Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of
Speaker 1: the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all
Speaker 1: of these amazing tales are right there on display, just
Speaker 1: waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities.
Speaker 1: On September ninth of twenty twenty two, John Chapel walked
Speaker 1: the grounds of Buckingham Palace, black ribbons in hand. The
Speaker 1: nation was in mourning just a day before Queen Elizabeth
Speaker 1: had passed away, ending her seventy year reign over the
Speaker 1: United Kingdom. The Queen's death was the top story broadcast worldwide.
Speaker 1: It seemed like practically everyone on earth had heard the news,
Speaker 1: but still till someone had to tell the bees. As
Speaker 1: part of his duties as Royal beekeeper, John went hive
Speaker 1: to hive, tying black ribbons to their entrances and informing
Speaker 1: the bees their mistress had moved on. They shouldn't worry.
Speaker 1: He told them their new master, King Charles the Third,
Speaker 1: would be good to them. For centuries, beekeepers just like
Speaker 1: John have been careful to inform their buzzing charges when
Speaker 1: their owners die. According to superstition, if the bees weren't
Speaker 1: told bad things could happen to the colony, they might
Speaker 1: fly away, stop producing honey, or even die themselves. It's
Speaker 1: not clear when or where exactly the superstition started, but
Speaker 1: records of the practice exist throughout the UK, Ireland, Germany, France,
Speaker 1: the Czech Republic, and even parts of the United States now.
Speaker 1: Telling the bees is a ritual that differs from place
Speaker 1: to place. In some traditions, the hive was turned so
Speaker 1: that it could watch the funeral procession. In others, it
Speaker 1: was customary to leave a piece of cake from the
Speaker 1: service as a gift to the bees. Any of these
Speaker 1: customs highlight the historically close relationship between humans and bees.
Speaker 1: They aren't just fuzzy bugs. They're important members of the household,
Speaker 1: with their own thoughts, feelings, and grief. In one case,
Speaker 1: the Associated Press reported on back in nineteen fifty six,
Speaker 1: the bees actually attended a funeral when a beekeeper named
Speaker 1: John Zeppa died in the Berkshires in western Massachusetts. His
Speaker 1: mourners arrived at the tent erected over the grave to
Speaker 1: find a swarm of unexpected guests. According to the news article.
Speaker 1: Bees buzzed lazily around the ceiling of the tent and
Speaker 1: rested on the funerary flowers. Perhaps it was their way
Speaker 1: of saying goodbye to their beloved caretaker. Although the practice
Speaker 1: comes from nineteenth century folklore, its roots may actually be ancient.
Speaker 1: Bees have been associated with death and the underworld for millennia.
Speaker 1: In ancient Egypt, for example, honey was important in certain
Speaker 1: burial rituals and may even have been used to preserve bodies.
Speaker 1: Because honey is anti microbe, it can slow bacteria as
Speaker 1: they break tissue down. This is probably why honey was
Speaker 1: also used in Babylon, where Babylonians supposedly buried their dead
Speaker 1: in the liquid. In both Egyptian and Celtic mythologies, bees
Speaker 1: were seen as messengers that could cross boundaries into the
Speaker 1: realm of the gods or the land of the dead.
Speaker 1: When Christianity spread to Celtic lands, early Christians co opted
Speaker 1: these beliefs as well. But don't worry, you don't have
Speaker 1: to wait for someone to die to talk to your
Speaker 1: ap and amigos. In fact, many of the traditions about
Speaker 1: talking to bees maintained that you must keep them updated
Speaker 1: on all new changes to a household, deaths, births, marriages,
Speaker 1: and children moving out. Throughout the Victorian era, it was
Speaker 1: customary to decorate hives with flowers for a wedding in
Speaker 1: the United Kingdom. Perhaps this was their way of getting
Speaker 1: bees into the party spirit. In some cases, it was
Speaker 1: necessary to make sure the bees were fed too, by
Speaker 1: leaving them a slice of wedding cake, and in certain
Speaker 1: regions of Germany, newly weds needed to introduce themselves as
Speaker 1: a couple to the bees of the household lest they
Speaker 1: suffer an unhappy marriage. Today, we know that bees play
Speaker 1: an important role in all of our lives, whether we
Speaker 1: have hives in our backyard or not. Bees are essential
Speaker 1: to pollinating plants, from the trees that give us shade
Speaker 1: and oxygen to the crops that feed us. Without them,
Speaker 1: we all suffer, and with the rise of pesticides, habitat loss,
Speaker 1: and global warming, the bees need our help if they
Speaker 1: hope to survive. So go tell those bees thanks for
Speaker 1: all their hard work. And if you're dealing with grief,
Speaker 1: maybe try telling the bees bitter loss can go down
Speaker 1: easier with just a bit of honey. Many of us
Speaker 1: wish that we could get on a horse and ride
Speaker 1: into the countryside, never to be bothered by civilization again.
Speaker 1: We dream of setting up our own little kingdoms where
Speaker 1: everyone does what we say and agrees that we are
Speaker 1: the best person to lead. Of course, this is all ego,
Speaker 1: and most of us lack the arrogance and persistence that
Speaker 1: it would take to truly become a cult like king figure.
