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 --> 00:00:09,360 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. 3 00:00:12,880 --> 00:00:16,919 Speaker 2: Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history 4 00:00:17,079 --> 00:00:20,320 Speaker 2: is an open book, all of these amazing tales are 5 00:00:20,360 --> 00:00:23,760 Speaker 2: right there on display, just waiting for us to explore. 6 00:00:25,280 --> 00:00:38,080 Speaker 2: Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. Everyone has those times 7 00:00:38,120 --> 00:00:41,160 Speaker 2: when procrastination gets the best of them. We keep meaning 8 00:00:41,240 --> 00:00:44,000 Speaker 2: to clean that garage or donate those clothes, but we 9 00:00:44,080 --> 00:00:46,159 Speaker 2: never seem to get the chance to do it. As 10 00:00:46,240 --> 00:00:49,879 Speaker 2: it turns out, this is a universal experience. Even princes 11 00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:52,440 Speaker 2: put things off that they don't want to do. In 12 00:00:52,479 --> 00:00:56,800 Speaker 2: eighteen twenty, Hungarian Prince Nicolaus esther Hazy finally made up 13 00:00:56,840 --> 00:00:59,480 Speaker 2: his mind to finish something sitting on his to do list. 14 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:03,520 Speaker 2: Say ten years earlier, when his court composer Joseph Haydn died, 15 00:01:03,840 --> 00:01:05,880 Speaker 2: he swore that he would move the man from his 16 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:08,480 Speaker 2: modest grave in Vienna to a beautiful tomb at the 17 00:01:08,600 --> 00:01:11,640 Speaker 2: Estra Hazy estate. But when the body was exhumed, the 18 00:01:11,680 --> 00:01:13,920 Speaker 2: prince was in for a shock. It seemed that his 19 00:01:13,959 --> 00:01:18,080 Speaker 2: friend had lost his head, quite literally. Joseph Heiden's body 20 00:01:18,120 --> 00:01:20,280 Speaker 2: was in the coffin with a powdered wig atop it. 21 00:01:20,720 --> 00:01:24,440 Speaker 2: The skull, however, was missing. Now, if you're a classical 22 00:01:24,520 --> 00:01:27,399 Speaker 2: music fan, you've probably heard of Joseph Heyden. He was 23 00:01:27,440 --> 00:01:30,839 Speaker 2: born in seventeen thirty two to a poor family in Austria. 24 00:01:31,120 --> 00:01:34,040 Speaker 2: Although neither of his parents had been musically trained, music 25 00:01:34,160 --> 00:01:36,479 Speaker 2: was a huge part of his home life. His father 26 00:01:36,600 --> 00:01:39,119 Speaker 2: taught himself to play the harp, and his mother liked 27 00:01:39,120 --> 00:01:42,120 Speaker 2: to sing with their neighbors. When Joseph showed interest in 28 00:01:42,200 --> 00:01:44,440 Speaker 2: music at an early age, his parents knew that he'd 29 00:01:44,440 --> 00:01:46,600 Speaker 2: have no chance to learn if he stayed with them 30 00:01:46,600 --> 00:01:48,960 Speaker 2: in the village, so at a young age of just 31 00:01:49,080 --> 00:01:51,720 Speaker 2: five years old, Joseph went to live with his cousin, 32 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:55,840 Speaker 2: the choir master of a larger town. As Joseph grew up, 33 00:01:55,880 --> 00:01:58,800 Speaker 2: he dedicated his life to music, first as a singer 34 00:01:58,840 --> 00:02:02,080 Speaker 2: in several choirs, then as a music teacher and accompanist, 35 00:02:02,360 --> 00:02:05,840 Speaker 2: and finally as a composer. In seventeen sixty one, when 36 00:02:05,880 --> 00:02:09,000 Speaker 2: Joseph was twenty nine years old, the prominent ester Haze 37 00:02:09,120 --> 00:02:13,200 Speaker 2: family recruited Joseph to write music and direct their court musicians. 