1 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:07,440 Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manke'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 --> 00:00:22,160 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 00:00:36,240 --> 00:00:39,360 Speaker 1: Have you ever wondered what happens to a commercial airliner 7 00:00:39,440 --> 00:00:43,080 Speaker 1: when it's retired from service? Well, for those curious enough 8 00:00:43,080 --> 00:00:45,519 Speaker 1: to ask, you'll find that there are a wide variety 9 00:00:45,560 --> 00:00:48,800 Speaker 1: of jobs these planes can be pressed into after they're 10 00:00:48,840 --> 00:00:53,159 Speaker 1: done ferrying passengers, and not all of these jobs are legal. 11 00:00:53,520 --> 00:00:57,760 Speaker 1: In fact, one infamous airliner eight four four AA ended 12 00:00:57,800 --> 00:01:03,320 Speaker 1: up causing an international incident. Maury Joseph is a Florida 13 00:01:03,320 --> 00:01:07,039 Speaker 1: based CEO of an airline leasing company, and in February 14 00:01:07,120 --> 00:01:09,720 Speaker 1: of two thousand and two, he came into possession of 15 00:01:09,800 --> 00:01:13,080 Speaker 1: a Boeing seven twenty seven tail number as I said, 16 00:01:13,319 --> 00:01:18,319 Speaker 1: eight four four AA, recently retired from American Airlines. He 17 00:01:18,520 --> 00:01:22,400 Speaker 1: was approached by a South African entrepreneur, Keith Irwin, who 18 00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:25,720 Speaker 1: had been hired by a joint partnership of airline interests 19 00:01:25,760 --> 00:01:30,199 Speaker 1: in Africa, looking to make money transporting fuel by air 20 00:01:30,560 --> 00:01:34,240 Speaker 1: to diamond mines in Angola. A civil war had broken 21 00:01:34,240 --> 00:01:37,280 Speaker 1: out in the country and transporting fuel by car had 22 00:01:37,319 --> 00:01:41,560 Speaker 1: become too dangerous. Both Morey and Irwin had thixed skins 23 00:01:41,600 --> 00:01:44,440 Speaker 1: and were used to conducting business in third world nations 24 00:01:44,440 --> 00:01:47,600 Speaker 1: with these kind of problems. They also weren't afraid of 25 00:01:47,640 --> 00:01:51,880 Speaker 1: working with industries that some people might find distasteful, such 26 00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:55,680 Speaker 1: as the diamond trade. Maury sold Irwin the seven forty 27 00:01:55,680 --> 00:01:59,200 Speaker 1: seven for one million dollars, but accepted a down payment 28 00:01:59,280 --> 00:02:01,800 Speaker 1: of just one hundre undred and twenty five thousand, with 29 00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:05,919 Speaker 1: further installments to follow once the fuel shipments got to underway. 30 00:02:06,320 --> 00:02:10,400 Speaker 1: Maury even sent a business associate with Irwin to Angola 31 00:02:10,440 --> 00:02:13,400 Speaker 1: to make sure that things went smoothly. But from the 32 00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:17,960 Speaker 1: get go things were anything but smooth. Irwin and his 33 00:02:18,120 --> 00:02:21,720 Speaker 1: flight crew were subjected to harsh conditions in Angola. They 34 00:02:21,760 --> 00:02:25,560 Speaker 1: slept in terrible housing with no running water or electricity. 