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Tall Order · 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 are
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  Speaker 1: right there on display, just waiting for us to explore.
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  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. Some guys just feel
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  Speaker 1: like they have something to prove. How else would you
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  Speaker 1: explain someone like Jeffrey Hudson Born in England in sixteen nineteen.
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  Speaker 1: Jeffreys family worked under British Royalty as keepers of their livestock.
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  Speaker 1: The Duchess of Buckingham took particular interest in Jeffrey when
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  Speaker 1: he was very young, and invited him to become part
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  Speaker 1: of the family. They were so infatuated with him, in fact,
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  Speaker 1: that they thought it would be selfish to keep him
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  Speaker 1: to themselves. Months after Jeffrey joined the Duchess's household, he
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  Speaker 1: was presented to King Charles the First and his wife,
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  Speaker 1: Queen Henrietta Maria at a grand feast in their honor.
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  Speaker 1: As the dinner came to a close and dessert was
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  Speaker 1: being served, the young Jeffrey popped out of a pie
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  Speaker 1: before the Queen, clad in a suit of armor. The
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  Speaker 1: site was terribly amusing, and the Duke and Duchess gifted
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  Speaker 1: Jeffrey to the King and Queen. Jeffrey moved in with
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  Speaker 1: his new royal parents, so to speak, and got along
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  Speaker 1: quite well with the rest of the household. His cuteness, however,
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  Speaker 1: began to fade as he grew up, and so to
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  Speaker 1: maintain favor with the royal family, he started wearing elaborate
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  Speaker 1: costumes and telling jokes to entertain them. He became known
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  Speaker 1: as quite the wit among the nobles who visited the
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  Speaker 1: King and Queen. His talents once took him all the
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  Speaker 1: way to the French court, but upon his return to England,
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  Speaker 1: his ship was besieged by a band of pirates. He
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  Speaker 1: escaped unharmed and resumed his life among his royal family.
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  Speaker 1: Though they saw him as nothing more than a clown,
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  Speaker 1: they nevertheless educated him in all the various customs of
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  Speaker 1: the court, including horseback and shooting. He was also raised
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  Speaker 1: in the Roman Catholic Church. He was never a royal himself,
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  Speaker 1: but he was cared for as if he had been
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  Speaker 1: born one. In the sixteen forties, as tension between King
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  Speaker 1: Charles and Parliament rose over a coming Irish insurrection, Queen
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  Speaker 1: Henrietta fled to the Netherlands with several members of her house,
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  Speaker 1: including Jeffrey. He tried to use his unique skills to
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  Speaker 1: help drum up support and funds for the King's crusade,
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  Speaker 1: but proved unsuccessful with the Protestant Dutch government. With no
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  Speaker 1: other way out of the coming war, the queen returned
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  Speaker 1: to her husband, who had already begun to fight. The
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  Speaker 1: war grew more violent in the subsequent months, and the
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  Speaker 1: Queen knew that she had to get out if she
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  Speaker 1: hoped to survive. Just as she had done before, she
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  Speaker 1: gathered her courtiers and Jeffrey, and this time escaped to France,
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  Speaker 1: where he eventually grew tired of being her court jester.
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  Speaker 1: He stopped performing and started standing up for himself. It's
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  Speaker 1: unknown exactly what transpired between Jeffrey and the brother of
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  Speaker 1: English Baron William Croft when he was there in France,
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  Speaker 1: but it had been offensive enough for the young Mr
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  Speaker 1: Hudson to challenge the man to a duel. The craft brother,
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  Speaker 1: thinking the whole affair nothing but a joke, arrived with
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  Speaker 1: a kind of seventeenth century squirt gun an insult to Jeffrey.
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  Speaker 1: When the time came for them to draw their weapons,
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  Speaker 1: Jeffrey aimed his pistol and fired at the arrogant Mr. Croft.
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  Speaker 1: A bullet hit him square between the eyes and killed him.
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  Speaker 1: Unbeknownst to Jeffrey, dueling was considered illegal, and seeing as
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  Speaker 1: how he had murdered a man from a very powerful family,
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  Speaker 1: he was quickly sentenced to death. Thankfully, at the last minute,
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  Speaker 1: Queen Henrietta managed to step in and get his sentence commuted.
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  Speaker 1: Rather than hang for his crime, her surrogate son was
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  Speaker 1: exiled back to England. Jeffrey led a fairly charmed life,
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  Speaker 1: especially compared to others in the royal court. The Queen
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  Speaker 1: often looked after him as though he were her own child,
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  Speaker 1: and in a way he was. At least that's how
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  Speaker 1: she saw him. Jeffrey, however, didn't see it that way.
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  Speaker 1: To him, he was no more than a pet, a novelty,
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  Speaker 1: something to amuse the rich elites. You see, Sir Jeffrey
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  Speaker 1: Hudson was only eighteen inches tall. What happened to him
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  Speaker 1: in the months following his exile is largely unknown to us. However,
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  Speaker 1: it's been noted that he was captured by Barbary pilots
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  Speaker 1: and shipped in North Africa, where he was entered into
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  Speaker 1: slavery for twenty five years. During his time there, he
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  Speaker 1: was said to have grown to forty five inches tall,
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  Speaker 1: putting him at a final height of three feet nine inches. Eventually,
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  Speaker 1: Jeffrey returned to England, but not to the Queen's court.
