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 --> 00:00:18,440 Speaker 1: the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all 4 00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:22,599 Speaker 1: of these amazing tales right there on display, just waiting 5 00:00:22,640 --> 00:00:28,880 Speaker 1: for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. 6 00:00:36,280 --> 00:00:39,320 Speaker 1: In the year fourteen eighty seven, in southern Japan, the 7 00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:42,559 Speaker 1: military governor of the Kaga Province returned home to a 8 00:00:42,600 --> 00:00:47,559 Speaker 1: surprising but inevitable welcome. His people. The peasants of Kaga 9 00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:51,559 Speaker 1: Province were an open rebellion. The governor, whose name was 10 00:00:51,600 --> 00:00:55,280 Speaker 1: Togashi Masachika, had spent much of the last ten years 11 00:00:55,400 --> 00:00:59,880 Speaker 1: suppressing these sorts of rebellions. The Ashikaga Shogunate was weakening, 12 00:01:00,240 --> 00:01:03,120 Speaker 1: and feudal Japan had been erupting in challenges to the 13 00:01:03,160 --> 00:01:07,000 Speaker 1: showgun's authority, both from rival lords and from bands of 14 00:01:07,040 --> 00:01:10,800 Speaker 1: peasants like the ones that Masachika faced in the Kaga Province. 15 00:01:11,360 --> 00:01:15,760 Speaker 1: These peasants formed themselves into grassroots militia known as Iki, 16 00:01:16,120 --> 00:01:19,399 Speaker 1: and were comprised of Buddhist warrior monks as well as 17 00:01:19,440 --> 00:01:23,400 Speaker 1: peasants who were dissatisfied with their rulers. Masachika hoped that 18 00:01:23,440 --> 00:01:26,120 Speaker 1: he'd be able to extinguish this rebellion once and for 19 00:01:26,200 --> 00:01:28,480 Speaker 1: all with the help of support from the Showgun, but 20 00:01:28,680 --> 00:01:32,840 Speaker 1: no such reinforcements arrived. The peasant rebellion lay siege to 21 00:01:32,920 --> 00:01:35,920 Speaker 1: the castle of Kaga in fourteen eighty eight. As his 22 00:01:36,080 --> 00:01:39,360 Speaker 1: castle burned around him and with no prospect of rescue, 23 00:01:39,680 --> 00:01:43,880 Speaker 1: Masachika committed sepuku. After that, he was replaced as governor 24 00:01:43,920 --> 00:01:46,920 Speaker 1: by his uncle Yasutaka, but the real power of the 25 00:01:46,959 --> 00:01:49,600 Speaker 1: world knew lay in the hands of the Iki. The 26 00:01:49,680 --> 00:01:53,680 Speaker 1: Kaga region became known as Kagaiki, or less formally, the 27 00:01:53,760 --> 00:01:57,800 Speaker 1: province ruled by peasants, and this would hold true for decades. 28 00:01:57,880 --> 00:02:01,440 Speaker 1: While in Greater Japan the Showguns ruggle to remain in power, 29 00:02:01,840 --> 00:02:05,280 Speaker 1: the Ashikaga Shogunate was weakening, and in Kaga the pretense 30 00:02:05,320 --> 00:02:09,360 Speaker 1: of needing a military governor soon outlived its usefulness. The 31 00:02:09,440 --> 00:02:12,600 Speaker 1: Kagaiki would become a primary ruling force in the region 32 00:02:12,639 --> 00:02:15,280 Speaker 1: by the early fifteen hundreds, doing away with the role 33 00:02:15,320 --> 00:02:18,760 Speaker 1: of governor altogether. It was the first time in Japanese 34 00:02:18,800 --> 00:02:22,000 Speaker 1: history that province was ruled by someone other than a 35 00:02:22,040 --> 00:02:25,519 Speaker 1: lord or a samurai. It's tempting to see this as 36 00:02:25,639 --> 00:02:29,760 Speaker 1: the moment of utopia peasant rule in a feudal system. However, 37 00:02:29,880 --> 00:02:33,200 Speaker 1: as the Kagaiki grew in power, so too did their 38 00:02:33,200 --> 00:02:37,840 Speaker 1: disagreements among themselves. Without a common enemy, they began to fracture. 