Speaker 1: Welcomed Aaron Menkey's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is full
Speaker 1: 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. The story of Pierre Piccat wasn't actually told
Speaker 1: by Pierre Piccat. It was told by one Antoine Alou,
Speaker 1: the man responsible for his murder, but we'll get to
Speaker 1: that later. Pacade, born Francois Pierre Pacade, had been a
Speaker 1: shoemaker from Nemez, France, before he was thrust into life
Speaker 1: of intrigue and deception. He had everything going on for him.
Speaker 1: He had a good job, the love of a beautiful,
Speaker 1: rich woman named Marguerite Vigoro, and hardly a care in sight.
Speaker 1: By eighteen oh seven, Pierre had proposed a Vigoro and
Speaker 1: the two were engaged to be married, but their happiness
Speaker 1: was not meant to last. Matthew Loupain, one of Pierre's friends,
Speaker 1: was besotted with Vigaro and mad with jealousy. He wanted
Speaker 1: her for himself, but rather than let his friend be happy.
Speaker 1: He fueled that jealousy into something sinister. Lupienne, with assistance
Speaker 1: from his compatriots Solari and Shubar, conspired to take down
Speaker 1: the captivated cobbler by any means necessary. They reported Pierre
Speaker 1: to the authorities, accusing him of being a spy for England.
Speaker 1: Allu was aware of the false nature of the accusation,
Speaker 1: but did not participate in its spread, nor did he
Speaker 1: refute it to help Pierre. So Pierre was arrested on
Speaker 1: his wedding day no less, and whisked off to Fenistrelli,
Speaker 1: a fort in northern Italy that had been turned into
Speaker 1: a prison by the French. Seven years passed, during which
Speaker 1: time Pierre started digging, but not to freedom, rather to
Speaker 1: the adjacent cell. Inside was an Italian priest named Father Tory.
Speaker 1: The two inmates sparked up a strong friendship, and one
Speaker 1: year after they had met, Tory informed his companion of
Speaker 1: a hidden treasure that he had left behind in Milan.
Speaker 1: The priest died shortly after the confession. Pierre finally got
Speaker 1: his first taste of freedom when he was released in
Speaker 1: eighteen fourteen. The first stop on his journey back to
Speaker 1: society Milan to recover the treasure Father Tory had told
Speaker 1: him about. It was all there, and it was enough
Speaker 1: to buy him a new identity and get him back
Speaker 1: to France to pull off a revenge scheme like no other.
Speaker 1: But he didn't jump right in. Pierre took his time
Speaker 1: ten years in fact, to perfect the plan. His first
Speaker 1: course of action was to seek out Alu and get
Speaker 1: the names of the men who had had him arrested,
Speaker 1: and Alu gave Pierre all the information he needed, including
Speaker 1: the juicy tidbit that Lupien, the ringleader of the whole plot,
Speaker 1: had married Pierre's former fiance two years after the arrest.
Speaker 1: With anger coursing through his veins, Pierre picked off each
Speaker 1: member of the offending party one by one. He stabbed
Speaker 1: Shobar to death with a dagger before poisoning Solari, but
Speaker 1: the piece to resistance he saved for Lupien and his family. First,
Speaker 1: he tricked Lupien's daughter into marrying a criminal, and once
Speaker 1: they were wed, Picat had the groom arrested, which made
Speaker 1: the daughter so distraught that she died of shock. Lupien's
Speaker 1: name had been tarnished now, but there was still more
Speaker 1: work to be done, Pierre set his sights next on
Speaker 1: Lupien's son, whom he convinced to steal a bit of
Speaker 1: gold jewelry. The theft was found out and the Sun
Speaker 1: was incarcerated, And as if that wasn't enough, he then
Speaker 1: said his former friends restaurant ablaze his penultimate act of revenge,
Speaker 1: before finally stabbing the man to death. That shouldn't bend
Speaker 1: the end of it all, but Alou found out what
Speaker 1: Pierre had been up to and kidnapped him for his money.
