1 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:07,520 Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Menke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of 2 00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:14,480 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of 3 00:00:14,560 --> 00:00:18,520 Speaker 1: the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all 4 00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:22,680 Speaker 1: of these amazing tales right there on display, just waiting 5 00:00:22,720 --> 00:00:28,920 Speaker 1: for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. 6 00:00:36,720 --> 00:00:39,479 Speaker 1: It was a cold winter night in nineteen forty two, 7 00:00:39,840 --> 00:00:43,640 Speaker 1: and quiet blanketed the Eastern Front as thick as fresh 8 00:00:43,680 --> 00:00:47,800 Speaker 1: fallen snow. A dozen Nazi soldiers were huddled in their tents, 9 00:00:48,120 --> 00:00:52,600 Speaker 1: shivering against the bitter Russian cold. The steady rhythmic beeps 10 00:00:52,640 --> 00:00:56,760 Speaker 1: of the lufoffas officer's radar screen signaled clear skies, and 11 00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:00,480 Speaker 1: only static filled the airways. It had been a night. 12 00:01:00,880 --> 00:01:04,760 Speaker 1: With any luck, it would stay that way. The officer 13 00:01:04,920 --> 00:01:07,280 Speaker 1: sat up as a faint sound came to him over 14 00:01:07,319 --> 00:01:11,280 Speaker 1: the mechanical worrying of his instruments. Somewhere far above, he 15 00:01:11,319 --> 00:01:14,640 Speaker 1: could hear a noise like a soft wind, whooshing through 16 00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:19,560 Speaker 1: the willow branches. His face fell. They were here. Even 17 00:01:19,600 --> 00:01:22,039 Speaker 1: as he yelled to raise the alarm, he could see 18 00:01:22,120 --> 00:01:25,320 Speaker 1: it was too late. The first bomb was already exploding. 19 00:01:25,360 --> 00:01:28,880 Speaker 1: Against the command center, painting the night sky red with fire. 20 00:01:29,600 --> 00:01:33,479 Speaker 1: The night Witches had struck again. In the final years 21 00:01:33,520 --> 00:01:35,959 Speaker 1: of World War Two, one of the most feared ally 22 00:01:36,080 --> 00:01:39,360 Speaker 1: air squadrons of the Eastern Front was the Soviet five 23 00:01:39,440 --> 00:01:42,840 Speaker 1: hundred and eighty eighth Night Bomber Regiment. The five hundred 24 00:01:42,880 --> 00:01:46,240 Speaker 1: and eighty eighth was nicknamed the Knackhexen or the night 25 00:01:46,280 --> 00:01:49,560 Speaker 1: Witches by the Germans, not just because their planes made 26 00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:52,760 Speaker 1: a sound like a sweeping room, but because every member 27 00:01:52,800 --> 00:01:56,320 Speaker 1: of the five eighty eighth, from mechanics to pilots, were women. 28 00:01:57,120 --> 00:01:59,920 Speaker 1: The Soviet Union hadn't intended to have women on the 29 00:02:00,080 --> 00:02:02,960 Speaker 1: front line at all. When Hitler invaded Russia in the 30 00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:06,520 Speaker 1: summer of nineteen forty one, Joseph Stalin believed his Red 31 00:02:06,640 --> 00:02:10,040 Speaker 1: Army would easily defeat the Nazis. By the fall, his 32 00:02:10,120 --> 00:02:14,080 Speaker 1: outlook was less rosy. The Nazis had proven stubborn and 33 00:02:14,200 --> 00:02:17,560 Speaker 1: Leningrad was under siege. Thousands of young men had been 34 00:02:17,600 --> 00:02:21,760 Speaker 1: captured or killed. So when female flying ace Marina Raskova 35 00:02:21,840 --> 00:02:24,560 Speaker 1: approached him with a plan for an all female regiment, 36 00:02:24,880 --> 00:02:28,799 Speaker 1: Stalin gave her the go ahead. Despite his approval, Marina's 37 00:02:28,840 --> 00:02:31,280 Speaker 1: regiment did not have an easy time of it. Her 38 00:02:31,400 --> 00:02:34,680 Speaker 1: recruits had just months to master skills that airman learned 39 00:02:34,680 --> 00:02:38,760 Speaker 1: for years. Every woman had to be pilots, navigator, maintenance 40 00:02:38,840 --> 00:02:41,799 Speaker 1: and ground crew, and of course the male soldiers didn't 41 00:02:41,800 --> 00:02:44,960 Speaker 1: take kindly to what they called the little girls serving 42 00:02:45,040 --> 00:02:48,160 Speaker 1: on the front line. As a result, Marina's flyers got 43 00:02:48,200 --> 00:02:51,520 Speaker 1: the absolute worst equipment. The five eighty eighth were given 44 00:02:51,600 --> 00:02:56,119 Speaker 1: Polykarpov P two biplanes. These little wooden two seater boxes 45 00:02:56,160 --> 00:02:59,079 Speaker 1: were used as crop dusters and never meant to fly 46 00:02:59,200 --> 00:03:02,560 Speaker 1: in combat. They had virtually no protection from the freezing 47 00:03:02,639 --> 00:03:06,680 Speaker 1: Soviet winter, they moved incredibly slow, making them an easy 48 00:03:06,720 --> 00:03:10,079 Speaker 1: target for anti aircraft guns, and on top of all 49 00:03:10,120 --> 00:03:13,400 Speaker 1: of that, they could barely carry any weight. Marina's pilots 50 00:03:13,440 --> 00:03:17,440 Speaker 1: flew without radios, guns, radar. Even parachutes were too heavy 51 00:03:17,440 --> 00:03:20,120 Speaker 1: for the planes to carry, and for the same reason, 52 00:03:20,160 --> 00:03:22,760 Speaker 1: the planes could only transfer two bombs at a time, 53 00:03:23,040 --> 00:03:25,799 Speaker 1: meaning in every raid the pilots would have to fly 54 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:29,040 Speaker 1: back and forth dozens of times between their base and 55 00:03:29,120 --> 00:03:32,880 Speaker 1: the target. Each attack, pilots and navigators would be in 56 00:03:32,919 --> 00:03:36,200 Speaker 1: the air for upwards of ten hours. Any one of 57 00:03:36,240 --> 00:03:38,720 Speaker 1: these issues might have made their goal, which was to 58 00:03:38,760 --> 00:03:41,640 Speaker 1: bomb Nazi camps and supply lines on the Eastern Front, 59 00:03:41,880 --> 00:03:47,240 Speaker 1: seem impossible, but Marina's Night Witches turned their issues into advantages. 60 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:51,280 Speaker 1: The night Witches only ran missions under cover of darkness. 61 00:03:51,600 --> 00:03:53,920 Speaker 1: Their tiny planes were too small to get picked up 62 00:03:53,960 --> 00:03:57,000 Speaker 1: by radar. Since they had no radios, they couldn't be 63 00:03:57,040 --> 00:04:00,520 Speaker 1: spotted by someone listening to the airwaves. Only that, but 64 00:04:00,600 --> 00:04:03,680 Speaker 1: their fastest speed was slower than the stall speed of 65 00:04:03,760 --> 00:04:07,760 Speaker 1: Nazi planes, meaning that they could outmaneuver German pilots easily. 66 00:04:08,160 --> 00:04:10,760 Speaker 1: The only sign the night Witches were there was the 67 00:04:10,800 --> 00:04:15,040 Speaker 1: telltale woosh of their wooden planes. From nineteen forty one 68 00:04:15,200 --> 00:04:18,400 Speaker 1: to nineteen forty five, members of the five eighty eighth 69 00:04:18,440 --> 00:04:22,240 Speaker 1: flew more than twenty four thousand combat missions, dropping three 70 00:04:22,240 --> 00:04:25,159 Speaker 1: thousand tons of bombs on the Germans. They were the 71 00:04:25,200 --> 00:04:28,560 Speaker 1: most highly decorated unit of the Soviet Air Force during 72 00:04:28,560 --> 00:04:31,360 Speaker 1: the war, and so feared by the Nazis that any 73 00:04:31,440 --> 00:04:35,000 Speaker 1: German who downed a night Witch was awarded the Iron Cross, 74 00:04:35,400 --> 00:04:38,440 Speaker 1: and when their leader, Marina Raskova's plane was shot down, 75 00:04:38,640 --> 00:04:41,280 Speaker 1: she was given the very first state funeral of World 76 00:04:41,320 --> 00:04:44,480 Speaker 1: War II and had her ashes buried in the Kremlin, 77 00:04:45,080 --> 00:04:47,440 Speaker 1: The Night Witches opened the door for women to serve 78 00:04:47,480 --> 00:04:51,479 Speaker 1: in combat in the Soviet Union. Marina eventually staffed three 79 00:04:51,560 --> 00:04:54,560 Speaker 1: all female bombing regiments, with the Night Witches being the 80 00:04:54,560 --> 00:04:58,400 Speaker 1: most famous of these. Still, even after all of their accomplishments, 81 00:04:58,680 --> 00:05:02,679 Speaker 1: they faced discrimination on the home front. Despite their impeccable record, 82 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:05,880 Speaker 1: they weren't allowed to fly their planes in Moscow's end 83 00:05:05,880 --> 00:05:09,880 Speaker 1: of war victory parade. It wasn't them, the organizers claimed, 84 00:05:10,120 --> 00:05:13,040 Speaker 1: it was their equipment, the planes that took them back 85 00:05:13,080 --> 00:05:16,200 Speaker 1: and forth across the Eastern Front, that carried three thousand 86 00:05:16,240 --> 00:05:19,240 Speaker 1: tons of bombs and scared the wits out of the Nazis. 