1 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:07,520 Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Menke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of 2 00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:14,480 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of 3 00:00:14,560 --> 00:00:18,520 Speaker 1: the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all 4 00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:22,200 Speaker 1: of these amazing tales are right there on display, just 5 00:00:22,280 --> 00:00:28,920 Speaker 1: waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. 6 00:00:36,800 --> 00:00:39,279 Speaker 1: Chances are that you've heard of someone being visited by 7 00:00:39,280 --> 00:00:42,360 Speaker 1: a loved one after they've passed away. Maybe your friend 8 00:00:42,360 --> 00:00:45,600 Speaker 1: thought that he smelled the distinctive scent of his grandpa's pipe, 9 00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:48,440 Speaker 1: or your sister swore that she could hear Grandma calling 10 00:00:48,479 --> 00:00:52,519 Speaker 1: her inside. Maybe you yourself felt your childhood dog cuddling 11 00:00:52,600 --> 00:00:54,840 Speaker 1: up next to you in bed years after they went 12 00:00:54,880 --> 00:00:57,720 Speaker 1: to that great dog park in the sky. But whether 13 00:00:57,760 --> 00:01:00,960 Speaker 1: you think it's your imagination or not, these visitations often 14 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:03,320 Speaker 1: feel like someone you love just wants to see you 15 00:01:03,560 --> 00:01:07,199 Speaker 1: one more time. For Mary, seeing her dead daughter Zona 16 00:01:07,319 --> 00:01:09,880 Speaker 1: at the foot of her bed was far from heartwarming, 17 00:01:10,200 --> 00:01:13,840 Speaker 1: especially when Zona's ghost told her mother exactly who had 18 00:01:13,920 --> 00:01:17,679 Speaker 1: killed her. On January twenty third of eighteen ninety seven, 19 00:01:17,680 --> 00:01:21,600 Speaker 1: Erasmus Shoe was working in his blacksmith shop in Greenbrier, County, 20 00:01:21,640 --> 00:01:24,240 Speaker 1: West Virginia. He asked a local boy to check in 21 00:01:24,280 --> 00:01:27,240 Speaker 1: on his wife of three months, Zona Heaster's shoe, and 22 00:01:27,520 --> 00:01:30,200 Speaker 1: asked if she needed anything from the market. To the 23 00:01:30,200 --> 00:01:32,600 Speaker 1: boy's horror, when he opened the door of the shoe's house, 24 00:01:32,840 --> 00:01:35,959 Speaker 1: he found Zona lying dead on the floor. The next 25 00:01:35,959 --> 00:01:39,280 Speaker 1: few hours went by quickly. Erasmus rushed to the house 26 00:01:39,319 --> 00:01:41,200 Speaker 1: as soon as he heard the news. By the time 27 00:01:41,240 --> 00:01:43,600 Speaker 1: the doctor arrived to examine the body, he had already 28 00:01:43,680 --> 00:01:46,319 Speaker 1: laid her out for a funeral. He dressed Zona in 29 00:01:46,360 --> 00:01:49,000 Speaker 1: a long dress with a high, stiff collar and a 30 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:51,960 Speaker 1: long veil tied under her chin. When the doctor tried 31 00:01:51,960 --> 00:01:55,640 Speaker 1: to unbutton the collar to examine Zona's neck, Arrasmus demanded 32 00:01:55,640 --> 00:01:58,440 Speaker 1: that he and the examination. He rushed the doctor out 33 00:01:58,720 --> 00:02:02,160 Speaker 1: before he could even determine the cause of death. By 34 00:02:02,200 --> 00:02:04,600 Speaker 1: the next day, Zona was in the ground, and according 35 00:02:04,600 --> 00:02:06,920 Speaker 1: to Erasmus, that was the end of it all. At 36 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:10,160 Speaker 1: least it should have been, but Zona had other ideas. 