WEBVTT - S05 Episode 7: A Man of Wealth and Taste 0:00:10.560 --> 0:00:13.760 The quest for immortality and he urged to escape the 0:00:13.760 --> 0:00:17.600 inevitability of death has long been a preoccupation for us, 0:00:17.960 --> 0:00:22.360 as evidenced by the ancient Sumerian poem The Epic of Gilgamesh, 0:00:23.200 --> 0:00:28.640 the oldest example of written literature known today. In the poem, 0:00:28.640 --> 0:00:34.520 written sometime around eighteen hundred BC in Mesopotamia, the titular Gilgamesh, 0:00:34.840 --> 0:00:39.960 part hero, part arrogant demigod, undertakes an audacious mission to 0:00:40.000 --> 0:00:44.280 find the secret immortality after being confronted by the inevitability 0:00:44.360 --> 0:00:48.000 of his own death. Though we might not be demigods 0:00:48.080 --> 0:00:52.400 like Gilgamesh, his desperate refusal to accept the inevitability of 0:00:52.440 --> 0:00:55.600 his fate is a deeply human one, and something that 0:00:55.640 --> 0:00:59.200 many of us can sympathize with, whether we elect to 0:00:59.240 --> 0:01:02.440 place our hope in the promises of religious teachers or 0:01:02.480 --> 0:01:06.840 in the invention and imagination of our leading biogerontologists, those 0:01:06.920 --> 0:01:10.000 that study the mechanics of aging. There aren't many of 0:01:10.080 --> 0:01:14.280 us who haven't contemplated the possibility of existing forever in 0:01:14.319 --> 0:01:18.679 one form or another. However, although some of us may 0:01:18.760 --> 0:01:21.560 want for it, being a mortal is rarely portrayed as 0:01:21.600 --> 0:01:25.160 something desirable, and at the very least as something that 0:01:25.200 --> 0:01:28.440 can only be achieved at a great cost, from the 0:01:28.520 --> 0:01:31.520 burdens of Cone McCloud in his pursuit to become the 0:01:31.600 --> 0:01:35.399 only remaining Highlander, to the pitiful efforts of Melmouth the 0:01:35.440 --> 0:01:38.320 Wanderer to convince another soul to take on his pack 0:01:38.440 --> 0:01:41.160 with the devil in return for another one hundred and 0:01:41.240 --> 0:01:44.959 fifty years of life. In fact, we take great pains 0:01:45.000 --> 0:01:49.120 to dissuade ourselves from wanting it. Perhaps this is simply 0:01:49.160 --> 0:01:51.720 to provide some comfort in the face of such a 0:01:51.760 --> 0:01:56.800 futile desire, but it doesn't stop us trying back. In 0:01:56.880 --> 0:02:00.600 October this year, a team led by Tel Aviv University 0:02:00.640 --> 0:02:05.480 professor Shay Fratti published the results of an extraordinary study 0:02:05.560 --> 0:02:10.240 in the journal Aging. The study, to determine the effect 0:02:10.240 --> 0:02:14.239 of pure oxygen on the aging process, involved placing thirty 0:02:14.240 --> 0:02:17.040 five adults over the age of sixty four in a 0:02:17.120 --> 0:02:20.919 hyperbaric chamber and giving them pure oxygen for ninety minutes 0:02:20.919 --> 0:02:23.720 a day, five days a week over the course of 0:02:23.800 --> 0:02:28.560 three months. Through this process, of Fratti's team found they 0:02:28.560 --> 0:02:31.399 were able to successfully limit the build up of senescent 0:02:31.480 --> 0:02:34.240 cells in the body, cells that have aged to the 0:02:34.280 --> 0:02:37.400 point where they can no longer replicate, leaving the bodies 0:02:37.400 --> 0:02:42.639 susceptible to many age related diseases. Incredibly, not only did 0:02:42.639 --> 0:02:48.359 this delay the aging process, but actually reversed it. Aubrey 0:02:48.400 --> 0:02:52.400 De Gray, one of the best known biogerontologists, has long 0:02:52.440 --> 0:02:56.160 insisted that medical technology were one day allowers to control 0:02:56.200 --> 0:02:59.919 the aging process, even making the stunning claim as far 0:03:00.120 --> 0:03:02.880 back as two thousand and eight that the first person 0:03:02.960 --> 0:03:06.640 who lived to a thousand years old is already alive today. 