Percy Fawcett, Manuscript 512, and a Lost City in the Amazon, Pt. 1

Fawcett’s life has invited controversy and speculation, because he was a man who did a mix of great and shady things. Part one covers his early life, marriage, military service, and early visits to South America.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

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  We've all tumbled down an internet rabbit hole trying to self-diagnose, and it leaves us more anxious than informed. Our feeds are full of wellness trends, but how do we know what's real, what's exaggerated, and what's just wrong? Health vs. Hype from the American Medical Association breaks it all down. Emmy-nominated science communicator Trace Dominguez talks to doctors, influencers, and real people trying these trends, not to cancel them, but to understand them. Because when it comes to your health, who you listen to matters. So listen to Health vs. Hype wherever you get your podcasts.

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• 3:13Holly Frey?

  Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production of iHeart Radio.

• 3:23Holly Frey?

  Hello and welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly Frey.

• 3:26Tracy V. Wilson?

  And I'm Tracy V. Wilson.

• 3:29Holly Frey?

  Oh, we have a two-parter coming at you.

• 3:31Tracy V. Wilson?

  Yep.

• 3:31Holly Frey?

  Uh, over the course of about 18 years in the early 20th century, Percy Fawcett ventured out on seven expeditions to explore the Amazon Basin. He disappeared on the 7th, and historians, archaeologists, and even occultists have been trying to piece together what happened to him ever since. And Fawcett's life is one that has invited a lot of speculation and some controversy because he was a very accomplished man who did a mix of very great and arguably some shady things. And he may have been drawn into like a mystical quest, thanks to a document that he became somewhat obsessed with, that might very well be a fraud.

• 4:17Holly Frey?

  We're going to talk about all of that. Also, I swear, I did not know this when I selected him, but the 2026 rubber series continues. Because, because, uh, there's, we're not going to talk a lot about it, but we have to talk about it some, certainly not related to inventions, but the rubber boom was an economic driver that created some problems for Percy Fawcett, and certainly for the indigenous peoples in the areas he was exploring. Fawcett was drawn to exploration, and particularly South American exploration, to a degree that some people might consider feverish, or even so intense that he maybe wasn't always using logic and reason.

• 5:03Holly Frey?

  His writing about his travels informed the work of Arthur Conan Doyle, who drew from Fawcett's accounts of his early adventure for his 1912 book, The Lost World. But he started all of this exploring as a cartographer, and his cartography work to develop borders that would be agreed upon among South American countries that were in conflict at the time, actually still stands today. A lot of subsequent cartographers that have gone back and looked at his maps actually note how incredibly thorough he was and how well he did that job. And his passion for exploration has led to claims that he was one of the inspirations for Indiana Jones. So he has a lot to talk about.

• 5:46Holly Frey?

  There are a lot of other factors that we're going to talk about in his life, and it's going to take us two episodes to do it all.

• 5:54Tracy V. Wilson?

  It's true.

• 5:56Tracy V. Wilson?

  I feel like of all the things that you just said, we could not cover all of them, even in just two. We would need a whole life of episodes about Percy Fawcett.

• 6:06Holly Frey?

  We could, just his writings, and I'll talk about that behind the scenes, but like, his writings made the last week of my life intense.

• 6:14Tracy V. Wilson?

  Yeah.

• 6:16Tracy V. Wilson?

  Percy Harrison Fawcett was born in 1867 in the town of Torquay in the county of Devon, England. Technically, the Fawcettes were members of the aristocracy, but Percy's father, Edward Fawcett, had lost all his money.

• 6:33Tracy V. Wilson?

  Edward was a personal assistant to Queen Victoria's son Edward, known as Bertie to the family, who would go on to become King Edward VII. Fawcett didn't feel like he had a great childhood, especially in terms of his relationships with his parents. He later wrote, quote, "Perhaps it was all for the best that my childhood in Torquay was so devoid of parental affection that it turned me in upon myself. Although with my elder brothers and sisters, I had some grand times."

• 7:04Holly Frey?

  So according to his siblings, and particularly an account that was given by his sister many years later, when Percy was still a boy, he had discovered a well full of Roman pottery at Halden Moors. And after pulling away the overgrowth that covered it, he got his siblings to help drop him down into that well, and he brought out numerous treasures from it, which he then brought to a museum. She didn't say which museum in this. I looked a lot at the Torquay Museum's website, and they have some stuff of his, but none of it seems to be this. So I don't know about the veracity of this, but it does kind of set up who he was as a kid.

• 7:43Tracy V. Wilson?

  It does sound very dangerous also.

• 7:47Tracy V. Wilson?

