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 00:00:36,680 --> 00:00:39,040 Speaker 1: When we think of an investigator, we picture someone in 7 00:00:39,080 --> 00:00:41,559 Speaker 1: a dark suit and sunglasses with a badge on their 8 00:00:41,640 --> 00:00:43,960 Speaker 1: hip right. They talk fast and ask a lot of 9 00:00:44,040 --> 00:00:47,320 Speaker 1: questions in search of the truth. Well, one British organization 10 00:00:47,360 --> 00:00:50,040 Speaker 1: in the early twentieth century did ask a lot of questions, 11 00:00:50,240 --> 00:00:51,839 Speaker 1: but whether it had found out the truth or not 12 00:00:52,080 --> 00:00:54,360 Speaker 1: is still up for debate. It was formed in the 13 00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:57,640 Speaker 1: nineteen twenties when author Bernard's Slay published his novel The 14 00:00:57,720 --> 00:01:00,760 Speaker 1: Gates of the Horn. The actual title a lot longer 15 00:01:00,800 --> 00:01:03,120 Speaker 1: than that, but it's not the part that caught people's eyes. 16 00:01:03,280 --> 00:01:06,360 Speaker 1: It was the subject matter inside it. Within the pages 17 00:01:06,360 --> 00:01:09,200 Speaker 1: of Slay's book were ten short stories, each one the 18 00:01:09,240 --> 00:01:12,560 Speaker 1: written testimony of a member of a clandestine organization known 19 00:01:12,600 --> 00:01:16,920 Speaker 1: as the Fairy Investigation Society. Slay had written the stories 20 00:01:16,959 --> 00:01:19,240 Speaker 1: as though they'd been real reports from people who'd come 21 00:01:19,280 --> 00:01:22,840 Speaker 1: into contact with fairies. And they aren't whimsical childlike Tales 22 00:01:22,880 --> 00:01:25,400 Speaker 1: of Wonder either. They dealt with death and loss, as 23 00:01:25,480 --> 00:01:28,120 Speaker 1: well as themes of a sexual nature, and they were 24 00:01:28,160 --> 00:01:31,840 Speaker 1: apparently so convincing readers started to believe that the society 25 00:01:32,280 --> 00:01:35,880 Speaker 1: was real. Pretty soon life began to imitate art. A 26 00:01:35,920 --> 00:01:38,640 Speaker 1: man named Quinton Crawford, who'd served in the British Navy, 27 00:01:38,880 --> 00:01:42,480 Speaker 1: had fallen down the rabbit hole of spiritualism and paranormal science, 28 00:01:42,720 --> 00:01:45,800 Speaker 1: popular topics at the time. In nineteen twenty seven, he'd 29 00:01:45,840 --> 00:01:48,640 Speaker 1: been tinkering with a wireless radio that he designed when 30 00:01:48,640 --> 00:01:51,920 Speaker 1: he started hearing music. He described it as the sound 31 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:54,640 Speaker 1: of harps and bells. Believing that he had found a 32 00:01:54,640 --> 00:01:58,360 Speaker 1: special frequency known only to fairies, Crawford started talking to 33 00:01:58,400 --> 00:02:00,760 Speaker 1: the voices on the other end of the signa, and 34 00:02:00,840 --> 00:02:04,720 Speaker 1: they started talking back. This event is considered by many 35 00:02:04,760 --> 00:02:07,720 Speaker 1: to have inspired his belief in fairies. Soon after, he 36 00:02:07,760 --> 00:02:09,920 Speaker 1: was gifted a copy of Slay's novel, a book that 37 00:02:09,919 --> 00:02:13,040 Speaker 1: would change the direction of his life forever. Taken with 38 00:02:13,120 --> 00:02:16,480 Speaker 1: the idea of the Fairy Investigation Society, he immediately met 39 00:02:16,480 --> 00:02:19,040 Speaker 1: with the author to discuss starting up a real version 40 00:02:19,080 --> 00:02:22,200 Speaker 1: of the organization, and so in nineteen twenty seven, the 41 00:02:22,280 --> 00:02:27,800 Speaker 1: Fairy Investigation Society or FIS was formed. Its purpose was twofold. First, 42 00:02:27,800 --> 00:02:31,280 Speaker 1: they wanted to catalog personal accounts about fairy encounters from 43 00:02:31,360 --> 00:02:35,160 Speaker 1: people all over the world. They collected letters, magazine articles, 44 00:02:35,160 --> 00:02:38,440 Speaker 1: and even stories told by them word of mouth. And secondly, 45 00:02:38,520 --> 00:02:41,400 Speaker 1: they hope to unite humanity with nature and reach a 46 00:02:41,480 --> 00:02:45,880 Speaker 1: higher plane of existence. Now, despite the fantastic topic, FIS 47 00:02:45,919 --> 00:02:48,600 Speaker 1: meetings were pretty