December 2, 2025 • 10 mins
Two tales from the late 18th century that will surely leave you hungry to know more.
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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 are right there on display, just
waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities.
(00:36):
Midnight release parties, book themed Halloween costumes, author tour events.
People have always found ways to pay homage to their
favorite works of fiction. Sometimes they even travel hundreds or
even thousands of miles to see the place that inspired
their favorite works, or, in the case of one eighteenth
century protagonist, her untimely death. In the late eighteen hundred,
(01:00):
a family of mourners gathered around a headstone at Trinity
Church Graveyard in New York City. A mother wept as
her teenage daughter laid a small bundle of flowers on
the long gray stone slab that marked the grave. The
stone was already decorated with other small bouquets and cards
gifts from other mourners. The family commented on how nice
(01:21):
it was that so many people had come to pay
their respects. In fact, this was the most visited grave
at Trinity Church. Well wishers from all over the country
came to visit the burial plot. Not because the person
lying beneath the stone slab was a political hero or
an industrial pioneer. No, she was the protagonist of a
novel called Charlotte, A Tale of Truth. The book was
(01:44):
written by Susannah Rausen and published in seventeen ninety one.
It was a bit melodramatic, but a tear jerker all
the same. It followed sixteen year old Charlotte Temple, who
was seduced by a villainous playboy named Lord Montraville. He
brought her to America, then a banded her to marry
another woman and fight with the British in the Revolutionary
War Penny Listen alone, Charlotte soon learned that she was pregnant.
(02:08):
Her father arrived in New York hoping to find and
save Charlotte's only to learn that he was too late.
She had died shortly after childbirth, and Americans loved the novel.
At the time, the US was a brand new nation,
as wide eyed and vulnerable as Charlotte herself. Something about
her ordeal after being betrayed by a powerful englishman resonated
(02:30):
with them. Charlotte became the best selling novel in the
US for more than fifty years until the release of
Uncle Tom's Cabin in eighteen fifty two. Now Here's the Kicker.
The author, Susanna Roussen, always said that the book was
based on a real person, even though multiple historians in
the eighteen hundreds disputed that fact. Then one day in
(02:51):
the eighteen fifties, visitors to the Trinity Church in New
York City noticed a simple, weathered grave in the corner
of the churchyard with the name Arlotte Temple etched into
the stone. One of the visitors asked the nearest groundskeeper
if the grave belonged to the Charlotte Temple, and the
groundskeeper said yes, that it was, in fact her tomb.
(03:12):
Words spread like wildfire that the real Charlotte Temple was
buried there at Trinity Church, and soon Charlotte's Grave became
a tourist attraction. Groundskeepers were peppered with questions about Charlotte's
but they knew nothing about her as a person. At
one point, Charlotte's grave was the most popular site in
Trinity Church, even more than the graves of founding fathers.
(03:33):
Like Alexander Hamilton and James Monroe. Charlotte's Headstone remained an
attraction until the book fell out of popularity in the
twentieth century. But even today, those who know its history
stopped by to see the grave while visiting the church.
Except there's just one problem with Charlotte's Grave. In two
thousand and eight, the Trinity Archives team received permission to
(03:54):
lift the stone slab and see if there was a
burial vault underneath, but all they found was packed dirt.
So they inserted a scope into the ground to find
any remains that might be resting in the plot, and
again they came up empty. Soon the team was able
to conclude that nobody, and especially not Charlotte Temple, was
buried beneath the gravestone. That probably that the grave was
(04:18):
a hoax, which makes sense. It was first noticed in
the eighteen fifties, not long after the current Trinity Church
was rebuilt, and it's made from the exact same brownstone
as the new building. One archivist suspects that Charlotte's Grave
was crafted by one of the stonecutters. Maybe he intended
for the gravestone to be a small tribute to the book.
