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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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Change is hard. Some people

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accept it begrudgingly, understanding

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the old ways might need a little updating.

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Others fight for what they've always believed

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in, even if it means losing

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everything and everyone they

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know in the process. Change

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came to Russia in the mid eighteen hundreds

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when the Russian Orthodox Church felt

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the Greeks had more to offer in the ways

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of liturgical practices. For

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example, there were differences in how

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many fingers were used when signing

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the cross over one's just on

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the whole, the two churches still

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believed in the same God, the scriptures

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were all the same. Other than a few

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minor differences, no significant changes

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would come to the Russian Orthodox Church,

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and while it took some convincing, some

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members eventually got the message. Most

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but not all. For

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the group that called themselves the Old Believers,

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any change was unwelcome, no matter

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how small. They wanted nothing

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to do with the Greek Orthodox Church

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and considered the proposed changes to

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be blasphemy. They lived

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in the shadows for centuries, evading

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the Church's influence and oppression.

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The Church didn't take kindly to dissenters,

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and many were tortured, imprisoned,

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and even murdered over the years for refusing

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to go along with the new ways. And

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one old believer named Karp

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Lankov had seen enough. After

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his brother was killed by Bolsheviks in

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ninety six, Krp took his

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wife and children away from their home to

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someplace new, someplace where

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the Church would never find them.

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They fled into the Siberian wilderness,

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where Carp built a home for his family

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out of nearby trees. They had

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no modern conveniences,

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no phones, no lights, no plumbing.

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They made shoes from tree bark and survived

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on what nature provided, like nuts

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and berries. When their clothes became

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too tattered from the elements, they fashioned

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a new wardrobe out of hemp. One

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family surviving on their own

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through harsh Siberian winters sounds

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impossible, I know, but the like

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Offs did it. And they didn't

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just survive, they thrived. New

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children were born into the family in the early

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nineteen forties, and Karp, along

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with his wife, Akulina, taught

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them all they needed to know. They

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learned how to speak Russian and Old

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Slavic. They were aware of Russian

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cities and geography, be even though

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they'd never seen anything outside

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the forest. Like

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most fundamentalists, the like Offs

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shielded their children from the dangers of the modern

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world, including anyone beyond

3:12

their home. Their lifestyle worked

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for them for some time until one

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particular severe winter left

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them with almost no food. Akulina

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died of starvation in nineteen sixty

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one, after giving her portions

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of food to her children so that they might

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survive to see another day. No

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one had heard from the family for almost

3:33

forty years. As far as anyone knew,

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they died out with the rest of the sinners

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who had refused to join the New Church. It

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wasn't until the late nineteen seventies

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when a group of geologists looking

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for iron ore came across an unusual

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site from high up in their helicopter.

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It was a garden, a well kept,

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man made garden in the middle of

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the wilderness. They

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had to know who might have made such a thing

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in a place where life was not expected

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to survive. After some searching,

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the geologists made contact with the

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remaining like Offs, including Karp.

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None of the family members knew about major

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historical milestones like the

4:13

moon landing or the Cuban missile crisis.

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They had been cut off for almost half

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a century and had missed so

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much. The

4:23

geologist made several visits to the Lyoffs,

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and on one trip they brought with them a

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television to illustrate how far technology

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had come. When Carp's son was

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shown a circular saw on another visit,

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he was amazed by its efficiency, but

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none of it mattered. In the end. The family

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refused to rejoin society, despite

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the allure of that big, glowing box

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of moving pictures. They were

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old believers, after all, and

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change wasn't something they cared for. Except

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for one the daughter, Agafia.

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Her brothers and father has passed away year

5:00

ago, leaving her the sole remaining

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like of She does accept

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help now and then, traveling to hospitals

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for medical care and visiting distant

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relatives, but for the most part

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she's still on her own. I

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can't imagine most of us would give up

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our lives like that to live

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off the grid. No smartphones,

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no indoor plumbing, no television,

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talk about roughing it, but I'm

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not convinced what they did was

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so outrageous. A world

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without twenty four hour news networks

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and social media sounds

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like paradise to me. Some

5:51

people get really into certain holidays.

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You've seen them around your neighborhood before.

