1 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:07,480 Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of 2 00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:14,480 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of 3 00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:18,480 Speaker 1: the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all 4 00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:22,639 Speaker 1: of these amazing tales right there on display, just waiting 5 00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:28,920 Speaker 1: for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. 6 00:00:36,680 --> 00:00:40,199 Speaker 1: Everyone believes that their kids are special, but in August 7 00:00:40,200 --> 00:00:43,320 Speaker 1: of eighteen forty six, a couple in Nova Scotia, Canada, 8 00:00:43,440 --> 00:00:47,680 Speaker 1: had a truly extraordinary baby. Her name was Anna Heining Swan, 9 00:00:48,040 --> 00:00:51,280 Speaker 1: and she was born weighing sixteen pounds. To put that 10 00:00:51,320 --> 00:00:55,240 Speaker 1: in perspective, the average newborn weighs about seven pounds. Anna 11 00:00:55,320 --> 00:00:58,240 Speaker 1: Swan was huge, and it seems like she would never 12 00:00:58,320 --> 00:01:01,040 Speaker 1: stop growing. By the time when she was six years old, 13 00:01:01,040 --> 00:01:04,160 Speaker 1: Anna was taller than her mom. At eleven, she towered 14 00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:07,480 Speaker 1: over her dad too. She finally topped out at seventeen 15 00:01:07,560 --> 00:01:10,000 Speaker 1: years old, by which point she stood at a whopping 16 00:01:10,160 --> 00:01:14,280 Speaker 1: seven feet eleven inches tall and weighed over four hundred pounds. 17 00:01:15,319 --> 00:01:17,800 Speaker 1: As you might imagine being nearly eight feet tall, post 18 00:01:17,880 --> 00:01:22,080 Speaker 1: some logistical problems, especially in the eighteen hundreds, the world 19 00:01:22,120 --> 00:01:24,840 Speaker 1: just wasn't built to accommodate a person of Anna's size. 20 00:01:25,160 --> 00:01:27,240 Speaker 1: It was hard for her to get around, hard to 21 00:01:27,280 --> 00:01:31,080 Speaker 1: make friends, and practically impossible to get a job. That 22 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:35,240 Speaker 1: is until she crossed paths with the famous circus master P. T. Barnum. 23 00:01:35,920 --> 00:01:39,480 Speaker 1: When Barnum saw Anna, he saw dollar signs. She was 24 00:01:39,520 --> 00:01:42,679 Speaker 1: exactly the kind of curiosity that people would pay money 25 00:01:42,680 --> 00:01:45,920 Speaker 1: to see. And if that sounds a little dehumanizing, well 26 00:01:46,040 --> 00:01:48,680 Speaker 1: it was, but it was also an opportunity that Anna 27 00:01:48,720 --> 00:01:52,000 Speaker 1: couldn't pass up. At seventeen years old, she moved from 28 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:54,600 Speaker 1: Canada to New York, where she became a side show 29 00:01:54,640 --> 00:01:57,920 Speaker 1: at Barnum and Bailey's Museum. Five years later, P. T. 30 00:01:58,080 --> 00:02:01,640 Speaker 1: Barnum invited Anna on a nation War circus tour. Anna 31 00:02:01,800 --> 00:02:04,120 Speaker 1: probably had an inkling that traveling in the United States 32 00:02:04,160 --> 00:02:07,640 Speaker 1: would change her life, but she didn't realize just how much. 33 00:02:08,320 --> 00:02:11,519 Speaker 1: While performing in Kentucky in eighteen sixty eight, twenty two 34 00:02:11,560 --> 00:02:14,360 Speaker 1: year old Anna met a man. His name was Martin 35 00:02:14,440 --> 00:02:17,560 Speaker 1: Van Buren Bates, a Southerner through and through. He'd been 36 00:02:17,600 --> 00:02:20,359 Speaker 1: a Confederate captain in the Civil War, and he prided 37 00:02:20,440 --> 00:02:23,720 Speaker 1: himself on his chivalry, and Anna was smitten. It didn't 38 00:02:23,760 --> 00:02:27,360 Speaker 1: hurt that Martin was seven feet nine inches tall. The 39 00:02:27,440 --> 00:02:30,079 Speaker 1: towering pair hit it off. Before long, they were both 40 00:02:30,120 --> 00:02:33,000 Speaker 1: traveling with the circus, making a good living, and seeing 41 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:35,840 Speaker 1: the nation together. Less than a year after they met, 42 