39 00:02:38,160 --> 00:02:42,120 Speaker 1: Some of their members held differing loyalties among their neighboring provinces, 40 00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:45,359 Speaker 1: and who should be the true power in Kaga Province 41 00:02:45,520 --> 00:02:48,799 Speaker 1: was the big question. In fifteen thirty one, a civil 42 00:02:48,840 --> 00:02:51,200 Speaker 1: war broke out among the Iki, ending with a man 43 00:02:51,280 --> 00:02:55,840 Speaker 1: named ren June in power. They successfully fought back expansionist neighbors, 44 00:02:56,040 --> 00:02:59,280 Speaker 1: consolidated power even further, and seemed on their way to 45 00:02:59,320 --> 00:03:03,040 Speaker 1: securing their place in a new Japan. However, the Peasant's 46 00:03:03,160 --> 00:03:06,280 Speaker 1: kingdom would remain unstable for the rest of its existence. 47 00:03:06,480 --> 00:03:09,280 Speaker 1: It turned into a dynasty were the ruling class, rather 48 00:03:09,320 --> 00:03:12,680 Speaker 1: than being samurai, were Buddhist priests, and it was in 49 00:03:12,720 --> 00:03:16,960 Speaker 1: the fifteen seventies, almost a century after the first Iki rebellions, 50 00:03:17,240 --> 00:03:21,639 Speaker 1: that Kagaiki would begin to fall. Oda Nabuaga, a warlord 51 00:03:21,680 --> 00:03:25,800 Speaker 1: seeking to unify Japan, sent armies into Kaga Province to 52 00:03:25,840 --> 00:03:29,160 Speaker 1: secure it. After a first few waves were defeated by 53 00:03:29,200 --> 00:03:32,920 Speaker 1: the Iki, Nobunaga deployed a massive force led by his 54 00:03:33,040 --> 00:03:37,560 Speaker 1: best generals. The siege lasted for ten years. It ended 55 00:03:37,640 --> 00:03:41,720 Speaker 1: not with absolute conquest, but with a truce. Nobunaga agreed 56 00:03:41,800 --> 00:03:45,520 Speaker 1: not to execute the Iki leadership, who in return ceded 57 00:03:45,520 --> 00:03:48,600 Speaker 1: the province to him. Their main castle at Honganji was 58 00:03:48,640 --> 00:03:52,520 Speaker 1: torn down and replaced with Osaka Castle, which still stands 59 00:03:52,600 --> 00:03:56,240 Speaker 1: to this day. Many in the Kagaiki were not pleased 60 00:03:56,280 --> 00:03:59,000 Speaker 1: with how this ended, and would continue a form of 61 00:03:59,040 --> 00:04:03,360 Speaker 1: guerrilla warfare into the fifteen eighties against the greater Japanese forces. 62 00:04:03,680 --> 00:04:07,280 Speaker 1: It's difficult to understand the Peasant's kingdom by modern standards. 63 00:04:07,320 --> 00:04:10,920 Speaker 1: Though it was not a democracy or a socialist government. 64 00:04:11,240 --> 00:04:14,600 Speaker 1: The Iki were driven by a form of religious fanaticism 65 00:04:14,840 --> 00:04:18,440 Speaker 1: that overpowered any fear or reverence they had for the shogunates. 66 00:04:18,839 --> 00:04:21,920 Speaker 1: But in a time of instability known as the Warring 67 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:25,920 Speaker 1: States period, any form of community felt more solid than 68 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:31,000 Speaker 1: the constantly shifting alliances that characterized their leaders. The Kagaiki 69 00:04:31,120 --> 00:04:34,520 Speaker 1: survived in a sense by inverting the power structure that 70 00:04:34,560 --> 00:04:38,120 Speaker 1: governed their lives, and for almost one hundred years they 71 00:04:38,120 --> 00:04:40,640 Speaker 1: had a kingdom of their own. It may only have 72 00:04:40,720 --> 00:04:43,000 Speaker 1: been a brief cul de sac in the middle of 73 00:04:43,080 --> 00:04:46,320 Speaker 1: Japanese history, but it's a useful reminder that the power 74 00:04:46,360 --> 00:04:49,280 Speaker 1: of a king or a showgun is not a law 75 00:04:49,440 --> 00:04:53,400 Speaker 1: of the universe. It's an agreement like any other one, 76 00:04:53,440 --> 00:05:11,080 Speaker 1: that only holds weight if the people agree. Thomas Midgley 77 00:05:11,200 --> 00:05:14,279 Speaker 1: Junior is one of the most controversial men in history. 78 00:05:14,600 --> 00:05:16,960 Speaker 1: If you ask some he was a great mind and 79 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:21,200 Speaker 1: a shining example of American ingenuity. If you ask others, though, 80 00:05:21,440 --> 00:05:23,839 Speaker 1: he was a monster with a body count to rival 81 00:05:23,920 --> 00:05:27,800 Speaker 1: Hitler or Stalin. But he wasn't a dictator or even 82 00:05:27,839 --> 00:05:30,719 Speaker 1: a member of the military. No, he was an inventor, 83 00:05:30,960 --> 00:05:32,719 Speaker 1: and he may have had more of an impact on 84 00:05:32,760 --> 00:05:37,400 Speaker 1: the world than any other single individual in history. One 85 00:05:37,440 --> 00:05:40,840 Speaker 1: day in early nineteen twenty one, Thomas's boss, a guy 86 00:05:40,920 --> 00:05:44,560 Speaker 1: named Charles Kettering, came bursting into his lab at General Motors. 