  Fawcett attended Newton Abbott College as a teenager, and then when he was 17, he was sent to military school. In 1886, after he graduated, he joined the military and became part of the Royal Artillery, serving as a lieutenant. As a young man of 19, this gave him his first real taste of travel. In 1888, he was sent to Ceylon in modern-day Sri Lanka, and he wrote of this experience with a lot of fondness. Quote, "Life in Ceylon was as pleasant as army life can be. There was interesting work to do, plenty of sport, especially yachting in the incomparable harbor, and not too much restriction.

• 8:30Tracy V. Wilson?

  Actually, I could have enjoyed a longer period of service in that most beautiful of all islands."

• 8:36Holly Frey?

  While he was on Ceylon, he also met a young woman, who was the daughter of Scottish Colonial Magistrate Judge George Watson Patterson. So Nina Agnes Patterson was born there in Ceylon, and when she and Fawcett met, the two fell very much in love. But Nina actually married somebody else. That was Captain Herbert Pritchard. And the why of this situation definitely comes with some family drama, because apparently Fawcett's family was not particularly fond of Nina. Allegedly, Percy proposed to Nina, and she accepted, but members of his family who were opposed to the marriage made up a story about Nina, claiming that she was not a virgin.

• 9:20Holly Frey?

  Percy Fawcett would become known as this fearless man who would walk into danger seemingly without a second thought, but he was also really tight laced in a number of ways. He would not drink alcohol and he had very strong opinions about premarital sex. So the possibility that Nina had any kind of reputation was simply too much for him and he broke off the engagement.

• 9:43Tracy V. Wilson?

  After Nina and Herbert Pritchard were married in June of 1897, they moved to Alexandria, Egypt. But this was a short marriage. Herbert contracted anthrax not long after they moved and it caused an embolism which killed him. According to the family lore, Pritchard's last words to Nina were, "Go and marry Fawcett. He is the real man for you." Whether or not Pritchard really said that, once Fawcett learned that she had been widowed and found out that his family had lied to him, he reconnected with Nina. He begged her forgiveness for his having doubted her and believing his family. The two of them got married in 1901

• 10:25Tracy V. Wilson?

  and were really devoted to one another. Percy called Nina Cheeky, allegedly because she always had to have the last word. Their son Brian later said that it was a fitting nickname because, quote, "She was not only attractive, but distinctly spoilt by local society in consequence." She called Percy Puggy. And the two of them welcomed their first son, Jack, in 1903.

• 10:50Holly Frey?

  That year, Fawcett was sent to Spike Island, which is on the southern coast of Ireland. He had already done a lot of traveling, often doing surveying work for the military at that point. And he at one point was working for the British Secret Service in northern Africa during the scramble for Africa, ostensibly surveying, but also collecting intelligence. His work had taken him to Morocco and Malta and as far away as Hong Kong, as well as other places. So Ireland was a very tame place to be stationed, in his estimation.

• 11:23Tracy V. Wilson?

  The assignment in Ireland was also a lot cushier than any that Fawcett had had up to that point. And that was good for him and Nina to settle down into their family life together with Jack. According to the Spike Island write-up of Fawcett, he used his spare time to host séances while he was there. Percy was indeed interested in mysticism, something his son Brian wrote about in the 1930s, stating, quote, "Fawcett, the mystic, an accusation perhaps, or a subtle suggestion of eccentricity to explain the tenacity with which he followed what many considered to be nothing but a fantasy. But any man risks being termed mystic who seeks knowledge beyond the material. He made no secret of

• 12:08Tracy V. Wilson?

  his interest in the occult, and it has been quoted in his disfavor, the insinuation being that anyone so credulous as to believe in psychic hocus pocus must not be taken seriously. There are respected people in the worlds of science and letters who might be similarly condemned. After all, he was an explorer, a man of inquiring turn of mind, whose desire for knowledge led him to explore more channels than one." So even if his mysticism had raised some eyebrows, it did not seem to hinder his career progression. He had been promoted to captain in 1897, the same year he and Nina broke off their engagement. During their time on Spike Island, in 1905, he was promoted

• 12:53Tracy V. Wilson?

  to major.

• 12:54Holly Frey?

  Fawcett's eagerness for adventure was about to be met with a perfect opportunity. And we'll talk about it after we pause for a sponsor break.

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  First thought is like, wow, how are we going to do all this?

• 14:22Tracy V. Wilson?

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• 16:26Tracy V. Wilson?

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• 17:57Holly Frey?

