1 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:07,440 Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Nke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of 2 00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:14,440 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of 3 00:00:14,480 --> 00:00:18,440 Speaker 1: the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all 4 00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:22,119 Speaker 1: of these amazing tales are right there on display, just 5 00:00:22,200 --> 00:00:28,840 Speaker 1: waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. 6 00:00:36,360 --> 00:00:39,680 Speaker 1: Nothing spreads faster than a good piece of trivia from 7 00:00:39,720 --> 00:00:42,000 Speaker 1: a far off land. We all have an appetite to 8 00:00:42,080 --> 00:00:45,360 Speaker 1: learn the strange and wonderful quirks of far off places. 9 00:00:45,600 --> 00:00:48,839 Speaker 1: That's partly why you listen to this show. Sometimes what 10 00:00:48,920 --> 00:00:52,120 Speaker 1: we can learn can shock us, sometimes it can amuse us, 11 00:00:52,360 --> 00:00:56,640 Speaker 1: and sometimes the lwer details are difficult to believe. In 12 00:00:56,680 --> 00:00:59,600 Speaker 1: early October of two thousand and nine, a strange news 13 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:03,960 Speaker 1: stories started circulating from the Chinese news agencies shin Hua 14 00:01:04,040 --> 00:01:07,399 Speaker 1: and Harbin News. It was a curiosity piece about a 15 00:01:07,440 --> 00:01:11,440 Speaker 1: place in northern Sweden with a particular history, a town 16 00:01:11,520 --> 00:01:15,960 Speaker 1: known as Chakabo. Founded in eighteen twenty, Chakabo City had 17 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:19,000 Speaker 1: a population of twenty five thousand people, about the same 18 00:01:19,080 --> 00:01:23,000 Speaker 1: size as Key West, Florida today, large enough to provoke interest, 19 00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:25,640 Speaker 1: but small enough that it wasn't surprising that the world 20 00:01:25,640 --> 00:01:28,720 Speaker 1: at large had never heard of it. What made Chakabo 21 00:01:28,840 --> 00:01:32,040 Speaker 1: City worthy of news coverage, however, was the nature of 22 00:01:32,080 --> 00:01:35,600 Speaker 1: that population. The report claimed that this city was populated 23 00:01:35,800 --> 00:01:40,360 Speaker 1: entirely by women. Men were categorically forbidden from living there, 24 00:01:40,680 --> 00:01:44,280 Speaker 1: working there, or even visiting. The article explained that the 25 00:01:44,319 --> 00:01:47,040 Speaker 1: woman who had founded it almost two hundred years earlier 26 00:01:47,200 --> 00:01:50,400 Speaker 1: was a wealthy widow who desired a sanctuary far away 27 00:01:50,400 --> 00:01:53,240 Speaker 1: from the eyes of men, so she founded an enclave 28 00:01:53,240 --> 00:01:55,920 Speaker 1: where only women could live. To the present day, if 29 00:01:55,920 --> 00:01:58,240 Speaker 1: a man showed up, they would be harshly turned away, 30 00:01:58,600 --> 00:02:01,560 Speaker 1: maybe even beaten up by blonde guards who stood at 31 00:02:01,560 --> 00:02:05,400 Speaker 1: its gates. Women, however, were welcome to visit as tourists. 32 00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:08,840 Speaker 1: As for the citizens, the over twenty thousand women who 33 00:02:08,880 --> 00:02:12,680 Speaker 1: lived within its walls primarily worked in woodworking and forestry. 34 00:02:13,040 --> 00:02:16,000 Speaker 1: This was not a nunnery, however. The citizens of Shakabo 35 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:18,640 Speaker 1: were permitted to leave the city if they wanted to 36 00:02:18,639 --> 00:02:21,320 Speaker 1: have a relationship with the man, They would just have 37 00:02:21,400 --> 00:02:24,560 Speaker 1: to wash themselves before they returned, a practice that doesn't 38 00:02:24,639 --> 00:02:28,320 Speaker 1: sound dissimilar from the Amish concept of from Springer. The 39 00:02:28,360 --> 00:02:32,000 Speaker 1: women who didn't leave developed romantic relationships with each other. 