1
00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:07,520
Speaker 1: Welcomed Aaron Menkey's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of I

2
00:00:07,600 --> 00:00:14,240
Speaker 1: Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is full

3
00:00:14,320 --> 00:00:17,960
Speaker 1: of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book,

4
00:00:18,239 --> 00:00:22,079
Speaker 1: all of these amazing tales 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
00:00:36,640 --> 00:00:40,080
Speaker 1: When she was discovered in seventeen seventy six, Louisa didn't

7
00:00:40,080 --> 00:00:42,919
Speaker 1: have a name. She was destitute and sleeping in the

8
00:00:42,960 --> 00:00:46,320
Speaker 1: fields of Burton, England, under a shelter built out of haystacks.

9
00:00:46,800 --> 00:00:50,479
Speaker 1: Louisa was elegant and sophisticated in her nature. Though she

10
00:00:50,640 --> 00:00:53,480
Speaker 1: was destitute, she didn't look at and everyone who met

11
00:00:53,520 --> 00:00:56,240
Speaker 1: her encouraged her to stay within their homes instead of

12
00:00:56,240 --> 00:01:00,400
Speaker 1: in the fields, but she refused. Louisa was quoted saying

13
00:01:00,720 --> 00:01:03,880
Speaker 1: trouble and misery dwelt in houses, and that there was

14
00:01:03,960 --> 00:01:07,720
Speaker 1: no happiness but in liberty and fresh air. Although the

15
00:01:07,760 --> 00:01:10,119
Speaker 1: townsfolk did their best to help her, she didn't let

16
00:01:10,160 --> 00:01:12,880
Speaker 1: them in beyond arms reach. She never told them her

17
00:01:12,880 --> 00:01:15,280
Speaker 1: real name, which led to the assumption that she must

18
00:01:15,319 --> 00:01:18,280
Speaker 1: have been of noble birth. Why else would someone hide

19
00:01:18,319 --> 00:01:21,280
Speaker 1: their true identity from the people offering her food and shelter.

20
00:01:22,240 --> 00:01:24,840
Speaker 1: Without knowing what to call her, the people referred to

21
00:01:24,880 --> 00:01:28,240
Speaker 1: her as Louisa. They were able to discern several things

22
00:01:28,240 --> 00:01:31,839
Speaker 1: about this mysterious woman from their interactions with her. First,

23
00:01:31,959 --> 00:01:35,960
Speaker 1: she spoke English, but not natively. Her pronunciations and the

24
00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:38,920
Speaker 1: way she phrased her sentences gave the impression that she

25
00:01:38,959 --> 00:01:42,119
Speaker 1: had not been born and raised in England. One man

26
00:01:42,200 --> 00:01:46,080
Speaker 1: tried communicating with her in several European languages. She cringed

27
00:01:46,160 --> 00:01:48,080
Speaker 1: at most of them, but when he talked to her

28
00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:53,000
Speaker 1: in German, Louisa wept. Secondly, she loved children. When the

29
00:01:53,040 --> 00:01:55,000
Speaker 1: little ones in town came up to her, she would

30
00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:58,480
Speaker 1: smile and play with them. Louisa also rejected the finer

31
00:01:58,560 --> 00:02:02,400
Speaker 1: gifts that she was offered, such as nice clothes or jewelry.

32
00:02:02,520 --> 00:02:05,000
Speaker 1: She would take them and then toss them into the bushes,

33
00:02:05,280 --> 00:02:07,960
Speaker 1: either because she thought they weren't good enough or because

34
00:02:07,960 --> 00:02:11,040
Speaker 1: she had no need for them. However, she gladly accepted

35
00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:15,119
Speaker 1: milk and tea, simple things to sustain her throughout the day,

36
00:02:15,720 --> 00:02:18,200
Speaker 1: and when that day was over, Louisa went right back

37
00:02:18,240 --> 00:02:21,440
Speaker 1: to her haystacks to sleep. Exposure to the elements had