38 00:02:13,560 --> 00:02:16,720 Speaker 2: Joseph Oversaw music for the ester Hazes for the rest 39 00:02:16,720 --> 00:02:19,519 Speaker 2: of his life. During his long career, he had a 40 00:02:19,600 --> 00:02:23,679 Speaker 2: huge influence on classical music. He didn't invent the concept 41 00:02:23,680 --> 00:02:26,080 Speaker 2: of the symphony, which is a musical piece of an 42 00:02:26,160 --> 00:02:29,520 Speaker 2: orchestra with several contrasting movements, but he did make them 43 00:02:29,600 --> 00:02:32,680 Speaker 2: hugely popular. He also was the first to write music 44 00:02:32,800 --> 00:02:36,240 Speaker 2: for a string quartet, which usually involves two violins of 45 00:02:36,320 --> 00:02:39,120 Speaker 2: viola and a cello. He was a close friend of 46 00:02:39,160 --> 00:02:43,359 Speaker 2: Mozart and even trained Beethoven. But Joseph's strangest claim to 47 00:02:43,400 --> 00:02:46,640 Speaker 2: fame came after his death. When he died in eighteen 48 00:02:46,680 --> 00:02:50,320 Speaker 2: oh nine, Vienna was under attack by Napoleon's French army. 49 00:02:50,720 --> 00:02:53,280 Speaker 2: His patrons, the ester Hazes, wanted to bury him at 50 00:02:53,280 --> 00:02:56,120 Speaker 2: their estate, but it was much too difficult to transport 51 00:02:56,200 --> 00:02:59,080 Speaker 2: Joseph's body from the city, so he was buried in 52 00:02:59,240 --> 00:03:01,520 Speaker 2: a local semin terry, with the idea that they would 53 00:03:01,560 --> 00:03:05,119 Speaker 2: move him later after the war. When Prince Nicholas tried 54 00:03:05,160 --> 00:03:07,799 Speaker 2: to do that eleven years later, that's when he first 55 00:03:07,800 --> 00:03:11,160 Speaker 2: discovered that Joseph had lost his head. So why would 56 00:03:11,160 --> 00:03:14,760 Speaker 2: someone take the dead composer's skull? Well, you can blame 57 00:03:14,800 --> 00:03:19,240 Speaker 2: the idea of phrenology. Phrenology was a pseudoscience that assumed 58 00:03:19,240 --> 00:03:23,120 Speaker 2: that the bumps on someone's skull predicted their intelligence. People 59 00:03:23,160 --> 00:03:25,440 Speaker 2: believe that certain bumps on your head might mean that 60 00:03:25,480 --> 00:03:28,519 Speaker 2: you were skilled in music, or art or other talents. 61 00:03:28,800 --> 00:03:32,040 Speaker 2: The skulls of famous musicians like Joseph Heiden might have 62 00:03:32,120 --> 00:03:35,440 Speaker 2: all kinds of musical bumps and lumps. So when he died, 63 00:03:35,560 --> 00:03:39,040 Speaker 2: two amateur phrenologists bribed a grave digger to steal his 64 00:03:39,080 --> 00:03:42,600 Speaker 2: head from the coffin. These men were Joseph Rosenbaum and 65 00:03:42,760 --> 00:03:46,680 Speaker 2: Johann Peter. Rosenbaum had actually met Joseph Heiden many times. 