1 00:00:03,760 --> 00:00:08,000 Speaker 1: Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history 2 00:00:08,039 --> 00:00:11,200 Speaker 1: is an open book, all of these amazing tales are 3 00:00:11,320 --> 00:00:14,680 Speaker 1: right there on display, just waiting for us to explore. 4 00:00:16,200 --> 00:00:29,480 Speaker 1: Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. Speak the name Transylvania 5 00:00:29,680 --> 00:00:32,640 Speaker 1: and you might fill a chill. It evokes a certain image, 6 00:00:32,880 --> 00:00:35,519 Speaker 1: one of a man clad in black with sharp fangs, 7 00:00:35,640 --> 00:00:38,960 Speaker 1: dripping with blood. It's people have often been portrayed as 8 00:00:39,040 --> 00:00:42,440 Speaker 1: hapless peasants, fearful of the creature living in the scary 9 00:00:42,479 --> 00:00:46,440 Speaker 1: castle at the top of the hill. In fact, Transylvania 10 00:00:46,600 --> 00:00:49,440 Speaker 1: is almost nothing like the way Bram Stoker portrayed it 11 00:00:49,479 --> 00:00:53,440 Speaker 1: in his novel. Even Draculus Castle, which many have claimed 12 00:00:53,520 --> 00:00:57,400 Speaker 1: is based on Transylvania's real brand castle, is in no 13 00:00:57,600 --> 00:01:01,120 Speaker 1: way associated with the historical roots of the famous character. 14 00:01:01,760 --> 00:01:04,760 Speaker 1: Almost everything we know about the region is thanks to 15 00:01:04,840 --> 00:01:09,080 Speaker 1: one famous book and it's countless film adaptations, and it's wrong. 16 00:01:10,640 --> 00:01:15,040 Speaker 1: The historic area located in central Romania is actually lush 17 00:01:15,120 --> 00:01:19,199 Speaker 1: and green, not dark and rocky. It's populated by people 18 00:01:19,319 --> 00:01:22,040 Speaker 1: from all different backgrounds who live and work in any 19 00:01:22,040 --> 00:01:25,360 Speaker 1: one of the region's vibrant cities. There's a rich history 20 00:01:25,440 --> 00:01:28,640 Speaker 1: within Transylvania, which can be seen in things like it's 21 00:01:28,680 --> 00:01:33,959 Speaker 1: well preserved Gothic architecture, and for potential tourists looking to 22 00:01:34,080 --> 00:01:36,640 Speaker 1: explore the hometown of one of the greatest characters in 23 00:01:36,720 --> 00:01:39,600 Speaker 1: all of literature. There's a lot more to see than 24 00:01:39,800 --> 00:01:44,360 Speaker 1: just castles. There are glorious churches, the a Pusini Mountains, 25 00:01:44,400 --> 00:01:47,360 Speaker 1: and countless little hamlets and villages to give you a 26 00:01:47,400 --> 00:01:51,320 Speaker 1: taste of the local culture. There's also an amusement park. 27 00:01:51,760 --> 00:01:54,200 Speaker 1: It's not as well known as it should be, considering 28 00:01:54,240 --> 00:01:57,080 Speaker 1: the engineering must have taken to build it. The park 29 00:01:57,120 --> 00:02:00,680 Speaker 1: features numerous attractions like a ferris wheel and a playground. 30 00:02:00,880 --> 00:02:03,840 Speaker 1: There's also a bowling alley, a mini golf course, and 31 00:02:04,080 --> 00:02:07,160 Speaker 1: a lake for visitors to paddle around in. You might 32 00:02:07,200 --> 00:02:10,760 Speaker 1: be wondering why this place required such advanced engineering to build, 33 00:02:10,800 --> 00:02:13,519 Speaker 1: since none of its attractions are any different from those 34 00:02:13,560 --> 00:02:16,600 Speaker 1: you might find at an amusement park in America. It's 35 00:02:16,600 --> 00:02:20,640 