Speaker 1: Welcomed Aaron Menkey's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is full
Speaker 1: of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book,
Speaker 1: all of these amazing tales right there on display, just
Speaker 1: waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities.
Speaker 1: When she was discovered in seventeen seventy six, Louisa didn't
Speaker 1: have a name. She was destitute and sleeping in the
Speaker 1: fields of Burton, England, under a shelter built out of haystacks.
Speaker 1: Louisa was elegant and sophisticated in her nature. Though she
Speaker 1: was destitute, she didn't look at and everyone who met
Speaker 1: her encouraged her to stay within their homes instead of
Speaker 1: in the fields, but she refused. Louisa was quoted saying
Speaker 1: trouble and misery dwelt in houses, and that there was
Speaker 1: no happiness but in liberty and fresh air. Although the
Speaker 1: townsfolk did their best to help her, she didn't let
Speaker 1: them in beyond arms reach. She never told them her
Speaker 1: real name, which led to the assumption that she must
Speaker 1: have been of noble birth. Why else would someone hide
Speaker 1: their true identity from the people offering her food and shelter.
Speaker 1: Without knowing what to call her, the people referred to
Speaker 1: her as Louisa. They were able to discern several things
Speaker 1: about this mysterious woman from their interactions with her. First,
Speaker 1: she spoke English, but not natively. Her pronunciations and the
Speaker 1: way she phrased her sentences gave the impression that she
Speaker 1: had not been born and raised in England. One man
Speaker 1: tried communicating with her in several European languages. She cringed
Speaker 1: at most of them, but when he talked to her
Speaker 1: in German, Louisa wept. Secondly, she loved children. When the
Speaker 1: little ones in town came up to her, she would
Speaker 1: smile and play with them. Louisa also rejected the finer
Speaker 1: gifts that she was offered, such as nice clothes or jewelry.
Speaker 1: She would take them and then toss them into the bushes,
Speaker 1: either because she thought they weren't good enough or because
Speaker 1: she had no need for them. However, she gladly accepted
Speaker 1: milk and tea, simple things to sustain her throughout the day,
Speaker 1: and when that day was over, Louisa went right back
Speaker 1: to her haystacks to sleep. Exposure to the elements had
Speaker 1: effected her health, and she endured a brief stay in
Speaker 1: a hospital due to an episode of temporary insanity. But
Speaker 1: the people of Burton wanted better for her. They liked her,
Speaker 1: so they had her committed to a private asylum run
Speaker 1: by a man named Mr Henderson in Gloucestershire. Louisa didn't
Speaker 1: want to leave the town she loved, but her stay
Speaker 1: there did wonders for her physical health. Sadly, her mental
Speaker 1: health continued to decline, and her neighbors knew that they
Speaker 1: had to act fast if they were going to figure
Speaker 1: out where she had originally come from. So while Louisa
Speaker 1: was confined to Henderson's facility, the people of the village
Speaker 1: pooled their information about her and had articles published in
Speaker 1: papers across Europe. Maybe someone out there knew who she was.
Speaker 1: Louisa stayed at the asylum for years, as the villagers
Speaker 1: please for more information went unanswered until one day when
Speaker 1: a pamphlet arrived. It had come from France, written by
Speaker 1: an anonymous author entitled The Stranger, A True History. Its
Speaker 1: story started in seventeen sixty eight in the Austrian Netherlands,
Speaker 1: where a letter was delivered to Count Cobenzel, a diplomat
Speaker 1: serving the Holy Roman Empress. The letter had been written
Speaker 1: by a woman calling herself Mademoiselle La Frolin, a fake name,
Speaker 1: asking for some money. Another letter arrived a short time later,
Speaker 1: this one signed by Count Weisendorff of Prague, encouraging Cobenzel
Speaker 1: to send the La fruelle And woman the money that
Speaker 1: she requested and hinting that he would be wise to
Speaker 1: do so. Then a third letter from Count dietrich Stein
Speaker 1: of Vienna instructed Cobenzel to send La fruell And some
Speaker 1: money as well. So Cobenzel wrote back and promised to help,
Speaker 1: but only if La fruel And share her real name
Speaker 1: with him. Soon, another woman from Bordeaux showed up on
Speaker 1: the count's doorstep. She explained how the La Fruelen woman
Speaker 1: was a reputable person, but she could not disclose her
Speaker 1: true identity, as she bore a striking resemblance to the
Speaker 1: late founder of the Habsburg Lorraine dynasty, Holy Roman Emperor
Speaker 1: Francis the First. Still, La frue Ellen didn't want to
Speaker 1: leave Cobenzel empty handed. She promised to tell him everything
Speaker 1: eventually and sent him a portrait of herself so that
Speaker 1: he could get an idea of the person receiving his letters.
