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 --> 00:00:28,840 Speaker 1: waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. 6 00:00:36,520 --> 00:00:41,479 Speaker 1: Secrecy is everything. Mexican massed wrestling, also called lucha libre, 7 00:00:41,840 --> 00:00:45,400 Speaker 1: is a world that prizes discretion above all else. The 8 00:00:45,640 --> 00:00:50,080 Speaker 1: luchadors fight dressed as colorful, larger than life characters, their 9 00:00:50,159 --> 00:00:54,760 Speaker 1: true identities closely guarded secrets. But one particular luchador spent 10 00:00:54,840 --> 00:00:59,960 Speaker 1: his career hiding in plain sight as Reverend Sergio Gutierrez 11 00:01:00,120 --> 00:01:03,080 Speaker 1: beneath as he was a warrior in the church's holy 12 00:01:03,120 --> 00:01:06,400 Speaker 1: fight between good and evil, and as the mass luchador 13 00:01:06,520 --> 00:01:10,320 Speaker 1: Frey Tormenta aka Father Storm, he took that fight to 14 00:01:10,360 --> 00:01:14,000 Speaker 1: the ring. Frey Tormenta didn't start out as a luchador 15 00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:17,080 Speaker 1: or even a priest. He was born in nineteen forty 16 00:01:17,120 --> 00:01:19,760 Speaker 1: five in the Mexican state of Hidalgo and grew up 17 00:01:19,800 --> 00:01:23,800 Speaker 1: with sixteen brothers and sisters. Young Tormenta quickly became a 18 00:01:23,840 --> 00:01:27,560 Speaker 1: fan of Luccador films, which were low budget, action packed 19 00:01:27,560 --> 00:01:31,759 Speaker 1: films starring masked wrestlers that became popular in the nineteen sixties. 20 00:01:32,240 --> 00:01:34,800 Speaker 1: By the time he was twenty two years old, Tormenta 21 00:01:34,880 --> 00:01:37,319 Speaker 1: was looking for a new path in life. He had 22 00:01:37,360 --> 00:01:40,560 Speaker 1: trouble with drugs and alcohol and wanted a higher purpose 23 00:01:40,600 --> 00:01:44,960 Speaker 1: to focus on, so he joined the priesthood. Tormenta ended 24 00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:48,000 Speaker 1: up in the city of Texcoco, where he opened an orphanage. 25 00:01:48,320 --> 00:01:51,000 Speaker 1: Remembering the way the priesthood helped him, he vowed that 26 00:01:51,040 --> 00:01:53,600 Speaker 1: he would never turn away a child in need, but 27 00:01:53,680 --> 00:01:57,360 Speaker 1: he quickly discovered this was easier said than done. Every 28 00:01:57,440 --> 00:02:00,960 Speaker 1: child meant another mouth to feed, clothes to buy, and 29 00:02:01,160 --> 00:02:04,360 Speaker 1: more heat to use. The bills were piling up, and 30 00:02:04,400 --> 00:02:07,960 Speaker 1: the archdiocese could only help so much. So Tormenta came 31 00:02:08,040 --> 00:02:10,680 Speaker 1: up with a new idea. He would train as a 32 00:02:10,760 --> 00:02:13,840 Speaker 1: massed wrestler and win the money to help the orphanage. 33 00:02:14,120 --> 00:02:17,000 Speaker 1: His character would be a priest named Frey Tormenta or 34 00:02:17,160 --> 00:02:20,040 Speaker 1: Friars Storm, and after all, who would suspect a real 35 00:02:20,120 --> 00:02:23,280 Speaker 1: priest of posing as a fake one. He was sure 36 00:02:23,320 --> 00:02:26,160 Speaker 1: his gimmick as a fighting priest would be so successful 37 00:02:26,360 --> 00:02:29,040 Speaker 1: that he'd be able to expand the orphanage and create 38 00:02:29,080 --> 00:02:32,120 Speaker 1: a whole city for children in need. Of course, it 39 00:02:32,320 --> 00:02:35,080 Speaker 1: didn't work out that way. In fact, at Frey Tormento's 40 00:02:35,080 --> 00:02:38,000 Speaker 1: first match in nineteen seventy three, he only won about 41 00:02:38,280 --> 00:02:41,560 Speaker 1: twenty dollars, but Tormenta kept at it, and bit by 42 00:02:41,639 --> 00:02:44,400 Speaker 1: bit he was able to make ends meet for the orphanage. 43 00:02:44,600 --> 00:02:48,200 Speaker 1: Soon rumors spread that the wrestling priest was a real father, 44 00:02:48,520 --> 00:02:51,840 Speaker 1: and eventually the stories reached the ears of the archdiocese. 