standard, almost like any other meeting you 48 00:02:48,680 --> 00:02:51,400 Speaker 1: might find in a corporate boardroom, just you know, with 49 00:02:51,560 --> 00:02:53,880 Speaker 1: more fairies. The chairman of the group would give an 50 00:02:53,919 --> 00:02:57,359 Speaker 1: opening statements, wherein he would discuss current fairy evidence meant 51 00:02:57,400 --> 00:03:00,799 Speaker 1: for further examination. The members would then raise a toast 52 00:03:00,840 --> 00:03:03,720 Speaker 1: to the fairies before handling the day to day administrative 53 00:03:03,720 --> 00:03:07,880 Speaker 1: work like financial records and other reports. The FIS was 54 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:11,720 Speaker 1: quite active during the late twenties and throughout the thirties. Unfortunately, 55 00:03:11,840 --> 00:03:15,280 Speaker 1: Slay retired early to rural Gloucestershire. Crawford was left in 56 00:03:15,400 --> 00:03:18,760 Speaker 1: charge and he took his role very seriously. Among his 57 00:03:18,880 --> 00:03:21,959 Speaker 1: many jobs, he worked on the FIS newsletter, which reached 58 00:03:21,960 --> 00:03:25,080 Speaker 1: out to fairy curious people like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 59 00:03:25,360 --> 00:03:28,000 Speaker 1: and he also talked to fairies. He had been in 60 00:03:28,040 --> 00:03:31,560 Speaker 1: touch with beans called marsh fairies since his early experiments 61 00:03:31,560 --> 00:03:34,200 Speaker 1: with the radio. He'd ask them questions and report the 62 00:03:34,240 --> 00:03:37,680 Speaker 1: answers back to other FIS members. According to Crawford, the 63 00:03:37,720 --> 00:03:41,440 Speaker 1: fairies used ancient Saxon words for Society members to interpret. 64 00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:44,280 Speaker 1: He would also challenge them to phase through walls or 65 00:03:44,440 --> 00:03:47,320 Speaker 1: tell him where ancient relics were buried. Of course, some 66 00:03:47,440 --> 00:03:50,200 Speaker 1: members were skeptical. They would sit in on these sessions 67 00:03:50,240 --> 00:03:52,200 Speaker 1: to see if their leader was just leading them on, 68 00:03:52,440 --> 00:03:55,880 Speaker 1: but the truth is unknown. The society disbanded just before 69 00:03:55,920 --> 00:03:57,840 Speaker 1: the start of World War Two, and many of the 70 00:03:57,840 --> 00:04:01,360 Speaker 1: group's records were lost during the war. It wasn't until 71 00:04:01,400 --> 00:04:05,600 Speaker 1: nineteen forty nine when the Fairy Investigation Society started up again. 72 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:09,760 Speaker 1: Quentin Crawford, along with a secretary named Marjorie Johnson, got 73 00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:12,880 Speaker 1: the ball rolling. Johnson helped recruit new members as well 74 00:04:13,040 --> 00:04:16,679 Speaker 1: by publishing newsletters and other literature. For the next ten years, 75 00:04:16,720 --> 00:04:19,880 Speaker 1: the Fairy Investigation Society counted among its ranks the likes 76 00:04:19,920 --> 00:04:24,239 Speaker 1: of Scottish poet Naomi Mitchison and even Walt Disney himself. Sadly, 77 00:04:24,400 --> 00:04:28,119 Speaker 1: over time, membership dwindled, and the society eventually faded away 78 00:04:28,279 --> 00:04:31,159 Speaker 1: in the nineteen nineties. Did people just come to the 79 00:04:31,160 --> 00:04:34,800 Speaker 1: conclusion that fairies weren't real? Maybe, but the actual reason 80 00:04:34,880 --> 00:04:52,120 Speaker 1: is probably a lot simpler. The magic was finally gone. 81 00:04:53,120 --> 00:04:56,680 Speaker 1: An airport is a transitional space. It's one big waiting 82 00:04:56,760 --> 00:04:59,560 Speaker 1: room where couples going on an exotic vacation sit side 83 00:04:59,560 --> 00:05:02,840 Speaker 1: by side with refugees returning home. It's a site of 84 00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:05,960 Speaker 1: reunions as well as separations, and one of the few 85 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:08,120 Speaker 1: places you can get a beer in the morning and 86 00:05:08,240 --> 00:05:11,159 Speaker 1: a coffee at night. Thankfully, most of us only see 87 00:05:11,160 --> 00:05:13,719 Speaker 1: the inside