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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 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 don't really think about it, but our planet might as

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well be a universe all its own. There

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are still parts of Earth that have yet to be seen

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with human eyes. For example, much

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of the ocean still hasn't been explored,

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and there are even islands where no man has

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stepped foot. And in those areas

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are flora and fauna we cannot comprehend.

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Louis Deloyes thought he'd found such a place

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in South America in nineteen twenty.

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What he discovered was more than he bargained

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for. The Lace was a Swiss

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geologist, and in nineteen seventeen

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he started traveling through South America

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as part of an oil survey. He'd been

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joined by a crew of twenty men, but that number

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had dwindled since the starts of their journey.

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They had faced a number of hardships,

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including run ins with hostile indigenous

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peoples and devastating diseases.

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Several members had even disappeared in the

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mountains. By nineteen twenty, there were

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only four men left. The

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group had set up camp one night by Columbia's

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Tara River when they noticed something along

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the banks. Two creatures had emerged

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nearby, and they were getting closer. They

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were almost five feet tall and covered

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in red fur, and they looked like large

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apes, only they were walking upright on

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two legs like a human. One

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was a male, the other was a female. As

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the pair inch toward the camp, it was clear

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they had not come in peace. The

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creatures started making loud noises

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and throwing their feces at the crew.

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Scared and angry, the men kicked up

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their guns and fired. Both apes

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were hit, but only the female died.

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The male ran back into the woods to nurse

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his wounds and was never seen again.

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Deloys examined the creature that lay at his feet.

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It didn't look like any ape he had seen before.

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While on the surface, it had features like a spider

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monkey's, but it was much larger and had

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no tail, and while most monkeys

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only have thirty two teeth in their mouths.

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This one had thirty six. Deloys

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and the other men propped the animal up on

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a crate in a seated position. They

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wedged a long stick under its chin to

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keep it from falling over, and then photos

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were taken before the creature was skinned and

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its skull was removed. Any

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scientist would have been excited to share this discovery

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with the world. A brand new species

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of ape had been found along the coast of South

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America, and Louis de Loys was about

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to be famous. Except he

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wasn't. Not at first. He sat

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on the news for a number of years, refusing

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to tell a soul about what he'd seen. Plus,

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much of his evidence had been lost before or he'd

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made it back home. All that remained was

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a single photograph of the ape. It

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wasn't until nineteen twenty eight when his

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friend George Montendan found what had

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nearly been forgotten. He was a professor

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of anthropology and was paging through Deloys's

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notebook when he came across a photo tucked

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inside. He'd seen plenty of apes and

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monkeys throughout his career, but this one was

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much different than the others, and he knew

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it needed to be seen, it looked

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like Deloys had discovered what other scientists

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had only theorized about the missing

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link. The two men worked together and

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had stories about the eight published in several

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newspapers. Montandan also submitted

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a paper to the French Academy of Sciences,

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dubbing the creature the ameranthropoid's

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loisi. It was the biggest scientific

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discovery of the day, at least

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it was supposed to be. As soon as

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other scientists and naturalists got a look at the

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animal in the photo, they started asking questions,

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how big was it really, where did its tale

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go? Why did it look so much like a spider

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monkey. Eventually the answers weren't

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good enough, when both Deloy's and Montendan

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were labeled frauds. The final nail in

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the coffin, though, came in nineteen sixty

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two. That year, doctor Enrique

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Tahara sent a letter to the editor of

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a Spanish language magazine, a letter

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that wasn't published until nineteen ninety nine.

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In it, he explained how he knew Deloy's

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ape was a hoax, writing mister

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Montendan said that the monkey had no tail,

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that is for sure, but he forgot to mention

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something. It has no tail because it was

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cut off. I can assure you this, gentlemen,

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because I saw the amputation. Deloyz

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died of syphilis in nineteen thirty five.

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He was barely forty two and left behind a

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legacy of deception. Montandan

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didn't fare much better. When he wasn't fabricating

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hoaxes. He was pushing eugenics

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ideas and working with the Nazis.

