Key West: Ghosts, Chickens & Corpse Roommates

0:00 Speaker 1: Hey, they're weird history lovers, and welcome back to the

0:03 Speaker 1: Strange History Podcast, where history gets weird and weird gets historical.

0:09 Speaker 1: I'm your host, Amy, and today we're diving into the

0:12 Speaker 1: flip flop wearing, ghost infested, rum soaked paradise of Key West, Florida.

0:18 Speaker 1: We also welcome my friend Dan, who works for Baked Goods.

0:22 Speaker 1: This week, he has earned himself a lovely loaf of

0:25 Speaker 1: sourdough bread. You might think of Key West as just

0:28 Speaker 1: beaches and pastel houses, but this tiny four mile island

0:32 Speaker 1: has been home to pirates, poets, haunted dolls, drunk secessionists,

0:37 Speaker 1: and even a guy who lived with a corpse like

0:39 Speaker 1: it was no big deal. So slip into your Hawaiian shirt,

0:43 Speaker 1: grab a key lime cocktail, and let's explore ten strange

0:47 Speaker 1: but true stories from the quirkiest island in America. The

0:52 Speaker 1: main story of this episode involved the literary legend and

0:55 Speaker 1: cat lover extraordinaire Ernest Hemingway and the polydactyl Pieirates of

1:00 Speaker 1: Key West. Ernest Hemingway was a man of many talents, writer, adventurer,

1:06 Speaker 1: big game hunter, war correspondent, deep sea fisherman, and drinker

1:10 Speaker 1: of truly herculean proportions, but perhaps one of his most

1:14 Speaker 1: unexpected legacies lingers not in libraries or war journals, but

1:19 Speaker 1: on four paws, padding around a luscious state in Key West,

1:23 Speaker 1: a colony of six toed cats. Let's rewind to the

1:27 Speaker 1: nineteen thirties. Hemingway had just landed in Key West thanks

1:31 Speaker 1: to a delayed delivery of a Ford roadster that was

1:35 Speaker 1: meant to be his wedding gift. He and his second wife,

1:38 Speaker 1: Pauline Pfeiffer ended up waiting for the car for three weeks,

1:42 Speaker 1: which is how they discovered the laid back, sun drenched

1:45 Speaker 1: paradise that is Key West. They fell in love with

1:49 Speaker 1: the island and stayed. The Hemingways eventually moved into a

1:54 Speaker 1: beautiful Spanish colonial house at nine oh seven Whitehead Street

1:58 Speaker 1: in nineteen thirty one, a house that had been built

2:01 Speaker 1: in eighteen fifty one and came with one of the

2:04 Speaker 1: first modern swimming pools in Key West and a pretty

2:08 Speaker 1: spicy origin story we'll get to in a bit. Now

2:11 Speaker 1: to the pause with extra claws. Hemingway was gifted a

2:14 Speaker 1: white six toed cat named snow White, yes really, by

2:19 Speaker 1: a ship captain named Stanley Dexter. I'm sorry, but when

2:23 Speaker 1: I think of ship captains in Key West, my mind

2:26 Speaker 1: conjures up pirates, and none of them are named Stanley Dexter.

2:30 Speaker 1: But I digress. Polydactyl cats, those with more than the

2:34 Speaker 1: usual eighteen toes, were especially beloved by sailors, who considered

2:39 Speaker 1: them good luck. Their extra toes supposedly helped them balance

2:43 Speaker 1: better on ships during rough seas. Hemingway, who adored the

2:47 Speaker 1: sea almost as much as the written word, was enchanted.

2:51 Speaker 1: Snow White wasn't just a novelty pet. She was the

2:54 Speaker 1: matriarch of a feline dynasty. Over the years, her many

2:59 Speaker 1: pod progeny multiplied, lounged on sun drenched balconies, napped on

3:05 Speaker 1: antique furniture, and strutted through the garden like they owned

3:08 Speaker 1: the place, which in a way they still do today.