00:02:36,040 --> 00:02:38,480 Speaker 1: they took a trip to London where they got married, 43 00:02:38,639 --> 00:02:41,720 Speaker 1: officially earning them the Guinness World Record for the tallest 44 00:02:41,760 --> 00:02:45,800 Speaker 1: married couple in history. Their nuptials made the news, of course, 45 00:02:46,040 --> 00:02:50,280 Speaker 1: and the couple skyrocketed to international fame. Queen Victoria herself 46 00:02:50,520 --> 00:02:53,240 Speaker 1: sent Anna and Martin a pair of watches made out 47 00:02:53,280 --> 00:02:56,919 Speaker 1: of diamonds and gold. In eighteen seventy one, the newly 48 00:02:57,000 --> 00:03:00,240 Speaker 1: minted Bates couple moved to the small town of Seville, Ohio, 49 00:03:00,560 --> 00:03:03,560 Speaker 1: where Martin set to work building a house. Everything had 50 00:03:03,560 --> 00:03:06,760 Speaker 1: to be scaled up from the average right. Their ceilings 51 00:03:06,760 --> 00:03:09,760 Speaker 1: were fourteen feet tall and each doorway measured at least 52 00:03:09,800 --> 00:03:12,919 Speaker 1: eight feet high. Their countertops had to be raised, their 53 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:16,680 Speaker 1: chairs had to be extra large and extra strong. It 54 00:03:16,720 --> 00:03:18,880 Speaker 1: was a massive amount of work, but when it was 55 00:03:18,919 --> 00:03:22,000 Speaker 1: all said and done, Anna, who had never really fit anywhere, 56 00:03:22,320 --> 00:03:25,840 Speaker 1: finally had a place that fit her. But as beautiful 57 00:03:25,880 --> 00:03:28,480 Speaker 1: as their love story was, the Baits faced more than 58 00:03:28,560 --> 00:03:31,760 Speaker 1: their fair share of tragedy. Anna soon became pregnant and 59 00:03:31,919 --> 00:03:35,000 Speaker 1: gave birth to a girl who weighed eighteen pounds. That's 60 00:03:35,240 --> 00:03:38,280 Speaker 1: two more than Anna herself weighed as a newborn. Sadly, 61 00:03:38,320 --> 00:03:42,520 Speaker 1: the baby died almost immediately. The following year, Anna gave 62 00:03:42,560 --> 00:03:45,080 Speaker 1: birth to a second child, a boy they called Babe. 63 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:49,080 Speaker 1: Babe was twenty eight inches long and weighed twenty two pounds. 64 00:03:49,360 --> 00:03:52,400 Speaker 1: In Martin's own words, he looked at birth like an 65 00:03:52,560 --> 00:03:56,680 Speaker 1: ordinary child of six months. This made Babe baits the 66 00:03:56,800 --> 00:04:00,640 Speaker 1: largest newborn in recorded history, but just like his he 67 00:04:00,680 --> 00:04:03,880 Speaker 1: didn't live long. Babe died just eleven hours after he 68 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:07,760 Speaker 1: was born. Anna and Martin never had any more children 69 00:04:07,800 --> 00:04:10,560 Speaker 1: after that. They continued to tour with the circus until 70 00:04:10,600 --> 00:04:13,560 Speaker 1: eighteen eighty eight, when Anna passed away at forty one 71 00:04:13,640 --> 00:04:17,600 Speaker 1: years old. She left behind a legacy of truly gargantuan proportions, 72 00:04:17,600 --> 00:04:20,080 Speaker 1: with world records for both her marriage and her son 73 00:04:20,200 --> 00:04:24,279 Speaker 1: that haven't been surpassed in one hundred and fifty years. Martin, 74 00:04:24,320 --> 00:04:26,600 Speaker 1: of course, was devastated to lose the woman who had 75 00:04:26,640 --> 00:04:29,120 Speaker 1: taken up such a big space in his heart and 76 00:04:29,200 --> 00:04:32,120 Speaker 1: his life. He had a statue custom made to put 77 00:04:32,120 --> 00:04:35,120 Speaker 1: atop Anna's grave, It showed his wife as he saw her, 78 00:04:35,440 --> 00:04:40,000 Speaker 1: a fifteen foot tall Greek goddess. These days, life sized 79 00:04:40,080 --> 00:04:43,000 Speaker 1: replicas of Anna and Martin are on display at the Seville, 80 00:04:43,040 --> 00:04:46,520 Speaker 1: Ohio Historical Society. You can stand right next to the 81 00:04:46,560 --> 00:04:49,680 Speaker 1: curious couple, although if you want to see their faces, 82 00:04:50,120 --> 00:05:06,039 Speaker 1: you're gonna have to look up pretty far. In the 83 00:05:06,080 --> 00:05:08,880 Speaker 1: course of human history, the line between science and magic 84 00:05:08,920 --> 00:05:13,040 Speaker 1: has almost always been blurred. Take alchemy, for example, Aristotle 85 00:05:13,120 --> 00:05:16,240 Speaker 1: wanted to turn lead into gold. Nicholas Flamel, who was 86 00:05:16,320 --> 00:05:19,640 Speaker 1: a real person, by the way, sought the Philosopher's Stone. 