35 00:02:25,880 --> 00:02:30,040 Speaker 1: They also felt unsafe. Practically everyone in the city carried 36 00:02:30,040 --> 00:02:33,440 Speaker 1: in AK forty seven. They were stuck in limbo as 37 00:02:33,480 --> 00:02:35,880 Speaker 1: they waited for their clients at one of the mines 38 00:02:36,200 --> 00:02:39,919 Speaker 1: to process their passports and get them licenses to operate 39 00:02:39,960 --> 00:02:43,800 Speaker 1: the seven forty seven in Angola airspace. At one point 40 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:46,640 Speaker 1: they feared that they would never get their passports back 41 00:02:46,919 --> 00:02:50,280 Speaker 1: and would be stuck in the country forever. Eventually, though, 42 00:02:50,320 --> 00:02:53,880 Speaker 1: their passports were returned, but some of Irwin's crew had 43 00:02:53,919 --> 00:02:57,160 Speaker 1: already had enough and they returned to the States. Even worse, 44 00:02:57,200 --> 00:02:59,840 Speaker 1: the client at the diamond mine wasn't paying up for 45 00:03:00,120 --> 00:03:03,240 Speaker 1: expenses a crewed. Thus far, Erwin had to accept his 46 00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:06,880 Speaker 1: losses and negotiate a new deal with a new client. 47 00:03:07,840 --> 00:03:11,000 Speaker 1: Erwin and what remained of the crew started flying missions 48 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:15,280 Speaker 1: delivering fuel to diamond mines in Angola. It was dangerous work. 49 00:03:15,440 --> 00:03:18,119 Speaker 1: They had to maintain as high in altitude as possible 50 00:03:18,400 --> 00:03:21,560 Speaker 1: until the very last second before landing to avoid being 51 00:03:21,639 --> 00:03:24,280 Speaker 1: hit by gunfire from the war, and there were no 52 00:03:24,440 --> 00:03:27,880 Speaker 1: paved landing strips at these mines. They were making extremely 53 00:03:27,919 --> 00:03:32,799 Speaker 1: bumpy landings at dirt airfields. Before long, most of Irwin's 54 00:03:32,800 --> 00:03:37,000 Speaker 1: crew had given up and gone home, including Maury Joseph's representative. 55 00:03:37,320 --> 00:03:40,440 Speaker 1: The operative had failed to make a return on Moury's investment, 56 00:03:40,800 --> 00:03:43,680 Speaker 1: and he wanted his plane back. Eight four to four 57 00:03:43,880 --> 00:03:47,559 Speaker 1: double A would sit in a hangar in Angola for months, 58 00:03:47,600 --> 00:03:52,640 Speaker 1: slowly deteriorating and accumulating storage fees, and so eventually Maury, 59 00:03:52,760 --> 00:03:56,760 Speaker 1: our Airline CEO, traveled with an associate of his, ben Paedia, 60 00:03:57,040 --> 00:04:00,000 Speaker 1: to Angola, whose job it was to prepare the air 61 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:03,200 Speaker 1: aircraft for the flight to South Africa, where it would 62 00:04:03,240 --> 00:04:06,960 Speaker 1: be finally sold off. Maury flew ahead to finalize the deal, 63 00:04:07,520 --> 00:04:09,600 Speaker 1: but on May twenty sixth of two thousand and three, 64 00:04:09,960 --> 00:04:13,360 Speaker 1: he received a disturbing phone call. The aircraft and ben 65 00:04:13,400 --> 00:04:17,880 Speaker 1: Paedia had disappeared. It was last seen making erratic movements 66 00:04:17,920 --> 00:04:21,960 Speaker 1: on the runway in Angola before making an unauthorized takeoff 67 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:25,880 Speaker 1: over the Atlantic, and Maury wasn't just mad, he was 68 00:04:25,920 --> 00:04:29,480 Speaker 1: also scared. Losing track of a plane that size and 69 00:04:29,560 --> 00:04:33,560 Speaker 1: that valuable had serious consequences. This was even more true 70 00:04:33,560 --> 00:04:37,000 Speaker 1: in the years immediately following the September eleventh, two thousand 71 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:40,120 Speaker 1: and one attacks. He had to contact the FBI and 72 00:04:40,200 --> 00:04:44,200 Speaker 1: the Homeland Security, who in turn contacted every single US 73 00:04:44,279 --> 00:04:46,760 Speaker 1: embassy in Africa to let them note to be on 74 00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:50,080 