0:03:07.960 --> 0:03:11.600 There are some, however, who'd say that this person isn't 0:03:11.639 --> 0:03:15.320 just alive right now, but they've already lived to be 0:03:15.400 --> 0:03:20.520 over a thousand years old. You're listening to Unexplained, and 0:03:20.639 --> 0:03:31.560 I'm Richard McClane Smith. It was sometime in the seventeen 0:03:31.639 --> 0:03:37.000 seventies that Countess of Adama, Mary Antoinette's personal attendant, first 0:03:37.080 --> 0:03:41.280 met him. For her, it was his eyes that mosted out. 0:03:42.000 --> 0:03:46.520 They were like nothing she'd ever seen before. His teeth, too, 0:03:46.600 --> 0:03:50.080 were immaculate, and all the more noticeable for being framed 0:03:50.080 --> 0:03:53.160 by such a thick head of luxuriant jet black hair. 0:03:54.560 --> 0:03:57.840 And though his clothes were simple, they were nonetheless made 0:03:57.880 --> 0:04:02.520 from the finest materials and decorated with the most exquisite jewelry. 0:04:03.760 --> 0:04:06.400 It was an appearance she assumed would be accompanied by 0:04:06.400 --> 0:04:11.120 a certain steely, if not arrogant, countenance. However, when she 0:04:11.240 --> 0:04:14.000 finally plucked up the courage to approach him one afternoon 0:04:14.040 --> 0:04:18.040 at the court, though his stare was penetrating, so too 0:04:18.400 --> 0:04:22.840 was it soft and inviting. Despite everything the Countess had 0:04:22.880 --> 0:04:25.560 heard about the man, it was quite something to see 0:04:25.640 --> 0:04:28.680 him finally in the flesh, looking no more than forty 0:04:28.680 --> 0:04:32.040 five years old. And yet it was back in seventeen 0:04:32.160 --> 0:04:36.640 forty three, over thirty years previously, that he'd first appeared 0:04:36.720 --> 0:04:40.080 mysteriously one day at the Palace of Versailles, home to 0:04:40.200 --> 0:04:45.640 King of France Louis the fifteenth, looking exactly the same age. 0:04:46.440 --> 0:04:49.880 For the Countess of Gergi meeting him around the same time, 0:04:50.440 --> 0:04:54.719 the effect was even more stark. Fifty years earlier, when 0:04:54.760 --> 0:04:57.440 living in Venice with her husband, who was the French 0:04:57.480 --> 0:05:00.719 ambassador at the time, she'd been used to a man 0:05:01.000 --> 0:05:04.039 that looked nearly identical who went by the name of 0:05:04.200 --> 0:05:07.599 Marquis Belletti. Had it not been for the sheer number 0:05:07.600 --> 0:05:11.040 of intervening years, she would have sworn it was his double. 0:05:11.720 --> 0:05:15.120 The Countess was so taken by the similarities she was 0:05:15.160 --> 0:05:18.640 compelled to ask him if perhaps this Belletti character had 0:05:18.680 --> 0:05:23.400 been his grandfather or another close relative. Perhaps. The man 0:05:23.520 --> 0:05:27.400 simply smiled and congratulated the Countess on the solidity of 0:05:27.400 --> 0:05:30.320 her memory, for it was not his grandfather at all, 0:05:30.960 --> 0:05:34.240 but himself, who had been traveling under a different name 0:05:34.480 --> 0:05:38.440 at the time. But it couldn't be thought, the Countess, 0:05:39.080 --> 0:05:41.760 realizing as she drew a little closer to him, that 0:05:41.880 --> 0:05:44.440 it was indeed the man she'd met in Venice all 0:05:44.480 --> 0:05:48.440 those years ago. If anything, he even looked a little 0:05:48.480 --> 0:05:52.800 younger than he had back then. The man, as it 0:05:52.839 --> 0:05:56.120 turned out, had been known by many names over the years, 0:05:56.960 --> 0:05:59.560 but there was one for which he will forever be known, 0:06:00.560 --> 0:06:10.760 the