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RIP · Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities

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  Speaker 1: Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history
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  Speaker 1: is an open book, all of these amazing tales right
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  Speaker 1: there on display, just waiting for us to explore. Welcome
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  Speaker 1: to the Cabinet of Curiosities. After the start of prohibition
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  Speaker 1: in Americans everywhere found ways to get around the laws
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  Speaker 1: preventing them from enjoying their favorite alcoholic beverages. They let
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  Speaker 1: grape juice ferment for two months until it had turned
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  Speaker 1: into a wine with a twelve percent alcohol content. When
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  Speaker 1: the government started poisoning ethel alcohol so it couldn't be
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  Speaker 1: used to make bootleg booze, some people hired chemists to
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  Speaker 1: draw the poison back out and make the alcohol drinkable again.
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  Speaker 1: When it comes to wine, beer, and all manner of
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  Speaker 1: adult beverages, human ingenuity cannot be contained. And such ingenuity
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  Speaker 1: had presented itself in the early sixteenth century as England's
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  Speaker 1: rapid expansion had devastated its national forests. Trees had been
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  Speaker 1: used to build ships, weapons, and fuel fires, but that
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  Speaker 1: seemingly endless supply was suddenly in danger of running out.
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  Speaker 1: A different kind of prohibition was about to begin, as
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  Speaker 1: King James the first decreed in sixteen fifteen that would
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  Speaker 1: could only be used for what he deemed necessary. That
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  Speaker 1: meant burning wood for fire, especially for the purpose of
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  Speaker 1: making decorative objects such as glass, was now out of
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  Speaker 1: the question. Then, in sixteen sixty two, Sir Christopher Merritt
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  Speaker 1: published a paper that copy eyes of wine drinkers all
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  Speaker 1: over England. Merritt had dabbled in a lot of things.
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  Speaker 1: He was a historian, physician, and spent much of his
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  Speaker 1: time learning about the larger world as a member of
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  Speaker 1: the Royal Society. In his paper he described a new
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  Speaker 1: kind of drink, one made with large amounts of sugar
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  Speaker 1: and molasses that, when fermented, created a bubbling sensation. The
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  Speaker 1: Frey called their version Champagne, named for the region of
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  Speaker 1: France where it was produced. There was just one problem
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  Speaker 1: with this new sparkling wine. It couldn't be contained when bottled.
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  Speaker 1: The carbonation inside built up to such a pressure that
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  Speaker 1: it would either eject the cork or break the bottle.
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  Speaker 1: A stronger type of glass was required, As it so happened,
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  Speaker 1: King James ban On wood for making glass had lasted decades,
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  Speaker 1: and that time craftsman had turned to an alternative fuel source,
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  Speaker 1: coal which burned hotter and produced glass that was thicker
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  Speaker 1: and stronger than anything made in a wood fire. This
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  Speaker 1: more resilient glass was perfect for the new bubbly wine
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  Speaker 1: coming out of England, and because it was better for
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  Speaker 1: the bottles of old, both the drink and the vessel
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  Speaker 1: it was stored in became synonymous with wealth. Now, if
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  Speaker 1: you visit Champagne in France, you might hear the story
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  Speaker 1: of a famous Benedictine monk named Don Perion. Perion had
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  Speaker 1: been dealing with a big problem brought on by the
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  Speaker 1: refermentation of his wine. Reef Fermentation occurs when the fermentation
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  Speaker 1: process started in one vessel, like a large steel tank,
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  Speaker 1: and then continued in a different container, such as an
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  Speaker 1: oak barrel. In Perion's case, refermentation was carried out in
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  Speaker 1: many small bottles within his abbey. As the weather got colder,
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  Speaker 1: fermentation stopped, but any unconverted sugars still inside the bottle
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  Speaker 1: started to carbonate the wine. Then, in the spring, as
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  Speaker 1: the pressure from the yeast inside built back up, the
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  Speaker 1: pressure would either pop the cork or destroy the bottle.
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  Speaker 1: When a bottle exploded, the shock wave rippled out, triggering
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  Speaker 1: all the other bottles to shatter and sudden glass flying everywhere.