  We've all done it. Tumble down an internet rabbit hole trying to self-diagnose. And sometimes doing our own research can leave us more anxious than informed. Your feed is packed with well- Trends telling you to cold plunge, protein max, detox, track your sleep. But what's actually real? What's exaggerated? What's just wrong? That's exactly what Health Versus Hype from the American Medical Association and iHeart Media's Ruby Studio is here to find out. Each episode, Emmy nominated science communicator Trace Dominguez, who's racked up billions of views across PBS, Discovery Channel, and YouTube, talks to doctors, influencers, and real people trying these trends, not to cancel them, not to hype them more, but

• 18:42Holly Frey?

  to actually understand them. Because when it comes to your health, who you listen to matters. Start asking better questions and listen to Health Versus Hype on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

• 19:06Holly Frey?

  The same year that Percy and Nina were married, Fawcett had joined the Royal Geographical Society, and the intent was that doing so would lead him to additional exploration activities. He took this very seriously, and he completed specialized training with the RGS in the hopes that it would bolster his knowledge and his standing in the eyes of the society's leadership. And it surely did. The president of RGS, Sir George Goldie, called a meeting with Fawcett in 1906, at which he asked him what Fawcett knew about Bolivia, and then explained that there was a dispute about the territory where Brazil, Peru, and Bolivia all met, which had escalated because the rubber trade made that land extremely valuable.

• 19:50Tracy V. Wilson?

  According to Fawcett's account of this meeting, the society's president explained to him, quote, "The countries concerned in the dispute about the frontiers are not prepared to accept a demarcation made by interested parties. It has become necessary to call in the services of another country, which can be relied on to act without bias. For that reason, the government of Bolivia, through its diplomatic representative here in London, has requested the Royal Geographical Society to act as referee and to recommend an experienced army officer for the work on Bolivia's behalf. As you completed our course in boundary delimitation work with outstanding success, I thought of you at once.

• 20:34Tracy V. Wilson?

  Would you be interested in taking it on?" And Fawcett, of course, enthusiastically agreed to this assignment, describing it as, quote, "The chance to escape from the monotonous life of an artillery officer in home stations." Fawcett was 39 when this happened. His wife Nina was pregnant at the time, and this job would take him away from her before the baby was born.

• 20:56Holly Frey?

  And this job also took a little finagling to get Fawcett released from his primary duties with the military so he could go do it. But it worked out, and he then boarded the steamer Kaiser Wilhelm de Grosse in May 1906, which would take him to New York. And he wrote of that leg of the journey, quote, "This ship was at that time the last word in luxury liners. But as travel of this sort had little appeal for me, I was bored and quite indifferent to the overfed passengers who sprawled about the decks. There were gales and fog. We nearly collided with a roving iceberg, invisible till it was almost too late to avoid it. A high-pressure cylinder burst and left us rolling for hours in the troughs of a terrific sea.

• 21:39Holly Frey?

  But it all happened in a brief space of a week, and soon we were in New York. The energy and bustle were things I had never known before. Accustomed to the calm deliberation of the English and the solemn dignity of the East, America at first shocked me." This passage really tickles me a little bit because he writes himself that he never really went into the city. He was only in the area of the docks because he quickly transferred to another ship. And I'm like, the docks scared you?

• 22:10Holly Frey?

  Like, oh, oh, my brother, if you had gone into Manhattan, I don't know what would have happened.

• 22:16Tracy V. Wilson?

  The trip after that point was not on luxury liners, and looking at Fawcett's writing gives us a sense of who he was and how he perceived new places. Quote, "For us, Latin America began in Panama City. There was little attempt at sanitation. The smells were almost overpowering, yet the narrow streets and overhanging balconies were not without their charm. In the plaza was the Grand Hotel. It was always grand, royal, or imperial, however humble. And what it lacks in status, it makes up in grandiose title. This one turned out to be an insect paradise, and the proprietor was greatly annoyed when I pointed out that the bed linen in my room was overdue for the laundry.

• 23:02Tracy V. Wilson?

  He found Lima to be much more delightful and even praised the hotel that they stayed in there." While he was in Lima, Fawcett received a cable telling him that Nina had given birth to their second son, Brian.

• 23:15Holly Frey?

  This expedition was really eye-opening, and it seems that it kind of set the stage for the way that Fawcett perceived indigenous peoples of South America. Because before he ever got there, the rubber industry had, and the situation was not good. As rubber products were becoming increasingly popular in North America and Europe, thanks to the inventors that we have been talking about lately, more sources of rubber were always being sought to keep up with demand. And when South America's wealth of rubber trees was discovered, it was not long before Europeans moved in and seized lands from the indigenous populations. The rubber barons had caused so much destruction and chaos and hardship for the people who

• 23:58Holly Frey?

  had already been living there, that the indigenous population just came to perceive any European as a threat, which of course included Percy Fawcett.

