The Strange Disappearance of The Leatherman • Mystery Files
Vložit
- čas přidán 8. 06. 2023
- Use WATCHER8 to get 55% off your first month at Scentbird sbird.co/41WwmPj
This month I received...
Black Orchid by Tom Ford sbird.co/3WAAuU4
Versace Man Eau Fraiche by Versace sbird.co/3WvdJ3N
Guilty Pour Homme by Gucci sbird.co/4381SLG
Sensitive topics: physical distress, death
Have you ever found yourself on a Wikipedia deep dive on the weird side of the internet? In this show - weird thing enthusiasts Ryan and Shane take turns presenting their latest fascinations to each other covering everything unusual, unexplained, and unhinged!
Watch The Fifth Episode NOW:
/ watcher
MEET US ON TOUR!
www.watcherentertainment.com/...
WATCHER MERCH:
watcherstore.com/
HOSTED BY
Shane Madej
WITH
Ryan Bergara
DIRECTOR
Carter Lau
PRODUCER
Brittney Lee
EDITOR
Anthony Frederick
MOTION GRAPHICS
Diana Arana
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Jucel Andrin
RESEARCHER
Stacey Marbrey
WRITER
Rob Blake
PRODUCTION COORDINATOR
Carter Lau
CAMERA OPERATORS
Luman Kim Jay Tran
GRIP & ELECTRIC
Jay Tran
SOUND MIXER
Ben Forman
SET DESIGNER
Billy Jett
SET DRESSER
Arron Haro
ILLUSTRATOR
Rafael Mejia
PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS
Brendon Ryu Violet Rawlings
POST PRODUCER
SAM YOUNG
ASSISTANT EDITOR
Frank Parker
HEAD OF DEVELOPMENT
Katie LeBlanc
HEAD OF PRODUCTION
Lizzie Lockard
HEAD OF POST PRODUCTION
Sam Young
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS
Steven Lim, Ryan Bergara, and Shane Madej
Social
/ wearewatcher
/ wearewatcher
/ watcherentertainment
/ wearewatcher
Business Inquiries:
hello@watcherentertainment.com
Music Provided by Audio Network
SFX by Audioblocks
Watcher Logo Designed by Jennet Liaw
Watcher Logo Sound Design by Yuta Endo (@yuuutaendo)
Watcher. A network from Steven Lim, Ryan Bergara, and Shane Madej. - Zábava
Use WATCHER8 to get 55% off your first month at Scentbird sbird.co/41WwmPj
:)
Ok
Love You guys so much! Leave a hearth ❤❤❤❤
Dear boys, will we ever see some more of Ricky Goldsworth in the future? I miss the guy…
Will there be version of hotdog saga in next debrief? 🌝
“That’s when the leading cause of death was January.”
Absolute fantastic line by Shane.
@@xOscarAx it gets cold in the winter and people get sick or there’s not a lot of food for the cold months
I wish Shane had written my grade school textbooks
@@sunsun5005 me too!
Cracked me right up 😂
That's a line from last year's Ryan Reynolds and Will Farrell Christmas movie "Spirited"
"Have you ever wanted to be big? Or even average sized?" Shane kills me.
Ryan's face and splutter absolutely sent me.
Shane went for the throat lol
ryan went like ✨️ThE AudaCiTy✨️🤌🏻☻️
@@razaldazal2259 And that “coffee” went for Shane’s throat. Cue more Ryan confusion
I lol'd lmaoooo
For the debrief: I used to live along the Leatherman's loop, but I have never heard of this particular folktale before. Curious, I asked my mom and she told me that not only did we apparently live right next to one of his caves, but apparently she read that our house used to be a priest's house and when it was too cold the priest would let the Leatherman come into the house for the night. Long story short, apparently the Leatherman was in my HOUSE. Question for you guys: would you let the Leatherman into your house on a cold winter night?
I grew up in the area as well, you can take a hike at Pound Ridge to one of his caves
I dunno man forensics back then didn't exist he could off me and no one would even know he was there. Kinda risky lol Super cool story about your house.
No motherfuckers he's staying outside with the wind plus that leather gotta be cold and noisy as he walks around yeah he's getting roasted and staying outside
first thats cool as fuck second absolutely i would gotta help out a guy in need that said id sleep on the other side of the house i have germaphobia
That's so cool! And yeah I'd help Leatherman out, he can crash by my fire anytime!
Love that Ryan spent the whole video refusing to touch Shane’s horrid leather getup but as soon as Shane said it would be for the audio of the hug he did it. Dedicated to his craft.
I love that.
lol
He's a true professional
the timing of the “sponsored by Scentbird” destroyed me
How...was grave robbing not a theory? I feel like if people were so obsessed "finding his treasure" in his caves, they'd have no problem robbing his grave
mmm i think they'd leave evidence behind/would be noticeable if they tried so maybe thats why
exactly!
@@moon16879 I mean it took them several years just to put a marker on his grave, so who’s to say it didn’t happen
@@____Carnage____ yeah thats true, i guess i was just thinking that if you worked in the cemetery for a while you'd probably notice if someone tried to rob a grave
@@moon16879Not really. Grave robbing was a whole moneymaking thing back in the 1800s and early 1900s. And a lot of people were taken from graves without anyone ever knowing until they confessed or were otherwise found. Theres still probably a lot of people that are not in their graves that we dont know of
I love that these townspeople got so hyped about some random guy wearing leather coming to town.
Lol. Did they see that season of American Horror Story before the rest of us?
I find it wholesome that they were happy to see a guy wearing leather in their town.
I know right. Taking the day off school to greet Leatherman seems awesome.
