1 00:00:03,760 --> 00:00:07,840 Speaker 1: Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history 2 00:00:08,039 --> 00:00:11,520 Speaker 1: is an open book, all of these amazing tales right 3 00:00:11,520 --> 00:00:16,640 Speaker 1: there on display, just waiting for us to explore. Welcome 4 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:29,800 Speaker 1: to the Cabinet of Curiosities. Any hairbrain scheme or wild 5 00:00:29,840 --> 00:00:33,360 Speaker 1: new idea is typically met with the same reaction when 6 00:00:33,440 --> 00:00:37,640 Speaker 1: pigs fly too many. The idea of airborne livestock is 7 00:00:37,760 --> 00:00:40,640 Speaker 1: unheard of. After all, it's not like pigs have wings, 8 00:00:40,760 --> 00:00:45,080 Speaker 1: do they. However, organizers of the nineteen thirty St. Louis 9 00:00:45,120 --> 00:00:50,159 Speaker 1: International Air Exposition needed something new to enthrall audiences. Now, 10 00:00:50,280 --> 00:00:52,760 Speaker 1: you wouldn't think that an air show in nineteen thirties 11 00:00:52,800 --> 00:00:56,400 Speaker 1: Missouri would need a gimmick to keep spectators entertained. Pilots 12 00:00:56,440 --> 00:00:59,840 Speaker 1: performing aerial tricks overhead should have been enough, but the 13 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:03,680 Speaker 1: people demanded more. They wanted to see something they had 14 00:01:03,760 --> 00:01:06,959 Speaker 1: never seen before. So the show organizers looked for a 15 00:01:07,040 --> 00:01:13,120 Speaker 1: new act, something bold, something daring, something bizarre, And that's 16 00:01:13,120 --> 00:01:16,679 Speaker 1: when they turned to Ali. She went up on February 17 00:01:16,720 --> 00:01:20,280 Speaker 1: eighteenth of nine thirty in a Ford Trimotor. The three 18 00:01:20,280 --> 00:01:23,240 Speaker 1: engine prop plane traveled a total of seventy two miles 19 00:01:23,280 --> 00:01:26,720 Speaker 1: from Bismarck, Missouri, to St. Louis. People on the ground 20 00:01:26,800 --> 00:01:29,600 Speaker 1: watched in awe as a team of scientists and a 21 00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:34,120 Speaker 1: farmer named Ellsworth W. Buntz went up along with her bunts, 22 00:01:34,200 --> 00:01:37,880 Speaker 1: crouched beside her with a bucket and his hands ready 23 00:01:37,920 --> 00:01:40,840 Speaker 1: to pull on her utters. If you haven't guessed it 24 00:01:40,840 --> 00:01:43,760 Speaker 1: by now, the Ali I'm referring to was no pig. 25 00:01:44,280 --> 00:01:47,080 Speaker 1: She was a cow, a Guernsey cow, to be exact, 26 00:01:47,280 --> 00:01:50,000 Speaker 1: and a very productive one at that. It was said 27 00:01:50,040 --> 00:01:52,320 Speaker 1: that she had to be milked three times a day, 28 00:01:52,360 --> 00:01:55,680 Speaker 1: far more than her bovine colleagues on the farm. Because 29 00:01:55,720 --> 00:01:58,880 Speaker 1: of her overabundance of milk, Ali was chosen for the 30 00:01:58,960 --> 00:02:01,680 Speaker 1: unique honor of being the first cow to fly in 31 00:02:01,720 --> 00:02:05,800 Speaker 1: an airplane. As the plane flew, Bunce was able to 32 00:02:05,840 --> 00:02:08,560 Speaker 1: procure twenty four quarts of milk from her, which he 33 00:02:08,639 --> 00:02:12,440 Speaker 1: packaged up in brown cartons and parachuted down to the audience. 