• 24:07Tracy V. Wilson?

  And that was, of course, valid, but the actual numbers regarding the way that indigenous peoples were impacted by European encroachment are harrowing. It's estimated that before Europeans arrived in the area of South America that makes up modern-day Brazil, there were at least 2,000 indigenous tribes with a combined total population of roughly 11 million people. Within the first 100 years from the time that colonists arrived in the 1500s, 90% of the indigenous population had died through disease or genocide. Survivors were often enslaved for the rubber trade.

• 24:47Holly Frey?

  This conflict, in some ways, gave Fawcett a sort of negative take on the peoples of South America, although it is very doubtful he would have seen it that way. He wrote about these people in incredibly racist ways, but he also believed he was trying to understand their culture. And even today, people often describe his great respect for indigenous people, but that's really an oversimplification. He did generally try to find ways to de-escalate violent situations. Some of those are quite funny, and we'll talk about one in a bit. He would do this often by disarming and ordering everyone else in his party to do so. He always tried to make clear, we are not a threat, we're not here to hurt you.

• 25:29Holly Frey?

  And in direct interactions with people, he does seem to have been pretty respectful in how he behaved with the indigenous people he encountered. He did make efforts to learn the languages of the various peoples he met in order to communicate with and to understand them.

• 25:44Tracy V. Wilson?

  He also definitely placed blame on colonialists who had moved in and thoughtlessly taken over for creating an ongoing problem in relations between Europeans and the indigenous population. This assessment was based on accounts he heard from people he encountered in Brazil. They described Europeans murdering people and diseases running rampant in their tribes after those diseases were introduced by Europeans to people who had no natural immunity to them. And in towns that developed around the rubber industry, as many as 40% of the people died each year because of illness or brutality, Fawcett did write a lot of condemnation of

• 26:26Tracy V. Wilson?

  the way that Europeans who had preceded him had handled the situation in Brazil. But he also wrote a lot about his expeditions and his interactions with indigenous peoples, and a whole lot of that is really awful. It's racist and condescending.

• 26:43Tracy V. Wilson?

  He does sometimes write complimentary things about the cultures he encountered, particularly in instances where their structure was matriarchal, or where he's able to communicate with people. So it's definitely a mixed bag. It's not worse than his contemporaries. In a lot of cases, it's better, but that's a really low bar when it comes to how European explorers talked about indigenous people and indigenous cultures.

• 27:10Holly Frey?

  Yeah, I kept trying to pour through his writings, of which there is a huge volume, to try to find an example that was not too gross, just to like, give an idea of what I'm talking about. But it's all so gross, I was not comfortable including it. It was like, nobody needs to hear these words.

• 27:27Tracy V. Wilson?

  What you said just to me before we started recording of some of the examples, I was like, yeah, we don't need to repeat that.

• 27:33Holly Frey?

  I don't want to say that stuff. It's gross. And to be clear, Percy Fawcett was attacked by people who lived in the forests on his first and on subsequent expeditions. He and his companions that traveled with him relayed stories of arrows flying at them as they tried to make their way down the waterways, sometimes flying fast enough that they stuck in boat hulls. That indicates they were moving with a lot of force. Some of the people that they encountered had stolen shotguns from the rubber workers, so they were armed with firearms as well. And Fawcett came up with some very creative ways of trying to prove that his party was not a threat. He wrote of one such encounter, quote,

• 28:16Holly Frey?

  "My peace overtures, having proved unsuccessful, we moved the canoes to a safer position without any casualties. And then Todd was directed to sit on a log in the middle of the sandbar, just beyond dangerous range, and play his accordion. He was an expert with the accordion, which was one of our principal reasons for bringing him. And as he sat there squeezing out tune after tune, as calmly as though passing a jolly hour in an English pub, the scene must have been ludicrous. Here we were dodging arrows and singing at the tops of our voices while Todd played away and stamped the time with both feet. Anyone coming on this scene would have said we were all roaring drunk.

• 28:58Holly Frey?

  How long we kept this up? I don't know, but it seemed an age. We even forgot about the arrows in time until all of a sudden IJ noticed that Costin, still in full song, was voicing, "They've all stopped shooting at us," over and over again. He was right. Arrows were no longer zipping past us. In fact, a dark face, eyes rounded in amazement, was peering at us over the top of a low bush. And from that moment, where they seemed to have shown, no, we're just goofy ding dongs, we're not dangerous, Fawcett and his men were able to establish a friendly rapport with their attackers. They got welcomed into the village and helped along their way.

