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 --> 00:00:11,200 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 --> 00:00:29,400 Speaker 1: Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. The Vietnam War lasted 5 00:00:29,440 --> 00:00:33,600 Speaker 1: from nineteen fifty five to nine, and in its wake, 6 00:00:33,680 --> 00:00:37,720 Speaker 1: almost four million souls were lost. A tragedy and one 7 00:00:37,760 --> 00:00:41,040 Speaker 1: they'll write books and documentaries about until the end of time. 8 00:00:41,640 --> 00:00:44,680 Speaker 1: But it wasn't the only war taking place during that period. 9 00:00:45,120 --> 00:00:49,240 Speaker 1: Neighboring countries waged their own campaigns alongside the turmoil going 10 00:00:49,280 --> 00:00:54,320 Speaker 1: on inside Vietnam. One such country was Laos, which, beginning 11 00:00:54,400 --> 00:00:57,400 Speaker 1: in nineteen fifty five, was the site of a massive 12 00:00:57,480 --> 00:01:02,080 Speaker 1: civil war between the communist Pottit movement from North Vietnam 13 00:01:02,120 --> 00:01:05,840 Speaker 1: and the Royal Laotian Government, the official governing body of 14 00:01:05,880 --> 00:01:09,600 Speaker 1: South Vietnam. The CIA had dubbed it the Secret War 15 00:01:09,920 --> 00:01:13,440 Speaker 1: because we had recruited and trained a Lowatian hill tribe 16 00:01:13,480 --> 00:01:16,520 Speaker 1: called the Hamong to fight the North Vietnamese on our 17 00:01:16,560 --> 00:01:19,880 Speaker 1: behalf in order to stop the spread of communism. The 18 00:01:19,959 --> 00:01:23,560 Speaker 1: United States feared that if Laos fell to communism, nearby 19 00:01:23,640 --> 00:01:28,120 Speaker 1: countries would be next Laos had been designated a neutral territory, 20 00:01:28,160 --> 00:01:31,119 Speaker 1: but by using the Hamoan to fight this war, they 21 00:01:31,120 --> 00:01:34,559 Speaker 1: had turned them into targets for the pet Lao. After 22 00:01:34,600 --> 00:01:38,279 Speaker 1: the Vietnam and Secret Wars ended, the padet Lao didn't 23 00:01:38,280 --> 00:01:42,560 Speaker 1: forget about what happened and who had been responsible. They 24 00:01:42,560 --> 00:01:46,000 Speaker 1: began hunting down massive numbers of Hamong people in what 25 00:01:46,120 --> 00:01:49,160 Speaker 1: is now known as the Hamong Genocide, some of which 26 00:01:49,200 --> 00:01:52,960 Speaker 1: still goes on today. As a result, many Hamoan fled 27 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:56,800 Speaker 1: the mountains to avoid persecution, while a good number found 28 00:01:56,800 --> 00:02:01,280 Speaker 1: their way to America. In that number had grown too, 29 00:02:01,360 --> 00:02:04,560 Speaker 1: over thirty five thousand. But even though they managed to 30 00:02:04,720 --> 00:02:08,320 Speaker 1: escape Laos, they couldn't escape the horrors that they had witnessed. 31 00:02:08,360 --> 00:02:13,840 Speaker 1: Their death would always follow them. No one here really 32 00:02:13,880 --> 00:02:16,880 Speaker 1: knew how to help them. Almost none of the hamongk 33 00:02:16,960 --> 00:02:20,000 Speaker 1: spoke in English, and their language was not well known 34 00:02:20,120 --> 00:02:22,880 Speaker 1: outside their own country. It wasn't like you could go 35 00:02:22,960 --> 00:02:25,640 Speaker 1: down to the local bookstore and buy a Hamong to 36 00:02:25,720 --> 00:02:29,440 Speaker 1: English dictionary. So not only were they still suffering years 37 00:02:29,520 --> 00:02:32,639 Speaker 1: after fleeing their homeland, but they were doing so all 38 00:02:32,720 --> 00:02:36,600 Speaker 1: on their own. But this suffering didn't come in the 39 00:02:36,639 --> 00:02:40,560 Speaker 1: form of internal bleeding or gunshots. There were no stab 40 00:02:40,600 --> 00:02:44,560 Speaker 1: wounds or broken bones. Their pain was on a different level, 41 00:02:44,919 --> 00:02:48,840 Speaker 1: but still justice traumatizing, and it was beyond frightening to 42 00:02:48,919 --> 00:02:52,640 Speaker 1: the others