1 00:00:04,040 --> 00:00:08,200 Speaker 1: Welcomed Aaron Manky's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of iHeartRadio 2 00:00:08,280 --> 00:00:15,480 Speaker 1: and Grim and Mild. Our world is full of the unexplainable, 3 00:00:16,120 --> 00:00:18,880 Speaker 1: and if history is an open book, all of these 4 00:00:18,960 --> 00:00:22,720 Speaker 1: amazing tales are right there on display, just waiting for 5 00:00:22,920 --> 00:00:36,880 Speaker 1: us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. It's 6 00:00:36,920 --> 00:00:40,440 Speaker 1: one of the most coveted substances on Earth. It's responsible 7 00:00:40,560 --> 00:00:43,680 Speaker 1: for five hundred and fifteen million dollars worth of one 8 00:00:43,720 --> 00:00:46,960 Speaker 1: country's gross domestic product and has been the target of 9 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:51,000 Speaker 1: several illegal operations over the years. It's completely natural and 10 00:00:51,159 --> 00:00:54,960 Speaker 1: widely available, and yet its production and distribution have been 11 00:00:54,960 --> 00:00:59,280 Speaker 1: controlled by a single cartel since the nineteen sixties. This 12 00:00:59,400 --> 00:01:03,040 Speaker 1: dark discus liquid is trafficked all over the world in barrels, 13 00:01:03,280 --> 00:01:07,000 Speaker 1: and between two eleven and two twelve, over nine thousand, 14 00:01:07,120 --> 00:01:10,280 Speaker 1: five hundred of those barrels went missing, resulting in one 15 00:01:10,280 --> 00:01:14,160 Speaker 1: of the biggest heists in history. It all started hundreds 16 00:01:14,160 --> 00:01:17,240 Speaker 1: of years ago when the indigenous people of Canada's Eastern 17 00:01:17,280 --> 00:01:21,200 Speaker 1: woodlands harvested this substance for themselves, cooking with it and 18 00:01:21,319 --> 00:01:25,560 Speaker 1: boiling it down for long term storage. Eventually European colonists 19 00:01:25,560 --> 00:01:27,920 Speaker 1: from France arrived and found out what they were doing. 20 00:01:28,200 --> 00:01:31,200 Speaker 1: They learned how to extract it for themselves and studied 21 00:01:31,240 --> 00:01:35,720 Speaker 1: their preservation techniques, and unsurprisingly, they soon pushed the indigenous 22 00:01:35,800 --> 00:01:38,800 Speaker 1: people out and built a whole industry around the product 23 00:01:38,800 --> 00:01:42,800 Speaker 1: to make themselves rich. Then, in nineteen sixty six, a 24 00:01:42,880 --> 00:01:46,160 Speaker 1: group of individual producers from Quebec got together and came 25 00:01:46,240 --> 00:01:48,880 Speaker 1: up with a plan. They would combine their efforts to 26 00:01:48,920 --> 00:01:53,040 Speaker 1: market and sell this lucrative merchandise, thereby creating a cartel 27 00:01:53,280 --> 00:01:57,360 Speaker 1: or federation, and it would control pricing and distribution for 28 00:01:57,400 --> 00:02:01,880 Speaker 1: the next sixty years. Several years ago, a single barrel 29 00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:05,520 Speaker 1: cost over thirteen hundred dollars, that's twenty six times more 30 00:02:05,560 --> 00:02:07,840 Speaker 1: than the cost of a barrel of crude oil, and 31 00:02:07,920 --> 00:02:11,120 Speaker 1: people paid those prices because what the cartel was selling 32 00:02:11,320 --> 00:02:15,120 Speaker 1: was pure. Knockoffs were found everywhere but couldn't compare to 33 00:02:15,160 --> 00:02:18,919 Speaker 1: the experience of consuming the real thing. But a tightly 34 00:02:18,960 --> 00:02:22,400 