87 00:05:19,839 --> 00:05:37,320 Speaker 1: Those planes, they said, were just too slow. There is 88 00:05:37,400 --> 00:05:40,080 Speaker 1: a moment in a lot of horror movies that's critical 89 00:05:40,120 --> 00:05:44,000 Speaker 1: to the film success. It's usually right after the protagonist's 90 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:47,920 Speaker 1: first real ghost sighting, when the poltergeist activity or demonic 91 00:05:47,960 --> 00:05:51,159 Speaker 1: possession spikes and we finally know what we're dealing with. 92 00:05:51,880 --> 00:05:55,320 Speaker 1: It's that moment when many audience members lose their suspension 93 00:05:55,400 --> 00:05:58,679 Speaker 1: of disbelief, because when the character knows the ghosts surreal, 94 00:05:59,040 --> 00:06:01,960 Speaker 1: you expect them to run and not look back. Any 95 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:05,560 Speaker 1: behavior that doesn't involve removing themselves from the situation as 96 00:06:05,600 --> 00:06:09,599 Speaker 1: soon as possible just seems implausible. After all, if you've 97 00:06:09,600 --> 00:06:13,000 Speaker 1: ever seen empirical evidence that your house is haunted, wouldn't 98 00:06:13,040 --> 00:06:16,280 Speaker 1: you move as well? That's exactly what six year old 99 00:06:16,400 --> 00:06:19,840 Speaker 1: Jiang Bowl wanted to know after his first ghost encounter. 100 00:06:20,360 --> 00:06:23,320 Speaker 1: The Taiwanese boy was climbing around his family's attic one 101 00:06:23,360 --> 00:06:26,320 Speaker 1: day when he saw something that made his blood run cold, 102 00:06:26,720 --> 00:06:30,760 Speaker 1: a horrific spectral figure with no eyes, no nose, and 103 00:06:30,800 --> 00:06:34,920 Speaker 1: no mouth. Jiang wasted no time in getting out of there. 104 00:06:35,240 --> 00:06:37,599 Speaker 1: He fled the attic and didn't stop running until he 105 00:06:37,640 --> 00:06:40,400 Speaker 1: found his dad, But when he told him what happened, 106 00:06:40,480 --> 00:06:43,520 Speaker 1: he was stunned by the response he got. His dad 107 00:06:43,600 --> 00:06:46,280 Speaker 1: already knew about the ghost, but had given up about 108 00:06:46,360 --> 00:06:49,080 Speaker 1: doing anything about it. He wanted to move, but they 109 00:06:49,120 --> 00:06:51,920 Speaker 1: couldn't afford to live anywhere else at the moment. They were, 110 00:06:52,120 --> 00:06:55,960 Speaker 1: as Jiang put it later, poorer than the ghosts. That 111 00:06:56,040 --> 00:06:59,240 Speaker 1: experience affected Jiang deeply, and he made sure that he 112 00:06:59,279 --> 00:07:03,000 Speaker 1: didn't find himself in that position ever again. First by 113 00:07:03,080 --> 00:07:06,159 Speaker 1: dragging himself out of poverty. He grew up and built 114 00:07:06,160 --> 00:07:09,960 Speaker 1: a successful business as a fung shwe consultant, now for 115 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:13,480 Speaker 1: the uninitiated. Fung shwe is the ancient Chinese art of 116 00:07:13,680 --> 00:07:17,920 Speaker 1: arranging physical items in an environment for maximum harmony. It's 117 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:20,840 Speaker 1: rooted in Taoism, but it's popular all over the world. 118 00:07:20,840 --> 00:07:25,200 Speaker 1: Today in the West, we almost exclusively associated with interior design. 