Curious things often come from unusual locations. Let's take a tour!
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Welcome to Aaron Benky'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. It's okay to ask for help when it's needed. A student solving a difficult math problem might rely on a tutor for assistance, or someone trying to move furniture may ask a few friends to assift in lifting a couch. In a case of ancient Rome, however, help came from a very unusual and loud source. Around three b C, a Gaelic tribe known as the Sonns invaded the northern coast of Italy, a territory then occupied by the Roman Republic. A man named Errants invited the Senones south to his town of Clusium, hoping to get revenge on the man who had seduced his wife and made a fool of him. The tribe accepted the invitation and marched towards Clusium, but the Romans, expecting an attack, stood by an anticipation they sent three ambassadors to handle the negotiations. The men instructed the Synones that if they attacked Clusium, then the Roman military would step in and defend the town. The Senones agreed to the ambassador's demands on the condition that they be granted some land instead. This led to an argument, which in turn started a physical fight, and in the end one of the Roman ambassadors killed a Snone chieftain. The tribe pulled back to decide on a course of action. Perhaps unsurprisingly given that one of their leaders had been slain in action, the Synones chose to attack Rome. They brought their sizable forces to the Alia River and overtook the Romans, many of whom either died in battle or drowned in the river. The Sononas kept marching while many surviving Roman soldiers escaped to the Etruscan city of v They didn't bother going back to Rome to warn anybody, though, as there weren't enough soldiers left to defend them. In their opinion, the city was as good as gone. As a result, the gates were left wide open. The Synons reached the Roman entrance by nightfall. However, they were also careful to them The open gates felt like a trap, so they set up camp and decided to wait to attack. Meanwhile, Roman men in the city who could fight took up weapons to defend their homes. They stood watch, protecting the senators, women and children at the Capitoline Hill near the center of the city. Some people remained in their homes, prepared to defend them to the death, while others left Rome entirely until the battle would be over. The Synons put their plan into action and scale the hill, determined to sack Rome as retribution for the death of their chieftain. Instead, they were met with the full force of the city's inhabitants, who fought them head on. The Romans let the invaders climb to a certain point for tossing them back down, forcing the Synones to retreat and regroup. The Synone commander split his army into two teams after that. One was tasked with finding the grain in the nearby cities, as the surviving Roman soldiers had carried it all to Vy and his men were hungry. The other team readied for another attack. Meanwhile, Quintus Catacus, the leader of the Roman survivors from the Battle of the Alia, began recruiting more soldiers for his army. He wanted the great but disgraced Roman commander Marcus Furious Camillus to lead them. In order for that to happen, though his reinstatement had to be approved by the Senate, who were still hold up in the Capitoline Hill. A messenger was chosen to travel back to Rome to request the transfer of power. He climbed up a side of the hill that had gone unnoticed by the Synons. The messenger snuck through and delivered the request to the Senate, who allowed for Camillus to command the Roman army. He had made it in and out alive, but he had also left evidence behind. The Synones discovered the messenger's path. Seeing a new opportunity, they scaled the side of the hill at nights while the Romans slept, and they would have gotten away with it too, if it hadn't been for those meddling geese. That's right, it wasn't the dogs or the guards that had caught the Snones sneaking up the hill that night. It was the geese. They were considered sacred to the goddess Juno and were beloved within the city. Their honking alerted the Romans to the synoon's presence. The now awakened Roman soldiers started shoving enemies down the hill, knocking the approaching invaders behind them as well. When the fighting was over, Roman officials wanted to punish the guards who hadn't heard the Snones sneaking in. Instead, they pinned the blame on one person and tossed him off the cliff instead. The Synones, however, said that they would only leave Rome if they were paid to do so. The Romans, out of options and out of an army, agreed to their conditions, but before their transaction could be completed, Camillus finally showed up, and he had brought reinforcements. He rallied everyone and told the Synones that if they wanted the city, they had to fight for it. And fight they did, but if you'll part of the pun their goose was cooked. Camillus's army had grown considerably since the Battle of the Alia River. It was comprised of veterans from that fight, as well as a slew of new volunteers who dispatched the Synones easily. The story of the Romans versus the Synones varies depending on the account being told. Roman historian Livy's version is often cited as the definitive rendition, but the philosopher Plutarch