July 5, 2018 • 9 mins
Today's tour of the Cabinet takes us into the world of dreams. In our first tale, a pair of men find everything they were looking for. In the second, two men encounter something altogether impossible and unexpected.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history
is an open book, all of these amazing tales right
there on display, just waiting for us to explore. Welcome
to the Cabinet of Curiosities. Dante Alighieri spent nearly two
(00:30):
decades writing his most famous work, what we now call
The Divine Comedy. I say now because for the first
two centuries after his death it was simply called Commodia,
and the Divina was added around fifteen. It's seen as
the most significant work of Italian literature and is still
studied by scholars and woven into popular culture today. If
(00:53):
you've heard the phrase the circles of Hell, you have
Dante to thank for that. Most recently, the author Dan Brown,
known for or his novel The Da Vinci Code, published
a novel called Inferno. As you might imagine, Dante features
heavily in the story. And it's amazing to see a
work of literature still be so influential after over five
hundred years in print. But it almost didn't happen. As
(01:17):
I said before, Dante spent nearly two decades writing his masterpiece.
Everyone around him had plenty of time to learn about
his project. His two sons, Jacopo and Pietro, were most
likely allowed to read along as he wrote it. I
guess my point is that people were aware of the book.
It was the center of his existence for so long,
after all. And then in one just a year after
(01:41):
he had completed the whole thing, but before he had
a chance to publish it, Dante died. His family went
through that same sort of grieving process we would experience today,
wrapping up his final affairs and making sure his burial
was taken care of properly. But within weeks life would
have moved on, except his uns couldn't forget that manuscript,
(02:02):
and who could blame them now? The Divine Comedy is
a collection of one parts called cantos. Going through his
papers after his death, Dante's sons discovered that there were
thirteen canto's missing. That'sent of the book, one eighth of
the completed work, and not just any thirtcent either. They
(02:23):
were missing the final chapters of the entire story. It
was maddening. According to an early Dante biographer, the sons
searched the family home for months. They went through every
scrap of paper they could find, dug through drawers, and
boxes and looked for any clue that might tell them
where the missing pages had gone, but nothing worked and
(02:44):
they were left empty handed. Friends recommended that the two
men simply complete the story themselves. They knew how it
was supposed to end, and they were familiar with their
father's work, so why couldn't they just piece together the
final parts and call it a day? And that was
certainly possible, but it was far from ideal. They, like
a lot of other people, wanted their father's official ending.
(03:09):
As the story goes, one of the sons, Jocopel, went
to sleep one night after another frustrating day of searching
for the papers, and a short while later began to dream.
In it, he saw the figure of his father, dressed
in white and glowing in that Renaissance painting sort of way.
Still fixated on the missing papers, Jocope asked his father
(03:31):
about it, and the older man nodded before walking over
to a particular spot along his chamber wall, and then
he pointed. The next morning, Jocope called for a lawyer
to watch as he searched the room. There, right in
the spot his father's ghost had told him about, he
found a hidden compartment with stacks of paper. Inside. They
(03:53):
were covered in mold and had begun to rot on
the edges, but they were still legible. After reading through
them for a moment, he smiled the missing pages had
been found. It's crazy to imagine, but one of the
most significant works of literature of all time almost didn't happen.
The Divine Comedy is responsible for providing us with vivid
(04:16):
images of the world beyond our own, from hopeful visions
of Paradise to the nightmarish trials of Hell. The fact
that they even exist today at all feels like a
random victory for Dante or his sons, though it was
nothing short of a dream come true. The eighteen sixties
(04:49):
was not a good era for transatlantic travel. The most
advanced passenger ships were steampowered, but even with that technology,
the average journey from England to America took nearly two weeks.
That's a long time to be in the middle of
the ocean, considering how often weather can change over a
two week period. In October of eighteen sixty three, two
(05:10):
ships departed Liverpool on their way to America. One of them,
the Africa, encountered horrible weather and reportedly sank as a result,
The second ship, called the City of Limerick, wasn't doing
much better either. They had been moving through rough seas
and dark storms for nearly a week, and there didn't
seem to be an end in sight. On board was
(05:31):
a man named mister Wilmot, who was returning to the
United States, where his wife awaited him at home in Connecticut.
Wilmot was sharing a stateroom with a friend, a man
named mister Tate. The two men slept on bunks in
the room, Wilmot on the bottom and Tate up above,
but for at least a few days, Wilmot had barely
moved from his bed due to seasickness from the choppy waves.
(05:54):
One stormy night, though, Wilmot was sleeping in his bunk
when he had the most vivid dream in it. He
could see the door to the tiny stateroom slowly open,
and they're dressed in a white nightgown. Was his wife.
It was a logical vision. He missed her terribly, and
the growing anticipation of being reunited with her hadn't helped.
