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 --> 00:00:09,320 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. 3 00:00:12,840 --> 00:00:16,840 Speaker 2: Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history 4 00:00:17,040 --> 00:00:20,280 Speaker 2: is an open book, all of these amazing tales are 5 00:00:20,320 --> 00:00:23,720 Speaker 2: right there on display, just waiting for us to explore. 6 00:00:25,239 --> 00:00:37,680 Speaker 2: Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. In the early eighteen eighties, 7 00:00:37,800 --> 00:00:40,760 Speaker 2: a man known as Doc Carver rode his horse across 8 00:00:40,800 --> 00:00:45,040 Speaker 2: the open plains of Nebraska, lost in thought. Carver was 9 00:00:45,159 --> 00:00:48,400 Speaker 2: a drift He was an expert sharpshooter, and he'd spent 10 00:00:48,479 --> 00:00:51,360 Speaker 2: the past few years traveling around the world in touring 11 00:00:51,440 --> 00:00:54,680 Speaker 2: exhibitions in vaudeville shows. He had even teamed up with 12 00:00:54,760 --> 00:00:58,360 Speaker 2: another famous showman, Buffalo Bill Cody, to start their own 13 00:00:58,440 --> 00:01:01,120 Speaker 2: traveling circus, but they had had a bitter falling out, 14 00:01:01,360 --> 00:01:04,160 Speaker 2: and now Carver was striking out on his own once again. 15 00:01:05,200 --> 00:01:07,600 Speaker 2: He wanted to start his own show, but he was 16 00:01:07,600 --> 00:01:10,640 Speaker 2: having trouble finding a hook that people would be drawn to. 17 00:01:11,240 --> 00:01:14,760 Speaker 2: He needed a fresh idea, something that no other circus 18 00:01:14,959 --> 00:01:18,440 Speaker 2: was doing. As he crossed a bridge over the Platte River, 19 00:01:18,760 --> 00:01:22,320 Speaker 2: his mind wandered with possibilities. Then all of a sudden, 20 00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:26,399 Speaker 2: he heard a deep groan. The bridge was collapsing. There 21 00:01:26,480 --> 00:01:29,319 Speaker 2: was a loud snap, and Carver and his horse both 22 00:01:29,400 --> 00:01:32,880 Speaker 2: tumbled down toward the river with a graceful arc. The 23 00:01:32,920 --> 00:01:35,920 Speaker 2: horse s dove down and splashed into the water. Carver 24 00:01:36,120 --> 00:01:38,800 Speaker 2: clung to its back as it swam toward the banks. 25 00:01:39,200 --> 00:01:42,000 Speaker 2: As he climbed onto the grass, Carver hopped down to 26 00:01:42,080 --> 00:01:45,080 Speaker 2: check the horse for injuries, and amazingly, they had both 27 00:01:45,160 --> 00:01:48,960 Speaker 2: made it out unscathed. As Carver remounted his horse and 28 00:01:49,040 --> 00:01:52,040 Speaker 2: navigated it toward the road, an idea began to form 29 00:01:52,080 --> 00:01:55,600 Speaker 2: in his mind. Everyone had animals in the circus, but 30 00:01:55,680 --> 00:01:59,680 Speaker 2: no one else had animals doing water tricks. Soon enough, 31 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:03,600 Speaker 2: at a fairgrounds in Saint Louis, Missouri, a curious audience 32 00:02:03,680 --> 00:02:06,760 Speaker 2: gathered around a tall, wooden ramp that rose at the 33 00:02:06,880 --> 00:02:10,280 Speaker 2: edge of a deep tank of water. Dot Carver greeted 34 00:02:10,280 --> 00:02:12,800 Speaker 2: the crowd and told them to prepare for something they 35 00:02:12,840 --> 00:02:16,919 Speaker 2: had never seen before, a high diving horse. And then 36 00:02:17,280 --> 00:02:20,919 Speaker 2: he mounted a sleek mare named Black Bess, patted her back, 37 00:02:21,160 --> 00:02:23,560 Speaker 2: and led her up the ramp. Once they had reached 38 00:02:23,600 --> 00:02:26,520 Speaker 2: the top, Carver got Black Best into position on a 39 00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:30,600 Speaker 2: small wooden platform, waited for the crowd's anticipation to reach 40 00:02:30,639 --> 00:02:33,960 Speaker 2: its peak, and then tapped his legs against the horse's sides. 41 00:02:34,440 --> 00:02:38,080 Speaker 2: On command, Black Best dove down into the tank of water. 42 00:02:38,560 --> 00:02:41,960 Speaker 2: The audience gasped as they fell. They splashed into the 43 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:44,600 Speaker 2: fourteen foot deep pool, and as they bobbed to the 44 00:02:44,639 --> 00:02:47,400 Speaker 2: surface and Carver shook the water out of his ears, 45 00:02:47,639 --> 00:02:49,840 Speaker 2: he heard the crowd cheering and whooping. 