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Crossroad Blues · Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
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  Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and 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 right
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  Speaker 2: there on display, just waiting for us to explore. Welcome
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  Speaker 2: to the Cabinet of Curiosities. It's practically cliche now, the
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  Speaker 2: young hopeful moving to Hollywood wanting to be discovered. Yet
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  Speaker 2: it still happens.
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  Speaker 1: Every year. Thousands of people uproot their lives to pursue
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  Speaker 1: their dreams of stardom. But one man found his fame
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  Speaker 1: a different way by bringing the movies to him. Mexican
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  Speaker 1: revolutionary Pancho Villa was born in Durango, Mexico, in eighteen
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  Speaker 1: seventy eight, with a very full name of Jose Doroteo
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  Speaker 1: Orango a Rambula. Many stories about his early life are
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  Speaker 1: either apocryphal or just downright false, but it's widely believed
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  Speaker 1: that he grew up in poverty with his parents and
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  Speaker 1: four siblings. They suffered under the hacienda system, in which
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  Speaker 1: wealthy estate owners would exploit poor workers for their labor.
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  Speaker 1: After the death of his father, via abandoned his schooling
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  Speaker 1: to find work and help his family keep their home.
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  Speaker 1: He did a number of jobs, working as a bricklayer
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  Speaker 1: and a sharecropper, among other things, but his life took
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  Speaker 1: a sharp turn when he was just sixteen years old.
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  Speaker 1: He'd been living in Shihuahua when he got word that
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  Speaker 1: his sister had been assaulted by a local hacienda owner
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  Speaker 1: back home. He returned to Durrango for revenge. After killing
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  Speaker 1: the owner and stealing one of his horses, Via became
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  Speaker 1: a bandit to get by. Pretty soon he found himself
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  Speaker 1: in trouble with the law, getting arrested for stealing mules
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  Speaker 1: and guns. But while other criminals would have been sentenced
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  Speaker 1: to death for their crimes, Via had gotten involved with
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  Speaker 1: some pretty important people who often kept him off of
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  Speaker 1: death row. Instead, he was forced to join the federal army,
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  Speaker 1: but that punishment didn't last too long. He skipped town
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  Speaker 1: and went back to Chihuahua to try and make an
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  Speaker 1: honest living as a butcher. When that failed, he left
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  Speaker 1: once more and assumed a new name, one inspired by
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  Speaker 1: his paternal grandfather, Jesus Villa. He called himself Francisco Pancho
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  Speaker 1: Villa and Then in nineteen ten, his life changed forever
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  Speaker 1: as the Mexican Revolution took hold. Via joined the other
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  Speaker 1: revolutionary seeking to overthrow the oppressive Mexican government, but the
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  Speaker 1: opposing forces and funding were very strong. If Via was
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  Speaker 1: going to have any hope of victory, he needed money.
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  Speaker 1: But it wasn't like he could just kick start a
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  Speaker 1: war or hold the GoFundMe. He needed big donors, and
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  Speaker 1: he needed them fast, So he looked north to the
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  Speaker 1: United States, specifically to the motion picture industry. Via reached
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  Speaker 1: out to the Mutual Film Corporation with a proposal. He
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  Speaker 1: would allow Mutual Film to shoot The Mexican Revolution in
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  Speaker 1: exchange for a twenty five thousand dollars advance and fifty
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  Speaker 1: percent of the film's profits. He even prompt to perform
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  Speaker 1: re enactments of key battles in case they needed additional footage.
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  Speaker 1: The studio agreed and told him that even though US
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  Speaker 1: papers were painting Via as a villain, Mutual would show
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  Speaker 1: the world a much different and sympathetic side of him.
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  Speaker 1: The studio sent a crew down to Mexico, including actor
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  Speaker 1: Raoul Walsh, who was cast as a younger version of
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  Speaker 1: Via for the film. The goal wasn't just to make
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  Speaker 1: a war picture. It was to craft a biography of
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  Speaker 1: a man who was fighting for a better life for
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  Speaker 1: his people. The Life of General Via, directed by William Carbaine,
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  Speaker 1: told the story of triumph over adversity, at least it
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  Speaker 1: would have if it had survived. Very little of the
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  Speaker 1: production exists today. It's really just a few pieces of
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  Speaker 1: footage and some publicity photos, And unfortunately for their star,
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  Speaker 1: Mutual wasn't able to do what they had promised. After
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  Speaker 1: the war, Via was left to deal with the fallout
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  Speaker 1: all on his own. This included a nineteen sixteen US
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  Speaker 1: expedition across the border to capture him and bring him
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  Speaker 1: to justice for attacking New Mexico. Villa managed to survive
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  Speaker 1: another seven years until his assassination on July twentieth of
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  Speaker 1: nineteen twenty three. He was killed in an ambush while
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  Speaker 1: returning home from the bank. Although his reputation was tarnished
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  Speaker 1: for decades following his death, he eventually came to be
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  Speaker 1: revered as a champion for the Mexican people, an achievement
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  Speaker 1: that might have happened sooner had his film not been lost.
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  Speaker 1: Pancho Villa was a revolutionary hero who stood by his
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  Speaker 1: principles until the very end, But it seems that even
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  Speaker 1: he was tempted by the glitz and glamour of Hollywood.
