“The Unsinkable Lie: What Really Went Down the Night the Titanic Disappeared”

this powerful, deeply researched episode of True Crime with Tiff Kline, Tiffany takes listeners on a haunting journey through the rise, fall, and lingering mysteries of the RMS Titanic — the ship the world was told could never sink, and the ship some believe never actually did. Tiffany unpacks the Titanic’s creation in Belfast, the engineering marvel that made it a floating palace, and the pride that convinced the world it was “practically unsinkable.” She walks through the ship’s maiden voyage on April 10, 1912, the famous names onboard, and the stark class divide that determined who lived and who died when the unthinkable happened. Listeners are taken hour‑by‑hour through the night of April 14th — the iceberg strike, the chaos on deck, the half‑empty lifeboats, the ship breaking in two, and the 1,496 souls lost to the freezing Atlantic. Tiffany also explores where the victims rest today, including the often‑overlooked graves in St. Mary’s in Hanover, PA, Hanover Green Cemetery, Clarks Summit, and Dalton, Pennsylvania — bringing the tragedy home in a way few ever do.

Drawing from her own experiences visiting the Titanic museums in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, Cincinnati, Ohio, and soon Las Vegas, Tiffany shares the emotional weight of walking through the artifacts, the recreated cabins, and the stories frozen in time.

Then, the episode shifts into the conspiracy that refuses to die:
Did the Titanic actually sink… or was it the Olympic?  
Tiffany breaks down the theory involving ship switches, financial motives, J.P. Morgan’s last‑minute cancellation, and the evidence believers point to — along with what historians say in response. It’s a deep, balanced, investigative look at one of the most enduring maritime conspiracies ever told.

Finally, Tiffany explores how James Cameron resurrected the Titanic for a new generation through his groundbreaking 1997 film — rebuilding the ship, honoring the victims, and reminding the world why this tragedy still matters.

This episode blends history, humanity, mystery, and emotion — honoring the dead, questioning the narrative, and shining a light on the truth… even when the truth has layers.

Transcript

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Welcome back to another episode of True Crime with Tiff Klein, giving criminals the disrespect they deserve. We are back with season two, episode 13, and tonight we're going to be talking about the RMS Titanic. We're gonna step into a story that isn't just history. It's tragedy, it's human error, and it's arrogance, it's survival, and it's the reason the world changed forever. This is a story of the RMSS Titanic, the ship that was never supposed to sink, but it did. And for me, the story has always, always been personal. I've walked through the Titanic Museums in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, in Cincinnati, Ohio, and soon in Vegas, where I'll get to see a big piece. Every time I feel the same thing. Like the air gets heavier, like the ship is still speaking, and tonight we're going to listen. Tonight will be 114 years since the Titanic sank. That's right, April 15th, 1912. The Titanic sunk to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. The Titanic wasn't just built. She was engineered into legend. Construction began in 1909 at the Harland and Wolfe Shipyard in Belfast, Ireland. She was one of three sister ships: Olympic, Titanic, and Britannic, designed to dominate the transatlantic passenger trade. Titanic was 882 feet long, 175 feet tall, and weighed 46,000 tons. And luxury that most people in 1912 couldn't even imagine. Marble floors, crystal chandeliers, a grand staircase that looked like it belonged to a palace, electric elevators, unheard of at that time, and a dining room so ornate it rivaled the finest hotels in Europe. She was called unsingapole, not because she truly was, but because people wanted to believe she was. On April 10th, 1912, Titanic left Southampton, England on her maiden voyage. She carried 2,208 people, which included passengers and crew. And among them were some of the biggest names of the era. John Jacob Astor IV, one of the richest men in the world. Benjamin Guggenheim, an American mining tycoon, Isidore and Ida Strauss, co-owners of Macy's, Dorothy Gibson, a silent film actress, and Margaret, Molly Brown, the woman who would become the unsingable Molly Brown. But the ship wasn't just filled with wealth. It carried immigrants, family workers, people chasing a new life in America. People never made it. When Titanic sank 1,496 people died, only 712 survived. 