Speaker 1: Welcome to the Hidden Gin, a production of I Heart
Speaker 1: Radio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Minky. I love
Speaker 1: to smell good, and I have been kind of obsessed
Speaker 1: with smelling nights since I was about thirteen years old,
Speaker 1: and I'm happy to say this was well before the
Speaker 1: advent of acts body spray. Now you might not be aware,
Speaker 1: but perfumes that are filled with alcohol aren't very popular
Speaker 1: in many parts of the world, including where our family
Speaker 1: hails from, Pakistan. Instead, scented oils called out there have
Speaker 1: been used widely for thousands of years by people in Africa,
Speaker 1: the Middle East, and South Asia. And our family was different.
Speaker 1: My parents had tiny, little precious vials of the rich
Speaker 1: perfumed oil tucked away here and there in a dresser
Speaker 1: drawer in the glove compartment of my dad's pickup truck.
Speaker 1: Some were clear, others had a dim golden color, and
Speaker 1: some were a deep amber, viscous and thick, sealed tightly
Speaker 1: like a treasure. And they were treasures because real, authentic
Speaker 1: other is very very expensive, costing in the thousands for
Speaker 1: a single ounce of the really good stuff. It's pure,
Speaker 1: unadulterated essence, with no alcohol, no dilution of the deeply
Speaker 1: heady scents captured inside every drop. It's so strong that
Speaker 1: you can smell the essence even when the vials are sealed.
Speaker 1: A drop on each wrist, maybe one behind an ear
Speaker 1: would last all day. I never dared to steal any
Speaker 1: drops because there would be no hiding it. The scent travels,
Speaker 1: turning you into a walking incense stick, and the minute
Speaker 1: you enter a room wearing some others will immediately know.
Speaker 1: And also, my siblings and I were strictly forbidden from
Speaker 1: wearing other and not because it was expensive. We were
Speaker 1: forbidden because See, the set doesn't just draw other people
Speaker 1: to you, It draws creatures that we can't even see
Speaker 1: to it, especially outside and especially at nighttime. So our
Speaker 1: elders told us to be wary of going out at
Speaker 1: night when the gin were most active heavily perfumed, because
Speaker 1: it could prove irresistible to them. After all, the gin
Speaker 1: lurked everywhere in the darkness, and smelling sweet and inviting,
Speaker 1: could be just the thing that captured their interest. On
Speaker 1: the other hand, you also don't want to piss them off.
Speaker 1: You don't want to anger them, which you could if
Speaker 1: you disrespected them. By doing something so heinous as urinating
Speaker 1: under a tree at night, because that's why you find
Speaker 1: a lot of them, or at least that's where they
Speaker 1: can find you under a tree at night. It said
Speaker 1: that many jin live in trees peacefully, not bothering anyone,
Speaker 1: unless they could distract did by a sweetly perfumed person
Speaker 1: passing by or a rude interloper who decided to relieve
Speaker 1: their bladder there. According to Jewish lore, demon gin are
Speaker 1: especially dangerous around palm trees, and you are bound to
Speaker 1: invite their attention by sleeping under a palm tree or
Speaker 1: squeezing between two palms, or between a palm tree and
Speaker 1: a wall. The general rule here is definitely just stay
Speaker 1: away from palm trees, also from sword trees because at
Speaker 1: least sixty demon gin live in its shade, but also
Speaker 1: avoid the caper bush because the blind demon roof lives there.
Speaker 1: And while you're at it, stay away from the roots
Speaker 1: of trees because an entire other species of demon gin
Speaker 1: are found there. Trespassing into gin territory is enough to
Speaker 1: make a gin follow you all the way home, snatch
Speaker 1: you right up so you disappear forever, or even possess you,
Speaker 1: so beware of lingering under trees at night for any reason,
Speaker 1: because while it might seem like the Gin only occupy
Speaker 1: far away ends, the bad news or good news, depending
Speaker 1: on how you feel about all this, is that you'll
Speaker 1: find them both far and very very near. I'm Robbia Chadary,
Speaker 1: and I'll be your guide into the ancient world of
Speaker 1: the hidden Gin. Welcome. As we've noted before, while we
Speaker 1: may share our physical world with the Gin, it's not
Speaker 1: their only abode. As metaphysical beings, they live in multiple dimensions,
Speaker 1: occupying both their own gin worlds and the human one too.
Speaker 1: But let's start at the beginning, the original dwelling of
Speaker 1: our fiery friends, the Mountain of GoF It's not unusual
Speaker 1: that people have historically believed in mystical, powerful beings living
Speaker 1: in the highest of peaks, up among the clouds, far
Speaker 1: from common human riff raff. For example, the Himalayas have
Speaker 1: been revered for thousands of years by Hindus as the
Speaker 1: home and of the gods, a sacred place where ancient
Speaker 1: Hindu deities live and love, battle and triumph, where to
Speaker 1: this day sages and saints and those seeking salvation trek
Speaker 1: to meditate and commune with the divine, and the beautiful
Speaker 1: slopes are dotted with sacred caves and shrines. The very
Speaker 1: sins of mankind, it said, are forgiven just by laying
Speaker 1: eyes on the mystical mountain range. But while mankind can
Speaker 1: actually lay eyes on it, we aren't quite able to
Speaker 1: see the esoteric deities that are believed to live there
Speaker 1: upon its summits from time immemorial. They are there, but
Speaker 1: not for our naked eyes to witness. Similarly, the Greek gods,
Speaker 1: when sought, are said to be found atop Mount Olympus,
Speaker 1: the highest mountain in Greece, and the ancient Persian god
Speaker 1: of light Mithra rules from atop the sacred mount Hokkaraiah
Speaker 1: and other Persian gods, saints, and heroes find rest in
Speaker 1: the mount Elbows, range, mountains and mountain ranges, as you
Speaker 1: can see, figure heavily in many diverse mythologies and religions,
Speaker 1: and the Gin story is no different. If the Gin
Speaker 1: had a homeland, it was Mount Golf, sometimes referred to
Speaker 1: as a single mountain and other times as a range.