87 00:05:44,839 --> 00:05:46,840 Speaker 1: He told Thomas that he wanted him to focus on 88 00:05:46,839 --> 00:05:49,839 Speaker 1: one thing, and one thing only, inventing a type of 89 00:05:49,880 --> 00:05:54,640 Speaker 1: gasoline that didn't knock engines. Engine knocking was a major 90 00:05:54,720 --> 00:05:58,719 Speaker 1: problem for early automobiles. The simple gasoline of that time 91 00:05:59,040 --> 00:06:02,760 Speaker 1: caused tiny explosions in the engine, which quickly wore it 92 00:06:02,800 --> 00:06:06,480 Speaker 1: down and reduced the speed potential of the car. Thomas 93 00:06:06,520 --> 00:06:09,680 Speaker 1: always liked to perform well for his superiors, so he 94 00:06:09,760 --> 00:06:13,880 Speaker 1: immediately set about solving this problem. He added chemical after 95 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:18,080 Speaker 1: chemical to the gasoline, trying different compounds that might stabilize 96 00:06:18,080 --> 00:06:21,120 Speaker 1: the gas. After months of trying, he finally landed on 97 00:06:21,160 --> 00:06:25,440 Speaker 1: a solution lead because adding it to the gasoline seemed 98 00:06:25,440 --> 00:06:28,640 Speaker 1: to cure the engine knocking problem, but of course it 99 00:06:28,680 --> 00:06:32,919 Speaker 1: introduced another issue. Lead is toxic. People had known this 100 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:35,560 Speaker 1: since the days of the Roman Empire, when lead was 101 00:06:35,680 --> 00:06:39,440 Speaker 1: used in everything from cookware to cosmetics. Some people believe 102 00:06:39,480 --> 00:06:42,800 Speaker 1: it actually drove many Romans mad and contributed to the 103 00:06:42,839 --> 00:06:46,120 Speaker 1: empire's downfall. But Thomas figured it would be fine to 104 00:06:46,240 --> 00:06:48,400 Speaker 1: use in this case. I mean, no one would be 105 00:06:48,480 --> 00:06:51,680 Speaker 1: drinking the gasoline. It would all get safely exhausted out 106 00:06:51,720 --> 00:06:54,480 Speaker 1: the back of the car and up into the atmosphere. 107 00:06:54,800 --> 00:06:58,719 Speaker 1: What could go wrong? Right? By nineteen twenty three, General 108 00:06:58,760 --> 00:07:03,120 Speaker 1: Motors was fully behind Charles and Thomas's use of leaded gasoline. 109 00:07:03,240 --> 00:07:06,040 Speaker 1: They opened a plant for producing the gas in New Jersey, 110 00:07:06,320 --> 00:07:10,160 Speaker 1: with Thomas supervising. As Thomas sat in his office above 111 00:07:10,160 --> 00:07:13,360 Speaker 1: the factory floor. Going over some paperwork, he was startled 112 00:07:13,360 --> 00:07:16,600 Speaker 1: by the sudden sound of screams emanating from the work area. 113 00:07:17,120 --> 00:07:19,560 Speaker 1: He got up from his seat, left his office and 114 00:07:19,720 --> 00:07:23,040 Speaker 1: stood on the catwalk overlooking the plant, and there on 115 00:07:23,120 --> 00:07:26,080 Speaker 1: the floor was a group of workers surrounding a man 116 00:07:26,120 --> 00:07:29,440 Speaker 1: who was screaming and running around the factory wildly. He 117 00:07:29,520 --> 00:07:32,360 Speaker 1: looked like he was fighting monsters that weren't there. He 118 00:07:32,440 --> 00:07:35,400 Speaker 1: swatted at the air before curling up into a ball. 119 00:07:36,120 --> 00:07:38,360 Speaker 1: Thomas called for the man's sister to come pick him 120 00:07:38,440 --> 00:07:40,920 Speaker 1: up and take him home. But just a few days later, 121 00:07:41,120 --> 00:07:44,400 Speaker 1: Thomas received distressing news from her the man had died 122 00:07:44,480 --> 00:07:47,600 Speaker 1: in the hospital from lead poisoning. The fumes from the 123 00:07:47,640 --> 00:07:51,360 Speaker 1: gas were toxic. After all, Thomas had a big press 124 00:07:51,360 --> 00:07:53,640 Speaker 1: conference coming up where he was supposed to show off 125 00:07:53,680 --> 00:07:57,360 Speaker 1: the wonders of leaded gasoline. The timing could not have 126 00:07:57,440 --> 00:08:00,560 Speaker 1: been