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Tower of Weird · 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: Long before it haunted medieval stories, the Bacterium Yoursenia pestis
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  Speaker 1: emerged on the steps of Central Asia, setting the stage
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  Speaker 1: for a catastrophe that would later be remembered across Europe
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  Speaker 1: as the Black Death. In the thirteen hundreds, it was
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  Speaker 1: carried westward in caravans on the Silk Road, and in
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  Speaker 1: thirteen forty seven it made itself known to the population
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  Speaker 1: of Europe in horrifying fashion in the town of Messina,
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  Speaker 1: when twelve ships docked from the Black Sea. Port workers
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  Speaker 1: and onlookers were horrified to discover that the bulk of
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  Speaker 1: the sailors aboard each of the ships had died, covered
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  Speaker 1: in black boils. And in the many years to follow
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  Speaker 1: it would decimate nations and in one case may have
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  Speaker 1: actually been used as the first instance of biological warfare
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  Speaker 1: in the fourteenth century, Crimea was a hotspot for commerce,
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  Speaker 1: and the Republic of Genoa now northern Italy, had a
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  Speaker 1: trading outpost in Kafa, where enslave people's silk and foodstuffs
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  Speaker 1: were bought and sold. But the Genoese town stood as
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  Speaker 1: an affront to the Golden Horde, an offshoot of the
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  Speaker 1: Mongolian Empire under the rule of Khan Johnny Beg. Due
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  Speaker 1: to religious differences and trade disagreements, the Khan found the
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  Speaker 1: Genoese troublesome, and after a massive brawl between Muslims and
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  Speaker 1: Christians in the city of Tana, they laid siege to
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  Speaker 1: that city. The Genoese escaped to Kafa, another trading post
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  Speaker 1: long allowed by the Golden Horde, and continued their business there,
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  Speaker 1: but the Khan had grown tired of the Genoese. Tensions
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  Speaker 1: rose enough that the Genoese government sent a fleet to Kafa,
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  Speaker 1: including a considerable number of soldiers, to fortify the settlement's defenses.
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  Speaker 1: It was the end of August in thirteen forty six
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  Speaker 1: when the Golden Horde arrived to surround Kafa with an
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  Speaker 1: army numbering in the thousands. They began the work of
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  Speaker 1: laying siege to the city, digging trenches and building siege
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  Speaker 1: towers from which to attack. Any attempt by the Genoese
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  Speaker 1: to halt their action was violently pushed back, and so
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  Speaker 1: by early September, as stones flew from trebuchets and archers
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  Speaker 1: sent cascades of arrows over the city walls, the Genoese
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  Speaker 1: were cut off from any reinforcements or supplies that could
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  Speaker 1: ever come by land. Their attackers did not go unscathed,
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  Speaker 1: though the plague had entered the Mongol camp with the
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  Speaker 1: rats and quickly began infecting their army. Now historians all
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  Speaker 1: agree that the plague eventually did spread on to the Genoese,
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  Speaker 1: but a particular story emerged to explain how. You see.
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  Speaker 1: In addition to the stones and arrows that the Golden
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  Speaker 1: Horde hurled over the walls of the city, they also
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  Speaker 1: began launching the bodies of their plague victims, and as
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  Speaker 1: the defenders inside the walls attempted to remove those bodies,
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  Speaker 1: the disease began to infect them too. As a result,
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  Speaker 1: the Genoese found themselves increasingly outnumbered as their own fell
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  Speaker 1: to the plague. In desperation, they came up with a
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  Speaker 1: daring plan. Under the cover of night, they slipped out
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  Speaker 1: from the city walls and set fire to the trebuchets
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  Speaker 1: and siege engines that had caused so much destruction, attacking
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  Speaker 1: those who came to fight the blaze. By the time
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  Speaker 1: they made it back to the city, they had managed
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  Speaker 1: to kill a large number of their attackers, although not
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  Speaker 1: nearly enough to make a difference. In the end. It
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  Speaker 1: wasn't clever warfare that finally ended the siege. It was
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  Speaker 1: a second wave of plague that swept through the Golden Horde,
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  Speaker 1: killing nearly a third of their entire army. This massive
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  Speaker 1: blow made the CON's campaign increasingly untenable. On the fourth
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  Speaker 1: of October, the Khan made the decision to abandon Kafa.
