Lore 295: Making Your Luck

It's all fun and games until someone has a cursed dream. The history behind these risky gambles is almost as fascinating as their eventual outcome. Narrated and produced by Aaron Mahnke, with writing by GennaRose Nethercott, research by Cassandra de Alba, and music by Chad Lawson. ————————— Lore Resources: Episode Music: lorepodcast.com/music https://www.lorepodcast.com/music Episode Sources: lorepodcast.com/sources https://www.lorepodcast.com/sources Official Lore Merchandise: lorepodcast.com/shop https://www.lorepodcast.com/shop All the shows from Grim & Mild: www.grimandmild.com https://www.grimandmild.com ————————— Sponsors: Squarespace: Head to Squarespace.com/lore http://squarespace.com/lore to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using the code LORE. Acorns: Acorns helps you automatically save & invest for your future. Head to Acorns.com/LORE http://www.acorns.com/lore to sign up for Acorns to start saving and investing for your future today! ————————— To report a concern regarding a radio-style, non-Aaron ad in this episode, reach out to ads @ lorepodcast.com with the name of the company or organization so we can look into it. To advertise on this podcast please email: [email protected]. Or go to: https://advertising.libsyn.com/lore ————————— ©2025 Aaron Mahnke. All rights reserved.

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

• 0:00Speaker 00

  Your joints help you keep doing what you love. Give them daily support with Ancient Nutrition Multi-Collagen Protein. Two scoops deliver 20 grams of collagen from 10 types, including clinically studied eggshell membrane. Plus, vitamin C and probiotics to support skin, hair, nails, and joint health. Visit ancientnutrition.com/protein and use code PROTEIN for $15 off. That's ancientnutrition.com code PROTEIN.

• 0:27Speaker 01

  OnDeck is built to back small businesses like yours. Whether you're buying equipment, expanding your team, or bridging cash flow gaps, OnDeck's loans up to $400,000 help make it happen fast. Rated A+ by the Better Business Bureau and earning thousands of 5-star TrustPilot reviews, OnDeck delivers funding you can count on. Apply in minutes at ondeck.com. Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by OnDeck or Celtic Bank. OnDeck does not lend in North Dakota. All loans and amounts subject to lender approval.

• 1:08Aaron Mahnke?

  It was the height of the Blitz, and as Nazi bombs fell on the city of Birmingham, Anthony E. Pratt was holed up in his house reminiscing about murder. Not actual murder, mind you. You see, Pratt was a piano player, and before the war, he'd often been hired to play in wealthy people's parlors during murder mystery parties. A niche job for sure, but this type of dastardly role-playing game was actually pretty popular in English manor homes back then. And the odds are good that you have played a version yourself. Guests are given specific roles to perform, and through an evening of chit-chat and dramatically staged deaths, the partygoers have to guess who among them is "the murderer." Pretty fun, right? But for Pratt, those days were in the past.

• 1:53Aaron Mahnke?

  Theatrical demises had made way for the all-too-real horrors of war. As he sheltered in place, he found himself longing for the campy, elegant games that he had witnessed in those country mansions where he worked. And so, as the bombers growled overhead, he decided to host a murder mystery party of his own. And I know what you're thinking, weren't citizens under lockdown during the blitz? Not exactly the time to throw a party, right? Well, don't worry, because Pratt had a plan for that. He was going to create a miniature version of the parlor game. One complete with all the same intrigue, colorful characters, and sumptuous halls of the original. Just tiny, tiny enough, in fact, to fit on a table.

• 2:36Aaron Mahnke?

  And so, as Mr. Pratt tinkered with the rulebook and his wife Elva helped design the board, a new cast of suspects were born. Colonel Mustard, Professor Plum, Mrs. Peacock, Mr. Green. And with that, the game of Cluedo, or as we call it in the States, Clue, was born. There's a sort of comfort in knowing that even in the darkest of times, we can always turn to games for a bit of lighthearted escape. Pratt certainly did. But then again, what happens when the danger lies not in the world outside, but in the games themselves? I'm Aaron Mahnke, and this is Lore.

• 3:36Aaron Mahnke?

