WEBVTT - Seconded 0:00:04.080 --> 0:00:07.440 Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of 0:00:07.480 --> 0:00:14.440 iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of 0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:18.440 the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all 0:00:18.480 --> 0:00:22.159 of these amazing tales are right there on display, just 0:00:22.200 --> 0:00:28.840 waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. 0:00:36.320 --> 0:00:39.199 It's the most popular flavor in the world. It can 0:00:39.240 --> 0:00:42.600 be found in ice cream, coffees, yogurts, and fruit dishes. 0:00:42.920 --> 0:00:47.400 It's used in skincare, fragrances and household cleaners. I'm talking, 0:00:47.440 --> 0:00:51.839 of course, about vanilla, but it wasn't always so. As 0:00:51.880 --> 0:00:53.880 a matter of fact, for the first few hundreds of 0:00:53.960 --> 0:00:56.520 years that we knew about this famous flavor, it was 0:00:56.560 --> 0:00:59.920 considered an incredible luxury outside of its origin in Mexi, 0:01:00.480 --> 0:01:04.640 unavailable to the common tongue, until one adolescent boy changed 0:01:04.680 --> 0:01:09.160 all of that. The vanilla orchid or vanilla plantifolia if 0:01:09.200 --> 0:01:13.000 you're into science, is a native of Mexico. It produces 0:01:13.040 --> 0:01:16.640 a delicate pod that's after curing, gives us the aromatic 0:01:16.680 --> 0:01:20.399 beans with that famous flavor. It was cultivated for centuries 0:01:20.440 --> 0:01:23.960 in Mexico, first by the Teutonic people, and was later 0:01:24.040 --> 0:01:27.720 exploited by the Spanish during the brutal days of the conquistadors, 0:01:28.040 --> 0:01:31.600 and it quickly became a hit with European royalty. The 0:01:31.680 --> 0:01:34.560 problem with that, at least so far as Europe was concerned, 0:01:34.760 --> 0:01:37.640 was that while the orchid could be grown in any environment, 0:01:37.840 --> 0:01:41.080 it would only produce the vanilla beans in its native habitat. 0:01:41.319 --> 0:01:44.560 And this all came down to one factor, the melapana bee, 0:01:44.720 --> 0:01:48.560 which could only be found in Mexico. Essentially, without the 0:01:48.600 --> 0:01:51.840 bee to pollinate the blossom, the flower would wilt without 0:01:51.880 --> 0:01:55.559 producing that prized sea pod, and so for three long 0:01:55.640 --> 0:01:59.080 centuries after being brought to Europe it remained incredibly rare. 0:01:59.400 --> 0:02:01.360 No matter where where they tried to grow it, the 0:02:01.400 --> 0:02:05.120 flower would produce no fruit. That is until twelve year 0:02:05.120 --> 0:02:09.680 old Edmund Albius. Albius was born into slavery in eighteen 0:02:09.800 --> 0:02:12.680 twenty nine on the French island of Bourbon in the 0:02:12.680 --> 0:02:15.680 Indian Ocean. He was the child of an enslaved woman 0:02:15.919 --> 0:02:18.440 and a white father who would not claim him. He 0:02:18.639 --> 0:02:21.640 was an intelligent young man who was deeply interested in 0:02:21.639 --> 0:02:24.880 the natural world, and he worked in the plantation garden 0:02:25.080 --> 0:02:28.600 where vanilla vines had been planted and struggled to thrive. 0:02:29.320 --> 0:02:31.400 By the time he was twelve, he had set his 0:02:31.480 --> 0:02:35.400 intelligence on the problem of the vanilla orchids. He noticed 0:02:35.440 --> 0:02:38.160 that they withered before producing the same sort of seed 0:02:38.240 --> 0:02:42.080 pods similar flowers would grow. Other flowers in the garden 0:02:42.160 --> 0:02:44.400 did not seem to have that same problem, and so 0:02:44.560 --> 0:02:49.200 Albius came up with a method both simple and revolutionary. 