Speaker 1: Welcomed Aaron Manky's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is full
Speaker 1: of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book,
Speaker 1: all of these amazing tales are right there on display,
Speaker 1: just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet
Speaker 1: of Curiosities. When you think of the nomadic conquerors of history,
Speaker 1: you probably first think of Genghis Khan, then perhaps Attila
Speaker 1: in the Huns. But the fierce, often brutal warrior mentality
Speaker 1: didn't end there. In seventy for example, a Turco Mongol
Speaker 1: warlord by the name of tamer Lane came into power,
Speaker 1: and unlike any other commander in the history of military might,
Speaker 1: tammer Lane was never defeated. However, he was the last
Speaker 1: of the great nomadic conquerors, as a new era began
Speaker 1: encroaching into the end of his reign with the expanse
Speaker 1: of civilization. He died in February of fourteen o five
Speaker 1: during an uncharacteristic winter campaign against the Chinese Ming dynasty,
Speaker 1: and was buried in Saint Marcan in a tomb that
Speaker 1: still stands today. And because he was such a big deal.
Speaker 1: It has its own name, Guri Amir. For most though,
Speaker 1: death is usually the end of the story. When Genghis
Speaker 1: Khan died, the Mongols splintered the same with Attila and
Speaker 1: his huns, and for the most part, that happened to
Speaker 1: Tamerlane as well. But that's not the story that we're
Speaker 1: here to talk about. We're here to discuss the fact
Speaker 1: that he may or may not have taken a curse
Speaker 1: with him to the grave, a curse that might well
Speaker 1: have changed the course of human history. By now, we've
Speaker 1: all heard of curses, of course, thanks to the supposed
Speaker 1: curses that came from Egyptian rulers like King tut as
Speaker 1: well as modern cinematic curses like those we see in
Speaker 1: Indiana Jones or the Mummy. Seeing excavation teams meet untimely
Speaker 1: demises isn't quite as extraordinary as it might have once been.
Speaker 1: But tammer Lane's curse hit on a much bigger scale,
Speaker 1: and it all started with an intrepid Soviet scientist named
Speaker 1: Mikhail Gerassimov, who was in the midst of pioneering the
Speaker 1: field of paleo anthropological facial reconstruction. Simply put, he dug
Speaker 1: up the dead and use the remains to give us
Speaker 1: spitting images of what the deceased might have looked like.
Speaker 1: You can probably guess what happened next. Tamer Lane was
Speaker 1: on Mikhal's list, and given the doctor's track record, Joseph
Speaker 1: Stalin himself was all for it. Although no one is
Speaker 1: quite sure why, Michael set off to sam Marcan to
Speaker 1: both verify that it was tamer Lane buried there and
Speaker 1: to give the world another conqueror's face. As soon as
Speaker 1: he arrived, though, the locals cried out against the expedition team,
Speaker 1: worried that they would unleash a legendary curse, and the
Speaker 1: local Muslim religious leaders tried to stop the exhimation for
Speaker 1: the same reason. After all, a tomb was inscribed with
Speaker 1: some pretty daunting words. When I rise from the dead,
Speaker 1: it said, the world shall tremble. Michail heard the words
Speaker 1: from the keeper of the tomb, notified Moscow just in case,
Speaker 1: and then promptly arrested the man for spreading false rumors
Speaker 1: and instigating the public outcry. On June nineteenth, though things
Speaker 1: went sideways. A beautiful slab of green jade was removed
Speaker 1: from atop the remains of tamer Lane, And there Michaal
Speaker 1: found another inscription with yet another threat, whomsoever opens my
Speaker 1: tomb shall unleash an invader more terrible than I. Still unfhazed,
Speaker 1: the body was taken and carted off to Russia, where
Speaker 1: it underwent intensive study and led to an exact facial
Speaker 1: reconstruction of what the Great Conqueror had looked like. But
Speaker 1: at what cost. Three days later, in a seemingly unrelated event,
Speaker 1: Nazi Germany initiated Operation Barbarossa and attacked Russia. Perhaps tamer
Speaker 1: Lane had called his shot with this invader more terrible
Speaker 1: than him. Moscow was wise to the warnings of tamer
Speaker 1: Lane's tomb, but they had bigger fish to fry fending
Speaker 1: off the invasion by Germany. Still being of a superstitious sort,
Speaker 1: Stalin knew that he needed to undo the curse that
Speaker 1: Gerasimov had initiated, not just yet, though he had a
Speaker 1: war to fight. A little over a year later, in
Speaker 1: November of nineteen two, Stalin finally got a bright idea.
