1 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:07,480 Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of 2 00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:14,480 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of 3 00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:18,480 Speaker 1: the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all 4 00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:22,200 Speaker 1: of these amazing tales are right there on display, just 5 00:00:22,239 --> 00:00:28,920 Speaker 1: waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. 6 00:00:36,720 --> 00:00:39,400 Speaker 1: How we're remembered after we die is only partially up 7 00:00:39,440 --> 00:00:42,280 Speaker 1: to us. Our lasting impact will be remembered by those 8 00:00:42,320 --> 00:00:45,040 Speaker 1: who survive us, and so it's important to make sure 9 00:00:45,080 --> 00:00:47,360 Speaker 1: that the impression we leave behind is a good one, 10 00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:50,879 Speaker 1: a moral one, and perhaps a sober one. On the 11 00:00:50,880 --> 00:00:53,440 Speaker 1: outskirts of London is an area known as the London 12 00:00:53,479 --> 00:00:56,600 Speaker 1: Borough of Waltham Forest. It's an amalgamation of several other 13 00:00:56,640 --> 00:00:59,600 Speaker 1: boroughs which were merged together in the mid nineteen sixties, 14 00:01:00,080 --> 00:01:03,840 Speaker 1: and within this location is the Chingford Mount Cemetery. Opened 15 00:01:03,840 --> 00:01:06,319 Speaker 1: in May of eighteen eighty four by the Abney Park 16 00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:10,319 Speaker 1: Cemetery Company, Chingford Mount was a secondary location for the 17 00:01:10,360 --> 00:01:14,880 Speaker 1: city's more colorful characters. It made sense given its sister 18 00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:17,600 Speaker 1: location had been opened in eighteen forty in what became 19 00:01:17,640 --> 00:01:22,039 Speaker 1: known as a notable cemetery for one noisy and smelly reason. 20 00:01:22,520 --> 00:01:25,399 Speaker 1: Abney Park was opened by Sir Robert Fowler, the Lord 21 00:01:25,400 --> 00:01:29,800 Speaker 1: Mayor of London, who was quite large in stature. Frank Harris, 22 00:01:29,880 --> 00:01:33,000 Speaker 1: a writer who knew and detested Fowler, wrote about a 23 00:01:33,040 --> 00:01:36,160 Speaker 1: dinner party the two men attended, in which Fowler seemingly 24 00:01:36,319 --> 00:01:39,520 Speaker 1: ate his weight in beef, game, birds, and fish. Then, 25 00:01:39,680 --> 00:01:42,959 Speaker 1: part way through the meal, without warning, Harris heard something, 26 00:01:43,600 --> 00:01:46,840 Speaker 1: he wrote, and I quote, Suddenly there came a loud, 27 00:01:47,040 --> 00:01:52,920 Speaker 1: unmistakable noise, and then an overpowering odor. Apparently something Fowler 28 00:01:52,960 --> 00:01:55,280 Speaker 1: had eaten, or maybe most of what he had eaten 29 00:01:55,560 --> 00:01:58,680 Speaker 1: hadn't agreed with him. The hostess lost her appetite after 30 00:01:58,720 --> 00:02:02,720 Speaker 1: that and fled for fresher air and so. Forty years later, 31 00:02:02,800 --> 00:02:05,880 Speaker 1: Chingford Mount Cemetery was opened by another Lord Mayor in 32 00:02:05,880 --> 00:02:09,280 Speaker 1: a ceremony that was far less well foul. Though it 33 00:02:09,280 --> 00:02:12,600 Speaker 1: may not have had a flatulant politician cutting the cheese 34 00:02:12,680 --> 00:02:15,280 Speaker 1: or the ribbon, the people occupying its forty one and 35 00:02:15,320 --> 00:02:18,760 Speaker 1: a half acres certainly made up for it. After it opened, 36 00:02:18,840 --> 00:02:22,240 Speaker 1: Chingford Mount became a veritable who's who of England's most 37 00:02:22,280 --> 00:02:25,600 Speaker 1: notable and notorious, the most well known residents of the 38 00:02:25,639 --> 00:02:29,520 Speaker 1: cemetery are the Cray family, including twins Ronnie and Reggie. 39 00:02:29,919 --> 00:02:33,280 Speaker 1: These brothers, born in October of nineteen thirty three, became 40 00:02:33,360 --> 00:02:37,000 Speaker 1: prominent gangsters and murderers during the nineteen fifties and sixties. 