(04:39):
He loved, But archivist Katherine Hurwitz has another theory. In
the eighteen forties, tourism as a business was just beginning,
and a lot of New York residents were looking to
profit from this budding industry. Hurwitz wonders if the grave
was created by someone looking to sell tourism maps with
Charlotte's Grave listed as an attraction, and how popular the
(05:00):
site became. The hoax clearly worked. Will likely never know
who planted the fake grave that drew so many unsuspecting fans,
but for the time being, Trinity Church intends on keeping
the grave where it's at. It might be a work
of fiction, but just like Charlotte Temple, it's a good
story worth keeping around. Today, we're traveling back in time
(05:35):
to the seventeen nineties in Lyon, France, to a man
whose hunger never ceased. In fact, his biology has given
rise to one of the most curious medical mysteries in history.
Although his true name is lost to time, the man
is now known as Tarare. The name is thought to
be a reference to the loud explosions of canons during
military parades. Tarrare's powerful farts reminded people of this sound
(05:59):
and that was actually one of the less remarkable things
about him. He also had a massive mouth that stretched
so far across his face that he didn't even really
have lips. This gaping maw led to his stomach, which
hung loose around him except for when he ate. You see,
Tarare was always hungry. He could down an entire barrel
(06:19):
of apples, swallowing each one whole, and still be ready
for more. He ate as much meat as he could
get his hands on, fighting with dogs for the scraps
outside of butcher shops. He would even eat wood chunks
or corks if he couldn't get his hands on any
actual food. After he ate, his belly would distend like
a balloon and he would fall into a deep sleep.
(06:40):
His entire body would become drenched with sweat, and a thick,
pungent vapor would literally rise up off of him. The
smell was so bad that no one could stand to
be within sixty feet of the guy. Once Tarare's horrible
meals had finished digesting, he would emit what has been
described as a nightmarish diarrhea for several minutes before hitting
back up and looking for more food. When the French
(07:03):
military got word of this strange man, they decided to
press him into service. They had him swallow a wooden
box with secret orders written inside, and then they sent
him into Germany to contact French troops there. This ended
up being a terrible idea, though, as Tare didn't speak German,
so he was immediately discovered as a spy, captured and beaten.
(07:24):
The Germans did eventually let him go, realizing he knew
very little about his government's plans. Once back in France,
Terrare was traumatized enough by the experience to finally seek
help for his medical condition. Doctors were shocked to find
that Tarare was truly capable of eating anything, so they
tried giving him the only appetite suppressants that they knew
(07:45):
of at the time, which included common things like tobacco
and eggs, and some stranger things like opium and various
kinds of acid. None of these things worked, though, and
Tarare was slowly becoming a problem around the hospital. Ually,
the rumors became too terrible and he had to flee
the hospital. He was heard from just once more. A
few years later, when he checked into a different hospital
(08:08):
with new worsening symptoms. He became very weak, and for
once he couldn't eat at all. He started to have
seemingly endless diarrhea, which continued until he finally passed away.
He was just twenty six years old. The autopsy revealed
that Terrare's organs were all much larger than normal. His
body cavity was also filled with some kind of putrid
(08:29):
substance that kept doctors from being able to explore much further.
It was as if he had rotted away much more
quickly than a normal corpse. Today, doctors do acknowledge that
Terrare's case is well documented enough to be taken as
legitimate history, although many of the rumors about the things
that he did eat to have no evidence to back
them up. The most likely explanation for his condition is
(08:52):
some kind of brain disorder that led him to be
constantly hungry. All his other characteristics were likely secondary to this.
Massive mouth and stomach possibly stretched over time to accommodate
his lifestyle, and the toxicity that seemed to permeate his
body was probably a result of him eating tons of
absolutely disgusting things, from rotting animal carcasses to actual feces.
(09:17):
Unlike Terrari's hunger. I'm guess seeing that everyone's curiosity is
probably satiated for the day. I want you to be
thankful the next time you have a meal and feel full.
But I'm probably sure that none of us want to
think about this story ever again, especially while we're eating.