Count of Saint Germain. It's not known exactly when 0:06:10.800 --> 0:06:13.520 the Count of Saint Germain first arrived at the Palace 0:06:13.520 --> 0:06:16.960 of the Psailles, only that he arrived a complete stranger, 0:06:17.640 --> 0:06:22.400 but left the talk of French upper class society. A 0:06:22.520 --> 0:06:26.560 keen conversationalist, he was said to be immeasurably knowledgeable about 0:06:26.600 --> 0:06:30.880 everything from politics and philosophy to art and the sciences, 0:06:31.520 --> 0:06:36.680 but also fluent in nine languages, including Italian, Sanskrit and Chinese, 0:06:37.200 --> 0:06:41.000 as well as being, according to some amongst the finest 0:06:41.080 --> 0:06:44.960 musicians of the day. But it was his apparent expertise 0:06:45.080 --> 0:06:48.000 and restoring jewels that first brought him to the attention 0:06:48.160 --> 0:06:52.679 of King Louis the fifteenth. In one instance, the Count 0:06:52.760 --> 0:06:55.320 was invited to fix a flawed diamond for the king. 0:06:56.160 --> 0:06:59.080 Having taken up the offer, he returned a month later 0:06:59.360 --> 0:07:02.839 and present of the King with his fixed diamond. Not 0:07:03.000 --> 0:07:05.880 only was the floor removed, but the diamond was now 0:07:05.960 --> 0:07:11.720 somehow even bigger than it had been before. The royal jeweler, 0:07:11.800 --> 0:07:15.560 who inspected it soon afterwards, declared that whatever the mysterious 0:07:15.600 --> 0:07:18.400 Count had done to it had increased its worth by 0:07:18.440 --> 0:07:23.600 fifty percent. Soon rumors began to circulate about the true 0:07:23.640 --> 0:07:27.680 nature of this mysterious count. Some declared him a charlatan, 0:07:28.240 --> 0:07:31.000 others that he was some kind of magician and expert 0:07:31.080 --> 0:07:35.280 alchemist who had even succeeded in discovering the Philosopher's Stone, 0:07:36.000 --> 0:07:39.160 the fabled substance that could turn base metals into gold 0:07:39.640 --> 0:07:42.520 and bestow those who knew its secret with the gift 0:07:42.560 --> 0:07:47.480 of immortality. Within a year, the Count of Saint Germain 0:07:47.840 --> 0:07:51.000 had become so trusted by King Louis the fifteenth that, 0:07:51.120 --> 0:07:55.000 when in December seventeen forty four, his mistress, the Duchess 0:07:55.000 --> 0:07:58.880 of Chateaurouse, lay dying from a suspected poisoning, it was 0:07:58.920 --> 0:08:01.760 allegedly to the out that the King turned for help. 0:08:03.040 --> 0:08:05.440 It isn't known exactly why the King would think san 0:08:05.560 --> 0:08:09.080 gimin capable of it. Nonetheless, he has said to have 0:08:09.120 --> 0:08:13.240 begged him to make an antidote to cure the duchess. However, 0:08:13.720 --> 0:08:16.560 the Count declined, saying that it was sadly too late 0:08:16.640 --> 0:08:21.240 to help. Many years later, when the Countess of Adamar 0:08:21.600 --> 0:08:24.440 asked him why he didn't do it, the Count replied 0:08:24.520 --> 0:08:27.800 coolly that had he done what the King asked, he 0:08:27.800 --> 0:08:30.239 would have been called on by each and any person 0:08:30.480 --> 0:08:32.959 hoping to save the life of a loved one every 0:08:33.000 --> 0:08:36.720 time they got sick. It was a responsibility that he 0:08:36.800 --> 0:08:40.920 could not bear, implying that although he was perfectly capable 0:08:41.080 --> 0:08:44.880 of holding sway over death, it would be simply impossible 0:08:45.240 --> 0:08:53.880 for him to save everybody. 