Latest / Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities / Roman

Transcript

Roman · Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: of these amazing tales are right there on display, just
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: On September ninth of twenty twenty two, John Chapel walked
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: the grounds of Buckingham Palace, black ribbons in hand. The
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: nation was in mourning just a day before Queen Elizabeth
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: had passed away, ending her seventy year reign over the
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: United Kingdom. The Queen's death was the top story broadcast worldwide.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: It seemed like practically everyone on earth had heard the news,
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: but still till someone had to tell the bees. As
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: part of his duties as Royal beekeeper, John went hive
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: to hive, tying black ribbons to their entrances and informing
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: the bees their mistress had moved on. They shouldn't worry.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: He told them their new master, King Charles the Third,
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: would be good to them. For centuries, beekeepers just like
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: John have been careful to inform their buzzing charges when
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: their owners die. According to superstition, if the bees weren't
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: told bad things could happen to the colony, they might
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: fly away, stop producing honey, or even die themselves. It's
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: not clear when or where exactly the superstition started, but
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: records of the practice exist throughout the UK, Ireland, Germany, France,
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: the Czech Republic, and even parts of the United States now.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: Telling the bees is a ritual that differs from place
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: to place. In some traditions, the hive was turned so
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: that it could watch the funeral procession. In others, it
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: was customary to leave a piece of cake from the
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: service as a gift to the bees. Any of these
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: customs highlight the historically close relationship between humans and bees.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: They aren't just fuzzy bugs. They're important members of the household,
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: with their own thoughts, feelings, and grief. In one case,
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: the Associated Press reported on back in nineteen fifty six,
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: the bees actually attended a funeral when a beekeeper named
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: John Zeppa died in the Berkshires in western Massachusetts. His
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: mourners arrived at the tent erected over the grave to
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: find a swarm of unexpected guests. According to the news article.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: Bees buzzed lazily around the ceiling of the tent and
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: rested on the funerary flowers. Perhaps it was their way
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: of saying goodbye to their beloved caretaker. Although the practice
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: comes from nineteenth century folklore, its roots may actually be ancient.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: Bees have been associated with death and the underworld for millennia.
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: In ancient Egypt, for example, honey was important in certain
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: burial rituals and may even have been used to preserve bodies.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: Because honey is anti microbe, it can slow bacteria as
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: they break tissue down. This is probably why honey was
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: also used in Babylon, where Babylonians supposedly buried their dead
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: in the liquid. In both Egyptian and Celtic mythologies, bees
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: were seen as messengers that could cross boundaries into the
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: realm of the gods or the land of the dead.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: When Christianity spread to Celtic lands, early Christians co opted
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: these beliefs as well. But don't worry, you don't have
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: to wait for someone to die to talk to your
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: ap and amigos. In fact, many of the traditions about
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: talking to bees maintained that you must keep them updated
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: on all new changes to a household, deaths, births, marriages,
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: and children moving out. Throughout the Victorian era, it was
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: customary to decorate hives with flowers for a wedding in
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: the United Kingdom. Perhaps this was their way of getting
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: bees into the party spirit. In some cases, it was
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: necessary to make sure the bees were fed too, by
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: leaving them a slice of wedding cake, and in certain
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: regions of Germany, newly weds needed to introduce themselves as
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: a couple to the bees of the household lest they
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: suffer an unhappy marriage. Today, we know that bees play
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: an important role in all of our lives, whether we
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: have hives in our backyard or not. Bees are essential
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: to pollinating plants, from the trees that give us shade
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: and oxygen to the crops that feed us. Without them,
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: we all suffer, and with the rise of pesticides, habitat loss,
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: and global warming, the bees need our help if they
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: hope to survive. So go tell those bees thanks for
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: all their hard work. And if you're dealing with grief,
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: maybe try telling the bees bitter loss can go down
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: easier with just a bit of honey. Many of us
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: wish that we could get on a horse and ride
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: into the countryside, never to be bothered by civilization again.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: We dream of setting up our own little kingdoms where
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: everyone does what we say and agrees that we are
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: the best person to lead. Of course, this is all ego,
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: and most of us lack the arrogance and persistence that
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: it would take to truly become a cult like king figure.
