1 00:00:03,760 --> 00:00:08,000 Speaker 1: Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history 2 00:00:08,039 --> 00:00:11,520 Speaker 1: is an open book, all of these amazing tales right 3 00:00:11,520 --> 00:00:16,640 Speaker 1: there on display, just waiting for us to explore. Welcome 4 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:29,159 Speaker 1: to the cabinet of curiosities. The most difficult thing is 5 00:00:29,200 --> 00:00:34,160 Speaker 1: the decision to act. The rest is merely tenacity. Those 6 00:00:34,200 --> 00:00:36,360 Speaker 1: aren't my words, by the way. They belong to someone 7 00:00:36,440 --> 00:00:39,839 Speaker 1: who dared to do the impossible, someone we still remember today, 8 00:00:40,400 --> 00:00:45,120 Speaker 1: Amelia Earhart. She set numerous records during her life, both 9 00:00:45,120 --> 00:00:47,520 Speaker 1: as a woman and a pilot. She was the first 10 00:00:47,520 --> 00:00:50,600 Speaker 1: woman pilot to reach fourteen thousand feet in an airplane, 11 00:00:50,920 --> 00:00:53,800 Speaker 1: the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, 12 00:00:54,200 --> 00:00:56,800 Speaker 1: and the first to fly NonStop from coast to coast 13 00:00:56,880 --> 00:01:00,400 Speaker 1: across the continental US. And she would have been the 14 00:01:00,440 --> 00:01:03,600 Speaker 1: first woman to circumnavigate the globe by airplane had she 15 00:01:03,720 --> 00:01:07,880 Speaker 1: not disappeared during her final trip. But this story isn't 16 00:01:07,959 --> 00:01:10,800 Speaker 1: about her. It's about the woman who came before her, 17 00:01:11,160 --> 00:01:13,920 Speaker 1: the one who, in all respects, paved the way for 18 00:01:13,959 --> 00:01:17,440 Speaker 1: women like Amelia Earhart to prove their metal before the world. 19 00:01:18,200 --> 00:01:20,959 Speaker 1: Her name was Annie London Dairy, and while she was 20 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:24,440 Speaker 1: born in Latvia in eighteen seventy. She grew up in Boston. 21 00:01:24,880 --> 00:01:27,720 Speaker 1: She was raised in a tenement along with four other siblings, 22 00:01:27,760 --> 00:01:30,440 Speaker 1: who all got married and started families of their own, 23 00:01:30,920 --> 00:01:36,000 Speaker 1: and Annie was no different. She met a man, Max Kopchovsky, 24 00:01:36,080 --> 00:01:39,679 Speaker 1: in and the two of them raised three children together. 25 00:01:39,720 --> 00:01:43,240 Speaker 1: Alongside her sibling families. They supported each other the way 26 00:01:43,280 --> 00:01:46,479 Speaker 1: families are supposed to, but eventually they fell on hard 27 00:01:46,480 --> 00:01:49,080 Speaker 1: times and Annie had to find a job to make 28 00:01:49,160 --> 00:01:52,200 Speaker 1: ends meet. She ended up selling ad space for several 29 00:01:52,240 --> 00:01:56,800 Speaker 1: Boston newspapers. She held that job for many years, and 30 00:01:56,880 --> 00:02:01,320 Speaker 1: during her career two things happened. First, bicycle became the 31 00:02:01,400 --> 00:02:05,200 Speaker 1: vehicle of choice for the independent traveler. Everywhere she went, 32 00:02:05,600 --> 00:02:08,400 Speaker 1: someone was zipping up and down the street on two wheels. 