38
00:02:21,440 --> 00:02:24,080
Speaker 1: effected her health, and she endured a brief stay in

39
00:02:24,120 --> 00:02:27,520
Speaker 1: a hospital due to an episode of temporary insanity. But

40
00:02:27,560 --> 00:02:30,560
Speaker 1: the people of Burton wanted better for her. They liked her,

41
00:02:30,760 --> 00:02:33,800
Speaker 1: so they had her committed to a private asylum run

42
00:02:33,800 --> 00:02:37,840
Speaker 1: by a man named Mr Henderson in Gloucestershire. Louisa didn't

43
00:02:37,840 --> 00:02:40,280
Speaker 1: want to leave the town she loved, but her stay

44
00:02:40,280 --> 00:02:44,560
Speaker 1: there did wonders for her physical health. Sadly, her mental

45
00:02:44,600 --> 00:02:47,160
Speaker 1: health continued to decline, and her neighbors knew that they

46
00:02:47,160 --> 00:02:49,080
Speaker 1: had to act fast if they were going to figure

47
00:02:49,120 --> 00:02:52,399
Speaker 1: out where she had originally come from. So while Louisa

48
00:02:52,480 --> 00:02:55,840
Speaker 1: was confined to Henderson's facility, the people of the village

49
00:02:55,919 --> 00:02:59,200
Speaker 1: pooled their information about her and had articles published in

50
00:02:59,240 --> 00:03:03,320
Speaker 1: papers across Europe. Maybe someone out there knew who she was.

51
00:03:04,560 --> 00:03:07,680
Speaker 1: Louisa stayed at the asylum for years, as the villagers

52
00:03:07,720 --> 00:03:11,239
Speaker 1: please for more information went unanswered until one day when

53
00:03:11,240 --> 00:03:14,680
Speaker 1: a pamphlet arrived. It had come from France, written by

54
00:03:14,720 --> 00:03:19,239
Speaker 1: an anonymous author entitled The Stranger, A True History. Its

55
00:03:19,240 --> 00:03:23,200
Speaker 1: story started in seventeen sixty eight in the Austrian Netherlands,

56
00:03:23,200 --> 00:03:26,480
Speaker 1: where a letter was delivered to Count Cobenzel, a diplomat

57
00:03:26,520 --> 00:03:29,880
Speaker 1: serving the Holy Roman Empress. The letter had been written

58
00:03:29,880 --> 00:03:34,000
Speaker 1: by a woman calling herself Mademoiselle La Frolin, a fake name,

59
00:03:34,120 --> 00:03:37,680
Speaker 1: asking for some money. Another letter arrived a short time later,

60
00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:42,000
Speaker 1: this one signed by Count Weisendorff of Prague, encouraging Cobenzel

61
00:03:42,120 --> 00:03:44,560
Speaker 1: to send the La fruelle And woman the money that

62
00:03:44,600 --> 00:03:47,480
Speaker 1: she requested and hinting that he would be wise to

63
00:03:47,560 --> 00:03:51,000
Speaker 1: do so. Then a third letter from Count dietrich Stein

64
00:03:51,040 --> 00:03:54,320
Speaker 1: of Vienna instructed Cobenzel to send La fruell And some

65
00:03:54,360 --> 00:03:58,320
Speaker 1: money as well. So Cobenzel wrote back and promised to help,

66
00:03:58,600 --> 00:04:01,200
Speaker 1: but only if La fruel And share her real name

67
00:04:01,240 --> 00:04:04,320
Speaker 1: with him. Soon, another woman from Bordeaux showed up on

68
00:04:04,360 --> 00:04:07,960
Speaker 1: the count's doorstep. She explained how the La Fruelen woman

69
00:04:08,120 --> 00:04:11,280
Speaker 1: was a reputable person, but she could not disclose her

70
00:04:11,280 --> 00:04:14,360
Speaker 1: true identity, as she bore a striking resemblance to the