@@daisyjoy242 when I was a kid we'd all go mad for the scrap iron man. He collected scrap metal once a month and would blow a trumpet and yell "any old iron" and people would bring out their scrap for him, we would all wave at him and he would wave and toot his trumpet at us
Probably not much else going on back then
Shane quoting matt berry’s “neWw YoRk CitAyyyy” makes me so unbelievably giddy with happiness
Was hoping to see someone talk about it, that wild WWDITS reference made my day!
Was looking for that comment :D
made me wanna rewatch WWDITS before the new season comes out
Literally same x
RIGHT!! I REPLAYED IT A FEW TIMES
Honestly, the E-zek identity is most believable to me. Someone choosing to wear a heavy and uncomfortable leather outfit and continuously walk a circuitous route, relying on other people's generosity, speaking little, and praying sounds like a biblical penance someone would take on if they knew they were dying and feared the state of their soul. He might have been from French Canada.
Perhaps Ezekiel
I agree, he sounds like he had mental health issues and the first two explanations are just two 'clean cut'. Like neat little narratives. Real human lives are more messy and complicated than that.
I like how most the theories revolve around how much people had an affinity for leather 😂 that one actually makes some sense though
Could also be the French pronunciation of “Isaac,” adding to the Biblical references
@@SorceressRinthe second identity is clearly manufactured. he didn't cut wood, only used fallen branches --> parents where woodcutters. only wore leather --> some story about a guy losing his happy life because of leather.
I like Ryan’s theory that leatherman was distant because he feared infecting people. Dude was probably just lonely and grateful that people cared enough to feed him
I also wondered if what we were seeing was a case of untreated mental illness , or a neurodivergence of some form.
@@finnbakker I 100% believe that. Even know lots of mentally ill ppl get homeless with no care. Wouldn't be surprised if he eventually got sicker and sicker, was able to hold/find a job, lost his home, etc.
@@finnbakker I’m not a gambling man but the dude who walked around in the same leather suit for 30 years I would absolutely bet had unchecked and undiagnosed mental disabilities.
He wouldn’t have been contagious! In plain terms, he died of sepsis when one of the sores in his mouth (caused by the autoimmune disease Lupus) became infected. Although you can pass the main infection onto others, sepsis is not contagious. And he’d have to drink after them, kiss them, etc. etc. to spread that particular infection. Not that he knew that though 😂
@@maddielkaye thanks! I suppose it's likely that he might have thought he was contagious, considering that germ theory back then still wasn't commonly well known. I just hope that he was happy during his life!
“Are you telling me the government could be incompetent?” is the most real thing Shane has ever said, I need that on a shirt
It’s the same energy as “if you ever think ‘the government wouldn’t do that’ oh yes they would”
@@mauratyson9580 I’d love to see a Watcher and Wendigoon collab
@@tossoutacc9241 that is a damn good idea, we need to petition that
@@georgeDeming I feel like Shane and Wendigoon would get along really well even though they have completely opposite supernatural beliefs, they’re just chill like that Fr
On a shirt in a shirt they shrilled with glee
I'm an archaeologist and we find outlines of graves with no bones all the time. I've never worked with such a "young" grave but in general, organic materials may deteriorate but things such as nails from the coffin will be left behind. The temperate climate of the area and the presumably acidic soil may have created the ideal conditions for organic material to deteriorate relatively fast. I imagine the coffin wasn't of a high quality either, so I think the first option is very possible.
The lupus may have also impacted his bone density. There may have been nothing left far sooner than another body in the same conditions may have.
@@ephrem3476Oh yes, absolutely! Very good point. I've seen examples where the bones had more spongy texture thus creating more surface area, and it of course speeds up bone decay way faster (those were from people who had either been pregnant or had syfilis, noticeable in the pelvis and eye sockets, respectively), but an autoimmune disease like lupus will definitely affect bone density!
@LPdedicated yeah! I trained as an archeologist before switching to anthropology due to some health issues becoming disabiling. Even something as simple as an iron defficency could have made his bones pretty porous. I doubt a man eating only liquids had a great balance of necessary nutrients in his diet.
Curious, do you think the leather suit could have survived the soil conditions? I am doubting the autenthicty of the leather suit worn by the "200 year old living leatherman", myself.
FWIW he probably didn't have lupus as we understand it today. 19th century doctors used the term very broadly to describe necrotic patches or open sores on the face, so he probably had mouth or tongue cancer, hence his only being able to drink liquids. the fact that he was able to make his circuit around New England on foot, in such a consistently timely manner, probably rules out any mixed connective tissue disorder.
Super cool! Thanks for sharing
love the idea of using “friend of leatherman” as a phrase. similar to “friend of dorothy”
except being a friend of the leatherman just implies that you’re ok with a random man eating food on your porch
Shane: billionaire, philanthropist, professional ghoul boy, puppet master, and also... Leatherman now? There is nothing Shane cannot do.
because there's no one left to stop him
They've also called him "daddy" in one the episodes. So I guess he could technically be called a Leather Daddy.
Toss some flesh on him and he's a bear, too.
The man is unstoppable.
Also a bridge owner
@@luke-wp8vc I knew I was forgetting something important!!
Can you imagine how Leatherman smelled? Imagine a jar of peanut butter. Now, imagine that jar of peanut butter was a homeless French man that walked around New England wearing leather, head to toe, for years. That's how he smelled.
Excellent reference.
This is hysterical 😭😂 I hope Shane sees this lmfao
60 pounds of it in summer time. Yikes! That’s not just peanut butter, it has “experienced” some things.
My six year old refuses to let me wash his dressing gown because apparently it 'smells like peanut butter'.
Oh my gosh, make a petition for "imagine a jar of peanut butter" to become the new bungee gum meme/copypasta
You guys should investigate the button man from Victoria in Australia. Apparently he is still around. He is known for sneaking up on campsites and leaving buttons in tents with photos taken of campers sleeping. He has even been rumoured to be involved in the disappearance of 4 hikers. There are still reported sightings of him, it’s really creepy
damn
That is heck'n terrifying D:
Well thats nightmarish. Also, button man is an oldish term for hired killer.