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The folks who decorate their homes at Halloween

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and Christmas with flights and animatronic

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characters. They wait all year, often

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preparing months in advance, in order

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to make the most of the short time that they

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have to celebrate. And

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then there are the holidays we enjoy but

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we don't really think too much about, like

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April Fool's Day, one day

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a year when no one and no thing

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can be trusted. One historical

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figure who loved April fools Day the way many

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of us love Halloween and Christmas was

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Isaac Bickerstaff. Toward

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the end of seventeen oh seven, Isaac had

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taken issue with the seventeen o eight

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edition of Marylandis Almanac. It

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was periodical, like most almanacs,

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filled with facts and figures to help people

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navigate their daily lives in the following

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year, but it was one particular sentiment

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that rubbed Isaac the wrong way. The

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Almanacs writer astrologer John

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Partridge had made a sarcastic

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remark about the Church of England, referring

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to it as the infallible Church.

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Isaac was a devout follow were and

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could not let the statement like that stand,

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so he concocted a unique plan of

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retaliation. He would predict

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John's infallible death over the

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next year by writing several letters

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and one eulogy about his

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demise, to be published months apart.

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Leading up to April one, All

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Fool's Day, Bickerstaff

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published his first letter, the prediction

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of John Partridge's death by raging

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fever, in January of that year.

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The second letter, written not as

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Bickerstaff but as a government's employee,

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came out that March to confirm

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Bickerstaff's prediction. An

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elegy quickly followed, suits more

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of a poem than a letter, but it put

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the blame of Partridge's death on both

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Partridge himself and anyone

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who bought his almanacs. The

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hoax took off like a rocket. Mourners

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gathered outside partridge Is home, crying

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all night and keeping him awake no

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matter what he said. They it and believe

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he hadn't died after all the letters

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had been printed for the public. As a

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matter of fact, an undertaker

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even came to his house one day to arrange

8:10

the drapes for awake while the stonemason

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started carving his gravestone. By

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that point, though, John Partridge had seen

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enough and published a letter of his own

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to dispel the silly hoax once

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and for all. But it

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didn't work. No one believed

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him, especially after Bickerstaff

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responded, writing they were sure

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no man alive ever to rid such

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damned stuff as this. I

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know it was a real jerk move.

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Finally, all fools Day had arrived and Isaac

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Bickerstaff gave up the ghost, so to speak.

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He published one last piece entitled

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A Vindication of Isaac Bickerstaff,

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in which he came clean about the whole

8:50

charade. John Partridge hadn't

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died, There had never been a fever. The

8:55

undertaker and the gravestone, and the morning

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people outside his home had all

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been in vain. John Partridge

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was alive and well and probably

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pretty angry. Bickerstaff's

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shenanigans didn't go unnoticed,

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though, the founder of the British literary

9:12

journal The Tattler, named Bickerstaff

9:15

his new editor, which wasn't surprising

9:17

as Isaac had been a contributor to the publication

9:20

in the past. In fact, Bickerstaff

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went on to publish numerous works throughout

9:24

his life, such as essays, pamphlets,

9:27

periodicals, and even fiction, mostly

9:30

satire. Of course, Isaac

9:33

Bickerstaff made his living from

9:35

writing satire directed at the rich,

9:38

the irreligious, and other groups

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he thought needed taking down a notch.

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His work is still read and taught in classrooms

9:45

all over the world. He was prolific,

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and yet you probably have never heard

9:50

of him, at least not as Isaac

9:53

Bickerstaff. But you certainly

9:55

know his essay A Modest Proposal

9:58

in which he suggests in poverty Irish

10:00

families sell their children to the rich

10:02

as a food supply, or his

10:05

travel journal parody Gould

10:07

of Verse Travels. That's

10:09

right, Isaac Bickerstaff. The

10:11

man who convinced the world of one man's

10:14

untimely death was actually

10:16

none other and Jonathan

10:18

Swift. I

10:22

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

10:25

Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe

10:27

for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn

10:29

more about the show by visiting Curiosities

10:31

podcast dot com.

10:34

The show was created by me, Aaron

10:36

Manky in partnership with how Stuff

10:38

Works. I make another award winning

10:40

show called Lore, which is a podcast,

10:43

book series, and television show and

10:45

you can learn all about it over at the World

10:47

of Lore dot com. And

10:49

until next time, stay curious.