• 29:41Tracy V. Wilson?

  The fact that it was an accordion just delights me so much.

• 29:45Holly Frey?

  The best. There is an additional story he tells about one of those villagers playing with the accordion and the noise it makes scares him so bad he falls over backwards while everyone points and laughs at him. That sounds like kind of a fun day if you gotta be out in the middle of nowhere, but it worked. I'll give him credit.

• 30:05Tracy V. Wilson?

  So coming up, we'll talk about some wild accounts Fawcett brought back from the jungle. But before we do that, we'll hear from the sponsors that keep Stuff You Missed in History Class going.

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  Snoring, gasping for air during sleep, daytime sleepiness? I'm Shaquille O'Neal and this shouldn't be anybody's experience. Ask your doctor about Zepbound Trisepotide, the first and only FDA-approved prescription medicine for moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea in adults with obesity.

• 32:00Speaker 02

  Zepbound is a prescription medicine used with a reduced calorie diet and increased physical activity to help adults with moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea, OSA, and obesity to improve their OSA. Zepbound is approved as a 2.5, 5, 7.5, 10, 12.5, or 15-milligram injection. Zepbound contains Trisepotide and should not be used with other Trisepotide-containing products or any GLP-1 receptor agonist medicines. It is not known if Zepbound is safe and effective for use in children. Don't share needles or pens, or reuse needles. Don't take if allergic to it, or if you or someone in your family had medullary thyroid cancer, or if you've had multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2. Tell your doctor if you get a lump or swelling in your neck. Stop Zepbound and call your doctor if you have severe stomach pain or a serious allergic reaction.

• 32:45Speaker 02

  Severe side effects may include inflamed pancreas or gallbladder problems. Tell your doctor if you experience vision changes before scheduled procedures with anesthesia. If you're nursing, pregnant, plant-to-be, or taking birth control pills. Taking Zepbound with a sulphonal urea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. Side effects include nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting, which can cause dehydration and worsen kidney problems.

• 33:07Speaker 06

  Talk to your doctor. Call 1-800-545-5979, or visit zepbound.lily.com.

• 33:15Holly Frey?

  We've all done it. Tumble down an internet rabbit hole trying to self-diagnose. And sometimes doing our own research can leave us more anxious than informed. Your feed is packed with wellness trends telling you to cold plunge, protein max, detox, track your sleep. But what's actually real? What's exaggerated? What's just wrong? That's exactly what Health vs. Hype from the American Medical Association and iHeartMedia's Ruby Studio is here to find out. Each episode, Emmy-nominated science communicator Trace Dominguez, who's racked up billions of views across PBS, Discovery Channel, and YouTube, talks to doctors, influencers, and real people trying these trends.

• 33:57Holly Frey?

  Not to cancel them, not to hype them more, but to actually understand them. Because when it comes to your health, who you listen to matters. Start asking better questions and listen to Help vs. Hype on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

• 34:18Tracy V. Wilson?

  Guess who's back in the house? The old gays return for season two of Silver Linings, their hit podcast from iHeart's Ruby Studio in partnership with ViiV Healthcare. Just wait until you hear what hosts Robert McMillan and Jessa have in store this time around. They strut back down memory lane navigating life, love, loss, and everything that shaped them along the way. And as usual, someone just might break into song. From leather bars to bathhouses, dance floors to drag brunch, nothing stays off limits. These are the kinds of insights that can only come from experience. So listen to your elders, honey, and discover the silver linings you can take with you. All sass, zero filter, and decades of perspective from four friends proving that queer joy

• 35:03Tracy V. Wilson?

  only gets better with age on the podcast that never gets old. Listen to Silver Linings, available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

• 35:17Speaker 06

  Okay, chicken nugget fans. I've got huge news. The new Burger King Chicken Nuggets just dropped. And they are the crispiest, the juiciest, and the tastiest chicken nuggets ever at Burger King. Burger King heard that a lot of you didn't like the old chicken nuggets, so they got to work and reinvented them. To go along with the new chicken nuggets, a lot of the sauces were reinvented too, because better chicken nuggets deserve better sauces. We're talking new buffalo sauce, honey mustard, sweet and sour, and even a whole new option too, the new special savory sauce, which is only available for a limited time at participating US restaurants. I mean, you need to taste it all for yourself.

• 35:59Speaker 06

  This new chicken nugget, reinvented, based on real feedback, is made with 100% white meat chicken and is now better than ever. You gotta try the new Burger King Chicken Nuggets and sauces today.

• 36:18Holly Frey?