Speaker 1: Golf is a place so mystical that it is both
Speaker 1: everywhere and nowhere at least nowhere human experience can find
Speaker 1: and place it. The mountain stands at the most distant
Speaker 1: point on the Earth, on the very edge of it,
Speaker 1: and those who say it's a range say that it
Speaker 1: surrounds the entire planet while remaining invisible to the eye.
Speaker 1: Every visible mountain range on Earth, however, springs from Golf,
Speaker 1: connected deep underground to the original mother mountain where the
Speaker 1: natural and the supernatural meat. Golf itself is created out
Speaker 1: of green gems, some say emeralds, others say para dot,
Speaker 1: and among its gleaming peaks and valleys you find jinnis
Speaker 1: Than the land of the Jinns. Jennis Than is the
Speaker 1: entire region spanning Golf, and in the regions are kingdoms
Speaker 1: and tribes, cities and villages spanning thousands of metaphysical miles.
Speaker 1: According to the legends, two such cities are Jibulka and Jibulsa,
Speaker 1: both made out of pure emerald, one to the east
Speaker 1: and one to the west of Golf. It is said
Speaker 1: that Alexander the Great set out to find these cities,
Speaker 1: which can only be reached by trekking four months in
Speaker 1: utter darkness, but he gave up the riches of Jibulka
Speaker 1: and Jabulsa were not to be his, and how could
Speaker 1: they be. He was seeking what he could never find,
Speaker 1: attempting to cross into a realm that remains out of
Speaker 1: human reach and human sense, far on the other side
Speaker 1: of a cosmic divide. While you will likely never make
Speaker 1: a took off if you're seeking to find the gin,
Speaker 1: no worries because on this side of the mystical mountain,
Speaker 1: right here in the earthly realm, there is no dearth
Speaker 1: of where they can be found. The most beastly ones,
Speaker 1: as we've meant and before, hot places of desolation, deserts
Speaker 1: and caves, abandoned ruins, graveyards. But then there are jin
Speaker 1: who prefer not to learn so far from humanity, and
Speaker 1: they make it their business to stay close to the sacred.
Speaker 1: If you want to find a gin, go visit a shrine.
Speaker 1: In two thousand and six, an unnamed correspondent from the
Speaker 1: Economist did just that, going in search for them in
Speaker 1: Somalia and Abrahanistan. The correspondent noted that it was often
Speaker 1: village women of little or no education that visited the
Speaker 1: shrines with their pleas and prayers. The shrines, it was reported,
Speaker 1: are often little more than a carved niche in a
Speaker 1: rock with colorful prayer flags tied to nearby trees, and
Speaker 1: according to the author quote Genner is that to be
Speaker 1: attracted to the ancient geography of shrines, many of which
Speaker 1: pre date Islam, and as some have it, the shrines
Speaker 1: were attracted to the Gin, which takes us to one
Speaker 1: of them. Most famous such shrine located in the Land
Speaker 1: of one hundred thousand Saints, Morocco. That's where you'll find
Speaker 1: the shrine of the saint ben Yeffu, also known as
Speaker 1: the Sultan of the Gin. Saints in this part of
Speaker 1: the world, like saints in most part of the world,
Speaker 1: are replete with their miraculous powers to heal the sick,
Speaker 1: fight drought and famine, and plagues men's rifts, and fight
Speaker 1: oppressive rulers. Everyday, people pray to them, beseech them for
Speaker 1: their assistance in big and small matters, and often hang
Speaker 1: all their hopes for help on these human vessels of
Speaker 1: divine power. Ben Yeffo, a saint from centuries ago, was
Speaker 1: no different. It's hard to be exactly sure when Ben
Speaker 1: yeff Who lived, but historic documents place him sometime between
Speaker 1: the eighth and fourteen centuries, a rather considerable span of
Speaker 1: time because written local histories were not nearly as common
Speaker 1: as oral ones, and from many of the saints of
Speaker 1: this region. All that remained behind as proof of their
Speaker 1: existence are the folk stories about out them and the shrines.