87 00:05:19,960 --> 00:05:22,680 Speaker 1: These were learned men who indulged what we might consider 88 00:05:22,800 --> 00:05:26,680 Speaker 1: to be silly fantasies. But ancient alchemy wasn't a total wash. 89 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:29,560 Speaker 1: In fact, the idea that one element can be transmuted 90 00:05:29,600 --> 00:05:33,280 Speaker 1: into another is central to our understanding of modern chemistry. 91 00:05:33,720 --> 00:05:36,960 Speaker 1: You see, things are usually only ever considered magical until 92 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:39,719 Speaker 1: we understand how they work. That's why history is full 93 00:05:39,760 --> 00:05:43,240 Speaker 1: of scientists turned spiritualists who explore both the physical and 94 00:05:43,279 --> 00:05:47,000 Speaker 1: the metaphysical world. Among them are Marie Currie and her 95 00:05:47,080 --> 00:05:49,880 Speaker 1: husband Pierre. In nineteen oh three of the Curies were 96 00:05:49,880 --> 00:05:54,080 Speaker 1: awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for their work researching radioactivity. 97 00:05:54,400 --> 00:05:57,559 Speaker 1: They were a scientific power couple. Marie was the first 98 00:05:57,560 --> 00:06:00,640 Speaker 1: woman to earn a doctorate degree in France and Pierre 99 00:06:00,680 --> 00:06:04,479 Speaker 1: was a professor of a prestigious university. But despite their achievements, 100 00:06:04,560 --> 00:06:07,480 Speaker 1: they were quick to admit how much they did not know. 101 00:06:07,920 --> 00:06:10,239 Speaker 1: In a joint statement from nineteen oh two, they said, 102 00:06:10,400 --> 00:06:13,400 Speaker 1: and I quote, we know little about the medium that 103 00:06:13,480 --> 00:06:17,040 Speaker 1: surrounds us, since our knowledge is limited to phenomena which 104 00:06:17,120 --> 00:06:21,599 Speaker 1: can affect our senses directly or indirectly. In other words, 105 00:06:21,880 --> 00:06:25,080 Speaker 1: Marie and Pierre left open the possibility that there were 106 00:06:25,200 --> 00:06:28,760 Speaker 1: forces in the world beyond human perception, and for much 107 00:06:28,760 --> 00:06:33,400 Speaker 1: of history, radioactivity was one of those forces. It was invisible, 108 00:06:33,640 --> 00:06:37,440 Speaker 1: it was powerful, It was in a word, magical. But 109 00:06:37,560 --> 00:06:41,200 Speaker 1: Marie and Pierre had harnessed that radioactive magic and begun 110 00:06:41,240 --> 00:06:43,960 Speaker 1: to understand it. They wanted to learn even more about 111 00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:47,320 Speaker 1: the world's unseen dimensions, which is why in nineteen oh 112 00:06:47,320 --> 00:06:50,760 Speaker 1: five they attended a seance with a renowned Italian medium 113 00:06:50,920 --> 00:06:55,960 Speaker 1: named Eusapia Palladino. Palladino's reputation preceded her. She was known 114 00:06:55,960 --> 00:06:58,640 Speaker 1: as one of the best psychics in Europe, and she 115 00:06:58,720 --> 00:07:01,880 Speaker 1: held seances with a number of scientists, including the French 116 00:07:01,920 --> 00:07:06,600 Speaker 1: physicist and astronomer Camille Flammarion. Palladino claimed that she could 117 00:07:06,600 --> 00:07:10,960 Speaker 1: summon spirits, make objects move without touching them, and directly 118 00:07:11,040 --> 00:07:16,080 Speaker 1: communicate with the dead. Now, not everyone believed in Palladino's power. 119 00:07:16,400 --> 00:07:19,680 Speaker 1: She'd actually been caught using her hands, feet, and even 120 00:07:19,760 --> 00:07:23,680 Speaker 1: hidden strings to move supposedly haunted objects in the past. 121 00:07:24,040 --> 00:07:27,520 Speaker 1: But nevertheless, when the self proclaimed psychic came to Paris, 122 00:07:27,760 --> 00:07:31,440 Speaker 1: the curies were curious and true to form, they approached 123 00:07:31,480 --> 00:07:35,840 Speaker 1: the seance scientifically. It wasn't the shadowy candlelight affair that 124 00:07:35,880 --> 00:07:38,760 Speaker 1: you might expect. Instead, the lights were bright. That way, 125 00:07:38,800 --> 00:07:41,120 Speaker 1: if Palladino tried to play any tricks, it would be 126 00:07:41,160 --> 00:07:44,280 Speaker 1: easy to see. People held down her hands and feet, 127 00:07:44,560 --> 00:07:47,200 Speaker 1: so she wouldn't be able to pull any secret strings. 