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Welcomed Aaron Manky's Cabinet of Curiosities,

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a production of I Heart Radio and Grim and

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Mild. Our

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world is full of the unexplainable,

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and if history is an open book, all

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of these amazing tales are right

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there on display, just waiting

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for us to explore. Welcome

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to the Cabinet of Curiosities.

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We've all seen those apocalyptic movies

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where the populous city has been abandoned.

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Streets that used to team with pedestrians and taxis

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now sit idle, a still life of decay.

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As grass pokes through potholes and

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trees flourish along sidewalks. It's

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quiet, quieter than it ever has been before,

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like a living photograph. It's

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hard to imagine an area like New York

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City or Tokyo suddenly drying up

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and losing its entire population, but

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it does happen. Chernobyl is perhaps

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the most famous example of a modern ghost

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town, with empty apartment buildings,

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dilapidated amusement rides, and

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overgrown parks. But there

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is another location just like it, one

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that saw numerous atrocities and horrors

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in its day, and it survives as a

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symbol of both a time we'd like to remember,

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and an era we'd like to forget. Nine

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miles from the city of Nagasaki, off

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the coast of Japan is an island.

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It's small, only sixteen acres large,

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but this postage stamp size plot of

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land is big with history. It's called

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Hashima, and in eighteen ten coal

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was discovered there, which kicked off its long

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and complicated history. A

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mining operation was established, and

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nearly a hundred years later, the Mitsubishi

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Corporation bought the island. Part of

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the company's plan was to expand Hashima's

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footprint, as well as the amount of coal

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brought up from the mines. Given

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the work being done on the island, was clear that

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the miners needed somewhere to sleep, to eat,

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and even to play, and so Hashima

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was transformed over the next five decades

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into a full blown city. Apartments

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were built to house the miners, followed

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by a school, a hospital, and even

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places to shop and relax. It

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was a self contained metropolis surrounded

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by water, and then World

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War Two happened. Starting

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in the nineteen thirties, Hashima's minds became

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a dangerous and hellish forced labor

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camp. Thousands of Chinese and Korean

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workers were brought to the island, required

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to mind for coal underground for twelve

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hours each day under some of the worst

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conditions imaginable. They had

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very little water and food to sustain them,

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and the food they did have was practically

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inedible. They did not work clothes,

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only a flimsy undergarment that was provided

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as a kind of uniform, and anyone

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who refused to work or stopped due

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to exhaustion was beaten or killed,

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a message to the others to keep working.

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Meanwhile, above ground, the Japanese continued

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with business as usual. They shopped

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and ate together had fun, either unaware

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or unable to process the war crimes

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happening literally beneath their feet. It

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was estimated that nearly fifteen hundred Koreans

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and just over seven hundred Chinese laborers

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were tortured and killed on Hashima.

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By nineteen time

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marched on and the city all but returned

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to normal. Following the war, the population

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on the island experienced a baby boom of its

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own, reaching over five thousand citizens.

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However, while the number of people living there grew

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the need for the miners began to shrink. The

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nineteen sixties saw their dependence on

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coal reach and all time low oil

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was the energy source of the future, which

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meant that the mind that had been active since

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the eighteen hundreds was becoming obsolete.

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Mitsubishi shut it down for good in January

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of nineteen seventy four. With their economy

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and shambles and their source of income

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shuttered, the people living on the island

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had no reason to stay. Everyone

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was gone by April of that same year.

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Mitsubishi held onto Hashima until

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the early two thousands, when it finally gave

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it over to the local government. Of

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course, Nagasaki City, which controls

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access to the island, believe the former

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burg still had something to offer. But

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if not coal, then what well

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tourism. Of course it took

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a lot of careful planning, but Hashima

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Island well, a piece of it anyway,

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open to the public. In two thousand nine,

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tourists were not permitted to venture out of a

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specially cordoned off area due to safety

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reasons, which is still the case today.

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The apartments and other buildings are unstable,

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their foundations and structures rotting away

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from exposure to the harsh elements, but

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people from all over the world are still

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fascinated by what Hashima has to offer,

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mainly because it's a time capsule of

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two distinct periods in Japanese

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history, the tai Show period and the

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Showa period, spanning the nineteen twenties

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to the mid nineteen seventies. In

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two thousand fifteen, Hashima's Mine

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was designated a UNESCO World Heritage

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Site, but Japan was told by the committee

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to educate visitors about its problematic

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past as a forced labor camp. Sadly,

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the island hasn't just preserved a moment

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in time for the Japanese, but it also

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stands as a monument to the cruelty perpetrated

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during World War Two. Ashima

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Island was geographically and historically

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much like a typical city. It had

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a shiny facade that everyone saw and

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a dark secret few were willing to acknowledge.

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But history doesn't forget, and

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neither should we, and the laborers

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who suffered and died there deserve

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to be remembered. It's

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hard to let things go when we witness injustice

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in the world, whether it's a person in need

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of help, an animal left by the side of the road,

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or someone being persecuted. Did for who they are,

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it's in our nature to do something about

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it. One British bus driver

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did just that, but while his action against

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a perceived injustice put him on the wrong

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side of the law and also put him

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on the right side of public opinion. It

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started in August of nineteen sixty one

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with the unveiling of a new exhibit at the National

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Gallery in London. The museum

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had recently acquired an oil portrait

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of the Duke of Wellington's. First painted

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around eighteen twelve, it was, as

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the name describes, a portrait of General

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Arthur Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington,

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and depicted the Duke in his red military

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uniform adorned with various medals

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and ribbons acquired during his service. It

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measured roughly inches by twenty

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one inches and had been passed down

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through the family over the years. By

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the time it went up for auction in nineteen sixty

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one, the painting was owned by John Osborne,

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eleventh Duke of Leeds. It was part

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of a nasty buying war between

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American industrialist Charles Reitzman

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and the people of Britain. They didn't

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want the portrait traveling overseas and

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believed that should stay in its rightful home in

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England, and so the Wolfson Foundation

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stepped in to buy it back. The Foundation,

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a philanthropic organization that provided

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grants to top scientists and arts

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candidates in their fields, purchased the

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portrait at cost on behalf of the National

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Gallery. On August two of that year,

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it was made available to the public. Everything

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was quiet for the next nineteen days.

