December 5, 2019 • 9 mins
Whether it's their words or actions, some people can be more than a little irritating. Today's journey through the cabinet will introduce you to both situations.
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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 right
there on display, just waiting for us to explore. Welcome
to the cabinet of curiosities. Look at the laws of
(00:28):
any state in the US, and you'll find more than
the usual ones geared towards punishing criminals. For example, in Wisconsin,
it's illegal to throw rocks at trains. In Vermont, in
two thousand nine, the state banned the banning of clotheslines.
You heard that right. You cannot stop someone from using
a clothesline on their property there by law. And if
(00:49):
you're a boxer in Utah, you can forget about biting
your opponent unless you want a visit from the cops.
But perhaps the strangest case of a broken law occurred
in New York in nineteen a woman named Johanna Voch
lived at one ten Magenta Street with her son Armando.
Armando had a bad habit of running his mouth first
(01:11):
thing in the morning, screaming things like go to Hell
and scaring the neighborhood cats and dogs. Voches neighbors, Mrs
Ormsby Gendro and her husband couldn't stand Armando's constant yelling,
especially since Mr Jandro worked nights and slept in the
mornings right when Armando was beginning his daily shouting sessions,
(01:31):
and public obscenity was definitely not tolerated at the time.
Mrs Voch tried, but she couldn't control Armando, and the
Jandro's didn't care. Something had to be done, and so
the angry neighbors took Mrs Voch and Armando to court.
He sat in the back screaming go to hell to
anyone and everyone he met, and when Mrs Jandro took
(01:54):
the stand to testify, Armando made it impossible for her
to speak, shouting his rude directions even were the sound
of the judge's gavel. Mrs Voach pleaded with the judge,
after all, it wasn't Armando's fault, as he had learned
his horrible language from the janitor's boy next door. But
Mrs Jendro had brought witnesses with her to refute Mrs
(02:14):
Voce's claims. They'd never seen the janitor's boy, but they'd
certainly heard Armando swearing at anyone with an earshot. At
that point, the judge called Armando to the stand Missus
Jendro explained how his outbursts triggered all the animals in
the neighborhood to bark and miao, resulting in a cacophony
of noise in the middle of the day when her
(02:35):
husband was trying to get some rest. Sure enough, Armando
turned towards Missus Jendro and yelled go to hell, go
to hell, for everyone in the courtroom to hear. He
also said things like turn out and up with your hammocks?
What the l bill going to sleep all day? Strange utterances.
To be sure, the judge instructed Armando to be escorted
(02:57):
out of the room so they could carry on the
proceedings in peace. Mrs Voach explained how Armando was smart,
but he just had no control over what he heard.
The police would often come to the home after receiving
noise complaints from neighbors. If it was a married cop
pain visit, Armando would yell in my harem at the
top of his lungs, or he might ask a heavy
(03:18):
set cop Bill, how are the chickens. Witnesses called Armando evil.
He'd scream epitaphs and inappropriate phrases, even on Sunday mornings
when people were walking to church. The judge, however, found
himself unable to rule either way, so he postponed the
case for one week, pending the results of an investigation
into Armando's terrible habit. The next day, probation Officer Frank
(03:42):
Cooley visited the janitor next door, then stopped by the
home of Mrs Votch. Within moments of greeting her, Armando
started telling the officer to go to Hell. Over and
over he yelled vile things until the man finally left
with the answers he'd come for. Cooley present to his
findings to the judge, stating that after a brief yet
(04:03):
fruitful investigation, he had no choice but to instruct Mrs
Voach to sell Armando. Yes, I said sell, but don't worry.
It's not like New York had laws stating that vulgar
children must be sold if they didn't behave. Armando wasn't
Mrs Voach's human son. He was for parrot. Boredom is
(04:37):
in rare supply these days, given the ubiquity of personal
tablets and smartphones to distract us. Some of our best
ideas come from waiting in line for coffee. Or simply
soaking in the shower without a screen to occupy our attentions.
But before technology took over our lives, people found other
ways to alleviate boredom. They went outside, went on long
(04:58):
walks to enjoy nature, or and started hobbies. Imagine that
in the late nineteenth century in Australia, boredom was not
so easily cured, at least not until a new form
of entertainment swept the country, giving young people with nothing
but time a startling way to spend it. The state
of Victoria was under attack. Someone named the Wizard Bombardier
(05:22):
was running around in white robes and a tall round
hat called a sugar loaf, scaring people. He would scream
in their faces before throwing rocks at them, then he
would dash off into the night. It had been a ghost,
some of the victims thought at first, After all, who
would do such a thing to a random stranger. Unfortunately,
(05:42):
at the time, Australia was still getting over its rule
as a penal colony for Irish and British convicts. Victoria,
while a free colony, did not have a formal police
force like it does today, and citizens had gotten used
to free reign of the region. With little to do
and no regard for other well being, some Victorians took
up ghost hoaxing. They used the modern technology of the
(06:05):
time to amplify their spookiness of their costumes, including glow
in the dark paint. One hoaxer even used it to
write prepared to meet Thy Doom on a suit of
armor he wore as he chased people through the streets.