  The numbers don't lie. In Kenya, ancient Mankala-style boards have been found carved into rock ledges. In Turkey, a 5,000-year-old grave revealed little dog-and-pig-shaped game tokens. While on the former site of the ancient city of Ur, now southern Iraq, archaeologists unearthed elaborate wooden game boards dating back a good 4,600 years. In other words, humans have been playing games for a really, really long time. As long ago, in fact, as the Neolithic period. And that's just based on what we have found so far. Now, sure, just because archaeologists have found these artifacts doesn't mean we know how to use all of them. How to play that pig-and-dog game, for example, is a total Total mystery to us.

• 4:21Aaron Mahnke?

  On the other hand, Mankala seems to have taken the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" approach and remained the same for eons. And as for that board game in Ur, well, it wasn't just the board itself that archaeologists discovered, but also a cuneiform tablet that, when translated in the 1980s, turned out to be the entire rulebook. Pretty handy, right? As the tablet revealed, the Royal Game of Ur, as it's now known, was a sort of ancient Mesopotamian ancestor to backgammon. Players raced checkers around an intricate tiled board inlaid with gleaming shell and lapis lazuli. And that cuneiform tablet revealed something else, too. The Royal Game of Ur wasn't only for fun and games. No, it was also used to predict the future.

• 5:06Aaron Mahnke?

  That's right, one of the world's oldest games doubled as a fortune-telling tool. Apparently, 12 of the squares on the board were marked with signs of the zodiac, each with an accompanying prediction. Land on Cancer, and you would, and I quote, "stand in exalted places." Leo predicted that you would "be powerful like a lion," while Scorpio promised the player would, and I quote, "draw fine beer." But the Royal Game of Ur is hardly the only game used in divination over the millennia. Take Senet, for example. This ancient Egyptian board game was played as early as the Third Dynasty, which began way back in 2670 B.C. Its full name, Senet Net Hab, translates to "game of passing through," which probably

• 5:51Aaron Mahnke?

  referred to the player's end goal of moving their pieces from one side of the board to the other. But by the 19th Dynasty, passing through began to take on a slightly eerier meaning. You see, Egyptians had started seeing the pieces' journey across the Senate board as a metaphor for the souls' journey through the underworld and into the afterlife. While it was originally a two-person game, some began playing Senet alone, taking on spirits as their opponents, and hoping to make a connection with the god Ra. They'd even set the board up next to tombs, eager to practice their journeys into death. Now, I can't help but wonder if this was the ancient Egyptian equivalent of teenagers using a Ouija board in a cemetery.

• 6:34Aaron Mahnke?

  But it wasn't just everyday civilians entrusting their eternal souls to the Senate board. Senate was all the rage with everyone from pharaohs to commoners. King Tutankhamun was even buried with four Senate boards of his own, made from precious materials like ebony wood and ivory. And then there's Fanarona, the national game of Madagascar. Like Senate, it was popular among all ranks of society. And also like Senate, while it started as a regular two-player game, it wasn't long before people began using the checkers-like pieces for divinatory rituals. While said to have been invented in the 1680s, it wasn't until the 19th century that Fanarona gained its spookier reputation.

• 7:18Aaron Mahnke?

  And this was no casual middle-school sleepover activity. No professional Fanarona players were employed by the Madagascan court. They were tasked with predicting future events. Their prognostications would then guide political decisions. And let's just say, sometimes this method didn't exactly work out in Madagascar's favor. According to legend, a Fanarona board was consulted on September 30th of 1895, the day that the French army invaded the Madagascar capital. As Madagascar's troops stood at the ready, it's said that the queen refused to issue orders. Why? Well, that would be because the court's Fanarona players hadn't finished their divinatory

• 8:01Aaron Mahnke?

  game yet, and thus, had yet to predict the battle's outcome. Unfortunately for the queen and her men, the battle ended in victory for the French, just as the game eventually did. And with that, Madagascar's monarchy fell, never to rise again.

• 8:29Aaron Mahnke?

