1 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:07,520 Speaker 1: Welcomed Aaron Mankey's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of I 2 00:00:07,600 --> 00:00:14,240 Speaker 1: Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is full 3 00:00:14,320 --> 00:00:17,960 Speaker 1: of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, 4 00:00:18,239 --> 00:00:21,640 Speaker 1: all of these amazing tales are right there on display, 5 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:27,560 Speaker 1: just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet 6 00:00:27,840 --> 00:00:39,600 Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Ah Paris, the City of Light, the City 7 00:00:39,800 --> 00:00:43,919 Speaker 1: of Love, and the city of unnecessary challenges of violence 8 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:46,559 Speaker 1: in the name of romance. That's what it was like 9 00:00:46,640 --> 00:00:50,160 Speaker 1: in France in the eighteenth and nineteen centuries. In those days, 10 00:00:50,240 --> 00:00:53,080 Speaker 1: if someone offended you, or you were competing for the 11 00:00:53,159 --> 00:00:55,960 Speaker 1: love of a particular woman, you could challenge the other 12 00:00:56,000 --> 00:01:00,280 Speaker 1: person to a duel. Before the late eighteenth century, words 13 00:01:00,320 --> 00:01:03,320 Speaker 1: were the weapon of choice. In eighteen forty one The 14 00:01:03,480 --> 00:01:06,760 Speaker 1: History of Dueling, the author outlined dozens of rules to 15 00:01:06,800 --> 00:01:10,440 Speaker 1: be followed for a successful duel. For example, rule forty 16 00:01:10,480 --> 00:01:13,679 Speaker 1: three dictated what moves a fighter could make with the sword, 17 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:18,240 Speaker 1: stating combatants are allowed to raise themselves, to stoop, to 18 00:01:18,360 --> 00:01:20,800 Speaker 1: vault to the right or to the left, and to 19 00:01:20,880 --> 00:01:24,360 Speaker 1: turn around each other. Rule forty four allowed combat to 20 00:01:24,400 --> 00:01:27,720 Speaker 1: stop if one party declared themselves wounded, or if one 21 00:01:27,760 --> 00:01:30,800 Speaker 1: of the witnesses noticed that someone had been hurt. And 22 00:01:30,880 --> 00:01:33,800 Speaker 1: just how common was it? Well, King Louis the Thirteen 23 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:38,039 Speaker 1: pardoned more than eight thousand people for committing murder during 24 00:01:38,080 --> 00:01:42,840 Speaker 1: a duel, So yeah, a lot pistols only made the 25 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:45,880 Speaker 1: practice more deadly too. A puncture or a cut from 26 00:01:45,880 --> 00:01:48,920 Speaker 1: a blade was not necessarily a death sentence back then, 27 00:01:49,240 --> 00:01:51,480 Speaker 1: but a bullet in a crucial part of the body 28 00:01:51,760 --> 00:01:55,840 Speaker 1: could be the end of someone immediately or worse days later. 29 00:01:56,320 --> 00:02:00,360 Speaker 1: Alexander Hamilton's famously died thirty one hours after are being 30 00:02:00,400 --> 00:02:03,920 Speaker 1: shot by Aaron Burr in eighteen o four. Dueling was 31 00:02:03,960 --> 00:02:07,680 Speaker 1: an act that was both barbaric and pointless, yet some 32 00:02:07,720 --> 00:02:11,120 Speaker 1: people saw no other way to settle their differences, especially 33 00:02:11,200 --> 00:02:15,400 Speaker 1: two Frenchmen in the early nineteenth century who really escalated 34 00:02:15,440 --> 00:02:19,440 Speaker 1: the situation. Their duel took place only