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  Speaker 1: Perion did his best to prevent refermentation in his wine,
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  Speaker 1: but he wasn't always successful. A myth eventually formed around Perion.
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  Speaker 1: According to eyewitness accounts, the monk took a sip of
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  Speaker 1: champagne from an unbroken bottle and exclaimed, come quickly, I
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  Speaker 1: am tasting the stars. The Dom Perion company used this
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  Speaker 1: quite extensively in its advertising in the eighteen hundreds, but
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  Speaker 1: there's no proof Perion himself ever even said it. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: much of the legend surrounding the man was thanks to
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  Speaker 1: Dom Grussar, who had succeeded Perryon at the abbey. He'd
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  Speaker 1: been the one to claim his predecessor had invented champagne,
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  Speaker 1: all in an effort to make the church and it's
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  Speaker 1: town a little more famous. Then it worked, even though
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  Speaker 1: England had been producing sparkling wine for years before Perryon
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  Speaker 1: entered the scene. Many people today believe the drink originated
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  Speaker 1: in France. However, if it hadn't been for the English
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  Speaker 1: craftsmen and their need for a new way to make fire,
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  Speaker 1: Perryon might have been forgotten as just another monk in
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  Speaker 1: the abbey. It wasn't until the eighteenth century, when France
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  Speaker 1: began using coal to make glass bottles, and they weren't
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  Speaker 1: good enough to hold their bubbling concoctions until the Industrial
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  Speaker 1: Revolution reached their country. England had the market cornered for
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  Speaker 1: roughly one fifty years. So the next time you toast
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  Speaker 1: a pair of newly weds or celebrate that special occasion,
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  Speaker 1: remember the folks who made the moment possible, not the
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  Speaker 1: Benedictine monk in the abbey, but the glassmakers who found
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  Speaker 1: a way to bottle the stars. Because that's an achievements.
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  Speaker 1: We can all raise a glass too. Death is inevitable.
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  Speaker 1: We don't know when or where it will happen, but
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  Speaker 1: it will come for each one of us one day,
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  Speaker 1: perhaps when we least expect it. Humanity has been trying
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  Speaker 1: to cheat death for thousands of years. For example, in
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  Speaker 1: the sixth century BC, an ancient Sanskrit medical text advise
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  Speaker 1: people to consume a diet of root powder, gold, honey,
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  Speaker 1: and butter if they wanted to live longer. Ancient Egyptian
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  Speaker 1: ruler Cleopatra was said to have bathed in donkey's milk
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  Speaker 1: as a way of preserving her skin's youth and beauty.
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  Speaker 1: And the infamous Countess Elizabeth Boundery was said to have
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  Speaker 1: soaked herself in the blood of hundreds of servant girls
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  Speaker 1: that she tortured and killed in the seven teenth century.
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  Speaker 1: It might not be true, but it's certainly attractive. But
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  Speaker 1: nobody ever tried old RiPPs technique for immortality. RiPP lived
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  Speaker 1: in Eastland County, Texas. In Dallas was bigger, sure, but
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  Speaker 1: a hundred and thirty miles away, and Eastland was growing,
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  Speaker 1: and because of this growth, the town needed a new courthouse.
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  Speaker 1: After construction was completed, a ceremony was held to commemorate
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  Speaker 1: the building's dedication. The cornerstone of the courthouse had been
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  Speaker 1: hollowed out as a kind of time capsule where objects
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  Speaker 1: from town could be placed inside until the stone was
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  Speaker 1: opened much later. A Bible was put inside, as were
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  Speaker 1: other papers and official documents. Oh and rip. He just
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  Speaker 1: climbed in and took a rest inside the cornerstone before
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  Speaker 1: it was sealed off, and then his body remained inside
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  Speaker 1: the Eastland Courthouse cornerstone while the rest of the town
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  Speaker 1: went about their daily lives. By eight they had almost
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  Speaker 1: forgotten about him, that is, until February of that year.
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  Speaker 1: By then, the town had owned considerably and the thirty
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  Speaker 1: year old courthouse was in desperate need of an upgrade.
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  Speaker 1: But rather than expanded, the existing building was torn down
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  Speaker 1: and the cornerstone time capsule was opened up. Inside were
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  Speaker 1: the Bible, the documents, and all the proclamations from town
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  Speaker 1: and the seemingly deceased Rip. After all, he was covered
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  Speaker 1: in dust and he wasn't moving, but then he woke up.
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  Speaker 1: It was a miracle. For thirty one years Old Rip
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  Speaker 1: had slumbered inside a block of marble. His survival made
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  Speaker 1: national news, and he toured the country, meeting with people
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  Speaker 1: from all walks of life. He even visited the White
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  Speaker 1: House and met with President Calvin Coolidge. Then, eleven months
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  Speaker 1: after his miraculous resurrection, Old Rip passed away. The papers
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  Speaker 1: said it was pneumonia. His body was embalmed and placed
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  Speaker 1: in a velvet line casket before being moved to the
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  Speaker 1: Eastland Courthouse lobby. Folks from all over town and beyond
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  Speaker 1: came to say goodbye to the hometown hero. In n
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  Speaker 1: To John Connolly, who was running for governor at the time,
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  Speaker 1: paid a visit to Old Rip. He picked him up
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  Speaker 1: by his leg for a quick photo, although he didn't
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  Speaker 1: count on the leg breaking off in the nineteen seventies,
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  Speaker 1: RiPP was stolen from his perch before being returned without
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  Speaker 1: a scratch on him a few days later. Eventually, though,
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  Speaker 1: Ripp's body was moved to a glass display case at
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  Speaker 1: City Hall where he couldn't be harmed any further. Now
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  Speaker 1: you might be wondering how a man could have survived
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  Speaker 1: thirty one years entombed in a Texas courthouse. But Old
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  Speaker 1: Rip wasn't a man, you see. He was a horn toad,
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  Speaker 1: named after that famous Washington Irving character, Rip van Winkle.
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  Speaker 1: Will Wood was just a boy when he caught Rip.
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  Speaker 1: His father, a justice of the piece, had brought Will
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  Speaker 1: to the dedication ceremony of that original courthouse and strangely enough,
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  Speaker 1: encouraged the boy to place the toad inside the stone.
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  Speaker 1: Everyone had forgotten about Ripped by the time the old
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  Speaker 1: courthouse came down, but when he was found alive inside,
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  Speaker 1: he became an instant celebrity. Wood was an adult in
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  Speaker 1: and he took his former pet on tour. His fame
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  Speaker 1: prompted Eastland Gas stations to start giving away toads as
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  Speaker 1: souvenirs to tourists. By the time he got to Dallas,
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  Speaker 1: though Wood was served a lawsuit by the town, which
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  Speaker 1: alleged that he had breached contract by taking old rips
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  Speaker 1: so far from his home. The toad was brought to
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  Speaker 1: the county jail before he and Wood traveled back to Eastland.
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  Speaker 1: After that, Rip traded a life on the road for
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  Speaker 1: a goldfish bowl filled with sand. But, as we discussed before,
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  Speaker 1: his retirement was cut short just a year after his
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  Speaker 1: release from the stone. But don't worry. He's still remembered
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  Speaker 1: today with a celebration called rip Fest, which is held
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  Speaker 1: every fall in the town of Eastland, and on the
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  Speaker 1: anniversary of his discovery inside the Cornerstone, children today can
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  Speaker 1: go to the courtroom of Eastland County Judge Rex Fields
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  Speaker 1: to swear that the legend is true. No one, not
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  Speaker 1: even a miraculous horn toad, can escape death forever. But
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  Speaker 1: his survival is a reminder to us to make the
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  Speaker 1: most to our lives and to leave a lasting impression
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  Speaker 1: on the people closest to us, because sooner or later
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  Speaker 1: we're all going to croak. I hope you've enjoyed today's
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  Speaker 1: guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free
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  Speaker 1: on Apple podcasts, or learn more about the show by
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  Speaker 1: visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created by
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  Speaker 1: me Aaron Manky in partnership with how Stuff Works. I
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  Speaker 1: make another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast,
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  Speaker 1: book series, and television show and you can learn all
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  Speaker 1: about it over at the World of Lore dot com.
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  Speaker 1: And until next time, stay curious. Ye