Speaker 1: When Pierre refused to pony up, however, a Lou mortally
Speaker 1: wounded him and left him for dead. By the time
Speaker 1: the French police arrived, Pierre was close to death. He
Speaker 1: told the officers everything, the whole story of his revenge,
Speaker 1: before he succumbed to his injuries and died. Lu ran
Speaker 1: off to London, where he hid an obscurity until his
Speaker 1: death in eighteen twenty eight, but not before he told
Speaker 1: his side of the story to a French priest. Allegedly,
Speaker 1: parts of the epic tail he had not been privy
Speaker 1: too had been relayed to him by the ghost of
Speaker 1: Father Tory, the priest who had befriended Pierre in prison.
Speaker 1: And here's where I have to point out that if
Speaker 1: this murderous and intricate revenge plot sounds familiar, it's for
Speaker 1: a very good reason. It was published by an archivist
Speaker 1: with the Paris Police in eighteen thirty eight. His name
Speaker 1: was Jacques Pouchet, and he had put a series of
Speaker 1: books out called Memoirs of the Paris Police. But they
Speaker 1: aren't the reason we know the story today, because another
Speaker 1: author happened to come across it and adapted it for
Speaker 1: his own purposes. The character of Pierre became Edmund Dantes,
Speaker 1: who was arrested on false charges on his wedding day.
Speaker 1: He spent fourteen years in prison for a crime he
Speaker 1: did commit, where he met an Italian priest who told
Speaker 1: him of a buried treasure that had been hidden away.
Speaker 1: But it wasn't buried in Milan like Father Tory's treasure.
Speaker 1: This one was on the island of Monte Cristo. The
Speaker 1: Counts of Monte Cristo became one of Alexander Duma's most
Speaker 1: famous works, and inspired by the supposedly true experiences of
Speaker 1: the world's unluckiest shoemaker. Do Ma put it best when
Speaker 1: he wrote all human wisdom is contained in these two words,
Speaker 1: wait and hope. In the end, Pierre Piccad got his revenge,
Speaker 1: and all he had to do was just that wait
Speaker 1: and hope. Once out of nature, I shall never take
Speaker 1: my bodily form from any natural thing, but such a
Speaker 1: form as Grecian gold smiths make of hammered gold and
Speaker 1: gold enameline. Those words come from a poem called Sailing
Speaker 1: to Byzantium, written in nineteen six by William Butler Yates.
Speaker 1: The poem is about growing old and letting go of
Speaker 1: the physical realm as we prepare our bodies for something more.
Speaker 1: Yates had a passion for exploring the metaphysical, which is
Speaker 1: probably why he joined a secret society devoted to study
Speaker 1: in it. It was called the Hermetic Order of the
Speaker 1: Golden Dawn, formed in eighteen eighties seven around a collection
Speaker 1: of texts known as the Cipher Manuscripts. These manuscripts outlined
Speaker 1: a series of teachings and rituals centered on the four
Speaker 1: main elements of nature, earth, water, air, and fire. Those
Speaker 1: who studied the rituals learned about all kinds of occult subjects,
Speaker 1: including astrology and alchemy. Among the Hermetic Orders, alleged members
Speaker 1: were some of the greatest literary and artistic minds that
Speaker 1: would ever live. Sir Arthur Conan, Doyle, Brahms Stoker and
Speaker 1: British poet Charles Williams all belonged to the Order at
Speaker 1: one point, as did another guy, Alistair Crawley. Crawley, born
Speaker 1: in Warwickshire, England, in eighteen seventy five, was more than
Speaker 1: just a writer. He dabbled in several interesting hobbies, such
Speaker 1: as painting and even mounting climbing, but he was also
Speaker 1: an occultist. Crowley founded a religion known as Felima, meaning
Speaker 1: will in classical Greek. He relied on a text written
Speaker 1: himself called The Book of the Law, which was something
Speaker 1: of a bible for his religion. He had written it
Speaker 1: while on his honeymoon in Egypt, and its words had
Speaker 1: allegedly been dictated to him by the disembodied voice of
Speaker 1: his guardian angel named Iwas. Crawley's beliefs ran deep. To him.
