1 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:07,480 Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manke'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 00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:18,480 Speaker 1: the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all 4 00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:22,639 Speaker 1: of these amazing tales right there on display, just waiting 5 00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:28,920 Speaker 1: for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. 6 00:00:36,720 --> 00:00:39,239 Speaker 1: You ever get that feeling you meet somebody at a 7 00:00:39,280 --> 00:00:41,559 Speaker 1: party or sit down with a new colleague, and for 8 00:00:41,600 --> 00:00:44,360 Speaker 1: some reason you can't help but think that they seem familiar, 9 00:00:44,680 --> 00:00:47,200 Speaker 1: and at some point you just have to ask, don't 10 00:00:47,240 --> 00:00:50,839 Speaker 1: I know you from somewhere? For nineteen year old Bobby Schaffron, 11 00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:54,520 Speaker 1: it seemed everyone at Sullivan County Community College had that 12 00:00:54,560 --> 00:00:57,920 Speaker 1: same feeling. It was moving day in nineteen eighty and 13 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:00,400 Speaker 1: a dozen people had welcomed him back to school, which 14 00:01:00,480 --> 00:01:03,360 Speaker 1: was very nice, but a little odd because Bobby was 15 00:01:03,440 --> 00:01:06,560 Speaker 1: a brand new student. And another thing. Some people were 16 00:01:06,600 --> 00:01:10,920 Speaker 1: greeting Bobby and they kept calling him by the wrong name, Eddie. Finally, 17 00:01:10,959 --> 00:01:13,160 Speaker 1: one of the other students asked him a strange question, 18 00:01:13,680 --> 00:01:18,119 Speaker 1: was he adopted? When Bobby replied yes, the student grew excited. Bobby. 19 00:01:18,240 --> 00:01:20,720 Speaker 1: He said, I think that you might have a twin. 20 00:01:21,480 --> 00:01:24,880 Speaker 1: It turned out that Bobby Schaffering looked exactly like Eddie Galland, 21 00:01:25,040 --> 00:01:28,360 Speaker 1: another student who attended the college the year before. When 22 00:01:28,440 --> 00:01:32,320 Speaker 1: Bobby met Eddie face to face, the similarities were unmistakable. 23 00:01:32,560 --> 00:01:35,120 Speaker 1: They had both been born on July twelfth of nineteen 24 00:01:35,200 --> 00:01:38,399 Speaker 1: sixty one, They were both adopted through the Louise Wise 25 00:01:38,480 --> 00:01:43,240 Speaker 1: adoption agency, and they looked exactly alike. Now, long lost 26 00:01:43,240 --> 00:01:46,240 Speaker 1: twins finding each other is already an amazing story right. 27 00:01:46,400 --> 00:01:48,320 Speaker 1: In fact, it got Bobby and Eddie on the front 28 00:01:48,320 --> 00:01:51,919 Speaker 1: page of several New York newspapers. But the truly miraculous 29 00:01:51,960 --> 00:01:54,600 Speaker 1: twist happened several days later when the boys got a 30 00:01:54,640 --> 00:01:57,639 Speaker 1: call from a guy named David Killman. Bobby and Eddie 31 00:01:57,760 --> 00:02:01,560 Speaker 1: looked exactly like him. They weren't long lost twins, they 32 00:02:01,560 --> 00:02:04,840 Speaker 1: were triplets, and these three men were carbon copies of 33 00:02:04,880 --> 00:02:07,320 Speaker 1: each other. They all had the same curly hair and 34 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:10,480 Speaker 1: big smiles. They were all adopted by Jewish families in 35 00:02:10,520 --> 00:02:13,120 Speaker 1: New York, and each had an adopted sister who was 36 00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:16,440 Speaker 1: