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Political Pork · 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 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. It's impossible to understate
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  Speaker 2: how important ancestors are to human society. It's easy to
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  Speaker 2: evoke the concept as some ancient belief, but it never
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  Speaker 2: really has gone away. We honor those who came before us,
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  Speaker 2: regardless of our religion, political belief, or culture. The ancestors
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  Speaker 2: brought us to where we are. Their knowledge is how
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  Speaker 2: we built our cities. Because at the end of the day,
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  Speaker 2: no society can exist entirely in the present and the future.
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  Speaker 2: But what do we do when our ancestors have a
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  Speaker 2: more sinister reputation, when their knowledge and wisdom was important
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  Speaker 2: but their actions were despicable. It turns out this conundrum
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  Speaker 2: is as old as time itself. It exists in legends
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  Speaker 2: that pre date written history. The Kowea people of the
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  Speaker 2: Western United States have a legend that tells this story,
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  Speaker 2: and it's one that still resonates today. Centuries before Spanish colonization,
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  Speaker 2: they lived in the canyons and deserts that would become
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  Speaker 2: southern California. One of their first leaders was a shaman
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  Speaker 2: named Takwits. His knowledge and skill with medicine came from Mucat,
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  Speaker 2: creator of all things, and he led the Koweah people wisely,
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  Speaker 2: teaching them how to become shamans of their own. He
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  Speaker 2: was something greater than a human, a spirit who guided
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  Speaker 2: his people and showed them right from wrong. But even
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  Speaker 2: spirits can fall from grace.
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  Speaker 1: Takwits, after countless years of teaching and shepherding his people,
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  Speaker 1: began to grow arrogant. The Koeah people grew to fear
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  Speaker 1: his wrath and his pride. He began to kidnap the
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  Speaker 1: women of the tribe and kill them. Horrified by what
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  Speaker 1: he was doing, the tribe seized him and erected a
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  Speaker 1: pyre to burn him alive. The flames climbed high and
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  Speaker 1: would have killed any normal human being, but Taquits instead disappeared.
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  Speaker 1: His spirit fled deeper into the San Jacinto Valley, where
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  Speaker 1: he would remain terrorizing the Quia from the shadows. In
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  Speaker 1: some versions of this tale. Like a dragon in medieval Europe,
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  Speaker 1: he would lurk in his lair, only occasionally emerging to
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  Speaker 1: kidnap a member of the tribe and carry them away forever.
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  Speaker 1: One day, the great chief Algut heard that his son
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  Speaker 1: and two other young men from the tribe had gone
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  Speaker 1: off to vanquish Taquits on their own. Fearing for their safety,
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  Speaker 1: he followed their trail into the valley, and there he
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  Speaker 1: found his son's two friends unconscious. When they had been revived,
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  Speaker 1: they told him that his son had been slain by
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  Speaker 1: the demon. Swearing vengeance, Algoot went home and trained long
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  Speaker 1: and hard. He climbed mountains, swam rivers, wrestled with bears
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  Speaker 1: and mountain lions. He knew that in order to face
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  Speaker 1: Teqwits he would need to be stronger than any mortal man,
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  Speaker 1: and when the time came, he went into the valley
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  Speaker 1: again and confronted the demon who had killed his son.
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  Speaker 1: The two fought in the canyon. First, Tequits attempted to
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  Speaker 1: crush Algouts with boulders, but when that didn't work, they wrestled.
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  Speaker 1: When Tecqwits realized that the chief was stronger than he was,
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  Speaker 1: he began to change form from one animal to another,
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  Speaker 1: but still the chief held on tightly to him. So
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  Speaker 1: Tequeits changed into a sea serpent and attempted to flee,
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  Speaker 1: but Alguts swam after him and caught him. He strangled
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  Speaker 1: the former shaman to death and had the tribe burned
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  Speaker 1: the body. Of course, in these sorts of legends, there's
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  Speaker 1: never a true end to the spirit is there. As
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  Speaker 1: the sea serpent smoldered on the flames, the spirit of
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  Speaker 1: Tequits rose in the form of smoke and slithered back
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  Speaker 1: into the valley. Teqwits would never again seize men, women,
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  Speaker 1: or children from the village, but he would still cause
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  Speaker 1: trouble for the Kowea people. Earthquakes, fleed bloods, storms, and
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  Speaker 1: deadly natural phenomena are all said to be his doing.
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  Speaker 1: He's also said to bring disease to the residents of
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  Speaker 1: the valley. They rarely see him manifest again, except on
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  Speaker 1: rare occasions where he appears as a green fireball soaring
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  Speaker 1: across the night sky, and the evidence of this legend
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  Speaker 1: is still around today. In southern California, just outside of
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  Speaker 1: Palm Springs and below Mount San Jacinto is a valley
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  Speaker 1: known as Taquit's Valley. In spite of its namesakes cruelty,
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  Speaker 1: it is a beautiful place with a waterfall and lush wildlife,
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  Speaker 1: a refreshing area on.
