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Boats & Botany · 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 right there on display, just waiting
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  Speaker 1: for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities.
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  Speaker 1: Where there's no risk, there's no reward. Crack open any
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  Speaker 1: history book and you'll find the stories of people who
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  Speaker 1: were willing to gamble everything to achieve their dreams. One
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  Speaker 1: of those people was Jean Beret. He was born in
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  Speaker 1: rural France in seventeen forty and was fated to become
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  Speaker 1: a farmer, just like his dad. But Jean didn't want
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  Speaker 1: to grow plants. He wanted to study them. He dreamed
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  Speaker 1: of becoming a botanist, and although the cards were stacked
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  Speaker 1: against him, Jean had enough bravery and determination to break
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  Speaker 1: away from the farm and find work as a botanist
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  Speaker 1: assistant in Paris. He worked alongside Philibet Commerson, a more
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  Speaker 1: established botanist who collected in catalog new plant species. Commerson
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  Speaker 1: was so famous that in seventeen sixty seven he was
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  Speaker 1: hand selected by King Louis the fifteenth for an exciting expedition.
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  Speaker 1: Two government funded naval ships were about to take off
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  Speaker 1: for a trip around the globe. The King appointed Commerson
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  Speaker 1: as the head botanist on a ship called the Etoal,
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  Speaker 1: and Commerson asked Jean Beret to come along as his
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  Speaker 1: botanical assistant slash cabin boy. At twenty seven years old,
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  Speaker 1: Jean wasn't exactly a boy, but he also wasn't in
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  Speaker 1: any position to turn down such a big offer. He
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  Speaker 1: happily accepted, and that same year he and Commerson boarded
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  Speaker 1: the Yetoale and took off on the adventure of a lifetime.
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  Speaker 1: Only the conditions on the ship were harsher than anything
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  Speaker 1: Jean might have imagined. With over one hundred men on board,
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  Speaker 1: the quarters were cramped and dirty food and water were scarce.
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  Speaker 1: It would take months to get from one destination to
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  Speaker 1: the next, which meant months of floating in the wide
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  Speaker 1: open sea. At one point, when rations were dangerously low,
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  Speaker 1: the crew was reduced to eating rats. Likely due to
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  Speaker 1: this horrible living situation, Commerson became ill. He developed an
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  Speaker 1: ulcer on his leg that wouldn't heel, and while Jean
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  Speaker 1: had dreamed of doing glamorous international botanical research. He wound
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  Speaker 1: up caring for his sick employer for the majority of
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  Speaker 1: the voyage. Still, there were good moments. When the Aetoale
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  Speaker 1: reached Brazil, for example, Jean ventured inland by himself to
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  Speaker 1: survey the plants. There, he made one of the most
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  Speaker 1: famous discoveries of the entire expedition, a previously unknown, at
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  Speaker 1: least unknown to Europeans, vining flower known as the Boganvilia.
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  Speaker 1: The ship also made stops in Madagascar and Papa and
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  Speaker 1: New Guinea, among others. Jean cataloged and took samples of
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  Speaker 1: hundreds of different plant species, and then about a year
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  Speaker 1: into the journey, the ship landed on Tahiti, and that's
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  Speaker 1: where everything fell apart for Jean. When the crew stepped
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  Speaker 1: off the ship, they were approached by local Tahitians. Right away,
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  Speaker 1: a group of men surrounded Jean. They took note of
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  Speaker 1: his shorter than average stature and his beardless chin. According
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  Speaker 1: to one retelling, a Tahitian man called Jean Mahu, which
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  Speaker 1: was a word for a person who lives as a
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  Speaker 1: different gender than the one they were assigned at birth.
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  Speaker 1: The label didn't come with any judgment. Trans people were
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  Speaker 1: respected in Tahiti, but it did create a huge problem
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  Speaker 1: for Jean. You see, Jean wasn't trans, but she wasn't
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  Speaker 1: a cis man either. Her real name was Jean, and
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  Speaker 1: she'd spent her entire year long trip aboard the Atoal
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  Speaker 1: living in disguise. There was only one person who knew
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  Speaker 1: her real identity, Philibet Commerson, who was both her employer
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  Speaker 1: and her lover. Ever since Jean had broken away from
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  Speaker 1: the farm in rural France, she had been living and
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  Speaker 1: working with Commerson. They'd made great botanical discoveries together, and
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  Speaker 1: they'd also had a son who they agreed to put
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  Speaker 1: up for adoption, most likely to keep their relationship a secret.
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  Speaker 1: So as you'd imagine, when Commerson accepted the position as
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  Speaker 1: head botanist on the Attoal, Jane's company was never in question.
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  Speaker 1: But because eighteenth century French law specifically forbade women from
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  Speaker 1: stepping foot on naval ships, she could only go if
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  Speaker 1: she masqueraded as a man, and the disguise had worked
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  Speaker 1: well sort of. The fact that Jean never changed clothes
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  Speaker 1: around any of the other men had aroused suspicion, and
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  Speaker 1: the callouts in Tahiti was the nail in her coffin.
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  Speaker 1: In response to the discovery, the crew agreed to take
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  Speaker 1: Jean and Commerson only as far as Mauritius, an East
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  Speaker 1: African island nation where there was a French settlement. When
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  Speaker 1: the Aetoal took off again without them, they were basically stranded.
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  Speaker 1: They made the best of a horrible situation, though, continuing
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  Speaker 1: their botanical work for about five years, and then Commerson
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  Speaker 1: died suddenly, leaving Jane all alone. Always one to rise
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  Speaker 1: up in the face adversity, Jean opened a tavern so
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  Speaker 1: that she would be able to support herself. Less than
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  Speaker 1: a year later, she met a French army officer who
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  Speaker 1: was visiting the island. She married him, although whether the
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  Speaker 1: nuptials were motivated by love or the promise of a
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  Speaker 1: trip back to France, we can't be sure. Nevertheless, Jean
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  Speaker 1: eventually made it back home to Paris. And here's the
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  Speaker 1: real kicker. She had always been motivated by two things,
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  Speaker 1: studying botany and staying with Philibert Commerson. She had never
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  Speaker 1: really meant to make history, but she did, and not
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  Speaker 1: for anything to do with flowering vines. You see, it
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  Speaker 1: turns out that That final trip back to France made
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  Speaker 1: Jean Beret the first woman in recorded history to have
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  Speaker 1: ever circumnavigated the globe. And I guess you could say
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  Speaker 1: that her risks certainly paid off. Can I say something
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  Speaker 1: obvious to you? Books are special. They can alter a
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  Speaker 1: person's viewpoint, shift their mood, and even change their life.
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  Speaker 1: A good book is hard to put down. A great
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  Speaker 1: book is one that never leaves you, even after you've
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  Speaker 1: closed the cover. But one book has been keeping people
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  Speaker 1: up at night for the last thirty years. And it's
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  Speaker 1: not that it's scary or suspenseful. It's because of an
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  Speaker 1: Owl on The Trail of the Golden Owl was written
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  Speaker 1: by French author Regis Hauser in nineteen ninety three. Although
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  Speaker 1: the idea had come to him about a decade and
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  Speaker 1: a half earlier, it had been a serious project, requiring
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  Speaker 1: upwards of four hundred and fifty hours to complete. But
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  Speaker 1: this wasn't just any novel or nonfiction work. By the
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  Speaker 1: time he was done, Hauser had crafted eleven elaborate clues
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  Speaker 1: you see. What he had devised was a treasure hunt.
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  Speaker 1: Artist Michelle Becker provided eleven paintings for the book, each
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  Speaker 1: one just as beautiful and detailed as the clues they accompanied. Together,
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  Speaker 1: they would guide one resourceful sleuth to the location of
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  Speaker 1: the final prize, a ten inch tall bronze statue of
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  Speaker 1: an owl. Now normally such a meager reward wouldn't be
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  Speaker 1: enough to entice amateur treasure hunters to devote years to
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  Speaker 1: its discovery, but this owl was different. It was only
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  Speaker 1: a placeholder. Once it was found, it could be exchanged
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  Speaker 1: by the winner for the real owl, an identical version
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  Speaker 1: cast in silver and gold, with diamonds, rubies, and other
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  Speaker 1: gems all over its head and body. And that owl
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  Speaker 1: is worth about two hundred and fifty thousand dollars today.