Yeah you definitely gassed this up a bit lol
Victoria in general is weird. They're too far south.
As a native French speaker, I can tell you that yes, E-zek is very close to how a French speaker pronounces Isaac, so it probably was his real first name (or at the very least a fake real name). 🙂
If in fact the name the witness reported was an actual French name spelled phonetically, that seems fairly credible.
I find it absolutely hilarious that Shane gets to write off his leather outfit as a work expense.
Or do you think he already owned it?
@@robineaken4524 i dont know which option i find funnier
needs to add baby powder to the list of work expenses so he doesn't get so slick in his work outfit!
@@robineaken4524 I think he did own already. Because _I_ think.... he *IS* THE LEATHERMAN
This didn’t age well
Man, this Shane person seems to know a lot about obscure historical events. He should be on Puppet History, I bet he would get along really well with The Professor!
Yeah we need to get Shane to guest star as a contestant.
Hehe 🤭
I agree!
Idk about that, with the professor flirting with his girlfriend and all...
Person? No he is a demon❤️
As someone who really hates how invasive we are toward peoples' personal lives, I really appreciate the historian who advocated for us to respect leatherman's wish to be left alone.
shane has that john green energy of “you’d be an incredible high school teacher but I’m so glad you’re not”
shane's outfits are getting progressively more insane and i LOVE it
Sasha and me ghost hunting together 😁
It was his first episode shot, but it's a great series finale
REAL, ME TOO
he's going to make a great eccentric old man someday
More in-shane*
You can see in Shane’s eyes how badly he wants to say “unsolved” instead of “still a mystery” 😂
They got their own touch anywhere they go
I literally scrolled down to say that E-zek was probably Isac when they got there themselves. It's interesting that, being New England, everyone came up with France as his place of origin and not say Canada. French trappers brought in a lot of the fur trade and at that time I think the Hudson Bay Company had a monopoly. They would have been all over Canada at that point, but the company originally came out of Eastern Canada near the American border, hence the name. It's just interesting it never came up in any of the theories at the time as to who he was.
It's so sweet how the townspeople all loved this man and enjoyed seeing him coming around to visit their town.
I would absolutely believe that the doctors/medical examiners kept the body to use as a cadaver. Rare untreated condition example and all that. Totally thought they’d get away with it too, like “he’s just going to a paupers grave, who’s gonna doubled check we actually send it?”
Even barring his illness it was extremely common at this time for bodies to be sold for medical students to work on. This was my immediate theory as well!
And then maybe medical examiners sold his leather?
Yup I thought body snatchers but it would make sense if they cut out the middleman and buried an empty coffin.
I thought about this too, but one important part in body snatching (or just keeping the body for medical research) is that it had to be super fresh, which is why body snatchers acted as soon as possible after the burial. This guy however, had already been dead three or four days before it got to the medical examiner, and in a cave where he would have been partially exposed to the elements. Maybe add another half day from the moment he was found to the end of the autopsy. Would he still have been fresh enough to be used in medical training/research? My grandpa worked at the morgue for some time, mostly just to assist in embalming and carying bodies, and he said even bodies relatively fresh (dead for a day or two) already smelled horrible, so I'm wondering if this one would have been okay after this time.
This is the most logical solution.
Shane’s consistent need for being small in little teeny tiny spaces is one of my favorite on going jokes
It's my favorite thing, too. Precious lil bab.
Maybe being tall is more traumatic than we thought
I just think this case reminds me of that Millverine guy in Milwaukee that redlettermedia talked about, he was a dude that looked like wolverine that would walk around town and was a local meme and mystery.. But then someone interviewed him and he was just some tl weird dude and ruined all the mystery
@@mlokgerm as a tall man myself, I can say yes to this. I also have dreams of being small. In fantasy games, I always play goblins or dwarves. I just want to be able to reach the lower shelves of stores without needing to be a yoga master 😔
@@Lunch_Meat in this description I imagine you reaching the lower shelves with the same pose a giraffe uses to drink water
Growing up in this area, my dad told me all about Leatherman and took me hiking to visit several "Leatherman Caves." It was one of several ways he instilled a curiosity in me about the area and the world at large.
He passed away last October, and it makes me so happy to see stories like this kept alive via channels like this.
Getting to see Ryan ask say things like "let it be a mystery" and question the credulity of a supernatural entity like a man being 200 years old is just perfect. I love this. Shane did a great job with the presentation of it all too.
"She died several months earlier of death" might well be the the best sentence ever uttered.
Also, excellent pronunciation of New York City, Shane. Truly impeccable.
he was channelling Laszlo from What We Do In the Shadows there
@@babahu15 which is yet another marker of Shane's incredibly amazing taste
Love knowing that Shane has such impeccable taste!
I feel like it's very closely followed up with " R: I suppose it's 1861 at that point. S: Yea, that's when the leading cause of death was January."
true comedic gold right there pals
@@babahu15 That's why he had to get that joke cleared.
For the debrief: it is entirely possible that due to the Leatherman's lupus, his bone density had changed and made his bones more brittle. With a higher acidity in the soil and an untreated wood casket, common for the type of burial, it wouldn't take long for the bones to decompose. The only thing that would be left would be the metal nails.
That's a really good point about bone density, and since it was a pauper's funeral, they might not have even used a casket. Those nails could be entirely unrelated.
