1 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:07,480 Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Benky's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of 2 00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:13,840 Speaker 1: I Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is 3 00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:17,960 Speaker 1: full of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, 4 00:00:18,280 --> 00:00:21,640 Speaker 1: all of these amazing tales are right there on display, 5 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:27,600 Speaker 1: just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet 6 00:00:27,840 --> 00:00:39,320 Speaker 1: of Curiosities. The camera doesn't hide a thing. It's an 7 00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:42,720 Speaker 1: unblinking eye until the second it's shutter closes, and then 8 00:00:42,840 --> 00:00:46,680 Speaker 1: time is frozen in an instant. The camera doesn't editorialize, 9 00:00:46,760 --> 00:00:48,720 Speaker 1: It doesn't care what's in front of it or what 10 00:00:48,840 --> 00:00:52,440 Speaker 1: the subject's beliefs are. The camera simply captures a moment. 11 00:00:52,760 --> 00:00:55,920 Speaker 1: Whatever happens to cross its path is then preserved forever. 12 00:00:57,480 --> 00:01:00,400 Speaker 1: One set of photographs, though, are important not because of 13 00:01:00,400 --> 00:01:03,440 Speaker 1: what they captured, but because of what they lost. The 14 00:01:03,520 --> 00:01:06,880 Speaker 1: incident occurred in October of n seven on the island 15 00:01:06,920 --> 00:01:10,160 Speaker 1: of celon what is known today as Sri Lanka. That's 16 00:01:10,160 --> 00:01:12,600 Speaker 1: when four men had made their way through the jungle 17 00:01:12,720 --> 00:01:17,440 Speaker 1: to the Cataraguma Temple. An artist Mr Brooke Farrar was 18 00:01:17,480 --> 00:01:21,319 Speaker 1: accompanied by three others. There was the photographer G. A. Smith, 19 00:01:21,760 --> 00:01:25,520 Speaker 1: his assistant Mr Di Zoa and a Sri Lankan government 20 00:01:25,560 --> 00:01:28,920 Speaker 1: official who oversaw the expedition. The group had come to 21 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:31,720 Speaker 1: photograph and film what was going on at the temple 22 00:01:31,840 --> 00:01:34,039 Speaker 1: as part of a detailed account they were writing of 23 00:01:34,040 --> 00:01:38,360 Speaker 1: their travels. The temple stood behind a massive stone gateway 24 00:01:38,400 --> 00:01:41,600 Speaker 1: boasting three tall arches, and it was surrounded by ancient 25 00:01:41,680 --> 00:01:45,600 Speaker 1: ruins dating back as far as the first century b c. E. However, 26 00:01:45,720 --> 00:01:48,400 Speaker 1: while it may have been the architecture that originally brought 27 00:01:48,400 --> 00:01:50,760 Speaker 1: the men there that day, it was something else that 28 00:01:50,800 --> 00:01:55,400 Speaker 1: shifted their focus. As they stepped inside, Brooke farr spotted 29 00:01:55,400 --> 00:01:59,400 Speaker 1: a woman participating in a solitary yet animated prayer. He 30 00:01:59,480 --> 00:02:04,600 Speaker 1: described her movements as complete religious ecstasy. Music filled the room, 31 00:02:04,680 --> 00:02:07,400 Speaker 1: and as it played, the woman used her whole body 32 00:02:07,440 --> 00:02:11,119 Speaker 1: to express herself. Brook Farrar moved out of the way 33 00:02:11,200 --> 00:02:13,960 Speaker 1: to a staircase nearby and set up his camera. He 34 00:02:14,080 --> 00:02:17,000 Speaker 1: filmed her as she danced throughout the temple. Smith and 35 00:02:17,080 --> 00:02:19,920 Speaker 1: the government official wandered off to photograph the rest of 36 00:02:19,919 --> 00:02:23,400 Speaker 1: the area, but de Zilwa stayed behind with brook Farrar 37 00:02:23,520 --> 00:02:27,680 Speaker 1: to capture