July 9, 2026 • 9 mins
On today's tour through the Cabinet of Curiosities, some things become lost, while others are found
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 are right there on display, just
waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities.
(00:36):
On a November evening in eighteen oh nine, a British
diplomat named Benjamin Bathurst and his assistant Herr Krauss, climbed
out of their horse drawn carriage outside of a shabby
inn in a small town in Prussia. As Kraus was
hitching the horses to a post, he saw Bathurst glance
frantically around the street. Kraus asked him what was wrong,
(00:57):
and Bathhurst said that he was certain that they were
being followed. Bathurst had been acting oddly paranoid all week long.
The two men were on their way back from a
diplomatic mission in Vienna, and to get home they had
to travel through territory controlled by the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte,
who was currently at war with Britain. Bathurst was sure
if anyone found out that he a British diplomat was
(01:19):
passing through the area he would be captured or killed,
and so he'd been taking every precaution in the book
to stay under the radar. He was traveling under a
fake name. He refused to stop anywhere for more than
a few hours at a time for fear that his
enemies might find him, And now, despite how careful he'd been,
he was worried that he was being followed by spies.
(01:40):
Kraus was at his wits end trying to keep his
boss calm. They were reaching the last leg of their
journey and so far nothing bad had happened to them,
so he didn't understand why Bathurst was still so agitated.
He was anxious to get home so that they could
both finally rest. While Krauss finished hitching up the horses,
Bathurst went inside to check in. He came back a
(02:01):
few minutes later and gave Kraus a room key. He
said they were just going to rest there for a
few hours, have dinner, and then get back on the
road so they could travel all nights under the cover
of darkness. Kraus went up to his room for a nap,
and around nine o'clock that night, he was awoken by
frantic knocking at the door. He opened it to find
Bathurst looking even more agitated than usual. Kraus asked if
(02:24):
he was okay, and Bathurst barked that it was time
to go. Kraus followed Bathurst outside, and while he loaded
up the carriage, Bathurst tapped his feet and nervously checked
his watch. He was wild eyed and sweat was dripping
down his pale forehead. Something had clearly spooked him, but
Kraus had no idea what. Out of the corner of
(02:44):
his eye, he saw Bathurst walk past him and go
around to the other side of the carriage. Mere seconds later,
Kraus looked over to see where he was going, and
Bathurst was gone. Kraus walked around the stables, searched every
nearby road, and even went back inside the inn to
look around, but there was no sign of Bathurst anywhere.
(03:05):
He had completely vanished without a trace. Benjamin Bathurst was
never found. There are multiple theories about what might have
happened to him. He could have been killed by bandits,
kidnapped by French spies, or even died by his own hand,
but none of these theories can fully explain how in
the span of no more than just a few seconds,
(03:26):
a grown man disappeared into thin air. It was nineteen
oh two in the port town of Paula, Malta, and
(03:47):
Father Maghri was overseeing the construction of a new parish
hall for his growing congregation. Workers toiled all day in
the hot sun excavating the site and hauling away the
rocks to set the foundation, and in one afternoon, something
strange happened. The men broke through the ground to find
a large hollow beneath. In the space, they found artifacts
(04:08):
and human remains. They thought it was perhaps a small tomb,
but further investigation proved they had in fact uncovered one
of the most enigmatic sites in the world. What the
men had discovered was a large subterranean structure, a series
of halls and chambers carved from the limestone. Father Magri
realized immediately that the site could have some historical significance,
(04:30):
and so as the men uncovered more and more of it,
he thoroughly documented the site, hoping to preserve it in
its entirety for future generations. He would not document for long, though,
as he died shortly after without his guiding influence the
site was neglected and fell prey to grave robbers. Five
years passed before an archaeologist would take up his mantle,
(04:51):
the impressively named Sir Zammit Themesticles. It was Zamet who
would truly uncover the real scale of the subterranean structure,
which which came to be known as the Hall Cephlienni Hypogeum.
It was divided into three levels, each one dug deeper
into the earth to make the best use of the space.
The top level, the one discovered by Father Magri's men,
(05:13):
was the primary entrance, containing a number of chambers used
for ritualistic and burial practices. The level below had a
more sophisticated design that mirrored the large above ground temples
of the era that it was built in. This included
an oracle room, the Sanctum Sanctorum, or the Holiest of Holies.
This chamber was built with strange acoustic properties. Its shape
(05:35):
causes sound to resonate at one hundred hertz. Modern studies
have shown that this particular frequency can suppress activity in
the brain's left hemisphere, subtly altering consciousness. This suggests that
the room was likely used for religious purposes, priests attempting
to commune with the dead or some divine power. In
the lowest level, archaeologists discovered the remains of roughly seven
(05:59):
thousand people in a large necropolis or city of the dead.