around them. One night, a refugee would go 43 00:02:52,680 --> 00:02:55,760 Speaker 1: to sleep, and the next morning they wouldn't wake up. 44 00:02:56,600 --> 00:03:00,720 Speaker 1: Eighteen among refugees, mostly men between the ages of nineteen 45 00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:05,880 Speaker 1: and fifty seven, died unexpectedly in their sleep. Doctors at 46 00:03:05,919 --> 00:03:09,720 Speaker 1: the c d C were baffled. Autopsies revealed nothing except 47 00:03:09,800 --> 00:03:13,280 Speaker 1: that the men had all been in good health, except 48 00:03:13,320 --> 00:03:17,440 Speaker 1: there's one part of the human body that doctors can't autopsy. 49 00:03:17,560 --> 00:03:20,240 Speaker 1: There's no way to cut into a person's brain and 50 00:03:20,280 --> 00:03:23,520 Speaker 1: see their thoughts. The among people living in the United 51 00:03:23,520 --> 00:03:27,040 Speaker 1: States had been burdened with some of the worst memories imaginable. 52 00:03:27,400 --> 00:03:30,079 Speaker 1: These memories kept many of them awake, and the ones 53 00:03:30,120 --> 00:03:33,000 Speaker 1: who did manage to sleep didn't do so for long. 54 00:03:33,600 --> 00:03:36,480 Speaker 1: They couldn't, not with the images of murdered friends and 55 00:03:36,520 --> 00:03:40,920 Speaker 1: loved ones burned into their minds. After days without sleep, 56 00:03:41,040 --> 00:03:45,680 Speaker 1: their hearts, already exhausted and broken, would simply give out 57 00:03:45,720 --> 00:03:50,040 Speaker 1: in the night. Doctors called it sudden unexplained death syndrome 58 00:03:50,360 --> 00:03:53,320 Speaker 1: or SuDS. In the Philippines. They gave it a name 59 00:03:53,400 --> 00:03:58,560 Speaker 1: that essentially means nightmare. Around the time these reports of 60 00:03:58,720 --> 00:04:02,440 Speaker 1: unexplained deaths hit the papers, former professor was looking to 61 00:04:02,520 --> 00:04:05,840 Speaker 1: make his mark on Hollywood. He'd already directed a small 62 00:04:05,880 --> 00:04:09,440 Speaker 1: film about a family tormented by cannibals in the Nevada Desert, 63 00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:12,760 Speaker 1: but this was the eighties and he felt America was 64 00:04:12,800 --> 00:04:17,120 Speaker 1: ready for something truly frightening. That's when he came across 65 00:04:17,200 --> 00:04:19,880 Speaker 1: an article about the Hmong refugees who were dying in 66 00:04:19,880 --> 00:04:23,200 Speaker 1: their sleep, and their stories sparked a question in his mind, 67 00:04:24,040 --> 00:04:29,040 Speaker 1: can our nightmares really kill us? And if so, how, 68 00:04:31,120 --> 00:04:35,039 Speaker 1: Whether or not he answered the question professionally, this professor 69 00:04:35,240 --> 00:04:37,039 Speaker 1: did go on to give birth to one of the 70 00:04:37,080 --> 00:04:41,040 Speaker 1: most frightening horror films of the nineteen eighties. Today, we 71 00:04:41,120 --> 00:04:45,960 Speaker 1: might view his career with enthusiasm, but Wes Craven understands 72 00:04:46,040 --> 00:04:50,440 Speaker 1: that his dark stories have even darker roots. And now 73 00:04:50,480 --> 00:04:53,760 Speaker 1: you know how Nightmares landed on the big screen, all 74 00:04:53,839 --> 00:05:12,120 Speaker 1: thanks to one monster. Freddy Krueger m Eugene was born 75 00:05:12,160 --> 00:05:15,720 Speaker 1: in Texas in the early nineteen twenties. His father was 76 00:05:15,800 --> 00:05:18,760 Speaker 1: a police officer who moved the family to Los Angeles 77 00:05:18,800 --> 00:05:22,960 Speaker 1: shortly after Eugene's birth. After high school, Eugene, eager to 78 00:05:23,120 --> 00:05:26,560 Speaker 1: follow in his father's footsteps, was accepted to Los Angeles 79 00:05:26,560 --> 00:05:30,440 Speaker 1: City College, where he planned to study police science. But 80 00:05:30,520 --> 00:05:33,880 Speaker 1: plans have a habit of changing, especially when your window 81 00:05:33,960 --> 00:05:36,880 Speaker 1: to the world is opened wider than you've ever seen before. 