Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Menke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of
Speaker 1: the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all
Speaker 1: of these amazing tales are right there on display, just
Speaker 1: waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities.
Speaker 1: A trip to a major theme park is a time
Speaker 1: honored tradition enjoyed by families all over the world. Whether
Speaker 1: it's Disneyland, The Magic Kingdom or Universal Studios, vacationer's waits
Speaker 1: in excruciating lines and shell out wads of cash to
Speaker 1: visit resorts filled with talking animatronics, light shows and themed rides.
Speaker 1: But there's one place that you may not have heard
Speaker 1: of that offered a bit of a twist on that formula.
Speaker 1: Closed now, but in its day it was unparalleled in
Speaker 1: the world of amusement parks. Located near the village of
Speaker 1: Hesden in northern France, it was once home to a
Speaker 1: breathtaking collection of animatronic prank machines worthy of Home Alones
Speaker 1: Kevin McAllister. Unlike the booby traps from that movie, these
Speaker 1: machines were not intended to maim or injure intruders, but
Speaker 1: to shock, startle, and delight the estate's guests. They still
Speaker 1: came at you pretty hard, though. Pipes in the floors
Speaker 1: would spurt visitors with jets of water from below, while
Speaker 1: opening the wrong book could get you a face full
Speaker 1: of flour or soot. One animatronic statue instructed you to
Speaker 1: rush to the next room. If you did as you
Speaker 1: were told, you encountered a large machine that would start
Speaker 1: beating you with sticks. There was also larger walkthrough experiences,
Speaker 1: similar to the ones that you might find today around
Speaker 1: these Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland. The largest one was
Speaker 1: the Chamber of the Golden Fleece, a room with elaborate
Speaker 1: frescoes depicting the myth of Jason and the Argonauts. A
Speaker 1: wooden hermit statue near the front recited parts of the
Speaker 1: story to you, and as you came to the end,
Speaker 1: a trapdoor opened in the ceiling, pelting you with snow
Speaker 1: and rain to mimic a thunderstorm. But things weren't much
Speaker 1: safer once you got outside the main building. The sprawling
Speaker 1: grounds were crafted to look like natural woodlands and marshes
Speaker 1: similar to the way that Disneyland approximates wilderness in its
Speaker 1: Jungle cruise areas, live deer ran through the trees and
Speaker 1: fish swam in the ponds. There were plenty of animatronic
Speaker 1: delights there too, though, like mechanized fountains, trees full of
Speaker 1: robotic birds, and a bridge guarded by mechanical monkeys with
Speaker 1: badger pelts for skin. However, the wolf that prowled the
Speaker 1: grounds was very, very real and not remotely tame. It
Speaker 1: doesn't seem like any attempt was made to keep it
Speaker 1: locked up, even after the neighbors complained that it was
Speaker 1: killing their livestock. The wolf was simply outfitted with a
Speaker 1: collar of bells so that people would know when it
Speaker 1: was headed their way. Now, you might be wondering why
Speaker 1: guests would visit such a park, considering the dangers and
Speaker 1: flat out annoyances they faced at Hesden. Part of the
Speaker 1: draw may have been the exclusivity. Hesden didn't sell tickets
Speaker 1: or allow the public to enter. Anyone who stepped inside
Speaker 1: was a personal guest of the estate's owner. Mainly, though,
Speaker 1: people came to Hesden because you couldn't experience its delights
Speaker 1: or surprises anywhere else. There was no Disneyland or Universal Studios.
Speaker 1: In fact, neither park would open for well over six
Speaker 1: hundred years. But just like the Wolf, Hesden's Castle was real.
Speaker 1: Its founder, Count Robert the second of Artois, was a
Speaker 1: lord who lived near the end of the thirteenth century.
Speaker 1: His mechanical pranks, which he called engines of Amusement, were
Speaker 1: inspired by a trip to Italy, where he likely encountered
Speaker 1: advanced animatronics from the Middle East. We don't know what
Speaker 1: inspired the count to turn his estate into such a
Speaker 1: unique place, but his daughter continued to maintain and expand
Speaker 1: it after his death. Unfortunately, the castle was destroyed in
Speaker 1: fifteen fifty three, along with all the machines. Most of
Speaker 1: what we know about Hesden comes from maps and receipts
Speaker 1: for the payments to a fleet of engineers and metal
Speaker 1: workers who built and maintained the animatronics. There are also
Speaker 1: a few surviving accounts from visitors, like one bishop who
Speaker 1: compared Hesdin to the Garden of Eden, and that's a
Speaker 1: ringing endorsement from a medieval Catholic leader. He might as
Speaker 1: well have called it the happiest place on Earth. Throughout history,
Speaker 1: there have been many examples of people enduring pain for
Speaker 1: the sake of physical appearance. Tattoos and piercings are two
Speaker 1: of the most common examples, both of which can be
Speaker 1: traced back to ancient civilizations. But unlike traditional body art,
Speaker 1: some beauty practices cause people to go to extreme links.