Speaker 1: the lookout for the missing plane. Everyone was afraid that 75 00:04:50,120 --> 00:04:54,400 Speaker 1: the plane had been co opted by terrorists. Fortunately, an 76 00:04:54,400 --> 00:04:57,320 Speaker 1: attack never came, but that left one of the biggest 77 00:04:57,360 --> 00:05:02,200 Speaker 1: mysteries in aviation history happened to the plane. Most people 78 00:05:02,240 --> 00:05:05,160 Speaker 1: close to Ben Padilla believe that he wouldn't have stolen it. 79 00:05:05,480 --> 00:05:09,039 Speaker 1: He was a simple airline engineer. It seems more likely 80 00:05:09,080 --> 00:05:12,279 Speaker 1: that criminals from Angola might have attacked the plane with 81 00:05:12,400 --> 00:05:15,480 Speaker 1: him on board and taken it into a remote area 82 00:05:15,560 --> 00:05:19,920 Speaker 1: for disassembly. It's also possible that whoever hijacked the plane 83 00:05:20,279 --> 00:05:23,880 Speaker 1: never made it to their destination and crashed into the ocean. 84 00:05:24,640 --> 00:05:27,760 Speaker 1: This is one curious tale that will remain that way. 85 00:05:28,080 --> 00:05:31,240 Speaker 1: No trace of eight four four double A has ever 86 00:05:31,320 --> 00:05:35,880 Speaker 1: been found. It's the largest missing aircraft in world history. 87 00:05:36,640 --> 00:05:40,200 Speaker 1: Whatever you think of Maury Irwin Ben and the plane 88 00:05:40,279 --> 00:05:43,599 Speaker 1: cargo business, it seems like surely there has to be 89 00:05:43,640 --> 00:05:59,520 Speaker 1: an easier way to make a living. As anyone from 90 00:05:59,560 --> 00:06:02,120 Speaker 1: a small town will tell you not to. Everyone is 91 00:06:02,240 --> 00:06:06,919 Speaker 1: so welcoming to outsiders. People are wary of strangers. Newcomers 92 00:06:07,120 --> 00:06:12,040 Speaker 1: can feel isolated, unwanted, or even outright disliked, and such 93 00:06:12,200 --> 00:06:15,240 Speaker 1: was the case for Teodor Glava, a Romanian immigrant who 94 00:06:15,320 --> 00:06:19,520 Speaker 1: moved to the small town of Lafayette, Colorado, in nineteen fourteen. 95 00:06:20,400 --> 00:06:24,080 Speaker 1: Born in Lesnik in eighteen seventy seven. Glava led a 96 00:06:24,120 --> 00:06:27,560 Speaker 1: brutal life working in marble minds belonging to the Austro 97 00:06:27,680 --> 00:06:32,479 Speaker 1: Hungarian Empire. This work was dangerous, physically demanding, and of 98 00:06:32,520 --> 00:06:35,400 Speaker 1: course it paid very little, so he came to America 99 00:06:35,440 --> 00:06:38,920 Speaker 1: with nothing, hoping to find better work mining coal there. 100 00:06:39,360 --> 00:06:42,279 Speaker 1: Glava eventually planned to send for his wife and daughter, 101 00:06:42,480 --> 00:06:46,000 Speaker 1: whom he had left behind in Romania. When he arrived 102 00:06:46,040 --> 00:06:50,200 Speaker 1: in Colorado, Glava was emaciated from years of backbreaking work 103 00:06:50,240 --> 00:06:52,599 Speaker 1: and his difficult voyage, and the fact that he was 104 00:06:52,640 --> 00:06:56,279 Speaker 1: so tall didn't really help. His skin was pale after 105 00:06:56,440 --> 00:06:59,479 Speaker 1: years of working in the marble quarries and months in 106 00:06:59,560 --> 00:07:02,720 Speaker 1: a cramp ship's cabin. Today we would consider him a 107 00:07:02,960 --> 00:07:07,279 Speaker 1: sickly looking man. To the townspeople of Lafayette in nineteen fourteen, 108 00:07:07,320 --> 00:07:10,600 Speaker 1: though he looked straight out of every vampire legend they 109 00:07:10,640 --> 00:07:14,280 Speaker 1: had come to fear Tiotoglava's story came to a tragic 110 00:07:14,440 --> 00:07:18,160 Speaker 1: end only four years after his arrival. The Spanish flu 111 00:07:18,280 --> 00:07:21,040 Speaker 1: pandemic wiped out hundreds of people in the nearby town 112 00:07:21,080 --> 00:07:24,840 Speaker 1: of Boulder, and the disease reached Lafayette shortly after. Glava 113 00:07:24,880 --> 00:07:28,480 Speaker 1: and many other coal miners stood almost no chance. Remember 114 00:07:28,520 --> 00:07:31,800 Speaker 1: this was before the age of vaccination. The cold and 115 00:07:31,960 --> 00:07:36,040 Speaker 1: unsafe working conditions meant that their immune systems were already weak, 116 00:07:36,400 --> 00:07:39,600 Speaker 1: and tragically, he passed away in December of nineteen eighteen 117 00:07:39,760 --> 00:07:41,720 Speaker 1: before he ever got a chance to send for his 118 00:07:41,760 --> 00:07:45,080 Speaker 1: family back home. And this is where the story of 119 00:07:45,120 --> 00:07:48,200 Speaker 1: tiotoor Glava comes to an end and the legend of 120 00:07:48,240 --> 00:07:51,800 Speaker 1: the Lafayette Vampire is born. You see, because Glava had 121 00:07:51,800 --> 00:07:55,240 Speaker 1: been ignored and isolated for so long, no one really 122 00:07:55,280 --> 00:07:58,040 Speaker 1: knew much about him. The absence of his family and 123 00:07:58,080 --> 00:08:00,480 Speaker 1: the poverty he died in meant but there was no 124 00:08:00,640 --> 00:08:03,760 Speaker 1: money for a proper burial, and as a result, he 125 00:08:03,880 --> 00:08:06,920 Speaker 1: was buried in the paupers section of the Lafayette Cemetery 126 00:08:07,200 --> 00:08:10,520 Speaker 1: with a headstone hastily carved using the pointed end of 127 00:08:10,560 --> 00:08:15,440 Speaker 1: a trowel and cheap cement. Glavaz headstone also inaccurately listed 128 00:08:15,440 --> 00:08:19,280 Speaker 1: his birthplace as Transylvania, the birthplace, as we know, of 129 00:08:19,360 --> 00:08:24,280 Speaker 1: literature's most famous vampire, Dracula, with influenza killing dozens of 130 00:08:24,280 --> 00:08:27,600 Speaker 1: others in Lafayette, Though, people in town became desperate for 131 00:08:27,640 --> 00:08:32,160 Speaker 1: someone to blame when they spotted Glava's strangely scrawled headstone 132 00:08:32,400 --> 00:08:36,720 Speaker 1: and that terrifying word Transylvania. They recalled the pale, lanky 133 00:08:36,760 --> 00:08:40,400 Speaker 1: stranger who had wandered into their midst so recently, and 134 00:08:40,640 --> 00:08:44,080 Speaker 1: hatched a plan to rid themselves of this pandemic. They 135 00:08:44,120 --> 00:08:48,160 Speaker 1: would need to dig up and kill the vampire. That winter, 136 00:08:48,600 --> 00:08:51,880 Speaker 1: residents bundled up against the Colorado snow and made their 137 00:08:51,880 --> 00:08:54,880 Speaker 1: way to the cemetery. Once there, they found his grave, 138 00:08:55,280 --> 00:08:58,600 Speaker 1: and they started to dig. What they found in glavas Coffin, 139 00:08:58,920 --> 00:09:02,400 Speaker 1: confirmed all of the worst fears. He looked nothing short 140 00:09:02,840 --> 00:09:07,280 Speaker 1: of monstrous. His hair and fingernails had continued to grow, 141 00:09:07,640 --> 00:09:11,520 Speaker 1: which they took for proof of his undead nature. Glava's 142 00:09:11,559 --> 00:09:14,760 Speaker 1: gums had pulled back away from his teeth, making them 143 00:09:14,800 --> 00:09:18,800 Speaker 1: appear longer and more pointed. Moreover, his body looked almost 144 00:09:18,840 --> 00:09:22,560 Speaker 1: completely unchanged from the day he had died. In short, 145 00:09:22,679 --> 00:09:25,640 Speaker 1: he looked exactly like the vampire legends they had heard 146 00:09:25,880 --> 00:09:29,400 Speaker 1: all their lives. Now, as any mortician will tell you, 147 00:09:29,559 --> 00:09:33,440 Speaker 1: these changes