712 out of 2,208. Most of the dead were third-class passengers, crew members, men who stepped back so women and children could board lifeboats, people trapped below deck, and people who froze in the 28-degree water within minutes. And the heartbreaking truth, there were 20 lifeboats, enough for only half the people on board. And even then, many have left the ship half empty. Most Titanic victims were never recovered, but the bodies that were found, many were brought to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where three cemeteries hold the majority of the known graves. But some victims, especially those families claimed them, were brought home. And that brings us to my home in Pennsylvania. In 2020, I had a lot of time on my hands, as most of the world did, and I did some little research on some Titanic passengers and discovered that quite a few of them were traveling right here to Wilkes Bear, Pennsylvania. Some had family here, some were coming to start a new life, some had work waiting for them. But I found their graves and their backgrounds. And when I traveled to Pigeon Forge in Cincinnati, I saw some of their names on a wall saying destination Wilkes Bear. So that was pretty cool. If you check out my Facebook page, I have posted photos of these headstones. Um, but a few of the cemeteries I found some in were St. Mary's in Hanover, Pennsylvania, Hanover Green Cemetery in Hanover, Pennsylvania, and Dalton and Clark Summit, Pennsylvania. Now, St. Mary's is unique because there is a big headstone by the main office and it says Thomas, and all around it are flat stones with family members of Thomas. However, one of them says Charles Thomas. He was a relative of Thelma Thomas. They were Lebanese-born third-class passengers from Wilkesbare, Pennsylvania, aboard the Titanic. Charles died in 1912 sinking while ensuring Thelma and her infant son Acid escaped following a chaotic separation on the ship. The family later ran a produce business in Wilkes Bear, Pennsylvania. So if you guys are familiar with the CNC Thomas family building, that is where it came from, guys. So a little bit of local knowledge for you. I did find Thelma's and Acid's headstones in St. Mary's. If you go to the last entrance where the office building is, you go straight up the hill. It's up on the hill. It's the last row. To your left. It's very simple to find. Yes. Charles Thomas, also known as Bashir Tanus, Thelma Thomas, and infant son Acid, they were all traveling from Cherboy to Wilkesbare. Charles perished in the disaster, and Thelma and her baby survived, but they were separated from Charles in the chaos. Thelma and her baby were reunited on their Carpathia, which was the ship that rescued the Titanic survivors. And according to family accounts, a woman named Winnie Trout helped look after the baby with a CID and a different lifeboat. The family lived on Stanton Street and were part of the local Lebanese community in Wilkesbare. They were affiliated with the Thomas C. Thomas produce store, which later became a prominent local business. Mama never forgot the screams of the disaster and never went near water again. According to her daughter, she died in Wilkesbare in 1974. Some other people I had found in St. Mary's was George Borick, he died in 1979, and his brother, as well as Acid Thelma, and the Centitath for Charles. When I traveled up to Clark Summit, Pennsylvania, by Leahy Fun Park, if you know where that's at, there is a mausoleum, and inside is Selena Cook. Selena Cook was a second-class passenger. She was newly married, traveling without husband. She board the Titanic at age 22 and passed away at age 74. Her husband joined her in Pennsylvania and became an officer of the daughters of the king. She was active in her church, humane society, in a local historical society. She died in Pennsylvania from a severe hemorrhage. I also went to a cemetery during COVID. I can't remember the name, but it is in Dalton, Pennsylvania. And there was a big stone for two people who were never found who lost their lives at sea. So there's some heritage here, guys. That Thomas C. Thomas building in downtown Wolkesbare is from the family members that survived the Titanic. Very cool. So if you're interested in some local history on Titanic, there you go. Look up Thelma Thomas, Charles Thomas, Acid Thomas, and you'll get a little bit more information. The two brothers that came over here were seven and four, George Borick, who is buried in St. Mary's, and William Borick, who was four. They were both traveling to Wilkes Bear with their mother and brother. When I went to Pigeon Forge, I found these plaques on the wall with their pictures and names after I had already been to the cemetery. So that was pretty cool. There were also two brothers, Joseph and Beatros Simon. One was 15, one was 14, both traveling to Wilkes Bear, traveled with their father and brother. Joseph did, and Betros traveled with his uncle. I also found that George traveled with his mother at, you know, she was 33, his brother was four. He bore the Titanic at seven. He lived in Lebanon, lived in Pennsylvania, and he died from a heart attack in 1979. So that's just a little bit of local knowledge for the baby that survived. He lived until he was 19. He died in 1931. He traveled with his mother, Thelma, who was 16, and his