Speaker 1: Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history
Speaker 1: is an open book, all of these amazing tales right
Speaker 1: there on display, just waiting for us to explore. Welcome
Speaker 1: to the Cabinet of Curiosities. When you're fighting a certain
Speaker 1: kind of enemy, it's not always about who has more
Speaker 1: guns or more soldiers. The ability to understand the opposing
Speaker 1: side and develop a solid strategy can lead to shorter
Speaker 1: wars and less bloodshed. During and after World War Two,
Speaker 1: when the United States needed help handling a foreign power
Speaker 1: as quickly as possible, they called on one man. His
Speaker 1: name was Edward Lansdale, and he was a United States
Speaker 1: Air Force officer. His specialty was psychological warfare, getting into
Speaker 1: the heads of his enemies and using their beliefs against them.
Speaker 1: For example, in Vietnam in the nineteen fifties, he helped
Speaker 1: lead five hundred thousand Catholic refugees out of Communists led
Speaker 1: North Vietnam by spreading religious propaganda. The pamphlets he helped
Speaker 1: distribute claimed Christ has gone to the South and insinuated
Speaker 1: a nuclear bomb would be dropped on Hannoi at any moment.
Speaker 1: And the plan worked. The mass migration allowed South Vietnam
Speaker 1: to take over as the majority half of the country. However,
Speaker 1: Lansdale's efforts there were fairly tame compared to some of
Speaker 1: his other attempts at military manipulation. Upon discovering the Vietnamese
Speaker 1: people's belief in prophecy, he paid local fortune tellers and
Speaker 1: astrologers to write predictions for an almanac he was publishing.
Speaker 1: Once completed, he snuck it across enemy lines and let
Speaker 1: it do its work. The book forecasted problems for the
Speaker 1: people in the north, encouraging them to move to the south,
Speaker 1: where it was safer. But perhaps his wildest idea came
Speaker 1: in the nineteen fifties, while he was working to squash
Speaker 1: communist uprising in the Philippines. Soldiers who didn't want to
Speaker 1: be associated with the rich Manilan Filipinos embraced communism and
Speaker 1: formed their own rebel militia called the Hucks, and their
Speaker 1: numbers were growing. Lansdale was sent in to stop them. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: the Hucks had taken a prime position at the top
Speaker 1: of a hill Loson and US forces were unable to
Speaker 1: get to them without sustaining significant casualties. But Lansdale had
Speaker 1: an idea. He knew what the rebels were afraid of,
Speaker 1: and it wasn't guns or bombs. It was called an oswang,
Speaker 1: a creature with a long tongue and sharp teeth that
Speaker 1: drained its victims blood, kind of like a vampire. Lansdale
Speaker 1: went to work spreading rumors about an oswang feeding nearby,
Speaker 1: hoping to spook them, but rumors wouldn't be enough to
Speaker 1: convince the Hucks to leave their position. He had his
Speaker 1: troops weighed along unknown route for enemy patrols. As the
Speaker 1: Hucks passed by, Lansdale's men snatched the last rebel in line,
Speaker 1: a poor guy who had just fallen and behind enough
Speaker 1: so as not to be heard as he was carried
Speaker 1: off into the woods. Then he was strung upside down
Speaker 1: and his neck was punctured, leaving two small holes. He
Speaker 1: was then drained of his blood and tossed back onto
Speaker 1: the road where he had been taken from. After that,
Speaker 1: it was just a matter of waiting for him to
Speaker 1: be discovered. The rebel soldiers returned looking for their fallen friend,
Speaker 1: and there he was, pale, lifeless, and brandishing the telltale
Speaker 1: signs of an oswang attack. The next day, the Hucks
Speaker 1: left the hill for a safer position. Lansdale's ruse had
Speaker 1: worked flawlessly, although he wasn't done just yet. One Oswang
Speaker 1: attack would not end the whole rebellion, so he went
Speaker 1: on to paint all Seen Eyes on the doors of
Speaker 1: homes where it was thought that rebels might be hiding.
Speaker 1: He even had low flying planes transmit messages to make
Speaker 1: the Hucks think that there were spies everywhere, and not
Speaker 1: long after, the Hucks surrendered, ending their rebellion and earning
Speaker 1: Edward Lansdale a place in history as someone who didn't
Speaker 1: um suck at winning wars, even if he had to
Speaker 1: pretend to be a vampire to do it. They say
Speaker 1: dogs in the workplace lead to less stress for employees.
Speaker 1: This results in more productivity, pure sick days taken, and
Speaker 1: a higher morale. But the idea of taking your pet
Speaker 1: to work didn't originate with big companies like Google or Amazon.