66 00:03:46,720 --> 00:03:49,720 Speaker 2: In fact, Joseph was friends with Rosenbaum and his opera 67 00:03:49,720 --> 00:03:53,120 Speaker 2: singer wife. When Rosenbaum and Peter received Joseph's head, they 68 00:03:53,240 --> 00:03:56,200 Speaker 2: quickly cleaned the skull and examined it, hoping to find 69 00:03:56,280 --> 00:03:59,720 Speaker 2: some sign of Joseph's immense talent. They both claimed that 70 00:03:59,800 --> 00:04:03,240 Speaker 2: he had a fully developed bump of music on his head, 71 00:04:03,480 --> 00:04:06,760 Speaker 2: signaling that he was a great composer. Now, for years, 72 00:04:06,760 --> 00:04:10,680 Speaker 2: Peter and Rosenbaum passed the skull back and forth between themselves, 73 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:13,800 Speaker 2: but in eighteen twenty, when Prince Nicholas realized that his 74 00:04:13,840 --> 00:04:16,800 Speaker 2: friend's head had been stolen. He very quickly figured out 75 00:04:16,800 --> 00:04:19,880 Speaker 2: who the thieves were. But Rosenbaum, who had the skull 76 00:04:19,920 --> 00:04:22,960 Speaker 2: at the time, didn't want to give up his prize possession, 77 00:04:23,240 --> 00:04:26,000 Speaker 2: so when the authority searched Rosenbaum's house, he hid the 78 00:04:26,040 --> 00:04:28,680 Speaker 2: skull in a mattress. He even had his wife lay 79 00:04:28,720 --> 00:04:30,320 Speaker 2: on top of it and claimed that she had her 80 00:04:30,360 --> 00:04:33,400 Speaker 2: period in this less enlightened age. That was enough to 81 00:04:33,480 --> 00:04:38,160 Speaker 2: keep the mail investigators away. Finally, Rosenbaum gave Prince Nicholas 82 00:04:38,200 --> 00:04:41,560 Speaker 2: another skull from his collection. Prince Nicholas buried it with 83 00:04:41,680 --> 00:04:45,359 Speaker 2: Joseph Haydn's grave, believing that his friend's body had finally 84 00:04:45,400 --> 00:04:48,840 Speaker 2: become whole. Joseph's real skull, though, kicked. 85 00:04:48,640 --> 00:04:52,080 Speaker 1: Around Vienna for the next few decades, passing from phrenologists 86 00:04:52,160 --> 00:04:55,480 Speaker 1: to music fans. Eventually it ended up at the Vienna 87 00:04:55,520 --> 00:04:58,840 Speaker 1: Society for Friends and Music, where it often observed meetings 88 00:04:58,839 --> 00:05:02,160 Speaker 1: from its perch top a piano. By nineteen thirty two, 89 00:05:02,360 --> 00:05:05,400 Speaker 1: the ester Hazes had discovered that Joseph Hayden was buried 90 00:05:05,440 --> 00:05:07,960 Speaker 1: with the wrong head, so they built a brand new 91 00:05:07,960 --> 00:05:10,920 Speaker 1: tomb for the composer in Einstadt in a church where 92 00:05:10,960 --> 00:05:13,760 Speaker 1: many of his works were performed. But it wasn't until 93 00:05:13,800 --> 00:05:17,440 Speaker 1: nineteen fifty four, one hundred and forty five years after 94 00:05:17,560 --> 00:05:21,400 Speaker 1: Joseph Hayden's death, that his real skull was finally reunited 95 00:05:21,440 --> 00:05:24,560 Speaker 1: with his body. Not knowing who the other skull belonged to, 96 00:05:24,680 --> 00:05:27,640 Speaker 1: the ester Hazes left that one in the coffin as well, 97 00:05:28,040 --> 00:05:31,200 Speaker 1: finally bringing an end of the world's longest game of 98 00:05:31,279 --> 00:05:48,760 Speaker 1: hide and go seek. Throughout the annals of history, there 99 00:05:48,800 --> 00:05:51,760 Speaker 1: have been individuals whose lives have defied the boundaries of 100 00:05:51,800 --> 00:05:55,520 Speaker 1: time and whose stories stretch across the ages. That's usually 101 00:05:55,560 --> 00:05:58,760 Speaker 1: because of their remarkable accomplishments, but in the case of 102 00:05:58,800 --> 00:06:02,400 Speaker 1: this story, it's because it literally spans so much time. 103 00:06:03,160 --> 00:06:06,160 Speaker 1: Our story begins with an anecdote that borders on the absurd. 