1 00:00:03,760 --> 00:00:08,000 Speaker 1: Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history 2 00:00:08,039 --> 00:00:11,239 Speaker 1: is an open book, all of these amazing tales are 3 00:00:11,320 --> 00:00:14,680 Speaker 1: right there on display, just waiting for us to explore. 4 00:00:16,200 --> 00:00:28,920 Speaker 1: Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. Hypnosis is one of 5 00:00:28,960 --> 00:00:32,360 Speaker 1: those things most people laugh about when it's discussed as entertainment. 6 00:00:32,840 --> 00:00:35,919 Speaker 1: It's fake. They say. You can't control someone just by 7 00:00:35,960 --> 00:00:38,199 Speaker 1: swinging a pocket watch in front of their face like 8 00:00:38,280 --> 00:00:41,600 Speaker 1: a pendulum. The people in those Vegas shows must be 9 00:00:41,680 --> 00:00:45,120 Speaker 1: plants individuals higher to pretend like they have no control 10 00:00:45,159 --> 00:00:48,320 Speaker 1: over their body. They hop on one foot or bite 11 00:00:48,320 --> 00:00:50,879 Speaker 1: into an onion like it's an apple, and the audience 12 00:00:50,960 --> 00:00:55,440 Speaker 1: applauds because they don't know any better. But hypnosis is 13 00:00:55,480 --> 00:00:58,760 Speaker 1: one of those strange places where art and science intersect. 14 00:00:59,240 --> 00:01:02,720 Speaker 1: As a therapy tool, Hypnosis can be incredibly beneficial to 15 00:01:02,720 --> 00:01:05,479 Speaker 1: those who need it, but it takes time. It can't 16 00:01:05,480 --> 00:01:07,440 Speaker 1: be induced in the time it takes to put on 17 00:01:07,480 --> 00:01:11,360 Speaker 1: a short stage show, not unless you're Arthur Everton, whose 18 00:01:11,360 --> 00:01:16,280 Speaker 1: powers of persuasion we're second to none. Arthur was a 19 00:01:16,280 --> 00:01:20,680 Speaker 1: professional hypnotist way back in n nine, often inviting audience 20 00:01:20,720 --> 00:01:22,840 Speaker 1: members to come up on stage and be part of 21 00:01:22,880 --> 00:01:26,320 Speaker 1: his act at a performance in Somerville, New Jersey. One night, 22 00:01:26,520 --> 00:01:29,360 Speaker 1: he pulled the audience for a volunteer. The man who 23 00:01:29,440 --> 00:01:32,240 Speaker 1: raised his hand was a piano mover and street car 24 00:01:32,319 --> 00:01:36,600 Speaker 1: conductor from Newark named Robert Simpson. A moment later, Simpson 25 00:01:36,680 --> 00:01:41,920 Speaker 1: climbed on stage and then awaited Arthur's instructions. The hypnotist 26 00:01:41,959 --> 00:01:44,560 Speaker 1: placed him under a trance one meant to induce a 27 00:01:44,640 --> 00:01:48,639 Speaker 1: cataleptic state. In other words, Simpson's body went as stiff 28 00:01:48,680 --> 00:01:52,400 Speaker 1: as a board. Arthur then lowered him down, positioning him 29 00:01:52,440 --> 00:01:55,360 Speaker 1: between two chairs like a kind of bridge, with his 30 00:01:55,400 --> 00:01:57,680 Speaker 1: head on one chair and his feet on the other. 31 00:01:58,680 --> 00:02:02,080 Speaker 1: Arthur then put his skills and Simpson's body to the 32 00:02:02,120 --> 00:02:05,440 Speaker 1: test by climbing up and standing on the man's chest 33 00:02:05,480 --> 00:02:10,240 Speaker 1: for a few seconds. The audience went wild. Amazingly, Simpson 34 00:02:10,280 --> 00:02:13,440 Speaker 1: didn't move. He showed no signs of pain or stress, 35 00:02:13,680 --> 00:02:18,120 Speaker 1: even though Arthur had just used him as a makeshift platform. 36 00:02:18,240 --> 00:02:20,880 Speaker 1: After Arthur stepped down, he eased Simpson down off the 37 00:02:20,960 --> 00:02:23,800 Speaker 1: chairs before standing him back up. It was time to 38 00:02:23,919 --> 00:02:26,240 Speaker 1: bring him out of his trance send back to reality. 39 00:02:26,720 --> 00:02:29,679 Speaker 1: Arthur called to him, demanding that he wake up, but 40 00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:34,600 Speaker 1: Simpson just stood there. Rigid and unmoving. Arthur tried again, 41 00:02:34,720 --> 00:02:37,560 Speaker 1: but Simpson still refused to pop out of his trance 42 00:02:37,639 --> 00:02:41,600 Speaker 1: and return to normal. This was surprising to the audience 43 00:02:41,639 --> 00:02:44,200 Speaker 1: for sure, but it was even more troublesome for Arthur. 