Speaker 1: The legend goes that ben Yeffi's family had moved from
Speaker 1: the Sahara Desert to Marrakesh, Morocco, where in one part
Speaker 1: of the city a powerful jin called an Afrit haunted
Speaker 1: a spring of water, and this gin would harm anyone
Speaker 1: who tried to access the spring. Thanks to the terror
Speaker 1: of the jin, the locals were always struggling for water
Speaker 1: and food, not even being able to supply sufficient water
Speaker 1: for their herds or their fields. They tried everything they
Speaker 1: could to appease the gin during feasts and his honor,
Speaker 1: and even sacrificing a virgin here and there to make
Speaker 1: peace with the beast, but nothing worked, and year after
Speaker 1: a year they suffered. Finally, the tribesmen begged the great
Speaker 1: saints of the area to rid them of the gin,
Speaker 1: and they were told that only ben Yeffu could help them,
Speaker 1: So they summoned ben Yefu, who addressed an assembly of
Speaker 1: all the local saints, who is the supreme spiritual leader
Speaker 1: in our times? Ben Yeff, who asked them you are?
Speaker 1: They replied, who is the supreme helper? Benieff Wu then demanded,
Speaker 1: you are, said the gathering of saints, Then you give
Speaker 1: me permission to master Jin's by treading upon them with
Speaker 1: my foot and whipping them with the sword of Jin's.
Speaker 1: The saints responded, you have our permission, and promised that
Speaker 1: neither we nor our descendants would advance in front of
Speaker 1: you or your progeny to face Jin's till Allah inherits
Speaker 1: the earth and all its inhabitants. Upon hearing that, ben
Speaker 1: Yeff who approached the spring and summoned the Jin, who
Speaker 1: jumped out at him in the shape of a lion.
Speaker 1: But before the line could touch him, ben Yeff, who
Speaker 1: blew on it, turning the animal into a roaring flame
Speaker 1: that reached the sky but then quickly burned out. Ben Yeff,
Speaker 1: who having been endowed all the Jin controlling power by
Speaker 1: the other saints, moved from place to place during his
Speaker 1: life and eventually settled in Dahkula with his followers, where
Speaker 1: they built a shrine which exists to this day in
Speaker 1: his decades of saintly miracle's. Benyeffu became known for a
Speaker 1: particular miracle, the ability to draw water out of dry
Speaker 1: barren land, which was certainly useful in those parts. But
Speaker 1: it wasn't his power of divination that resulted in a
Speaker 1: legacy that has lasted centuries, if not a millennia. It
Speaker 1: was instead his legendary defeat of a mysterious figure known
Speaker 1: as a Black Sultan. Now, in stories from this region,
Speaker 1: the Black Sultan wasn't only destroyed once by ben Yeffu,
Speaker 1: he was destroyed at numerous times by different saints. Anthropologists
Speaker 1: believed the Black Sultan figure stood for any number of tyrannical,
Speaker 1: oppressive rulers that the population felt helpless against, and so
Speaker 1: it was the spiritual sultans the saints that rose up
Speaker 1: against the material ones, the conquerors and rulers who made
Speaker 1: life miserable for their subjects. But there is also another
Speaker 1: tradition about the Black Sultan, an even darker one. It
Speaker 1: is said that he in fact the son of shem Haresh,
Speaker 1: the demon jinn who stands guard at one of the
Speaker 1: entrances to the Palace of Satan. Whether the Black Sultan
Speaker 1: was descended from a demon jin or was an actual
Speaker 1: oppressive ruler. The legend goes that when ben Yefu moved
Speaker 1: into the Decula region, he inadvertently encroached into the Black
Speaker 1: Sultan's territory. The Sultan heard about this powerful saint who
Speaker 1: had just arrived, and realized this could mean a serious
Speaker 1: challenge to his own power, so he assembled an army
Speaker 1: and rode out to meet Benyefu with thousands of soldiers
Speaker 1: flanking him. The Sultan demanded that ben yeff Wu leave
Speaker 1: the region and never return, but the saint was unperturbed.
Speaker 1: He calmly refused. The Sultan, outraged over the saint's arrogance
Speaker 1: and disdain, commanded his army to attack. But what the
Speaker 1: Sultan didn't know was that the saint wasn't alone. He
Speaker 1: had his own army, an army of Jin under his control.
Speaker 1: With barely a movement, Beniyeffu's signaled for his battalions of
Speaker 1: Gin soldiers to counter attack. The Sultan's army went flying
Speaker 1: men and horses in the air as a Gin mounted
Speaker 1: an all out assault. Some stories say the sultan himself
Speaker 1: was lifted off his steed and high into the air.
Speaker 1: By a gin with seven heads, where he was suspended
Speaker 1: terrified until he conceded, humiliated, and defeated. The Black Sultan
Speaker 1: asked ben Yeffu for a truce. The saint agreed, but
Speaker 1: only on one condition that the Sultan sign a decree
Speaker 1: declaring ben Yeffu to be a true saint. The Black
Speaker 1: Sultan did so and handed Benyeffu the declaration, stating, so
Speaker 1: all could hear, I am a Sultan and you are
Speaker 1: a Sultan. That episode definitively established benyef whose position as
Speaker 1: a bona fide saint and entitled him to the eternal
Speaker 1: honorific the Sultan of the Gin. Benyef who was also
Speaker 1: known by another name, the Green Sultan, as a contrast
Speaker 1: to the Black Sultan. This name he received when a
Speaker 1: man pus that by Jin came to him to be cured.