33 00:02:09,080 --> 00:02:12,440 Speaker 1: And second, a man used one of these new fangled 34 00:02:12,440 --> 00:02:17,480 Speaker 1: machines to travel around the world. Suddenly, people everywhere were 35 00:02:17,480 --> 00:02:20,600 Speaker 1: wondering if it had been a fluke, could anyone else 36 00:02:20,680 --> 00:02:23,639 Speaker 1: take on the daunting task of traveling around the globe 37 00:02:23,639 --> 00:02:26,720 Speaker 1: on just a bicycle? And were only men up to 38 00:02:26,760 --> 00:02:29,840 Speaker 1: such an endeavor or could a woman handle the journey too? 39 00:02:31,440 --> 00:02:34,480 Speaker 1: That was the question too rich Boston aristocrats wanted to 40 00:02:34,560 --> 00:02:37,960 Speaker 1: have answered, so they made a wager, could a woman 41 00:02:38,080 --> 00:02:41,800 Speaker 1: go around the world in fifteen months by bicycle. If so, 42 00:02:42,280 --> 00:02:45,040 Speaker 1: the winner of the bet would get ten thousand dollars, 43 00:02:45,120 --> 00:02:48,800 Speaker 1: and so would the cyclist. Annie, who had never ridden 44 00:02:48,840 --> 00:02:53,200 Speaker 1: a bicycle before, volunteered for the challenge. Ten grand would 45 00:02:53,200 --> 00:02:57,320 Speaker 1: certainly come in handy for her family, but Annie already 46 00:02:57,400 --> 00:02:59,760 Speaker 1: had several strikes against her in the eyes of the 47 00:02:59,760 --> 00:03:03,520 Speaker 1: world around her. She was a woman, she was Jewish, 48 00:03:03,560 --> 00:03:06,200 Speaker 1: and she was a mother. The idea she would be 49 00:03:06,280 --> 00:03:09,320 Speaker 1: able to set a world record for circumnavigating the globe 50 00:03:09,320 --> 00:03:12,840 Speaker 1: on a bicycle sounded laughable to most, which made her 51 00:03:12,840 --> 00:03:16,520 Speaker 1: want to do it even more. She set out on 52 00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:21,680 Speaker 1: June from the Massachusetts State House wearing a long skirt 53 00:03:21,720 --> 00:03:25,760 Speaker 1: and a corset, hardly comfortable for a world cyclist in summertime, 54 00:03:26,200 --> 00:03:28,080 Speaker 1: and she brought along with her only a change of 55 00:03:28,120 --> 00:03:31,600 Speaker 1: clothes and a revolver for her safety. As long as 56 00:03:31,639 --> 00:03:33,959 Speaker 1: the weather held up, she averaged almost ten miles a 57 00:03:34,040 --> 00:03:38,160 Speaker 1: day and reached Chicago by late September. The journey was 58 00:03:38,200 --> 00:03:41,680 Speaker 1: getting harder, though, snow was falling the farther west she traveled, 59 00:03:41,840 --> 00:03:44,480 Speaker 1: and the dress was becoming too cumbersome for her to wear, 60 00:03:44,960 --> 00:03:47,880 Speaker 1: so she switched to a men's riding outfit, a far 61 00:03:47,960 --> 00:03:51,280 Speaker 1: cry from what most considered appropriate dress for a lady 62 00:03:51,320 --> 00:03:54,040 Speaker 1: at the time, but by now I think we all 63 00:03:54,040 --> 00:03:58,280 Speaker 1: can agree that there was nothing typical about Annie. She 64 00:03:58,360 --> 00:04:01,600 Speaker 1: turned around after that and headed back east. Two months 65 00:04:01,640 --> 00:04:04,600 Speaker 1: after reaching Chicago, she arrived in New York and boarded 66 00:04:04,640 --> 00:04:08,400 Speaker 1: a steamship for Europe, where custom officials confiscated her bicycle 67 00:04:08,520 --> 00:04:11,200 Speaker 1: and her money, and she was lambasted in the French 68 00:04:11,280 --> 00:04:14,640 Speaker 1: press for her choice of clothing. But none of that 69 00:04:14,760 --> 00:04:17,520 Speaker 1: deterred her. She got her bike back and returned to 70 00:04:17,520 --> 00:04:21,200 Speaker 1: the road, cycling from Paris to Marseilles before boarding another 71 00:04:21,200 --> 00:04:24,320 Speaker 1: ship to Japan. Only six months remained for her to 72 00:04:24,360 --> 