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Love Heals · Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Menke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
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  Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grim & Mild. Our world is full of
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  Speaker 1: the unexplainable. And if history is an open book, all
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  Speaker 1: of these amazing tales are right there on display, just
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  Speaker 1: waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities.
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  Speaker 1: We tend to think of broken hearts as a figurative condition.
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  Speaker 1: But what if loneliness can literally break your heart? In 1978,
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  Speaker 1: a team of researchers in New Zealand were studying the
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  Speaker 1: relationship between high cholesterol and heart problems. Experimenting on humans
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  Speaker 1: would have too many limitations. And so, unfortunately, they decided
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  Speaker 1: to run their tests on another animal that's known to
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  Speaker 1: develop heart disease in a similar way to humans. Rabbits.
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  Speaker 1: Dozens of test rabbits were kept in cages in the laboratory.
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  Speaker 1: Each researcher on the team was assigned a group of
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  Speaker 1: rabbits to look after, and every morning they would come
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  Speaker 1: in and feed them identical amounts of high-fat rabbit food.
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  Speaker 1: At the end of the experiment, the rabbits would be
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  Speaker 1: examined to see what effect their diet had on their
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  Speaker 1: cholesterol and their blood pressure. But one member of the
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  Speaker 1: research team, a Canadian scientist named Marina Levesque, couldn't help
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  Speaker 1: but feel bad for the rabbits. These innocent creatures had
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  Speaker 1: no idea why they'd been locked in cages in a cold,
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  Speaker 1: quiet laboratory, fed a diet that was bound to make
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  Speaker 1: them seriously ill. The least that she could do was
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  Speaker 1: treat the rabbits under her care with kindness. And so
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  Speaker 1: Marina broke protocol. Instead of just setting their food down
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  Speaker 1: and walking away, she stayed with them for a while.
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  Speaker 1: She petted them and talked to them, and even cuddled
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  Speaker 1: them in her arms. Day after day, Marina's heart swelled
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  Speaker 1: with excitement as she hurried down the hallway with the
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  Speaker 1: rabbit's food. She started to grow close to them, and
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  Speaker 1: they seemed to love her as well. When the study
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  Speaker 1: came to a close, Marina felt a pang of disappointment
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  Speaker 1: because she was going to miss them. At the end
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  Speaker 1: of the experiment, the lead researcher, Robert Nerum, examined each
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  Speaker 1: of the rabbit's blood vessels under a microscope. He found
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  Speaker 1: that as a result of the high-fat diet, they had
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  Speaker 1: all developed similar fatty deposits in their arteries. All except
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  Speaker 1: for a few. The group of rabbits in Marina's care
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  Speaker 1: had 60% less fatty deposits than all the others. Robert
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  Speaker 1: thought that this must be a fluke, so he double-checked
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  Speaker 1: his measurements, but they were correct. He reviewed all the
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  Speaker 1: records and protocols and realized there was only one variable
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  Speaker 1: that could explain the difference. Marina was petting the rabbits,
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  Speaker 1: and the other researchers weren't. Robert truly couldn't believe this finding.
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  Speaker 1: It sounded absurd that love could prevent heart disease. He
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  Speaker 1: thought there must be some other explanation. So he ran
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  Speaker 1: the same experiment again, with even tighter controls. This time,
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  Speaker 1: he divided the rabbits into one group that was fed
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  Speaker 1: the usual way with no human interaction. The other group
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  Speaker 1: was visited several times a day for playtime and cuddles.
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  Speaker 1: And the results held. The rabbits who were shown affection
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  Speaker 1: were significantly healthier at the end of the study, despite
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  Speaker 1: eating the exact same poor diet. The principle, sometimes known
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  Speaker 1: as the rabbit effect, has held up in humans as well.
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  Speaker 1: Studies have shown that loneliness leads to a significant increased
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  Speaker 1: risk of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and early mortality.
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  Speaker 1: The theory is that social isolation increases stress hormones and inflammation,
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  Speaker 1: leading to a range of damaging health effects. So the
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  Speaker 1: next time you're feeling under the weather, give somebody or
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  Speaker 1: some bunny a hug. It could be good for your health.
