Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all of these amazing tales right there on display, just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the cabinet of curiosities. As the old saying goes, give a man of fish and he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he'll eat for a lifetime. Education to that enlightened fisherman was as important as life itself. To some, it's the reason they were put on this
earth in the first place. A good teacher can move us forward, make us better, make life a little more fulfilling. But a good teacher can do more than that. A good teacher can teach the unteachable and fulfill not only their lives, but the lives of those around them. Samuel Bissett was just to teacher. He was born in Perthshire, Scotland, in the early seventeen hundreds and originally sought work as a shoemaker before trying his luck in London at a different,
more lucrative career. He was reading a story about an attraction at a local fair when he was struck with an idea, an idea that might have sounded absurd to anyone else. Beset read of a horse that could perform odd tricks. The novelty, combined with his own stubborn refusal to settle down into one line of work, set him on a path towards becoming an animal trainer. He started by training a horse and a dog for his first act,
then moved up from there. He trained one monkey to dance on a type rope while another held a lit candle and turned a barrel organ. Not content with his small zoo of performing animals, Samuel went bigger, well technically smaller, but with the plan to put on a grand musical performance with cats. Not those cats with the costumes and wigs, I mean actual cats. He purchased three kittens and worked with them for months, teaching them how to hit dulcimer
strings with their paws so as to create music. The Cat's Opera he called it, ran for almost a week and made Bissett rich, which only encouraged him to add more animals to his routine. He taught a rabbit how to play military marches on a drum with its hind legs. Small birds such as sparrows and canaries, could spell anyone's name. In the audience, and even though he already had a dog in his lineup, he taught a turtle how to
play fetch. But while Bissett had proven successful in training animals with un characteristic talents to entertain crowds, none of his acts proved as financially successful as his cat's opera. He thought perhaps he had exhausted his opportunities in London, and decided to take a show on the road, moving his human family and his furry family to Ireland for a new start. It was there where he encountered a
seemingly unbeat herble challenge. According to some local folks, the only animal that was too stubborn to train was a pit It couldn't be done, they said. Samuel, of course, believed that he could prove them wrong. He accepted the challenge and purchased a black suckling pig for three shillings. He immediately taught it to lay down under the stool where he worked, but unfortunately that's about as much as
the pig would learn. At first, Samuel nearly gave it away until he looked at the problem from a different angle. He worked closely with the pig over the next sixteen months, turning what was originally considered an obstinate and unreasonable animal into something akin to a loyal golden retriever. The Learned Pig, as it had come to be known, could do all
sorts of amazing tricks to enthrall their audiences. It could sell time down to the second, It had an impeccable talent for picking up married folks from unmarried folks, and knew how to spell out a person's name and in some cases read a woman's mind. It could also kneel out of respect, the way you or I might do before the Queen, but not everyone loves Samuel and his Learned Pig. One night, a man wielding a sword broke into his hotel room with the intent to kill the pig.
To him, the animal was an affront to God and everything decent. The man swung the sword around the room, destroying everything in his path, before plunging the blade into the unsuspecting trainer. Samuel begged the man to leave and showed him the permit he had obtained from the chief Magistrate for his pig to perform. The attacker accepted the proof, but threatened to drag Samuel to jail if he ever
showed his face in that town again. What it mattered, though the injury he sustained became infected, and not long after Samuel Bissett passed away. The pig, however, lived on. Not only did it continue to perform under a new owner, but it inspired similar acts all throughout the nineteenth century. The image of an educated pig even became a common way for cartoonists to illustrate the greed of the rich
and the debaucherous nature of celebrities and politicians. In a way, the learned pig became something all of us today might recognize, one of the first and longest lasting memes in history. It's been said that beauty is fleeting. This is often interpreted as meaning our good looks won't last as we age. What once was beautiful will eventually with her. But there's another meaning, a deeper one, that something is beautiful not
because it lasts, but because it's temporary. We have it only for a short time, and therefore should cherish it because one day it will all be gone. People, animals, flowers all have limited time on this planet and are therefore beautiful. Maybe that's what Anna Ivanovna the Empress of Russia had in mind when she ordered the construction of
a new palace in St. Petersburg. Her forces had just defeated the Ottomans in a war that spanned four years, and Empress Anna wanted to do something big to celebrate. A party would not last long enough and a statue would be too small. She needed a true monument to her success built in order to honor their victory and the scores of soldiers lost on the battlefield. She hired
renowned architect Peter Europkin to design the impromptu castle. Europkin had been responsible for redesigning St. Petersburg after the death of Peter the Great, as well as palaces for chancellors and princes all over the country. If you were building a grand structure in Russia, Peter Europkin was the man with the plan. The palace was designed to be over sixty five ft tall and one hundred sixty four feet wide. The giant bricks the builders used, though, weren't held together
with mortar. Instead. George Croft, who was overseeing the construction, put his scientific background to the test and instructed workers to use plain water as a binding agent, an odd choice for something as massive as a palace, but a wise decision in the end. When completed, the palace featured a lush garden with trees and wildlife such as birds. An elephant was brought in to entertain guests. Sculptures of all kinds adorn the walls, as well as artillery similar
to that use during the war. Elaborate furniture pieces filled each room, and a tall wooden fence was erected around the perimeter of the building to keep commoners out. Naturally, once completed, the palace became a setting for ceremonies and amusing performances, including a mock wedding between two jesters. You see. Years earlier, Empress Anna had taken offense at the marriage between a prince and a Catholic woman. After his new wife passed away, the prince was forced to become a
jester for the empress. As the party began, Empress Anna chose one of her poor servants to become the prince's new bride, someone she knew the prince would find unattractive. The reluctant couple rode atop that offense, both of them dressed as clowns, while a menagerie of creatures and circus
performers trailed behind them. After the wedding, they were stripped of their clothing and tossed into a freezing honeymoon suite, with nothing to keep them warm but their own body heat and a sheepskin coat the servants had bartered with one of the guards. Books about the palace were published almost a hundred years later, with films hitting screens a century after that. The unique and charming castle had captured the imaginations of everyone who heard about it. If only
Empressona had lived long enough to enjoy it more. She passed away one year after construction was completed, leaving behind her glorious creation for all to enjoy until the following summer. That is, you see, there was one problem with the structure, something the architect or the builders couldn't have fixed. Regardless of the level of their engineering that went into its construction. It couldn't handle the heat. By the following fall, Empress
Ana's palace had disappeared entirely. It had melted. You see, the palace was never intended to exist beyond Russia's famous winter. The sculptures, the furniture, the trees, the birds, and even that elephant all had been carved out of ice. 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.