June 15, 2021 • 11 mins
Humans are capable of some pretty curious things. Although, to be honest, that isn't always a good thing. Here are two powerful examples of both ends of the spectrum.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to Aaron Menkey's Cabinet of Curiosity is a production
of I Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. 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
(00:26):
the Cabinet of Curiosities. A magician is in a precarious
position every time they approach an audience. For one, the
magician doesn't know how a spectator is going to react.
(00:49):
People walking into a performance are already in a skeptical mindset,
trying to unravel the illusions. As they unfold. Their eyes
are telling them one thing, but their minds no more
is going on. They just can't see it, And so
the magician must overcome that skepticism with feats of wonder,
such as objects that levitate without any visible wires, or
(01:09):
signed cards that appear in an audience member's wallet. Today's
magicians hone their skills by building upon the techniques of old.
Many of today's tricks, the kinds that are performed on
television competitions and variety shows, have their roots in well worn,
hundred year old slights. But one trick, no matter how
it has changed or how it's performed, has stumped magicians
(01:31):
for decades. The concept is simple, but one man's execution
has blown the minds of those privileged enough to see it.
And his name David Burglass. Burglass spent his early childhood
in Nazi Germany, having once sat near Adolf Hitler at
the nineteen thirty six Olympics in Berlin when he was
just ten years old. As the political climate got worse, however,
(01:53):
burglass family left Germany for England. World War two broke
out a few years later, and in ninety five, as
things were coming to it end, nineteen year old Burglass
volunteered to help. He didn't use a gun, though, Instead
he joined an initiative being spearheaded by the Americans known
as d Nazification. As a result, he spent eighteen months
(02:13):
helping to rid Germany of Nazi propaganda, including books and
other media. It wasn't until nineteen seven when he found
his true love magic. He met Ken Brook, a talented
magician who had been performing since the age of seven.
Brooke ran a magic shop at London, and with his help,
Burglis spent the next several years studying intensely. On most
(02:35):
nights he would go to a magic club or at
send a show, all while developing his own routines. But
it was in nineteen fifty three when he unveiled the
trick that would put him on the map. Now most
versions of it are known by the name any card
at any number, or a can to magicians, but David's
rendition was so powerful it has earned its own name,
(02:55):
the Burglass effect. Although executions changed depending on the magician,
and every iteration of a can follows the same conceit
dating all the way back to the eighteenth century. One
member of the audience is asked to name a card
in the deck, such as the seven of Clubs, and
then another spectator is asked to pick a number between
one and fifty two. If they pick twenty seven, then
(03:18):
twenty six cards are dealt from the top of the deck,
and as the seven card is turned over, it is
revealed as the seven of Clubs. The trick often receives
a positive reaction, but every performance always has the same
fatal flaw. The magician has to touch the deck at
least once. They might shuffle it or push it towards
the spectator sitting across the table, and in doing so,
(03:41):
a manipulation of the cards is achieved right under the
audience's nose. The Burgleiss effect, though it was different. Burgleis
never touched the cards for the duration of the trick.
There was no sleight of hand, no funny business. The
entire illusion was performed from a distance, and it puzzled
both audience, says and his fellow magicians. Now, the immediate
(04:04):
reaction is that people assume he had a plant in
his audiences, someone who had been told to call out
a card or a number that had been predetermined by
Burglass before the effect had begun. Yet every time he
performed for others in his industry, he won them over.
Sometimes he would do it only for one or two
people at a time, not a stooge insight, Burglass had
(04:25):
seemingly done the impossible, and his talents extended beyond any
card at any number. Two. Another magician named Stephen Cohen
had been a regular performer at New York's Waldorf Astoria hotel.
On a two thousand two trip to London, Cohen had
gone to dinner with Burglass. At the end of the night,
his host offered to take him back to the subway
(04:45):
station where he could take his train to the hotel.
They reached the station and Cohen told Burglass that he
hoped the next time they met he could see his
legendary version of the card trick. Immediately, the mood in
the car shifted. Things got tense, and Burglass told him
that he would never forget what he was about to see.