two years older. But the similarities didn't stop there. They 37 00:02:16,480 --> 00:02:20,760 Speaker 1: had big, gregarious personalities. They all liked Chinese food, smoked 38 00:02:20,760 --> 00:02:24,120 Speaker 1: Marlboroughs and wrestled in school. They had never met before, 39 00:02:24,160 --> 00:02:26,880 Speaker 1: but they felt like the oldest of friends. In the 40 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:29,919 Speaker 1: years after Bobby, Eddie and David found each other, they 41 00:02:29,919 --> 00:02:33,560 Speaker 1: became minor celebrities. They headlined every major talk show and 42 00:02:33,600 --> 00:02:36,880 Speaker 1: were fixtures on the club circuit. They opened a restaurant 43 00:02:36,919 --> 00:02:40,040 Speaker 1: called of Course, Triplets. They even landed a cameo in 44 00:02:40,160 --> 00:02:44,160 Speaker 1: a Madonna movie. But still, the trio had some burning questions. 45 00:02:44,320 --> 00:02:46,480 Speaker 1: For instance, why did they have to find each other 46 00:02:46,520 --> 00:02:49,760 Speaker 1: in the first place. It wasn't common for adoption agencies 47 00:02:49,800 --> 00:02:52,760 Speaker 1: to split up siblings, let alone keep their existence a 48 00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:56,360 Speaker 1: secret from each other. Why had the Louise Wise agency 49 00:02:56,600 --> 00:02:59,480 Speaker 1: lied to the three boys and their families at the 50 00:02:59,520 --> 00:03:02,080 Speaker 1: same time? And the Triplets were asking these questions, so 51 00:03:02,400 --> 00:03:05,440 Speaker 1: was a journalist, Lawrence Wright. He'd been working on a 52 00:03:05,480 --> 00:03:08,840 Speaker 1: story about twins separated at birth, and in his research 53 00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:12,880 Speaker 1: he found references to an obscure study. A psychologist, doctor 54 00:03:12,960 --> 00:03:17,720 Speaker 1: Peter Neubauer, was studying the effects of nature versus nurture. Basically, 55 00:03:17,840 --> 00:03:20,640 Speaker 1: Neubauer wanted to know what had a bigger effect on 56 00:03:20,680 --> 00:03:24,000 Speaker 1: someone's life, their genetics or the environment that they grew 57 00:03:24,080 --> 00:03:28,160 Speaker 1: up in. To find out doctor Neubauer purposely separated sets 58 00:03:28,200 --> 00:03:31,520 Speaker 1: of twins and had them adopted by different families and 59 00:03:31,560 --> 00:03:34,840 Speaker 1: the adoption agency that he used for his experiment the 60 00:03:34,920 --> 00:03:38,680 Speaker 1: Louise Wise Agency where Bobby, Eddie and David had been 61 00:03:38,720 --> 00:03:41,960 Speaker 1: adopted from. So when Lawrence Wright reached out to the 62 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:45,040 Speaker 1: triplets with this revelation, at first they couldn't believe it, 63 00:03:45,280 --> 00:03:49,600 Speaker 1: and then they started comparing notes. All three remembered strangers 64 00:03:49,640 --> 00:03:52,680 Speaker 1: coming to their houses throughout their childhoods. These people would 65 00:03:52,720 --> 00:03:56,440 Speaker 1: film the boys and ask them questions. They'd tested their coordination, 66 00:03:56,600 --> 00:04:00,200 Speaker 1: their cognitive development, even their IQ and their parents had 67 00:04:00,200 --> 00:04:02,040 Speaker 1: been told that it was just part of a study 68 00:04:02,080 --> 00:04:05,200 Speaker 1: on how adopted children adjusted to their new homes. But 69 00:04:05,280 --> 00:04:08,440 Speaker 1: each boy never knew that he had two identical brothers 70 00:04:08,520 --> 00:04:12,560 Speaker 1: just a few miles away. Bobby, Eddie, and David were 71 00:04:12,600 --> 00:04:15,880 Speaker 1: devastated by this revelation. It