1
00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:07,480
Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of

2
00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:14,440
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of

3
00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:18,480
Speaker 1: the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all

4
00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:22,159
Speaker 1: of these amazing tales are right there on display, just

5
00:00:22,239 --> 00:00:28,880
Speaker 1: waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities.

6
00:00:36,720 --> 00:00:40,040
Speaker 1: There's a great debate that happens each October what's the

7
00:00:40,080 --> 00:00:43,559
Speaker 1: best Halloween candy? Plenty of people jump in right off

8
00:00:43,560 --> 00:00:46,120
Speaker 1: the bat with their Reeses or Snickers or kit kats,

9
00:00:46,440 --> 00:00:49,320
Speaker 1: maybe sour Patch kids or gummy bears if you want

10
00:00:49,360 --> 00:00:53,120
Speaker 1: something fruity me I will always remember the popcorn balls

11
00:00:53,360 --> 00:00:56,120
Speaker 1: that my next door neighbor handed out each year. But

12
00:00:56,200 --> 00:00:58,760
Speaker 1: how did we get here? Anyway? Where did this idea

13
00:00:58,800 --> 00:01:02,920
Speaker 1: of walking door to door for candy handouts actually come from? Well,

14
00:01:03,160 --> 00:01:07,360
Speaker 1: Halloween actually originates from Sowen, an ancient Celtic harvest festival

15
00:01:07,400 --> 00:01:11,080
Speaker 1: that was celebrated between October thirty first and November first.

16
00:01:11,480 --> 00:01:14,360
Speaker 1: The Celts believe that the boundary between our world and

17
00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:17,440
Speaker 1: the spirit world was thinnest on those days, and that

18
00:01:17,560 --> 00:01:20,080
Speaker 1: residents of the nether world could cross into this one.

19
00:01:20,360 --> 00:01:23,440
Speaker 1: To you know Wreek some havoc. To bring order to

20
00:01:23,560 --> 00:01:28,520
Speaker 1: that chaos, participants left offerings outside the village for any fairies, spirits,

21
00:01:28,560 --> 00:01:32,319
Speaker 1: or monsters that might make an appearance. Bonfires were lit,

22
00:01:32,560 --> 00:01:36,160
Speaker 1: and later during the Middle Ages, little carved turnips called

23
00:01:36,319 --> 00:01:39,400
Speaker 1: jack o lanterns began cropping up to ward off evil.

24
00:01:40,080 --> 00:01:43,640
Speaker 1: According to some sources, people also disguise themselves in costumes

25
00:01:43,640 --> 00:01:46,280
Speaker 1: made of animal hides in an attempt to scare away

26
00:01:46,360 --> 00:01:50,160
Speaker 1: those unwelcome ghostly visitors, and over time it evolved into

27
00:01:50,160 --> 00:01:53,280
Speaker 1: a practice called souling. This was when the poor folks

28
00:01:53,280 --> 00:01:56,280
Speaker 1: in each community would visit the wealthy households, where they

29
00:01:56,320 --> 00:01:59,720
Speaker 1: would receive little cakes in exchange for a prayer. This

30
00:02:00,360 --> 00:02:03,800
Speaker 1: became a kid only experience where these children dressed up

31
00:02:03,800 --> 00:02:07,320
Speaker 1: in costumes and after knocking on a door, traded a song,

32
00:02:07,480 --> 00:02:10,440
Speaker 1: a poem, or a joke instead of that prayer for

33
00:02:10,600 --> 00:02:13,760
Speaker 1: a snack. Modern day Halloween fully took shape in the

34
00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:17,200
Speaker 1: United States, with many communities organizing group trick or treating

35
00:02:17,240 --> 00:02:20,359
Speaker 1: in the early twentieth century. The trend took a short

36
00:02:20,360 --> 00:02:22,720
Speaker 1: break for World War Two, and in the baby boom

37
00:02:22,760 --> 00:02:25,160
Speaker 1: that followed, many of the Halloween traditions that we know

38
00:02:25,320 --> 00:02:28,720
Speaker 1: and love today became a cemented part of our culture.

39
00:02:29,240 --> 00:02:31,720
Speaker 1: Among the candies that are handed out today is one

40
00:02:31,720 --> 00:02:34,440
Speaker 1: that's far older than you would probably guess. In fact,

41
00:02:34,440 --> 00:02:36,560
Speaker 1: one version can trace its roots all the way back

42
00:02:36,600 --> 00:02:39,480
Speaker 1: to Philadelphia in the eighteen eighties. That was where a

43
00:02:39,480 --> 00:02:43,000
Speaker 1: man named George Renager worked for the Wonderly Candy Company,

44
00:02:43,200 --> 00:02:46,440
Speaker 1: and he had a wild new idea. He proposed that

