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Stunted · 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. 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: In the tumultuous era of the Russian Revolution, a battalion
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  Speaker 1: emerged from the shadows, capturing the imagination of all who
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  Speaker 1: bore witness to their indomitable spirit. They were an awe
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  Speaker 1: inspiring force, feared by their adversaries and revered by their comrades.
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  Speaker 1: Led by a commander of legendary reputation, they etched their
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  Speaker 1: mark upon the annals of World War One. Clad in
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  Speaker 1: uniforms that spoke of discipline and strength, they exuded an
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  Speaker 1: air of confidence that permeated the world around them. Their
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  Speaker 1: helmets gleamed beneath the sun, reflecting their relentless determination. These
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  Speaker 1: soldiers possessed a resolute gaze, eyes piercing through the fog
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  Speaker 1: of war with unwavering focus. With each step, their boots
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  Speaker 1: resounded with purpose, the sound echoing through the battlefields as
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  Speaker 1: a testament to their steadfast resolve. Their presence alone struck
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  Speaker 1: fear into the hearts of their enemies. They were a
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  Speaker 1: force to be reckoned with, unmatched in their bravery and
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  Speaker 1: unparalleled in their skill. Yet it was not just their
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  Speaker 1: ferocity and combat prowess that set them apart. Within their ranks,
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  Speaker 1: a bond stronger than steel bound them together. Comradeship flowed
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  Speaker 1: through their veins, serving as a lifeline amidst the chaos
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  Speaker 1: of war. In the darkest moments, they found solace in
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  Speaker 1: each other's unwavering support, lending a helping hand or a
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  Speaker 1: comforting word when the weight of the world threatened to
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  Speaker 1: crush their spirits. One name stood out among the rest,
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  Speaker 1: whispered in hushed reverence by both allies and foes alike.
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  Speaker 1: Butch Karova. This revered commander led a fierce battalion with
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  Speaker 1: an iron will. Every decision was guided by a clarity
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  Speaker 1: of purpose that demanded respect. It ignited a fire within
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  Speaker 1: the warriors, fueling their valor in the face of insurmountable odds.
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  Speaker 1: Such respect and leadership hadn't always been granted to the
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  Speaker 1: commander As a soldier in the early days, Butch Karova
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  Speaker 1: had been mocked and harassed, but in nineteen seventeen, during
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  Speaker 1: World War One, something happened to change the young soldier's course.
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  Speaker 1: As the war continued and the fighting dragged on, many
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  Speaker 1: soldiers on the Eastern Front abandoned their posts. Butch Karova
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  Speaker 1: proposed a solution to the Minister of War, Alexander Kerensky.
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  Speaker 1: The minister listened intently and agreed to fund the Battalion
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  Speaker 1: of Death. The decision had been an easy one for
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  Speaker 1: the soldier. In a later memoir, Butchkarova wrote, my heart
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  Speaker 1: yearned to be there in the boiling call of war,
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  Speaker 1: to be baptized in its fire and scorched in its lava.
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  Speaker 1: And so began the select recruitment and training of some
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  Speaker 1: of the most determined soldiers in Russia. Nearly two thousand
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  Speaker 1: answered the call for recruits, only five hundred were selected.
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  Speaker 1: Residents far and wide gathered to watch the battalion board
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  Speaker 1: trains to the Eastern Front. Before long, the battalion captured
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  Speaker 1: the attention of world leaders, journalists, and activists. Butch Karova
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  Speaker 1: met with England's King George and US President Woodrow Wilson.
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  Speaker 1: Theodore Roosevelt shared some of his nobel Peace Prize money
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  Speaker 1: with the commander. But it wasn't until the smoke cleared
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  Speaker 1: and the battlefield fell silent that the truth was unveiled.
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  Speaker 1: As the world marveled at the gallantry of this extraordinary battalion,
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  Speaker 1: they discovered a revelation that shattered their preconceived notions. Butch Keova,
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  Speaker 1: you see, had once been a peasant who had fled
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  Speaker 1: an abusive marriage to a violent alcoholic. The commander of
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  Speaker 1: the Battalion of Death was a woman. But that wasn't
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  Speaker 1: all hidden. Beneath the armor and determined gazes of Maria
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  Speaker 1: butch Kova's Battalion of Death, the soldiers all shared something
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  Speaker 1: in common. While the men had fled their posts, it
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  Speaker 1: had been the women who had taken up the call
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  Speaker 1: on the Eastern Front, an act that was both courageous
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  Speaker 1: and curious. Everyone has at least one thing they're good at.
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  Speaker 1: One person might be an excellent piano player, while another
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  Speaker 1: could be a skilled painter. It could take time to
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  Speaker 1: figure out what a person's talent might be, but eventually
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  Speaker 1: everyone figures out that they have a skill that's all
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  Speaker 1: their own. Like Helen Gibson. Helen was really good at
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  Speaker 1: risking her life. She was born Rose August Wenger in Cleveland, Ohio,
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  Speaker 1: in eighteen ninety two to fred Annie Wanger. With four
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  Speaker 1: other sisters in the family. Her father had hoped that
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  Speaker 1: he'd have at least one boy, but when Helen arrived,
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  Speaker 1: he pushed her to be the son that he'd always wanted.
