1 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:07,480 Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of 2 00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:14,480 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 --> 00:00:22,639 Speaker 1: of these amazing tales right there on display, just waiting 5 00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:28,880 Speaker 1: for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. 6 00:00:36,720 --> 00:00:39,639 Speaker 1: If you live anywhere that gets really warm in the summers, 7 00:00:39,720 --> 00:00:41,400 Speaker 1: you know what a heat wave can do to your 8 00:00:41,440 --> 00:00:44,360 Speaker 1: blood pressure. Trying to work or even sleep when you're 9 00:00:44,400 --> 00:00:47,479 Speaker 1: covered with sweat is downright miserable. And the last thing 10 00:00:47,520 --> 00:00:50,240 Speaker 1: you want to deal with is other sticky, irritable people. 11 00:00:50,680 --> 00:00:53,400 Speaker 1: But when you can't escape your neighbors, when heat and 12 00:00:53,440 --> 00:00:57,400 Speaker 1: overcrowding get out of control, it creates a recipe for disaster, 13 00:00:57,840 --> 00:01:01,720 Speaker 1: and a single spark can sent an entire population spiraling 14 00:01:01,760 --> 00:01:05,640 Speaker 1: from frustration into madness. Allow me to set the scene 15 00:01:05,680 --> 00:01:08,400 Speaker 1: for you. It's May of two thousand and one in Delhi, 16 00:01:08,560 --> 00:01:11,280 Speaker 1: the capital of India and one of the most populous 17 00:01:11,280 --> 00:01:14,679 Speaker 1: cities in the world. May is the height of summer there, 18 00:01:14,880 --> 00:01:18,399 Speaker 1: and temperatures are creeping above one hundred and ten degrees fahrenheit. 19 00:01:19,040 --> 00:01:22,480 Speaker 1: You're at home, in your sweltering apartment with no air conditioning, 20 00:01:22,600 --> 00:01:26,600 Speaker 1: just a single electric fan humming away. As night falls, 21 00:01:26,640 --> 00:01:29,960 Speaker 1: you anxiously wonder if you're in for yet another sleepless night, 22 00:01:30,280 --> 00:01:33,279 Speaker 1: but you douse yourself in cold water, turn off the lights, 23 00:01:33,520 --> 00:01:36,640 Speaker 1: and try to ignore the heat. And then just as 24 00:01:36,680 --> 00:01:40,280 Speaker 1: you're starting to drift off, the power goes out. It's 25 00:01:40,319 --> 00:01:43,360 Speaker 1: a rolling blackout, a common measure on hot nights when 26 00:01:43,400 --> 00:01:46,479 Speaker 1: the grid is stretched past its breaking point. But now 27 00:01:46,560 --> 00:01:49,160 Speaker 1: you don't even have your fan, and the apartment is 28 00:01:49,200 --> 00:01:52,640 Speaker 1: starting to feel like a furnace. So what do you do? 29 00:01:53,360 --> 00:01:55,920 Speaker 1: Like many desperate people around the city, you climb out 30 00:01:55,960 --> 00:01:59,120 Speaker 1: onto the rooftop or balcony and try to sleep there. 31 00:01:59,520 --> 00:02:02,880 Speaker 1: It's still ridiculously hot, and now you've got the mosquitoes 32 00:02:02,920 --> 00:02:05,520 Speaker 1: to contend with, not to mention the risks of sleeping 33 00:02:05,560 --> 00:02:09,560 Speaker 1: outside in an overcrowded neighborhood, but at this point you're 34 00:02:09,600 --> 00:02:13,000 Speaker 1: desperate for sleep, so you stretch out and that's when 35 00:02:13,040 --> 00:02:16,680 Speaker 1: you hear it, a faint thumping sound, like something banging 36 00:02:16,760 --> 00:02:19,840 Speaker 1: on metal. As it grows louder, you realize that someone 37 00:02:19,919 --> 00:02:22,600 Speaker 1: is climbing up the drain pipe. Could it be a 38 00:02:22,639 --> 00:02:25,320 Speaker 1: neighbor from one of the other apartments. Who's gotten locked 39 00:02:25,320 --> 00:02:29,240 Speaker 1: out or is it thieves? Whatever it is, the sounds 40 00:02:29,320 --> 00:02:32,960 Speaker 1: keep getting louder until you can't bear the anticipation anymore. 41 00:02:33,400 --> 00:02:37,079 Speaker 1: You peer over the balcony. In your mind goes blank. 