July 25, 2023 • 9 mins
Some folklore is meant to leave us in awe, and others are really good at delivery laughs. Today's tour features one of each.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
iHeartRadio and Grimm 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 the Cabinet of Curiosities.
(00:36):
We've all lost something at one point. It could have
been our car keys or the remote to the television.
Maybe it was an earring or a little bit of
money left over from party in the night before. Oftentimes,
the best course of action is to retrace our steps
and hope that we stumble upon the missing item along
the way. But every once in a while, something disappears
completely and it can't be found no matter how hard
(00:58):
you look. And that is where Saint Fnorius comes in.
Members of the Greek Orthodox Church who have lost something
of importance may pray to Saint Fernorius, who will help
them locate it. Little is known about Funorius, including the
time in which he lived. His name was discovered in
fifteen hundred a d by Hagorin soldiers who found the
ruins of an old church on the island of Rhodes.
(01:20):
After they had conquered the area, their leader ordered the
men to rebuild the war torn walls of the city.
Several church icons or religious artworks were discovered on the floor,
including an icon of Saint Fernorius. Amazingly, it still looked
as fresh as the date it was painted, and around
the icon were twelve illustrated tableaus depicting Fernorius's life. Several
(01:42):
were violent in tone, including one where he was being
whipped by soldiers and pelted with stones. But no matter
how much torture he was put through, it seems that
Funorius came out victorious, with the last scenes showing him
standing among the flames, his hands raised in prayer. Sometime later,
three young deacons from Crete were taken captive by the
Hagarines and brought to Rhodes. The deacons had gone to
(02:04):
Cythera to be ordained, but now found themselves sold into slavery.
They had been separated, with each priest held captive by
a different master, but they all knew of Funorius. Each
priest prayed to him day and night to be released.
In response to those prayers, Fnorius appeared before their captors
in order that the priest be freed from their homes
or their masters would be punished. But his wishes were
(02:27):
ignored and those masters tortured the priests even further, so
Saint Fnorius did the job himself. He broke the priests
free from their shackles and told their masters one last
time to let them go or they would witness the
power of God. Well. The next day, everyone living in
the homes where the priests were being held woke up paralyzed,
blind and in immense pain. With no other recourse. They
(02:47):
asked the priests what they needed to do to be healed,
and the priest told them that they would pray for them.
Saint Fernorius made one last plea to the captors to
let the priest go or they would never recover. By
now they had finally seen the light. The masters immediately
released all three priests and eventually regained their sight and
their health, and the priests while they went back to
(03:08):
their home on crete a copy of the icon of
Saint Fernorius packed with them. Every year following their return,
they held a feast of Saint Fernorius in his honor.
Now Fenurius's name means to reveal and today, he is
preyed to whenever something is lost, be it a wallet,
a house key, or a set of priests, and to
help the discovery process along, people would often bake a
(03:29):
special cake named after the saint, called a fenor apita.
Some say that the cake is made in honor of
his mother, who is said to be cruel toward him.
She will forever be a lost soul that he was
never able to save. The cake is spiced and not
made with eggs or dairy, so it's considered vegan or linton.
Though recipes vary, it's often prepared with olive oil, orange juice, cinnamon,
(03:51):
and cloves. The number of ingredients is also important. The
person baking it will usually mix in seven or nine
components because those numbers are important. To the Greek Orthodox Church,
it said that one desperate woman promised Saint Fernorius thirteen
cakes if he would help her find her lost dog.
When the poach eventually did turn up, the woman baked
all thirteen cakes just as promised. Another time, a mother
(04:15):
baked a cake on behalf of each of her four
children to help them find their future spouses. This belief
in Fana Repida is real because those who bake it
swear it works, and who's to say they're wrong At
the end of the day, though, one lesson is clear.
Belief is a curious thing, whether you're lost or found.
(04:48):
One thing that most folks can agree on is that
Benjamin Franklin had a brilliant mind. He was an essential
figure in the foundation of our country, a driving force
behind the American Enlightenment, and a leading science of his day.