uncle, who was 33. They were coming to Wilkesburg to join their father. He boarded the Titanic at five months old and he passed away age 19. He was separated from his mother on the Titanic, handed to Edwina Trout, and reunited on the Carpathia. He was a bachelor. He lived and died in Whitehaven, Pennsylvania, which is closer to the Allentown area, and he died from turbu turbuc. There's me not being able to pronounce that again, tuberculosis. So again, a little bit of local history for you. If you live in the Scranton Wolf Space area and you want to go see them, they're at St. Mary's in Hanover, Hanover Green in Hanover, Clark Summit, and Dalton. Let's get into it. The night the world stood still. It's April 14th, 1912. A calm, endless night. The ocean is flat like glass. The temperature's dropping. And Titanic is moving at 22 knots near top speed. At 11:40 p.m. on April 14th, lookout Frederick Fleet sees it. That's right. The iceberg. Dead ahead. He rings the bell three times. Iceberg right ahead, he yells. The ship turns, but not fast enough. The iceberg scrapes along the starboard side, tearing open the hull. Six compartments flood instantly. Titanic can stay afloat with four, but not six. She's doomed. By 125 a.m. on April 15th, 1912, Captain Smith orders the lifeboat uncovered. By 12:25 a.m., women and children begin boarding. Some boats leave 12 people. Even though 55. By 1.30 a.m., the bow is sinking. The turn is rising and people are slipping off the deck as it tilts. 2.10 a.m. The lights flicker, then go black. 2.18 a.m. The ship breaks in half. 2.20 a.m. Titanic disappears beneath the Atlantic. Screams last for minutes and then silent. In 1997, James Cameron did something no one expected. He brought Titanic back to life. His film wasn't just a movie, it was a resurrection. He rebuilt the ship. He studied the wreck. He obsessed over every detail from the China patterns to the lifeboat ropes. And he gave the world something it desperately needed. A way to feel the tragedy again. A way to remember the people and not just the ship. The movie became the highest-grossing fill of all time for years. It won 11 Oscars and introduced a new generation to a story that should never be forgotten. Now, we're gonna step into a story that people whisper about. The theory that the ship that sank wasn't the Titanic at all. Yeah, that's right. There is a conspiracy theory that centers around two ships, the RMS Titanic and the RMS Olympic, her older sister ship. The theory claims 1911, Olympic collided with a British warship, the HMS Hawk. She was badly damaged, repairs were expensive, and some believe the company couldn't afford the losses. And according to the conspiracy, the damaged Olympic was disguised as Titanic. The real Titanic was named Olympic. The plan was to sink the damaged ship intentionally. Insurance money would save the company. JP Morgan, the powerful financer behind the White Star Line, canceled his trip at the last minute. Conspiracy theorists point to this as suspicious. Porthole patterns didn't match, lifeboats labeled SS Olympic in some of the photos, crew members who supposedly said the ships were switched and the Olympics repairs costing more than the ship was worth. The Titanic sea trials began unusually short. Most historians reject this theory, citing that structural difference between the ships, detailed construction records, survivor testimony, and insurance records that don't support a payout scheme. But like all conspiracies, it persists because the tragedy was so massive, so shocking that people search for a deeper explanation. And in true crime, we know that sometimes the official story isn't always the whole story. I'm not a big conspiracy theorist, but this is one I do believe. I do believe this happened only because JP Morgan, the powerful financer behind the White Star Line, canceled his trip last minute, and some of the most richest people in the world were on this ship. I'll name them again. John Jacob Astor IV, one of the richest men in the world. Benjamin Guggeheim, American mining tycoon, Isidore and Ida Strauss, co-owners of Macy's, and Dorothy Gibson, the silent film actress. Margaret Molly Brown, the woman who would become the unsinkable Molly Brown that you might remember in the movie played by Kathy Bates. So JP Morgan had a ticket, cancels it last minute, all the richest people in the world go down. And hmm. JP Morgan became one of the richest men in the world. If not, maybe at that time after everybody died. So that is very odd. And the side of the ship that got hit by the iceberg, again, it could hold four floors being flooded, but not six. There is a rumor that the coal chamber in the Titanic made the walls very weak during construction and actually started a fire. And the steel beams and the rivets actually became weak. So when they launched the ship and it hit the iceberg, that's why it was so easily damaged. Now, that is if it was actually the Titanic, but it could have been the Olympic, and