June 13, 2019 • 9 mins
Two fantastic tales await visitors to the Cabinet today, exploring some of the most pivotal moments in modern history.
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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. In war, a soldier's primary
(00:29):
goals are to kill the enemy and stay alive. During
the Civil War, however, that second part wasn't so easy.
Musket Balls did immense damage as they tore through flesh,
often taking winding routes and remaining lodged inside the body.
This of course led to infections, which turned into high
fevers and eventually death. Treatment was rudimentary and scarce. Many
(00:53):
people who survived lost limbs to gang green and penicillin
hadn't been discovered yet. The Civil War saw the earth
of an organized ambulance system as a way to safely
and quickly rush injured soldiers to local hospitals. Trains were
also used as mobile medical units, but care itself had
not advanced in any meaningful way. It wasn't like there
(01:14):
was time either. With war raging across the country. However,
some soldiers suffered from gunshot wounds found themselves being healed
by something outside the realm of modern medicine. It was
a phenomenon that had to be seen to be believed.
You might say they had a guardian angel watching over them.
In early April of eighteen sixty two, over forty thousand
(01:36):
Union soldiers had been camped out along the Tennessee River
near the little town of Shiloh. A second division of
roughly twenty additional troops were on their way, but the
Union soldiers, led by Ulysses S. Grant, had no idea
what was coming. Meanwhile, forty thousand Confederate troops were moving
in from the south, hoping to catch Union forces off guard.
(01:59):
On the morning of April sixth, Confederate soldiers emerged from
the nearby woods and surprised Grant's army, beginning what would
become the bloodiest battle of the war. The Battle of
Shiloh lasted two days. Between both sides, over twenty three
thousand lives were lost, more casualties than in any other
battle in American history up to that moment. The surprise
(02:20):
attack didn't matter anyway. The Confederates, with their antiquated weapons,
were forced to retreat while both sides tended to their
dead and wounded. The night after the fight rains started
moving into the area, the soil turned to mud. Injured
soldiers waited for medical support, and then they noticed something
odd about their wounds. They were glowing. No one had
(02:44):
expected it. Being in the middle of nowhere with no
access to proper medicine, as limited as it was at
the time, didn't leave them feeling hopeful. But a miraculous
thing was happening. The soldiers whose wounds had emitted a
soft blue glow survived more often than those whose wounds
had not. They healed faster, they were fewer cases of
(03:05):
infection and amputations. Those who witnessed it started referring to
it as angels glow. If only it had been that divine. Sadly,
angels had not descended upon Shiloh to save the Union troops.
In fact, the truth about their glowing wounds had nothing
to do with guardian angels at all. As it turned out,
(03:26):
the whole area was crawling with nematodes, tiny worms that
ate insect larvae they found in the mud. Well, they
didn't exactly eat the larvae, They burrowed inside it and
then vomited up a special kind of bacteria called photo
herabdous luminescence, and the bacteria was special for two reasons. First,
it killed the larvae from the inside for the nematodes
(03:48):
to eat, and secondly, it gave off a soft blue glow,
and that's what the soldiers were seeing, glowing blue bacteria
thrown up by hungry worms inside their wounds. Kind of gross,
I know, but that's not all. The bacteria didn't just
eat insect larvae. It ate pretty much anything in its path,
including other bacteria that might have caused infections. Those soldiers
(04:12):
had survived at a much higher rate than the rest
of the army did because of nema towed vomit. The
medical profession might not have learned much about proper care
during the worst of the Civil War, but the soldiers
sure learned something else. A cure could always be found
in nature, even in the most unlikely of places. The
(04:46):
greatest minds in history left behind legacies of legendary proportions.
Albert Einstein's theories and research have contributed to some of
the most important scientific discoveries of the last sixty years.
Leonardo di and She's art has influenced not just other
artists all over the world, but inventors as well, and
William Shakespeare's impact on literature and theater continues to inspire
(05:09):
new generations of writers everywhere. However, their work is only
part of their genius. We'll never know their hopes and dreams,
the passing thoughts that might have changed the world if
they had been explored, if only there had been some
way to peek inside their minds. Well, one man may
have done exactly that in sev kicking off over two
(05:31):
hundred years of rumor about what happened to one of
the most important historical figures of all time. His name
was Dr Frank Chambers. For years he kept a diarrhea
of his day to day life, and it was in
this record that he wrote some entries about a bold
endeavor that he had undertaken. You see, he wanted something,
something that belonged to a famous literary figure, the aforementioned
(05:54):
Bard of Stratford upon Avon, William Shakespeare. Shakespeare had died
almost two centuries prior, in sixteen sixteen, and his body
had been buried in the Church of the Holy Trinity,
about one hundred miles northwest of London. So Dr Chambers
led a team of gray robbers into the church one
night with a plan to dig up Shakespeare's body. They
(06:16):
weren't after jewels, though, or even a quill pen he
might have been buried with. No, they wanted something else,
a piece of the man himself, specifically his skull, And
according to the stories, Chambers was successful in his pursuit
and reportedly later sold the skull for three hundred British pounds.