128 00:07:47,640 --> 00:07:51,080 Speaker 1: And even with these precautions, things inside the seance room 129 00:07:51,160 --> 00:07:54,600 Speaker 1: got spooky. In a letter written to a friend, Pierre 130 00:07:54,640 --> 00:07:57,800 Speaker 1: said that he saw and I quote, tables raised from 131 00:07:57,880 --> 00:08:01,840 Speaker 1: all four legs, movement of object from a distance, hands 132 00:08:01,880 --> 00:08:06,400 Speaker 1: that pinch or caress you, and luminous apparitions. The curies 133 00:08:06,440 --> 00:08:10,040 Speaker 1: were so impressed by Palladino's abilities that they kept attending 134 00:08:10,120 --> 00:08:13,960 Speaker 1: her seances. Despite their initial skepticism, they couldn't find any 135 00:08:14,080 --> 00:08:17,160 Speaker 1: proof that the medium was faking it then, so Marie 136 00:08:17,200 --> 00:08:20,760 Speaker 1: and Pierre became some of her biggest supporters. The following year, 137 00:08:20,800 --> 00:08:24,560 Speaker 1: in nineteen oh six, Pierre wrote, these phenomena really exist, 138 00:08:24,760 --> 00:08:27,240 Speaker 1: and it is no longer possible for me to doubt it. 139 00:08:27,680 --> 00:08:30,480 Speaker 1: There is here, in my opinion, a whole domain of 140 00:08:30,760 --> 00:08:33,880 Speaker 1: entirely new facts and physical states in space of which 141 00:08:33,920 --> 00:08:38,480 Speaker 1: we have no conception. Thanks to Eusapia Palladino, the Nobel 142 00:08:38,559 --> 00:08:42,760 Speaker 1: Prize winning physicists became entirely convinced that magic in some 143 00:08:42,960 --> 00:08:46,720 Speaker 1: form was real. Just a few months after that, though, 144 00:08:46,760 --> 00:08:50,120 Speaker 1: Pierre suffered a sudden and heartbreaking death. He was walking 145 00:08:50,200 --> 00:08:52,760 Speaker 1: down a busy street in Paris when he slipped and fell, 146 00:08:53,080 --> 00:08:56,640 Speaker 1: and a horse drawn carriage rolled over him, killing him instantly. 147 00:08:57,080 --> 00:08:59,760 Speaker 1: In the wake of this horrible loss, Marie's grief seemed 148 00:08:59,800 --> 00:09:03,440 Speaker 1: to amplify her spiritual beliefs. Shortly after Pierre's death, she 149 00:09:03,480 --> 00:09:06,320 Speaker 1: wrote in her journal, then I quote, I put my 150 00:09:06,440 --> 00:09:09,440 Speaker 1: head against the coffin and I spoke to you. I 151 00:09:09,520 --> 00:09:11,040 Speaker 1: told you that I loved you, and that I had 152 00:09:11,080 --> 00:09:13,400 Speaker 1: always loved you with all my heart. It seemed to 153 00:09:13,440 --> 00:09:16,000 Speaker 1: me that from this cold contact of my forehead with 154 00:09:16,040 --> 00:09:19,640 Speaker 1: the casket, something came to me, something like a calm 155 00:09:19,800 --> 00:09:22,400 Speaker 1: and an intuition that I would yet find the courage 156 00:09:22,400 --> 00:09:26,600 Speaker 1: to live. Maybe, Marie continued, this feeling of calm was 157 00:09:26,880 --> 00:09:29,920 Speaker 1: energy coming from her late husband. She could feel his 158 00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:33,560 Speaker 1: love emanating even from beyond the grave. It was the 159 00:09:33,559 --> 00:09:42,280 Speaker 1: most beautiful kind of radiation, almost like magic. I hope 160 00:09:42,320 --> 00:09:45,640 Speaker 1: you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. 161 00:09:45,960 --> 00:09:49,040 Speaker 1: Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about 162 00:09:49,080 --> 00:09:53,640 Speaker 1: the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show 163 00:09:53,840 --> 00:09:57,080 Speaker 1: was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how 164 00:09:57,160 --> 00:10:00,760 Speaker 1: Stuff Works. I make another award winning show so called Lore, 165 00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:04,640 Speaker 1: which is a podcast, book series, and television show, and 166 00:10:04,679 --> 00:10:08,840 Speaker 1: you can learn all about it over at Theworldoflore dot com. 167 00:10:08,880 --> 00:10:11,280 Speaker 1: And until next time, stay curious.