that's why the walls were so weak from the prior accident. And when they set sail, it hit the iceberg, and that's exactly where it hit. So those are some of the theories that go around. Again, I do believe in it. I'm going to come out and admit that I am one of those people. But you know, there were 3,000 workers on the ship. It took them 26 months to build it. It cost five million dollars, which is over 200 million today, and enough steel to build a small city. It had Turkish baths, a squash court, and first-class suites that looked like royal apartments. I would have loved to see the Titanic in person. I, it's my favorite movie of all time. I saw it when I was eight years old in Pinarchal PA. My grandparents took me. And by the time the ship hit the iceberg until the credits rolled, until I got in the van and got home, I hyperventilated and cried. No eight-year-old should have that feeling watching a movie. And I was obsessed with it moving forward. Like, and I still am to this day. I've seen every documentary, read every book I could, I've seen their a lot of their graves, been to museums. Um, and something tells me that I was on that ship in a past life. Because the first time I ever saw Titanic, I was dancing around my living room in my socks. I had been seven, eight years old. And I remember VH1 being on, and all of a sudden my heart will go on. Music video came across the TV, and I saw the Titanic, and I stopped in my tracks and just stared at the TV like, hey, that's familiar. I know what that is, but I didn't know what it is. You know what I mean? Like there was something about it that captivated me just seeing the ship, and it just stopped me in my tracks. And I just stared at the TV. Like I'm gonna be 38 and I remember it like it was yesterday. So we're going back like 30 years, and I just stared at the TV blankly. It was so familiar, but I had didn't know what it was. And then when, like I said, when I saw the movie and they hit the iceberg and I hyperventilated for another hour or two, it just it's it's something that I don't think an eight-year-old should feel. It was very weird and it I remember it like it was yesterday. But when James Cameron made that movie, he went down to that ship many times and became an expert. Um, he's one of the very few men who've made it. Yeah, he's done it like 20 times. And he actually wanted to prove that the Titanic actually, you know, at the time he made the ship break in half, but some survivors say it did, some didn't, and they think it's because how dark it was. And some recall seeing it break, others don't. So with the buoyancy and how the ship fell to the ocean and how far apart it was, there is a documentary where he said it did actually break. It just it wasn't up high like they projected it to be in the movie, though. It didn't stand up completely straight like that. But you know, it was a groundbreaking production. Like I said, it cost 200 million to make, and it was the most expensive film at the time. And it was the first to gross$1 billion. And James Cameron blended intense practical effects with CGI and featured a near full-scale ship that he built in Mexico. So he only built one side. And to save money money on filming and save time, he actually filmed it and flipped the film. So everything was made backwards because he knew once he filmed it, it was gonna have to face the opposite way. So every like all the clothes, like the buttons were on the opposite side, they should have been. So when it was on film to us, it looked normal. So he had crafted that ship almost full scale. Kate Winslet, who played Rose, actually almost drowned filming scenes, and she caught hypothermia while the iconic drawing was done by Cameron himself. So when they zoom in on Leonardo Caprio's hands, it's actually James Cameron's hands. The film's sinking scene lasts two hours and 40 minutes. The exact time the real ship took to sink. The scene where water crashes into the grand staircase was done in one take because the set was destroyed. And the take that in that movie is one of the most suspenseful moments of the entire movie. They nailed it in one take. That's pretty impressive. Kate Winslit often refused a wetsuit to enhance her performance, resulting in her catching pneumonia. And during filming in Halifax, Canada, a chowder served to the crew with spiked with PCP, leading to hallucinations for 60 people. Can you imagine being on set of Titanic and everyone's just tripping balls off PCP? And you're on the set of Titanic and you think you're probably on the actual ship. Holy shit. Talk about an actual trip, no pun intended. James Cameron filled the real wreck for the movie, and his hands, like I said, are the ones sketching Rose. He also based the elderly couple on the bed and the line where you go, I go, on real passengers, as I mentioned earlier, Isadore and Ida Strauss, the owners of Macy's. So those old people in the bed at the end of the movie, when the ship is sanking and they're holding each