Felidae Familiaris

that it harbored the spirit of Satan. Pope Gregory the Ninth knew this because his Grand papal inquisitor, Conrad of Marburg, who had been tasked with suppression of heresy along with ridding the land of which Is, had provided actual evidence. The evidence confessions, of course, no, not from the creature, but from those around him, and the confessions were obtained by way of torture. Lucifer's agent must be dealt with. Conrad warned, and the Pope believed him, and so began

the Vatican's War on cats. Conrad took the task of eliminating heresy in which Is seriously, although some say a bit too seriously. He believed in a guilty, intel proven innocent approach and quickly gained a reputation for cruelty. Pope Gregory had granted Conrad the authority to ignore Church policies and rules for the sake of the inquisition, and so torture was his go to method of questioning. As you can imagine, the accused, when asked a loaded question, might

just confess to anything to stop the suffering. Conrad's proof to the Pope in this particular case was a very common confession. The accused had taken part in a black mass and ritual, and once performed, the accused forgotten their loyalty to the Church. During the ritual, a statue of a cat would come to life. He told the Pope. A cat, a black cat to be more specific, would walk backward through the mass. As it passed, each participant

kissed the cat um directly beneath its tail. Then the participants lit candles in either the cat turned into Lucifer, or Lucifer would emerge from the shadows, his upper body shimmering but his lower half covered in black fur. The rituals the inquisitor conceived might seem a bit of a stretch to us, but cats had a whole history that was in direct conflict with the Church. A great example can be seen in the Battle of Pellusium and Egypt,

where the Egyptians faced off against the Persians. Egypt, if you recall, had a lot of warm feelings towards cats and even worshiped them, so the Persians took advantage of that. They adorned their shields with images of cats, and the strategy worked the Persians one because the Egyptians wouldn't dare throw spears at images of the sacred cat. In Roman mythology, the goddess of freedom was symbolized as a cat. Of course, there's a darker store a more closely tying the cat

to the underworld. Hara once turned a woman into a cat. The cat then became a servant of Hecate, the goddess of the underworld, And finally, in medieval England, a cat's prowess at catching and killing mice was likened to Satan's love of stealing souls. So, as misguided as it was, the progression from ordinary animal to a servant of the devil seemed natural to Pope Gregory. In response to Conrad's so called proof, the pope created a papal doctrine on

June twelve, thirty three. Cats. It stated were to be exterminated. It was believed that eliminating cats, particularly black cats, would help keep people safe from Satan's grasp and break any spells the cats might be part of. As a result, cats became so persecuted that their population in Europe declined dramatically. I won't go into the brutal and horrific details, but this cruel practice continued all the way up until eighteen seventeen,

and aston cats didn't come without consequence, though. In fact it created another problem, the increase in the population of mice and rats. But it wasn't really the rodents who caused the problem so much as the fleas living on them. The fleas, you see, were carriers of the bubonic plague. No cats to haunt the mice equaled more mice with disease carrying fleas, which according to some historians, helped the

plague spread as far and fast as it did. And you'd think this side effect of killing cats would change their minds about cats being evil, but it didn't. The church just spuned the news, claiming that Satan was so angry about the killing of his feline servants that he created the plague as retaliation. Over time, cat eradications thankfully declined, although the black cat is still much less common in

some parts of Europe than centuries ago. Today, the Vatican still has a thing for cats, although it's no longer rooted in fear. The current Pope shares the belief that all animals should be cherished and respected. Still he should never forget how for a very long time Europe disagreed. After all, for nearly six hundred years, cats were the perr ficked villains. Mad Jack Churchill had a saying, any officer who goes into action without his sword is improperly dressed.

His sort of choice a basket hilted Scottish broad sword. While other World War two soldiers went into battle with rifles and tanks, mad Jack Churchill stepped onto the battlefield with his trusty broad sword. Oh and a longbow and a few grenades. And one more thing, bagpipes. No, you don't need to back up and listen to that intro again, I did say World War two, and now you get the idea where the nickname mad Jack came from. But here's the thing. He wasn't crazy at mad Jack, fighting Jack,

or whatever else you want to call him. Was a Lieutenant colonel, a fearless warrior and a bold leader, and his men loved him for it. An adventurer since childhood, Churchill's love of exploration and life in general continued well into adulthood. He graduated from the Royal Military College in Sandhurst, England, in nine six. After that he moved to Burma with the Manchester Regiment, and it was there in Burma that

Churchill learned to play the bagpipes. But the army wasn't adventurous enough for Churchill, and so he moved to Kenya, where he worked as both a newspaper editor and of all things, a male model. He also took up archery and acting, appeared in two motion pictures before leaving the film industry, and he continued to compete in other areas too, military piping competitions where he took second place, and the

World Archery Championships in Norway. In nineteen thirty nine, after Germany invaded Poland, Churchill returned to the military as part of the British Expedition a force to France. During a raid, he became the only British soldier to kill an enemy with a longbow. His shot was so clean and silent the target never knew what hit him. Churchill quickly volunteered for a special forces division, the Commandos. Their mission was to carry out raids in German occupied Europe. On December,

those commandos attacked the German garrison in Norway. As soon as the ramps on the first landing craft were lowered. Churchill was playing March of the cameraon men on his bagpipes. In the middle of the song, though he paused momentarily to toss a grenade into enemy territory. Just two hours later, headquarters received this message Battery and Island captured casualties slight demolitions in progress. Churchill for his actions that day he

was awarded the Military Cross and Bar. Later on, Churchill, with the help of a corporal, captured a German observation post, taking forty two p nurse and In nineteen forty four he organized a motley crew of fifteen hundred Partisans to land a raid in Yugoslavia. Once again, he led his men onto the field playing his bagpipes. The following morning, another attack was scheduled, this time just forty men led by Churchill, but everyone except Churchill was killed or wounded.

As the Germans advanced, he played his bagpipes once more, but he was taken captive and held prisoner by s. S. Troops until nineteen forty five, when a German army unit intent on liberating prisoners outnumbered the s. S troops and free Churchill and the others. He walked ninety three miles to Verona, Italy to meet up with an American unit. In nineteen fifty two, his active duty years were behind him. Churchill briefly returned to the Silver screen when MGM hired

him as an archer. From there, he moved to Australia and became a military instructor. Ever the adventurer, he took up surfing. Churchill retired from active service at the age of fifty three with a host of awards, including two for distinguished service. He eventually settled down to army desk jobs, but he retained his eccentricity. While writing home from the city, he frequently opened the train window and tossed his briefcase out.

When questioned about it, he explained that he was throwing his briefcase into his backyard so that he wouldn't have to carry it from the station. Mad Jack Churchill passed away peacefully in a Surrey home in n at the ripe old age of eight nine. He was remembered by his friends and family as being optimistic and for seeing the best in humanity. Oh and that film in nineteen fifty two that hired him to play in Archer, the MGM Technicolor classic starring Elizabeth Taylor Ivanhoe. 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,