41 00:02:37,440 --> 00:02:40,440 Speaker 1: They owned a night club where they mingled with celebrities 42 00:02:40,480 --> 00:02:43,600 Speaker 1: such as Frank Sinatra and Judy Garland. They also killed 43 00:02:43,639 --> 00:02:46,359 Speaker 1: a lot of people, sometimes because someone looked at them 44 00:02:46,360 --> 00:02:49,640 Speaker 1: wrong or made a snide comment behind their backs. The 45 00:02:49,680 --> 00:02:52,880 Speaker 1: pair were arrested in nineteen sixty eight. Ronnie died in 46 00:02:52,919 --> 00:02:55,320 Speaker 1: nineteen ninety five from a heart attack while a patient 47 00:02:55,320 --> 00:02:58,440 Speaker 1: at a hospital in Berkshire. He was sixty one. Reggie, 48 00:02:58,480 --> 00:03:00,640 Speaker 1: on the other hand, lived to be sixty six and 49 00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:03,600 Speaker 1: died in October of two thousand from bladder cancer. He 50 00:03:03,680 --> 00:03:07,480 Speaker 1: was released from prison just weeks before his death. Much 51 00:03:07,520 --> 00:03:10,240 Speaker 1: of the family was buried at Chingford Mount over the years, 52 00:03:10,320 --> 00:03:14,480 Speaker 1: including the twins' mother. But the Cray brothers, while homicidal 53 00:03:14,560 --> 00:03:17,680 Speaker 1: and infamous for their lengthy crime spree, are not in 54 00:03:17,720 --> 00:03:21,959 Speaker 1: fact the most renowned of the cemetery's permanent residence. When 55 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:25,400 Speaker 1: the white Field Tabernacle of Tottenham Court was rebuilt in 56 00:03:25,440 --> 00:03:28,280 Speaker 1: eighteen ninety eight, many of the coffins and bodies in 57 00:03:28,320 --> 00:03:31,040 Speaker 1: its cemetery had to be moved elsewhere, and one of 58 00:03:31,080 --> 00:03:35,000 Speaker 1: the new locations chosen was Chingford mount Of the coffins 59 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:37,840 Speaker 1: that were dug up, one happened to be made of iron, 60 00:03:38,160 --> 00:03:41,080 Speaker 1: and inside it was a woman whose body had been 61 00:03:41,160 --> 00:03:45,120 Speaker 1: preserved through mummification. Her skin looked like marble and was 62 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:48,520 Speaker 1: just as solid, though the metal box lacked a plaque 63 00:03:48,560 --> 00:03:52,240 Speaker 1: describing who the occupant was, and so her identity remained 64 00:03:52,280 --> 00:03:56,000 Speaker 1: a mystery. One person whose identity was quite well known 65 00:03:56,040 --> 00:03:59,040 Speaker 1: in the area, though, was Jane Cakebread. She was buried 66 00:03:59,040 --> 00:04:02,760 Speaker 1: in Chingford Mountain eighteen ninety eight. Only one person attended 67 00:04:02,760 --> 00:04:06,040 Speaker 1: her funeral, the North London Police Court missionary, a man 68 00:04:06,120 --> 00:04:08,520 Speaker 1: named Thomas Holmes. He had tried for a long time 69 00:04:08,560 --> 00:04:11,720 Speaker 1: to help missus Cakebread, who sadly passed away at only 70 00:04:11,800 --> 00:04:15,200 Speaker 1: sixty four years of age. She had been homeless, mentally ill, 71 00:04:15,360 --> 00:04:18,800 Speaker 1: and had trouble seen. Holmes placed a wreath of flowers 72 00:04:18,800 --> 00:04:21,719 Speaker 1: atop her coffin, more than others believe that she deserved, 73 00:04:21,920 --> 00:04:25,640 Speaker 1: because the newspapers described her as the drunkest person in 74 00:04:25,680 --> 00:04:28,960 Speaker 1: the world. She'd been convicted two hundred and eighty one 75 00:04:29,080 --> 00:04:32,680 Speaker 1: times for drunk and disorderly conduct and spent the equivalent 76 00:04:32,720 --> 00:04:35,520 Speaker 1: of twelve years in jail. As a result, she died 77 00:04:35,560 --> 00:04:38,719 Speaker 1: in an asylum from a combination of edema, cirrhosis of 78 00:04:38,760 --> 00:04:42,280 Speaker 1: the liver, and heart failure. Looking back, it is fitting 79 00:04:42,320 --> 00:04:46,080 Speaker 1: that Jane Cakebread was interred in our curious little Chingford 80 00:04:46,080 --> 00:04:49,880 Speaker 1: Mount Cemetery, a place that wasn't meant for everybody, even 81 00:04:49,920 --> 00:05:07,600 Speaker 1: though everybody was dying to get in. It seems that 82 00:05:07,640 --> 00:05:09,880 Speaker 1: for as long as humans have existed, they've tried to 83 00:05:09,960 --> 00:05:14,040 Speaker 1: keep track time. Ancient Egyptians used shadow clocks or sun 84 00:05:14,080 --> 00:05:17,479 Speaker 1: dials and obelisks to monitor the sun's movements throughout the day. 85 00:05:17,800 --> 00:05:20,279 Speaker 1: The ancient Greeks developed a sort of alarm clock called 86 00:05:20,279 --> 00:05:23,599 Speaker 1: the klepsidra, which kept time using water. The water would 87 00:05:23,720 --> 00:05:26,080 Speaker 1: rise at certain parts of the day and cause a 88 00:05:26,120 --> 00:05:29,680 Speaker 1: mechanical bird to blow a loud whistle. And the Chinese 89 00:05:29,800 --> 00:05:32,799 Speaker 1: use candles that burned at a specific rate to track 90 00:05:32,839 --> 00:05:35,880 Speaker 1: the passage of time. At night. In Prague, though they 91 00:05:35,960 --> 00:05:39,680 Speaker 1: use something else. It's called the Orloi, a medieval astronomical 92 00:05:39,720 --> 00:05:43,680 Speaker 1: clock built into the old town Hall. It's comprised of 93 00:05:43,760 --> 00:05:47,200 Speaker 1: three distinct segments, the mechanical clock that tells the time, 94 00:05:47,480 --> 00:05:50,200 Speaker 1: the calendar dial that shows the current date, and the 95 00:05:50,279 --> 00:05:53,279 Speaker 1: astronomical dial that highlights the position of the sun and 96 00:05:53,320 --> 00:05:56,480 Speaker 1: the moon along with the signs of the zodiac. There 97 00:05:56,520 --> 00:05:59,160 Speaker 1: are also sections on the main clock plate that display 98 00:05:59,279 --> 00:06:02,200 Speaker 1: specific time times of the day, such as the sunrise 99 00:06:02,240 --> 00:06:04,440 Speaker 1: and the sunset, and in the middle of it all 100 00:06:04,800 --> 00:06:08,080 Speaker 1: an image of a globe. Now Surrounding the clock are 101 00:06:08,120 --> 00:06:12,680 Speaker 1: wooden figures representing death, Vanity, the astronomer, the chronicler, and 102 00:06:12,720 --> 00:06:16,120 Speaker 1: the philosopher. Some of these figurines move every hour, while 103 00:06:16,160 --> 00:06:20,440 Speaker 1: others remain stationary. Meanwhile, inside the clock are another set 104 00:06:20,440 --> 00:06:23,680 Speaker 1: of wooden figures, twelve in total, which are supposed to 105 00:06:23,680 --> 00:06:27,200 Speaker 1: be the twelve Apostles who rotate past two windows at 106 00:06:27,200 --> 00:06:29,479 Speaker 1: the top of the structure. They look down on the 107 00:06:29,480 --> 00:06:33,240 Speaker 1: townspeople that come to watch their hourly performance. The clock 108 00:06:33,360 --> 00:06:36,160 Speaker 1: is a marvel of technology, but it wasn't built all 109 00:06:36,200 --> 00:06:39,600 Speaker 1: at once. Its origins can be traced back to fourteen ten, 110 00:06:39,960 --> 00:06:43,480 Speaker 1: when the astronomical dial and the mechanical clock portion inside 111 00:06:43,720 --> 00:06:47,560 Speaker 1: were first constructed. They were the work of clockmaker Mikaelus 112 00:06:47,600 --> 00:06:51,240 Speaker 1: of Kadania and math professor Jan Shindel, although for a 113 00:06:51,279 --> 00:06:54,040 Speaker 1: long time it was believed that clockmaster Jan of Ruche 114 00:06:54,040 --> 00:06:57,200 Speaker 1: had been the original creator, and that misattribution led to 115 00:06:57,240 --> 00:07:00,400 Speaker 1: several dark legends and a curse that have round of 116 00:07:00,400 --> 00:07:04,000 Speaker 1: the clock's history for the past six hundred years. According 117 00:07:04,040 --> 00:07:06,400 Speaker 1: to one story, the work done by Jan of Rouge 118 00:07:06,440 --> 00:07:08,840 Speaker 1: had been admired by others outside of Prague, but he 119 00:07:08,839 --> 00:07:11,880 Speaker 1: wouldn't let anyone see his plans. A rumor began to 120 00:07:11,880 --> 00:07:14,560 Speaker 1: spread that he'd been hired to build another more advanced 121 00:07:14,560 --> 00:07:17,760 Speaker 1: clock for one of those other nations, while the Prague 122 00:07:17,800 --> 00:07:21,200 Speaker 1: counselors couldn't have that, so they blinded him, preventing him 123 00:07:21,200 --> 00:07:24,120 Speaker 1: from finishing their clock and from ever building another one 124 00:07:24,280 --> 00:07:27,960 Speaker 1: for anyone else. And Yan was enraged by their actions, 125 00:07:28,000 --> 00:07:31,280 Speaker 1: so he damaged the