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AM Radio · Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities

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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 are
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  Speaker 1: right there on display, just waiting for us to explore.
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  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. The march of progress
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  Speaker 1: is a ruthless one. In its wake, it leaves the
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  Speaker 1: antiquated and inefficient behind, while the demands for newer, faster,
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  Speaker 1: and better get louder and louder. Player pianos gave way
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  Speaker 1: to phonographs, which were eventually put out of pasture by
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  Speaker 1: eight tracks. Those lost the war against cassette tapes and CDs,
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  Speaker 1: which eventually led to the rise of streaming music over
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  Speaker 1: the Internet. But one thing is certain about the past,
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  Speaker 1: and technology in particular, it doesn't go away forever, and
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  Speaker 1: it tends to repeat itself. Vinyl records have made a
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  Speaker 1: triumphant return, though in a way they never really left.
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  Speaker 1: Analog technology doesn't die, It just goes underground, often dug
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  Speaker 1: up later by hobbyists and the nostalgic. We have cell
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  Speaker 1: phones that allow us to talk to people anywhere in
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  Speaker 1: the world, yet there are still roughly three million ham
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  Speaker 1: radio operators. Amateur radio operators often begin transmissions with their
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  Speaker 1: call signs a combination of letters and numbers rattled off
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  Speaker 1: using the NATO phonetic alphabet. It's as easy as alpha, Bravo, Charlie.
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  Speaker 1: What they expect to hear back is usually the same
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  Speaker 1: thing from the other person, letters and numbers identifying the
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  Speaker 1: party on the other end of the line. They don't
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  Speaker 1: expect music, however, beginning in the nineteen seventies, music is
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  Speaker 1: exactly what they got. A jaunty electric tune like something
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  Speaker 1: played by a passing ice cream truck, followed by a
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  Speaker 1: creepy recording of a woman reading this series of numbers.
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  Speaker 1: They're called number are stations, and while their origins aren't definitive,
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  Speaker 1: an initiative known as the KNAT Project has been cataloging
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  Speaker 1: these recordings for decades. Shortwave radio transmissions utilize the Earth's
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  Speaker 1: atmosphere to propagate all over the world with the help
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  Speaker 1: of an unlicensed station to maintain anonymity, These number stations
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  Speaker 1: became the perfect vessels for one way communications. The original
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  Speaker 1: number stations were thought to have been started back in
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  Speaker 1: World War One as a way to transmit encoded messages.
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  Speaker 1: The person listening to the message would often have a
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  Speaker 1: paper or a small pamphlet with a key of random
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  Speaker 1: numbers and letters by which to decode the messages. Once
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  Speaker 1: they'd been deciphered, the keys would then be shredded, making
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  Speaker 1: it nearly impossible for enemies to uncover its meaning. From
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  Speaker 1: the Gong station in East Germany broadcast coded number groups
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  Speaker 1: that corresponded to specific times and locations where active spies
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  Speaker 1: would be dropped. Air Force printer Joaquim Pruss used those
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  Speaker 1: recorded messages to transcribe over sixteen thousand documents for his superiors,
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  Speaker 1: and as recently as Russian stations made several unscheduled broadcasts
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  Speaker 1: with new numbers during an attempted coup from the U.
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  Speaker 1: S s Are against President Mikhail Gorbachev. Several years later,
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  Speaker 1: Cuban spies were caught decoding fourteen hundred pages worth of
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  Speaker 1: secret messages being transmitted by a local station. Some of
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  Speaker 1: those messages said things like prioritize and continue to strengthen
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  Speaker 1: friendship with Joe Dennis and congratulate all female comrades for
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  Speaker 1: International Day of Women. Since the end of the Cold War,
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  Speaker 1: listeners are theorized as to why these stations still exist.
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  Speaker 1: Some believe drug cartels are using them to coordinate shipments
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  Speaker 1: across the US border. Others think they're still being utilized
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  Speaker 1: by the counterintelligence community for their original purpose. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: many of the prevailing theories about the use of number
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  Speaker 1: stations were confirmed in the late nineties by a government
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  Speaker 1: official from the United Kingdom who stated that the transmissions
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  Speaker 1: were not meant for regular users, including the ham radio operators.
