April 30, 2019 • 9 mins
On display in the Cabinet today are two unusual items. The first is mysterious for what we don't know about it, while the second is unique because of what we do know. We hope you find them both highly entertaining.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
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. History is full of
(00:29):
mysteries waiting to be solved. From Jack the Ripper's true
identity to the Shroud of Turin. There are artifacts, events,
and even people throughout time that defy explanation. For example,
it was once believed that the Freemasons were tied to
the Knights Templar, hiding clues to the location of an
immense treasure in the symbols they built into their buildings.
(00:51):
Many Ivy League schools are home to secret societies that
help shape wealthy elites into titans of industry and world leaders.
And then there are places spots in the world that
continued to inspire curiosity, sites like Stonehenge and the Great
Pyramid of Giza. And in the modern world we might
(01:12):
find such mystery in a place like Shugborough Hall, located
in Staffordshire, England. Shugborough Hall is a massive four hundred
year old estate that was passed down from the British
Diocese to a man named William Anson. In sixty four,
Williams grandson had the original house demolished and erected a
three story mansion in its place. But it was his
(01:33):
son Thomas that had the most profound effect on the home.
Yet Thomas had grand plans for Shugborough Hall. He added
two new structures to either side of the main house,
as well as a monument on the grounds well. He
commissioned the monument, but like everything else, it was paid
for by his younger brother, Admiral George Anson. The monument
(01:56):
was designed and carved by Flemish sculptor Peter Shemaker and
depicts a relief copy of a painting known as The
Arcadian Shepherds by Nicholas Poussan. Beneath the relief, there is
an inscription of several letters on the monument, Oh you, oh,
S V A v V, which sits elevated between the
(02:17):
letters D and M, and no one as any idea
what they mean. However, that doesn't mean that people haven't
tried figuring it out. Most assumptions tie the letters back
to Latin, where each character represents a word in a phrase,
like an acronym or initialism. For example, one theory suggests
that it's a dedication to George Asen's late wife, each
(02:40):
letter representing the Latin words that translate loosely into best
of wives, best of sisters, most devoted widower, dedicates this
to your virtues. Others, though disagree. A former n s
a linguist, thought the letters might mean I pray that
all may know the way of true life, a reference
(03:01):
to a biblical verse in the Book of John. One
author in two thousand fourteen went a different route. Rather
than a Latin phrase hiding within an inscription, Dave Ramsden
interpreted the entire monument as a funerary dedication letters and
all that meant the inscription wasn't an initialism, but a
secret code intended for one person, someone known as the Shepherdess.
(03:24):
Using a complicated decryption cipher, Ramsden was able to decode
the letters into the name Magdalen. And that's not the
only religious association with the piece either. A painter of
the original work, Nicholas Poussan, was alleged to have been
a member of the Priory of Scion, a secret society
dedicated to preserving the truth about the Holy Grail. That
(03:45):
it wasn't a cup at all, but rather Mary Magdalen's
womb and the bloodline that descended from it. It was
believed that Poussan had hidden numerous symbols and secret messages
within his painting, which were then copied into the monument
at Schagboro Hall, But the additional letter is under the relief,
only added to the mystery. Despite the countless theories, translations,
(04:08):
and interpretations, we may never know the meaning of those letters.
For one very important reason. While Peter she Maakers may
have carved the monuments himself, it turns out that the
letters were actually added later by someone else entirely, and
nobody knows who. In the musical Gypsy, a trio of
(04:44):
performers tell young Gypsy rose Lee that if she wants
to be successful on stage, she needs a gimmick, something
to make her unique and memorable in the eyes of
the audience. A gimmick, they told her, would mean recognition,
and that meant longevity and legacy. Harry Gardner had a
gimmick as well. It didn't require special equipment or a
(05:06):
fancy costume, though he did it all over town, with
onlookers often stopping to watch him perform, holding their hands
over their mouths and terror. Harry, you see like to climb?
He started doing it in nineteen o five and never stopped.
Any building he saw became a potential place to show off,
(05:27):
thanks in part to lacks public performance laws at the time.
The turn of the century saw the birth of the skyscraper.
