Transcript

10.30.26 · History Hour

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Speaker 1: Thunder, lightning, and flickering candles. It sounds like the stuff
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Speaker 1: of a horror story. And for Mary Shelley, it was.
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Speaker 1: She wrote her masterpiece, Frankenstein, when she was just 19
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Speaker 1: years old. And the dark, stormy summer nights... that helped
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Speaker 1: bring her monstrous creation to life, or nearly as dramatic
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Speaker 1: as the novel itself. Welcome! This is a special Halloween
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Speaker 1: edition of Radio Eye History. I'm your host, Joseph Bolt.
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Speaker 1: Glad to be with you on this spooky moment. And
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Speaker 1: before we begin today's show, I just want to remind
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Speaker 1: you that Radio Eye is listener-driven, and we welcome any
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Speaker 1: of your comments or suggestions about our programming. So if
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Speaker 1: you have any thoughts, please call us at 859-422-6390 and
1:16
Speaker 1: let us know what you are thinking. As you know,
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Speaker 1: Radio Eye is a reading service intended for people who
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Speaker 1: are blind or have other disabilities that make it difficult
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Speaker 1: to read printed material. Now, let's get back to Mary
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Speaker 1: Shelley and Frankenstein. Strangely enough, the saga of Frankenstein started
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Speaker 1: not with a vision, but with a volcano. In 1815,
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Speaker 1: a gigantic volcanic eruption at Mount Tambora in Indonesia choked
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Speaker 1: the air with ash and dust. The eruption killed roughly 100,000
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Speaker 1: people in its immediate aftermath, but the overall toll ended
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Speaker 1: up being much higher and now is considered to be
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Speaker 1: the deadliest volcano eruption in history. The next summer, the
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Speaker 1: warm growing season never came. Instead of sunshine, most of
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Speaker 1: Europe was covered in fog and even frost. Crop failures
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Speaker 1: stretched across Europe, Asia, and even North America for three
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Speaker 1: years afterward. Famines, epidemics, and political revolts followed. Historians estimate
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Speaker 1: that at least a million people starved in the aftermath
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Speaker 1: of Tambora's eruption. while tens of millions died from a
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Speaker 1: global cholera pandemic that it unleashed. During those three years
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Speaker 1: of darkness and famine, some of Europe's greatest artists created
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Speaker 1: their darkest and most enduring works. Mary Shelley was among them,
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Speaker 1: but when she arrived at Lake Geneva in May of 1816,
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Speaker 1: she was looking for a vacation not literary inspiration. Unfortunately,
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Speaker 1: the weather was so ghastly in Switzerland that she was
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Speaker 1: trapped inside nearly the entire time. Mary traveled with her lover,
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Speaker 1: poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, their four-month-old baby, and her stepsister,
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Speaker 1: Claire Claremont. At the time, Claire was pregnant with a
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Speaker 1: child by Lord Byron, the groundbreaking poet whose personal affairs
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Speaker 1: had made him one of England's most divisive celebrities. Most recently,
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Speaker 1: he had divorced his wife and, rumor had it, continued
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Speaker 1: an affair with his half-sister. Plagued by gossip and debt,
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Speaker 1: he decided to leave Europe. After Byron's departure, the obsessed
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Speaker 1: Clare convinced Mary and Percy to travel to Geneva with her.
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Speaker 1: A few days later, Byron, clearly unaware that Clare would
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Speaker 1: be there, arrived in town. Mary, who had eloped with
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Speaker 1: her married husband when she was just 17 and was
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Speaker 1: subsequently disowned by her intellectual family, sympathized with the scandalous
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Speaker 1: poet Percy and Byron, who had been fans of one
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Speaker 1: another's work, soon formed an intense friendship. They abandoned their
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Speaker 1: other travel plans and rented nearby properties along Lake Geneva.
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Speaker 1: During the frigid evenings, they gathered with the rest of
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Speaker 1: the group at the Villa Diodati, the stately mansion Byron
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Speaker 1: had rented for his stay along with John Polidori, his doctor.