00:04:29,040 Speaker 1: get back to Chicago and collect her winnings. Marche saw 73 00:04:29,080 --> 00:04:31,520 Speaker 1: Annie's return to the United States. As she docked in 74 00:04:31,560 --> 00:04:35,640 Speaker 1: San Francisco, California. She pedaled down through Los Angeles and 75 00:04:35,720 --> 00:04:39,040 Speaker 1: the Southwest as she followed the Southern Pacific Railway tracks 76 00:04:39,080 --> 00:04:44,279 Speaker 1: back to Chicago. She arrived there on September twelve, twelve 77 00:04:44,360 --> 00:04:48,279 Speaker 1: days shy of her departure date the year before, she'd 78 00:04:48,320 --> 00:04:52,360 Speaker 1: done it. After fifteen months of harsh roads, rain, snow, 79 00:04:52,720 --> 00:04:56,400 Speaker 1: and a few broken bones. Annie Londonderry had traveled around 80 00:04:56,440 --> 00:04:59,720 Speaker 1: the world by bicycle and won the ten thousand dollar 81 00:05:00,120 --> 00:05:04,080 Speaker 1: placed against her. An interesting note about Annie, though London 82 00:05:04,120 --> 00:05:07,799 Speaker 1: Dairy was not her real last name, she was born 83 00:05:07,960 --> 00:05:11,520 Speaker 1: Annie Cohen. You see, Annie had become a bit of 84 00:05:11,520 --> 00:05:15,240 Speaker 1: a celebrity before her trip even started. The idea alone 85 00:05:15,440 --> 00:05:18,640 Speaker 1: was enough for companies to try and latch onto her attempt, 86 00:05:18,960 --> 00:05:21,919 Speaker 1: and given the public perception of Jews at the time, 87 00:05:22,040 --> 00:05:24,120 Speaker 1: it wouldn't have been safe for her to travel with 88 00:05:24,120 --> 00:05:27,280 Speaker 1: her given surname Cohen, So she made a little deal 89 00:05:27,400 --> 00:05:31,440 Speaker 1: with the London Dairy Lithia Springwater Company. She would temporarily 90 00:05:31,520 --> 00:05:34,720 Speaker 1: change her last name to boost the company's visibility, and 91 00:05:34,760 --> 00:05:38,200 Speaker 1: in return, she'd be able to travel without fear of persecution. 92 00:05:39,080 --> 00:05:41,200 Speaker 1: The best part of it all was the ten grand 93 00:05:41,240 --> 00:05:44,599 Speaker 1: she'd won was really just icing on the cake. Annie 94 00:05:44,640 --> 00:05:47,960 Speaker 1: had made more money from the corporate sponsorships and speaking 95 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:51,560 Speaker 1: engagements she'd picked up on her trip, establishing herself as 96 00:05:51,600 --> 00:05:55,960 Speaker 1: an entrepreneur and one of the first true professional female athletes. 97 00:05:56,960 --> 00:05:59,839 Speaker 1: Sure there's a lot to criticize about her journey. She 98 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:02,520 Speaker 1: certainly took a lot of steamships and trains, and there 99 00:06:02,600 --> 00:06:05,520 Speaker 1: was no doubt there were better bicyclists out there. She 100 00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:08,680 Speaker 1: did just about what anyone could have done. She made 101 00:06:08,720 --> 00:06:12,960 Speaker 1: the decision and she acted upon it. No Annie stood 102 00:06:12,960 --> 00:06:16,880 Speaker 1: apart from everyone else because of something else. She, more 103 00:06:16,920 --> 00:06:19,719 Speaker 1: than anyone else in her day, had the goal to 104 00:06:19,800 --> 00:06:23,839 Speaker 1: follow Amelia Earhart's advice four decades before she spoke it. 105 00:06:24,720 --> 00:06:42,640 Speaker 1: Annie had tenacity. People change over the course of their lives. 