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 --> 00:00:18,400 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 00:00:36,360 --> 00:00:38,840 Speaker 1: If you've ever worked in any sort of service job, 7 00:00:38,880 --> 00:00:42,200 Speaker 1: you've probably heard the phrase the customer is always right. 8 00:00:42,520 --> 00:00:45,120 Speaker 1: It's a truism that is hard to believe when you're 9 00:00:45,159 --> 00:00:48,519 Speaker 1: dealing with an irate person or someone who simply doesn't 10 00:00:48,680 --> 00:00:51,960 Speaker 1: like you, and the saying isn't true in the literal sense. 11 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:56,120 Speaker 1: The customer is rarely actually right all the time. But 12 00:00:56,200 --> 00:00:58,920 Speaker 1: the customer is the one with the money, so they're 13 00:00:58,920 --> 00:01:01,880 Speaker 1: the one who must be appeased. And if you failed 14 00:01:01,880 --> 00:01:04,560 Speaker 1: to do so, you may still hear from a customer 15 00:01:04,560 --> 00:01:07,920 Speaker 1: for days, weeks, or months later, especially if they're not 16 00:01:08,040 --> 00:01:11,280 Speaker 1: happy with your product or your behavior. To quote one 17 00:01:11,319 --> 00:01:15,080 Speaker 1: particularly irate customer complaint, what do you take me for 18 00:01:15,319 --> 00:01:18,760 Speaker 1: that you treat me with such contempt. Actually, that's not 19 00:01:18,920 --> 00:01:22,119 Speaker 1: something a recent customer said. That's a customer from over 20 00:01:22,200 --> 00:01:24,920 Speaker 1: three thousand years ago. I like to take you back 21 00:01:24,959 --> 00:01:28,640 Speaker 1: to seventeen fifty BCE to the ancient city states of 22 00:01:28,880 --> 00:01:33,279 Speaker 1: Er in ancient Mesopotamia. There a man named Nanni spoke 23 00:01:33,319 --> 00:01:36,840 Speaker 1: to a merchant about purchasing some copper ingots. The merchant, 24 00:01:36,880 --> 00:01:40,400 Speaker 1: whose name was a Nasir, wasn't just a copper trader. 25 00:01:40,640 --> 00:01:44,399 Speaker 1: He also sold textiles and foodstuffs on occasion, but his 26 00:01:44,560 --> 00:01:48,440 Speaker 1: primary specialty was copper, at least that's the impression he 27 00:01:48,480 --> 00:01:51,320 Speaker 1: gave to Nanni. He assured Nani that he would provide 28 00:01:51,400 --> 00:01:54,200 Speaker 1: him with copper of excellent quality as soon as he 29 00:01:54,240 --> 00:01:56,960 Speaker 1: got back from del Munn. He made the trip end 30 00:01:57,040 --> 00:01:59,480 Speaker 1: Upon his return, he sent word to Nanni that the 31 00:01:59,480 --> 00:02:02,760 Speaker 1: copper was ready. Nanni dispatched a servant to pick up 32 00:02:02,760 --> 00:02:05,760 Speaker 1: the copper and to pay the merchant for his services. 33 00:02:06,120 --> 00:02:09,920 Speaker 1: It should have been a fairly simple transaction. However, when 34 00:02:09,919 --> 00:02:13,079 Speaker 1: the servant arrived, he had a far less pleasant interaction 35 00:02:13,200 --> 00:02:16,560 Speaker 1: with the merchant than his master had. A Noasir set 36 00:02:16,560 --> 00:02:19,480 Speaker 1: the copper before him, and the servant quickly realized that 37 00:02:19,520 --> 00:02:22,720 Speaker 1: the ingots were not the right grade that Nanni had requested. 38 00:02:23,040 --> 00:02:26,080 Speaker 1: When he pointed this out, Anasir told the servant that 39 00:02:26,160 --> 00:02:28,600 Speaker 1: he can take or leave the copper. If he doesn't 40 00:02:28,600 --> 00:02:30,359 Speaker 1: want it, then he should get out of his sight. 