Speaker 1: The afflicted patients saw the saint as a vision of
Speaker 1: a knight on a white horse. When ben yeff Who
Speaker 1: lifted his arms in prayer, the sick man's eyes opened
Speaker 1: wide as he saw entire tribes of Jin living under
Speaker 1: the folds of Benieffu's gown, all bowed to the Green
Speaker 1: Sultan in allegiance, and since then, ben jeff Wu's sovereignty
Speaker 1: over the Jin has never been challenged. Today, the Shrine
Speaker 1: of ben yeff Who bustles day and night with spiritual healers.
Speaker 1: These healers continue the spiritual tradition of their saint battling
Speaker 1: evil gin causing harm to human beings, and the shrine
Speaker 1: also draws Jin to it who come to aid the
Speaker 1: healers or commune with them, or they're just unable to
Speaker 1: resist the draw of the power of ben Yeffu himself.
Speaker 1: And there is another reason the Jin gather at ben
Speaker 1: yeff Wu, because that's where an assembly of Jin, led
Speaker 1: by the spirit of the Saint himself, preside over a
Speaker 1: mythic gin core. That's right, a court with judges and
Speaker 1: trials and defendants. The shrine at ben Yaffoo is simply designed.
Speaker 1: It's a common dome shaped structure encircled by a series
Speaker 1: of small cells that hold seekers waiting for relief. They're
Speaker 1: called patients, but they come bearing a most serious spiritual disease,
Speaker 1: jin possession, and so as they are exercised by the
Speaker 1: spiritual inheritors of the Saint, the healers, the Jins themselves
Speaker 1: are put on trial for having transgressed against humankind. The
Speaker 1: proceedings in this court, called Jin evictions, involved judges, which
Speaker 1: are usually the healers and sometimes lawyers and witnesses of
Speaker 1: both the human and gin variety, and the Jin defendants
Speaker 1: are brought before the court through the physical body they
Speaker 1: have possessed. The Gin are dragged to this court from
Speaker 1: all over the world, because the court at ben Yaffoo
Speaker 1: is what you might call the Supreme Court of Jin misbehavior,
Speaker 1: the highest ruling body in the world exercising jurisdiction over
Speaker 1: the gin. In one reported instance, a young boy who
Speaker 1: was unable to walk was brought to Beniafu by his father,
Speaker 1: who carried him into the shrine and placed him before
Speaker 1: one of the healers. The father accused the defendant a
Speaker 1: gin for his son's affliction. The healer focused his gaze
Speaker 1: on the boy, whose body began twisting and writhing in
Speaker 1: pain as prayers began being chanted. The boy suddenly opened
Speaker 1: his mouth and started reciting verses in Arabic, but the
Speaker 1: healer silenced him, demanding to know who was speaking, the
Speaker 1: boy or the gin. The voice that responded said it
Speaker 1: was a gin named Knock and that he was a
Speaker 1: god fearing jin, not an evil one. Well, why, then,
Speaker 1: asked the healer, did he possess the boy because of
Speaker 1: the gin? The boy had entered a cave with the
Speaker 1: jin lived and well, he took a leak. What the
Speaker 1: boy didn't know was that he had urinated right on
Speaker 1: the gin itself. This act of disrespect so enraged the
Speaker 1: Gin that he possessed the young man ever since. The
Speaker 1: healer reprimanded the gin. Is this any way to treat
Speaker 1: a fellow, god fearing person? Forgive him, he demanded. The
Speaker 1: Gin agreed and forgave the boy, releasing him from his bondage.
Speaker 1: And immediately the boy rose and stood able to walk again.
Speaker 1: The trial of the Gin was over and his eviction secured.
Speaker 1: These are the kinds of stories that people witness regularly
Speaker 1: at Beniefu, and it's not uncommon for the offending gin
Speaker 1: to cite some kind of wrongdoing against them as a
Speaker 1: reason for their taking a sole hostage, which, if we
Speaker 1: remember from the top of the show, is one good
Speaker 1: reason not to take a leak under a tree, just
Speaker 1: like our elders warned us not to, because you never
Speaker 1: know who or what you might be leaking on. An
Speaker 1: interesting note about the Gin evictions at the Shrine of
Speaker 1: Benieffu is this, while the defendants may except the verdicts
Speaker 1: issue to them and release their victims, it doesn't mean
Speaker 1: they just go away. Often they will linger at the shrine,
Speaker 1: and sometimes they leave one victim only to occupy another.
Speaker 1: And every night, they say, the jinns gather to dance
Speaker 1: in a trance at the shrine, moving in circle upon
Speaker 1: circle of spiritual ecstasy, honoring their master ben Yeffu and
Speaker 1: his power over them. So if you're looking for Gin,
Speaker 1: the shrine of ben Yeffu will surely not disappoint. Of course,
Speaker 1: ben Yeffu isn't the only shrine you can find gin,
Speaker 1: though most shrines certainly don't hold Gin trials. But across
Speaker 1: the world, at shrines both big and small, jinner said
Speaker 1: to guard the sacred spaces, often in the form of
Speaker 1: human beings that appear and disappear, protectors who live there,
Speaker 1: to safeguard pilgrims, and honor whatever saint is buried there.