45 00:02:52,360 --> 00:02:54,960 Speaker 1: In nineteen seventy six, Tormento was called into meet with 46 00:02:55,040 --> 00:02:58,920 Speaker 1: the Bishop, his superior at the archdiocese. The bishop asked 47 00:02:58,919 --> 00:03:01,959 Speaker 1: Tormenta if he had heard anything about a wrestling priest, 48 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:05,320 Speaker 1: and Tormenta decided to come clean. He admitted that by 49 00:03:05,400 --> 00:03:08,400 Speaker 1: day he was preaching the Gospel, and by night he 50 00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:12,760 Speaker 1: was pile driving luchadors. The bishop, of course, was furious. 51 00:03:12,919 --> 00:03:17,239 Speaker 1: He demanded Tormenta quit at once, and Tormenta agreed on 52 00:03:17,240 --> 00:03:20,280 Speaker 1: one condition that the bishop provide the orphanage with the 53 00:03:20,320 --> 00:03:24,680 Speaker 1: same funds that Tormenta had been winning from Lucilibre. After 54 00:03:24,720 --> 00:03:29,639 Speaker 1: some reflection, the bishop replied that he could keep wrestling. Eventually, 55 00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:32,560 Speaker 1: word got out that Tormenta was in fact a real priest, 56 00:03:32,600 --> 00:03:35,520 Speaker 1: which caused problems at his fights. His fans would throw 57 00:03:35,600 --> 00:03:37,920 Speaker 1: tomatoes at the other fighters, telling them that they were 58 00:03:37,920 --> 00:03:40,360 Speaker 1: going to hell for laying their hands on a priest. 59 00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:44,360 Speaker 1: But the discovery of his identity actually brought Tormenta closer 60 00:03:44,400 --> 00:03:47,360 Speaker 1: to the other luchadors. Many of them started seeking him 61 00:03:47,400 --> 00:03:51,520 Speaker 1: out for confession after matches and asking him for spiritual advice. 62 00:03:52,160 --> 00:03:55,360 Speaker 1: Frey Tormenta retired from wrestling in two thousand and one, 63 00:03:55,560 --> 00:03:58,880 Speaker 1: but today still sports his mask at Sunday services. His 64 00:03:59,040 --> 00:04:02,680 Speaker 1: orphanage has moved, but it now offers food, housing, education, 65 00:04:03,160 --> 00:04:06,360 Speaker 1: and luccha training to dozens of young boys. One of 66 00:04:06,360 --> 00:04:09,560 Speaker 1: his proteges has even taken up his mantle, fighting as 67 00:04:09,720 --> 00:04:14,080 Speaker 1: Frey Tormenta Junior today. Frey Tormenta has been immortalized in 68 00:04:14,160 --> 00:04:17,880 Speaker 1: comic books, TV shows, and several films, including the two 69 00:04:17,920 --> 00:04:21,240 Speaker 1: thousand and six Jack Black comedy Nacho Libre, But the 70 00:04:21,279 --> 00:04:25,520 Speaker 1: father counts something else as his greatest achievement. In twenty fifteen, 71 00:04:25,640 --> 00:04:27,960 Speaker 1: he told an interviewer that he's helped over two thousand 72 00:04:28,080 --> 00:04:31,200 Speaker 1: children through his orphanage. He said, I have so much 73 00:04:31,240 --> 00:04:35,640 Speaker 1: to be thankful for three doctors, sixteen teachers, one public accountant, 74 00:04:35,960 --> 00:04:40,320 Speaker 1: one private accountant, one priest, twenty computer technicians, and five 75 00:04:40,400 --> 00:04:43,560 Speaker 1: lawyers have all come out of the orphanage. It may 76 00:04:43,560 --> 00:04:46,719 Speaker 1: not be as dramatic as a souplex, the changing so 77 00:04:46,800 --> 00:05:03,479 Speaker 1: many lives is one heck of a finishing move. Of 78 00:05:03,520 --> 00:05:05,760 Speaker 1: the many things that we take for granted in the 79 00:05:05,760 --> 00:05:09,280 Speaker 1: modern world, geography is chief among them, not just the 80 00:05:09,400 --> 00:05:12,000 Speaker 1: terrain itself, which we can now cross with ease in 81 00:05:12,040 --> 00:05:15,960 Speaker 1: many places, but the human distribution of land. In America, 82 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:19,120 Speaker 1: we just accept that there are fifty states. Minnesota looks 83 00:05:19,160 --> 00:05:22,320 Speaker 1: like a chef's hat, Louisiana looks like a boot. Michigan 84 00:05:22,360 --> 00:05:25,520 Speaker 1: has that weird upper peninsula. It's all been this way 85 00:05:25,560 --> 00:05:28,560 Speaker 1: for well over a century in most cases, so why 86 00:05:28,640 --> 00:05:31,560 Speaker 1: question it while it turns out the last one has 87 00:05:31,640 --> 00:05:34,640 Speaker 1: a seriously curious story behind it, with a lot to 88 00:05:34,720 --> 00:05:39,240 Speaker 1: teach us. Michigan's seemingly arbitrary boundaries came at great cost. 89 00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:42,520 Speaker 1: The state gained its upper peninsula after a war, and 90 00:05:42,560 --> 00:05:45,159 Speaker 1: not just any war, but one with a neighboring state. 