1 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:07,400 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 --> 00:00:22,119 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 00:00:36,280 --> 00:00:39,800 Speaker 1: Gabrielle was born in eighteen eighty three in western France. 7 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:42,720 Speaker 1: Her childhood was destined to be a difficult one. Her 8 00:00:42,760 --> 00:00:45,200 Speaker 1: mother died when she was twelve, and her father wasn't 9 00:00:45,240 --> 00:00:47,879 Speaker 1: willing to look after her and her siblings, so he 10 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:50,400 Speaker 1: left them in the care of nuns and never came back. 11 00:00:51,320 --> 00:00:55,120 Speaker 1: The nuns impact on Gabrielle would be unexpected. She hated 12 00:00:55,120 --> 00:00:57,840 Speaker 1: how strict and chase they were. She saw the glamour 13 00:00:57,880 --> 00:01:00,840 Speaker 1: and the riches of nearby Paris, and and to understand 14 00:01:00,840 --> 00:01:04,720 Speaker 1: why anyone would intentionally live a life of poverty. However, 15 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:07,440 Speaker 1: the nuns did teach her the important skills she needed. 16 00:01:07,640 --> 00:01:10,120 Speaker 1: They taught her how to sew and clean. She developed 17 00:01:10,120 --> 00:01:13,560 Speaker 1: a preference for a clean home and immaculate hygiene, and 18 00:01:13,640 --> 00:01:16,680 Speaker 1: these skills and traits would define her life and even 19 00:01:16,760 --> 00:01:20,080 Speaker 1: lead her to change the world. By the time Gabrielle 20 00:01:20,160 --> 00:01:23,160 Speaker 1: was twenty, she was living in Paris and pursuing that 21 00:01:23,280 --> 00:01:26,399 Speaker 1: glamorous life. She used her sewing skills to open up 22 00:01:26,440 --> 00:01:30,440 Speaker 1: a hat shop in nineteen ten, which immediately became a success. 23 00:01:30,840 --> 00:01:34,039 Speaker 1: Some of the local cabaret performers took to wearing her hats, 24 00:01:34,200 --> 00:01:37,320 Speaker 1: making them even more popular throughout the country. She soon 25 00:01:37,360 --> 00:01:42,640 Speaker 1: began designing dresses as well. Gabrielle's preference for immaculate hygiene 26 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:45,080 Speaker 1: led her to notice that some of her rich clients 27 00:01:45,080 --> 00:01:48,560 Speaker 1: were actually less hygienic than her. She thought many of 28 00:01:48,600 --> 00:01:52,200 Speaker 1: them even smelled. She learned more about the world of perfumes, 29 00:01:52,240 --> 00:01:55,000 Speaker 1: which up until this point was still not widely used. 30 00:01:55,280 --> 00:01:57,800 Speaker 1: They had existed for millennia, but the advent of modern 31 00:01:57,880 --> 00:02:01,400 Speaker 1: chemistry meant that safe synthetic fragrance says could be developed 32 00:02:01,400 --> 00:02:03,920 Speaker 1: that were affordable and would last on the skin for 33 00:02:03,960 --> 00:02:07,800 Speaker 1: a long time, and so Gabrielle immediately commissioned a whole 34 00:02:07,880 --> 00:02:10,799 Speaker 1: variety of perfumes, and she eventually settled on a scent 35 00:02:10,960 --> 00:02:13,320 Speaker 1: that she wanted to sell. Not only would it make 36 00:02:13,360 --> 00:02:15,320 Speaker 1: her money, but it would keep her from having to 37 00:02:15,360 --> 00:02:18,280 Speaker 1: smell the bo of her clients as she fitted them 38 00:02:18,320 --> 00:02:22,360 Speaker 1: for hats and dresses. All throughout the nineteen twenties, Gabrielle 39 00:02:22,400 --> 00:02:26,520 Speaker 1: became a Paris fashion icon. In addition to her popular