Key West: Ghosts, Chickens & Corpse Roommates

0:00 Speaker 1: Hey, they're weird history lovers, and welcome back to the Strange History Podcast, where history gets weird and weird gets historical. I'm your host, Amy, and today we're diving into the flip flop wearing, ghost infested, rum soaked paradise of Key West, Florida. We also welcome my friend Dan, who works for Baked Goods. This week, he has earned himself a lovely loaf of sourdough bread. You might think of Key West as just beaches and pastel houses, but this tiny four mile island has been home to pirates, poets, haunted dolls, drunk secessionists, and even a guy who lived with a corpse like it was no big deal.

0:40 Speaker 1: So slip into your Hawaiian shirt, grab a key lime cocktail, and let's explore ten strange but true stories from the quirkiest island in America. The main story of this episode involved the literary legend and cat lover extraordinaire Ernest Hemingway and the polydactyl Pieirates of Key West. Ernest Hemingway was a man of many talents, writer, adventurer, big game hunter, war correspondent, deep sea fisherman, and drinker of truly herculean proportions, but perhaps one of his most unexpected legacies lingers not in libraries or war journals, but on four paws, padding around a luscious state in Key West, a colony of six toed cats.

1:25 Speaker 1: Let's rewind to the nineteen thirties. Hemingway had just landed in Key West thanks to a delayed delivery of a Ford roadster that was meant to be his wedding gift. He and his second wife, Pauline Pfeiffer ended up waiting for the car for three weeks, which is how they discovered the laid back, sun drenched paradise that is Key West. They fell in love with the island and stayed. The Hemingways eventually moved into a beautiful Spanish colonial house at nine oh seven Whitehead Street in nineteen thirty one, a house that had been built in eighteen fifty one and came with one of the first modern swimming pools in Key West and a pretty spicy origin story we'll get to in a bit.

2:10 Speaker 1: Now to the pause with extra claws. Hemingway was gifted a white six toed cat named snow White, yes really, by a ship captain named Stanley Dexter. I'm sorry, but when I think of ship captains in Key West, my mind conjures up pirates, and none of them are named Stanley Dexter. But I digress. Polydactyl cats, those with more than the usual eighteen toes, were especially beloved by sailors, who considered them good luck. Their extra toes supposedly helped them balance better on ships during rough seas.

2:45 Speaker 1: Hemingway, who adored the sea almost as much as the written word, was enchanted. Snow White wasn't just a novelty pet. She was the matriarch of a feline dynasty. Over the years, her many pod progeny multiplied, lounged on sun drenched balconies, napped on antique furniture, and strutted through the garden like they owned the place, which in a way they still do today. There are around fifty cats living at the Hemingway Home and Museum, and about half of them are polydactyl. Some have six or even seven toes on each paw.

3:24 Speaker 1: They're still referred to as Hemingway cats, and they all carry 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 celebrities think Audrey Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart, Liz Taylor, and yes, even Ernest Hemingway himself. It's a tradition that dates back decades and continues today in the same tongue in cheek spirit Hemingway might have appreciated. And if you're wondering, yes, the cats roam freely. They climb on Hemingway's typewriter, nap in his bed, and have even been known to chill in the bathroom sink. They are not caged, leashed, or limited in any way, though they are well cared for by a dedicated team of staff and veterinarians.

4:16 Speaker 1: There was even a legal kerfuffle in the early two thousands when the US Department of Agriculture tried to regulate the cats as an exhibit under the Animal Welfare Act. It turned into a four year court battle involving debates about whether the cats were working animals or just really chill residents. In the end, the cats won the right to stay 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 his best chaotic life in Key West. He spent his mornings writing in a studio above the carriage house, and his afternoon's fishing, boxing, drinking at Sloppy Joe's, and collecting enemies and ex wives. That pool we mentioned earlier, Pauline had it installed while Hemingway was away covering the Spanish Civil War. It cost twenty thousand dollars at the time a small fortune, and when Hemingway returned he was furious. Legend has it. He pulled a penny from his pocket, slammed it into the wet cement, and declared, Pauline, you've spent my last red scent.