82 00:05:37,600 --> 00:05:41,120 Speaker 1: Eugene quickly abandoned the idea of wearing a badge when 83 00:05:41,120 --> 00:05:45,800 Speaker 1: he discovered the science of aeronautical engineering, designing airplanes and 84 00:05:45,800 --> 00:05:50,720 Speaker 1: flying them. That was a dream come true. Eugene joined 85 00:05:50,760 --> 00:05:53,560 Speaker 1: the United States Army Air Corps in order to obtain 86 00:05:53,600 --> 00:05:57,479 Speaker 1: his pilot's license and enlisted in December of nineteen forty one, 87 00:05:58,080 --> 00:06:02,159 Speaker 1: eleven days after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Desperately in 88 00:06:02,279 --> 00:06:05,440 Speaker 1: need of reinforcements, he was sent to Oahu as part 89 00:06:05,440 --> 00:06:09,919 Speaker 1: of the three Bomb Squadron, the same squadron responsible for 90 00:06:10,000 --> 00:06:14,719 Speaker 1: piloting the B seventeen flying Fortress. He'd been flying for 91 00:06:14,760 --> 00:06:17,440 Speaker 1: a few years when his B seventeen, on its way 92 00:06:17,440 --> 00:06:21,560 Speaker 1: out of Vanuatu, missed the runway and crashed into nearby trees. 93 00:06:22,200 --> 00:06:25,320 Speaker 1: Two members of his team were killed, and Eugene, not 94 00:06:25,440 --> 00:06:28,799 Speaker 1: wanting this to happen, to anyone else. Ever, again stopped 95 00:06:28,800 --> 00:06:33,279 Speaker 1: flying planes and started investigating why they crashed. He earned 96 00:06:33,279 --> 00:06:35,880 Speaker 1: medals for his work, but after he left the army, 97 00:06:36,000 --> 00:06:38,960 Speaker 1: he found the courage to start flying again, this time 98 00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:43,600 Speaker 1: for Pan American Airways. He fought his days of crashes 99 00:06:43,680 --> 00:06:45,960 Speaker 1: were over now that he no longer faced the threat 100 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:48,480 Speaker 1: of being shot out of the sky, but some people 101 00:06:48,720 --> 00:06:52,840 Speaker 1: just can't escape their fate. On June eighteenth of ninety seven, 102 00:06:53,120 --> 00:06:57,560 Speaker 1: pan AM Flight one one was scheduled to depart from Karachi, Pakistan, 103 00:06:57,680 --> 00:07:01,960 Speaker 1: and delivered twenty six passengers and crew members, including third 104 00:07:02,040 --> 00:07:06,520 Speaker 1: Officer Eugene, all the way to Istanbul. Everything seemed to 105 00:07:06,560 --> 00:07:09,120 Speaker 1: be going fine for several hours until one of the 106 00:07:09,160 --> 00:07:13,160 Speaker 1: engines failed. Thankfully, the other engines compensated to keep the 107 00:07:13,160 --> 00:07:16,880 Speaker 1: bird in the air, but that caused them to overheat. Eventually, 108 00:07:16,880 --> 00:07:20,600 Speaker 1: one of those caught fire and then fell off the aircraft. 109 00:07:21,680 --> 00:07:25,680 Speaker 1: With two engines down, the plane descended eventually crashed, landing 110 00:07:25,720 --> 00:07:29,800 Speaker 1: in the Syrian desert. Fifteen people had died, while another 111 00:07:29,840 --> 00:07:34,160 Speaker 1: eleven passengers were in dire need of medical attention. Eugene 112 00:07:34,200 --> 00:07:37,120 Speaker 1: suffered a few broken ribs, but that didn't stop him 113 00:07:37,120 --> 00:07:40,920 Speaker 1: from assuming control of the situation and dragging passengers out 114 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:45,000 Speaker 1: from the burning wreckage and into safety. And that was 115 00:07:45,080 --> 00:07:48,440 Speaker 1: the final straw for Eugene. Between the tragedies of his 116 00:07:48,480 --> 00:07:51,760 Speaker 1: time in the military to his new civilian crash, he 117 00:07:51,840 --> 00:07:55,280 Speaker 1: was ready to walk away from flying ships forever. He 118 00:07:55,360 --> 00:07:58,280 Speaker 1: resigned from PanAm a short while later and began to 119 00:07:58,320 --> 00:08:02,800 Speaker 1: pursue that original dream of becoming a police officer. That 