Speaker 1: Cobenzel brought it to Prince Charles Lo Lorraine for his assessment,
Speaker 1: and the answer was clear. La Fruellen did look a
Speaker 1: lot like the deceased emperor, and Charles would know because
Speaker 1: the dead emperor was his brother. La frue Ellen kept
Speaker 1: sending over portraits of herself, while others continued to send
Speaker 1: him letters of thanks for helping this woman, as well
Speaker 1: as keeping her identity under wraps. Then, at the start
Speaker 1: of seventeen sixty nine, cobon Zel received a much more
Speaker 1: menacing communication. La Fruelen was being arrested and extraditeedto Brussels,
Speaker 1: where he was supposed to question her. Apparently, the King
Speaker 1: of Spain had found himself in a similar situation to
Speaker 1: Count Cobenzel. He'd also received letters about La Fruelen and
Speaker 1: had discovered that she was an impostor. Cobenzel interrogated her,
Speaker 1: noting her elegant features and dark hair. She spoke French
Speaker 1: but with the German accent, and although she didn't know
Speaker 1: where she was born, she knew that she had been
Speaker 1: educated in Bohemia. She was placed in the care of
Speaker 1: several individuals, including a priest, who promised that she would
Speaker 1: be taken care of for the rest of her life
Speaker 1: as long as she moved to a convent and became
Speaker 1: a nun. La Faruelen didn't want that life for herself,
Speaker 1: so she ran away and was taken care of by
Speaker 1: a farmer until she was able to travel far from
Speaker 1: her old home. She went to Sweden and made friends
Speaker 1: with a variety of travelers and locals who took her
Speaker 1: in and provided her with food and shelter. Eventually, though,
Speaker 1: La Fruelen found herself without any money. To try and
Speaker 1: make some fast cash, she started writing letters to people
Speaker 1: like Count Cobenzel and the King of Spain, begging for help,
Speaker 1: hinting that she was the daughter of Emperor Francis the First. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: Cobenzel passed away from a fatal illness and Lafruellen was
Speaker 1: arrested for her debts. After a short time in prison,
Speaker 1: she was released and provided with just enough money to
Speaker 1: help her find a place to live. She went to England,
Speaker 1: where she became Louisa, the Lady of the Haystack the
Speaker 1: strange but affable woman who was beloved by the townsfolk.
Speaker 1: She never told them her name or anything else about
Speaker 1: her past, and by the time the pamphlet came out,
Speaker 1: her mind was too far gone to answer any of
Speaker 1: their questions. She passed away in the care of Mr
Speaker 1: Henderson in eighteen o one, leaving everyone wondering was she
Speaker 1: really an emperor's daughter or was she a grifter looking
Speaker 1: for some easy cash. No one knows, and so Louisa
Speaker 1: continues to be one of histories most baffling mysteries, A
Speaker 1: curious tale. Indeed, the early nineteen sixties were a tumultuous
Speaker 1: time for America and Cuban relations. Fidel Castro had come
Speaker 1: into power after taking control of the country in nineteen
Speaker 1: fifty nine. Two years later, he faced new problems from
Speaker 1: both the counter revolutionaries within his borders and the United
Speaker 1: States intervention on the outside. President John F. Kennedy tried
Speaker 1: to overthrow Castro using a plan originally developed by his predecessor,
Speaker 1: Dwight D. Eisenhower. Eisenhower, with the help of the CIA,
Speaker 1: had wanted to replace the communist regime with one more
Speaker 1: cooperative with the United States, but to make it look
Speaker 1: like the Cuban people were responsible for the sea change
Speaker 1: and not the American government. This was to be done
Speaker 1: through the use of propaganda and international paramilitary forces. The
Speaker 1: idea was to turn the Cuban p against Castro, with
Speaker 1: the help from the United States, providing them with enough
Speaker 1: firepower to take him down for good. But the plan
Speaker 1: was tough to execute. Guerilla troops weren't able to make
Speaker 1: any headway against Castro's forces, and c i A supplies
Speaker 1: weren't doing any good. So Eisenhower approved a new plan.