Speaker 1: In some shrines and places of worship, you'll find legions
Speaker 1: of pigeons and other birds that line the rooftops and
Speaker 1: wander in the courtyards. These birds, they say, are actually
Speaker 1: Jin who come to share the quiet, contemplative peace of
Speaker 1: these spaces, who listen to the prayerful chance, and who
Speaker 1: harbor no ill will towards human beings. And just as
Speaker 1: some Jin guards shrines and worshippers, there are others who
Speaker 1: stand guard over an entirely different kind of charge, worldly treasures. Now,
Speaker 1: we've mentioned before that Jin often dwell in desolate places,
Speaker 1: among crumbling, abandoned sites. That way, they're far removed from
Speaker 1: humanity and can live there in peace. But sometimes the
Speaker 1: reason they're living among the ruins is because somewhere in
Speaker 1: those ruins, in that far off, lonely place, there is
Speaker 1: a hidden treasure that needs guarding. There is an ancient
Speaker 1: legend about an awesome treasure concealed in the Nebataean ruins
Speaker 1: in the Hijaz region of present day Saudi Arabia. The
Speaker 1: Nebataeans were an Arabian tribe whose earliest inscriptions date hundreds
Speaker 1: of years before the birth of Jesus. Some say they
Speaker 1: were nomads and traveled throughout the desert with their herds,
Speaker 1: following the seasons and food and water supplies. Other sources
Speaker 1: say they were a tribe of warriors, numbering in the thousands,
Speaker 1: and they were also master tradesmen, with their trades dry
Speaker 1: all the way from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea.
Speaker 1: The Nabatians faded from history, but left behind grand monuments
Speaker 1: to their existence across the region, from modern day Jordans
Speaker 1: to Israel to the Sinai and in northwest Saudi Arabia. Now,
Speaker 1: many of you may have heard of Petra, the ruins
Speaker 1: of an ancient Nebatian city in Jordan that attracts thousands
Speaker 1: of tourists from across the world, but you likely haven't
Speaker 1: heard of Madayan Saleh, the second largest nebatinin archaeological site
Speaker 1: after Petra, dating back to the first century, and that's
Speaker 1: where we find our next story. Madaine sale translates to
Speaker 1: the cities of Saleh, named after an ancient prophet from
Speaker 1: before the time of Abraham, whose story is found in
Speaker 1: both High and Islamic scriptures. According to the stories, the
Speaker 1: prophet Saleh was sent to the Nebatian people of this
Speaker 1: region to call them to the true religion, but they
Speaker 1: rejected him, and while things didn't go so well for them,
Speaker 1: then they were wiped out by God for their impiety
Speaker 1: and arrogance, and since then only their ruins remain. And
Speaker 1: it seems, according to the archaeologists, the people of this
Speaker 1: region did disappear sometime between four hundred and six d
Speaker 1: left behind with the vestiges of a once sprawling, dynamic
Speaker 1: metropolis with residential communities, places of worship, a hundred thirty wells,
Speaker 1: and four separate necropolis areas to bury and honor the dead.
Speaker 1: There are over two thousand burial sites deep within the earth,
Speaker 1: and above ground there are monumental tombs. While the land
Speaker 1: is arid and flat, massive rose colored sandstone formations rise
Speaker 1: up thousands of feet high from the desert, and centuries ago,
Speaker 1: the Nebataeans carved a hundred and thirty one monumental tombs
Speaker 1: into these rocky outcrops, which still stand today. The legend
Speaker 1: goes the people of the region did just leave behind
Speaker 1: these monuments, They also left behind a grand treasure sealed
Speaker 1: in one of the thousands of rocky chambers underground, a
Speaker 1: treasure so great that, if found, the kings of the
Speaker 1: world would battle over it. Tribes would destroy one another,
Speaker 1: friend would turn against friend, and brother against brother, and
Speaker 1: such a grand treasure, of course, cannot stand unguarded, protecting
Speaker 1: it since the time the inhabitants were wiped out. Is
Speaker 1: a gin, and not just any gin, but an ancient,
Speaker 1: if freat Now the Freath are known to be powerful, wicked,
Speaker 1: and cunning. They're winged and massive, and are usually found
Speaker 1: in places like Made and Sale, deep among the ruins,
Speaker 1: where they rise to from the underworld. Some say they're
Speaker 1: demons and they are nearly impossible to control or defeat.
Speaker 1: Your best bet is to steer clear of them, which
Speaker 1: is what the Arabs of the region did for centuries.
Speaker 1: The ruins and Madie and Sale were left unattended for
Speaker 1: hundreds of years, avoided precisely because of low goals, feared
Speaker 1: the jin that haunted them, and yet still they stayed
Speaker 1: incredibly well preserved. Some say thanks to the arid climate,
Speaker 1: and others say thanks to the jin that dwell there.
Speaker 1: In two thousand and eight, the site was declared a
Speaker 1: UNESCO Heritage Site, and while today the Saudi government highly
Speaker 1: encourages tourism there, many locals still refused to visit. They
Speaker 1: know seeking treasure there could end up being fatal for them,
Speaker 1: because despite the lure of a buried treasure. At the
Speaker 1: end of the day, no one wants to battle a
Speaker 1: demon for it. Now, another legendary treasure, guarded by Jin
Speaker 1: is said to be buried in the ruins of the
Speaker 1: last city of Ubar, dubbed the Atlantis of the Sands
Speaker 1: by Lawrence of Arabia himself. While stories of Ubar can
Speaker 1: be found in both Islamic lore and the tales from
Speaker 1: one thousand and one Arabian Nights, many scholars thought it
Speaker 1: never existed. That was until when the ruins of a
Speaker 1: fortress was located by an unlikely team of Los Angeles
Speaker 1: archaeologists who used satellite imagery from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Speaker 1: and found something in the most barren part of the
Speaker 1: country of Oman, in a region so desolate it's called
Speaker 1: the Empty Quarter. The fortress they found was surrounded by
Speaker 1: eight walls, an impenetrable octagon. Each wall was sixty ft long,
Speaker 1: twelve feet high and two ft thick and thirty feet high.
