1 00:00:03,760 --> 00:00:07,840 Speaker 1: Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history 2 00:00:08,039 --> 00:00:11,200 Speaker 1: is an open book, all of these amazing tales are 3 00:00:11,320 --> 00:00:14,680 Speaker 1: right there on display, just waiting for us to explore. 4 00:00:16,200 --> 00:00:28,880 Speaker 1: Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. The French have graced 5 00:00:28,880 --> 00:00:33,000 Speaker 1: our streets and shores with architectural wonders for hundreds of years, 6 00:00:33,440 --> 00:00:37,959 Speaker 1: from soaring Gothic spires to ornate palaces to Gustav Eiffel's 7 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:41,480 Speaker 1: towering feet of engineering in the middle of Paris. France's 8 00:00:41,640 --> 00:00:45,839 Speaker 1: architectural movements have influenced the world over, which brings me 9 00:00:45,920 --> 00:00:48,400 Speaker 1: to a man you might not have heard of, which 10 00:00:48,440 --> 00:00:51,640 Speaker 1: is odd because for twenty five years he's been solely 11 00:00:51,680 --> 00:00:55,200 Speaker 1: responsible for developing one of the largest cities in Europe. 12 00:00:56,120 --> 00:01:00,400 Speaker 1: Gil Traheen had a unique childhood. From a very early age, 13 00:01:00,440 --> 00:01:02,520 Speaker 1: it was clear his brain was wired in a way 14 00:01:02,560 --> 00:01:05,679 Speaker 1: that escaped the adults around him. For example, he had 15 00:01:05,760 --> 00:01:08,880 Speaker 1: perfect pitch and taught himself to play the bass. His 16 00:01:09,040 --> 00:01:12,520 Speaker 1: innate sense of numbers and mathematics allowed him to perform 17 00:01:12,680 --> 00:01:15,440 Speaker 1: calculations off the top of his head that most people 18 00:01:15,520 --> 00:01:20,240 Speaker 1: needed calculators for, and he could draw too, not stick 19 00:01:20,280 --> 00:01:24,679 Speaker 1: figures or superheroes, but enormous buildings, taking them from simple 20 00:01:24,760 --> 00:01:29,160 Speaker 1: doodles to three D structures with incredible accuracy. Like Thomas 21 00:01:29,240 --> 00:01:33,040 Speaker 1: Jefferson before him, Traheen was self educated in the principles 22 00:01:33,040 --> 00:01:36,040 Speaker 1: of architecture, and his knack for learning took him to 23 00:01:36,160 --> 00:01:40,480 Speaker 1: great heights. Literally, the city of Orville became the bustling 24 00:01:40,520 --> 00:01:44,959 Speaker 1: metropolis it is now because of him. Boasting a population 25 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:48,120 Speaker 1: of twelve million, Orville traces its roots back to the 26 00:01:48,120 --> 00:01:51,280 Speaker 1: twelfth century BC, when the city passed through the hands 27 00:01:51,320 --> 00:01:53,880 Speaker 1: of the Romans to the Austro Guards, all the way 28 00:01:53,960 --> 00:01:56,400 Speaker 1: up to its eventual ruling by the Kingdom of France 29 00:01:56,440 --> 00:01:59,800 Speaker 1: in the seventeen hundreds. Things settled down for a long 30 00:01:59,800 --> 00:02:03,360 Speaker 1: time time until the French Revolution, when the population exploded 31 00:02:03,400 --> 00:02:06,960 Speaker 1: to two point eight million. Town planners needed a way 32 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:09,880 Speaker 1: to accommodate so many people in such a small area, 33 00:02:10,320 --> 00:02:14,000 Speaker 1: so they built urban housing developments that still stand today. 