(06:14):
Even if it was just a dream, it was good
to see her again. When she stepped into the room,
Wilmot noticed a nervous look on her face. She cast
a worried glance in his direction, but higher up, as
if she were looking at the bunk warts Ate slept,
Then carefully, she crept over to Wilmot's bed, stooped down low,
(06:35):
and kissed him. A moment later, she stood back up,
slipped out of the room, and the dream was over.
The next morning, Wilmot awoke to find Tate standing beside
his bed, staring down at him with a frown. You're
a pretty fellow, Tate said, sarcastically. To have a lady
come and visit you here. Wilmot was confused and asked
(06:57):
his friend to explain himself. Tate went on to describe
in incredible detail the visit of a woman in a
white dressing gown who had approached the bunk and kissed
Wilmot naturally. Wilmot was stunned. It was exactly as he
had dreamt it. But that wasn't possible. How could two
men have the same dream, let alone doing so inside
(07:17):
the same room. This would be an amazing tale if
it ended right there, But there's actually more. About a
week after the shared dream, the steamship docked in New
York and Wilmot caught a train north to Connecticut. His
entire family had gathered to welcome him home, and it
was probably a very happy occasion. But the moment he
and his wife had a second alone, she surprised him
(07:39):
with a very unusual question. Did you receive a visit
from me a week ago? She asked, stunned, Wilmot nodded,
but also noted that it would have been impossible. How
could she have boarded his ship and found him in
his quarters? Her answer was chilling. Apparently, after hearing the
news of the sinking of the Africa, she had spent
(08:01):
days suffering from deep anxiety, worried for the safety of
her husband. One night, about a week before his return,
she found herself still awake into the night, and was
so overcome with fear that she imagined visiting her husband
as he traveled. She described entering the room and how
she could see Tate, awake in his own bed, watching
her as she looked around. She described the kiss, the
(08:24):
gentle caress, and then her silence exit. Then, as if
to prove it had all really happened, she described every
detail of the room, right down to the structure of
the bunks, the two men slept on. If the story
of Mr and Mrs Wilmot is any indication, love is
a powerful, mysterious force that binds us to each other.
(08:47):
Sometimes we love someone so deeply that we can't shake
the feeling that they're right there with us, even when
they're far away, And perhaps there's a good reason why.
I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet
of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn
(09:08):
more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com.
The show was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership
with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show
called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show,
and you can learn all about it over at the
World of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.
Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history
is an open book, all of these amazing tales right
there on display, just waiting for us to explore. Welcome
to the Cabinet of Curiosities. Dante Alighieri spent nearly two
(00:30):
decades writing his most famous work, what we now call
The Divine Comedy. I say now because for the first
two centuries after his death it was simply called Commodia,
and the Divina was added around fifteen. It's seen as
the most significant work of Italian literature and is still
studied by scholars and woven into popular culture today. If
(00:53):
you've heard the phrase the circles of Hell, you have
Dante to thank for that. Most recently, the author Dan Brown,
known for or his novel The Da Vinci Code, published
a novel called Inferno. As you might imagine, Dante features
heavily in the story. And it's amazing to see a
work of literature still be so influential after over five
hundred years in print. But it almost didn't happen. As
(01:17):
I said before, Dante spent nearly two decades writing his masterpiece.
Everyone around him had plenty of time to learn about
his project. His two sons, Jacopo and Pietro, were most
likely allowed to read along as he wrote it. I
guess my point is that people were aware of the book.
It was the center of his existence for so long,
after all. And then in one just a year after
(01:41):
he had completed the whole thing, but before he had
a chance to publish it, Dante died. His family went
through that same sort of grieving process we would experience today,
wrapping up his final affairs and making sure his burial
was taken care of properly. But within weeks life would
have moved on, except his uns couldn't forget that manuscript,
(02:02):
and who could blame them now? The Divine Comedy is
a collection of one parts called cantos. Going through his
papers after his death, Dante's sons discovered that there were
thirteen canto's missing. That'sent of the book, one eighth of
the completed work, and not just any thirtcent either. They
(02:23):
were missing the final chapters of the entire story. It
was maddening. According to an early Dante biographer, the sons
searched the family home for months. They went through every
scrap of paper they could find, dug through drawers, and
boxes and looked for any clue that might tell them
where the missing pages had gone, but nothing worked and
(02:44):
they were left empty handed. Friends recommended that the two
men simply complete the story themselves. They knew how it
was supposed to end, and they were familiar with their
father's work, so why couldn't they just piece together the
final parts and call it a day? And that was
certainly possible, but it was far from ideal. They, like
a lot of other people, wanted their father's official ending.
