June 30, 2026 • 8 mins
It's amazing how one curious individual can lead a bunch of people into strange times.
Order the official Cabinet of Curiosities book by clicking here today, and get ready to enjoy some curious reading!
Join our Patreon for ad-free episodes!: https://www.patreon.com/grimandmild
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
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 right there on display, just waiting
for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities.
(00:36):
Hong Hi Kwan had just failed his fourth civil service exam.
He was mortified, but in truth, this was nothing to
be ashamed of. Most people didn't pass. These exams were
a big part of what made China such a dominant nation.
Its leaders were largely in power based on merit, except
for the emperor, of course. Chiquan hated to think of
(00:57):
the Emperor on his throne in Nijing, being born into
power and not having to pass any exam at all.
Later that night, he went to sleep, and he had
a dream. He floated up from his home and into
the clouds, where a strange man who said he was
Shikwan's father told him that demons were destroying China. He
then gave him a sword and introduced him to another
(01:19):
man who he claimed was Schui Kwan's brother. When Chuquan
woke up, the next morning, he didn't know what to
think of this dream. Years later, though, around eighteen thirty nine,
he came across a pamphlet from a Christian missionary. When
he read about the Christian God and his son Jesus,
he came to believe that these were the father and
brother from his dream, and that meant that shu Quan
(01:41):
was the second son of God. And so he decided
that the demons that he was meant to destroy or
the Emperor and the emperor's family. He told his own
family about his revelation and began to cultivate a following
in southern China. Through most of Chinese history, the nation
had been an unstable mix of different ethnic minorities, and
this era was no different. The people of this region
(02:03):
shared no blood relation with the ruling Qing dynasty, and
they were suffering in poverty. Schukwan's message that he was
the son of God meant to liberate them from their
demon rulers quickly caught on The movement became known as
the Heavenly Kingdom. They were somewhat puritanical, demanding abstinence from drugs, alcohol,
and sex outside of marriage. They were also somewhat pre socialist,
(02:27):
as they believed in equality between men and women and
the sharing of property. Before long, they had gathered weapons
and launched attacks on nearby Qing strongholds. They ruthlessly slaughtered
any soldiers who would enjoin their cause. The Emperor, who
had only recently ended a war with the British, was
spread too thin to respond, but this was a mistake,
(02:47):
because soon the Heavenly Kingdom had stolen a whole fleet
of ships. In eighteen fifty two, they were able to
travel up the Yangtsee River to the imperial stronghold of Nanjing.
This was the traditional home of the emperors, and soon
the cultists were scaling the walls, slaughtering the soldiers inside.
Millions died in the wake of their violence. They now
(03:08):
ruled a significant portion of southern China. Chu Quan was
seen as the true son of God, who had delivered
the poor from the Ching's boot. The Emperor, who fled
to Beijing, was distracted by another war with England and
France and wanted to be able to import opium into China.
Chu Quan saw this as just another example of how
the emperor was unable to protect his people. But once
(03:31):
the British and French were victorious. They sent the emperor
after the Heavenly Kingdom. They couldn't tolerate an entire faction
that banned opium. There were rumors that the stress of
the situation led Chuquan to start smoking opium himself, going
against his own sacred beliefs. Ultimately, he died in eighteen
sixty four of mysterious causes. Just as the imperial forces
(03:54):
were besieging Neijing. They took the city and slaughtered any
and all who were loyal to the Heavenly Kingdom. It
said that some of Chuquan's followers saw the end of
the kingdom coming and immolated themselves in public rather than
live under the rule of the supposedly demonic Empire. Millions
were killed as the Imperial army fought its way south
(04:14):
and reclaimed all of its lost territory. Historians estimate that
anywhere between twenty to fifty million people died. For comparison,
the entire deathtoll military and civilian of World War One
was between nine and fifteen million, and all of this
brutality stemmed from a being both a religious war and
a colonial conflict. The Heavenly Kingdom saw their enemies as
(04:37):
demons unworthy of life, and the colonizing British and French
saw them as less than human. Curiously, the Heavenly Kingdom
was inspired by Christian beliefs that were introduced to China
by the British. If they hadn't forced their beliefs on
the country after the First Chinese British War, it's possible
the Taiping Rebellion may never have happened at all. On
(05:12):
a morning in January of nineteen ninety nine, a group
of reporters gathered in a brightly lit office. They were
there to witness an unusual announcement from a financial advisor
named Raven Thoroughgood the Third. It was the height of
the dot com boom, the period when the Internet was
just taking off and tech companies were setting the stock
market on fire. Raven wanted to help investors capitalize on
(05:35):
the trend by launching his own index fund with ten
hand pick stocks that were sure to succeed. What made
Raven so unusual was that he had no prior experience
in finance. He was an actor who had had a
successful career in Hollywood, and he openly admitted that he
knew nothing about internet companies or the stock market in general.