3:14 Speaker 1: There are around fifty cats living at the Hemingway Home

3:17 Speaker 1: and Museum, and about half of them are polydactyl. Some

3:21 Speaker 1: have six or even seven toes on each paw. They're

3:24 Speaker 1: still referred to as Hemingway cats, and they all carry

3:28 Speaker 1: that mystical bloodline from old snow White.

3:32 Speaker 2: Cat names and cat drama. Because felines are very dramatic creatures.

3:38 Speaker 1: The cats at the Hemingway Home are named after famous

3:41 Speaker 1: celebrities think Audrey Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart, Liz Taylor, and yes,

3:46 Speaker 1: even Ernest Hemingway himself. It's a tradition that dates back

3:50 Speaker 1: decades and continues today in the same tongue in cheek

3:53 Speaker 1: spirit Hemingway might have appreciated. And if you're wondering, yes,

3:58 Speaker 1: the cats roam freely. They climb on Hemingway's typewriter, nap

4:03 Speaker 1: in his bed, and have even been known to chill

4:05 Speaker 1: in the bathroom sink. They are not caged, leashed, or

4:10 Speaker 1: limited in any way, though they are well cared for

4:13 Speaker 1: by a dedicated team of staff and veterinarians. There was

4:17 Speaker 1: even a legal kerfuffle in the early two thousands when

4:20 Speaker 1: the US Department of Agriculture tried to regulate the cats

4:24 Speaker 1: as an exhibit under the Animal Welfare Act. It turned

4:28 Speaker 1: into a four year court battle involving debates about whether

4:32 Speaker 1: the cats were working animals or just really chill residents.

4:36 Speaker 1: In the end, the cats won the right to stay

4:39 Speaker 1: tail high and smug.

4:41 Speaker 2: The Hemingway life in Key West.

4:44 Speaker 1: While the cats were prowling the grounds. Hemingway was living

4:47 Speaker 1: his best chaotic life in Key West. He spent his

4:51 Speaker 1: mornings writing in a studio above the carriage house, and

4:54 Speaker 1: his afternoon's fishing, boxing, drinking at Sloppy Joe's, and collecting

4:59 Speaker 1: enemies and ex wives. That pool we mentioned earlier, Pauline

5:04 Speaker 1: had it installed while Hemingway was away covering the Spanish

5:08 Speaker 1: Civil War. It cost twenty thousand dollars at the time

5:12 Speaker 1: a small fortune, and when Hemingway returned he was furious.

5:17 Speaker 1: Legend has it. He pulled a penny from his pocket,

5:20 Speaker 1: slammed it into the wet cement, and declared, Pauline, you've

5:24 Speaker 1: spent my last red scent. You can still see that

5:28 Speaker 1: penny today, embedded near the pool.

5:30 Speaker 2: Hemingway's island inspiration.

5:34 Speaker 1: Many of Hemingway's most famous works, Like To Have and

5:37 Speaker 1: Have Not the Green Hills of Africa and for whom

5:40 Speaker 1: The Bell Tolls were written, drafted, or brainstormed while he

5:44 Speaker 1: lived in Key West. It said the island's unique blend

5:48 Speaker 1: of salty air, tropical heat, and eccentric characters inspired the

5:54 Speaker 1: vibrancy and grit of his storytelling, and through it all

5:58 Speaker 1: the cats were there corners watching birds from the veranda,

6:03 Speaker 1: purring on Hemingway's lap as he wrote into the early hours.

6:07 Speaker 2: Legacy of the Hemingway Cats.

6:10 Speaker 1: Today, the Hemingway Cats are a quirky cornerstone of Key

6:14 Speaker 1: West's tourist scene. Visitors come from all over the world

6:18 Speaker 1: to see the house and the cats. They even have

6:21 Speaker 1: their own veterinarian and each one is documented, named, and

6:25 Speaker 1: monitored with the seriousness of a historical artifact. They live

6:30 Speaker 1: in feline royalty, lounging under the shade of banana trees

6:35 Speaker 1: or snoozing in Hemingway's old bed like they own the place,

6:39 Speaker 1: which again they kind of do.