0:02:49.320 --> 0:02:52.360 Using a small sliver of bamboo and his thumb, he 0:02:52.560 --> 0:02:56.440 gently lifted the rostelium, which is a small barrier between 0:02:56.480 --> 0:03:00.480 the flowers male and female organs or antler and stigma, 0:03:01.000 --> 0:03:04.480 and pressed the two parts together, transferring the pollen between 0:03:04.480 --> 0:03:08.480 the two. He was effectively mimicking the pollinator's method, in 0:03:08.520 --> 0:03:11.280 particular that of a small Mexican bee who had kept 0:03:11.280 --> 0:03:14.760 the vanilla orchid fruiting in Mexico, and because of the 0:03:14.800 --> 0:03:18.080 pistol shape that his handmade while performing the delicate action, 0:03:18.320 --> 0:03:22.680 he named the technique La pistolae. That very season, the 0:03:22.840 --> 0:03:26.400 very first vanilla pods were harvested in Bourbon. Albius had 0:03:26.440 --> 0:03:29.520 created an effect a technique of pollinating the orchid that 0:03:29.639 --> 0:03:33.080 required no special tools beyond a sliver of wood and 0:03:33.200 --> 0:03:37.760 a steady hand. Anyone could produce vanilla now, and they did. 0:03:38.040 --> 0:03:42.440 Plantations all over the tropics began to use Young Edmund's technique, 0:03:42.680 --> 0:03:47.040 and soon Madagascar was out producing Mexico in vanilla exports. 0:03:47.840 --> 0:03:50.680 With all of the new vanilla on the market, prices 0:03:50.720 --> 0:03:55.000 plummeted seemingly overnight. Vanilla went from being an exotic flavor 0:03:55.120 --> 0:03:58.280 only sampled by the rich, to a popular flavor among 0:03:58.320 --> 0:04:01.440 the masses. It could suddenly be found in desserts and 0:04:01.480 --> 0:04:05.000 perfumes all around the world, and because of that, one 0:04:05.000 --> 0:04:08.640 would think that young Edmund Albius would find worldwide acclaim 0:04:08.880 --> 0:04:11.520 well in a just world at least, but it was 0:04:11.560 --> 0:04:15.080 not a just world, and Albius's station in life afforded 0:04:15.160 --> 0:04:19.360 him no recourse when the plantation owner, again named Charles Frapier, 0:04:19.720 --> 0:04:23.200 took credit for the method. Later on, French botanist Joseph 0:04:23.279 --> 0:04:26.920 Decane would also take credit, and Albius himself was considered 0:04:26.960 --> 0:04:30.400 a footnote in the story of his own ingenuity. He 0:04:30.440 --> 0:04:34.080 received no accolades, no royalties, nothing in the way of 0:04:34.120 --> 0:04:39.000 compensation for the revolutionary scientific achievement. His work made vanilla 0:04:39.040 --> 0:04:42.800 production a massive industry, but to the plantation owners and 0:04:42.920 --> 0:04:47.039 importers went all the spoils. When slavery was abolished in 0:04:47.080 --> 0:04:50.280 French colonies in eighteen forty eight, the then nineteen year 0:04:50.320 --> 0:04:53.359 old Albius continued to work as a gardener, living in 0:04:53.400 --> 0:04:56.360 obscurity until his death at the age of fifty one. 0:04:56.800 --> 0:05:01.360 He would only receive the recognition that he deserved decades later. Today, 0:05:01.400 --> 0:05:05.160 in Bourbon now Reunion, Edmund Albius is spoken of with 0:05:05.320 --> 0:05:08.800 great reverence. There are streets and schools named after him, 0:05:09.040 --> 0:05:12.440 and statues built in his honor. That Vanilla is nearly 0:05:12.560 --> 0:05:16.599 universally beloved is a statement to his brilliant discovery. It 0:05:16.640 --> 0:05:19.320 also serves as a reminder of the many minds and 0:05:19.360 --> 0:05:22.640 talents that have been overlooked throughout the centuries due to 0:05:22.680 --> 0:05:26.719 the racism and exploitation that is the hallmark of colonialism. 0:05:27.200 --> 0:05:29.520 So the next time you sip a latte or take 0:05:29.560 --> 0:05:32.800 that first delicious spoonful of ice cream, remember the name 0:05:33.080 --> 0:05:36.919 Edmund Albius, the young genius that brought that taste to 0:05:36.960 --> 0:05:53.479 the world. It's no exaggeration to say that ancient Egypt 0:05:53.640 --> 0:05:57.359 was an incredible and mysterious place. Archaeology tells us that 0:05:57.400 --> 0:06:01.279 ancient Egyptian civilization lasted for over three three thousand years, 0:06:01.560 --> 0:06:05.039 which means it endured longer than everything that has happened since. 