Speaker 1: Welcomed. Aaron Mankey's Cabinet of Curiosity is a production of
Speaker 1: iHeart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is full
Speaker 1: of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book,
Speaker 1: all of these amazing tales are right there on display,
Speaker 1: just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet
Speaker 1: of Curiosities. No one mistakes a super soaker for a
Speaker 1: real firearm. The bright colors and unique shape of the
Speaker 1: water gun clearly illustrate its use as a harmless weapon
Speaker 1: of fun, not war, except for one part, the pump.
Speaker 1: You see, water guns like the super Soaker weren't the
Speaker 1: first firearms to have air pumps. Back in seventy nine,
Speaker 1: Italian gunsmith and inventor Bartolomeo Gerardoni had devised a new
Speaker 1: kind of weapon, but rather than rely on gunpowder and
Speaker 1: a spark to propel a bullet, his creation used something
Speaker 1: a little less explosive air. The Girardoni air rifle could
Speaker 1: hold up to twenty rounds in its tube shape magazine,
Speaker 1: which was affixed to the side of the barrel, and
Speaker 1: loading the chamber was a lot easier than it had
Speaker 1: been with conventional rifles. There was no pouring any powder
Speaker 1: or tamping down any wadding. All someone had to do
Speaker 1: was tip the muzzle forward, then pushed the spring loaded slider.
Speaker 1: It would scoop up a ball and push it into position.
Speaker 1: When it came time to shoot, the round would eggs
Speaker 1: ait the rifle with eight p s I behind it.
Speaker 1: Hunters loved it because it was much quieter than a
Speaker 1: normal rifle and it didn't start all the animals, and
Speaker 1: because there was no gunpowder residue to deal with, it
Speaker 1: didn't need to be cleaned as often either. Several guns
Speaker 1: were provided to the Habsburgs during the Austro Turkish War
Speaker 1: in the seventeen eighties and nineties. However, not every soldier
Speaker 1: was capable of wielding such a weapon, so they were
Speaker 1: reserved for two rolly and snipers. Unfortunately, the rifles were
Speaker 1: all but wiped up by the time that Napoleonic Wars
Speaker 1: came to be. The French abhorred it due to its
Speaker 1: lack of smoke, and Napoleon himself ordered any Austrian caught
Speaker 1: with one to be killed. But somehow one of these
Speaker 1: air rifles landed in the possession of Merryweather Lewis of
Speaker 1: Lewis and Clark fame. There are numerous mentions of it
Speaker 1: in his journal, but he didn't use it to hunt
Speaker 1: or attack the native populations. Instead, it was just a
Speaker 1: show piece. It's hard to believe, but Louis often brought
Speaker 1: out the rifle to demonstrate for the native people's and
Speaker 1: their leaders. They had seen guns before, carried on the
Speaker 1: shoulders of fur traders entering their lands, but this was
Speaker 1: something different. During one incident, a rogue tribal member had
Speaker 1: stolen Lewis and Clark's last horse. Looking to get it back,
Speaker 1: Louis confronted them. The sue expected trouble and drew back
Speaker 1: their bowstrings arrows aimed at the explorers and his men. Now,
Speaker 1: Louis didn't want to kick off a war between his
Speaker 1: people and the tribes. His orders had been to observe
Speaker 1: and report back on the indigenous populations, of course, while
Speaker 1: also helping them understand that their lands were being taken
Speaker 1: away from them. So he pulled out the rifle, which
Speaker 1: caught the eye of the Sioux leader, Black Buffalo. Louis
Speaker 1: held it up and aimed it at a cottonwood tree
Speaker 1: a hundred yards away. He pulled the trigger four times,
Speaker 1: one after the other in rapid succession. Four small rounds
Speaker 1: fired straight out, pop pop, pop, pop, but no smoke,
Speaker 1: no recoil. The Sioux whispered among themselves as they lowered
Speaker 1: their bows. Black Buffalo was enthralled they had just witnessed magic.
