July 16, 2026 • 10 mins
Some curious tales are purpose-built to tell a very specific story—for better or for worse.
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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):
One of the most famous locations in all of video
games is Rapture, an underwater city built by a libertarian
named Andrew Ryan from the video game BioShock. The idea
that anyone would go to such lengths just to be
free of government regulation seems like the stuff of fiction,
but there is one similar case from actual history that
shows us some people will do anything to avoid pain taxes.
(01:01):
Georgio Rosa was an engineer living in northern Italy in
the nineteen fifties. By nineteen fifty seven, he had decided
to build his own island in the Adriatic Sea east
of Bologna. The law said that Italy's sovereignty ended about
seven miles off the coast, and he wanted to be
free of the uptight rules and regulations of post war society.
(01:21):
Since he was an engineer, he actually had the ability
to accomplish his goal. Working with his team of friends,
he invented a system that would allow for easy construction
of the island. They took long, strong pipes and secured
them to the ocean floor. After that, they filled them
with cement, providing a strong foundation for the island. But
of course, the Italian government immediately began to get in
(01:43):
their way, forcing them to stop until they placed signs
warning boats of their construction. They continued to build after that,
although they were briefly stopped once again when the harbormaster
tried to claim that a utility company actually owned the
land that they were working on. But Georgio was able
to pre that this wasn't the case. He persevered through
all this, finishing the concrete foundation before installing a dock
(02:07):
and stairs leading up to a metal platform. The structure
was four hundred square meters. This is maybe about the
size of a basketball court, but Georgia was able to
fit a lot within this space. The island contained a dock,
a bar and restaurant, living quarters, and a post office.
It was completed in nineteen sixty seven after nearly ten
(02:27):
years of planning and construction. Georgia would invite partiers from
the mainland to hang out with them on the island,
which he named Rose Island as a play on his
last name and because he saw it as a rose
on the sea. But he got more ambitious the following year,
declaring that Rose Island was its own nation, exempt from
Italian law. He started to issue his own stamps and
(02:50):
even made plans to print his own currency. Naturally, tourists
began to flock to Rose Island, and he started to
rake in a profit, profits that he believed he didn't
owe any tax on. Needless to say, the Italian government
didn't like this one bit. Now it's hard to say
exactly what their true concern was. They were missing out
on some tax revenue, yes, and maybe some political figures
(03:13):
in the country were simply jealous that they hadn't thought
of this before. But they claimed that the real issue
was that the island was in the Adriatic between Italy,
a member of NATO, and Croatia, which was a communist country,
and so Italy saw Rose Island as a security risk,
even claiming that they thought that there might be a
Russian submarine hidden below the island, so they accused Georgio
(03:36):
of using the island to smuggle drugs or conduct other
illegal activity. Again, it's hard to know what the real
issue was, but clearly they were incensed by the challenge
to their authority. In June of nineteen sixty eight, just
a few months after Georgio declared independence, the Italian Navy
blockaded Rose Island. They demanded that all of its inhabitants leave.
(03:58):
Georgio and his friends and family had no choice but
to comply. The Navy then sent divers beneath the waves,
planting explosives on the foundation that Georgio had worked so
hard to build. However, when they detonated these, they actually
failed to destroy the island. This was a testament to
how well it was constructed. Next, they bombed the platform
(04:20):
from a distance, but incredibly this still didn't bring the
island down. However, it was no longer habitable and had
at the very least been hollowed out. Shortly after, a
large storm passed through the area, and that finally sunk
the island into the ocean floor. Georgio tried to appeal
his case to the European Union, but since he had
never been recognized by any other nation, he had no
(04:43):
real legal standing. It has always more or less been
the case throughout human history that you have to kind
of force other nations to accept your sovereignty. And if
you're just one guy with no military or significant resources,
that's virtually impossible. And so Rose Island faded from memory.
But while Europe lost track of the curious tale of
(05:03):
a brief island nation in the Adriatic Sea, history never forgets.