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Speaker 1: They read poetry, they argued, and they talked late into
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Speaker 1: the night. The terrible weather kept them inside more often
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Speaker 1: than not. Thunder and lightning echoed through the villa, and
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Speaker 1: their conversations turned to one of the big debates of
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Speaker 1: the day, whether human corpses could be galvanized or reanimated,
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Speaker 1: I'm sorry, reanimated after death. Mary, who described herself as
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Speaker 1: a devout but nearly silent listener, sat near the men
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Speaker 1: and absorbed every word of their speculation about the limits
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Speaker 1: of modern medicine. As the days plotted on, conflicts between
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Speaker 1: the vacationers began to simmer Byron was annoyed by Claire's
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Speaker 1: attempts to enchant him. Mary had to fight off sexual
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Speaker 1: advances from Polidori, who had become obsessed with her. Percy
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Speaker 1: was depressed. By the time three days of rain trapped
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Speaker 1: them inside the villa, tensions had reached a boiling point.
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Speaker 1: They coped by reading horror stories and morbid poems. One
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Speaker 1: night as they sat in the candlelight darkness, Byron gave
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Speaker 1: them all a challenge. Write a ghost story that was
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Speaker 1: better than the ones they had just read. Inspired by
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Speaker 1: a tale of Byron's, Polidori immediately complied. His novella, rather,
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Speaker 1: The Empire, The Vampire, published in 1819, is the first
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Speaker 1: work of fiction to include a blood-sucking hero, which many
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Speaker 1: think was modeled on Byron himself. Mary wanted to write
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Speaker 1: a story, too, but she couldn't land on a subject. Quote,
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Speaker 1: I was asked each morning, and each morning I was
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Speaker 1: forced to rely with a mortifying negative, end quote. But
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Speaker 1: one sleepless night, as thunder and lightning echoed off the lake,
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Speaker 1: she had a vision. And she says, I saw the
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Speaker 1: hideous phantasm of a man stretched out. And went on
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Speaker 1: to say, and then, on the working of some powerful engine,
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Speaker 1: showed signs of life, end quote. The next morning, she
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Speaker 1: could say yes when she was asked if she had
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Speaker 1: a ghost story in mind. Her book, Frankenstein, or The
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Speaker 1: Modern Prometheus, incorporated the eerie setting of the villa Diodati
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Speaker 1: in the morbid conversations of the poets. The story she
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Speaker 1: later called her, quote, hideous progeny, end quote. Ask what
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Speaker 1: happens when men pretend they are gods, inspired perhaps by
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Speaker 1: by the hubris of the company she kept in Switzerland.
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Speaker 1: Though she did not know it, Mary's book, which was
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Speaker 1: published in 1818, would go on to revolutionize literature and
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Speaker 1: popular culture. But the lives of the vacationers did not
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Speaker 1: end happily. Polidori committed suicide in 1821. Percy Shelley drowned
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Speaker 1: during a freak storm in 1822, when he was just
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Speaker 1: 29 years old. Byron took Allegra, the daughter he had
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Speaker 1: with Claire, away from her mother and sent her to
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Speaker 1: a convent to be educated. She died there in 1822
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Speaker 1: at age five. Byron died in 1824 after contracting a fever.
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Speaker 1: Of the group, only Mary and Claire lived past age 50.
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Speaker 1: But the book, that creepy summer, inspired, and its terrifying
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Speaker 1: story of life after death, lives on today. That story
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Speaker 1: came from History.com. Frankenstein was born during a ghastly vacation
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Speaker 1: written by Aaron Blakemore in May 2025. Now let's read
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Speaker 1: a second story on this story. Halloween edition of Radio
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Speaker 1: Eye History. Cat got your tongue? This familiar question has
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Speaker 1: long been used to describe sudden silence. What makes the
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Speaker 1: expression memorable is its unsettling imagery, suggesting that something as
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Speaker 1: ordinary as a cat could somehow steal a person's ability
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Speaker 1: to speak. Yet, the origins of this phrase remain uncertain.