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Strangely, for a man of 0:10:19.679 --> 0:10:24.400 such obvious renown, there exists little by way of letters, articles, 0:10:24.440 --> 0:10:28.199 or memoir certifiably written by the count himself, leading some 0:10:28.360 --> 0:10:30.960 to speculate as to whether he was even real at all. 0:10:32.360 --> 0:10:35.160 What we do have are a tantalizing array of brief 0:10:35.240 --> 0:10:38.720 encounters and momentary glimpses of the man as he crops 0:10:38.800 --> 0:10:42.120 up in the most unexpected places, and often in times 0:10:42.160 --> 0:10:47.520 of huge political significance, And so, like temper or detectives, 0:10:47.559 --> 0:10:50.120 we are left with only these scraps and snippets with 0:10:50.160 --> 0:10:53.480 which to give form to this most mystifying of individuals. 0:10:54.559 --> 0:10:57.160 The year after he is said to have first ingratiated 0:10:57.240 --> 0:11:01.320 himself with King Louis the fifteenth, him appearing suddenly in 0:11:01.400 --> 0:11:04.720 England in the midst of the Jacobite Rising, as the 0:11:04.760 --> 0:11:08.480 recently deposed House of Stuart attempted to regain control of 0:11:08.520 --> 0:11:13.320 the British throne. A letter written by Horace Walpole, author 0:11:13.480 --> 0:11:16.480 of The Castle of Otranto, considered to be the first 0:11:16.559 --> 0:11:21.559 Gothic novel, gives this account. The other day they seized 0:11:21.559 --> 0:11:24.240 an odd man who goes by the name of Count 0:11:24.320 --> 0:11:27.679 Saint Germain. He's been here these two years and will 0:11:27.720 --> 0:11:30.240 not tell who he is or where he is from, 0:11:31.000 --> 0:11:33.840 but professes that he does not go by his real name. 0:11:34.720 --> 0:11:39.720 He sings, plays on the violin wonderfully composes, is mad 0:11:39.920 --> 0:11:43.120 and not very sensible. The Prince of Wales has had 0:11:43.200 --> 0:11:48.640 unsatiated curiosity about him, but in vain. The letter was 0:11:48.640 --> 0:11:51.040 written after the Count had been arrested when he was 0:11:51.080 --> 0:11:54.840 found to be carrying a note allegedly from Charles Edward Stuart, 0:11:55.120 --> 0:11:57.640 head of the House of Stuart, thanking him for his 0:11:57.760 --> 0:12:03.200 help in trying to secure the throne. What exactly brought 0:12:03.280 --> 0:12:05.720 the count to England, like much of what we know 0:12:05.760 --> 0:12:09.640 of his life, is unclear. What is known, however, is 0:12:09.679 --> 0:12:12.280 that two arias written by him were featured in an 0:12:12.320 --> 0:12:16.320 opera performed at the Haymarket Theater in London earlier that year. 0:12:17.320 --> 0:12:21.760 The pieces of music, along with roughly forty more Italian arias, 0:12:21.800 --> 0:12:25.280 seven solos for the violin, and a collection of English 0:12:25.280 --> 0:12:28.440 songs can be found in the Classical Music archives at 0:12:28.440 --> 0:12:32.600 the British Library. As musical historian Charles Burney wrote in 0:12:32.600 --> 0:12:35.960 his seventeen eighty nine book A General History of Music, 0:12:36.960 --> 0:12:39.839 an opera was attempted on April the seventh of the 0:12:39.880 --> 0:12:44.360 Little Theater in the Haymarket under the direction of Geminiani 0:12:44.840 --> 0:12:47.960 Prince Labkowitz, who was at this time in London and 0:12:48.120 --> 0:12:51.800 fond of music, and the celebrated and mysterious Count Saint 0:12:51.840 --> 0:12:56.679 Germain attended all the rehearsals. Perhaps this is simply more 0:12:56.720 --> 0:12:59.439 evidence of the high regard with which the count's musical 0:12:59.480 --> 0:13:03.240 talent was held, and yet it remains unusual that a 0:13:03.320 --> 0:13:06.480 man of which so little has been recorded would have 0:13:06.559 --> 0:13:10.280 his work performed in this manner. Things only become more 0:13:10.360 --> 0:13:13.839 intriguing when we take into account an unusual mural that 0:13:14.080 --> 0:13:17.439 was painted at the home of Johann Jacob Heidegger, once 0:13:17.520 --> 0:13:22.160 manager of the renowned King's Theater in London. Heidegger bought 0:13:22.160 --> 0:13:25.840 the property in seventeen forty four and had several murals 0:13:25.840 --> 0:13:30.280 of Swiss and Italian landscapes painted throughout it, and over 0:13:30.360 --> 0:13:34.280 one doorway still existing today, forming part of the mural, 0:13:34.760 --> 0:13:37.120 you'll find the painting of a book open on a 0:13:37.160 --> 0:13:40.800 piece of music written by none other than San German. 