This meant that it was no ordinary burial ground, but
likely the central tomb for the area. Over many centuries,
excavations have uncovered stone tools and pottery, as well as
a small alabaster figure of a woman which came to
be known as the Sleeping Lady. She among many other
(06:20):
similar figurines and walls and bones colored in ochre, suggests
a complex religion complete with ancestor worship and an afterlife,
as well as a possible cult of the dead. Construction
of the Hypogeum dates all the way back to three
THOY three hundred BCE, and it seems as though the
necropolis was used until at least twenty five hundred BCE.
(06:41):
That's up to eight hundred years of burial. It was
an incredible accomplishment of engineering for the time, as builders
didn't have the use of metal tools, and so they
used picks made of antlers, stone hammers, and flint carving
tools to dig out and shape the limestone. Despite these limitations,
though their stone work is deeply impressive. Pillars and false
(07:02):
doors carved into the walls mirror those found in temples
on the surface, and that the structure keeps an average
temperature of sixty eight degrees shows the excellent understanding of
ventilation and has helped to preserve the bodies for thousands
of years. In twenty seventeen, Malta finished a massive renovation
project to help curb some of the normal wear and
(07:23):
tear that happens to ancient sites with heavy traffic. A
modern climate controlled system has been installed to keep the
air cool and dry, and visitors are limited to occasional
tours which need to be booked far in advance. In
this way, they hope to preserve the ancient site for
generations to come. The Hall Saflienni Hypogeum is a powerful
(07:43):
link to the prehistoric past of the Mediterranean. It gives
us insight into the spiritual lives of a society that
grew in isolation and challenges the more common perception of
the capabilities of ancient people. In nineteen eighty one, it
was named as a UNESCO World Heritage Sites and continues
to teach us about the daily lives and deaths of
(08:04):
the people who live there and who carve themselves a
curious tomb. 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.
(08:26):
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 all the same stories, but without
the interruption for a small monthly fee. Learn more and
(08:49):
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):
On a November evening in eighteen oh nine, a British
diplomat named Benjamin Bathurst and his assistant Herr Krauss, climbed
out of their horse drawn carriage outside of a shabby
inn in a small town in Prussia. As Kraus was
hitching the horses to a post, he saw Bathurst glance
frantically around the street. Kraus asked him what was wrong,
(00:57):
and Bathhurst said that he was certain that they were
being followed. Bathurst had been acting oddly paranoid all week long.
The two men were on their way back from a
diplomatic mission in Vienna, and to get home they had
to travel through territory controlled by the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte,
who was currently at war with Britain. Bathurst was sure
if anyone found out that he a British diplomat was
(01:19):
passing through the area he would be captured or killed,
and so he'd been taking every precaution in the book
to stay under the radar. He was traveling under a
fake name. He refused to stop anywhere for more than
a few hours at a time for fear that his
enemies might find him, And now, despite how careful he'd been,
he was worried that he was being followed by spies.
(01:40):
Kraus was at his wits end trying to keep his
boss calm. They were reaching the last leg of their
journey and so far nothing bad had happened to them,
so he didn't understand why Bathurst was still so agitated.
He was anxious to get home so that they could
both finally rest. While Krauss finished hitching up the horses,
Bathurst went inside to check in. He came back a
(02:01):
few minutes later and gave Kraus a room key. He
said they were just going to rest there for a
few hours, have dinner, and then get back on the
road so they could travel all nights under the cover
of darkness. Kraus went up to his room for a nap,
and around nine o'clock that night, he was awoken by
frantic knocking at the door. He opened it to find
Bathurst looking even more agitated than usual. Kraus asked if
(02:24):
he was okay, and Bathurst barked that it was time
to go. Kraus followed Bathurst outside, and while he loaded
up the carriage, Bathurst tapped his feet and nervously checked
his watch. He was wild eyed and sweat was dripping
down his pale forehead. Something had clearly spooked him, but
Kraus had no idea what. Out of the corner of
(02:44):
his eye, he saw Bathurst walk past him and go
around to the other side of the carriage. Mere seconds later,
Kraus looked over to see where he was going, and
Bathurst was gone. Kraus walked around the stables, searched every
nearby road, and even went back inside the inn to
look around, but there was no sign of Bathurst anywhere.