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Speaker 1: The first known written example appears in 1881, when the
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Speaker 1: illustrated magazine Bayou's Monthly noted, has the cat got your tongue,
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Speaker 1: as the children say? Over time, that strange idea has
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Speaker 1: given rise to a number of eerie explanations that attempt
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Speaker 1: to link the saying to real historical fears and practices.
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Speaker 1: We humans are wired to tell and appreciate stories, and
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Speaker 1: in the absence of a logical explanation for something, it's
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Speaker 1: only natural to invent one. A quote from Martha Barnett.
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Speaker 1: co-host of the radio show and podcast Away With Words.
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Speaker 1: She goes on to say, the more colorful the story,
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Speaker 1: the better it sticks. That's what happens with what linguists
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Speaker 1: call folk etymologies. Stories attempting to connect cats to silence
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Speaker 1: originate from sources as disparate as ancient religious traditions, the
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Speaker 1: harsh discipline of maritime life, and periods of intense superstition.
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Speaker 1: One common explanation links the phrase to ancient Egypt, where
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Speaker 1: cats held a prominent place in both daily life and
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Speaker 1: religious symbolism. Egyptians valued cats for protecting food supplies from
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Speaker 1: rodents and snakes, but they were also closely associated with
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Speaker 1: protection and divine power. The sun god Ray can take
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Speaker 1: on the forms of the great cat to defeat the
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Speaker 1: chaos serpent, Apep, a quote from Colleen Darnell, an Egyptologist.
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Speaker 1: author and educator. She says cats were also sacred to
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Speaker 1: the Egyptian god of the home, Basat, and millions were
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Speaker 1: mummified as votive offerings to the goddess of protection, end quote.
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Speaker 1: A popular but unsubstantiated theory claims that criminals, liars, or
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Speaker 1: those who committed religious offenses, had their tongues cut out
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Speaker 1: and offered to cats as punishment or sacrifice, creating a
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Speaker 1: literal expression for the idea of a cat taking someone's speech.
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Speaker 1: But Egyptologists have found no surviving evidence to support such
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Speaker 1: a practice. What historical sources do show is that harming
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Speaker 1: a cat could bring severe penalties, including death, and families
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Speaker 1: sometimes mourn the loss of a pet cat. Still, the
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Speaker 1: notion that sacred cats were associated with severed human tongues
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Speaker 1: remains one of the most persistent stories. Another explanation points
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Speaker 1: to Europe. during a period when cats were often viewed
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Speaker 1: with suspicion rather than affection. In the late Middle Ages
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Speaker 1: and into the early modern period, many Europeans believed cats
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Speaker 1: could act as familiars or supernatural companions that assisted witches
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Speaker 1: in casting spells or gathering information. Black cats in particular
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Speaker 1: became closely associated with witchcraft In some communities, they were
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Speaker 1: feared as shape-shifting witches or as animals capable of carrying curses.
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Speaker 1: At the time, the idea that a witch's cat might
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Speaker 1: steal someone's speech would not have seemed far-fetched. The challenge
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Speaker 1: with this theory is chronology. Although the association between cats
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Speaker 1: and witchcraft is well-documented, there is no clear evidence that
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Speaker 1: ties the belief directly to the phrase. Linguistic records do
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Speaker 1: not show cat got your tongue appearing during the height
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Speaker 1: of the European witch trials, suggesting the expression gained traction later.
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Speaker 1: The age of witches and magic is mostly past. by
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Speaker 1: the late 19th century. A quote from Michael Adams, a
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Speaker 1: professor of English and linguistics at Indiana University. He goes
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Speaker 1: on to say, if we had an instance of cat
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Speaker 1: got your tongue from the 17th century, it would be
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Speaker 1: a different story and easier to make a connection between
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Speaker 1: a witch's familiar and a cat who stole someone's tongue.