Speaker 1: controlled industry, as it often does, soon leads to the 35 00:02:22,440 --> 00:02:25,799 Speaker 1: creation of a black market, a place to pedal discount 36 00:02:25,840 --> 00:02:29,560 Speaker 1: product and convincing fakes when people can't or just don't 37 00:02:29,600 --> 00:02:33,920 Speaker 1: want to pay full price. Around twenty twelve, a worker 38 00:02:33,960 --> 00:02:36,440 Speaker 1: for the cartel was in a storage warehouse when he 39 00:02:36,520 --> 00:02:39,160 Speaker 1: noticed that something was a miss. His job was to 40 00:02:39,160 --> 00:02:42,800 Speaker 1: take yearly inventory of the reserves, climbing up mountains of 41 00:02:42,840 --> 00:02:45,520 Speaker 1: barrels filled with the liquid gold that kept the cartel 42 00:02:45,560 --> 00:02:49,120 Speaker 1: at the top of the economic food chain. Except this 43 00:02:49,200 --> 00:02:52,200 Speaker 1: time there was something wrong. He got to the top 44 00:02:52,280 --> 00:02:55,240 Speaker 1: and felt one of the barrels. It moved, but it 45 00:02:55,320 --> 00:02:58,280 Speaker 1: shouldn't have. When filled, each barrel should have weighed over 46 00:02:58,320 --> 00:03:01,560 Speaker 1: six hundred pounds, but this time it weighed almost nothing. 47 00:03:02,040 --> 00:03:04,720 Speaker 1: He knocked it down and listened as it led out 48 00:03:04,720 --> 00:03:07,520 Speaker 1: a hollow sound. Upon hitting the floor, he opened it 49 00:03:07,600 --> 00:03:11,239 Speaker 1: up to find it empty. So was the next barrel 50 00:03:11,440 --> 00:03:13,880 Speaker 1: and the one after that. Some were even filled with 51 00:03:13,919 --> 00:03:17,560 Speaker 1: water to throw cartel employees off. Hundreds of people were 52 00:03:17,560 --> 00:03:21,040 Speaker 1: brought in for questioning, and after a brief investigation, two 53 00:03:21,080 --> 00:03:24,520 Speaker 1: things came to light. First, over twelve percent of the 54 00:03:24,560 --> 00:03:29,720 Speaker 1: cartel's reserve had been stolen, and secondly, the operation had 55 00:03:29,720 --> 00:03:33,639 Speaker 1: been an inside job. Whoever had taken the product had 56 00:03:33,639 --> 00:03:35,840 Speaker 1: managed to get out of Quebec and into places like 57 00:03:35,960 --> 00:03:39,040 Speaker 1: New Brunswick and even the United States. They'd passed it 58 00:03:39,080 --> 00:03:41,560 Speaker 1: off in small batches to sellers who had no idea 59 00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:44,960 Speaker 1: where it came from. So how had the thieves done it? 60 00:03:45,440 --> 00:03:47,600 Speaker 1: While they'd snuck the barrels out on trucks to a 61 00:03:47,640 --> 00:03:51,040 Speaker 1: facility where they were drained of their precious contents and 62 00:03:51,160 --> 00:03:54,480 Speaker 1: refilled with water. The water filled barrels were then replaced 63 00:03:54,520 --> 00:03:57,680 Speaker 1: in the warehouse, and the cartel had been none the wiser, 64 00:03:58,440 --> 00:04:01,400 Speaker 1: Although after some time the thieves stopped putting water in 65 00:04:01,440 --> 00:04:04,600 Speaker 1: them all together and simply left the barrels in the warehouse. 