pictures of the woman as she danced. After 38 00:02:27,760 --> 00:02:31,480 Speaker 1: taking almost a dozen photographs and shooting several feet of film. 39 00:02:31,480 --> 00:02:36,079 Speaker 1: The woman disappeared. Because Desilwa knew how to speak the language, 40 00:02:36,120 --> 00:02:39,640 Speaker 1: brook Farrar told him to ask around about the woman's identity, 41 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:42,440 Speaker 1: Who was she, where had she gone? It was as 42 00:02:42,440 --> 00:02:46,320 Speaker 1: if she had evaporated into thin air, but nobody would answer. 43 00:02:46,919 --> 00:02:49,680 Speaker 1: They kept silent, refusing to speak about her at all. 44 00:02:50,040 --> 00:02:53,080 Speaker 1: Whenever brook Farrar or de Zilwah got close to someone, 45 00:02:53,240 --> 00:02:56,320 Speaker 1: they would run away. But one man finally spoke up 46 00:02:56,320 --> 00:02:59,040 Speaker 1: in private, telling them that the dancer was known as 47 00:02:59,120 --> 00:03:01,680 Speaker 1: the death Woman and she only came to the temple 48 00:03:01,760 --> 00:03:04,600 Speaker 1: once a year, and anyone who looked at her was cursed. 49 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:08,400 Speaker 1: Brook Farrar and his team weren't too worried about the 50 00:03:08,440 --> 00:03:11,200 Speaker 1: hecks brought on by their fascination, but the group of 51 00:03:11,240 --> 00:03:14,519 Speaker 1: worshippers had them spooked. They watched the men with fear 52 00:03:14,600 --> 00:03:17,920 Speaker 1: and anger boiling in their eyes, forcing the explorers to 53 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:22,600 Speaker 1: leave the temple before things escalated. Almost immediately after their 54 00:03:22,600 --> 00:03:26,360 Speaker 1: return home, a party was thrown in their honor. Brooke Farrar, Smith, 55 00:03:26,480 --> 00:03:29,280 Speaker 1: and the others talked about their travels with the other guests, 56 00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:32,400 Speaker 1: especially about the woman they saw dancing at the temple. 57 00:03:33,080 --> 00:03:35,640 Speaker 1: Upon mention of the photographs they took. It was suggested 58 00:03:35,680 --> 00:03:38,120 Speaker 1: that the men develop everything right away to share with 59 00:03:38,200 --> 00:03:42,800 Speaker 1: the other partygoers, so they obliged, assembling a makeshift dark 60 00:03:42,880 --> 00:03:45,600 Speaker 1: room in a coat closet. But as they developed each 61 00:03:45,600 --> 00:03:49,160 Speaker 1: of the photographs, they noticed something peculiar. The temple was there, 62 00:03:49,400 --> 00:03:54,640 Speaker 1: as was the group of worshippers, but something was missing. Well, someone, 63 00:03:55,080 --> 00:03:58,240 Speaker 1: The woman who had danced with such unbridled joy, was 64 00:03:58,280 --> 00:04:01,440 Speaker 1: not present in a single photograph, nor on any of 65 00:04:01,440 --> 00:04:04,760 Speaker 1: the film they had shut Brook, Farrar, and Smith chucked 66 00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:07,960 Speaker 1: the equipment again, but everything appeared to be working properly. 67 00:04:08,960 --> 00:04:11,280 Speaker 1: I have the young man they'd spoken to been hiding 68 00:04:11,320 --> 00:04:14,200 Speaker 1: the truth about the woman. Perhaps it wasn't that she 69 00:04:14,320 --> 00:04:17,120 Speaker 1: came from another village to visit the temple once a year. 70 00:04:17,800 --> 00:04:20,279 Speaker 1: Maybe she appeared out of nowhere to dance and pray 71 00:04:20,880 --> 00:04:25,880 Speaker 1: before vanishing once more. Whatever her true story was, the 72 00:04:25,920 --> 00:04:28,440 Speaker 1: team vowed to go back the same time the following 73 00:04:28,520 --> 00:04:31,600 Speaker 1: year to try and catch her on camera again. It's 74 00:04:31,640 --> 00:04:34,760 Speaker 1: unclear if they ever made it, though let alone succeeded. 