Latest / Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities / A Cut Above

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A Cut Above · Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Welcomed Aaron Manky's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of I
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  Speaker 1: Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is full
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  Speaker 1: of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book,
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  Speaker 1: all of these amazing tales are right there on display,
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  Speaker 1: just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Time Me, gentlemen, Time Me. It's a catch
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  Speaker 1: phrase you might expect to have been uttered by a runner,
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  Speaker 1: or perhaps a NASCAR driver, maybe even a chef of sorts,
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  Speaker 1: but a surgeon, not so much yet. That was the
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  Speaker 1: phrase Scott, a surgeon Robert Liston, coined for himself before
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  Speaker 1: performing every operation. Born in Liston was known primarily for
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  Speaker 1: his speed in the operating room. And if you're wondering
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  Speaker 1: why a surgeon would want to be known for his speed,
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  Speaker 1: considered that this was a time before anesthetics, with nothing
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  Speaker 1: to stop the pain, the importance of speed suddenly makes
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  Speaker 1: a lot more sense. Liston had a proper training as
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  Speaker 1: a surgeon, having studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh.
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  Speaker 1: It wasn't long after that he earned himself the nickname
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  Speaker 1: the Fastest Knife on the West End, a nickname that
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  Speaker 1: might sound apt for arrival of Jack the Ripper, yet
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  Speaker 1: bestowed upon a man of science and medicine instead. And
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  Speaker 1: if you're wondering just how quick he was with a knife,
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  Speaker 1: let's just say that his quickest amputation of all time
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  Speaker 1: was twenty eight seconds, which gives rise to the other thing.
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  Speaker 1: He was also known for his showmanship. I know, speed
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  Speaker 1: and showmanship, the two things all surgeons surely must have.
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  Speaker 1: After all, who doesn't want an audience while they're having
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  Speaker 1: their leg cut off? Having amassed quite the reputation, any
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  Speaker 1: time Liston arrived on the scene, he was not alone.
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  Speaker 1: Crowds gathered to hear those words uttered before he began.
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  Speaker 1: Time me gentlemen, and they would watch as the silver
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  Speaker 1: blade sawed through flesh and bone at uncanny speeds, breath
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  Speaker 1: held eyes wide, clutching their loved ones like they were
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  Speaker 1: watching an edge of your seat thriller, And in a
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  Speaker 1: way they were, because anything could happen, and oftentimes anything did.
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  Speaker 1: As you might have guessed, speed with a knife led
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  Speaker 1: to many an unfortunate mishap with Liston and his patients.
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  Speaker 1: Take for instance, one amputation where he successfully removed the
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  Speaker 1: leg of his patient but cut something else off with it.
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  Speaker 1: Two things, actually two testicles. In another instance, he mistook
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  Speaker 1: a lump on a boy's neck for a skin tag,
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  Speaker 1: resolved to remove it on the spot, then discovered it
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  Speaker 1: was an aneurysm of his carotid artery. The boy tragically died.
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  Speaker 1: But there was one operation that became notorious for another reason.
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  Speaker 1: It began like any other time me, gentlemen, time me.
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  Speaker 1: The patient prepared to have his leg cut off, lying
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  Speaker 1: there on the operating table, and as Liston prepared to
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  Speaker 1: break his speed amputation record yet again, he took off
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  Speaker 1: the patient's leg, but he took something else as well, fingers,
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  Speaker 1: not the patients, but those of his assistant, who had
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  Speaker 1: until recently been holding the patient's leg, And as Liston
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  Speaker 1: lifted the knife, he clipped the coat tails of an onlooker,
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  Speaker 1: who promptly collapsed from shock. Both the patients and the
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  Speaker 1: assistant would later die when their wounds became infected, and
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  Speaker 1: the onlooker who collapsed would be pronounced dead on site
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  Speaker 1: as well. According to the autopsy, the man died of fright.
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  Speaker 1: For those keeping track, that accounts for three deaths in
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  Speaker 1: one operation, which is a three mortality rate, making it
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  Speaker 1: the only surgery in the history of surgeries to earn
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  Speaker 1: such a notorious mark. With a blemish like that on
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  Speaker 1: their record, one tends to forget that despite sawing things
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  Speaker 1: off that weren't supposed to go, Liston still retained his
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  Speaker 1: mutation as one of the best around, and when anesthesia
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  Speaker 1: finally was introduced to the surgical world, it was Liston
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  Speaker 1: who was the first to operate using it. Even in
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  Speaker 1: the midst of his speed surgeon days, Liston only lost
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  Speaker 1: one out of every ten patients he operated on, and
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  Speaker 1: if that number sounds high, considered that the average for
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  Speaker 1: other surgeons of the time was one out of every four.
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  Speaker 1: No matter how many did die under his knife, Liston was,
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  Speaker 1: according to the math, a resoundingly successful surgeon. Hands down,
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  Speaker 1: legs down, fingers down. Well, you get the idea. When
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  Speaker 1: a loved one passes away, it affects us deeply. The
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  Speaker 1: loss of a spouse, a relative, or a friend can
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  Speaker 1: cause immeasurable feelings of grief and despair. We long to
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  Speaker 1: hear their voice in our ears, or the touch of
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  Speaker 1: their hand on ours. It's been speculated that someone can
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  Speaker 1: even die of a condition called stress induced cardiomyopathy sometimes
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  Speaker 1: referred to as broken heart syndrome. Tragedy begets tragedy, it seems,
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  Speaker 1: and Queen Victoria knew all about that. In eighteen thirty nine,
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  Speaker 1: Victoria began a courtship with Francis Albert Augustus Charles Emmanuel,
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  Speaker 1: otherwise known as her first cousin Albert. She didn't want
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  Speaker 1: to get married at first, but since conventions at the
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  Speaker 1: time dictated that she lived with her mother until she
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  Speaker 1: tied the knot, Victoria decided to pursue her nuptials more aggressively.