Speaker 1: Louis was smart enough to keep the device of mystery
Speaker 1: from the Sioux. He never let them see how it worked,
Speaker 1: and led them to believe that it would never run
Speaker 1: out of AMMO. But the real question is where had
Speaker 1: he gotten it? After all, the Garadoni air rifle had
Speaker 1: been taken out of commission years earlier. Well, historians believe
Speaker 1: that Louis had been given the rifle by President Thomas Jefferson.
Speaker 1: Jefferson had served as a United States Minister to France
Speaker 1: in seventy five and had most likely acquired the firearm
Speaker 1: during one of his many tree rips. Louis had been
Speaker 1: appointed his secretary in eighteen o one and was hand
Speaker 1: chosen by Jefferson for the expedition. Unfortunately, the Garadoni air
Speaker 1: rifle was not long for this world. For one, it's
Speaker 1: firing mechanism was far too fragile and required an expert
Speaker 1: gunsmith to make repairs. They were also too expensive to
Speaker 1: manufacture and mass. No government would pay to supply an
Speaker 1: entire army with air rifles when they could use the
Speaker 1: tried and true guns at the time for a fraction
Speaker 1: of the price. It may not have revolutionized warfare, but
Speaker 1: Bartolomeo Gardoni's air rifle did help shape the American West,
Speaker 1: and it didn't have to kill a single person to
Speaker 1: do it. Born in Bradford, England, in Maurice Wilson rarely
Speaker 1: did what people expected him to. For example, his father
Speaker 1: owned a wool mill and the men the family worked
Speaker 1: there when they came of age. However, Wilson did not
Speaker 1: join his father and brothers as intended. Instead, he enlisted
Speaker 1: with the British Army two fights in World War One
Speaker 1: when he turned eighteen. He was a capable fighter and
Speaker 1: was eventually promoted to captain. In April of nineteen eighteen,
Speaker 1: he managed to hold a machine gun post by himself
Speaker 1: against an army of enemy Germans. The ordeal earned him
Speaker 1: the Military Cross for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. Sadly,
Speaker 1: his army career came to an end a few months
Speaker 1: later when he was hit by a machine gun fire
Speaker 1: and sent home. Wilson was plagued by chronic arm pain
Speaker 1: for the rest of his life, and he was left
Speaker 1: with a nagging question about what to do with the
Speaker 1: rest of his life. He got married in England and
Speaker 1: then moved to New Zealand when he met someone new.
Speaker 1: After several years spent building a life there, Wilson sailed
Speaker 1: to Vancouver, Canada and traveled around North America for a while.
Speaker 1: He was a wanderer, a restless soul in search of
Speaker 1: meaning in his life. His travels eventually brought him back
Speaker 1: home to England, where he had hoped to recenter himself. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: his time in the war and the effects of his
Speaker 1: nomadic lifestyle had also caught up with him. Suffering from
Speaker 1: rapid weight loss, lethargy, and a bad cough, Wilson fled
Speaker 1: to Mayfair in London. He met a man who had
Speaker 1: allegedly cured his own illness, along with the illnesses of
Speaker 1: over one people, through prayer and fasting. Five weeks later,
Speaker 1: Wilson emerged completely healed and with a new lease on life.
Speaker 1: The experience had changed him and he wanted to share
Speaker 1: it with the world, and to do that he came
Speaker 1: up with a bold new idea. As he put it,
Speaker 1: I'll perform some task so hard and so exacting that
Speaker 1: it could only be carried out by someone aided with
Speaker 1: divine help. He'd been in Germany, resting after his five
Speaker 1: week intensive healing when it hit him. While reading the newspaper,
Speaker 1: he stumbled upon an article about George Mallory's failed attempt
Speaker 1: to scale Mount Everest back in ninet. Mallory had been
Speaker 1: interviewed by The New York Times one year earlier. When
Speaker 1: asked why he wanted a climates he responded, because it's
Speaker 1: there as good a reason as any, I guess. Maurice
Speaker 1: Wilson sure thought so. But after reading the article, Wilson
Speaker 1: believed that he could be the first person to summit Everest.
