Dream Job

Published Sep 26, 2019, 9:00 AM

Some discoveries alter the way we view the world forever, while others only change it for a time. Today's tour will give you a glimpse into both kinds of stories.

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Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all of these amazing tales right there on display, just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. Walt Disney once said, all our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them. Throughout history, artists, scientists, and scholars have worked tirelessly to solve life's greatest mysteries and provide a greater understanding of the world. This sort of work takes dedication, though it takes time and effort, late nights and long hours. But keep it up for long and you can wear a person down. That's what happened to a seriologist, Hermann Helpricht, although it was his pursuit of a dream that shed new light on Assyria, the ancient Mesopotamian kingdom. In eighteen eighty three, Herman was studying some sketches sent to him by the University of Pennsylvania. Their excavation team had been digging at the Temple of Bell at Nippur when they unearthed pieces of agate. Agate is a type of rock teaming with miniature crystals, and while most of the agate found at the site was fairly standard in look and composition. Two fragments stood apart as different from the others. Archaeologists theorized they were parts of an ancient finger ring, but Herman wasn't so sure. Unfortunately, there was only so much he could learn from the drawings. Still, he poured over them for hours, looking for possible connections or translations in the characters inscribed along the edges. On one were the letters K and you, but without more that wasn't helpful. Whatever was written on the other ring was unclear. The mystery bothered Herman until late one night. That night, as he drifted to sleep, he slipped into a dream. And in this dream, a man approached him, an old and slender priest. He wore ancient ceremonial garb, and he led Herman to a chamber within the temple that was filled with treasure. Within the chamber was a small room with no windows. Herman had to crawl to get inside, But once he was in there he found a wooden chest surrounded by pieces of agate. And that's when the priest told him of a command issued by a king called Curry gal Zoo to the Assyrian people. The king had sent them a vote of cylinder made of agates and told them to fashion agates ear rings for a statue of the god Ninib. However, the Assyrians had no raw agate except for the cylinder that they had been given by the king. With no other choice, they cut it into three rings. The first two rings possessed part of the king's inscription and were used as the statue's ear rings. The priest told Herman that the third ring was lost and would never be founding in and after that, Herman awoke from his dream and ran back to his desk. He pulled out the drawings, searching them again for some kind of sign, and then he saw what the priest had been talking about. The pieces in theory could be fitted together to form one ring. However, he wouldn't know until he got his hands on the real things. When he told the story of how he came to his conclusion to his American colleagues at the university, they laughed at him. Dreams were not an academic solution to a historical problem like this. Nevertheless, he took his findings and his story to the Imperial Museum in Constantinople, where the actual fragments were being kept. The director of the museum there listened to Herman talk about his dream, and did so with respect and understanding. He wasn't so sure about the meaning that Herman had interpreted from it, since the fragments were of different colors and didn't appear to be connected in any way, but he indulged the archaeologist any and had the agate fragments brought out from storage. Herman picked them up and examined them in the light. The drawings hadn't done them justice. He placed them together just as the priest had described in his dream, and to his surprise, they fit perfectly, creating a larger slice of a vote of cylinder. And just like that, part one of the puzzle had been solved. But there was more. With the pieces assembled, Herman was able to see the full inscription, and that allowed him to translate it. It dedicated the cylinder to the same god named in his dream, the god Ninib, and declared that it had been a gift from a very familiar king, King Kurigalzu, again first mentioned in his dream. In the end, doctor Hermann Helpricht was just like any of us. He had an impossible dream and was surrounded by people who had a difficult time believing in his potential, But like any true hero, he pursued it despite their protests, and in the process he taught a valuable lesson. It seems that with a lot of hard work and a little bit of faith, we really can make a dream come true. Ramen Drona Ryan Roy was the second son of the Rajah bah Wal. At the turn of the twentieth century, Roy, along with his two brothers, were set to inherit half of East Bengal in India. Roy's father, the Rajah, died in nineteen o one, and his sons were next in line to take over, but Roy had other priorities. He was wealthy, of course, and he spent much of his time hunting and partying, But he also had a weakness for women and was involved in several extramarital affairs. But his desire for fun had come at a price. He reportedly had contracted syphilis. Over the span of four years, the disease spread throughout his body. By then he couldn't ignore it any longer. Roy, along with his wife and his brother in law, all traveled to Darjeeling for treatment, a journey of almost four hundred miles. Not long after he arrived, though, Roy passed away from what they say were gallstones. His wife had his body cremated. The following day, a funeral was held. And if that seems like a pretty quick timeline to you, you're not the only one. Back home in Bawal, others felt the same, and they asked Roy's wife what had happened in Darjeeling at what time was he cremated? Was she sure it was him? But without a body or other witnesses, the questions faded and the family moved on. Roy's widow moved in with her brother, and over the next decade, Roy's other brothers also passed away, without an heir to inherit their fortune. Instead, the court took over as wards and administered the estate on behalf of their widows. And that's where Roy's story should have ended. But something changed, you see, exactly eleven years after Roy had been cremated, a religious ascetic known as a sun Yasi came to town. When he first was spotted near the home of Roy's wife, his hair was matted down and his skin was covered in ash, but there was still something else about him. For one, he was in great shape for a man who had lived on the streets for so long. And Secondly, something familiar about him caught the attention of many who saw him. Specifically, they noted his uncanny resemblance to the Prince of bah Wall, the one who had died in Darjeeling. Eventually, one of Roy's nephews visited the man, but the ascetic was quick to tell him that he wasn't his uncle. Regardless, the local population was convinced that this man was the late prince back from the dead, and his words spread far and wide. The ascetic finally gave up pretending and admitted the truth. Yes, he was, in fact the lost Prince. Roy's wife was furious and refused to see him, calling him an impostor. Without hesitation, She claimed he was just a stranger after the family's money, but some think her avoidance might have been for another reason. She didn't want to ruin all her hard work and trying to get rid of him. Once the man's identity was made public, he explained what had happened in his trip, how his wife, with the help of her brother, had poisoned him and tried to incinerate the body to hide the evidence amazingly, though, when he was about to be cremated, a violent hail storm sent everyone fleeing for shelter. During that time, a group of ascetics had found him and took him in. They helped his body to heal, but the ordeal had caused severe memory loss in his mind. As a result, he spent the next decade roaming around India until his memories eventually came back. After consulting with his guru, he decided to return home. His would be sisters questioned him and checked him for signs of his real identity. While his memory was hit or miss, he did remember the names of servants who had worked for the family over the years. He also possessed the birth marks that they had hoped to find. They believed his story, although many did not. Roy's widow refused to accept him as her deceased husband, especially when he filed a motion to be reinstated as heir to the Bawhal inheritance. For months, he argued his case against the corrupt owners of the estate. They submitted forged documents, which the courts quickly dismissed, and in the end, it was the physical evidence that proved the truth the man who had been discovered meditating in the streets was in fact the lost Prince of bah Wall. The wards of his estates continued to put up a fight for years, but they ultimately failed to disprove the man's identity. Twenty five years after he'd shown up in Dhaka Rahman, Dranna Ryan Roy had finally come home, but he didn't get to celebrate for long. On the night of the final verdict, Roy traveled to the Kali Temple to pray. On his way home home, he suffered a stroke and collapsed on the road. Two days later, he passed away, this time for real, and just like that, the unbelievable family reunion tragically came to an end. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show, and you can learn all about it over at the World of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious,

Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities

From the creator of the hit podcast Lore comes a new, bite-sized storytelling experience. Each twice 
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