1 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:07,440 Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of 2 00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:14,440 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of 3 00:00:14,480 --> 00:00:18,440 Speaker 1: the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all 4 00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:22,159 Speaker 1: of these amazing tales are right there on display, just 5 00:00:22,200 --> 00:00:28,880 Speaker 1: waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. 6 00:00:36,479 --> 00:00:40,200 Speaker 1: Over the years, between this show and my other podcast, Lore, 7 00:00:40,320 --> 00:00:43,519 Speaker 1: we've talked about a number of cryptids, miraculous creatures that 8 00:00:43,600 --> 00:00:46,959 Speaker 1: made their presence known a handful of times before vanishing 9 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:50,560 Speaker 1: into legend. Some of these creatures have been readily identified. 10 00:00:50,760 --> 00:00:54,520 Speaker 1: Others remain in substantial impossible to pin down by either 11 00:00:54,640 --> 00:00:59,640 Speaker 1: science or superstition. In August of eighteen seventeen, a pair 12 00:00:59,640 --> 00:01:02,000 Speaker 1: of women were walking along the harbor at Cape Ann, 13 00:01:02,280 --> 00:01:05,600 Speaker 1: not far from Gloucester, Massachusetts. One of them saw something 14 00:01:05,640 --> 00:01:08,800 Speaker 1: strange in the water, and she stopped a stare. There 15 00:01:08,800 --> 00:01:11,360 Speaker 1: seemed to be a great creature moving through the water, 16 00:01:11,800 --> 00:01:14,680 Speaker 1: not a fish or a trap shark, but something more 17 00:01:14,800 --> 00:01:18,360 Speaker 1: like an enormous life serpent. When they told their neighbors 18 00:01:18,360 --> 00:01:20,759 Speaker 1: what they had seen, it was dismissed out of hand 19 00:01:20,800 --> 00:01:24,000 Speaker 1: as a fanciful tail. They'd both let their imaginations get 20 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:26,680 Speaker 1: the best of them. But four days later, near ten 21 00:01:26,720 --> 00:01:29,800 Speaker 1: Pound Island, it appeared again. This time, it was a 22 00:01:29,800 --> 00:01:32,600 Speaker 1: sailor named amos' Story who saw it between twelve and 23 00:01:32,680 --> 00:01:36,120 Speaker 1: one o'clock. He described it as a sleek creature with 24 00:01:36,160 --> 00:01:39,039 Speaker 1: a head like a sea turtle. By the third sighting, 25 00:01:39,080 --> 00:01:41,960 Speaker 1: the creature was starting to attract a frenzy of local attention. 26 00:01:42,480 --> 00:01:45,600 Speaker 1: Scores of men and women sighted it from shore. It 27 00:01:45,640 --> 00:01:47,880 Speaker 1: must have been at least forty feet long, they said, 28 00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:51,360 Speaker 1: maybe as long as fifty, with a sharp horn protruding 29 00:01:51,400 --> 00:01:54,920 Speaker 1: from its head. Four boats took to the water, aiming 30 00:01:54,960 --> 00:01:57,720 Speaker 1: to catch the strange creature. One of the ships came 31 00:01:57,800 --> 00:02:00,960 Speaker 1: close and the carpenter aboard fired at it with his musket, 32 00:02:01,400 --> 00:02:04,440 Speaker 1: even though it was almost point blank range. He didn't 33 00:02:04,520 --> 00:02:06,920 Speaker 1: even leave a scratch on the creature's head, and a 34 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:10,679 Speaker 1: vanish beneath the waves before he could reload. Now, these 35 00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:13,640 Speaker 1: sightings seemed to lend credence to a story the local 36 00:02:13,680 --> 00:02:17,000 Speaker 1: indigenous people had been telling for years about a serpent 37 00:02:17,240 --> 00:02:20,240 Speaker 1: that coiled itself around the rocks. This story had been 38 00:02:20,240 --> 00:02:22,919 Speaker 1: told as early as sixteen thirty eight, but none of 39 00:02:22,919 --> 00:02:26,880 Speaker 1: the settlers had