1
00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:07,480
Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Menkey'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 --> 00:00:40,000
Speaker 1: of Curiosities. A new year usually means new beginnings. It's

7
00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:44,800
Speaker 1: a time for reinvention, rebirth and resolutions. Those with aspirations

8
00:00:44,840 --> 00:00:47,879
Speaker 1: to shed some weights or learn a new language might

9
00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:51,800
Speaker 1: join a gym or take classes. But if you're Bernard McFadden,

10
00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:55,480
Speaker 1: you might try to completely reinvent yourself and how we

11
00:00:55,600 --> 00:00:59,920
Speaker 1: celebrate the new year in the process. Bernard McFadden was

12
00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:03,280
Speaker 1: born in mill Spring, Missouri, in eighteen sixty eight. He

13
00:01:03,360 --> 00:01:07,080
Speaker 1: had a tough childhood, both physically and emotionally. His parents

14
00:01:07,160 --> 00:01:10,480
Speaker 1: were often sick, and their illnesses eventually claimed their lives

15
00:01:10,480 --> 00:01:13,240
Speaker 1: while he was still just a boy. The young McFadden

16
00:01:13,400 --> 00:01:16,280
Speaker 1: himself also faced health troubles, but he was able to

17
00:01:16,319 --> 00:01:18,320
Speaker 1: overcome them with the help of a farmer who took

18
00:01:18,360 --> 00:01:22,200
Speaker 1: him in after the deaths of his parents. The manual

19
00:01:22,319 --> 00:01:26,000
Speaker 1: labor strengthened his frail form, and the hearty farm food

20
00:01:26,080 --> 00:01:28,800
Speaker 1: nourished him. It had been the perfect cure for his

21
00:01:28,920 --> 00:01:31,640
Speaker 1: meager body until he left a few years later to

22
00:01:31,680 --> 00:01:34,720
Speaker 1: work behind a desk in St. Louis. It didn't take

23
00:01:34,760 --> 00:01:37,600
Speaker 1: long for McFadden to revert back to his old self

24
00:01:37,920 --> 00:01:39,760
Speaker 1: when he realized how much he missed the way he

25
00:01:39,840 --> 00:01:42,160
Speaker 1: used to feel. He returned to what he'd learned on

26
00:01:42,200 --> 00:01:47,080
Speaker 1: the farm instead of manual labor. Though he began lifting weights,

27
00:01:47,480 --> 00:01:50,400
Speaker 1: he changed his diets and became a vegetarian, and he

28
00:01:50,480 --> 00:01:54,440
Speaker 1: walked everywhere, sometimes logging six miles a day. He also

29
00:01:54,520 --> 00:01:58,360
Speaker 1: refused to pollute his body with tobacco and alcohol, opting

30
00:01:58,400 --> 00:02:01,680
Speaker 1: instead to participate in act ativities of strength and agility,

31
00:02:01,800 --> 00:02:07,240
Speaker 1: such as boxing and wrestling. McFadden also took his physique seriously,

32
00:02:07,560 --> 00:02:10,160
Speaker 1: more so than any man he'd ever encountered, and he

33
00:02:10,280 --> 00:02:12,680
Speaker 1: used his growing fame to show others what could be

34
00:02:12,720 --> 00:02:16,240
Speaker 1: achieved with a life of proper diet and exercise. On

35
00:02:16,280 --> 00:02:18,520
Speaker 1: a trip to England in the late eighteen nineties, he

36
00:02:18,600 --> 00:02:21,639
Speaker 1: partnered with a man named Hopton Hadley, who had invented

37
00:02:21,639 --> 00:02:24,480
Speaker 1: an apparatus that mounted to the wall and allowed people

38
00:02:24,480 --> 00:02:27,680
Speaker 1: to develop the different muscles in their arms, legs, and torsos.

39
00:02:28,040 --> 00:02:31,000
Speaker 1: McFadden helped Hadley in marketing the device to the public.

40
00:02:32,680 --> 00:02:37,600
Speaker 1: Then in McFadden became an entrepreneur himself when he started

41
00:02:37,639 --> 00:02:41,480
Speaker 1: Physical Culture magazine. It was more than a lifestyle publication.