45
00:02:46,440 --> 00:02:50,560
Speaker 1: they mold buttercream into the shape of harvest vegetables. Shapes

46
00:02:50,680 --> 00:02:54,160
Speaker 1: like chestnuts, turnips, corn, and pea pods all meant to

47
00:02:54,240 --> 00:02:58,000
Speaker 1: appeal to America's agricultural roots, and while all of them

48
00:02:58,040 --> 00:03:00,800
Speaker 1: sounded great, the corn was the easiest shape, so that

49
00:03:00,880 --> 00:03:03,880
Speaker 1: one came first. We're not sure what the original recipe

50
00:03:03,919 --> 00:03:06,720
Speaker 1: was that it was probably some mixture of sticky sugar

51
00:03:06,800 --> 00:03:10,520
Speaker 1: and corn syrup. Renager worked hard to perfect the candy's

52
00:03:10,520 --> 00:03:13,880
Speaker 1: recipe and its shape. His grandson later told the newspaper

53
00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:15,880
Speaker 1: that his granddad threw batches of it out to the

54
00:03:15,919 --> 00:03:18,519
Speaker 1: family chickens and knew that it was the perfect shape.

55
00:03:18,520 --> 00:03:21,520
Speaker 1: Once the chickens started going after it. He figured if

56
00:03:21,520 --> 00:03:23,840
Speaker 1: the chickens were fooled into thinking that it was real corn,

57
00:03:24,160 --> 00:03:26,840
Speaker 1: he had probably nailed it in a nod to that goal.

58
00:03:26,960 --> 00:03:30,239
Speaker 1: When the Golitz Confectionery Company picked up his recipe, they

59
00:03:30,240 --> 00:03:33,800
Speaker 1: marketed it as chicken feed, complete with a big rooster

60
00:03:33,919 --> 00:03:36,600
Speaker 1: on the front of the box, and soon enough they

61
00:03:36,640 --> 00:03:39,280
Speaker 1: were one of the largest producers of butter cream corn

62
00:03:39,320 --> 00:03:42,320
Speaker 1: in the country. And they achieved that in part by

63
00:03:42,400 --> 00:03:45,520
Speaker 1: using color. You see, each section of the candy was

64
00:03:45,520 --> 00:03:48,280
Speaker 1: poured by hand in order to keep the colors separate

65
00:03:48,400 --> 00:03:53,080
Speaker 1: and distinct. This process involved factory workers carrying heavy buckets

66
00:03:53,080 --> 00:03:56,680
Speaker 1: filled with the candy mixture, who then walked backwards along

67
00:03:56,720 --> 00:03:59,560
Speaker 1: a conveyor belt full of trays. And when I say heavy,

68
00:03:59,600 --> 00:04:01,880
Speaker 1: I mean it too. Some of these buckets could weigh

69
00:04:01,960 --> 00:04:05,800
Speaker 1: up to two hundred pounds. Thankfully, this labor intensive corn

70
00:04:06,160 --> 00:04:08,880
Speaker 1: wasn't produced year round. Part of the reason was to

71
00:04:08,880 --> 00:04:11,040
Speaker 1: give the workers a rest, but it was also to

72
00:04:11,080 --> 00:04:13,280
Speaker 1: create a link in the minds of the American people.

73
00:04:13,720 --> 00:04:15,960
Speaker 1: Chicken feed was meant to tap into the joys of

74
00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:19,760
Speaker 1: a bountiful harvest, which later helped connect it to Halloween,

75
00:04:20,320 --> 00:04:23,760
Speaker 1: but not at first. Instead, it was really supposed to

76
00:04:23,800 --> 00:04:27,360
Speaker 1: be a gag, candy, a joke, a novelty. You see

77
00:04:27,360 --> 00:04:30,560
Speaker 1: the name chicken feed was pretty literal. Most Americans saw

78
00:04:30,640 --> 00:04:34,280
Speaker 1: corn as food for livestock and not people. It wasn't

79
00:04:34,360 --> 00:04:36,880
Speaker 1: until after World War One that people started eating the

80
00:04:36,960 --> 00:04:39,480
Speaker 1: vegetable in the same way that we do today, and

81
00:04:39,520 --> 00:04:43,320
Speaker 1: even then it was mostly out of necessity. As a result,

82
00:04:43,400 --> 00:04:46,200
Speaker 1: Golits could barely keep the boxes on the shelves in

83
00:04:46,240 --> 00:04:49,400
Speaker 1: an era before machine automation. It was hard to meet demand.

