August 13, 2020 • 10 mins
Soem people leave their mark on the world during their own lifetime and then fade away. Others might still find their names on the lips of people generations later. Either way, they make great additions to the Cabinet of Curiosities.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to Aaron Benky's Cabinet of Curiosities, 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 the Cabinet
(00:27):
of Curiosities. A great king does more than just rule.
Being a successful king is about compassion and unity. It's
about bringing together disparate groups of people under one banner
so that the kingdom can flourish. Denmark had flourished under
(00:51):
kings before, but it's very first superstar king was often
considered Gorm the Old. He and his wife Tira ruled
from the village of Yelling for about twenty years between
nine thirty six and night, and they had three sons, Canute,
Tokey and Harold. Now these young men were warriors in
the truest sense. Every summer they would leave Denmark and
(01:12):
travel to a new land which they would pillage and conquer.
One night in Dublin, after the Gormson's had spent the
day battling, Canute was killed by a vengeful Irish archer.
Gorm was heartbroken over his son's death, but it wouldn't
be the last in the family. After Gorm's own passing in,
Harold took his father's place on the throne, and Harold
(01:33):
had grand plans for Denmark too. The theme of his
reign was unification, bringing it all together. First, he started
by erecting a large runic stone and yelling to honor
his late parents. He then ordered the construction of five forts,
all shaped like giant rings, in five separate parts of
the country. These forts were made to bolster his military
(01:54):
presence throughout Denmark, which of course they did, and then
he brought his growing army to Normandy, where he fought
alongside his ally Richard the Fearless. Later, he and his
nephew Harold Great Cloak killed Norway's King Haakon the First.
Great Cloak was then named the vassal King of Norway,
but his reign was cut short in nine seventy when
he was assassinated by the former king's son. Because life
(02:18):
has a way of evening things out, sometimes, doesn't it, So,
Harold Gormanson himself stepped in as the acting king, and
if you're keeping track, he now had control of both
Denmark and Norway. He would eventually add Normandy, northern Poland,
areas of northeastern Germany, and even parts of Sweden, all
of it unified as one kingdom under Harold. While he
(02:41):
waged his wars overseas, the interior of his kingdom was peaceful. However,
he didn't resign himself to uniting countries only through force.
He also broke away from his Norse roots and converted
to Christianity sometime in the nine sixties. The hope was
to spread it across Denmark and Norway. Now. The story
surrounding his conversion differ depending on who you read. A
(03:02):
contemporary of Harold wrote that a cleric name Papa turned
him on to this new religion, and in order to
prove his faith, Harold had to carry a heavy hot
iron without burning him. Another author named Adam of Bremen
wrote his own take of Harold's conversion about one years
after the king's death. According to Adam's account, the king
had lost a major battle against Holy Roman Emperor Otto
(03:24):
the First, who had forced him to convert to Christianity.
Whatever the case, Harold lost much of his army after
his defeat by Otto the First. The power shift caused
Norway to rebel against him and drive him out. Harold
managed to keep control of northeastern Germany for a short while,
but the clock was ticking. You see, his son, Spain
fork Beard, had grown tired of waiting around for his
(03:47):
father to die. He turned on Harold and took up
arms against his father, and the uprising worked too. Harold
Gormson died fighting to defend his throne in Night six,
making his son the new King of Denmark. But Harold's
story doesn't end there. A little known fact about the
former king was that he had a bit of a
(04:07):
sweet tooth and his treats of choice blueberries. A thousand
years later, his reputation for uniting Denmark under one kingdom,
as well as his taste for the little blue fruit,
inspired an engineer by the name of Jim Cardak. Cardak
was working for Intel on a project that would allow
(04:27):
computers and mobile phones to talk to each other. In
a sense, it was a way to unite everything under
one ruler. The project has grown over the past few
decades and now it's found everywhere. In fact, every mobile phone, tablet, computer,
and wireless headset we used today is evidence of Harold's legacy,
a legacy built right into the logo for the technology itself,
(04:51):
which is a combination of the two runs for his
initials H and B. Understandably, Cardak didn't want to call
his new wire list technology Gormson. Instead, he used the
nickname that Harold was better known by thanks to his
love for blueberries. So the next time you click on
your headphones and pair them to your mobile device, spare
(05:12):
a thought for the man that technology is named after,
Harold Bluetooth daredevils make their living by cheating death. Whether
(05:33):
they're walking a tight rope between two skyscrapers or jumping
a motorcycle over the Grand Canyon, these stunt performers never
failed to disappoint well. Usually born in eighteen fifty eight
in Cornwall, England, Bobby aspired to that sort of greatness.