(03:09):
As the story goes, one of the sons, Jocopel, went
to sleep one night after another frustrating day of searching
for the papers, and a short while later began to dream.
In it, he saw the figure of his father, dressed
in white and glowing in that Renaissance painting sort of way.
Still fixated on the missing papers, Jocope asked his father
(03:31):
about it, and the older man nodded before walking over
to a particular spot along his chamber wall, and then
he pointed. The next morning, Jocope called for a lawyer
to watch as he searched the room. There, right in
the spot his father's ghost had told him about, he
found a hidden compartment with stacks of paper. Inside. They
(03:53):
were covered in mold and had begun to rot on
the edges, but they were still legible. After reading through
them for a moment, he smiled the missing pages had
been found. It's crazy to imagine, but one of the
most significant works of literature of all time almost didn't happen.
The Divine Comedy is responsible for providing us with vivid
(04:16):
images of the world beyond our own, from hopeful visions
of Paradise to the nightmarish trials of Hell. The fact
that they even exist today at all feels like a
random victory for Dante or his sons, though it was
nothing short of a dream come true. The eighteen sixties
(04:49):
was not a good era for transatlantic travel. The most
advanced passenger ships were steampowered, but even with that technology,
the average journey from England to America took nearly two weeks.
That's a long time to be in the middle of
the ocean, considering how often weather can change over a
two week period. In October of eighteen sixty three, two
(05:10):
ships departed Liverpool on their way to America. One of them,
the Africa, encountered horrible weather and reportedly sank as a result,
The second ship, called the City of Limerick, wasn't doing
much better either. They had been moving through rough seas
and dark storms for nearly a week, and there didn't
seem to be an end in sight. On board was
(05:31):
a man named mister Wilmot, who was returning to the
United States, where his wife awaited him at home in Connecticut.
Wilmot was sharing a stateroom with a friend, a man
named mister Tate. The two men slept on bunks in
the room, Wilmot on the bottom and Tate up above,
but for at least a few days, Wilmot had barely
moved from his bed due to seasickness from the choppy waves.
(05:54):
One stormy night, though, Wilmot was sleeping in his bunk
when he had the most vivid dream in it. He
could see the door to the tiny stateroom slowly open,
and they're dressed in a white nightgown. Was his wife.
It was a logical vision. He missed her terribly, and
the growing anticipation of being reunited with her hadn't helped.
(06:14):
Even if it was just a dream, it was good
to see her again. When she stepped into the room,
Wilmot noticed a nervous look on her face. She cast
a worried glance in his direction, but higher up, as
if she were looking at the bunk warts Ate slept,
Then carefully, she crept over to Wilmot's bed, stooped down low,
(06:35):
and kissed him. A moment later, she stood back up,
slipped out of the room, and the dream was over.
The next morning, Wilmot awoke to find Tate standing beside
his bed, staring down at him with a frown. You're
a pretty fellow, Tate said, sarcastically. To have a lady
come and visit you here. Wilmot was confused and asked
(06:57):
his friend to explain himself. Tate went on to describe
in incredible detail the visit of a woman in a
white dressing gown who had approached the bunk and kissed
Wilmot naturally. Wilmot was stunned. It was exactly as he
had dreamt it. But that wasn't possible. How could two
men have the same dream, let alone doing so inside
(07:17):
the same room. This would be an amazing tale if
it ended right there, But there's actually more. About a
week after the shared dream, the steamship docked in New
York and Wilmot caught a train north to Connecticut. His
entire family had gathered to welcome him home, and it
was probably a very happy occasion. But the moment he
and his wife had a second alone, she surprised him
(07:39):
with a very unusual question. Did you receive a visit
from me a week ago? She asked, stunned, Wilmot nodded,
but also noted that it would have been impossible. How
could she have boarded his ship and found him in
his quarters? Her answer was chilling. Apparently, after hearing the
news of the sinking of the Africa, she had spent
(08:01):
days suffering from deep anxiety, worried for the safety of
her husband. One night, about a week before his return,
she found herself still awake into the night, and was
so overcome with fear that she imagined visiting her husband
as he traveled. She described entering the room and how
she could see Tate, awake in his own bed, watching
her as she looked around. She described the kiss, the
(08:24):
gentle caress, and then her silence exit. Then, as if
to prove it had all really happened, she described every
detail of the room, right down to the structure of
the bunks, the two men slept on. If the story
of Mr and Mrs Wilmot is any indication, love is
a powerful, mysterious force that binds us to each other.
(08:47):
Sometimes we love someone so deeply that we can't shake
the feeling that they're right there with us, even when
they're far away, And perhaps there's a good reason why.
I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet
of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn
(09:08):
more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com.
The show was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership
with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show
called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show,
and you can learn all about it over at the
World of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.
Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities News
Host
Aaron Mahnke
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