34 00:02:12,880 --> 00:02:15,919 Speaker 1: Famous aviator Charles Lindbergh was said to have caught one 35 00:02:15,960 --> 00:02:19,440 Speaker 1: for himself. But I know what you're thinking, why put 36 00:02:19,480 --> 00:02:23,200 Speaker 1: a cow on an airplane? Well. Scientists had wanted to 37 00:02:23,200 --> 00:02:26,720 Speaker 1: test the effects of high altitude on livestock, and the St. 38 00:02:26,720 --> 00:02:29,440 Speaker 1: Louis International Air Expo was in need of a new 39 00:02:29,520 --> 00:02:32,519 Speaker 1: kind of attraction. What better way to solve both problems 40 00:02:32,520 --> 00:02:35,000 Speaker 1: at once than by putting a one ton dairy cow 41 00:02:35,080 --> 00:02:38,360 Speaker 1: in a small metal tube and firing her thousands of 42 00:02:38,360 --> 00:02:43,480 Speaker 1: feet into the air. The experiment worked, and elm Farm Ali, 43 00:02:43,520 --> 00:02:46,800 Speaker 1: as she came to be known, was awarded several firsts. 44 00:02:46,800 --> 00:02:49,200 Speaker 1: She was the first cow to fly in an airplane, 45 00:02:49,520 --> 00:02:52,519 Speaker 1: and because of her Ellsworth Bunts became the first man 46 00:02:52,680 --> 00:02:56,840 Speaker 1: to milk a cow on an airplane in flight. Ali's 47 00:02:56,840 --> 00:03:00,600 Speaker 1: achievement is still remembered today, just not in a anyone 48 00:03:00,720 --> 00:03:04,440 Speaker 1: might have expected. She became so popular that an operatta 49 00:03:04,520 --> 00:03:08,600 Speaker 1: was written about her, called Madam Butterfat, Written of course, 50 00:03:08,680 --> 00:03:12,960 Speaker 1: by the composer Muccini. It tells the story of how 51 00:03:12,960 --> 00:03:16,120 Speaker 1: Ali threatened to unleash a gigantic cow pie in the 52 00:03:16,160 --> 00:03:18,920 Speaker 1: plain's cabin unless her milk was dropped to the poor 53 00:03:19,040 --> 00:03:23,400 Speaker 1: children below. A production is still performed each year at 54 00:03:23,400 --> 00:03:27,880 Speaker 1: the National Mustard Museum in Middletown, Wisconsin, featuring such songs 55 00:03:27,919 --> 00:03:32,919 Speaker 1: as Bovine Cantata in B flat major and Yes, there 56 00:03:33,040 --> 00:03:36,800 Speaker 1: is indeed a National Mustard Museum. In fact, the museum 57 00:03:36,920 --> 00:03:39,880 Speaker 1: also celebrates Ali each year in a festival known as 58 00:03:39,920 --> 00:03:45,280 Speaker 1: Elm Farm Ali Day. Why Wisconsin when Ali hailed from Missouri. Well, 59 00:03:45,280 --> 00:03:48,560 Speaker 1: Wisconsin is the dairy capital of the US. It produces 60 00:03:48,600 --> 00:03:51,640 Speaker 1: more milk than any other state in the country. But 61 00:03:51,760 --> 00:03:55,320 Speaker 1: the mustard museum connection seems a bit more strange until 62 00:03:55,400 --> 00:03:58,560 Speaker 1: you hear the curator explain it. Apparently, there's an old 63 00:03:58,560 --> 00:04:02,440 Speaker 1: Wisconsin saying that goes something like this, A cow who 64 00:04:02,440 --> 00:04:05,360 Speaker 1: cuts the mustard is a cow who can be trusted, 65 00:04:05,800 --> 00:04:10,200 Speaker 1: and no cow is more trusted in Wisconsin than Elm Farm. Aye. 66 00:04:23,760 --> 00:04:27,960 Speaker 1: Giovanni Aldini was a scientist, like his uncle Luigi Galvanni. 67 00:04:28,440 --> 00:04:30,800 Speaker 1: Now if that name sounds familiar, that's because it's where 68 00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:34,400 Speaker 1: we get the term galvanism. Galvinism is the contraction of 69 00:04:34,440 --> 00:04:37,360 Speaker 1: a muscle when exposed to an electrical current. If you've 70 00:04:37,360 --> 00:04:41,120 Speaker 1: ever seen someone get taste, you've probably seen galvinism in action. 