34 00:02:14,120 --> 00:02:17,760 Speaker 1: And while World War One missed Orville entirely, World War 35 00:02:17,840 --> 00:02:20,880 Speaker 1: Two brought with it numerous bombings, reducing much of the 36 00:02:20,919 --> 00:02:24,000 Speaker 1: city to rubble and cutting the population down by two 37 00:02:24,040 --> 00:02:28,440 Speaker 1: hundred thousand. But Orville and its citizens refused to quit, 38 00:02:28,919 --> 00:02:31,560 Speaker 1: and after the war, as more people felt compelled to 39 00:02:31,600 --> 00:02:34,720 Speaker 1: move out of the country and into cities. Its population 40 00:02:34,800 --> 00:02:39,040 Speaker 1: skyrocketed again. It continued to grow over the next forty years, 41 00:02:39,080 --> 00:02:43,080 Speaker 1: and with it came taller buildings, more shops, movie theaters, 42 00:02:43,160 --> 00:02:46,640 Speaker 1: and public parks, the kind of advancements seen in cities 43 00:02:46,680 --> 00:02:49,480 Speaker 1: like Chicago and New York over the same period of time. 44 00:02:50,760 --> 00:02:55,839 Speaker 1: Enter Traheen, master architect who single handedly created Orville's most 45 00:02:55,960 --> 00:02:59,919 Speaker 1: iconic structures at the age of fifteen. An enormous glass cover, 46 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:03,119 Speaker 1: a skyscraper that seems to point toward heaven with its 47 00:03:03,160 --> 00:03:06,959 Speaker 1: pyramid like top, A beautiful covered bridge spanning the river 48 00:03:07,040 --> 00:03:09,640 Speaker 1: that runs down the middle of the city. A port 49 00:03:09,840 --> 00:03:14,440 Speaker 1: boasting modern speedboats and historic sloops, all of it constructed 50 00:03:14,440 --> 00:03:19,000 Speaker 1: by one man with a vision. Surprisingly, not much is 51 00:03:19,040 --> 00:03:22,920 Speaker 1: known about Trahean. You'd think the man responsible for expanding 52 00:03:22,960 --> 00:03:25,800 Speaker 1: a city from three million to twelve million would have 53 00:03:25,880 --> 00:03:28,920 Speaker 1: a few books written about him, maybe an article or 54 00:03:28,960 --> 00:03:33,480 Speaker 1: two in Architectural Digest. But by all accounts, Traheen is 55 00:03:33,560 --> 00:03:36,680 Speaker 1: nothing more than a blip on the radar and anomaly 56 00:03:37,480 --> 00:03:40,720 Speaker 1: which brings me back to Orville. If you look at 57 00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:44,400 Speaker 1: a map and use a magnifying glass, you might find Orville, 58 00:03:44,560 --> 00:03:48,840 Speaker 1: Ube Commune in the northeastern corner of France. It's population 59 00:03:48,920 --> 00:03:51,960 Speaker 1: of one forty seven is a far cry from the 60 00:03:51,960 --> 00:03:56,119 Speaker 1: cramped masses of Trehean's version of Orville. You wouldn't find 61 00:03:56,160 --> 00:04:01,040 Speaker 1: glistening skyscrapers or sprawling parks either. In fact, you won't 62 00:04:01,040 --> 00:04:04,280 Speaker 1: find much of anything. You see. The erville that has 63 00:04:04,320 --> 00:04:10,120 Speaker 1: become the third most populated city in Europe doesn't actually exist, well, 64 00:04:10,320 --> 00:04:13,880 Speaker 1: not physically. The only way to find Orville is among 65 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:18,480 Speaker 1: three hundred individual sketches by trading a French autistic savant 66 00:04:18,560 --> 00:04:23,680 Speaker 1: who first imagined the city back in it's history. Its founders, 67 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:27,479 Speaker 1: and its design are all fiction, though you never know 68 00:04:27,600 --> 00:04:31,440 Speaker 1: it by looking at the incredibly detailed sketches. He began 69 00:04:31,520 --> 00:04:35,480 Speaker 1: his city twenty five years ago, and he's still building today. 70 00:04:35,880 --> 00:04:39,720 Speaker 1: Obsession has that effect, a compulsion to complete something when 71 00:04:39,800 --> 00:04:43,760 Speaker 1: we know it will never truly be finished. Cities are organic, 72 00:04:44,040 --> 00:04:46,880 Speaker 1: always changing, and those of us who live within them 73 00:04:47,040 --> 00:04:51,920 Speaker 1: change too. Humans, by nature, inhabit the places we call 74 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:58,479 Speaker 1: home sometimes, though places can inhabit us, even if it's 75 00:04:58,560 --> 00:05:16,040 Speaker 1: just all in our head. On average, there are fewer 76 00:05:16,080 --> 00:05:19,920 Speaker 1: than one airplane crashes each year. Your