He asked him to name a card, and Cohen called
(05:07):
out the Three of Diamonds. Burglas then asked him to
reach into his own coat and select the deck of
cards from its pocket, the only deck that Burglass had
been carrying that night, and sure enough, right there on
the bottom of the deck, just as he had predicted,
was the Three of Diamonds. The Burgless effect continued to
baffle amateurs and professionals for years. Eventually, David Burglass allowed
(05:30):
an explanation to be published, but even some seasoned magicians
found themselves perplexed by the methods described. David Burglass had
changed the face of magic with a simple idea. It
wasn't about the cards or the numbers. He made the
impossible possible. He made adults feel like kids again, and
most importantly, he made people wonder and that perhaps was
(05:54):
the greatest trick of all. The California gold Rush was
technically never supposed to happen. In the months following the
end of the Mexican American War, California was set to
(06:17):
officially become a part of the United States. The population
was small but growing, and it wasn't ready for what
was about to happen. Businessman John Sutter had come from
Switzerland to Alta, California, to establish a new colony. It
was called Nueva Helvetia Spanish for New Switzerland, and although
history paints Sutter as a pioneer, he enslaved many of
(06:38):
the native tribes there to help him build his settlement,
but he also employed a number of people, including some
Native peoples as well as several Europeans. One such employee
was a New jerseyman named James Marshall. In January, Marshall
was working on the construction of a new water powered
lumber mill along the American River when he noticed something
(07:00):
shining in the water. They were flakes of metal. Marshall
rushed them back to Sutter, who had the pieces tested,
and sure enough, the two men had struck gold. They
tried to keep the news quiet for a while, knowing
that if word got out about Golden California, there would
be a massive rush of people into his territory. Well,
things didn't stay quiet for too long. By March, San
(07:21):
Francisco journalist and business owner named Samuel Brannon had also
discovered gold near Sutter's mill. Realizing what he had found,
Brandon set up shop nearby. Literally, he opened a store
selling prospecting supplies, then returned to San Francisco, where he
walked the streets a little bottle of gold flakes in hand,
announcing where he had found them. And the rest, as
(07:43):
they say, was history. The gold Rush brought hundreds of
thousands of people from across the globe to California in
search of the American dream, But the ships docking in
the San Francisco Bay brought more than just eager gold hunters, entrepreneurs, families,
and ne'er dwells off locked to the West Coast for
a chance at fortune. Of course, this also led to overcrowding.
(08:04):
With so many people taking over, it got harder and
harder to make a living as a miner. But there
was another place out there where fortune was waiting to
be found, and all one had to do was make
the twenty eight mile journey by sea to get there.
Off the coast of San Francisco is a cluster of
islands known as the Farallon Islands or the fairy Lands.
(08:25):
The forty two acre territory had been untapped during the
gold rush, and for good reason, it was almost impossible
to reach. The waters were choppy and the islands were
surrounded by sharp rocks and even sharper teeth. You see.
The seals that shored there attracted great white sharks. But
many forty Niners were undeterred by the dangerous hurdles between
(08:46):
them and riches beyond their wildest dreams, because upon reaching
the islands, enterprising men like pharmacist Doc Robinson began sailing
back with loads of eggs. That's right, eggs. You see,
the miners who had come to California weren't just draining
the rivers and mountains of gold. They were also eating
the local farming community into bankruptcy. The agricultural industry couldn't
(09:09):
keep up with demand. But even if the prospect of
gold wasn't to guarantee, one thing was always certain. People
had to eat. So Robinson started selling the eggs he
stole to local markets and restaurants, kicking off a whole
new kind of rush on the West Coast. Unfortunately, one
basic tenant of business held true even then. When one
(09:31):
person found success, they also found competition. By the early
eighteen sixties, other egg hunting outfits started coming to the
island for a slice of the pie, though Robinson's Pacific
Egg Company had laid claim to the islands for their
exclusive use. One man in particular, David batch Elder, didn't
care who owned the far Allns. He had grown tired
(09:52):
of the egg company running the show, so he gathered
up enough men to fill three boats and sailed over
to confront him on June three of eighteen sixty eight.
Robinson's men had been waiting, though. When batch Elder's crew arrived,
one of the egg company employees shouted a warning that
went ignored. Batch Elder was going to get what he
felt was his. In response, Robinson's eggers fired at the boats,
(10:14):
and batch Elder's men fired back. One of the egg
company employees was struck by a bullet and killed, as
was a rival egger on batch Elder's side. Despite each
side's losses, though Robinson's men had successfully driven Batch Elder
and his boats away from the island. After the short
lived Egg War of the Farallons, the federal government stepped
in and ordered an end to all commercial egging on
(10:36):
the island, but that didn't stop unscrupulous people from sneaking
over from time to time whenever they needed more. Luckily,
for the native birds, though illegal egging eventually came to
a stop, chicken farming became the new and easier way
to harvest eggs for cooking, and so people no longer
had to risk life and limb by sailing to the
Farallon Islands anymore. The native bird population at an opportunity
(11:01):
to recover, and that, my friends, is what I would
call an excellent outcome. I hope you've enjoyed today's 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
(11:22):
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 curious. Yeah,
Welcome to Aaron Menkey's Cabinet of Curiosity is a production
of I Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. 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
(00:26):
the Cabinet of Curiosities. A magician is in a precarious
position every time they approach an audience. For one, the
magician doesn't know how a spectator is going to react.