Speaker 1: In fact, as far back as the eighteen hundreds, canine
Speaker 1: companions were a common sight at certain workplaces. One such
Speaker 1: pooch was named Ony. He was a terrier and the
Speaker 1: unofficial mascot of Albany, New York's post office. Back in
Speaker 1: the late eighteen hundreds, Owny liked to hang around and
Speaker 1: sleep in the mail bags while his owner worked, and
Speaker 1: even after his owner quit the post office, Owney stayed
Speaker 1: hind to keep watch over the letters and packages that
Speaker 1: came through. The dog was very protective of the mail bags,
Speaker 1: and when one moved, he would follow it to the
Speaker 1: train that it was eventually loaded onto. Riding the rails
Speaker 1: from Albany to another location, Ony stayed with the mail
Speaker 1: and made sure only mail clerks ever handled the bags.
Speaker 1: And since none of the trains he wrote on ever
Speaker 1: derailed or crashed, they started to view him as a
Speaker 1: good luck charm. Over the years, only traveled all over
Speaker 1: the United States protecting the mail. The New York Central
Speaker 1: Railroad system was able to go just about anywhere from
Speaker 1: the Albany station, taking only to places like Boston, Cleveland, Chicago,
Speaker 1: and even farther out. And no matter where he went,
Speaker 1: the little terrier from New York always had someone to
Speaker 1: look out for him. Mail carriers from across the country
Speaker 1: loved Oy like he was one of their own, and
Speaker 1: in a way he was. He was kind of an
Speaker 1: honorary postal employee, while the U. S. Postal Service unofficially
Speaker 1: adopted him as a mascot for the whole organization. They
Speaker 1: also treated him much like a parcel. Wherever he went,
Speaker 1: they tagged him and then sent him along to the
Speaker 1: next destination. The only difference was that he got to
Speaker 1: eat and drink before the trip. At every stop along
Speaker 1: the way, only would have another tag added to his collar,
Speaker 1: and as his trips grew longer that collar grew heavier
Speaker 1: it would jingle as he walked, and when it got
Speaker 1: to be too much for him to carry, the Postmaster
Speaker 1: General had a coat made to display them instead. Over time,
Speaker 1: even the coat became too cumbersome for him. He was
Speaker 1: just a small little terrier after all. It's believed that
Speaker 1: over time only had accumulated over one thousand medals and
Speaker 1: tags during his time on the rails, which was a
Speaker 1: lot for that tiny pooch to carry. He certainly earned
Speaker 1: each one, though. On one trip, a mail pouch had
Speaker 1: fallen off a delivery wagon and Onny jumped out to
Speaker 1: stay behind and protect it. After all the deliveries had
Speaker 1: been made, the clerks noticed the missing bag and the
Speaker 1: missing dog. They retray used their routes until eventually they
Speaker 1: found the bag and there was only laying on top
Speaker 1: of it, waiting for them to return. But the dog's
Speaker 1: greatest journey was still ahead. In Ony went international. He
Speaker 1: wrote on trains and steamships, protecting the mail as it
Speaker 1: traveled through Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Middle East, and
Speaker 1: he did this for an entire year. According to one report,
Speaker 1: he even received passports and medals directly from the Emperor
Speaker 1: of Japan, and when he finally returned to America on
Speaker 1: December's feet was publicized by newspapers all over the country,
Speaker 1: turning him into a pint size celebrity. But all that
Speaker 1: travel would eventually take its toll on the beloved mascot.
Speaker 1: After accumulating over one hundred forty three thousand miles through
Speaker 1: his time at the postal Service, he'd had enough. It
Speaker 1: had an help that his health was failing, and he'd
Speaker 1: grown a bit aggressive in his old age. Two years
Speaker 1: following that famous trip around the world only was put
Speaker 1: down on he'd apparently attacked the postal clerk and a U. S. Marshal,
Speaker 1: though it's believed that he had been mistreated prior to
Speaker 1: that attack. Regardless, only left an indelible mark on both
Speaker 1: the postal Service and the country as a whole. The
Speaker 1: clerks who had been ordered to bury the dog refused
Speaker 1: to do it, claiming he deserved better. Instead of being buried,
Speaker 1: only was preserved, and his remains are on display to
Speaker 1: this day at the Smithsonian National Postal Museum in Washington,
Speaker 1: d C. It's a fitting tribute for a dog who
Speaker 1: managed to turn a famous stereotype on its head. Rather
Speaker 1: than chasing the mailman, Owny became one. Now that's what
Speaker 1: i'd call a good boy. I hope you've enjoyed today's
Speaker 1: guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free
Speaker 1: on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show by
Speaker 1: visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created by
Speaker 1: me Aaron Manky in partnership with how Stuff Works. I
Speaker 1: make another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast,
Speaker 1: book series, and television show, and you can learn all
Speaker 1: about it over at the World of Lore dot com.
Speaker 1: And until next time, stay curious.