42 00:02:37,960 --> 00:02:40,720 Speaker 1: The person climbing toward you isn't a person at all. 43 00:02:41,120 --> 00:02:44,720 Speaker 1: It's a monkey or something with a distinctly ape like face. 44 00:02:45,080 --> 00:02:48,600 Speaker 1: It's between four and five feet tall, covered in shaggy 45 00:02:48,600 --> 00:02:52,040 Speaker 1: black fur, and wearing what looks like a motorcycle helmet. 46 00:02:52,480 --> 00:02:54,520 Speaker 1: It would be downright comical if it weren't for the 47 00:02:54,560 --> 00:02:58,320 Speaker 1: shiny metal claws on its fingertips, which are currently lashing 48 00:02:58,320 --> 00:03:02,600 Speaker 1: out straight toward you. The claws rake across your arms, 49 00:03:02,760 --> 00:03:05,480 Speaker 1: drawing blood. You fall back in horror and pain, but 50 00:03:05,520 --> 00:03:07,920 Speaker 1: the creature is already on the move. It leaps to 51 00:03:07,960 --> 00:03:10,800 Speaker 1: the next building, then down into the alleyway, where it 52 00:03:10,840 --> 00:03:15,880 Speaker 1: takes off into the darkness on rollerblades. It's a wild story, right. 53 00:03:16,240 --> 00:03:19,120 Speaker 1: The world is full of strange cryptids, but a rollerblading 54 00:03:19,240 --> 00:03:22,440 Speaker 1: monkey man hybrid with metal claws is definitely up there 55 00:03:22,480 --> 00:03:25,959 Speaker 1: for oddness. And if this were an isolated incident, it 56 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:29,320 Speaker 1: would be easy to dismiss. But my friends it was 57 00:03:29,440 --> 00:03:33,720 Speaker 1: not not at all. On the first night, fifteen people 58 00:03:33,760 --> 00:03:37,320 Speaker 1: reported seeing the creature. Many of them sustained serious injuries 59 00:03:37,360 --> 00:03:40,640 Speaker 1: in the form of bruises, bites, and scratches, and things 60 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:44,080 Speaker 1: only get worse from there. The following day there were 61 00:03:44,160 --> 00:03:48,600 Speaker 1: fifty attacks. Then the fatalities began. Two men fell to 62 00:03:48,640 --> 00:03:51,280 Speaker 1: their deaths from rooftops after screaming that they were being 63 00:03:51,320 --> 00:03:55,800 Speaker 1: pursued by the monkey Man. Newspapers dubbed it the Black Monkey. 64 00:03:56,000 --> 00:03:59,760 Speaker 1: They eagerly published the most sensational reports, alongside photos of 65 00:03:59,760 --> 00:04:03,840 Speaker 1: by and scratches. Fanning the flames of hysteria, bands of 66 00:04:03,920 --> 00:04:06,760 Speaker 1: vigilantes took to the streets, beating up anyone they deemed 67 00:04:06,800 --> 00:04:11,680 Speaker 1: suspiciously harry. Meanwhile, the phones of the Delhi police kept 68 00:04:11,760 --> 00:04:14,720 Speaker 1: ringing off the hook with sightings of the creature, and then, 69 00:04:14,800 --> 00:04:18,200 Speaker 1: after about two weeks, it all came to a screeching halt. 70 00:04:18,560 --> 00:04:22,000 Speaker 1: The calls slowed to a trickle, and the vigilantes went home. Oddly, 71 00:04:22,080 --> 00:04:25,040 Speaker 1: no suspects had been arrested. The monkey man, if there 72 00:04:25,040 --> 00:04:28,240 Speaker 1: ever was such a figure, was still at large, and 73 00:04:28,279 --> 00:04:31,599 Speaker 1: to this day the mystery has not been solved. So 74 00:04:32,040 --> 00:04:35,360 Speaker 1: what happened well, according to the official explanation it was 75 00:04:35,400 --> 00:04:39,200 Speaker 1: all the case of mass hysteria, which seems incredible considering 76 00:04:39,240 --> 00:04:43,200 Speaker 1: how many people it affected, But on closer inspection, there 77 00:04:43,279 --> 00:04:46,200 Speaker 1: wasn't much similarity between the many wounds that were treated. 