He had always wanted to do something fantastic with his life,
(05:53):
something that would leave his mark on the world. He'd
gotten his start as a performer in the Barnum and
Bailey circus, but were eventually striking out on his own.
Bobby wanted to become the first person to complete the
Triple Challenge at Niagara Falls. This included three events, going
through the rapids and a barrel and ending at the whirlpool,
(06:14):
then taking that barrel over the falls to the bottom,
until finally jumping off the upper steel arch bridge with
a parachute on their back. Bobby accomplished his first task
by parachuting off the bridge on July one, nineteen oh eight.
Two years later, he arrived at Niagara Falls with the barrel,
which he attempted to ride through the rapids. The jagged
(06:34):
rocks in the water, however, severed the rope that connected
him to the anchor that he needed to guide the
barrel through the water. Without that anchor, Bobby was tossed
around the rapids and had to be rescued by a
fellow daredevil, William red Hill, who pulled the unconscious body
from the barrel and then climbed in and wrote it
to the whirlpool himself. But Bobby wasn't discouraged. He managed
(06:58):
to successfully ride the river to the whirlpool rapids three
more times during the summer of nineteen ten, but it
was the final act of his triple challenge that he
looked forward to the most. You See, Bobby had heard
about American School teacher Annie Taylor and her trip over
the Niagara Falls in a barrel in nineteen o one,
and he'd been inspired to do the same. Although he
(07:20):
could no longer claim to be the first person to
go over the falls, he would make it his mission
to become the first man to do so. In July
of nineteen eleven, he did just that, except instead of
using a standard wooden barrel as Taylor had done, Bobby
had constructed one out of metal. Around three o'clock on
the afternoon of July, Bobby crawled into the two and
(07:42):
a half meter long tube and then launched himself over
the falls. Upon reaching the bottom, the tube was pulled
out by Fred Bender, an employee of the Ontario Power Company.
He swam out to Bobby, tied a rope around the barrel,
and then pulled it to shore, where he opened it
to find Bobby's shake and battered, but alive. Like Annie Taylor,
(08:04):
Bobby had survived the drop, but not without a few
scars to show for it. He ended up being hospitalized
for a whole six months with two broken kneecaps, a
broken jaw, and a bunch of other minor injuries. The
consequences though We're worth it. After recovery, Bobby used his
experiences to travel the country on a speaking tour. He
(08:25):
talked to audiences about his time with the circus, his
feats at the falls, and he always brought along his
metal barrel for photo ops. Over the next decade, Bobby
found work running a pool hall in Niagara, but he
still dreamt of his earlier fame in his sixties. At
that point, he tried to swim across the falls on
multiple occasions, but it's rough waters proved too hazardous to cross.
(08:49):
He had to be saved more than once, and after
several attempts, he just sort of gave up. With his
pride shattered and the restlessness growing inside him, Bobby went
act on the road. This time he traveled overseas to
New Zealand, where he picked up his lecture tour once more,
and it was there that Bobby met his unfortunate end.
(09:10):
He performed one final drop, which resulted in a broken leg.
Shortly after, the fracture became infected and then it turned gangrenus.
Doctors attempted to amputate, but by the time they had
reached the infection and had spread too far throughout his body.
The elderly Bobby Leech passed away from complications on April
(09:30):
six of nineteen. But oddly enough, it wasn't a new
stunt that had killed him. No, he hadn't gone over
another waterfall in his metal barrel. He hadn't tried to
swim across raging rapids either. Bobby had slipped on an
orange peel that someone had carelessly tossed on the ground.
A tragic, senseless accident. Indeed, and you'll have to forgive
(09:53):
me for saying, but while Bobby might have been someone
to look up to, it's fair to say that he
himself should have been doing a lot more looking down.
