March 12, 2020 • 9 mins
Sometimes the unusual parts of our world are hidden someplace nearby, and sometimes they are right inside us. Let's take a tour of both today.
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Episode Transcript
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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. There's a reason why the
(00:28):
concept of visualization is so popular. Some experts believe that
if you believe something strongly enough, you can will it
into existence that new car or arrays at work. As
former Disney employee Tom Fitzgerald once said, if you can
dream it, you can do it. Alexandra David Neil had
lofty dreams too, which she managed to will into an
(00:49):
exciting life of her own. Born into poverty in eighteen
sixty eight, her childhood was spent exploring spaces not meant
for women at the time. When she was fifteen years old,
she attempted to ernie to England from the Netherlands, foiled
only by her lack of funds. Over the next several years,
she did make it to England and Spain and Switzerland,
(01:09):
all without anyone's help. She had a passion for joining
secret societies as well any that would take her, including
the Freemasons, of which her father had been a member.
During this time, she also studied subjects like anarchy and feminism,
converted to Buddhism, and trained to become an opera singer.
She even performed as first singer at the Hanoi Opera
(01:29):
House in Vietnam. Over the years, Alexandra dove deep into
many subjects, but none as important to her as Buddhism.
Her devotion to it took her to India and Tibet
many times, and she published several books on her travels,
as well as on religious mysticism. One of those books
came out in nine It was quickly translated from its
(01:50):
original French into English as Magic and Mysticism in Tibet.
Inside it, Alexandra discussed a certain spiritual phenomena known as
a rule pa, which she referred to as a tulpa.
According to Alexandra, autolpa was a manifestation of will and
energy brought into the real world. She had witnessed many
fantastic things throughout her life, but nothing like what she
(02:13):
had seen during one night in Tibet. In n Alexandra
had hired a Tibetan man named wang Do to assist
her in carrying her luggage and hauling supplies. Once she'd
set up camp and gotten settled. Wang Do left to
be with his family for a three week sabbatical. While
he was away, he was also supposed to collect more
food and supplies for the camp and bring back additional
(02:35):
workers to aid Miss David Neil. Three weeks turned into
a month, which turned into two months, and there was
still no sign of wange Do. Alexandra figured he'd abandoned
her to stay with his family at home, until one
night when she had a dream of him traveling up
the hill wearing a sun hat, which he'd never had before.
The Next day, another servant rushed into her tent, claiming
(02:58):
that he saw wang Do approaching. She ran out to
see for herself, and there he was, wearing the same
hat as in her dream, but without any of the
supplies or workers that he had been tasked with bringing.
She and two other servants watched him for a while
as he climbed up the hill. At one point, he
was obscured by a chorton a small circular structure meant
(03:20):
for prayer and meditation. Alexandra and the servants kept their
eyes on the spot. Maybe he'd stop to pay his
respects or take a break. They waited for some time
before Alexandra told the servants to go to the chorton
and check behind it for him. Looking through a pair
of binoculars, she finally got her answer. Whangdu had disappeared.
(03:42):
Hours passed and no one could understand how or why
the man had evaporated into thin air. Then, just as
the sun was setting over the camp, he reappeared, and
he wasn't a mirage this time either. A caravan of
supplies and additional servants trailed behind him, and on top
of his head he was wearing that sun hat Alexandra
had seen in her dream. As soon as he reached
(04:05):
the camp, she interrogated him and the new servants on
their whereabouts earlier that day. According to their stories, as
well as the stories of people who had met the
caravan along the way, Wang Do and the workers had
been nowhere near the hill prior to dusk. The only
explanation Alexandra could come up with was that both her
dream and the vision everyone saw of Wang Do traveling
(04:26):
alone up the hill had benetoba, a manifestation of their
will and energy, but not one created by her. It
had to have been made by Wang Do himself to
let them know that he was on his way, which
is something I'm sure you'd all agree is more than
a little curious. There's an allure to the idea of
(05:00):
a secret recipe, isn't there. Colonel Sanders famously refused to
tell anyone the seven herbs and spices that made his
fried chicken so popular. John Pemberton's formula for Coca Cola
is locked inside a steel vault, the contents of which
are known only to a select few employees. And McDonald's
famous secret sauce that yellowy substance drizzled on its big
Max was a trade secret for years before the recipe
(05:23):
was revealed by the company in two thousand and twelve.
When it comes to beloved products, that often comes down
to a key ingredient or a combination of them that
makes them so coveted. One such ingredient has been used
for centuries all over the world, and its origins are
not what anyone would expect. In September of two thousand twelve,
a young boy in the UK stumbled upon it on
(05:45):
the beach with his father. Before that, the Ming dynasty
would have imported it from Africa and Sri Lanka. Henry
the fifth nostra damas and legendary lover Casanova believed it
was imbued with special qualities, especially in the romance department.