37 00:02:10,840 --> 00:02:13,880 Speaker 1: A few weeks after her death, her mother, Mary Jane Heaster, 38 00:02:14,120 --> 00:02:16,920 Speaker 1: was just getting ready for sleep when something appeared next 39 00:02:16,919 --> 00:02:19,440 Speaker 1: to her on her bed. Standing in front of her, 40 00:02:19,480 --> 00:02:22,200 Speaker 1: looking as solid and healthy as ever, was her dead 41 00:02:22,280 --> 00:02:26,080 Speaker 1: daughter Zona. Over the next few nights, Zona continued to 42 00:02:26,120 --> 00:02:29,720 Speaker 1: appear to Mary Jane four separate times. Although at first 43 00:02:29,760 --> 00:02:32,480 Speaker 1: she seemed reluctant to answer questions about her death, she 44 00:02:32,760 --> 00:02:35,800 Speaker 1: finally relented and spoke about it. She told her mother 45 00:02:35,840 --> 00:02:38,120 Speaker 1: that Erasmus had been mad at her over the meal 46 00:02:38,200 --> 00:02:40,360 Speaker 1: she had cooked, and that her neck had been and 47 00:02:40,440 --> 00:02:44,560 Speaker 1: I quote squeezed off at the first joint. For weeks, 48 00:02:44,600 --> 00:02:48,040 Speaker 1: Mary Jane begged county officials to reopen her daughter's case. 49 00:02:48,480 --> 00:02:51,480 Speaker 1: Not only had Zona allegedly appeared to her mother, other 50 00:02:51,560 --> 00:02:54,280 Speaker 1: townsfolk had been whispering about murder. After it came to 51 00:02:54,360 --> 00:02:57,320 Speaker 1: light that Erasmus didn't let the doctor find a cause 52 00:02:57,360 --> 00:03:00,760 Speaker 1: of death. To quiet down the rumors, the local prosecutor 53 00:03:00,880 --> 00:03:05,000 Speaker 1: ordered that Zona's body should be exhumed. On February twenty second, 54 00:03:05,240 --> 00:03:08,160 Speaker 1: nearly a month after Zona's death, she was exhumed for 55 00:03:08,280 --> 00:03:12,160 Speaker 1: an autopsy. The doctor quickly found that Mary Jane was right. 56 00:03:12,600 --> 00:03:15,600 Speaker 1: Zona's neck had been broken right between the first and 57 00:03:15,720 --> 00:03:19,040 Speaker 1: second vertebrae, her windpipe had been crushed, and there were 58 00:03:19,120 --> 00:03:23,360 Speaker 1: finger marks on her skin. Zona had been strangled to death. 59 00:03:24,200 --> 00:03:27,720 Speaker 1: Erasmus was immediately arrested and four months later he was 60 00:03:27,760 --> 00:03:31,000 Speaker 1: put on trial. The star witness was Mary Jane Heaster, 61 00:03:31,280 --> 00:03:33,640 Speaker 1: who told the story on the stand of her daughter's 62 00:03:33,639 --> 00:03:37,400 Speaker 1: ghost solving her own murder. While the defense attorney questioned 63 00:03:37,400 --> 00:03:40,080 Speaker 1: her fiercely, hoping to make the ghost story and the 64 00:03:40,120 --> 00:03:44,440 Speaker 1: prosecution sound a bit ridiculous, his tactic backfired. Mary Jane 65 00:03:44,440 --> 00:03:47,240 Speaker 1: simply refused to admit any doubt that her dead daughter 66 00:03:47,280 --> 00:03:49,760 Speaker 1: had appeared to her. In her opinion, it wasn't a 67 00:03:49,880 --> 00:03:53,840 Speaker 1: dream or a vision or an overactive imagination. It was 68 00:03:54,040 --> 00:03:58,240 Speaker 1: her daughter's ghost. Her unwavering account convinced many townspeople to 69 00:03:58,320 --> 00:04:01,000 Speaker 1: believe her and likely helps way the jury to the 70 00:04:01,040 --> 00:04:04,680 Speaker 1: prosecution side. During the trial, it also came out that 71 00:04:04,680 --> 00:04:08,000 Speaker 1: Erasmus had a checkered past. He'd been divorced by one 72 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:10,839 Speaker 1: wife who accused him of being cruel. His second wife 73 00:04:10,920 --> 00:04:15,120 Speaker 1: died mysteriously, just like Zona. In between Mary Jane's ghost story, 74 00:04:15,360 --> 00:04:19,279 Speaker 1: Erasmus's history, and the circumstantial evidence, it only took the 75 00:04:19,320 --> 00:04:23,160 Speaker 1: jury an hour to find him guilty. Erasmus Shu was 76 00:04:23,200 --> 00:04:25,680 Speaker 1: sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his wife, 77 00:04:25,760 --> 00:04:28,120 Speaker 1: but only lived three more years before dying from the 78 00:04:28,120 --> 00:04:31,159 Speaker 1: flu in nineteen hundred. Ane Zona's case went down in 79 00:04:31,200 --> 00:04:34,039 Speaker 1: American history as one of the only known