  It was August 2nd of 1876 and an American legend lay dead on the saloon floor. James "Wild Bill" Hickok was only 39 years old when he was gunned down in Deadwood during a game of poker. And from that moment forward, the only thing more storied than the slain gunfighter himself was the hand of cards that he was holding when he died. It's become known as "The Dead Man's Hand" and is said to have contained the two black aces, two black eights, and a fifth unknown card that tends to change with each telling. But no matter the storyteller, one thing stays the same: any player who finds himself with a hand including those same aces and eights will end up very, very unlucky.

• 9:13Aaron Mahnke?

  And it's probably the most famous superstition in poker. Appearing everywhere from western movies like "Stagecoach" and "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" to being emblazoned as a tattoo on the protagonist in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," "The Dead Man's Hand" has become something of a celebrity in and of itself. Heck, it's even the logo of the Las Vegas Police Department's homicide unit. But here's the thing: it wasn't until 50 years after Hickok's death that this particular hand was attributed to him at all. In fact, a museum in Deadwood has what they claim are the actual cards Wild Bill was holding when he was shot, stained with the drop of his blood, no less. And while it does contain a pair of aces and a pair of eights, they're not all black.

• 9:57Aaron Mahnke?

  No, this hand consists of the ace of diamonds, the ace of clubs, the eight of hearts, and the eight of spades, along with the queen of hearts as the fifth card. Historically accurate or not, "The Dead Man's Hand" has secured its place in the nightmares of card players worldwide. And those aren't the only cards in the deck said to be unlucky. The four of clubs, for example, bears a curse all of its own. Referred to as "The Devil's Four Poster Bed," some players believe any hand containing the card to be unlucky. It's not totally unknown where the superstition originated, but there is a folk tale whispered in card halls and merchant ships that offers one very specific explanation.

• 10:40Aaron Mahnke?

  The story takes place long ago, when card-playing on Sundays was strictly forbidden. Nevertheless, a group of young men got together for drinks, carousing, and cards. Just as one of them was dealing out the hands, a well-dressed stranger appeared at the door and asked to be dealt in. Assuming the guy must be wealthy, with plenty of money to ante up, the men eagerly invited him to join. But their excitement soon turned to despair as the fashionable stranger won hand after hand after hand. Eventually, it was the stranger's turn to deal, but he accidentally dropped a card on the floor. When one of the men bent down to pick it up, he was shocked to see that instead of shoes, none other than a pair of cloven hooves peeked out from the man's fine trousers.

• 11:24Aaron Mahnke?

  Which is when he realized with horror, they were playing cards with the devil. But the story doesn't end there. Realizing that he had been found out, the devil turned into a fireball, set the house ablaze, and then shot up the chimney. Talk about making an exit, right? Oh, and that card that the devil dropped on the ground? Well, that would be the Four of Clubs. Not to be outdone, though, the Nine of Diamonds also harbors dark tales of its own. Known as the Curse of Scotland, the card has been considered an ill omen since the 1700s. Now, some say it's because every ninth king of Scotland was a terrible monarch; others attribute the curse to an addictive game called Pope Joan, said to have ruined many a Scottish courtier. How do you win Pope Joan?

• 12:09Aaron Mahnke?

  Why, by playing the Nine of Diamonds. But the most popular explanation? That the curse is connected to Sir John Dalrymple, the Earl of Stair, a man responsible for massacring dozens of McDonald clan members in February of 1692. You see, the McDonald's favored the deposed Catholic monarch rather than the newly-installed Protestant one, and so Dalrymple, a Protestant supporter, decided to make an example of them. He had the clan mercilessly slaughtered and their houses burned to the ground. Which, to be fair, even his own allies thought was a bit horrifying. But what does this have to do with the Nine of Diamonds? Well, to answer that, you'd have to take a close look at Dalrymple's coat of arms: a shield crossed with nine gold diamonds.

• 12:55Aaron Mahnke?