0:13:42.000 --> 0:13:44.800 The book also happens to be surrounded by a wreath 0:13:44.960 --> 0:13:51.319 of acanthus a symbol of immortality. Heidegger's painting has led 0:13:51.400 --> 0:13:53.720 some to speculate that there was a little more to 0:13:53.760 --> 0:13:57.480 the Count's music than met the ear, that he'd buried 0:13:57.480 --> 0:14:06.920 all his magical secrets within it. One of the few 0:14:07.000 --> 0:14:10.160 letters attributed to the Count of Saint German places him 0:14:10.160 --> 0:14:13.760 in India in seventeen fifty five. It is there that 0:14:13.800 --> 0:14:17.079 he claims to have learned his peculiar talent for restoring jewels, 0:14:17.520 --> 0:14:20.960 although details of what he learnt exactly are teasingly absent. 0:14:21.960 --> 0:14:24.960 As was ever the case, it wasn't merely a solitary 0:14:25.000 --> 0:14:28.320 trip of self discovery, but one spent in the company 0:14:28.360 --> 0:14:32.040 of Lieutenant Colonel Robert Clive, who was busy laying the 0:14:32.040 --> 0:14:35.160 foundations of the British Empire in India at the time. 0:14:36.480 --> 0:14:39.800 In seventeen fifty eight, we find a tantalizing mention of 0:14:39.800 --> 0:14:43.000 the Count in a letter written by Voltaire, one of 0:14:43.000 --> 0:14:46.400 the most brilliant writers and thinkers of the day, describing 0:14:46.520 --> 0:14:48.840 him as the man who does not die and who 0:14:48.920 --> 0:14:54.760 knows everything. And then five years later this from Austrian politician, 0:14:55.000 --> 0:14:58.480 Count Carl von Kourbenzel to the State Chancellor of the 0:14:58.480 --> 0:15:04.400 Hasburg Empire Anton. It was about three months ago that 0:15:04.480 --> 0:15:06.720 the person known by the name of the Count of 0:15:06.800 --> 0:15:09.920 Saint German passed this way and came to see me. 0:15:10.880 --> 0:15:13.160 I found him the most singular man that I've ever 0:15:13.200 --> 0:15:16.640 saw in my life. I do not yet precisely know 0:15:16.760 --> 0:15:19.440 his birth. I believe, however, that he is the son 0:15:19.480 --> 0:15:22.840 of a clandestine union in a powerful and illustrious family, 0:15:24.000 --> 0:15:27.920 possessing great wealth. He lives in the greatest simplicity. He 0:15:27.960 --> 0:15:32.240 knows everything and shows an uprightness, a goodness of soul 0:15:32.560 --> 0:15:36.960 worthy of admiration. Among a number of his accomplishments, he 0:15:37.040 --> 0:15:40.840 made under my own eyes, some experiments of which the 0:15:40.920 --> 0:15:44.480 most important were the transmutation of iron into a metal 0:15:44.720 --> 0:15:49.400 as beautiful as gold and at least as good. The 0:15:49.520 --> 0:15:52.760 Count was traveling under the name of Monsieur Zermont at 0:15:52.760 --> 0:15:59.880 the time. In the same year, famed philanderer Giacomo Casanova 0:16:00.000 --> 0:16:04.880 aimed to also have met the man. Then, in seventeen seventy, 0:16:05.160 --> 0:16:08.160 the Count was allegedly spotted in the port of Livorno 0:16:08.400 --> 0:16:12.240 in Italy, dressed in a Russian naval uniform, going by 0:16:12.240 --> 0:16:16.240 the name of Count Soltikoff. There he was said to 0:16:16.280 --> 0:16:19.560 have stood shoulder to shoulder with Count Alexis all Off, 