perfume, 40 00:02:26,600 --> 00:02:29,840 Speaker 1: she also invented the first little black dress, which is 41 00:02:29,880 --> 00:02:32,920 Speaker 1: a simple and slim dress in contrast to the big 42 00:02:32,960 --> 00:02:37,160 Speaker 1: gowns of previous decades. She had liberated women's fashion, but 43 00:02:37,240 --> 00:02:40,320 Speaker 1: she wasn't exactly a feminist. More than anything, she just 44 00:02:40,440 --> 00:02:43,200 Speaker 1: wanted success and the money and power that came with it. 45 00:02:43,520 --> 00:02:45,880 Speaker 1: She wanted to be a part of high society to 46 00:02:45,919 --> 00:02:48,720 Speaker 1: show that she was more than just an orphan raised 47 00:02:48,760 --> 00:02:52,840 Speaker 1: by nuns, and so all throughout the nineteen thirties, Gabrielle 48 00:02:52,880 --> 00:02:56,079 Speaker 1: became known for having affairs with powerful men. At first 49 00:02:56,080 --> 00:02:59,200 Speaker 1: this was members of high society in France, but soon 50 00:02:59,280 --> 00:03:02,720 Speaker 1: she was even in English royalty and friendly with the 51 00:03:02,840 --> 00:03:06,160 Speaker 1: likes of people like Winston Churchill. And because of all 52 00:03:06,200 --> 00:03:08,120 Speaker 1: of this, you would think that she would have sided 53 00:03:08,160 --> 00:03:11,160 Speaker 1: with the Allies when World War II darkened over Europe, 54 00:03:11,280 --> 00:03:14,480 Speaker 1: But again, all Gabrielle cared about was her own success. 55 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:18,040 Speaker 1: When the Nazis conquered France, Gabrielle quickly struck up an 56 00:03:18,040 --> 00:03:21,760 Speaker 1: affair with German officer Hans Gunter von Dinklich. In addition 57 00:03:21,800 --> 00:03:24,880 Speaker 1: to having the most German name imaginable, he was also 58 00:03:24,960 --> 00:03:28,959 Speaker 1: a spy tasked with infiltrating the French resistance. This seems 59 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:31,960 Speaker 1: to have been Gabrielle's most long lived and passionate affair. 60 00:03:32,320 --> 00:03:35,400 Speaker 1: The fact that the Nazis were conquerors and anti Semites 61 00:03:35,680 --> 00:03:38,240 Speaker 1: didn't seem to bother her. The reality is that most 62 00:03:38,280 --> 00:03:41,040 Speaker 1: of the Western world was pretty anti Semitic at the time. 63 00:03:41,320 --> 00:03:44,360 Speaker 1: It was a matter of degrees to her. The English, French, 64 00:03:44,400 --> 00:03:47,320 Speaker 1: and Americans tended to segregate Jews and keep them from 65 00:03:47,360 --> 00:03:51,080 Speaker 1: positions of power, but they drew the line systematically murdering 66 00:03:51,120 --> 00:03:55,120 Speaker 1: them like the Germans did. Gabrielle, however, took full advantage 67 00:03:55,160 --> 00:03:57,680 Speaker 1: of the Nazis' anti Semitic laws. She had a few 68 00:03:57,720 --> 00:04:00,480 Speaker 1: Jewish business partners with a stake in her business, and 69 00:04:00,560 --> 00:04:03,680 Speaker 1: she tried to essentially steal their stake from them under 70 00:04:03,760 --> 00:04:06,880 Speaker 1: Nazi laws that stated Jews couldn't own their own businesses. 71 00:04:07,240 --> 00:04:10,880 Speaker 1: This ultimately failed when those Jewish partners smartly sold their 72 00:04:10,920 --> 00:04:13,960 Speaker 1: stake to a different French industrialist before fleeing to the 73 00:04:14,040 --> 00:04:16,960 Speaker 1: United States. Toward the end of the war, as the 74 00:04:17,040 --> 00:04:20,360 Speaker 1: Nazis continued to lose ground, Gabrielle and Hans tried to 75 00:04:20,400 --> 00:04:24,039 Speaker 1: save face by negotiating a truce behind Hitler's back with 76 00:04:24,200 --> 00:04:28,480 Speaker 1: Winston Churchill, but the Allies weren't interested. They continued their 77 00:04:28,520 --> 00:04:32,520 Speaker 1: advance and retook Paris, arresting Gabrielle in nineteen forty four. 78 00:04:33,040 --> 00:04:37,360 Speaker 1: Hans fled to Switzerland while Gabrielle was a Nazi collaborator. 