(05:56):
He planned to choose his stocks simply by throwing darts
at a board. The reporters watched in astonishment as Raven
picked up a dart and threw it at the board
on the opposite wall, which was covered in the names
of various internet companies. His assistant removed the dart and
announced the name of a company he had selected, CMGI,
(06:16):
and then he repeated the process, randomly, choosing nine more
relatively unknown companies. The press, needless to say, was skeptical.
In fact, everyone thought this was a total farce. But
within a week, one of Ravens stock picks, CMGI, was
up ninety six percent. Over the next year, the stocks
Raven had selected kept rising and rising and rising. By
(06:39):
the end of the year, his portfolio had outperformed every
other index fund on Wall Street. Raven had bested thousands
of experienced brokers to deliver a shocking two hundred and
thirteen percent return. Within one year of beginning his career,
He was ranked as the twenty second most successful money
manager in the United States. He appeared in the Guinness
(07:00):
of World Records. Everyone on Wall Street was clamoring to
figure out how he did it. Of course, Raven's PR
team attributed his success to sheer natural talent, but market
analysts saw shadows of something a bit more ominous. To them,
Raven's overnight success was a sign that internet stocks were unstable, unpredictable,
(07:20):
and possibly headed for a disaster. If someone like Raven
could gain the system so well, that meant that there
was no logic whatsoever in which stock succeeded and failed,
and no bet was safe because Raven wasn't just inexperienced,
he was also a chimpanzee. Unfortunately, the market analysts were right.
(07:41):
Raven was just riding the wave of the dot com bubble,
and at the turn of the New millennium that bubble burst.
Raven's portfolio fell a stunning thirty four percent in the
year two thousand. Within a few years, every single stock
he had picked was worth absolutely nothing. But Raven's dartboard
experiment lived on as proof that the stock market isn't
(08:01):
all about strategy or careful analysis. Sometimes it's all just
a load of monkey business. I hope you enjoyed today's
guided tour through the Cabinet of curiosities. This show was
created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership with iHeart Podcasts,
researched and written by the Grim and Mild team, and
(08:23):
produced by Jesse Funk. Learn more about the show and
the people who make it over at Grimandmild dot com
slash Curiosities. You'll also find a link to the official
cabinet of Curiosity's hardcover book, available in bookstores and online,
as well as ebook and audiobook. And if you're looking
for an ad free option, consider joining our Patreon. It's
(08:44):
all the same stories, but without the interruption for a
small monthly fee. Learn more and sign up over at
patreon dot com slash Grimandmild, and until 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 right there on display, just waiting
for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities.
(00:36):
Hong Hi Kwan had just failed his fourth civil service exam.
He was mortified, but in truth, this was nothing to
be ashamed of. Most people didn't pass. These exams were
a big part of what made China such a dominant nation.
Its leaders were largely in power based on merit, except
for the emperor, of course. Chiquan hated to think of
(00:57):
the Emperor on his throne in Nijing, being born into
power and not having to pass any exam at all.
Later that night, he went to sleep, and he had
a dream. He floated up from his home and into
the clouds, where a strange man who said he was
Shikwan's father told him that demons were destroying China. He
then gave him a sword and introduced him to another
(01:19):
man who he claimed was Schui Kwan's brother. When Chuquan
woke up, the next morning, he didn't know what to
think of this dream. Years later, though, around eighteen thirty nine,
he came across a pamphlet from a Christian missionary. When
he read about the Christian God and his son Jesus,
he came to believe that these were the father and
brother from his dream, and that meant that shu Quan
(01:41):
was the second son of God. And so he decided
that the demons that he was meant to destroy or
the Emperor and the emperor's family. He told his own
family about his revelation and began to cultivate a following
in southern China. Through most of Chinese history, the nation
had been an unstable mix of different ethnic minorities, and
this era was no different. The people of this region
(02:03):
shared no blood relation with the ruling Qing dynasty, and
they were suffering in poverty. Schukwan's message that he was
the son of God meant to liberate them from their
demon rulers quickly caught on The movement became known as
the Heavenly Kingdom. They were somewhat puritanical, demanding abstinence from drugs, alcohol,
and sex outside of marriage. They were also somewhat pre socialist,
(02:27):
as they believed in equality between men and women and
the sharing of property. Before long, they had gathered weapons
and launched attacks on nearby Qing strongholds. They ruthlessly slaughtered
any soldiers who would enjoin their cause. The Emperor, who
had only recently ended a war with the British, was
spread too thin to respond, but this was a mistake,
(02:47):
because soon the Heavenly Kingdom had stolen a whole fleet
of ships. In eighteen fifty two, they were able to
travel up the Yangtsee River to the imperial stronghold of Nanjing.
This was the traditional home of the emperors, and soon
the cultists were scaling the walls, slaughtering the soldiers inside.
Millions died in the wake of their violence. They now
(03:08):
ruled a significant portion of southern China. Chu Quan was
seen as the true son of God, who had delivered
the poor from the Ching's boot. The Emperor, who fled
to Beijing, was distracted by another war with England and
France and wanted to be able to import opium into China.
