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All Hallow's Love · Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Menke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
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  Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grim & Mild.
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  Speaker 2: Our world is full of the unexplainable. And if history
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  Speaker 2: is an open book, all of these amazing tales are
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  Speaker 2: right there on display, just waiting for us to explore.
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  Speaker 2: Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. Zhu Chengla was a
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  Speaker 2: prince of the Ming Dynasty, born in 1582. And while
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  Speaker 2: that might make it sound like he was born into
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  Speaker 2: an easy life, longtime listeners know that being a feudal
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  Speaker 2: heir means that your life is going to be full
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  Speaker 2: of backstabbing and violence. And in Chengla's case, that violence
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  Speaker 2: would take the unusual form of a mysterious red pill.
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  Speaker 2: The prince was born ten years into his father's reign.
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  Speaker 2: His father was known as the Wangli Emperor, and his
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  Speaker 2: rule was not going well. After 15 generations of Ming rule,
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  Speaker 2: the imperial system had broken down due to infighting amongst
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  Speaker 2: countless government ministers. And to make things worse, expensive wars
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  Speaker 2: with Japan and the putting down of several large rebellions
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  Speaker 2: were all putting a drain on the kingdom. The Wanli
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  Speaker 2: Emperor was also having to appease various ministers, and he
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  Speaker 2: resented all of the limits that had been placed on
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  Speaker 2: his power. His biggest sticking point was that he most
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  Speaker 2: loved his concubine, the Lady Zheng, and his son that
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  Speaker 2: he had with her. He wanted to make that son
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  Speaker 2: his heir. But his wife, the empress, and his mother,
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  Speaker 2: the dowager empress, wanted him to select his oldest son,
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  Speaker 2: Cheng Lao. Because, after all, that was the tradition, and
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  Speaker 2: many of his ministers agreed with this course of action.
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  Speaker 2: Cheng Lao wasn't even the son of the empress, though.
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  Speaker 2: She only ever gave birth to one daughter. Cheng Lao's
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  Speaker 2: mother was a servant of his grandmother's, who his father
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  Speaker 2: seemingly had no affection for. While all of this debate
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  Speaker 2: was going on, Cheng La was forced into isolation. This
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  Speaker 2: was both for his own protection, but also because his
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  Speaker 2: father said that he couldn't receive an education until his
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  Speaker 2: status as heir had been decided. He finally was allowed
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  Speaker 2: to have that education at the age of 13, although
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  Speaker 2: his father still refused to make him heir until 1601,
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  Speaker 2: when Cheng La was 19. But Lady Zhang would not
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  Speaker 2: take it lightly that her son was being passed over
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  Speaker 2: for the throne. If some accounts are to be believed,
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  Speaker 2: she conspired to end Cheng Lao's life. You see, in 1615,
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  Speaker 2: a man with a stick attacked Cheng Lao's home, killing
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  Speaker 2: one of his guards. The man was captured, and it
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  Speaker 2: was believed that he had connections to two of Lady
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  Speaker 2: Sheng's servants. However, before the man or the servants could
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  Speaker 2: properly be interrogated, they were either executed or died mysteriously.
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  Speaker 2: Lady Sheng wasn't implicated. Now, the prince's father passed away
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  Speaker 2: in 1920. and the prince finally came to power, calling
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  Speaker 2: himself the Taichang Emperor. The emperor was immediately more popular,
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  Speaker 2: paying overdue wages to the army from the treasury, sending
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  Speaker 2: them to put down rebellions, and recalling many tax collectors
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  Speaker 2: who had been bleeding the people dry. At the same time,
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  Speaker 2: Lady Shang, who he naively did not banish from the kingdom,
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  Speaker 2: presented him with eight beautiful women to serve as his concubines.
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  Speaker 2: Some accounts say that he spent so much time with
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  Speaker 2: them that he actually became sick. But since this isn't
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  Speaker 2: exactly sound science, we can only guess at what it meant.
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  Speaker 2: Maybe he caught a disease from one of them. Maybe
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  Speaker 2: one of them poisoned him. Or perhaps he just got
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  Speaker 2: sick from something unrelated. Regardless, he was soon on his deathbed,
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  Speaker 2: only days after beginning his reign. One of the royal
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  Speaker 2: doctors had taken him some medicine that mostly consisted of rhubarb.
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  Speaker 2: It was used as a laxative due to a compound
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  Speaker 2: in the roots that stimulates the bowels.
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  Speaker 1: But all this did was give the poor emperor explosive
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  Speaker 1: diarrhea on top of all his other symptoms. In his desperation,
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  Speaker 1: he sought out a minister who claimed to have a
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  Speaker 1: miracle red pill that cured any affliction. The man wasn't
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  Speaker 1: even a doctor, but the emperor was so desperate he
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  Speaker 1: would try anything. He took the pill, and he felt
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  Speaker 1: a warm, pleasant sensation all throughout his body. His symptoms
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  Speaker 1: seemed to subside, and so he took another pill. But this,
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  Speaker 1: it seems, was a mistake. and by morning, he was dead.
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  Speaker 1: One question historians ask is wondering whether or not Lady
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  Speaker 1: Shang had influenced the doctor or the minister that had
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  Speaker 1: treated the emperor.
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  Speaker 2: Sadly, we'll never know.