91 00:05:46,080 --> 00:05:50,000 Speaker 1: In eighteen seventeen, Michigan was still a territory, but Ohio 92 00:05:50,080 --> 00:05:53,000 Speaker 1: had already become a state, and the two just couldn't 93 00:05:53,040 --> 00:05:57,240 Speaker 1: agree over where Ohio's northern border ended and Michigan's southern 94 00:05:57,279 --> 00:06:00,800 Speaker 1: border began. A treaty dating all the way back seventeen 95 00:06:00,880 --> 00:06:04,360 Speaker 1: eighty seven, claimed that Michigan's southern border is a line 96 00:06:04,360 --> 00:06:06,880 Speaker 1: that runs east from the southern tip of Lake Michigan 97 00:06:07,200 --> 00:06:09,520 Speaker 1: all the way to Lake Erie. That is to say, 98 00:06:09,720 --> 00:06:13,400 Speaker 1: where Lake Michigan ends, so does the Territory of Michigan. 99 00:06:13,920 --> 00:06:16,000 Speaker 1: But of course, there were no satellites back then to 100 00:06:16,040 --> 00:06:19,360 Speaker 1: provide perfect images of the earth. Human surveyors had to 101 00:06:19,400 --> 00:06:21,880 Speaker 1: go out and take their own measurements to determine the 102 00:06:21,960 --> 00:06:25,640 Speaker 1: exact shape of the land. Two separate surveys, one commissioned 103 00:06:25,640 --> 00:06:28,400 Speaker 1: by the governor of the Territory of Michigan and one 104 00:06:28,440 --> 00:06:31,720 Speaker 1: by the Governor of Ohio, conveniently found that Lake Michigan 105 00:06:31,839 --> 00:06:34,960 Speaker 1: ends in two different spots. The Ohians thought that it 106 00:06:35,080 --> 00:06:37,960 Speaker 1: ended further north, and the Michiganders thought that it ended 107 00:06:38,040 --> 00:06:41,520 Speaker 1: farther south. Go figure The land in between these two 108 00:06:41,520 --> 00:06:44,960 Speaker 1: points became known as the Toledo Strip. Imagine a thick 109 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:48,120 Speaker 1: strip of land that runs across Michigan's southern border from 110 00:06:48,200 --> 00:06:51,080 Speaker 1: Lake Michigan to Lake Erie. The strip was so named 111 00:06:51,120 --> 00:06:54,080 Speaker 1: because it contained the city of Toledo, which is on 112 00:06:54,160 --> 00:06:56,920 Speaker 1: the mouth of the Mammie River off Lake Erie. At 113 00:06:56,920 --> 00:06:59,600 Speaker 1: the time, this was an important trade route, worth a 114 00:06:59,640 --> 00:07:03,919 Speaker 1: lot to whatever state or territory controlled it, and eventually 115 00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:06,440 Speaker 1: Michigan was able to prove their claim, and if you 116 00:07:06,480 --> 00:07:08,160 Speaker 1: look at a modern map you can tell that they 117 00:07:08,200 --> 00:07:11,560 Speaker 1: are indeed right. Lake Michigan goes farther south than Toledo, 118 00:07:11,800 --> 00:07:15,800 Speaker 1: although just barely so. They took control of Toledo for 119 00:07:15,920 --> 00:07:19,160 Speaker 1: a time, but by eighteen twenty five, the Erie Canal 120 00:07:19,280 --> 00:07:22,280 Speaker 1: was completed in New York. This connected Lake Erie to 121 00:07:22,280 --> 00:07:25,400 Speaker 1: the Hudson River, which flows south from upstate New York 122 00:07:25,640 --> 00:07:28,400 Speaker 1: to New York Harbor. So now ships could travel all 123 00:07:28,400 --> 00:07:30,840 Speaker 1: the way from New York Harbor, up the Hudson River 124 00:07:31,080 --> 00:07:35,000 Speaker 1: and across Lake Erie and arrive in Toledo. The region 125 00:07:35,040 --> 00:07:38,800 Speaker 1: became so economically important that by eighteen thirty three, Ohio 126 00:07:38,880 --> 00:07:41,320 Speaker 1: suddenly began a claim once again that they were the 127 00:07:41,400 --> 00:07:44,880 Speaker 1: rightful