other, they're supposed to be the owners of Macy's. Isador and Ida Strauss. The flying scene at sunset was real, and the scene had to be shot in just a few minutes. The I'm the king of the world line was improvised. And I remember watching a video about Kate and Leonardo at that sunset, and they had to get that kiss perfect in the perfect sunlight. And they said they had to kiss each other multiple times, but it was the they said it was the perfect sunset they could have ever hoped for for a movie. And you can see it, it's gorgeous. Titanic received 14 Academy Award nominations, tying the record for the most nominations at that time, and won 11 Oscars. Celine Dion was hesitant to sing My Heart Will Go On, but her demo recording was actually used for the final film. So again, that's my favorite movie of all time. I can't believe how many years it's been since it came out, and this is such a tragedy that so many people lost their lives. Now they fluctuate between how many people were on the ship. Like I've read like 2,220, 2208, 224. So the final count, depending on where you research and what you look at, it it varies a little bit. Yeah, I mean, it was the most famous shipwreck in the world. And the movie just broke box office. And then he held that title for the most money a movie ever made, and then he beat his own title again with Avatar. Like, how crazy is that? So some of the shots of the wreckage that we see in the present-day portions of the film, they're not digital guys. That's Titanic footage shot specifically for the film when James Cameron went down to see the ship himself. Apparently, the first time he went down to the wreck, he became so overwhelmed that he broke down in tears. And his team shot the real Titanic footage. He wanted a film outside the submarine. So Cameron's brother Mike worked as a camera operator on the film and helped out. And he developed new ocean remote operated vehicles that could withstand the pressure being applied to it from underwater. The Titanic wreck is two and a half miles down on the seabed, and those camera vehicles developed by Mike Cameron have been used. On many productions since. I pulled that information from all the right movies.com, but I have read that before and I've heard James talk about it. And the first time we see the ship in the film, it's docked at Southampton. That Titanic is a combination, like in the movie of scale models, matte paintings, and forced perspectives. It was a 30-foot scale model of the ship, as well as life-size set of the ship. That would have been so cool to be on. Only the starboard side was finished on the life-size version, like I said. So when shooting on the port side, the crew would set the shot up backwards and then film would then be flipped in editing. How cool. That's why I mean that's why that movie took so long to edit. That's why it took so long to come out, and that's why it made the most money. But he he dropped a lot of my money into it. On the full set, the stern of the ship could be detached and revolved 90 degrees. And Cameron's own effects studio called Digital Domain did a lot of the CGI work, but it was one of the most famous shots in the film is where we moved down the entire ship from the bow to the stern. That's Digital Domain's hand-do work. So part of the real ship were recreated in paint stocking detail. So a lot of the interior you see is literally a legit replica. Like the dining room and the gymnasium. They were exactly how you saw it in the movie, exactly how it looked in real life. And when I went to the museums, I got to sit on the staircase and it was surreal. I almost felt like I just stepped into the movie. We're on the real ship, and it was beautiful. I couldn't have asked for a cooler movie experience than that. But yeah, tonight is 114 years since that ship sank. And I could not imagine the fear that people had because they thought they were safe on an unsinkable ship. And the fact that these lifeboats didn't carry out everybody they could have fit in that ship in those boats, how many people froze to death that didn't need to. But again, I don't think this ship mistakenly just hit an iceberg. We all know from the movie, and it has been reported it's true, that those ships' engine was sped up per Mr. Ismay, and Captain Smith didn't want to do that, and he did last minute. And I just think it was all a plan. I really do. Again, I don't believe in a lot of conspiracies, but that's one I do because it's just not a coincidence that all the richest people in the world went down, and then JP Morgan backs out last minute and now is the richest man. Get out of here. I think they went right towards that titanium or that iceberg and Ismay sped up the engines. I think it was planned. I really do. I'm not convinced that it was just a fluke accident. No, the ship had three propellers and it burned six to eight hundred tons of coal a day. That's a lot of coal. It was built by White Star Line in Belfast, Ireland. Construction was