  After that first 1906 expedition, Fawcett returned home with all kinds of stories. In addition to his detailed accounts of the levels of hospitality and lack thereof he encountered, he made some additional claims that people found literally unbelievable. And the first was about a snake. He wrote, quote, "We were drifting easily along on the sluggish current not far below the confluence of the Rio Negro when almost under the bow there appeared a triangular head and several feet of undulating body. It was a giant anaconda. I sprang for my rifle as the creature began to make its way up the bank and hardly waiting

• 36:59Holly Frey?

  to aim slashed a .44 soft-nose bullet into its spine 10 feet below the wicked head. At once, there was a flurry of foam and several heavy thumps against the boat's keel, shaking us as though we had run on a snag. We stepped ashore and approached the reptile with caution. It was out of action, but shivers ran up and down the body like puffs of wind on a mountain tarn. As far as it was possible to measure, a length of 45 feet lay out of the water and 17 feet in it, making a total length of 62 feet."

• 37:36Tracy V. Wilson?

  Less sensational, he made a claim that he and his men had seen some exceptionally large peanuts. He claimed that, quote, "The nuts in their pods were between 3 and 4 inches long. The taste, as well as the nutritive value, was excellent, and it would be hard to find a more convenient food to carry on a journey." He also described, quote, "A large Apizalca spider, sort of a black tarantula so large that a plate would scarcely cover it." Apologies if you don't like spiders. I was looking this up. I think he might have been talking about a bird-eating spider. It's a real thing.

• 38:14Holly Frey?

  Yes. Some of these things were real, some not.

• 38:18Tracy V. Wilson?

  This may be not quite as gargantuan as he was describing.

• 38:21Holly Frey?

  Yeah.

• 38:22Tracy V. Wilson?

  He also described a dog with two noses. And he wrote, quote, "There are snakes and insects unknown to scientists. And in the forests of the Medidi, some mysterious and enormous beast has frequently been disturbed in the swamps, possibly a primeval monster like those reported in other parts of the continent. Certainly tracks have been found belonging to no known animal. Huge tracks, far greater than could have been made by any species we know." And when he brought all of these reports back to Europe, a lot of people just did not believe him. Looking at the way he was written about at the time, it seems like there started to be two camps in terms of how people perceived Percy Fawcett.

• 39:07Tracy V. Wilson?

  There were the ones who thought he was an incredible adventurer, who had seen things that no one else had. And then there were the people who thought he was exaggerating or just plain lying.

• 39:18Holly Frey?

  Also, on that dog with two noses thing, there is a dog that is called a two-nosed dog in that area. It doesn't have two noses, but its nose is split down the middle in a way that I could see where somebody who was not familiar with canines would be like, that dog has two noses. So some of these are grounded in reality, although apparently snake experts have done a lot of like, running the numbers on the physics of how a snake works. And they're like, there's just no way. There's just no way. Over the course of all of these mapmaking trips to South America, which Fawcett completed ably and in far less time than most people thought possible, he also became progressively

• 39:59Holly Frey?

  more fixated on the idea that there was a lot more than cartography to explore there. As he had prepared for his trips and studied the histories of the areas he was to work in, he had read a number of accounts that indicated that there were lost cities in the jungle. And he really wanted to find those lost places. One that he was particularly interested in was a city he called Zed. So that's the letter Z if you're looking at it in print, but the English way of saying it.

• 40:28Tracy V. Wilson?

  He believed this city was in the Mata Grosso area, which is a roughly 900,000 square kilometer, non-coastal state in central Brazil. That name means great woods, which makes sense because this is an intensely dense rainforest. While it has had population growth in the last 100 years, there are still huge swaths of it that are not really developed. It is the least densely populated area of Brazil today. So in the early 1900s, there were indigenous populations there, and very few Europeans had ventured into the area outside of people pursuing rubber interests.

• 41:08Tracy V. Wilson?

  And it was in this area that Fawcett believed held one or more secret hidden cities.

• 41:14Holly Frey?

  Fawcett's obsession with hidden cities had to be put on hold due to global events, however. When World War I began, Percy had to return to Europe. He fought in the war on the front, even though he was in his 50s at that point. He was given command of a field artillery brigade, and he was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1916 and commanded more than 700 men. He found the war to be far more horrifying and difficult to understand than anything the cultures of the Amazon offered. And he even expressed the opinion that cannibalism made more sense to him than so-called civilized warfare. He was actually gassed in 1917, but continued fighting.

• 41:58Holly Frey?

  He was awarded the distinguished service order for all of his work during the war. And during this time, he also indulged in his mystical interests by conducting a séance to try to reach the spirits of South America's dead. By the time the conflict ended, he was more interested in spiritualism than ever.