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  Speaker 1: Both statues had been designed by Becker, with the jewel
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  Speaker 1: encrusted versions stored safely in Paris. The bronze bird was
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  Speaker 1: buried by Hauser somewhere in France. He published his book
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  Speaker 1: of clues under the pseudonym Max Valentine and waited for
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  Speaker 1: readers to begin their search. The idea was to have
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  Speaker 1: the hunt last only a few months, but the clues
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  Speaker 1: proved to be more difficult to solve than expected. Despite
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  Speaker 1: the book's popularity and the obsessive nature of the hunters,
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  Speaker 1: no one has been able to find the golden owl
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  Speaker 1: that Houser buried, and this includes a high power lawyer
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  Speaker 1: at a French law firm and groups of dedicated treasure
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  Speaker 1: seekers who pick apart the clues for some greater meaning.
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  Speaker 1: These associations have developed their own language of sorts when
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  Speaker 1: discussing the clues. For example, Limega is the term for
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  Speaker 1: mega astus, a superstructure on the puzzle, and la fleche
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  Speaker 1: d'Apollon refers to Apollo's arrow, a component of clue number six.
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  Speaker 1: But a few sections have been solved already. For example,
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  Speaker 1: the clue titled Opening was successfully decoded and revealed the
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  Speaker 1: city in which the hunt was meant to begin, Bruges
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  Speaker 1: in Belgium. Only a few clues have been successfully solved, though,
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  Speaker 1: with others either answered in part or still entirely obscured. Sadly, though,
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  Speaker 1: in two thousand and nine, Hauser passed away and with
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  Speaker 1: him went the secrets of the owl's location. Luckily, he
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  Speaker 1: had written it down and passed it on to Becker,
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  Speaker 1: thus keeping the game alive. In twenty twenty one, the
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  Speaker 1: artist and co founder of the puzzle ventured to the
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  Speaker 1: original burial site, where Hauser had planted the bronze owl
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  Speaker 1: all those years ago. He brought with them a legal
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  Speaker 1: bailiff as a witness to verify that the statue was
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  Speaker 1: still there. It was only meant to have been buried
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  Speaker 1: under three feet of dirt, but Becker shoveled away, waiting
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  Speaker 1: for the clink of metal against metal. After three hours,
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  Speaker 1: he finally heard it. He dropped to his knees and
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  Speaker 1: began scraping away the soil with his fingers, feeling for
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  Speaker 1: the telltale sign of the statue he'd crafted three decades earlier.
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  Speaker 1: And it took some doing, but he eventually pried it
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  Speaker 1: free from its grave. It was still wrapped in its
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  Speaker 1: protective plastic. He tore it away, only to reveal an aged,
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  Speaker 1: rusted owl statue, and so Becker got rid of it.
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  Speaker 1: But don't worry, the hunt is still ongoing. He merely
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  Speaker 1: replaced it with a brand new bronze owl statue, which
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  Speaker 1: has remained in this same secret hiding place. It is
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  Speaker 1: always occupied. The game is still afoot today, and the
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  Speaker 1: men and women who have been searching for this Maltese
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  Speaker 1: owl are no closer to finding it now than they
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  Speaker 1: were thirty years ago. Only Michel Becker knows where it
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  Speaker 1: is for sure, and sadly he isn't talking. I hope
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  Speaker 1: you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities.
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  Speaker 1: Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about
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  Speaker 1: the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show
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  Speaker 1: was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how
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  Speaker 1: Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore,
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  Speaker 1: which is a podcast, book series, and television show, and
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  Speaker 1: you can learn all about it over at the Worldoflore
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  Speaker 1: dot com. And until next time, stay curious.