Speaker 1: ferris wheel isn't really that tall, the playground is mostly 36 00:02:20,680 --> 00:02:24,560 Speaker 1: comprised jungle gym equipment. What makes the park so special 37 00:02:25,160 --> 00:02:28,360 Speaker 1: is its location and how you get to it. In 38 00:02:28,480 --> 00:02:31,640 Speaker 1: order to visit the site, known as Selina Turda. You 39 00:02:31,720 --> 00:02:33,919 Speaker 1: have to board an elevator that will take you down 40 00:02:33,960 --> 00:02:38,000 Speaker 1: almost four hundred feet below the earth. That's right. The 41 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:42,760 Speaker 1: whole park was constructed underground inside an old, abandoned salt mine. 42 00:02:44,200 --> 00:02:46,640 Speaker 1: The mine had been in use right up until nineteen 43 00:02:46,720 --> 00:02:49,320 Speaker 1: thirty two, before it was turned into a bomb shelter 44 00:02:49,480 --> 00:02:52,399 Speaker 1: during the Second World War. After that, it was used 45 00:02:52,440 --> 00:02:56,359 Speaker 1: to store copious amounts of cheese. Then in nineteen two, 46 00:02:56,720 --> 00:02:59,760 Speaker 1: millions of dollars were spent converting the space into a 47 00:02:59,760 --> 00:03:03,720 Speaker 1: full fledged tourist trap, complete with the museum, a dcat 48 00:03:03,760 --> 00:03:07,760 Speaker 1: amphitheater and a spa. And that spa both some of 49 00:03:07,800 --> 00:03:10,160 Speaker 1: the purest air in the world thanks to the salt, 50 00:03:10,240 --> 00:03:14,320 Speaker 1: which acts as a natural defense against allergens. Temperatures in 51 00:03:14,360 --> 00:03:17,560 Speaker 1: there remain at a steady fifty four degrees fahrenheit and 52 00:03:17,560 --> 00:03:22,000 Speaker 1: the humidity never breaks. It seems the weather is always 53 00:03:22,040 --> 00:03:26,359 Speaker 1: perfect when there's no weather to worry about. And Selena 54 00:03:26,400 --> 00:03:29,480 Speaker 1: Turda isn't just home to an amusement park. It's also 55 00:03:29,520 --> 00:03:33,120 Speaker 1: a big destination for folks looking to practice holotherapy in 56 00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:36,560 Speaker 1: the former salt mine, Breathing the salty air helps treat 57 00:03:36,600 --> 00:03:40,040 Speaker 1: their asthma and other respiratory conditions and has been in 58 00:03:40,120 --> 00:03:45,000 Speaker 1: practice for hundreds of years. It's a pretty unique idea, 59 00:03:45,280 --> 00:03:47,120 Speaker 1: taking a place that used to be nothing but a 60 00:03:47,120 --> 00:03:49,440 Speaker 1: big hole in the ground and turning it into a 61 00:03:49,480 --> 00:03:52,840 Speaker 1: tourist destination. So if you ever have the chance to 62 00:03:52,920 --> 00:03:56,960 Speaker 1: visit the beautiful Transylvanian countryside, be sure to budget some 63 00:03:57,000 --> 00:04:00,640 Speaker 1: time for a little fun underneath all that scene, beauty, 64 00:04:01,120 --> 00:04:04,240 Speaker 1: and breathe easy, knowing that you're in the happiest place 65 00:04:05,120 --> 00:04:22,320 Speaker 1: under the earth. Opportunity often knocks when we least expect it. 66 00:04:22,680 --> 00:04:25,760 Speaker 1: We're just going about our daily lives and suddenly something 67 00:04:25,839 --> 00:04:29,520 Speaker 1: hits us that changes everything in a dramatic way. Percy 68 00:04:29,600 --> 00:04:33,080 Speaker 1: LeBaron Spencer was a physicist working on radar tubes when 69 00:04:33,120 --> 00:04:36,840 Speaker 