1
00:00:03,760 --> 00:00:07,840
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 --> 00:00:29,720
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. In a superhero's origin story,

5
00:00:29,800 --> 00:00:32,880
Speaker 1: there's always a moment when they realize their true calling.

6
00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:36,000
Speaker 1: Peter Parker learns that his spider powers come with great

7
00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:39,600
Speaker 1: responsibility after his uncle is murdered the death of Bruce

8
00:00:39,600 --> 00:00:42,760
Speaker 1: Wayne's parents inspires him to Donna Cape and Cowl and

9
00:00:42,920 --> 00:00:46,839
Speaker 1: fight crime in Gotham City. And Superman understands that he

10
00:00:46,920 --> 00:00:48,920
Speaker 1: is supposed to use his gifts in order to stop

11
00:00:48,960 --> 00:00:53,199
Speaker 1: the kinds of threats plaguing his beloved metropolis. And then

12
00:00:53,240 --> 00:00:57,480
Speaker 1: there's Isaac. Isaac's calling came from something much less super

13
00:00:57,520 --> 00:01:01,120
Speaker 1: but still quite important. Isaac were at New York City's

14
00:01:01,240 --> 00:01:04,720
Speaker 1: Louis Charlock and Company Bank in nineteen hundred. He came

15
00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:07,479
Speaker 1: and went as he pleased, and his colleagues didn't mind.

16
00:01:07,880 --> 00:01:11,080
Speaker 1: As they handled withdrawals and deposits. Isaac would often find

17
00:01:11,080 --> 00:01:13,800
Speaker 1: a comfortable spot somewhere to watch the people coming and

18
00:01:13,840 --> 00:01:17,800
Speaker 1: going throughout the day. On November fourteenth, Isaac noticed something

19
00:01:17,800 --> 00:01:21,400
Speaker 1: odd someone he didn't recognize entered the bank. They were

20
00:01:21,520 --> 00:01:23,800
Speaker 1: disheveled and the bank must have been busy because no

21
00:01:23,880 --> 00:01:26,520
Speaker 1: one saw them. Slit by customers and clerks as they

22
00:01:26,560 --> 00:01:29,880
Speaker 1: made their way around towards the safe, but Isaac noticed.

23
00:01:30,200 --> 00:01:33,520
Speaker 1: He started moving toward them. When Max lubin Er, another teller,

24
00:01:33,800 --> 00:01:37,080
Speaker 1: noticed the interloper at his feet, startled. He reached down

25
00:01:37,080 --> 00:01:40,280
Speaker 1: to stop them, but was attacked. That's when Isaac leapt

26
00:01:40,319 --> 00:01:43,080
Speaker 1: into action. He screamed at the would be thief while

27
00:01:43,080 --> 00:01:45,800
Speaker 1: others picked up sticks and other weapons with which to

28
00:01:45,920 --> 00:01:49,480
Speaker 1: arm themselves. They approached slowly, trying to lure him away

29
00:01:49,520 --> 00:01:53,600
Speaker 1: from the safe, but it didn't work. Isaac went after them,

30
00:01:53,600 --> 00:01:57,040
Speaker 1: throwing punches and yelling. As the two fought. They rolled

31
00:01:57,080 --> 00:01:59,960
Speaker 1: around on top of the banker's desks, kicking up money

32
00:02:00,080 --> 00:02:03,640
Speaker 1: and scattering coins all over the floor. Customers hid in

33
00:02:03,640 --> 00:02:08,160
Speaker 1: the corners of the building while the fight ensued. Lubner

34
00:02:08,240 --> 00:02:10,680
Speaker 1: insisted the doors to be locked to trap the two

35
00:02:10,720 --> 00:02:15,320
Speaker 1: fighters inside until the authorities arrived. However, his instructions startled

36
00:02:15,360 --> 00:02:19,040
Speaker 1: both the bankers and the customers alike, sending everyone into

37
00:02:19,080 --> 00:02:22,280
Speaker 1: a panic over what they thought was a robbery in progress.

38
00:02:22,680 --> 00:02:27,000
Speaker 1: They didn't understand it was only just a fight. Isaac

39
00:02:27,360 --> 00:02:31,000
Speaker 1: burly Fellow, not easily pinned down, chased the suspect all

40
00:02:31,040 --> 00:02:34,320
Speaker 1: over the bank. As spectators outside caught side of the commotion.