• 42:18Tracy V. Wilson?

  After the war, he took his absolute first opportunity to go back to Brazil. He had been worried the entire time the war was playing out that someone else might find the buried secrets of the Brazilian forest while he was tied up in this military conflict. And he clearly loved his family, but also found European life just paled in comparison to the time that he spent in South America. He said so in his journals. He wrote of a stretch of time that he spent in Rio de Janeiro, for example, quote, "The time I spent in Rio lengthened out to six months, but on the whole, it was a delightful experience in spite of my anxieties. From the embassy roof, there was a perfect view in all directions.

• 43:02Tracy V. Wilson?

  And when it comes to views, Rio is incomparable. Below the wonderful Beiramar Avenue passed under the ridge and entered the suburb of Copacabana, beyond which it extended through suburb after suburb along 12 miles of exquisite coastline. In the evenings, we often motored along this highway to return after dark, when one of the most wonderful city lighting systems in the world suddenly flashed into full glory, throwing a carpet of shimmering reflections over the still waters of the bay. How drab and gloomy our worn-out English cities appear after such beauty as this. One could not be bored here."

• 43:46Holly Frey?

  During this second period of exploration after the war, Fawcett continued to study a lot of old documents about the area, many of which had been written by Spanish and Portuguese explorers in the 1500s and 1600s. And they referred to things that intrigued Fawcett, particularly large-scale cities that sounded very advanced compared to what he had seen in his travels. And one of the documents that has become closely associated with Fawcett's fascination with lost cities and which he was studying even before the war is Manuscript 512.

• 44:21Tracy V. Wilson?

  Manuscript 512 was and still is housed in the National Library of Rio de Janeiro. It's an account of a Portuguese adventurer in the Amazon describing a series of events in 1753. That adventurer is believed by some to have been explorer João de Silva de Moraes. Fawcett gave the writer a fictitious name to have some way of referring to him. He went with Francisco Raposo. And of this manuscript, he wrote, quote, "If you are romantically minded, and most of us are, I think, you have in the foregoing the background for a story so fascinating that I know none to compare. I myself came upon it in an old document still preserved at Rio de Janeiro and, in

• 45:06Tracy V. Wilson?

  the light of evidence gleaned from many quarters, believe it implicitly. I am not going to offer a literal translation of the strange account given in the document. The crabbed Portuguese script is broken in several places. But the story begins in 1753, when a native of Minas Gerais, whose name has not been preserved, decided to make a search for the lost mines of Maribeca."

• 45:33Holly Frey?

  And we are going to get into Manuscript 512 in more detail and Fawcett's quest to find his lost city, but we're going to do it next time. But right now, I have listener mail.

• 45:43Tracy V. Wilson?

  Hooray.

• 45:44Holly Frey?

  The listener mails this week involve favorite things.

• 45:47Tracy V. Wilson?

  Oh, good.

• 45:48Holly Frey?

  This is from our listener Rebecca, who writes, "Dear Holly and Tracy, thank you for the joyful review of sneakers, which I listened to this week. I always enjoy your podcasts which touch on Australia. The EMI war, Dame Nellie Melba, and Annette Kellerman spring to mind. I moved from the US to Sydney, Australia in 2005 and have joined the many thousands running up Heartbreak Hill in the annual City to Surf Fun Run in Sydney, Australia. One year, we made Smurf caps with cheap white cloth and stitched those together with dental floss, then ran the event covered in blues ink and face paint. I don't recommend it, but costumes are popular. I finally have photos to offer as pet tax. We recently moved to a farm in northern New South Wales and finally had enough land

• 46:33Holly Frey?

  to have an active dog. We found our one-year-old moose through a Facebook page called Failed Working Dogs Rehoped."

• 46:43Holly Frey?

  Because he's afraid to work around sheep and cattle. Who doesn't work if they don't have to, right? His DNA test says he's 80% border collie and 20% kelpie. And I'm just going to say he's 100% adorable. Moose greets us in the morning with a kind wholesomeness. It is turning me into a morning person because how do you say no to that face? He is a high energy dog and has decided his mission is to keep birds off of the paddocks where we are growing winter balaj and sugarcane. He doesn't catch them. They seem to enjoy the game too, staying just above his head. He can run 20 kilometers in this self-appointed task and is a joy to watch run full tilt. Moose dislikes his evening paw wash, but puts up with this prerequisite to sleep next to our bed.

• 47:27Holly Frey?