44 00:02:44,800 --> 00:02:48,519 Speaker 1: Why because he and Simpson had performed the trick dozens 45 00:02:48,520 --> 00:02:52,720 Speaker 1: of times before. Yes, Robert Simpson was a plant. In fact, 46 00:02:52,720 --> 00:02:55,120 Speaker 1: he was what they called a leader, someone planted in 47 00:02:55,160 --> 00:02:57,600 Speaker 1: the audience to lead the rest of the crowd deep 48 00:02:57,680 --> 00:03:02,360 Speaker 1: into the fantasy. Finally, after several moments with no movements, 49 00:03:02,639 --> 00:03:05,800 Speaker 1: Simpson's body began to relax, and then he collapsed on 50 00:03:05,840 --> 00:03:09,600 Speaker 1: the floor. Arthur quickly dragged his friend off stage, where 51 00:03:09,600 --> 00:03:12,880 Speaker 1: he attempted to revive him, but shockingly, it was too late. 52 00:03:13,360 --> 00:03:16,680 Speaker 1: A doctor in the audience pronounced Robert Simpson dead at 53 00:03:16,720 --> 00:03:21,840 Speaker 1: the scene, much to Arthur's consternation. You see, Arthur believed 54 00:03:21,880 --> 00:03:25,240 Speaker 1: the man wasn't dead, but merely still stuck in his trance. 55 00:03:25,720 --> 00:03:28,240 Speaker 1: Given time, he thought he'd be able to wake him up, 56 00:03:28,360 --> 00:03:31,400 Speaker 1: just as he had so many times before. The doctor 57 00:03:31,440 --> 00:03:34,120 Speaker 1: even led him accompany Simpson to the hospital, where the 58 00:03:34,160 --> 00:03:36,800 Speaker 1: hypnotist spent all night trying to pull him back out 59 00:03:36,800 --> 00:03:40,360 Speaker 1: of his trance, but nothing worked, and the following morning, 60 00:03:40,800 --> 00:03:46,840 Speaker 1: Arthur Everton was arrested for manslaughter. As the newspapers reported 61 00:03:46,840 --> 00:03:49,800 Speaker 1: the story, hypnotists from all over the country came out 62 00:03:49,800 --> 00:03:52,480 Speaker 1: of the woodwork with suggestions of their own for how 63 00:03:52,520 --> 00:03:56,760 Speaker 1: to reanimate the late piano mover. One man named William Davenport, 64 00:03:56,880 --> 00:03:59,960 Speaker 1: at the request of Mr Everton, also tried his hand 65 00:04:00,200 --> 00:04:03,800 Speaker 1: bringing Mr Simpson back. His methods were a lot less 66 00:04:03,840 --> 00:04:07,360 Speaker 1: mystical than you might imagine, though. Davenport simply leaned over 67 00:04:07,440 --> 00:04:11,080 Speaker 1: Simpson's body, rested his hand upon the man's heart, and 68 00:04:11,080 --> 00:04:15,119 Speaker 1: then whispered into his ear, bob your heart, your heart 69 00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:20,080 Speaker 1: is beating. But nothing, because Robert Simpson wasn't trapped in 70 00:04:20,080 --> 00:04:23,640 Speaker 1: a catatonic state or some sort of hypnotic trance. No, 71 00:04:23,880 --> 00:04:27,680 Speaker 1: his a order had ruptured, killing him almost instantly. But 72 00:04:27,760 --> 00:04:30,320 Speaker 1: the doctors couldn't tell whether Arthur's trick had been the 73 00:04:30,320 --> 00:04:32,240 Speaker 1: cause of it all or if it had just been 74 00:04:32,279 --> 00:04:35,680 Speaker 1: an unfortunate coincidence. In the end, though they decided the 75 00:04:35,760 --> 00:04:39,640 Speaker 1: hypnotist was not to blame. The grand jury soon agreed 76 00:04:39,839 --> 00:04:43,240 Speaker 1: and Arthur Everton was found not guilty. He returned to 77 00:04:43,320 --> 00:04:46,080 Speaker 1: performing a short while later, but his business took a 78 00:04:46,160 --> 00:04:49,920 Speaker 1: hit thanks to the bad publicity. Even though every stage 79 00:04:49,960 --> 00:04:52,920 Speaker 1: performer dreams of the day they might kill it, as 80 00:04:52,920 --> 00:04:57,200 Speaker 1: they say, most audiences have a very different goal. They 81 00:04:57,240 --> 00:04:59,880 Speaker 1: just want to make it out of the show alive. 