Tall majestic buildings that turned flat skylines into living e
k g readouts, and big buildings meant big business. In
order to drum up that business, companies needed ways to
capture public attention. That's how Harry made a name for
(05:50):
himself and earned much of his living as a climber
for hire. He started off with flagpoles and smaller structures
before moving on to larger office buildings. In nineteen sixteen,
his small town exploits took him all the way to Omaha, Nebraska,
were more than thirty thousand people watched from the street
below as he climbed to the top of the Omaha
World Herald building. He saw his talent as nothing more
(06:14):
than a series of steps, a mechanical set of instructions
he had to follow to ensure success. On the day
of his climb in Omaha, he was quoted as saying,
it seems all a part of a day's work. To me,
there's the wall with little projections, ledges and places to
which I must hold, and there's the top of the
building where I'm going to stop. However, while Harry didn't
(06:37):
talk up his skills that much, word got around about
what he could do, and other cities wanted in on
the act. Months after his feet at the Omaha World Herald,
the Detroit News hired him to scale their building as
a marketing stunt for their ad department. The following year,
he climbed up sixteen stories to the top of the
Empire Building in Birmingham, Alabama. Is work took him all
(07:01):
over North America and Europe, working his way up and
down skyscrapers wearing only his street clothes. In West Virginia,
he scaled the north wall of the Logan County Courthouse,
where he hoisted the U. S. Flag. In British Columbia,
he climbed to the top of the seventeen story World Building,
where the Vancouver World newspaper was being published. Over a
(07:23):
span of almost two decades, Harry Gardner managed to climb
over seven hundred buildings. However, it wasn't until nineteen eighteen
that he had an idea. World War one had just ended,
and Harry wanted to celebrate the only way he knew how.
There were only two problems. First, he had to choose
which building he should climb, and second, he'd been operating
(07:46):
without any kind of insurance policy in place. No company
would back him given his line of work, and he
was too much of a risk. But if anything happened
to him, his loved ones would be without the help
they needed. So Harry formed a l On November eleventh
of nineteen, he went into the Bank of Hamilton's in Ontario, Canada,
and purchased a one thou dollar bond. While he was there,
(08:09):
he also managed to secure for himself an insurance policy,
and once he'd finished signing the papers, he left and
continued on his way, all to great applause from the crowd.
And no, he didn't take an audience with him inside
the bank. They were still on the ground outside, and
Harry well he decided to take a less direct route
(08:29):
to the bank's insurance offices. He climbed up the side
of the building and poked in through one of the
open windows, where an employee handed him a pen. It's
no wonder that former President Grover Cleveland once referred to
Harry by such an unusual nickname, the Human Fly. I
(08:51):
hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities.
Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about
the show by visiting Curiosity these 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
(09:13):
you can learn all about it over at the World
of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.
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. History is full of
(00:29):
mysteries waiting to be solved. From Jack the Ripper's true
identity to the Shroud of Turin. There are artifacts, events,
and even people throughout time that defy explanation. For example,
it was once believed that the Freemasons were tied to
the Knights Templar, hiding clues to the location of an
immense treasure in the symbols they built into their buildings.
(00:51):
Many Ivy League schools are home to secret societies that
help shape wealthy elites into titans of industry and world leaders.
And then there are places spots in the world that
continued to inspire curiosity, sites like Stonehenge and the Great
Pyramid of Giza. And in the modern world we might
(01:12):
find such mystery in a place like Shugborough Hall, located
in Staffordshire, England. Shugborough Hall is a massive four hundred
year old estate that was passed down from the British
Diocese to a man named William Anson. In sixty four,
Williams grandson had the original house demolished and erected a
three story mansion in its place. But it was his
(01:33):
son Thomas that had the most profound effect on the home.
Yet Thomas had grand plans for Shugborough Hall. He added
two new structures to either side of the main house,
as well as a monument on the grounds well. He
commissioned the monument, but like everything else, it was paid
for by his younger brother, Admiral George Anson. The monument
(01:56):
was designed and carved by Flemish sculptor Peter Shemaker and
depicts a relief copy of a painting known as The
Arcadian Shepherds by Nicholas Poussan. Beneath the relief, there is
an inscription of several letters on the monument, Oh you, oh,
S V A v V, which sits elevated between the
(02:17):
letters D and M, and no one as any idea
what they mean. However, that doesn't mean that people haven't
tried figuring it out. Most assumptions tie the letters back
to Latin, where each character represents a word in a phrase,
like an acronym or initialism. For example, one theory suggests
that it's a dedication to George Asen's late wife, each
(02:40):
letter representing the Latin words that translate loosely into best
of wives, best of sisters, most devoted widower, dedicates this
to your virtues. Others, though disagree. A former n s
a linguist, thought the letters might mean I pray that
all may know the way of true life, a reference
(03:01):
to a biblical verse in the Book of John. One
author in two thousand fourteen went a different route. Rather
than a Latin phrase hiding within an inscription, Dave Ramsden
interpreted the entire monument as a funerary dedication letters and
all that meant the inscription wasn't an initialism, but a
secret code intended for one person, someone known as the Shepherdess.