104 00:06:06,480 --> 00:06:09,520 Speaker 1: In nineteen sixty nine, a French woman named Jean Calmo 105 00:06:09,760 --> 00:06:12,919 Speaker 1: entered into a unique arrangement known as an en viege, 106 00:06:13,320 --> 00:06:16,159 Speaker 1: a French system in which a property is sold for 107 00:06:16,240 --> 00:06:19,200 Speaker 1: a lump sum, with the buyer making monthly payments to 108 00:06:19,279 --> 00:06:22,520 Speaker 1: the seller until the seller's death. In Jean's case, she 109 00:06:22,640 --> 00:06:25,719 Speaker 1: sold her apartment located in the city of Arles to 110 00:06:25,839 --> 00:06:28,080 Speaker 1: her lawyer, and he believed that he was making a 111 00:06:28,160 --> 00:06:31,080 Speaker 1: long term investment and paid a total of nine hundred 112 00:06:31,120 --> 00:06:35,200 Speaker 1: and eighteen thousand francs over time. But in nineteen ninety five, 113 00:06:35,240 --> 00:06:38,440 Speaker 1: when the lawyer was seventy seven years old, he passed away. 114 00:06:38,760 --> 00:06:40,920 Speaker 1: And you might be wondering why he would have entered 115 00:06:40,920 --> 00:06:43,080 Speaker 1: into the agreement in the first place if he thought 116 00:06:43,120 --> 00:06:45,720 Speaker 1: that his client would outlive him. But that's the thing. 117 00:06:46,040 --> 00:06:48,599 Speaker 1: He had every reason to believe that he would inherit 118 00:06:48,640 --> 00:06:51,240 Speaker 1: that apartment. You see, in nineteen ninety five when he 119 00:06:51,279 --> 00:06:55,560 Speaker 1: passed away, Jean was one hundred and twenty years old. Today, 120 00:06:55,600 --> 00:06:58,480 Speaker 1: she's known to have the longest human life span on record. 121 00:06:58,960 --> 00:07:01,839 Speaker 1: Oh and for the curios, yes, the lawyer's family continued 122 00:07:01,880 --> 00:07:05,040 Speaker 1: making payments until Jean died two years later. In the end, 123 00:07:05,080 --> 00:07:08,039 Speaker 1: the price paid was more than double the apartment's value. 124 00:07:08,440 --> 00:07:10,840 Speaker 1: But this is only one part of the curious story. 125 00:07:11,200 --> 00:07:13,920 Speaker 1: After all, one hundred and twenty years is a long time. 126 00:07:14,440 --> 00:07:17,560 Speaker 1: That is, if Jean really lived that long. Before I 127 00:07:17,600 --> 00:07:21,120 Speaker 1: explained the skepticism behind her supposed lifespan, I'll tell you 128 00:07:21,160 --> 00:07:23,880 Speaker 1: a little bit more about Jean's life. Jean had a 129 00:07:23,920 --> 00:07:27,640 Speaker 1: husband named Fernand and a daughter named Yvonne. Fernand's family 130 00:07:27,680 --> 00:07:29,680 Speaker 1: owned a dry goods store, and they lived in an 131 00:07:29,680 --> 00:07:32,560 Speaker 1: apartment above it. Later on in her life, Jean would 132 00:07:32,560 --> 00:07:35,160 Speaker 1: tell the story of a customer who bought canvases there 133 00:07:35,160 --> 00:07:38,720 Speaker 1: in eighteen eighty eight, an artist named Vincent van Go. 134 00:07:39,680 --> 00:07:43,040 Speaker 1: Jean's life was riddled with tragedy, though. In nineteen thirty four, 135 00:07:43,120 --> 00:07:46,720 Speaker 1: her daughter Yvonne died of tuberculosis, so she and Fernand 136 00:07:46,800 --> 00:07:49,840 