Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Menkey's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is
Speaker 1: full 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. A new year usually means new beginnings. It's
Speaker 1: a time for reinvention, rebirth and resolutions. Those with aspirations
Speaker 1: to shed some weights or learn a new language might
Speaker 1: join a gym or take classes. But if you're Bernard McFadden,
Speaker 1: you might try to completely reinvent yourself and how we
Speaker 1: celebrate the new year in the process. Bernard McFadden was
Speaker 1: born in mill Spring, Missouri, in eighteen sixty eight. He
Speaker 1: had a tough childhood, both physically and emotionally. His parents
Speaker 1: were often sick, and their illnesses eventually claimed their lives
Speaker 1: while he was still just a boy. The young McFadden
Speaker 1: himself also faced health troubles, but he was able to
Speaker 1: overcome them with the help of a farmer who took
Speaker 1: him in after the deaths of his parents. The manual
Speaker 1: labor strengthened his frail form, and the hearty farm food
Speaker 1: nourished him. It had been the perfect cure for his
Speaker 1: meager body until he left a few years later to
Speaker 1: work behind a desk in St. Louis. It didn't take
Speaker 1: long for McFadden to revert back to his old self
Speaker 1: when he realized how much he missed the way he
Speaker 1: used to feel. He returned to what he'd learned on
Speaker 1: the farm instead of manual labor. Though he began lifting weights,
Speaker 1: he changed his diets and became a vegetarian, and he
Speaker 1: walked everywhere, sometimes logging six miles a day. He also
Speaker 1: refused to pollute his body with tobacco and alcohol, opting
Speaker 1: instead to participate in act ativities of strength and agility,
Speaker 1: such as boxing and wrestling. McFadden also took his physique seriously,
Speaker 1: more so than any man he'd ever encountered, and he
Speaker 1: used his growing fame to show others what could be
Speaker 1: achieved with a life of proper diet and exercise. On
Speaker 1: a trip to England in the late eighteen nineties, he
Speaker 1: partnered with a man named Hopton Hadley, who had invented
Speaker 1: an apparatus that mounted to the wall and allowed people
Speaker 1: to develop the different muscles in their arms, legs, and torsos.
Speaker 1: McFadden helped Hadley in marketing the device to the public.
Speaker 1: Then in McFadden became an entrepreneur himself when he started
Speaker 1: Physical Culture magazine. It was more than a lifestyle publication.
Speaker 1: It was the start of something bigger than he ever
Speaker 1: could have imagined. Physical Culture spawned almost a dozen other magazines,
Speaker 1: ranging from true crime to Confessions, and even Tales of
Speaker 1: the Supernatural if that's your sort of thing. He also
Speaker 1: wrote articles for other outlets on topics such as fasting
Speaker 1: and something he called the milk diet. McFadden by this
Speaker 1: time had changed his name to Bernard McFadden, adding an
Speaker 1: extra A between the M and C of his last name,
Speaker 1: and styling his first name after the roar of a lion.
Speaker 1: He wanted it to sound stronger and more masculine, although
Speaker 1: it was hard to imagine the man as anything but clearly.
Speaker 1: He modeled his life on pushing himself to the limits.
Speaker 1: He believed fasting was one of the ultimate ways for
Speaker 1: a person to control their body and show their superiority
Speaker 1: to others. From the nineteen thirties to the nineteen fifties,
Speaker 1: McFadden also launched a series of boarding schools dedicated to
Speaker 1: preparing young men for a future in the military. Bernard
Speaker 1: McFadden was a lot of things to a lot of people.
Speaker 1: He was a restaurantur, a hotelier, publishing magnates, an educator,
Speaker 1: a model, a spokesman, and an entrepreneur. And at the
Speaker 1: age of eighty four, he had a daredevil to that
Speaker 1: list when he jumped out of a plane and parachuted
Speaker 1: over the Seine in France. Yet of all the things
Speaker 1: he accomplished and created, only one has stood the test
Speaker 1: of time. It began on New Year's Day in nineteen
Speaker 1: oh three. McFadden, a proponent of cold baths to boost
Speaker 1: one's energy, invited fifty men and women to join him
Speaker 1: on a Coney Island beach in New York. He first
Speaker 1: let his guests in a workout, and then he had
Speaker 1: them all jump into the ocean for a quick cold swim.
Speaker 1: The water was cold enough to take one's breath away,
Speaker 1: but the act of jumping into the frigid waters of
Speaker 1: the Atlantic on January first became something of a tradition.
Speaker 1: In his search for the secrets of life, Bernard McFadden
Speaker 1: had created the Coney Island Polar Bear Club, who continued
Speaker 1: to meet New Year's Day from that point on and
Speaker 1: swim in water that doesn't get much warmer than thirty
Speaker 1: five degrees fahrenheit. Today, the annual event draws crowds of thousands.