0:16:19.840 --> 0:16:22.880 one of Russia's leading naval commanders at the time, who 0:16:22.880 --> 0:16:26.280 would soon after oversee the destruction of more or less 0:16:26.560 --> 0:16:31.680 the entire Turkish navy at the Battle of Kesma. The 0:16:31.800 --> 0:16:34.960 arrival of the Russian fleet at Livorno is considered by 0:16:35.000 --> 0:16:37.760 many to be the day that Russia announced itself on 0:16:37.800 --> 0:16:41.280 the world stage as a substantial political power in the 0:16:41.320 --> 0:16:45.360 affairs of Europe, the Count appearing once again to be 0:16:45.400 --> 0:16:48.320 at the very center of the most pivotal moments in 0:16:48.400 --> 0:16:57.120 European politics. Rosemary Kent, a woman who lives on the 0:16:57.240 --> 0:16:59.960 edge of the infamous Black Hills Forest, needs your help 0:17:00.320 --> 0:17:03.120 to find her missing son. 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Again, make 0:18:06.600 --> 0:18:09.960 sure to use code Unexplained for a twenty percent discount. 0:18:14.200 --> 0:18:17.359 When the count returned to France in seventeen seventy, he 0:18:17.520 --> 0:18:20.399 was introduced to the Countess of Adamar for the first time, 0:18:21.720 --> 0:18:24.960 writing in her memoirs years later, she described a royal 0:18:25.000 --> 0:18:29.359 dinner which Sant German attended, as was his custom. The 0:18:29.440 --> 0:18:33.120 Count ate nothing. In fact, it is said that no 0:18:33.119 --> 0:18:36.000 one ever saw him eat, despite the numerous meals and 0:18:36.080 --> 0:18:41.800 sophisticated engagements he attended. Instead, he preferred merely to regale 0:18:41.840 --> 0:18:46.760 the guests with his bizarre and unusual anecdotes. On this night, 0:18:47.480 --> 0:18:49.480 he spoke at the time, he was introduced to a 0:18:49.520 --> 0:18:52.840 man referred to only as Count R, who was on 0:18:52.880 --> 0:18:57.160 the verge of death when they first met. His perilous condition, 0:18:57.480 --> 0:19:00.720 according to Sant German, was the result of a terrifying 0:19:00.800 --> 0:19:03.520 haunting he'd been suffering at the hands of a woman 0:19:03.640 --> 0:19:09.320 he'd inadvertently resurrected and then spurned. Every night, at midnight, 0:19:09.640 --> 0:19:12.240 the ghost and its rotting body would arrive in his 0:19:12.320 --> 0:19:16.479 bedroom and crawl into his bed, before vanishing in the morning. 0:19:17.640 --> 0:19:20.960 As Saint German explained, knowing the powers he had at 0:19:21.040 --> 0:19:23.760 his disposal, he had little choice but to try and 0:19:23.840 --> 0:19:27.840 help the hapless Count R, and so it was soon 0:19:27.880 --> 0:19:32.080 after that Saint Germain arrived at the man's home at 0:19:32.080 --> 0:19:35.639 a quarter to midnight. Having placed seven lit candles around 0:19:35.640 --> 0:19:39.000 the sitting room, He traced out a triangle surrounded by 0:19:39.040 --> 0:19:42.280 a circle on the floor, one shape to act as 0:19:42.280 --> 0:19:45.360 a gateway to the other realm, the other to protect 0:19:45.400 --> 0:19:49.440 him from whatever might appear. He then ordered Count Ar 0:19:49.560 --> 0:19:52.640 into the middle and warned him not to leave under 0:19:52.680 --> 0:19:58.040 any circumstances. For the next ten minutes, they waited in 0:19:58.080 --> 0:20:01.840 complete silence under the flickering light of the candles, until 0:20:01.880 --> 0:20:05.600 the clock struck midnight and the door flew open to 0:20:05.680 --> 0:20:09.640 reveal standing in the doorway the terrifying specter that had 0:20:09.640 --> 0:20:13.560 been haunting the man so terribly. But it was the 0:20:13.640 --> 0:20:17.119 next bit that most shocked the guests, when Saint German 0:20:17.480 --> 0:20:20.440 claimed to have used the