5:26 Speaker 1: You can still see that 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 Have Not the Green Hills of Africa and for whom The Bell Tolls were written, drafted, or brainstormed while he lived in Key West. It said the island's unique blend of salty air, tropical heat, and eccentric characters inspired the vibrancy and grit of his storytelling, and through it all the cats were there corners watching birds from the veranda, 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 West's tourist scene. Visitors come from all over the world to see the house and the cats. They even have their own veterinarian and each one is documented, named, and monitored with the seriousness of a historical artifact. They live in feline royalty, lounging under the shade of banana trees or snoozing in Hemingway's old bed like they own the place, 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, walk past the penny in the cement, look up at the breezy windows of the old writing studio, and nod politely to a cat with too many toes. You're in the presence of literary legacy with whiskers. Let us move 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 a checkpoint on the only road in and out of the Keys. Tourists were furious, and so were locals. Key West's mayor, Dennis Wardlow, declared independence, forming the Knk Republic. They declared war on the US hit. A Navy officer with stale Cuban bread surrendered after sixty seconds and applied for one billion dollars in foreign aid local account. Kank Republic Admiral Peter Anderson said, our motto is we succeeded where others failed to this day it celebrated with passport 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, Elena Hoyos. After her death, he stole her body and lived with it for seven years, reconstructing it with wax and silk. Eyewitness quote a neighbor said, we thought it was a mannequin in his window. Nope, it was Elena. Disturbingly, many locals viewed him as a romantic figure rather than a criminal. Key West folks.

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

8:29 Speaker 1: Robert the Doll is a handmade doll created around the turn of the twentieth century and is said to be haunted. He was once owned by a boy named Robert Eugene Otto, who treated the doll as if it were alive. Robert the doll is said to have a mischievous and even malevolent spirit. Visitors have reported unusual happenings, such as the doll's eyes following them or experiencing great misfortune after disrespecting him. He now lives in the Fort East Martello Museum. There is a story about a woman who who mocked Robert and afterwards she dealt with the consequences.

9:03 Speaker 1: When her fiance left her, cat ran away and she lost her job, she mailed him chocolate and an apology. Her luck improved the next day. He receives over one thousand apology letters 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 four attempt to remove them led to mass protests. Activist Melinda Booth said, I hand fed a rooster named Eduardo. When the city came, I chained myself to his coup. 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 one dollar rent increase. Patrons carried everything, liquor, barstools, even the urinals down the street. I witness quote.

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

10:03 Speaker 1: Now it's a bar and a legend. It was Hemingway's favorite bar in Key West, a place where he drank many a night away during the nineteen thirties. He plotted 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 famous reads I told you I was sick. That's engraved on the grave of B. P. Pearl Roberts, a local woman with a sense of humor as strong as the rum runners of yore. Then there's the man whose headstone says devoted fan of Julio Iglesias. Not a lie, just very very specific, and another that reads I'm just resting my eyes honestly same. This is a cemetery where people embraced the afterlife with the same laid back irreverence as they did their island life.

11:00 Speaker 1: A tour guide has said, we deal with death the same way we deal with hurricanes, with humor and rum. You'll also find iguanas and chickens lounging among the tombs. Of course, the sponge economy that soaked the nation in the eighteen hundreds, Key West thrived on sponge diving. It was risky and involved long, dangerous dives. Here's a quirky family story. A diver's granddaughter said, myabuelo lost fingers to a mora eel. He'd wave stumps at us and yell sponge tax. The trade died, but the 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 wood and bathtubs in Key West to confuse German subs. A veteran was quoted as saying the ships wouldn't float, but they looked real if you squinted and were drunk. Not exactly d day, but hey, they tried key.

12:02 Speaker 2: Lime pie, the sacred dessert. I must make a note to request this as payment for the next podcast.

12:09 Speaker 1: Amy ropes me into, noted Dan Key lime pie is deadly serious business. Must be yellow, never green, and never ever topped with merangue. When Miami claimed credit, locals threw pies at a cutout of the Miami Chef felt good, said local baker Sheila Warner. In two thousand and six, Florida named it the official State Pie Battle one. So there you have it. Ghosts, Pies, secession, and chickens with lawyers. 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 are two of them. Yes you can feel sorry for me. 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 Robert the doll a thank you card, just to be safe. This was the Strange History Podcast. I'm Amy. Until next time, Stay weird.