84
00:04:49,880 --> 00:04:52,840
Speaker 1: Thanks to modern mechanization, though, their production hit a new

85
00:04:52,920 --> 00:04:55,800
Speaker 1: high in the nineteen fifties, and along the way they

86
00:04:55,839 --> 00:04:58,960
Speaker 1: realized that that old agricultural root of their candy had

87
00:04:58,960 --> 00:05:01,719
Speaker 1: faded into the past. A new name was needed for

88
00:05:01,800 --> 00:05:05,080
Speaker 1: their delicious treat, and it was eventually rebranded for the

89
00:05:05,080 --> 00:05:08,480
Speaker 1: modern world. The bright colors and a catchy new name

90
00:05:08,680 --> 00:05:11,839
Speaker 1: help the candy secure its spot as a staple of Halloween,

91
00:05:12,200 --> 00:05:15,160
Speaker 1: and there it remains to this day. Sure it might

92
00:05:15,200 --> 00:05:17,880
Speaker 1: be one of the most divisive candies in America and

93
00:05:18,160 --> 00:05:20,600
Speaker 1: have a shelf life longer than a Twinkie, but you

94
00:05:20,720 --> 00:05:24,560
Speaker 1: have to admit Halloween just wouldn't be the same without

95
00:05:24,600 --> 00:05:41,760
Speaker 1: candy corn. Here's the story you probably think you know.

96
00:05:42,279 --> 00:05:46,520
Speaker 1: A family suffers an unspeakable tragedy. The oldest son, a handsome,

97
00:05:46,600 --> 00:05:49,800
Speaker 1: charismatic young man of nineteen, is killed in a horrific

98
00:05:49,839 --> 00:05:54,160
Speaker 1: motorcycle accident. His injuries are so severe the emergency responders

99
00:05:54,400 --> 00:05:56,839
Speaker 1: won't even let his parents see the body before he's

100
00:05:56,880 --> 00:06:00,240
Speaker 1: pronounced dead. Over the next three days, they go through

101
00:06:00,240 --> 00:06:02,839
Speaker 1: the harrowing task of laying their son to rest. The

102
00:06:02,960 --> 00:06:06,040
Speaker 1: night after the funeral, they lie awake feeling like they're

103
00:06:06,080 --> 00:06:08,920
Speaker 1: the ones whose lives are over. But the next morning,

104
00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:11,719
Speaker 1: the sun rises and there's still so much to do,

105
00:06:12,640 --> 00:06:15,400
Speaker 1: like filing a claim on their son's life insurance policy,

106
00:06:15,640 --> 00:06:19,039
Speaker 1: which will hopefully cover the burial expenses. Filling out the

107
00:06:19,080 --> 00:06:22,600
Speaker 1: paperwork is painful, but at least it should be straightforward,

108
00:06:23,240 --> 00:06:26,039
Speaker 1: or so they think. So the claim winds up on

109
00:06:26,080 --> 00:06:28,599
Speaker 1: the desk of an insurance inspector who spends his morning

110
00:06:28,640 --> 00:06:32,279
Speaker 1: reading over the details. The nineteen year old motorcyclist's name

111
00:06:32,400 --> 00:06:35,680
Speaker 1: was Angelo Hayes, from a small village in southern France.

112
00:06:36,080 --> 00:06:39,359
Speaker 1: His accident occurred on September first of nineteen thirty seven,

113
00:06:39,480 --> 00:06:42,560
Speaker 1: and it's unclear if he was speeding or driving recklessly,

114
00:06:42,600 --> 00:06:45,679
Speaker 1: but he wound up crashing headfirst into a brick wall

115
00:06:46,040 --> 00:06:49,240
Speaker 1: medical experts pronounced him dead, and he was buried three

116
00:06:49,320 --> 00:06:53,040
Speaker 1: days later. It all seems pretty cut and dried, except

117
00:06:53,040 --> 00:06:56,440
Speaker 1: for one troubling detail. Angelo's father took out the life

118
00:06:56,480 --> 00:07:00,520
Speaker 1: insurance policy worth two hundred thousand francs right for the

119
00:07:00,560 --> 00:07:04,280
Speaker 1: young man's death. If your foul play alarms are blaring,

120
00:07:04,480 --> 00:07:08,479
Speaker 1: you're not alone. The insurance inspector finds this very suspicious,

121
00:07:08,760 --> 00:07:11,360
Speaker 1: to the point that he questions whether Angelo's death was

122
00:07:11,400 --> 00:07:14,000
Speaker 1: an accident at all. There's only one way to find

123
00:07:14,040 --> 00:07:17,160
Speaker 1: out for certain. The inspector gets approval to exhume the

124
00:07:17,200 --> 00:07:20,800
Speaker 1: body and heads out to the cemetery. By this point,

125
00:07:20,880 --> 00:07:23,640
Speaker 1: five days have passed since the crash, and Angelo has

126
00:07:23,640 --> 00:07:26,040
Speaker 1: been in the ground for three. But when the coffin

127
00:07:26,120 --> 00:07:28,440
Speaker 1: is dug up and open, there is no stink of

128
00:07:28,520 --> 00:07:31,880
Speaker 1: rotting flesh. Angelo's in there, though, and his injury seem

129
00:07:31,960 --> 00:07:35,120
Speaker 1: to confirm the official story. His skull is cracked and

130
00:07:35,160 --> 00:07:38,960
Speaker 1: his face is so damaged he's barely recognizable. Still, the

131
00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:42,200
Speaker 1: inspector can feel that there's something wrong here, so he

132
00:07:42,320 --> 00:07:46,240
Speaker 1: keeps searching, and then he finds it, not evidence of murder,

133
00:07:46,520 --> 00:07:51,800
Speaker 1: but something even more alarming. A heartbeat. Angelo Hayes is alive.