(00:49):
People walking into a performance are already in a skeptical mindset,
trying to unravel the illusions. As they unfold. Their eyes
are telling them one thing, but their minds no more
is going on. They just can't see it, And so
the magician must overcome that skepticism with feats of wonder,
such as objects that levitate without any visible wires, or
(01:09):
signed cards that appear in an audience member's wallet. Today's
magicians hone their skills by building upon the techniques of old.
Many of today's tricks, the kinds that are performed on
television competitions and variety shows, have their roots in well worn,
hundred year old slights. But one trick, no matter how
it has changed or how it's performed, has stumped magicians
(01:31):
for decades. The concept is simple, but one man's execution
has blown the minds of those privileged enough to see it.
And his name David Burglass. Burglass spent his early childhood
in Nazi Germany, having once sat near Adolf Hitler at
the nineteen thirty six Olympics in Berlin when he was
just ten years old. As the political climate got worse, however,
(01:53):
burglass family left Germany for England. World War two broke
out a few years later, and in ninety five, as
things were coming to it end, nineteen year old Burglass
volunteered to help. He didn't use a gun, though, Instead
he joined an initiative being spearheaded by the Americans known
as d Nazification. As a result, he spent eighteen months
(02:13):
helping to rid Germany of Nazi propaganda, including books and
other media. It wasn't until nineteen seven when he found
his true love magic. He met Ken Brook, a talented
magician who had been performing since the age of seven.
Brooke ran a magic shop at London, and with his help,
Burglis spent the next several years studying intensely. On most
(02:35):
nights he would go to a magic club or at
send a show, all while developing his own routines. But
it was in nineteen fifty three when he unveiled the
trick that would put him on the map. Now most
versions of it are known by the name any card
at any number, or a can to magicians, but David's
rendition was so powerful it has earned its own name,
(02:55):
the Burglass effect. Although executions changed depending on the magician,
and every iteration of a can follows the same conceit
dating all the way back to the eighteenth century. One
member of the audience is asked to name a card
in the deck, such as the seven of Clubs, and
then another spectator is asked to pick a number between
one and fifty two. If they pick twenty seven, then
(03:18):
twenty six cards are dealt from the top of the deck,
and as the seven card is turned over, it is
revealed as the seven of Clubs. The trick often receives
a positive reaction, but every performance always has the same
fatal flaw. The magician has to touch the deck at
least once. They might shuffle it or push it towards
the spectator sitting across the table, and in doing so,
(03:41):
a manipulation of the cards is achieved right under the
audience's nose. The Burgleiss effect, though it was different. Burgleis
never touched the cards for the duration of the trick.
There was no sleight of hand, no funny business. The
entire illusion was performed from a distance, and it puzzled
both audience, says and his fellow magicians. Now, the immediate
(04:04):
reaction is that people assume he had a plant in
his audiences, someone who had been told to call out
a card or a number that had been predetermined by
Burglass before the effect had begun. Yet every time he
performed for others in his industry, he won them over.
Sometimes he would do it only for one or two
people at a time, not a stooge insight, Burglass had
(04:25):
seemingly done the impossible, and his talents extended beyond any
card at any number. Two. Another magician named Stephen Cohen
had been a regular performer at New York's Waldorf Astoria hotel.
On a two thousand two trip to London, Cohen had
gone to dinner with Burglass. At the end of the night,
his host offered to take him back to the subway
(04:45):
station where he could take his train to the hotel.
They reached the station and Cohen told Burglass that he
hoped the next time they met he could see his
legendary version of the card trick. Immediately, the mood in
the car shifted. Things got tense, and Burglass told him
that he would never forget what he was about to see.
