Kid Icarus

suddenly put on the defense. For example, Thanksgiving as taught as a unity story between two different groups coming together to celebrate the harvest. In reality, the Wampanoag tribe didn't trust the Puritans, who had come ready to negotiate at a protection treaty with the native people, in essence a contract of mutually assured destruction. After all, the Puritans hadn't

left England just for religious freedom. They had also wanted to establish a theocracy, and if the Wampanoag had gotten in the way, they would have been removed through violence by the Europeans. Hundreds of years later, another local population would also come under fire, just not how they expected. In eighteen fifty five, a rash of robberies and kidnappings across the Midwest were being reported by the Choctaw tribe. What had started out with the disappearance of livestock and

crops quickly turned darker as children started going missing. The tribe organized a search party, led by a group of seven foot tall warriors known as the Light Horsemen, who ventured into the wilderness. They rode for hours, armed with rifles and side arms, in the dead of summer, the sun beating across their backs before they decided to stop near a river and rest. After a quick meal to refuel and recharge, they set back out for another long

journey through the woods. They were determined to find the criminals, one way or another, and they would not return home until justice had been served. Almost an entire day of NonStop riding passed before something was spotted in the distance. The leader of the party, a half Choctaw half French general named Joshua la Fleur, told the men to stop and wait. He pulled out the telescope he kept at

his side for a closer look. The horses moved around in place, agitated by something no one else could see. La Fleur spotted movement ahead. It must be them, he thought. The Bandits had been known to hang around this area, and now the time had come for the general and his gang to exact their vengeance. They charged forward, their horses, pounding the grass with their strong hoofs, while the men

shouted their arrival. And then it hit them, not a weapon, nor a bullet, but an odor, powerful and nauseating, unlike anything they had ever smelled in their lives. The horses bucked and whinnied and protest Some of the men fell to the ground, gasping for air, some sort of reprieve from the stench. After a few minutes of frenzied coughing, the men looked ahead to a clearing where they saw the cause of the wretched smell. It was a mound

of dirt and mud, overflowing with human remains. The decay had drawn out swarms of flies that hovered around like black clouds. Behind the mountain of death at the edge of the woods across the clearing were three figures, the Bandits themselves. The floor and his men gathered their horses and pressed onward, holding their noses as best they could.

It was now or never, they thought, but the figures refused to move, refused to run away from the fight, and the Choctaw warriors, who rushed toward them with their weapons drawn the floor got to them first, with a saber and pistol held out in front of him. He never saw it coming. His horse fell to the ground dead, and the general rolled several feet away. He got a better look at the bandits, who now appeared to be as big as him, if not bigger, and covered in hair.

He fired on the one that had brought down his horse. The bullets disappeared into his mat of fur, but didn't stop it. It only angered it. The creature reached out towards the floor, grabbed him by his head, and well, that was the end of the general. The other men watched it happen and drew their rifles. They also fired into the three bandits who had mass sacred the people of their tribe, managing to bring down two of them. The third tried to escape into the woods, limping away,

but the soldiers wouldn't have it. What these men, these beasts, had done, was unthinkable, and there was no way they were going to be allowed to do it again. One of the warriors tackled the remaining bandits knife in hand, and finished the job. When the dust had settled, the survive members of the search party examined the bodies of their attackers closely. They had stood upright like men. They'd moved like men. But they've been stronger, bigger, harrier than

any men they'd set their eyes upon before. They were enormous, hulking brutes who bore only a passing resemblance to actual human beings. Their bodies were brought back to the tribe and burned, while the deceased Choctaw were given proper burials. The survivors waited for a reprisal from other members of the beast's own tribe, but it never came. Instead, what had transpired has gone down in history as the only battle on record of the human Bigfoot War of eighteen

fifty five. Desperation can be quite a motivator. In the original Thousand and one Nights, a king finds out his wife has been unfaithful and has her killed. He then marries a series of women and orders the same fate the morning after their wedding nights, so that they never get a chance to commit the same infidelity. Once there are no more women left in the kingdom. His adviser's daughter, Shaherazade, volunteers to become his next bride. The advisor is hesitant,

but allows her to sacrifice herself. On their wedding night, she begins to tell a story to the king, but she doesn't finish it. He refuses to kill Shahrazade until she can complete the story, which she does the following night. As soon as she's done, however, she begins another tale, and the cycle starts over. And it's her desperation to stay alive that gives birth to a collection of stories that have influenced cultures and literature all over the world.

Her desperation didn't just allow her to keep her head, it gave her security. She became too important to discard, much like a young Italian scientist in Scotland around. His name was John Damien, and he arrived promising great, big things to King James, the fourth King. James allowed Damien to set up a laboratory inside Sterling Castle in order to carry out his experiments under a watchful eye. The king was in search of something important, something that had

eluded rulers and explorers for thousands of years. Every culture had a different name for it, the elixir of life, the elixir of immortality, and occasionally the Philosopher's Stone, and yes, for fans of a certain boy wizard, it's that Philosopher's stone. The king gave Damien everything he needed, money, time, resources, all in the pursuit of a substance that would not only bring eternal life, but turn any other material into gold.

And Damien certainly took advantage of his benefactor's generosity. Records from the time denote the purchases of all sorts of scientific equipment, including cauldron's, glass, flasks, and other materials. He spared no expense and bought whatever he needed whenever he needed it, including copious amounts of whiskey. Like many rulers throughout history, King James sought to control and maintain his wealth by any means necessary. This often involved research into

the supernatural when realistic solutions proved too time consuming or unsuccessful. Unfortunately, after about seven years, it didn't look like Damien was any closer to eternal youth than when he started. Instead, he turned his eyes towards the heavens. Specifically, he wanted to get as close to them as possible, dreams of wealth and immortality were set aside as. The alchemist became

obsessed with making man fly. He watched birds, how their wings caught the wind and propelled themselves up higher and higher, how they could glide on a current of air for seconds before needing to flap it end. Damien studied the mechanics until he thought he'd figured it out. He began designing wings for himself based on his observations, even going so far as to include feathers in the final product. To that end, he ordered eagle feathers, but could only

get hen feathers at the time. No matter, feathers were feathers right, and these would have to do. There was only one problem. Damien worked alone. He had no one to test his theory or his new fangled contraption, which left only one other possibility. He'd have to test it himself. So at the end of September in seven, he strapped his feathered wings to his back and climbed to the top of Sterling Castle, and then he jumped Onlookers applauded

as Damien took to the skies. He was a man of conviction who bravely tested his scientific advancements on himself when no one else would. If only his conviction was enough to keep him airborne. You see, Gluing feathers together and flapping his arms didn't have the intended effect. He felt like a stone just after takeoff. He managed to survive, though, thanks to a well placed pile of dung waiting below.

A bruised and smelly Damien blamed his failure on his choice of feathers, claiming hen's feathers were more attracted to the ground than eagles feathers would have been. That didn't sound very scientific, though, perhaps he should have sought some advice from a good friend of his back in Italy, who had also been sketching plans for his own flying machines. Together, they might have had more success, or at least brought more of their drawings to life. That friend, by the way,

was none other than Leonardo da Vinci. 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.