42
00:02:41,800 --> 00:02:44,040
Speaker 1: It was the start of something bigger than he ever

43
00:02:44,080 --> 00:02:48,080
Speaker 1: could have imagined. Physical Culture spawned almost a dozen other magazines,

44
00:02:48,200 --> 00:02:51,400
Speaker 1: ranging from true crime to Confessions, and even Tales of

45
00:02:51,440 --> 00:02:55,240
Speaker 1: the Supernatural if that's your sort of thing. He also

46
00:02:55,320 --> 00:02:58,400
Speaker 1: wrote articles for other outlets on topics such as fasting

47
00:02:58,600 --> 00:03:02,000
Speaker 1: and something he called the milk diet. McFadden by this

48
00:03:02,040 --> 00:03:05,760
Speaker 1: time had changed his name to Bernard McFadden, adding an

49
00:03:05,800 --> 00:03:08,440
Speaker 1: extra A between the M and C of his last name,

50
00:03:08,720 --> 00:03:11,600
Speaker 1: and styling his first name after the roar of a lion.

51
00:03:11,880 --> 00:03:15,200
Speaker 1: He wanted it to sound stronger and more masculine, although

52
00:03:15,200 --> 00:03:19,360
Speaker 1: it was hard to imagine the man as anything but clearly.

53
00:03:19,560 --> 00:03:22,280
Speaker 1: He modeled his life on pushing himself to the limits.

54
00:03:22,480 --> 00:03:24,880
Speaker 1: He believed fasting was one of the ultimate ways for

55
00:03:24,919 --> 00:03:28,040
Speaker 1: a person to control their body and show their superiority

56
00:03:28,080 --> 00:03:31,040
Speaker 1: to others. From the nineteen thirties to the nineteen fifties,

57
00:03:31,240 --> 00:03:34,680
Speaker 1: McFadden also launched a series of boarding schools dedicated to

58
00:03:34,800 --> 00:03:39,360
Speaker 1: preparing young men for a future in the military. Bernard

59
00:03:39,520 --> 00:03:41,960
Speaker 1: McFadden was a lot of things to a lot of people.

60
00:03:42,320 --> 00:03:46,840
Speaker 1: He was a restaurantur, a hotelier, publishing magnates, an educator,

61
00:03:46,920 --> 00:03:50,520
Speaker 1: a model, a spokesman, and an entrepreneur. And at the

62
00:03:50,560 --> 00:03:53,200
Speaker 1: age of eighty four, he had a daredevil to that

63
00:03:53,280 --> 00:03:56,200
Speaker 1: list when he jumped out of a plane and parachuted

64
00:03:56,240 --> 00:03:59,760
Speaker 1: over the Seine in France. Yet of all the things

65
00:03:59,800 --> 00:04:02,880
Speaker 1: he accomplished and created, only one has stood the test

66
00:04:02,920 --> 00:04:05,960
Speaker 1: of time. It began on New Year's Day in nineteen

67
00:04:06,040 --> 00:04:09,680
Speaker 1: oh three. McFadden, a proponent of cold baths to boost

68
00:04:09,720 --> 00:04:13,120
Speaker 1: one's energy, invited fifty men and women to join him

69
00:04:13,160 --> 00:04:15,800
Speaker 1: on a Coney Island beach in New York. He first

70
00:04:15,880 --> 00:04:18,000
Speaker 1: let his guests in a workout, and then he had

71
00:04:18,040 --> 00:04:21,800
Speaker 1: them all jump into the ocean for a quick cold swim.

72
00:04:21,839 --> 00:04:24,360
Speaker 1: The water was cold enough to take one's breath away,

73
00:04:24,480 --> 00:04:26,760
Speaker 1: but the act of jumping into the frigid waters of

74
00:04:26,800 --> 00:04:30,440
Speaker 1: the Atlantic on January first became something of a tradition.

75
00:04:30,839 --> 00:04:34,240
Speaker 1: In his search for the secrets of life, Bernard McFadden

76
00:04:34,320 --> 00:04:37,719
Speaker 1: had created the Coney Island Polar Bear Club, who continued

77
00:04:37,760 --> 00:04:40,320
Speaker 1: to meet New Year's Day from that point on and

78
00:04:40,440 --> 00:04:43,400
Speaker 1: swim in water that doesn't get much warmer than thirty

79
00:04:43,400 --> 00:04:48,640
Speaker 1: five degrees fahrenheit. Today, the annual event draws crowds of thousands.