of a terminal for a few hours, which 88 00:05:13,800 --> 00:05:17,280 Speaker 1: is what Meron Karreimi Nassiri assumed when he arrived at 89 00:05:17,320 --> 00:05:20,400 Speaker 1: the Charles de Gaul airports in Paris. But Miran had 90 00:05:20,400 --> 00:05:23,040 Speaker 1: stumbled into a web of bureaucratic red tape that would 91 00:05:23,040 --> 00:05:26,800 Speaker 1: make Franz Kafka jealous. Miran, who liked to be called Alfred, 92 00:05:27,040 --> 00:05:30,320 Speaker 1: arrived in nineteen eighty eight. His departure was delayed for 93 00:05:30,520 --> 00:05:34,120 Speaker 1: eighteen years. Details on Alfred's life are a bit tricky 94 00:05:34,160 --> 00:05:36,839 Speaker 1: to confirm, mostly because Alfred himself had a habit of 95 00:05:36,880 --> 00:05:39,560 Speaker 1: reporting one thing as the truth and then later claiming 96 00:05:39,560 --> 00:05:41,400 Speaker 1: that it was a lie. But we're pretty sure that 97 00:05:41,440 --> 00:05:44,560 Speaker 1: Alfred was born in Iran in nineteen forty five, the 98 00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:47,520 Speaker 1: son of a wealthy doctor. His family sent him away 99 00:05:47,560 --> 00:05:49,479 Speaker 1: to England for school, and he ended up at the 100 00:05:49,520 --> 00:05:53,480 Speaker 1: University of Bradford in the nineteen seventies, studying Yugoslavia. It 101 00:05:53,520 --> 00:05:55,480 Speaker 1: wasn't until he tried to go home to Iran in 102 00:05:55,560 --> 00:05:59,560 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy seven that his trouble truly began. When Alfred 103 00:05:59,640 --> 00:06:03,320 Speaker 1: landed in Tehran, he was immediately seized by airport authorities 104 00:06:03,320 --> 00:06:05,960 Speaker 1: and detained. You see, as a student in England, he 105 00:06:05,960 --> 00:06:09,360 Speaker 1: had once joined a protest against Iran's shah An offense 106 00:06:09,360 --> 00:06:11,960 Speaker 1: that carried prison time back in his home country. With 107 00:06:12,080 --> 00:06:14,719 Speaker 1: his parents' help, Alfred was freed from prison, but was 108 00:06:14,760 --> 00:06:18,080 Speaker 1: exiled from Iran. He bounced around from country to country 109 00:06:18,160 --> 00:06:22,040 Speaker 1: until Belgium finally granted him political asylum in nineteen eighty six. 110 00:06:22,600 --> 00:06:25,560 Speaker 1: For Alfred, though, the worst and the weirdest was yet 111 00:06:25,600 --> 00:06:28,200 Speaker 1: to come. In nineteen eighty eight, he decided to return 112 00:06:28,200 --> 00:06:31,520 Speaker 1: to England, flying out of Paris, but Somewhere during the journey, 113 00:06:31,680 --> 00:06:35,480 Speaker 1: his passport was stolen. Unable to enter England without papers, 114 00:06:35,640 --> 00:06:38,200 Speaker 1: he was shunted back to Charles de Gaul Airport, where 115 00:06:38,240 --> 00:06:42,120 Speaker 1: Alfred found himself in a catch twenty two. Without his papers, 116 00:06:42,279 --> 00:06:44,599 Speaker 1: he couldn't prove who he was in the eyes of 117 00:06:44,600 --> 00:06:47,480 Speaker 1: the French authorities. That meant that he was traveling illegally. 118 00:06:47,839 --> 00:06:50,160 Speaker 1: Alfred could get copies of his papers, proving that he 119 00:06:50,320 --> 00:06:53,320 Speaker 1: was a political refugee by going to the Belgian embassy, 120 00:06:53,560 --> 00:06:55,719 Speaker 1: but if he left the safety of the airport, he 121 00:06:55,760 --> 00:06:59,080 Speaker 1: would be arrested and jailed by the French police. Faced 122 00:06:59,080 --> 00:07:02,520 Speaker 1: with this impossible bureaucratic quagmire, Alfred decided to make a 123 00:07:02,520 --> 00:07:05,559 Speaker 1: home for himself in Charles Dagall Terminal one. He stayed 124 00:07:05,560 --> 00:07:09,120 Speaker 1: there for the next eighteen years. Alfred became something of 125 00:07:09,160 --> 00:07:11,880 Speaker 1: a celebrity around the airport. He set up shop on 126 00:07:11,920 --> 00:07:15,000 Speaker 1: a red bench situated between a pizzeria and a store 127 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:19,000 Speaker 1: that sold electronics. He christened himself Sir Alfred, refusing to 128 00:07:19,040 --> 00:07:21,120 Speaker 1: go by his old name and claiming that he had 129 00:07:21,160 --> 00:07:24,480 Speaker 1: cut