felt like every aspect of 72 00:04:15,920 --> 00:04:19,479 Speaker 1: their lives had been tightly controlled for some experiment. Even 73 00:04:19,520 --> 00:04:23,520 Speaker 1: their families were carefully selected. David was purposely placed into 74 00:04:23,560 --> 00:04:27,040 Speaker 1: a working class family, Bobby's parents were middle class, and 75 00:04:27,160 --> 00:04:30,640 Speaker 1: Eddie grew up upper class. The pressure of fame coupled 76 00:04:30,640 --> 00:04:33,360 Speaker 1: with the discovery was a lot for the brothers to bear. 77 00:04:33,680 --> 00:04:36,160 Speaker 1: For Eddie, it appeared to be too much. He took 78 00:04:36,160 --> 00:04:38,760 Speaker 1: his own life in nineteen ninety five at the age 79 00:04:38,760 --> 00:04:42,040 Speaker 1: of thirty three. The two remaining brothers, Bobby and David, 80 00:04:42,279 --> 00:04:46,200 Speaker 1: are still looking for answers, namely why this unethical study 81 00:04:46,279 --> 00:04:48,599 Speaker 1: was carried out in the first place and what the 82 00:04:48,640 --> 00:04:54,040 Speaker 1: results were. Unfortunately, answers have not been forthcoming. Doctor Peter Nubauer, 83 00:04:54,040 --> 00:04:56,360 Speaker 1: who ran the study, died in two thousand and eight. 84 00:04:56,680 --> 00:04:59,920 Speaker 1: He donated all of his materials to Yale University on 85 00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:02,480 Speaker 1: under one condition that all of his notes would be 86 00:05:02,520 --> 00:05:06,599 Speaker 1: sealed until twenty sixty six. Perhaps one of the saddest 87 00:05:06,640 --> 00:05:08,560 Speaker 1: parts of the whole tale is that there are some 88 00:05:08,720 --> 00:05:12,360 Speaker 1: Neubauer study subjects who have never been found, People who 89 00:05:12,360 --> 00:05:15,880 Speaker 1: have lived their whole lives without knowing about their twins, 90 00:05:16,080 --> 00:05:18,960 Speaker 1: just like Bobby, Eddie and David. Who knows if there 91 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:22,000 Speaker 1: are other yous wandering around out there. It's enough to 92 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:25,080 Speaker 1: make you do a double or even a triple take. 93 00:05:39,520 --> 00:05:42,040 Speaker 1: There have been a lot of crazes over the years. 94 00:05:42,200 --> 00:05:45,719 Speaker 1: The nineteen sixties saw Beatlemania. The nineties had kids collecting 95 00:05:45,720 --> 00:05:49,440 Speaker 1: little cardboard discs called pugs, and the nineteen seventies had 96 00:05:49,480 --> 00:05:53,080 Speaker 1: the pet rock. But before mop tops and slammers and 97 00:05:53,240 --> 00:05:57,160 Speaker 1: caged minerals, there were balloons. Not the kind that can 98 00:05:57,240 --> 00:05:59,520 Speaker 1: lift a house in a Disney movie. I'm talking about 99 00:05:59,520 --> 00:06:02,920 Speaker 1: the big one, hot air balloons. It all started in 100 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:06,960 Speaker 1: seventeen eighty three. That year, the Montgofier brothers launched their 101 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:09,600 Speaker 1: two man hot air balloon over Paris. It flew five 102 00:06:09,640 --> 00:06:11,640 Speaker 1: and a half miles in just under half an hour, 103 00:06:11,760 --> 00:06:14,120 Speaker 1: with a rooster, a sheep and a duck in tow, 104 00:06:14,480 --> 00:06:17,560 Speaker 1: and when it landed the world was changed. Ballooning took 105 00:06:17,560 --> 00:06:21,240 Speaker 1: off in Europe like nothing else before. No pun intended 106 00:06:21,800 --> 00:06:24,799 Speaker 1: the idea of floating in a giant gas field sphere 107 00:06:24,920 --> 00:06:28,159 Speaker 1: was too powerful to ignore. Lots of