66 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:07,680 Speaker 1: And that decision to cut corners is what brought about 67 00:04:07,680 --> 00:04:10,640 Speaker 1: their downfall in the end. So the cartail got the 68 00:04:10,680 --> 00:04:13,480 Speaker 1: cops involved, who managed to track down the criminals using 69 00:04:13,520 --> 00:04:17,279 Speaker 1: good old fashioned police work. They interviewed sellers, employees and 70 00:04:17,400 --> 00:04:19,640 Speaker 1: anyone else who might have had access to either the 71 00:04:19,680 --> 00:04:24,159 Speaker 1: warehouse or the goods inside. In the end, seventeen people 72 00:04:24,160 --> 00:04:27,359 Speaker 1: were arrested, Some paid fines while others went to jail. 73 00:04:27,720 --> 00:04:30,040 Speaker 1: But what was so valuable in those barrels that people 74 00:04:30,080 --> 00:04:32,880 Speaker 1: went to such lengths to steal it? It wasn't oil, 75 00:04:33,160 --> 00:04:36,919 Speaker 1: and it wasn't drugs. It was one of Canada's biggest exports, 76 00:04:37,720 --> 00:04:42,200 Speaker 1: maple syrup Canada. You see is responsible for seventy five 77 00:04:42,200 --> 00:04:45,039 Speaker 1: percent of the global maple syrup market, so it's no 78 00:04:45,120 --> 00:04:49,479 Speaker 1: surprise that certain unscrupulous parties wanted a taste of that sweet, 79 00:04:49,520 --> 00:04:52,000 Speaker 1: sweet money. It's been said that the way to a 80 00:04:52,040 --> 00:04:54,919 Speaker 1: man's heart is through his stomach. Well that may be true, 81 00:04:55,279 --> 00:04:58,840 Speaker 1: but in Canada it's also the way to his wallet. 82 00:05:12,960 --> 00:05:15,960 Speaker 1: When someone is tilting at windmills, it means that they're 83 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:18,760 Speaker 1: looking at a problem that's not very important. It's a 84 00:05:18,800 --> 00:05:21,320 Speaker 1: common idiom that comes from the story of Don Quixote, 85 00:05:21,440 --> 00:05:24,800 Speaker 1: published in the early sixteen hundreds by Miguel de Cervantes, 86 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:27,960 Speaker 1: about a so called knights with delusions of grandeur, and 87 00:05:28,080 --> 00:05:30,800 Speaker 1: in one particular scene, don Quixote goes up against a 88 00:05:30,800 --> 00:05:33,960 Speaker 1: group of windmills, which he perceives as enormous knights on 89 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:37,160 Speaker 1: the attack. But they aren't knights. They're just windmills. They 90 00:05:37,160 --> 00:05:40,039 Speaker 1: aren't really a problem, although one man did happen to 91 00:05:40,120 --> 00:05:43,159 Speaker 1: tilt at actual windmills much later on, and in the 92 00:05:43,240 --> 00:05:47,719 Speaker 1: process he helped revolutionize air travel. His name was Juan 93 00:05:47,920 --> 00:05:51,520 Speaker 1: de la Sierva born in Mercia, Spain in eighteen ninety five. 94 00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:54,480 Speaker 1: Wand came from money and would spend his allowance on 95 00:05:54,560 --> 00:05:57,840 Speaker 1: aircraft related items. He and his friends once pulled their 96 00:05:57,839 --> 00:06:00,720 Speaker 1: funds together to buy the wreckage of a crashed They 97 00:06:00,839 --> 00:06:03,240 Speaker 1: took the parts and managed to build a plane of 98 00:06:03,240 --> 00:06:06,680 Speaker 1: their own. They even used an old wooden countertop to 99 00:06:06,680 --> 00:06:10,279 Speaker 1: make the propeller. One went on to study civil engineering 100 00:06:10,279 --> 00:06:12,800 Speaker 1: in college. It was a degree that he channeled into 101 00:06:12,800 --> 00:06:15,400 Speaker 1: a project that he would eventually become known for, a 102 00:06:15,480 --> 00:06:19,040 Speaker 1: safe way to fly at low speeds. He started it 103 00:06:19,200 --> 00:06:22,480 Speaker 1: in nineteen twelve, developing all sorts of models with different 104 00:06:22,520 --> 00:06:26,120 Speaker 1: types of motors and propeller systems. In nineteen nineteen, though, 105 00:06:26,120 --> 00:06:28,760 Speaker 1: he realized a rotor based design was the way to go, 106 00:06:29,080 --> 00:06:32,400 Speaker 1: and to help him achieve liftoff, he looked to windmills. 