106 00:06:43,120 --> 00:06:46,000 Speaker 1: As they grow up, they grow in other ways. Their 107 00:06:46,040 --> 00:06:49,640 Speaker 1: taste change, their styles change, even the kinds of friends 108 00:06:49,680 --> 00:06:52,520 Speaker 1: they keep change. But most people tend not to change 109 00:06:52,520 --> 00:06:56,120 Speaker 1: in other ways. Oh sure, they might get a drastic 110 00:06:56,160 --> 00:06:59,080 Speaker 1: haircut or have a little work done, and some people 111 00:06:59,160 --> 00:07:01,080 Speaker 1: might hit the gym five days a week so they 112 00:07:01,080 --> 00:07:04,200 Speaker 1: can look like a superhero by beach season. But nobody 113 00:07:04,320 --> 00:07:07,760 Speaker 1: changes the way Adam did. And that's because Adam was 114 00:07:07,880 --> 00:07:11,080 Speaker 1: one of a kind. He was born in Austria at 115 00:07:11,120 --> 00:07:14,240 Speaker 1: the turn of the century. Ever the patriotic fellow, He 116 00:07:14,280 --> 00:07:17,320 Speaker 1: attempted to enlist in the German army during World War One, 117 00:07:17,680 --> 00:07:20,360 Speaker 1: but he was turned away, and for a very good reason. 118 00:07:20,800 --> 00:07:22,840 Speaker 1: There was no way that they were going to allow 119 00:07:22,880 --> 00:07:25,880 Speaker 1: a four ft six man on the front lines. They 120 00:07:25,920 --> 00:07:30,160 Speaker 1: didn't even make uniforms in his size, but he kept trying. 121 00:07:30,560 --> 00:07:32,760 Speaker 1: He felt he had a duty to serve his country, 122 00:07:32,960 --> 00:07:35,560 Speaker 1: and he wouldn't let his diminutive stature hold him back. 123 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:38,800 Speaker 1: Adam managed to add another two inches to his frame 124 00:07:38,800 --> 00:07:41,960 Speaker 1: the following year. The army still wouldn't have it. He 125 00:07:42,040 --> 00:07:44,280 Speaker 1: came in at under five feet tall, and to the 126 00:07:44,320 --> 00:07:46,520 Speaker 1: powers that be, he proved to be more of a 127 00:07:46,560 --> 00:07:51,040 Speaker 1: liability than an asset. Oddly enough, though, there were parts 128 00:07:51,080 --> 00:07:54,960 Speaker 1: of Adam that had developed beyond his undersized build, namely 129 00:07:55,080 --> 00:07:57,880 Speaker 1: his hands and his feet. He was like a massive 130 00:07:57,960 --> 00:08:00,520 Speaker 1: puppy in that respect, with the shoes, eyes that had 131 00:08:00,560 --> 00:08:03,760 Speaker 1: doubled within two years, even though his height remained mostly 132 00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:06,200 Speaker 1: the same. When he reached the age of twenty one, 133 00:08:06,600 --> 00:08:10,040 Speaker 1: it was like a switch had been flipped. Adam shot 134 00:08:10,120 --> 00:08:13,360 Speaker 1: up like a redwood, almost three feet in ten years. 135 00:08:14,240 --> 00:08:17,320 Speaker 1: Doctors examined him thoroughly, discovering he was born with a 136 00:08:17,360 --> 00:08:21,320 Speaker 1: condition known as acromegaly, in which the pituitary gland produces 137 00:08:21,400 --> 00:08:24,400 Speaker 1: too much growth hormone. Even if you haven't heard of it, 138 00:08:24,640 --> 00:08:27,480 Speaker 1: there's no doubt you've seen it. The condition affects fewer 139 00:08:27,480 --> 00:08:31,360 Speaker 1: than twenty thousand cases per year, but some notable individuals 140 00:08:31,440 --> 00:08:35,000 Speaker 1: include celebrities like Andre the Giant from The Princess Bride 141 00:08:35,280 --> 00:08:38,360 Speaker 1: and Richard Keel, who played the metal mouth henchman Jaws 142 00:08:38,600 --> 00:08:43,160 Speaker 1: in several early James Bond movies. Adam's condition worsened later 143 00:08:43,200 --> 00:08:45,800 Speaker 1: in life due to a tumor on his pituitary gland. 