80
00:04:48,960 --> 00:04:52,080
Speaker 1: Some are clad in nothing more than swim trunks and bikinis,

81
00:04:52,279 --> 00:04:55,560
Speaker 1: while others don tuxedos and host tea parties among the

82
00:04:55,560 --> 00:04:58,599
Speaker 1: shrieking revelers. They may not know the man behind it,

83
00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:01,560
Speaker 1: but they probably would and be surprised by his story.

84
00:05:02,360 --> 00:05:17,960
Speaker 1: After all, it's more than a little curious. When we

85
00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:20,760
Speaker 1: want to remember the good times, like birthdays and weddings,

86
00:05:20,960 --> 00:05:23,440
Speaker 1: we tend to haul out the photo album. Each page

87
00:05:23,480 --> 00:05:26,080
Speaker 1: acts as a window into the past, taking us back

88
00:05:26,080 --> 00:05:28,920
Speaker 1: to the moments where smiles and tears have been captured

89
00:05:28,920 --> 00:05:31,920
Speaker 1: on film. We can't help but be overcome with feelings

90
00:05:31,920 --> 00:05:36,320
Speaker 1: of love, warmth, and togetherness. But for the inhabitants of

91
00:05:36,360 --> 00:05:39,920
Speaker 1: Miyaki Jima, those photos might give off a more post

92
00:05:39,960 --> 00:05:43,680
Speaker 1: apocalyptic vibe. In fact, many photos taken here are of

93
00:05:43,800 --> 00:05:47,080
Speaker 1: people clad in gas masks, as though everyone living on

94
00:05:47,120 --> 00:05:49,719
Speaker 1: the island were part of some kind of doomsday cult,

95
00:05:50,040 --> 00:05:53,159
Speaker 1: just waiting for the world to end, and in a

96
00:05:53,200 --> 00:05:57,160
Speaker 1: way they are waiting for something. Miyaki Jima is a

97
00:05:57,160 --> 00:06:00,000
Speaker 1: tiny island in the Philippine Sea, just off the coast

98
00:06:00,040 --> 00:06:03,200
Speaker 1: to southeastern Japan. It covers roughly twenty one and a

99
00:06:03,200 --> 00:06:07,320
Speaker 1: half square miles, with a population of about people, which

100
00:06:07,360 --> 00:06:10,800
Speaker 1: is spread across five settlements. It's also home to rare

101
00:06:10,920 --> 00:06:14,800
Speaker 1: and endemic fauna such as the Easoo thrush. But Miyaki

102
00:06:14,880 --> 00:06:17,800
Speaker 1: Jima is perhaps best known not for what lives on

103
00:06:17,880 --> 00:06:20,440
Speaker 1: top of it, but for what is brewing down below.

104
00:06:20,880 --> 00:06:23,320
Speaker 1: Those who call it home must be on constant alert

105
00:06:23,640 --> 00:06:26,719
Speaker 1: thanks to Mount Oyama, the volcano in the middle of

106
00:06:26,720 --> 00:06:30,719
Speaker 1: the island. Mount Oyama has erupted six times in the

107
00:06:30,720 --> 00:06:35,600
Speaker 1: past hundred years, spilling toxic gases across the island. Three

108
00:06:35,680 --> 00:06:38,719
Speaker 1: the village of Acco was completely destroyed. What's left of

109
00:06:38,720 --> 00:06:41,360
Speaker 1: its elementary and junior high schools can still be seen

110
00:06:41,440 --> 00:06:45,040
Speaker 1: among the igneous rocks. The terrain has changed considerably over

111
00:06:45,080 --> 00:06:49,279
Speaker 1: the years, with new trails blazed literally by flowing lava.

112
00:06:50,120 --> 00:06:52,120
Speaker 1: In fact, back in June and July of the year

113
00:06:52,160 --> 00:06:55,600
Speaker 1: two thousand, the volcanic eruption did more than alter the landscape.