I think this makes sense and I think Shane and Ryan thought so too, but then got hung up on the picture in the article about the exhumation attempt - the picture shows a wooden coffin for some reason. Which _is_ confusing because it contradicts both the "the only thing left were nails" AND the "they exhumed the wrong burial plot" thing. If it was the wrong burial plot, then why was there still a coffin there, considering a body wasn't found? Seems unlikely to just bury an empty coffin randomly. It would make sense if they dug in the wrong spot because the grave was not even marked until 30 years after Leatherman's grave, and even then it was just a metal pipe not an official headstone. So it makes sense it was the wrong place - it would actually be kinda crazy if they _did_ know the exact grave location 30 years later without any marking - but then why would there even be a coffin without a body (since Leatherman's body disappeared) in the wrong spot? That part doesn't make sense, so I understand why Shane and Ryan would be preoccupied with that. It doesn't make sense to me that a coffin was even pictured at all.
And hair and fingernails and toenails.
@@alex-fs9yt That occurred to me too but later in the video they mentioned that the nails and soil were reburied in a new coffin. The photo may have been of that.
What about the coffin? Acid can surely melt down wood or board material , however nails aren't so easy to melt down. Just the body was missing the coffin laid still
Can't believe they ignored the most obvious and definitely plausible answer for the disapperance of old Leathery's body. Aliens. You're telling me if aliens were watching these shenanigans go down they wouldn't immediately pull an 18th century doctor and steal the body for research? That's almost as unbelievable as ghosts!
11/10 episode and season, keep up the amazing work!
I think the museum that said they "purchased" the suit after he died, is BS. My theory is, since Shane said they had been searching for him for years, they caught wind of his death and grave-robbed the sight. In order for that to happen, they would've had to be present when he was buried, which Shane also said hundreds of people were in attendance when it happened. That wouldn't be hard to do if you were trying to track this guy down for years. I think the nails found were the old nails they pried off while exhuming the grave, and were unable to put back in. Due to the alleged acidity of the soil, that could be a reason. Also, it looked as if the coffin was resealed, giving reasons to the nails being inside the coffin, and the coffin looking seemingly untouched. After taking the suit, which would have been insanely gross to due given the fact it most likely fused with the corpse, they offered another vagrant to wear the suit on display for pay. The man probably got sick like they said, (from disease of course) and decided to put it on a wooden model. It would be easy to find a freshly dug grave, either the night of, or day after the burial. Anyone who's walked through a cemetery knows that lol. Also, 100,000 dollars in the late 1800's is quite a lot of money. What happened to the body however, could have been anything.
Grave robbing was also my first thought lol
This one makes me happy. Some guy 150 years ago decided to live his best life and wander around wearing all leather. Everyone was entranced. They made up legends about him and awaited his timely return. And we're still fascinated til this day. It's a case of true human whimsy
It's said that someday, he will return!!!!
Seeing Ryan and Shane become friends again through the wholesome spirit of the Leatherman truly warms my heart.
LOL, the sound of the leather when Ryan hugged Shane!!!
Friends again?
were they not friends before lol?
@@prash5203 it's a reference to that episode where shane joked that their friendship ended, i already forgot the reason he started that bit, but it was funny
@@lexigrimhaive Remember the bit in the last show where Shane declared they were not friends but may be friends again. It was rather funny.
I love that Shane referenced WWDITS. One of my favorite shows and i love that the boys watch it too lol
So glad I'm not the only one who caught that 😂😂😂
wonderful Wally Daniel in the street?
@@buttgutwhat we do in the shadows. It's a show about vampires that live in Staten Island, NY based on the movie by the same name.
I love that sometimes someone can be wholesomely bizarre enough that people tell stories about them like they’re a mythical creature hundreds of years in the future
Question for Shane: Did you already own all of the amazing stylish leather clothes or were you so touched by the Leatherman's story that you immediately had to buy your own leather suit to honor him?
Real and high quality leather is pretty expensive so I assume the production cost covered it, so they could get a tax write off.
@@CharlieKling7 Just from looking at him, that outfit is pleather. It does not look like really leather; also real leather would be super expensive and uncomfortable.
@@HeyLeFayreal leather is not uncomfortable and breathes better than “vegan leather” aka pleather which is literally just plastic
nothing could have prepared me for shane's outfit
I hadn’t even started the episode saw your comment and thought oh it can’t be that crazy, and I was wrong 😂
It really suits him, though.
he committed to the bit!!
The preview they showed last episode could have prepared you..
Alternate theory: Shane is the Leatherman, making this episode to throw us off track.
i love that shane acknowledges when he doesn't agree with what he's reporting (like calling homeless people tramps or supporting the one lady for having multiple lovers)! i tend to do the same when i'm talking about history and whatnot with people, lol
I feel like some sort of slight judgment on her cheating on at least 2 of her husbands is somewhat warranted
Are we seriously supporting cheaters now? Fucking modern world has gone to shit.
@@bugvideos2030Only slight judgment? She cheated on TWO separate people, ALL of the judgment is warranted.
Shane slays each outfit he wears no doubt. From looking like a 80s dorky scientist assistant one day and the next a bad boy sleek cowboy
If he thinks about it, all spaces are small for a giant
He would play an awesome cowboy... HORSESHOES!
I'm an Osteoarchaeologist and bones can absolutely more or less disintegrate in the right conditions. Usually there's a little something left like hands, feet, sesamoid bones or teeth and it usually takes more time than he was likely buried for, but it can happen. There's also other factors ... I kind of wonder if he was buried in his leather suit if that might have sped up the process somehow. Also in some excavations if there is a need to go fast a digger can go straight through a grave and scatter it without people noticing. I've also unfortunately observed inexperienced archaeologists trowelling straight through bone that they didn't recognize as such if it's too soft. But if there were just nails left behind that really points to his body just disintegrating in the soil. Sometimes all you're left with is the grave cut.
