Episode 238: The Crypt of Thornwell Jacobs

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. Music The Lady With the Golden Stockings from the Sun Ra Arkestra The Sage from the Chico Hamilton Quintet Falling in Love with a New York Pigeon by Birb Bocherini's fourth quintet as performed by the Ensemble of St. Martin of the Fields From a Dream by Oregon Jaybird from the great Charlie Parr Pool of Love by Les Baxter And House Tuner Theme from Will Bates' gorgeous score to The Sound of Silence. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House.Buy the audiobook wherever you get audiobooks (like libro.fm!)The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. I have recently launched a newsletter. You can subscribe to it at thememorypalacepodcast.substack.com. Audio excerpted courtesy of Random House Audio from THE MEMORY PALACE by Nate DiMeo, read by a full cast. Excerpt read by Nate DiMeo, © 2024 Nate DiMeo, ℗ 2024 Penguin Random House, LLC. All rights reserved. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. Music Kara-Lis Coverdale's A480 Palimpsest from Will Bate's score to The Sound of Silence Harriett Smith and Robert Martin Meet in the Rain from Isobel Waller Bridge's score to Emma. The Play from Dan Romer's score to (the terrific) Station Eleven. Cutting Branches from a Temporary Shelter from the Penguin Cafe Orchestra. Sustainable from H. Takahashi. Notes There's a particularly good article by Colin Dickey about Jacobs and The Crypt in American Scholar.  You can read all 1100 pages of Jacobs' autobiography here, if you haven't already. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

On Sunday, October 26th, 2025, Nate DiMeo of this here show, The Memory Palace, and his friends and colleagues at his fellow Radiotopia show, This Day, will be holding a good, old-fashioned teach-in in defense of history and museums currently targeted by the Trump Administration. Readings and lectures from sun-up to sundown on the National Mall in Washington D.C. Learn more here. Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate.  Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. Music On-ness by Tom Rogerson and Eno. Etude by Joep Beving Ebb Tide by Houston & Dorsey Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. This episode was originally released in October of 2018.Music We start with the very English, Voluntary No. 4 in b-flat Minor, by Margaret Phillips. Hear Nero’s Nocturne from Chilly Gonzales. Some of The Stars vs. Creatures by Colleen. Abide with Me from the Thelonious Monk Septet off his Monk’s Music album. Walzer fur Robert by Anne Muller off of Erased Tapes Volume 5. Evening at Eight by Keith Kenniff. and Berceuse by Alexandra Streliski. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. Music A couple by C. Diab: Tiny Umbrellas and Crypsis The beginning of Cats Cradle (Iris) by Hannah Epperson Dawning and Wind by Shida Shihabi A couple from Ceeys: Neighbour II and Union Notes I really enjoyed reading both Lew Irwin's Deadly Times: the 1910 Bombing of the L.A. Times and America's Forgotten Decade of Terror, and Bread and Hyacinths: the Rise and Fall of Utopian Los Angeles, by Lionel Rolfe As an, at this point, long-time Angeleno, I highly recommend visiting the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. While Nate takes a little summer break, he reads you two poems.  Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. Music Joy, by Jeffrey Cantu-Ledesma The Cradle by Frederico Albanese Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. Notes Go to adoptastation.org and pitch in. Listen to the incredible documentaries by Lloyd Newman, LeAlan Jones, and David Isay, at David's (Corporation for Public Broadcasting funded) Storycorps.org Music Herbert's Story from Mark Orton's score to Nebraska. Kyu from Sylvain Chaveau Smygkatt by Shida Shahabi Roedelius plays Rolling Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices