WEBVTT - A Grand Tour 0:00:04.080 --> 0:00:07.440 Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of 0:00:07.480 --> 0:00:14.440 iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of 0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:18.400 the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all 0:00:18.480 --> 0:00:22.119 of these amazing tales are right there on display, just 0:00:22.200 --> 0:00:28.840 waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. 0:00:36.320 --> 0:00:40.000 The sauna is packed, cramped, full of dozens of researchers, 0:00:40.040 --> 0:00:43.400 pressed against one another. For four months, they've only had 0:00:43.440 --> 0:00:47.239 each other as company. The Aminsen Scott Research Station is 0:00:47.360 --> 0:00:50.920 already cramped, but this takes closeness to a whole new level. 0:00:51.000 --> 0:00:54.720 Everyone in the cedar box is dripping with sweat, struggling 0:00:54.760 --> 0:00:58.160 to breathe the hot, humid air. But just as their 0:00:58.160 --> 0:01:02.240 heart rates skyrocket and skin flushes deep red, the station's 0:01:02.280 --> 0:01:05.680 heavy doors creek open, and a biding chill works its 0:01:05.680 --> 0:01:10.399 way in every survival instinct in their bodies screams in protest. 0:01:10.720 --> 0:01:13.640 And that's only the beginning, because what I'm describing right 0:01:13.680 --> 0:01:16.960 now is one of the most extreme athletic challenges on Earth, 0:01:17.040 --> 0:01:19.679 and only a handful of people have even tried to 0:01:19.760 --> 0:01:23.160 complete it. At any given moments, About four point eight 0:01:23.240 --> 0:01:26.800 billion people live in Asia, another one point five billion 0:01:26.880 --> 0:01:29.920 live in Africa, and a billion in the Americas, seven 0:01:30.040 --> 0:01:33.680 hundred and fifty million in Europe and fifty million in Oceania. 0:01:34.160 --> 0:01:38.880 But in Antarctica, the seventh continent, that number is zero. Well, 0:01:38.959 --> 0:01:42.199 technically the number is closer to one thousand. While Antarctica 0:01:42.200 --> 0:01:45.160 has no permanent residence per se, it hosts thirty nine 0:01:45.240 --> 0:01:48.800 research stations, where scientists spend up to two years studying 0:01:48.840 --> 0:01:51.680 the bottom of the world. These residencies are some of 0:01:51.680 --> 0:01:54.760 the most competitive positions on Earth. The fewer than one 0:01:54.800 --> 0:01:58.400 thousand slots spread across a continent larger than Europe and 0:01:58.440 --> 0:02:01.680 twice the size of Australia. But while the chance to 0:02:01.720 --> 0:02:04.280 live at the South Pole is rare, the chance to 0:02:04.360 --> 0:02:07.920 thrive is even more rare. It's tough to unwind from 0:02:07.960 --> 0:02:10.480 a stressful day at work when you can ever actually 0:02:10.560 --> 0:02:14.160 leave the office. There are no movie theaters, no restaurants, 0:02:14.360 --> 0:02:17.800 and certainly no front yard games of catch. Researchers spend 0:02:17.800 --> 0:02:20.800 their lives in a loop, working at a desk, then 0:02:20.880 --> 0:02:24.840 retreating to a cramped dormitory to relax before doing it 0:02:24.880 --> 0:02:28.280 all over again, and that is in the summer. Only 0:02:28.320 --> 0:02:31.880 The most committed scientists, known as winter Overs, stay for 0:02:31.919 --> 0:02:34.840 the off season at the Amts and Scott Research Station, 0:02:35.040 --> 0:02:38.720 the southernmost point on the globe. Winter brings six months 0:02:38.720 --> 0:02:41.960 of total darkness called the Polar Night, and during this 0:02:42.080 --> 0:02:44.639 time the station is effectively cut off from the world. 