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  Speaker 1: Chinese medicine, though, at that time included lead and mercury,
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  Speaker 1: so the pill might have actually killed the emperor without
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  Speaker 1: the help from any nefarious scheme. One scholar, though, theorizes
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  Speaker 1: that the pill likely contained opium, which would explain why
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  Speaker 1: it made him feel so good but then also killed
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  Speaker 1: him when he overdosed. And if that's the case, it's
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  Speaker 1: possible that his death was planned, and Zheng finally got
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  Speaker 1: her way. But if so, it didn't last long. Her
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  Speaker 1: son never became emperor, and he was even executed by
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  Speaker 1: the rebels that all of this infighting had allowed to
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  Speaker 1: become more powerful. Meanwhile, the emperor's sons succeeded him, with
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  Speaker 1: one dying of illness and another taking his own life
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  Speaker 1: when the rebels conquered Beijing, thus ending the Ming Dynasty.
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  Speaker 1: In the end, the red pill was a curious treatment
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  Speaker 1: that failed to address the Ming family's actual disease. They
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  Speaker 1: were so consumed with fighting over who would inherit the
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  Speaker 1: dynasty that they helped to destroy it. You know, traditions
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  Speaker 1: are strange things. They're either a remarkable example of how
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  Speaker 1: consistent cultural practices can be over the years, or they're
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  Speaker 1: an indicator of just how much humanity changes over the centuries.
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  Speaker 1: As any one of you can attest, history shows us
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  Speaker 1: that as much as things change, people are still people.
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  Speaker 1: In any given American town right now, you can walk
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  Speaker 1: down the street and you'll see a number of festive decorations. Jack-o'-lanterns,
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  Speaker 1: paper-cut-out ghosts, plastic skulls, or inflatable witches' cauldrons, all paving
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  Speaker 1: the way for All Hallows' Eve on October 31st. Everyone
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  Speaker 1: in the month of October is taught to welcome a
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  Speaker 1: good scare, much to the chagrin of the less spooky
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  Speaker 1: among us. People who aren't into Halloween, though, might be
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  Speaker 1: interested to know that the spirits of the dead have
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  Speaker 1: never had a complete claim over Halloween. If I may
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  Speaker 1: paraphrase a song from The Haunted Mansion, it's not just
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  Speaker 1: grim grinning ghosts that come out to socialize. Now, early
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  Speaker 1: Halloween parties were less like seances and more like parlor games,
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  Speaker 1: with young people inventing all sorts of ways to amuse
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  Speaker 1: each other. Fortune-telling was one of the most popular among them.
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  Speaker 1: In 18th century Ireland and Scotland, there were a number
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  Speaker 1: of Halloween traditions that centered around finding your one true
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  Speaker 1: love by next Halloween. Perhaps as the seasons turned from
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  Speaker 1: summer to fall, young women felt that they wanted something
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  Speaker 1: to keep hope alive throughout that long winter. Or perhaps
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  Speaker 1: it was just a fun way to pass the time.
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  Speaker 1: The specific motivations behind these traditions can certainly be hard
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  Speaker 1: to determine. One Irish tradition involved a cook hiding a
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  Speaker 1: ring inside the mashed potatoes for Halloween dinner. Whoever found
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  Speaker 1: this ring would be destined to find true love. Some
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  Speaker 1: old Halloween postcards show women tossing apple peels over their shoulders.
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  Speaker 1: It was said that the peel would land in the
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  Speaker 1: shape of their true love's initials. Bobbing for apples also
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  Speaker 1: has its ties to love. The first person to successfully
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  Speaker 1: fish out an apple will be the next one to
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  Speaker 1: get married. Another tradition reads more like a prank, actually.
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  Speaker 1: A woman would place a cabbage over a door, and
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  Speaker 1: the first man that it falls on is supposedly the
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  Speaker 1: man that she's meant to marry. But one tradition that
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  Speaker 1: I find particularly interesting is called the test of the nuts.
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  Speaker 1: You throw a handful of hazelnuts onto the fire, and
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  Speaker 1: each nut has to represent a prospective lover. How they
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  Speaker 1: react to the fire will tell you if the love
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  Speaker 1: will last forever. Sometimes there are even poems that accompany
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  Speaker 1: this tradition. One goes a little something like this. I've
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  Speaker 1: named three nuts and placed them, side by side on
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  Speaker 1: the grate. The one which cracks is unfaithful. the lover
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  Speaker 1: I know I should hate. The one which blazes with
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  Speaker 1: brilliant fire tells of high regard to said, but the
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  Speaker 1: one which burns with a steady flame names the man
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  Speaker 1: whom I shall wed. And for those who wanted a
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  Speaker 1: more specific hazelnut test, a different version appeared in a
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  Speaker 1: 1912 book called Games for Halloween. A maid and a
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  Speaker 1: youth each places a chestnut to roast on the fire
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  Speaker 1: side by side. All that said, if you're feeling a
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  Speaker 1: bit burnt out on spooks and horror this Halloween season...
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  Speaker 1: Maybe it's time to rethink how we approach the holiday.
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  Speaker 1: Its history gives us many ways to enjoy it, and
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  Speaker 1: not just the ones that appear on most Hallmark cards.
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  Speaker 1: Because Halloween can apparently get a little nuts. I hope
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  Speaker 1: you enjoyed today's guided tour through the Cabinet of Curiosities.
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  Speaker 1: This show was created by me, Aaron Manke, in partnership
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  Speaker 1: with iHeart Podcast. researched and written by the Grim &
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  Speaker 1: Mild team, and produced by Jesse Funk. Learn more about
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  Speaker 1: the show and the people who make it over at
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  Speaker 1: grimandmild.com slash curiosities. You'll also find a link to the
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  Speaker 1: official Cabinet of Curiosities hardcover book, available in bookstores and online,
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  Speaker 1: as well as ebook and audiobooks. And if you're looking
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  Speaker 1: the same stories, but without the interruption for a small
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  Speaker 1: slash grim and mild. And until next time, stay curious.