75 00:04:35,920 --> 00:04:40,120 Speaker 1: Some moments in time are impossible to capture, even if 76 00:04:40,120 --> 00:04:56,160 Speaker 1: they are a little curious. We find the most surprising 77 00:04:56,240 --> 00:04:59,960 Speaker 1: things when we're not looking for them. George Demestrel, for example, 78 00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:02,440 Speaker 1: had returned home from a hike in nineteen forty one 79 00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:05,800 Speaker 1: when he noticed strange things attached to his clothes. They 80 00:05:05,800 --> 00:05:09,120 Speaker 1: were little balls with pointy spines all around them, seeds 81 00:05:09,120 --> 00:05:12,120 Speaker 1: from the burdock plant. George was inspired by how the 82 00:05:12,160 --> 00:05:14,599 Speaker 1: hooks on the ends of those spines dug into the fabric, 83 00:05:14,680 --> 00:05:17,600 Speaker 1: making them hard to remove. His discovery led to the 84 00:05:17,600 --> 00:05:21,320 Speaker 1: creation of a popular, fascinating system that we still used today, 85 00:05:21,600 --> 00:05:26,360 Speaker 1: Bill grow for two brothers in nineteen seventy two in Greenland. However, 86 00:05:26,400 --> 00:05:30,159 Speaker 1: their discovery was less lucrative, yet what they found was 87 00:05:30,279 --> 00:05:33,880 Speaker 1: a breakthrough for archaeologists and scientists all over the world. 88 00:05:34,680 --> 00:05:37,520 Speaker 1: Hants and Yakum were on a grouse hunt when they 89 00:05:37,560 --> 00:05:40,840 Speaker 1: came upon two strange piles of stones. The stones had 90 00:05:40,880 --> 00:05:44,520 Speaker 1: been arranged to cover two deep holes. Their curiosity peaked, 91 00:05:44,640 --> 00:05:46,919 Speaker 1: the men started moving some of the rocks out of 92 00:05:46,920 --> 00:05:49,800 Speaker 1: the way. Within minutes, they realized what they had on 93 00:05:49,920 --> 00:05:54,120 Speaker 1: earthed a grave site. They put the stones back the 94 00:05:54,120 --> 00:05:56,600 Speaker 1: way they had found them and called the police, assuming 95 00:05:56,640 --> 00:05:59,280 Speaker 1: that they had stumbled into a crime scene. The authorities, 96 00:05:59,279 --> 00:06:01,200 Speaker 1: though took one look at the bodies and knew that 97 00:06:01,240 --> 00:06:04,440 Speaker 1: they were not the final resting places of recent murder victims. 98 00:06:04,720 --> 00:06:09,520 Speaker 1: These bodies in each grave were old, very old. Director 99 00:06:09,600 --> 00:06:13,400 Speaker 1: of the Greenland National Museum, Against Rossing, eventually saw pictures 100 00:06:13,440 --> 00:06:15,680 Speaker 1: of the graves and put together a team to exhume 101 00:06:15,720 --> 00:06:18,839 Speaker 1: the bodies several years later. The area had at one 102 00:06:18,839 --> 00:06:21,760 Speaker 1: time been home to an Inuit population that left hundreds 103 00:06:21,760 --> 00:06:25,080 Speaker 1: of years earlier. Rossing dated the remains to be around 104 00:06:25,080 --> 00:06:28,919 Speaker 1: five hundred years old. In one grave, his team found 105 00:06:28,920 --> 00:06:31,680 Speaker 1: three women buried on top of each other. In the other, 106 00:06:31,720 --> 00:06:35,080 Speaker 1: they uncovered six women arranged in a similar fashion on 107 00:06:35,160 --> 00:06:37,159 Speaker 1: top of the women. They also found the body of 108 00:06:37,160 --> 00:06:39,440 Speaker 1: a young boy and the remains of a six month 109 00:06:39,520 --> 00:06:42,920 Speaker 1: old baby. The clothes the corpses had been buried in 110 00:06:43,040 --> 00:06:46,279 Speaker 1: were made of animal skins, like those of reindeer and seal. 111 00:06:46,880 --> 00:06:49,800 Speaker 1: In total, seventy eight items of clothing were removed from 112 00:06:49,839 --> 00:06:52,800 Speaker 1: the graves, but there was something unique about them as 113 00:06:52,800 --> 00:06:56,239 Speaker 1: well as the people wearing them. Due to the frigid 114 00:06:56,320 --> 00:06:59,880 Speaker 1: Arctic climate and the frozen ground, everything had been in 115 00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:03,359 Speaker 1: peccably well preserved. There was fur on the coats and 116 00:07:03,480 --> 00:07:06,120 Speaker 1: skin on the people's bones. They had hair on the 117 00:07:06,160 --> 00:07:08,800 Speaker 1: tops of their heads as well as on their eyebrows. 