78 00:04:46,520 --> 00:04:49,200 Speaker 1: Some could have been from stray dogs or rats, while 79 00:04:49,200 --> 00:04:52,200 Speaker 1: others might have been from normal monkeys. Deli boasts a 80 00:04:52,240 --> 00:04:56,520 Speaker 1: population of over twenty five thousand primates. After all, looking back, 81 00:04:56,720 --> 00:04:59,920 Speaker 1: maybe the monkey man really was a group delusion, induced 82 00:05:00,160 --> 00:05:04,640 Speaker 1: by stress and exacerbated by sensational tabloid reporting. But you 83 00:05:04,760 --> 00:05:07,440 Speaker 1: have to think the city's monkeys must have been dealing 84 00:05:07,440 --> 00:05:09,800 Speaker 1: with the heat as well, so maybe one of them 85 00:05:09,880 --> 00:05:12,719 Speaker 1: was having a really bad day and just needed a 86 00:05:12,720 --> 00:05:30,719 Speaker 1: way to cool off. In nineteen eighty four, amidst the 87 00:05:30,720 --> 00:05:34,760 Speaker 1: tumult of the Soviet Afghan War, photographer Steve McCurry embarked 88 00:05:34,760 --> 00:05:37,680 Speaker 1: on a mission. He was hired by National Geographic to 89 00:05:37,760 --> 00:05:41,080 Speaker 1: document the harrowing reality of refugee camps along the border 90 00:05:41,160 --> 00:05:45,919 Speaker 1: of Afghanistan and Pakistan. These camps provided a fragile sanctuary 91 00:05:46,200 --> 00:05:50,120 Speaker 1: for the displaced masses fleeting the war. McCurry's journey took 92 00:05:50,200 --> 00:05:53,440 Speaker 1: him through a labyrinthine network of thirty camps. One of 93 00:05:53,480 --> 00:05:56,960 Speaker 1: these camps, known as Nasir bag became the focal point 94 00:05:57,080 --> 00:06:01,479 Speaker 1: of his expedition. Established in nineteen eighty, Nasir Bog's population, 95 00:06:01,600 --> 00:06:04,920 Speaker 1: at one point reached one hundred thousand. As he walked 96 00:06:04,960 --> 00:06:07,920 Speaker 1: through the camp, McCurry stumbled upon a scene that altered 97 00:06:07,960 --> 00:06:11,039 Speaker 1: the course of his career. A small school for girls. 98 00:06:11,520 --> 00:06:14,400 Speaker 1: One of the fifteen girls stood out, a twelve year 99 00:06:14,440 --> 00:06:18,160 Speaker 1: old with piercing green eyes. When McCurry lifted his lens, 100 00:06:18,360 --> 00:06:21,920 Speaker 1: the girl shielded her face, a silent gesture of defiance 101 00:06:21,960 --> 00:06:24,359 Speaker 1: against a world that had turned its back on her plight. 102 00:06:24,800 --> 00:06:28,039 Speaker 1: But her teacher urged her to reveal herself. She wanted 103 00:06:28,080 --> 00:06:31,720 Speaker 1: the world to see. The girl complied, and in that 104 00:06:31,800 --> 00:06:35,600 Speaker 1: moment of vulnerability, McCurry captured an image that would reverberate 105 00:06:35,640 --> 00:06:39,280 Speaker 1: across the globe, a portrait of resilience and the suffering 106 00:06:39,320 --> 00:06:42,200 Speaker 1: of a nation torn apart by war. The photograph was 107 00:06:42,240 --> 00:06:45,760 Speaker 1: published in the June nineteen eighty five edition of National Geographic, 108 00:06:45,880 --> 00:06:48,760 Speaker 1: and because McCurry didn't have a translator with him that day, 109 00:06:48,760 --> 00:06:52,480 Speaker 1: he simply titled the photo the Afghan Girl. The young 110 00:06:52,560 --> 00:06:54,479 Speaker 1: girl didn't know it, but the photo made her the 111 00:06:54,560 --> 00:06:58,480 Speaker 1: poster child for her people's hardship. Something about her unreadable 112 00:06:58,520 --> 00:07:02,919 Speaker 1: gaze equally haunted and inspired viewers. Soon people around the 113 00:07:02,920 --> 00:07:07,040 Speaker 1: world began referring to this image as the Afghan Mona Lisa. 114 00:07:07,360 --> 00:07:10,720 Speaker 1: But for McCurry this was just the beginning. He returned 115 00:07:10,720 --> 00:07:14,800 Speaker 1: to Afghanistan throughout his career, and then in January of 116 00:07:14,880 --> 00:07:17,679 Speaker 1: two thousand and two, McCurry learned that the Nasir Bog 117 00:07:17,720 --> 00:07:20,680 Speaker 1: camp was being closed. He and a team from National 118 00:07:20,720 --> 00:07:24,000 Speaker 1: Geographic returned to the country once more, this time in 119 00:07:24,040 --> 00:07:26,840 Speaker 1: search of a girl who had changed the world. By now, 120 00:07:27,040 --> 00:07:30,160 Speaker 1: she'd be about thirty years old. When he arrived back 121 00:07:30,160 --> 00:07:33,200 Speaker 1: in Nasir Bag, McCurry spoke to many of the people 122 00:07:33,240 --> 00:07:36,160 Speaker 1: still there. With nothing but the photo of the Afghan 123 00:07:36,200 --> 00:07:39,200 Speaker 1: girl and the little information he had, he and his 124 00:07:39,240 --> 00:07:42,480 Speaker 1: team eventually found someone who claimed to know the woman's brother. 