Speaker 1: Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history
Speaker 1: is an open book, all of these amazing tales right
Speaker 1: there on display, just waiting for us to explore. Welcome
Speaker 1: to the cabinet of curiosities. Whether it's Steve McQueen out
Speaker 1: running a Dodge charger in bullet or Sheriff Roscoe pea
Speaker 1: Coltrane in hot pursuit of those good old Duke boys,
Speaker 1: a chase can provide thrilling entertainment to a wrapped audience,
Speaker 1: and not just on TV or in the movies. Go
Speaker 1: to any rodeo and you're liable to see folks chasing steer,
Speaker 1: leaping from horses to tackle and pin them to the ground.
Speaker 1: The people of Gloucester, England, also love a good chase.
Speaker 1: They hold one every year, though not for cars or livestock.
Speaker 1: The events got its start over one fifty years ago,
Speaker 1: so the actual dates are unknown. Originally held by the
Speaker 1: local village of Brockworth, the chase takes place each spring
Speaker 1: at nearby Cooper's Hill. One theory states it began as
Speaker 1: a method of preserving grazing rights for local farmers. Another
Speaker 1: claims that stemmed from a pagan ritual where objects such
Speaker 1: as burning brushwood were rolled down the hill to ring
Speaker 1: in the new year. It's also believed that the ceremony
Speaker 1: acted as a way to encourage a bountiful harvest, regardless
Speaker 1: of how it all started, though it wasn't written about
Speaker 1: formally until the eighteen hundreds. Once word got out, Brockworth
Speaker 1: villagers got more than they bargained for. People from New Zealand, Australia,
Speaker 1: and the United States started coming in to join in
Speaker 1: the festivities, either as competitors or merely as spectators, and
Speaker 1: with more contestants came more opportunities for injury. People were
Speaker 1: treated for everything from mild bruises two broken bones, all
Speaker 1: sustained as a result of the chase. In two thousand nine,
Speaker 1: the event was canceled entirely because it was deemed a
Speaker 1: public health crisis, but a few local organizers got together
Speaker 1: the following year and held a much smaller version. Every
Speaker 1: time government officials attempt to put a stop to the
Speaker 1: Cooper's Hill Chase, journalists and citizens who refuse to abandon
Speaker 1: tradition put on a chase of their own, which leaves
Speaker 1: one final question, what exactly was everyone chasing? The answer
Speaker 1: is cheese. That's right. As many as five hundred people
Speaker 1: from all over the globe still gather to this day
Speaker 1: at the top of Cooper's Hill to chase an eight
Speaker 1: pound wheel of cheese for two hundred yards double Gloucester cheese,
Speaker 1: to be exact, which is protected on its side by
Speaker 1: a wooden casing and decorated before it's set loose. Now
Speaker 1: you might not think chasing cheese down a hill could
Speaker 1: be so dangerous, but with so many people colliding into
Speaker 1: one another or tripping on rocks and divots in the ground,
Speaker 1: the injuries start to pile up. Even the cheese itself
Speaker 1: can be a hazard. No one has ever died during
Speaker 1: a chase, but one or the cheese reached a whopping
Speaker 1: seventy miles per hour and hit a spectator, sending them
Speaker 1: to the hospital. And that's why at the bottom of
Speaker 1: the hill are an army of paramedics waiting to treat
Speaker 1: anyone involved in a cheese related incident. Local rugby players
Speaker 1: even volunteered to catch participants who may lose their footing
Speaker 1: or carry people down the hill who aren't able to
Speaker 1: do so on their own. Gloucester's tradition has inspired other
Speaker 1: English towns to try something similar. The City of Chester
Speaker 1: has been holding their own cheese rolling competition since two
Speaker 1: thousand two as part of their Food and Drink Festival.
Speaker 1: Their total injury list remains at zero, but not Cooper's Hill.
Speaker 1: The broken ankles and concussions sustained during the Gloucester event
Speaker 1: have made it a kind of rite of passage for
Speaker 1: thrill seekers and athletic types. It's estimated that there are
Speaker 1: roughly thirty three injuries reported for every one contestants one year.
Speaker 1: So many participants got hurt that there weren't enough ambulances
Speaker 1: to cart them all off to the hospital afterwards. Still,
Speaker 1: every year folks come back to try their luck again
Speaker 1: for fame, for glory, and for the grand prize. But
Speaker 1: it's not a massive pot of money. Thereafter, whoever catches
Speaker 1: the cheese before it reaches the bottom gets to take
Speaker 1: the cheese home. It seems that when it comes to
Speaker 1: that eight pound wheel of double Gloucester cheddar, no one
Speaker 1: is a fan of catch and release. When a crime
Speaker 1: goes beyond the capabilities of the average beat cop, a
Speaker 1: detective is often called in. They'll interview witnesses and aalize
Speaker 1: a crime scene and pour over the clues until they
Speaker 1: found the culprit. Francois vi Doc was a French criminal
Speaker 1: during the early nineteenth century, but eventually turn his expertise
Speaker 1: and crime into a legitimate business as the first ever
Speaker 1: private detective is He. Einstein and Moe Smith were federal
Speaker 1: officers during Prohibition. Together they arrested over four thousand, three
Speaker 1: hundred people and had a nine percent conviction rates. They
Speaker 1: were so successful they were laid off after Washington officials
Speaker 1: grew jealous of their fame. They left policing behind and
Speaker 1: became successful insurance salesman. And then there's Arthur Price Roberts.
