April 28, 2026 • 10 mins
Life is often thought of as a collection of moments. Every now and then, though, small specific moments take on huge meaning, and end up echoing through time.
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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):
In late nineteenth century, Paris rescue workers pulled a young
woman's body out of the River Sene. By the time
she was lifted out of the water, she was already
dead from an apparent drowning, but strangely, there was no
panic or fear in her eyes. Instead, a rescue worker
brushed the damp hair away from her face and found
a beautiful, peaceful half smile on her lips. The work
(01:00):
didn't find anything in the woman's pockets that identified her
by name, so, as was customary at the time, they
took her body to the Paris mortuary. There she was
put on display in the window that hopes that someone
passing by would recognize and put a name to her
serene face. The woman's family never did come by and
identify her, but her enigmatic expression turned the heads of
(01:22):
everyone who walked past morbid, Crowds gathered in the street
to get a look at her eerily calm smile, and
the Unknown Woman of the Sin, as she became known,
was a local celebrity. The pathologist who worked at the
mortuary was so taken by her mysterious beauty that he
made a cast of her face, and before long it
(01:44):
was being used to create plaster replicas that were sold
in souvenir shops all across Europe. Over the next few decades,
the Unknown Woman became the subject of poems, paintings and novels,
all of which tried to fill in the blanks of
who she was and what had led to her drowning.
The most popular legend was that she had thrown herself
(02:05):
into the river due to a broken heart. One novelist
imagined her as an innocent country girl who was seduced
by a rich Parisian man. Meanwhile, another portrayed her as
an evil force whose death mask draws the narrator into
an all consuming obsession. But even as the Unknown Woman
of the Sin became the most famous face in Europe,
(02:27):
the actual woman at the heart of the myth remained unidentified.
As the decades passed, and her fame gradually faded. The
unknown woman might have been lost to history if a
Norwegian toy manufacturer hadn't given her a second life. In
the nineteen fifties, a toy maker named Asmund Laerdahl got
an unusual request for a custom project. A physician wanted
(02:50):
him to develop a doll to help doctors practice a
new life saving technique called cardiopulmonary resuscitation, better known as CPR.
The doll had to be life sized and functional, with
open lips that could be used to practice mouth to
mouth resuscitation, and a realistic face to make the training
exercise more emotionally impactful and thus more memorable. And Lerdau
(03:15):
was the perfect man for the job. He sculpted the
Mannikin's body out of soft plastic and metal springs, and
when it was time to design the face, an old
image stirred in his memory, a plaster bust that hung
on the wall of his wife's parents' house. It was
a peaceful visage of the unknown woman of the sin.
The CPR doll, known as Resussi Anni, debuted in nineteen
(03:38):
sixty and over the coming decades, hundreds of thousands of
people across the globe learned cpr on versions of her,
earning the Woman of the Sin a reputation as the
most kissed face in the world. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart remains
(04:08):
one of history's most celebrated composers, a prodigy whose melodies
have echoed through concert halls for more than two centuries.
At the astonishing age of just five years old, he
was able to compose short pieces and perform for European royalty.
By his teenage years, he had produced works that would
make seasoned masters jealous. Yet behind this musical brilliance lay
(04:30):
a man of idiosyncratic habits, whose strange appetites and offbeat
humor revealed a personality as colorful as his scores. One
of the most charming anecdotes concerns Mozart's pet, Starling, a
bird presented to him in seventeen eighty four. Enamored with
the feathered visitor, Mozart transcribed the lilting tune that the
(04:51):
bird sang into his notebook, a motif that mirrors a
passage from his own piano concerto number seventeen in G major.
When the song died three years later, Mozart staged a
miniature funeral, complete with a tiny coffin and mournful procession
to honor his small companion. His sense of humor was
equally distinctive, although far less refined than one might expect
(05:15):
from a classical maestro. Scatological jokes pepper his private correspondence
The Verses, brimming with body wordplay that would shock modern readers.
Historians debate whether these jokes merely reflect the culture of
eighteenth century Vienna or served as a deliberate, playful rebellion
against social conventions. Occasionally, the levity seeped into his music, too,
(05:37):
where he set riskaye German lyrics to familiar tunes as
inside jokes for close friends knots. All of Mozart's experiences
were so lighthearted, though at eleven he contracted smallpox, a
disease that claimed countless lives in the eighteenth century. The
illness temporarily blinded him and forced his family to flee
(05:57):
Vienna to escape the epidemic. Such a severe setback could
have ended his career before it truly began, and yet
Mozart recovered and continued to compose works of astonishing depth
and variety. But the most haunting chapter of Mozart's biography
revolves around his Requiem in D Minor, the work that
he never lived to finish. In the autumn of seventeen
(06:18):
ninety one, a mysterious patron approached a trusted intermediary, France
van Walseg, with a commission for a solemn mass for
the dead Valsig, a wealthy amateur composer, desired the piece
to appear as his own tribute to his late wife,
a secret that he guarded jealously. Mozart accepted the commission
(06:39):
unaware of his client's true identity. He was already ailing
persistent fever. Exhaustion and a lingering respiratory infection weighed heavily
on him, and yet the promise of a substantial fee
and the artistic challenge of a liturgical masterpiece spurred him onward.
