A Little Birdie Told Me

answer the age old question who done it well? If you lived in New York City in the early seventies, there's one place you would have gone to pick up your newest cozy read. It was called Murder Ink. That's I NK as in the ink from a pen. And it was the first American bookstore solely devoted to selling mystery novels. The Hole in the Wall Bookshop was run out of a tiny storefront in Manhattan's Upper west Side.

The decort was, in a word, eclectic. A plastic skeleton hung facing the front door, as if to welcome or threaten any would be customers. The floors were plaid linoleum, and the wallpaper was paisley flower arrangements hung from the ceiling. Tall wooden bookshelves lined the walls, each one overflowing with hundreds of paperback books. Here and there you might stumble upon the jar of pretzels or a cat curled up

on the floor. When you were ready to check out, you would head towards the huge desk at the front of the room, and there sat the store's owner, thirty one year old Dylis win. With short, dark hair and eyes that seemed to be sizing up other people, Dylis cut an intimidating figure, but she was also one of the most beloved people in the mystery novel community. She was born in Dublin, Ireland, in nineteen thirty nine, but her mother brought her to the United States when she

was still a baby. Grew up among her extended family in New Jersey, and, strangely enough, she never had a particular affinity for mystery stories. Sure, she read Nancy Drew, but that was basically a write of passage for any girl in the mid twentieth century. It wasn't until she graduated from college in nineteen sixty one that she became, as The New York Times put it, a serious reader

of mysteries, Charles Dickens, Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie. She often read two full novels each day, and that was all on top of her full time job as a copywriter. By nineteen seventy one, Dylis was making a good living, but she wasn't passionate about her work. She started daydreaming about turning her love of mystery novels into a job. Now, when Dylis wanted something, she didn't hesitate to get it.

One Wednesday, she decided she would open a bookstore that only sold mystery novels, and she settled on the name Murder Inc. On Thursday, she walked around Manhattan until she found a suitable building for rent. On Friday, she signed the lease, and over the next six weeks she built up a stock of over fifteen hundred different titles, moved in her desk, and hung up her iconic skeleton, and just like that, it was time for the grand opening. On her first day of business, a reporter from The

New York Times stumbled inside. He was so charmed by the odd little store that he wrote a positive review about it in the paper. The next thing, Dylis knew she had a near constant flood of customers, ranging from bookworms to forensic scientists and police detectives. Just one year after opening, she had doubled her stock, opened a mail order business, and even started catering to mystery novel collectors. To celebrate her success, she invited friends and customers to

a party. In true Murder Ink fashion. The get together had a grizzly name, the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre. When guests arrived, they were promptly served a bloody Mary, and this party helped Dyllis realize something about herself. She actually liked hosting parties more than running her bookstore. In nineteen seventy five, she sold Murder Ink and pivoted to organizing

mystery centric events. Every Sunday, she hosted mystery talks, where she interviewed writers, editors, and other guests in front of a live audience. She put together a two week mystery reader's tour of Great Britain, complete with a stop at the Tower of London and a walk through Jack the Ripper's neighborhood. And through all these events, Dylus met and became friends with a ton of novelists, and she got to thinking, what if instead of writing mysteries, she gave

these authors a chance to solve one. In nineteen seventy seven, she teamed up with two other women to plan a murder mystery party for the Ages. It was held at the Mohunk Mountain House in New Platts, New York, in the dead of winter. Two hundred and fifty people were invited to bear witness to a murder, a staged one, that is, and then try to solve the case. Among the guests were authors Isaac Asimov and Stephen King. The party was such a success that it's been held annually

ever since. Murder Inc shut down in two thousand and six, but Dylis wins legacy continues to delight and inspire those who love a good cozy winter time read. Soh, the beloved bookshop founder passed away in twenty sixteen. She donated her body to science, perhaps in the hopes that she might help future physicians learn to solve the mysteries of medicine.