chance of dying 77 00:05:19,960 --> 00:05:23,200 Speaker 1: in one is one in eleven million. In fact, since 78 00:05:23,279 --> 00:05:25,560 Speaker 1: your odds of dying in a car accident are higher 79 00:05:25,600 --> 00:05:28,200 Speaker 1: at one in five thousand, you're better off in the 80 00:05:28,240 --> 00:05:32,279 Speaker 1: air than on the ground. Still, no matter how low 81 00:05:32,320 --> 00:05:36,279 Speaker 1: the chances are, we hear the stories small aircraft and 82 00:05:36,400 --> 00:05:39,760 Speaker 1: jumbo jets go down and people die without ever reaching 83 00:05:39,800 --> 00:05:43,640 Speaker 1: their destinations. It's a sad truth about air travel, and 84 00:05:43,720 --> 00:05:46,800 Speaker 1: nobody knows this better than the pilots and flight attendants 85 00:05:46,800 --> 00:05:51,560 Speaker 1: who work on these planes every day. One such attendant 86 00:05:51,720 --> 00:05:56,159 Speaker 1: was Vesna Vulich, born in Belgrade in nineteen fifty. Vezna 87 00:05:56,320 --> 00:05:58,960 Speaker 1: loved to travel. It was her love for the Beatles 88 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:01,160 Speaker 1: that took her to London when she happened to see 89 00:06:01,200 --> 00:06:04,279 Speaker 1: a friend of hers wearing a flight attendants uniform and thought, 90 00:06:04,800 --> 00:06:08,040 Speaker 1: that's what I want to do, traveling to distant lands, 91 00:06:08,440 --> 00:06:12,039 Speaker 1: seeing new places and meeting new people. It was the 92 00:06:12,120 --> 00:06:16,679 Speaker 1: life she'd dreamed of. To satisfy her wander lust, Vesna 93 00:06:16,800 --> 00:06:20,000 Speaker 1: returned to Serbia in the early nineteen seventies and joined 94 00:06:20,160 --> 00:06:22,919 Speaker 1: j A T Airways, where she was hired as a 95 00:06:22,960 --> 00:06:26,320 Speaker 1: flight attendant. It was a dangerous time for Yugoslavi and 96 00:06:26,360 --> 00:06:30,440 Speaker 1: travel as Croatian nationalists had been carrying out terrorist attacks 97 00:06:30,480 --> 00:06:34,440 Speaker 1: across the country. None of that bothered Vesna though. She 98 00:06:34,560 --> 00:06:37,520 Speaker 1: had her crisp new uniform and a ticket to adventure, 99 00:06:37,960 --> 00:06:40,400 Speaker 1: and things were fine for the first year as she 100 00:06:40,480 --> 00:06:43,080 Speaker 1: settled into her new life. But this would not be 101 00:06:43,160 --> 00:06:46,320 Speaker 1: the fairy tale she'd imagined. On the morning of January 102 00:06:47,480 --> 00:06:51,159 Speaker 1: seventy two, Vesna was called into work flight three sixty seven, 103 00:06:51,279 --> 00:06:53,840 Speaker 1: which would be landing in Copenhagen the next day, to 104 00:06:53,960 --> 00:06:56,120 Speaker 1: pick her and the rest of the crew up before 105 00:06:56,160 --> 00:06:59,680 Speaker 1: flying to her hometown of Belgrade. She'd made trips like 106 00:06:59,720 --> 00:07:03,200 Speaker 1: this four, but this one seemed different. There was something 107 00:07:03,240 --> 00:07:06,159 Speaker 1: in the air no pun intended. The rest of the 108 00:07:06,200 --> 00:07:13,240 Speaker 1: crew could feel it too, dread, hopelessness, despair. Vesna had 109 00:07:13,280 --> 00:07:15,800 Speaker 1: planned to do a little sight seeing before taking off, 110 00:07:15,840 --> 00:07:18,280 Speaker 1: but decided to join the other crew members in a 111 00:07:18,360 --> 00:07:22,080 Speaker 1: shopping trip instead. All of them seemed sad, like they 112 00:07:22,120 --> 00:07:24,920 Speaker 1: knew what was about to happen. The captain had gone 113 00:07:24,920 --> 00:07:27,400 Speaker 1: as far as to lock himself in his hotel room 114 00:07:27,440 --> 00:07:30,280 Speaker 1: the previous day, not coming out until a few hours 115 00:07:30,320 --> 00:07:34,960 Speaker 1: before the flight. Even the passengers felt it as they 116 00:07:35,040 --> 00:07:38,600 Speaker 1: deplaned at Copenhagen Airport. One man in particular, was so 117 00:07:38,720 --> 00:07:41,600 