All Episodes

September 11, 2025 10 mins

The human spirit can drive people to do courageous things, as these two stories demonstrate.

Order the official Cabinet of Curiosities book by clicking here today, and get ready to enjoy some curious reading!

 

 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
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.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
Ireland suffered under English rule longer than any other colony.
In fact, the English occupied Ireland for over seven hundred years.
It's a testament to Ireland's strength and the vibrancy of
their culture that had endured despite this. The Irish fought
for their independence throughout the centuries, but sometimes the fight
took a curious turn. Such was the case in eighteen

(00:57):
sixty six, when the battle for Ireland's independence spread to
a whole different continent. Like a lot of pioneers, John
O'Neill was very sure of himself and didn't like being
told what to do. He fought on the side of
the Union during the Civil War, but transferred battalions when
he wasn't promoted, and then retired before the war was
even over. He learned how to fight and how to

(01:19):
run an army during his time in the service, but
the cause was never really his. He was an Irish
immigrant who had left home during the famine and was
just trying to find his place in the world. But
it seemed that everywhere he went there was always some
king or president trying to get you to join his army.
John had been happy to lend his services to the

(01:39):
Union for a price, but he would never work for
the English king, who he saw as responsible for the
destruction of his homeland. After John left the army, he
was working in Tennessee when he met some fellow Irish
immigrants who had formed a militia called the Fenian Brotherhood.
Their goal was to further the cause of Irish independence
in America by attacking British controlled Canada to the north.

(02:02):
They hoped to occupy the country and hold it ransom
for Ireland's freedom. It was a far fetched idea, but
they were angry men who knew how to fight, and
they weren't exactly in a position to help while they
were on the other side of the ocean. They felt
that this was the only option that was left to them.
John traveled with the militia to Buffalo, New York, where
they prepared to cross the Niagara River into Canada. They

(02:23):
numbered over one thousand men, but that was hardly enough
to take a whole country. But again, John and his
like were stubborn. This became even more evident when the
man who was supposed to lead them into battle didn't
show up. Rather than give up the fight, the Fenians
selected John as their new leader. He had battle experience,
after all, and a strong enough presence to inspire the men.

(02:44):
Soon they were on their way across the river. The
Canadians never knew what hit them, and the militia easily
captured the Canadian town called forts Erie. The Fenians blockaded
the town from the rest of the world and sent
out a letter to the civilians claiming that they meant
them no harm. They only wished to drive the British
from the area. By this point, the British were mustering

(03:05):
thousands of troops across Canada to defend their country, but
the Fenians weren't detered. They left fort Erie behind and
continued their conquest west to a village called Ridgeway. As
they arrived, they heard the bugles of the approaching Canadian
army and formed a defensive line. John sent out riflemen
to attack the marching Canadians and draw them toward the

(03:26):
Fenian army. Soon he was watching from the rear as
hundreds of Canadian soldiers weaved their way toward his men
through various trees and the small buildings of a farm
caught between the two armies. And here's the thing. John's
men were disciplined from their time in the Civil War.
They kept formation and maintained regular gunfire against the enemy,
picking off a few here and there, keeping them from

(03:48):
advancing quickly. Wanting more intelligence, John ordered scouts on horseback
to travel out and report back as to the size
of the army. But the strategy had unintended consequences as well.
When the inexperienced Canadian soldiers saw the few approaching horse scouts,
they mistook them for a cavalry charge. They tried to
change their formation, clumping into a tight square, but this

(04:11):
only made them more vulnerable to gunfire. By the time
their comrades realized the mistake and tried to get them
back into a line, morale was dropping and some of
the men started to flee. Soon the entire Canadian army
was running up the road back the way they had come.
The Fenians rejoiced, picking off a few more Canadians as
they fled down the road, but John had seen the

(04:32):
size of the army and he knew that he couldn't
keep this up. They retreated back to Fort Erie, and
after a skirmish near the river, successfully retreated back into
the US. John would lead several more raids on Canada
over the next few months before the Americans finally made
him stop in order to preserve peace with England. It
was a major victory for the Irish, who had shown

(04:53):
the world what they were capable of, but curiously, in
the long run, it marked a greater turning point for
the Canadian who took the attacks as a wake up
call that their defenses needed updating. It was one of
the many factors that actually led to the Canadian Confederation
the following year, which saw several Canadian provinces that were
still technically separate British colonies unite into the large, strong

(05:16):
country that we know today. Life can change in the
blink of an eye. It's a cliche because it's true,
As a Frenchman named Jean Dominique Bobie learned all too

(05:39):
well in the mid nineteen nineties, Jean was at the
top of his game. He was the editor in chief
of a major fashion magazine and a charismatic figure in
Parisian high society. He attended glamorous parties, drove fast cars,
and moved through the world with charm, wit and style.
He was forty three years old and seemingly invincible. And