to Glava's body were not supernatural at all. 148 00:09:33,800 --> 00:09:37,360 Speaker 1: Skin and gums shrink after a person dies and begins 149 00:09:37,400 --> 00:09:42,440 Speaker 1: to decompose, making hair, nails, and teeth appear longer, especially 150 00:09:42,520 --> 00:09:46,080 Speaker 1: without the modern embalming processes we have today. And then 151 00:09:46,120 --> 00:09:50,280 Speaker 1: there was Glava's unchanged appearance. Without any money to pay 152 00:09:50,280 --> 00:09:52,679 Speaker 1: for a proper burial, he had been placed in the 153 00:09:52,880 --> 00:09:56,160 Speaker 1: cheapest coffin available and buried in a shallow grave by 154 00:09:56,200 --> 00:09:59,400 Speaker 1: a caretaker, possibly the same guy who had carved his 155 00:09:59,440 --> 00:10:03,319 Speaker 1: headstone out of cement. The winter weather had kept Glava's 156 00:10:03,320 --> 00:10:07,120 Speaker 1: body well preserved, which explains why he looked almost the 157 00:10:07,120 --> 00:10:09,760 Speaker 1: same as the day he died. Of course, to the 158 00:10:09,760 --> 00:10:12,640 Speaker 1: people of Lafayette, they had no way of knowing this, 159 00:10:12,880 --> 00:10:15,319 Speaker 1: and they hadn't trudged to the cemetery in the middle 160 00:10:15,360 --> 00:10:19,080 Speaker 1: of the freezy night in search of rational explanations. Once 161 00:10:19,080 --> 00:10:21,880 Speaker 1: they had dug up Glava's body, one of the locals 162 00:10:22,120 --> 00:10:25,959 Speaker 1: plunged a wooden steak right through the supposed vampire's heart, 163 00:10:26,200 --> 00:10:29,040 Speaker 1: and then, satisfied that they had rid themselves of the 164 00:10:29,080 --> 00:10:32,880 Speaker 1: source of their bad luck, they went home. One can 165 00:10:33,080 --> 00:10:37,439 Speaker 1: only imagine their surprise when a flourishing sapling appeared directly 166 00:10:37,480 --> 00:10:41,640 Speaker 1: over Glava's grave that spring. The wooden steak intended to 167 00:10:41,720 --> 00:10:47,640 Speaker 1: kill the vampire had taken root and grown into something beautiful. Nowadays, 168 00:10:47,960 --> 00:10:51,720 Speaker 1: Glava has become a legend in Lafayette and around the 169 00:10:51,800 --> 00:10:55,559 Speaker 1: United States. His grave, with the same poorly carved headstone, 170 00:10:55,840 --> 00:10:59,840 Speaker 1: is covered in roses, trinkets, money, and souvenirs from his 171 00:10:59,840 --> 00:11:03,600 Speaker 1: home country of Romania, and the tree is over a 172 00:11:03,679 --> 00:11:08,080 Speaker 1: century old now and still growing. Passer buyers probably think 173 00:11:08,120 --> 00:11:11,040 Speaker 1: that they're seeing the final resting place of a beloved 174 00:11:11,120 --> 00:11:14,559 Speaker 1: local resident, but have no idea that they're actually looking 175 00:11:14,600 --> 00:11:22,439 Speaker 1: at the legendary vampire of Lafayette. I hope you've enjoyed 176 00:11:22,440 --> 00:11:26,200 Speaker 1: today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for 177 00:11:26,240 --> 00:11:29,040 Speaker 1: free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show 178 00:11:29,080 --> 00:11:34,120 Speaker 1: by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created 179 00:11:34,120 --> 00:11:37,440 Speaker 1: by me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how Stuff Works. 180 00:11:37,880 --> 00:11:41,000 Speaker 1: I make another award winning show called Lore, which is 181 00:11:41,120 --> 00:11:44,520 Speaker 1: a podcast, book series, and television show, and you can 182 00:11:44,559 --> 00:11:48,440 Speaker 1: learn all about it over at the Worldolore dot com. 183 00:11:48,480 --> 00:11:52,720 Speaker 1: And until next time, stay curious.