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Self-Made · Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Menke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
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  Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grim & 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. If you grew up
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  Speaker 2: in America, you're familiar with this story. A barefoot wanderer
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  Speaker 2: dressed in rags with a tin pot on his head
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  Speaker 2: and a burlap sack filled with seeds in his hands.
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  Speaker 2: He was said to radiate kindness. He was a friend
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  Speaker 2: to man and animal, never met a stranger he couldn't
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  Speaker 2: call a friend, and he blanketed the country with apple trees.
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  Speaker 2: His fame spread far and wide and inspired stories and songs,
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  Speaker 2: as well as a 1948 animated feature by Walt Disney himself,
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  Speaker 2: that helped to cement his legend for new generations. Johnny
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  Speaker 2: Appleseed was a sort of American St. Francis, pure and good,
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  Speaker 2: a man whose kindness and generosity were universally beloved, a
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  Speaker 2: man whose wealth could be counted in apple blossoms and
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  Speaker 2: not dollars. And believe it or not, these stories aren't
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  Speaker 2: too far off the actual mark. John Chapman was born
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  Speaker 2: in 1774 to a revolutionary Minuteman, At the age of two,
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  Speaker 2: his mother died giving birth to one of his siblings.
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  Speaker 2: His father remarried, and eventually the Chapman household would welcome
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  Speaker 2: an additional 10 children. Beyond that, we don't know very
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  Speaker 2: much about his early family life. We do know that
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  Speaker 2: by the mid-1790s, he was living in western Pennsylvania in
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  Speaker 2: a cabin on Pittsburgh's Grant Hill.
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  Speaker 1: There, he tended a small orchard. At the same time,
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  Speaker 1: German cider mills were popping up south of the city.
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  Speaker 1: An investigation by Chapman revealed that within the piles of
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  Speaker 1: leftover pulp from the cider presses were a bevy of
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  Speaker 1: usable seeds. He saw an opportunity in those seeds. You see,
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  Speaker 1: the Ohio Company of Associates, a land speculation and settlement company,
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  Speaker 1: had just announced that settlers could claim 100 acres of
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  Speaker 1: frontier property on the condition that they plant 50 apple
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  Speaker 1: trees in and 20 peach trees to prove that they
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  Speaker 1: would stay permanently. And so Chapman began to collect the
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  Speaker 1: discarded seeds from the cider breweries, and then struck out
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  Speaker 1: for the territories himself, planting nurseries strategically as he went,
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  Speaker 1: near water sources and travel routes, and near growing settlements.
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  Speaker 1: And then he would wander on, only to return years
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  Speaker 1: later to sell the orchard to local farmers. And in
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  Speaker 1: doing so, he made himself a singular supplier capable of
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  Speaker 1: serving the settlers that followed behind. That's not to say
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  Speaker 1: that he was some reptilian businessman. There is much truth
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  Speaker 1: to the legend of the sort of man that he was.
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  Speaker 1: John Chapman was religious and a deeply spiritual man. He
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  Speaker 1: believed in the virtues of living a simple life and
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  Speaker 1: frequently would give sermons on the topic as he traveled.
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  Speaker 1: And he walked the walk quite literally. He lived as
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  Speaker 1: a pauper, frequently walking barefoot, and traded apple trees for
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  Speaker 1: secondhand clothes. His religion also had bearing on how he
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  Speaker 1: grew his trees. You see, he believed deeply in the
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  Speaker 1: welfare of all living beings. There are accounts of him
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  Speaker 1: refusing to swap mosquitoes, and that respect extended to the
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  Speaker 1: plants that he tended. Most of the apples we get
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  Speaker 1: from stores come from limbs that were grafted onto other trees,
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  Speaker 1: so that the farmer has full control over the type
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  Speaker 1: of apples he can get. Apples are also notoriously finicky,
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  Speaker 1: genetically speaking, and so apples grown from seed are more
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  Speaker 1: likely to be unpleasantly sour and are usually only good
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  Speaker 1: for fermentation into alcoholic cider. But John's faith told him
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  Speaker 1: that it was unjust, that grafting caused the trees to suffer,
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  Speaker 1: and so the cider that came from his trees was
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  Speaker 1: frequently used as medicine or occasionally as currency. John Chapman
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  Speaker 1: traveled for 50 years. In that time, he accumulated 1,200
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  Speaker 1: acres of nurseries, and in 1842, he finally settled in
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  Speaker 1: Ohio at the home of his brother. Three years later,
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  Speaker 1: he caught pneumonia while visiting a friend, and he passed away.
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  Speaker 1: Sometimes knowing the full story makes a person come to life.