114
00:06:55,760 --> 00:06:58,720
Speaker 1: It changed the lives of everyone living there. The entire

115
00:06:58,760 --> 00:07:01,599
Speaker 1: island was forced to evact. You wait, ash plumes and

116
00:07:01,680 --> 00:07:05,960
Speaker 1: sulfur dioxide gas shot ten miles into the air. Seventeen

117
00:07:06,040 --> 00:07:09,960
Speaker 1: thousand earthquakes shook the ground for twenty five straight days,

118
00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:15,360
Speaker 1: rendering Miyaki Jima uninhabitable. Everyone had known the eruption was coming,

119
00:07:15,600 --> 00:07:18,800
Speaker 1: as scientists had been tracking thousands of tiny quakes leading

120
00:07:18,880 --> 00:07:21,600
Speaker 1: up to the event. Still no amount of warning would

121
00:07:21,600 --> 00:07:24,560
Speaker 1: have prepared someone to uproot their entire life. In minutes,

122
00:07:24,920 --> 00:07:28,200
Speaker 1: plants and trees either died or were burned. Cars were

123
00:07:28,240 --> 00:07:31,040
Speaker 1: abandoned on the side of the road. Those who left

124
00:07:31,080 --> 00:07:34,400
Speaker 1: eventually returned home. Five years later, but things had changed

125
00:07:34,400 --> 00:07:37,440
Speaker 1: for good. The government now required everyone on the island,

126
00:07:37,440 --> 00:07:40,440
Speaker 1: whether they lived there or we're just visiting, to carry

127
00:07:40,440 --> 00:07:42,920
Speaker 1: a gas mask with them at all times. In the

128
00:07:42,960 --> 00:07:46,240
Speaker 1: event that air quality became too toxic, masks would be

129
00:07:46,280 --> 00:07:50,239
Speaker 1: needed to be worn until authorities said otherwise. But despite

130
00:07:50,240 --> 00:07:52,560
Speaker 1: all that, life has remained much the same since the

131
00:07:52,640 --> 00:07:55,440
Speaker 1: last major eruption. The folks living on the island go

132
00:07:55,480 --> 00:07:58,200
Speaker 1: about their days much like anyone else. They drive to

133
00:07:58,200 --> 00:08:01,520
Speaker 1: work and shop for groceries. People get married and have

134
00:08:01,680 --> 00:08:04,960
Speaker 1: children too. The island is home to kids, adults, and

135
00:08:05,040 --> 00:08:08,320
Speaker 1: the elderly, all of whom are just trying to get by.

136
00:08:08,400 --> 00:08:10,920
Speaker 1: The only difference is the sound of the blaring alarms

137
00:08:10,920 --> 00:08:13,760
Speaker 1: that ring out whenever the air quality becomes too dangerous

138
00:08:13,800 --> 00:08:17,480
Speaker 1: to breathe. Clearly, it's not easy sharing an island with

139
00:08:17,560 --> 00:08:21,560
Speaker 1: an active volcano. However, for anyone hoping to visit the

140
00:08:21,600 --> 00:08:24,920
Speaker 1: place sometime in the future, you can when flights aren't

141
00:08:24,920 --> 00:08:28,320
Speaker 1: grounded due to high sulfur levels or volcanic activity. The

142
00:08:28,400 --> 00:08:32,080
Speaker 1: island has many sites to offer. Scuba Diving off the coast,

143
00:08:32,120 --> 00:08:35,320
Speaker 1: for example, is said to be breathtaking, an experience that

144
00:08:35,400 --> 00:08:39,120
Speaker 1: includes the occasional dolphins sighting as well. But if you'd

145
00:08:39,200 --> 00:08:42,400
Speaker 1: rather explore miaki Jima on land, just be sure to

146
00:08:42,440 --> 00:08:44,800
Speaker 1: bring your gas mask, and if you don't have one,

147
00:08:45,400 --> 00:08:47,560
Speaker 1: you can buy one. Just swing by one of the

148
00:08:47,600 --> 00:08:49,920
Speaker 1: many gift shops and pick up what might be one

149
00:08:49,920 --> 00:08:55,720
Speaker 1: of the most curious souvenirs in the world. I hope

150
00:08:55,720 --> 00:08:59,040
Speaker 1: you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities.

151
00:08:59,360 --> 00:09:02,480
Speaker 1: Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about

152
00:09:02,480 --> 00:09:07,040
Speaker 1: the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show

153
00:09:07,240 --> 00:09:10,560
Speaker 1: was created by me, Aaron Mankey in partnership with how

154
00:09:10,600 --> 00:09:14,200
Speaker 1: Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore,

155
00:09:14,440 --> 00:09:18,040
Speaker 1: which is a podcast, book series, and television show and

156
00:09:18,080 --> 00:09:20,320
Speaker 1: you can learn all about it over at the World

157
00:09:20,360 --> 00:09:25,760
Speaker 1: of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious. Yeah,