delayed after its sister ship, the Olympic, was damaged in a collision requiring parts from wait for it, Titanic. So I really do believe they switched out the ships for an insurance claim. I really, really, really do. The fact that it was damaged in almost the same spot where the iceberg hit the Titanic, the walls were already weak, guys. Think about it. And if the steel walls and rivets were already loose and weak and cold, the frigid waters are gonna crack it even more. And then you hit an iceberg, you're done. Okay, you're done. So that's why I believe it. I'm believing the science part. And if you were going to stand on the Titanic up straight, it would be a 17-story building. So it set sail on April 10th, 1912. It struck an iceberg at 11:40 p.m. on April 14th and sank at 2.20 a.m. on April 15th. The iceberg was estimated to be 100 feet tall and originated from Greenland over 100,000 years ago. Despite warnings of ice, pay attention, despite warnings of ice, the ship was traveling at a high speed of approximately 21 to 24 knots. Now, why would the ship be going at almost full speed, knowing that there were warnings of ice? Yeah, wonder. Although designed to survive four flooded compartments, the iceberg damaged five, proving the unsinkable reputation. False. I just hit my microphone. I apologize. 61% first class passengers survived. While White Starline chairman J. Bruce Ismay survived in a lifeboat. Ismay is the one you see in the movie. He's the man that jumps in the lifeboat, and Mr. Murdoch gives him a look and lowers the lifeboat anyway. So he's the one that that pressured Captain Smith's to speed up, and then he ended up surviving and got in a lifeboat and went home, enjoyed his life. Captain Edward Smith went down with the ship, and wealthy businessman Benjamin Guggenheim and chief naval architect at Thomas Andrews Jr. died. And you might remember in the movie, Benjamin Guggenheim was the guy at the end who wanted to go down like gentlemen when they were told to put on their life vest. And he said he would he wanted a brandy, and they were dressed in their best and they were prepared to go down as gentlemen. That was that was Benjamin Guggenheim. And the naval architect Thomas Andrews was the man who took a walk with Rose on the ship, talking about how it's unsinkable and the lifeboats that she was questioning. And he said, I built you a sturdy ship. And he's the one at the end that she stopped to hug, and he gave her a life vest, and he changed the time and the clock. That was Mr. Andrews. There were 3,423 sacks of mail on board with male clerks working until the end to save them. A first class ticket could cost over 1,700 in today's money. That's a lot of money. The lookouts had to rely on their eyes alone because the binoculars were locked in a cabinet and the key was missing. All right, guys, this is another all signs pointy. Yes, with a conspiracy saying that the Titanic was swapped with the Olympics. The lookouts had to rely on their eyes because the binoculars were locked in a cabinet and the keys were missing. The crew received at least at least six ice warnings on the day of the disaster. Many were not relayed to the bridge or were ignored by a busy radio operator. For decades it was believed the ship sank intact. It wasn't until the wreck was found in 1985 that it was confirmed the Titanic had actually split into two before disappearing. The ship's musicians famously played for over two hours as the ship sank, as we saw in the movie. A lifeboat drill was scheduled for the day of the sinking, but was canceled by the captain. Your chances of survival were heavily tied to your ticket class. While 61% of first class passengers survived, only 25% of those in third class made it. Chief Baker Charles Jowhin survived over two hours in the freezing negative 2 degrees Celsius water, reportedly because he had consumed a significant amount of whiff whiskey, which he claimed help him withstand the cold. It lies 12,500 feet below the surface of North Atlantic, about two and a half miles. The wreck is slowly being consumed by iron-eating bacteria and is expected to be completely gone by roughly 2030. That's four years from now. Four years they're predicting that the Titanic is going to be almost completely gone, if not completely gone. That's really sad. So the iron-eating bacteria is called Holomonis Titanice. Titanic, I don't know how exactly how you pronounce it, but yeah, it eats the rust and it eats the iron and they expect it to be completely gone by 2030. That's that makes me sad. Because I love the Titanic, that makes me really sad. The wreck remained lost for 73 years until it was discovered in 1985 by Dr. Robert Ballard. And several famous figures, including Milton Hershey, wait for it. Milton Hershey, the founder of Hershey's, and JB Morgan had tickets, but canceled their trip at the last minute. So there's another rich guy. Milton Hershey was supposed to be on that ship. And if he went down, we would not have Hershey