August 22, 2019 • 10 mins
Some shows are difficult to believe until you see them, while other things are impossible to believe even after you've laid eyes on them. Today's tour will introduce visitors to one of each.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history
is an open book, all of these amazing tales are
right there on display, just waiting for us to explore.
Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. Hypnosis is one of
(00:28):
those things most people laugh about when it's discussed as entertainment.
It's fake. They say. You can't control someone just by
swinging a pocket watch in front of their face like
a pendulum. The people in those Vegas shows must be
plants individuals higher to pretend like they have no control
over their body. They hop on one foot or bite
into an onion like it's an apple, and the audience
(00:50):
applauds because they don't know any better. But hypnosis is
one of those strange places where art and science intersect.
As a therapy tool, Hypnosis can be incredibly beneficial to
those who need it, but it takes time. It can't
be induced in the time it takes to put on
a short stage show, not unless you're Arthur Everton, whose
(01:11):
powers of persuasion we're second to none. Arthur was a
professional hypnotist way back in n nine, often inviting audience
members to come up on stage and be part of
his act at a performance in Somerville, New Jersey. One night,
he pulled the audience for a volunteer. The man who
raised his hand was a piano mover and street car
(01:32):
conductor from Newark named Robert Simpson. A moment later, Simpson
climbed on stage and then awaited Arthur's instructions. The hypnotist
placed him under a trance one meant to induce a
cataleptic state. In other words, Simpson's body went as stiff
as a board. Arthur then lowered him down, positioning him
(01:52):
between two chairs like a kind of bridge, with his
head on one chair and his feet on the other.
Arthur then put his skills and Simpson's body to the
test by climbing up and standing on the man's chest
for a few seconds. The audience went wild. Amazingly, Simpson
didn't move. He showed no signs of pain or stress,
(02:13):
even though Arthur had just used him as a makeshift platform.
After Arthur stepped down, he eased Simpson down off the
chairs before standing him back up. It was time to
bring him out of his trance send back to reality.
Arthur called to him, demanding that he wake up, but
Simpson just stood there. Rigid and unmoving. Arthur tried again,
(02:34):
but Simpson still refused to pop out of his trance
and return to normal. This was surprising to the audience
for sure, but it was even more troublesome for Arthur.
Why because he and Simpson had performed the trick dozens
of times before. Yes, Robert Simpson was a plant. In fact,
he was what they called a leader, someone planted in
(02:55):
the audience to lead the rest of the crowd deep
into the fantasy. Finally, after several moments with no movements,
Simpson's body began to relax, and then he collapsed on
the floor. Arthur quickly dragged his friend off stage, where
he attempted to revive him, but shockingly, it was too late.
A doctor in the audience pronounced Robert Simpson dead at
(03:16):
the scene, much to Arthur's consternation. You see, Arthur believed
the man wasn't dead, but merely still stuck in his trance.
Given time, he thought he'd be able to wake him up,
just as he had so many times before. The doctor
even led him accompany Simpson to the hospital, where the
hypnotist spent all night trying to pull him back out
(03:36):
of his trance, but nothing worked, and the following morning,
Arthur Everton was arrested for manslaughter. As the newspapers reported
the story, hypnotists from all over the country came out
of the woodwork with suggestions of their own for how
to reanimate the late piano mover. One man named William Davenport,
(03:56):
at the request of Mr Everton, also tried his hand
bringing Mr Simpson back. His methods were a lot less
mystical than you might imagine, though. Davenport simply leaned over
Simpson's body, rested his hand upon the man's heart, and
then whispered into his ear, bob your heart, your heart
is beating. But nothing, because Robert Simpson wasn't trapped in
(04:20):
a catatonic state or some sort of hypnotic trance. No,
his a order had ruptured, killing him almost instantly. But
the doctors couldn't tell whether Arthur's trick had been the
cause of it all or if it had just been
an unfortunate coincidence. In the end, though they decided the
hypnotist was not to blame. The grand jury soon agreed
and Arthur Everton was found not guilty. He returned to
(04:43):
performing a short while later, but his business took a
hit thanks to the bad publicity. Even though every stage
performer dreams of the day they might kill it, as
they say, most audiences have a very different goal. They
just want to make it out of the show alive.