(03:24):
Using a complicated decryption cipher, Ramsden was able to decode
the letters into the name Magdalen. And that's not the
only religious association with the piece either. A painter of
the original work, Nicholas Poussan, was alleged to have been
a member of the Priory of Scion, a secret society
dedicated to preserving the truth about the Holy Grail. That
(03:45):
it wasn't a cup at all, but rather Mary Magdalen's
womb and the bloodline that descended from it. It was
believed that Poussan had hidden numerous symbols and secret messages
within his painting, which were then copied into the monument
at Schagboro Hall, But the additional letter is under the relief,
only added to the mystery. Despite the countless theories, translations,
(04:08):
and interpretations, we may never know the meaning of those letters.
For one very important reason. While Peter she Maakers may
have carved the monuments himself, it turns out that the
letters were actually added later by someone else entirely, and
nobody knows who. In the musical Gypsy, a trio of
(04:44):
performers tell young Gypsy rose Lee that if she wants
to be successful on stage, she needs a gimmick, something
to make her unique and memorable in the eyes of
the audience. A gimmick, they told her, would mean recognition,
and that meant longevity and legacy. Harry Gardner had a
gimmick as well. It didn't require special equipment or a
(05:06):
fancy costume, though he did it all over town, with
onlookers often stopping to watch him perform, holding their hands
over their mouths and terror. Harry, you see like to climb?
He started doing it in nineteen o five and never stopped.
Any building he saw became a potential place to show off,
(05:27):
thanks in part to lacks public performance laws at the time.
The turn of the century saw the birth of the skyscraper.
Tall majestic buildings that turned flat skylines into living e
k g readouts, and big buildings meant big business. In
order to drum up that business, companies needed ways to
capture public attention. That's how Harry made a name for
(05:50):
himself and earned much of his living as a climber
for hire. He started off with flagpoles and smaller structures
before moving on to larger office buildings. In nineteen sixteen,
his small town exploits took him all the way to Omaha, Nebraska,
were more than thirty thousand people watched from the street
below as he climbed to the top of the Omaha
World Herald building. He saw his talent as nothing more
(06:14):
than a series of steps, a mechanical set of instructions
he had to follow to ensure success. On the day
of his climb in Omaha, he was quoted as saying,
it seems all a part of a day's work. To me,
there's the wall with little projections, ledges and places to
which I must hold, and there's the top of the
building where I'm going to stop. However, while Harry didn't
(06:37):
talk up his skills that much, word got around about
what he could do, and other cities wanted in on
the act. Months after his feet at the Omaha World Herald,
the Detroit News hired him to scale their building as
a marketing stunt for their ad department. The following year,
he climbed up sixteen stories to the top of the
Empire Building in Birmingham, Alabama. Is work took him all
(07:01):
over North America and Europe, working his way up and
down skyscrapers wearing only his street clothes. In West Virginia,
he scaled the north wall of the Logan County Courthouse,
where he hoisted the U. S. Flag. In British Columbia,
he climbed to the top of the seventeen story World Building,
where the Vancouver World newspaper was being published. Over a
(07:23):
span of almost two decades, Harry Gardner managed to climb
over seven hundred buildings. However, it wasn't until nineteen eighteen
that he had an idea. World War one had just ended,
and Harry wanted to celebrate the only way he knew how.
There were only two problems. First, he had to choose
which building he should climb, and second, he'd been operating
(07:46):
without any kind of insurance policy in place. No company
would back him given his line of work, and he
was too much of a risk. But if anything happened
to him, his loved ones would be without the help
they needed. So Harry formed a l On November eleventh
of nineteen, he went into the Bank of Hamilton's in Ontario, Canada,
and purchased a one thou dollar bond. While he was there,
(08:09):
he also managed to secure for himself an insurance policy,
and once he'd finished signing the papers, he left and
continued on his way, all to great applause from the crowd.
And no, he didn't take an audience with him inside
the bank. They were still on the ground outside, and
Harry well he decided to take a less direct route
(08:29):
to the bank's insurance offices. He climbed up the side
of the building and poked in through one of the
open windows, where an employee handed him a pen. It's
no wonder that former President Grover Cleveland once referred to
Harry by such an unusual nickname, the Human Fly. I
(08:51):
hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities.
Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about
the show by visiting Curiosity these 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
(09:13):
you can learn all about it over at the World
of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.
Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities News
Host
Aaron Mahnke
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