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.
(10:16):
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. And until next time, stay curious. Yeah,
Welcome to Aaron Benky's Cabinet of Curiosities, 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 the Cabinet
(00:27):
of Curiosities. A great king does more than just rule.
Being a successful king is about compassion and unity. It's
about bringing together disparate groups of people under one banner
so that the kingdom can flourish. Denmark had flourished under
(00:51):
kings before, but it's very first superstar king was often
considered Gorm the Old. He and his wife Tira ruled
from the village of Yelling for about twenty years between
nine thirty six and night, and they had three sons, Canute,
Tokey and Harold. Now these young men were warriors in
the truest sense. Every summer they would leave Denmark and
(01:12):
travel to a new land which they would pillage and conquer.
One night in Dublin, after the Gormson's had spent the
day battling, Canute was killed by a vengeful Irish archer.
Gorm was heartbroken over his son's death, but it wouldn't
be the last in the family. After Gorm's own passing in,
Harold took his father's place on the throne, and Harold
(01:33):
had grand plans for Denmark too. The theme of his
reign was unification, bringing it all together. First, he started
by erecting a large runic stone and yelling to honor
his late parents. He then ordered the construction of five forts,
all shaped like giant rings, in five separate parts of
the country. These forts were made to bolster his military
(01:54):
presence throughout Denmark, which of course they did, and then
he brought his growing army to Normandy, where he fought
alongside his ally Richard the Fearless. Later, he and his
nephew Harold Great Cloak killed Norway's King Haakon the First.
Great Cloak was then named the vassal King of Norway,
but his reign was cut short in nine seventy when
he was assassinated by the former king's son. Because life
(02:18):
has a way of evening things out, sometimes, doesn't it, So,
Harold Gormanson himself stepped in as the acting king, and
if you're keeping track, he now had control of both
Denmark and Norway. He would eventually add Normandy, northern Poland,
areas of northeastern Germany, and even parts of Sweden, all
of it unified as one kingdom under Harold. While he
(02:41):
waged his wars overseas, the interior of his kingdom was peaceful. However,
he didn't resign himself to uniting countries only through force.
He also broke away from his Norse roots and converted
to Christianity sometime in the nine sixties. The hope was
to spread it across Denmark and Norway. Now. The story
surrounding his conversion differ depending on who you read. A
(03:02):
contemporary of Harold wrote that a cleric name Papa turned
him on to this new religion, and in order to
prove his faith, Harold had to carry a heavy hot
iron without burning him. Another author named Adam of Bremen
wrote his own take of Harold's conversion about one years
after the king's death. According to Adam's account, the king
had lost a major battle against Holy Roman Emperor Otto
(03:24):
the First, who had forced him to convert to Christianity.
Whatever the case, Harold lost much of his army after
his defeat by Otto the First. The power shift caused
Norway to rebel against him and drive him out. Harold
managed to keep control of northeastern Germany for a short while,
but the clock was ticking. You see, his son, Spain
fork Beard, had grown tired of waiting around for his
(03:47):
father to die. He turned on Harold and took up
arms against his father, and the uprising worked too. Harold
Gormson died fighting to defend his throne in Night six,
making his son the new King of Denmark. But Harold's
story doesn't end there. A little known fact about the
former king was that he had a bit of a
(04:07):
sweet tooth and his treats of choice blueberries. A thousand
years later, his reputation for uniting Denmark under one kingdom,
as well as his taste for the little blue fruit,
inspired an engineer by the name of Jim Cardak. Cardak
was working for Intel on a project that would allow
(04:27):
computers and mobile phones to talk to each other. In
a sense, it was a way to unite everything under
one ruler. The project has grown over the past few
decades and now it's found everywhere. In fact, every mobile phone, tablet, computer,
and wireless headset we used today is evidence of Harold's legacy,
a legacy built right into the logo for the technology itself,
(04:51):
which is a combination of the two runs for his
initials H and B. Understandably, Cardak didn't want to call
his new wire list technology Gormson. Instead, he used the
nickname that Harold was better known by thanks to his
love for blueberries. So the next time you click on
your headphones and pair them to your mobile device, spare
(05:12):
a thought for the man that technology is named after,
Harold Bluetooth daredevils make their living by cheating death. Whether
(05:33):
they're walking a tight rope between two skyscrapers or jumping
a motorcycle over the Grand Canyon, these stunt performers never
failed to disappoint well. Usually born in eighteen fifty eight
in Cornwall, England, Bobby aspired to that sort of greatness.