41
00:02:34,720 --> 00:02:37,120
Speaker 1: With their hands cupped around their eyes to see through

42
00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:41,560
Speaker 1: the bank's windows, they watched as the two tussled. After

43
00:02:41,639 --> 00:02:45,000
Speaker 1: several minutes, the thief, cash in hand, managed to break

44
00:02:45,040 --> 00:02:47,920
Speaker 1: free from Isaac's grasp and dashed for an open window

45
00:02:47,919 --> 00:02:50,320
Speaker 1: at the back of the bank. He jumped up and out,

46
00:02:50,520 --> 00:02:53,640
Speaker 1: but his getaway was short lived. A tall fence blocked

47
00:02:53,680 --> 00:02:56,440
Speaker 1: off the area behind the bank on all sides, preventing

48
00:02:56,480 --> 00:02:59,760
Speaker 1: them from escaping with the money. Instead, they hopped into

49
00:02:59,760 --> 00:03:04,320
Speaker 1: an empty barrel and hoped that no one would find them. Meanwhile,

50
00:03:04,360 --> 00:03:06,880
Speaker 1: the police were notified of the attempted robbery, and the

51
00:03:06,960 --> 00:03:10,440
Speaker 1: officer on duty, Ajax Witmen, hurried over to the bank.

52
00:03:10,720 --> 00:03:13,000
Speaker 1: He demanded the doors be unlocked so that he could

53
00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:16,000
Speaker 1: apprehend the suspect, who had eluded the clerks out back,

54
00:03:16,080 --> 00:03:18,800
Speaker 1: and ran once again into the bank. As soon as

55
00:03:18,800 --> 00:03:21,320
Speaker 1: the doors were opened, the thief ran out into the street.

56
00:03:21,720 --> 00:03:25,560
Speaker 1: Lubner and the other employees yelling after him, but nobody

57
00:03:25,720 --> 00:03:28,640
Speaker 1: pursued them. Sure, the bank had gotten its money back,

58
00:03:28,919 --> 00:03:32,800
Speaker 1: but there was no point interesting the suspect. They hadn't

59
00:03:32,800 --> 00:03:36,040
Speaker 1: tried to break in, nor had they really stolen any money.

60
00:03:36,160 --> 00:03:38,880
Speaker 1: They hadn't passed a teller a note saying to fill

61
00:03:38,920 --> 00:03:41,760
Speaker 1: a bag with cash in the drawer either. The would

62
00:03:41,760 --> 00:03:44,480
Speaker 1: be thief had simply settled in beside the safe and

63
00:03:44,600 --> 00:03:48,760
Speaker 1: got to work on a very relaxing nap. The thief

64
00:03:49,040 --> 00:03:52,600
Speaker 1: wasn't really a thief. It was a cat, one that

65
00:03:52,680 --> 00:03:55,280
Speaker 1: had gotten accustomed to living on the streets and going

66
00:03:55,320 --> 00:03:58,000
Speaker 1: where it pleased. When it had tried to escape, a

67
00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:00,680
Speaker 1: few bills had gotten stuck to its paws, but they

68
00:04:00,680 --> 00:04:05,280
Speaker 1: were quickly recovered, and Isaac he wasn't officially a bank

69
00:04:05,320 --> 00:04:08,600
Speaker 1: employee either. He was known as Isaac the well fed

70
00:04:08,640 --> 00:04:12,240
Speaker 1: bank cats, who spent his time rubbing against teller's legs

71
00:04:12,280 --> 00:04:15,720
Speaker 1: and sleeping around the building. It seems that the streetcat

72
00:04:15,880 --> 00:04:19,520
Speaker 1: had intruded on Isaac's home turf, turning Isaac into a

73
00:04:19,560 --> 00:04:23,200
Speaker 1: local hero. He hadn't stopped a supervillain or prevented the

74
00:04:23,279 --> 00:04:25,560
Speaker 1: end of the world, but he'd made sure no one

75
00:04:25,600 --> 00:04:28,000
Speaker 1: else was taking a cat nap in the bank. On

76
00:04:28,160 --> 00:04:45,240
Speaker 1: his watch, after all, that was his job. After Walt

77
00:04:45,240 --> 00:04:50,000
Speaker 1: Disney completed construction on Disneyland in Nive, he immediately noticed

78
00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:52,800
Speaker 1: where he could do things better. For example, in order

79
00:04:52,839 --> 00:04:54,840
Speaker 1: for the three little pigs to go from one end