71
00:04:14,440 --> 00:04:18,360
Speaker 1: late founder of the Habsburg Lorraine dynasty, Holy Roman Emperor

72
00:04:18,480 --> 00:04:22,000
Speaker 1: Francis the First. Still, La frue Ellen didn't want to

73
00:04:22,040 --> 00:04:25,520
Speaker 1: leave Cobenzel empty handed. She promised to tell him everything

74
00:04:25,560 --> 00:04:28,279
Speaker 1: eventually and sent him a portrait of herself so that

75
00:04:28,320 --> 00:04:31,200
Speaker 1: he could get an idea of the person receiving his letters.

76
00:04:31,920 --> 00:04:35,280
Speaker 1: Cobenzel brought it to Prince Charles Lo Lorraine for his assessment,

77
00:04:35,680 --> 00:04:38,359
Speaker 1: and the answer was clear. La Fruellen did look a

78
00:04:38,440 --> 00:04:42,240
Speaker 1: lot like the deceased emperor, and Charles would know because

79
00:04:42,279 --> 00:04:45,560
Speaker 1: the dead emperor was his brother. La frue Ellen kept

80
00:04:45,600 --> 00:04:48,760
Speaker 1: sending over portraits of herself, while others continued to send

81
00:04:48,800 --> 00:04:51,520
Speaker 1: him letters of thanks for helping this woman, as well

82
00:04:51,560 --> 00:04:54,839
Speaker 1: as keeping her identity under wraps. Then, at the start

83
00:04:54,880 --> 00:04:58,080
Speaker 1: of seventeen sixty nine, cobon Zel received a much more

84
00:04:58,160 --> 00:05:03,400
Speaker 1: menacing communication. La Fruelen was being arrested and extraditeedto Brussels,

85
00:05:03,440 --> 00:05:06,960
Speaker 1: where he was supposed to question her. Apparently, the King

86
00:05:07,000 --> 00:05:09,919
Speaker 1: of Spain had found himself in a similar situation to

87
00:05:10,040 --> 00:05:14,000
Speaker 1: Count Cobenzel. He'd also received letters about La Fruelen and

88
00:05:14,080 --> 00:05:18,919
Speaker 1: had discovered that she was an impostor. Cobenzel interrogated her,

89
00:05:18,960 --> 00:05:22,560
Speaker 1: noting her elegant features and dark hair. She spoke French

90
00:05:22,640 --> 00:05:25,400
Speaker 1: but with the German accent, and although she didn't know

91
00:05:25,440 --> 00:05:27,640
Speaker 1: where she was born, she knew that she had been

92
00:05:27,760 --> 00:05:30,840
Speaker 1: educated in Bohemia. She was placed in the care of

93
00:05:30,839 --> 00:05:34,200
Speaker 1: several individuals, including a priest, who promised that she would

94
00:05:34,240 --> 00:05:36,120
Speaker 1: be taken care of for the rest of her life

95
00:05:36,120 --> 00:05:38,320
Speaker 1: as long as she moved to a convent and became

96
00:05:38,360 --> 00:05:41,800
Speaker 1: a nun. La Faruelen didn't want that life for herself,

97
00:05:42,040 --> 00:05:44,360
Speaker 1: so she ran away and was taken care of by

98
00:05:44,360 --> 00:05:47,080
Speaker 1: a farmer until she was able to travel far from

99
00:05:47,080 --> 00:05:49,880
Speaker 1: her old home. She went to Sweden and made friends

100
00:05:49,880 --> 00:05:52,520
Speaker 1: with a variety of travelers and locals who took her

101
00:05:52,560 --> 00:05:56,680
Speaker 1: in and provided her with food and shelter. Eventually, though,

102
00:05:56,920 --> 00:06:00,080
Speaker 1: La Fruelen found herself without any money. To try and

103
00:06:00,160 --> 00:06:03,159
Speaker 1: make some fast cash, she started writing letters to people