Exactly! I literally nearly missed some (cow) bone just yesterday whilst trowelling bc it just sorta Crumbles sometimes (and the ground is full of chalk here too, so the colour is camouflaged). This mystery feels solved to me tbh
I just went through a very interesting bit of searching as I was curious about this (I am still nowhere near as knowledgeable as an osteorarchaeologist obviously), but apparently bones can decompose within 30 years depending on the soil (could you confirm this? I want to make sure I read the right information). So yes, I agree with you, it would make total sense that the body would be fully decomposed after 122 years in acidic soil.
I mean, not to mention it could have been the grave of someone who had been buried longer, making it even more likely for the bones to disintegrate. It could easily be both the wrong grave AND the actual person there had been acid soiled away.
Yeah my dad grew up working at a cemetery and he told me about a story when someone was digging up a grave to have it moved. And the digger broke the casket and grey goo spilled out everywhere. Not fun not fun at all
@@Donald_Dump420”try the gray stuff, it’s delicious… don’t believe me? Ask the dishes”
shane saying 'New York citay' in Laszlo Cravensworth's voice is everything to me
In regards to theory 1: As someone who lives next to a graveyard in the Netherlands, where due to space constraints graves are generally temporary unless you keep paying for them, and thus bodies are dug up, so new graves can be moved in, it takes 10 to 15 years for the body to fully or almost fully disintegrate. The church in the middle of the graveyard faces west, so on the northern side the ground is wetter. On that side it takes 10 years and all you'll find is the metalware that was on the coffin. On the south side it takes 15 years and then you might find some pieces of the cranium. The leather man had been buried there for decades, disintegration is perfectly normal. Fossilisation is actually a process that rarely happens. But because the only bodies that we see are fossilised, there is a survivorship bias
My fave thing about this series is that Ryan and Shane both get to be victim and perpetrator of silliness
As all good friends should 😄
Am I the only one who thinks Shane's presentation voice sounds suspiciously like the Professor's? Anyway, This one was really fascinating. Just imagine gaining celebrity status from just wandering between towns your whole life. Also, I'm pretty convinced that Leatherman was indeed a Madej ancestor.
Now that you mention it...
They might be related
Wonder how recently his folks moved from Poland…
Hmm. 🤔 Must be he's a big fan of the Professors presentations so he's subconsciously copying his way of speaking.
literally felt like I was watching puppet history. LOL
as a connecticut native who lived near one of these towns, "leatherman day" is exactly the kind of mind-numbingly boring yet fascinating festivity i'd expect from this state
The theory that immediatly popped into my head: you said that there were people opposed to analysing his DNA to discover who he really was, so what if these people exumated the body, and then disposed of it (burned it, ...)? So that his iddentity will remain a mystery.
There is a BIG gap between writing a letter to the newspaper and digging up a body.
I just don't see someone both wanting to respect The Leatherman's desire to remain anonymous, while also disrespecting the hell out of his remains by burning or disposing of them.
@@HeyLeFay they could've exhumed the body and buried it somewhere else so they wouldn't find it maybe?
The house where I grew up was actually on the leather man’s route and was one of the ones he often stopped at for food so it’s very cool to hear Shane and Ryan talk about - for the Post Mortem I remember being taught that the best behaved kids at a school were the ones allowed to go out and share food with him - would this have worked for either of you as a reward when you were little?
^This comment needs to be part of the debrief!
Visiting the caves as a field trip was the highlight of elementary school!
@@Brian-tx5ez definitely! I remember we also had a reenactor who came to tell us stories in them though his outfit was not as cool as Shane’s
I think the boys would love the story of the Mad Rat River Trapper. Guy led a large manhunt in Northern Canada and scaled an entire mountain on his own, avoiding the police camped out on the only two paths up and down the mountain. He also was the first time planes/helicopters were used on a manhunt in Canada. Another "wait, but who the fuck was this guy??" story, since spoilers: nobody knows who the fuck he actually was. I think they'd have a lot of fun with that one
I'd never heard of this, so I googled it...what a wild story!
I had the exact same thought.
I doubt they will since it seems they're only doing cases where nobody was murdered, which isn't the case with the Mad Trapper of Rat River. Also, that one might be solved soon as they're doing genetic genealogy on him and have a few leads.
@@Marzi29 I hadn't heard it might be solved soon! that's cool news. Either way, we'll just have to see if they're cool with covering 100 year old deaths in the future. There's plenty of cool stuff for them to cover that does and doesn't have any involved, I'm excited to see how they go about it
Question for the debrief: What if someone stole his body? It seems like people were oddly obsessed with him and it doesn't seem that far fetched to think that some creepo stole his body. Also, Leatherman gives me major Jeepers Creepers vibes
Shane’s comment about it being January is what killed her made me laugh so hard!
This was super fascinating!!
"He walked creak creak creak
No matter what the weather
He walked creak creak creak
In 60 lbs of leather
He walked creak creak creak
And no one knew his name
But he returned every 34 days"
- a song I learned as a kid growing up in CT
What's the melody?
Yeah that last line really throws off the rhyme
@@TimothyPossible yah gotta have an accent so it rhymes with name like nayhme
@@TimothyPossibleslant rhyme babay
“And we celebrate her for that” was the best way to not sound judgmental when you are passing gossip that I’ve ever heard
the way i absolutely HOLLERED just now over shane’s wwdits “new york citayy” GOD im so happy they watch that too 😭 it’s my favorite show ❤
For the debrief: you guys should have guest hosts everyonce in a while, where they present a solved mystery to ryan and shane who then guess the actual answer and see which ones right. Like a true crime jeopardy
As a western CT citizen, I was excited to see Leatherman appreciation! Poor old soul. My grandpa told me that Leatherman had a hole in his cheek caused by disease and had to hold a piece of leather up to his face while he chewed food so it wouldn’t fall out, though I don’t know if there was any documented evidence of that, or if it was just part of the legend. We like to think his spirit found peace in the forests out here.