1: a new opportunity found him. He had been building magnetrons, 70 00:04:36,960 --> 00:04:40,960 Speaker 1: or large vacuum tubes that generated microwaves, when he noticed 71 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:43,640 Speaker 1: the candy bar in his pocket had melted. It occurred 72 00:04:43,640 --> 00:04:45,640 Speaker 1: to him that the microwaves had caused the bar to 73 00:04:45,720 --> 00:04:48,880 Speaker 1: heat up rapidly. A few years later, he filed the 74 00:04:48,880 --> 00:04:53,800 Speaker 1: patent for the first microwave oven. Another famous and influential 75 00:04:53,880 --> 00:04:59,480 Speaker 1: accident happened in when Dr Alexander Fleming left out Staffhylococcus 76 00:04:59,520 --> 00:05:02,359 Speaker 1: cultures for a few weeks that didn't grow or spread, 77 00:05:02,680 --> 00:05:07,120 Speaker 1: resulting in his discovery of penicillin. But some opportunities don't 78 00:05:07,120 --> 00:05:11,599 Speaker 1: revolutionize entire industries or the world at large. Sometimes the 79 00:05:11,640 --> 00:05:13,960 Speaker 1: moment is just right for someone to change their own 80 00:05:14,040 --> 00:05:17,400 Speaker 1: lot in life, and that's enough. But at what cost. 81 00:05:19,200 --> 00:05:22,680 Speaker 1: During the late sixteen hundreds, Salem was battling a crisis 82 00:05:22,680 --> 00:05:26,480 Speaker 1: of faith, political turmoil, and war on their borders, all 83 00:05:26,520 --> 00:05:29,680 Speaker 1: of which culminated in the now infamous Salem which Trials 84 00:05:29,680 --> 00:05:34,320 Speaker 1: of sixte two. However, accusations of witchcraft were not uncommon 85 00:05:34,360 --> 00:05:37,960 Speaker 1: elsewhere in the world. Scotland was a hotbed of activity 86 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:40,400 Speaker 1: from the mid fifteen hundreds all the way through the 87 00:05:40,440 --> 00:05:44,320 Speaker 1: early eighteenth century, and that's where John Dixon found his calling. 88 00:05:45,680 --> 00:05:48,520 Speaker 1: John had been quite young when the witch pricker arrived 89 00:05:48,560 --> 00:05:51,520 Speaker 1: in town. The people came to watch the mysterious man 90 00:05:51,520 --> 00:05:54,360 Speaker 1: performed the test that would prove whether someone was in 91 00:05:54,440 --> 00:05:57,799 Speaker 1: fact a witch. He had the accused strip naked before 92 00:05:57,839 --> 00:06:00,560 Speaker 1: the crowd and then examined them from up to bottom 93 00:06:00,600 --> 00:06:02,880 Speaker 1: until he found a mole or freckle on their skin 94 00:06:03,360 --> 00:06:07,160 Speaker 1: somewhere to insert the needle, not a common sewing needle, though, 95 00:06:07,400 --> 00:06:11,840 Speaker 1: but a long hand carved pin. The witch pricker would 96 00:06:11,839 --> 00:06:15,000 Speaker 1: insert that pin into the spot known as the devil's mark, 97 00:06:15,360 --> 00:06:18,000 Speaker 1: and if it caused pain or bleeding, then the accused 98 00:06:18,120 --> 00:06:20,880 Speaker 1: was proven not to be a witch. If it caused 99 00:06:20,880 --> 00:06:24,039 Speaker 1: no pain and no blood was drawn, the victim would 100 00:06:24,080 --> 00:06:27,479 Speaker 1: be proven a witch and then executed. Oh and the 101 00:06:27,520 --> 00:06:31,520 Speaker 1: witch pricker was paid for every positive identification, making it 102 00:06:31,600 --> 00:06:36,320 Speaker 1: a responsibility that was easy to abuse, and convictions came 103 00:06:36,360 --> 00:06:40,440 Speaker 