(05:13):
They say, a picture is worth a thousand words, although
some can be worth far more than that. The world
famous photo of the loch Ness Monster, taken by Dr
Robert Kenneth Wilson in nineteen thirty four, depicts the shadowy
image of the creatures famous long neck sticking out of
the water, the waves around it rippling outward. It's an
image that everyone knows, it's instantly recognizable, and it's inspired
(05:36):
decades of speculation of what might be living beneath the
waters of Lochness. But there is another photo, one that
is also at the center of a decade's long debate
over its authenticity and what it might signify about humanity
and where we really sit within the food chain. It
was taken by a man named Eric Shipton in nineteen
(05:57):
fifty one. Shipped In was a mountaineer who had clim
numerous him Alayan peaks, but had wanted to scale the
yet unscalable mount Everest. Nowadays, Everest is a popular destination
for thrill seekers with money to burn, but during Eric
Shipton's time it was a very different ordeal. The most
common route used by folks trying to climb Mount Everest
(06:18):
was along the northern side, but Shipton and his crew
were set on exploring the southwestern side to see if
there was a way up to the top that no
one had found yet. Along for the trip were three
other British climbers, William Murray, Tom border Lawn and W. H. Ward,
as well as local sherpas that were there to guide them.
One of those men, Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, became friends with
(06:40):
Shipton and would eventually accompany him on future expeditions. The
climb didn't pan out, though, and the climbers descended the mountain,
but they never stopped trying. During another expedition several months later, Shipton, Norgay,
and a doctor Michael Ward, were exploring a glacier west
of Mount Everest, when they stopped to look at something
strange in the snow. It was a footprint thirteen inches
(07:03):
long and twice as wide as a man's foot. It
bore four small toes and one big toe and was
discovered at an altitude of nineteen thousand feet. Just ahead
of that print was another, and then another, and then another.
They were tracks. The men followed them from a mile
to a chasm, where it was clear that whatever creature
(07:24):
had made the Prince had jumped across, and from where
they stood they could see the tracks continued on the
other side. Shipt In, unable to follow them any farther,
returned to the trail and continued his work. He would
later publish his findings in both a book and an
article that each detailed what he had found. Biologists and
zoologists tried to discredit his claims, assuring people that the
(07:48):
only creatures living at that elevation were bears and languor monkeys.
London's Natural History Museum even commissioned to him Alayan bear
to walk across a stretch of sand so that they
could compare the footprints to photographs taken by Shipton, but
the test backfired because they didn't match, and the biggest
languor monkey prints are only about eight inches long, much
(08:10):
smaller than the imprint discovered near Mount Everest. Yet, despite
the claims from experts, all over the world that the
Prince were animal in nature. Shipton refused to believe it,
so did the Sherpas, who were familiar with the region,
because they'd all seen the creature that made the Prince firsthand,
or at least knew someone who had. It had been
(08:31):
described as a being about five ft six inches tall
and covered with a reddish brown hair. Except for its face.
It stood upright like a human being, but it lumbered
through the snow with ease. It had only ever been
seen in passing and had never been captured on camera,
which of course only adds to the legend. Tenzing Norgay
(08:53):
went on to become the second man to summit Mount Everest,
alongside Sir Edmund Hillary in three He was clearly a
brave and determined man, but on that earlier trip, when
he saw the enormous footprints in the snow with his
own eyes, he froze in place with fear, and then
he uttered a single word that would carry more weight
(09:15):
than any photograph of a footprints ever could, at least
to our modern ears. He muttered the name of the
creature that he believed had left the print, Yettie. I
hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities,
subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about
(09:38):
the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show
was created by me Aaron Manky 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 sarious.
Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history
is an open book, all of these amazing tales are
right there on display, just waiting for us to explore.
Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. Hypnosis is one of
(00:28):
those things most people laugh about when it's discussed as entertainment.
It's fake. They say. You can't control someone just by
swinging a pocket watch in front of their face like
a pendulum. The people in those Vegas shows must be
plants individuals higher to pretend like they have no control
over their body. They hop on one foot or bite
into an onion like it's an apple, and the audience
(00:50):
applauds because they don't know any better. But hypnosis is
one of those strange places where art and science intersect.
As a therapy tool, Hypnosis can be incredibly beneficial to
those who need it, but it takes time. It can't
be induced in the time it takes to put on
a short stage show, not unless you're Arthur Everton, whose
(01:11):
powers of persuasion we're second to none. Arthur was a
professional hypnotist way back in n nine, often inviting audience
members to come up on stage and be part of
his act at a performance in Somerville, New Jersey. One night,
he pulled the audience for a volunteer. The man who
raised his hand was a piano mover and street car
(01:32):
conductor from Newark named Robert Simpson. A moment later, Simpson
climbed on stage and then awaited Arthur's instructions. The hypnotist
placed him under a trance one meant to induce a
cataleptic state. In other words, Simpson's body went as stiff
as a board. Arthur then lowered him down, positioning him
(01:52):
between two chairs like a kind of bridge, with his
head on one chair and his feet on the other.
Arthur then put his skills and Simpson's body to the
test by climbing up and standing on the man's chest
for a few seconds. The audience went wild. Amazingly, Simpson
didn't move. He showed no signs of pain or stress,
(02:13):
even though Arthur had just used him as a makeshift platform.
After Arthur stepped down, he eased Simpson down off the
chairs before standing him back up. It was time to
bring him out of his trance send back to reality.
Arthur called to him, demanding that he wake up, but
Simpson just stood there. Rigid and unmoving. Arthur tried again,
(02:34):
but Simpson still refused to pop out of his trance
and return to normal. This was surprising to the audience
for sure, but it was even more troublesome for Arthur.
Why because he and Simpson had performed the trick dozens
of times before. Yes, Robert Simpson was a plant. In fact,
he was what they called a leader, someone planted in
(02:55):
the audience to lead the rest of the crowd deep
into the fantasy. Finally, after several moments with no movements,
Simpson's body began to relax, and then he collapsed on
the floor. Arthur quickly dragged his friend off stage, where
he attempted to revive him, but shockingly, it was too late.
A doctor in the audience pronounced Robert Simpson dead at
(03:16):
the scene, much to Arthur's consternation. You see, Arthur believed
the man wasn't dead, but merely still stuck in his trance.
Given time, he thought he'd be able to wake him up,
just as he had so many times before. The doctor
even led him accompany Simpson to the hospital, where the
hypnotist spent all night trying to pull him back out
(03:36):
of his trance, but nothing worked, and the following morning,
Arthur Everton was arrested for manslaughter. As the newspapers reported
the story, hypnotists from all over the country came out
of the woodwork with suggestions of their own for how
to reanimate the late piano mover. One man named William Davenport,
(03:56):
at the request of Mr Everton, also tried his hand
bringing Mr Simpson back. His methods were a lot less
mystical than you might imagine, though. Davenport simply leaned over
Simpson's body, rested his hand upon the man's heart, and
then whispered into his ear, bob your heart, your heart
is beating. But nothing, because Robert Simpson wasn't trapped in
(04:20):
a catatonic state or some sort of hypnotic trance. No,
his a order had ruptured, killing him almost instantly. But
the doctors couldn't tell whether Arthur's trick had been the
cause of it all or if it had just been
an unfortunate coincidence. In the end, though they decided the
hypnotist was not to blame. The grand jury soon agreed
and Arthur Everton was found not guilty. He returned to
(04:43):
performing a short while later, but his business took a
hit thanks to the bad publicity. Even though every stage
performer dreams of the day they might kill it, as
they say, most audiences have a very different goal. They
just want to make it out of the show alive.
