Arm Candy

From the Great Barrier Reef to the Sydney Opera House to Blue Mountain National Park, there are countless sites that make ods the beautiful place that it is, and yet Australia is also home to dangerous and even deadly phenomena. It's become something of a running joke that everything in Australia is trying to kill. You be at land or see there's bound to be something venomous lurking us around

the corner. For example, the blue ringed octopus contains a bite that doesn't hurt at first until ten minutes later when the victims suddenly can't breathe or swallow. And then there's the taipe in, one of at least a hundred venomous species of snakes in Australia. Its bite contains enough venom to kill over one people. Lucky for us, it lives in remote parts of the country and doesn't really

interact with humans all that much. And yet the one place people don't tend to worry about the sky after all, what could be so harmful up there except maybe the UV index. Well, his name is Hector, and he likes to pay a visit to one particular part of Australia every afternoon. Hector was first spotted during World War Two. He moved like clockwork, showing up over the Tewee Islands

off the Northern Australian coast. Pilots and sailors would track Hector's position in relation to their own, allowing them to know where they were at all times. Between the months of September and March. At around three o'clock in the afternoon, Hector arrives in grand fashion. He likes to roll in on the nice days when the sun is high and the sky is bright blue, bringing with him a bit of unpleasant weather as well. If you haven't guessed by now,

Hector isn't a person or even an animal. He's a cloud, cumulonimbus, thunder cloud to be exact, and his constant appearances over the tee Wee Islands is something of a wonder Typically only powerful storms like hurricanes are given names. Hector is one of the only thunder storms in the world to have earned its own Moniker, and for one very good reason, because it's always around. So how does Hector manage to visit the same place at the same time each day?

And that's because of the tea Wee Islands themselves. They're perfectly shaped and situated to allow for Hector's formation. As sea breezes blow in from all directions, those winds converge over the center of the islands and then travel upward. The moisture they carry from the ocean then turns into thick, rolling clouds above, capable of unleashing massive amounts of rain

over the air area. As long as the temperatures are warm enough, then there's a chance that Hector will appear, unless, of course, there's a monsoon coming where strong winds prevent the moisture heavy breezes that form Hector from collecting over the islands. Hector has been known to grow as high as sixty six thousand feet, bolstered by the area's constant tropical atmosphere. When formed, its shape takes on that of a mushroom or anvil, and it's responsible for the majority

of the area's annual rainfall. There are a few different forms of hector, depending on how the winds collide, but the one people are most familiar with, the one that's often caught on camera, is comprised of one large cell or storm cloud that ripples outward along the sides. It blankets the island, bringing not only heavy rains, but strong lightning and even tornadoes. It's not uncommon for island flora, such as trees, to be damaged by hector. Hector is

something of a celebrity now, at least among meteorologists. It's consistent appearance and performance have helped scientists research the factors that contribute to how thunderstorms form. There are countless satellite images and videos of hector building over the Tewe Islands, and there exists entire bodies of research on it from prominent meteorological institutions. It's easy to simplify, but honestly, hector

is more than a thunderstorm. It's a mascot and perhaps the only thunderstorm that people look forward to each day. It's so beloved. He was even given an adorable nickname, Hector the convictor three cheers for Hector, Long may he reign. It all started with a fishing trip just off the coast of Coogie Beach in Sydney. A fisherman named Albert

Hobson was struggling with something on his line. He'd caught more than a fish, though, he had hooked a fourteen foot tiger shark, otherwise known as the garbage can of the sea due to its propensity for eating anything in its path. That scene in Jaws where Hooper cuts open the shark on the dock and pulls out a license plate that was a tiger shark. Hobson and his son took the shark back to shore with them and decided to gift it to Albert's brother, the proprietor of the

local aquarium and swimming baths. The tiger shark was placed in the large tank on display for patrons to see, which would have been enthralling. After all, it wasn't every day that people got to see a tiger shark up close and lived to tell the tale. Except there was something wrong with it. It started swimming into the walls, bashing its head against them before sinking to the bottom of the tank. It looked like the shark might not survive, but finally it vomited up a disgusting array of objects

and animal pieces. A rat, a bird, and a lot of bile all came out, and what had started as the death throws of a tortured creature looked nothing more than just a bit of indigestion until one final morsel found its way out of the shark's stomach, a human arm, a left hand and forearm to be precise, with a piece of rope tied to it, and it bore a distinctive tattoo of two boxers sparring. Unsurprisingly, it was first believed that the tiger shark had devoured an entire person,

or at least most of one. Aside from great whites, tiger sharks are also known as man eaters and are known to attack swimmers. However, the police determined that the shark had not in fact bitten off the arm, it had merely eaten it. The limb had been hacked off with a knife and then tossed into the ocean. Officers ran its fingerprints and discovered the identity of its owner as one James Smith, which was confirmed later by Smith's brother Edward, who recognized the tattoo in a newspaper photo.

James Smith had been an amateur boxer and a low level criminal who had disappeared a few weeks prior. He had also been a police informant. The ensuing investigation led police to Reginald Holmes, known in some circles for running con jobs and smuggling operations in New South Wales. Smith had worked for Holmes on several scams along with a forger named Patrick Brady. The trio had kicked off a check forging operation that eventually led to Smith blackmailing homes,

a decision that most likely contributed to his downfall. On April seven, ninety the two men were at a hotel playing cards, and that was the last time anyone ever saw James Smith alive. Brady was arrested for the murder, while Holmes told police that he had nothing to do with it. A short time later, Holmes tried to shoot himself in his boat shed, only to knock himself out temporarily. He then got into his speedboats and kicked off a

police chase in Sydney Harbor. Holmes was eventually captured and treated for his wounds. In June of that year, Holmes agreed to help the police in their investigation. He told them everything, how Brady had been the one to kill Smith and put his body, well most of it anyway, into a large trunk, which he then threw into the bay. Brady then went to Holmes and showed him the arm, telling him that if he didn't give him five pounds

right then he would kill him too. Once that threat had been issued, Brady tossed smith severed arm into the ocean, where it was inevitably found by our shark. Holmes agreed to testify at the trial, but the night before he was set to do that, someone paid him a visit. He was found dead in his sedan the following morning. The scene had been made to look like a suicide, yet it was clear to the police that he had been silenced by someone else. Without a body to examine

nor a witness to testify, Brady was acquitted. His freedom was short lived, though. The second he stepped out of the courthouse, the police slap cuffs on him again, this time for forgery. The murderer is still considered unsolved to this day, with Brady having proclaimed his innocence until his death in nineteen sixty. All we can do is speculate that it was committed by someone who was, by all accounts, armed and dangerous. 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.