How Did That Happen?

This week I look at ladders and tell you how a ladder helped to solve a crime. Come along for the ride this week as I ask, ladders, how did that happen?

A ladder is a vertical or inclined set of rungs or steps.

Etymology of the word Ladder

The word ladder comes from an Old English (Anglo Saxon) word “hlæder”, which means “steps”. Like many Old English words, ladder comes from Old German, in this case “leitara” (“Leiter” in modern German). The root for these could come from a much older word meaning “to lean”.

There are typically 2 types of ladders. They are rigid and flexible.

History of Ladders

No one really knows when the ladder was invented. However, the earliest evidence of it is located in Valencia, Spain. The Spider Caves have a Mesolithic rock painting of a ladder that’s about 10,000 years old. 

This painting shows two men using a ladder to access a wild honeybee nest, most likely to get honey. The painting shows a flexible ladder that was made up of some kind of grass.

While this is the first evidence of the ladder, most researchers are certain it is much older than that. 

The roots of the functional design of ladders as we know them today, can be traced right back to the ancient Hebrew and Egyptian cultures; these are the civilizations that developed and perfected it. Over the years, different kinds of ladders have been created to suit different purposes.

The ladder is also mentioned in the Bible. Jacob had a dream and in the dream he saw a ladder reaching from Heaven to earth.

Jacob’s ladder is mentioned in the Book of Genesis. This comes from a vision that Jacob had of a ladder that led all the way up to heaven, with angels ascending and descending it constantly to carry out God’s work.

First cave painting of a ladder.

The significance of this dream has long been a subject of intense debate. However, what it tells us is that ladders were known about at the time the Bible was written. 

Ladders were also commonly used as religious metaphors from the 2nd or 3rd century onwards, so they seem to have been objects that many people would have been familiar with. 

Ladders in the middle ages

Ladders were turned into tools of war during this period, and ones that could aid armies in causing huge amounts of damage to castles and fortresses. Ladders in this period were made from wood. This made it very easy to find the materials needed to build them and assemble them in the field.

During a siege it was often archers would begin the conflict by firing at those atop the enemy walls. When enough of them had been shot down and there were little to no enemy arrows being fired into the field, soldiers would approach with long ladders that were made for scaling the walls.

They would lean the ladders up against the walls of the castle or fortress and climb up in order to infiltrate and attack. Scalers had to be fast, and they often were, allowing them to reach the top of the ladder at amazing speeds while fully armored. 

Of course, they were also met with retaliation as burning oil could be poured over the walls and arrows shot at those climbing the ladders.

For a long time, the only ladders that people could build or buy were made of natural materials like wood. Widespread use of aluminium ladders didn’t happen until the early 19th century. 

Prior to this, there was no way for ladder manufacturers of extracting enough aluminium out of the ground! For a long time, aluminium was higher in value than gold, but nowadays, aluminium ladders are easy to get hold of and won’t cost you an arm and a leg.

And rollable ladders sometimes   made of rope or aluminium, that may be hung from the top. The vertical members of a rigid ladder are called stringers or rails (US) or stiles (UK).

Step Ladder

Invention of the step ladder

In 1862 a man by the name of John H. Balsley received a patent for the first safety step ladder. This was in Dayton, Ohio. So if you’re wondering, the birth of step ladders happened in Dayton. Balsley was a carpenter born into a family of carpenters that were originally from Pennsylvania.

Step ladders had been around for some years for before then but the main change he made was turning the rounded rungs into the flat step like ones that we have today.  His version of the step ladder took off and he became very wealthy.

John H. Balsley’s stroke of genius was to simply put hinges at the top of the ladder, which enabled the back supports to be folded in towards the ladder portion.

Thanks to Mr Balsley, foldable ladders which could be easily transported from place to place became widely available. This made it much easier for people to pack up their height access equipment and travel with it.

In 1867, American inventor Henry Quackenbush took out a patent for the first type of extension ladder.  He created the invention at 16 while still working for Remington Arms. He then sold the patent for $500 and went on to invent other items.

His company also created revolutionary new products such as nutcrackers and air rifles. This is the guy who created spring loaded nutcrackers.

Types of Ladders

• Attic ladders
• Assault ladders
• Bridge ladders
• Chicken ladders
• Counterbalanced ladders
• Telescopic ladders
• Folding ladders
• Fixed ladders
• Hook or Pompier ladders
• Platform step ladders
• Roof ladders
• Orchard ladders
• Step ladders
• A frame ladder
• Vertically rising ladder
• X-frame ladder

Safety with ladders

Ladder Classes – in the UK and European Union they have what are called ladder classes which divide the ladders up into different color coded sections based on their uses be they domestic or commercial.