144 00:08:46,240 --> 00:08:48,079 Speaker 1: If you were to look at pictures of him from 145 00:08:48,080 --> 00:08:50,160 Speaker 1: when he was barely twenty all the way to the 146 00:08:50,240 --> 00:08:52,680 Speaker 1: end of his life, you'd see just how stark that 147 00:08:52,720 --> 00:08:56,640 Speaker 1: transformation was. One moment, he's the picture of perfect health, 148 00:08:56,920 --> 00:09:00,640 Speaker 1: all of his facial features within standard proportion. The next, 149 00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:04,160 Speaker 1: his forehead has enlarged, as has his chin, and his 150 00:09:04,280 --> 00:09:07,400 Speaker 1: cheeks are puffed out like a chipmunk's. Within ten years, 151 00:09:07,559 --> 00:09:10,120 Speaker 1: Adam had gone through a sort of jeckal and Hide 152 00:09:10,120 --> 00:09:15,240 Speaker 1: transformation into some one completely different. The doctors tried to 153 00:09:15,240 --> 00:09:18,080 Speaker 1: operate and remove the tumor, but given how long he 154 00:09:18,120 --> 00:09:21,680 Speaker 1: had been growing, chances of curing his condition were slim. 155 00:09:21,840 --> 00:09:25,160 Speaker 1: They managed to slow down the growth rate, but unfortunately 156 00:09:25,200 --> 00:09:29,040 Speaker 1: it wasn't enough. He kept getting taller, his body contorting 157 00:09:29,160 --> 00:09:32,840 Speaker 1: and modulating to accommodate the rapid growth. He went blind 158 00:09:32,880 --> 00:09:35,760 Speaker 1: in one eye and deaf in his left ear. His 159 00:09:35,840 --> 00:09:38,640 Speaker 1: spine curve so severely he was bed ridden by his 160 00:09:38,760 --> 00:09:43,640 Speaker 1: late forties. Most people stopped growing by the time they 161 00:09:43,640 --> 00:09:46,959 Speaker 1: reach adulthood, and might even begin shrinking as they approach 162 00:09:47,040 --> 00:09:49,840 Speaker 1: old age, hunched over by years spent at a desk 163 00:09:49,960 --> 00:09:54,240 Speaker 1: or performing manual labor, not atam. Though by the time 164 00:09:54,280 --> 00:09:56,760 Speaker 1: he died at the age of fifty one, he'd grown 165 00:09:56,800 --> 00:09:59,400 Speaker 1: from a meager four feet six inches of his youth 166 00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:04,640 Speaker 1: was staggering seven ft eight inches tall. He had lived 167 00:10:04,679 --> 00:10:08,480 Speaker 1: two lives as part of two different worlds, making Adam 168 00:10:08,600 --> 00:10:11,480 Speaker 1: Rayner the only man on earth to have ever lived 169 00:10:11,600 --> 00:10:19,040 Speaker 1: as both a dwarf and a giant. I hope you've 170 00:10:19,120 --> 00:10:23,119 Speaker 1: enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe 171 00:10:23,120 --> 00:10:25,760 Speaker 1: for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the 172 00:10:25,760 --> 00:10:30,520 Speaker 1: show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was 173 00:10:30,640 --> 00:10:34,440 Speaker 1: created by me Aaron Manky in partnership with how Stuff Works. 174 00:10:34,880 --> 00:10:38,000 Speaker 1: I make another award winning show called Lore, which is 175 00:10:38,120 --> 00:10:41,520 Speaker 1: a podcast, book series, and television show, and you can 176 00:10:41,600 --> 00:10:43,920 Speaker 1: learn all about it over at the World of Lore 177 00:10:44,200 --> 00:10:47,920 Speaker 1: dot com. And until next time, stay curious.