125 00:07:42,960 --> 00:07:45,960 Speaker 1: That person sent word to the family that McCurry was 126 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:49,240 Speaker 1: looking for her. Finally, McCurry and his team were sent 127 00:07:49,320 --> 00:07:53,360 Speaker 1: to a remote region of Afghanistan. There, amidst the desolate 128 00:07:53,400 --> 00:07:56,880 Speaker 1: beauty of the landscape, they found her, a woman weathered 129 00:07:56,920 --> 00:08:00,920 Speaker 1: by time and circumstance, yet bearing the same steely resolved 130 00:08:00,960 --> 00:08:04,880 Speaker 1: that had captivated the photographer decades earlier. In that moment 131 00:08:04,920 --> 00:08:08,920 Speaker 1: of reunion, time seemed to stand still as McCurry beheld 132 00:08:08,960 --> 00:08:12,600 Speaker 1: the Afghan Girl once more. As he captured her image anew, 133 00:08:12,720 --> 00:08:15,320 Speaker 1: he was struck by the familiarity of her gaze. She 134 00:08:15,480 --> 00:08:17,800 Speaker 1: posed for the camera the same way she did all 135 00:08:17,840 --> 00:08:21,600 Speaker 1: those years before, face turned toward the lens, eyes lit 136 00:08:21,800 --> 00:08:26,600 Speaker 1: with resolve. Later IRIS recognition technology helped confirm that the 137 00:08:26,640 --> 00:08:30,280 Speaker 1: woman was indeed the Afghan Girl, and the world finally 138 00:08:30,360 --> 00:08:33,640 Speaker 1: learned her name as well, Sharbat Gula. She was a 139 00:08:33,679 --> 00:08:36,520 Speaker 1: mother and a widow, and although she recalled being photographed 140 00:08:36,520 --> 00:08:39,120 Speaker 1: in the nineteen eighties, it wasn't until she met McCurry 141 00:08:39,160 --> 00:08:41,440 Speaker 1: in two thousand and two that she laid eyes on 142 00:08:41,520 --> 00:08:45,360 Speaker 1: the iconic image. Seeing the photograph probably brought her back 143 00:08:45,400 --> 00:08:48,080 Speaker 1: to that painful time in her life. Her parents had 144 00:08:48,120 --> 00:08:51,559 Speaker 1: been killed when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, and she traveled 145 00:08:51,559 --> 00:08:55,280 Speaker 1: to Nasir Bag by foot with her sister's brother and grandmother. 146 00:08:55,800 --> 00:08:59,480 Speaker 1: Gula's journey became a testament to the indomitable human spirit 147 00:08:59,760 --> 00:09:03,400 Speaker 1: in the face of adversity. For over a decade following 148 00:09:03,400 --> 00:09:07,160 Speaker 1: her meeting with McCurry, Gula continued to suffer displacement as 149 00:09:07,160 --> 00:09:10,960 Speaker 1: a result of the conflict in Afghanistan, but in twenty sixteen, 150 00:09:11,240 --> 00:09:14,439 Speaker 1: the Afghan government gifted her a house to call her home. 151 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:18,040 Speaker 1: In the annals of history, the Afghan Girl remains more 152 00:09:18,080 --> 00:09:20,800 Speaker 1: than just a photograph. She is a symbol of the 153 00:09:20,960 --> 00:09:24,400 Speaker 1: enduring human spirit, and in the eyes of Steve McCurry, 154 00:09:24,679 --> 00:09:33,960 Speaker 1: she's a reminder of photography's power to transcend borders. I 155 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:37,520 Speaker 1: hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. 156 00:09:37,840 --> 00:09:40,959 Speaker 1: Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about 157 00:09:40,960 --> 00:09:45,520 Speaker 1: the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show 158 00:09:45,760 --> 00:09:49,000 Speaker 1: was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how 159 00:09:49,080 --> 00:09:52,680 Speaker 1: Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore, 160 00:09:52,920 --> 00:09:56,520 Speaker 1: which is a podcast, book series, and television show, and 161 00:09:56,600 --> 00:09:59,200 Speaker 1: you can learn all about it over at the Worldolore 162 00:09:59,440 --> 00:10:03,200 Speaker 1: dot com. And until next time, stay curious.