Speaker 1: Some are clad in nothing more than swim trunks and bikinis,
Speaker 1: while others don tuxedos and host tea parties among the
Speaker 1: shrieking revelers. They may not know the man behind it,
Speaker 1: but they probably would and be surprised by his story.
Speaker 1: After all, it's more than a little curious. When we
Speaker 1: want to remember the good times, like birthdays and weddings,
Speaker 1: we tend to haul out the photo album. Each page
Speaker 1: acts as a window into the past, taking us back
Speaker 1: to the moments where smiles and tears have been captured
Speaker 1: on film. We can't help but be overcome with feelings
Speaker 1: of love, warmth, and togetherness. But for the inhabitants of
Speaker 1: Miyaki Jima, those photos might give off a more post
Speaker 1: apocalyptic vibe. In fact, many photos taken here are of
Speaker 1: people clad in gas masks, as though everyone living on
Speaker 1: the island were part of some kind of doomsday cult,
Speaker 1: just waiting for the world to end, and in a
Speaker 1: way they are waiting for something. Miyaki Jima is a
Speaker 1: tiny island in the Philippine Sea, just off the coast
Speaker 1: to southeastern Japan. It covers roughly twenty one and a
Speaker 1: half square miles, with a population of about people, which
Speaker 1: is spread across five settlements. It's also home to rare
Speaker 1: and endemic fauna such as the Easoo thrush. But Miyaki
Speaker 1: Jima is perhaps best known not for what lives on
Speaker 1: top of it, but for what is brewing down below.
Speaker 1: Those who call it home must be on constant alert
Speaker 1: thanks to Mount Oyama, the volcano in the middle of
Speaker 1: the island. Mount Oyama has erupted six times in the
Speaker 1: past hundred years, spilling toxic gases across the island. Three
Speaker 1: the village of Acco was completely destroyed. What's left of
Speaker 1: its elementary and junior high schools can still be seen
Speaker 1: among the igneous rocks. The terrain has changed considerably over
Speaker 1: the years, with new trails blazed literally by flowing lava.
Speaker 1: In fact, back in June and July of the year
Speaker 1: two thousand, the volcanic eruption did more than alter the landscape.
Speaker 1: It changed the lives of everyone living there. The entire
Speaker 1: island was forced to evact. You wait, ash plumes and
Speaker 1: sulfur dioxide gas shot ten miles into the air. Seventeen
Speaker 1: thousand earthquakes shook the ground for twenty five straight days,
Speaker 1: rendering Miyaki Jima uninhabitable. Everyone had known the eruption was coming,
Speaker 1: as scientists had been tracking thousands of tiny quakes leading
Speaker 1: up to the event. Still no amount of warning would
Speaker 1: have prepared someone to uproot their entire life. In minutes,
Speaker 1: plants and trees either died or were burned. Cars were
Speaker 1: abandoned on the side of the road. Those who left
Speaker 1: eventually returned home. Five years later, but things had changed
Speaker 1: for good. The government now required everyone on the island,
Speaker 1: whether they lived there or we're just visiting, to carry
Speaker 1: a gas mask with them at all times. In the
Speaker 1: event that air quality became too toxic, masks would be
Speaker 1: needed to be worn until authorities said otherwise. But despite
Speaker 1: all that, life has remained much the same since the
Speaker 1: last major eruption. The folks living on the island go
Speaker 1: about their days much like anyone else. They drive to
Speaker 1: work and shop for groceries. People get married and have
Speaker 1: children too. The island is home to kids, adults, and
Speaker 1: the elderly, all of whom are just trying to get by.
Speaker 1: The only difference is the sound of the blaring alarms
Speaker 1: that ring out whenever the air quality becomes too dangerous
Speaker 1: to breathe. Clearly, it's not easy sharing an island with
Speaker 1: an active volcano. However, for anyone hoping to visit the
Speaker 1: place sometime in the future, you can when flights aren't
Speaker 1: grounded due to high sulfur levels or volcanic activity. The
Speaker 1: island has many sites to offer. Scuba Diving off the coast,
Speaker 1: for example, is said to be breathtaking, an experience that
Speaker 1: includes the occasional dolphins sighting as well. But if you'd
Speaker 1: rather explore miaki Jima on land, just be sure to
Speaker 1: bring your gas mask, and if you don't have one,
Speaker 1: you can buy one. Just swing by one of the
Speaker 1: many gift shops and pick up what might be one
Speaker 1: of the most curious souvenirs in the world. I hope
Speaker 1: you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities.
Speaker 1: Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about
Speaker 1: the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show
Speaker 1: was created by me, Aaron Mankey in partnership with how
Speaker 1: Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore,
Speaker 1: which is a podcast, book series, and television show and
Speaker 1: you can learn all about it over at the World
Speaker 1: of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious. Yeah,