1 00:00:03,760 --> 00:00:07,840 Speaker 1: Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history 2 00:00:08,039 --> 00:00:11,239 Speaker 1: is an open book, all of these amazing tales are 3 00:00:11,320 --> 00:00:14,680 Speaker 1: right there on display, just waiting for us to explore. 4 00:00:16,200 --> 00:00:29,600 Speaker 1: Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. Goren Crop loved mountains. 5 00:00:30,240 --> 00:00:32,800 Speaker 1: Some might say he was even built like one. The 6 00:00:32,800 --> 00:00:36,440 Speaker 1: man topped out at six ft three and two forty pounds. 7 00:00:36,800 --> 00:00:39,680 Speaker 1: He was born in Sweden in nineteen sixty six and 8 00:00:39,840 --> 00:00:42,760 Speaker 1: his father introduced him to climbing at a very young age. 9 00:00:43,159 --> 00:00:46,080 Speaker 1: When Goren was six, he and his father climbed the 10 00:00:46,120 --> 00:00:50,440 Speaker 1: highest mountain in Norway together, cementing Goren's obsession. Then and there, 11 00:00:52,159 --> 00:00:56,880 Speaker 1: mountains change over time, but never go away. They're solid, permanent. 12 00:00:57,400 --> 00:01:00,080 Speaker 1: If only Mr and Mrs Crop's marriage had been and 13 00:01:00,160 --> 00:01:04,720 Speaker 1: so strong. Several years after Goren's life changing adventure, his 14 00:01:04,800 --> 00:01:09,440 Speaker 1: parents divorced. Goren didn't take it well, but after a 15 00:01:09,440 --> 00:01:13,040 Speaker 1: few years of endless partying and excessive drinking, he knew 16 00:01:13,080 --> 00:01:16,360 Speaker 1: something had to change. He couldn't keep going on this way, 17 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:20,200 Speaker 1: so Goren made a complete one eighty degree turn and 18 00:01:20,280 --> 00:01:23,720 Speaker 1: joined the Swedish Paratroopers. It was there he built up 19 00:01:23,760 --> 00:01:27,639 Speaker 1: his strength and stamina, marching for miles with one fifty 20 00:01:27,640 --> 00:01:30,200 Speaker 1: pounds of gears strapped to his back, and gained the 21 00:01:30,240 --> 00:01:34,640 Speaker 1: admiration of his fellow soldiers. But he never forgot his 22 00:01:34,720 --> 00:01:38,480 Speaker 1: love of climbing, the feel of rocks under his fingers, 23 00:01:38,520 --> 00:01:40,840 Speaker 1: and the thrill of reaching the top of the place 24 00:01:40,920 --> 00:01:44,279 Speaker 1: man was not meant to see. Goren lived a simple 25 00:01:44,319 --> 00:01:47,400 Speaker 1: life outside of being a paratrooper. He saved his meager 26 00:01:47,440 --> 00:01:51,000 Speaker 1: military earnings by living in a tent and climbed mountains 27 00:01:51,080 --> 00:01:54,120 Speaker 1: in his free time. By the late nineteen eighties, he'd 28 00:01:54,120 --> 00:01:57,520 Speaker 1: climbed five peaks, each of them nearly four miles tall, 29 00:01:58,040 --> 00:02:03,360 Speaker 1: and all by himself. After that, it was all about 30 00:02:03,440 --> 00:02:06,760 Speaker 1: climbing higher and farther. He was the first Swede to 31 00:02:06,760 --> 00:02:09,480 Speaker 1: climb to the top of K two in the Himalayas, 32 00:02:09,560 --> 00:02:12,080 Speaker 1: and by the mid nineteen nineties he reached the summit 33 00:02:12,160 --> 00:02:15,079 Speaker 1: of five of the fourteen tallest mountains in the world, 34 00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:18,560 Speaker 1: most of them by himself. There was a reason he 35 00:02:18,680 --> 00:02:22,840 Speaker 1: was known as the crazy Swede. But one peak stood 36 00:02:22,880 --> 00:02:27,360 Speaker 1: out above all the rest. Literally, survivors have written books 37 00:02:27,400 --> 00:02:30,120 Speaker 1: about it, and countless men and women have died trying 38 00:02:30,160 --> 00:02:34,840 Speaker 1: to reach the top. That's right, Mount Everest. He still 39 00:02:34,880 --> 00:02:38,720 Speaker 1: had yet to summit the granddaddy of them all. He 40 00:02:38,840 --> 00:02:41,840 Speaker 1: was going crop the crazy Swede and climbing to the 41 00:02:41,840 --> 00:02:44,360 Speaker 1: top of Mount Everest like everyone else, was out of 42 00:02:44,360 --> 00:02:47,200 