Hollywood is filled with tragic legends and myths. Take for example,
(05:26):
the case of one of Hollywood's earliest stars, an actor
named Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle, who suffered a catastrophic fall from
grace when a young actress, Virginia Rape died at a
party that he hosted. There's also the story of Peg
and Whistle, a British born stage actress who moved an
ocean and a continent away to pursue a life on film,
(05:47):
only to despair and jump from the Hollywood sign. One
of the more modern of these stories concerns Toby Hooper's
nineteen eighty two paranormal classic Poltergeist and the franchise that
it sprouted. Some people, it seems, think that this classic
tale of a family hunted by the supernatural may have
been victim to a supernatural curse of its own. Although
(06:09):
many Hollywood legends seem to have murky origins, there's almost
a universal agreement on this curse's origin story. According to
numerous accounts, the production team of the original nineteen eighty
two film, in order to save money, decided to forego
making what was at the time very expensive plastic bones.
So to get around the high cost of fake skeletons,
(06:31):
they simply bought real ones, the kinds that are used
in medical schools, and you can see them in the
climax of the film, floating in the pool. But while
the reasoning was purely economic, it created a fertile soil
for superstition. The idea that the filmmakers had desecrated the
dead to save money became the supernatural seed of the curse,
(06:52):
although it wasn't until after a series of tragic deaths
of some connected to the franchise that the idea of
that curse took cold. You see, the Poltergeist trilogy saw
the early passing of four cast members, statistically an anomaly
and one that fueled the fire of superstition. The first
of these tragedies would strike shortly after the film was
released in theaters. Actor Dominique Dunn, who played the eldest
(07:16):
daughter of the beleaguered Freeling family, was murdered by her
ex boyfriend. The sudden, violent death cut short a rising
talent and was plastered across the headlines for weeks following
the release of the second film. Actor Julian Beck, who
portrayed the terrifying villain Reverend Henry Kane, passed from stomach
cancer in nineteen eighty five, and Will Sampson, the actor
(07:38):
who played the shaman Taylor, passed from kidney failure and
post operative complications two years after that. But perhaps the
most heartbreaking and widely known event occurred in nineteen eighty eight,
when Heather O'Rourke, the child actress who played the iconic
Carol Anne Freeling, died at the age of twelve, the
result of septic shock caused by an undiagnosed intestine stenosis.
(08:01):
O'Rourke had been filming Poltergeist three at the time, and
her death occurred mere weeks before the film's release. Despite
the emotional power of these tragedies, skeptics and historians have
urged caution in attributing them to these supernatural The curse
is often viewed through the lens of confirmation bias. In
any large ensemble cast spanning three films over six years,
(08:23):
the probability of illness and accident increases, and the trouble
with something like a curse is that it romanticizes tragedy
and ignores the mundane realities of mortality and misfortune. It
flattens lives down to their most macabre details. The same
was true for Fatty Arbuckle, once one of comedy's great
lights and mentor to the legendary Buster Keaton. He was
(08:46):
largely known before the death of Virginia Rape as a kind,
friendly individual and was found innocent by a court of law,
but the damage was done. He was purged from the industry,
spending the rest of his life as a pariah, then
a cautionary tale. Ultimately, though, these tragedies serve as fascinating
case studies in how folklore evolves in the modern age.
(09:08):
It transforms a series of unfortunate events into a cohesive mythos,
a shadow cast by the movie industry. The curse persists
because it adds a layer of meta reality to the fiction.
The fear of the movie bleeding into life is perhaps
the ultimate horror. While the deaths of Dunn, Beck, Sampson,
and O'Rourke remain profound tragedies that deserve to be remembered
(09:32):
with dignity rather than sensationalism, the Curse remains a powerful
piece of cinematic mythology. It's a story born from a
mix of cheap production decisions, the randomness of fate, and
the enduring desire to believe that the stories we tell
have the power to shape reality. I hope you enjoyed
(09:54):
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
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
(10:14):
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
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 are right there on display, just
waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities.
