- Do you save the things that doctors
cut out of you during surgery?
If you're famous enough, the
Smithsonian wants to keep 'em.
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The Smithsonian Institution is home
to some 137 million objects,
duly earning its
nickname, America's Attic.
From ruby slippers to
shrunken heads to gallstones,
they'll keep just about anything.
Here are some of our favorites.
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- This was the second time I've had
to reclaim my property from you!
- That belongs in a museum!
- So do you!
- One of Indiana Jones' signature lines
is his gruff "It belongs in a museum!"
Harrison Ford and Lucas Film
did right by the character
and donated Indy's signature
fedora, leather jacket,
and bullwhip to the Smithsonian.
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There's a 50 foot stretch of concrete
in the custody of the Smithsonian
that came from the Oklahoma
portion of Route 66.
Running from Illinois through California,
this road has long symbolized freedom
from economic troubles by relocation
during the Great Depression,
from the Axis Powers via military traffic
during World War II,
and from the war's
hardships as it was used
for road tripping in the 1950s on.
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Allow me to relate the legend
of the Mechanical Monk.
In 1562, the Crown Prince of Spain
was injured in a fall
and it threw the monarchy into panic.
King Phillip II was
desperate to save his heir
but none of the leading
treatments of the day,
you know, like leeches,
worked, big surprise.
So the King called for a relic,
the 100 year dead body of a local monk.
The Prince lived, and
Phillip had a clockmaker
construct a 15 inch automaton
in the monk's image.
I can't say how much
of the legend is true,
but the monk-bot still works, to this day.
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This specimen flew 12
missions during World War I.
No, it's not a plane or a
piece of a pilot's gear,
Cher Ami was a carrier pigeon.
Pigeon units were essential
to field communications
throughout the war, but this
single bird saved 194 lives.
In 1918, the US Army's
77th Infantry Division
was stuck behind German lines.
Outside, other US troops
were inadvertently
bombarding their trapped allies.
Cher Ami was the 77th's last pigeon,
but he made a perilous 25 mile flight,
in just 25 minutes,
to deliver the crucial ceasefire note.
He lost an eye and had a quarter-size
bullet hole in his breast bone
but he won the hearts of millions,
and after his eventual
death, yes, he survived,
a place among the Smithsonian's treasures.
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That's all the Smithsonian
stuff we have time for today
but hey, what's your
favorite museum exhibit?
Tell me in the comments.
If you like this video, make it official,
and subscribe so you
won't miss the next one,
and, to learn more, like the Smithsonian's
weirdest presidential
accessories, check out our article
Ten Strange Things in the
Smithsonian's Collection
on howstuffworks.com
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