Speaker 1: Watch towers stood in every corner. It was the watch
Speaker 1: towers that convinced the archaeologist that this was indeed Ubar,
Speaker 1: because it matched the description in the Islamic scripture that
Speaker 1: gore On which referred to Ubar as the quote the
Speaker 1: many towered city whose like has not been built in
Speaker 1: the entire land. If this was indeed the ancient city
Speaker 1: of Ubar, that means the researchers had found what was
Speaker 1: the center of the global frankin since trade over three
Speaker 1: thousand years ago, and thanks to that trade. Legend has
Speaker 1: it that the rulers of Ubar were rich and powerful
Speaker 1: beyond imagination. According to the legend, they were ruled over
Speaker 1: by a brutal king named Shahdad bin Odd. King Shaddad
Speaker 1: ruled over a thousand tribes, and he was obsessed with
Speaker 1: creating a paradise for himself on earth, so he ordered
Speaker 1: gems and jewels from around the world to be used
Speaker 1: in building a city that would be his own paradise
Speaker 1: on Earth. Ubar was filled with pillars of rubies and emeralds,
Speaker 1: thresholds of pearls, walls of gold and silver, the entire
Speaker 1: place lush and fragrant, from floors studied with saffron and musk,
Speaker 1: dotted with exotic gardens that invoked all the beauty of
Speaker 1: a heavenly paradise. Unfortunately, for Shahdad, he never was able
Speaker 1: to see the fortress completed in all of its glory.
Speaker 1: It said that when Shahdad finally headed out to inspect
Speaker 1: the city after it took three hundred years to make,
Speaker 1: and in case you're wondering, Shadad himself was a nine
Speaker 1: years old. His arrogance finally caught up to him for
Speaker 1: the sin of trying to recreate God's paradise on earth,
Speaker 1: along with plenty of other sins like greed and debauchery.
Speaker 1: Shaddad and his entourage were swallowed up by a massive
Speaker 1: desert storm, as was his jeweled city. But while the
Speaker 1: treasures ended up buried under mountains of sand and earth,
Speaker 1: they weren't forgotten. For thousands of years, those treasures have
Speaker 1: been guarded by the gin creatures called the Nisnas. Strangely
Speaker 1: half formed, the Nisnas could be mistaken for human at
Speaker 1: a distance, but upon getting closer, the illusion disappears. With
Speaker 1: half ahead, half a body, a single eye, the Nisnas
Speaker 1: hop around on a single foot attached to their only leg.
Speaker 1: While they are considered a weak gin without much power,
Speaker 1: their misshapen form terrifies the imagination of believers from the
Speaker 1: east to the west. They even make an appearance in
Speaker 1: the French writer Gustave Flaubert's literary work The Temptation of St.
Speaker 1: Anthon me In this book, the saint, who has isolated
Speaker 1: himself on an Egyptian mountaintop, is tested by visions, haunted
Speaker 1: by gods and demons, tempted by magicians and monsters, and
Speaker 1: one of those monsters is the Nisnas slobear rights. The
Speaker 1: nisnas have only one eye, one cheek, one hand, one leg,
Speaker 1: half a body, half a heart. They say, we live
Speaker 1: quiet in our halves of houses, with our halves and wives,
Speaker 1: and our halves of children. The nisnas may have limitations
Speaker 1: to their powers, but they are able protectors of their charge.
Speaker 1: If any human gets too close to the treasure, they
Speaker 1: summon a sandstorm to blind and disorient them, And if
Speaker 1: they keep going, the nisnas don't allow them to escape
Speaker 1: the desert until they've gone completely mad. And so it's
Speaker 1: these halflings that still guard the treasure of Ubar today,
Speaker 1: wherever they may be buried. For some, that's enough to
Speaker 1: avoid even looking for the treasure, but for others, the
Speaker 1: jinn themselves are the keys to the fortune. In two
Speaker 1: thousand and twelve, a piece published in the Journal of
Speaker 1: Archaeology recounts story written by an author named Salah al
Speaker 1: Hudaliyah about an extraordinary discovery that he made in the
Speaker 1: country of Jordan. In Salah had been visiting relatives who
Speaker 1: introduced him to a young man that was engaged in
Speaker 1: some questionable behavior. This man told Salah that he was
Speaker 1: a treasure hunter. He dug up antiquities from archaeological sites,
Speaker 1: which wasn't exactly legal and that concerned Salah, but his
Speaker 1: concern only grew when the young man told him he
Speaker 1: had help in his adventures. His partner in crime was
Speaker 1: a Jinn that pointed him to exactly where he could
Speaker 1: find buried treasure. Salah was understandably skeptical, to which the
Speaker 1: young man responded, this is my problem. No one believes me.