82 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:15,920 Speaker 1: They say, a picture is worth a thousand words, although 83 00:05:16,040 --> 00:05:18,480 Speaker 1: some can be worth far more than that. The world 84 00:05:18,560 --> 00:05:21,560 Speaker 1: famous photo of the loch Ness Monster, taken by Dr 85 00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:25,440 Speaker 1: Robert Kenneth Wilson in nineteen thirty four, depicts the shadowy 86 00:05:25,480 --> 00:05:28,599 Speaker 1: image of the creatures famous long neck sticking out of 87 00:05:28,600 --> 00:05:32,200 Speaker 1: the water, the waves around it rippling outward. It's an 88 00:05:32,200 --> 00:05:36,480 Speaker 1: image that everyone knows, it's instantly recognizable, and it's inspired 89 00:05:36,560 --> 00:05:39,479 Speaker 1: decades of speculation of what might be living beneath the 90 00:05:39,480 --> 00:05:43,279 Speaker 1: waters of Lochness. But there is another photo, one that 91 00:05:43,400 --> 00:05:45,800 Speaker 1: is also at the center of a decade's long debate 92 00:05:45,920 --> 00:05:49,799 Speaker 1: over its authenticity and what it might signify about humanity 93 00:05:50,320 --> 00:05:54,240 Speaker 1: and where we really sit within the food chain. It 94 00:05:54,400 --> 00:05:57,000 Speaker 1: was taken by a man named Eric Shipton in nineteen 95 00:05:57,080 --> 00:05:59,960 Speaker 1: fifty one. Shipped In was a mountaineer who had clim 96 00:06:00,200 --> 00:06:03,279 Speaker 1: numerous him Alayan peaks, but had wanted to scale the 97 00:06:03,400 --> 00:06:08,280 Speaker 1: yet unscalable mount Everest. Nowadays, Everest is a popular destination 98 00:06:08,360 --> 00:06:11,120 Speaker 1: for thrill seekers with money to burn, but during Eric 99 00:06:11,120 --> 00:06:15,520 Speaker 1: Shipton's time it was a very different ordeal. The most 100 00:06:15,560 --> 00:06:18,560 Speaker 1: common route used by folks trying to climb Mount Everest 101 00:06:18,680 --> 00:06:21,480 Speaker 1: was along the northern side, but Shipton and his crew 102 00:06:21,520 --> 00:06:24,320 Speaker 1: were set on exploring the southwestern side to see if 103 00:06:24,320 --> 00:06:25,920 Speaker 1: there was a way up to the top that no 104 00:06:25,920 --> 00:06:28,560 Speaker 1: one had found yet. Along for the trip were three 105 00:06:28,560 --> 00:06:33,240 Speaker 1: other British climbers, William Murray, Tom border Lawn and W. H. Ward, 106 00:06:33,440 --> 00:06:36,360 Speaker 1: as well as local sherpas that were there to guide them. 107 00:06:36,440 --> 00:06:40,000 Speaker 1: One of those men, Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, became friends with 108 00:06:40,040 --> 00:06:45,279 Speaker 1: Shipton and would eventually accompany him on future expeditions. The 109 00:06:45,320 --> 00:06:48,520 Speaker 1: climb didn't pan out, though, and the climbers descended the mountain, 110 00:06:48,839 --> 00:06:54,040 Speaker 1: but they never stopped trying. During another expedition several months later, Shipton, Norgay, 111 00:06:54,160 --> 00:06:57,320 Speaker 1: and a doctor Michael Ward, were exploring a glacier west 112 00:06:57,320 --> 00:06:59,520 Speaker 1: of Mount Everest, when they stopped to look at something 113 00:06:59,640 --> 00:07:03,800 Speaker 1: strange in the snow. It was a footprint thirteen inches 114 00:07:03,839 --> 00:07:06,560 Speaker 1: long and twice as wide as a man's foot. It 115 00:07:06,640 --> 00:07:09,760 Speaker 1: bore four small toes and one big toe and was 116 00:07:09,800 --> 00:07:13,720 Speaker 1: discovered at an altitude of nineteen thousand feet. Just ahead 117 00:07:13,760 --> 00:07:18,040 Speaker 1: of that print was another, and then another, and then another. 