Velvalee Dickinson ran a doll shop on Madison Avenue that catered to wealthy collectors. But in one of the strangest espionage cases of World War II, Dickinson's clients had no idea she was using correspondence about doll orders to transmit coded U.S. military intelligence to the Japanese.

*

On the Very Special Episodes podcast, Dana Schwartz tells one incredible story each week. Follow her down a different rabbit hole every Wednesday. Subscribe to VSE wherever you get your podcasts.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.