71 00:04:42,200 --> 00:04:45,479 Speaker 1: Toward the end of the eighteenth century, Aldini traveled extensively 72 00:04:45,760 --> 00:04:52,200 Speaker 1: performing grotesque experiments before captivated and disgusted audiences. He would 73 00:04:52,360 --> 00:04:54,520 Speaker 1: lob the head off an animal, then hook it up 74 00:04:54,520 --> 00:04:57,000 Speaker 1: to a battery and demonstrate how its jaw would open 75 00:04:57,000 --> 00:04:59,560 Speaker 1: and close, or how its eyes would move about in 76 00:04:59,560 --> 00:05:02,720 Speaker 1: their suck gets too many the animal looked like it 77 00:05:02,760 --> 00:05:07,880 Speaker 1: was somehow alive again. Aldini took his research further and 78 00:05:07,960 --> 00:05:11,159 Speaker 1: began experimenting on humans. He was one of the first 79 00:05:11,200 --> 00:05:15,120 Speaker 1: doctors to practice electroshock therapy on the brain, claiming it 80 00:05:15,160 --> 00:05:18,839 Speaker 1: could be used to cure a number of mental illnesses. However, 81 00:05:18,960 --> 00:05:21,720 Speaker 1: his greatest experiment was yet to come, and it would 82 00:05:21,760 --> 00:05:26,880 Speaker 1: change the world in unexpected ways. A London man named 83 00:05:26,920 --> 00:05:30,440 Speaker 1: George Forster had been convicted of murdering his wife and child. 84 00:05:30,880 --> 00:05:34,560 Speaker 1: The trial was scheduled quickly and witnesses called in to testify. 85 00:05:34,760 --> 00:05:38,040 Speaker 1: During the trial Forrester's mother in law explain how her 86 00:05:38,080 --> 00:05:41,000 Speaker 1: daughter and grandchild had gone to see him one Saturday 87 00:05:41,040 --> 00:05:44,320 Speaker 1: afternoon in December of eighteen o two. Apparently, he and 88 00:05:44,360 --> 00:05:47,240 Speaker 1: his wife didn't live together, despite her insistence that they 89 00:05:47,279 --> 00:05:49,720 Speaker 1: share a home as a family. She and the child 90 00:05:49,839 --> 00:05:53,400 Speaker 1: left on Sunday morning. On Monday, their bodies were found 91 00:05:53,400 --> 00:05:57,320 Speaker 1: in the Paddington Canal. It took almost no time for 92 00:05:57,360 --> 00:06:00,600 Speaker 1: the jury to find Forrester guilty. The courts sentenced him 93 00:06:00,640 --> 00:06:03,560 Speaker 1: to hang, followed by a dissection of the body shortly 94 00:06:03,600 --> 00:06:07,799 Speaker 1: after and Forrester was despondent. Not only had he lost 95 00:06:07,839 --> 00:06:11,360 Speaker 1: his family, but hanging was not a wholly effective method 96 00:06:11,400 --> 00:06:15,440 Speaker 1: of execution. Death row inmates had been known to lose consciousness, 97 00:06:15,480 --> 00:06:18,880 Speaker 1: giving them the appearance of having died before being dissected 98 00:06:18,880 --> 00:06:23,600 Speaker 1: alive on the exam table afterward, and that was Forrester's 99 00:06:23,600 --> 00:06:26,440 Speaker 1: greatest fear. So he fashioned a knife out of what 100 00:06:26,520 --> 00:06:28,960 Speaker 1: he could find in his cell and attempted to end 101 00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:32,400 Speaker 1: his own life before the hanging. It didn't work. With 102 00:06:32,440 --> 00:06:35,479 Speaker 1: all other options dried up, Forrester decided to come clean. 103 00:06:35,839 --> 00:06:38,680 Speaker 1: He confessed to his family's murder, how he hated his 104 00:06:38,760 --> 00:06:41,400 Speaker 1: wife and had brought her to the canal twice before, 105 00:06:41,800 --> 00:06:44,159 Speaker 1: but couldn't find the nerve to and her life until 106 00:06:44,200 --> 00:06:49,080 Speaker 1: that third and final visit. The hanging proceeded as planned, 107 00:06:49,240 --> 00:06:52,000 Speaker 1: and Forrester's body was quickly sent off to be examined. 