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  Speaker 1: Despite the proliferation of technology such as cell phones, email,
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  Speaker 1: and Twitter, number stations are still in use today, and
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  Speaker 1: new ones have been known to crop up from time
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  Speaker 1: to time. They transmit all over the globe in different languages,
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  Speaker 1: including Russian, Chinese, Spanish, and English. No one knows why
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  Speaker 1: or for what purpose. All they know is that someone
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  Speaker 1: somewhere is listening and waiting. The Canned Film Festival brings
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  Speaker 1: over on people to the shores of the French Riviera
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  Speaker 1: every year. Among the guests and general tourists, you'll find directors, actors, producers,
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  Speaker 1: and some of the wealthiest members of Hollywood's elite, accepting
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  Speaker 1: awards and making deals. And where do these elite members
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  Speaker 1: choose to stay? Many prefer the luxury of the Carlton
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  Speaker 1: can an Art deco hotel that has been featured in
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  Speaker 1: films like to Catch a Thief starring Carry Grant and
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  Speaker 1: Grace Kelly. In the film, Carry Grant plays of former
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  Speaker 1: cat burglar trying to clear his name after he's accused
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  Speaker 1: of a string of robberies plaguing the hotel's guests. It's
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  Speaker 1: an eerily appropriate film to be set at the Carlton,
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  Speaker 1: seeing as how the hotel has been a hotbed of
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  Speaker 1: crime over the years, ranging from simple pickpockets to brazen
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  Speaker 1: armed robberies. Those who choose to spend the night in
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  Speaker 1: one of its suites must do all they can to
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  Speaker 1: hold onto their valuables, but even then their diligence may
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  Speaker 1: not be enough, not when someone is holding a gun
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  Speaker 1: to their head. Literally. In the summer of months, after
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  Speaker 1: the festival had ended, three men walked into a jewelry
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  Speaker 1: store within the Carlton and opened fire. Guests and employees
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  Speaker 1: fell to the ground. The assailants smashed the glass cases
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  Speaker 1: housing over sixty million dollars worth of jewelry, while terrified
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  Speaker 1: hostages kept their heads low and their eyes pointed at
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  Speaker 1: the ground. The whole affair was over in minutes. When
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  Speaker 1: it was clear that the thieves had gone, everyone got
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  Speaker 1: up and assessed the damage. No one had been killed
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  Speaker 1: or shot. Glass lay shattered on the ground as the
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  Speaker 1: smoke dissipated. Authorities arrived to take statements and investigate the scene.
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  Speaker 1: They inspected the walls, the ceiling, and all the places
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  Speaker 1: where the guns had been fired and found nothing. No bullets,
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  Speaker 1: no bullet holes, no evidence that anything had been fired
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  Speaker 1: at all. The people who committed the robbery were never caught,
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  Speaker 1: but the story they left behind is one that's still
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  Speaker 1: told by hotel staff to this day. Beginning in it
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  Speaker 1: was labeled as the costliest jewel high in history, according
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  Speaker 1: to the Guinness Book of World Records, and whenever a
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  Speaker 1: similar crime occurs in the world, the robbery at the
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  Speaker 1: Carlton inevitably comes up as well. It's a fun tale,
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  Speaker 1: especially since it was clear the people responsible had no
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  Speaker 1: interest in hurting anyone, only making off with millions and
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  Speaker 1: stolen jewels. But dig a little deeper and you'll notice
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  Speaker 1: something strange. There was no mention of the robbery in
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  Speaker 1: any newspaper at the time, including local outlets. No TV
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  Speaker 1: reports were broadcast, no photos exist of the crime scene.
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  Speaker 1: Even the items that were stolen weren't described to the police,
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  Speaker 1: who claim they have no record of the heist either,
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  Speaker 1: and according to Guinness, they published their ranking without any
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  Speaker 1: verifiable source to back it up. So did the incident
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  Speaker 1: even happen. The same could be asked of a similar
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  Speaker 1: robbery in two thousand and thirteen, in which a suspect
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  Speaker 1: stole over one hundred thirty six million worth of precious
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  Speaker 1: stones in just thirty seconds. The jewels belonged to billionaire
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  Speaker 1: Lev Lovyev, and the evidence leaves much to be discussed.
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  Speaker 1: The items were part of an outdoor exhibit where no
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  Speaker 1: security guards had been posted to keep intruders away from
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  Speaker 1: the tables. The thief approached a man and a woman
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  Speaker 1: working the booth where the jewels were going on display.
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  Speaker 1: One glimpse of the gun at the thief side and
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  Speaker 1: they dropped to the floor. Then the thief reached behind
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  Speaker 1: the counter and grabbed the black bag that seemed to
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  Speaker 1: have been prepared ahead of time. On the way out,
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  Speaker 1: he also swiped two trays of random jewels. No one
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  Speaker 1: was ever caught for the crime, and it remains open
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  Speaker 1: to this day. The insurance company paid out roughly half
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  Speaker 1: the worth of the stolen merchandise, despite how quickly and
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  Speaker 1: seamlessly the job was performed. It was clear the thief
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  Speaker 1: had help on the inside, but no one could prove anything.
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  Speaker 1: Some say hotel employees assisted, while the French police have
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  Speaker 1: their own theory. They think lovyev orchestrated the theft himself
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  Speaker 1: as a way to resell his jet ms while also
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  Speaker 1: pocketing the insurance money. No one can prove anything yet,
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  Speaker 1: but this case and the one from are just a
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  Speaker 1: few in a long string of unsolved crimes committed at
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  Speaker 1: the Iconic hotel, proving just how hard it can truly
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  Speaker 1: be to catch a thief. I hope you've enjoyed today's
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  Speaker 1: guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free
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  Speaker 1: on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show by
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  Speaker 1: visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created by
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  Speaker 1: me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how Stuff Works. I
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  Speaker 1: make another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast,
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  Speaker 1: book series, and television show, and you can learn all
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  Speaker 1: about it over at the World of Lore dot com.
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  Speaker 1: And until next time, stay curious.