(05:13):
They say, a picture is worth a thousand words, although
some can be worth far more than that. The world
famous photo of the loch Ness Monster, taken by Dr
Robert Kenneth Wilson in nineteen thirty four, depicts the shadowy
image of the creatures famous long neck sticking out of
the water, the waves around it rippling outward. It's an
image that everyone knows, it's instantly recognizable, and it's inspired
(05:36):
decades of speculation of what might be living beneath the
waters of Lochness. But there is another photo, one that
is also at the center of a decade's long debate
over its authenticity and what it might signify about humanity
and where we really sit within the food chain. It
was taken by a man named Eric Shipton in nineteen
(05:57):
fifty one. Shipped In was a mountaineer who had clim
numerous him Alayan peaks, but had wanted to scale the
yet unscalable mount Everest. Nowadays, Everest is a popular destination
for thrill seekers with money to burn, but during Eric
Shipton's time it was a very different ordeal. The most
common route used by folks trying to climb Mount Everest
(06:18):
was along the northern side, but Shipton and his crew
were set on exploring the southwestern side to see if
there was a way up to the top that no
one had found yet. Along for the trip were three
other British climbers, William Murray, Tom border Lawn and W. H. Ward,
as well as local sherpas that were there to guide them.
One of those men, Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, became friends with
(06:40):
Shipton and would eventually accompany him on future expeditions. The
climb didn't pan out, though, and the climbers descended the mountain,
but they never stopped trying. During another expedition several months later, Shipton, Norgay,
and a doctor Michael Ward, were exploring a glacier west
of Mount Everest, when they stopped to look at something
strange in the snow. It was a footprint thirteen inches
(07:03):
long and twice as wide as a man's foot. It
bore four small toes and one big toe and was
discovered at an altitude of nineteen thousand feet. Just ahead
of that print was another, and then another, and then another.
They were tracks. The men followed them from a mile
to a chasm, where it was clear that whatever creature
(07:24):
had made the Prince had jumped across, and from where
they stood they could see the tracks continued on the
other side. Shipt In, unable to follow them any farther,
returned to the trail and continued his work. He would
later publish his findings in both a book and an
article that each detailed what he had found. Biologists and
zoologists tried to discredit his claims, assuring people that the
(07:48):
only creatures living at that elevation were bears and languor monkeys.
London's Natural History Museum even commissioned to him Alayan bear
to walk across a stretch of sand so that they
could compare the footprints to photographs taken by Shipton, but
the test backfired because they didn't match, and the biggest
languor monkey prints are only about eight inches long, much
(08:10):
smaller than the imprint discovered near Mount Everest. Yet, despite
the claims from experts, all over the world that the
Prince were animal in nature. Shipton refused to believe it,
so did the Sherpas, who were familiar with the region,
because they'd all seen the creature that made the Prince firsthand,
or at least knew someone who had. It had been
(08:31):
described as a being about five ft six inches tall
and covered with a reddish brown hair. Except for its face.
It stood upright like a human being, but it lumbered
through the snow with ease. It had only ever been
seen in passing and had never been captured on camera,
which of course only adds to the legend. Tenzing Norgay
(08:53):
went on to become the second man to summit Mount Everest,
alongside Sir Edmund Hillary in three He was clearly a
brave and determined man, but on that earlier trip, when
he saw the enormous footprints in the snow with his
own eyes, he froze in place with fear, and then
he uttered a single word that would carry more weight
(09:15):
than any photograph of a footprints ever could, at least
to our modern ears. He muttered the name of the
creature that he believed had left the print, Yettie. I
hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities,
subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about
(09:38):
the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show
was created by me Aaron Manky 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 sarious.
Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities News
Host
Aaron Mahnke
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.