four years after 35 00:02:19,480 --> 00:02:22,600 Speaker 1: Hamilton's fateful trip to we Hawk in New Jersey, a 36 00:02:22,680 --> 00:02:26,120 Speaker 1: young dancer with the Paris Opera known as Mademoiselle tira 37 00:02:26,200 --> 00:02:29,520 Speaker 1: Vette had been in a relationship with one Monsieur du 38 00:02:29,600 --> 00:02:32,000 Speaker 1: Grand Prey. It seemed like things were going pretty well 39 00:02:32,040 --> 00:02:34,240 Speaker 1: for them, but it seems that she was also seen 40 00:02:34,639 --> 00:02:37,840 Speaker 1: Monsieur Lapique on the side. So when Grand Prix found 41 00:02:37,840 --> 00:02:40,000 Speaker 1: out that he was not the only person in his 42 00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:43,239 Speaker 1: beloved life, he did what all men in his situation 43 00:02:43,320 --> 00:02:46,359 Speaker 1: did in eighteen o eight France, he challenged the other 44 00:02:46,400 --> 00:02:51,160 Speaker 1: man to a duel. Of course, these were macho, testosterone 45 00:02:51,200 --> 00:02:54,080 Speaker 1: fueled gents who refused to settle for a standoff with 46 00:02:54,120 --> 00:02:56,800 Speaker 1: pistols in the middle of a field. No, in order 47 00:02:56,840 --> 00:02:59,960 Speaker 1: to win the hearts and hand of Mademoiselle Tiravet, they 48 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:03,600 Speaker 1: needed to face off in a spectacular way, high above 49 00:03:03,600 --> 00:03:08,640 Speaker 1: the ground in hot air balloons. They met on May three, 50 00:03:08,720 --> 00:03:10,840 Speaker 1: still in the middle of a field, mind you, but 51 00:03:10,919 --> 00:03:13,959 Speaker 1: on this occasion they stood by as two large balloons 52 00:03:13,960 --> 00:03:17,320 Speaker 1: were heated up and inflated. Each man had also brought 53 00:03:17,320 --> 00:03:20,320 Speaker 1: a second, a witness, to be responsible for making sure 54 00:03:20,400 --> 00:03:23,600 Speaker 1: that the duel was carried out as expected. Now, in 55 00:03:23,639 --> 00:03:26,880 Speaker 1: a normal duel, the second would walk away afterward and 56 00:03:26,960 --> 00:03:30,120 Speaker 1: go home to their families. In this instance, however, each 57 00:03:30,120 --> 00:03:32,880 Speaker 1: second had resigned himself to dine in the event the 58 00:03:32,919 --> 00:03:36,800 Speaker 1: other balloons occupants succeeded. Because the goal here was not 59 00:03:36,960 --> 00:03:40,080 Speaker 1: for the doelers to shoot one another. Grand Prix and 60 00:03:40,120 --> 00:03:43,360 Speaker 1: the peak. Each man armed with the blunderbuss would fly 61 00:03:43,520 --> 00:03:46,840 Speaker 1: high into the air with their seconds and fire at 62 00:03:46,840 --> 00:03:50,280 Speaker 1: their opponent's balloon. Whoever managed to pop the other man's 63 00:03:50,320 --> 00:03:55,000 Speaker 1: balloon would receive Mademoiselle tear of its hand. The other well, 64 00:03:55,200 --> 00:03:57,920 Speaker 1: he and his second would plummet to their deaths below. 65 00:03:59,080 --> 00:04:01,320 Speaker 1: A large crowd eathered on the morning of the event, 66 00:04:01,600 --> 00:04:04,440 Speaker 1: excited to watch four grown men get into a couple 67 00:04:04,440 --> 00:04:06,839 Speaker 1: of hot air balloons and shoot each other down. Rather 68 00:04:06,920 --> 00:04:10,680 Speaker 1: than talk through their feelings like adults, they climbed inside 69 00:04:10,920 --> 00:04:14,680 Speaker 1: and each balloon began to rise up, up, up. They 70 00:04:14,680 --> 00:04:17,680 Speaker 1: went to a half mile over the crowd. When they 71 00:04:17,720 --> 00:04:22,839 Speaker 1: reached the appropriate height, both men got into position. Lapique 72 00:04:22,839 --> 00:04:26,560 Speaker 1: shot first. He fired wide and missed Grand prix balloon entirely. 