believed it until now. For two whole years, 40 00:02:26,919 --> 00:02:30,400 Speaker 1: this creature swam in the local waters near Gloucester, generating 41 00:02:30,480 --> 00:02:34,200 Speaker 1: a public frenzy among the locals. However, no one was 42 00:02:34,240 --> 00:02:36,680 Speaker 1: ever able to catch it. At one point they thought 43 00:02:36,680 --> 00:02:39,240 Speaker 1: that one of its spawn had washed ashore, but it 44 00:02:39,280 --> 00:02:42,800 Speaker 1: was only a beached sea snake. Enthusiasm started to weighing 45 00:02:42,880 --> 00:02:45,520 Speaker 1: when they realized they hadn't caught the fabled sea monster, 46 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:48,840 Speaker 1: but not before the events of eighteen seventeen to eighteen 47 00:02:48,960 --> 00:02:52,280 Speaker 1: nineteen were dramatized for this stage in a play called 48 00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:56,240 Speaker 1: The Sea Serpent or a Gloucester Hoax. It's the plays 49 00:02:56,320 --> 00:02:59,560 Speaker 1: telling of the events. The Sea Serpent's identity as a 50 00:02:59,600 --> 00:03:03,280 Speaker 1: deliberate anti climax, not a monster, but a mackerel that 51 00:03:03,320 --> 00:03:08,000 Speaker 1: had been misidentified by an eager public. Reality, however, would 52 00:03:08,120 --> 00:03:10,760 Speaker 1: not be so clear cut. In the century since the 53 00:03:10,800 --> 00:03:14,760 Speaker 1: creature's first appearance, the so called Gloucester Sea Serpent became 54 00:03:14,840 --> 00:03:17,720 Speaker 1: a mascot of sorts in the area. Sightings of the 55 00:03:17,720 --> 00:03:21,919 Speaker 1: creature continued into the twenty first century, although photographs would 56 00:03:21,919 --> 00:03:27,440 Speaker 1: be scarce. Instead, local artists would depict the creature in murals, paintings, 57 00:03:27,480 --> 00:03:31,519 Speaker 1: and statues. In the modern day, skeptics of the mythology 58 00:03:31,560 --> 00:03:33,919 Speaker 1: went through all the accounts of the time and came 59 00:03:33,960 --> 00:03:37,040 Speaker 1: to an entirely different conclusion about what the people of 60 00:03:37,080 --> 00:03:40,320 Speaker 1: Gloucester had seen. They had witnessed not a sea monster 61 00:03:40,440 --> 00:03:42,920 Speaker 1: out of a Jules Vern story, but something that had 62 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:45,640 Speaker 1: yet to be fully understood by the colonists of the day. 63 00:03:46,320 --> 00:03:50,360 Speaker 1: They had seen a narwhale. It's not quite a serpent, 64 00:03:50,440 --> 00:03:53,960 Speaker 1: of course, as described by those contemporaneous accounts, but a 65 00:03:54,080 --> 00:03:57,760 Speaker 1: narwhal would match the coloring, the general shape, and characteristics 66 00:03:57,760 --> 00:04:01,520 Speaker 1: of the creature that these seventeenth century Gloucester residents witnessed, 67 00:04:01,920 --> 00:04:05,120 Speaker 1: particularly the long horn protruding from its head, which is 68 00:04:05,160 --> 00:04:10,200 Speaker 1: described variously as a sting or a spear. Another characteristic 69 00:04:10,240 --> 00:04:12,560 Speaker 1: that is ascribed to the Gloucester sea serpent is its 70 00:04:12,600 --> 00:04:16,039 Speaker 1: ability to dive sharply into the water without any visible 71 00:04:16,080 --> 00:04:19,880 Speaker 1: contortion of its body. The fast deep diving is something 72 00:04:19,920 --> 00:04:23,240 Speaker 1: that nar walls are extremely capable of doing, swimming fast 73 00:04:23,320 --> 00:04:26,039 Speaker 1: and able to disappear in a heartbeat under the surface 74 00:04:26,080 --> 00:04:29,880 Speaker 1: of the water. Our imagination is a powerful thing. It 75 00:04:29,880 --> 00:04:34,240 Speaker 1: can transform an unusual sea creature into something otherworldly. The 76 00:04:34,279 --> 00:04:37,760 Speaker 1: ocean as ever, provides us with the opportunity to imagine 77 00:04:37,880 --> 00:04:42,479 Speaker 1: infinite possibilities just off the shore. Monsters and mermaids and 78 00:04:42,560 --> 00:04:46,919 Speaker 1: sea serpents. Nar walls are mostly relegated to Arctic waters 79 00:04:46,960 --> 00:04:49,960 Speaker 1: near Canada and Greenland, but it is not impossible for 80 00:04:50,040 --> 00:04:53,280 Speaker 1: one to have gotten lost and swim south. Whatever brought 81 00:04:53,279 --> 00:04:56,880 Speaker 1: this unlucky creature to Massachusetts, we may never know, but 82 00:04:56,960 --> 00:04:58,839 Speaker 1: it lives on in the memory of the people of 83 00:04:58,839 --> 00:05:17,320 Speaker 1: Gloucester forever, and that is curious enough for me. Liechtenstein 84 00:05:17,480 --> 00:05:20,800 Speaker 1: is a tiny country, at just sixty two square miles 85 00:05:20,839 --> 00:05:23,479 Speaker 1: with a population of just over forty thousand people. It 86 00:05:23,560 --> 00:05:26,680 Speaker 1: is the sixth smallest country in the world, with a 87 00:05:26,720 --> 00:05:30,080 Speaker 1: smaller area and population than the size of Cleveland, Ohio. 88 00:05:30,200 --> 00:05:33,200 Speaker 1: It is not surprising that Liechtenstein no longer feels it 89 00:05:33,279 --> 00:05:36,200 Speaker 1: needs a standing army. In fact, they haven't needed one 90 00:05:36,240 --> 00:05:38,800 Speaker 1: for over one hundred and fifty years. But the very 91 00:05:38,839 --> 00:05:42,840 Speaker 1: last time Liechtenstein marched a war, something amazing happened. The 92 00:05:42,880 --> 00:05:47,919 Speaker 1: country actually grew. In eighteen sixty six, the region around 93 00:05:47,960 --> 00:05:52,200 Speaker 1: Liechtenstein was embroiled in the Austro Prussian War. Liechtenstein and 94 00:05:52,279 --> 00:05:54,640 Speaker 1: several other small kingdoms were part of something called the 95 00:05:54,760 --> 00:05:58,919 Speaker 1: German Confederation. This was an organization of mostly German speaking 96 00:05:58,960 --> 00:06:02,560 Speaker 1: states ruched across what today would be most of Central Europe. 97 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:05,960 Speaker 1: The German Confederation had existed for a few decades, but 98 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:09,320 Speaker 1: now Prussia, a powerful kingdom in modern day northern Poland, 99 00:06:09,520 --> 00:06:12,720 Speaker 1: had allied with Italy to overthrow it. Fighting against them 100 00:06:12,720 --> 00:06:16,320 Speaker 1: were a few other states and the Austrian Empire. Now 101 00:06:16,440 --> 00:06:20,000 Speaker 1: technically speaking, Liechtenstein was in neutral, but they retained close 102 00:06:20,040 --> 00:06:24,280 Speaker 1: ties to Austria. So when Austria requested back up, Liechtenstein 103 00:06:24,360 --> 00:06:27,640 Speaker 1: sent all the forces they could muster just eighty soldiers 104 00:06:27,640 --> 00:06:31,479 Speaker 1: to guard a place called Brenner Pass between Austria and Italy. 105 00:06:32,080 --> 00:06:35,440 Speaker 1: The Liechtenstein soldiers were supposedly there to fight off any 106 00:06:35,440 --> 00:06:39,400 Speaker 1: attacks from Prussians or Italians, but by all accounts they 107 00:06:39,400 --> 00:06:42,720 Speaker 1: didn't have much to do when no opposing army was forthcoming. 108 00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:46,080 Speaker 1: They spent most of their days drinking wine, smoking tobacco, 109 00:06:46,400 --> 00:06:49,680 Speaker 1: and looking out at the beautiful mountains that surrounded the pass. Hey, 110 00:06:49,720 --> 00:06:52,080 Speaker 1: there are a lot of worse places to be stationed 111 00:06:52,080 --> 00:06:55,080 Speaker 1: than the Italian Alps, for sure. The war did it 112 00:06:55,200 --> 00:06:57,279 Speaker 1: last very long, In fact, it was over in just 113 00:06:57,320 --> 00:07:00,680 Speaker 1: about six weeks, so when the liechtenstein S got the 114 00:07:00,720 --> 00:07:03,880 Speaker 1: call that peace had been declared, they reluctantly rose to 115 00:07:03,920 --> 00:07:08,040 Speaker 1: their feet and left their Italian alpine vacation behind. It 116 00:07:08,080 --> 00:07:11,040 Speaker 1: wasn't until