He asked him to name a card, and Cohen called
(05:07):
out the Three of Diamonds. Burglas then asked him to
reach into his own coat and select the deck of
cards from its pocket, the only deck that Burglass had
been carrying that night, and sure enough, right there on
the bottom of the deck, just as he had predicted,
was the Three of Diamonds. The Burgless effect continued to
baffle amateurs and professionals for years. Eventually, David Burglass allowed
(05:30):
an explanation to be published, but even some seasoned magicians
found themselves perplexed by the methods described. David Burglass had
changed the face of magic with a simple idea. It
wasn't about the cards or the numbers. He made the
impossible possible. He made adults feel like kids again, and
most importantly, he made people wonder and that perhaps was
(05:54):
the greatest trick of all. The California gold Rush was
technically never supposed to happen. In the months following the
end of the Mexican American War, California was set to
(06:17):
officially become a part of the United States. The population
was small but growing, and it wasn't ready for what
was about to happen. Businessman John Sutter had come from
Switzerland to Alta, California, to establish a new colony. It
was called Nueva Helvetia Spanish for New Switzerland, and although
history paints Sutter as a pioneer, he enslaved many of
(06:38):
the native tribes there to help him build his settlement,
but he also employed a number of people, including some
Native peoples as well as several Europeans. One such employee
was a New jerseyman named James Marshall. In January, Marshall
was working on the construction of a new water powered
lumber mill along the American River when he noticed something
(07:00):
shining in the water. They were flakes of metal. Marshall
rushed them back to Sutter, who had the pieces tested,
and sure enough, the two men had struck gold. They
tried to keep the news quiet for a while, knowing
that if word got out about Golden California, there would
be a massive rush of people into his territory. Well,
things didn't stay quiet for too long. By March, San
(07:21):
Francisco journalist and business owner named Samuel Brannon had also
discovered gold near Sutter's mill. Realizing what he had found,
Brandon set up shop nearby. Literally, he opened a store
selling prospecting supplies, then returned to San Francisco, where he
walked the streets a little bottle of gold flakes in hand,
announcing where he had found them. And the rest, as
(07:43):
they say, was history. The gold Rush brought hundreds of
thousands of people from across the globe to California in
search of the American dream, But the ships docking in
the San Francisco Bay brought more than just eager gold hunters, entrepreneurs, families,
and ne'er dwells off locked to the West Coast for
a chance at fortune. Of course, this also led to overcrowding.
(08:04):
With so many people taking over, it got harder and
harder to make a living as a miner. But there
was another place out there where fortune was waiting to
be found, and all one had to do was make
the twenty eight mile journey by sea to get there.
Off the coast of San Francisco is a cluster of
islands known as the Farallon Islands or the fairy Lands.
(08:25):
The forty two acre territory had been untapped during the
gold rush, and for good reason, it was almost impossible
to reach. The waters were choppy and the islands were
surrounded by sharp rocks and even sharper teeth. You see.
The seals that shored there attracted great white sharks. But
many forty Niners were undeterred by the dangerous hurdles between
(08:46):
them and riches beyond their wildest dreams, because upon reaching
the islands, enterprising men like pharmacist Doc Robinson began sailing
back with loads of eggs. That's right, eggs. You see,
the miners who had come to California weren't just draining
the rivers and mountains of gold. They were also eating
the local farming community into bankruptcy. The agricultural industry couldn't
(09:09):
keep up with demand. But even if the prospect of
gold wasn't to guarantee, one thing was always certain. People
had to eat. So Robinson started selling the eggs he
stole to local markets and restaurants, kicking off a whole
new kind of rush on the West Coast. Unfortunately, one
basic tenant of business held true even then. When one
(09:31):
person found success, they also found competition. By the early
eighteen sixties, other egg hunting outfits started coming to the
island for a slice of the pie, though Robinson's Pacific
Egg Company had laid claim to the islands for their
exclusive use. One man in particular, David batch Elder, didn't
care who owned the far Allns. He had grown tired
(09:52):
of the egg company running the show, so he gathered
up enough men to fill three boats and sailed over
to confront him on June three of eighteen sixty eight.
Robinson's men had been waiting, though. When batch Elder's crew arrived,
one of the egg company employees shouted a warning that
went ignored. Batch Elder was going to get what he
felt was his. In response, Robinson's eggers fired at the boats,
(10:14):
and batch Elder's men fired back. One of the egg
company employees was struck by a bullet and killed, as
was a rival egger on batch Elder's side. Despite each
side's losses, though Robinson's men had successfully driven Batch Elder
and his boats away from the island. After the short
lived Egg War of the Farallons, the federal government stepped
in and ordered an end to all commercial egging on
(10:36):
the island, but that didn't stop unscrupulous people from sneaking
over from time to time whenever they needed more. Luckily,
for the native birds, though illegal egging eventually came to
a stop, chicken farming became the new and easier way
to harvest eggs for cooking, and so people no longer
had to risk life and limb by sailing to the
Farallon Islands anymore. The native bird population at an opportunity
(11:01):
to recover, and that, my friends, is what I would
call an excellent outcome. I hope you've enjoyed today's 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
(11:22):
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 curious. Yeah,
Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities News
Host
Aaron Mahnke
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