118 00:07:09,160 --> 00:07:13,640 Speaker 1: Even their tattoos were still visible. Inside, their organs were 119 00:07:13,680 --> 00:07:16,640 Speaker 1: still intact, and scientists were able to determine the last 120 00:07:16,640 --> 00:07:19,640 Speaker 1: thing they had eaten. In short, the bodies had been 121 00:07:19,680 --> 00:07:23,520 Speaker 1: freeze dried, turning them into mummies. As for their clothing, 122 00:07:23,640 --> 00:07:25,760 Speaker 1: the bodies had been bundled up as though they were 123 00:07:25,760 --> 00:07:30,000 Speaker 1: being prepared for a wilderness expedition to their people. Even 124 00:07:30,040 --> 00:07:32,880 Speaker 1: after someone had died, it was expected that they would 125 00:07:32,920 --> 00:07:37,040 Speaker 1: continue to hunt. On the other side, it was believed 126 00:07:37,040 --> 00:07:39,440 Speaker 1: that the baby had been buried alive with its mother 127 00:07:39,560 --> 00:07:42,200 Speaker 1: in order to spare it a troubled life of starvation. 128 00:07:42,760 --> 00:07:45,840 Speaker 1: It's impossible to know the social situation this took place in, 129 00:07:46,200 --> 00:07:49,400 Speaker 1: but knowing how difficult life was so long ago, perhaps 130 00:07:49,440 --> 00:07:51,560 Speaker 1: there simply was no one else to bear the burden 131 00:07:51,640 --> 00:07:54,960 Speaker 1: of one more mouth to feed. Instead, the Inuit of 132 00:07:55,000 --> 00:07:57,880 Speaker 1: the Kilicate Socks Settlement chose to send their child into 133 00:07:57,880 --> 00:08:00,960 Speaker 1: the afterlife with its mother. Near the first grave site, 134 00:08:01,040 --> 00:08:04,080 Speaker 1: archaeologist unearthed more bodies, as well as remnants of the 135 00:08:04,120 --> 00:08:06,920 Speaker 1: homes they lived in. It was a discovery that shed 136 00:08:06,960 --> 00:08:09,480 Speaker 1: new light on the ancient native population that used to 137 00:08:09,560 --> 00:08:13,240 Speaker 1: live there. Sadly, the mummies were not placed back in 138 00:08:13,280 --> 00:08:16,720 Speaker 1: their original tombs after the examination, but in two thousand 139 00:08:16,840 --> 00:08:18,920 Speaker 1: seven a d n A test proved that the six 140 00:08:18,960 --> 00:08:22,720 Speaker 1: women and two young children were all directly related. Today 141 00:08:22,720 --> 00:08:25,400 Speaker 1: they can be seen at the National Museum in Greenland, 142 00:08:25,600 --> 00:08:28,920 Speaker 1: where they continue to draw quite a crowd. Now that's 143 00:08:28,960 --> 00:08:34,800 Speaker 1: what i'd call a family reunion. I hope you've enjoyed 144 00:08:34,800 --> 00:08:38,560 Speaker 1: today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for 145 00:08:38,600 --> 00:08:41,360 Speaker 1: free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show 146 00:08:41,440 --> 00:08:46,480 Speaker 1: by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created 147 00:08:46,480 --> 00:08:49,800 Speaker 1: by me Aaron Manky in partnership with how Stuff Works. 148 00:08:50,200 --> 00:08:53,360 Speaker 1: I make another award winning show called Lore, which is 149 00:08:53,480 --> 00:08:56,880 Speaker 1: a podcast, book series, and television show, and you can 150 00:08:56,960 --> 00:08:59,280 Speaker 1: learn all about it over at the World of Lore 151 00:08:59,520 --> 00:09:03,240 Speaker 1: dot com. And until next time, stay curious.