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Psycho Seance · 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 Grimm and 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 right there on display, just waiting
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  Speaker 1: for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities.
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  Speaker 1: The late nineteenth century in Europe, often referred to as
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  Speaker 1: the Victorian Era, was a time of rapid scientific development.
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  Speaker 1: But as much as Victorian Europe embraced science, there was
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  Speaker 1: also a social movement in the opposite direction, embracing spiritualism
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  Speaker 1: or mysticism. Seances were a popular part of this movement.
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  Speaker 1: Friends and family would gather around a table and attempt
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  Speaker 1: to contact the dead. They was such a commonplace practice
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  Speaker 1: that the lines between mysticism and science often blurred, as
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  Speaker 1: researchers were attracted to seances to learn if there was
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  Speaker 1: any truth to them or if it were all just
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  Speaker 1: a hoax. In eighteen ninety six, twenty one year old
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  Speaker 1: Karl Gustav or CG as his friends called him, was
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  Speaker 1: invited to the home of his cousin, Helly Preisberg. She
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  Speaker 1: was a medium known for conducting seances. Although CG was
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  Speaker 1: a medical student, he had an open mind when it
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  Speaker 1: came to the supernatural. He was raised in a religious
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  Speaker 1: home and had been plagued by strange, vivid dreams from
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  Speaker 1: a young age. Both science and religion had always failed
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  Speaker 1: to explain his dreams. They were frightening episodes, full of monsters, ghosts,
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  Speaker 1: and twisted imagery. If anyone could help him get to
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  Speaker 1: the bottom of these visions, perhaps it was his cousin Helly.
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  Speaker 1: It was said that she could not only contact the dead,
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  Speaker 1: but travel between different realms, maybe even into the realm
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  Speaker 1: of his dreams. He was a frail fifteen year old girl,
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  Speaker 1: but she and cig got along well. They had a
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  Speaker 1: shared enthusiasm for the supernatural, and so when they conducted
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  Speaker 1: this first seance together, they took it very seriously. At first,
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  Speaker 1: they attempted to contact the dead. They laid their fingers
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  Speaker 1: on an upside down glass over a sheet of paper
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  Speaker 1: covered with letters. Helly then channeled the ghosts in the room,
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  Speaker 1: asking them to identify themselves by using her body to
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  Speaker 1: move the glass and spell out their names. A spirit
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  Speaker 1: soon took control of her and revealed itself to be
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  Speaker 1: their late grandfather, the Reverend Samuel Preisberg. Helly suddenly fell
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  Speaker 1: to the ground. Sig rushed to her side, shaking her,
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  Speaker 1: asking the spirit to free her. But when Helly spoke next,
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  Speaker 1: it didn't sound like her at all. Her voice was
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  Speaker 1: deep and mature, like that of their grandfathers. Do not
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  Speaker 1: fear see. I am with you every day, it said,
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  Speaker 1: I am your grandfather Samuel, who dwells with God. Pray
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  Speaker 1: to him the Lord, and ask him that my dear
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  Speaker 1: grandchild reaches her goal. What was her goal, you might ask, well,
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  Speaker 1: Apparently their grandfather had sent Helly's spirit to the Americas,
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  Speaker 1: where their relative Bertie was and I quote, in danger
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  Speaker 1: from having a baby with a black man. He wanted
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  Speaker 1: Helly to somehow stop it, because, unfortunately, it seems that
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  Speaker 1: racism continues on into the afterlife. Helly returned to her body,
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  Speaker 1: claiming that she was unsuccessful in her mission to stop
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  Speaker 1: Bertie from having the baby. Cig obviously found all of
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  Speaker 1: this very strange, but he found it even stranger weeks
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  Speaker 1: later when he received a letter from Bertie revealing that
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  Speaker 1: she had indeed had a baby. Cig and Helly continued
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  Speaker 1: their seances for years, with Helly explaining more and more
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  Speaker 1: about the supernatural realms that she supposedly visited. But when
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  Speaker 1: Sig finished his undergraduate and he moved on to the
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  Speaker 1: blossoming world of psychology, he began to read the works
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  Speaker 1: of Sigmund Freud and learned about the idea of the
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  Speaker 1: unconscious mind, the part of our brain that we don't
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  Speaker 1: have access to, that's filled with dark imagery and forgotten memories.
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  Speaker 1: And Cig saw similarities between his dreams, Helly's spirits, and
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  Speaker 1: Freud's descriptions of the unconscious. It made more sense to
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  Speaker 1: him that he and Helly were both experiencing psychological rather
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  Speaker 1: than supernatural phenomena, and this became even more apparent a
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  Speaker 1: few years into the seances, when Cig caught Helly hiding
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  Speaker 1: objects in her dress that she would throw across the room,
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  Speaker 1: trying to make it look like the spirits were doing it.
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  Speaker 1: He spent the first several years of his psychotherapy career
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  Speaker 1: writing about Helly and how he believed that her spirits
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  Speaker 1: were just manifestations of her unconscious mind. Her ability to
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  Speaker 1: know things that she shouldn't was either outright deception or
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  Speaker 1: just simple coincidence, and SIG's skepticism grew to the point
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  Speaker 1: where he eventually challenged his own mentor, Sigmund Freud and
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  Speaker 1: Freud's obsession with human sexuality as the driving force of
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  Speaker 1: all psychological behavior. Eventually, even cg's work would meet with
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  Speaker 1: some criticism from his successors, but again, that's just how
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  Speaker 1: science works regardless. CG or Carl Jung as he's better
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  Speaker 1: known today, was one of the founding fathers of modern psychiatry.
