Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manke'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: It's a word that many of us have probably heard,
Speaker 1: but often don't know the meaning of Syncope is the
Speaker 1: medical term for the temporary loss of consciousness that comes
Speaker 1: from a sudden drop in blood flow to the brain.
Speaker 1: So for layman, it's fainting, and most of the time
Speaker 1: it's easily explainable and no cause for concern. Low blood
Speaker 1: sugar or dehydration can often cause it. There are, of course,
Speaker 1: times to worry. For instance, regular fainting spells could be
Speaker 1: caused by heart troubles that need to be addressed by
Speaker 1: a doctor. But what would be the best course of
Speaker 1: action if hundreds of people experience syncope all at once.
Speaker 1: It was a sunny morning in Nottinghamshire, England, in the
Speaker 1: hearts of robin Hood Country. It wasn't just any day, though,
Speaker 1: Children from all over the area were headed to the
Speaker 1: fairgrounds for the Hollinwall Show. This show was a gathering
Speaker 1: of children's marching bands, and it was taken very seriously
Speaker 1: by competitors. Attendants would be judged on their performance in
Speaker 1: a street parade, and then they would move to the
Speaker 1: field where they'd be judged on their playing as well
Speaker 1: as their marching formations. And the events started at nine
Speaker 1: a m. And hundreds of children in their crisp uniforms
Speaker 1: and polished buttons awaited the chance to wild the judges,
Speaker 1: hoping to take home medals and bragging rights. But before
Speaker 1: the competition could get underway, something strange began to occur.
Speaker 1: Participants all over the fairgrounds began to experience a cavalcade
Speaker 1: of troubling symptoms. There were reports of sore throats, dizziness, nausea,
Speaker 1: and burning eyes, with some others experiencing chest pains and
Speaker 1: weakness in the limbs. But the most troubling symptom, and
Speaker 1: the one that caused panic in attendees and organizers, was
Speaker 1: the sudden onset of a mass fainting spell. Children began
Speaker 1: to collapse left and right. Those who could leave on
Speaker 1: foot did so, but many left in ambulances which arrived
Speaker 1: in droves. Meanwhile, organizers themselves were in a state of
Speaker 1: utter confusion, making conflicting announcements about the possible causes. Was
Speaker 1: it the food, something in the water, Maybe it was
Speaker 1: the pesticide sprayed on nearby fields. Participants were told to
Speaker 1: stop eating the ice cream as many of the fainting
Speaker 1: children had partaken. Local hospitals were overrun by the victims
Speaker 1: of the incident, with a sudden rush of nearly three
Speaker 1: hundred out of the five hundred present at the event
Speaker 1: needing to be admitted for their symptoms. The Hollandwell Show
Speaker 1: was a massive, traumatizing bust that followed. There was a
Speaker 1: joint inquiry into the cause by the Ashfield District Council
Speaker 1: and the Knots Police, which strangely ruled out environmental causes
Speaker 1: or food poisoning, concluding that it was simply mass hysteria, or,
Speaker 1: as the report officially called it, a mass psychogenic illness,
Speaker 1: and that, so far as the authorities were concerned, was that.
Speaker 1: But as you'd imagine, the families weren't so convinced, as
Speaker 1: many of the children who fell ill did so hours
Speaker 1: after leaving the fairgrounds, and believed that the Council's investigation
Speaker 1: was not nearly as thorough as it could have been
Speaker 1: before making their conclusions. Although other investigations of the incident
Speaker 1: were made in subsequent years, many contradict each other and
Speaker 1: those that came before them. The University of Nottingham's School
Speaker 1: of Biomedical Sciences seconded the original report, declaring its mass
Speaker 1: hysteria possibly triggered by the smell of apesticide used in
Speaker 1: surrounding fields, which could have been kicked back up into
Speaker 1: the air by the marching bands. Scientists at Nottingham Trent University, however,
Speaker 1: believe that other chemicals may have been the culprits. According
Speaker 1: to John Wright, of the university's forensic Science department, it
Speaker 1: may have been a noxious combination of chemicals used to
Speaker 1: clean the toilets. It turns out many of the people
Speaker 1: affected by the event reported strong smells of both bleach
Speaker 1: and ammonia coming from the portable toilets a mere twenty
Speaker 1: yards from where the band members were standing. And for
Speaker 1: those who don't know, those are two chemicals that probably
Speaker 1: shouldn't be mixed together because when you do, ammonia and
Speaker 1: bleach form chlorine gas, a dangerous chemical agent that in
Speaker 1: small doses causes irritation of the eyes, nose, throats, and lungs,
Speaker 1: and in higher doses causes death by exphyxiation. In fact,
Speaker 1: the gas is so noxious that it was banned in
Speaker 1: nineteen twenty five by Geneva Protocol after its use in
Speaker 1: the First World War in the year sense, the case
Speaker 1: has come to be known as the Hollinwell incidents, or
Speaker 1: more ominously, all fall Down. Nearly forty years later, it's
Speaker 1: still a matter of heated debate. Numerous causes are pushed
Speaker 1: by Internet sleuths to this day, which include both the
Speaker 1: official lines and more creative theories ranging from radio waves
Speaker 1: from nearby transmitters to alien activity. But as public officials
Speaker 1: consider the case closed, we may never know the true
Speaker 1: cause of the chaos that rocked that music event on
Speaker 1: that bright July morning, and that well, I think that's curious.