73 00:04:26,920 --> 00:04:30,000 Speaker 1: Grand Prix returned fire, and it was his success. He 74 00:04:30,080 --> 00:04:33,480 Speaker 1: managed to shoot a hole in Lapique's balloon, sending careening 75 00:04:33,560 --> 00:04:37,160 Speaker 1: into a terrace below. Lapique and his second were killed 76 00:04:37,200 --> 00:04:40,520 Speaker 1: instantly in the crash, while Grand Prix climbed even higher 77 00:04:40,560 --> 00:04:43,920 Speaker 1: in triumph before floating down gently to the woman below 78 00:04:44,040 --> 00:04:47,919 Speaker 1: that he loved. The whole ordeal was over quickly, but 79 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:51,599 Speaker 1: it left a lasting impression on dueling history, and it 80 00:04:51,640 --> 00:04:55,960 Speaker 1: reminds us today of that age old cliche what goes 81 00:04:56,040 --> 00:05:14,160 Speaker 1: up must come down. Historians and scholars have spent decades 82 00:05:14,200 --> 00:05:18,280 Speaker 1: working with the world's most mysterious documents and artifacts. For example, 83 00:05:18,320 --> 00:05:21,760 Speaker 1: there's the Voyanage manuscript and illustrated codex, written during the 84 00:05:21,800 --> 00:05:25,120 Speaker 1: fifteenth century in an unknown language. It first showed up 85 00:05:25,160 --> 00:05:27,760 Speaker 1: in nineteen twelve and was believed to have been decoded 86 00:05:27,800 --> 00:05:31,720 Speaker 1: as recently as two thousand seventeen. However, those translations were 87 00:05:31,800 --> 00:05:35,599 Speaker 1: quickly debunked, and so the manuscript is still considered uncracked. 88 00:05:36,320 --> 00:05:39,360 Speaker 1: Then there's also the shug Burrow Inscription, a ten letter 89 00:05:39,440 --> 00:05:42,520 Speaker 1: sequence carved into a monument in England, and although the 90 00:05:42,520 --> 00:05:45,960 Speaker 1: inscription has existed since the mid seventeen hundreds, we are 91 00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:49,280 Speaker 1: no closer to understanding its meaning than we were two 92 00:05:49,320 --> 00:05:53,039 Speaker 1: and a half centuries ago. But one particular historical object 93 00:05:53,160 --> 00:05:57,200 Speaker 1: didn't require extensive study to understand. In fact, researchers seemed 94 00:05:57,200 --> 00:05:59,640 Speaker 1: to have figured out exactly what it was pretty quickly, 95 00:06:00,120 --> 00:06:03,120 Speaker 1: or so they thought. It was called the Shapira Scroll, 96 00:06:03,440 --> 00:06:05,360 Speaker 1: named for the man who revealed it to the world, 97 00:06:05,640 --> 00:06:09,240 Speaker 1: Moses Wilhelm Shapira. He was born in eighteen thirty in 98 00:06:09,320 --> 00:06:12,200 Speaker 1: what is now Ukraine and worked as an antiques dealer 99 00:06:12,240 --> 00:06:16,720 Speaker 1: in Jerusalem. Shapira first brought the scroll to Paul Schroeder, 100 00:06:16,760 --> 00:06:20,599 Speaker 1: a German scholar and interpreter who specialized in Semitic languages. 