Speaker 1: took in their grandson, Freddy. Then, in nineteen forty two, 137 00:07:49,880 --> 00:07:52,920 Speaker 1: Fernand passed away, Jean and her son in law, Joseph, 138 00:07:53,000 --> 00:07:56,600 Speaker 1: moved into an apartment together. About twenty years later, Joseph 139 00:07:56,680 --> 00:08:00,440 Speaker 1: and Freddy both died from separate causes, and Jeane left 140 00:08:00,440 --> 00:08:04,400 Speaker 1: all alone. Now in her late eighties, Jene distracted herself 141 00:08:04,400 --> 00:08:07,680 Speaker 1: from her loneliness by staying busy and active. People in 142 00:08:07,720 --> 00:08:11,000 Speaker 1: town often spotted her running errands, moving swiftly throughout the 143 00:08:11,040 --> 00:08:13,760 Speaker 1: city streets. When she was close to one hundred, the 144 00:08:13,840 --> 00:08:17,200 Speaker 1: mayor even commented that she looked twenty years younger. Some 145 00:08:17,280 --> 00:08:19,920 Speaker 1: say that she even still rode a bike in the 146 00:08:19,960 --> 00:08:22,760 Speaker 1: early nineteen nineties, at the age of one hundred and sixteen, 147 00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:27,120 Speaker 1: Jane earned the title of oldest person alive. Researchers validated 148 00:08:27,200 --> 00:08:30,560 Speaker 1: Jeane's age by observing and interviewing her, and finally, on 149 00:08:30,600 --> 00:08:34,320 Speaker 1: August fourth of nineteen ninety seven, Jane passed away. But 150 00:08:34,400 --> 00:08:38,320 Speaker 1: her story doesn't even end there. In twenty eighteen, a 151 00:08:38,480 --> 00:08:42,200 Speaker 1: geriatrician and a mathematician, two men from Moscow who met 152 00:08:42,240 --> 00:08:45,720 Speaker 1: on Facebook, of all places, teamed up to disprove Gene's 153 00:08:45,760 --> 00:08:48,480 Speaker 1: title as the oldest person to have ever lived. The 154 00:08:48,559 --> 00:08:51,559 Speaker 1: geriatrician examined some photos of Gene and believed that when 155 00:08:51,600 --> 00:08:53,520 Speaker 1: she was supposed to have been one hundred and ten, 156 00:08:53,559 --> 00:08:56,160 Speaker 1: she looked more like ninety. We know that when she 157 00:08:56,280 --> 00:08:58,440 Speaker 1: was alive. The mayor of her city also said that 158 00:08:58,480 --> 00:09:00,680 Speaker 1: she looked twenty years younger than she she claimed to be. 159 00:09:01,440 --> 00:09:04,959 Speaker 1: The mathematician first used statistics to rule out the probability 160 00:09:04,960 --> 00:09:07,079 Speaker 1: that a person could reach the age of one hundred 161 00:09:07,120 --> 00:09:10,520 Speaker 1: and twenty. Then, as he scraped the Internet for information 162 00:09:10,640 --> 00:09:14,040 Speaker 1: about Gene, he found discrepancies in many of her stories 163 00:09:14,040 --> 00:09:16,920 Speaker 1: and the reports about her life. One example was that 164 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:20,080 Speaker 1: Jeane apparently told mixed versions of that story about van Go. 165 00:09:20,720 --> 00:09:23,680 Speaker 1: Sometimes she said her father helped him. Other times she 166 00:09:23,720 --> 00:09:26,760 Speaker 1: said her husband Fernand did. She also said that Fernand 167 00:09:26,840 --> 00:09:29,840 Speaker 1: introduced her to van Go as his wife. However, in 168 00:09:29,920 --> 00:09:33,440 Speaker 1: eighteen eighty eight, when this encounter supposedly