Speaker 1: If it was tamer Lane's curse that had instigated the
Speaker 1: conflict with Germany, maybe he could end it too. So
Speaker 1: the body was loaded into an aircraft and flown back
Speaker 1: to sam Marcan, where it was buried with full honors
Speaker 1: in traditional fashion. One month later, the Battle of Stalingrad
Speaker 1: turned the tide of war and gave Russia a victory
Speaker 1: on the Eastern Front, a victory that would push the
Speaker 1: Nazis into losing the war entirely. Whatever role tamer Lane
Speaker 1: did or didn't have in changing the outcome of World
Speaker 1: War Two, we'll never know for sure, because while the
Speaker 1: face that McHale reconstructed from the conqueror's remains is remarkably lifelike,
Speaker 1: it's sadly I can't answer our questions when it comes
Speaker 1: to unexplained phenomena. It's not uncommon for world leaders to
Speaker 1: be directly involved with their analysis or cover up. For example,
Speaker 1: the US government has been keeping Area fifty one in
Speaker 1: the Nevada Desert under wraps for decades. America's military continues
Speaker 1: to claim that the object that crashed in Roswell, New
Speaker 1: Mexico in nineteen forty seven was part of a surveillance balloon,
Speaker 1: not an alien spacecraft, And in nineteen seventy nine, a
Speaker 1: certain English Prime Minister made it her mission to track
Speaker 1: down one of the most mysterious creatures ever documented. That
Speaker 1: Prime Minister was Margaret Thatcher, who held the position from
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy nine until November of nine. She was known
Speaker 1: for her staunch conservative views, which led to a rise
Speaker 1: in poverty and income in equality across the UK. She
Speaker 1: was tough too, earning her the nickname the Iron Lady,
Speaker 1: and for good reason. However, in one of her first
Speaker 1: acts as Prime Minister, Thatcher did not repeal financial regulations
Speaker 1: or privatized nationalized industries like gas and water. No, those
Speaker 1: came later. Instead, she set her sights on a menace
Speaker 1: stalking the waters of Scotland, a beast that had eluded hunters,
Speaker 1: scientists and tourists for centuries, and it was time to
Speaker 1: bring it to justice. I'm talking, of course, about the
Speaker 1: Luckness Monster, and surprisingly Thatcher had no interest in catching
Speaker 1: it or mounting it on her wall. Rather, she wanted
Speaker 1: to protect Nessie, and to do so she would use dolphins.
Speaker 1: That's right, dolphins, but not just any dolphins. She wrote
Speaker 1: a letter to the Scottish Home and Health Department requesting
Speaker 1: the import of trained dolphins provided by the United States Navy.
Speaker 1: They would be placed in Lochness with high tech gadgets
Speaker 1: affixed to them in order to sniff out the creature.
Speaker 1: This plot was believed to have been concocted by noted
Speaker 1: monster hunter doctor Robert Rynes from America in nineteen seventy two.
Speaker 1: Ryans had taken several underwater photographs of blurry flippers and
Speaker 1: torsos in Loch Ness that he claimed belonged to NeSSI herself.
Speaker 1: His obsession brought him back to Scotland countless times over
Speaker 1: the span of thirty five years, with each visit involving
Speaker 1: more equipment and technology. Unfortunately, his research never panned out,
Speaker 1: at least not according to the wider scientific community, but
Speaker 1: the Prime Minister was convinced, and so she pushed for
Speaker 1: a dolphin led investigation. When word got out about Thatcher's plans,
Speaker 1: though the public rose up in opposition. Animal rights activists
Speaker 1: didn't want her using dolphins for such a bizarre objective.
Speaker 1: NeSSI enthusiasts worried that Thatcher's plan would actually result in
Speaker 1: the monster being caught and killed. So what was her
Speaker 1: reason for using trained dolphins? Well, for one, Sweden had
Speaker 1: reached out to the UK to understand how they were
Speaker 1: planning to protect the Lockness monster. The Swedes were looking
Speaker 1: to secure the safety of their own lake monster, a
Speaker 1: serpent whose existence had dated back all the way to
Speaker 1: the mid sixteen hundreds. But the real reason tourism the
Speaker 1: UK's economy was suffering. Inflation was up, and Thatcher was
Speaker 1: trying to bring in money however she could. If she
Speaker 1: could track down Nessie and reveal it to the public,
Speaker 1: the discovery would bring in untold amounts from tourists all
Speaker 1: over the world, and that meant money flowing back into
Speaker 1: the banks of the UK. Margaret Thatcher was not known
Speaker 1: as a jokester, yet her plan to protect Nessie was
Speaker 1: done with her tongue planted, at least partly in her cheek.
Speaker 1: Whether she really believed in Nessie is unknown, but she
Speaker 1: believed in it enough to warrant a formal inquest into
Speaker 1: the use of US naval animals to find her. Thatcher
Speaker 1: had also pursued the lockness Monster as a lighthearted response
Speaker 1: to the Swedes, telling them that the Secretary of States
Speaker 1: could add NeSSI to the endangered species list for added protection.
Speaker 1: Her letters about the operation, as well as the responses
Speaker 1: she received, were classified for many years, then in two
Speaker 1: thousand six they were made public under the Freedom of
Speaker 1: Information Act. One letter in particular from the Stockholm Embassy
Speaker 1: had been addressed to the Scottish Office. It was in
Speaker 1: reference to Sweden's questions about Nessie's protection. If that's your responded,
Speaker 1: saying the inquiry is a serious one and we should
Speaker 1: like to give them at least a half serious reply. Well,
Speaker 1: that serious reply came in when Nessie was officially placed
Speaker 1: under the protection of the UK's Wildlife and Countryside Act
Speaker 1: and the best part of all, no dolphins required. I
Speaker 1: hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities.
Speaker 1: Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about
Speaker 1: the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show
Speaker 1: was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how
Speaker 1: Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore,
Speaker 1: which is a podcast, book series, and television show and
Speaker 1: you can learn all about it over at the World
Speaker 1: of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious. Yeah,