101 00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:23,880 Speaker 1: Schroeder asked about its origins, to which Shapira replied that 102 00:06:23,920 --> 00:06:27,599 Speaker 1: it had been discovered in a cave near the Dead Sea. However, 103 00:06:27,680 --> 00:06:32,000 Speaker 1: when University of Berlin professor Hermann Strach asked Shapira about 104 00:06:32,040 --> 00:06:35,599 Speaker 1: the scrolls provenance, he was told the fantastical story about 105 00:06:35,600 --> 00:06:38,040 Speaker 1: how a group of people had accidentally found them rolled 106 00:06:38,080 --> 00:06:40,240 Speaker 1: up in a bundle of rugs in a mountain cave. 107 00:06:40,760 --> 00:06:43,880 Speaker 1: In fact, depending on who he was talking to, Shapira 108 00:06:43,960 --> 00:06:48,039 Speaker 1: told a different story. So what was the scroll he found? Well, 109 00:06:48,080 --> 00:06:50,280 Speaker 1: it wasn't really a scroll at all, and that it 110 00:06:50,320 --> 00:06:54,000 Speaker 1: wasn't a long roll of paper. Instead, the Shapira scroll 111 00:06:54,080 --> 00:06:57,640 Speaker 1: was comprised of fifteen separate strips of leather, each with 112 00:06:57,760 --> 00:07:00,400 Speaker 1: a modified Bible verse from the Book of duter Ronomy 113 00:07:00,520 --> 00:07:04,440 Speaker 1: written across them. What's more, the language written on each 114 00:07:04,440 --> 00:07:07,719 Speaker 1: of the strips was Paleo Hebrew, an older version of 115 00:07:07,720 --> 00:07:11,040 Speaker 1: the Hebrew language found on stone walls and tablets beginning 116 00:07:11,040 --> 00:07:15,120 Speaker 1: in the thirteenth century b c. According to Shapira, his 117 00:07:15,240 --> 00:07:18,800 Speaker 1: fragments had been created before the fall of Solomon's temple 118 00:07:18,840 --> 00:07:22,160 Speaker 1: in Jerusalem. In other words, they were the oldest known 119 00:07:22,280 --> 00:07:27,280 Speaker 1: Biblical documentation in existence. He sent facsimiles of the strips 120 00:07:27,360 --> 00:07:31,800 Speaker 1: all over Germany to have them authenticated. Historians, scholars, and 121 00:07:31,960 --> 00:07:36,440 Speaker 1: librarians studied them closely. The Royal Library of Berlin wanted 122 00:07:36,480 --> 00:07:39,400 Speaker 1: to purchase the originals so that they could be examined 123 00:07:39,400 --> 00:07:43,080 Speaker 1: by German students, but Shapira had no interest in having 124 00:07:43,160 --> 00:07:46,440 Speaker 1: his scroll put under the microscope for handfuls of students 125 00:07:46,480 --> 00:07:49,960 Speaker 1: to study. Instead, he suggested that the British Museum by 126 00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:54,520 Speaker 1: the whole collection for one million pounds. The public was 127 00:07:54,800 --> 00:07:57,600 Speaker 1: enthralled and flocked to the museum to see two of 128 00:07:57,640 --> 00:08:01,080 Speaker 1: the scrolls in person. A Bible scholar named Christian David 129 00:08:01,080 --> 00:08:04,920 Speaker 1: Ginsburg took possession of the remaining fragments to analyze them. 130 00:08:04,960 --> 00:08:06,960 Speaker 1: It took him a month, but when he was done, 131 00:08:07,320 --> 00:08:11,800 Speaker 1: Ginsburg came to a very important conclusion they were forgeries. 132 00:08:12,840 --> 00:08:16,280 Speaker 1: Now Shapira wasn't a stranger to fake documents. And antiquities. 133 00:08:16,520 --> 00:08:19,760 Speaker 1: In eighteen seventy, he had tried fooling buyers with fabricated 134 00:08:19,880 --> 00:08:24,120 Speaker 1: artifacts from the ancient Moabite culture. Why anyone entertained his 135 00:08:24,240 --> 00:08:28,680 Speaker 1: latest attempt was a mystery, but many did, especially the public, 136 00:08:28,880 --> 00:08:32,400 Speaker 1: who were captivated by the existence of the strips. According 137 00:08:32,440 --> 00:08:34,960 Speaker 1: to Ginsburg, it appeared that Shapira had cut up a 138 00:08:35,040 --> 00:08:39,080 Speaker 1: Yemenite Torah scroll. These scrolls were very old, possibly hundreds 139 00:08:39,120 --> 