Speaker 1: Magic was real and not the kind of magic one
Speaker 1: might encounter at a holiday work party or on a
Speaker 1: Las Vegas stage. Magic, which he spelled with a c
Speaker 1: K at the end, was the bridge between science and religion,
Speaker 1: change was possible through the power of sheer will. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: Yates was being courted magically speaking by a Russian journalist
Speaker 1: named Helena Blovotsky. She was the dubious head of the
Speaker 1: Theosophical Society, an organization that sought to join the mysticisms
Speaker 1: of the East and the West together, and she wanted
Speaker 1: Yates to become a member, but the poet was just
Speaker 1: two out there for them. He chose to spend his
Speaker 1: time performing magical experiments, a passion that he referred to
Speaker 1: as the most important pursuit of my life. One such
Speaker 1: experiment had Yates burning a flower until it was nothing
Speaker 1: but ash. Then he placed those ashes underneath a bell
Speaker 1: jar and left them in the moonlight for several nights,
Speaker 1: after which time the ghost of the flower was supposed
Speaker 1: to visibly float above the ashes. But the Society didn't
Speaker 1: take kindly to yates experiments and asked him to leave
Speaker 1: in eight But that didn't matter. He had already found
Speaker 1: a group much more amenimal to his brand of studies,
Speaker 1: the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. It's leader, McGregor Mathers,
Speaker 1: had wowed him with a demonstration of his magical powers,
Speaker 1: forcing him to see strange visions in his mind, and
Speaker 1: Yates possessed an infair actious enthusiasm for the Order and
Speaker 1: its goals, and enthusiasm not shared by one of its
Speaker 1: other members, Alistair Crawley. Yates believed that Crawley didn't hold
Speaker 1: the same values as everyone else. In fact, he thought
Speaker 1: his rival might be trying to use the Order's teachings
Speaker 1: to commit heinous acts of evil, so he tried to
Speaker 1: have Crawley expelled from their inner circle. In reality, Crowley
Speaker 1: might have just been a bit too socially progressive for
Speaker 1: yates taste, and that just didn't mesh with the orders
Speaker 1: more conservative beliefs. But he wasn't about to go down
Speaker 1: without a fight, so Yates traveled to Paris, where he
Speaker 1: consulted with McGregor Mathers and asked to be deputized. Crawley's goal,
Speaker 1: he told them, was to take over the London Temple
Speaker 1: on blythe Road, the one being watched over by Yates
Speaker 1: and a few others. So Mathers agreed and equipped him
Speaker 1: with several exorcism spells and various charms to aid him
Speaker 1: in his quest. Once back in England, Crawley made it
Speaker 1: to the temple and ascended the stairs. He started casting spells,
Speaker 1: but Yates and his two magical companion were ready. They
Speaker 1: waited until he was close enough and encountered Crowley with
Speaker 1: something even more powerful, a swift kick down the stairs.
Speaker 1: The disgraced Crowley took a tumble and then fled the temple,
Speaker 1: hoping to eventually coax others towards his cause. He wanted
Speaker 1: revenge against Yates and everyone else in the order who
Speaker 1: had wronged him. He even met the artist Althea Giles
Speaker 1: and tried to persuade her to help him, but she
Speaker 1: quickly turned the tables. She cut off a lock of
Speaker 1: Crawley's hair and gave it to Yates so that he
Speaker 1: could cast his own spells with it and keep Crowley
Speaker 1: at bay. William Butler Yates may be revered today as
Speaker 1: a poet, but to those with a more magical bent,
Speaker 1: he'll be fondly remembered as the victor against Alistair Crawley
Speaker 1: at the Battle of blythe Road. I hope you've enjoyed
Speaker 1: today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for
Speaker 1: free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show
Speaker 1: by visiting Curiosities podcast dot come. The show was created
Speaker 1: by me, Aaron Mankey 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 World of Lore
Speaker 1: dot com. And until next time, stay curious. Yeah,