I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet
(09:38):
of Curiosities. 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 Mankey 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
(10:00):
Worldoflore dot com. 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):
Midnight release parties, book themed Halloween costumes, author tour events.
People have always found ways to pay homage to their
favorite works of fiction. Sometimes they even travel hundreds or
even thousands of miles to see the place that inspired
their favorite works, or, in the case of one eighteenth
century protagonist, her untimely death. In the late eighteen hundred,
(01:00):
a family of mourners gathered around a headstone at Trinity
Church Graveyard in New York City. A mother wept as
her teenage daughter laid a small bundle of flowers on
the long gray stone slab that marked the grave. The
stone was already decorated with other small bouquets and cards
gifts from other mourners. The family commented on how nice
(01:21):
it was that so many people had come to pay
their respects. In fact, this was the most visited grave
at Trinity Church. Well wishers from all over the country
came to visit the burial plot. Not because the person
lying beneath the stone slab was a political hero or
an industrial pioneer. No, she was the protagonist of a
novel called Charlotte, A Tale of Truth. The book was
(01:44):
written by Susannah Rausen and published in seventeen ninety one.
It was a bit melodramatic, but a tear jerker all
the same. It followed sixteen year old Charlotte Temple, who
was seduced by a villainous playboy named Lord Montraville. He
brought her to America, then a banded her to marry
another woman and fight with the British in the Revolutionary
War Penny Listen alone, Charlotte soon learned that she was pregnant.
(02:08):
Her father arrived in New York hoping to find and
save Charlotte's only to learn that he was too late.
She had died shortly after childbirth, and Americans loved the novel.
At the time, the US was a brand new nation,
as wide eyed and vulnerable as Charlotte herself. Something about
her ordeal after being betrayed by a powerful englishman resonated
(02:30):
with them. Charlotte became the best selling novel in the
US for more than fifty years until the release of
Uncle Tom's Cabin in eighteen fifty two. Now Here's the Kicker.
The author, Susanna Roussen, always said that the book was
based on a real person, even though multiple historians in
the eighteen hundreds disputed that fact. Then one day in
(02:51):
the eighteen fifties, visitors to the Trinity Church in New
York City noticed a simple, weathered grave in the corner
of the churchyard with the name Arlotte Temple etched into
the stone. One of the visitors asked the nearest groundskeeper
if the grave belonged to the Charlotte Temple, and the
groundskeeper said yes, that it was, in fact her tomb.
(03:12):
Words spread like wildfire that the real Charlotte Temple was
buried there at Trinity Church, and soon Charlotte's Grave became
a tourist attraction. Groundskeepers were peppered with questions about Charlotte's
but they knew nothing about her as a person. At
one point, Charlotte's grave was the most popular site in
Trinity Church, even more than the graves of founding fathers.
(03:33):
Like Alexander Hamilton and James Monroe. Charlotte's Headstone remained an
attraction until the book fell out of popularity in the
twentieth century. But even today, those who know its history
stopped by to see the grave while visiting the church.
Except there's just one problem with Charlotte's Grave. In two
thousand and eight, the Trinity Archives team received permission to
(03:54):
lift the stone slab and see if there was a
burial vault underneath, but all they found was packed dirt.
So they inserted a scope into the ground to find
any remains that might be resting in the plot, and
again they came up empty. Soon the team was able
to conclude that nobody, and especially not Charlotte Temple, was
buried beneath the gravestone. That probably that the grave was
(04:18):
a hoax, which makes sense. It was first noticed in
the eighteen fifties, not long after the current Trinity Church
was rebuilt, and it's made from the exact same brownstone
as the new building. One archivist suspects that Charlotte's Grave
was crafted by one of the stonecutters. Maybe he intended
for the gravestone to be a small tribute to the book.
