Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all of these amazing tales are right there on display, just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. In a superhero's origin story, there's always a moment when they realize their true calling. Peter Parker learns that his spider powers come with great responsibility after his uncle is murdered the death of Bruce Wayne's parents inspires him to Donna Cape and Cowl and
fight crime in Gotham City. And Superman understands that he is supposed to use his gifts in order to stop the kinds of threats plaguing his beloved metropolis. And then there's Isaac. Isaac's calling came from something much less super but still quite important. Isaac were at New York City's Louis Charlock and Company Bank in nineteen hundred. He came and went as he pleased, and his colleagues didn't mind.
As they handled withdrawals and deposits. Isaac would often find a comfortable spot somewhere to watch the people coming and going throughout the day. On November fourteenth, Isaac noticed something odd someone he didn't recognize entered the bank. They were disheveled and the bank must have been busy because no one saw them. Slit by customers and clerks as they made their way around towards the safe, but Isaac noticed. He started moving toward them. When Max lubin Er, another teller,
noticed the interloper at his feet, startled. He reached down to stop them, but was attacked. That's when Isaac leapt into action. He screamed at the would be thief while others picked up sticks and other weapons with which to arm themselves. They approached slowly, trying to lure him away from the safe, but it didn't work. Isaac went after them, throwing punches and yelling. As the two fought. They rolled around on top of the banker's desks, kicking up money
and scattering coins all over the floor. Customers hid in the corners of the building while the fight ensued. Lubner insisted the doors to be locked to trap the two fighters inside until the authorities arrived. However, his instructions startled both the bankers and the customers alike, sending everyone into a panic over what they thought was a robbery in progress. They didn't understand it was only just a fight. Isaac burly Fellow, not easily pinned down, chased the suspect all
over the bank. As spectators outside caught side of the commotion. With their hands cupped around their eyes to see through the bank's windows, they watched as the two tussled. After several minutes, the thief, cash in hand, managed to break free from Isaac's grasp and dashed for an open window at the back of the bank. He jumped up and out, but his getaway was short lived. A tall fence blocked off the area behind the bank on all sides, preventing
them from escaping with the money. Instead, they hopped into an empty barrel and hoped that no one would find them. Meanwhile, the police were notified of the attempted robbery, and the officer on duty, Ajax Witmen, hurried over to the bank. He demanded the doors be unlocked so that he could apprehend the suspect, who had eluded the clerks out back, and ran once again into the bank. As soon as the doors were opened, the thief ran out into the street.
Lubner and the other employees yelling after him, but nobody pursued them. Sure, the bank had gotten its money back, but there was no point interesting the suspect. They hadn't tried to break in, nor had they really stolen any money. They hadn't passed a teller a note saying to fill a bag with cash in the drawer either. The would be thief had simply settled in beside the safe and got to work on a very relaxing nap. The thief
wasn't really a thief. It was a cat, one that had gotten accustomed to living on the streets and going where it pleased. When it had tried to escape, a few bills had gotten stuck to its paws, but they were quickly recovered, and Isaac he wasn't officially a bank employee either. He was known as Isaac the well fed bank cats, who spent his time rubbing against teller's legs and sleeping around the building. It seems that the streetcat had intruded on Isaac's home turf, turning Isaac into a
local hero. He hadn't stopped a supervillain or prevented the end of the world, but he'd made sure no one else was taking a cat nap in the bank. On his watch, after all, that was his job. After Walt Disney completed construction on Disneyland in Nive, he immediately noticed where he could do things better. For example, in order for the three little pigs to go from one end of the park to another, they might have to pass through an area where they normally wouldn't be seen, breaking
the fantasy. That's when Walt realized that he could do it a better way. Walt disney World in Florida is considered his doover away to build the park of his dreams the right way from the ground up. Sadly, Disney didn't get to see the completion of his grand vision, as he died several years before it opened, but it's possible to see where he might have gleaned inspiration from ancient Greek and Roman architecture They really knew how to build. In four seventy b c. The Greeks traveled to Italy,
where they came across a new substance. It was made from volcanic ash and rock, compressed over time to create something known as tough or tougher. They used tough as the literal building blocks for their theaters and temples, harvesting it from the catacombs where Italians had been burying their dead for centuries. The Greeks gave their new home a name, Neapolis, or new City. We know it today as Napoli or in English Naples. Over the years, the Romans moved in,
pushing out the Greeks. However, for the new inhabitants also saw the value of this stone and the quarries from where it was being dug out. They used it to build aqueducts to move water throughout the city. They also built a theater from it, which included a private dressing room for the Roman emperor Nero. Over the years, the city grew and locals built homes, stores, churches, and more on top of the ancient Greek and Roman structures, but
you can still see them today. The Italians didn't destroy them, they simply covered them up. Neapolis, as the ancient Greeks had imagined, It exists forty meters below the surface of the city and is easily accessible via countless buildings all over Naples. Churches have doorways leading to the underground caverns and catacombs. Even bars and apartment buildings have access points.
The remains of Nero subterranean Greco Roman Theater can still be seen, as well as the aqueducts and San Lorenzo Majorre. San Lorenzo Majori was the ancient market place where Greeks would come to shop and discuss religion and local politics. There's also the Fontanale Cemetery, which contained the remains of the older dead in order to make room for the recently dead. The cemetery also served as an overflow area
for the poor who couldn't afford individual plots. Many plague victims ended up here as well as time marched on. The ancient catacombs served different purposes. King Ferdinand the Second had his own tunnel, dug out as a private form of passage around the city during the nineteenth century. In World War Two, citizens would flee to it during air raids. The underground city had been fashioned into a kind of
bomb shelter for protection. From the nineteen fifties to the nineteen seventies, impounded vehicles were stored in King Ferdinand's tunnel, and many are still on display to this day, having never been claimed by their original owners. Today, the Naples Underground is a destination for tourists looking to know more
about how the Italian city came to be. Tours are led from different entry points daily, taking visitors deep underground through various ruins and passageways, some only accessible by candle light. But how does the Naples Underground relate to Walt disney World. Technically, the part of the Magic Kingdom that visitors walk through sits on the second floor of the park. The first floor is comprised of a labyrinth of tunnels and corridors
known as the Utilidor System. It allows characters to travel from one end of the Kingdom to another without being seen where they shouldn't, preserving the carefully crafted fantasy. While it doesn't boast its own theater or a cemetery, Walt disney World's Magic Kingdom is essentially a city on top of another city, much like Naples today, but don't expect to take a tour anytime soon. Unlike the Naples Underground,
the public isn't allowed down there. Don't worry, though, if you can't make it to Italy to see Naples for yourself, you can always pay a visit to Epcot. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities, subscribe for free on apple Pie 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,