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On August one, though, the painting

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went missing. The guards didn't

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say anything at first, they figured it had just

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been moved elsewhere, but when it didn't show

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up the next morning, they called in the police.

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The investigation didn't turn up much over

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the following week until a letter

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arrived at the London offices of Reuters.

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It had been written by the alleged thief and

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came with a few steep demands. First,

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they wanted one forty thousand pounds

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donated to charity. Secondly, they

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wanted immunity for returning the portrait.

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As long as those conditions were met, then

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the National Allery could have its painting

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back. The money never materialized,

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though, and so neither did the Duke. The

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culprits continued to send letters to the

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media, hoping to see movement on

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their demands, but nobody took the bait

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until four years later in nineteen

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That's when a fifth and final letter with

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a much less costly plan arrived

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at the Daily Mirror. It made a

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simple request for one month

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let the public see the portrait for the low

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cost of five shillings per visit. After

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that it could be reinstalled at the National

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Gallery, and any donations that had been collected

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would be donated to the thief's choice of

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charity. As with his previous

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attempts, the police didn't bother entertaining

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the thief, but the Daily Mirror responded.

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It published an article on its front page

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promising to try its best to see that

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the thief's demands were met, and although

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nothing ever came of it, their efforts must have tugged

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at the culprit's heartstrings because not long

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after, another envelope arrived at

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the newspaper's offices. Inside

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it was a ticket. It had come from

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a train station in Birmingham and was

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meant to be redeemed at the station's baggage

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check counter. The paper gave the

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ticket to Scotland Yard, who traveled

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to the station and exchanged it for a carefully

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wrapped package that had been left behind. It

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was the portrait of the Duke. The painting

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was still in perfect condition, but it was

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missing his frame. The very

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next week it went back on display at the National

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Gallery. While authorities continued to search

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for the thief, they didn't need to work too

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hard, though. Sixty one year old bus

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driver Kempton Bunton waltzed into

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a police station on July nine and

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told them everything. He had been the

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portrait thief all along. So

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why had he stolen the Duke in the first place,

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and more importantly, why had he turned

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himself in. Bunton, you see, was

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a man of the people. He resented

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the notion that retirees on a fixed income

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still had to pay the government a BBC

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licensing fee to own a television

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set. He had tried to modify his own

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television so it couldn't actually get a BBC

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signal, but he wound up in jail a few

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times for failure to pay the fee. Stealing

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the painting and holding it for ransom had

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been his master plan to pay the television

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fees for himself and his fellow retirees.

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As for why he'd confessed, well, he'd

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accidentally let it slip to his son's girlfriend

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that he had done it. He wanted to beat her to the

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punch in case she turned him in

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for the reward money. Bunton

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told the police that he had gotten into the museum by

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climbing up a wall along the side of the building,

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then up a ladder that had been left out by maintenance

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workers, until he'd finally located an unlocked

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window and slipped inside. There

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was just one problem. Though Bunton wasn't

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necessarily young and rather

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large in size, there was no way he

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could have pulled off the heist, at least not

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by himself, but he went to trial

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for it regardless. He argued that technically

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the painting was no longer stolen, all

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he was really guilty of taking was the frame,

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and the jury agreed. Then he went to jail

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for only three months. But something

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still didn't sit with the police nor

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the public. The idea that this rather

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heavy set, older gentleman could have climbed

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his way into the National Gallery and made

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off with such a high profile item

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still puzzled them.

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Several years later everyone got the

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truth. Bunton's son, John

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found himself in police custody for a

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totally different offense. He was afraid

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that after he was booked into the system, his fingerprints

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would come up as a match to the prince from the original

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portrait investigation. Rather

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than wait for the other shoe to drop, John

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simply turned himself in. He had been

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the real thief all along, having swiped

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the portrait to bolster his father's BBC

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licensing cause. Funny enough,

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the Prince didn't actually match up anyway,

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and the authorities had no evidence to go on, so

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they let him go. The case

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of the theft, however, became incredibly popular

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across Britain, so much so that it was

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even referenced in the first ever James Bond

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film, Doctor No, back in nineteen sixty

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two. In one scene, Dr No, portrayed

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by Joseph Wiseman, leads Sean Connery

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up a small staircase beside which sits

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the portrait well a very

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convincing prop At least, Bond

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notices it and examines it up close,

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incredulous that it should be found in the layer

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of the film's main villain. It's

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often said that art imitates life, but

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in this case, life would also imitate

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art because After filming completed,

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the film's version of the painting also

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went on display, and then

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it too was stolen.

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I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of

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the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe

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for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn

12:41

more about the show by visiting Curiosities

12:43

podcast dot com.

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The show was created by me Aaron

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Manky in partnership with how Stuff

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Works. I make another award winning

12:52

show called Lore, which is a podcast,

12:55

book series, and television show, and

12:57

you can learn all about it over at the World

12:59

of Lore or dot Come and

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until next time, stay curious.

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H