Ladders in Culture

Bad Luck

It is believed that the Holy Trinity forms a triangle as it has three points (just as the number 3 is seen as holy), making this shape a holy and sacred one. Of course, when a ladder is leaning against a wall, it forms a triangle. 

So the theory goes that if you walk under the ladder you are breaking the Holy Trinity and committing blasphemy, one of the worst possible sins. 

Some sources claim that this stems from the image of a ladder being propped up against a wall looking similar to a gallows.

It is possible the superstition originated in ancient Egypt as well. The ladder was symbolic in this culture because it was used to help souls reach the afterlife. Ladders would be placed in or near the tombs of the deceased so that they could make their way up it. 

By standing under one of these ladders you were effectively preventing a soul from making their journey and so they would curse you with bad luck for seven years. 

Ladders have also been linked to the crucifixion of Christ, with author and  scientist Charles Panati noting that many believe a ladder rested against the crucifix that Christ hung from, making it a symbol of wickedness, betrayal and death.

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How a ladder solved a crime

The famous case of the Lindbergh baby is still considered by some to be unsolved: there are disagreements over the quality and existence of some of the evidence used to convict Bruno Richard Hauptmann of the kidnap and murder of Charles Lindbergh Jr.

The ‘Lindbergh baby’, was found to be missing from his crib at around 10pm on the 1st of March, 1932 in the family home at East Amwell, New Jersey. The body of the child was found on 12th May, 1932 in a nearby township and appeared to have been hastily buried but dug up by wild animals.  

A ransom note was found on the windowsill and a chisel and wooden dowel were also found in the grounds of the home.  However, one of the key pieces of evidence was a ladder found in bushes near the house. The ladder was found in pieces and was designed to be collapsible.

Hauptmann was captured as a suspect in 1934 when a bill from the ransom money was discovered at a New York City bank.  A license plate number was written on the note, which led investigators to Hauptmann.  A clerk at a petrol station had written the number down on the bill, as the man who tendered it was acting suspiciously.  

When investigators linked the license plate to Hauptmann, they searched his home and found $13,000 of the ransom money hidden around the home, as well a sketch detailing the construction of the same ladder that was found at the scene and a piece of wood in the attic that turned out to match some of the wood used for the ladder. 

Hauptmann told investigators that the money had been left with him by a former business partner, who had since returned to Germany and died.  He also said that he was not aware that there was any money in the box left with him until after his associate, Isidor Fischer, had passed away.  However, the piece of wood found in the attic was the most important piece of evidence linking Hauptmann with the crime.

Wood expert Arthur Koehler identified three samples of the wood from the ladder, shortly after the crime and was then asked to study the ladder itself, nearly a year after the kidnapping.  There was something different about part of the ladder, something that did not match up with the rest of the construction. 

After police traced Hauptmann on the basis of the ransom bill and searched his home, Koehler was able to use forensic techniques to match the wood used to construct the ladder with the wood found in the attic, even going as far as to trace the wood back to the saw mill where it was processed.  

The Lindbergh Baby.

The wood grain, saw mill pattern and oddly placed nail holes matched the unusual wood from the ladder to a plank in the floor of Hauptmann’s attic, linking him strongly to the crime. The only flaw to this evidence was the lack of Hauptmann’s fingerprints on the ladder, even in places that he would have needed to touch had he built the ladder.  

Erastus Hudson was a fingerprint expert who used a new technique to collect fingerprints from wood. He found no prints matching Hauptmann, even though there were over 400 partial prints found initially.  When he reported his findings to the police, the ladder was washed, removing all possibility of fingerprint collection, and his findings were suppressed.

Perhaps the investigators were so convinced they had found their man, due to the overwhelming evidence against him, that they were not prepared to listen to anything which cast doubt over Hauptmann’s guilt.  

Hauptmann was executed in 1936 for the kidnap and murder of the Lindbergh baby and mostly on the strength of the evidence linking him to the construction and use of that particular ladder. 

Work Cited

https://www.fixfastusa.com/news-blog/history-of-the-ladder/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_H._Balsley

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladder#cite_note-8

https://www.laddersukdirect.co.uk/latest-news/post/the-history-of-ladders-when-were-ladders-invented

https://takeayard.com/who-invented-ladders/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Quackenbush

https://www.midlandladders.com/blog/ladder-history/ladders-in-sieges

https://www.midlandladders.com/blog/ladder-history/ladders-and-bad-luck

https://www.midlandladders.com/blog/ladder-history/how-a-ladder-helped-catch-a-criminal