80
00:04:54,839 --> 00:04:56,839
Speaker 1: of the park to another, they might have to pass

81
00:04:56,880 --> 00:04:59,719
Speaker 1: through an area where they normally wouldn't be seen, breaking

82
00:04:59,839 --> 00:05:03,280
Speaker 1: the fantasy. That's when Walt realized that he could do

83
00:05:03,320 --> 00:05:06,560
Speaker 1: it a better way. Walt disney World in Florida is

84
00:05:06,600 --> 00:05:09,560
Speaker 1: considered his doover away to build the park of his

85
00:05:09,640 --> 00:05:14,039
Speaker 1: dreams the right way from the ground up. Sadly, Disney

86
00:05:14,040 --> 00:05:16,520
Speaker 1: didn't get to see the completion of his grand vision,

87
00:05:16,640 --> 00:05:19,320
Speaker 1: as he died several years before it opened, but it's

88
00:05:19,320 --> 00:05:22,200
Speaker 1: possible to see where he might have gleaned inspiration from

89
00:05:22,240 --> 00:05:26,200
Speaker 1: ancient Greek and Roman architecture They really knew how to build.

90
00:05:27,080 --> 00:05:29,920
Speaker 1: In four seventy b c. The Greeks traveled to Italy,

91
00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:32,480
Speaker 1: where they came across a new substance. It was made

92
00:05:32,480 --> 00:05:35,719
Speaker 1: from volcanic ash and rock, compressed over time to create

93
00:05:35,760 --> 00:05:39,279
Speaker 1: something known as tough or tougher. They used tough as

94
00:05:39,320 --> 00:05:42,960
Speaker 1: the literal building blocks for their theaters and temples, harvesting

95
00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:45,560
Speaker 1: it from the catacombs where Italians had been burying their

96
00:05:45,600 --> 00:05:50,400
Speaker 1: dead for centuries. The Greeks gave their new home a name, Neapolis,

97
00:05:50,520 --> 00:05:54,160
Speaker 1: or new City. We know it today as Napoli or

98
00:05:54,200 --> 00:05:58,400
Speaker 1: in English Naples. Over the years, the Romans moved in,

99
00:05:58,480 --> 00:06:01,559
Speaker 1: pushing out the Greeks. However, for the new inhabitants also

100
00:06:01,640 --> 00:06:04,160
Speaker 1: saw the value of this stone and the quarries from

101
00:06:04,200 --> 00:06:06,359
Speaker 1: where it was being dug out. They used it to

102
00:06:06,400 --> 00:06:09,719
Speaker 1: build aqueducts to move water throughout the city. They also

103
00:06:09,800 --> 00:06:12,640
Speaker 1: built a theater from it, which included a private dressing

104
00:06:12,720 --> 00:06:16,400
Speaker 1: room for the Roman emperor Nero. Over the years, the

105
00:06:16,440 --> 00:06:20,599
Speaker 1: city grew and locals built homes, stores, churches, and more

106
00:06:20,640 --> 00:06:23,520
Speaker 1: on top of the ancient Greek and Roman structures, but

107
00:06:23,720 --> 00:06:26,840
Speaker 1: you can still see them today. The Italians didn't destroy them,

108
00:06:27,040 --> 00:06:30,599
Speaker 1: they simply covered them up. Neapolis, as the ancient Greeks

109
00:06:30,600 --> 00:06:34,080
Speaker 1: had imagined, It exists forty meters below the surface of

110
00:06:34,080 --> 00:06:38,039
Speaker 1: the city and is easily accessible via countless buildings all

111
00:06:38,120 --> 00:06:42,880
Speaker 1: over Naples. Churches have doorways leading to the underground caverns

112
00:06:42,880 --> 00:06:47,120
Speaker 1: and catacombs. Even bars and apartment buildings have access points.

113
00:06:47,160 --> 00:06:50,760
Speaker 1: The remains of Nero subterranean Greco Roman Theater can still

114
00:06:50,760 --> 00:06:54,440
Speaker 1: be seen, as well as the aqueducts and San Lorenzo Majorre.

115
00:06:55,080 --> 00:06:58,520
Speaker 1: San Lorenzo Majori was the ancient market place where Greeks

116
00:06:58,520 --> 00:07:01,920
Speaker 1: would come to shop and discuss religion and local politics.