One news article from described a hoaxer who wore a
white sheet painted red and ran through the town of Connington,
near Perth. His antics didn't last long, however, as residents
(06:28):
eventually cornered him and held him at gunpoints until he surrendered. Unfortunately,
such harmless fun inevitably turned into something more sinister. Tired
of scaring Australians using sheets and glowing paint, young people
donned their ghostly costumes to rob people and businesses, or
commit even worse crimes. Without a formal police presence to
(06:50):
quell the mischief, locals took it upon themselves to bring
order and peace back to their communities. A blast of
buckshot was enough in most cases to send the youth's
back into their homes and out of the streets, but
those were most cases, some folks were having too much
fun to be stopped. Herbert Patrick McLennon was a man
who would wear a painted top hat and coat, calling
(07:13):
himself the ghost and swinging a cat of nine tales
at women he met. When authorities tried to intervene, he
threatened to shoot them. Oddly enough, McLennan wasn't some teenager
looking for fun, though. The police who eventually arrested him
discovered that he was a well known public speaker. That
was the strange thing about ghost hoaxers. While they may
(07:33):
have started out as kids looking for a fun time,
the adults in the community, teachers, clerks, and even women
of means, had taken up hoaxing, hoping to bring a
little bit of spontaneity to their lives, and because they
had money, they had ways of improving upon their costumes
with props and other special effects. Some tied coffins to
(07:54):
their backs so they looked like they had just risen
from the grave. Others incorporated live music while haunting, and
many tended to lurk in places known for death and
supernatural activity. Cemeteries were popular, and if an area wasn't
scary enough, a hoaxer might paint a glowing skull on
a wall somewhere to mark their territory for anyone walking
(08:15):
past it. After years of being terrorized, assaulted, and robbed,
the Australian people had had enough. The police weren't helping,
and everyone was tired of avoiding certain parts of their
towns under threat of being haunted. Dogs became instrumental in
stopping hoaxers from hurting each other. One man, Charles Horman,
(08:35):
had served in the military and took it upon himself
to wage his own war on the hoaxers. He armed
himself with a shotgun and a cane, once spending off
two men simultaneously who had been caught committing multiple crimes.
By the time World War One started, the idea of
terrorizing other people as ghosts, had lost its flavor. No
one wanted to pretend to be the dead when thousands
(08:58):
of Australians were giving their lives overseas, and even after
the war ended, ghost hoaxing never picked back up again.
Perhaps everyone finally realized that the dead should probably stay
away from the living. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided
tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities, subscribe for free on
(09:20):
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
about it over at the World of Lore dot com.
(09:42):
And until next time, stay curious. Ye
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. Look at the laws of
(00:28):
any state in the US, and you'll find more than
the usual ones geared towards punishing criminals. For example, in Wisconsin,
it's illegal to throw rocks at trains. In Vermont, in
two thousand nine, the state banned the banning of clotheslines.
You heard that right. You cannot stop someone from using
a clothesline on their property there by law. And if
(00:49):
you're a boxer in Utah, you can forget about biting
your opponent unless you want a visit from the cops.
But perhaps the strangest case of a broken law occurred
in New York in nineteen a woman named Johanna Voch
lived at one ten Magenta Street with her son Armando.
Armando had a bad habit of running his mouth first
(01:11):
thing in the morning, screaming things like go to Hell
and scaring the neighborhood cats and dogs. Voches neighbors, Mrs
Ormsby Gendro and her husband couldn't stand Armando's constant yelling,
especially since Mr Jandro worked nights and slept in the
mornings right when Armando was beginning his daily shouting sessions,
(01:31):
and public obscenity was definitely not tolerated at the time.
Mrs Voch tried, but she couldn't control Armando, and the
Jandro's didn't care. Something had to be done, and so
the angry neighbors took Mrs Voch and Armando to court.
He sat in the back screaming go to hell to
anyone and everyone he met, and when Mrs Jandro took
(01:54):
the stand to testify, Armando made it impossible for her
to speak, shouting his rude directions even were the sound
of the judge's gavel. Mrs Voach pleaded with the judge,
after all, it wasn't Armando's fault, as he had learned
his horrible language from the janitor's boy next door. But
Mrs Jendro had brought witnesses with her to refute Mrs
(02:14):
Voce's claims. They'd never seen the janitor's boy, but they'd
certainly heard Armando swearing at anyone with an earshot. At
that point, the judge called Armando to the stand Missus
Jendro explained how his outbursts triggered all the animals in
the neighborhood to bark and miao, resulting in a cacophony
of noise in the middle of the day when her
(02:35):
husband was trying to get some rest. Sure enough, Armando
turned towards Missus Jendro and yelled go to hell, go
to hell, for everyone in the courtroom to hear. He
also said things like turn out and up with your hammocks?
What the l bill going to sleep all day? Strange utterances.
To be sure, the judge instructed Armando to be escorted
(02:57):
out of the room so they could carry on the
proceedings in peace. Mrs Voach explained how Armando was smart,
but he just had no control over what he heard.