owners of Toledo. When Michigan tried to gain statehood 128 00:07:44,920 --> 00:07:47,800 Speaker 1: later that year, Ohio used its influence in Congress to 129 00:07:47,880 --> 00:07:51,840 Speaker 1: prevent Michigan from joining the Union. In eighteen thirty five, 130 00:07:52,040 --> 00:07:55,120 Speaker 1: Ohio sent new surveyors to the Toledo Strip to try 131 00:07:55,200 --> 00:07:57,880 Speaker 1: and prove once and for all that it belonged to them, 132 00:07:58,240 --> 00:08:02,040 Speaker 1: and Michigan, still raw and being blocked from statehood, sent 133 00:08:02,080 --> 00:08:05,640 Speaker 1: a posse of thirty lawmen to arrest those surveyors. It 134 00:08:05,800 --> 00:08:09,960 Speaker 1: was war. Michigan sent even more lawmen and soldiers to 135 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:13,200 Speaker 1: Toledo to keep the peace and prevent an invasion from Ohio, 136 00:08:13,560 --> 00:08:16,240 Speaker 1: and one of those Michigan lawmen was stabbed by a 137 00:08:16,280 --> 00:08:19,480 Speaker 1: guy from Ohio that he was trying to arrest. He lived, 138 00:08:19,520 --> 00:08:21,600 Speaker 1: don't worry, and as far as we know, he was 139 00:08:21,680 --> 00:08:25,520 Speaker 1: the only one injured in this inner state conflict because 140 00:08:25,720 --> 00:08:28,320 Speaker 1: things were about to be settled at the federal level. 141 00:08:28,640 --> 00:08:31,960 Speaker 1: Although some members of Congress supported Michigan who were clearly 142 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:35,920 Speaker 1: in the right, President Andrew Jackson did not. He disapproved 143 00:08:35,920 --> 00:08:40,040 Speaker 1: of Michigan's armed response to Ohio, so he gave Toledo 144 00:08:40,200 --> 00:08:43,280 Speaker 1: to Ohio, which seemed like a major victory at the time. 145 00:08:43,760 --> 00:08:46,840 Speaker 1: But Jackson was also smart enough to grant Michigan statehood 146 00:08:46,840 --> 00:08:49,959 Speaker 1: in eighteen thirty six and give them the unclaimed Upper 147 00:08:50,000 --> 00:08:53,840 Speaker 1: Peninsula to the north of their territory as consolation. This 148 00:08:53,960 --> 00:08:56,960 Speaker 1: proved to be just as valuable. Explorers soon discovered that 149 00:08:57,000 --> 00:09:00,839 Speaker 1: the peninsula was rich in copper and iron. Today, it's 150 00:09:00,920 --> 00:09:03,680 Speaker 1: curious to see how things have shaken out. Michigan and 151 00:09:03,760 --> 00:09:08,400 Speaker 1: Ohio have comparable economies and population sizes, but Toledo is 152 00:09:08,559 --> 00:09:10,840 Speaker 1: not the price jewel that it once was. It's a 153 00:09:10,880 --> 00:09:13,680 Speaker 1: major trade hub, but the population has declined after the 154 00:09:13,720 --> 00:09:17,719 Speaker 1: loss of manufacturing jobs. Meanwhile, the Upper Peninsula is known 155 00:09:17,760 --> 00:09:20,840 Speaker 1: for its incredible views of the Great Lakes and pristine nature. 156 00:09:21,240 --> 00:09:24,240 Speaker 1: It's all a matter of perspective. Both areas have their 157 00:09:24,280 --> 00:09:27,319 Speaker 1: pros and cons but it is curious that by giving 158 00:09:27,360 --> 00:09:30,520 Speaker 1: up one city that was rightfully theirs, the people of 159 00:09:30,600 --> 00:09:34,320 Speaker 1: Michigan gained more beauty than they could have ever imagined. 160 00:09:38,440 --> 00:09:41,120 Speaker 1: I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet 161 00:09:41,160 --> 00:09:45,040 Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn 162 00:09:45,080 --> 00:09:49,440 Speaker 1: more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. 163 00:09:49,679 --> 00:09:53,240 Speaker 1: The show was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership 164 00:09:53,280 --> 00:09:56,560 Speaker 1: with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show 165 00:09:56,679 --> 00:09:59,920 Speaker 1: called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and tell 166 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:02,440 Speaker 1: television show. And you can learn all about it over 167 00:10:02,520 --> 00:10:07,760 Speaker 1: at theworldoflore dot com, and until next time, stay curious.