0:02:44.960 --> 0:02:48.240 Frequent blizzards and lack of light mean it's too dangerous 0:02:48.240 --> 0:02:52.000 for planes to land. So what do three dozen super 0:02:52.000 --> 0:02:55.680 committed scientists do for fun? In a frozen, empty landscape 0:02:55.720 --> 0:02:59.799 devoid of most human interaction. They challenge each other to dares, 0:03:00.160 --> 0:03:04.320 most famously the three hundred Club. To qualify, a resident 0:03:04.400 --> 0:03:08.000 must survive a staggering three hundred degrees swing in temperature, 0:03:08.320 --> 0:03:11.720 all in a single afternoon first ten minutes in the 0:03:11.760 --> 0:03:16.000 station's sauna cranked up to two hundred degrees fahrenheit. Cramped 0:03:16.160 --> 0:03:21.320 sweaty humid, it becomes an oven, and participants risk fainting, dehydration, 0:03:21.480 --> 0:03:24.480 and heat stroke to stay inside the full ten minutes. 0:03:24.919 --> 0:03:27.000 When their time is up, though, they race out of 0:03:27.000 --> 0:03:30.600 the sauna and into the negative one hundred degree Antarctic night. 0:03:31.040 --> 0:03:34.280 It's hard to appreciate how cold that really is. It's 0:03:34.320 --> 0:03:38.240 the temperature at which carbon dioxide becomes dry ice. It's 0:03:38.240 --> 0:03:41.040 impossible for human beings to survive more than a few 0:03:41.080 --> 0:03:44.680 minutes outside, and it's cold enough that every breath feels 0:03:44.720 --> 0:03:47.920 like needles in your lungs. About one hundred feet from 0:03:47.920 --> 0:03:50.680 the doors of the Aminsen Scott South Pole Station is 0:03:50.800 --> 0:03:54.200 an actual pole, a small barber pole surrounded by the 0:03:54.240 --> 0:03:58.840 flags of countries who were first to sign the Antarctic Treaty. Participants, 0:03:59.120 --> 0:04:02.760 still sweating from their sauna experience, sprint out of the 0:04:02.800 --> 0:04:06.920 station and into the unbearably cold darkness towards the ceremonial pole, 0:04:07.320 --> 0:04:10.920 and they aren't wearing their usual thermal research gear. Participants 0:04:10.960 --> 0:04:13.640 are allowed to wear a pair of standard issue boots 0:04:13.680 --> 0:04:16.520 and a neck gaiter to prevent their windpipes from freezing, 0:04:16.880 --> 0:04:20.120 but that's it other than that. They are completely naked 0:04:20.360 --> 0:04:24.640 in the dark Antarctic winter cold. At minus one hundred degrees, 0:04:24.960 --> 0:04:27.799 it doesn't take long for sweat to freeze against their skin, 0:04:28.120 --> 0:04:31.320 and while the aurora might be shining green and purple overhead, 0:04:31.520 --> 0:04:34.159 no one stops to take in the view. Every breath 0:04:34.200 --> 0:04:37.200 feels like needles in their lungs, and the participants can't 0:04:37.240 --> 0:04:40.360 afford to stop for even a second. The run back 0:04:40.400 --> 0:04:43.200 from the pole is a blur. Adrenaline is the only 0:04:43.240 --> 0:04:47.040 thing keeping anyone going frozen. Skin becomes numb, and a 0:04:47.120 --> 0:04:50.000 fog descends over the brain as the body begins to 0:04:50.040 --> 0:04:53.040 shut down. A couple of seconds mean the difference between 0:04:53.040 --> 0:04:57.000 discomfort and long term damage. The moment they're back inside 0:04:57.120 --> 0:05:01.040 the station, doors close and the celebration begin. The sauna 0:05:01.200 --> 0:05:03.960 a welcome sight after all that cold, I imagine is 0:05:04.040 --> 0:05:07.560 full of scientists thrilled to celebrate the accomplishment, and of 0:05:07.560 --> 0:05:10.680 course enough beer to warm even the coldest of hearts. 0:05:10.920 --> 0:05:13.280 I would have to imagine that that feeling of euphoria 0:05:13.600 --> 0:05:17.760 is unreal. The relief of survival, the much needed change 0:05:17.760 --> 0:05:20.920 of pace from endless work in monotony, and the pride 0:05:20.960 --> 0:05:24.760 of accomplishing a challenge, all of it must be exhilarating. 