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Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities,

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a production of iHeartRadio and Grimm and

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Mild.

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Our 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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It's hard to comprehend what we see. Sometimes

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what might seem like something strange or

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of their worldly could be nothing more than a trick of

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the lights or a clear and obvious

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hoax. For example, that famous nineteen

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thirty four photograph of the Lockness Monster.

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It's nothing but a picture of a children's toy

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cast in shadow. And all over

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social media, a computer stabilized

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version of the infamous Bigfoot foot has

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been circulating. Except it doesn't look

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like a mythical creature trapesing through the forest

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anymore. It looks like a guy in

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a costume. But for a pair of Ohio

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police officers, what they saw one

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early morning in April of nineteen sixty

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six was not a hoax, and

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it wasn't their eyes playing tricks on them either.

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It was real, and it ruined their lives.

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It was around five am when Deputy

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Dale Spower and Wilbert Barney Neff

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noticed something odd on the side of Route two

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two four. It was a car, seemingly

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abandoned. Spower got out to investigate,

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his flashlights illuminating his path.

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Except once he got to the car, all

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he saw were piles of walkie talkies

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and radios inside, as though the owner

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had been hoarding them. This was a

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strange enough sight on its own, but then Spower

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pointed his flashlights a little lower, and

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that's when he saw the markings on the side.

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Someone had painted the words seven

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steps to Hell, along with a picture

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of a lightning bolt inside a triangle.

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This could have ballooned into something interesting, a

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true mystery for these two officers

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to solve. But then Spower

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heard the buzzing. It was a distant

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hum that he couldn't ignore. Suddenly,

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from behind a cluster of trees rose

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an enormous silver object. It

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flew high into the air before bathing the

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surrounding area in a blinding light. He

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radioed in and informed his dispatcher

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about the UFO floating overhead, and

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then it took off. Spower

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and ne F were told to go after it. Their car

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hit one hundred miles per hour as they craned

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their necks to keep the object in their sights.

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According to an article in The Times, Spower

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later described it as and I quote, like

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the head of a flashlight, about forty

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feet wide and twenty feet tall. Another

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officer named h Wayne Houston had

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been listening to the radio chatter and he

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took to the pursuit as well. Meanwhile,

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police Chief Gerald Buckert had also heard

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about the ensuing chase and decided to grab

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his camera from home and hopefully snap a

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photo of whatever it was. They

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watched as it zigged and zagged above them,

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clearly being operated by someone or

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something inside, but after a short

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time, the officers lost visual contact

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with the craft. They met up with it again in Conway,

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Pennsylvania. It just floated there

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in mid air, like it was something that was waiting

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for them. Spower flagged down a local

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cop to ask for assistance, and.

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The officer radioed for help. Finally,

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after a chase lasting almost an hour and

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a half, spour Nef and Houston

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got word that United States Air Force jets

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were on the way, and that's when the UFO

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zoomed off. Leaving everyone on the ground

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dumbfounded. It wasn't just the officers

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either, a few hundred people had also

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claimed to have seen something flying overhead.

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A major from the US government soon

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arrived to take statements. He was in charge

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of a program called Project Bluebook,

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which was responsible for looking into possible

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UFO sightings. He quickly dismissed

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the officer's claims, alleging that all they

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had seen was a satellites or maybe

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the planet Venus. He told them that there had

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been nothing up there that morning, and no jets

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had been to investigates either. As

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for Buchert's pictures, they weren't enough

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to convince the major of anything except

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the chief's poor photography skills. But

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even though everyone else eventually moved on and

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left the incident alone, Spower refused

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to stay silent. He spoke to newspapers

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and anyone else who would listen, and

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that destroyed his life. His wife

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left him, he quit the force, and he

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wound up homeless. As for the Pennsylvania

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cop who helped him, he had to rip out

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his phone line. While Officer Houston

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moved to Seattle and started driving a

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bus. But one funny thing did

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come out of this incident. Two months

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after the first sighting, Spower was cruising

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down I eighty when he looked up and saw

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the saucer once again, except he'd

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been prepared. Not wanting to face any

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further ridicule or attention, he gave

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the object a code name, something he could speak

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over the radio without worry. So he named

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it Floyd. And so when

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he spotted the UFO this second time, he

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told the dispatcher Floyd's here with

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me. A short time later, it had flown

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off for good. As for the car with the

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lightning bolt on it, well, that lead dried

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up too. By the time the officers got back

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to the scene, it was already

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gone.

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History is marked with mistakes, some

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big and some small. Sometimes

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those small mistakes get swept under the rug and

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we never realize how one tiny force

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set off a chain reaction. And I

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mean that metaphorically. Today's story

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isn't about chemistry, but it is

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about a chance event that took the scientific

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world by storm. In eighteen

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seventy nine, a French microbiologist

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named Charles prepared to go on holiday. He

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closed down his lab and locked the door behind

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him. Charles was going to be gone for weeks.

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He probably looked forward to some much needed rest.