  With so many perilous cards in the deck, players might just be putting their lives on the line every time they sit down at the poker table. And it's not only the cards themselves that could ruin a poor gambler. The slightest gesture or shift in posture might be the difference between good luck or bad. For example, it's bad luck to pick up or play cards with the left hand, and so is dropping a card on the ground, particularly a club or a spade. Sitting cross-legged is another no-no, for fear that by making a cross with your legs, you'll inadvertently work a hex on yourself. Avoid singing or whistling while you play, and you better know exactly where the deck that you're playing has been, because if it's ever been used for fortune-telling,

• 13:37Aaron Mahnke?

  you may as well fold right now, because you're pretty much doomed. And don't worry, if your luck gets too ugly, there are also methods of turning your fortunes around, like walking a full circle around the card table between one and three times, or if that fails, turning your chair around to sit in it backwards. In England, this last trick even comes with a catchphrase: "Turn your chair, and turn your luck." And of course, gambling superstitions aren't all dark magic. In fact, many are more concerned with conjuring good luck than bad. There's the old classic of blowing on the deck while you shuffle, believed to lure in good cards. Another winning ritual involves finding your favorite card before shuffling and touching it with your right index finger.

• 14:21Aaron Mahnke?

  Some gamblers carry good luck tokens like badger's teeth or snake skin. Oh, and in one particularly popular tradition, players keep a piece of a hangman's rope in their pocket, specifically, used hangman's rope. Where did they manage to snag one of these? Frankly, I don't know, and I'm a little afraid to ask. At the end of the day, though, there are more gambler superstitions than there are cards in the deck. And it makes sense. After all, where there's money on the line, people will grasp at anything that might give them a sense of control over the game's outcome. The more the gamer lies on sheer chance and the more cash on the table, the more rituals its players will devise to even the score.

• 15:03Aaron Mahnke?

  And of course, nowhere is this more evident than in playing the lottery.

• 15:20Aaron Mahnke?

  It's a rite of passage for 18-year-olds nationwide. That moment that you walk into a gas station, point behind the counter, and walk out with a bright metallic scratch ticket. Between the flashy neon jackpot signs and shows like My Lottery: Dream House, playing the lottery is a modern American classic. Except that, well, it isn't. Because it turns out people have been betting on this same kind of random number lottery since the 1400s. The first modern lotteries were hosted as fundraising efforts in 15th-century Europe, especially trendy in Italy. And as we've learned, when gambling gets popular, so does superstition. Enter the world's first lottery dream book.

• 16:02Aaron Mahnke?

  Penned by an Italian monk, the volume was called La Smorfia. The title was probably a twist on the dream god Morpheus, although I prefer to envision La Smorfia as a team of blue numbers-running Smurfs. Inside, the book listed different symbols that may appear in your dreams, and advised the reader what number to play depending on what was dreamt. Did you have a dream about a drowned old man? Well, then you better play 12. A threshing floor full of wheat? Go with the number 90. You get the idea. With that, the match had been struck. Wherever there were lotteries, lottery dream books quickly followed. And by the 1830s, one country in particular had gone absolutely blotto on Lotto books. The good old US of A.

• 16:47Aaron Mahnke?

  Now, a little background here. The earliest American lottery dream books were aimed at players of a game called "policy." In policy, 12 random numbers would be drawn from a container filled with strips of paper numbered 1 through 78. Essentially, gamblers would place wagers on what numbers they thought would be drawn. And this was all super illegal, by the way. The brokers who collected these bets ran shady, under-the-table operations out of places like cigar stores, and had a pesky habit of rigging the drawings in their favor. With such a high-stakes game, it's no surprise that dream books caught on fast. But this time, they weren't just suggesting what numbers to play. No, these American dream books would also tell you your fortune.

• 17:31Aaron Mahnke?

  Dreams of frogs, for example, signify the number four, but also meant immodesty. Dreaming about playing in Oregon meant that you should play nine, twenty-six, and seventy, but also foretold the death of a relative. Now, there's something else worth noting about these American fortune books. Books with titles like "Old Aunt Dinah's Policy Dream Book," sporting a cartoonish black voodoo worker on the cover, or to name-drop an old pal, "Mother Shipton's Gypsy Fortune Teller and Dream Book," with some additions portraying Mother Shipton as a Romani traveler. In short, these publications leaned deeply into racial stereotype. And this is where the cultural implications of lottery dream books gets really interesting.

• 18:15Aaron Mahnke?