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  Speaker 1: He soon found himself imprisoned once again, during a time
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  Speaker 1: when Catholics were under persecution by the English crown. He
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  Speaker 1: died in sixteen eighty two, penniless and buried in an
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  Speaker 1: unmarked grave. It seems that in both life and death,
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  Speaker 1: Sir Jeffrey Hudson came up short. George and Sylvia Stickney
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  Speaker 1: didn't have it easy living in eighteen thirties Illinois. They
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  Speaker 1: were considered a bit odd, though they could hardly be blamed.
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  Speaker 1: Their lives together had been defined by tragedy. While they'd
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  Speaker 1: had ten children together, only three had made it to adulthood,
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  Speaker 1: and the deaths of the other seven had affected them
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  Speaker 1: in ways others could just not comprehend. They desperately longed
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  Speaker 1: to see and talk to their children again, and that
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  Speaker 1: desperation drove them to explore more spiritual avenues of communication.
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  Speaker 1: Through their extensive research, they believed the dead could speak
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  Speaker 1: to and through the living using others as vessels for
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  Speaker 1: their messages. However, friends and neighbors didn't know what to
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  Speaker 1: make of the Stickney's new belief. They considered it devil worship.
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  Speaker 1: Others ran from anything having to do with ghosts or spirits.
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  Speaker 1: Rumors started to take on a life of their own, though,
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  Speaker 1: and the Stickneys knew they needed to go somewhere safe,
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  Speaker 1: a private place where they could conduct seances and talk
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  Speaker 1: with their loved ones without judgment. They sought out a
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  Speaker 1: plot of land about an hour north of Chicago. It
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  Speaker 1: was a remote area off the beaten path, far from
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  Speaker 1: the gossip of the suburbs, where they could start their
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  Speaker 1: lives anew. George had a plan for his new home.
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  Speaker 1: It would be two stories tall, with all the living
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  Speaker 1: quarters constructed on the first floor. The second floor would
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  Speaker 1: house a beautiful ball room where the Stickneys could conduct
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  Speaker 1: seances for themselves as well as for people from all
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  Speaker 1: over Illinois looking to reconnect with the dead. There was
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  Speaker 1: just one problem, how to build it. During their investigation
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  Speaker 1: into spiritualism, George and Sylvia learned that spirits often got
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  Speaker 1: trapped in corners, unable to pass through the house. Unhindered
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  Speaker 1: To mitigate that problem, George came up with a unique
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  Speaker 1: floor plan, no sharp angles. Every room in the house
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  Speaker 1: was designed without ninety degree angles, thus allowing ghosts to
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  Speaker 1: move about freely along their circular walls. This is clearly
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  Speaker 1: visible from the outside of the home, which has been
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  Speaker 1: fashioned out of brick with rounded edges. The Stickney has
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  Speaker 1: lived in near solitude, except for those occasions when they
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  Speaker 1: would assist the grief stricken. After George passed away, Sylvia
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  Speaker 1: continued to live in the house and conduct seances on
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  Speaker 1: her own. She became a bit of a celebrity in
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  Speaker 1: Illinois and even remained in contact with her late husband
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  Speaker 1: and their children. Eventually, Mrs Stickney passed away as well,
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  Speaker 1: and the home was sold to new owners. Despite the
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  Speaker 1: house's unique design and the former owner's eccentric work, no
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  Speaker 1: one ever complained about hauntings or strange happenings, not until
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  Speaker 1: a man named Roderick Smith moved in in the nineteen seventies.
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  Speaker 1: During his stay, he claimed he heard strange noises throughout
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  Speaker 1: the house. His dogs would be found barking at absolutely nothing,
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  Speaker 1: perhaps they what their master could not. Over time, the
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  Speaker 1: Stickney House earned a reputation as a hangout for devil
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  Speaker 1: worshippers who performed black magic rituals to conjure evil spirits.
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  Speaker 1: It didn't help that the local real estate ad for
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  Speaker 1: the house depicted a woman in a white wedding dress
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  Speaker 1: looking out the window. According to the photographer at the time,
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  Speaker 1: no one had been in the home when he took
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  Speaker 1: the picture. Today, however, the house is occupied by the
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  Speaker 1: Bull Valley Police Department, and they have no problem with
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  Speaker 1: the home's former owners nor the supernatural circumstances surrounding the
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  Speaker 1: building's history. Although people do still have questions about George Stickney,
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  Speaker 1: whose death remains a mystery to this day. Legend has
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  Speaker 1: it that his wife found him dead of heart failure,
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  Speaker 1: with a look of horror stretched across his face. The
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  Speaker 1: reason the architect who designed the house had accidentally overlooked
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  Speaker 1: a single ninety degree corner. When George's heart gave out,
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  Speaker 1: he apparently saw where he was standing and realized his
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  Speaker 1: soul would be trapped forever. I'm not suggesting the architect
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  Speaker 1: did it on purpose, but it certainly sounds like he
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  Speaker 1: painted George into a corner. 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.