(06:00):
then on December eighth of nineteen ninety five, everything changed.
That day, Jean was driving his son to the theater
when something inside him snapped. His vision blurred, and he
broke out in a cold sweat. The world seemed to
slow to a crawl, like time itself was freezing. John
didn't know it yet, but he was experiencing a massive

(06:20):
stroke while behind the wheel with his child in the
passenger seat. Somehow, though, he managed to stay calm and
pull the car over. He was rushed to the hospital,
but by the time he arrived things had gone from
bad to worse. He couldn't speak or move, and then
he slipped into a coma. When he woke up twenty
days later, the nightmare had only just begun. Jean was alive,

(06:43):
but completely paralyzed. He couldn't move, eat, or even swallow.
On his own. Most terrifying of all, he couldn't speak,
which meant that he had no way to show that
he was still mentally present. His doctors thought that he
was in a vegetative state, until a friend noticed that
jean His left eyelid was twitching. They called out to
Jean and told him to blink if he understood, and

(07:05):
Jean blinked in response. That showed everyone that he was
actually still there, completely conscious fully aware, but trapped in
his own body. He was diagnosed with locked in syndrome,
a rare neurological disorder where the entire body is paralyzed
except for some small eye movement. But Jean wasn't done
fighting Using only his left eye, he developed a communication

(07:28):
system with his speech therapist. As they recited each letter
of the alphabet, Jean would blink at the right moment
to select the letter that he wanted, and letter by letter,
word by word, he painstakingly spelled out messages to nurses, doctors,
and family. It was slow and it was exhausting, but
it worked. Using this new system, Jean was able to

(07:48):
describe what it felt like to be trapped inside his
own body, and more than that, it gave him a
piece of his life back. He could talk with friends,
connect with his caregivers, and share moments with his family.
Instead of just watching life happen around him, he was
part of it again. His daughter would perch on the
armrest of his wheelchair, pretending that they were racing in

(08:09):
one of the fast cars that he used to love.
In those moments, Jean found joy, even if only for
a few seconds at a time. And then, just a
little over a year later, Jean came down with pneumonia.
His weakened body struggled to fight the infection, and he
died on March ninth of nineteen ninety seven at the
age of forty four. But that wasn't the end of

(08:30):
his story. Just two days later, a book was published
telling the story of Jean's struggle. It was called The
Diving Bell and the Butterfly, and thanks to how much
Jean had been able to communicate, it offered a rare
glimpse into the experience of being trapped inside your own body.
The book became an international bestseller, and a decade later

(08:50):
it was adapted into a critically acclaimed film that earned
four Oscar nominations. Doctors, therapists and researchers still cited as
a landmark work in understanding patients with severe paralysis. But
here's the most impressive part. The Diving Bell and the
Butterfly is a memoir, meaning that Jean Dominique Boubie wrote
it himself, using nothing but his left eyelid. He dictated

(09:14):
the entire one hundred and thirty page manuscript by blinking
one letter at a time to an interpreter. The process
took two hundred thousand blinks over the course of ten months.
Jean and his interpreter worked together for a few hours
each day, and he spent the rest of his time
composing passages in his head, editing and memorizing every word

(09:34):
so that he could get it all out in the morning.
It was a feat of mental endurance, patience and willpower
and let him tell his story. So yes, it's true
that life can fall apart in the blink of an eye,
but as Jean proved, life can also be rebuilt one
blink at a time. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided

(09:58):
tour of the Cabinet of Curiosity. Please 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 Manke 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

(10:19):
about it over at the Worldolore dot com. And until
next time, stay curious.

Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities News

Advertise With Us

Follow Us On

Host

Aaron Mahnke

Aaron Mahnke

Show Links

StoreAboutRSS

Popular Podcasts

Cardiac Cowboys

Cardiac Cowboys

The heart was always off-limits to surgeons. Cutting into it spelled instant death for the patient. That is, until a ragtag group of doctors scattered across the Midwest and Texas decided to throw out the rule book. Working in makeshift laboratories and home garages, using medical devices made from scavenged machine parts and beer tubes, these men and women invented the field of open heart surgery. Odds are, someone you know is alive because of them. So why has history left them behind? Presented by Chris Pine, CARDIAC COWBOYS tells the gripping true story behind the birth of heart surgery, and the young, Greatest Generation doctors who made it happen. For years, they competed and feuded, racing to be the first, the best, and the most prolific. Some appeared on the cover of Time Magazine, operated on kings and advised presidents. Others ended up disgraced, penniless, and convicted of felonies. Together, they ignited a revolution in medicine, and changed the world.

The Joe Rogan Experience

The Joe Rogan Experience

The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.