  Because you see, despite the racist tropes these books perpetrated, most lottery players were black. In the 1920s, a new lottery called "Numbers" took off nationwide, kicking "policy" to the curb. And while played all over, "Numbers" really became a staple of life in the black cultural hub of Harlem. Meaning, many of the bosses running the "Numbers" rackets, aka the "Kings and Queens," were themselves black. And this was a big deal, because for the first time, major economic power had fallen into the hands of the African-American community. You have to remember that this was a time when white-owned banks refused loans to black citizens, so Harlem Numbers kings stepped in as a source of credit for their communities.

• 18:59Aaron Mahnke?

  Gambling money helped finance everything from small independent businesses and churches to Negro League baseball clubs. In fact, almost every element of daily life in Jazz-age Harlem relied on the lottery to exist. And of course, with this important new game, came a whole new demand for Numbers-compatible dream books. Which is when, in 1926, a mysterious figure named Professor Uriah Kange appeared in a puff of smoke to fill the void. First came the HP Dream Book. Then, the combination dream book, the lucky star dream book, the success dream book, volume after volume, fortune after fortune, Professor Krajny's lottery books swept Harlem by storm.

• 19:43Aaron Mahnke?

  But of course, Professor Uriah Krajny wasn't this soothsayer's real name. No, it turns out the author was actually an immigrant from Barbados named Herbert Gladstone Paris, and he wasn't actually a professor, but a carpenter at a shipyard. But none of that stopped his books from becoming so successful. White publishers began to produce pirated copies of them. Not to be cheated that easily, Paris hired a detective agency to track these copycats down and have them arrested. Plagiarists take note, we authors are not to be messed with. Meanwhile, his own authentic editions continued to fly off the shelves. And look, it's hard to overstate how significant Paris's achievements were. For some perspective, in 1938, while the Great Depression left many Americans of all

• 20:27Aaron Mahnke?

  races struggling to make ends meet, Paris made enough money from his dream books to purchase a sprawling 15-room Victorian estate formerly owned by the owner of the New York Giants. And might I remind you, this was a black immigrant in the 1930s. Which means that among all the questions we might have, one thing is for certain here. Whether or not Professor Krajny's predictions were accurate, they certainly made one man's dreams come true. His own. And speaking of dreams, we have arrived at the moment you have all been waiting for. A sampling of interpretations from Professor Uriah Krajny's dream books. And I'm just going to read right from the text here, because they're too good to paraphrase. And first, I'll list the object or image that the reader would have to dream about,

• 21:10Aaron Mahnke?

  and then the fortune, and finally, the lottery number the book suggests that you play. Ready? Here we go. Alligator. To dream of this harmful creature denotes you will be engaged in a terrible fight in which you will be the winner. 181. Bobbed hair. To see a bobbed-haired person denotes someone will persuade you to commit an act of indecency which you cannot avoid. 531. Garters. To dream that you wear beautiful garters below your denotes you will have many admirers. One fifty seven. Cemetery. To dream of one denotes riches. To walk through one denotes shrewd business. Two ninety three. And of course, an homage to our beloved friend Jeff.

• 21:55Aaron Mahnke?

  Mongoose denotes that you will become exceedingly rich in the near future. Four eighty one. Oh, and one last detail. The Lucky Star Dreambook also offers numbers to play based solely on your first name. And just for the record, Aaron is four seventy three.

• 22:26Aaron Mahnke?

  It's one of the most exciting elements of studying folklore. How something as seemingly trivial as a kitschy fortune telling booklet can hide beneath the surface, a story about economic justice, racial autonomy, and the fight for human rights. It's a reminder that no superstition is just a spooky story. They're mirrors reflecting the communities who believe in them. And the deeper you dig, the more they reveal. Now, before anyone accuses me of over politicizing, I'm not just reading into the subtext here. Because you see, Herbert Gladstone Paris didn't just offer winning numbers and goofy fortunes in his dreambooks. He also provided his political ideology.

• 23:09Aaron Mahnke?

  The Lucky Star Dreambook ends with a page addressed to, and I quote, "all oppressed people of the world," urging them to get an education and ending with the lines, "Education can have as its foundation the changing of social status or the preservation of the status quo. The final choice lies with each and every one of us. I am appealing to all to make the former choice." And it may seem like a strange add-on to a fortune telling book, but looking back over the fortunes themselves, a pattern begins to emerge. Dreaming of cotton denotes misery and shame. To dream of a white man signifies lawsuits and also that your liberty is in danger.