instances in 80 00:04:34,080 --> 00:04:38,200 Speaker 1: which a ghost helped convict a murderer, giving a curious 81 00:04:38,240 --> 00:04:49,520 Speaker 1: new meaning to the phrase the spirit of the law. 82 00:04:55,960 --> 00:05:00,280 Speaker 1: Sister Francesca plunged the blade into the corpse, piercing flesh 83 00:05:00,320 --> 00:05:03,360 Speaker 1: and then bone. It was difficult work. Her tools were 84 00:05:03,400 --> 00:05:07,320 Speaker 1: poor and her training inadequate. This was, after all, her 85 00:05:07,360 --> 00:05:11,160 Speaker 1: first autopsy. To make things even more complicated, the stakes 86 00:05:11,200 --> 00:05:14,200 Speaker 1: were personal. The body on the table didn't belong to 87 00:05:14,279 --> 00:05:17,120 Speaker 1: just any forty year old woman. She had been Claire 88 00:05:17,320 --> 00:05:21,400 Speaker 1: of Montefalco, a prominent abbess renowned throughout the thirteenth century 89 00:05:21,440 --> 00:05:24,760 Speaker 1: in Italy for her wisdom and her holiness. Before her death, 90 00:05:24,839 --> 00:05:28,080 Speaker 1: she was the matriarch of the local Augustinian monastery, making 91 00:05:28,120 --> 00:05:33,080 Speaker 1: her sister Francesca's direct superior. The nun worked methodically, taking 92 00:05:33,080 --> 00:05:36,400 Speaker 1: great care not to damage the body more than absolutely necessary, 93 00:05:36,720 --> 00:05:39,960 Speaker 1: and finally she managed to cut through Claire's ribs, exposing 94 00:05:40,040 --> 00:05:43,600 Speaker 1: the chest cavity. With a mixture of apprehension and reverence, 95 00:05:43,760 --> 00:05:46,520 Speaker 1: she reached into the cadaver and drew out the heart, 96 00:05:46,920 --> 00:05:50,720 Speaker 1: placing it beside the Abbess Sister Francesca carefully sliced into 97 00:05:50,720 --> 00:05:53,159 Speaker 1: the organ and then began searching through the folds of 98 00:05:53,160 --> 00:05:57,200 Speaker 1: flesh for any abnormalities. She wasn't looking for evidence of murder. 99 00:05:57,320 --> 00:05:59,760 Speaker 1: Claire had died after a prolonged illness, so there was 100 00:05:59,760 --> 00:06:03,080 Speaker 1: no suspicion of foul play. In fact, the procedure was 101 00:06:03,120 --> 00:06:06,320 Speaker 1: not intended to reveal a cause of death at all. Instead, 102 00:06:06,640 --> 00:06:10,520 Speaker 1: Sister Francesca was looking for something even more important, physical 103 00:06:10,560 --> 00:06:14,280 Speaker 1: proof that Claire had been touched by the divine. Her 104 00:06:14,279 --> 00:06:17,279 Speaker 1: search was inspired by an event from fourteen years earlier. 105 00:06:17,480 --> 00:06:20,920 Speaker 1: In twelve ninety four, while celebrating the Feast of the Epiphany, 106 00:06:20,960 --> 00:06:24,280 Speaker 1: the Abbess abruptly fell into a state of spiritual ecstasy, 107 00:06:24,520 --> 00:06:27,600 Speaker 1: a prolonged religious trance in which she lost awareness of 108 00:06:27,640 --> 00:06:31,320 Speaker 1: the physical world. For several weeks. Claire was incapable of 109 00:06:31,320 --> 00:06:33,919 Speaker 1: taking care of herself and would not to even eat. 110 00:06:34,240 --> 00:06:37,360 Speaker 1: The nuns kept her alive by ladling spoonfuls of sugar 111 00:06:37,400 --> 00:06:40,160 Speaker 1: water into her mouth. When she finally snapped out of it, 112 00:06:40,520 --> 00:06:43,480 Speaker 1: she seemed changed. She told everyone that she'd had a 113 00:06:43,520 --> 00:06:46,520 Speaker 1: strange vision in which Christ himself had asked her to 114 00:06:46,560 --> 00:06:50,760 Speaker 1: carry his cross in her heart. Evidently he meant this literally. 