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Speaker 1: Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history

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Speaker 1: is an open book, all of these amazing tales right

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Speaker 1: there on display, just waiting for us to explore. Welcome

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Speaker 1: to the Cabinet of Curiosities. Bishop Joseph lan Ye was

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Speaker 1: told that something terrible would happened, but he didn't find

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Speaker 1: out until it was too late. He had been sitting

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Speaker 1: at his desk going over some letters when he spotted

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Speaker 1: one standing out from the rest. The envelope was black

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Speaker 1: around its edges, and it was sealed in black wax.

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Speaker 1: The Archduke's royal seal pressed into it. Joseph knew who

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Speaker 1: had sent it immediately he tore it open and read

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Speaker 1: its contents. The letter he held was a premonition from

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Speaker 1: an old friend. This friend was concerned that he and

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Speaker 1: his wife would be killed in a political assassination traveling

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Speaker 1: in Sara Jevo. The letter had come from Archduke Frantz

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Speaker 1: Ferdinand himself and was dated June at three thirty a

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Speaker 1: m Also tucked into the envelope was a photograph. It

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Speaker 1: depicted a crowd gathered near the Archduke and his wife Sophie,

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Speaker 1: who were seated in the back of their car. Across

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Speaker 1: from them sat a general while the driver and another

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Speaker 1: officer occupied the front seat. Two men with guns had

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Speaker 1: stepped forward from the crowd and fired into the car,

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Speaker 1: killing the Archduke and his wife, and then Joseph woke up.

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Speaker 1: The whole thing had been a dream. There had been

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Speaker 1: no letter, no photograph, but it had all seemed so

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Speaker 1: real to him he was even crying. He looked at

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Speaker 1: the clock, which read three thirty a m. Leaping out

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Speaker 1: of bed, he ran to his desk and recorded everything

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Speaker 1: that had happened in his dream, followed by hours reciting

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Speaker 1: his rosary. His servants found him just before six am

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Speaker 1: and asked if he was okay. He was not okay.

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Speaker 1: Joseph told the servants to find his mother and the

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Speaker 1: house guests that had been staying with him, and for

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Speaker 1: everyone to meet him in the chapel. He would hold

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Speaker 1: mass for their royal highnesses. After mass, he sat down

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Speaker 1: and sketched the scene from his dream. He drew the street,

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Speaker 1: the crowds, and the car, paying close attention to the

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Speaker 1: people inside and how they had been positioned in the photograph.

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Speaker 1: He then sent the sketch, along with his story of

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Speaker 1: the dream, to his brother. For the rest of the day,

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Speaker 1: he watched the clock in fear, wondering waiting. A knock

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Speaker 1: on his door startled him. He opened it to find

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Speaker 1: a messenger holding a telegram from Vienna. Joseph looked at

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Speaker 1: the clock again. It was half past three in the afternoon.

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Speaker 1: The telegram brought the news that he had feared the most.

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Speaker 1: Upon entering their car, which had been specifically built just

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Speaker 1: for them, someone threw a grenade at the Archduke and Sophie.

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Speaker 1: It flew over the vehicle and exploded, injuring royal staff

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Speaker 1: behind them. The couple, however, had not been harmed. Ferdinand

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Speaker 1: and Sophie laid at the Governor's residence in Sara Jevo

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Speaker 1: before venturing back out. They wanted to visit those who

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Speaker 1: had been hurt in the blast before they left the city,

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Speaker 1: but their instructions hadn't been given to the drivers in

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Speaker 1: their caravan. Realizing their mistake, the chauffeur's backtrack to a

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Speaker 1: side street and stopped. They've been blocked from moving any further.

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Speaker 1: A young Serbian nationalist of only nineteen had been sitting

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Speaker 1: in a cafe across the street and recognized the famous couple.

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Speaker 1: This was his chance. He got up and walked over

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Speaker 1: to the car, where he pulled out a pistol and

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Speaker 1: fired at the Archduke and his wife. Ferdinand died within minutes,

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Speaker 1: Sophie passed away before the driver could reach the hospital.

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Speaker 1: The scene was almost exactly how Joseph had envisioned it

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Speaker 1: in his dream. Ferdinand and Sophie had been seated together

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Speaker 1: in the car, which had stalled on a narrow street.

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Speaker 1: The only difference had been the lack of a second

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Speaker 1: shooter during the real life attack, Joseph was questioned about

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Speaker 1: his premonition, as were his brother Edward, a Jesuit priest,

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Speaker 1: and other witnesses. He told everyone confirmed that they learned

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Speaker 1: of the dream hours before the actual murder took place.

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Speaker 1: The sketch only added to the mystery. Ferdinand's death hit

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Speaker 1: Joseph pretty hard. Not only had he been a supporter

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Speaker 1: of the archdukes, but Ferdinand had been a student of

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Speaker 1: his as a young boy. The bullets that had killed

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Speaker 1: the royal couple had been heard around the world, and

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Speaker 1: in many ways were the first shots of World War One,

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Speaker 1: and Bishop Joseph Lanny had heard them before anyone else.