astronomical clock as revenge. Since he 126 00:07:31,360 --> 00:07:33,200 Speaker 1: was the one who had built it, he was the 127 00:07:33,240 --> 00:07:36,240 Speaker 1: only one who could fix it. In another version of 128 00:07:36,240 --> 00:07:40,000 Speaker 1: the story, they had the counselor's blind Michelus of Kadana instead, 129 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:42,760 Speaker 1: but he didn't just break the clock. In retaliation, he 130 00:07:42,880 --> 00:07:46,520 Speaker 1: threw his body into the gears, destroying both himself and 131 00:07:46,560 --> 00:07:49,680 Speaker 1: the mechanism. At the same time, his suicide led to 132 00:07:49,720 --> 00:07:52,240 Speaker 1: the belief in a curse that anyone who tried to 133 00:07:52,280 --> 00:07:55,520 Speaker 1: fix the clock would lose their mind just as he had. 134 00:07:56,120 --> 00:07:59,800 Speaker 1: Now Could either story be true, possibly, although it's more 135 00:07:59,840 --> 00:08:02,600 Speaker 1: like that the clock simply broke down over time. What 136 00:08:02,640 --> 00:08:04,880 Speaker 1: we do know is that the calendar dial was added, 137 00:08:05,120 --> 00:08:10,040 Speaker 1: presumably by Janavrush, around fourteen ninety. The clock also underwent 138 00:08:10,040 --> 00:08:12,520 Speaker 1: a series of repairs during the mid fifteen hundreds, as 139 00:08:12,520 --> 00:08:15,240 Speaker 1: it would often stop turning for one reason or another. 140 00:08:15,720 --> 00:08:19,240 Speaker 1: The exterior wooden statues, such as those of death and Vanity, 141 00:08:19,440 --> 00:08:22,440 Speaker 1: were added during the mid seventeenth century, while the apostles 142 00:08:22,440 --> 00:08:25,960 Speaker 1: were incorporated sometime during the late seventeen hundreds. In the 143 00:08:26,080 --> 00:08:29,320 Speaker 1: eighteen sixties, the calendar doll was updated by a check painter, 144 00:08:29,760 --> 00:08:33,280 Speaker 1: Joseph Mannus, with twelve or eight discs made to represent 145 00:08:33,320 --> 00:08:36,200 Speaker 1: the months. That face was taken down and replaced with 146 00:08:36,320 --> 00:08:39,160 Speaker 1: a copy in eighteen eighty, while the original was put 147 00:08:39,200 --> 00:08:42,320 Speaker 1: on display in the Prague City Museum. In other words, 148 00:08:42,679 --> 00:08:45,520 Speaker 1: for hundreds of years the clock was either being fixed 149 00:08:45,600 --> 00:08:49,480 Speaker 1: or upgraded. It also underwent serious renovations after the Nazis 150 00:08:49,520 --> 00:08:53,280 Speaker 1: attacked Prague, during World War II. I've been to Prague myself, 151 00:08:53,320 --> 00:08:55,400 Speaker 1: but only once, and the week that I was there, 152 00:08:55,920 --> 00:08:59,160 Speaker 1: the clock was covered up for yet more repairs. That 153 00:08:59,320 --> 00:09:01,400 Speaker 1: said I have, I've been told that to see the 154 00:09:01,480 --> 00:09:04,679 Speaker 1: astronomical clock is to time travel in a way. It's 155 00:09:04,720 --> 00:09:08,080 Speaker 1: a glimpse back through hundreds of years of innovation and engineering. 156 00:09:08,480 --> 00:09:10,680 Speaker 1: And if you can pay it a visit on the hour, 157 00:09:11,120 --> 00:09:14,040 Speaker 1: you'll be treated to a delightful twenty seven second show 158 00:09:14,440 --> 00:09:17,920 Speaker 1: put on by the clockswooden characters. You know, if you're 159 00:09:17,960 --> 00:09:21,680 Speaker 1: in Prague and you have a little time on your hands, 160 00:09:25,320 --> 00:09:28,000 Speaker 1: I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet 161 00:09:28,040 --> 00:09:31,920 Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn 162 00:09:31,960 --> 00:09:36,440 Speaker 1: more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. 163 00:09:36,559 --> 00:09:40,120 Speaker 1: The show was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership 164 00:09:40,160 --> 00:09:43,440 Speaker 1: with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show 165 00:09:43,559 --> 00:09:47,640 Speaker 1: called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show, 166 00:09:47,880 --> 00:09:49,719 Speaker 1: and you can learn all about it over at the 167 00:09:49,920 --> 00:09:56,480 Speaker 1: Worldoflore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.