41 00:02:31,120 --> 00:02:33,880 Speaker 1: The servant, not knowing what else to do, paid for 42 00:02:33,919 --> 00:02:37,320 Speaker 1: the copper and returned to his master. Hearing what had 43 00:02:37,360 --> 00:02:41,200 Speaker 1: happened to his servants by this merchant, Nani was outraged. 44 00:02:41,480 --> 00:02:44,360 Speaker 1: He wrote to a Nasir, accusing him of being rude 45 00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:47,160 Speaker 1: and callous and demanding that he sent his money back 46 00:02:47,320 --> 00:02:50,239 Speaker 1: as he would not accept poor quality copper from him. 47 00:02:50,760 --> 00:02:52,680 Speaker 1: And I wish that I could give you more of 48 00:02:52,720 --> 00:02:55,760 Speaker 1: this dramatic story, but we know little else about it 49 00:02:55,800 --> 00:02:58,639 Speaker 1: because all of the information that we have comes from 50 00:02:58,639 --> 00:03:02,520 Speaker 1: the written complaint that Nanni wrote to the merchant a Nasir. 51 00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:06,760 Speaker 1: It was on a clay tablet written in Akkadian Kuneiform. 52 00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:10,560 Speaker 1: The tablet was unearthed between nineteen twenty two and nineteen 53 00:03:10,680 --> 00:03:13,959 Speaker 1: thirty four by an expedition from the British Museum to 54 00:03:14,080 --> 00:03:17,600 Speaker 1: modern day Iraq. At around three thousand, seven hundred and 55 00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:20,240 Speaker 1: seventy five years old. It's thought to be the oldest 56 00:03:20,280 --> 00:03:24,160 Speaker 1: surviving customer complaint in history, and it wasn't the only 57 00:03:24,200 --> 00:03:26,440 Speaker 1: one that they found there. The building they found it 58 00:03:26,560 --> 00:03:30,800 Speaker 1: in contained several more tablets, also addressed to a nosir. 59 00:03:31,160 --> 00:03:33,920 Speaker 1: They were all fairly irate, with some asking about the 60 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:37,720 Speaker 1: status of their orders, about undelivered orders or the copper 61 00:03:37,760 --> 00:03:40,840 Speaker 1: they were promised by the merchant. Others were requests for 62 00:03:40,960 --> 00:03:43,560 Speaker 1: a batch of copper to pick from. But even if 63 00:03:43,600 --> 00:03:46,560 Speaker 1: most of these dozen or so tablets were all annoyed 64 00:03:46,600 --> 00:03:50,120 Speaker 1: at this one merchant, none were as thoroughly frustrated as 65 00:03:50,240 --> 00:03:54,160 Speaker 1: Nani's message. Will likely never know if a nasir responded 66 00:03:54,160 --> 00:03:58,760 Speaker 1: to the storm of messages and complaints and accusations. Archaeologists 67 00:03:58,760 --> 00:04:01,560 Speaker 1: seemed to think that his business waned in the later years, 68 00:04:01,600 --> 00:04:05,480 Speaker 1: with his house being relatively small compared to other neighboring units. 69 00:04:05,600 --> 00:04:08,200 Speaker 1: The fact that he kept all of his customer complaints 70 00:04:08,240 --> 00:04:10,680 Speaker 1: implied that they were either from the latter days of 71 00:04:10,720 --> 00:04:13,800 Speaker 1: his business or he had a fairly petty nature. Few 72 00:04:13,880 --> 00:04:16,480 Speaker 1: of us get to choose the way that we are remembered. 