worse. What's more, over the next week, more and 127 00:08:00,640 --> 00:08:04,080 Speaker 1: more of the factory workers began hallucinating and passing out. 128 00:08:04,560 --> 00:08:07,400 Speaker 1: Four more people died and thirty five of the forty 129 00:08:07,480 --> 00:08:11,040 Speaker 1: nine employees at the plant were hospitalized, and the press 130 00:08:11,080 --> 00:08:14,000 Speaker 1: got word of this, and soon Thomas's press conference became 131 00:08:14,200 --> 00:08:16,720 Speaker 1: less of an opportunity to show off the product, and 132 00:08:16,800 --> 00:08:18,880 Speaker 1: more of a last ditch effort to show that it 133 00:08:18,920 --> 00:08:21,600 Speaker 1: was safe. He went ahead with it, and in front 134 00:08:21,640 --> 00:08:24,160 Speaker 1: of a room full of angry reporters, he did the 135 00:08:24,160 --> 00:08:26,440 Speaker 1: only thing he could think of. He took out a 136 00:08:26,480 --> 00:08:30,400 Speaker 1: small bowl of gasoline and used it to wash his hands, 137 00:08:30,760 --> 00:08:33,439 Speaker 1: and then he inhaled the vapors, saying that he could 138 00:08:33,480 --> 00:08:36,720 Speaker 1: do this every day to no ill effect. It was 139 00:08:36,800 --> 00:08:40,680 Speaker 1: completely unscientific, but the press seemed to buy it. Soon 140 00:08:40,880 --> 00:08:45,080 Speaker 1: leaded gasoline was being used by millions. No one noticed 141 00:08:45,120 --> 00:08:48,520 Speaker 1: when Thomas took a sabbatical to Florida for some fresh air. 142 00:08:48,920 --> 00:08:52,000 Speaker 1: The truth was he was now suffering from lead poisoning 143 00:08:52,400 --> 00:08:55,720 Speaker 1: like all his other workers. But he did recover, and 144 00:08:55,800 --> 00:08:59,280 Speaker 1: over the next several decades, scientists estimate that lead gasoline 145 00:08:59,320 --> 00:09:02,920 Speaker 1: killed tens of millions of people, primarily children. Those that 146 00:09:03,040 --> 00:09:06,480 Speaker 1: didn't kill had permanent, lifelong brain damage that has been 147 00:09:06,520 --> 00:09:08,840 Speaker 1: linked to the rise in violent crime in the late 148 00:09:08,880 --> 00:09:12,959 Speaker 1: twentieth century. And it wasn't even Thomas's only deadly invention. 149 00:09:13,400 --> 00:09:17,480 Speaker 1: He was also responsible for free on the refrigeration chemical 150 00:09:17,520 --> 00:09:21,120 Speaker 1: that damaged the ozone layer. Both it and leaded gasoline 151 00:09:21,440 --> 00:09:26,120 Speaker 1: were eventually banned. Curiously, Thomas was eventually hoisted quite literally 152 00:09:26,200 --> 00:09:29,680 Speaker 1: by his own hubris. He contacted polio in his fifties, 153 00:09:29,920 --> 00:09:31,920 Speaker 1: and by the age of fifty five he was confined 154 00:09:31,920 --> 00:09:35,200 Speaker 1: to bed. He designed a complicated system of pulleys that 155 00:09:35,240 --> 00:09:37,800 Speaker 1: were meant to allow him to lift himself out of bed, 156 00:09:38,200 --> 00:09:40,400 Speaker 1: but one day, when he went to use the contraption, 157 00:09:40,600 --> 00:09:45,000 Speaker 1: the ropes twisted, wrapping themselves around his neck. He accidentally 158 00:09:45,040 --> 00:09:50,240 Speaker 1: hanged himself, which some saw as cosmic justice. Unfortunately, this 159 00:09:50,360 --> 00:09:54,080 Speaker 1: is just one situation where curiosity didn't simply kill the cat, 160 00:09:54,600 --> 00:10:00,840 Speaker 1: but a whole lot of other people as well. I 161 00:10:00,840 --> 00:10:04,400 Speaker 1: hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. 162 00:10:04,720 --> 00:10:07,800 Speaker 1: Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about 163 00:10:07,840 --> 00:10:12,400 Speaker 1: the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show 164 00:10:12,640 --> 00:10:15,840 Speaker 1: was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how 165 00:10:15,920 --> 00:10:19,520 Speaker 1: Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore, 166 00:10:19,760 --> 00:10:23,400 Speaker 1: which is a podcast, book series, and television show, and 167 00:10:23,440 --> 00:10:26,040 Speaker 1: you can learn all about it over at the Worldoflore 168 00:10:26,320 --> 00:10:30,640 Speaker 1: dot com. And until next time, stay curious.