Speaker 1: So Sala agreed to go along with the man the
Speaker 1: next day to see if there was indeed any evidence
Speaker 1: of a Jin working with him. They made three stops
Speaker 1: during their excursion at different points a cave, a collection
Speaker 1: of large rocks, and a tree, and at every point
Speaker 1: Sala was directed by the young man to find a
Speaker 1: hidden object objects he said that the Jin was locating
Speaker 1: for him. Sala discovered a ragged old document in the cave,
Speaker 1: shards of pottery under the rocks, and an old piece
Speaker 1: of fabric inside a hole in the tree. All the items,
Speaker 1: to Salah at least looked to be years old. These
Speaker 1: were not recently placed. The document, according to the Jin
Speaker 1: guiding the young man, was a witchcraft spell meant to
Speaker 1: lead them further on in their search. At that point,
Speaker 1: Sala felt a deep sense of discomfort. He decided to
Speaker 1: abandon ship and he left, but he couldn't stop thinking
Speaker 1: about the experience, and over a decade later, in two
Speaker 1: thousand and three, he returned to interview more antiquities looters,
Speaker 1: but this time in Palestine. For the following seven years,
Speaker 1: he interviewed hundreds of them and found a significant number
Speaker 1: that admitted to engaging Gin to help find treasure. He
Speaker 1: was told that there were two kinds of treasures, those
Speaker 1: that were considered normal, that they were left behind in
Speaker 1: the usual course of human business, and then there was
Speaker 1: a second category treasure that was under the protection of Gin.
Speaker 1: And to get to that treasure, well, you kind of
Speaker 1: needed supernatural help, but that help always came at a price.
Speaker 1: In order to be given the exact location of a
Speaker 1: valuable hidden object. The treasure hunters were commanded by the
Speaker 1: Gin that they asked for help from to perform some
Speaker 1: rather profane acts, including washing themselves with wine, drinking blood,
Speaker 1: and even offering a human sacrifice on an altar. In
Speaker 1: some cases, the treasure hunters had to subject themselves to
Speaker 1: being tortured physically by the Gin in order to gain
Speaker 1: access to their secrets. Others reported they agreed to be
Speaker 1: possessed by the Gin, and sometimes that Gin didn't want
Speaker 1: to let go now. In most cases, though, the Gin
Speaker 1: couldn't be accessed without the aid of a chief, a
Speaker 1: cleric that proclaimed to have the knowledge and power needed
Speaker 1: to summon and control them all for a fee, of course,
Speaker 1: or a cut of whatever treasure was found. And this,
Speaker 1: of course leaves the door wide open for con men
Speaker 1: of all stripes. In two thousand and seventeen, the Golf
Speaker 1: News media outlet reported an incredible story. A family in
Speaker 1: Debay was approached by a woman who told them that
Speaker 1: she sensed there was a vast hidden treasure under their
Speaker 1: property and she knew just the man who could help
Speaker 1: the family find and extract the treasure. They agreed to
Speaker 1: meet him, and when he arrived, he began digging in
Speaker 1: a portion of their yard, and right before their stun dies,
Speaker 1: he pulled jewelry out of the earth. He quickly reburied it,
Speaker 1: though telling them that this jewelry and much other treasure
Speaker 1: lay beneath the ground, but it was guarded by a
Speaker 1: powerful gin. At that gin was not happy that he
Speaker 1: had dug up the jewels without the gin's permission. In
Speaker 1: order to appease the gin, the man told the family
Speaker 1: they must make an offering of a special liquid, and
Speaker 1: that liquid would cost over two hundred thousand dollars. They
Speaker 1: gave the man the money in cash, and of course,
Speaker 1: he disappeared. Not long after, they got a call from
Speaker 1: a third person who told them that their treasure hunter
Speaker 1: had been captured by the gin and was being imprisoned
Speaker 1: by it. He told him it would cost another two
Speaker 1: thousand dollars to release him. Well. By now the family
Speaker 1: was a little bit suspicious, but they agreed to meet
Speaker 1: the caller. They handed over the money, but they had
Speaker 1: already alerted the police to the scam. The authorities busted
Speaker 1: the con men in their fraudulent gin scheme and arrested them.
Speaker 1: Then they advised the public to be aware of those
Speaker 1: claiming to have contact with or power over the gin. Now,
Speaker 1: while the people involved in this caper were certainly a
Speaker 1: bunch of crooks, the profession of treasure hunting with the
Speaker 1: help of other worldly partners had they long respect double
Speaker 1: history in the region. In fact, these professionals even organized
Speaker 1: into a formal guild in ninth century Egypt, putting out
Speaker 1: Get Rich Quick treasure hunting manuals. The government quickly realized
Speaker 1: the economic value of this industry and appointed a supervisor
Speaker 1: over the group. Over the next millennia, the historical impact
Speaker 1: of looting antiquities finally became apparent, So in the early
Speaker 1: twentieth century, the very first Egyptologist, Ahmad Kamal, wrote a
Speaker 1: massive tome on the history and impact of antiquity hunting
Speaker 1: to try and garner national support for preserving these national treasures.