(00:36):
One of the most famous locations in all of video
games is Rapture, an underwater city built by a libertarian
named Andrew Ryan from the video game BioShock. The idea
that anyone would go to such lengths just to be
free of government regulation seems like the stuff of fiction,
but there is one similar case from actual history that
shows us some people will do anything to avoid pain taxes.
(01:01):
Georgio Rosa was an engineer living in northern Italy in
the nineteen fifties. By nineteen fifty seven, he had decided
to build his own island in the Adriatic Sea east
of Bologna. The law said that Italy's sovereignty ended about
seven miles off the coast, and he wanted to be
free of the uptight rules and regulations of post war society.
(01:21):
Since he was an engineer, he actually had the ability
to accomplish his goal. Working with his team of friends,
he invented a system that would allow for easy construction
of the island. They took long, strong pipes and secured
them to the ocean floor. After that, they filled them
with cement, providing a strong foundation for the island. But
of course, the Italian government immediately began to get in
(01:43):
their way, forcing them to stop until they placed signs
warning boats of their construction. They continued to build after that,
although they were briefly stopped once again when the harbormaster
tried to claim that a utility company actually owned the
land that they were working on. But Georgio was able
to pre that this wasn't the case. He persevered through
all this, finishing the concrete foundation before installing a dock
(02:07):
and stairs leading up to a metal platform. The structure
was four hundred square meters. This is maybe about the
size of a basketball court, but Georgia was able to
fit a lot within this space. The island contained a dock,
a bar and restaurant, living quarters, and a post office.
It was completed in nineteen sixty seven after nearly ten
(02:27):
years of planning and construction. Georgia would invite partiers from
the mainland to hang out with them on the island,
which he named Rose Island as a play on his
last name and because he saw it as a rose
on the sea. But he got more ambitious the following year,
declaring that Rose Island was its own nation, exempt from
Italian law. He started to issue his own stamps and
(02:50):
even made plans to print his own currency. Naturally, tourists
began to flock to Rose Island, and he started to
rake in a profit, profits that he believed he didn't
owe any tax on. Needless to say, the Italian government
didn't like this one bit. Now it's hard to say
exactly what their true concern was. They were missing out
on some tax revenue, yes, and maybe some political figures
(03:13):
in the country were simply jealous that they hadn't thought
of this before. But they claimed that the real issue
was that the island was in the Adriatic between Italy,
a member of NATO, and Croatia, which was a communist country,
and so Italy saw Rose Island as a security risk,
even claiming that they thought that there might be a
Russian submarine hidden below the island, so they accused Georgio
(03:36):
of using the island to smuggle drugs or conduct other
illegal activity. Again, it's hard to know what the real
issue was, but clearly they were incensed by the challenge
to their authority. In June of nineteen sixty eight, just
a few months after Georgio declared independence, the Italian Navy
blockaded Rose Island. They demanded that all of its inhabitants leave.
(03:58):
Georgio and his friends and family had no choice but
to comply. The Navy then sent divers beneath the waves,
planting explosives on the foundation that Georgio had worked so
hard to build. However, when they detonated these, they actually
failed to destroy the island. This was a testament to
how well it was constructed. Next, they bombed the platform
(04:20):
from a distance, but incredibly this still didn't bring the
island down. However, it was no longer habitable and had
at the very least been hollowed out. Shortly after, a
large storm passed through the area, and that finally sunk
the island into the ocean floor. Georgio tried to appeal
his case to the European Union, but since he had
never been recognized by any other nation, he had no
(04:43):
real legal standing. It has always more or less been
the case throughout human history that you have to kind
of force other nations to accept your sovereignty. And if
you're just one guy with no military or significant resources,
that's virtually impossible. And so Rose Island faded from memory.
But while Europe lost track of the curious tale of
(05:03):
a brief island nation in the Adriatic Sea, history never forgets.