0:06:05.720 --> 0:06:09.680 The ancient Egyptians were highly literate and left behind many records, 0:06:09.960 --> 0:06:12.440 but the sands of time have worn those records down 0:06:12.480 --> 0:06:16.599 to where we only have brief, curious snapshots into Egyptian history. 0:06:17.440 --> 0:06:21.320 We know relatively little about some of its most significant rulers, 0:06:21.360 --> 0:06:24.080 the pharaohs, but the snapshots that we do have for 0:06:24.160 --> 0:06:27.719 one particular ruler paint him as the most curious pharaoh 0:06:27.800 --> 0:06:31.320 of all. Peppi the Second was only six years old 0:06:31.320 --> 0:06:34.480 when his older brother suddenly died. All he'd ever known 0:06:34.640 --> 0:06:37.560 was living at the palace and having his every need 0:06:37.600 --> 0:06:41.279 attendant to Now, in the year twenty two seventy eight BC, 0:06:41.839 --> 0:06:44.919 he was crowned pharaoh, and the whole kingdom had to 0:06:44.960 --> 0:06:48.320 do whatever he wanted. Since he was forced to stay 0:06:48.360 --> 0:06:51.080 at the palace by his mother, He demanded that his 0:06:51.160 --> 0:06:54.279 servants bring him interesting things from all over the kingdom. 0:06:54.640 --> 0:06:57.840 He loved playing with chunks of turquoise and copper, or 0:06:57.880 --> 0:07:01.920 looking at finely sculpted pottery in statuary, But his whole 0:07:01.960 --> 0:07:04.360 world changed one day when he received word from an 0:07:04.360 --> 0:07:08.359 expedition leader in the south, the explorer Harcouf had captured 0:07:08.400 --> 0:07:12.080 a pigmy hunter. These were the short, mysterious people far 0:07:12.200 --> 0:07:14.960 to the south, near where the nile flowed out from 0:07:15.000 --> 0:07:18.040 the underworld. For a number of weeks, all Peppy could 0:07:18.080 --> 0:07:19.840 think about was what it would be like to have 0:07:19.880 --> 0:07:22.960 such a strange person in his court. So he wrote 0:07:22.960 --> 0:07:26.560 back to Harcouf with special instructions. The pigmy was to 0:07:26.600 --> 0:07:29.160 be treated with the utmost care. He was to be 0:07:29.240 --> 0:07:32.600 surrounded on Harcouf's boat on both sides so that there 0:07:32.680 --> 0:07:35.200 was no risk of him falling into the nile, and 0:07:35.240 --> 0:07:37.840 he should also be surrounded by guards at night to 0:07:37.920 --> 0:07:41.320 protect him in his sleep. When Harkuf finally arrived with 0:07:41.360 --> 0:07:45.040 a captive, Peppy was overjoyed. The short dark man was 0:07:45.160 --> 0:07:48.280 unlike anyone he had ever met before. He would keep 0:07:48.360 --> 0:07:51.080 him as a dancer in his court for as long 0:07:51.120 --> 0:07:54.440 as he lived. As Pepy got older, his tendency to 0:07:54.560 --> 0:07:57.920 use people for his own comfort or amusement didn't get 0:07:57.960 --> 0:08:00.840 any better. He saw himself as a guy, so that's 0:08:00.880 --> 0:08:04.000 all he needed to justify his every whim and a 0:08:04.040 --> 0:08:06.080 good example of this comes from the time when he 0:08:06.160 --> 0:08:09.320 was finally out from his mother's thumb and ruling Egypt 0:08:09.360 --> 0:08:12.160 on his own. His long days of seeing his subjects 0:08:12.200 --> 0:08:14.600 in his throne room had started to wear on him. 0:08:14.880 --> 0:08:17.720 He was always hot, and the endless flies that flew 0:08:17.720 --> 0:08:20.920 in from the nile constantly pestered him. They say that 0:08:21.120 --> 0:08:23.720 one day he noticed that the flies tended to congregate 0:08:23.760 --> 0:08:26.600 around the jar of honey at his food table. He 0:08:26.880 --> 0:08:29.800 looked from the jar of honey to his enslaved people 0:08:29.880 --> 0:08:33.640 standing by, and he got a terrible