bars. And that special dark chocolate I live for. I live for it. Back when I was little, there was a Hershey bar. It was Hershey's mint. They don't make that anymore. I'm not talking about the group, like the you come out with a limited one now and then, but this one was different. This one was like an Andes chocolate bar, and it was so good. But anyway, Milton Hershey and JP Morgan both had tickets, and the binoculars for the lookout were locked in a cabinet and the key was missing. All the first richest people in the world go down with the ship, and two upcoming rich people back out last minute. Now, if you know JP Morgan, you guys know you've heard of JP Morgan, right? He's an American multinational banking institution headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. It is the largest bank in the United States and the world's largest bank by market capitalization. Wow. I wonder. I wonder. JP Morgan, who has his company, International Mercantile Marine, owned the White Star Line and thus, wait for it, the Titanic. Although he booked a private luxury suite for the maiden voyage, he canceled last minute for a trip to France, fueling conspiracy theories, though historians agree the sinking was an accident. I don't think so. Morgan's IMM was a shipping trust that owned the White Star Line, making him the ultimate owner of the Titanic. Huh. So he owns the ship that goes down. Don't tell me it's not switched so he can get an insurance claim out of it. He was 75 when he canceled his trip, citing ill illness, and then he needed to attend his art collection in Europe. Some theories claim Morgan sank the ship to eliminate rivals such as John Jacob Astor IV, who opposed the creation of the Federal Reserve. However, these claims are widely considered false by experts, but reports show some alleged rivals did not oppose the Federal Reserve. And one, Isidore Strauss actually supported it. Isidore Strauss went down with the ship. The sinking was a financial blow to IMM, which was already overleveraged. Upon learning of the disaster, JP Morgan reportedly said monetary losses amount to nothing in life. It is the loss of life that counts. So I mean you guys make your own decision on that. What do you think? Do you think that Titanic was switched out so JP Morgan could become the richest person in the world and collect an insurance claim? I mean, he owned White Star Line, so he owned Titanic. And I think he planned the disaster to kill off rival tycoons like Jacob Astor, Benjamin Guggenheim, and Isidore Strauss. And then we have Milton Harshey. Like such a random person thrown in. And it was said that JP Morgan wasn't a person to change plans. Plenty of people with tickets didn't make it aboard for all sorts of reasons, but he wasn't the type to just change plans. Titanic possibly could collide with an iceberg in the Mid-Atlantic. And if he could, how could he ensure that the ship would hit in such a way that the hole would be fatally compromised? So his argument on it all was when people started talking about this, he was basically like, all right, so if I did this on purpose, how could I guarantee that the ship hit an iceberg, fill up six rooms, not four, and kill everybody on the ship? I mean, I get what he's saying. It was a like, I think they just took the risk. I really do. And if they turned it at a certain angle at the certain time, it's gonna hit the spot where it was weak. There was no way for anyone, not even the lookouts who first spotted the iceberg or JP and King Morgan to predict the speed, trajectory, and angle of the collision. But Captain could, Ismay could, and then all signs point to yes, and it's planned. Captains go down with the ship. Now, what would he get from it? Maybe his family monetarily being taken care of the rest of his life or the rest of their lives. Maybe Captain Smith had no idea. Maybe he sped up the ship to go with Ismay to make the papers, like the movie says. Who knows what actually happened? But here's another fact that I found out years ago while reading. The man, the actor who played E.J. Smith in the movie Titanic, was actually a relative of the actual Captain Smith, and he didn't know that until after he was in the movie. So that's pretty cool to find out you're related to him not knowing it while you're filming, acting as him, right? So there were so many ways that this could have happened. It had to have hit the right way at the right time, straight along a certain part at a weak, weak part of the ship, and they had to hope to God that they got the damage done. So again, conspiracy theorists believe that Morgan wanted Ast, Guggenheim, and Strauss out of the picture because they opposed the creation of the Federal Reserve, an institution that Morgan greatly benefited from when it was a year after Titanic sank. The problem is that there is no evidence whatsoever that Astor or Guggenheim ever spoke out against the Federal Reserve and Strauss actually supported it. Furthermore, all of these men would