134
00:07:52,600 --> 00:07:56,080
Speaker 1: He's unconscious and his breathing is incredibly shallow, but he's

135
00:07:56,080 --> 00:07:58,720
Speaker 1: got a pulse. The inspector can't believe it, and he

136
00:07:58,800 --> 00:08:02,200
Speaker 1: immediately calls for help. Angelo is lifted from the grave

137
00:08:02,320 --> 00:08:05,040
Speaker 1: and rushed to the hospital, where medical experts try to

138
00:08:05,040 --> 00:08:08,480
Speaker 1: piece together what happened. It doesn't take long to work

139
00:08:08,560 --> 00:08:11,520
Speaker 1: out a leading theory. It seems that the motorcycle crash

140
00:08:11,560 --> 00:08:14,760
Speaker 1: that fractured Angelo's skull put him into a coma. This

141
00:08:14,880 --> 00:08:17,840
Speaker 1: caused many of his bodily functions to shut down, making

142
00:08:17,920 --> 00:08:21,880
Speaker 1: him appear dead. Remember this was nineteen thirty seven, not

143
00:08:22,040 --> 00:08:25,000
Speaker 1: twenty twenty. His heartbeat was so faint that even the

144
00:08:25,080 --> 00:08:28,880
Speaker 1: doctors missed it. This also explains how he's lasted so long.

145
00:08:28,960 --> 00:08:33,520
Speaker 1: Underground coffins typically hold enough oxygen for five to six hours,

146
00:08:33,840 --> 00:08:37,240
Speaker 1: but Angelo's breathing was so low that that small amount

147
00:08:37,240 --> 00:08:40,080
Speaker 1: of air lasted him for two whole days. Although he

148
00:08:40,120 --> 00:08:42,760
Speaker 1: probably wouldn't have made it much longer. If the insurance

149
00:08:42,760 --> 00:08:46,280
Speaker 1: inspect hadn't come along right when he did, Angelo really

150
00:08:46,280 --> 00:08:50,040
Speaker 1: would have been dead. It feels like a miracle, and

151
00:08:50,120 --> 00:08:53,839
Speaker 1: with medical care, Angelo soon wakes up. He goes through

152
00:08:53,880 --> 00:08:57,240
Speaker 1: the extensive procedures to treat his injuries and even makes

153
00:08:57,280 --> 00:09:00,360
Speaker 1: a full recovery, needless to say, and some of those

154
00:09:00,400 --> 00:09:03,640
Speaker 1: parents are overjoyed to have their son back, and Angelo

155
00:09:03,800 --> 00:09:06,559
Speaker 1: is grateful to be alive and winds up profiting from

156
00:09:06,600 --> 00:09:09,360
Speaker 1: the experience. His story spreads to the point that he

157
00:09:09,400 --> 00:09:14,280
Speaker 1: becomes a minor celebrity in France. Meanwhile, the insurance inspector

158
00:09:14,320 --> 00:09:17,080
Speaker 1: gets to go home a hero. He rescued a young man,

159
00:09:17,520 --> 00:09:21,000
Speaker 1: reunited a family, and saved his company from paying out

160
00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:24,480
Speaker 1: death benefits worth two hundred thousand francs. It just goes

161
00:09:24,520 --> 00:09:26,960
Speaker 1: to show you that you don't always know where someone's

162
00:09:26,960 --> 00:09:35,160
Speaker 1: story is heading, and sometimes everyone wins. I hope you've

163
00:09:35,240 --> 00:09:39,199
Speaker 1: enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe

164
00:09:39,200 --> 00:09:41,840
Speaker 1: for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the

165
00:09:41,880 --> 00:09:46,640
Speaker 1: show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was

166
00:09:46,760 --> 00:09:50,560
Speaker 1: created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how Stuff Works.

167
00:09:51,000 --> 00:09:54,120
Speaker 1: I make another award winning show called Lore, which is

168
00:09:54,240 --> 00:09:57,600
Speaker 1: a podcast, book series, and television show, and you can

169
00:09:57,679 --> 00:09:59,960
Speaker 1: learn all about it over at the World of Lore

170
00:10:00,320 --> 00:10:05,120
Speaker 1: dot com. And until next time, stay curious. H