idea. Peppi had 0:08:33.640 --> 0:08:36.440 these enslaved people coated in honey from head to toe, 0:08:36.800 --> 0:08:40.800 turning them into gooey, glistening golden monoliths by his side, 0:08:41.080 --> 0:08:43.800 And now instead of pestering him, all of the flies 0:08:43.880 --> 0:08:47.680 pestered his enslaved people, swarming around them and getting stuck 0:08:47.720 --> 0:08:49.960 in the honey. We can only imagine what it was 0:08:50.120 --> 0:08:52.000 like for those people when they went to clean up 0:08:52.040 --> 0:08:55.720 after a long day of serving beside the pharaoh. One 0:08:55.760 --> 0:09:00.000 final curious snapshot of Peppi comes from his adult years. 0:09:00.000 --> 0:09:03.280 This story was actually written hundreds of years after his death, 0:09:03.559 --> 0:09:06.240 so it may be more legend than fact, but it's 0:09:06.280 --> 0:09:09.840 a historical interest to Egyptologists. None the less One of 0:09:09.840 --> 0:09:13.720 Peppe's court officials, a man named Cheeti, noticed that Peppe 0:09:13.760 --> 0:09:17.959 mysteriously left his chambers every night for four hours. Once 0:09:18.000 --> 0:09:20.600 the pharaoh was believed to be an incarnation of the 0:09:20.640 --> 0:09:24.440 sun god Ra, Cheety wondered if perhaps he was traveling 0:09:24.440 --> 0:09:28.080 to the underworld each night, as the myths around Ra suggested, 0:09:28.679 --> 0:09:31.760 driven by a healthy dose of curiosity, something we can 0:09:31.800 --> 0:09:35.760 all relate to. Cheaty followed Peppe from the shadows, winding 0:09:35.800 --> 0:09:38.439 through the columns of the palace. As the pharaoh journeyed 0:09:38.480 --> 0:09:41.440 out into the moonlight, he crossed a courtyard next to 0:09:41.480 --> 0:09:43.720 the palace and arrived at the home of one of 0:09:43.760 --> 0:09:47.840 his general's sarsanet. Peppe threw a brick at the window, 0:09:48.120 --> 0:09:51.040 and the general appeared, lowering a ladder for the pharaoh 0:09:51.080 --> 0:09:55.120 to climb up. He disappeared inside, and Cheety waited four 0:09:55.160 --> 0:09:58.680 hours until the pharaoh re emerged. Although the story never 0:09:58.720 --> 0:10:01.560 says what Peppy was doing at the general's house, it 0:10:01.679 --> 0:10:05.000 strongly implies that they may have been lovers. If so, 0:10:05.520 --> 0:10:10.319 this mysterious affair is yet another unusual chapter in Peppi's legacy. 0:10:11.040 --> 0:10:13.280 Given that this is all we know about the Pharaoh, 0:10:13.559 --> 0:10:16.240 and that the sands of time have likely erased all 0:10:16.280 --> 0:10:19.319 other records of his life. We will probably never have 0:10:19.440 --> 0:10:22.520 the full picture, but that just makes us even more 0:10:22.600 --> 0:10:26.600 curious about this ruler who lived longer ago than any 0:10:26.640 --> 0:10:33.400 of us can imagine. I hope you enjoyed today's guided 0:10:33.400 --> 0:10:36.960 tour through the Cabinet of Curiosities. This show was created 0:10:37.000 --> 0:10:41.319 by me Aaron Manke in partnership with iHeart Podcasts, researched 0:10:41.320 --> 0:10:43.760 and written by the Grim and Mild team, and produced 0:10:43.840 --> 0:10:46.480 by Jesse Funk. Learn more about the show and the 0:10:46.520 --> 0:10:50.960 people who make it over at Grimandmild dot com slash Curiosities. 0:10:51.200 --> 0:10:53.520 You'll also find a link to the official Cabinet of 0:10:53.559 --> 0:10:57.719 Curiosity's hardcover book, available in bookstores and online, as well 0:10:57.720 --> 0:11:00.320 as ebook and audiobook. And if you look looking for 0:11:00.360 --> 0:11:03.679 an ad free option, consider joining our Patreon. It's all 0:11:03.679 --> 0:11:06.720 the same stories, but without the interruption for a small 0:11:06.800 --> 0:11:09.920 monthly fee. Learn more and sign up over at patreon 0:11:10.000 --> 0:11:15.240 dot com, slash Grimandmild, and until next time, stay curious.