Chu Quan saw this as just another example of how
the emperor was unable to protect his people. But once
(03:31):
the British and French were victorious. They sent the emperor
after the Heavenly Kingdom. They couldn't tolerate an entire faction
that banned opium. There were rumors that the stress of
the situation led Chuquan to start smoking opium himself, going
against his own sacred beliefs. Ultimately, he died in eighteen
sixty four of mysterious causes. Just as the imperial forces
(03:54):
were besieging Neijing. They took the city and slaughtered any
and all who were loyal to the Heavenly Kingdom. It
said that some of Chuquan's followers saw the end of
the kingdom coming and immolated themselves in public rather than
live under the rule of the supposedly demonic Empire. Millions
were killed as the Imperial army fought its way south
(04:14):
and reclaimed all of its lost territory. Historians estimate that
anywhere between twenty to fifty million people died. For comparison,
the entire deathtoll military and civilian of World War One
was between nine and fifteen million, and all of this
brutality stemmed from a being both a religious war and
a colonial conflict. The Heavenly Kingdom saw their enemies as
(04:37):
demons unworthy of life, and the colonizing British and French
saw them as less than human. Curiously, the Heavenly Kingdom
was inspired by Christian beliefs that were introduced to China
by the British. If they hadn't forced their beliefs on
the country after the First Chinese British War, it's possible
the Taiping Rebellion may never have happened at all. On
(05:12):
a morning in January of nineteen ninety nine, a group
of reporters gathered in a brightly lit office. They were
there to witness an unusual announcement from a financial advisor
named Raven Thoroughgood the Third. It was the height of
the dot com boom, the period when the Internet was
just taking off and tech companies were setting the stock
market on fire. Raven wanted to help investors capitalize on
(05:35):
the trend by launching his own index fund with ten
hand pick stocks that were sure to succeed. What made
Raven so unusual was that he had no prior experience
in finance. He was an actor who had had a
successful career in Hollywood, and he openly admitted that he
knew nothing about internet companies or the stock market in general.
(05:56):
He planned to choose his stocks simply by throwing darts
at a board. The reporters watched in astonishment as Raven
picked up a dart and threw it at the board
on the opposite wall, which was covered in the names
of various internet companies. His assistant removed the dart and
announced the name of a company he had selected, CMGI,
(06:16):
and then he repeated the process, randomly, choosing nine more
relatively unknown companies. The press, needless to say, was skeptical.
In fact, everyone thought this was a total farce. But
within a week, one of Ravens stock picks, CMGI, was
up ninety six percent. Over the next year, the stocks
Raven had selected kept rising and rising and rising. By
(06:39):
the end of the year, his portfolio had outperformed every
other index fund on Wall Street. Raven had bested thousands
of experienced brokers to deliver a shocking two hundred and
thirteen percent return. Within one year of beginning his career,
He was ranked as the twenty second most successful money
manager in the United States. He appeared in the Guinness
(07:00):
of World Records. Everyone on Wall Street was clamoring to
figure out how he did it. Of course, Raven's PR
team attributed his success to sheer natural talent, but market
analysts saw shadows of something a bit more ominous. To them,
Raven's overnight success was a sign that internet stocks were unstable, unpredictable,
(07:20):
and possibly headed for a disaster. If someone like Raven
could gain the system so well, that meant that there
was no logic whatsoever in which stock succeeded and failed,
and no bet was safe because Raven wasn't just inexperienced,
he was also a chimpanzee. Unfortunately, the market analysts were right.
(07:41):
Raven was just riding the wave of the dot com bubble,
and at the turn of the New millennium that bubble burst.
Raven's portfolio fell a stunning thirty four percent in the
year two thousand. Within a few years, every single stock
he had picked was worth absolutely nothing. But Raven's dartboard
experiment lived on as proof that the stock market isn't
(08:01):
all about strategy or careful analysis. Sometimes it's all just
a load of monkey business. I hope you enjoyed today's
guided tour through the Cabinet of curiosities. This show was
created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership with iHeart Podcasts,
researched and written by the Grim and Mild team, and
(08:23):
produced by Jesse Funk. Learn more about the show and
the people who make it over at Grimandmild dot com
slash Curiosities. You'll also find a link to the official
cabinet of Curiosity's hardcover book, available in bookstores and online,
as well as ebook and audiobook. And if you're looking
for an ad free option, consider joining our Patreon. It's
(08:44):
all the same stories, but without the interruption for a
small monthly fee. Learn more and sign up over at
patreon dot com slash Grimandmild, and until next time, stay curious.
Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities News
Host
Aaron Mahnke
Popular Podcasts
Hey Jonas!
Hey Jonas! The official Jonas Brothers podcast. Hosted by Kevin, Joe, and Nick Jonas. It’s the Jonas Brothers you know... musicians, actors, and well, yes, brothers. Now, they’re sharing another side of themselves in the playful, intimate, and irreverent way only they can. Spend time with the Jonas Brothers here and stay a little bit longer for deep conversations like never before.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com