Speaker 1: It would be the perfect demonstration of his newfound faith
Speaker 1: in prayer and fasting. But he couldn't do it the
Speaker 1: same way Mallory had eight years prior. For one, Nepal
Speaker 1: was off limits without help from the British government. He
Speaker 1: also needed money to plan the trip, higher climbers and
Speaker 1: buy supplies. He thought that he could do it better,
Speaker 1: faster and cheaper than those who had tried before and failed,
Speaker 1: and so Wilson came up with the bright idea to
Speaker 1: fly himself to Everest instead. His plan was foolproof, well
Speaker 1: to him, at least to everyone else it was proof
Speaker 1: that he was a fool. After departing England, he would
Speaker 1: fly himself to the mountain and land his plane about
Speaker 1: fourteen thousand feet up from the base. With most of
Speaker 1: the distance already covered, He would then climb his way
Speaker 1: to the top alone. There was just one problem. Wilson
Speaker 1: couldn't fly a plane, but he didn't let a silly
Speaker 1: thing like experience stop him from pursuing his dream. Instead,
Speaker 1: he bought a three year old de Haviln gypsy moth
Speaker 1: biplane named the ever Rest that's rest with a w R.
Speaker 1: He then learned how to fly it just well enough
Speaker 1: to earn a pilot's license, and I mean barely. After
Speaker 1: an engine failure that resulted in three weeks of repairs
Speaker 1: in the aircraft, Wilson finally set up for Nepal in
Speaker 1: May of nineteen thirty three. He made several refueling stops
Speaker 1: in France and Italy. It was even arrested in Tunisia,
Speaker 1: but he kept going. He even ignored the bureaucrats who
Speaker 1: told him that he couldn't fly over Nepal or Persia.
Speaker 1: Nothing was going to stop Wilson from reaching the summit,
Speaker 1: not even having his plane impounded in Italy. Authorities forbade
Speaker 1: him from entering Tibet, even on foot, so he stayed
Speaker 1: in Darjeeling during the winter as he got to work
Speaker 1: on a new scheme. With the help of three sherpas,
Speaker 1: Wilson dressed up as a Buddhist monk and snuck into
Speaker 1: a Tibetan monastery in April of nineteen thirty war. It
Speaker 1: was situated right at the base of Mount Everest. From
Speaker 1: there he made it to Camp two on the East
Speaker 1: Rungbuck Glacier, having dumped many of his supplies along the way.
Speaker 1: Wilson set up his tent two miles below Camp three
Speaker 1: on April twenty one, which was his birthday. He was
Speaker 1: also just shy of the North call a past that
Speaker 1: had been carved by glaciers, which sat between Mount Everest
Speaker 1: and the Tibetan mountain chong Su. He recorded the day
Speaker 1: in his journal, writing it's the weather that's beaten me,
Speaker 1: that damned bad luck. Sadly, his luck didn't change. He
Speaker 1: was forced to return to the monastery to heal from
Speaker 1: a twisted ankle and snow blindness. A little over two
Speaker 1: weeks later, he returned to the mountain, reaching Camp three
Speaker 1: in only three days, but he refused to stop, leaving
Speaker 1: his sherpas behind. Wilson continued to climb. They begged him
Speaker 1: to go back to the monastery. It wasn't safe to
Speaker 1: go on, but he couldn't return and confirm everyone's doubts
Speaker 1: about him. His Sherpaz waited for him to return for
Speaker 1: about a month, but he never made it back to
Speaker 1: the monastery. Maurice Wilson's body was found one year later.
Speaker 1: Journal inte Its final entry was dated May thirty one
Speaker 1: of nineteen thirty four. It read, off again, gorgeous day,
Speaker 1: A promising start, but I guess the weather had turned.
Speaker 1: I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet
Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn
Speaker 1: more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com.
Speaker 1: The show was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership
Speaker 1: with How Stuff Works. I make another award winning show
Speaker 1: called Lore, which is a podcast book series and television show,
Speaker 1: and you can learn all about it over at the
Speaker 1: World of lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.
Speaker 1: Ye