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  Speaker 1: His men retreated, leaving the besieged city to the Genoese.
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  Speaker 1: It could hardly be described as a victory, though their
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  Speaker 1: own ranks had been ravaged, and the boatloads of victims
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  Speaker 1: that they had sent to other ports only helped us
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  Speaker 1: spread the Black Death across Europe. It was the first
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  Speaker 1: wave of a pandemic that a claim between a quarter
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  Speaker 1: and one third of the entire population of Europe. The
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  Speaker 1: siege of Kafa illustrates how a single flashpoints can intertwine warfare, trade,
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  Speaker 1: and disease into a torrent that reshapes continents. Although the
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  Speaker 1: Genoese managed to hold the city, the conditions created by
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  Speaker 1: the siege created a series of channels for the Black
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  Speaker 1: Death to make its way into Europe. Whether or not
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  Speaker 1: the Golden Horde truly catapulted plague infested corpses over the
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  Speaker 1: walls remains a topic of debate, but the legacy of
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  Speaker 1: the siege reminds us that the consequences of warfare extend
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  Speaker 1: far beyond the battlefield, creating tragedies that echo down to
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  Speaker 1: us through history. Austin, Texas is home to its fair
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  Speaker 1: share of skyscrapers. The city slogan keep Austin Weird is
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  Speaker 1: exemplified in the unusual designs that are used in buildings
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  Speaker 1: all over the city, from a power plant built in
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  Speaker 1: an Art Deco style to the lonely moonlight towers illuminating
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  Speaker 1: the city at night. Austinites have been redefining urban architecture
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  Speaker 1: for decades, and perhaps no one more than the artist
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  Speaker 1: Vince Hanneman. In nineteen eighty eight, Vince began creating what
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  Speaker 1: has become Austin's most unusual structure, and he did it
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  Speaker 1: in his very own backyard. Weighing over sixty tons and
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  Speaker 1: standing more than thirty feet high, it is much smaller
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  Speaker 1: than the skyscrapers a few blocks north. But what makes
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  Speaker 1: this tower so special are the materials used in its construction.
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  Speaker 1: Aside from a few iron trusses, Vince's entire backyard structure
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  Speaker 1: is made of junk. It started with Vince seeking out
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  Speaker 1: heavy pieces of mass produced materials, but most of the
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  Speaker 1: structure today is made from donations local schools, closing businesses,
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  Speaker 1: tour groups of other artisans. They all bring something to contribute.
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  Speaker 1: You might be picturing a massive pile of trash in
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  Speaker 1: someone's backyard, but Vince's build is much more artistic than that.