He was also well eccentric, might be the best way
to phrase it. Where to begin the paper on farting
seems like a good place to start. His essay fart
(05:11):
Proudly was written in seventeen eighty one, when he was
ambassador to France. There were also his infamous air baths,
during which he sat naked in front of open windows
to ward off sickness. And we've previously heard here about
the ten bodies in the basement of his London home
that were discovered until nineteen ninety eight. Oh And he
made the fur hat popular among the French elite during
(05:32):
his time there. French women even began donning large wigs
they called kofure out of Franklin. Oh And Franklin was
also one of the world's first storm chasers. The Key
and the Kite might be one of Benjamin Franklin's most
famous moments. Everyone has heard of it, although we're not
totally sure how the experiment actually went down. Allegedly, on
June tenth of seventeen fifty two, Benjamin Franklin took a
(05:55):
kite out into a storm to see if the metal
key attached to the string would draw the lightning. One
lucky strike later and eureka. Of course, historians don't actually
know the dates, and it's very unlikely lightning actually struck
the key, because if it had, the Great Benjamin Franklin
might not have lived to tell the tale. What we
can assume is that the key picked up a charge
(06:15):
from the storm, and the shock Franklin got from touching
it helped confirm that lightning was a form of electricity
that could be harnessed. What many don't realize, though, is
that the key and the kites were part of a
series of tests that Franklin was conducting. The electrical question
had been floating around in his mind since at least
seventeen forty five, and he was most concerned with what
(06:35):
the power of electricity could be used for everything we
take for granted today, from light to heat and more
lay ahead of him, and the possibilities were just too tempting.
I'm not sure if any of our listeners work or
have worked in the emergency room, but I'm sure they
could confirm for me that during the holidays the er
is extra crowded. With the Fourth of July it's usually
(06:57):
fireworks mishaps. For Christmas, it's problems with d decorations are
slipping on ice. And with Thanksgiving, of course, it's cooking
the turkey. Everyone seems to have a different opinion of
the best way to do it. Some like to barbecue it,
some grillet, some roasted in the oven. And I'm sure
we've all seen the videos of folks trying to fry
it in their driveways with mixed success. And did you
(07:19):
know that Benjamin Franklin was extremely fond of turkeys. He
firmly believed that they should be America's national bird and
even got into a fight with John Adams and Thomas
Jefferson over the subject. Adams was all for the eagle
and Jefferson was for the dove. I'm sure you can
all guess who won that round, And here's the crazy part.
Franklin believed that his beloved electricity was in fact the
(07:40):
best way to cook a turkey. In a seventeen forty
nine letter to his friend Peter Collinson in London, Franklin
explained that he was going to kill and cook a
turkey for their dinner solely using electricity because it would
make the meat uncommonly tender. Franklin used two light in
jars for this experiment. These devices static electricity between two
(08:01):
electrodes on the inside and outside of the glass jar,
and Franklin was very confident in his hypothesis. But when
he touched the jars to the turkey to start cooking it,
something else happened. Instead. Franklin got a jolt from the experiment,
a strong one if these spectators are to be believed.
It was bad enough that he shook violently and got
knocked out. When his friends did manage to revive him,
(08:25):
he didn't remember what had happened. He was sore for
days and experienced intermittent numbness, but luckily none of the
after effects were permanent. Based on another letter written to
a friend, Franklin largely seems embarrassed about his mishap. When
he wrote to his brother, he gave permission for him
to share the story with a fellow scientist, but begged
them both to keep quiet about it. Franklin never tried
(08:48):
to repeat his experiment again, and whenever he made note
of his calamitous dinner party, the moral of the story
always boiled down to another time honor nugget of wisdom.
Don't try this at home. I hope you've enjoyed today's
guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free
(09:09):
on Apple Podcasts, or learn 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 Worldoflore dot com. And until
(09:31):
next time, stay curious.
Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
iHeartRadio and Grimm 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 the Cabinet of Curiosities.
(00:36):
We've all lost something at one point. It could have
been our car keys or the remote to the television.
Maybe it was an earring or a little bit of
money left over from party in the night before. Oftentimes,
the best course of action is to retrace our steps
and hope that we stumble upon the missing item along
the way. But every once in a while, something disappears
completely and it can't be found no matter how hard
(00:58):
you look. And that is where Saint Fnorius comes in.
Members of the Greek Orthodox Church who have lost something
of importance may pray to Saint Fernorius, who will help
them locate it. Little is known about Funorius, including the
time in which he lived. His name was discovered in
fifteen hundred a d by Hagorin soldiers who found the
ruins of an old church on the island of Rhodes.
(01:20):
After they had conquered the area, their leader ordered the
men to rebuild the war torn walls of the city.
Several church icons or religious artworks were discovered on the floor,
including an icon of Saint Fernorius. Amazingly, it still looked
as fresh as the date it was painted, and around
the icon were twelve illustrated tableaus depicting Fernorius's life. Several
(01:42):
were violent in tone, including one where he was being
whipped by soldiers and pelted with stones. But no matter
how much torture he was put through, it seems that
Funorius came out victorious, with the last scenes showing him
standing among the flames, his hands raised in prayer. Sometime later,
three young deacons from Crete were taken captive by the
Hagarines and brought to Rhodes. The deacons had gone to
(02:04):
Cythera to be ordained, but now found themselves sold into slavery.
They had been separated, with each priest held captive by
a different master, but they all knew of Funorius. Each
priest prayed to him day and night to be released.
In response to those prayers, Fnorius appeared before their captors
in order that the priest be freed from their homes
or their masters would be punished. But his wishes were
(02:27):
ignored and those masters tortured the priests even further, so
Saint Fnorius did the job himself. He broke the priests
free from their shackles and told their masters one last
time to let them go or they would witness the
power of God. Well. The next day, everyone living in
the homes where the priests were being held woke up paralyzed,
blind and in immense pain. With no other recourse. They
(02:47):
asked the priests what they needed to do to be healed,
and the priest told them that they would pray for them.
Saint Fernorius made one last plea to the captors to
let the priest go or they would never recover. By
now they had finally seen the light. The masters immediately
released all three priests and eventually regained their sight and
their health, and the priests while they went back to
(03:08):
their home on crete a copy of the icon of
Saint Fernorius packed with them. Every year following their return,
they held a feast of Saint Fernorius in his honor.
Now Fenurius's name means to reveal and today, he is
preyed to whenever something is lost, be it a wallet,
a house key, or a set of priests, and to
help the discovery process along, people would often bake a
(03:29):
special cake named after the saint, called a fenor apita.
Some say that the cake is made in honor of
his mother, who is said to be cruel toward him.
She will forever be a lost soul that he was
never able to save. The cake is spiced and not
made with eggs or dairy, so it's considered vegan or linton.
Though recipes vary, it's often prepared with olive oil, orange juice, cinnamon,
(03:51):
and cloves. The number of ingredients is also important. The
person baking it will usually mix in seven or nine
components because those numbers are important. To the Greek Orthodox Church,
it said that one desperate woman promised Saint Fernorius thirteen
cakes if he would help her find her lost dog.
When the poach eventually did turn up, the woman baked
all thirteen cakes just as promised. Another time, a mother
(04:15):
baked a cake on behalf of each of her four
children to help them find their future spouses. This belief
in Fana Repida is real because those who bake it
swear it works, and who's to say they're wrong At
the end of the day, though, one lesson is clear.
Belief is a curious thing, whether you're lost or found.
(04:48):
One thing that most folks can agree on is that
Benjamin Franklin had a brilliant mind. He was an essential
figure in the foundation of our country, a driving force
behind the American Enlightenment, and a leading science of his day.