Rod of Moses to dispense 0:20:20.480 --> 0:20:25.280 with the foul smelling creature. The rod, he claimed, had 0:20:25.280 --> 0:20:28.080 been given to him by a great great grandchild of 0:20:28.080 --> 0:20:30.560 Moses back when he was living in the city of 0:20:30.600 --> 0:20:35.280 Babylon during the reign of Cyrus. If true, this would 0:20:35.320 --> 0:20:37.760 have placed him there at some time in the sixth 0:20:37.760 --> 0:20:42.440 century BC. At one point, he turned to his assistant 0:20:42.520 --> 0:20:46.399 Roge for help in recollecting another of his anecdotes, to 0:20:46.480 --> 0:20:50.440 which Roget replied, you forget master, that I've only been 0:20:50.480 --> 0:20:53.359 with you for five hundred years. Perhaps it is my 0:20:53.440 --> 0:21:03.840 predecessor that you're thinking of in the official account, as 0:21:03.840 --> 0:21:06.120 far as any such thing could be said to exist. 0:21:06.600 --> 0:21:10.119 In seventeen seventy nine, Count Saint Germain is said to 0:21:10.160 --> 0:21:13.480 have arrived in Altona formerly of the Duchy of Schleiswig 0:21:13.720 --> 0:21:17.080 but now part of Hamburg in Germany. There he was 0:21:17.119 --> 0:21:21.040 taken in by Prince Charles of Hesse Cassel, well known 0:21:21.119 --> 0:21:23.600 for his interest in the occult and a member of 0:21:23.640 --> 0:21:27.879 a number of secret societies. The Prince was so impressed 0:21:27.920 --> 0:21:31.200 by the Count's talent for alchemy he installed a laboratory 0:21:31.200 --> 0:21:34.800 for him in which to conduct his experiments. In a 0:21:34.920 --> 0:21:38.399 letter written by the Prince in eighteen twenty five, he 0:21:38.520 --> 0:21:42.160 claimed that Saint Germain confided in him that, despite all 0:21:42.160 --> 0:21:45.120 the rumors, he was in fact only eighty eighty years 0:21:45.160 --> 0:21:47.600 old when they first met, and that he was the 0:21:47.680 --> 0:21:52.479 son of Prince Francis Ragotzi of Transylvania. The Prince, who 0:21:52.560 --> 0:21:55.240 was under threat at the time, had apparently sent his 0:21:55.280 --> 0:21:57.719 son away as a young boy to be raised by 0:21:57.760 --> 0:22:02.120 the wealthy Medici family in Italy. The claim has never 0:22:02.200 --> 0:22:06.000 been verified, though the Count was known on occasion to 0:22:06.040 --> 0:22:12.119 travel under the name Zaroggi, an anagram of Rgottsi. It 0:22:12.280 --> 0:22:15.320 is said that the Count died in February seventeen eighty 0:22:15.320 --> 0:22:18.399 four at the residence given to him by Prince Charles 0:22:18.440 --> 0:22:22.240 of Hesse Cassel. He was buried the following month at 0:22:22.320 --> 0:22:26.200 Nikolai Church in Eckenford, on the coast of the Baltic Sea. 0:22:27.720 --> 0:22:30.720 The Count's estate on his death was said to include 0:22:30.760 --> 0:22:34.320 little more than a packet of paid and receiated bills 0:22:34.320 --> 0:22:39.159 and a small amount of money. Also, some might have 0:22:39.280 --> 0:22:49.920 it four years later, the Count of Chalon, an acquaintance 0:22:49.960 --> 0:22:53.119 of the Countess of Adama, was walking through San Marco 0:22:53.280 --> 0:22:56.280 Square in Venice, when the sight of a familiar face 0:22:56.520 --> 0:23:00.240 stopped him in his tracks. Recalling the moment to the 0:23:00.280 --> 0:23:03.720 Countess not long afterwards, he could have sworn it was 0:23:03.720 --> 0:23:08.720 the Count of Saint German that he'd seen. It would 0:23:08.720 --> 0:23:11.840 be almost a hundred years later when journalist and writer 0:23:12.160 --> 0:23:16.760 Albert Dresden Van Dame published his book An Englishman in Paris. 