Speaker 1: Arthur didn't have the criminal history that Vidoc had, nor
Speaker 1: was he as well known as Einstein and Smith. But
Speaker 1: he had a gift, and he used that gift to
Speaker 1: help others. Born in Wales in eighteen sixty six, he
Speaker 1: moved to the United States early in life to seek
Speaker 1: out opportunity. Once settled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Roberts began helping
Speaker 1: others with unique and unfortunate problems. Duncan McGregor, for example,
Speaker 1: hailed from the city of Peshtigo along the eastern edge
Speaker 1: of Wisconsin. In nineteen o five, Mr McGregor had gone
Speaker 1: missing and his wife was distraught, so she saw the
Speaker 1: assistance of Mr Roberts. Arthur was known around town as
Speaker 1: a psychic. He went into a trance hoping for a
Speaker 1: sign of Mrs McGregor's husband. After some time, he found him,
Speaker 1: but the outlook wasn't good. He informed both Mrs McGregor
Speaker 1: and the police that Mr McGregor had been murdered. According
Speaker 1: to Arthur, the man's body had been thrown into the
Speaker 1: man Nominee River. The police traveled to the spot that
Speaker 1: he told them about and found the body of the
Speaker 1: late Mr McGregor amongst some sunken logs. Roberts started building
Speaker 1: a reputation for himself as a man who could find
Speaker 1: anyone anywhere. J D. Leroy, a wealthy Chicago businessman, had
Speaker 1: been looking for his missing brother. Roberts was brought in
Speaker 1: and got a read on Mr leroy sibling, and, much
Speaker 1: like Mr McGregor, it was bad news. Roberts described an
Speaker 1: area of Devil's Canyon in New Mexico where j D's
Speaker 1: brother could be found. He too had been murdered and
Speaker 1: his body had been disposed of among the rocks and mountains.
Speaker 1: New Mexico authorities followed Robert's directions and found the late Mr.
Speaker 1: Leroy two hundred yards from the exact spot that he
Speaker 1: had described to them. But Arthur didn't just to help
Speaker 1: find missing people. He could also predict events that might
Speaker 1: happen in the future. On October eighteenth of nineteen thirty five,
Speaker 1: he told Milwaukee police that a series of bombings would
Speaker 1: take place around the city. Banks, police stations, and city
Speaker 1: hall were all at risk. By that time, Roberts was
Speaker 1: a known entity and someone to pay attention to, where
Speaker 1: other so called psychics might go ignored, the Milwaukee police
Speaker 1: force was on alert. Just over a week later, the
Speaker 1: first explosion occurred at the Village Hall. Two people were killed.
Speaker 1: Two banks were blown up. The following day, just as
Speaker 1: Roberts had predicted, followed by two police stations. A detective
Speaker 1: by the name of English pleaded for more details. Will
Speaker 1: there be another bomb? How big? And who is doing this?
Speaker 1: Roberts told him that on Sunday, November four, the biggest
Speaker 1: and final explosion would take place on the Menominee River.
Speaker 1: Sure enough, a garage just beyond the river exploded that day.
Speaker 1: It turns out that the two men responsible for all
Speaker 1: the other bombings had been putting a new device together
Speaker 1: when it accidentally went off and killed both of them.
Speaker 1: Roberts had gotten some details wrong in his prediction, the
Speaker 1: names of the bombers, for example, as well as the
Speaker 1: timing of the explosion. Still, there were enough similarities to
Speaker 1: make any skeptic consider that Robert's predictions weren't complete. Monk
Speaker 1: his talents had given numerous people closure over the years
Speaker 1: and saved countless lives, and they even worked on himself.
Speaker 1: At a dinner party in nineteen thirty nine where he
Speaker 1: was the guest of honor, he stood up and thanked
Speaker 1: everyone for coming. He told them that sadly he wouldn't
Speaker 1: be present for the next one. I won't be with
Speaker 1: you beyond January second, nineteen forty, he told them, And
Speaker 1: he wasn't, because that was the exact day that Arthur
Speaker 1: Price Roberts passed away. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided
Speaker 1: tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show by visiting
Speaker 1: Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created by me
Speaker 1: Aaron Mankie in partnership with how stuff works. I make
Speaker 1: 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 world of Lore dot com.
Speaker 1: And until next time, stay curious.