(03:05):
He had completely vanished without a trace. Benjamin Bathurst was
never found. There are multiple theories about what might have
happened to him. He could have been killed by bandits,
kidnapped by French spies, or even died by his own hand,
but none of these theories can fully explain how in
the span of no more than just a few seconds,
(03:26):
a grown man disappeared into thin air. It was nineteen
oh two in the port town of Paula, Malta, and
(03:47):
Father Maghri was overseeing the construction of a new parish
hall for his growing congregation. Workers toiled all day in
the hot sun excavating the site and hauling away the
rocks to set the foundation, and in one afternoon, something
strange happened. The men broke through the ground to find
a large hollow beneath. In the space, they found artifacts
(04:08):
and human remains. They thought it was perhaps a small tomb,
but further investigation proved they had in fact uncovered one
of the most enigmatic sites in the world. What the
men had discovered was a large subterranean structure, a series
of halls and chambers carved from the limestone. Father Magri
realized immediately that the site could have some historical significance,
(04:30):
and so as the men uncovered more and more of it,
he thoroughly documented the site, hoping to preserve it in
its entirety for future generations. He would not document for long, though,
as he died shortly after without his guiding influence the
site was neglected and fell prey to grave robbers. Five
years passed before an archaeologist would take up his mantle,
(04:51):
the impressively named Sir Zammit Themesticles. It was Zamet who
would truly uncover the real scale of the subterranean structure,
which which came to be known as the Hall Cephlienni Hypogeum.
It was divided into three levels, each one dug deeper
into the earth to make the best use of the space.
The top level, the one discovered by Father Magri's men,
(05:13):
was the primary entrance, containing a number of chambers used
for ritualistic and burial practices. The level below had a
more sophisticated design that mirrored the large above ground temples
of the era that it was built in. This included
an oracle room, the Sanctum Sanctorum, or the Holiest of Holies.
This chamber was built with strange acoustic properties. Its shape
(05:35):
causes sound to resonate at one hundred hertz. Modern studies
have shown that this particular frequency can suppress activity in
the brain's left hemisphere, subtly altering consciousness. This suggests that
the room was likely used for religious purposes, priests attempting
to commune with the dead or some divine power. In
the lowest level, archaeologists discovered the remains of roughly seven
(05:59):
thousand people in a large necropolis or city of the dead.
This meant that it was no ordinary burial ground, but
likely the central tomb for the area. Over many centuries,
excavations have uncovered stone tools and pottery, as well as
a small alabaster figure of a woman which came to
be known as the Sleeping Lady. She among many other
(06:20):
similar figurines and walls and bones colored in ochre, suggests
a complex religion complete with ancestor worship and an afterlife,
as well as a possible cult of the dead. Construction
of the Hypogeum dates all the way back to three
THOY three hundred BCE, and it seems as though the
necropolis was used until at least twenty five hundred BCE.
(06:41):
That's up to eight hundred years of burial. It was
an incredible accomplishment of engineering for the time, as builders
didn't have the use of metal tools, and so they
used picks made of antlers, stone hammers, and flint carving
tools to dig out and shape the limestone. Despite these limitations,
though their stone work is deeply impressive. Pillars and false
(07:02):
doors carved into the walls mirror those found in temples
on the surface, and that the structure keeps an average
temperature of sixty eight degrees shows the excellent understanding of
ventilation and has helped to preserve the bodies for thousands
of years. In twenty seventeen, Malta finished a massive renovation
project to help curb some of the normal wear and
(07:23):
tear that happens to ancient sites with heavy traffic. A
modern climate controlled system has been installed to keep the
air cool and dry, and visitors are limited to occasional
tours which need to be booked far in advance. In
this way, they hope to preserve the ancient site for
generations to come. The Hall Saflienni Hypogeum is a powerful
(07:43):
link to the prehistoric past of the Mediterranean. It gives
us insight into the spiritual lives of a society that
grew in isolation and challenges the more common perception of
the capabilities of ancient people. In nineteen eighty one, it
was named as a UNESCO World Heritage Sites and continues
to teach us about the daily lives and deaths of
(08:04):
the people who live there and who carve themselves a
curious tomb. 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.
(08:26):
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 all the same stories, but without
the interruption for a small monthly fee. Learn more and
(08:49):
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
Betrayal Weekly
Betrayal Weekly is back for a new season. Every Thursday, Betrayal Weekly shares first-hand accounts of broken trust, shocking deceptions, and the trail of destruction they leave behind. Hosted by Andrea Gunning, this weekly ongoing series digs into real-life stories of betrayal and the aftermath. From stories of double lives to dark discoveries, these are cautionary tales and accounts of resilience against all odds. From the producers of the critically acclaimed Betrayal series, Betrayal Weekly drops new episodes every Thursday. If you would like to share your story, you can reach out to the Betrayal Team by emailing them at betrayalpod@gmail.com and follow us on Instagram at @betrayalpod and @glasspodcasts. Please join our Substack for additional exclusive content, curated book recommendations, and community discussions. Sign up FREE by clicking this link Beyond Betrayal Substack. Join our community dedicated to truth, resilience, and healing. Your voice matters! Be a part of our Betrayal journey on Substack.
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