Wow. That was likely either cancer or syphilis if true
@@maddieb.4282 Or, y'know, the lupus
@@EL-jq1sqI mean, people can have multiple health conditions. and I don't think lupus causes.....extra facial holes.
@@xyzzyx4839 You're right that people can have multiple health conditions, but lupus was the only one mentioned in the video so I assumed that was all the autopsy found.
Lupus can cause ulcers in the mouth so I think that maybe one or more got so bad (like they got infected) that the lesions formed a hole through the cheek. Either way, this is all conjecture based on hearsay so who knows
Most "Leatherman scholars" have said that it was cancer that killed him, specifically a cancer that started in his lip and spread throughout his mouth and throat. The Leatherman was recorded to have been an avid smoker, even by 19th century standards. Concerned locals tried to get him to the hospital for treatment, but the Leatherman refused. (Source: "The Leatherman: An American Vagabond" by Jon Scott Bennett czcams.com/video/W-ujARKkDs0/video.html )
I’m delighted that Shane watches what we do in the shadows
call me crazy but I think the man could be on the show. They had a fuckin impractical joker on last season why can’t Shane be some immortal freakazoid
@@FortuitousWench he needs to play a demon lol
HES SO REAL FOR THAT (its very unsurprising that man has great taste)
Wait where was it referenced in the video? I missed it. Anyway he has great taste I love that.
@@SolarpunkVince when he said "Ñeeewww York Citaaaaayyyyy"
Honestly outstanding Matt Berry impression I've never been able to master how he says New York Citay
Can you imagine the weight of The Leatherman's suit? Imagine a jar of peanut butter, and then imagine 60 pounds of peanut butter. That was it.
It is mildly upsetting, but mostly funny that Shane switches from collar up to collar down every other cut.
He can’t decide whether he’s hot or cold
god once you point this out its. what the hell.
Now why the fuck would you point that out?? Can’t stop thinking about it now bruh
its indicating his excitement level
Archaeology student here, as for the first theory; it makes a lot of sense. In the actual articles there's no mention of a present coffin, just nails presumably left behind after the coffin disintegrated.
As for the soil acidity, soil does not need to be 'hyper-acidic' to destroy bones. In areas with acidic soil bones generally will not be found as it eats through non burned bones at a rapid rate.
This was driving me nuts, lol. Why would there have been a coffin with loose nails in it, and why would anyone have theorized they dug in the wrong spot, then? 😂
@@AardvarkAdventure @FionnTheHuman Shane did say at first that all that was left were nails in the shape of a coffin, but I think Ryan misunderstood it as "there was still a coffin" and repeated it later so they both ended up being confused. A body will generally take less than 50 years to fully decompose in regular soil (around 10 years for the flesh, up to 30 years for the bones). So 122 years in acidic soil? Makes total sense it'd be totally gone. Shane and Ryan getting confused about the presence/absence of a coffin is the only reason they did not go directly for that theory as the most plausible. It also drove me crazy to see them walk away from it so easily.
@@manon_0411 I think they were taking the picture in the article as 'see, there was still a coffin.' when actually that picture was of them reburying the nails in the new burial site.
@@manon_0411 I think people get confused because we sometimes find bones and stuff from 1000's of years ago, even millions. Those aren't NORMAL circumstances, we only have those bones because they were either fossilized and aren't bones anymore or because something about their final resting place prevented them from decomposing, either deliberate or by chance. Bones aren't rocks (unless they're fossilized) and I'd imagine he didn't have a fancy embalming and an expensive hefty coffin and 122 years is pretty long to be able to find bones even under those conditions.
another archaeology student here, yeah that checks out. especially if the coffin nails were actually in the shape of where the coffin was, but it could have also be another unmarked grave if theory 2 is true. either way, not weird, bones degrade
Leather is porous and can breath and allow moisture to pass through or repel it without soaking it up because it is essentially just treated "skin"
Also, tanning a leather back in the days used something called tannin, a biomolecule that came from tree bark that binds to protein (the leather) and prevents its decay.
It is said that tannin has antimicrobial properties.
It's possible that The Leatherman's outfit didn't stink as bad as you think it did, if at all.
You also tan with animal brain, it's called brain tanning.
I think it’s the man in the suit that stank, not the actual suit.
@@whatabouttheearththanks for sharing bro
Might explain why it was outfit of choice
Ryan: What was her cause of death?
Shane: DEATH
😂😂
Also the leading cause of death at the time being January is the most accurate period description I’ve ever heard 😂
For debrief: I go to school for archaeology and there are many precedented cases of disintegrated remains in highly acidic environments. For example: the burial of the egtved girl from Denmark around 1300 BCE actually has no DNA or skeletal remains in her coffin due to the highly acidic environment surrounding it, but her hair and brains were preserved through time. Bodies and bones preserve based entirely on the location they were left. Taphonomy is the field, and it’s very fascinating and informative for both the archaeologist and the forensics fanatic alike.
I'm also an archaeology student but not much into bioarch -- genuine question, do you think it's possible for the body to disintegrate that fast? I'd at least imagine the exhumers would find bone fragments in the soil when they attempted to relocate him.
@@flora1316 I’m not personally that versed in taphonomy as my cohorts. However from them I know that bones can actually disintegrate within a 20 year time frame if the soil is acidic enough!
@@msthatweirdgirl the teeth are gone later than the bones cause theyre more sturdy so sometimes you have burials where there is only the teeth left and no bones
@@flora1316 it was 150yrs, perfectly reasonable I would think? (also very excited for you both studying Arch, hope you‘re having a fantastic time -an archaeologist)
Also an archaeologist (specialising in post-medieval thanatology), and yeah, preservation of bodies is weird. I've seen examples of 200 yr old burials where you only get a coffin shadow and no remains, and others where you have fully preserved internal organs. It would be interesting to know what the preservation was like in the rest of the cemetery.