• 23:50Aaron Mahnke?

  And as for dreaming of people of color, to quote the Lucky Star, "This is an excellent dream for all. It promises riches and extraordinary good health. To those in business, great success. To prisoners, a speedy release. To farmers, good crops. To the brokenhearted, courage."

• 24:09Aaron Mahnke?

  And then, there's the telling interpretation for a dream of the Ku Klux Klan. To dream of this order of men denotes a dangerous undertaking. And the number to play for it? 000. It seems that all along, the mysterious Professor Uriah Kange was using his novelty number books to secretly empower his black readership. Through symbols and predictions, he encouraged players to fight for liberation, to educate themselves, to take their fates into their own hands. After all, sometimes luck only goes so far.

• 24:58Aaron Mahnke?

  I hope you've enjoyed these tales of gameplay and gambling. But we're not done just yet. The truth is, I have one last card up my sleeve, and this final story really ups the ante, featuring seafaring con men, deadly shipwrecks, and a mysterious group called "The Men of the Green Cloth." And if you stick around through this brief sponsor break, you can hear all about it. This episode of Lore was sponsored by Squarespace. Squarespace is the all-in-one website platform that's designed to help you stand out and succeed online. So whether you're just starting out, or you're scaling a growing business, Squarespace has everything you need to do it right. As a guy who runs a few podcasts, I know firsthand how tough it can be to craft a brand and a website around who you are and what you do. But Squarespace makes it so incredibly easy.

• 25:43Aaron Mahnke?

  Squarespace lets you showcase your offerings with a customizable website designed to attract clients and grow your business. You can get paid on time with professional on-brand invoices and online payments, and streamline your workflow with built-in appointment scheduling. Squarespace also has cutting-edge tools that are meant to give you the boost that you need to craft a beautiful site around who you are and what your brand is. Their library of professionally-designed, award-winning website templates lets you use drag-and-drop editing, beautiful styling options, and unrivaled visual design effects with no experience required. And Squarespace can use basic information about your industry goals and your personality To generate personalized design recommendations and their Squarespace email campaigns option has all the tools you need to engage with your clients, promote your services and grow

• 26:28Aaron Mahnke?

  your business. Get started today for free. Head over to Squarespace.com/lor for a free trial website and when you're ready to launch it, use the offer code LOR to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. Squarespace, build something beautiful. This episode was also sponsored by Acorns. So many people these days are focused on where their money is now, but Acorns is the financial wellness app that cares about where your money is going tomorrow. And with the Acorns Potential Screen, you can find out what your money is capable of. Acorns is a smart way to give your money a chance to grow and Acorns is easy. You can sign up in minutes and start automatically investing your spare money even if all you've got is spare change. Acorns grows with you whether you're just starting out or thinking about settling down.

• 27:12Aaron Mahnke?

  Acorns supports your big and small goals across every life stage. The Acorns Potential Screen shows you the power of compounding and how your money could grow over time. Plus, you can quickly adjust how much you're investing every day, week, or month to make sure you're building towards your goals. Acorns is all in one. No more finance apps cluttering up your phone. With Acorns, you can invest, save, and give your money a chance to grow in one trusted place. I love how easy Acorns makes it to jump in and get started. They allow users to start and continue on their own financial journey with ease. Sign up now and Acorns will boost your new account with a $5 bonus investment. Join the over 14 million all-time customers who have already saved and invested over $27 billion with Acorns.

• 27:56Aaron Mahnke?

  Head to acorns.com/lor or download the Acorns app to get started. Paid non-client endorsement compensation provides incentive to positively promote Acorns. Tier 2 compensation provided. Potential subject to various factors such as customer's account's age and investment settings. Does not include Acorns fees. Results do not predict or represent the performance of any Acorns portfolio. Investment results will vary. Investing involves risk. Acorns Advisors, LLC, an SEC-registered investment advisor. View important disclosures at acorns.com/lor.