1: easily too. Accused women often confess to make the humiliation 104 00:06:40,520 --> 00:06:44,479 Speaker 1: and abuse stop, while prickers devised retractable needles that would 105 00:06:44,480 --> 00:06:47,320 Speaker 1: slide back into the handle when pressed against the body, 106 00:06:47,600 --> 00:06:50,840 Speaker 1: giving the impression it was penetrating the skin, sort of 107 00:06:50,880 --> 00:06:54,440 Speaker 1: like a movie prop knife. Let's just say the job 108 00:06:54,520 --> 00:06:57,920 Speaker 1: was a lucrative one, and John Dixon saw a chance 109 00:06:57,960 --> 00:07:00,680 Speaker 1: to make a good living doing the same thing. He 110 00:07:00,800 --> 00:07:04,120 Speaker 1: first traveled to Elgin and worked for six shillings a day. 111 00:07:04,200 --> 00:07:06,880 Speaker 1: This was where he met the famous Isabel Gouty, an 112 00:07:06,920 --> 00:07:10,000 Speaker 1: alleged witch who had been charged with murdering her landlord's 113 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:14,000 Speaker 1: small children. It's not clear whether Dixon directly had anything 114 00:07:14,040 --> 00:07:17,760 Speaker 1: to do with Isabel's confessions, which implicated twelve members of 115 00:07:17,840 --> 00:07:21,080 Speaker 1: her coven, but Dixon was successful enough to move on 116 00:07:21,120 --> 00:07:24,880 Speaker 1: to bigger communities, heading north Detain just a year later. 117 00:07:26,080 --> 00:07:28,720 Speaker 1: In Taine lived a man named John Hay, who had 118 00:07:28,760 --> 00:07:30,840 Speaker 1: also been accused of being a witch. But he was 119 00:07:30,920 --> 00:07:34,160 Speaker 1: different from other victims, and not just because of his gender. 120 00:07:34,600 --> 00:07:37,640 Speaker 1: Hay worked as a court messenger and knew enough about 121 00:07:37,680 --> 00:07:40,400 Speaker 1: the law to use it to his advantage. Rather than 122 00:07:40,440 --> 00:07:44,040 Speaker 1: be subjected to Dixon's tests, Hay petitioned for the witch 123 00:07:44,080 --> 00:07:48,360 Speaker 1: prickers arrest, alleging that he was operating outside the legal guidelines. 124 00:07:48,960 --> 00:07:52,560 Speaker 1: The courts agreed, and Dixon fled south before they could 125 00:07:52,560 --> 00:07:56,840 Speaker 1: take him into custody. John's career wasn't over, though. He 126 00:07:56,920 --> 00:07:59,320 Speaker 1: took a job on behalf of a landowner who wanted 127 00:07:59,360 --> 00:08:02,520 Speaker 1: a particular clan removed from one of his properties. The 128 00:08:02,600 --> 00:08:05,840 Speaker 1: Mcleans had lived there without incident for over two centuries, 129 00:08:06,080 --> 00:08:09,400 Speaker 1: but the landowner, Chisholm, had big plans for this land. 130 00:08:09,760 --> 00:08:12,760 Speaker 1: Given the people's propensity for calling out witchcraft with no 131 00:08:12,880 --> 00:08:16,200 Speaker 1: other reason than mild unease, Chisholm saw a way to 132 00:08:16,240 --> 00:08:18,760 Speaker 1: get rid of his pesky tenants once and for all, 133 00:08:19,960 --> 00:08:22,480 Speaker 1: he hired John, who had changed his name to Mr 134 00:08:22,520 --> 00:08:27,040 Speaker 1: Patterson to avoid capture, to conduct an interrogation. The witch 135 00:08:27,040 --> 00:08:29,800 Speaker 1: pricker did as he was told. He stripped all of 136 00:08:29,800 --> 00:08:33,240 Speaker 1: the McLean's, fourteen women and one man right down to 137 00:08:33,360 --> 00:08:36,360 Speaker 1: nothing and began stabbing at them with his special needle. 