40 00:02:32,440 --> 00:02:35,679 Speaker 1: This naturally caught the eyes of the headline writers all 41 00:02:35,760 --> 00:02:38,520 Speaker 1: around the world. As the news of the city spread 42 00:02:38,560 --> 00:02:43,040 Speaker 1: throughout the international news. It was publicized as Sweden's secret 43 00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:47,240 Speaker 1: lesbian city. Swedish tourist sites were swamped with requests for 44 00:02:47,320 --> 00:02:51,320 Speaker 1: information about this place, leading several sites to fully crash 45 00:02:51,440 --> 00:02:55,880 Speaker 1: from the traffic. Eventually, representatives of Sweden's Tourism board had 46 00:02:55,880 --> 00:02:59,400 Speaker 1: to issue a statement regarding Chakabo's city. It does not 47 00:02:59,720 --> 00:03:02,840 Speaker 1: ex exist. The Swedish government said that there is no 48 00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:06,000 Speaker 1: way a city of that size in northern Sweden went 49 00:03:06,160 --> 00:03:09,799 Speaker 1: unnoticed for so many years. There is no secret lesbian 50 00:03:09,840 --> 00:03:13,760 Speaker 1: city lurking in the forests. Once the announcement was made, 51 00:03:14,120 --> 00:03:17,680 Speaker 1: it all seemed rather obvious. The rumors about Chacowell City 52 00:03:17,960 --> 00:03:21,160 Speaker 1: read like a laundry list of cliches. A town full 53 00:03:21,200 --> 00:03:24,320 Speaker 1: of women who work as lumberjacks all day, who only 54 00:03:24,360 --> 00:03:26,600 Speaker 1: know the touch of a man when they went on holiday. 55 00:03:26,880 --> 00:03:29,040 Speaker 1: It's the sort of fantasy that feels like it was 56 00:03:29,120 --> 00:03:32,720 Speaker 1: dreamed up by a lonely single guy. As amusing as 57 00:03:32,760 --> 00:03:36,800 Speaker 1: this hoax was, one question that was never fully definitively answered, 58 00:03:37,280 --> 00:03:41,000 Speaker 1: How and why did this story reach actual news agencies? 59 00:03:41,560 --> 00:03:44,360 Speaker 1: Was it an anonymous tip a prank from within the 60 00:03:44,400 --> 00:03:47,480 Speaker 1: staff of those agencies? Well to this day, while there 61 00:03:47,520 --> 00:03:51,720 Speaker 1: are many theories, the motive remains a mystery either way. 62 00:03:51,920 --> 00:03:55,200 Speaker 1: Although it was definitively proven false, the Internet latched onto 63 00:03:55,200 --> 00:03:58,880 Speaker 1: the story as an amusing fiction. Online communities created a 64 00:03:58,920 --> 00:04:02,840 Speaker 1: flag for the fake Lesbian City, wrote humorous web comics 65 00:04:02,840 --> 00:04:05,800 Speaker 1: about the hoax. Someone even made a short film set 66 00:04:05,880 --> 00:04:08,280 Speaker 1: in the city in twenty ten, less than a year 67 00:04:08,360 --> 00:04:11,440 Speaker 1: after the initial hoax. And of course, the Internet of 68 00:04:11,480 --> 00:04:13,960 Speaker 1: today is a much more noisy place than it was 69 00:04:14,080 --> 00:04:17,000 Speaker 1: in two thousand and nine. There are even more websites, 70 00:04:17,080 --> 00:04:21,479 Speaker 1: content mills, and social media accounts entirely dedicated to churning 71 00:04:21,480 --> 00:04:25,400 Speaker 1: out misinformation. Throw in the use of AI to create 72 00:04:25,440 --> 00:04:28,279 Speaker 1: images and text, and it's hard not to imagine a 73 00:04:28,320 --> 00:04:31,280 Speaker 1: website making a claim like this today, even one that 74 00:04:31,320 --> 00:04:34,279 Speaker 1: purports to be a press outlet. What is hard to 75 00:04:34,320 --> 00:04:38,360 Speaker 1: imagine is this story achieving a similar level of virality today. 76 00:04:38,640 --> 00:04:41,080 Speaker 1: After all, when it comes to fake stories on the Internet, 77 00:04:41,400 --> 00:04:46,559 Speaker 1: misinformation is no longer the exception. Sadly, it's the rule. 78 00:05:01,120 --> 00:05:03,480 Speaker 1: If you go to enough trivia nights at the local bar, 79 00:05:03,600 --> 00:05:06,359 Speaker 1: you're bound to get a question like this, what tenth 80 00:05:06,400 --> 00:05:10,240 Speaker 1: century Viking king is a modern Wi Fi technology named 81 00:05:10,279 --> 00:05:14,480 Speaker 1: after Bluetooth technology? Is the answer. It was named after 82 00:05:14,600 --> 00:05:18,719 Speaker 1: Harold Bluetooth Gormson, the Viking king of Norway and Denmark, 83 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:21,040 