Speaker 1: the question. He couldn't just fly from his home in 43 00:02:47,240 --> 00:02:50,640 Speaker 1: Stockholm all the way to Nepal. No, he wanted to 44 00:02:50,680 --> 00:02:53,760 Speaker 1: make an entrance, one that would take him six months 45 00:02:53,800 --> 00:02:57,640 Speaker 1: to make. He loaded up a specially designed bicycle with 46 00:02:57,680 --> 00:03:00,560 Speaker 1: two fifty pounds of food and gear and left his 47 00:03:00,639 --> 00:03:05,680 Speaker 1: home on October sixteenth. He rode six thousand miles on 48 00:03:05,720 --> 00:03:08,680 Speaker 1: that bicycle all the way to Mount Everest base camp, 49 00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:14,359 Speaker 1: arriving in April of Once there, he convinced the other 50 00:03:14,440 --> 00:03:18,440 Speaker 1: ongoing expeditions at the time to let him summit first alone. 51 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:23,560 Speaker 1: No sherpa, no partner, just Goren and his gear. This 52 00:03:23,680 --> 00:03:26,840 Speaker 1: was it. Everything he'd been training for. All of those 53 00:03:26,840 --> 00:03:30,880 Speaker 1: other mountains he had conquered had been nothing more than appetizers, 54 00:03:30,960 --> 00:03:35,680 Speaker 1: and this was the main course. He began his ascent 55 00:03:35,800 --> 00:03:38,520 Speaker 1: on May three, trudging all day through snow as deep 56 00:03:38,560 --> 00:03:41,320 Speaker 1: as his thighs until he found himself three hundred feet 57 00:03:41,320 --> 00:03:44,920 Speaker 1: from the summit. Unfortunately, the day had gotten away from 58 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:48,680 Speaker 1: him and darkness was closing in. Goren wasn't worried about 59 00:03:48,720 --> 00:03:51,240 Speaker 1: reaching the top, but of being stranded alone on the 60 00:03:51,240 --> 00:03:54,760 Speaker 1: mountain until morning. Up to his waist in snow and ice, 61 00:03:55,080 --> 00:04:00,120 Speaker 1: he would surely die of exposure. Instead, he climbed back 62 00:04:00,240 --> 00:04:03,320 Speaker 1: down and bided his time in base camp. Then the 63 00:04:03,520 --> 00:04:07,280 Speaker 1: unthinkable happened. A blizzard had struck another group of climbers 64 00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:10,160 Speaker 1: descending Everest a few days later. They had left too 65 00:04:10,240 --> 00:04:11,920 Speaker 1: late in the day and had been caught in the 66 00:04:11,960 --> 00:04:15,840 Speaker 1: storm after dark. Goren helped carry medical supplies up the 67 00:04:15,840 --> 00:04:19,560 Speaker 1: mountain over the next several weeks. When the weather finally 68 00:04:19,600 --> 00:04:22,840 Speaker 1: cleared up three weeks later, he saw his chance. He 69 00:04:22,920 --> 00:04:25,960 Speaker 1: was going to try again. On his second attempt, the 70 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:28,560 Speaker 1: crazy Suite did it. He climbed to the top of 71 00:04:28,560 --> 00:04:32,479 Speaker 1: Mount Everest all by himself, accomplishing something very few others 72 00:04:32,560 --> 00:04:36,120 Speaker 1: had done before him. Then, with nothing left to prove, 73 00:04:36,760 --> 00:04:41,600 Speaker 1: Goren descended the mountain. Waiting for him back at base 74 00:04:41,600 --> 00:04:44,360 Speaker 1: camp was his only companion, the one who had come 75 00:04:44,360 --> 00:04:48,400 Speaker 1: with him all the way from Stockholm, Sweden, his trusty bicycle. 76 00:04:49,240 --> 00:04:52,760 Speaker 1: Goren crop packed up his gear, mounted his mighty steed, 77 00:04:53,240 --> 00:04:56,080 Speaker 1: and said goodbye to everyone at base camp before beginning 78 00:04:56,160 --> 00:04:59,599 Speaker 1: his ride home. It seems that even after climbing the 79 00:04:59,640 --> 00:05:03,719 Speaker 1: tall and most dangerous mountain in the world, he just 80 00:05:03,760 --> 00:05:20,640 Speaker 1: couldn't help going the extra mile. The mind is a 81 00:05:20,720 --> 00:05:24,960 Speaker 1: miraculous thing. This bundle of nerves and gray matter floating 82 00:05:25,040 --> 00:05:28,159 Speaker 1: in our heads is