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  Speaker 2: The edge of the desert.
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  Speaker 1: Legend says that much of this valley was carved out
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  Speaker 1: of the mountain during the fight between Taquits and Elgut,
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  Speaker 1: and it stands today as a memorial to the demon's defeat. Nature,
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  Speaker 1: after all, is like a fickle god. It gives us
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  Speaker 1: everything we need to survive, but can just as easily
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  Speaker 1: take it all away. Nineteen sixty eight was a chaotic
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  Speaker 1: year for the United States. The civil rights movement was
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  Speaker 1: in full swing, Protests against the Vietnam War were reaching
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  Speaker 1: a fever pitch, and doctor Martin Luther King Junior had
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  Speaker 1: just been assassinated, sparking riots across the country. But in
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  Speaker 1: the midst of all of that turmoil, one presidential candidate
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  Speaker 1: emerged who promised to be totally different from any other
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  Speaker 1: leader America had ever seen. On an afternoon in August,
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  Speaker 1: that candidate rode through the streets of Chicago on the
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  Speaker 1: back of a station wagon. He'd grown up on a
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  Speaker 1: farm nearby and had never been politically involved until very recently,
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  Speaker 1: when he was recruited by the Youth International Party, better
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  Speaker 1: known as the Yippies, a countercultural group opposed to the
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  Speaker 1: Vietnam War. In just a few days, the Democratic National
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  Speaker 1: Convention was going to begin right there in Chicago. The
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  Speaker 1: Yippies hated their front runner, the Citying Vice President, Hubert Humphrey,
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  Speaker 1: because of his support for the war, so as a
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  Speaker 1: stunt to bring attention to their cause, they were officially
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  Speaker 1: nominating their own candidate the same week in the same town.
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  Speaker 1: The station wagon pulled up outside a crowded plaza where
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  Speaker 1: hundreds of young people with long hair and beards were
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  Speaker 1: waving signs and shouting. Police officers were everywhere ready to
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  Speaker 1: step in if this rally got out of control, as
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  Speaker 1: Yippie events often did. As the candidate passed through the crowd,
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  Speaker 1: the spectators clapped and cheered. He took the stage, and
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  Speaker 1: the audience quieted, waiting to hear his acceptance speech. Sadly, though,
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  Speaker 1: the candidate was unable to deliver the speech himself because
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  Speaker 1: he was a one hundred and forty five pound black
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  Speaker 1: and white spotted pig named Pigasus. He was running with
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  Speaker 1: the campaign slogan, If we can't have him in the
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  Speaker 1: White House, we can have him for breakfast. One of
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  Speaker 1: the men standing on stage beside Pigasus unfolded a piece
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  Speaker 1: of paper and began to read off a prepared speech
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  Speaker 1: announcing the pig's candidacy for president of the United States.
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  Speaker 1: As soon as he started speaking, police rushed the stage.
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  Speaker 1: Two officers scooped up Pigasus and dragged him away. In
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  Speaker 1: the ensuing chaos, seven humans were also arrested for disorderly conduct.
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  Speaker 1: Pigasus was put in the back of a police wagon
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  Speaker 1: and taken to a local animal shelter. Later that day,
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  Speaker 1: one of his comrades came by and tried to bail
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  Speaker 1: him out by telling the worker at the counter he
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  Speaker 1: was looking for his lost dog, which was black and
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  Speaker 1: white with a curly tail. But the worker took one
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  Speaker 1: look at the young man's beard and weird stovepipe hat
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  Speaker 1: and recognized him as one of the yippies, and so
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  Speaker 1: he was sent home empty handed. All the other yippies
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  Speaker 1: from the rally that day who were arrested were released
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  Speaker 1: after posting bond, but Piggis's fates is a mystery. A
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  Speaker 1: rumor claimed that the Chicago police had barbecued and eaten him,
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  Speaker 1: but more reputable newspaper reports suggests that he was actually
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  Speaker 1: sent to a farm about an hour north of Chicago,
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  Speaker 1: Wherever Pigasus ended up. He lived out the rest of
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  Speaker 1: his life without ever holding a major political office, but
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  Speaker 1: he also went down in history as the first and
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  Speaker 1: so far only pig to be nominated for US president,
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  Speaker 1: although there are some today who dispute that claim. I
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  Speaker 1: hope you enjoyed today's guided tour through the Cabinet of Curiosities.
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  Speaker 1: This show was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership
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  Speaker 1: with iHeart Podcasts, researched and written by the Grim and
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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 dot 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
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  Speaker 1: our Patreon. It's all the same stories, but without the
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  Speaker 1: interruption for.
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  Speaker 2: A small monthly fee.
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  Speaker 1: Learn more and sign up over at patreon dot com
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  Speaker 1: slash grimandmild, and until next time, stay curious, m