120 00:08:02,960 --> 00:08:05,720 Speaker 1: dream brought him back to l A where his father's 121 00:08:05,720 --> 00:08:08,800 Speaker 1: footsteps were waiting for him. He served for a time 122 00:08:08,840 --> 00:08:11,440 Speaker 1: in the Traffic division, but was eventually moved to the 123 00:08:11,480 --> 00:08:14,960 Speaker 1: Public Information division, where he developed the taste for writing, 124 00:08:15,320 --> 00:08:19,840 Speaker 1: a taste that grew into an insatiable hunger. Suddenly, Eugene 125 00:08:19,880 --> 00:08:22,280 Speaker 1: saw a way to put all of his expertise to 126 00:08:22,320 --> 00:08:26,480 Speaker 1: better use. The nineteen fifties had arrived, and with them 127 00:08:26,560 --> 00:08:29,880 Speaker 1: came the dawn of a new age of entertainment. Motion 128 00:08:29,920 --> 00:08:33,440 Speaker 1: pictures were expensive to make, and audiences didn't always want 129 00:08:33,480 --> 00:08:35,679 Speaker 1: to go out to enjoy a few hours of distraction. 130 00:08:36,160 --> 00:08:39,560 Speaker 1: But television was a different story, and thanks to his 131 00:08:39,640 --> 00:08:43,080 Speaker 1: police knowledge, Eugene landed a job as an advisor on 132 00:08:43,160 --> 00:08:47,120 Speaker 1: a new crime procedural. The show ran for just one 133 00:08:47,200 --> 00:08:50,000 Speaker 1: year before being canceled. He went on to pitch a 134 00:08:50,080 --> 00:08:53,560 Speaker 1: number of other TV shows, all with lawyers and cops, 135 00:08:54,080 --> 00:08:56,640 Speaker 1: but none of them lasted beyond a handful of episodes. 136 00:08:57,360 --> 00:09:00,200 Speaker 1: To pay his bills, he wrote scripts for our he 137 00:09:00,320 --> 00:09:06,040 Speaker 1: established shows. Life seemed to be one fiery wreck after another, 138 00:09:06,360 --> 00:09:10,320 Speaker 1: both literal and metaphorical, but he understood that out of 139 00:09:10,360 --> 00:09:14,559 Speaker 1: failure came new opportunities for success. If the networks didn't 140 00:09:14,600 --> 00:09:18,760 Speaker 1: want shows centered around police officers and lawyers, then Eugene 141 00:09:18,800 --> 00:09:23,920 Speaker 1: would look elsewhere for his inspiration. He looked up. Eugene 142 00:09:24,000 --> 00:09:27,240 Speaker 1: had explored the sky and crashed earth. He was a 143 00:09:27,320 --> 00:09:31,000 Speaker 1: survivor who had saved numerous lives, and a decorated pilot 144 00:09:31,040 --> 00:09:34,360 Speaker 1: with a brilliant mind. So rather than give Hollywood one 145 00:09:34,400 --> 00:09:37,640 Speaker 1: more of the same old, he used his past to 146 00:09:37,760 --> 00:09:42,680 Speaker 1: make something futuristic, and in nineteen sixty six it arrived 147 00:09:43,280 --> 00:09:47,760 Speaker 1: a diverse new crew on a bold mission, and it's 148 00:09:47,760 --> 00:09:51,560 Speaker 1: still with us today. Thanks to everything he experienced in 149 00:09:51,640 --> 00:09:56,840 Speaker 1: his early years, Eugene Wesley Rowdenberry gifted us with one 150 00:09:56,880 --> 00:10:01,640 Speaker 1: of the most beloved and influential science fiction world's ever created, 151 00:10:02,880 --> 00:10:10,280 Speaker 1: Star Trek. I hope you've enjoyed Today's guided tour of 152 00:10:10,320 --> 00:10:14,280 Speaker 1: the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, 153 00:10:14,360 --> 00:10:17,920 Speaker 1: or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast 154 00:10:18,120 --> 00:10:21,880 Speaker 1: dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Manky 155 00:10:22,200 --> 00:10:25,680 Speaker 1: in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make another award 156 00:10:25,720 --> 00:10:29,320 Speaker 1: winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, 157 00:10:29,360 --> 00:10:31,920 Speaker 1: and television show, and you can learn all about it 158 00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:35,559 Speaker 1: over at the World of Lore dot com. And until 159 00:10:35,640 --> 00:10:37,480 Speaker 1: next time, stay curious.