Hollywood is filled with tragic legends and myths. Take for example,
(05:26):
the case of one of Hollywood's earliest stars, an actor
named Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle, who suffered a catastrophic fall from
grace when a young actress, Virginia Rape died at a
party that he hosted. There's also the story of Peg
and Whistle, a British born stage actress who moved an
ocean and a continent away to pursue a life on film,
(05:47):
only to despair and jump from the Hollywood sign. One
of the more modern of these stories concerns Toby Hooper's
nineteen eighty two paranormal classic Poltergeist and the franchise that
it sprouted. Some people, it seems, think that this classic
tale of a family hunted by the supernatural may have
been victim to a supernatural curse of its own. Although
(06:09):
many Hollywood legends seem to have murky origins, there's almost
a universal agreement on this curse's origin story. According to
numerous accounts, the production team of the original nineteen eighty
two film, in order to save money, decided to forego
making what was at the time very expensive plastic bones.
So to get around the high cost of fake skeletons,
(06:31):
they simply bought real ones, the kinds that are used
in medical schools, and you can see them in the
climax of the film, floating in the pool. But while
the reasoning was purely economic, it created a fertile soil
for superstition. The idea that the filmmakers had desecrated the
dead to save money became the supernatural seed of the curse,
(06:52):
although it wasn't until after a series of tragic deaths
of some connected to the franchise that the idea of
that curse took cold. You see, the Poltergeist trilogy saw
the early passing of four cast members, statistically an anomaly
and one that fueled the fire of superstition. The first
of these tragedies would strike shortly after the film was
released in theaters. Actor Dominique Dunn, who played the eldest
(07:16):
daughter of the beleaguered Freeling family, was murdered by her
ex boyfriend. The sudden, violent death cut short a rising
talent and was plastered across the headlines for weeks following
the release of the second film. Actor Julian Beck, who
portrayed the terrifying villain Reverend Henry Kane, passed from stomach
cancer in nineteen eighty five, and Will Sampson, the actor
(07:38):
who played the shaman Taylor, passed from kidney failure and
post operative complications two years after that. But perhaps the
most heartbreaking and widely known event occurred in nineteen eighty eight,
when Heather O'Rourke, the child actress who played the iconic
Carol Anne Freeling, died at the age of twelve, the
result of septic shock caused by an undiagnosed intestine stenosis.
(08:01):
O'Rourke had been filming Poltergeist three at the time, and
her death occurred mere weeks before the film's release. Despite
the emotional power of these tragedies, skeptics and historians have
urged caution in attributing them to these supernatural The curse
is often viewed through the lens of confirmation bias. In
any large ensemble cast spanning three films over six years,
(08:23):
the probability of illness and accident increases, and the trouble
with something like a curse is that it romanticizes tragedy
and ignores the mundane realities of mortality and misfortune. It
flattens lives down to their most macabre details. The same
was true for Fatty Arbuckle, once one of comedy's great
lights and mentor to the legendary Buster Keaton. He was
(08:46):
largely known before the death of Virginia Rape as a kind,
friendly individual and was found innocent by a court of law,
but the damage was done. He was purged from the industry,
spending the rest of his life as a pariah, then
a cautionary tale. Ultimately, though, these tragedies serve as fascinating
case studies in how folklore evolves in the modern age.
(09:08):
It transforms a series of unfortunate events into a cohesive mythos,
a shadow cast by the movie industry. The curse persists
because it adds a layer of meta reality to the fiction.
The fear of the movie bleeding into life is perhaps
the ultimate horror. While the deaths of Dunn, Beck, Sampson,
and O'Rourke remain profound tragedies that deserve to be remembered
(09:32):
with dignity rather than sensationalism, the Curse remains a powerful
piece of cinematic mythology. It's a story born from a
mix of cheap production decisions, the randomness of fate, and
the enduring desire to believe that the stories we tell
have the power to shape reality. I hope you enjoyed
(09:54):
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
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
(10:14):
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
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
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