people with grand 108 00:06:28,200 --> 00:06:31,359 Speaker 1: ideas about air travel flocked to cities like London and 109 00:06:31,480 --> 00:06:34,640 Speaker 1: Paris to show off their creations. This led to the 110 00:06:34,640 --> 00:06:38,560 Speaker 1: formation of flying circuses that would draw large crowds to 111 00:06:38,640 --> 00:06:41,640 Speaker 1: watch them from the ground. Strangely enough, this was not 112 00:06:41,760 --> 00:06:45,080 Speaker 1: where Monty Python got their name. That's a curiosity for 113 00:06:45,279 --> 00:06:49,360 Speaker 1: another day. But not everyone was enthralled. Some believe this 114 00:06:49,440 --> 00:06:52,640 Speaker 1: new age of aviation would be the downfall of society. 115 00:06:53,080 --> 00:06:55,760 Speaker 1: In a letter to a contemporary of his, art historian 116 00:06:55,880 --> 00:06:59,440 Speaker 1: Horace Walpole wrote, I hope these new mechanic meteors will 117 00:06:59,440 --> 00:07:02,680 Speaker 1: prove on any playthings for the learned and the idol. 118 00:07:03,040 --> 00:07:04,880 Speaker 1: He believed that they were nothing more than a fad, 119 00:07:04,960 --> 00:07:07,760 Speaker 1: and that the obsession with hovering above the clouds would 120 00:07:07,800 --> 00:07:11,360 Speaker 1: eventually pass, but the ballooning community showed no signs of 121 00:07:11,400 --> 00:07:15,720 Speaker 1: slowing down. In fact, things escalated quickly. Some balloonists, like 122 00:07:15,880 --> 00:07:19,160 Speaker 1: Vincenzo Lunardi, had to push the envelope by flying higher 123 00:07:19,320 --> 00:07:22,920 Speaker 1: and farther. He was known as the Daredevil aeronaut. On 124 00:07:22,960 --> 00:07:26,520 Speaker 1: September fifteenth of seventeen eighty four, he launched a balloon 125 00:07:26,560 --> 00:07:30,240 Speaker 1: from Finsbury, England, with over two hundred thousand spectators watching, 126 00:07:30,520 --> 00:07:33,520 Speaker 1: including the Prince of Wales. Along for the ride were 127 00:07:33,560 --> 00:07:37,120 Speaker 1: a cat, a dog, and a pigeon. Unfortunately, the cat 128 00:07:37,160 --> 00:07:39,920 Speaker 1: suffered under the intense cold at such a high altitude. 129 00:07:40,160 --> 00:07:43,320 Speaker 1: Lunardi touched down and released it before ascending once again. 130 00:07:43,680 --> 00:07:46,360 Speaker 1: He then landed one last time in a clearing about 131 00:07:46,400 --> 00:07:49,960 Speaker 1: twenty four miles away. He planned another launch in seventeen 132 00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:52,280 Speaker 1: eighty five over the city of Chester, but he was 133 00:07:52,360 --> 00:07:56,000 Speaker 1: incapacitated due to a severe injury. Instead, he allowed a 134 00:07:56,000 --> 00:07:59,560 Speaker 1: local enthusiast named Thomas Baldwin to rent his balloon and 135 00:07:59,680 --> 00:08:03,360 Speaker 1: carry out his own flight. Baldwin had been obsessed with ballooning. 136 00:08:03,600 --> 00:08:06,000 Speaker 1: He didn't see this flight as just a demonstration of 137 00:08:06,080 --> 00:08:09,480 Speaker 1: engineering prowess. He had a scientific mind and planned a 138 00:08:09,520 --> 00:08:12,360 Speaker 1: series of experiments to conduct while thousands of feet in 139 00:08:12,400 --> 00:08:15,160 Speaker 1: the air. For one, he brought a bunch of different 140 00:08:15,200 --> 00:08:17,480 Speaker 1: foods on board to see if they tasted different at 141 00:08:17,560 --> 00:08:21,840 Speaker 1: higher altitudes. He also packed drafting tools like pencils and paper, 142 00:08:22,160 --> 00:08:25,800 Speaker 1: along with a map. Oh, and one last thing another pigeon. 