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  Speaker 1: He ensured that reason, not superstition, emerged as the prevailing
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  Speaker 1: force of the Victorian era. If reality TV has taught
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  Speaker 1: us anything it's that humans can make a competition out
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  Speaker 1: of just about anything. Food is no exception, whether it's
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  Speaker 1: in the breezy tent of the Great British Bakeoff or
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  Speaker 1: the bowels of Hell's Kitchen. We love watching chefs go
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  Speaker 1: toe to toe in culinary battles. The incredible popularity of
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  Speaker 1: these shows might lead you to think that cookoffs are
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  Speaker 1: a modern invention, but that couldn't be further from the truth.
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  Speaker 1: Can trace them back centuries, all the way back to
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  Speaker 1: medieval Baghdad. During the ninth century. The city was one
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  Speaker 1: of the culinary capitals of the world. It was perfectly
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  Speaker 1: situated between Europe and Asia, giving its chefs access to
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  Speaker 1: spices and recipes from the four corners of the globe. Meanwhile,
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  Speaker 1: the Khalif, or ruler of Baghdad, was a massive foodie
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  Speaker 1: and a decent amateur chef in his own right. Well.
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  Speaker 1: One day, the Khalif got into an argument with his
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  Speaker 1: brother over which of them was a better cook. Determined
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  Speaker 1: to prove himself, he sent his servants to the market
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  Speaker 1: with orders to bring back the ingredients for a feast.
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  Speaker 1: There was lamb and chicken, eggplants and apricots, salt, saffron, honey,
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  Speaker 1: half a dozen kinds of oils and spices from China
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  Speaker 1: and India. With everything assembled, the Khalif told his brother
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  Speaker 1: that they would each prepare a dish of their own,
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  Speaker 1: choosing using any ingredients they pleased, in the palace's state
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  Speaker 1: of the art kitchen. A panel of the best chefs
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  Speaker 1: of the city would serve as their judges. There would
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  Speaker 1: be no prize, though, you see, the brothers would simply
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  Speaker 1: be competing purely for bragging rights. But they weren't working alone.
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  Speaker 1: They would each be supported by an assistant pulled from
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  Speaker 1: the Khalif's cooking staff. And herein lay the Khalif's secret.
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  Speaker 1: For his assistant, he selected a young chef named Ibada.
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  Speaker 1: The young man was talented, but had a reputation in
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  Speaker 1: the kitchens for being difficult to work with. The other
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  Speaker 1: cook said that he was devious and not above sabotaging
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  Speaker 1: his co workers to get ahead, and the Khalif knew
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  Speaker 1: that Abada couldn't be trusted, and that's why he wanted
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  Speaker 1: him on his team. As the brothers got to work,
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  Speaker 1: the kitchen became a storm of activity. The assistants rushed
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  Speaker 1: back and forth, stoking the ovens and chopping herbs with abandon.
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  Speaker 1: Soon fragrant aromas were wafting from opposite corners of the room.
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  Speaker 1: The Khalif grinned as he tasted his dish, confident that
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  Speaker 1: he would be crowned the victor, but his assistant, Ibada,
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  Speaker 1: wasn't so sure. The smell coming from their opponents area
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  Speaker 1: was unbelievable, better than anything prepared in that kitchen before. Worried,
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  Speaker 1: he drifted over, making a show of inspecting the competitor's dish.
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  Speaker 1: The Kalif's brother looked proud until Ibada wrinkled his nose
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  Speaker 1: in an expression of disgust. With a sigh, he remarked
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  Speaker 1: how unfair it was that the Khalif had neglected to
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  Speaker 1: share their secrets ingredient. Hearing this, the Kalif's brother scowled,
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  Speaker 1: Of course, it was just like his brother to goad
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  Speaker 1: him into a competition only to cheat. Furious, he demanded
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  Speaker 1: to know what secret ingredient the Khalif was using. Ibada
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  Speaker 1: glanced back at the Khalif to make sure he wasn't watching,
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  Speaker 1: and then handed over a small jar of fermented sauce.
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  Speaker 1: It was only fair, he said, that everyone had access
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  Speaker 1: to the same materials, even if it lost him the competition.
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  Speaker 1: The brother's eyes flashed with triumph as he added his
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  Speaker 1: sauce to his dish, but within seconds, its fragrant smell
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  Speaker 1: had become a noxious odor. The brother immediately realized that
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  Speaker 1: he had been tricked, but it was too late to
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  Speaker 1: salvage the dish. They were out of time, and upon
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  Speaker 1: tasting it, the judges unanimously proclaimed the Khaliph the winner.
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  Speaker 1: The ruler was so pleased by the victory he immediately
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  Speaker 1: promoted his assistant to head chef. Ibada left the kitchen
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  Speaker 1: feeling quite clever, but it wasn't long before he paid
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  Speaker 1: the price for his trickery. The Khalif died a few
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  Speaker 1: years later, and his brother took the throne. The new
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  Speaker 1: ruler had never forgiven Ibada and came dangerously close to
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  Speaker 1: having him executed. In the end, he decided the chef
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  Speaker 1: wasn't worth the trouble and simply exiled him. So as
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  Speaker 1: brutal as modern competitions might seem, Ibada's story shows that
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  Speaker 1: things could be a lot worse. In the world of
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  Speaker 1: medieval cookoffs. You could go from top of the pack
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  Speaker 1: to the bottom in the blink of an eye. The
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  Speaker 1: stakes were sometimes a matter of life and death, and
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  Speaker 1: one wrong move could get you chopped. I hope you've
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  Speaker 1: enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe
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  Speaker 1: for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the
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  Speaker 1: show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was
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  Speaker 1: created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how Stuff Works.
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  Speaker 1: I make another award winning show called Lore, which is
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  Speaker 1: a podcast, book series, and television show, and you can
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  Speaker 1: learn all about it over at the Worldoflore dot com.
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  Speaker 1: And until next time, stay curious.