Speaker 1: and he got the name because he had a dead 84 00:05:21,200 --> 00:05:25,240 Speaker 1: bluish black tooth in his mouth. Now, Bluetooth was considered 85 00:05:25,279 --> 00:05:28,039 Speaker 1: a great uniter because he was the first king to 86 00:05:28,160 --> 00:05:31,599 Speaker 1: unify the Danish territories, and that's why the company named 87 00:05:31,600 --> 00:05:36,560 Speaker 1: their technology after him. Bluetooth as a technology brings all 88 00:05:36,600 --> 00:05:39,919 Speaker 1: of your devices together. Oh and by the way, the 89 00:05:39,960 --> 00:05:43,159 Speaker 1: company logo that you'll actually see in your phone's settings 90 00:05:43,560 --> 00:05:46,200 Speaker 1: is Bluetooth's name written the way that it would be 91 00:05:46,240 --> 00:05:50,200 Speaker 1: carved into ronestones from all those years before. During the 92 00:05:50,279 --> 00:05:54,080 Speaker 1: Viking Age, runestones were stone monuments that were erected to 93 00:05:54,160 --> 00:05:57,920 Speaker 1: remember significant battles or events, or to honor the dead. 94 00:05:58,200 --> 00:06:00,720 Speaker 1: They were painted with bright colors and put in high 95 00:06:00,720 --> 00:06:04,039 Speaker 1: traffic areas where the entire community would see them often. 96 00:06:04,400 --> 00:06:07,560 Speaker 1: There are only about two hundred and fifty known runstones 97 00:06:07,880 --> 00:06:11,040 Speaker 1: from the Viking Age, so for a Viking's name to 98 00:06:11,080 --> 00:06:13,640 Speaker 1: be carved into a runestone that was kind of a 99 00:06:13,640 --> 00:06:16,120 Speaker 1: big deal, which means it's fair to say that King 100 00:06:16,200 --> 00:06:19,159 Speaker 1: Harold Bluetooth was one of the most famous Vikings to 101 00:06:19,279 --> 00:06:22,440 Speaker 1: have ever lived. And yet if being mentioned on a 102 00:06:22,520 --> 00:06:26,080 Speaker 1: runstone is proof of a Viking's importance, there was actually 103 00:06:26,120 --> 00:06:29,599 Speaker 1: someone who was far more celebrated than Bluetooth. In fact, 104 00:06:29,640 --> 00:06:33,200 Speaker 1: this Viking is honored on more runstones throughout Denmark than 105 00:06:33,240 --> 00:06:36,240 Speaker 1: any other Viking of their age, and yet their story 106 00:06:36,560 --> 00:06:40,039 Speaker 1: has been mostly lost to history. The Viking in question 107 00:06:40,160 --> 00:06:44,159 Speaker 1: you see was related to Bluetooth. It was his own mother, Tyra, 108 00:06:44,480 --> 00:06:47,400 Speaker 1: the Forgotten Viking Queen. She lived in Denmark in the 109 00:06:47,440 --> 00:06:50,239 Speaker 1: tenth century, but because histories were oral at the time 110 00:06:50,480 --> 00:06:53,960 Speaker 1: and that oral history has largely been lost, almost nothing 111 00:06:54,040 --> 00:06:56,960 Speaker 1: is known about her life. She married King Gorm the Old, 112 00:06:57,000 --> 00:07:00,240 Speaker 1: who enjoyed a relatively uneventful reign, and of course she 113 00:07:00,279 --> 00:07:04,320 Speaker 1: had a son that's Harold Bluetooth. In most modern history books, 114 00:07:04,520 --> 00:07:07,200 Speaker 1: that is the beginning and the end of Tyra's story. 115 00:07:07,440 --> 00:07:11,000 Speaker 1: She's a side character in narratives about powerful men. But 116 00:07:11,120 --> 00:07:13,960 Speaker 1: new evidence suggests that there is more to Tyra than 117 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:18,880 Speaker 1: we originally thought. Recently, archaeologists at the Swedish National Heritage 118 00:07:18,920 --> 00:07:23,040 Speaker 1: Board conducted a study on four runestones scattered across Denmark. 119 00:07:23,360 --> 00:07:26,560 Speaker 1: They all celebrate a Viking named Tyra, but Tyra was 120 00:07:26,600 --> 00:07:28,520 Speaker 1: a common name at the time, so there was no 121 00:07:28,600 --> 00:07:30,920 Speaker 1: way of knowing whether it was the same Tyra being 122 00:07:30,960 --> 00:07:34,160 Speaker 1: mentioned on all four stones. Two of those stones are 123 00:07:34,200 --> 00:07:36,960 Speaker 1: located in Yelling, Denmark, which was the royal seat of 124 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:40,280 Speaker 1: power when Tyra was alive. The other stones are located 125 00:07:40,280 --> 00:07:44,240 Speaker 1: in nearby towns, and so a senior researcher named kitzler 126 00:07:44,280 --> 00:07:47,600 Speaker 1: Afeld study the runestones using a three D scan. The 127 00:07:47,640 --> 00:07:49,840 Speaker 1: scan let her analyze the carvings in a way that's 128 00:07:49,840 --> 00:07:54,520 Speaker 1: similar to modern day forensic handwriting examinations. The scans revealed 129 00:07:54,560 --> 00:07:57,600 Speaker 1: that all four runstones were carved by the same person. 