107 00:06:33,279 --> 00:06:35,640 Speaker 1: Juan had been in the audience for a production of 108 00:06:35,680 --> 00:06:38,960 Speaker 1: Don Quixote when the inspiration struck. As he watched the 109 00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:42,440 Speaker 1: windmills turn on stage, their blades rotating on their own, 110 00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:45,640 Speaker 1: it hit him he had to use an auto rotating 111 00:06:45,760 --> 00:06:49,560 Speaker 1: rotor in his aircraft. A normal helicopter rotor would have 112 00:06:49,600 --> 00:06:52,640 Speaker 1: been powered by a motor, but an auto rotating version 113 00:06:52,880 --> 00:06:55,560 Speaker 1: used the air passing around the blades to turn them, 114 00:06:55,760 --> 00:06:58,560 Speaker 1: keeping the vessel in the sky. He called his creation 115 00:06:58,640 --> 00:07:03,080 Speaker 1: an autogyro, and Juan's autogyro used a standard propeller for 116 00:07:03,160 --> 00:07:06,840 Speaker 1: thrust while the rotor managed lift and descent. But it 117 00:07:06,880 --> 00:07:09,720 Speaker 1: was a long road to success. Early versions of the 118 00:07:09,760 --> 00:07:13,480 Speaker 1: autogyro had trouble achieving liftoff and he was forced to 119 00:07:13,520 --> 00:07:16,960 Speaker 1: modify the vessel's design a number of times. But after 120 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:19,760 Speaker 1: the rotor was finalized and a special flap was installed 121 00:07:19,800 --> 00:07:23,160 Speaker 1: to address a lift related issue, he managed to get airborne. 122 00:07:23,640 --> 00:07:26,680 Speaker 1: The autogyros made in flight took place in nineteen twenty 123 00:07:26,720 --> 00:07:30,280 Speaker 1: three at Spain's Haitafie Aerodrome, and it was just the beginning. 124 00:07:30,440 --> 00:07:33,600 Speaker 1: He continued to develop the autogyro throughout the nineteen twenties, 125 00:07:33,800 --> 00:07:36,000 Speaker 1: even showing it off to the Air Ministry for the 126 00:07:36,120 --> 00:07:38,960 Speaker 1: United Kingdom for potential use by the Royal Air Force, 127 00:07:39,360 --> 00:07:42,280 Speaker 1: and they loved it. Jan moved his operations to the UK, 128 00:07:42,600 --> 00:07:46,960 Speaker 1: where he founded the Sierva Autogyro Company Limited. His company 129 00:07:47,040 --> 00:07:50,640 Speaker 1: made rotors, while more seasoned aircraft manufacturers made the frames 130 00:07:50,640 --> 00:07:54,800 Speaker 1: that they were installed within. So what exactly was an autogyro. 131 00:07:55,160 --> 00:07:57,720 Speaker 1: It was an aircraft similar to a helicopter, though the 132 00:07:57,720 --> 00:08:01,200 Speaker 1: early Sierrava models looked more like lanes with chopper blades 133 00:08:01,200 --> 00:08:04,120 Speaker 1: whirrying overhead. As they became more advanced in the nineteen 134 00:08:04,160 --> 00:08:08,480 Speaker 1: fifties and sixties, the autogyros or gyro planes were made smaller, 135 00:08:08,560 --> 00:08:12,040 Speaker 1: with some only carrying one or two people. Looking at 136 00:08:12,040 --> 00:08:15,000 Speaker 1: an autogyro today, one might believe it to be dangerous, 137 00:08:15,440 --> 00:08:18,800 Speaker 1: maybe