He began sketching the Introitis in early November, his pen
(07:00):
moving swiftly, as if racing against an invisible clock, and
in a sense he was. As the days passed by,
Mozart's health deteriorated, he worked feverishly, often through the night,
dictating sections to his devoted copyist, Joseph Elesser, and confiding
in his wife Constanza, who assisted with copying and proofreading.
(07:22):
Although the days were prolific, his body could no longer
sustain the effort. Legend holds that on the evening of
December fourth of seventeen ninety one, Mozart, barely able to
lift his head, whispered the opening bars of the Lachrymosa,
the final movement, which would remain forever finished. He died
two days later on December fifth, leaving the Requiem a
(07:45):
half rendered tapestry of soaring vocal lines and trembling orchestration.
This manuscript, scattered across several pages, bears his unmistakable handwriting,
interspersed with frantic corrections and marginal notes. After his death,
his student, Franz Javert Sussmyer, was tasked with completing the work.
(08:05):
Using Mozart's sketches and verbal instructions. Sousmir finished the Lachrymosa,
added the remaining movements, and orchestrated the entire piece, striving
to honor his master's voice while filling in the inevitable gaps.
And thus the Requiem stands as a dual monument, on
one hand, a testament to Mozart's unrivaled capacity to convey grief,
(08:28):
awe and transcendence, and on the other, a poignant reminder
of a life cut short. His final masterpiece forever tinged
with mystery listeners still hear in its somber chords, the
echo of a composer confronting his own mortality, a fitting
if tragic coda to a career that reshaped Western music.
(08:50):
In the end, Mozart's life, marked by laughter and sickness,
creative brilliance, and bizarre episodes, serves as a testament to
the multifaceted nature of human genius. These strange vignettes do
not diminish his achievements. Rather, they add depth to the
story of a man whose music continues to captivate the world.
(09:14):
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 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
(09:34):
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 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
(09:55):
until next time, stay curious. H
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):
In late nineteenth century, Paris rescue workers pulled a young
woman's body out of the River Sene. By the time
she was lifted out of the water, she was already
dead from an apparent drowning, but strangely, there was no
panic or fear in her eyes. Instead, a rescue worker
brushed the damp hair away from her face and found
a beautiful, peaceful half smile on her lips. The work
(01:00):
didn't find anything in the woman's pockets that identified her
by name, so, as was customary at the time, they
took her body to the Paris mortuary. There she was
put on display in the window that hopes that someone
passing by would recognize and put a name to her
serene face. The woman's family never did come by and
identify her, but her enigmatic expression turned the heads of
(01:22):
everyone who walked past morbid, Crowds gathered in the street
to get a look at her eerily calm smile, and
the Unknown Woman of the Sin, as she became known,
was a local celebrity. The pathologist who worked at the
mortuary was so taken by her mysterious beauty that he
made a cast of her face, and before long it
(01:44):
was being used to create plaster replicas that were sold
in souvenir shops all across Europe. Over the next few decades,
the Unknown Woman became the subject of poems, paintings and novels,
all of which tried to fill in the blanks of
who she was and what had led to her drowning.
The most popular legend was that she had thrown herself
(02:05):
into the river due to a broken heart. One novelist
imagined her as an innocent country girl who was seduced
by a rich Parisian man. Meanwhile, another portrayed her as
an evil force whose death mask draws the narrator into
an all consuming obsession. But even as the Unknown Woman
of the Sin became the most famous face in Europe,
(02:27):
the actual woman at the heart of the myth remained unidentified.
As the decades passed, and her fame gradually faded. The
unknown woman might have been lost to history if a
Norwegian toy manufacturer hadn't given her a second life. In
the nineteen fifties, a toy maker named Asmund Laerdahl got
an unusual request for a custom project. A physician wanted
(02:50):
him to develop a doll to help doctors practice a
new life saving technique called cardiopulmonary resuscitation, better known as CPR.
The doll had to be life sized and functional, with
open lips that could be used to practice mouth to
mouth resuscitation, and a realistic face to make the training
exercise more emotionally impactful and thus more memorable. And Lerdau
(03:15):
was the perfect man for the job. He sculpted the
Mannikin's body out of soft plastic and metal springs, and
when it was time to design the face, an old
image stirred in his memory, a plaster bust that hung
on the wall of his wife's parents' house. It was
a peaceful visage of the unknown woman of the sin.