occurred, Jean and 169 00:09:33,480 --> 00:09:37,160 Speaker 1: Fernand weren't even married yet. This made the mathematician even 170 00:09:37,200 --> 00:09:40,400 Speaker 1: more suspicious, and he started using photoshop to tinker with 171 00:09:40,520 --> 00:09:43,400 Speaker 1: Jane's features. This was how he developed the theory that 172 00:09:43,480 --> 00:09:46,680 Speaker 1: for sixty years, the woman who called herself Jeane Calmo 173 00:09:47,200 --> 00:09:50,120 Speaker 1: was actually her daughter Yvonne. He believed that in nineteen 174 00:09:50,240 --> 00:09:53,440 Speaker 1: thirty four, when Yvonne supposedly died, it was really Jeane 175 00:09:53,440 --> 00:09:55,840 Speaker 1: who had passed away, but the family claimed the body 176 00:09:55,840 --> 00:09:58,600 Speaker 1: belonged to Yvonne. He thought that maybe they did this 177 00:09:58,679 --> 00:10:01,880 Speaker 1: so that Yvonne could avoid taxes on her inheritance from 178 00:10:01,880 --> 00:10:04,720 Speaker 1: her mother. In his eyes, this explained by Jean would 179 00:10:04,720 --> 00:10:07,079 Speaker 1: have lived with her son in law, who in this theory, 180 00:10:07,080 --> 00:10:09,439 Speaker 1: would have been her husband. It also would have meant 181 00:10:09,480 --> 00:10:11,880 Speaker 1: that Yvonne entered into that agreement with her lawyer for 182 00:10:11,920 --> 00:10:15,480 Speaker 1: the apartment knowing that he would never get it. Since 183 00:10:15,480 --> 00:10:19,280 Speaker 1: these two men conducted their investigation, other scientists and researchers 184 00:10:19,280 --> 00:10:23,120 Speaker 1: have also published work debunking Gene's record breaking age, but 185 00:10:23,200 --> 00:10:26,439 Speaker 1: the topic has caused controversy between them and the researchers 186 00:10:26,440 --> 00:10:30,520 Speaker 1: who originally validated her age. Online salutes and fanatics have 187 00:10:30,720 --> 00:10:33,480 Speaker 1: entered the chat, and a twenty twenty New Yorker article 188 00:10:33,800 --> 00:10:37,080 Speaker 1: dove deep into each side. But even if Gene can't 189 00:10:37,120 --> 00:10:40,560 Speaker 1: claim the longest lifespan, she might qualify for other titles 190 00:10:40,640 --> 00:10:44,360 Speaker 1: like best fraud or worst person to purchase an apartment from. 191 00:10:44,800 --> 00:10:47,920 Speaker 1: Whatever the case, her story shows that even when we 192 00:10:48,040 --> 00:10:52,680 Speaker 1: encounter amazing mysteries, there's always someone on Facebook willing to 193 00:10:52,720 --> 00:11:00,000 Speaker 1: tell you how wrong you are. I hope you've enjoyed 194 00:11:00,120 --> 00:11:03,840 Speaker 1: today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for 195 00:11:03,880 --> 00:11:06,680 Speaker 1: free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show 196 00:11:06,760 --> 00:11:11,720 Speaker 1: by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created 197 00:11:11,800 --> 00:11:15,120 Speaker 1: by me Aaron Mankey in partnership with How Stuff Works. 198 00:11:15,559 --> 00:11:18,680 Speaker 1: I make another award winning show called Lore, which is 199 00:11:18,800 --> 00:11:22,160 Speaker 1: a podcast, book series, and television show, and you can 200 00:11:22,240 --> 00:11:26,120 Speaker 1: learn all about it over at the Worldoflore dot com. 201 00:11:26,160 --> 00:11:30,400 Speaker 1: And until next time, stay curious.