He had always wanted to do something fantastic with his life,
(05:53):
something that would leave his mark on the world. He'd
gotten his start as a performer in the Barnum and
Bailey circus, but were eventually striking out on his own.
Bobby wanted to become the first person to complete the
Triple Challenge at Niagara Falls. This included three events, going
through the rapids and a barrel and ending at the whirlpool,
(06:14):
then taking that barrel over the falls to the bottom,
until finally jumping off the upper steel arch bridge with
a parachute on their back. Bobby accomplished his first task
by parachuting off the bridge on July one, nineteen oh eight.
Two years later, he arrived at Niagara Falls with the barrel,
which he attempted to ride through the rapids. The jagged
(06:34):
rocks in the water, however, severed the rope that connected
him to the anchor that he needed to guide the
barrel through the water. Without that anchor, Bobby was tossed
around the rapids and had to be rescued by a
fellow daredevil, William red Hill, who pulled the unconscious body
from the barrel and then climbed in and wrote it
to the whirlpool himself. But Bobby wasn't discouraged. He managed
(06:58):
to successfully ride the river to the whirlpool rapids three
more times during the summer of nineteen ten, but it
was the final act of his triple challenge that he
looked forward to the most. You See, Bobby had heard
about American School teacher Annie Taylor and her trip over
the Niagara Falls in a barrel in nineteen o one,
and he'd been inspired to do the same. Although he
(07:20):
could no longer claim to be the first person to
go over the falls, he would make it his mission
to become the first man to do so. In July
of nineteen eleven, he did just that, except instead of
using a standard wooden barrel as Taylor had done, Bobby
had constructed one out of metal. Around three o'clock on
the afternoon of July, Bobby crawled into the two and
(07:42):
a half meter long tube and then launched himself over
the falls. Upon reaching the bottom, the tube was pulled
out by Fred Bender, an employee of the Ontario Power Company.
He swam out to Bobby, tied a rope around the barrel,
and then pulled it to shore, where he opened it
to find Bobby's shake and battered, but alive. Like Annie Taylor,
(08:04):
Bobby had survived the drop, but not without a few
scars to show for it. He ended up being hospitalized
for a whole six months with two broken kneecaps, a
broken jaw, and a bunch of other minor injuries. The
consequences though We're worth it. After recovery, Bobby used his
experiences to travel the country on a speaking tour. He
(08:25):
talked to audiences about his time with the circus, his
feats at the falls, and he always brought along his
metal barrel for photo ops. Over the next decade, Bobby
found work running a pool hall in Niagara, but he
still dreamt of his earlier fame in his sixties. At
that point, he tried to swim across the falls on
multiple occasions, but it's rough waters proved too hazardous to cross.
(08:49):
He had to be saved more than once, and after
several attempts, he just sort of gave up. With his
pride shattered and the restlessness growing inside him, Bobby went
act on the road. This time he traveled overseas to
New Zealand, where he picked up his lecture tour once more,
and it was there that Bobby met his unfortunate end.
(09:10):
He performed one final drop, which resulted in a broken leg.
Shortly after, the fracture became infected and then it turned gangrenus.
Doctors attempted to amputate, but by the time they had
reached the infection and had spread too far throughout his body.
The elderly Bobby Leech passed away from complications on April
(09:30):
six of nineteen. But oddly enough, it wasn't a new
stunt that had killed him. No, he hadn't gone over
another waterfall in his metal barrel. He hadn't tried to
swim across raging rapids either. Bobby had slipped on an
orange peel that someone had carelessly tossed on the ground.
A tragic, senseless accident. Indeed, and you'll have to forgive
(09:53):
me for saying, but while Bobby might have been someone
to look up to, it's fair to say that he
himself should have been doing a lot more looking down.
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.
(10:16):
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. And until next time, stay curious. Yeah,
Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities News
Host
Aaron Mahnke
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