have profited from the centralized banking system at Spawn just as much as Morgan did. So there is a side guide to both, guys. You can argue it out. There was an ancient mummy curse that said they sank the Titanic. One of Titanic's most eccentric passengers was an English newspaper editor named William Steed. Steed was as a student on the occult, and in the years leading up to the doomed ship's maiden voyage, was vocal about his belief that a cursed mummy was causing various disasters throughout London. Some accounts even claim that he regaled his fellow first class passengers with the tale of the mummy's curse over dinner at the night the ship sank. After the disaster, the cursed mummy theory picked up stream as grieving survivors and bewildered public desperately grasped at explanations. Rumors spread that Titanic had been carrying the sarcophagus of a high priestess of the Temple of Amun Ra, a famous artifact housed in British Museum known as the Unlucky Mummy. This, however, is categorically false. The unlucky mummy never left the museum and remains on display to this day. While Titanic is often seen as a unique feat of martian engineering, it actually had a sister ship called Olympic. This is the ship that, like I said, it's gonna bring it all full circle. Olympic was the ship that Titanic was switched with allegedly. There's no actual proof. Do I believe it could have happened? Yes. Do I believe that JP Morgan backed out last minute and let all the richest men in the ship that didn't support the Federal Reserve go down? Yes. I do believe that. So look into it, guys. It's pretty interesting. There's things everywhere, but there is a bizarre Titanic conspiracy that it's called the No Pope theory. The story goes that while the ship was under construction in Belfast, Catholic workmen noticed that ship's number was 390904, which seemed to spell out no pope when viewed in a mirror. They saw this as a sign that the ship was cursed. Like many of the legends that emerged in the disaster's wake, the story is pure fiction. For starters, the Titanic's number was not 390904. Instead, the ship had two artificial, I'm sorry, two official designations, its yard number, 401, and its board of trade registration, 131428. Neither of these numbers resembles No Pope in any way, but that is a conspiracy theory as well. They're saying it's not real, but that's it. I mean, there's not much else I can talk about with the Titanic. I mean, you guys are pretty familiar with it, I would assume. If not, watch the movie. A lot of it is factual because James Cameron made sure he interviewed passengers who lived. He did his checking with clothes and dishes and even down to buttons. I mean, that's probably the closest you're gonna get. I mean, obviously Rose and Jack weren't real. It was not based on that. Those people did not exist. That story did not exist, but everything else around it did happen. Just imagine going to bed tonight thinking you're just on the grandest ship in the world and you're on your way to America and the ship hits an iceberg. And within two hours, three hours, it's at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. All the people that fall in the water, some of them jumped off the ship, some of them drowned with the ship, some of them went down with the ship, some of them survived, but hypothermia kicked in within minutes, and a lot of people, too many people died. Regardless if it was a conspiracy or not, too many people died, and they shouldn't have. But, you know, again, it goes back to the binoculars were not you know, we're locked in a case with no key, the key was missing, so strike one. You know, it's little things that happen that everything just adds up to me that says they swap ships, man. Like, I just I think I really do think that the Titanic and Olympic were switch switched out for an insurance claim, and that the richest in the world went down with the ships, so JP Morgan could get rich. And apparently Milton Hershey did too. So I mean he backed out. So I have to look more into that to see how him and JP Morgan are associated. I never knew that until earlier when I did my research, but it's pretty cool. I mean, if he went down, we wouldn't have her Hershey chocolate, so that would have been a bummer. I like Hershey's dark chocolate though. That's my favorite. But that would suck if we didn't have Hershey bars. I mean, it sucked that everybody on that ship died, but can you imagine a world without Hershey chocolate? I mean, what? That doesn't make sense. Like, that's just wrong. That's just wrong. Couldn't have that. Could not have that. But again, Titanic wasn't just a shipwreck. It was a warning, a lesson in humility, a reminder that nature does not care about human pride. Every time I walk through Titanic Museum, I feel the weight of those lost souls at sea. Their stories matter, their lives mattered, and tonight I wanted to honor them. This is true crime with Tiff Klein, giving criminals the disrespect they deserve.