79 00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:40,240 Speaker 1: It seems that the Allies felt that she wasn't responsible 80 00:04:40,279 --> 00:04:43,600 Speaker 1: for any crimes, and she was released. Some believe her 81 00:04:43,600 --> 00:04:46,680 Speaker 1: connections with English high society just might have had a 82 00:04:46,720 --> 00:04:49,640 Speaker 1: hand in that, but her time as a collaborator remained 83 00:04:49,640 --> 00:04:52,359 Speaker 1: a stain on her legacy. She never again had the 84 00:04:52,400 --> 00:04:55,359 Speaker 1: same prominence in the fashion world and died bitter and 85 00:04:55,440 --> 00:05:00,320 Speaker 1: alone in nineteen seventy one. Today, gabriel Coco Chanel, as 86 00:05:00,360 --> 00:05:03,520 Speaker 1: she was better known, is respected for her contributions to 87 00:05:03,560 --> 00:05:07,160 Speaker 1: the fashion world. Her perfume Chanelle number five is still 88 00:05:07,200 --> 00:05:10,039 Speaker 1: in use, and of course, the Black Little Dress is 89 00:05:10,080 --> 00:05:13,880 Speaker 1: practically its own genre of clothing. Naturally, the extent of 90 00:05:13,920 --> 00:05:17,440 Speaker 1: her anti Semitism and collaboration with the Nazis will always 91 00:05:17,480 --> 00:05:22,320 Speaker 1: be debated. Curiously, her insatiable desire for power actually undermined 92 00:05:22,400 --> 00:05:25,120 Speaker 1: her success in the long run. If she had remained 93 00:05:25,160 --> 00:05:27,919 Speaker 1: loyal to France, she would be remembered today as the 94 00:05:27,960 --> 00:05:31,719 Speaker 1: saintly godmother of all modern fashion. Maybe she should have 95 00:05:31,760 --> 00:05:48,200 Speaker 1: listened to those nuns, after all. Paris, one of the 96 00:05:48,200 --> 00:05:51,400 Speaker 1: most beautiful cities in the world, is famous for many things, 97 00:05:51,560 --> 00:05:55,160 Speaker 1: the Eiffel Tower, of course, Notre Dame Cathedral, the River Senn. 98 00:05:55,440 --> 00:05:58,479 Speaker 1: It's also famous for its mysterious and macab network of 99 00:05:58,560 --> 00:06:02,240 Speaker 1: underground tunnels metcones, which pass beneath every part of the 100 00:06:02,279 --> 00:06:04,840 Speaker 1: city and are estimated to hold the remains of over 101 00:06:04,920 --> 00:06:08,279 Speaker 1: six million people. Those tunnels were built from old quarries 102 00:06:08,360 --> 00:06:11,120 Speaker 1: left over from the Roman Empire and span over one 103 00:06:11,160 --> 00:06:15,919 Speaker 1: hundred and seventy miles. When Parisian cemeteries began to overflow 104 00:06:15,920 --> 00:06:19,200 Speaker 1: in the seventeen hundreds, millions of bodies were transferred from 105 00:06:19,200 --> 00:06:21,599 Speaker 1: where they had been laid to rest in cemeteries to 106 00:06:21,680 --> 00:06:24,680 Speaker 1: the underground tunnels. There are so many bodies down there 107 00:06:24,680 --> 00:06:28,080 Speaker 1: that one sign above a public entrance reads, stop the 108 00:06:28,120 --> 00:06:31,520 Speaker 1: Empire of Death lies here. Now. It must be said 109 00:06:31,560 --> 00:06:34,360 Speaker 1: that only a very small section is open for tourists 110 00:06:34,440 --> 00:06:37,680 Speaker 1: to explore, while other areas are used for municipal purposes 111 00:06:37,720 --> 00:06:41,159 Speaker 1: like sewer maintenance and in some cases training