• 28:24Speaker 03

  Cash Flow Crunch? OnDeck's small business line of credit gives your business immediate access to funds, up to $200,000, right when you need it. Cover seasonal dips, manage payroll, restock inventory, or tackle unexpected expenses without missing a beat. With flexible draws, transparent pricing, and control over repayment, get funded quickly and confidently. Apply today at ondeck.com. Funds could be available as soon as tomorrow. Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by OnDeck or Celtic Bank. OnDeck does not lend in North Dakota. All loans and amounts subject to lender approval.

• 28:55Speaker 04

  Breathe in and reset with Lincoln Rejuvenate, an available multisensory feature in the 2027 Lincoln Navigator SUV. Experience the luxurious massage, visuals, and sense to help you relax in the driver's seat. It's your time for a reset. Visit lincoln.com to learn more. Lincoln Rejuvenate does not operate unless the vehicle is in park, when the vehicle is off, or if any doors open. Do not use the feature in a closed garage or in other enclosed areas. See owner's manual for important operating instructions. Lincoln and Navigator are trademarks of Ford or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

• 29:41Aaron Mahnke?

  George, Charles, and Harry were not what they appeared to be. Now, sure, in their tailcoats and white bow ties, their top hats and polished shoes, each looked every part the gentleman. That was the idea, after all, to avoid standing out. And here, in the first-class smoking room of the ornate luxury steamship, wealth and fine fashion were the norm. But they weren't among the elites at all. No, all three were what was euphemistically called "gentlemen of the green cloth." And though it might sound like an order of Arthurian knights, this trio was the furthest thing from it. Because "gentlemen of the green cloth" was simply a polite name for con men. Card-playing con men, to be precise, also known as sporting men. And though George Brereton, Charles Romaine,

• 30:26Aaron Mahnke?

  and Harry Homer were the only three sporting men aboard this particular ship, they were far from the only card sharks taking their talents to the open sea. Believe it or not, during the age of luxury steamship travel in the 19th and early 20th centuries, professional gamblers frequently booked passages on ocean liners specifically intending to fleece money from rich men in the ship's first class. But let me tell you, this was no easy racket. For one, like our three friends, it was essential to dress the part. A shabby getup would give you away immediately, and the same went for decorum. Gamblers had to keep up on current events and be able to discuss literature and art with their marks to keep anyone from suspecting their true identities.

• 31:09Aaron Mahnke?

  Heck, one was even said to have acted the part of a priest, complete with a whole clerical outfit. And if that all sounds like a lot of effort, let me assure you that it was worth it. A successful hustle would more than make the money back spent on tickets and clothes. In fact, checking in on our friends George, Charles, and Harry, they've already won something close to $1,500 tonight alone, the equivalent of nearly 50 grand in today's cash. They had been at this charade for three nights now, and this would be the fourth. And if things continued as they were going so far, they were about to make a lot of easy money. And as far as they knew, it would go well, because the game, you see, was rigged. Sporting men employed all sorts of tricks and tactics to ensure a win.

• 31:53Aaron Mahnke?

  Some teamed up with a secret partner to spy on victims' hands, communicating via coded gestures, yes, but also through the particular way they smoked a cigarette and the drinks they ordered from waiters. If you were a shipboard gambler who unexpectedly identified another of your own kind on board, there was a whole lexicon of hustlers' code that you could speak in. Want to be cut in on the scam? Simply say, "Do you know Mr. Hemingway, the one who engaged in the rabbit business? I swear to you, this is real." Other ways to cheat included manipulating the deck through sleight of hand tricks, false shuffles, and even wearing a device inside the sleeve called a holdout, a gadget that could deliver cards into the hand or hold them back for later play.

• 32:37Aaron Mahnke?