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  Speaker 1: Every musician has their influences, artists they love and listen
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  Speaker 1: to while shaping their own sound. If you're a classic
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  Speaker 1: rock fan like me, then your favorite band was likely
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  Speaker 1: influenced by the blues. And if you like Eric Clapp,
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  Speaker 1: led Zeppelin or the Rolling Stones, then your favorite artist's
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  Speaker 1: favorite artist was one man Robert Johnson. But just like
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  Speaker 1: his later listeners, Robert had his own influences, and if
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  Speaker 1: the rumors are true, he got his talent from a
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  Speaker 1: sinister source. He won his musical style in a diabolical
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  Speaker 1: deal with the devil himself. Not much is known about
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  Speaker 1: Robert's early life. He was born in nineteen eleven in
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  Speaker 1: Mississippi and at an early age became interested in the guitar.
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  Speaker 1: In the deeply segregated South, black people often weren't allowed
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  Speaker 1: in community spaces like bars, performance halls, or restaurants, so
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  Speaker 1: blues musicians often performed in juke joints, which were casual
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  Speaker 1: after hour spots in black owned stores or houses where
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  Speaker 1: the black community could gather when Robert was a teenager,
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  Speaker 1: he first saw a blues musician named Sunhouse perform a
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  Speaker 1: juke joint in Robinsonville, Mississippi. When Robert tried to perform himself,
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  Speaker 1: he was booed off the stage by Sunhouse and the
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  Speaker 1: other patrons. Apparently Robert was no guitarist. Robert moved with
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  Speaker 1: his mother to another town shortly after that, but when
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  Speaker 1: he returned to Robinsonville two years later, Sunhouse was blown
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  Speaker 1: away at how quickly Robert had become an excellent player
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  Speaker 1: through his teens. In twenties, Robert traveled throughout the South
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  Speaker 1: playing street corners, house parties, and juke joints. Twice he
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  Speaker 1: sat down to record his original music, resulting in twenty
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  Speaker 1: nine recorded songs. In nineteen thirty eight, when Robert was
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  Speaker 1: just twenty seven, he died of unknown causes. He never
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  Speaker 1: gained any recognition or fame in his lifetime, and was
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  Speaker 1: buried in an unmarked grave in a pauper cemetery. Robert's
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  Speaker 1: legacy might have stayed just like that if it wasn't
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  Speaker 1: for a compilation of his songs called King of the
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  Speaker 1: Delta Blues Singers, released in nineteen sixty one. The Man
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  Speaker 1: who recorded Johnson's twenty nine songs, believed that he was
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  Speaker 1: a great blues artist, and audiences in the nineteen sixties
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  Speaker 1: seemed to agree. Teenagers Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Robert Plant,
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  Speaker 1: and Keith Richards all love the record. Robert Johnson's music
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  Speaker 1: helped shape the path of classic rock and roll. The
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  Speaker 1: same time Robert's musical genius was being rediscovered, so too
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  Speaker 1: was his darker reputation. Rumors spread that Robert hadn't just
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  Speaker 1: been a great artist, his gifts were supernatural. To learn
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  Speaker 1: to play the blues, he went to a crossroads somewhere
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  Speaker 1: in Mississippi and made a deal with the devil, promising
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  Speaker 1: his soul in return for musical talent. It didn't help
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  Speaker 1: that many of his songs hinted at the supernatural, like
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  Speaker 1: Hellhound on My Trail, Crossroad Blues, and even Me and
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  Speaker 1: the Devil Blues. But the truth, well, it's not quite
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  Speaker 1: as exciting. It was tireless practice, not dealings with the
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  Speaker 1: devil that made Robert Johnson a star. The rumor about
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  Speaker 1: his supernatural skills probably first came from the remarks by
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  Speaker 1: the musician Son House. He was the one who had
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  Speaker 1: laughed Robert off the stage in that juke joint the
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  Speaker 1: first time Robert tried to play guitar. When Robert showed
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  Speaker 1: up again nearly two years later, playing like a natural,
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  Speaker 1: he made it that Robert must have made a deal
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  Speaker 1: with the devil. Instead, what Robert really had done was
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  Speaker 1: find a great teacher, a player named Ike Zimmerman. Now,
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  Speaker 1: Robert and Ike did like to practice in graveyards after dark,
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  Speaker 1: which does sound a little spooky, but this was for
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  Speaker 1: practical reasons, not demonic. Graveyards were one of the few
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  Speaker 1: quiet places where Robert and Ike could play without people
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  Speaker 1: disturbing them. It's also likely that Robert's story was mixed
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  Speaker 1: up with another blues musician with a similar name, Tommy Johnson,
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  Speaker 1: who played Delta Blues in the same circuit as Robert,
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  Speaker 1: claimed that he had sold his soul to the devil
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  Speaker 1: to learn guitar. Robert may have died in obscurity, but
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  Speaker 1: today his music lives on, as does his devilish reputation.
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  Speaker 1: Whether or not the devil made him do it, he'll
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  Speaker 1: have to admit that Robert Johnson was a hell of
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  Speaker 1: a good player. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour
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  Speaker 1: of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts,
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  Speaker 1: or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast
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  Speaker 1: dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Mankey
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  Speaker 1: in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make another award
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  Speaker 1: winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series,
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  Speaker 1: and television show, and you can learn all about it
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  Speaker 1: over at the Worldoflore dot com. And until next time,
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  Speaker 1: stay curious.