130 00:07:58,040 --> 00:08:00,520 Speaker 1: On one of the ruinstones, that person gives gives Tira 131 00:08:00,600 --> 00:08:03,360 Speaker 1: the title of queen, and the other stones all linked 132 00:08:03,360 --> 00:08:06,600 Speaker 1: to King Gorm and King Harold, and that proved that 133 00:08:06,640 --> 00:08:10,520 Speaker 1: all four stones were celebrating the same Queen, Tira. They 134 00:08:10,560 --> 00:08:13,240 Speaker 1: say that she was a powerful woman of status. She 135 00:08:13,320 --> 00:08:17,600 Speaker 1: owned land and had legal authority, but carvings also suggests 136 00:08:17,640 --> 00:08:20,800 Speaker 1: that Tira played a key role in unifying the Danish realm. 137 00:08:21,120 --> 00:08:23,800 Speaker 1: She may have even been more influential in that cause 138 00:08:23,840 --> 00:08:29,120 Speaker 1: than Bluetooth himself. One runestone calls her Denmark's strength and salvation. 139 00:08:29,840 --> 00:08:33,400 Speaker 1: The idea is supported by historical records from the twelfth century. 140 00:08:33,600 --> 00:08:35,920 Speaker 1: They credit Tira as the one who built the Dona 141 00:08:35,960 --> 00:08:39,520 Speaker 1: Verka Fortifications, an eighteen mile long series of walls and 142 00:08:39,559 --> 00:08:43,640 Speaker 1: trenches that protect Denmark from foreign invaders. But maybe what 143 00:08:43,760 --> 00:08:46,440 Speaker 1: proves this legacy most is the fact that two of 144 00:08:46,440 --> 00:08:49,840 Speaker 1: her runestones were commissioned by her husband and her son. 145 00:08:50,360 --> 00:08:53,680 Speaker 1: They wanted to immortalize her legacy, which begs us to 146 00:08:53,720 --> 00:08:57,680 Speaker 1: ask an important question. If Tira was so beloved, why 147 00:08:57,720 --> 00:09:01,480 Speaker 1: don't we remember her story today. While historians began to 148 00:09:01,520 --> 00:09:04,760 Speaker 1: study Vikings in the early nineteenth century at a time 149 00:09:04,760 --> 00:09:09,600 Speaker 1: when the Western worldview was predominantly male oriented, now researchers 150 00:09:09,640 --> 00:09:13,840 Speaker 1: think that these early historians relegated Viking women to the sidelines, 151 00:09:13,960 --> 00:09:16,920 Speaker 1: and instead they focused on the men who ruled the 152 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:21,320 Speaker 1: Viking Age. In reality, Viking women enjoyed more freedom than 153 00:09:21,400 --> 00:09:24,920 Speaker 1: women in most other societies at the time. Political life 154 00:09:25,080 --> 00:09:28,000 Speaker 1: was still dominated by men, but Viking women were seen 155 00:09:28,040 --> 00:09:31,640 Speaker 1: as capable rulers as well. The men in Tyra's life 156 00:09:31,720 --> 00:09:35,079 Speaker 1: understood this, and that marriage gave her the title of Queen, 157 00:09:35,480 --> 00:09:39,600 Speaker 1: a title carved in stone. But her accomplishments, it seems, 158 00:09:40,040 --> 00:09:46,719 Speaker 1: are what carved her place in history. I hope you've 159 00:09:46,800 --> 00:09:50,760 Speaker 1: enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe 160 00:09:50,760 --> 00:09:53,400 Speaker 1: for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the 161 00:09:53,440 --> 00:09:58,240 Speaker 1: show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was 162 00:09:58,280 --> 00:10:02,120 Speaker 1: created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how Stuff Works. 163 00:10:02,520 --> 00:10:05,680 Speaker 1: I make another award winning show called Lore, which is 164 00:10:05,800 --> 00:10:09,160 Speaker 1: a podcast, book series, and television show, and you can 165 00:10:09,240 --> 00:10:13,240 Speaker 1: learn all about it over at Theworldoflore dot com. And 166 00:10:13,360 --> 00:10:17,680 Speaker 1: until next time, stay curious.