6:41 Speaker 2: So.

6:41 Speaker 1: If you ever visit key West, stop by the Hemingway home,

6:46 Speaker 1: walk past the penny in the cement, look up at

6:48 Speaker 1: the breezy windows of the old writing studio, and nod

6:52 Speaker 1: politely to a cat with too many toes. You're in

6:55 Speaker 1: the presence of literary legacy with whiskers. Let us move

7:00 Speaker 1: onto some more quirky weirdness coming from the Keys.

7:03 Speaker 2: The kank Republic. When key West declared war on the US.

7:09 Speaker 1: In nineteen eighty two, the US Border Patrol set up

7:12 Speaker 1: a checkpoint on the only road in and out of

7:14 Speaker 1: the Keys. Tourists were furious, and so were locals. Key

7:19 Speaker 1: West's mayor, Dennis Wardlow, declared independence, forming the Knk Republic.

7:25 Speaker 1: They declared war on the US hit. A Navy officer

7:28 Speaker 1: with stale Cuban bread surrendered after sixty seconds and applied

7:32 Speaker 1: for one billion dollars in foreign aid local account. Kank

7:37 Speaker 1: Republic Admiral Peter Anderson said, our motto is we succeeded

7:41 Speaker 1: where others failed to this day it celebrated with passport

7:46 Speaker 1: stamps and a water balloon naval battle.

7:49 Speaker 2: The corpse bride of Key West Carl Tansler's macabre love.

7:55 Speaker 1: Carl Tansler, a radiologist, became obsessed with a tuberculosis patient,

8:00 Speaker 1: Elena Hoyos. After her death, he stole her body and

8:04 Speaker 1: lived with it for seven years, reconstructing it with wax

8:07 Speaker 1: and silk. Eyewitness quote a neighbor said, we thought it

8:11 Speaker 1: was a mannequin in his window. Nope, it was Elena. Disturbingly,

8:17 Speaker 1: many locals viewed him as a romantic figure rather than

8:20 Speaker 1: a criminal. Key West folks.

8:23 Speaker 2: This next one gave me nightmares. Robert the Doll, the

8:27 Speaker 2: original Chucky.

8:29 Speaker 1: Robert the Doll is a handmade doll created around the

8:32 Speaker 1: turn of the twentieth century and is said to be haunted.

8:36 Speaker 1: He was once owned by a boy named Robert Eugene Otto,

8:39 Speaker 1: who treated the doll as if it were alive. Robert

8:42 Speaker 1: the doll is said to have a mischievous and even

8:45 Speaker 1: malevolent spirit. Visitors have reported unusual happenings, such as the

8:50 Speaker 1: doll's eyes following them or experiencing great misfortune after disrespecting him.

8:55 Speaker 1: He now lives in the Fort East Martello Museum. There

8:58 Speaker 1: is a story about a woman who who mocked Robert

9:01 Speaker 1: and afterwards she dealt with the consequences. When her fiance

9:04 Speaker 1: left her, cat ran away and she lost her job,

9:08 Speaker 1: she mailed him chocolate and an apology. Her luck improved

9:11 Speaker 1: the next day. He receives over one thousand apology letters

9:15 Speaker 1: a year. No Really.

9:17 Speaker 2: Chicken rights activists unite.

9:20 Speaker 1: Chickens run wild in Key West. A two thousand and

9:23 Speaker 1: four attempt to remove them led to mass protests. Activist

9:27 Speaker 1: Melinda Booth said, I hand fed a rooster named Eduardo.

9:31 Speaker 1: When the city came, I chained myself to his coup.

9:35 Speaker 1: Eduardo survived. The chickens now reigned supreme.

9:39 Speaker 2: Sloppy Joe's Bar Crawl with the Bar.