exercises for 112 00:06:41,279 --> 00:06:44,120 Speaker 1: law enforcement. And in two thousand and four, a branch 113 00:06:44,160 --> 00:06:46,880 Speaker 1: of the Paris Police Department set out to do exactly that, 114 00:06:47,360 --> 00:06:50,520 Speaker 1: odd as it may seem. Officers use the unusual environment 115 00:06:50,560 --> 00:06:53,919 Speaker 1: to practice traversing difficult terrain and to check for anyone 116 00:06:54,000 --> 00:06:58,080 Speaker 1: illegally visiting. On this occasion, officers entered through a sewer 117 00:06:58,160 --> 00:07:01,040 Speaker 1: drain beside the Trocadero, not far from the Eiffel Tower. 118 00:07:01,279 --> 00:07:05,880 Speaker 1: Almost immediately they discovered something unusual, a large tarp blocking 119 00:07:05,880 --> 00:07:10,240 Speaker 1: a previously uncharted passage with a sign saying building site 120 00:07:10,520 --> 00:07:13,280 Speaker 1: no access. Thinking that it may be part of the 121 00:07:13,320 --> 00:07:16,320 Speaker 1: training exercise, the police pulled back the tarp to reveal 122 00:07:16,840 --> 00:07:20,160 Speaker 1: a desk and a closed circuit TV camera, which recorded 123 00:07:20,200 --> 00:07:24,040 Speaker 1: anyone who passed by the tarp, including the officers themselves. 124 00:07:24,320 --> 00:07:27,000 Speaker 1: When someone passed in front of the camera, a box 125 00:07:27,080 --> 00:07:30,680 Speaker 1: on the desk played a recording of snarling and barking dogs. 126 00:07:31,480 --> 00:07:34,680 Speaker 1: The police quickly realized that this was no exercise, and 127 00:07:34,800 --> 00:07:38,000 Speaker 1: the advanced security and camera equipment made it clear these 128 00:07:38,040 --> 00:07:41,280 Speaker 1: were no teenagers exploring the creepy underground on a dare. 129 00:07:41,840 --> 00:07:45,400 Speaker 1: This was something more sinister. They had no choice but 130 00:07:45,520 --> 00:07:48,400 Speaker 1: to push forward. Further down the tunnel opened into a 131 00:07:48,480 --> 00:07:51,559 Speaker 1: huge cavern, and inside the rock had been carved into 132 00:07:51,600 --> 00:07:55,280 Speaker 1: seats and benches for people to sit in. Investigators found an 133 00:07:55,400 --> 00:07:59,560 Speaker 1: enormous movie screen and projection equipment, along with a collection 134 00:07:59,680 --> 00:08:02,760 Speaker 1: of mood movies. None of the films were offensive and 135 00:08:02,800 --> 00:08:05,400 Speaker 1: none of them had been banned. On the far side 136 00:08:05,440 --> 00:08:07,720 Speaker 1: of the cavern was another room with a makeshift bar 137 00:08:07,880 --> 00:08:11,960 Speaker 1: and a restaurant, nice bottles of spirits, tables and chairs, 138 00:08:12,120 --> 00:08:15,960 Speaker 1: even a pressure cooker, even strangers. Still, the restaurant and 139 00:08:16,040 --> 00:08:20,320 Speaker 1: bar were clearly running on electricity and impossibility in the catacombs, 140 00:08:20,520 --> 00:08:23,520 Speaker 1: given that they were carved out centuries ago. One police 141 00:08:23,560 --> 00:08:26,920 Speaker 1: officer said there were at least three phone lines down there. 142 00:08:27,640 --> 00:08:31,440 Speaker 1: So who was responsible for the clandestine and I must 143 00:08:31,440 --> 00:08:36,040 Speaker 1: say illegal cinema tucked inside Paris's deadliest tunnels. Well it 144 00:08:36,080 --> 00:08:38,560 Speaker 1: didn't take long for one group to take the credit. 145 00:08:39,400 --> 00:08:43,880 Speaker 1: Lay UX short for Urban Experiment, is a secret organization 146 00:08:44,080 --> 00:08:47,320 Speaker 1: taking on urban renewal projects all over Paris, which the 147 00:08:47,360 --> 00:08:51,199 Speaker 1: French government lacks funding for or chooses not to pursue. 