108 00:06:52,320 --> 00:06:55,440 Speaker 1: The pace of the trial, hanging, and dissection of the 109 00:06:55,520 --> 00:06:59,320 Speaker 1: victim's body were considered hasty, even by the standards of 110 00:06:59,320 --> 00:07:02,480 Speaker 1: the time, and it was thought that Forrester's confession had 111 00:07:02,480 --> 00:07:05,280 Speaker 1: been coerced out of him, and that an officer named 112 00:07:05,279 --> 00:07:08,599 Speaker 1: mister Pass had rushed the trial simply to acquire a 113 00:07:08,640 --> 00:07:13,440 Speaker 1: fresh corpse for a wealthy benefactor. And that benefactor's name 114 00:07:14,200 --> 00:07:17,880 Speaker 1: none other than Giovanni Aldini. Is he He had big 115 00:07:17,920 --> 00:07:21,000 Speaker 1: plans for the late mister Forrester, which he demonstrated at 116 00:07:21,040 --> 00:07:24,760 Speaker 1: London's Royal College of Surgeons in eighteen o three. The 117 00:07:24,800 --> 00:07:28,520 Speaker 1: audience was packed with doctors and civilians, all craning their 118 00:07:28,560 --> 00:07:30,760 Speaker 1: necks to get a better look at the spectacle on 119 00:07:30,840 --> 00:07:34,840 Speaker 1: the operating room table. With the victim laid out on 120 00:07:34,920 --> 00:07:38,360 Speaker 1: the table, Doctor Aldini proceeded to take two conducting rods 121 00:07:38,400 --> 00:07:41,520 Speaker 1: connected to a mattery and pressed them against various parts 122 00:07:41,520 --> 00:07:44,400 Speaker 1: of Forrester's body. He would apply them to his face 123 00:07:44,600 --> 00:07:47,880 Speaker 1: and watch as the jaw moved and the muscles underneath contracted. 124 00:07:48,320 --> 00:07:51,560 Speaker 1: The left eye even opened when touched to his backside. 125 00:07:51,800 --> 00:07:55,280 Speaker 1: Forrester's entire body tensed up and his legs moved, as 126 00:07:55,360 --> 00:07:58,720 Speaker 1: though he were coming back to life. And that's what 127 00:07:58,840 --> 00:08:01,440 Speaker 1: some in the audience believe to be happening right before 128 00:08:01,480 --> 00:08:05,120 Speaker 1: their eyes, that a man was being electrocuted back to life. 129 00:08:05,560 --> 00:08:08,880 Speaker 1: In fact, Mr pass, the official who had allegedly obtained 130 00:08:08,880 --> 00:08:12,120 Speaker 1: the corpse for the scientist, was so disturbed by what 131 00:08:12,240 --> 00:08:15,240 Speaker 1: he saw that he died of shock soon after leaving 132 00:08:15,280 --> 00:08:21,080 Speaker 1: the theater. The fascination around Galvinism and al Dini's experiments 133 00:08:21,440 --> 00:08:25,440 Speaker 1: never really subsided, even as medical science continued to progress. 134 00:08:25,520 --> 00:08:30,000 Speaker 1: Through the nineteenth century, English poet Samuel Taylor Coolridge often 135 00:08:30,040 --> 00:08:34,000 Speaker 1: discussed with friends how electricity could be used to regenerate life. 136 00:08:34,840 --> 00:08:37,640 Speaker 1: Among those friends were a family of writers known as 137 00:08:37,679 --> 00:08:42,360 Speaker 1: the Godwins. Their daughter Mary, fascinated by these perverted tales 138 00:08:42,400 --> 00:08:46,880 Speaker 1: of mad science, eventually channeled her obsession into a story 139 00:08:46,960 --> 00:08:50,600 Speaker 1: of her own. In fact, Mary Godwin and that story 140 00:08:51,040 --> 00:08:54,920 Speaker 1: have come to define an entire genre of literature. But 141 00:08:55,040 --> 00:09:02,440 Speaker 1: you might know her better today as Mary Shelley. I 142 00:09:02,440 --> 00:09:05,959 Speaker 1: hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. 143 00:09:06,320 --> 00:09:09,439 Speaker 1: Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about 144 00:09:09,440 --> 00:09:14,000 Speaker 1: the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show 145 00:09:14,200 --> 00:09:17,520 Speaker 1: was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership with how 146 00:09:17,559 --> 00:09:21,160 Speaker 1: Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore, 147 00:09:21,400 --> 00:09:25,000 Speaker 1: which is a podcast, book series, and television show, and 148 00:09:25,040 --> 00:09:27,280 Speaker 1: you can learn all about it over at the World 149 00:09:27,320 --> 00:09:31,679 Speaker 1: of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.