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Speaker 1: The theory considered most plausible involves a very different kind
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Speaker 1: of cat. Beginning in the 17th century, the British Royal Navy,
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Speaker 1: and later the U.S. Navy, used a whip known as
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Speaker 1: the cat-on-ine tails to discipline sailors. This instrument was designed
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Speaker 1: to inflict severe pain. It consisted of a handle attached
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Speaker 1: to nine cords, which tipped, each, rather, tipped with knots
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Speaker 1: or metal. Floggings were public and intended to enforce strict obedience.
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Speaker 1: Sailors who endured this kind of punishment were often left
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Speaker 1: physically weakened and emotionally shaken. Some historians believe a beaten
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Speaker 1: sailor might be too exhausted and fearful were traumatized to
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Speaker 1: speak afterwards. In that context, someone might ask whether the
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Speaker 1: cat had taken his tongue. Even though the cat-of-nine-tails folk
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Speaker 1: etymology is probably the most popular, I have a hard
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Speaker 1: time seeing how it works, says Adams. He goes on
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Speaker 1: to say, first, A ship's officer used the cat against
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Speaker 1: someone's chest, shoulder, and back. I've never heard of the
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Speaker 1: risk of losing a tongue from discipline with a cat
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Speaker 1: of nine tails. Second, the British Navy abandoned flogging by
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Speaker 1: any means as discipline in 1879. So it would be
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Speaker 1: odd indeed for people to start saying cat got your
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Speaker 1: tongue just as the cat wasn't used at all. The
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Speaker 1: phrase may have a far simpler explanation rooted in everyday behavior,
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Speaker 1: suggests anthropologist Sabina Magliocco. She argues that expression may have
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Speaker 1: grown out of playful teasing rather than fear or punishment.
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Speaker 1: Since cats are well known for swiping food from counters
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Speaker 1: and floors, it makes sense that children might tease the
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Speaker 1: shyer ones by asking, did the cat steal your tongue? Meaning,
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Speaker 1: is that why you're unable to speak? She explains. The
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Speaker 1: true origins of this strange phrase may never be known.
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Speaker 1: Folk etymology is a natural response to dead ends of
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Speaker 1: our knowledge without, or rather about, words and idioms, says Adams.
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Speaker 1: He goes on to say maybe someday we'll find the
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Speaker 1: crucial bit of information that solves the problem of Cat
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Speaker 1: Got Your Tongue. That story came from History.com, The Curious
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Speaker 1: and Creepy Origins of Cat Got Your Tongue, written by
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Speaker 1: Crystal Ponte in March of 2026. And now for our
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Speaker 1: final story. of Radio Eye's Halloween special. Comes from, again, History.com,
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Speaker 1: Why Do Witches Ride Brooms? The History Behind the Legend,
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Speaker 1: written by Sarah Pruitt in September 2026. The Evil Green-Skinned Witch.
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Speaker 1: flying on her magic broomstick, may be a Halloween icon
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Speaker 1: and a well-worn stereotype. But the actual history behind how
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Speaker 1: witches came to be associated with an everyday household object
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Speaker 1: is anything but dull. It's not clear exactly when the
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Speaker 1: broom itself was first invented, but the act of sweeping
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Speaker 1: goes back to ancient times when people likely used bunches
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Speaker 1: of thin sticks, reeds, or other natural fibers to sweep
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Speaker 1: aside dust or ash from a fire or hearth. As J.