But something about these stories never seemed to add up
(06:39):
to a lot of historians. It just seemed too outlandish
to be true. Shakespeare's grave had been unmarked, so successfully
finding it in the dark seemed like a fool's Errand
there was also the inscription, meant to warn away potential robbers,
blessed to be the man that spares these stones, and
cursed be he that moves my bones. That should have
been enough to give anyone pause, but not doctor Chambers allegedly.
(07:04):
Of Course, in his explanation of his exploits, the intrepid
thief may note of several specific details. For example, he
claimed Shakespeare was not buried in a coffin, but wrapped
in cloth and placed into a shallow grave. That only
lessened the credibility of a story. After all, why would
someone as famous and brilliant as William Shakespeare have been
buried in such a common and unfitting way. Unfortunately, there
(07:28):
was no way to be sure. The Church would not
let anyone else exhume the body for verification, and they
heated the bard's final request that no one disturbed his grave.
And so for centuries the rumors of doctor Chambers exploits persisted,
although no one took them too seriously. Scholars and theater
aficionados alike just couldn't accept that such a great mind
(07:50):
might be resting in such a mundane grave. That was
until two thousand sixteen, four hundred years after his death.
That's when archaeolo just found another way to get the
answers they needed. Using ground penetrating radar, the scientists scanned
Shakespeare's grave to get a more accurate picture of what
was inside, and what they found shocked them. Dr Chambers,
(08:14):
who had sworn the truth about his outrageous claims regarding
the writer's grave, had been right all along. William Shakespeare
had in fact been wrapped in cloth before his burial
in a shallow grave only three ft deep. What's more,
perhaps the boldest and strangest claim of all hadn't been
so strange. The head really was missing. No one knows
(08:38):
where it is today or who might have it, but
I like to imagine it's being used in a very
special performance of Hamlet. Dr Frank Chambers confused the literary
world for centuries with his amazing claim, but in the
end it was proven true. He might have been our
predecessor in many ways, but he certainly found a to
(09:01):
get ahead of us. 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
Aaron Manky in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make
(09:22):
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. In war, a soldier's primary
(00:29):
goals are to kill the enemy and stay alive. During
the Civil War, however, that second part wasn't so easy.
Musket Balls did immense damage as they tore through flesh,
often taking winding routes and remaining lodged inside the body.
This of course led to infections, which turned into high
fevers and eventually death. Treatment was rudimentary and scarce. Many
(00:53):
people who survived lost limbs to gang green and penicillin
hadn't been discovered yet. The Civil War saw the earth
of an organized ambulance system as a way to safely
and quickly rush injured soldiers to local hospitals. Trains were
also used as mobile medical units, but care itself had
not advanced in any meaningful way. It wasn't like there
(01:14):
was time either. With war raging across the country. However,
some soldiers suffered from gunshot wounds found themselves being healed
by something outside the realm of modern medicine. It was
a phenomenon that had to be seen to be believed.
You might say they had a guardian angel watching over them.
In early April of eighteen sixty two, over forty thousand
(01:36):
Union soldiers had been camped out along the Tennessee River
near the little town of Shiloh. A second division of
roughly twenty additional troops were on their way, but the
Union soldiers, led by Ulysses S. Grant, had no idea
what was coming. Meanwhile, forty thousand Confederate troops were moving
in from the south, hoping to catch Union forces off guard.
(01:59):
On the morning of April sixth, Confederate soldiers emerged from
the nearby woods and surprised Grant's army, beginning what would
become the bloodiest battle of the war. The Battle of
Shiloh lasted two days. Between both sides, over twenty three
thousand lives were lost, more casualties than in any other
battle in American history up to that moment. The surprise
(02:20):
attack didn't matter anyway. The Confederates, with their antiquated weapons,
were forced to retreat while both sides tended to their
dead and wounded. The night after the fight rains started
moving into the area, the soil turned to mud. Injured
soldiers waited for medical support, and then they noticed something
odd about their wounds. They were glowing. No one had
(02:44):
expected it. Being in the middle of nowhere with no
access to proper medicine, as limited as it was at
the time, didn't leave them feeling hopeful. But a miraculous
thing was happening. The soldiers whose wounds had emitted a
soft blue glow survived more often than those whose wounds
had not. They healed faster, they were fewer cases of
(03:05):
infection and amputations. Those who witnessed it started referring to
it as angels glow. If only it had been that divine. Sadly,
angels had not descended upon Shiloh to save the Union troops.