73 00:04:16,720 --> 00:04:19,680 Speaker 1: Leaving behind a monument or a tomb is beyond even 74 00:04:19,680 --> 00:04:23,200 Speaker 1: the wildest dreams of the ordinary person, so it's curious 75 00:04:23,240 --> 00:04:25,920 Speaker 1: to think about how something like a customer complaint can 76 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:29,200 Speaker 1: preserve names across the millennia, to the point where you 77 00:04:29,240 --> 00:04:33,040 Speaker 1: can read Nanni's complaint tablet yourself in the British Museum, 78 00:04:33,240 --> 00:04:36,520 Speaker 1: or at least a translation of it. We know just 79 00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:40,240 Speaker 1: how incensed this man was by the merchant's rudeness, making 80 00:04:40,279 --> 00:04:43,080 Speaker 1: the past a little more relatable in spite of the 81 00:04:43,200 --> 00:04:46,000 Speaker 1: vast gulf of time between us. It just goes to 82 00:04:46,040 --> 00:04:49,680 Speaker 1: show when you treat people rudely, they remember it. Perhaps 83 00:04:49,720 --> 00:04:53,280 Speaker 1: a nasir should have remembered the Golden Rule, or well, 84 00:04:53,440 --> 00:04:56,520 Speaker 1: maybe in this case we should say the Copper Rule. 85 00:05:09,720 --> 00:05:12,360 Speaker 1: A man walks into a pet shop in nineteen fifty 86 00:05:12,400 --> 00:05:15,680 Speaker 1: seven and stumbles upon his fortune. It sounds like the 87 00:05:15,680 --> 00:05:18,400 Speaker 1: start of some vaudevillian joke, but this is a true 88 00:05:18,440 --> 00:05:20,800 Speaker 1: story of a man who took the lowest of creatures 89 00:05:21,080 --> 00:05:24,800 Speaker 1: and with them built an empire of novelty, before making 90 00:05:24,839 --> 00:05:28,000 Speaker 1: a strange turn that nearly tore it all down. This 91 00:05:28,080 --> 00:05:31,479 Speaker 1: man was Harold von Braunhutt, born into a Jewish family 92 00:05:31,520 --> 00:05:35,000 Speaker 1: of toymakers in Memphis, Tennessee. In early life he was 93 00:05:35,040 --> 00:05:38,240 Speaker 1: something of a daredevil, racing motorcycles under the name the 94 00:05:38,320 --> 00:05:42,000 Speaker 1: Green Hornet before taking on clients as a talent agent. 95 00:05:42,240 --> 00:05:45,599 Speaker 1: These early forays into entertainment wouldn't pan out, and so 96 00:05:45,880 --> 00:05:50,440 Speaker 1: Harold changed his career path, looking for something new, and 97 00:05:50,520 --> 00:05:53,240 Speaker 1: so on one fateful day, he walked into that pet 98 00:05:53,279 --> 00:05:56,119 Speaker 1: shop where his eyes landed on a bucket that would 99 00:05:56,160 --> 00:05:59,239 Speaker 1: change his life forever. The bucket was filled with water, 100 00:05:59,360 --> 00:06:03,080 Speaker 1: and it contained thousands upon thousands of tiny, little swimmers. 101 00:06:03,279 --> 00:06:06,240 Speaker 1: They were Brian shrimp, which are a type of crustacean. 102 00:06:06,720 --> 00:06:10,279 Speaker 1: Brian shrimp, whose scientific name is Artemia selina, are a 103 00:06:10,360 --> 00:06:13,640 Speaker 1: species who have evolved to live inland in brine pools 104 00:06:13,720 --> 00:06:17,159 Speaker 1: and other salty inland waters. They're very small, the largest 105 00:06:17,200 --> 00:06:20,159 Speaker 1: of them grow only to about fifteen millimeters in length. 106 00:06:20,680 --> 00:06:24,200 Speaker 1: In nature, the tiny arthropods serve an important function in 107 00:06:24,240 --> 00:06:27,800 Speaker 1: their ecosystem. They eat green algae and so keep the 108 00:06:27,839 --> 00:06:31,280 Speaker 1: waters clean, and then they serve as food for migrating birds. 