(04:39):
He loved, But archivist Katherine Hurwitz has another theory. In
the eighteen forties, tourism as a business was just beginning,
and a lot of New York residents were looking to
profit from this budding industry. Hurwitz wonders if the grave
was created by someone looking to sell tourism maps with
Charlotte's Grave listed as an attraction, and how popular the
(05:00):
site became. The hoax clearly worked. Will likely never know
who planted the fake grave that drew so many unsuspecting fans,
but for the time being, Trinity Church intends on keeping
the grave where it's at. It might be a work
of fiction, but just like Charlotte Temple, it's a good
story worth keeping around. Today, we're traveling back in time
(05:35):
to the seventeen nineties in Lyon, France, to a man
whose hunger never ceased. In fact, his biology has given
rise to one of the most curious medical mysteries in history.
Although his true name is lost to time, the man
is now known as Tarare. The name is thought to
be a reference to the loud explosions of canons during
military parades. Tarrare's powerful farts reminded people of this sound
(05:59):
and that was actually one of the less remarkable things
about him. He also had a massive mouth that stretched
so far across his face that he didn't even really
have lips. This gaping maw led to his stomach, which
hung loose around him except for when he ate. You see,
Tarare was always hungry. He could down an entire barrel
(06:19):
of apples, swallowing each one whole, and still be ready
for more. He ate as much meat as he could
get his hands on, fighting with dogs for the scraps
outside of butcher shops. He would even eat wood chunks
or corks if he couldn't get his hands on any
actual food. After he ate, his belly would distend like
a balloon and he would fall into a deep sleep.
(06:40):
His entire body would become drenched with sweat, and a thick,
pungent vapor would literally rise up off of him. The
smell was so bad that no one could stand to
be within sixty feet of the guy. Once Tarare's horrible
meals had finished digesting, he would emit what has been
described as a nightmarish diarrhea for several minutes before hitting
back up and looking for more food. When the French
(07:03):
military got word of this strange man, they decided to
press him into service. They had him swallow a wooden
box with secret orders written inside, and then they sent
him into Germany to contact French troops there. This ended
up being a terrible idea, though, as Tare didn't speak German,
so he was immediately discovered as a spy, captured and beaten.
(07:24):
The Germans did eventually let him go, realizing he knew
very little about his government's plans. Once back in France,
Terrare was traumatized enough by the experience to finally seek
help for his medical condition. Doctors were shocked to find
that Tarare was truly capable of eating anything, so they
tried giving him the only appetite suppressants that they knew
(07:45):
of at the time, which included common things like tobacco
and eggs, and some stranger things like opium and various
kinds of acid. None of these things worked, though, and
Tarare was slowly becoming a problem around the hospital. Ually,
the rumors became too terrible and he had to flee
the hospital. He was heard from just once more. A
few years later, when he checked into a different hospital
(08:08):
with new worsening symptoms. He became very weak, and for
once he couldn't eat at all. He started to have
seemingly endless diarrhea, which continued until he finally passed away.
He was just twenty six years old. The autopsy revealed
that Terrare's organs were all much larger than normal. His
body cavity was also filled with some kind of putrid
(08:29):
substance that kept doctors from being able to explore much further.
It was as if he had rotted away much more
quickly than a normal corpse. Today, doctors do acknowledge that
Terrare's case is well documented enough to be taken as
legitimate history, although many of the rumors about the things
that he did eat to have no evidence to back
them up. The most likely explanation for his condition is
(08:52):
some kind of brain disorder that led him to be
constantly hungry. All his other characteristics were likely secondary to this.
Massive mouth and stomach possibly stretched over time to accommodate
his lifestyle, and the toxicity that seemed to permeate his
body was probably a result of him eating tons of
absolutely disgusting things, from rotting animal carcasses to actual feces.
(09:17):
Unlike Terrari's hunger. I'm guess seeing that everyone's curiosity is
probably satiated for the day. I want you to be
thankful the next time you have a meal and feel full.
But I'm probably sure that none of us want to
think about this story ever again, especially while we're eating.
I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet
(09:38):
of Curiosities. 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 Mankey 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
(10:00):
Worldoflore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.
Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities News
Host
Aaron Mahnke
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