118 00:07:19,120 --> 00:07:22,240 Speaker 1: They were tracks. The men followed them from a mile 119 00:07:22,360 --> 00:07:24,920 Speaker 1: to a chasm, where it was clear that whatever creature 120 00:07:24,920 --> 00:07:27,880 Speaker 1: had made the Prince had jumped across, and from where 121 00:07:27,880 --> 00:07:30,440 Speaker 1: they stood they could see the tracks continued on the 122 00:07:30,480 --> 00:07:34,960 Speaker 1: other side. Shipt In, unable to follow them any farther, 123 00:07:35,360 --> 00:07:38,120 Speaker 1: returned to the trail and continued his work. He would 124 00:07:38,160 --> 00:07:40,480 Speaker 1: later publish his findings in both a book and an 125 00:07:40,560 --> 00:07:44,280 Speaker 1: article that each detailed what he had found. Biologists and 126 00:07:44,360 --> 00:07:48,080 Speaker 1: zoologists tried to discredit his claims, assuring people that the 127 00:07:48,120 --> 00:07:52,120 Speaker 1: only creatures living at that elevation were bears and languor monkeys. 128 00:07:52,520 --> 00:07:56,000 Speaker 1: London's Natural History Museum even commissioned to him Alayan bear 129 00:07:56,080 --> 00:07:58,520 Speaker 1: to walk across a stretch of sand so that they 130 00:07:58,560 --> 00:08:02,440 Speaker 1: could compare the footprints to photographs taken by Shipton, but 131 00:08:02,600 --> 00:08:06,920 Speaker 1: the test backfired because they didn't match, and the biggest 132 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:10,240 Speaker 1: languor monkey prints are only about eight inches long, much 133 00:08:10,240 --> 00:08:13,760 Speaker 1: smaller than the imprint discovered near Mount Everest. Yet, despite 134 00:08:13,760 --> 00:08:16,240 Speaker 1: the claims from experts, all over the world that the 135 00:08:16,280 --> 00:08:19,840 Speaker 1: Prince were animal in nature. Shipton refused to believe it, 136 00:08:20,480 --> 00:08:23,160 Speaker 1: so did the Sherpas, who were familiar with the region, 137 00:08:24,080 --> 00:08:27,160 Speaker 1: because they'd all seen the creature that made the Prince firsthand, 138 00:08:27,720 --> 00:08:31,880 Speaker 1: or at least knew someone who had. It had been 139 00:08:31,880 --> 00:08:35,160 Speaker 1: described as a being about five ft six inches tall 140 00:08:35,320 --> 00:08:38,560 Speaker 1: and covered with a reddish brown hair. Except for its face. 141 00:08:39,120 --> 00:08:42,000 Speaker 1: It stood upright like a human being, but it lumbered 142 00:08:42,040 --> 00:08:44,880 Speaker 1: through the snow with ease. It had only ever been 143 00:08:44,920 --> 00:08:48,000 Speaker 1: seen in passing and had never been captured on camera, 144 00:08:48,440 --> 00:08:53,400 Speaker 1: which of course only adds to the legend. Tenzing Norgay 145 00:08:53,520 --> 00:08:56,400 Speaker 1: went on to become the second man to summit Mount Everest, 146 00:08:56,480 --> 00:09:01,000 Speaker 1: alongside Sir Edmund Hillary in three He was clearly a 147 00:09:01,080 --> 00:09:06,040 Speaker 1: brave and determined man, but on that earlier trip, when 148 00:09:06,040 --> 00:09:08,560 Speaker 1: he saw the enormous footprints in the snow with his 149 00:09:08,600 --> 00:09:12,600 Speaker 1: own eyes, he froze in place with fear, and then 150 00:09:12,720 --> 00:09:15,440 Speaker 1: he uttered a single word that would carry more weight 151 00:09:15,559 --> 00:09:19,280 Speaker 1: than any photograph of a footprints ever could, at least 152 00:09:19,360 --> 00:09:22,520 Speaker 1: to our modern ears. He muttered the name of the 153 00:09:22,559 --> 00:09:31,080 Speaker 1: creature that he believed had left the print, Yettie. I 154 00:09:31,120 --> 00:09:34,640 Speaker 1: hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities, 155 00:09:34,960 --> 00:09:38,080 Speaker 1: subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about 156 00:09:38,080 --> 00:09:42,640 Speaker 1: the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show 157 00:09:42,840 --> 00:09:46,160 Speaker 1: was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership with how 158 00:09:46,200 --> 00:09:49,800 Speaker 1: Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore, 159 00:09:50,040 --> 00:09:53,680 Speaker 1: which is a podcast, book series, and television show, and 160 00:09:53,720 --> 00:09:55,920 Speaker 1: you can learn all about it over at the World 161 00:09:55,960 --> 00:10:00,280 Speaker 1: of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay sarious.