46 00:02:50,440 --> 00:02:54,000 Speaker 1: Horse diving was an instant hit. Over the next few years, 47 00:02:54,120 --> 00:02:58,520 Speaker 1: droves of curious spectators poured in to see Carver's traveling exhibition. 48 00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:01,919 Speaker 1: He gradually exped band of the operation until he had 49 00:03:01,919 --> 00:03:05,200 Speaker 1: a total of six horses performing in various cities all 50 00:03:05,240 --> 00:03:09,160 Speaker 1: across the country. Carver passed away in nineteen twenty seven, 51 00:03:09,480 --> 00:03:12,320 Speaker 1: but the show, as they say, must go on. His son, 52 00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:15,120 Speaker 1: Al took over, and just a year later Al married 53 00:03:15,160 --> 00:03:18,840 Speaker 1: Sarna Webster, one of the first female horse divers in history, 54 00:03:19,080 --> 00:03:22,200 Speaker 1: who had worked for Al's father. Under their guidance, a 55 00:03:22,240 --> 00:03:25,800 Speaker 1: permanent horse diving attraction was opened on the boardwalk at 56 00:03:25,800 --> 00:03:30,360 Speaker 1: Atlantic City's Steel Pier in nineteen thirty one. However, tragedy 57 00:03:30,440 --> 00:03:33,760 Speaker 1: struck when Sonora lost her balance and hit the water 58 00:03:33,840 --> 00:03:37,360 Speaker 1: with her eyes wide open. The impact caused her retinas 59 00:03:37,400 --> 00:03:42,320 Speaker 1: to detach, causing instant blindness. Despite this, though, she continued 60 00:03:42,360 --> 00:03:45,600 Speaker 1: to dive riding horses off the platform and into the 61 00:03:45,640 --> 00:03:50,160 Speaker 1: tank without being able to see, just like Daredevil, only cooler. 62 00:03:50,840 --> 00:03:54,240 Speaker 1: Sonora retired in nineteen forty five, but the act kept 63 00:03:54,240 --> 00:03:57,960 Speaker 1: going strong until the nineteen seventies. That's when the audiences 64 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:01,400 Speaker 1: gradually dwindled, helped along by animal rights groups that had 65 00:04:01,400 --> 00:04:05,080 Speaker 1: begun to protest the shows, and so in nineteen seventy eight, 66 00:04:05,400 --> 00:04:08,600 Speaker 1: the last diving horse took its final leaps off steel 67 00:04:08,600 --> 00:04:12,120 Speaker 1: pier before the exhibit was shuddered for good. In the 68 00:04:12,200 --> 00:04:15,000 Speaker 1: decades since, there have been two attempts to revive this 69 00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:18,359 Speaker 1: bizarre sport, neither of which got off the ground. No 70 00:04:18,560 --> 00:04:21,640 Speaker 1: pun intended, I swear, and in nineteen ninety one, the 71 00:04:21,680 --> 00:04:25,360 Speaker 1: story of Sonora's miraculous career was turned into a movie 72 00:04:25,440 --> 00:04:28,880 Speaker 1: called Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken. She passed away in 73 00:04:28,920 --> 00:04:31,760 Speaker 1: two thousand and three, less than five months shy of 74 00:04:31,800 --> 00:04:36,400 Speaker 1: her one hundredth birthday. Horse diving certainly was a curious 75 00:04:36,440 --> 00:04:39,640 Speaker 1: bit of entertainment, but just like the vaudeville shows and 76 00:04:39,720 --> 00:04:43,200 Speaker 1: sharpshooters of the wild West. It's one that might best 77 00:04:43,240 --> 00:05:00,920 Speaker 1: be left a thing of the past. The famous theorem 78 00:05:00,960 --> 00:05:04,760 Speaker 1: that's taught in geometry classes everywhere, A squared plus B 79 00:05:04,880 --> 00:05:08,200 Speaker 1: squared equals C squared. It's meant to help us find 80 00:05:08,240 --> 00:05:11,320 Speaker 1: the hypotenuse of a right angle, and it was named 81 00:05:11,320 --> 00:05:16,000 Speaker 1: for the famous Greek mathematician and philosopher Pythagoras. Now it's 82 00:05:16,040 --> 00:05:20,240 Speaker 1: easy to picture him as a sage robed scholar lecturing 83 00:05:20,279 --> 00:05:23,719 Speaker 1: a class of engaged students about his chosen field. But 84 00:05:23,880 --> 00:05:26,400 Speaker 1: if you did that, you'd only be getting a fraction 85 00:05:26,560 --> 00:05:29,960 Speaker 1: of the truth. To get a much clearer picture, you 86 00:05:30,040 --> 00:05:33,240 Speaker 1: have to also include a few other strange angles. His 87 00:05:33,400 --> 00:05:37,760 Speaker 1: belief that souls wandered between humankind and the animals, the 88 00:05:38,040 --> 00:05:42,880 Speaker 1: secrecy around his mathematical discoveries, and of course, his absolute 89 00:05:42,920 --> 00:05:47,559 Speaker 1: refusal to eat beans. The school of Pythagoras founded gives 90 00:05:47,600 --> 00:05:50,960 Speaker 1: us the first clue of his peculiarities. It wasn't merely 91 00:05:51,040 --> 00:05:54,280 Speaker 1: a lecture hall. What he created instead was more of 92 00:05:54,360 --> 00:05:57,680 Speaker 1: a commune where his students lived and ate together and 93 00:05:57,760 --> 00:06:02,080 Speaker 1: took an oath swearing them to absolutely secrecy. To be inducted, 94 00:06:02,400 --> 00:06:05,359 Speaker 1: one had to pass through secret rites, and the oath was, 95 00:06:05,480 --> 00:06:09,320 Speaker 1: in Pythagoras's mind, protective to keep the world from learning 96 00:06:09,400 --> 00:06:14,200 Speaker 1: truths that might destabilize the established order. This suppression of 97 00:06:14,279 --> 00:06:17,120 Speaker 1: knowledge was key to a culture of silence that has 98 00:06:17,200 --> 00:06:20,880 Speaker 1: kept much of the mathematician's life and works mysterious to 99 00:06:20,960 --> 00:06:24,400 Speaker 1: this day. We do know that Pythagoras was obsessed with 100 00:06:24,520 --> 00:06:29,400 Speaker 1: numerology and believe that numbers constituted the very core of reality. 101 00:06:29,720 --> 00:06:32,479 Speaker 1: He taught as students that the distance between planets and 102 00:06:32,520 --> 00:06:36,479 Speaker 1: stars created a type of cosmic music that he alone 103 00:06:36,600 --> 00:06:40,280 Speaker 1: could hear. He also taught that a triangular arrangement called 104 00:06:40,320 --> 00:06:43,719 Speaker 1: a tatractus could be used to align one's soul with 105 00:06:43,800 --> 00:06:47,840 Speaker 1: the greater universal order. He would conduct rituals wherein his 106 00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:52,960 Speaker 1: initiates would arrange and rearrange small objects into the tatractus pattern, 107 00:06:53,240 --> 00:06:56,680 Speaker 1: which he believed could channel that heavenly order into the 108 00:06:56,760 --> 00:07:00,600 Speaker 1: material realm. The philosopher also insisted upon on a strict 109 00:07:00,640 --> 00:07:05,400 Speaker 1: dietary regimen, including forbidding that any of his disciples eat beans. 110 00:07:05,839 --> 00:07:08,400 Speaker 1: There was a practical reason for this, He said he 111 00:07:08,480 --> 00:07:12,240 Speaker 1: believed that lagume caused flatulence could be a distraction to 112 00:07:12,360 --> 00:07:16,040 Speaker 1: his teachings. It's hard to focus on sacred geometry when 113 00:07:16,040 --> 00:07:19,120 Speaker 1: the lecture hall stinks. But there was a stranger, more 114 00:07:19,200 --> 00:07:23,000 Speaker 1: mystical reason for disallowing beans, the belief that within them 115 00:07:23,080 --> 00:07:26,960 Speaker 1: dwelled the souls of the dead. And yes, I get it, 116 00:07:26,960 --> 00:07:30,080 Speaker 1: it's quite weird. But this view came from his belief 117 00:07:30,160 --> 00:07:34,360 Speaker 1: in metempsychosis, or the transmigration of souls, and it led 118 00:07:34,440 --> 00:07:37,840 Speaker 1: him and his followers into a life of strict vegetarianism. 119 00:07:38,160 --> 00:07:40,920 Speaker 1: By avoiding the killing of animals, he hoped not to 120 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:44,559 Speaker 1: harm the souls that were transmitted between beast and man, 121 00:07:44,880 --> 00:07:47,000 Speaker 1: and in this way he could extend his beliefs into 122 00:07:47,040 --> 00:07:50,920 Speaker 1: a practical, everyday application. Although it's unclear to this day 123 00:07:50,920 --> 00:07:55,360 Speaker 1: why beans were also spiritually excluded. There are a host 124 00:07:55,480 --> 00:07:58,960 Speaker 1: of other peculiarities about the guy. For instance, tales of 125 00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:02,880 Speaker 1: the mathematician won