119 00:07:25,560 --> 00:07:28,080 Speaker 1: Someone might tell you that your living room is bad 120 00:07:28,160 --> 00:07:30,960 Speaker 1: fung shui if the furniture is laid out poorly, But 121 00:07:31,040 --> 00:07:34,640 Speaker 1: it has applications outside the home as well, from gardening 122 00:07:34,720 --> 00:07:38,040 Speaker 1: to architectural design. In fact, some of the earliest uses 123 00:07:38,040 --> 00:07:40,840 Speaker 1: were in ancient Chinese graveyards. It was thought that the 124 00:07:40,880 --> 00:07:43,800 Speaker 1: proper flow of energy was critical for the spirits of 125 00:07:43,840 --> 00:07:47,840 Speaker 1: the dead to rest peacefully. That history may be what 126 00:07:47,960 --> 00:07:50,360 Speaker 1: inspired Jiang to look beyond the home of some of 127 00:07:50,400 --> 00:07:53,320 Speaker 1: his trickster clients. Through the course of his work as 128 00:07:53,320 --> 00:07:57,600 Speaker 1: a consultant, he occasionally encountered people who seemed to practice 129 00:07:57,680 --> 00:08:00,760 Speaker 1: perfect fung shwe, but who were never the less plagued 130 00:08:00,800 --> 00:08:03,960 Speaker 1: by illness or bad luck. Rather than giving up, he 131 00:08:04,040 --> 00:08:07,600 Speaker 1: set out to inspect the graveyards of their recently deceased relatives. 132 00:08:08,320 --> 00:08:11,280 Speaker 1: In many cases, he found that the graves had been damaged, 133 00:08:11,360 --> 00:08:15,040 Speaker 1: allowing moisture or other problems to affect the human remains. 134 00:08:15,400 --> 00:08:18,720 Speaker 1: Jiang theorized that the ghosts were uncomfortable as a result, 135 00:08:18,960 --> 00:08:21,880 Speaker 1: and had decided to curse their descendants with bad luck 136 00:08:22,040 --> 00:08:25,960 Speaker 1: until someone fixed the problem. So he did just that. 137 00:08:26,440 --> 00:08:30,000 Speaker 1: In addition to his Functue consulting work, he began offering 138 00:08:30,040 --> 00:08:33,600 Speaker 1: his services as a bone collector. He would dig up 139 00:08:33,640 --> 00:08:37,680 Speaker 1: the graves of his client's ancestors, painstakingly clean and dry 140 00:08:37,720 --> 00:08:41,120 Speaker 1: the remains, and then place the bones inside a large urn. 141 00:08:41,679 --> 00:08:44,160 Speaker 1: Jiang believed that the remains had to be arranged for 142 00:08:44,360 --> 00:08:47,960 Speaker 1: maximum comfort and harmony, which usually involved placing them in 143 00:08:48,120 --> 00:08:51,120 Speaker 1: a sitting position. A lump of charcoal was added to 144 00:08:51,120 --> 00:08:53,480 Speaker 1: the urn to make sure they stayed dry. Then the 145 00:08:53,520 --> 00:08:57,200 Speaker 1: whole thing was reburied in the original grave, and according 146 00:08:57,200 --> 00:09:01,439 Speaker 1: to Jiang, the practice had incredible results, instantly curing everything 147 00:09:01,480 --> 00:09:05,120 Speaker 1: from headaches to mania in his clients and their family members. 148 00:09:05,480 --> 00:09:09,320 Speaker 1: And perhaps that claim stretches your suspension of disbelief, but 149 00:09:09,480 --> 00:09:13,160 Speaker 1: Jiang's success as a bone collector speaks for itself. He 150 00:09:13,240 --> 00:09:17,600 Speaker 1: has many satisfied customers. So if you feel some disharmony 151 00:09:17,640 --> 00:09:20,720 Speaker 1: in your life, maybe Functionue can help. But before you 152 00:09:20,800 --> 00:09:23,560 Speaker 1: go rearranging your living room for the one hundredth time, 153 00:09:24,000 --> 00:09:26,880 Speaker 1: reconsider whether the problem might be less with your furniture 154 00:09:27,280 --> 00:09:30,920 Speaker 1: and more with your ancestors. If so, it's probably the 155 00:09:30,920 --> 00:09:33,240 Speaker 1: sort of thing you should take care of sooner rather 156 00:09:33,280 --> 00:09:36,800 Speaker 1: than later, because there's nothing worse than a ghost with 157 00:09:36,880 --> 00:09:44,160 Speaker 1: a bone to pick. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided 158 00:09:44,200 --> 00:09:47,640 Speaker 1: tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on 159 00:09:47,679 --> 00:09:50,679 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show by visiting 160 00:09:50,840 --> 00:09:55,400 Speaker 1: Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created by me 161 00:09:55,640 --> 00:09:59,240 Speaker 1: Aaron Mankey in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make 162 00:09:59,280 --> 00:10:02,839 Speaker 1: another a war winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, 163 00:10:02,920 --> 00:10:05,880 Speaker 1: book series, and television show, and you can learn all 164 00:10:05,920 --> 00:10:10,760 Speaker 1: about it over at Theworldoflore dot com. And until next time, 165 00:10:11,040 --> 00:10:11,880 Speaker 1: stay curious.