For the debrief: Wasn't this happening around the time it was pretty common for grave robbers to steal bodies for doctors to use for training? Because if so, a pauper's field would be a perfect place to rob since most didn't record who was buried where, and people wouldn't be likely to notice the theft.
I had the same thought and went to google (my search history is now even weirder than before). New York was the last US state to pass laws saying bodies could be donated to science in 1854, decades before the Leatherman died, so it's still possible but unlikely that his body was lost due to medical graverobbing. And if no one was parading his body around, we can assume nobody dug it up for fame and fortune either.
Hi guys! Im loving all the conversation about decomposition!
Wicker caskets are exactly as you said, intended to speed up the decomposition process. The more oxygen introduced to the body the quicker it breaks down.
Pine coffins will have a similar effect, and in a highly acidic soil (like in New England) it is reasonable for someone with lupus to have completely decomposed.
Anyway, love you guys a lot!
i'm so glad you guys are talking about mysteries that are more "light-hearted". i liked unsolved true crime but it was quite depressing most of time. thank you for making this incredible show!!
Love the fact that this dude is walking around and the towns as a whole are like "This is the coolest shit ever"
most interesting thing going on in 1880's connecticut
He was their favorite influencer of the time
You guys for next season you just HAVE to look into The Button Man in Victoria Australia. His story is wild and so interesting and so so creepy. My friend who camped in his "area" with her school (Timbertop at Geelong Grammar School) had an experience with where when the kids woke up the next morning all their shoes/cooking supplies had been re-arranged. Please it would be so fun
@@frankiebaxter2590 omg did you run into the button man ever 👀
12:33 idk why but Ryan saying this with a dead expression made me chuckle, I can’t tell if it’s sarcasm or he’s so invested he forgot he’s on camera
Shane in his laslo era with his “New York citeh” and the leather hat resembling that of a witches skin lmfao
Anthropology student here! Lots of other people have discussed how theory 1 could be possible but I wanted to talk more on the exhumation of the grave in the first place. I think there is a tendency to dehumanize people in the name of “knowledge” or “science”, particularly when it is human remains (especially “rare” remains, like that of Indigenous people / historical figures). Its rather disturbing how easily we throw away the concept of respecting a persons remains just because a prominant person/people want to known more under the guise of academia.
i agree wholeheartedly, just because it's a ~*~mystery*~ doesn't mean science/academia/the public are owed answers at the expense of this person's privacy and autonomy
yeah its pretty strange how bad people wanted to know the personal history of this dude tbh. like do you walk up to random homeless people on the street and start demanding to know their whole life story like they're a soap opera character? what does it matter whether he's french or not? he was literally just some guy trying to survive, struggling with things that either legitimately prevented or made him feel like he couldn't return to society.
glad to see Ryan is listed as Shane’s friend again at the start, so happy they’ve resolved their little spat
they had a little spat?
@@milkflys i think it was in the debrief before this episode, not a serious one they just joked about no longer being friends
Love the What We Do In The Shadows reference
This kind of sounds like an old-time case similar to that of Amou Haji from Iran. Dude had a bad time in his youth per his own words, experienced a serious mental break, and just kinda lived the rest of his life in the wilderness, not bathing, not going indoors, avoiding civilization in favor of just doing his own thing. Amou Haji isn't even his real name, just a nickname. The community nearby looked out for him as much as he would allow until he died at the age of 94.
For the Debrief: Have you guys wondered, what if someone just took the body as soon as it was buried? Of course, there is a chance the resting place marked by the pipe was a miss, but he had plenty fans around the years. Plus, they could have taken the body to search for evidence about the mysterious treasures! Btw, Shane, I loved this whole vibe!
Even if Leathman's burial site wasn't what was marked by the pipe, what WAS being marked? Why would someone bury and mark an empty coffin? We're positive that the coffin was found, right? When Shane explained it initially I thought he meant JUST nails were found.
@@Laurencasualtyy Exactly, it gets messier the more you think about it. Why would someone clip their nails or Leatherman's nails in the first place and WHY would they leave it there? It has something to do with spiritual practices or they had no better alternative to leave behind? The other part is that, even if it was not Leatherman's resting place, then who laid there and why would only nails be left behind? I find it oddly disturbing that they think low soil pH did the work. If it was the case, more than half of the plates and memorial tablets, and overall the graves would have been mortally 'digested', too. Do we have any information on that?
Nails and an “outline of a coffin,” which says to me the coffin was no longer there.
@@andrealiliom2539 Uh i dont think nails mean fingernails.. i think it’s the coffin’s iron nails
Not to mention regular grave robbers
Ryan's flabbergasted reaction to Shane roasting his height at 9:56 absolutely slayed me. 💀
His soul escaped for a second
Mystery Files is their best series, hope they continue it. Reminds me of the old days. :)
i love whenever shane hosts the mysteries bc he’s always like “what do i think? oh yk idk man 🤷♂️ “
This team is awesome with getting subtitles up, instead of relying on auto-generated subs. 👏
it's so helpful!!
I'm hard of hearing but not bad enough I need subtitles for 99% of the time but still makes me appreciate them more when someone takes the effort to actually make accurate ones
I agree. I love to watch their videos while eating so when I’m chomping down on the food, the subtitles are very handy
@@haziqshariff2367 actually, same for me lol
my auditory processing is so shit it’s unreal so the captions are always welcome lmao
We have a rooster who has "kitty carrier time" where he tucks himself into a small cat carrier we have on our porch. He gets so happy and makes coo-ing noises the whole time. Maybe Shane needs something like this 😂
That is UNBELIEVABLY adorable. 😻
There are a couple of dogs at my daycare that will pretty much ask us to put them in a crate for a bit so they can relax without worrying about the puppies running all over them. 😂
@@alexw.7097 Yeah, I understand that! 😂
@@partfish6290 Tbh, I wish I could do the same thing sometimes. They're a lot of fun but wrangling a bunch of puppies is *Exhausting,* I'd love a little nap too! 😅
Shane saying "New York City" with that Laszlo Cravensworth/Matt Berry tone was literally everything I never knew I needed in my life.