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  Speaker 1: On a dark night in June of 1629, two senior
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  Speaker 1: crew members sat by candlelight in their quarters on a
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  Speaker 1: Dutch merchant ship called the Batavia. Their names were Uranimus, Cornelis, Arian,
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  Speaker 1: and Jacobs, and they were plotting a mutiny. Cornelis and
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  Speaker 1: Jacobs had bad blood with the ship's commander. They wanted
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  Speaker 1: to overthrow him and take control of the ship along
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  Speaker 1: with all of its precious cargo, which included ancient jewels
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  Speaker 1: and 12 chests full of silver coins. Their plan was
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  Speaker 1: almost ready to be put into action, too. But just then,
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  Speaker 1: they heard voices shouting above deck, and the ship jolted
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  Speaker 1: to a halt. The Batavia, you see, had just hit
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  Speaker 1: a coral reef somewhere off the coast of Australia, and
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  Speaker 1: the ship was sinking fast. As the crew scrambled to escape,
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  Speaker 1: Cornelis and Jacobs grabbed whatever supplies they could carry and
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  Speaker 1: jumped into a longboat. In the chaos and confusion, many
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  Speaker 1: crew members drowned. But by the time the sun rose... Cornelis, Jacobs,
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  Speaker 1: and about 180 other people had reached the shore of
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  Speaker 1: an uninhabited island called Beacon Island. But Beacon Island had
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  Speaker 1: no fresh water and very little food. Most of the
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  Speaker 1: provisions had been lost during the wreck, and so they
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  Speaker 1: wouldn't survive there for long. So the commander said that
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  Speaker 1: he would take the only undamaged lifeboat and go find help,
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  Speaker 1: and he told Jacobs to come with him. As Jacobs
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  Speaker 1: and the commander trudged over to the lifeboat, Cornelis felt
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  Speaker 1: his blood run cold. From the commander's tone of voice,
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  Speaker 1: Cornelis was absolutely certain that he had found out about
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  Speaker 1: the mutiny plot. He had no idea what the commander
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  Speaker 1: was going to do to Jakobs, but Cornelis' fate was clear.
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  Speaker 1: When a rescue ship eventually arrived and brought the crew
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  Speaker 1: back to civilization, Cornelis would be sentenced to death for
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  Speaker 1: attempted mutiny. He only had one shot at survival. Once
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  Speaker 1: the rescue ship made it to shore, he would have
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  Speaker 1: to overpower the crew, seize the ship for himself, and
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  Speaker 1: sail off never to return. And the only way that
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  Speaker 1: he could do that was by making sure that everyone
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  Speaker 1: on Beacon Island would support his plan and eliminate anyone
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  Speaker 1: who might stand in his way. So with the commander
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  Speaker 1: gone and the survivors desperate for guidance, Cornelis appointed himself
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  Speaker 1: as the leader of the Beacon Island camp. He formed
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  Speaker 1: a band of his most trusted crewmates, and together they
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  Speaker 1: took control of all remaining weapons and supplies on the island. Cornelis'
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  Speaker 1: first priority was getting rid of a group of soldiers
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  Speaker 1: who were among the crew. They were, as you'd imagine,
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  Speaker 1: well-trained in combat, and Cornelis knew that he couldn't take
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  Speaker 1: them on if they rebelled against his authority. So he
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  Speaker 1: sent them on a mission to sail to another nearby
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  Speaker 1: island under the pretense of searching for fresh water. Cornelis
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  Speaker 1: assumed that they wouldn't find any, and that they would
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  Speaker 1: all eventually die. From there, Cornelis and his men spent
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  Speaker 1: the next three months killing anyone on Beacon Island who
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  Speaker 1: they deemed untrustworthy. He eventually killed 120 people, leaving only
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  Speaker 1: a few dozen alive. Then he sent a group of
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  Speaker 1: his men to the nearby island that he had sent
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  Speaker 1: the soldiers to to also kill them if they weren't
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  Speaker 1: already dead. But when Cornelis' men arrived on shore, they
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  Speaker 1: found the soldiers very much alive and armed with makeshift
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  Speaker 1: weapons fashioned out of coral. They were planning on attacking
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  Speaker 1: Cornelis and taking back control of Beacon Island. Cornelis' men
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  Speaker 1: tried to fight off the soldiers, but they were driven
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  Speaker 1: back and had to return to Beacon Island. And as
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  Speaker 1: Cornelis was plotting his next plan of attack, he saw
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  Speaker 1: a sail on the horizon. A rescue ship had finally arrived.
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  Speaker 1: But before it could reach Beacon Island, the soldiers on
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  Speaker 1: the other island flagged it down and told the captain
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  Speaker 1: what had happened, giving the ship's crew enough time and
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  Speaker 1: preparation to fight off Cornelis' attack. Cornelis and his closest
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  Speaker 1: followers were executed. The few survivors finally reached civilization alive,
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  Speaker 1: After three months in the wild, the Batavia wreck went
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  Speaker 1: down as one of the most brutal disasters in maritime history.
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  Speaker 1: I hope you enjoyed today's guided tour through the Cabinet
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  Speaker 1: of Curiosities. This show was created by me, Aaron Manke,
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  Speaker 1: in partnership with iHeart Podcasts, researched and written by the
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  Speaker 1: Grim & Mild team, and produced by Jesse Funk. Learn
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  Speaker 1: more about the show and the people who make it
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  Speaker 1: over at grimandmild.com slash curiosities. You'll also find a link
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  Speaker 1: to the official Cabinet of Curiosity's hardcover book, available in
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  Speaker 1: bookstores and online, as well as ebook and audiobook. And
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  Speaker 1: if you're looking for an ad-free option, consider joining our Patreon.
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  Speaker 1: It's all the same stories, but without the interruption, for
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  Speaker 1: a small monthly fee. Learn more and sign up over
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  Speaker 1: at patreon.com slash grimandmild. And until next time, stay curious.