constantly coming up with new ideas 83 00:05:28,200 --> 00:05:33,000 Speaker 1: and dreams, tiny explosions of creativity every second of every day. 84 00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:36,560 Speaker 1: Feed it and watch it grow. Push it just a 85 00:05:36,600 --> 00:05:39,440 Speaker 1: little bit and you'll be amazed at when it's capable of. 86 00:05:40,680 --> 00:05:43,440 Speaker 1: Helene Smith had opened her mind while growing up in 87 00:05:43,560 --> 00:05:47,360 Speaker 1: Hungary in the late eight hundreds. From a very young age, 88 00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:50,800 Speaker 1: she treated her brain like a sponge, absorbing as much 89 00:05:50,839 --> 00:05:55,400 Speaker 1: as possible from books, teachers, and her surrounding environment. She 90 00:05:55,520 --> 00:05:58,880 Speaker 1: was fluent in five languages and had passable skills in 91 00:05:58,960 --> 00:06:02,960 Speaker 1: three others, England, Latin, and Greek. She was also a 92 00:06:03,040 --> 00:06:07,680 Speaker 1: spiritual person. Literally the whole family was. Helene's mother and 93 00:06:07,720 --> 00:06:11,440 Speaker 1: brother were known to experience visions of the future, communicate 94 00:06:11,480 --> 00:06:15,159 Speaker 1: with the dead, and even see into other worlds. Their 95 00:06:15,200 --> 00:06:19,600 Speaker 1: talents hadn't skipped Helene, who started attending and hosting seances 96 00:06:19,640 --> 00:06:23,120 Speaker 1: in her thirties. Her performances were what we've come to 97 00:06:23,200 --> 00:06:27,960 Speaker 1: expect from mediums today. She had knowledge of events she 98 00:06:28,120 --> 00:06:31,279 Speaker 1: shouldn't have known about, and could relay messages from dead 99 00:06:31,320 --> 00:06:34,920 Speaker 1: relatives to their living ones via her voice or through 100 00:06:34,960 --> 00:06:38,400 Speaker 1: taps on a table. Nowadays we greet these techniques with 101 00:06:38,480 --> 00:06:42,960 Speaker 1: healthy skepticism and even have clear explanations for many of them, 102 00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:47,719 Speaker 1: but back then it was a different story. Take cold reading, 103 00:06:47,800 --> 00:06:51,359 Speaker 1: for example, a common observational method used by mediums to 104 00:06:51,440 --> 00:06:55,000 Speaker 1: do people into revealing more about themselves than they realize. 105 00:06:55,600 --> 00:06:59,280 Speaker 1: A medium can use that information, be it verbal or 106 00:06:59,320 --> 00:07:02,640 Speaker 1: through body language, to pretend to know something about a 107 00:07:02,680 --> 00:07:06,760 Speaker 1: person without explicitly being told. We're wise to it today. 108 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:13,160 Speaker 1: But back in, Helene's intuition was a revelation. She was 109 00:07:13,200 --> 00:07:16,360 Speaker 1: the star attraction at parties where her abilities were tested 110 00:07:16,400 --> 00:07:21,440 Speaker 1: by new and increasingly doubtful audiences. Then one night, a 111 00:07:21,520 --> 00:07:27,160 Speaker 1: new skill manifested automatism. Helene found the spirits would speak 112 00:07:27,240 --> 00:07:30,920 Speaker 1: through her, sometimes literally, but often using her hands as 113 00:07:30,920 --> 00:07:33,960 Speaker 1: their own. She could write in the persona of the 114 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:37,880 Speaker 1: spirit she had conjured without conscious thought. As far as 115 00:07:37,880 --> 00:07:41,680 Speaker 1: she knew, time had passed and something had been transcribed, 116 00:07:42,040 --> 00:07:45,200 Speaker 1: but she hadn't written a word of it herself. But 117 00:07:45,360 --> 00:07:48,160 Speaker 1: automatism turned out to be a talent that would take 118 00:07:48,200 --> 00:07:54,040 Speaker 1: her far, some might say too far. During one particular 119 00:07:54,120 --> 00:07:58,280 Speaker 1: seance at the home of a psychology professor named Theodore Floorny, 120 00:07:58,360 --> 00:08:01,800 Speaker 1: Helene began to communicate with the other world, not the 121 00:08:01,840 --> 00:08:04,520 Speaker 1: world of the dead, as she had done many times before. 