143 00:08:26,080 --> 00:08:29,120 Speaker 1: Pigeons must have been a popular ballooning experiment back then. 144 00:08:29,640 --> 00:08:32,800 Speaker 1: Once he reached the proper altitude, Baldwin did his taste 145 00:08:32,800 --> 00:08:35,840 Speaker 1: tests and also experimented with the air pressure. He spent 146 00:08:35,880 --> 00:08:38,960 Speaker 1: about two hours up there admiring the views below. There 147 00:08:38,960 --> 00:08:41,400 Speaker 1: were the roads that snaked through town and the lush 148 00:08:41,480 --> 00:08:44,600 Speaker 1: trees dotting the landscape. And when he finally planted his 149 00:08:44,600 --> 00:08:46,680 Speaker 1: two feet back on the ground, he had a new 150 00:08:46,679 --> 00:08:49,040 Speaker 1: goal in mind to show the rest of the world 151 00:08:49,360 --> 00:08:52,640 Speaker 1: what he had seen. He sketched the winding roads and 152 00:08:52,760 --> 00:08:55,640 Speaker 1: opened clearings as they had appeared from the air. He 153 00:08:55,720 --> 00:08:58,840 Speaker 1: even included the clouds below him, which obscured part of 154 00:08:58,880 --> 00:09:01,360 Speaker 1: his ground view. We might laugh about it today, but 155 00:09:01,440 --> 00:09:03,640 Speaker 1: this was the next best thing to a photograph, which 156 00:09:03,840 --> 00:09:06,160 Speaker 1: wasn't available at his time, and these were the first 157 00:09:06,200 --> 00:09:08,560 Speaker 1: aerial maps that were created as a result of hot 158 00:09:08,600 --> 00:09:11,640 Speaker 1: air ballooning. Some are colored in while others were left 159 00:09:11,679 --> 00:09:14,120 Speaker 1: black and white, but all of them were as detailed 160 00:09:14,160 --> 00:09:18,040 Speaker 1: as possible. Baldwin even included directions on how to look 161 00:09:18,120 --> 00:09:20,920 Speaker 1: at them. He instructed viewers to roll up the map 162 00:09:20,960 --> 00:09:23,880 Speaker 1: into a tube shape and peer through the center to 163 00:09:23,880 --> 00:09:26,840 Speaker 1: get the full effect. Thanks to his desire to convey 164 00:09:26,880 --> 00:09:29,280 Speaker 1: the Earth from the heavens, people were able to get 165 00:09:29,320 --> 00:09:31,559 Speaker 1: a bird's eye view of the planet in a way 166 00:09:31,559 --> 00:09:35,000 Speaker 1: that no one had ever seen before. Military strategists could 167 00:09:35,040 --> 00:09:37,960 Speaker 1: now plan their attacks by seeing the terrain that lay 168 00:09:38,000 --> 00:09:41,200 Speaker 1: miles ahead of them, Titans of industry could plot the 169 00:09:41,240 --> 00:09:44,440 Speaker 1: optimal areas in which to build their factories, and even 170 00:09:44,480 --> 00:09:46,880 Speaker 1: the average citizen was able to look at an aerial 171 00:09:46,920 --> 00:09:49,560 Speaker 1: map and see just how big the world really was, 172 00:09:49,920 --> 00:09:53,319 Speaker 1: and probably find the straightest route to the market, as straight, 173 00:09:53,400 --> 00:10:01,160 Speaker 1: of course, as the pigeon flies. I hope you've enjoyed 174 00:10:01,160 --> 00:10:04,880 Speaker 1: today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for 175 00:10:04,960 --> 00:10:07,720 Speaker 1: free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show 176 00:10:07,800 --> 00:10:12,800 Speaker 1: by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created 177 00:10:12,840 --> 00:10:16,160 Speaker 1: by me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how Stuff Works. 178 00:10:16,600 --> 00:10:19,720 Speaker 1: I make another award winning show called Lore, which is 179 00:10:19,840 --> 00:10:23,200 Speaker 1: a podcast, book series, and television show, and you can 180 00:10:23,280 --> 00:10:27,160 Speaker 1: learn all about it over at the Worldoflore dot com. 181 00:10:27,200 --> 00:10:31,360 Speaker 1: And until next time, stay curious.