8:25 I love this entire series of editing! Ryan jokes with Shane, which is then followed by Shane genuinely entertaining Ryan. You can tell by the look on Ryan's face. 😁You guys are the biggest dorks and you know how to play well with each other, but your team knows exactly what to do and how to capture/edit moments like those, which is what makes your guys' videos the best! Thanks for the laughs! ✌😜
Shane preventing himself from saying "unsolved" in the intro is so funny 😭😭
Could you imagine being the Leatherman? Just wearing leather and walking from town to town, and people find you so strange that it becomes a "thing", and all the kids run out to greet you and the adults call off school and cook meals for you, and it's just such a BIG DEAL that you exist?
grew up near Burlington and Harwinton ct. I have never heard of the legend before which is interesting. honestly, the love story parts are too sensational to be 100% true. In the present, people in that area of ct don't have enough to do and love good town gossip/drama or debate. Back to Leatherman, I think he probably just spoke a different language. It's more probable he's French Canadian than actual French. French Canadians came to new england during the post-civil War period to work in factories/mills. I also believe he could have not interacted with people for years, especially in places like Harwinton, which is a more rural area. he could have hunted and fished to sustain himself during most of the year. Harwinton would have been more spread out and more heavily wooded than other locations like New Britain or Bristol. it wouldn't surprise me that he would have traveled to avoid jail time and maybe seek some seclusion. ps locals don't pronounce a G in Harwinton took me a decent chunk of my childhood to figure that out
Omg I found you guys!!!!
After Buzz feed unsolved and supernatural.. I've had a Ryan and Shane sized hole in my life. I had no idea (somehow) that this channel existed. My life (pathetic as it may be,) is now complete.
For the debrief: did anyone consider that maybe the coffin and body were stolen? He was a popular guy at the time of his death. And for the second theory, if the pipe was put in the wrong spot and he isn’t buried there, have they not looked in other places in the graveyard?
Tbf, if the soil really is that acidic, he wouldn‘t be anywhere else in the graveyard either anymore
A bit morbid, but stay with me here… Considering the popularity his life/death garnered, it’s not a stretch to imagine someone becoming obsessed with him and exhuming his body to add to the mystery or to sublimate some delusional thought/urge.
@@coletietjen6017 nah fr like grave robbing wasnt uncommon and he was well known so…
@@tairneanaich I was kind of separating that theory with the second one tbh like what if it wasn’t that acidic - I find it hard to believe something could be that acidic in the ground without it affecting other things
That would take a lot of exhumation
dude whoever is doing the sound design on these are KILLING IT. production value is HITTING. making it special in its own way to unsolved and elevating the format to fit their styles better. nice job boys!
Shane making a WWDITS reference??? Iconic.
i love the commitment to the 'never saying unsolved' bit
As someone who has done historical research on some 19th century cemeteries, I have encountered several instances of straight up not knowing where a person was buried, who was buried in a certain spot, or if there is a body or not in a plot. If the records have been lost (which happens a lot) and there is no one alive who remembers anymore, it is extremely hard to find that stuff out.
There's a big old cemetery near my hometown. My great great grandparents and a bunch of other people interred there had their graves moved at some point. I know at least a few went missing at some point and some unmarked were found. It's a really pretty cemetery. At least one murder and one "self un-aliving" happened there.
I had to go on a field trip there for English class in grade school. They told us some ghost stories about it.
It was really nice of Watcher to hire a professional Leatherman reenactor to present this episode! It was a nice touch!
For the debrief: Since this whole show is dedicated to odd stories that may or may not be solved, will you revisit the watcher case that you covered when you were doing buzzfeed unsolved? At the time you covered it, it was a relatively new case and now you're whole company is called that, so maybe that would be an interesting one to do?
That'd be really cool, but I don't think there's been any real updates in the case! ( Except the TV show reenactment)
When Shane brought up the exhibit again I remembered how they were like "oh don't get too close, he bites!" and my mind immediately jumped to they bought his body off of the cemetery and were passing him off as living. This is much less horrifying.
EDIT: Wanted to say I see a lot of medical graverobbing theories, but it's unlikely. New York passed laws in 1854 that legalized obtaining bodies for medical education (mainly the impoverished and/or unclaimed bodies) so if he was buried there was no incentive to dig him up.
There's nothing like catching a Watcher episode when it first comes out. That intro is amazing!
Edit: could it be possible that The Leatherman was a former fur trader? He spoke French and wore leather.
God when Shane hugged ryan the height difference became so obvious it made me tear up of emotion
i find myself giggling at the short jokes directed by ryan, then i snap back to reality and remember im 4'11
@@victai163 still lucky iam 4'9 😂
@@victai163I'm 5'1"
Def can't comment
As an archaeologist with some training in physical anthropology I would have to go with theory #1. Seeing as he was buried for about 120 years in a "pauper's grave" (simple wooden casket, maybe a linnen shroud, definitely no embalming) in an area with acidic soil, I 100% believe that everything apart from the nails would have decomposed. It is generally more common for bones to decompose than it is for them to stay in their original composition anyway. Thanks for the great video guys!
In case anyone is interested:
Bones are mainly made up of the mineral calcium held together with the protein collagen. Only a couple of enzymes can break down collagen, which means that the conditions need to be right for the bones to decompose. Generally this means the right type of soil and enough water for the enzymes to reach the bones. After the collagen has been broken down the calcium still remains, but will get washed away and mixed in with the soil. A soil analysis could show where a body was buried, as the minerals and other components left behind can alter the composition of the soil.