104
00:06:03,320 --> 00:06:06,880
Speaker 1: like Count Cobenzel and the King of Spain, begging for help,

105
00:06:07,200 --> 00:06:12,120
Speaker 1: hinting that she was the daughter of Emperor Francis the First. Unfortunately,

106
00:06:12,279 --> 00:06:15,560
Speaker 1: Cobenzel passed away from a fatal illness and Lafruellen was

107
00:06:15,640 --> 00:06:18,520
Speaker 1: arrested for her debts. After a short time in prison,

108
00:06:18,600 --> 00:06:21,279
Speaker 1: she was released and provided with just enough money to

109
00:06:21,360 --> 00:06:24,080
Speaker 1: help her find a place to live. She went to England,

110
00:06:24,160 --> 00:06:27,760
Speaker 1: where she became Louisa, the Lady of the Haystack the

111
00:06:27,880 --> 00:06:31,400
Speaker 1: strange but affable woman who was beloved by the townsfolk.

112
00:06:32,240 --> 00:06:35,039
Speaker 1: She never told them her name or anything else about

113
00:06:35,040 --> 00:06:37,479
Speaker 1: her past, and by the time the pamphlet came out,

114
00:06:37,800 --> 00:06:40,240
Speaker 1: her mind was too far gone to answer any of

115
00:06:40,240 --> 00:06:43,000
Speaker 1: their questions. She passed away in the care of Mr

116
00:06:43,040 --> 00:06:47,320
Speaker 1: Henderson in eighteen o one, leaving everyone wondering was she

117
00:06:47,480 --> 00:06:51,040
Speaker 1: really an emperor's daughter or was she a grifter looking

118
00:06:51,080 --> 00:06:54,720
Speaker 1: for some easy cash. No one knows, and so Louisa

119
00:06:54,760 --> 00:06:59,080
Speaker 1: continues to be one of histories most baffling mysteries, A

120
00:06:59,160 --> 00:07:16,880
Speaker 1: curious tale. Indeed, the early nineteen sixties were a tumultuous

121
00:07:16,920 --> 00:07:20,680
Speaker 1: time for America and Cuban relations. Fidel Castro had come

122
00:07:20,680 --> 00:07:23,600
Speaker 1: into power after taking control of the country in nineteen

123
00:07:23,680 --> 00:07:26,800
Speaker 1: fifty nine. Two years later, he faced new problems from

124
00:07:26,840 --> 00:07:30,440
Speaker 1: both the counter revolutionaries within his borders and the United

125
00:07:30,480 --> 00:07:34,240
Speaker 1: States intervention on the outside. President John F. Kennedy tried

126
00:07:34,280 --> 00:07:38,320
Speaker 1: to overthrow Castro using a plan originally developed by his predecessor,

127
00:07:38,520 --> 00:07:41,920
Speaker 1: Dwight D. Eisenhower. Eisenhower, with the help of the CIA,

128
00:07:42,280 --> 00:07:45,160
Speaker 1: had wanted to replace the communist regime with one more

129
00:07:45,200 --> 00:07:47,840
Speaker 1: cooperative with the United States, but to make it look

130
00:07:47,880 --> 00:07:50,800
Speaker 1: like the Cuban people were responsible for the sea change

131
00:07:51,080 --> 00:07:54,120
Speaker 1: and not the American government. This was to be done

132
00:07:54,160 --> 00:07:58,360
Speaker 1: through the use of propaganda and international paramilitary forces. The

133
00:07:58,400 --> 00:08:01,360
Speaker 1: idea was to turn the Cuban p against Castro, with

134
00:08:01,440 --> 00:08:04,320
Speaker 1: the help from the United States, providing them with enough

135
00:08:04,360 --> 00:08:07,520
Speaker 1: firepower to take him down for good. But the plan

136
00:08:07,720 --> 00:08:10,680
Speaker 1: was tough to execute. Guerilla troops weren't able to make

137
00:08:10,720 --> 00:08:14,360
Speaker 1: any headway against Castro's forces, and c i A supplies

138
00:08:14,400 --> 00:08:18,119
Speaker 1: weren't doing any good. So Eisenhower approved a new plan.