Speaker 1: But of course history is full of those who took
Speaker 1: their monarchical ambitions beyond the realm of their imagination. None, however,
Speaker 1: have ever done it with as much bizarre brutal flare
Speaker 1: as the Baron Roman von ungen Sternberg. Roman was always
Speaker 1: a troubled boy, to say the least, the kind who
Speaker 1: creeps out all of his classmates and even the teachers.
Speaker 1: Born into Baltic German nobility, his favorite childhood hobby was
Speaker 1: dissecting small animals. It worked out for him, then, that
Speaker 1: by the time he reached adulthood, World War One broke
Speaker 1: out and he was enlisted as an officer. His family
Speaker 1: had sent sworn allegiance to the Tsar of Russia, and
Speaker 1: so he fought viciously for that nation. But Roman's violent
Speaker 1: tendencies got the better of him. Man. He was eventually
Speaker 1: court martialed and jailed for slicing another officer in the
Speaker 1: face with his sword. Once again, history was on his side,
Speaker 1: as the Russian Revolution of nineteen seventeen began a civil
Speaker 1: war between the Bolshevik Reds and the monarchist Whites. The
Speaker 1: whites needed all the help they could get and welcomed
Speaker 1: Roman into their ranks. Roman was a lunatic, but he
Speaker 1: was a loyal noble through and through. He hated the
Speaker 1: communist Bolsheviks, not just because they threatened his family's wealth,
Speaker 1: but because he literally associated them with demonic forces. You see,
Speaker 1: Roman bought into the mysticism craze that swept the nobles
Speaker 1: of Europe during this time. He followed a strange mixture
Speaker 1: of Lutheranism, Buddhism, and occult beliefs. As such, he believed
Speaker 1: in the divine right of kings, the journey of the
Speaker 1: Spirit towards enlightenment, and was adamantly antisemitic. When the Whites
Speaker 1: sent him to guard the Chinese border while they fought
Speaker 1: the Bolsheviks, he took on the mission as his holy duty.
Speaker 1: He oversaw his territory with deadly zeal, executing any civilian
Speaker 1: or officer who dissobate his orders or committed what he
Speaker 1: saw as a sin. The only problem was the Whites
Speaker 1: rapidly lost the civil war, with the Tzar being executed
Speaker 1: in nineteen eighteen. All of Roman's diligence was for nothing.
Speaker 1: Completely disillusion and looking for a sign from God, he
Speaker 1: received it when Bog Khan, the monarch of Mongolia, reached
Speaker 1: out to him to form an alliance. The Chinese had
Speaker 1: invaded Mongolia and the Khan needed help driving them out.
Speaker 1: This suited Roman just fine. If he couldn't defend the
Speaker 1: Tsar anymore as a cavalryman, then he would defend the
Speaker 1: Khan as one of his warlords. And so from nineteen
Speaker 1: nineteen to nineteen twenty one, Roman led his small army
Speaker 1: on hit and run attacks against the Chinese in Mongolia.
Speaker 1: They often overwhelmed much larger forces, too. None of his
Speaker 1: men dared to go against him. The Chinese might shoot
Speaker 1: you or stab you, but Roman he would boil you
Speaker 1: alive in an oven, or whip you until your flesh
Speaker 1: fell off your bones. His ultimate victory, though, came when
Speaker 1: he had his men surround the Chinese held Mongolian capital
Speaker 1: with bonfires making it look as if the city was
Speaker 1: surrounded by a huge horde. It was as if Genghis
Speaker 1: Khan had come back to life to reclaim his homeland.
Speaker 1: And once they breached the walls, they rushed in and
Speaker 1: he slaughtered all of the Chinese and European Jews that
Speaker 1: he found inside. It was a vicious and bloody act
Speaker 1: in a vicious and bloody time. By today's standards, Roman
Speaker 1: was a monster, but to the Mongols he was a god.
Speaker 1: In fact, when Roman returned the capital to Bugged Khan,
Speaker 1: the Khan gave him an honorary title and referred to
Speaker 1: him as the God of War. Roman dreamed of continuing
Speaker 1: his crusade, leading the Mongols to capture China and Russia,
Speaker 1: creating a Mongol Russian empire that would eventually conquer the world,
Speaker 1: but he seems to have forgotten about the massive Red
Speaker 1: army to the north. When the Bolsheviks now better known
Speaker 1: as the Soviets, heard that the white Russian commander had
Speaker 1: conquered Mongolia, they wasted no time in sending troops to
Speaker 1: take it back from him. They installed the Communist government
Speaker 1: and executed Roman by firing squad. He died at thirty five,
Speaker 1: having lived a life that was equal parts ambitious and horrific,
Speaker 1: and taught us the lesson that the best way to
Speaker 1: unite is not to divide. I hope you've enjoyed today's
Speaker 1: guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free
Speaker 1: on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show by
Speaker 1: visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created by
Speaker 1: me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how Stuff Works. I
Speaker 1: make another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast,
Speaker 1: book series, and television show, and you can learn all
Speaker 1: about it over at the Worldolore dot com. And until
Speaker 1: next time, stay curious.