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He was executed in nineteen forty four for

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betraying his country. It seems that

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the French resistance didn't tolerate

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monkey business of any kind. The

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world is full of natural wonders. We

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actually have a list of seven of the most impressive

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ones, which was compiled by CNN in nineteen

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ninety seven. They are the Northern

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Lights, the Grand Canyon, the Great

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Barrier Reef, Mount Everest, the

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Harbor of Rio de Janio in Brazil, Zimbabwe's

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Victoria Falls, and Perkutin,

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a volcano in Mexico. These

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are bucket list level phenomena places

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that people travel thousands of miles to see.

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But there's another lesser known location that's

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just as mysterious and breathtaking. It's

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called Mosquito Bay, which

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I know is not a particularly enticing name.

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It is not named after the blood sucking

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insects that we all know and hate. It's

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named after a pirate ship that once

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sailed through the area. Mosquito

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Bay is located on the southeast edge of

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Viakis, which is a tiny island about

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seven miles off the coast of Puerto Rico. By

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day, the waters there look perfectly normal,

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but when the sun sets, things get curious.

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The water glows neon blue

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in the darkness. There's an entire

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tourism industry around the glowing bay. However,

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there are also a lot of rules that visitors

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have to follow. For example, tour guides

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can't use motor boats to take people out

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on the water. They can only use kayaks.

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Plus, tourists can't swim in the bay.

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The closest they can get is just dipping

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a hand in. And despite being called

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Mosquito Bay, there is absolutely no

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bug spray allowed, at least not the kind

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that contains a chemical called deet. If

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you're wondering why all these restrictions exist,

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it's because the bay's neon blue light depends

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on it. You see, Mosquito Bay glows

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because the water is home to billions of microscopic,

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single celled organisms called dinoflagelets,

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which just happen to be bioluminescent

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now. Bioluminescence occurs when a living organism's

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body gives off lights as the result

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of an internal chemical reaction. The

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most common example of this is fireflies.

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Everyone knows them, but there are all kinds

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of species that glow, including certain

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types of bacteria, worms, starfish,

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jellyfish, and even sharks, so

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bioluminescence isn't actually that rare.

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However, Mosquito Bay is unique

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because of the sheer number of glowing organisms

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it contains. For every gallon of water,

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there's an estimated seven hundred thousand

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dinoflagelets. Over time, they've gotten

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trapped inside the bay and become the accustomed

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to feeding off nutrients from the surrounding

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mangrove trees. Still, these

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tiny glowing creatures are very sensitive

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to changes in their environment. Other

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bioluminescent bays have been destroyed by

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humans in the past, hence all the rules

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visitors have to follow. The fast movement

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and fuel exhaust from motor boats can kill

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them. Swimmers aren't allowed in the water because

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human sweat saliva and urine

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can throw off the marine ecosystem, and

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bug spray containing deep is the biggest

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problem of all. It could actually wipe

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out the microorganism that makes the

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bay so beautiful. Thanks to these conservation

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efforts, people have been able to experience this

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natural wonder without hurting it. In

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two thousand and six, Guinness World Records named

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Mosquito Bay the brightest bioluminescent

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bay on Earth. But a decade later,

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in twenty seventeen, disaster

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struck and it wasn't anyone's fault. Hurricane

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Maria decimated large portions of Puerto

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Rico, including Viacus and Mosquito

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Bay. For the first time in recent memory,

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the glowing bay went dark, and

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people feared that the dioflagelets

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had all been killed or would it return.

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But then eighteen months later, the bay's

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signature glow slowly began to come

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back. It seemed the microorganisms were

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recovering, and soon the water actually

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glowed brighter than it ever had before.

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These days, the bioluminescent creatures

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are alive and well, and people who

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visit the bay say it's one of the most magical

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places they have ever seen. In twenty

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twenty, Conde Nast named Mosquito

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Bay as one of its seven Wonders of the

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World. So who knows, Maybe

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one day the glowing water will earn a spot on

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CNN's official list. Until

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then, Mosquito Bay remains

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a uniquely bright spot on

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Earth. I

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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

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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 the Worldoflore

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dot com. And until next

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time, stay curious.