walking around in golden sandals. It kept 126 00:08:02,880 --> 00:08:06,400 Speaker 1: his footfalls silent, they say, as well as allowing him 127 00:08:06,440 --> 00:08:09,679 Speaker 1: to walk a path of spiritual virtue. There were also 128 00:08:09,760 --> 00:08:13,240 Speaker 1: rumors that he could tame wild animals, stop a raging 129 00:08:13,320 --> 00:08:16,960 Speaker 1: bull in its tracks, and predict earthquakes by sensing the 130 00:08:17,000 --> 00:08:20,640 Speaker 1: deep vibrations of the Earth before they struck, and in 131 00:08:20,720 --> 00:08:23,960 Speaker 1: all these rumors, along with the cult like behavior of 132 00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:27,800 Speaker 1: his students and the deep secrecy around his teachings, gave 133 00:08:27,880 --> 00:08:32,520 Speaker 1: him a mystical air. This mysterious persona was further supported 134 00:08:32,520 --> 00:08:35,120 Speaker 1: by his students, who warned of a terrible curse that 135 00:08:35,160 --> 00:08:38,440 Speaker 1: would befall any man who dared spread his secret teaching. 136 00:08:39,040 --> 00:08:42,080 Speaker 1: You see, the Pythagoreans believe that the universe was a 137 00:08:42,200 --> 00:08:46,000 Speaker 1: living tapestry. It was woven out of the souls, numbers, 138 00:08:46,000 --> 00:08:50,200 Speaker 1: and harmonies hidden too most of humankind. They guarded this 139 00:08:50,320 --> 00:08:54,440 Speaker 1: tapestry fiercely. Their belief that the cosmos sang in precise 140 00:08:54,559 --> 00:08:59,239 Speaker 1: ratios made ordinary mathematics a sacred art, while their dietary 141 00:08:59,320 --> 00:09:03,559 Speaker 1: bands and mystical rituals turn daily life into a continual 142 00:09:03,679 --> 00:09:07,360 Speaker 1: right of devotion. Even the discovery of an irrational number 143 00:09:07,720 --> 00:09:10,959 Speaker 1: was treated as a sort of philosophical crisis to hide 144 00:09:11,000 --> 00:09:14,640 Speaker 1: from those who could not or would not understand, lest 145 00:09:14,720 --> 00:09:18,800 Speaker 1: the spread of that knowledge publicly unravel their entire worldview. 146 00:09:19,440 --> 00:09:22,920 Speaker 1: And so as time passed by, the legend of Pythagorasts 147 00:09:23,000 --> 00:09:27,080 Speaker 1: grew the beam shunning soul traveling mystic who claimed to 148 00:09:27,120 --> 00:09:30,840 Speaker 1: hear the music of the planets became a cultural archetype, 149 00:09:30,960 --> 00:09:35,120 Speaker 1: a symbol of the uneasy marriage between rational inquiry and 150 00:09:35,240 --> 00:09:40,480 Speaker 1: mystical belief. Modern scholars today, armed with archaeological fragments and 151 00:09:40,559 --> 00:09:45,400 Speaker 1: ancient testimonies, continue to untangle fact from fiction, but the 152 00:09:45,720 --> 00:09:49,360 Speaker 1: weirder elements persist because they illuminate a world in which 153 00:09:49,400 --> 00:09:54,080 Speaker 1: mathematics was not a neutral tool, but a pathway to 154 00:09:54,200 --> 00:10:00,720 Speaker 1: the divine. I hope you enjoyed today's guide tour through 155 00:10:00,760 --> 00:10:04,040 Speaker 1: the Cabinet of Curiosities. This show was created by me 156 00:10:04,360 --> 00:10:08,520 Speaker 1: Aaron Manke in partnership with iHeart Podcasts, researched and written 157 00:10:08,520 --> 00:10:11,520 Speaker 1: by the Grim and Mild team, and produced by Jesse Funk. 158 00:10:11,840 --> 00:10:13,959 Speaker 1: Learn more about the show and the people who make 159 00:10:14,040 --> 00:10:18,520 Speaker 1: it over at Grimandmild dot com slash Curiosities. You'll also 160 00:10:18,600 --> 00:10:21,839 Speaker 1: find a link to the official Cabinet of Curiosity's hardcover book, 161 00:10:22,040 --> 00:10:26,000 Speaker 1: available in bookstores and online, as well as ebook and audiobook. 162 00:10:26,240 --> 00:10:28,520 Speaker 1: And if you're looking for an ad free option, consider 163 00:10:28,640 --> 00:10:31,880 Speaker 1: joining our Patreon. It's all the same stories, but without 164 00:10:31,880 --> 00:10:35,080 Speaker 1: the interruption for a small monthly fee. Learn more and 165 00:10:35,200 --> 00:10:39,320 Speaker 1: sign up over at Patreon dot com slash grimandmild, and 166 00:10:39,559 --> 00:10:42,079 Speaker 1: until next time, stay curious.