Extra Credit

Published Apr 23, 2020, 9:00 AM

Some things need to be learned for the first time, while other, more obvious details, sometimes need to be rediscovered. Let's do a bit of both on our tour today through the Cabinet.

Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

Welcome to Aaron Menkey's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of I Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all of these amazing tales are right there on display, just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. Transportation has changed drastically over the last several hundred years, from the steam engines transformation of the railroad industry to the widespread adoption of the automobile. The ways in which we travel get more impressive every year. The rail system in particular has seen some incredible advancements in power and speed. For one engineer in the nineteen seventies, it seemed that the sky was the limit. Charles Osmond Frederick was working for the British rail in nineteen seventy when he had an idea. Frederick had been in charge of wheel performance on the tracks, but thought the rail system as a whole could have been improved. Train tracks were too rigid. The train could only go where the tracks had been placed and nowhere else. But what if the train didn't need the tracks at all? Frederick saw an opportunity to elevate British rail above the competition, so he designed a new type of rail car that didn't use a track system. It didn't drive on roads or over dirt or through mountains either. It flew, which made it sound like another popular form of transportation. However, Frederick's version came with a twist. It utilized nuclear power. According to his schematics, laser energy would trigger a pulse of thermonuclear fusion inside a generator housed in the vehicles center. Electrodes underneath the car would carry that energy through a series of electro magnets, which would bounce the particles around to create lift and thrust. Inside the cabin, passengers would be protected from radiation by a thick metal shield between them and the core below. Oh and one more thing, Frederick's vehicle would be able to fly through space. He designed a flying saucer meant to travel to different planets. It hadn't started out that way, though his original plan was for a lifting platform. The idea to use thermonuclear energy came later in the process. From there, his ambition got the better of him, and the scope of his project practically exploded. Frederick's mind worked in a similar fashion to another dreamer of the time, Arthur Paul Pedrick. Pedrick worked at the UK Patent Office for a number of years before he started submitting his own. He wanted to help people, and he filed patents for a host of random gadgets he had concocted in his later years. One such invention was a cat flap that would detect the color of a cat at his door and allow only his ginger cat into his home, while refusing entry to his neighbor's black cat. He also patented a system of exterior curtains to cover an entire high rise building during a fire. The idea was to smother the fire while driving occupants to safer ground. Pedrick even had a patent for a pipeline network that would carry water and ice from Antarctica to the Australian outback. He wanted to create a storehouse for grains and other foods in a place where they normally didn't grow, and just like Pedrick, Charles Frederick's plans didn't get out of the patent stage either. The patent for his nuclear powered spacecraft was filed on behalf of British rail in nineteen seventy three years later it was granted. However, nobody knew about it for decades until after the Cold War. Any patents submitted during that time with the word nuclear on it was immediately flagged as top secrets. Mentions of it popped up here and there over the years, but it wasn't until two thousand and six when a team of nuclear scientists decided to test the viability of Frederick's design. They quickly realized that what he had come up with was nothing more than a pipe dream. The technology to power a spacecraft in such a manner did not exist in nineteen seventy and it still didn't exist in the twenty one century, but that didn't stop Charles Frederick from dreaming. Big British rail though, didn't seem to agree with him. When the time came to renew the patent in nineteen seventy six, they passed. Apparently that was one train they were happy to miss. Our adolescence is typically spent dreaming of being someone else, anyone else to be cooler or stronger, or in some cases, someone to be ignored, especially if we're prone to spending our free time stuffed in our lockers. Unfortunately, for Mr Nobody. His anonymity only made him even more interesting. Mr Nobody limped into a Toronto hospital in November of nineteen nine nine. He didn't remember what had happened or why he was there, but evidence pointed to a mugging. He had trouble walking and his nose had been broken. He had no wallet or i D. Even the tags on his clothes had been cut off. Doctors ransom tests and asked him a series of questions about what he remembered, which was almost nothing. He spoke about living in Australia despite his clearly British accent, He also muttered the name Philip Stelfen. Soon enough, he was diagnosed with amnesia as a result of a concussion. Strangely enough, however, Steufen, or Mr Nobody as he had become known in the press, had other skills under his belt. The amnesia hadn't taken away his ability to read Latin, nor his fluent French and Italian. Once he'd been examined and stitched up, Steufen left the hospital and found lodging in a homeless shelter. News stations eventually picked up his story, and a kind couple from Ontario offered him a place to stay. Having a permanent home to live in allowed him to apply for welfare, but he still had to submit photos and fingerprints to the government. Sadly, fingerprint and photographic analysis didn't yield any results. As far as the world was concerned, Philip Stealfen didn't exist. He moved around a lot, as you might imagine, spending time in different parts of Canada before settling in Montreal. That was where he found a human rights lawyer named Manuel Asavedo, who helped him apply for Canadian citizenship and a legal birth certificate. With that piece of paper, he could obtain a passport in order to search for his home country. The courts, however, would not grant him citizenship, but he was allowed to remain in Canada if he so chose. During this time, Staufen married Asavedo's daughter, a dual citizen of both Canada and Portugal, and continued to petition for a birth certificate. He also changed his name often. Actually, in October of two thousand one, he went by Keith Ryan. Six months later he changed it to ze Wald's Guide, But in February of two thousand four, yet another alias came to light. George Luqui of France had reported his passport as stolen after his home had been broken into. The culprit, it seemed, was Skyde, who spent ten days in jail as a suspect. Oddly, though the quid refused to press charges and without any real evidence tying him to the crime, Skide was released too much fanfare. After that it was time to move on again. Skyde's wife traveled to Lisbon to set up a new life for both of them there, far away from the press, Skide stayed back to finalize his affairs, but without proper travel documents, he was stuck in Canada. Finally, in two thousand six, he managed to escape, wearing another man's name. The couple eventually divorced, but Skide stuck around in Portugal anyway, probably to avoid the legal troubles that awaited him back in Canada. Then, in June of two thousand seven, Mr Nobody gave an interview with GQ magazine where the truth finally came out. He hadn't been from England or even Australia. He had come from a poor fan only in Romania, but had studied at an elite school when he turned eighteen, he was drafted into the Romanian army for one year. The experience, though, ruined any love he had for his country. At that point, his only goal was to get out to reinvent himself. He underwent operations to change his nose and teeth, and tried everything to obtain citizenship in another country. All he wanted to do was erase Romania from his past. He had been born Cyprian s Guide, a man who tried desperately to reinvent himself by any means necessary. He lied, he cheated, and he stole, But the only thing he couldn't do was escape who he truly was. 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 Mankey 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. Yeah,

Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities

From the creator of the hit podcast Lore comes a new, bite-sized storytelling experience. Each twice 
Social links
Follow podcast
Recent clips
Browse 702 clip(s)