Speaker 1: Kenneth Moore hurtled through the skies over Nazi occupied France.
Speaker 1: It was the morning of June sixth, nineteen forty four,
Speaker 1: just before dawn. He was a combat medic, one of
Speaker 1: the first of many American troops that would soon be
Speaker 1: invading the country. As the air whipped past his face,
Speaker 1: and the ground rose up to meet him. Kenneth pulled
Speaker 1: the cord for his parachute, gliding quickly to the ground.
Speaker 1: He landed with the in a grassy field outside a
Speaker 1: nearby village. He looked around, anxious to spot to enemy troops.
Speaker 1: He didn't see any Nazis, and he had a red
Speaker 1: cross armband that was supposed to keep them from shooting
Speaker 1: at him if any did show up. You see, Kenneth's
Speaker 1: job was to find a nearby building to use as
Speaker 1: a field hospital and then start treating the wounded once
Speaker 1: the fighting started. Then he dug around in his pack
Speaker 1: until he found a round, bumpy grenade that one of
Speaker 1: his fellow soldiers had given him. He wasn't supposed to
Speaker 1: carry any weapons as a medic, but he wasn't taking
Speaker 1: any chances. There was a sudden rustling in the bushes
Speaker 1: next to him. He jumped immediately, pulling the pin on
Speaker 1: the grenade and getting ready to throw it. But then
Speaker 1: he heard a growl and saw a bear emerge from
Speaker 1: the forest, and then it turned right back the way
Speaker 1: it came. His service was already off to a rough start.
Speaker 1: He now had a live grenade in his hand. And
Speaker 1: nothing to throw it at, and he didn't want to
Speaker 1: just toss it and run the sound might attract the enemy.
Speaker 1: Kenneth made his way toward the village, where he soon
Speaker 1: spotted a stone well leading deep underground. It was as
Speaker 1: good a place as any for the grenade, so he
Speaker 1: dropped it in and ran away, hoping the villagers didn't
Speaker 1: notice the muffled boom from the ground shaking a few
Speaker 1: seconds later. Soon enough, he came across a small, ancient
Speaker 1: church with a short steeple and stained glass windows. To
Speaker 1: his surprise, there was already a banner with a red
Speaker 1: cross draped over the entrance. His fellow medic had arrived
Speaker 1: ahead of him. Inside, Kenneth found his friend, Robert Wright,
Speaker 1: already busy rearranging the pews and laying out supplies. They
Speaker 1: didn't have much, just what they brought with them in
Speaker 1: their packs. Their job was to make the most of it,
Speaker 1: and soon enough troops were swarming the countryside, and there
Speaker 1: was the constant sound of bombs and gunfire. The doors
Speaker 1: of the church flew open and wounded soldier after soldier
Speaker 1: began limping in. They treated those they could with bandages, stitches,
Speaker 1: or splints, those they couldn't, They set a prayer for
Speaker 1: and moved on. They treated Americans and Germans alike. Whoever
Speaker 1: came to their door was allowed to enter. Their only
Speaker 1: rule was that no one could bring a weapon inside
Speaker 1: the church. Outside. The fighting reached a fever pitch. The
Speaker 1: bombs and bullets were flying over the top of the church,
Speaker 1: and then suddenly the wooden beams overhead split open and
Speaker 1: a large shell crashed into the stone floor between the patients.
Speaker 1: Some of the splintered wood fell on Kenneth and left
Speaker 1: him with a cut on his scalp. He was stunned,
Speaker 1: and then he saw Robert look from him to the shell.
Speaker 1: Before he could react, Robert ran toward the shell, picking
Speaker 1: it up and flinging it out of the church. It
Speaker 1: never detonated, though it was inert. They had been lucky.
Speaker 1: As the fighting continued, control of the town changed from
Speaker 1: the Allies to the Nazis. The fleeing Allies suggested that
Speaker 1: Kenneth and Robert evacuate with them, but they refused. At
Speaker 1: this point, they were treating dozens of American and German soldiers.
Speaker 1: They just couldn't leave them. They continued their work until
Speaker 1: the Nazis rolled into the small village. Suddenly, the doors
Speaker 1: were thrown open and an intimidating Zazi commander walked in
Speaker 1: his eyes, darting between the two medics and their patients.
Speaker 1: Kenneth watched him stroll down the aisle between the pews,
Speaker 1: surveying each patient without a word. Then his gaze fell
Speaker 1: on some of the German soldiers they were treating. He
Speaker 1: nodded to them with approval. It was the only sign
Speaker 1: they would get that they could continue to do their work.
Speaker 1: Kenneth and Robert continued to treat patients for three whole
Speaker 1: days without sleep. The church floor became absolutely soaked with blood,
Speaker 1: but the Allies won the battle and soon pressed further
Speaker 1: into France. Kenneth and Robert were assigned to new battlefields,
Speaker 1: but this one would always remember them today. If a
Speaker 1: curious tourist makes their way to Angoville o'plhan in Normandy,
Speaker 1: they will find a small medieval church. But the stained
Speaker 1: glass windows don't feature Christian iconography. No, they show a
Speaker 1: paratrooper and an eagle, and the names Kenneth Moore and
Speaker 1: Robert Wright. Appropriately, these two men were awarded silver stars
Speaker 1: and purple hearts but curiously, without ever firing or receiving
Speaker 1: a shot. But if anything, that made them even greater heroes.
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 Mankey 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: Worldoflore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.