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He and his lab partner have been working diligently

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on their latest project. They were trying

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to cure cholera in chickens. The

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disease wiped out whole flocks, which took

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a significant toll on farmers and

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consumers alike. But at some

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point between turning the key to the lab door

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and putting his feet up in front of a fire,

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Charles panicked. He realized that he had

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forgotten to perform one final step

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in their experiment. His partner, Louis,

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had left for the holiday break before him, so

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Charles was supposed to inject some chickens

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with their experimental concoction. Then

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when the men returned, they would see how the chickens

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were doing, and Charles didn't want

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to let his partner down. Louis was kind

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of a big deal. He'd already made huge strides

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in their field, and people from all over the world

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had heard about him. This project was just

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as paramount. It could change the course

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of French society and the world.

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So one month later, when Charles returned

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to the lab, he quickly injected the chickens

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with that concoction, which had been sitting out

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while the scientists were away. At some point,

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Louis returned and Charles broke the news

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of his blunder. But Louis didn't seem upset

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with Charles. That's because Charles may have

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inadvertently cracked the code. Now

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to understand how, we need to go back

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about one hundred years, smallpox

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ravaged the planets, and a practice known

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as variolation developed

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in parts of Asia and Africa to combat

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the disease. That involved taking a sample

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of one's personal smallpox sores

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and transferring it to a healthy person.

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Healers did this either with a needle or

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by drying and grinding up smallpox

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scabs for a healthy person to breathe

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in through their nose. As a result,

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the person who received the sample would

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come down with a mild case of smallpox,

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nowhere near as severe as the cases

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people contracted naturally. In

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seventeen sixteen, enslaved people

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brought this knowledge to the American colonies,

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as it had long been practiced in West Africa,

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and in seventeen twenty one, Lady

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Mary Whortley Montague brought variolation

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back to Europe after learning about it in the Ottoman

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Empire, and finally, in seventeen

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ninety six, English physician doctor Edward

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Jenner brought a new form of variolation

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to the mainstream. Jenner had cut wind

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that rural communities used samples from cowpox

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sores to protect against smallpox, the

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idea that cowpox was similar to smallpox,

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but far less deadly. Jenner

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tested this idea on an eight year old

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boy. He exposed the kid to a small

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amount of cowpox. The boy came down

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with mild symptoms, then eventually got

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better. Then Jenner exposed him

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to smallpox, and the boy didn't

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become sick. And this brings

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us back to Charles and Louis's lab in eighteen

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seventy nine. Louis was heavily inspired

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by doctor Jenner. He believed that if

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there was protection against smallpox, there

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could be protection against any disease.

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This was the whole reason he took on the challenge

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of preventing the spread of chicken cholera,

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and it was also why he wasn't mad at Charles

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for forgetting to inject the chickens. Prior

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to this point, Louis had identified the bacteria

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that caused chicken cholera. He and Charles

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had been injecting those chickens with fresh

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cultures of the bacteria. Under this

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method, the chickens died from the disease. Louis

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thought back to Jenner and the cowpox. He

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decided to inject the chickens with the old

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cultures. This time, the chickens came

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down with a mild form of cholera, but

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they all survived. Then the men injected

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the chickens with fresh cultures and they didn't

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get sick.

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Voila.

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The men had found a preventative measure

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against chicken cholera. This was

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the first time a live attenuated

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vaccine was successfully administered in

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a lab. Louis and Charles went

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on to help develop a similar vaccine

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for anthrax. These two vaccines

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are some of Louie's later recorded achievements.

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As I mentioned, Louis was already a big deal

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in the scientific world. He revolutionized

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medicine by developing germ theory, which

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states that many illnesses are caused by

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micro organisms that are invisible

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to the naked eye and can only be seen

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under a microscope. He'd also been

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credited with discovering that microscopic organisms

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caused the process of fermentation. This

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helped him disprove spontaneous generation

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and come up with a way to prevent bacteria

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growth in food. To this day we

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call this process pasteurization, which

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is named for you guessed it, Louis

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Pasture. But our story doesn't

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end here. In eighteen seventy eight,

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about ten years before he died, Pasteur

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told his son in law that he never wanted anyone

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to see his laboratory notebooks. His

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son in law agreed to never share them, but

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it seems like Louis's grandson didn't get

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the memo, or maybe he had other

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ideas. In nineteen sixty four,

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the grandson donated those notebooks,

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of which there were one hundred and fifty two,

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to the French National Library. Historians

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poured through them, and some came to the conclusion

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that Louis often took credit for others'

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work and was haphazard in his methodology.

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One thing is for sure, though, If Charles

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had remembered to vaccinate the chickens before

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he went on holiday, he and Louis

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may never have made a crucial discovery.

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So next time you forget to complete a task

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at work, don't be so hard on yourself.

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You never know how one small mistake can

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change the course of history. I

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

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Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe

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for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn

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more about the show by visiting Curiosities

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podcast dot com.

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The show was created by me Aaron

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Mankey in partnership with how Stuff

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Works. I make another award winning

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show called Lore, which is a podcast,

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book series, and television show, and

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you can learn all about it over at Theworldolore

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dot com. And until next

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time, stay curious.