148 00:08:51,520 --> 00:08:55,000 Speaker 1: In the nineteen nineties, lay Ux restored several medieval crips 149 00:08:55,040 --> 00:08:58,679 Speaker 1: beneath the city by creating underground workshops and accessing them 150 00:08:58,720 --> 00:09:02,360 Speaker 1: after hours. Two thousand and seven, they secretly restored the 151 00:09:02,400 --> 00:09:06,520 Speaker 1: Pantheon's clock with the help of expert clockmaker Jean Baptiste Void. 152 00:09:06,920 --> 00:09:09,720 Speaker 1: The clock was originally made in eighteen fifty one and 153 00:09:09,800 --> 00:09:13,400 Speaker 1: had stopped working in the early nineteen sixties. Restoration took 154 00:09:13,480 --> 00:09:15,920 Speaker 1: over a year and was mostly done at nights in 155 00:09:16,040 --> 00:09:19,880 Speaker 1: secret in a workshop set up by LAYUX members. When 156 00:09:19,880 --> 00:09:24,000 Speaker 1: the clock was fully repaired and Layux took public responsibility, 157 00:09:24,240 --> 00:09:27,440 Speaker 1: the Center for National Monuments in France attempted to bring 158 00:09:27,559 --> 00:09:31,840 Speaker 1: charges against the group, but ultimately they failed. The spokesman 159 00:09:31,880 --> 00:09:35,760 Speaker 1: for this otherwise secret society, Lazar Kunzmann, explained that in 160 00:09:35,800 --> 00:09:39,800 Speaker 1: September of nineteen eighty one, Layux stole comprehensive maps of 161 00:09:39,800 --> 00:09:42,880 Speaker 1: the catacombs from the city planning office, and these maps 162 00:09:42,920 --> 00:09:45,800 Speaker 1: are instrumental to the planning and success of the group's 163 00:09:45,840 --> 00:09:49,040 Speaker 1: projects and a key reason that its members are able 164 00:09:49,080 --> 00:09:52,400 Speaker 1: to keep their identity secret. As far as the cinema goes. 165 00:09:52,720 --> 00:09:54,880 Speaker 1: Police returned the next day with members of the French 166 00:09:54,920 --> 00:09:58,080 Speaker 1: Electrical Board. They wanted help finding out where the power 167 00:09:58,080 --> 00:10:00,280 Speaker 1: had been routed from, but when they arrived at the 168 00:10:00,400 --> 00:10:03,040 Speaker 1: entrance of the cavern, the tarp, the sign and the 169 00:10:03,040 --> 00:10:05,880 Speaker 1: camera were all gone. In fact, the entire theater had 170 00:10:05,920 --> 00:10:09,360 Speaker 1: been emptied. No pressure cooker, no phone lines, no movie 171 00:10:09,400 --> 00:10:12,760 Speaker 1: screens or liquor. The only sign that something had been 172 00:10:12,840 --> 00:10:15,280 Speaker 1: in the cavern at all was a scrap of paper 173 00:10:15,360 --> 00:10:17,600 Speaker 1: left in the center of the room. Addressed to the 174 00:10:17,640 --> 00:10:22,720 Speaker 1: Parisian police. The note said simply, do not come searching 175 00:10:22,760 --> 00:10:28,760 Speaker 1: for us. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of 176 00:10:28,800 --> 00:10:32,760 Speaker 1: the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, 177 00:10:32,880 --> 00:10:36,400 Speaker 1: or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast 178 00:10:36,600 --> 00:10:40,360 Speaker 1: dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Manky 179 00:10:40,679 --> 00:10:44,200 Speaker 1: in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make another award 180 00:10:44,200 --> 00:10:47,800 Speaker 1: winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, 181 00:10:47,840 --> 00:10:50,400 Speaker 1: and television show, and you can learn all about it 182 00:10:50,480 --> 00:10:54,840 Speaker 1: over at the Worldoflore dot com. And until next time, 183 00:10:55,120 --> 00:10:57,760 Speaker 1: stay curious.