used to tell it differently, as did Greek historian Diodorus Sicilis. However, one fact remains constant in all of the different versions of the tale. The true heroes were not the Roman soldiers who overcame the odds and seized victory from the jaws of defeat. It was the loud honking geese who saved Rome that day. Curious, you better believe it. There's a stretch of the Atlantic Ocean widely considered to be strange and mysterious. It's located off the southern tip of Florida, between Puerto Rico and Bermuda, and it's known as the Bermuda Triangle. The Bermuda Triangle has been cited as the reason for the disappearance of numerous ships and planes, many of which have never been found. The theories behind the area's effects almost outnumber the vessels. It has claimed. Everything from aliens to magnetic fields to methane leaks emanating from the ocean floor below are supposedly responsible for all the unexplained occurrences. Sadly, the Bermuda Triangles bark is far worse than its bite. In reality, that part of the Atlantic is no more dangerous than any other part of the ocean, but the tall tales told about it have certainly made sailors and pilots think twice before steering their crafts through the sea. But there is another triangle out there, one that's actually more dangerous despite its location, and it's not in the middle of the ocean either. In fact, it's a lot closer to home than most people realize. This other triangle has been the site of some of the most baffling nautical mysteries on the planet. In April of nineteen thirty seven, for example, the steamship O S McFarland was navigating icy waters when it's captain George Donner went to get some sleep in his cabin. He told his first mate to let him know when they were nearing port. Unfortunately, Captain Donner disappeared before his first mate got the chance. The crew searched the whole ship for any sign of him. They even broke down the door of his cabin, but alas Captain Donner was gone and never seen again. Sixteen years earlier, another incident occurred with a schooner called the Roosevelt. The ship boasted a crew of eleven who set sail with a load of lumber on October. The trip should have been an easy one, but less than a day later, its remains were found bobbing like a cork upside down in the water. A ferry captain in the area noted that the Roosevelt looked like it had crashed into another ship. Pieces had been torn away and parts of the vessel had been bashed in. There were just two problems. First, the entire crew was gone. Not a single member of the eleven person team could be found to explain what had happened. And Secondly, no other ships had reported a collision that day, nor did any of them have similar damage done to their hulls. The Rosabelt's demise could not be fully explained. Of course, the Triangles mysteries weren't limited to missing crews and broken ships. Strange happenings were also found below the water. In two thousand seven, Mark Holly, a professor of underwater archaeology at a local college, had gone on a diving expedition to map shipwrecks. Shortly into his trip, he discovered a cluster of vertical stones arranged on the seafloor in a surprising and familiar your fashion. To Holly, it was just like England's equally mysterious Stonehenge. What set these rocks apart from their land based counterparts, however, was the addition of a massive boulder. The Bowlder measured four ft tall by five ft wide and was adorned with carvings of what appeared to be a mastodon. The stones were believed to have been placed there nine thousand years ago, but by whom the jury on that is still out. And finally, no discussion of the triangle would be complete without mention of the Thomas Hume. The Thomas Hume was a three masted schooner that had set sail in. It's six man crew tried to steer the ship through a squall in late May of that year. Another ship on the water that day, the Ruce Simmons, chose to turn back instead of pushing through. The Thomas Hume, however, pressed on it disappeared, along with its crew, thought to have been lost forever. Some odd theories cropped up over the years, though, including one worthy Thomas Hume had really been repain need and renamed after sailing to a different port. That didn't make much sense, though one seventeen years later, the request finally found it hadn't been repainted, nor had it taken on a new name. It had simply sunk during bad weather. But these stories are what have added to the legend of the triangle for the last several hundred years. So where does this bizarre part of the world exist? For time and gravity fluctuates and vessels of all kind go missing at an alarming rate. Its borders can be traced from Manitowac, Wisconsin, to Luddington, Michigan, before traveling south to Benton Harbor, about fifty miles west of Kalamazoo. It's called the Lake Michigan Triangle and it is responsible for more shipwrecks, lost planes, and strange events than the Bermuda Triangle ever has. The Lake Michigan Triangle is a treasure trove of unexplained phenomena, from giant chunks of ice falling out of a blue sky to multiple UFO sightings following a meteor strike, and there are still tales about Lake Michigan yet to be told, as more rex are uncovered let's just hope the people who travel its waters today don't end up a part of the story. 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.