115 00:06:51,200 --> 00:06:54,839 Speaker 1: When Claire agreed, he plunged the cross directly into her chest, 116 00:06:55,279 --> 00:06:58,320 Speaker 1: impaling her with it. Now it sounds a little intense, 117 00:06:58,520 --> 00:07:00,320 Speaker 1: but the nun took the visions as per roof of 118 00:07:00,320 --> 00:07:04,120 Speaker 1: Claire's great holiness, and this was seemingly confirmed in the 119 00:07:04,200 --> 00:07:08,360 Speaker 1: years to come. After her vision, Claire experienced near constant pain, 120 00:07:08,720 --> 00:07:11,520 Speaker 1: yet she continued to serve as abbess and eventually became 121 00:07:11,560 --> 00:07:15,080 Speaker 1: famous for her wisdom and her charity. When she died 122 00:07:15,120 --> 00:07:17,720 Speaker 1: in thirteen oh four, the nuns in her order hoped 123 00:07:17,720 --> 00:07:20,560 Speaker 1: to see her officially recognized as a saint, but that 124 00:07:20,600 --> 00:07:24,320 Speaker 1: wouldn't be easy. In the Catholic Church, canonizing typically requires 125 00:07:24,360 --> 00:07:29,280 Speaker 1: evidence that the deceased has performed two verifiable miracles. Sister 126 00:07:29,400 --> 00:07:31,920 Speaker 1: Francesca wasn't in the mood to sit around and wait 127 00:07:31,960 --> 00:07:34,160 Speaker 1: for the abbess to bless her from beyond the grave. 128 00:07:34,520 --> 00:07:37,640 Speaker 1: She believed that Claire's vision from years earlier would constitute 129 00:07:37,680 --> 00:07:40,480 Speaker 1: a miracle if she could prove that it happened, So 130 00:07:40,640 --> 00:07:44,000 Speaker 1: she took matters into her own hands and cut Claire open. 131 00:07:44,640 --> 00:07:46,720 Speaker 1: She had only been examining the heart for a few 132 00:07:46,720 --> 00:07:50,160 Speaker 1: minutes when she suddenly dropped her scalpel. She stepped back 133 00:07:50,200 --> 00:07:53,040 Speaker 1: from the table in wonder, making the sign of the Cross. 134 00:07:53,400 --> 00:07:57,080 Speaker 1: Within the heart, she had discovered the image of a crucifix, 135 00:07:57,520 --> 00:08:01,920 Speaker 1: and as the autopsy continued, the nun uncovered more religious symbols, 136 00:08:02,160 --> 00:08:05,720 Speaker 1: including a whip and a crown of thorns. Whether or 137 00:08:05,800 --> 00:08:08,600 Speaker 1: not you buy that largely depends on your personal beliefs. 138 00:08:08,840 --> 00:08:11,360 Speaker 1: At the time, a lot of religious people accused them 139 00:08:11,400 --> 00:08:14,880 Speaker 1: of tampering with the heart and creating the symbols themselves. 140 00:08:15,280 --> 00:08:18,320 Speaker 1: It's also possible that they were simply seeing what they 141 00:08:18,360 --> 00:08:21,000 Speaker 1: wanted to see. The good news is you don't have 142 00:08:21,040 --> 00:08:23,880 Speaker 1: to take Sister Francesca's word for it. You can decide 143 00:08:23,880 --> 00:08:26,640 Speaker 1: for yourself. You see. It took a little longer than 144 00:08:26,680 --> 00:08:29,920 Speaker 1: she expected, but Claire was eventually canonized as a saint, 145 00:08:30,360 --> 00:08:32,880 Speaker 1: and because of that, her heart is still on display 146 00:08:32,960 --> 00:08:36,480 Speaker 1: at the Augustinian Convent in Montefalco, which means that you 147 00:08:36,520 --> 00:08:39,120 Speaker 1: can see it for yourself and determine whether you think 148 00:08:39,160 --> 00:08:42,840 Speaker 1: the images are real, and by doing so, you'll be 149 00:08:42,920 --> 00:08:46,479 Speaker 1: searching for the truth in Claire's remains. Continuing, the autopsy 150 00:08:46,520 --> 00:08:55,400 Speaker 1: that Sister Francesca started seven hundred years Ago. I hope 151 00:08:55,400 --> 00:08:58,719 Speaker 1: you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. 152 00:08:59,040 --> 00:09:02,160 Speaker 1: Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about 153 00:09:02,160 --> 00:09:06,720 Speaker 1: the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show 154 00:09:06,960 --> 00:09:10,200 Speaker 1: was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how 155 00:09:10,280 --> 00:09:13,880 Speaker 1: Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore, 156 00:09:14,120 --> 00:09:17,720 Speaker 1: which is a podcast, book series, and television show, and 157 00:09:17,800 --> 00:09:20,400 Speaker 1: you can learn all about it over at the Worldoflore 158 00:09:20,679 --> 00:09:24,920 Speaker 1: dot com. And until next time, stay curious.