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  Speaker 1: She got her first taste of danger when she was
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  Speaker 1: seventeen years old. She'd attended a Wild West show that
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  Speaker 1: had come to Cleveland, which had enthralled her with all
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  Speaker 1: the roping and horseback riding the performers demonstrated. But it
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  Speaker 1: was while reading a copy of Billboard magazine when she
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  Speaker 1: noticed an ad looking for female writers to audition for
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  Speaker 1: a ranch in Oklahoma. Helen answered the call, and one
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  Speaker 1: year later she debuted at her first Wild West show
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  Speaker 1: in Saint Louis, Missouri. Unfortunately, her employment with the ranch
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  Speaker 1: didn't last long. The show closed down in nineteen eleven
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  Speaker 1: while its performers were still in California. But Helen wasn't
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  Speaker 1: out of work for long. She found a new job
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  Speaker 1: in Hollywood, where she rode horses as an extra in
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  Speaker 1: Western Pictures, her first on screen appearance. If You're curious
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  Speaker 1: was in a nineteen twelve silent film called ranch Girls
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  Speaker 1: on a Rampage. Tinseltown was also where she met her
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  Speaker 1: future husband, Edmund Hoot Gibson, and by nineteen thirteen the
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  Speaker 1: pair were performing in rodeos across the Western US, and
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  Speaker 1: these weren't just shows, they were contests too. They swept
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  Speaker 1: one rodeo in Salt Lake City, Utah, where they took
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  Speaker 1: home the prizes for trick riding and won all the
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  Speaker 1: races that there were. But this wasn't just a hobby.
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  Speaker 1: Helen's true career was back in Hollywood. Western films were
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  Speaker 1: getting more dangerous and daring, putting Helen in high demand.
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  Speaker 1: Around nineteen fifteen, Gibson took over as the lead for
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  Speaker 1: a long running serial called The Hazards of Helen, named
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  Speaker 1: for its star Helen Holmes. But during the middle of
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  Speaker 1: the series, Holmes fell ill and Gibson stepped in as
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  Speaker 1: a substitute for two films. Gibson took home thirty five
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  Speaker 1: dollars a week. The bosses back in New York liked her.
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  Speaker 1: She was rough and tumble, and her stunts looked great
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  Speaker 1: on screen. One film had her grabbing hold of a
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  Speaker 1: rope dangling from a bridge as she stood atop a
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  Speaker 1: pack of running horses, then used that rope to swing
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  Speaker 1: onto a passing train. Impressed with her capabilities, the studio
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  Speaker 1: decided to keep her for the remaining sixty nine episodes
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  Speaker 1: of the serial run, which concluded in February of nineteen seventeen.
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  Speaker 1: This led to another series, The Daughters of Daring, with
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  Speaker 1: Gibson back in the saddle. For one of her most
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  Speaker 1: dangerous stunts ever captured on film, Helen had to ride
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  Speaker 1: a motorcycle through a wooden barricade while pursuing a runaway train.
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  Speaker 1: She then steered that motorcycle up to the station platform,
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  Speaker 1: threw a box car of one train, and onto the
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  Speaker 1: flat car of another passing train. It was the kind
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  Speaker 1: of stunt that required expert timing and a lot of skill,
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  Speaker 1: and Helen nailed it. Eventually, the studio was sold to
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  Speaker 1: another production company called Vitagraph, at which point Helen jumpship
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  Speaker 1: to Universal for three years, making one hundred and twenty
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  Speaker 1: five dollars a week. After her contract was up there,
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  Speaker 1: she went to Capitol Film Company for more than double
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  Speaker 1: her rate, although that didn't last long. Capital went belly
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  Speaker 1: up in May of nineteen twenty. That year, she created
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  Speaker 1: her own production company called Helen Gibson Productions, but its
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  Speaker 1: first picture practically bankrupt her. She was forced to go
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  Speaker 1: back to contract work, although this time she earned a
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  Speaker 1: substantial increase to four hundred and fifty dollars a week.
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  Speaker 1: And then her career took a hard left turn. A
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  Speaker 1: ruptured appendix put Helen in the hospital for weeks, during
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  Speaker 1: which time she was replaced with another actress. Once she
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  Speaker 1: finally recovered, she got back to work, but injured herself
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  Speaker 1: bad enough to wind up right back in the hospital.
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  Speaker 1: She had to sell a good deal of her jewelry
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  Speaker 1: and personal assets just to stay afloat. But Helen Gibson
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  Speaker 1: never stopped working. She continued to perform in rodeos and
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  Speaker 1: circus shows for a number of years after that, and
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  Speaker 1: she appeared in films until her retirement at the age
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  Speaker 1: of sixty nine. Her last film was the nineteen sixty
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  Speaker 1: one western classic The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, starring
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  Speaker 1: John Wayne. Helen Gibson was a trail some might even
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  Speaker 1: say that literally, and the work she did gave women
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  Speaker 1: a leg up in Hollywood. But she wasn't just a
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  Speaker 1: silent film star. She was America's first professional Hollywood stunt woman.
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  Speaker 1: I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet
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  Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn
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  Speaker 1: more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com.
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  Speaker 1: The show was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership
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  Speaker 1: with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show
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  Speaker 1: called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show,
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  Speaker 1: and you can learn all about it over at the
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  Speaker 1: Worldoflore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.