Speaker 1: frustrated he refused to get back on the plane, leaving 118 00:07:41,680 --> 00:07:45,160 Speaker 1: his baggage behind. When flight three sixty seven took off 119 00:07:45,200 --> 00:07:48,000 Speaker 1: a few hours later, there were twenty eight passengers and 120 00:07:48,080 --> 00:07:52,640 Speaker 1: crew on board, including Vesna. She handed out drinks and 121 00:07:52,720 --> 00:07:56,600 Speaker 1: snacks and attended to passengers needs as the airplane climbed 122 00:07:56,640 --> 00:08:00,200 Speaker 1: higher and higher. About an hour into the trip, it's 123 00:08:00,240 --> 00:08:04,680 Speaker 1: the plane had reached its maximum altitude. It happened the vague, 124 00:08:04,760 --> 00:08:07,600 Speaker 1: ominous threat that had been hanging over their heads had 125 00:08:07,640 --> 00:08:12,480 Speaker 1: finally found them. An explosion, which began in the baggage compartment, 126 00:08:12,720 --> 00:08:15,960 Speaker 1: ripped through the plane, tearing it in half like a napkin. 127 00:08:16,760 --> 00:08:20,800 Speaker 1: Vestna and the other people on board fell over thirty 128 00:08:20,840 --> 00:08:25,320 Speaker 1: three thousand feet into a small check village below. Authorities 129 00:08:25,360 --> 00:08:28,440 Speaker 1: determined the explosion had been caused by a briefcase bomb, 130 00:08:28,760 --> 00:08:32,520 Speaker 1: allegedly left behind by that frustrated man who refused to 131 00:08:32,559 --> 00:08:36,080 Speaker 1: board the plane back in Copenhagen. At least, that's who 132 00:08:36,160 --> 00:08:40,280 Speaker 1: Vesna pointed out when they questioned her. You see, a 133 00:08:40,360 --> 00:08:43,559 Speaker 1: villager heard screaming from inside the wreckage, not too far 134 00:08:43,679 --> 00:08:47,480 Speaker 1: from his home, peering inside, he saw a woman in 135 00:08:47,600 --> 00:08:51,520 Speaker 1: a flight attendants uniform covered in blood. It was Vesna, 136 00:08:52,120 --> 00:08:55,680 Speaker 1: and despite her six mile fall to earth, she had lived. 137 00:08:57,120 --> 00:09:01,000 Speaker 1: Vesna Voolich spent months in the hospital recovering from her wounds, 138 00:09:01,080 --> 00:09:05,640 Speaker 1: which included a fractured skull and temporary paralysis, but she 139 00:09:05,679 --> 00:09:09,000 Speaker 1: didn't let her injury stop her. When she finally healed, 140 00:09:09,320 --> 00:09:12,319 Speaker 1: she got back on with her life, including her job 141 00:09:12,400 --> 00:09:15,960 Speaker 1: at J A. T Airlines, albeit in the less exciting 142 00:09:16,080 --> 00:09:19,680 Speaker 1: role of negotiating freight contracts from the safety of the ground. 143 00:09:21,400 --> 00:09:26,160 Speaker 1: Many people don't bounce back after a serious injury. Athletes 144 00:09:26,280 --> 00:09:29,520 Speaker 1: leave the field, writers never get back on the horse, 145 00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:33,480 Speaker 1: Shark attack victims don't get back in the water. But 146 00:09:33,600 --> 00:09:37,439 Speaker 1: once in a while, a person like Vesna Vulich manages 147 00:09:37,559 --> 00:09:40,960 Speaker 1: to fall out of the sky and land on her feet. 148 00:09:44,800 --> 00:09:47,520 Speaker 1: I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet 149 00:09:47,520 --> 00:09:51,400 Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn 150 00:09:51,440 --> 00:09:56,000 Speaker 1: more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. 151 00:09:56,040 --> 00:09:59,600 Speaker 1: The show was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership 152 00:09:59,640 --> 00:10:02,959 Speaker 1: with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show 153 00:10:03,040 --> 00:10:07,120 Speaker 1: called Lore, which is a podcast book series and television show, 154 00:10:07,400 --> 00:10:09,280 Speaker 1: and you can learn all about it over at the 155 00:10:09,440 --> 00:10:14,120 Speaker 1: World of lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.