138 00:08:37,559 --> 00:08:41,040 Speaker 1: The clan was tortured, the soles of their feet were burned, 139 00:08:41,080 --> 00:08:44,679 Speaker 1: and they were dangled by their thumbs until they confessed, which, 140 00:08:44,760 --> 00:08:47,960 Speaker 1: of course they did anyone would. But there was a 141 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:51,199 Speaker 1: problem with the landowner's plan. Someone had gone to the 142 00:08:51,280 --> 00:08:55,280 Speaker 1: McLean chief with word of Patterson's activities. The chief called 143 00:08:55,320 --> 00:08:58,960 Speaker 1: the landowner's bluff and as a result, an investigation was 144 00:08:59,040 --> 00:09:03,760 Speaker 1: conducted and the McLean's were released. John was arrested and 145 00:09:03,800 --> 00:09:06,600 Speaker 1: sent to Edinburgh to answer for his crimes, and it 146 00:09:06,720 --> 00:09:10,560 Speaker 1: was there that two big secrets were revealed. First, John 147 00:09:10,600 --> 00:09:13,120 Speaker 1: hadn't been using a needle to figure out who was 148 00:09:13,160 --> 00:09:15,680 Speaker 1: a witch. Instead, he claimed that he would look into 149 00:09:15,760 --> 00:09:19,800 Speaker 1: their eyes to determine their guilt. And second, John Dixon 150 00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:23,360 Speaker 1: wasn't even his real name. He had been born Christian 151 00:09:23,480 --> 00:09:28,720 Speaker 1: Cadal and he was a woman. You see, there hadn't 152 00:09:28,760 --> 00:09:31,959 Speaker 1: been many opportunities for women outside the home at the time, 153 00:09:32,280 --> 00:09:35,000 Speaker 1: and Katel had seen witch prickery as a way to 154 00:09:35,040 --> 00:09:39,079 Speaker 1: earn her independence. Sadly, she is believed to be responsible 155 00:09:39,120 --> 00:09:41,760 Speaker 1: for the deaths of at least six innocent people over 156 00:09:41,800 --> 00:09:45,040 Speaker 1: the course of her career, although the real number is 157 00:09:45,120 --> 00:09:49,559 Speaker 1: likely higher. It's not a happy story, I know, but 158 00:09:49,679 --> 00:09:53,040 Speaker 1: it's one that we should never forget because it teaches 159 00:09:53,160 --> 00:09:57,600 Speaker 1: us a valuable lesson. People aren't always who they claimed 160 00:09:57,640 --> 00:10:02,120 Speaker 1: to be, the law is not always just, and money 161 00:10:02,360 --> 00:10:05,600 Speaker 1: can ruin a lot of things. But if we stick 162 00:10:05,640 --> 00:10:09,160 Speaker 1: with it, everything just might work out in the end. 163 00:10:10,240 --> 00:10:16,559 Speaker 1: That's the hope at least, isn't it. I hope you've 164 00:10:16,600 --> 00:10:20,599 Speaker 1: enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe 165 00:10:20,600 --> 00:10:23,240 Speaker 1: for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the 166 00:10:23,240 --> 00:10:28,040 Speaker 1: show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was 167 00:10:28,120 --> 00:10:31,920 Speaker 1: created by me Aaron Manky in partnership with how Stuff Works. 168 00:10:32,360 --> 00:10:35,520 Speaker 1: I make another award winning show called Lore, which is 169 00:10:35,600 --> 00:10:39,000 Speaker 1: a podcast, book series, and television show, and you can 170 00:10:39,080 --> 00:10:41,400 Speaker 1: learn all about it over at the World of Lore 171 00:10:41,679 --> 00:10:45,400 Speaker 1: dot com. And until next time, stay curious.