109 00:06:31,440 --> 00:06:34,479 Speaker 1: They've remained little changed since they appeared in the Triassic 110 00:06:34,520 --> 00:06:38,480 Speaker 1: period two hundred and fifty million years ago, and Harold 111 00:06:38,600 --> 00:06:41,159 Speaker 1: was fascinated by the tiny creatures. But what got his 112 00:06:41,240 --> 00:06:45,520 Speaker 1: imagination reeling was a curious biological trait. Their eggs are 113 00:06:45,520 --> 00:06:48,559 Speaker 1: capable of survival of up to two years out of water, 114 00:06:48,920 --> 00:06:52,360 Speaker 1: and are resistant to both heat and cold. This survival 115 00:06:52,400 --> 00:06:56,120 Speaker 1: mechanism made them perfect for shipping long distances. Harold saw 116 00:06:56,160 --> 00:06:59,520 Speaker 1: potential in these shrimp and hired a marine biologist to 117 00:06:59,560 --> 00:07:03,440 Speaker 1: breed the Brian shrimp to best endure shipping conditions. They 118 00:07:03,480 --> 00:07:06,640 Speaker 1: were sold in small kits, complete with packets which included 119 00:07:06,680 --> 00:07:10,360 Speaker 1: the desiccated eggs, an agent to purify the water and salt, 120 00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:13,760 Speaker 1: and instructions to create the perfect environment for the shrimp 121 00:07:13,840 --> 00:07:17,200 Speaker 1: to thrive. And he branded them as sea monkeys and 122 00:07:17,280 --> 00:07:21,880 Speaker 1: hired well known cartoonist Joe Orlando to design all new advertisements. 123 00:07:22,080 --> 00:07:26,320 Speaker 1: These ads showed a fantastical underwater wonderland with a family 124 00:07:26,400 --> 00:07:30,760 Speaker 1: of anthropomorphized pink Brian shrimp smiling up from the page. 125 00:07:31,040 --> 00:07:33,280 Speaker 1: They looked nothing like the product that would arrive to 126 00:07:33,320 --> 00:07:36,520 Speaker 1: eager children's doors, but that mattered very little to sales, 127 00:07:36,560 --> 00:07:40,000 Speaker 1: which skyrocketed as the first ads were released in nineteen 128 00:07:40,040 --> 00:07:42,960 Speaker 1: sixty four. And as a side note, as a kid 129 00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:46,240 Speaker 1: growing up in the eighties who frequented yard sales where 130 00:07:46,280 --> 00:07:49,760 Speaker 1: boxes of old comic books were sold, I distinctly remembered 131 00:07:49,800 --> 00:07:53,280 Speaker 1: these ads over and over again in almost every issue 132 00:07:53,320 --> 00:07:56,480 Speaker 1: I read, and as you'd imagine, Sea Monkeys became a 133 00:07:56,560 --> 00:08:00,679 Speaker 1: smash success, with sales rivaling ant farms and so Harold 134 00:08:00,760 --> 00:08:03,680 Speaker 1: used the same type of marketing for all new inventions, 135 00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:07,640 Speaker 1: selling a seemingly endless line of novelty toys, including X 136 00:08:07,760 --> 00:08:11,520 Speaker 1: ray specs, which ensnared the adolescent mind with promises of 137 00:08:11,600 --> 00:08:15,400 Speaker 1: seeing through clothing, and Crazy Crabs, which were hermit crabs 138 00:08:15,440 --> 00:08:18,360 Speaker 1: sold with their own small tanks. In all, he had 139 00:08:18,400 --> 00:08:21,800 Speaker 1: one hundred and ninety five patents registered with the US government, 140 00:08:21,920 --> 00:08:24,240 Speaker 1: although none of them ever came close to the success 141 00:08:24,560 --> 00:08:27,640 Speaker 1: of Sea Monkeys. One of those patents was very unlike 142 00:08:27,680 --> 00:08:30,640 Speaker 1: the others, though, It was a spring loaded baton used 143 00:08:30,680 --> 00:08:33,960 Speaker 1: for defense, which was named the Kyoga Agent M five. 144 00:08:34,400 --> 00:08:36,760 Speaker 1: The baton had early success when it was used in 145 00:08:36,760 --> 00:08:40,480 Speaker 1: the nineteen eighty one Burt Reynolds film Sharky's Machine. It 146 00:08:40,640 --> 00:08:44,280 Speaker 1: was another success, albeit a modest one, but it uncovered 147 00:08:44,280 --> 00:08:47,320 Speaker 1: and ugly truth about the inventor. Although born into a 148 00:08:47,400 --> 00:08:50,440 Speaker 1: Jewish