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: But of course history is full of those who took
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: their monarchical ambitions beyond the realm of their imagination. None, however,
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: have ever done it with as much bizarre brutal flare
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: as the Baron Roman von ungen Sternberg. Roman was always
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: a troubled boy, to say the least, the kind who
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: creeps out all of his classmates and even the teachers.
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: Born into Baltic German nobility, his favorite childhood hobby was
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: dissecting small animals. It worked out for him, then, that
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: by the time he reached adulthood, World War One broke
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: out and he was enlisted as an officer. His family
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: had sent sworn allegiance to the Tsar of Russia, and
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: so he fought viciously for that nation. But Roman's violent
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: tendencies got the better of him. Man. He was eventually
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: court martialed and jailed for slicing another officer in the
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: face with his sword. Once again, history was on his side,
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: as the Russian Revolution of nineteen seventeen began a civil
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: war between the Bolshevik Reds and the monarchist Whites. The
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: whites needed all the help they could get and welcomed
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: Roman into their ranks. Roman was a lunatic, but he
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: was a loyal noble through and through. He hated the
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: communist Bolsheviks, not just because they threatened his family's wealth,
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: but because he literally associated them with demonic forces. You see,
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: Roman bought into the mysticism craze that swept the nobles
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: of Europe during this time. He followed a strange mixture
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: of Lutheranism, Buddhism, and occult beliefs. As such, he believed
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: in the divine right of kings, the journey of the
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: Spirit towards enlightenment, and was adamantly antisemitic. When the Whites
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: sent him to guard the Chinese border while they fought
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: the Bolsheviks, he took on the mission as his holy duty.
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: He oversaw his territory with deadly zeal, executing any civilian
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: or officer who dissobate his orders or committed what he
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: saw as a sin. The only problem was the Whites
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: rapidly lost the civil war, with the Tzar being executed
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: in nineteen eighteen. All of Roman's diligence was for nothing.
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: Completely disillusion and looking for a sign from God, he
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: received it when Bog Khan, the monarch of Mongolia, reached
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: out to him to form an alliance. The Chinese had
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: invaded Mongolia and the Khan needed help driving them out.
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: This suited Roman just fine. If he couldn't defend the
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: Tsar anymore as a cavalryman, then he would defend the
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: Khan as one of his warlords. And so from nineteen
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: nineteen to nineteen twenty one, Roman led his small army
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: on hit and run attacks against the Chinese in Mongolia.
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: They often overwhelmed much larger forces, too. None of his
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: men dared to go against him. The Chinese might shoot
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: you or stab you, but Roman he would boil you
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: alive in an oven, or whip you until your flesh
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: fell off your bones. His ultimate victory, though, came when
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: he had his men surround the Chinese held Mongolian capital
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: with bonfires making it look as if the city was
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: surrounded by a huge horde. It was as if Genghis
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: Khan had come back to life to reclaim his homeland.
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: And once they breached the walls, they rushed in and
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: he slaughtered all of the Chinese and European Jews that
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: he found inside. It was a vicious and bloody act
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: in a vicious and bloody time. By today's standards, Roman
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: was a monster, but to the Mongols he was a god.
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: In fact, when Roman returned the capital to Bugged Khan,
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: the Khan gave him an honorary title and referred to
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: him as the God of War. Roman dreamed of continuing
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: his crusade, leading the Mongols to capture China and Russia,
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: creating a Mongol Russian empire that would eventually conquer the world,
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: but he seems to have forgotten about the massive Red
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: army to the north. When the Bolsheviks now better known
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: as the Soviets, heard that the white Russian commander had
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: conquered Mongolia, they wasted no time in sending troops to
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: take it back from him. They installed the Communist government
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: and executed Roman by firing squad. He died at thirty five,
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: having lived a life that was equal parts ambitious and horrific,
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: and taught us the lesson that the best way to
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: unite is not to divide. I hope you've enjoyed today's
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show by
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created by
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how Stuff Works. I
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: make another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast,
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: book series, and television show, and you can learn all
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: about it over at the Worldolore dot com. And until
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: next time, stay curious.