0:05:25.320 --> 0:05:28.719 After all, there are roughly eight billion people on this planet, 0:05:29.000 --> 0:05:31.560 but these folks are the rare handful who can say 0:05:31.560 --> 0:05:34.320 they've stood at the bottom of the world stark, naked 0:05:34.839 --> 0:05:51.680 and minus one hundred degrees. Tafari was born in Ethiopia 0:05:51.839 --> 0:05:54.960 in eighteen ninety two. Depending on who you ask, his 0:05:55.080 --> 0:05:58.560 birth was just like any other or it heralded Major 0:05:58.680 --> 0:06:01.080 change for the country, or even that it meant a 0:06:01.120 --> 0:06:04.559 new savior had been born to mankind. It's a fact 0:06:04.560 --> 0:06:07.240 that he was no ordinary man. He was, after all 0:06:07.279 --> 0:06:09.880 a prince, and before he ever became a king, he 0:06:09.920 --> 0:06:12.400 went on a journey that made him famous all over 0:06:12.440 --> 0:06:16.799 the world. By nineteen twenty four, Tafari was crown prince 0:06:16.880 --> 0:06:20.200 regent to his cousin, the Empress. There was a constant 0:06:20.240 --> 0:06:22.360 tug of war for power between the two of them, 0:06:22.560 --> 0:06:24.320 and he wanted to show the world that he was 0:06:24.400 --> 0:06:28.799 the true leader of Ethiopia. Ethiopia was the only African 0:06:28.880 --> 0:06:32.440 nation that managed to avoid colonization by a European power 0:06:32.440 --> 0:06:36.200 in the eighteen hundreds. Tafari's father actually helped prevent the 0:06:36.279 --> 0:06:40.279 Italians from conquering the country in eighteen ninety six, and 0:06:40.320 --> 0:06:43.800 Tafari wanted to push that success further by negotiating some 0:06:43.920 --> 0:06:46.440 kind of trade route with France that would allow Ethiopia 0:06:46.600 --> 0:06:49.720 access to the sea through the French colony of Djibouti. 0:06:50.160 --> 0:06:53.200 He traveled with a large entourage, including a pack of 0:06:53.279 --> 0:06:56.120 lions that he planned to give to the leaders of Europe. 0:06:56.320 --> 0:06:58.840 It was not too dissimilar to a situation than that 0:06:58.960 --> 0:07:01.840 Eddie Murphy comedy Coming to America, at least in that 0:07:01.920 --> 0:07:05.120 Tfari was an African prince out of his element in 0:07:05.200 --> 0:07:08.200 the Western world. He arrived in Paris after about a 0:07:08.240 --> 0:07:11.080 month of travel, gifting one of the lions and trying 0:07:11.120 --> 0:07:13.160 to show France that he was firm when it came 0:07:13.240 --> 0:07:16.880 to protecting Ethiopia's independence, but also hopeful that the two 0:07:16.960 --> 0:07:20.280 nations could be allies. But the French only seemed interested 0:07:20.320 --> 0:07:23.760 in exploiting the situation. They would only offer to lease 0:07:23.800 --> 0:07:28.640 Ethiopia some land at an exorbitant price. Tafari went next 0:07:28.640 --> 0:07:32.000 to Italy, his country's old nemesis. He met with none 0:07:32.040 --> 0:07:35.360 other than Benito Mussolini, who offered to build a railroad 0:07:35.360 --> 0:07:39.760 from the Italian coastal colony of Eritrea into northern Ethiopia. 0:07:40.000 --> 0:07:43.280 But again this wasn't acceptable. It would give Italy dangerous 0:07:43.320 --> 0:07:46.560 access to his country, and so he had to continue 0:07:46.560 --> 0:07:49.520 his tour. Tafari next went to England, where he was 0:07:49.600 --> 0:07:52.560 received even more poorly. The King didn't even greet him, 0:07:52.600 --> 0:07:54.840 despite the fact that he had brought a lion for him. 0:07:55.080 --> 0:07:58.000 The monarch did accept the gift, however, and in exchange 0:07:58.040 --> 0:08:01.400 returned an Ethiopian imperial crismet that the British had stolen 0:08:01.520 --> 0:08:04.560 decades earlier. But when Tafari met with a Prime minister, 0:08:04.760 --> 0:08:08.240 he found him uninterested in helping Ethiopia gain access to 0:08:08.280 --> 0:08:12.160 the sea, and so Tafari returned to France determined to 0:08:12.200 --> 0:08:14.880 try one more time in securing their help, but he 0:08:14.920 --> 0:08:18.160 found the country even more intractable than ever. The various 0:08:18.200 --> 0:08:21.320 political and business interests of the nation were all at 