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  Speaker 1: The central tower of the structure is mostly discarded car
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  Speaker 1: bumpers and old plumbing equipment, with a thrown room at
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  Speaker 1: its center. An old red recliner welded to a mountain
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  Speaker 1: of old bicycle parts sits in the middle, and on
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  Speaker 1: either side of it are staircases made of rusting brass
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  Speaker 1: instruments and pieces of iron fences. The cathedral of junk
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  Speaker 1: has quite a few levels and the structures are sound
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  Speaker 1: enough for most people to ascend them. The second floor
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  Speaker 1: of the cathedral contains a lookout point where visitors can
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  Speaker 1: see the Austin skyline from Vince's own backyard. But one
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  Speaker 1: issue here is that you can also see Vince's cathedral
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  Speaker 1: from pretty far away. Is see. Austin might embrace its
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  Speaker 1: weird side and lean into creativity more than a lot
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  Speaker 1: of other cities, but that doesn't mean that Vince's neighbors
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  Speaker 1: are all that thrilled to be living next door to
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  Speaker 1: this particular public piece of art. From some perspectives, the
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  Speaker 1: cathedral is basically just a pyramid of trash in someone's backyard,
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  Speaker 1: and so a few of the neighbors formed a group
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  Speaker 1: and they complained to the City of Austin. At first,
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  Speaker 1: they tried to get the whole thing demolished. Unfortunately, Texas
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  Speaker 1: is big on personal freedoms, and the local government wasn't
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  Speaker 1: keen to remove a community landmark just because some people
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  Speaker 1: thought that it was an iore, which is why in
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  Speaker 1: twenty ten that same group of neighbors got the Austin
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  Speaker 1: Code Department involved. Maybe there wasn't much that you could
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  Speaker 1: do about someone's backyard landscaping. But how could anyone be
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  Speaker 1: sure the building was even safe if a bad storm
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  Speaker 1: or a tornado came their way. What was to stop
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  Speaker 1: debris from flying out from Vince's backyard and straight through
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  Speaker 1: a neighbor's roof or window. When Vince learned the cathedral
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  Speaker 1: would be subjected to dozens of inspections, he thought about
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  Speaker 1: throwing in the towel right then and there. He had
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  Speaker 1: enjoyed making it, certainly, but he had never intended to
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  Speaker 1: make junk building his entire life. But like all good Texans,
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  Speaker 1: Vince believed a person should be able to do what
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  Speaker 1: they pleased with their own property. His mind was made up.
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  Speaker 1: Let the inspections begin, and so they did. City officials
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  Speaker 1: poked and prodded every inch of Vince's creation, looking for
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  Speaker 1: weak spots, and they found virtually none. This thing is
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  Speaker 1: built to withstand Texas storms, Vince boasted to one man
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  Speaker 1: who did his best to shake the base of the structure. Engineers, inspectors,
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  Speaker 1: public safety officers all did their best to find a flaw.
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  Speaker 1: In the end, only one thing had to go. As
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  Speaker 1: Vince describes it, I called it the TV pyramid. About
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  Speaker 1: two hundred old screens i'd stacked together. One guy told me,
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  Speaker 1: this isn't a pyramid, this is just a pile. And
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  Speaker 1: I told him, well, what kind of pile experts are you?
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  Speaker 1: Aren't we just a kind of pile. The engineer was
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  Speaker 1: unmoved by this philosophical question, though, and the pyramid came down. Today,
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  Speaker 1: they have been moved to a smaller zen garden of TVs.
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  Speaker 1: Vince is still welcoming guests into his backyard cathedral. He's
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  Speaker 1: happy to answer question stus about where things came from
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  Speaker 1: or how he put them together. But that isn't what
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  Speaker 1: everyone wants to know, Vince says. People ask me all
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  Speaker 1: the time, what made you want to do this like
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  Speaker 1: it had some sort of profound meaning. I just did
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  Speaker 1: it because I liked it, and when I stop liking it,
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  Speaker 1: I'll take it down. And as for those who love
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  Speaker 1: what Vince has done for Austin's artistic community, they hope
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  Speaker 1: that day never comes. I hope you enjoyed today's guided
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  Speaker 1: tour through the Cabinet of Curiosities. This show was created
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  Speaker 1: by me Aaron Manke in partnership with iHeart Podcasts, researched
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  Speaker 1: and written by the Grim and Mild team. And produced
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  Speaker 1: by Jesse Funk. Learn more about the show and the
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  Speaker 1: people who make it over at Grimandmild dot com slash Curiosities.
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  Speaker 1: You'll also find a link to the official Cabinet of
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  Speaker 1: Curiosity's hardcover book, available in bookstores and online, as well
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  Speaker 1: as ebook and audiobook. And if you're looking for an
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  Speaker 1: ad free option, consider joining our Patreon. It's all the
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  Speaker 1: same stories, but without the interruption for a small monthly fee.
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  Speaker 1: Learn more and sign up over at patreon dot com,
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  Speaker 1: slash Grimandmild, and until next time, stay curious.