  And of course, marking cards was another classic move. One female gambler of the time was even known to daintily hold her hand against her bosom between turns, where an intricate antique brooch would leave strategic little pinpricks on the cards. But she's not here tonight. No, the only gentlemen of the green cloth aboard this particular ship were American gamblers George, Charles, and Harry. And currently, as the clock read 11:40 PM, they were busy rigging a game of bridge. Or at least, they were, until a startling grinding shudder passed along the side of the ship. They felt the room shift, and then, the vessel came to a stop. And you might think that they would have climbed on deck to see what the racket was,

• 33:18Aaron Mahnke?

  but remember, these guys had the equivalent of about $50,000 in winnings on the line, and so they kept on playing. Forty-five minutes later, the smoking steward delivered an important and unnerving report. Whatever had happened was serious enough that women and children were being lowered away in lifeboats. But still, the men ignored him and returned to their game. Finally, the steward approached their table directly. He locked the grifters dead in the eye and in a low voice said, "You better get on deck." Now, I can only imagine the chill in his tone, because George, Charles, and Harry immediately dropped their game. They didn't even bother to settle up their winnings, leaving their earnings behind. It wasn't long before the unthinkable truth became clear. The ship was sinking.

• 34:03Aaron Mahnke?

  A ship, mind you, that had been famously advertised as "unsinkable." That's right, our gamblers were passengers on none other than the RMS Titanic. These gamblers watched aghast as panic set in on the upper deck. Lifeboats hurtled down into the water, swinging against the side of the hull, and there were hardly enough for everyone. Not only that, but men were no longer allowed in the boats at all. But as tearful goodbyes between husbands and wives unfolded before them, the gamblers did what they did best. They started to scheme. It was 1:30 in the morning when George finally turned to the others and said, "Boys, I'm going to get a boat." With George in the lead, the trio rushed down to the promenade deck and watched a lifeboat slowly descend from above.

• 34:48Aaron Mahnke?

  They waited, eye on the prize, and then, when the lifeboat was level with the deck's railing and about three feet from the side of the ship, these men took the greatest gamble of their lives and jumped. "It was our only chance," one later recalled, "and we took it. I don't know whether it was manly or not, but we escaped." That's right, the plan worked. George, Charles, and Harry all survived the Titanic sinking, which was not the case, mind you, for a good many of the men they had cheated on board. Luxury steamships and the con men who preyed upon them may only be ghosts of the past now. But one thing is for certain. These seafaring card players gave a whole new meaning to the phrase stacking the deck.

• 35:46Aaron Mahnke?

  This episode of Lore was produced by me, Aaron Mahnke, with writing by Jenna Rose Nethercott, research by Cassandra DeAlba, and music by Chad Lawson. Don't like hearing the ads? I have a solution for you. There's a paid version of Lore that's available on Apple Podcasts or Patreon that is 100% ad-free. And plus, subscribers there also get discounts on Lore merchandise, access to my inbox, and weekly mini-episodes we call Lore Bites. It's a bargain for all of that ad-free storytelling and a great way to support this show and the team behind it. Lore, of course, is much more than just a podcast. There's the book series available in bookstores and online, and two seasons of the TV adaptation on Amazon Prime. Information about all of that and more is available over at lorepodcast.com.

• 36:29Aaron Mahnke?

  And you can also follow this show on platforms like YouTube, Threads, Blue Sky, and Instagram. Just search for Lore Podcast, all one word, and click that follow button. And when you do, say hi. I like it when people say hi. And as always, thanks for listening.

• 36:58Speaker 01

  Cash flow crunch? OnDeck's Small Business Line of Credit gives your business immediate access to funds, up to $200,000, right when you need it. Cover seasonal dips, manage payroll, restock inventory, or tackle unexpected expenses without missing a beat. With flexible draws, transparent pricing, and control over repayment, get funded quickly and confidently. Apply today at ondeck.com. Funds could be available as soon as tomorrow. Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by OnDeck or Celtic Bank. OnDeck does not lend in North Dakota. All loans and amounts subject to lender approval.

• 37:29Speaker 04

  Breathe in and reset with Lincoln Rejuvenate. An available multisensory feature in the 2027 Lincoln Navigator SUV. Experience the luxurious massage, visuals, and sense to help you relax in the driver's seat. It's your time for a reset. Visit Lincoln.com to learn more. Lincoln Rejuvenate does not operate unless the vehicle is in park. When the vehicle is off or if any doors open, do not use the feature in a closed garage or in other enclosed areas. See owner's manual for important operating instructions. Lincoln and Navigator are trademarks of Ford or its affiliates. All rights reserved.