Animals really are incredible, aren't they. I think that most of us have dogs or cats in our lives who are cherished, silly and maybe even a little bit bizarre. I know in my family we have a running joke about what's going on between our dogs' ears, and I think most people think about that every once in a while, usually after a beloved family pet does something way too smart or chaotic. But sometimes they seem so human, especially

when they're reminding us that it's time for dinner. But one species actually can speak to us if we give them time and attention. It turns out that Edgar Allen Poe wasn't too far off the mud with his smack talking feathered friend. Some species of birds, including cockatiles, crows, and yes, even ravens, are capable of speech. And of course let's not forget about parrots, although they tend to either be the b villain in Alatin or incessantly asking

if Polly wants a cracker. But back in the early eighteen hundreds, a funny little birdie was discovered in South America that changed history. There are about three hundred and fifty species of parrots spread across almost every continent, from Australia to Asia and Africa to the Americas, and they'll eat just about anything, even meat, which opens up a

bunch of possibilities for a new winged Halloween beastia. Some are as big as a housecat, well almost, and parrots can almost live as long as thirty five to fifty years, depending on the species. But the oldest ever recorded was a cockatoo named Cookie, who died at the age of eighty two. And yes, some species of parrots can learn to talk, although if you want a chatty pet that will probably be with you for the rest of your natural life, you should know that it takes some practice

and patience and treats, lots and lots of treats. Now, we humans have always been drawn to parrot's colorful plumage and even more colorful attitudes. Alexander von Humboldt was no different. Humboldt was a geographer and a naturalist by trade, and he absorbed the Enlightenment idea of learning anything and everything, making it his life's work. Swinging between charismatic and annoying, Humboldt turned out an impressive amount of work. Before his death.

He traveled to four continents, wrote over thirty six books and twenty five thousand letters, allegedly only slept four hours a night, and lived basically on coffee he called it concentrated sunbeams. I like to call it nap in a cup. My kind of guy, right, So it's not surprising that tall tales about his exploits appeared over time. He seems like a bizarre mix of a mad scientists and an adventurer with all the stories that he told. But one of those anecdotes might not have been as fictional as

we thought. In June of seventeen ninety nine, Humbold set out from Spain on a journey that would take him the length and breadth of North and South America. Lasting about five years, he would bounce through different countries and colonies before making his way back to Europe. He hoped with new discoveries to publish, and he got what he wanted, recording vast amounts of raw ecological and zoological data about

every place he visited. He also made sure to note the cultures he encountered, the conversations he had, and the people he met, and to be fair, speaking Spanish was a huge help, giving him the ability to talk to most indigenous tribes he came across. Because few places had escaped Spain's grasping, greedy fingers in the century since Columbus's conquest and everything that followed. That unifying language also helped humboldt gain insight into the peoples he met, no matter

where they lived. According to one story, Humbold made a fascinating, extraordinary discovery in the depths of the Venezuelan jungle around eighteen hundred. He was exploring the Orinoco River and staying with the local Carab tribe. These people kept several parrots in cages throughout the village, and many of them could and would speak to anyone who talked to them. Delighted by what he saw, Humbold observed each parrot in turn, and then began to realize that one bird sounded different

from the others. After asking his hosts about the creature, he learned that it hadn't originally been theirs. The parrots had come from a neighboring tribe, one of the Carib people's enemies. Some years before. The tribe had been driven away from their lands, and the last members died decades before Humbold's arrival, meaning that all aspects of their culture died out with them, well, all but one. You see.

Humbold realized that this parrot must have learned to speak its original owner's language, and was therefore the last living creature to do so. Leaping into action, he managed to phonetically record about forty words from the near dead language and saved it from total extinction. Now, the truth of the story might always be a little iffy, and this project was relatively minor compared to his other work, but it has been a gift and an inspiration for linguists

and even artists to this day. In fact, in nineteen ninety seven, an artist taught that language to a pair of modern parrots, and knowing how long they live, it'll probably be with us for many more years to come. 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 Worldoflore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.