Speaker 1: One such practice originated in the mid nine hundreds AD
Speaker 1: in an area of southern China. A girl named Yo
Speaker 1: Nyang good in the wings of a small stage. Yao
Speaker 1: was a servant to the Emperor Li Yu, and part
Speaker 1: of her job was to entertain the emperor and his court.
Speaker 1: No one in the audience knew that they were about
Speaker 1: to see something unlike anything they had seen before. The flutes,
Speaker 1: soft melody, and twinkling chimes cued Yoo's entry to the stage.
Speaker 1: She walked slowly, careful not to fall, and when Yao
Speaker 1: appeared on stage, the audience gasped. It wasn't her dress,
Speaker 1: or her makeup, or even her dance moves that was
Speaker 1: so captivating. It was her feet. Each one was bound
Speaker 1: in white silk so tight they appeared like little crescent moons,
Speaker 1: and everyone in the room thought that they looked beautiful
Speaker 1: as a cherry on top. Yo delicately balanced on top
Speaker 1: of a lotus shaped platform. Her performance cast a spell
Speaker 1: on the whole room, and the emperor was mesmerized. Afterward,
Speaker 1: Yao became one of the emperor's favorite servants. His other
Speaker 1: servants wanted to make their feet look just like hers,
Speaker 1: and soon the trend spread to the common people as well.
Speaker 1: Lotus feet, as they became known, were a sign that
Speaker 1: a woman did not have to do any physical labor
Speaker 1: to support herself, and that her husband could support her instead.
Speaker 1: This way of life was aspirational in Chinese society at
Speaker 1: the time. Soon lotus feet became a sign of overall wealth.
Speaker 1: A young woman looking for a husband would have better
Speaker 1: prospects if her feet were fashioned this way. However, this
Speaker 1: appearance was so in demand that at some point it
Speaker 1: stopped being enough for women to wrap their feet so Instead,
Speaker 1: before they even reached a marrying age, young girls underwent
Speaker 1: a permanent, painful procedure. And this is what the procedure involved,
Speaker 1: and it might be disturbing to hear, so please listen
Speaker 1: with care. First, a girl's feet were soaked in hot water,
Speaker 1: Then her toenails were clipped short, her toes were massaged
Speaker 1: with oil and then broken and bound against the soles.
Speaker 1: And then finally her feet were folded in half and
Speaker 1: wrapped in long silk or cotton strips. And this wasn't
Speaker 1: a one time event. It could take months or even
Speaker 1: years for someone's feet to permanently hold this shape. Many
Speaker 1: of the steps were repeated to ensure the arches stayed
Speaker 1: bent in half. Often those undergoing this process were required
Speaker 1: to walk long distances to force their arches into this shape.
Speaker 1: In the end, bound feet were only about three or
Speaker 1: four inches long. As you can imagine, this effectively disabled
Speaker 1: girls and women. They lost the ability to move around
Speaker 1: freely and independently. But bound feet were so in fashion
Speaker 1: that it didn't seem to matter. Not only that, some
Speaker 1: young men's parents wouldn't allow them to marry a woman
Speaker 1: whose feet weren't bound, so a woman's future often depended
Speaker 1: on it. Therefore, the practice continued for centuries. At some
Speaker 1: point in the nineteenth century, people started to acknowledge the
Speaker 1: true perils of footbinding more widely. It was bad enough
Speaker 1: that women couldn't move around easily, but their feet were
Speaker 1: also prone to infection, and their broken toes would heal,
Speaker 1: but the bones would break more easily after that, and
Speaker 1: the lack of balance caused women to fall and break
Speaker 1: other bones as well. Never mind the fact that these
Speaker 1: women often started this process when they were children, meaning
Speaker 1: that they had no choice in the matter. This was
Speaker 1: forced on them. They were powerless to stop it. In
Speaker 1: eighteen eighty three, the first official anti footbinding society was founded.
Speaker 1: From there, people urge their local governments to take action.
Speaker 1: By nineteen twelve, the Chinese government had banned footbinding nationwide,
Speaker 1: but many people still viewed lotus feet as a symbol
Speaker 1: of beauty and continue the practice in secret. It has
Speaker 1: taken decades, but thankfully the practice is almost entirely gone,
Speaker 1: and it stands as a reminder that oftentimes beauty and
Speaker 1: freedom do not go hand in hand, that beauty shouldn't
Speaker 1: involve pain or suffering or abuse, and that when it
Speaker 1: comes to freedom, sometimes popularity is the enemy. 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 Podcasts. The show was created
Speaker 1: by me Aaron Manke in partnership with How Stuff Works.
Speaker 1: I make another award winning show called Lore which is
Speaker 1: a podcast, book series, and television show and you can
Speaker 1: learn all about it over at the Worldoflore dot com.
Speaker 1: And until next time, stay curious.