The CPR doll, known as Resussi Anni, debuted in nineteen
(03:38):
sixty and over the coming decades, hundreds of thousands of
people across the globe learned cpr on versions of her,
earning the Woman of the Sin a reputation as the
most kissed face in the world. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart remains
(04:08):
one of history's most celebrated composers, a prodigy whose melodies
have echoed through concert halls for more than two centuries.
At the astonishing age of just five years old, he
was able to compose short pieces and perform for European royalty.
By his teenage years, he had produced works that would
make seasoned masters jealous. Yet behind this musical brilliance lay
(04:30):
a man of idiosyncratic habits, whose strange appetites and offbeat
humor revealed a personality as colorful as his scores. One
of the most charming anecdotes concerns Mozart's pet, Starling, a
bird presented to him in seventeen eighty four. Enamored with
the feathered visitor, Mozart transcribed the lilting tune that the
(04:51):
bird sang into his notebook, a motif that mirrors a
passage from his own piano concerto number seventeen in G major.
When the song died three years later, Mozart staged a
miniature funeral, complete with a tiny coffin and mournful procession
to honor his small companion. His sense of humor was
equally distinctive, although far less refined than one might expect
(05:15):
from a classical maestro. Scatological jokes pepper his private correspondence
The Verses, brimming with body wordplay that would shock modern readers.
Historians debate whether these jokes merely reflect the culture of
eighteenth century Vienna or served as a deliberate, playful rebellion
against social conventions. Occasionally, the levity seeped into his music, too,
(05:37):
where he set riskaye German lyrics to familiar tunes as
inside jokes for close friends knots. All of Mozart's experiences
were so lighthearted, though at eleven he contracted smallpox, a
disease that claimed countless lives in the eighteenth century. The
illness temporarily blinded him and forced his family to flee
(05:57):
Vienna to escape the epidemic. Such a severe setback could
have ended his career before it truly began, and yet
Mozart recovered and continued to compose works of astonishing depth
and variety. But the most haunting chapter of Mozart's biography
revolves around his Requiem in D Minor, the work that
he never lived to finish. In the autumn of seventeen
(06:18):
ninety one, a mysterious patron approached a trusted intermediary, France
van Walseg, with a commission for a solemn mass for
the dead Valsig, a wealthy amateur composer, desired the piece
to appear as his own tribute to his late wife,
a secret that he guarded jealously. Mozart accepted the commission
(06:39):
unaware of his client's true identity. He was already ailing
persistent fever. Exhaustion and a lingering respiratory infection weighed heavily
on him, and yet the promise of a substantial fee
and the artistic challenge of a liturgical masterpiece spurred him onward.
He began sketching the Introitis in early November, his pen
(07:00):
moving swiftly, as if racing against an invisible clock, and
in a sense he was. As the days passed by,
Mozart's health deteriorated, he worked feverishly, often through the night,
dictating sections to his devoted copyist, Joseph Elesser, and confiding
in his wife Constanza, who assisted with copying and proofreading.
(07:22):
Although the days were prolific, his body could no longer
sustain the effort. Legend holds that on the evening of
December fourth of seventeen ninety one, Mozart, barely able to
lift his head, whispered the opening bars of the Lachrymosa,
the final movement, which would remain forever finished. He died
two days later on December fifth, leaving the Requiem a
(07:45):
half rendered tapestry of soaring vocal lines and trembling orchestration.
This manuscript, scattered across several pages, bears his unmistakable handwriting,
interspersed with frantic corrections and marginal notes. After his death,
his student, Franz Javert Sussmyer, was tasked with completing the work.
(08:05):
Using Mozart's sketches and verbal instructions. Sousmir finished the Lachrymosa,
added the remaining movements, and orchestrated the entire piece, striving
to honor his master's voice while filling in the inevitable gaps.
And thus the Requiem stands as a dual monument, on
one hand, a testament to Mozart's unrivaled capacity to convey grief,
(08:28):
awe and transcendence, and on the other, a poignant reminder
of a life cut short. His final masterpiece forever tinged
with mystery listeners still hear in its somber chords, the
echo of a composer confronting his own mortality, a fitting
if tragic coda to a career that reshaped Western music.
(08:50):
In the end, Mozart's life, marked by laughter and sickness,
creative brilliance, and bizarre episodes, serves as a testament to
the multifaceted nature of human genius. These strange vignettes do
not diminish his achievements. Rather, they add depth to the
story of a man whose music continues to captivate the world.
(09:14):
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 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
(09:34):
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 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
(09:55):
until next time, stay curious. H
Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities News
Host
Aaron Mahnke
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