0:23:17.680 --> 0:23:21.240 The book detailed Van Dam's time spent socializing in the 0:23:21.280 --> 0:23:24.560 cafes and bars of Paris from eighteen fifty five to 0:23:24.640 --> 0:23:28.840 eighteen seventy, and the many interesting bohemian characters that he 0:23:28.880 --> 0:23:32.800 met there. The account of one such character makes for 0:23:32.880 --> 0:23:38.560 some startling reading. Major Fraser, though he never dined there, 0:23:38.960 --> 0:23:41.760 spent an hour or two daily in the estaminais de 0:23:41.880 --> 0:23:45.680 Divan to read the papers. He was a great favorite 0:23:45.760 --> 0:23:49.119 with everyone, though none of us knew anything about his background. 0:23:50.119 --> 0:23:53.760 In spite of his English name, he was decidedly not English, 0:23:54.160 --> 0:23:57.159 though he spoke the language. He was one of the 0:23:57.200 --> 0:24:00.520 best dressed men of the period, and a bachelor. He 0:24:00.600 --> 0:24:05.359 never alluded to his parentage and lived by himself. He 0:24:05.480 --> 0:24:08.240 was always flush of money, though the sources of his 0:24:08.320 --> 0:24:12.480 income were a mystery to every one. He rarely spoke 0:24:12.520 --> 0:24:15.919 on the subject of politics, but when he did, every 0:24:15.920 --> 0:24:19.080 one sat listening with the raptest attention, for he was 0:24:19.119 --> 0:24:23.000 a perfect mine of facts. His knowledge of political history 0:24:23.160 --> 0:24:26.480 was as nothing to his familiarity with the social institutions 0:24:26.520 --> 0:24:31.560 of every civilized country and of every period. His memory 0:24:31.640 --> 0:24:35.800 was something prodigious, and even men like Dumars and Balzac 0:24:36.320 --> 0:24:40.840 confessed themselves his inferiors in that respect. Strange to say, 0:24:41.240 --> 0:24:43.520 he often used to hint that this was no mere 0:24:43.560 --> 0:24:47.880 book knowledge. Of course, it is perfectly ridiculous. He remarked 0:24:47.880 --> 0:24:51.440 with a strange smile. But every now and again I 0:24:51.480 --> 0:24:53.439 feel as if all this did not come to me 0:24:53.560 --> 0:24:58.720 through reading, but from personal experience. At times I become 0:24:58.720 --> 0:25:01.960 almost convinced that I lived with Nero and that I 0:25:02.040 --> 0:25:07.600 knew Dante personally. When Major Fraser died, not a single 0:25:07.720 --> 0:25:10.359 letter was found in his apartment, giving a clue to 0:25:10.440 --> 0:25:14.439 his antecedence, merely a file of receipts and a scrap 0:25:14.440 --> 0:25:19.119 of paper detailing his last wishes. His clothes and furniture 0:25:19.160 --> 0:25:21.720 were to be sold and the proceeds to be given 0:25:21.880 --> 0:25:28.840 to the Paris Poor. If you enjoy Unexplained and would 0:25:28.880 --> 0:25:31.080 like to help support us, you can now do so 0:25:31.200 --> 0:25:34.919 via Patreon. To receive access to add three episodes, just 0:25:35.119 --> 0:25:38.480 go to patron dot com, forward Slash Unexplained Pod to 0:25:38.560 --> 0:25:40.919 sign up, or if you'd like to make a one 0:25:41.000 --> 0:25:44.600 time donation, you can go to Unexplained podcast dot com 0:25:44.840 --> 0:25:48.840 Forward Slash Support. All donations, no matter how large or small, 0:25:49.000 --> 0:25:53.680 are greatly appreciated. Unexplained. The book and audiobook, featuring ten 0:25:53.760 --> 0:25:56.240 stories that have never before been covered on the show, 0:25:56.520 --> 0:26:00.520 is now available to buy worldwide. You can purchase Amazon, 0:26:00.720 --> 0:26:05.400 Barnes and Noble and Waterstones, among other bookstores. All elements 0:26:05.400 --> 0:26:08.639 of Unexplained, including the show's music, are produced by me 0:26:08.920 --> 0:26:12.320 Richard McClain smith. Please subscribe and rate the show wherever 0:26:12.359 --> 0:26:14.919 you listen to podcasts, and feel free to get in 0:26:15.000 --> 0:26:17.880