139
00:08:18,920 --> 00:08:21,680
Speaker 1: The U S would train Cuban exiles and prepared them

140
00:08:21,720 --> 00:08:25,000
Speaker 1: to invade their own homeland. Camps were built in Guatemala

141
00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:28,200
Speaker 1: by the CIA, and by November of nineteen sixty a

142
00:08:28,320 --> 00:08:31,960
Speaker 1: number of troops were ready for battle. Unfortunately, the secret

143
00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:34,960
Speaker 1: plan got out to other Cuban exiles in Miami and

144
00:08:35,080 --> 00:08:37,800
Speaker 1: soon made it back to Castro. The press also got

145
00:08:37,880 --> 00:08:40,200
Speaker 1: wind of the invasion and began reporting on it to

146
00:08:40,240 --> 00:08:44,480
Speaker 1: the public. In February of nineteen sixty one, newly inaugurated

147
00:08:44,480 --> 00:08:47,960
Speaker 1: President John F. Kennedy was ready to go with the invasion. However,

148
00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:50,600
Speaker 1: he decided to change the landing location to the Bay

149
00:08:50,600 --> 00:08:54,520
Speaker 1: of Pigs along Cuba's southern coast. It was fairly remote

150
00:08:54,600 --> 00:08:57,840
Speaker 1: and his forces would face little resistance. That also meant

151
00:08:57,840 --> 00:09:00,880
Speaker 1: that they'd be left wide open to assault. Though. The

152
00:09:00,920 --> 00:09:04,000
Speaker 1: attacks started on April fifteenth of nineteen sixty one, and

153
00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:07,280
Speaker 1: we're almost immediately considered a failure. The World War Two

154
00:09:07,320 --> 00:09:10,040
Speaker 1: bombers the CIA had painted to look like Cuban Air

155
00:09:10,080 --> 00:09:13,640
Speaker 1: Force planes missed their targets. The actual Cuban Air Force

156
00:09:13,640 --> 00:09:17,320
Speaker 1: planes they were supposed to hit were left untouched. On

157
00:09:17,400 --> 00:09:20,440
Speaker 1: top of that, the press printed photos of the bombers

158
00:09:20,480 --> 00:09:24,199
Speaker 1: and outed them as American planes. As a result, Kennedy

159
00:09:24,320 --> 00:09:28,320
Speaker 1: didn't order a second airstrike. As for the Cuban exiles,

160
00:09:28,360 --> 00:09:30,400
Speaker 1: they landed on the shore of the Bay of Pigs

161
00:09:30,400 --> 00:09:33,560
Speaker 1: two days after the failed bombing and found themselves under

162
00:09:33,600 --> 00:09:37,160
Speaker 1: heavy attack from both land and sky. Another failed air

163
00:09:37,200 --> 00:09:40,000
Speaker 1: assault from the U S and April nineteenth all but

164
00:09:40,120 --> 00:09:43,200
Speaker 1: sealed the fate of the mission. The attempted coup was over.

165
00:09:43,679 --> 00:09:46,960
Speaker 1: Exiles who hadn't been killed were captured and put in prison.

166
00:09:47,600 --> 00:09:51,960
Speaker 1: Castro had won, and several months later the CIA tried again.

167
00:09:52,320 --> 00:09:55,240
Speaker 1: They called their plan Operation Mongoose, and it was headed

168
00:09:55,240 --> 00:09:58,520
Speaker 1: by US Air Force. General Edward Lansdale from the Department

169
00:09:58,559 --> 00:10:02,400
Speaker 1: of Defense, Operation and Mongoose had thirty three separate phases,

170
00:10:02,679 --> 00:10:05,600
Speaker 1: all with the same end goal to get Castro out.