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  Speaker 1: Albert visited with her a few times before she finally
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  Speaker 1: popped the question on October fifteenth, eighteen thirty nine. Four
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  Speaker 1: months later, they were wed. In fact, the modern tradition
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  Speaker 1: of wearing a white wedding gown is often attributed to Victoria,
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  Speaker 1: who chose to wear white instead of address of a
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  Speaker 1: different color, as was the norm. However, despite their marriage
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  Speaker 1: being one of convenience, she did come to truly love Albert.
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  Speaker 1: She even wrote about him in her diary right after
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  Speaker 1: the wedding, referring to him as her dearest, dearest dear
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  Speaker 1: Albert and it being the happiest day of her life.
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  Speaker 1: They lived in wedded Bliss for twenty years and had
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  Speaker 1: nine children together. All seemed well until Albert's untimely passing
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  Speaker 1: in December of eighteen sixty one. He was only forty two.
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  Speaker 1: Because of death was believed at the time to be
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  Speaker 1: typhoid fever, but modern medical experts speculate that Crohn's disease
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  Speaker 1: or cancer were the possible culprits. Victoria's loss kicked off
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  Speaker 1: what seemed like an endless parade of death in the
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  Speaker 1: Queen's life. She mourned her late husband for the rest
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  Speaker 1: of her days, wearing only black and retreating into seclusion.
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  Speaker 1: She almost never appeared in public again, and her subjects
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  Speaker 1: started referring to her as the widow of Windsor. Unfortunately,
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  Speaker 1: her isolation caused severe harm to the monarchy in the
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  Speaker 1: realm of public opinion. She also had to contend with
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  Speaker 1: the deaths of three of her children and her Scottish lover,
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  Speaker 1: John Brown. Given her familiarity with loss, it was no
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  Speaker 1: wonder that Victoria made secret plans for when she finally
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  Speaker 1: shuffled off her own mortal coil, and those plans were extensive. First,
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  Speaker 1: she wanted her whole funeral to be a white party,
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  Speaker 1: from her burial dress to the horses pulling her coffin
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  Speaker 1: to her funeral crape. She even insisted on being buried
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  Speaker 1: in her white wedding veil. On her hands. She requested
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  Speaker 1: two wedding rings, one being the ring given to her
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  Speaker 1: by Albert and the other representing John Brown. It was
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  Speaker 1: actually Brown's mother's wedding ring, unbeknownst to Victoria's family. But
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  Speaker 1: those weren't the only pieces of jewelry to be included
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  Speaker 1: upon her death. No, she wore rings on all her fingers,
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  Speaker 1: plus multiple bracelets and necklaces. The inside of her coffin
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  Speaker 1: was to be equally decked out. A layer of charcoal
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  Speaker 1: was placed on the bottom to absorb any odors and
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  Speaker 1: moisture later caused by her corpse, and draped over the
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  Speaker 1: top of that charcoal was one of her late husband's
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  Speaker 1: dressing gowns. But Victoria didn't stop there. A sprig of
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  Speaker 1: Scottish heather was placed to top her body and symbolize
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  Speaker 1: the memory of John Brown, and one of Albert's cloaks,
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  Speaker 1: originally made by her late daughter, Princess Alice, was also included.
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  Speaker 1: Given all the items tucked into the coffin You might
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  Speaker 1: think there wasn't any room inside for Victoria herself, but
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  Speaker 1: she took that into consideration too. Her casket had been
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  Speaker 1: specially designed to dwarf her meager five foot frame. Even
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  Speaker 1: once she was placed inside, there was still plenty of
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  Speaker 1: room for more belongings. Those assisting with the final arrangements
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  Speaker 1: managed to sneak in a few extra knickknacks to help
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  Speaker 1: fill the space, And finally, she requested a small piece
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  Speaker 1: of Alberts himself to be buried with her, well, sort of,
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  Speaker 1: you see. After his death, Queen Victoria had a plaster
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  Speaker 1: cast made of his hand, which she slept with each night.
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  Speaker 1: The plaster hand was situated next to her in the coffin,
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  Speaker 1: so the two could be together even in death. In
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  Speaker 1: her other hand, she held a photograph of John Brown
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  Speaker 1: and a lock of his hair. She loved both men
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  Speaker 1: deeply and couldn't bear to be buried without them. She
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  Speaker 1: loved all her family, she just didn't trust them to
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  Speaker 1: execute her final wishes. She entrusted her secret list of
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  Speaker 1: request to her longtime physician, Sir James Reid. Ever since,
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  Speaker 1: the Reed family has maintained possession of Victoria's instructions all
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  Speaker 1: twelve personally dictated pages of them. Of course, the royal
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  Speaker 1: family has tried to take them back over the years,
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  Speaker 1: but to no avail. Even in death, she was an iconoclast,
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  Speaker 1: no wonder she was quoted as saying, the important thing
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  Speaker 1: is not what they think of me, but what I
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  Speaker 1: think of them. Words to live by, for sure, and
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  Speaker 1: maybe to die by as well. I hope you've enjoyed
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  Speaker 1: today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created
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  Speaker 1: by me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how Stuff Works.
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: I make another award winning show called Lore, which is
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: a podcast, book series, and television show, and you can
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  Speaker 1: learn all about it over at the World of Lore
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  Speaker 1: dot com. And until next time, stay curious. Yeah,