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  Speaker 1: And I think we shortchange John Chapman by simply flattening
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  Speaker 1: him into the legendary figure of Johnny Appleseed. We lose
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  Speaker 1: so much of his character. And in a world where
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  Speaker 1: we need more charity, mercy, and an occasional grounding, I
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  Speaker 1: feel like that's a loss. Johnny Appleseed gave those things
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  Speaker 1: to us. A hero to root for. A saint. But
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  Speaker 1: we also forget that John Chapman's particular genius was that
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  Speaker 1: he had a vision. He was capable of seeing value
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  Speaker 1: where no one else thought to look. In a pile
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  Speaker 1: of apple pulp, he saw compassion and conservation. Some heads
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  Speaker 1: of state are born into leadership. Others are elected by
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  Speaker 1: their citizens. And some have to invent their own kingdoms
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  Speaker 1: to rule. And that last category summarizes the life of
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  Speaker 1: a French adventurer named Marie-Charles-David de Maréna, better remembered as
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  Speaker 1: the King of Sedan. Born in France in 1842, the
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  Speaker 1: first 40 years of Maréna' s life were somewhat less than regal.
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  Speaker 1: He fled Paris in 1883 to escape embezzlement charges and
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  Speaker 1: eventually ended up running a plantation in Vietnam. While there,
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  Speaker 1: the daring ex-con saw a brilliant opportunity to expand his fortunes,
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  Speaker 1: He convinced the French government to appoint him as an
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  Speaker 1: envoy to negotiate treaties with the local tribespeople. Now, Morena
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  Speaker 1: had no diplomatic experience, but he did have charisma and ambition,
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  Speaker 1: and that was enough to convince French officials that he
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  Speaker 1: was the right man for the job. So, with the
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  Speaker 1: blessing of the French government and the assistance of a
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  Speaker 1: local missionary priest, Morena donned a military uniform and ventured
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  Speaker 1: into the highlands to meet with tribal leaders. His task,
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  Speaker 1: simply put, was to convince the leaders to give their
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  Speaker 1: territory over to France. But Morena had other plans. Instead
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  Speaker 1: of asking them to ally with France, he convinced them
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  Speaker 1: to band together and form a new kingdom of their own,
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  Speaker 1: called Sedang, with him as the king. And he was
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  Speaker 1: so persuasive that they actually agreed. Morena, now styled as
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  Speaker 1: King Marie I, briefly ruled over about 15,000 square miles
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  Speaker 1: of territory. He drafted a constitution, designed a flag, created
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  Speaker 1: an army, appointed nobles, and even issued postage stamps. By
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  Speaker 1: every official measure, Sa Dong was a European-style monarchy in
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  Speaker 1: the middle of the Vietnamese highlands. But like everything Morena did,
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  Speaker 1: this wasn't just about pomp and circumstance. It was also
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  Speaker 1: a get-rich-quick scheme. Because, surprise, surprise, some people take power
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  Speaker 1: simply to line their pockets. Within a few months of
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  Speaker 1: double-crossing the French government to claim this territory as his own,
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  Speaker 1: Morena returned to France and made the tour of high
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  Speaker 1: society parties and cafes, selling noble titles and medals of
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  Speaker 1: honor to anyone who would pledge support to Sedan. He
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  Speaker 1: also approached French officials and offered to cede his kingdom
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  Speaker 1: to them in exchange for a monopoly on the region's
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  Speaker 1: mineral rights. But the French didn't bite. They refused to
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  Speaker 1: negotiate with Sedang, which, in their view, was an illegitimate
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  Speaker 1: regime that should never have existed at all. And so
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  Speaker 1: Morena went to the British with a similar offer, but
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  Speaker 1: they were equally skeptical. Even with his royal title and
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  Speaker 1: medals of honor, no one would take him seriously as
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  Speaker 1: a head of state. And while he was gallivanting across
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  Speaker 1: Europe trying to earn recognition, the political situation in Vietnam
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  Speaker 1: was marching on without him. By the time Morena returned
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  Speaker 1: to Southeast Asia, he was stopped at the port by
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  Speaker 1: a French naval blockade. While he was gone, the French
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  Speaker 1: military had closed in on Sedang and taken control of
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  Speaker 1: the whole region. They refused to allow the king of
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  Speaker 1: Sedang to return to what was once, at least briefly,
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  Speaker 1: his kingdom. Dejected, Morena sought refuge on an island off
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  Speaker 1: the Malay Peninsula, where he soon died under unclear circumstances.
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  Speaker 1: And without him, the kingdom of Sedang vanished just as
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  Speaker 1: quickly as it had appeared. I hope you enjoyed today's
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  Speaker 1: guided tour through the Cabinet of Curiosities. This show was
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  Speaker 1: created by me, Aaron Manke, in partnership with iHeart Podcasts,
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  Speaker 1: researched and written by the Grim & Mild team, and
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  Speaker 1: produced by Jesse Funk. Learn more about the show and
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  Speaker 1: the people who make it over at grimandmild.com slash curiosities.
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  Speaker 1: You'll also find a link to the official Cabinet of
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: Curiosities hardcover book, available in bookstores and online, as well
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  Speaker 1: as ebook and audiobooks. And if you're looking for an
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  Speaker 1: ad-free option, consider joining our Patreon. It's all the same stories,
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: but without the interruption for a small monthly fee. Learn
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: more and sign up over at patreon.com slash grim and mild.
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  Speaker 1: And until next time, stay curious.