family, it turns out that von broun Hutt was 149 00:08:50,480 --> 00:08:53,600 Speaker 1: a rabid white nationalist who had added the Vaughan to 150 00:08:53,840 --> 00:08:57,680 Speaker 1: broun Hut to distance himself from his own heritage. In fact, 151 00:08:57,720 --> 00:09:01,719 Speaker 1: he used the proceeds from the Kyoga Agent sales initially 152 00:09:01,800 --> 00:09:05,000 Speaker 1: on a legal defense fund of one Richard G. Butler, 153 00:09:05,040 --> 00:09:07,040 Speaker 1: who happened at the time to be the leader of 154 00:09:07,080 --> 00:09:10,680 Speaker 1: the Aryan Nations Group. When Butler included a mention of 155 00:09:10,760 --> 00:09:14,520 Speaker 1: von Bronhut's donations, it caused a scandal, and further digging 156 00:09:14,559 --> 00:09:17,680 Speaker 1: by national papers discovered that he was well immeshed with 157 00:09:17,720 --> 00:09:22,000 Speaker 1: white nationalist causes. He annually attended the Aryan Nations World 158 00:09:22,080 --> 00:09:26,319 Speaker 1: Congress and had helped buy firearms for the KKK in Ohio. 159 00:09:26,880 --> 00:09:30,160 Speaker 1: His reputation was in tatters, but he abandoned neither his 160 00:09:30,280 --> 00:09:33,360 Speaker 1: ties to white nationalists nor his drive to create and 161 00:09:33,480 --> 00:09:36,480 Speaker 1: market new inventions. When he died from a fall in 162 00:09:36,480 --> 00:09:39,160 Speaker 1: two thousand and three, he was still working on ideas 163 00:09:39,200 --> 00:09:42,440 Speaker 1: for a pet lobster and what he called an instant frog. 164 00:09:43,120 --> 00:09:46,120 Speaker 1: In following years, the company would be sold, and litigation 165 00:09:46,280 --> 00:09:49,000 Speaker 1: over payments to his widow would last for years. By 166 00:09:49,000 --> 00:09:52,319 Speaker 1: the end, she was destitute, although Sea Monkeys continued to 167 00:09:52,360 --> 00:09:56,240 Speaker 1: sell well under the new ownership. Harold von Bronhut's legacy 168 00:09:56,600 --> 00:10:00,280 Speaker 1: is a paradox, a visionary entrepreneur who turned a humble 169 00:10:00,360 --> 00:10:04,720 Speaker 1: Brian shrimp egg into a cultural phenomenon, yet whose personal 170 00:10:04,760 --> 00:10:09,120 Speaker 1: flaws and covert alliances cast a long, unsettling shadow over 171 00:10:09,160 --> 00:10:12,280 Speaker 1: his achievements. In the end, his story serves as a 172 00:10:12,320 --> 00:10:17,320 Speaker 1: reminder that brilliance and moral blindness sometimes coexist. Harold wasn't 173 00:10:17,360 --> 00:10:20,080 Speaker 1: a good man, but he made something that people loved, 174 00:10:20,360 --> 00:10:24,040 Speaker 1: making him a curious example of just how complex and 175 00:10:24,240 --> 00:10:31,320 Speaker 1: sometimes horrible human beings can be. I hope you've enjoyed 176 00:10:31,320 --> 00:10:35,040 Speaker 1: today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for 177 00:10:35,080 --> 00:10:37,880 Speaker 1: free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show 178 00:10:37,960 --> 00:10:42,960 Speaker 1: by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created 179 00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:46,320 Speaker 1: by me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how Stuff Works. 180 00:10:46,760 --> 00:10:49,880 Speaker 1: I make another award winning show called Lore, which is 181 00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:53,360 Speaker 1: a podcast, book series, and television show, and you can 182 00:10:53,440 --> 00:10:57,320 Speaker 1: learn all about it over at the Worldolore dot com. 183 00:10:57,360 --> 00:11:01,760 Speaker 1: And until next time, stay curious. Noo.