Speaker 1: The U S would train Cuban exiles and prepared them
Speaker 1: to invade their own homeland. Camps were built in Guatemala
Speaker 1: by the CIA, and by November of nineteen sixty a
Speaker 1: number of troops were ready for battle. Unfortunately, the secret
Speaker 1: plan got out to other Cuban exiles in Miami and
Speaker 1: soon made it back to Castro. The press also got
Speaker 1: wind of the invasion and began reporting on it to
Speaker 1: the public. In February of nineteen sixty one, newly inaugurated
Speaker 1: President John F. Kennedy was ready to go with the invasion. However,
Speaker 1: he decided to change the landing location to the Bay
Speaker 1: of Pigs along Cuba's southern coast. It was fairly remote
Speaker 1: and his forces would face little resistance. That also meant
Speaker 1: that they'd be left wide open to assault. Though. The
Speaker 1: attacks started on April fifteenth of nineteen sixty one, and
Speaker 1: we're almost immediately considered a failure. The World War Two
Speaker 1: bombers the CIA had painted to look like Cuban Air
Speaker 1: Force planes missed their targets. The actual Cuban Air Force
Speaker 1: planes they were supposed to hit were left untouched. On
Speaker 1: top of that, the press printed photos of the bombers
Speaker 1: and outed them as American planes. As a result, Kennedy
Speaker 1: didn't order a second airstrike. As for the Cuban exiles,
Speaker 1: they landed on the shore of the Bay of Pigs
Speaker 1: two days after the failed bombing and found themselves under
Speaker 1: heavy attack from both land and sky. Another failed air
Speaker 1: assault from the U S and April nineteenth all but
Speaker 1: sealed the fate of the mission. The attempted coup was over.
Speaker 1: Exiles who hadn't been killed were captured and put in prison.
Speaker 1: Castro had won, and several months later the CIA tried again.
Speaker 1: They called their plan Operation Mongoose, and it was headed
Speaker 1: by US Air Force. General Edward Lansdale from the Department
Speaker 1: of Defense, Operation and Mongoose had thirty three separate phases,
Speaker 1: all with the same end goal to get Castro out.
Speaker 1: As part of his plan, however, Lansdale wanted to take
Speaker 1: a different tack than before. Rather than use bombers or
Speaker 1: guerrilla forces, the United States turned to the Almighty instead.
Speaker 1: Their idea was to convince the Cuban people that the
Speaker 1: second Coming of Jesus Christ had finally arrived. Using similar
Speaker 1: propaganda techniques as before. Lansdale wanted to let the people
Speaker 1: of Cuban know that Christ was coming on a specific
Speaker 1: day and that he was staunchly anti Castro. In fact,
Speaker 1: Jesus believed Fidel Castro to be the Antichrist. Then, on
Speaker 1: that predetermined day, US forces would fire star shells into
Speaker 1: the air, lighting up the sky, while a U. S.
Speaker 1: Navy submarine projected images of Jesus Christ onto clouds off
Speaker 1: the coast of Havana. As that was going on, a
Speaker 1: plane hidden by the clouds and flying with a quieter
Speaker 1: specially designed engine, would play Spanish language messages from Jesus
Speaker 1: Christ through loudspeakers to the Cuban people below. Those messages
Speaker 1: told by the voice of God himself would command them
Speaker 1: to overthrow Castro and take back the country in the
Speaker 1: name of democracy. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you
Speaker 1: look at it, Kennedy never gave Lansdale's plan the green light.
Speaker 1: There was a palpable fear, based on previous experiences, that
Speaker 1: their efforts would be found out ahead of time and
Speaker 1: American lives would be put at great risk. It's a
Speaker 1: shame they didn't at least try it, though. If the
Speaker 1: United States government couldn't beat Castro's forces using firepower, it
Speaker 1: could have at least put the fear of God into them.
Speaker 1: I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet
Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn
Speaker 1: more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com.
Speaker 1: The show was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership
Speaker 1: with How Stuff Works. I make another award winning show
Speaker 1: called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show,
Speaker 1: and you can learn all about it over at the
Speaker 1: World of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.
Speaker 1: Ye