the soldiers returned back to the border that 117 00:07:11,120 --> 00:07:14,000 Speaker 1: the officers noticed something odd. They had set out for 118 00:07:14,080 --> 00:07:17,480 Speaker 1: Italy with eighty soldiers, but now they were returning with 119 00:07:17,600 --> 00:07:22,120 Speaker 1: eighty one. So who was this mysterious new recruit on 120 00:07:22,240 --> 00:07:26,080 Speaker 1: this well, accounts differ now. Some claim that the new 121 00:07:26,120 --> 00:07:29,240 Speaker 1: immigrant was an Austrian officer who enjoyed the company of 122 00:07:29,240 --> 00:07:32,160 Speaker 1: the Liechtensteiners, and when they headed back home, he decided 123 00:07:32,160 --> 00:07:34,400 Speaker 1: it was time for a fresh change of pace and 124 00:07:34,800 --> 00:07:38,600 Speaker 1: he joined them. Others say the addition was an Italian defector, 125 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:42,400 Speaker 1: or perhaps just a farmer from near the pass. Either way, 126 00:07:42,600 --> 00:07:45,200 Speaker 1: he followed the troops home in search of work after 127 00:07:45,240 --> 00:07:48,400 Speaker 1: the war. Whatever the true story might be, the second 128 00:07:48,440 --> 00:07:52,400 Speaker 1: that man crossed over the border, Liechtenstein's tiny population actually 129 00:07:52,440 --> 00:07:55,600 Speaker 1: got a boost, which is pretty unusual for a war. 130 00:07:56,160 --> 00:07:59,400 Speaker 1: Their minuscule army was disbanded just two years later in 131 00:07:59,440 --> 00:08:02,640 Speaker 1: eighteen six s eight. Small as the army was, it 132 00:08:02,720 --> 00:08:06,120 Speaker 1: was just too expensive to keep up. After that, Liechtenstein 133 00:08:06,200 --> 00:08:09,400 Speaker 1: declared an official position of neutrality, which it kept through 134 00:08:09,440 --> 00:08:12,679 Speaker 1: both World Wars, although it did ban the Nazi Party 135 00:08:12,720 --> 00:08:15,840 Speaker 1: in nineteen forty three, which any smart country would have 136 00:08:15,880 --> 00:08:20,080 Speaker 1: done today. Liechtenstein is a tiny country nestled between Austria 137 00:08:20,160 --> 00:08:23,200 Speaker 1: and Switzerland. Like the Swiss, the country made itself a 138 00:08:23,240 --> 00:08:26,240 Speaker 1: tax haven in the late twentieth century. The companies it 139 00:08:26,280 --> 00:08:28,680 Speaker 1: attracted in the past few decades have made it one 140 00:08:28,720 --> 00:08:31,880 Speaker 1: of the wealthiest monarchies in the world. And I'm sure 141 00:08:31,880 --> 00:08:34,760 Speaker 1: the Liechtensteiners have more than enough money to fund an 142 00:08:34,840 --> 00:08:37,720 Speaker 1: army these days. Whether they can feel it, well, that's 143 00:08:37,800 --> 00:08:41,480 Speaker 1: another story. Unless they start counting corporations as people. They 144 00:08:41,480 --> 00:08:44,960 Speaker 1: don't even have enough to fill Yankee Stadium. So perhaps 145 00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:48,960 Speaker 1: it's time to send another expedition to the Alps. After all, 146 00:08:49,080 --> 00:08:51,640 Speaker 1: Who knows what they might come back with this time. 147 00:08:55,640 --> 00:08:58,320 Speaker 1: I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet 148 00:08:58,360 --> 00:09:01,920 Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Subscribe I for free on Apple Podcasts, or 149 00:09:02,040 --> 00:09:06,800 Speaker 1: learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. 150 00:09:06,880 --> 00:09:10,440 Speaker 1: The show was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership 151 00:09:10,480 --> 00:09:13,760 Speaker 1: with how Stuff Works, I make another award winning show 152 00:09:13,880 --> 00:09:17,679 Speaker 1: called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television 153 00:09:17,720 --> 00:09:19,920 Speaker 1: show and you can learn all about it over at 154 00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:26,720 Speaker 1: the Worldoflore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.