0:08:21.360 --> 0:08:25.480 cross purposes with Tafari. They all feared what a more successful, 0:08:25.520 --> 0:08:29.480 powerful Ethiopia might mean for their various colonies and businesses 0:08:29.520 --> 0:08:33.640 in Africa. Tafari visited many smaller nations on the rest 0:08:33.720 --> 0:08:37.920 of his tour, impressing various European leaders with his lions 0:08:37.960 --> 0:08:41.320 and his sense of diplomacy. He was fluent in French 0:08:41.559 --> 0:08:45.760 and very passionate about modernizing his country, so in a sense, 0:08:45.880 --> 0:08:48.960 the tour was successful, even though it didn't achieve his 0:08:49.080 --> 0:08:53.360 primary goal. Tafari proved that he was Ethiopia's one true leader. 0:08:53.720 --> 0:08:56.920 He returned home, and by nineteen twenty eight his cousin 0:08:56.960 --> 0:09:01.520 the Empress was finally forced to crown him ruler of Ethiopia, 0:09:02.160 --> 0:09:04.840 and that was actually the beginning of the most curious 0:09:04.880 --> 0:09:07.800 part of Tafari's story. All the way across the globe 0:09:07.960 --> 0:09:11.680 in the English colony of Jamaica, the impoverished black people 0:09:11.720 --> 0:09:14.600 of that nation heard that a black king was crowned 0:09:14.600 --> 0:09:17.160 in Africa and that he was respected by the white 0:09:17.200 --> 0:09:19.720 rulers of Europe. They came to believe that he was 0:09:19.760 --> 0:09:22.680 the second coming of Christ and would deliver them from 0:09:22.679 --> 0:09:26.600 their colonial oppressors, and so they called him the Ethiopian 0:09:26.640 --> 0:09:30.320 word for Prince Ros, and because his name was Tafari 0:09:30.679 --> 0:09:35.360 Ros Tafari, they became Rostafarians. It's a religion that still 0:09:35.400 --> 0:09:38.160 exists to this day and was followed most famously by 0:09:38.160 --> 0:09:42.560 the musician Bob Marley. It's an especially curious bit of history, 0:09:42.600 --> 0:09:46.520 giving that Tafari himself was an orthodox Christian and never 0:09:46.600 --> 0:09:49.880 believed that he was any kind of spiritual savior, and 0:09:49.960 --> 0:09:53.040 his rule had many ups and downs, including the Italians 0:09:53.080 --> 0:09:55.320 invading in the years leading up to World War II, 0:09:55.480 --> 0:09:59.160 which drove him into exile. After his return, he remained 0:09:59.200 --> 0:10:02.640 adept at the play helmacy but bad at economic developments, 0:10:02.640 --> 0:10:06.880 and his people suffered multiple famines. Tafari Markanen was murdered 0:10:06.920 --> 0:10:09.800 in nineteen seventy five in a communist coup. But the 0:10:09.840 --> 0:10:12.600 bravery he showed when he was just prince echoes on 0:10:12.760 --> 0:10:17.240 to this very day, and it inspires formerly colonized nations 0:10:17.280 --> 0:10:23.800 all around the world. I hope you enjoyed today's guided 0:10:23.840 --> 0:10:27.400 tour through the Cabinet of Curiosities. This show was created 0:10:27.440 --> 0:10:31.720 by me Aaron Manke in partnership with iHeart Podcasts, researched 0:10:31.760 --> 0:10:34.160 and written by the Grim and Mild team, and produced 0:10:34.280 --> 0:10:36.920 by Jesse Funk. Learn more about the show and the 0:10:36.960 --> 0:10:41.359 people who make it over at Grimandmild dot com slash Curiosities. 0:10:41.640 --> 0:10:43.959 You'll also find a link to the official Cabinet of 0:10:44.000 --> 0:10:48.120 Curiosity's hardcover book, available in bookstores and online, as well 0:10:48.160 --> 0:10:50.880 as ebook and audiobook. And if you're looking for an 0:10:50.920 --> 0:10:54.200 ad free option, consider joining our Patreon. It's all the 0:10:54.240 --> 0:10:57.960 same stories, but without the interruption for a small monthly fee. 0:10:58.120 --> 0:11:00.959 Learn more and sign up over at paige Treon dot com, 0:11:01.000 --> 0:11:05.680 slash Grim and Mild, and until next time, stay curious. 0:11:08.480 --> 0:11:08.880 Mm hmm.