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Speaker 1: Put on a uniform, act like you own the place,

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Speaker 1: and you'd be surprised how many people rushed to fall

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Speaker 1: in line. Famously, the Milgram experiments tested a subject's willingness

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Speaker 1: to follow an authority figures instructions, even if it meant

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Speaker 1: harming someone else. At Stanford University in nineteen seventies, a

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Speaker 1: prison experiment was set up where one group pretended to

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Speaker 1: be officers and others acted as prisoners. The exercise quickly

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Speaker 1: turned sour, and the student guards became authoritarian tyrants, abusing

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Speaker 1: the student prisoners, who accepted their abuse willingly. Con Artist

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Speaker 1: Friedrich Wilhelm Voit also knew the effect the uniform would

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Speaker 1: have on certain people. In nineteen o six, Voit had

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Speaker 1: just been kicked out of Berlin after serving fifteen years

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Speaker 1: in prison four attempt at burglary. He tried to make

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Speaker 1: an honest living working for a local shoemaker once he

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Speaker 1: was released, but his criminal record made him an unwanted

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Speaker 1: entity in town. The local police forced him out. What

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Speaker 1: they didn't know was that his supposed honest living hadn't

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Speaker 1: been so honest. While he'd been employed by the shoemaker,

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Speaker 1: Voit was also working on a new scheme he'd been

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Speaker 1: scouring used clothing shops, buying and assembling pieces from different

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Speaker 1: captains uniforms to make one for himself. Just a week

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Speaker 1: after leaving his job with a shoemaker, Voit donned his

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Speaker 1: make shift uniform and headed to a local army barracks.

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Speaker 1: Though his uniform was comprised of pieces of other uniforms,

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Speaker 1: it was convincing enough, made more so by Void's confidence.

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Speaker 1: Wearing it, he convinced a sergeant and four other soldiers

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Speaker 1: to follow him, which they did before he told the

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Speaker 1: sergeant to leave and the soldiers to stay. Voits then

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Speaker 1: recruited another six soldiers from the shooting range. All the

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Speaker 1: while no one ever asked why they simply followed orders,

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Speaker 1: voits uniform held immense power over them. He commanded the

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Speaker 1: soldiers to accompany him by train to Copennick, a small

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Speaker 1: town that was part of the southeastern portion of Berlin.

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Speaker 1: It was here where his elaborate plan would finally be

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Speaker 1: set in motion. He took the soldiers to Copenick City

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Speaker 1: Hall and had them cover all the exits. The local

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Speaker 1: police were brought in and instructed to arrest both the

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Speaker 1: town's treasurer von Waldburg as well as Mayor gay Or

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Speaker 1: Glander Hunts. Void charged them with corruption of the town's

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Speaker 1: financial records. Longer Hunts demanded to see the warrant for

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Speaker 1: us of rest, Voit pointed at his soldiers and said,

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Speaker 1: these are my authority before continuing on with his plan.

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Speaker 1: He collected over four thousand marks as evidence, then told

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Speaker 1: his soldiers to take the two town officials to a

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Speaker 1: separate facility for interrogation. Meanwhile, Voits and the money left

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Speaker 1: town in two carriages. He boarded a train and changed

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Speaker 1: out of his captain's uniform into regular clothing. Having gotten

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Speaker 1: away with one of the most elaborate and fearless heists

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Speaker 1: in history, but Voids had made a grave mistake in

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Speaker 1: his planning. After the details of the incident came to light,

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Speaker 1: a reward was posted for information leading to his capture.

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Speaker 1: Voits had inadvertently spilled the details of his heist to

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Speaker 1: his former prison cell mate, who was only too happy

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Speaker 1: to claim the reward for himself. Wilhelm Voight was arrested

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Speaker 1: a few days later and charged with forgery, wrongful imprisonment,

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Speaker 1: and impersonating an officer. Surprisingly, these were all lesser crimes

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Speaker 1: than the one that he had committed fifteen years earlier.

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Speaker 1: As a result, he was sentenced to only four years

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Speaker 1: in prison. The press and the public found themselves amused

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Speaker 1: by his antics, calling him the Captain of Kopenick. German

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Speaker 1: Kaiser Wilhelm the Second pardon him after only two years,

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Speaker 1: presumably because Voits had proven that the German military was

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Speaker 1: a force to be respected and obeyed no matter what.

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Speaker 1: British papers found it laughable that all the authoritarian German

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Speaker 1: stereotypes have been proven to be true, and Voids himself

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Speaker 1: finally managed to turn his life around and make an

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Speaker 1: honest living. He became a kind of celebrity all over Germany.

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Speaker 1: Playwrights put on shows about his caper which he attended,

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Speaker 1: and signed autographs for the audience. He wrote a memoir

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Speaker 1: detailing his account of the heist as well. Voits eventually

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Speaker 1: settled in Luxembourg, where he once again resumed work as

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Speaker 1: a shoemaker. With the help of a wealthy dowager, he

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Speaker 1: managed to buy a house for himself and retire before

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Speaker 1: passing away in nine two. Since then, Voit has become

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Speaker 1: a folk legend of sorts, a reminder of the power

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Speaker 1: that someone in uniform has over people and why the

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Speaker 1: old adage still holds today but absolute power corrupts absolutely.

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Speaker 1: I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet

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Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn

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Speaker 1: more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com.

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Speaker 1: The show was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership

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Speaker 1: with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show

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Speaker 1: called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show,

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Speaker 1: and you can learn all about it over at the

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Speaker 1: World of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious. Yeah,