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Speaker 1: Bryant Lauder writes, this household task even shows up in
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Speaker 1: the New Testament of the Bible, which dates to the
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Speaker 1: 1st and 2nd centuries A.D. The word broom comes from
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Speaker 1: the actual plant known as common broom or scotch broom,
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Speaker 1: which was used to make early sweeping devices. From the beginning,
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Speaker 1: brooms were associated primarily with women, and this household object
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Speaker 1: became a potent symbol of female domesticity. Despite brooms' association
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Speaker 1: with women's domestic duties, the first witch to confess to
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Speaker 1: riding a broom was a man, Guillaume Edelin. Edelin was
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Speaker 1: a priest from Saint-Germain-en-Laye near Paris. He was arrested in
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Speaker 1: 1453 and tried for witchcraft after publicly criticizing the Christian
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Speaker 1: church's warnings about witches. His confession came under torture and
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Speaker 1: he eventually repented but was still imprisoned for life. By
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Speaker 1: the time of Edelin's confession, the idea of witches riding
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Speaker 1: around on broomsticks was already well established. The earliest known
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Speaker 1: image of witches on brooms dates to 1451, when two
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Speaker 1: illustrations appeared in the French poet Martin Lefranc's manuscript of
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Speaker 1: The Defender of Ladies. In the two drawings, one woman
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Speaker 1: soars through the air on a broom and the other
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Speaker 1: flies aboard a plain white stick. Both wear headscarves that
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Speaker 1: identify them as Waldensians, or members of a Christian sect
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Speaker 1: founded in the 12th century and branded as heretics by
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Speaker 1: the Catholic Church, partly because they allowed women to become priests.
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Speaker 1: Anthologist Robin Skelton suggests the association between witches and brooms
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Speaker 1: may have roots in a pagan fertility ritual in which
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Speaker 1: rural farmers would leap and dance astride poles, pitchforks, or
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Speaker 1: brooms in the light of the full moon to encourage
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Speaker 1: the growth of their crops. This broomstick dance, she writes,
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Speaker 1: became confused with common accounts of witches flying past through
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Speaker 1: the night on their way to sexually tinged activities. Broomsticks
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Speaker 1: were also thought to be the perfect vehicles for the
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Speaker 1: special ointments and salves that witches brewed up to give
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Speaker 1: themselves the ability to fly, among other depraved activities. In 1324,
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Speaker 1: when the wealthy Irish widow, Dame Alice Kittler, was tried
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Speaker 1: for sorcery and heresy, investigators reported that in searching Kittler's
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Speaker 1: house they found a pipe of ointment, wherewith she greased
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Speaker 1: a staff, upon which she ambled and galloped through thick
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Speaker 1: and thin. Pharmacologist David Crowell writes in Forbes that that
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Speaker 1: alleged witches in the Middle Ages were thought to concoct
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Speaker 1: their brews from such plants as deadly nightshade, henbane, mandrake,
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Speaker 1: and gypsum weed, all of which produce hallucinogenic compounds known
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Speaker 1: as tropane alkaloids. According to some historical accounts, rather than
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Speaker 1: ingest these mind-altering substances by eating or drinking, which would
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Speaker 1: have caused intestinal distress, Witches chose to absorb them through
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Speaker 1: the skin. It's impossible to know whether such stories reported
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Speaker 1: at the height of anxiety over witchcraft in Europe in
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Speaker 1: the Middle Ages reflected reality or not. Most of what
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Speaker 1: we know about medieval witchcraft today comes from the records
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Speaker 1: of religious inquisitors, legal officials, and testimony from accused witches themselves.
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Speaker 1: Beginning in the 17th century, accounts of witches using broomsticks
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Speaker 1: to fly up and out of chimneys became more commonplace.
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Speaker 1: According to one custom, women would prop a broom up
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Speaker 1: outside a door or place it up on a chimney
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Speaker 1: to let others know they were away from the home.
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Speaker 1: Perhaps because of this custom, popular legend embraced the idea
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Speaker 1: that witches left their houses by flying up the chimneys,
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Speaker 1: even though very few accused witches ever confessed to doing so.
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Speaker 1: Popular anxiety about witchcraft had subsided by the 18th century
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Speaker 1: as the Age of Enlightenment advanced. Nonetheless, the image of
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Speaker 1: witches flying through a moonlight sky on broomsticks endures, especially
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Speaker 1: on Halloween. Well, that does it for this chapter of
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Speaker 1: Radio Eye History. I sure hope you enjoyed today's program.
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Speaker 1: Thank you for giving me your time today. I'm your host,
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Speaker 1: Joseph Bolt, and I'll be back with another chapter of
26:41
Speaker 1: Radio Eye History. Until then, spooky but happy trails to you.