52: In the Bag pt.1: Night at the Museum

Grant Thomas
May 8, 2024
3 min read

Updated: May 1

A true-crime episode! Grant takes us to Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and the night of the Gardner Museum Art Heist—the largest art robbery in modern history. We meet Myles Connor, Boston’s top art thief, wonder whether night guard Richard Abath was an unlucky bystander or an inside man, and learn about Isabella Stewart Gardner, the eccentric woman who built the museum and swore its layout must never change. All to get to the bottom of “the largest art heist in history.” But first, Grant and Maia spiral through immortality theories, sentient cats, 100-year-old parrots, birthday-party cringe, exercise-induced existential dread, a “secret tunnel” pillow un-boxing, and a TikTok raccoon-therapy rabbit hole just to warm up for the empty frames, tripped fire alarms, and unanswered questions ahead.

00:26:28 Story starts

Chapters/Key takeaways to listen for

[00:00:00] Catch-Up
[00:00:04] Immortality & Sentient Cats: Grant’s “I might live forever” plan and 30-year feline life-spans
[00:01:37] Parrot Panic: Why Maia swears she’ll never own a 100-year bird
[00:20:44] Gay YouTube Tradition: Forcing friends to watch The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo
[00:26:28] Night at the Museum: Grant tees up “In the Bag” Gardner-museum heist two-parter
[00:31:07] Blind Acoustics Test: Isabella Stewart Gardner recruits schoolchildren to tune her atrium
[00:41:00] Mona Lisa Mayhem: 1911 theft, Picasso accusations, and why fame is an accident
[00:55:19] St. Paddy’s Stick-Up: Fake cops, buzz-in blunder, 13 works gone in 81 minutes
[01:06:44] “Gentlemen, This Is a Robbery”: Guards duct-taped; masterpieces carved from frames
[01:24:20] The Blue-Room Mystery: Single motion-sensor trip implicates night-guard Rick Abath
[01:31:00] Rock-and-Roll Art Thief: Meet Miles Connor—Rembrandt lifter, leopard owner, jail-breaker

Photos Referenced:

*Interior of the Isabella Stuart Gardner Museum*

Richard Abath found in the basement after the robbery	The Concert
Lady and Gentlemen in Black	Christ in the Storm

Quotes:

“Education allows you to build your own high ground." - Grant Thomas
"The way a museum is set up, the way a gallery is set up, is also considered art in and of itself. So like curators are artists in and of themselves." - Maia Warner

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