117
00:07:02,200 --> 00:07:05,440
Speaker 1: There's also the Fontanale Cemetery, which contained the remains of

118
00:07:05,440 --> 00:07:07,680
Speaker 1: the older dead in order to make room for the

119
00:07:07,720 --> 00:07:11,320
Speaker 1: recently dead. The cemetery also served as an overflow area

120
00:07:11,400 --> 00:07:14,880
Speaker 1: for the poor who couldn't afford individual plots. Many plague

121
00:07:14,960 --> 00:07:18,480
Speaker 1: victims ended up here as well as time marched on.

122
00:07:18,560 --> 00:07:22,480
Speaker 1: The ancient catacombs served different purposes. King Ferdinand the Second

123
00:07:22,520 --> 00:07:24,680
Speaker 1: had his own tunnel, dug out as a private form

124
00:07:24,720 --> 00:07:27,680
Speaker 1: of passage around the city during the nineteenth century. In

125
00:07:27,720 --> 00:07:31,000
Speaker 1: World War Two, citizens would flee to it during air raids.

126
00:07:31,240 --> 00:07:33,720
Speaker 1: The underground city had been fashioned into a kind of

127
00:07:33,800 --> 00:07:37,960
Speaker 1: bomb shelter for protection. From the nineteen fifties to the

128
00:07:38,040 --> 00:07:42,080
Speaker 1: nineteen seventies, impounded vehicles were stored in King Ferdinand's tunnel,

129
00:07:42,240 --> 00:07:45,160
Speaker 1: and many are still on display to this day, having

130
00:07:45,200 --> 00:07:49,080
Speaker 1: never been claimed by their original owners. Today, the Naples

131
00:07:49,200 --> 00:07:52,320
Speaker 1: Underground is a destination for tourists looking to know more

132
00:07:52,440 --> 00:07:55,280
Speaker 1: about how the Italian city came to be. Tours are

133
00:07:55,360 --> 00:07:59,040
Speaker 1: led from different entry points daily, taking visitors deep underground

134
00:07:59,080 --> 00:08:03,600
Speaker 1: through various ruins and passageways, some only accessible by candle light.

135
00:08:04,160 --> 00:08:08,200
Speaker 1: But how does the Naples Underground relate to Walt disney World. Technically,

136
00:08:08,240 --> 00:08:10,680
Speaker 1: the part of the Magic Kingdom that visitors walk through

137
00:08:10,800 --> 00:08:13,520
Speaker 1: sits on the second floor of the park. The first

138
00:08:13,520 --> 00:08:16,480
Speaker 1: floor is comprised of a labyrinth of tunnels and corridors

139
00:08:16,520 --> 00:08:20,000
Speaker 1: known as the Utilidor System. It allows characters to travel

140
00:08:20,080 --> 00:08:22,320
Speaker 1: from one end of the Kingdom to another without being

141
00:08:22,400 --> 00:08:26,880
Speaker 1: seen where they shouldn't, preserving the carefully crafted fantasy. While

142
00:08:26,880 --> 00:08:29,880
Speaker 1: it doesn't boast its own theater or a cemetery, Walt

143
00:08:29,880 --> 00:08:33,560
Speaker 1: disney World's Magic Kingdom is essentially a city on top

144
00:08:33,640 --> 00:08:37,360
Speaker 1: of another city, much like Naples today, but don't expect

145
00:08:37,360 --> 00:08:40,920
Speaker 1: to take a tour anytime soon. Unlike the Naples Underground,

146
00:08:41,280 --> 00:08:45,360
Speaker 1: the public isn't allowed down there. Don't worry, though, if

147
00:08:45,400 --> 00:08:48,040
Speaker 1: you can't make it to Italy to see Naples for yourself,

148
00:08:48,480 --> 00:08:54,680
Speaker 1: you can always pay a visit to Epcot. I hope

149
00:08:54,720 --> 00:08:58,000
Speaker 1: you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities,

150
00:08:58,360 --> 00:09:01,160
Speaker 1: subscribe for free on apple Pie Podcasts, or learn more

151
00:09:01,200 --> 00:09:05,680
Speaker 1: about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The

152
00:09:05,760 --> 00:09:09,320
Speaker 1: show was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership with

153
00:09:09,360 --> 00:09:13,200
Speaker 1: how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore,

154
00:09:13,400 --> 00:09:17,040
Speaker 1: which is a podcast, book series, and television show and

155
00:09:17,080 --> 00:09:19,320
Speaker 1: you can learn all about it over at the World

156
00:09:19,320 --> 00:09:24,760
Speaker 1: of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious. Yeah,