00:08:43,120 Speaker 1: of years, and quite valuable. Shapira had sold Yemenite scrolls 140 00:08:43,160 --> 00:08:45,840 Speaker 1: to the British Museum before, and it was believed that 141 00:08:45,880 --> 00:08:48,440 Speaker 1: he had cut strips from the empty bottom margin to 142 00:08:48,559 --> 00:08:52,400 Speaker 1: create his own biblical relics. Of course, Shapira wrote a 143 00:08:52,480 --> 00:08:54,800 Speaker 1: letter to Ginsburg in which he declared his innocence and 144 00:08:54,840 --> 00:08:58,120 Speaker 1: the whole ordeal. He believed the scroll was authentic, but 145 00:08:58,240 --> 00:09:00,880 Speaker 1: claimed that if it was fake, someone else had been 146 00:09:00,920 --> 00:09:05,160 Speaker 1: responsible for its creation and had duped him. Shapira then 147 00:09:05,160 --> 00:09:08,200 Speaker 1: traveled to Amsterdam, where he sent another letter, this time 148 00:09:08,240 --> 00:09:11,840 Speaker 1: to Edward Augustus Bond. Bond was the primary librarian for 149 00:09:11,880 --> 00:09:15,240 Speaker 1: the British Museum, and Shapira begged him to check the 150 00:09:15,240 --> 00:09:20,240 Speaker 1: scrolls again. Sadly, he never got his answer. Six months later, 151 00:09:20,280 --> 00:09:22,960 Speaker 1: he took his own life. The Shapira scrolls went up 152 00:09:22,960 --> 00:09:25,680 Speaker 1: for auction a few years afterwards, selling for a measly 153 00:09:25,920 --> 00:09:29,920 Speaker 1: ten pounds. After eighteen eighty nine, no one saw them again. 154 00:09:30,480 --> 00:09:34,840 Speaker 1: Interest in the artifacts all but disappeared until the mid 155 00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:38,920 Speaker 1: nineteen hundreds. Between nineteen forty seven and nineteen fifty six, 156 00:09:39,200 --> 00:09:42,719 Speaker 1: the first seven Dead Sea Scrolls were found in caves 157 00:09:42,760 --> 00:09:46,680 Speaker 1: alongside the Dead Sea discoveries that seemed eerily similar to 158 00:09:46,720 --> 00:09:50,040 Speaker 1: what Moses Shapira used to say about his leather fragments. 159 00:09:50,600 --> 00:09:53,600 Speaker 1: Scholars to this day are divided on the true providence 160 00:09:53,640 --> 00:09:56,520 Speaker 1: of the Shapira Scroll, with some claiming that it could 161 00:09:56,520 --> 00:10:00,360 Speaker 1: have been legitimate, while others maintained the original conclusion that 162 00:10:00,440 --> 00:10:04,400 Speaker 1: the scroll was a forgery. Moses Shapira might have been 163 00:10:04,400 --> 00:10:08,120 Speaker 1: responsible for one of the greatest historical discoveries ever recorded, 164 00:10:08,559 --> 00:10:14,000 Speaker 1: but his previous deceptions that ruined his chances for success. Heartbreaking, 165 00:10:14,160 --> 00:10:22,520 Speaker 1: for sure, but also oh so curious. I hope you've 166 00:10:22,559 --> 00:10:26,559 Speaker 1: enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe 167 00:10:26,559 --> 00:10:29,200 Speaker 1: for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the 168 00:10:29,200 --> 00:10:33,960 Speaker 1: show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was 169 00:10:34,080 --> 00:10:37,880 Speaker 1: created by me, Aaron Manky in partnership with how Stuff Works. 170 00:10:38,320 --> 00:10:41,480 Speaker 1: I make another award winning show called Lore, which is 171 00:10:41,559 --> 00:10:44,960 Speaker 1: a podcast, book series, and television show and you can 172 00:10:45,040 --> 00:10:47,360 Speaker 1: learn all about it over at the World of Lore 173 00:10:47,640 --> 00:10:51,440 Speaker 1: dot com. And until next time, stay curious.