all ties with Iran. As Alfred's case wound its 130 00:07:24,480 --> 00:07:27,280 Speaker 1: way slowly through the international courts, he carved out a 131 00:07:27,320 --> 00:07:30,680 Speaker 1: life for himself in Terminal one. He subsisted on airline 132 00:07:30,720 --> 00:07:34,080 Speaker 1: meal vouchers and toiletries that kind flight attendants gave him. 133 00:07:34,200 --> 00:07:37,360 Speaker 1: He spent his time reading books discarded by travelers and 134 00:07:37,480 --> 00:07:40,680 Speaker 1: writing in his diary. He noted down every small thing 135 00:07:40,720 --> 00:07:43,600 Speaker 1: that happened to him in an exhaustive journal that eventually 136 00:07:43,640 --> 00:07:47,320 Speaker 1: filled several fileboxes. He started each morning with a wash 137 00:07:47,320 --> 00:07:50,080 Speaker 1: in the airport bathrooms and a meticulous shave with an 138 00:07:50,120 --> 00:07:53,400 Speaker 1: electric razor a passer by had given him. Over the years, 139 00:07:53,480 --> 00:07:55,720 Speaker 1: Alfred got used to his little life in the airport. 140 00:07:55,920 --> 00:07:58,480 Speaker 1: He struck up friendships with the airport's staff who worked 141 00:07:58,480 --> 00:08:00,960 Speaker 1: in the stores around him. The ebbs and flows of 142 00:08:01,000 --> 00:08:04,560 Speaker 1: passengers arriving and departing became the rhythm of his life, 143 00:08:04,680 --> 00:08:06,720 Speaker 1: which is why it came as a shock when, in 144 00:08:06,800 --> 00:08:10,520 Speaker 1: nineteen ninety nine he was finally granted permission to leave 145 00:08:11,400 --> 00:08:14,960 Speaker 1: after eleven years of waiting in captivity. Suddenly having freedom 146 00:08:15,040 --> 00:08:18,320 Speaker 1: felt jarring. Alfred was used to this small, enclosed bubble. 147 00:08:18,520 --> 00:08:21,640 Speaker 1: The world outside was large and frightening. So much had 148 00:08:21,720 --> 00:08:24,640 Speaker 1: changed since he had entered the airport, which explained why, 149 00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:29,160 Speaker 1: after gaining his freedom, Alfred decided to stay. He continued 150 00:08:29,160 --> 00:08:31,480 Speaker 1: to live in Terminal one until two thousand and six, 151 00:08:31,520 --> 00:08:34,120 Speaker 1: when health issues forced him to go to a nearby hospital. 152 00:08:34,280 --> 00:08:37,720 Speaker 1: He bounced around between medical facilities and homeless shelters, never 153 00:08:37,760 --> 00:08:40,720 Speaker 1: wanting to stay far from his beloved airport, and just 154 00:08:40,760 --> 00:08:43,240 Speaker 1: a few months before Alfred passed away in twenty twenty two, 155 00:08:43,400 --> 00:08:46,320 Speaker 1: he moved back into Charles de Gaul, taking up residence 156 00:08:46,400 --> 00:08:49,320 Speaker 1: on his old red bench. The storefronts and the people 157 00:08:49,320 --> 00:08:53,559 Speaker 1: had changed, but Alfred remained the same. Meran Karimi Nasiri, 158 00:08:53,880 --> 00:08:56,240 Speaker 1: or Sir Alfred as he preferred, may have had the 159 00:08:56,280 --> 00:08:59,000 Speaker 1: world's longest layover. He spent most of his life in 160 00:08:59,080 --> 00:09:03,040 Speaker 1: limbo waiting to arrive or to depart, But for Alfred, 161 00:09:03,240 --> 00:09:05,560 Speaker 1: it was never about the start of his journey or 162 00:09:05,760 --> 00:09:09,240 Speaker 1: the end. For him, the airport itself and the life 163 00:09:09,320 --> 00:09:17,280 Speaker 1: he made there was his true final destination. I hope 164 00:09:17,280 --> 00:09:20,599 Speaker 1: you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. 165 00:09:20,920 --> 00:09:24,040 Speaker 1: Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about 166 00:09:24,040 --> 00:09:28,600 Speaker 1: the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show 167 00:09:28,840 --> 00:09:32,080 Speaker 1: was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how 168 00:09:32,160 --> 00:09:35,760 Speaker 1: Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore 169 00:09:36,000 --> 00:09:39,640 Speaker 1: which is a podcast, book series, and television show and 170 00:09:39,679 --> 00:09:42,280 Speaker 1: you can learn all about it over at the Worldoflore 171 00:09:42,559 --> 00:09:48,439 Speaker 1: dot com. And until next time, stay curious.