But where did this miracle substance originate? Whales? Sperm whales,
to be exact, Only one percent of the three fifty
(06:08):
thousand sperm whales in existence managed to produce it, and
the process is not exactly pretty. When a sperm whale
eats its favorite food squid, the body of the ingested
animal gets pushed through the whales intestines and four stomachs
with no problem. The beak, though, goes on a more
troublesome journey. That beak, which is slightly curved and pointed
(06:28):
on the end, scrapes along the whales insides. It carves
out pieces of the intestinal lining, which is collected along
with feces as it travels. The resulting mass is so
dense the whale can't digest it, and anything caught behind
it can't pass through the rectum either. To alleviate the
pressure building inside, the whale's lower intestines take in more water,
(06:49):
but the process doesn't loosen the rock like beak. Instead,
the mass just hardens further. Now in some cases, the
whale manages to pass the beaky build up on its
own most of the time, though it doesn't see the
light of day until that whale has died, freed from
its biological prison by the process of decomposition. But it's
not just the whale that makes this concentration of squid,
(07:11):
beaks and feces so special. It's the ocean itself. If
the substance is harvested directly from a dead whale, it
has a dark, thick and mucous light consistency. It's only
when exposed to the briny deep that it becomes such
a beloved and valuable commodity. People have done pretty absurd
things to obtain this stuff over the years. One man
(07:32):
in crawled through the neck of a dead sperm whale
that had washed ashore. He wormed his way through its
intestines until he was able to pry the large stone free. Today,
hunters along shorelines keep their eyes peeled for objects that
look like rocks or petrified dog droppings in the hopes
of discovering a chunk for themselves, and they're way more
knowledgeable about poop than anyone probably should be. According to
(07:56):
those who have found this special brand, of whale excrement.
The scent can be woods like fresh air mixed with
a healthy dose of manure. But there is a reason
people go crazy looking for the fecal remnants of sperm whales.
The monetary value the mass that that young English boy
and his father found in two thousand twelve, it was
worth a whopping sixty three thousand dollars. Another two and
(08:18):
a half pound piece was found in two thousand fifteen,
and it was sold for over fourteen thousand dollars. Why
such big bucks for undigested squidbeaks because of how they're used.
What has been considered everything from an aphrodisiac to a
superfood to an additive to cigarettes to make them smell better,
is also the main ingredient in perfume. Its official name
(08:41):
is ambergris. And if you've ever spirtsched yourself with Chanelle
number five before at night on the town, then you've
undoubtedly been exposed to the secret ingredient in some of
your favorite to romas. And if you're thinking this all
sounds too strange and maybe too gross to be true,
I'm sorry to say it's not. This tale does in
fact past the smell test. I hope you've enjoyed today's
(09:06):
guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free
on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about 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
(09:29):
about it over at the World of Lore dot com.
And until next time, stay curious. Yeah,
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. There's a reason why the
(00:28):
concept of visualization is so popular. Some experts believe that
if you believe something strongly enough, you can will it
into existence that new car or arrays at work. As
former Disney employee Tom Fitzgerald once said, if you can
dream it, you can do it. Alexandra David Neil had
lofty dreams too, which she managed to will into an
(00:49):
exciting life of her own. Born into poverty in eighteen
sixty eight, her childhood was spent exploring spaces not meant
for women at the time. When she was fifteen years old,
she attempted to ernie to England from the Netherlands, foiled
only by her lack of funds. Over the next several years,
she did make it to England and Spain and Switzerland,
(01:09):
all without anyone's help. She had a passion for joining
secret societies as well any that would take her, including
the Freemasons, of which her father had been a member.
During this time, she also studied subjects like anarchy and feminism,
converted to Buddhism, and trained to become an opera singer.
She even performed as first singer at the Hanoi Opera
(01:29):
House in Vietnam. Over the years, Alexandra dove deep into
many subjects, but none as important to her as Buddhism.
Her devotion to it took her to India and Tibet
many times, and she published several books on her travels,
as well as on religious mysticism. One of those books
came out in nine It was quickly translated from its
(01:50):
original French into English as Magic and Mysticism in Tibet.
Inside it, Alexandra discussed a certain spiritual phenomena known as
a rule pa, which she referred to as a tulpa.
According to Alexandra, autolpa was a manifestation of will and
energy brought into the real world. She had witnessed many
fantastic things throughout her life, but nothing like what she
(02:13):
had seen during one night in Tibet. In n Alexandra
had hired a Tibetan man named wang Do to assist
her in carrying her luggage and hauling supplies. Once she'd
set up camp and gotten settled. Wang Do left to
be with his family for a three week sabbatical. While
he was away, he was also supposed to collect more
food and supplies for the camp and bring back additional
(02:35):
workers to aid Miss David Neil. Three weeks turned into
a month, which turned into two months, and there was
still no sign of wange Do. Alexandra figured he'd abandoned
her to stay with his family at home, until one
night when she had a dream of him traveling up
the hill wearing a sun hat, which he'd never had before.
The Next day, another servant rushed into her tent, claiming
(02:58):
that he saw wang Do approaching. She ran out to
see for herself, and there he was, wearing the same
hat as in her dream, but without any of the
supplies or workers that he had been tasked with bringing.