9:43 Speaker 1: In nineteen thirty seven, Sloppy Joe's moved locations after a

9:47 Speaker 1: one dollar rent increase. Patrons carried everything, liquor, barstools, even

9:53 Speaker 1: the urinals down the street. I witness quote.

9:57 Speaker 2: We didn't spill a drop except for one drink. We

10:02 Speaker 2: mourned it.

10:03 Speaker 1: Now it's a bar and a legend. It was Hemingway's

10:06 Speaker 1: favorite bar in Key West, a place where he drank

10:09 Speaker 1: many a night away during the nineteen thirties. He plotted

10:13 Speaker 1: out and wrote about two thirds of his published works there.

10:16 Speaker 2: Sas in the Afterlife Key West Cemetery or epitaphs with attitude.

10:22 Speaker 1: In Key West, even the tombstones have sass. The most

10:26 Speaker 1: famous reads I told you I was sick. That's engraved

10:30 Speaker 1: on the grave of B. P. Pearl Roberts, a local

10:33 Speaker 1: woman with a sense of humor as strong as the

10:36 Speaker 1: rum runners of yore. Then there's the man whose headstone

10:40 Speaker 1: says devoted fan of Julio Iglesias. Not a lie, just

10:45 Speaker 1: very very specific, and another that reads I'm just resting

10:50 Speaker 1: my eyes honestly same. This is a cemetery where people

10:54 Speaker 1: embraced the afterlife with the same laid back irreverence as

10:58 Speaker 1: they did their island life. A tour guide has said,

11:02 Speaker 1: we deal with death the same way we deal with hurricanes,

11:06 Speaker 1: with humor and rum. You'll also find iguanas and chickens

11:10 Speaker 1: lounging among the tombs. Of course, the sponge economy that

11:15 Speaker 1: soaked the nation in the eighteen hundreds, Key West thrived

11:20 Speaker 1: on sponge diving. It was risky and involved long, dangerous dives.

11:26 Speaker 1: Here's a quirky family story. A diver's granddaughter said, myabuelo

11:31 Speaker 1: lost fingers to a mora eel. He'd wave stumps at

11:34 Speaker 1: us and yell sponge tax. The trade died, but the

11:39 Speaker 1: tails live on the bathtub.

11:41 Speaker 2: Navy fighting Hitler with plumbing.

11:45 Speaker 1: During World War II, the Navy built fake warships from

11:48 Speaker 1: wood and bathtubs in Key West to confuse German subs.

11:53 Speaker 1: A veteran was quoted as saying the ships wouldn't float,

11:56 Speaker 1: but they looked real if you squinted and were drunk.

12:00 Speaker 1: Not exactly d day, but hey, they tried key.

12:02 Speaker 2: Lime pie, the sacred dessert. I must make a note

12:06 Speaker 2: to request this as payment for the next podcast.

12:09 Speaker 1: Amy ropes me into, noted Dan Key lime pie is

12:14 Speaker 1: deadly serious business. Must be yellow, never green, and never

12:18 Speaker 1: ever topped with merangue. When Miami claimed credit, locals threw

12:23 Speaker 1: pies at a cutout of the Miami Chef felt good,

12:27 Speaker 1: said local baker Sheila Warner. In two thousand and six,

12:32 Speaker 1: Florida named it the official State Pie Battle one. So

12:36 Speaker 1: there you have it. Ghosts, Pies, secession, and chickens with lawyers.

12:41 Speaker 1: Key West is where history gets strange and never apologizes.

12:46 Speaker 2: This episode is dedicated to Amy's friend Amy. Yes there

12:50 Speaker 2: are two of them. Yes you can feel sorry for me.

12:54 Speaker 2: Thank you, Amy for the recommendation for this episode. You rock, sister.

13:00 Speaker 1: Don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, and maybe send

13:03 Speaker 1: Robert the doll a thank you card, just to be safe.

13:07 Speaker 1: This was the Strange History Podcast. I'm Amy. Until next time,

13:11 Speaker 1: Stay weird.