He was also well eccentric, might be the best way
to phrase it. Where to begin the paper on farting
seems like a good place to start. His essay fart
(05:11):
Proudly was written in seventeen eighty one, when he was
ambassador to France. There were also his infamous air baths,
during which he sat naked in front of open windows
to ward off sickness. And we've previously heard here about
the ten bodies in the basement of his London home
that were discovered until nineteen ninety eight. Oh And he
made the fur hat popular among the French elite during
(05:32):
his time there. French women even began donning large wigs
they called kofure out of Franklin. Oh And Franklin was
also one of the world's first storm chasers. The Key
and the Kite might be one of Benjamin Franklin's most
famous moments. Everyone has heard of it, although we're not
totally sure how the experiment actually went down. Allegedly, on
June tenth of seventeen fifty two, Benjamin Franklin took a
(05:55):
kite out into a storm to see if the metal
key attached to the string would draw the lightning. One
lucky strike later and eureka. Of course, historians don't actually
know the dates, and it's very unlikely lightning actually struck
the key, because if it had, the Great Benjamin Franklin
might not have lived to tell the tale. What we
can assume is that the key picked up a charge
(06:15):
from the storm, and the shock Franklin got from touching
it helped confirm that lightning was a form of electricity
that could be harnessed. What many don't realize, though, is
that the key and the kites were part of a
series of tests that Franklin was conducting. The electrical question
had been floating around in his mind since at least
seventeen forty five, and he was most concerned with what
(06:35):
the power of electricity could be used for everything we
take for granted today, from light to heat and more
lay ahead of him, and the possibilities were just too tempting.
I'm not sure if any of our listeners work or
have worked in the emergency room, but I'm sure they
could confirm for me that during the holidays the er
is extra crowded. With the Fourth of July it's usually
(06:57):
fireworks mishaps. For Christmas, it's problems with d decorations are
slipping on ice. And with Thanksgiving, of course, it's cooking
the turkey. Everyone seems to have a different opinion of
the best way to do it. Some like to barbecue it,
some grillet, some roasted in the oven. And I'm sure
we've all seen the videos of folks trying to fry
it in their driveways with mixed success. And did you
(07:19):
know that Benjamin Franklin was extremely fond of turkeys. He
firmly believed that they should be America's national bird and
even got into a fight with John Adams and Thomas
Jefferson over the subject. Adams was all for the eagle
and Jefferson was for the dove. I'm sure you can
all guess who won that round, And here's the crazy part.
Franklin believed that his beloved electricity was in fact the
(07:40):
best way to cook a turkey. In a seventeen forty
nine letter to his friend Peter Collinson in London, Franklin
explained that he was going to kill and cook a
turkey for their dinner solely using electricity because it would
make the meat uncommonly tender. Franklin used two light in
jars for this experiment. These devices static electricity between two
(08:01):
electrodes on the inside and outside of the glass jar,
and Franklin was very confident in his hypothesis. But when
he touched the jars to the turkey to start cooking it,
something else happened. Instead. Franklin got a jolt from the experiment,
a strong one if these spectators are to be believed.
It was bad enough that he shook violently and got
knocked out. When his friends did manage to revive him,
(08:25):
he didn't remember what had happened. He was sore for
days and experienced intermittent numbness, but luckily none of the
after effects were permanent. Based on another letter written to
a friend, Franklin largely seems embarrassed about his mishap. When
he wrote to his brother, he gave permission for him
to share the story with a fellow scientist, but begged
them both to keep quiet about it. Franklin never tried
(08:48):
to repeat his experiment again, and whenever he made note
of his calamitous dinner party, the moral of the story
always boiled down to another time honor nugget of wisdom.
Don't try this at home. I hope you've enjoyed today's
guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free
(09:09):
on Apple Podcasts, or learn 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 Worldoflore dot com. And until
(09:31):
next time, stay curious.
Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities News
Host
Aaron Mahnke
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