Speaker 1: Perhaps the most fascinating part of that book is an
Speaker 1: entire index of gin, over three hundred of them listed
Speaker 1: by a name that had assisted the treasure hunters of
Speaker 1: the past. So yeah, teaming up the gin in the
Speaker 1: hopes of getting rich is a long standing and rich
Speaker 1: tradition which takes us back to our antiquity looters in Palestine. Ultimately, Salah,
Speaker 1: who conducted an entire research study on antiquity looters that
Speaker 1: used the help of Jin, found that it was a
Speaker 1: dangerous and unusually fruitless endeavor because more often than not
Speaker 1: there was no treasure to be found. But ever, believers
Speaker 1: that didn't deter the faith of the hunters in the
Speaker 1: existence of ancient buried treasures guarded by Jin. They just
Speaker 1: figured the supernatural and super powerful custodians simply moved the
Speaker 1: treasures to thwart them from being stolen. After all, what
Speaker 1: else would a good guardian do. The Gin can lurk
Speaker 1: anywhere and haunt any place they please. Back into thousands,
Speaker 1: a newspaper reported a spate of inexplicable seizures among the
Speaker 1: teachers at a girls school in Jedda, Saudi Arabia. A
Speaker 1: local cleric investigated and determined the seizures were the result
Speaker 1: of Jin's inhabiting the place, and in two thousand six,
Speaker 1: multiple stories appeared on an Indian news wire about numerous
Speaker 1: haunted mosques in the city of Popebal, including a two
Speaker 1: year old one that is actually called the Mosque of
Speaker 1: the Gin. The area surrounding that mosque is also haunted,
Speaker 1: and buildings in the neighborhood have been left abandoned given
Speaker 1: over to the gin. Another nearby mosque, called the Hira Mosque,
Speaker 1: is built out of pure brilliant white marble, but nearly
Speaker 1: no one worships there because they're too terrified according to
Speaker 1: local residents. Though the mosque doesn't remain empty because the
Speaker 1: gin prey there well in this episode by bringing you
Speaker 1: closer to home, because if you're in search of a gin,
Speaker 1: you might not be able to get to an ancient
Speaker 1: shrine or buried treasure or haunted mosque, but luckily you
Speaker 1: don't have to travel to the far reaches of the
Speaker 1: globe to find them. You might not even have to
Speaker 1: leave home. That's because there are many traditions that say
Speaker 1: that jinns who like to stay close to human beings
Speaker 1: often do so by staying in their bathrooms. Now, today's
Speaker 1: bathrooms aren't exactly like the kinds of toilets that people
Speaker 1: have had to make do with over the centry. Our
Speaker 1: bathrooms are generally more sanitary and less foreboding, but historically
Speaker 1: they were pretty much the least pleasant place a person
Speaker 1: might have to visit daily, and because they were often dirty,
Speaker 1: and smelly and rarely cleaned. You can be assured it
Speaker 1: was one place nothing holy was ever uttered. That's why
Speaker 1: it makes sense that these dark, filthy spaces will attract
Speaker 1: beings just as dark and unholy. So be careful the
Speaker 1: next time you play the Bloody Marry game the bathroom,
Speaker 1: you may end up summoning a creature you didn't expect.
Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us this week. Next week we'll be
Speaker 1: back to take you another step into the world of
Speaker 1: the Hidden Gin. Until then, remember we are not alone.
Speaker 1: If you loved today's episode, I'm gonna ask you a
Speaker 1: big favor. Please stop my iTunes and leave me a
Speaker 1: rating and a review, even if it's just one short sentence.
Speaker 1: Not only is that how other listeners discover the podcast,
Speaker 1: but it's also what keeps the podcast going. And for
Speaker 1: every thousand reviews that I get on iTunes, I'll release
Speaker 1: another Patreon episode absolutely free. That's right, we're on Patreon,
Speaker 1: so if you're a Gin enthusiast, check out the Companion
Speaker 1: Patreon series at patreon dot com slash Hidden Jin Again,
Speaker 1: that's patreon dot com slash Hidden Gin, and remember Jin
Speaker 1: is spelled d j I n N. That's where you're
Speaker 1: gonna find an amazing series of interviews between me, scholars, experts, artist, historians,
Speaker 1: and every day lay people who have had extraordinary experiences
Speaker 1: with jin and everybody can check out the first episode
Speaker 1: absolutely free. It's me and my husband sharing our gen
Speaker 1: stories and it was a lot of fun. And if
Speaker 1: you have any Gin stories, well, I'd love to hear
Speaker 1: from you. Email me at the Hidden Gin at gmail
Speaker 1: dot com. Once again, it's The Hidden Gin Gin with
Speaker 1: a D at gmail dot com and you might just
Speaker 1: hear back from me, or you might hear your story
Speaker 1: on this show. And finally, don't forget to follow us
Speaker 1: on social media. We're on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram with
Speaker 1: the handle the Hidden Gin. There you can tweet, post, insta,
Speaker 1: dm me. I'd love to hear from all of you,
Speaker 1: and believe me, I read every single message. The Hidden
Speaker 1: Gin is a production of I Heart Radio and Grimm
Speaker 1: and Mild from Aaron Mankey. The podcast is written and
Speaker 1: hosted by Robbia Chaudry and produced by Miranda Hawkins and
Speaker 1: Trevor Young, with executive producers Aaron Mankey, Alex Williams, and
Speaker 1: Matt Frederick. Music for the show was provided by Smith
Speaker 1: Sony and Folkways recordings. Our theme song was created by
Speaker 1: Patrick Cortez. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit
Speaker 1: the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
Speaker 1: get your podcasts.