She and two other servants watched him for a while
as he climbed up the hill. At one point, he
was obscured by a chorton a small circular structure meant
(03:20):
for prayer and meditation. Alexandra and the servants kept their
eyes on the spot. Maybe he'd stop to pay his
respects or take a break. They waited for some time
before Alexandra told the servants to go to the chorton
and check behind it for him. Looking through a pair
of binoculars, she finally got her answer. Whangdu had disappeared.
(03:42):
Hours passed and no one could understand how or why
the man had evaporated into thin air. Then, just as
the sun was setting over the camp, he reappeared, and
he wasn't a mirage this time either. A caravan of
supplies and additional servants trailed behind him, and on top
of his head he was wearing that sun hat Alexandra
had seen in her dream. As soon as he reached
(04:05):
the camp, she interrogated him and the new servants on
their whereabouts earlier that day. According to their stories, as
well as the stories of people who had met the
caravan along the way, Wang Do and the workers had
been nowhere near the hill prior to dusk. The only
explanation Alexandra could come up with was that both her
dream and the vision everyone saw of Wang Do traveling
(04:26):
alone up the hill had benetoba, a manifestation of their
will and energy, but not one created by her. It
had to have been made by Wang Do himself to
let them know that he was on his way, which
is something I'm sure you'd all agree is more than
a little curious. There's an allure to the idea of
(05:00):
a secret recipe, isn't there. Colonel Sanders famously refused to
tell anyone the seven herbs and spices that made his
fried chicken so popular. John Pemberton's formula for Coca Cola
is locked inside a steel vault, the contents of which
are known only to a select few employees. And McDonald's
famous secret sauce that yellowy substance drizzled on its big
Max was a trade secret for years before the recipe
(05:23):
was revealed by the company in two thousand and twelve.
When it comes to beloved products, that often comes down
to a key ingredient or a combination of them that
makes them so coveted. One such ingredient has been used
for centuries all over the world, and its origins are
not what anyone would expect. In September of two thousand twelve,
a young boy in the UK stumbled upon it on
(05:45):
the beach with his father. Before that, the Ming dynasty
would have imported it from Africa and Sri Lanka. Henry
the fifth nostra damas and legendary lover Casanova believed it
was imbued with special qualities, especially in the romance department.
But where did this miracle substance originate? Whales? Sperm whales,
to be exact, Only one percent of the three fifty
(06:08):
thousand sperm whales in existence managed to produce it, and
the process is not exactly pretty. When a sperm whale
eats its favorite food squid, the body of the ingested
animal gets pushed through the whales intestines and four stomachs
with no problem. The beak, though, goes on a more
troublesome journey. That beak, which is slightly curved and pointed
(06:28):
on the end, scrapes along the whales insides. It carves
out pieces of the intestinal lining, which is collected along
with feces as it travels. The resulting mass is so
dense the whale can't digest it, and anything caught behind
it can't pass through the rectum either. To alleviate the
pressure building inside, the whale's lower intestines take in more water,
(06:49):
but the process doesn't loosen the rock like beak. Instead,
the mass just hardens further. Now in some cases, the
whale manages to pass the beaky build up on its
own most of the time, though it doesn't see the
light of day until that whale has died, freed from
its biological prison by the process of decomposition. But it's
not just the whale that makes this concentration of squid,
(07:11):
beaks and feces so special. It's the ocean itself. If
the substance is harvested directly from a dead whale, it
has a dark, thick and mucous light consistency. It's only
when exposed to the briny deep that it becomes such
a beloved and valuable commodity. People have done pretty absurd
things to obtain this stuff over the years. One man
(07:32):
in crawled through the neck of a dead sperm whale
that had washed ashore. He wormed his way through its
intestines until he was able to pry the large stone free. Today,
hunters along shorelines keep their eyes peeled for objects that
look like rocks or petrified dog droppings in the hopes
of discovering a chunk for themselves, and they're way more
knowledgeable about poop than anyone probably should be. According to
(07:56):
those who have found this special brand, of whale excrement.
The scent can be woods like fresh air mixed with
a healthy dose of manure. But there is a reason
people go crazy looking for the fecal remnants of sperm whales.
The monetary value the mass that that young English boy
and his father found in two thousand twelve, it was
worth a whopping sixty three thousand dollars. Another two and
(08:18):
a half pound piece was found in two thousand fifteen,
and it was sold for over fourteen thousand dollars. Why
such big bucks for undigested squidbeaks because of how they're used.
What has been considered everything from an aphrodisiac to a
superfood to an additive to cigarettes to make them smell better,
is also the main ingredient in perfume. Its official name
(08:41):
is ambergris. And if you've ever spirtsched yourself with Chanelle
number five before at night on the town, then you've
undoubtedly been exposed to the secret ingredient in some of
your favorite to romas. And if you're thinking this all
sounds too strange and maybe too gross to be true,
I'm sorry to say it's not. This tale does in
fact past the smell test. I hope you've enjoyed today's
(09:06):
guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free
on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about 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
(09:29):
about it over at the World of Lore dot com.
And until next time, stay curious. Yeah,
Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities News
Host
Aaron Mahnke
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