  These photos capture his early morning greeting, regal pose and muddy glorious best. And then there are suggestions for some interesting Australian topics, which I'm going to make notes of. And then it concludes with, thanks again for your wonderful show. You seem to find the delicate balance to treat challenging topics with grace. And then it's pictures of Moose. I want to kiss this dog so bad. No. I want to fly to Australia just to kiss this dog. He's really cute. And I believe that that would make you want to get up early just so you can watch him have the best morning ever, every day. He's really adorable and I have no doubt that he brings a great deal of joy. So Rebecca, thank you so much for this because it's darling.

• 48:10Holly Frey?

  And since we mentioned dogs in this episode, I'm like thematic, sort of. If you would like to send us pictures of your adorable pets, talk about anything you wish that we've talked about or not, you can do that at [email protected]. You can also find show notes for any of the shows that we've done, including today's. They're right there in the show page at missedinhistory.com. And if you haven't subscribed to the show and you would like to, I promise you, it's the easiest thing in the world. You can do that on the iHeartRadio app or anywhere you listen to your favorite shows.

• 48:51Tracy V. Wilson?

  Stuff You Missed in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

• 49:05Holly Frey?

  A rare disease diagnosis can change your life, but it doesn't have to define your future. In season seven of Untold Stories: Life with a Severe Autoimmune Condition, host Martine Hackett continues the conversation with people living with MG, CIDP, and the broader rare disease community, exploring what comes after diagnosis through stories of hope, progress, and connection. Produced by Ruby Studio in partnership with Argenx, listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

• 49:36Tracy V. Wilson?

  Whether you're calling the wise women in your life, video calling your girlfriends across the country, or checking in on someone who always knows how to make you smile, staying connected matters. Those small conversations, shared laughs and quick hellos are what keep relationships strong even when life gets busy. Some of the most life-giving conversations start with just a phone call. That's why AT&T guarantees the network you can rely on so you can focus on the moments and people that matter most. That's the AT&T Guarantee. AT&T, connecting changes everything. Terms and conditions apply. Visit att.com/guarantee for details.

• 50:11Speaker 06

  Snoring, gasping for air during sleep, daytime sleepiness? I'm Shaquille O'Neal and this shouldn't be anybody's experience. Ask your doctor about Zepbound Trisepotide, the first and only FDA-approved prescription medicine for moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea in adults with obesity.

• 50:27Speaker 02

  Zepbound is a prescription medicine used with a reduced calorie diet and increased physical activity to help adults with moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea, OSA, and obesity to improve their OSA. Zepbound is approved as a 2.5, 5, 7.5, 10, 12.5, or 15-milligram injection. Zepbound contains trisepotide and should not be used with other trisepotide-containing products or any GLP-1 receptor agonist medicines. It is not known if Zepbound is safe and effective for use in children. Don't share needles or pens, or reuse needles. Don't take if allergic to it, or if you or someone in your family had medullary thyroid cancer, or if you've had multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2. Tell your doctor if you get a lump or swelling in your neck. Stop Zepbound and call your doctor if you have severe stomach pain or a serious allergic reaction.

• 51:12Speaker 02

  Severe side effects may include inflamed pancreas or gallbladder problems. Tell your doctor if you experience vision changes before scheduled procedures with anesthesia, if you're nursing, pregnant, plant-to-be, or taking birth control pills. Taking Zepbound with a sulphonal urea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. Side effects include nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting, which can cause dehydration and worsen kidney problems.

• 51:34Speaker 06

  Talk to your doctor. Call 1-800-545-5979 or visit zepbound.lily.com.

• 51:42Speaker 02

  Hola a todos. Soy Jamie Lynn Sigler. Cuando me diagnosticaron, tenía veintitantos años y todo mi mundo cambió por completo. Pero con el tiempo decidí que no iba a permitir que eso frenara mi vida. Quise tomar las riendas.

• 51:58Speaker 05

  Y después de hablar con mi médico sobre mis opciones, la elección para mí fue obvia. Boom, eso es KISSIMTA. Obtenga más información sobre KISSIMTA o fotumab en kissimta.com. This is Shirley Strawberry from the Steve Harvey Morning Show. Buy smart, drive for less, and trade for more. That's Toyota affordability. And it starts with a great deal on an all-wheel drive Camry, Corolla Cross, or a Corolla Sedan with the latest features and tech. Or test drive a spacious Grand Highlander or adventure-ready RAV4. And with so many hybrid models available, you can enjoy longer trips without all the stops.

• 52:39Speaker 05

  While Toyota's legendary resale value means you could get more at trade-in, get a great deal today and a great value tomorrow. Shop toyota.com for deals and details. Toyota, let's go places.

• 52:52Speaker 00

  This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed Human.