171
00:10:06,360 --> 00:10:09,280
Speaker 1: As part of his plan, however, Lansdale wanted to take

172
00:10:09,280 --> 00:10:12,640
Speaker 1: a different tack than before. Rather than use bombers or

173
00:10:12,679 --> 00:10:16,720
Speaker 1: guerrilla forces, the United States turned to the Almighty instead.

174
00:10:17,240 --> 00:10:19,600
Speaker 1: Their idea was to convince the Cuban people that the

175
00:10:19,679 --> 00:10:24,280
Speaker 1: second Coming of Jesus Christ had finally arrived. Using similar

176
00:10:24,320 --> 00:10:27,840
Speaker 1: propaganda techniques as before. Lansdale wanted to let the people

177
00:10:27,840 --> 00:10:30,480
Speaker 1: of Cuban know that Christ was coming on a specific

178
00:10:30,559 --> 00:10:34,160
Speaker 1: day and that he was staunchly anti Castro. In fact,

179
00:10:34,559 --> 00:10:39,160
Speaker 1: Jesus believed Fidel Castro to be the Antichrist. Then, on

180
00:10:39,200 --> 00:10:43,280
Speaker 1: that predetermined day, US forces would fire star shells into

181
00:10:43,320 --> 00:10:45,960
Speaker 1: the air, lighting up the sky, while a U. S.

182
00:10:46,040 --> 00:10:50,079
Speaker 1: Navy submarine projected images of Jesus Christ onto clouds off

183
00:10:50,080 --> 00:10:53,000
Speaker 1: the coast of Havana. As that was going on, a

184
00:10:53,080 --> 00:10:56,360
Speaker 1: plane hidden by the clouds and flying with a quieter

185
00:10:56,520 --> 00:11:00,960
Speaker 1: specially designed engine, would play Spanish language messages from Jesus

186
00:11:01,080 --> 00:11:05,600
Speaker 1: Christ through loudspeakers to the Cuban people below. Those messages

187
00:11:05,840 --> 00:11:08,680
Speaker 1: told by the voice of God himself would command them

188
00:11:08,679 --> 00:11:11,760
Speaker 1: to overthrow Castro and take back the country in the

189
00:11:11,880 --> 00:11:17,160
Speaker 1: name of democracy. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you

190
00:11:17,200 --> 00:11:20,480
Speaker 1: look at it, Kennedy never gave Lansdale's plan the green light.

191
00:11:20,880 --> 00:11:24,600
Speaker 1: There was a palpable fear, based on previous experiences, that

192
00:11:24,679 --> 00:11:26,960
Speaker 1: their efforts would be found out ahead of time and

193
00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:30,160
Speaker 1: American lives would be put at great risk. It's a

194
00:11:30,200 --> 00:11:32,640
Speaker 1: shame they didn't at least try it, though. If the

195
00:11:32,720 --> 00:11:37,040
Speaker 1: United States government couldn't beat Castro's forces using firepower, it

196
00:11:37,040 --> 00:11:44,000
Speaker 1: could have at least put the fear of God into them.

197
00:11:44,040 --> 00:11:46,720
Speaker 1: I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet

198
00:11:46,760 --> 00:11:50,640
Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn

199
00:11:50,679 --> 00:11:55,240
Speaker 1: more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com.

200
00:11:55,280 --> 00:11:58,840
Speaker 1: The show was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership

201
00:11:58,880 --> 00:12:02,160
Speaker 1: with How Stuff Works. I make another award winning show

202
00:12:02,280 --> 00:12:06,360
Speaker 1: called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show,

203
00:12:06,600 --> 00:12:08,480
Speaker 1: and you can learn all about it over at the

204
00:12:08,640 --> 00:12:13,400
Speaker 1: World of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.

205
00:12:14,160 --> 00:12:14,240
Speaker 1: Ye