The police would often come to the home after receiving
noise complaints from neighbors. If it was a married cop
pain visit, Armando would yell in my harem at the
top of his lungs, or he might ask a heavy
(03:18):
set cop Bill, how are the chickens. Witnesses called Armando evil.
He'd scream epitaphs and inappropriate phrases, even on Sunday mornings
when people were walking to church. The judge, however, found
himself unable to rule either way, so he postponed the
case for one week, pending the results of an investigation
into Armando's terrible habit. The next day, probation Officer Frank
(03:42):
Cooley visited the janitor next door, then stopped by the
home of Mrs Votch. Within moments of greeting her, Armando
started telling the officer to go to Hell. Over and
over he yelled vile things until the man finally left
with the answers he'd come for. Cooley present to his
findings to the judge, stating that after a brief yet
(04:03):
fruitful investigation, he had no choice but to instruct Mrs
Voach to sell Armando. Yes, I said sell, but don't worry.
It's not like New York had laws stating that vulgar
children must be sold if they didn't behave. Armando wasn't
Mrs Voach's human son. He was for parrot. Boredom is
(04:37):
in rare supply these days, given the ubiquity of personal
tablets and smartphones to distract us. Some of our best
ideas come from waiting in line for coffee. Or simply
soaking in the shower without a screen to occupy our attentions.
But before technology took over our lives, people found other
ways to alleviate boredom. They went outside, went on long
(04:58):
walks to enjoy nature, or and started hobbies. Imagine that
in the late nineteenth century in Australia, boredom was not
so easily cured, at least not until a new form
of entertainment swept the country, giving young people with nothing
but time a startling way to spend it. The state
of Victoria was under attack. Someone named the Wizard Bombardier
(05:22):
was running around in white robes and a tall round
hat called a sugar loaf, scaring people. He would scream
in their faces before throwing rocks at them, then he
would dash off into the night. It had been a ghost,
some of the victims thought at first, After all, who
would do such a thing to a random stranger. Unfortunately,
(05:42):
at the time, Australia was still getting over its rule
as a penal colony for Irish and British convicts. Victoria,
while a free colony, did not have a formal police
force like it does today, and citizens had gotten used
to free reign of the region. With little to do
and no regard for other well being, some Victorians took
up ghost hoaxing. They used the modern technology of the
(06:05):
time to amplify their spookiness of their costumes, including glow
in the dark paint. One hoaxer even used it to
write prepared to meet Thy Doom on a suit of
armor he wore as he chased people through the streets.
One news article from described a hoaxer who wore a
white sheet painted red and ran through the town of Connington,
near Perth. His antics didn't last long, however, as residents
(06:28):
eventually cornered him and held him at gunpoints until he surrendered. Unfortunately,
such harmless fun inevitably turned into something more sinister. Tired
of scaring Australians using sheets and glowing paint, young people
donned their ghostly costumes to rob people and businesses, or
commit even worse crimes. Without a formal police presence to
(06:50):
quell the mischief, locals took it upon themselves to bring
order and peace back to their communities. A blast of
buckshot was enough in most cases to send the youth's
back into their homes and out of the streets, but
those were most cases, some folks were having too much
fun to be stopped. Herbert Patrick McLennon was a man
who would wear a painted top hat and coat, calling
(07:13):
himself the ghost and swinging a cat of nine tales
at women he met. When authorities tried to intervene, he
threatened to shoot them. Oddly enough, McLennan wasn't some teenager
looking for fun, though. The police who eventually arrested him
discovered that he was a well known public speaker. That
was the strange thing about ghost hoaxers. While they may
(07:33):
have started out as kids looking for a fun time,
the adults in the community, teachers, clerks, and even women
of means, had taken up hoaxing, hoping to bring a
little bit of spontaneity to their lives, and because they
had money, they had ways of improving upon their costumes
with props and other special effects. Some tied coffins to
(07:54):
their backs so they looked like they had just risen
from the grave. Others incorporated live music while haunting, and
many tended to lurk in places known for death and
supernatural activity. Cemeteries were popular, and if an area wasn't
scary enough, a hoaxer might paint a glowing skull on
a wall somewhere to mark their territory for anyone walking
(08:15):
past it. After years of being terrorized, assaulted, and robbed,
the Australian people had had enough. The police weren't helping,
and everyone was tired of avoiding certain parts of their
towns under threat of being haunted. Dogs became instrumental in
stopping hoaxers from hurting each other. One man, Charles Horman,
(08:35):
had served in the military and took it upon himself
to wage his own war on the hoaxers. He armed
himself with a shotgun and a cane, once spending off
two men simultaneously who had been caught committing multiple crimes.
By the time World War One started, the idea of
terrorizing other people as ghosts, had lost its flavor. No
one wanted to pretend to be the dead when thousands
(08:58):
of Australians were giving their lives overseas, and even after
the war ended, ghost hoaxing never picked back up again.
Perhaps everyone finally realized that the dead should probably stay
away from the living. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided
tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities, subscribe for free on
(09:20):
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
about it over at the World of Lore dot com.
(09:42):
And until next time, stay curious. Ye
Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities News
Host
Aaron Mahnke
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