more dangerous than a regular plane, but not one. 138 00:08:18,920 --> 00:08:22,400 Speaker 1: He trusted his designs implicitly. In fact, he probably should 139 00:08:22,400 --> 00:08:24,920 Speaker 1: have flown one when he traveled to Amsterdam in December 140 00:08:24,960 --> 00:08:28,040 Speaker 1: of nineteen thirty six. On the morning of the ninth 141 00:08:28,040 --> 00:08:31,000 Speaker 1: of that month, he boarded a Douglas DC two, a 142 00:08:31,120 --> 00:08:35,040 Speaker 1: large twin engine liner able to hold fourteen passengers plus crew. 143 00:08:35,559 --> 00:08:38,120 Speaker 1: Visibility was low that day due to heavy fog, but 144 00:08:38,280 --> 00:08:41,040 Speaker 1: at ten thirty am the pilot was given the all clear. 145 00:08:41,679 --> 00:08:44,640 Speaker 1: The DC two took off into the nebulous gray skies, 146 00:08:44,880 --> 00:08:48,000 Speaker 1: hoping things would become clearer on the other side. Yet 147 00:08:48,120 --> 00:08:51,760 Speaker 1: it never made it. Shortly after takeoff, the plane collided 148 00:08:51,800 --> 00:08:55,280 Speaker 1: with a house and exploded, killing fifteen of the seventeen 149 00:08:55,280 --> 00:09:00,719 Speaker 1: people on board one included, but his legacy lives on today. 150 00:09:00,800 --> 00:09:04,560 Speaker 1: Autogyros are still flown by the military and law enforcement agencies. 151 00:09:04,600 --> 00:09:07,560 Speaker 1: All over the world. A German couple even piloted several 152 00:09:07,600 --> 00:09:09,959 Speaker 1: between two thousand and nine and two ten as they 153 00:09:10,040 --> 00:09:13,000 Speaker 1: used them to fly around the globe. But perhaps the 154 00:09:13,040 --> 00:09:15,920 Speaker 1: most well known autogyro was made by Ken Wallace in 155 00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:19,160 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty one. Wallace was a former wing commander with 156 00:09:19,200 --> 00:09:21,800 Speaker 1: the Royal Air Force and designed his aircraft to hold 157 00:09:21,920 --> 00:09:25,240 Speaker 1: just the pilot. It was immortalized on screen in nineteen 158 00:09:25,280 --> 00:09:28,719 Speaker 1: sixty seven when Sean Connery jumped into the cockpit as 159 00:09:28,760 --> 00:09:32,840 Speaker 1: British Superspy James Bond in the film You Only Lived Twice. 160 00:09:33,800 --> 00:09:37,040 Speaker 1: Ron de la Sierva is responsible for one hundred and 161 00:09:37,080 --> 00:09:42,040 Speaker 1: eleven years of aviation history, a history that still persists today, 162 00:09:42,480 --> 00:09:45,400 Speaker 1: all because one man had a problem and he decided 163 00:09:45,440 --> 00:09:49,000 Speaker 1: to spend a little extra time tilting at windmills to 164 00:09:49,120 --> 00:09:55,840 Speaker 1: solve it. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of 165 00:09:55,880 --> 00:09:59,800 Speaker 1: the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts. 166 00:10:00,240 --> 00:10:04,920 Speaker 1: Learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. 167 00:10:04,960 --> 00:10:08,520 Speaker 1: The show was created by me Aaron Manke in partnership 168 00:10:08,600 --> 00:10:11,880 Speaker 1: with How Stuff Works. I make another award winning show 169 00:10:11,960 --> 00:10:16,079 Speaker 1: called Lore, which is a podcast, book series and television show, 170 00:10:16,280 --> 00:10:18,200 Speaker 1: and you can learn all about it over at the 171 00:10:18,360 --> 00:10:23,080 Speaker 1: World of lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.