because when winter comes and the days get really short, that's when mental health becomes an even bigger priority. So enjoy it while you can. Make sure you take advantage of that. Make sure you take care of your mental health above all else. Whatever makes you happy, lean into that as long as you're not hurting anyone else. What does it matter what makes you happy, just do that. lean into it. Whether it's making podcasts like this, or photography, or exercise or painting or music or whatever. Do what makes you happy because that makes life a lot easier. And we all know, life is tough enough as it is adulting is not always fun. But remember, in this life, don't walk in anyone else's footsteps. Create your own path and enjoy every moment you can. Because you never know when the next sunset could be the last sunset. Thank you so much to all of you who have tuned into the first 40 episodes of this podcast. I really appreciate it. And I'll be back next week for episode 41. Check out the live stream. But until then, have a great week. Have a great weekend. Enjoy it all and I'll talk to you again soon.