In fact, the truth about their glowing wounds had nothing
to do with guardian angels at all. As it turned out,
(03:26):
the whole area was crawling with nematodes, tiny worms that
ate insect larvae they found in the mud. Well, they
didn't exactly eat the larvae, They burrowed inside it and
then vomited up a special kind of bacteria called photo
herabdous luminescence, and the bacteria was special for two reasons. First,
it killed the larvae from the inside for the nematodes
(03:48):
to eat, and secondly, it gave off a soft blue glow,
and that's what the soldiers were seeing, glowing blue bacteria
thrown up by hungry worms inside their wounds. Kind of gross,
I know, but that's not all. The bacteria didn't just
eat insect larvae. It ate pretty much anything in its path,
including other bacteria that might have caused infections. Those soldiers
(04:12):
had survived at a much higher rate than the rest
of the army did because of nema towed vomit. The
medical profession might not have learned much about proper care
during the worst of the Civil War, but the soldiers
sure learned something else. A cure could always be found
in nature, even in the most unlikely of places. The
(04:46):
greatest minds in history left behind legacies of legendary proportions.
Albert Einstein's theories and research have contributed to some of
the most important scientific discoveries of the last sixty years.
Leonardo di and She's art has influenced not just other
artists all over the world, but inventors as well, and
William Shakespeare's impact on literature and theater continues to inspire
(05:09):
new generations of writers everywhere. However, their work is only
part of their genius. We'll never know their hopes and dreams,
the passing thoughts that might have changed the world if
they had been explored, if only there had been some
way to peek inside their minds. Well, one man may
have done exactly that in sev kicking off over two
(05:31):
hundred years of rumor about what happened to one of
the most important historical figures of all time. His name
was Dr Frank Chambers. For years he kept a diarrhea
of his day to day life, and it was in
this record that he wrote some entries about a bold
endeavor that he had undertaken. You see, he wanted something,
something that belonged to a famous literary figure, the aforementioned
(05:54):
Bard of Stratford upon Avon, William Shakespeare. Shakespeare had died
almost two centuries prior, in sixteen sixteen, and his body
had been buried in the Church of the Holy Trinity,
about one hundred miles northwest of London. So Dr Chambers
led a team of gray robbers into the church one
night with a plan to dig up Shakespeare's body. They
(06:16):
weren't after jewels, though, or even a quill pen he
might have been buried with. No, they wanted something else,
a piece of the man himself, specifically his skull, And
according to the stories, Chambers was successful in his pursuit
and reportedly later sold the skull for three hundred British pounds.
But something about these stories never seemed to add up
(06:39):
to a lot of historians. It just seemed too outlandish
to be true. Shakespeare's grave had been unmarked, so successfully
finding it in the dark seemed like a fool's Errand
there was also the inscription, meant to warn away potential robbers,
blessed to be the man that spares these stones, and
cursed be he that moves my bones. That should have
been enough to give anyone pause, but not doctor Chambers allegedly.
(07:04):
Of Course, in his explanation of his exploits, the intrepid
thief may note of several specific details. For example, he
claimed Shakespeare was not buried in a coffin, but wrapped
in cloth and placed into a shallow grave. That only
lessened the credibility of a story. After all, why would
someone as famous and brilliant as William Shakespeare have been
buried in such a common and unfitting way. Unfortunately, there
(07:28):
was no way to be sure. The Church would not
let anyone else exhume the body for verification, and they
heated the bard's final request that no one disturbed his grave.
And so for centuries the rumors of doctor Chambers exploits persisted,
although no one took them too seriously. Scholars and theater
aficionados alike just couldn't accept that such a great mind
(07:50):
might be resting in such a mundane grave. That was
until two thousand sixteen, four hundred years after his death.
That's when archaeolo just found another way to get the
answers they needed. Using ground penetrating radar, the scientists scanned
Shakespeare's grave to get a more accurate picture of what
was inside, and what they found shocked them. Dr Chambers,
(08:14):
who had sworn the truth about his outrageous claims regarding
the writer's grave, had been right all along. William Shakespeare
had in fact been wrapped in cloth before his burial
in a shallow grave only three ft deep. What's more,
perhaps the boldest and strangest claim of all hadn't been
so strange. The head really was missing. No one knows
(08:38):
where it is today or who might have it, but
I like to imagine it's being used in a very
special performance of Hamlet. Dr Frank Chambers confused the literary
world for centuries with his amazing claim, but in the
end it was proven true. He might have been our
predecessor in many ways, but he certainly found a to
(09:01):
get ahead of us. 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
Aaron Manky in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make
(09:22):
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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