122 00:08:05,120 --> 00:08:08,880 Speaker 1: This was a much different world, an outer world otherwise 123 00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:13,840 Speaker 1: unreachable by man. Helene entered a trance, a kind of 124 00:08:13,880 --> 00:08:17,080 Speaker 1: deep sleep, where she sighed and swayed in her chair 125 00:08:17,200 --> 00:08:21,120 Speaker 1: to music that only she heard until the music suddenly stopped. 126 00:08:21,440 --> 00:08:24,760 Speaker 1: Then Helene softly recited the words coming to her from 127 00:08:24,760 --> 00:08:29,400 Speaker 1: this distant land translated into English. The spirit said, this 128 00:08:29,560 --> 00:08:32,520 Speaker 1: is the house of the Great Man, as Stain whom 129 00:08:32,559 --> 00:08:37,800 Speaker 1: thou hast seen a stain you see lived on Mars, 130 00:08:37,880 --> 00:08:41,200 Speaker 1: and Helene Smith of Earth heavy incredible ability to go 131 00:08:41,320 --> 00:08:44,000 Speaker 1: there in her mind at least and bring back the 132 00:08:44,080 --> 00:08:48,880 Speaker 1: message to us. Floornie wasn't so sure. After multiple sessions 133 00:08:48,920 --> 00:08:52,079 Speaker 1: with her and a copious amount of research, he concluded 134 00:08:52,120 --> 00:08:56,400 Speaker 1: the similarities of the supposed Martian language to Helene's native 135 00:08:56,440 --> 00:08:59,559 Speaker 1: French meant she hadn't really accessed the far reaches of 136 00:08:59,600 --> 00:09:04,280 Speaker 1: outer Base using her mind. Her deep trances and automatism. However, 137 00:09:04,679 --> 00:09:09,960 Speaker 1: those were not so easily explained. Hearing this today, you 138 00:09:10,120 --> 00:09:13,840 Speaker 1: two might assume Helene was probably conning them all, that 139 00:09:13,960 --> 00:09:16,760 Speaker 1: she knew exactly what she was doing and was very 140 00:09:16,800 --> 00:09:19,800 Speaker 1: good at it. You might be right too, But Helene 141 00:09:19,840 --> 00:09:22,559 Speaker 1: did one more thing that leaves even the most skeptical 142 00:09:22,679 --> 00:09:26,800 Speaker 1: of skeptics scratching their heads. She described the floorny her 143 00:09:26,880 --> 00:09:31,000 Speaker 1: journeys to the planet Mars, which Flournie recorded in his notes. 144 00:09:31,840 --> 00:09:35,319 Speaker 1: During one session, she told him in the Martian language 145 00:09:35,559 --> 00:09:40,280 Speaker 1: that she saw carriages gliding by with no horses or wheels, 146 00:09:40,320 --> 00:09:45,680 Speaker 1: but emitting sparks. While gas powered automobiles first appeared in 147 00:09:45,720 --> 00:09:48,560 Speaker 1: the late eighteen hundreds, they would not be mass produced 148 00:09:48,640 --> 00:09:52,360 Speaker 1: until well after the turn of the century. Perhaps Helene's 149 00:09:52,440 --> 00:09:56,200 Speaker 1: vision of vehicles on Mars was a lucky guess, meant 150 00:09:56,240 --> 00:10:01,880 Speaker 1: to wow unsuspecting crowds, or maybe not. With robots traversing 151 00:10:01,880 --> 00:10:05,080 Speaker 1: the surface of the red planet. Today, it's tempting to 152 00:10:05,120 --> 00:10:09,480 Speaker 1: believe the impossible that she really could see the future. 153 00:10:13,440 --> 00:10:16,160 Speaker 1: I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet 154 00:10:16,160 --> 00:10:20,040 Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn 155 00:10:20,120 --> 00:10:24,680 Speaker 1: more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. 156 00:10:24,679 --> 00:10:28,240 Speaker 1: The show was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership 157 00:10:28,320 --> 00:10:31,600 Speaker 1: with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show 158 00:10:31,679 --> 00:10:35,520 Speaker 1: called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television 159 00:10:35,520 --> 00:10:37,719 Speaker 1: show and you can learn all about it over at 160 00:10:37,840 --> 00:10:41,319 Speaker 1: the World of Lore dot com. And until next time, 161 00:10:41,960 --> 00:10:42,800 Speaker 1: stay curious.