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- [00:00]
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This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human support for the show comes from Public. Lately the line between investing and gambling has started to blur. But let's be real, you can't build actual wealth on a coin flip. That's why Public takes a different approach. It's the investing platform where you can build a serious long term portfolio. Stocks, options, bonds, crypto. They have it all. But unlike platforms that basically just give you a buy button, Public provides actual context. So when you see volatility and in your portfolio, you aren't just staring at a chart, you're reading a helpful explanation about why the stock is up or down. You can even go deeper with the built in AI Research assistant. It's all about giving you the information you need to invest with conviction. Be right More often go to public.com and earn an uncapped 1% match when you transfer your investments. Public Investing for those who take it seriously Ad paid for by Public Holdings Brokerage Services by Public Investing member FINRA SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors SEC Registered Advisor all investing involves risk of loss. See complete disclosures@public.com Disclosures.
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Welcome to Aaron Menke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim and mild. 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. Picture the scene with me. It's midwinter 1918. The hospital ward is packed this season. Row upon row of ailing patients lie trembling, unable to raise their heads, their faces fixed, eyes glazed, caught between sleep and waking in an unnatural half dream state. Each suffers from a disease that doctors have not yet understood Encephalitis lethargica, or simply el, an illness concurrent with the influenza just beginning to sweep the globe. But this disease, el affecting between 1 and 5 million people worldwide, manifests differently intense sleepwalking, ocular disturbances and a motor skill impairment. Many permanently develop Parkinson's like symptoms and they call it the sleeping sickness and it kills between 10 to 30% of people infected. The first documented cases came in 1916, when St. Petersburg, Paris and Vienna simultaneously reported an illness characterized by severe fatigue, fever and a disturbing ability to stay awake. It was thought that refugees and soldiers of the Great War helped to spread the disease across Europe. As cases rose, health officials issued advisories that newspapers amplified, prompting the creation of isolation wards to contain the influx of patients suffering and citywide quarantines. And naturally, the Doctors were baffled, thinking that it might be influenza or meningitis. Some even believed that it was a form of mass psychiatric catatonia. Yet the profound lethargy, involuntary eye rolling, muscle rigidity and tremors didn't point to any known illness. And so they prescribed what they rest, bromides and watchful care in the hospital. Into this confusion stepped Konstantin von Economo, a neurologist from the University of Vienna. His background in sleep research made him particularly adept at figuring out the problem of the epidemic. Through autopsies, he was able to discover inflammation of the basal ganglia, a region of the brain that regulates movement and behavior and causing tremors and difficulties in movement. Over the course of time, these acute symptoms progressed into a Parkinson's like chronic illness. Von Economo published a series of studies on the disease, finally putting a name to it, the one I gave you earlier, Encephalitis Lethargica. The work was crucial to not just understanding el, but also for future research into neuroinfectious diseases in General. In the mid-1920s, the influx of new cases had abruptly declined, and by the end of 1927, it had virtually disappeared from hospital wards. All over. And of course, many explanations were put forward for this decline in cases. Maybe it was possible that the population had acquired herd immunity, so the disease was finding it harder and harder to find a host. Another theory is that, like the Spanish influenza, it had mutated, creating less virulent strains. Many recovered, although 1% of patients did not, instead entering a chronic phase of the illness that lasted for years. Decades later, a small handful of these chronic sufferers remained in a catatonic sort of fugue state, unable to speak or move. At Beth Abraham Hospital in New York, a young neurologist named Oliver Sacks observed patients that seemed to exhibit the same basal ganglia condition that von Economo had first discovered. With more research at his back, he thought that perhaps the symptoms were caused by a deficiency of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that works as a sort of chemical messenger in the body. And so he gave his patients a drug called Levodopa to boost their dopamine. The results were almost instantaneous and absolutely shocking. Patients began waking up from the catatonia they had been experiencing for years. They were able to move, walk, speak, and express emotions. Although this was a temporary relief for sufferers of el, it revolutionized treatment and advanced the field's understanding of dopamine's role in the brain. Years later, Sachs would publish a book on the experiments called Awakenings which agreed with von Economos studies, adding more modern information into the mix, and the book was even made into a famous film of the same name, starring Robin Williams as Oliver Sacks and Robert De Niro as one of his patients. The film was nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars, scoring two statues for its writing and editing. The sleeping sickness has not returned in any real scale, although there have been a number of scattered cases over the years that very much resembled it. And advances in imaging things like MRIs and PET scans now allow doctors to actually see how el works on the brain in real time and try new medications to curb the possibility of long term effects. Scientists are also using modern virus detecting tools to hunt for any germs that may create a similar effect in the infected Honestly, science is utterly amazing. Encephalitis Lethargica stands as a singular strange episode in modern medical history, a pandemic that disappeared almost as quickly as it arrived. Of course, scientists today are still trying to fully understand the disease that affected so many, because illnesses may come and go. But as long as we have skilled and experienced scientists to protect us, all of us have hope.
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Support for the show comes from Public Lately, the line between investing and gambling has started to blur. But let's be real, you can't build actual wealth on a coin flip. That's why Public takes a different approach. It's the investing platform where you can build a serious long term portfolio. Stocks, options, bonds, crypto, they have it all. But unlike platforms that basically just give you a buy button, Public provides actual context. So when you see volatility in your portfolio, you you aren't just staring at a chart, you're reading a helpful explanation about why the stock is up or down. You can even go deeper with the built in AI Research assistant. It's all about giving you the information you need to invest with conviction. Be right more often. Go to public.com and earn an uncapped 1% match when you transfer your investments. Public Investing for those who take it Seriously Ad paid for by Public Holdings Brokerage Services by Public Investing member FINRA SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors SEC Registered Advisor all investing involves risk of loss. See complete disclosures@public.com disclosures this show is
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sponsored by American Public University. Success starts with your drive and American Public University is here to fuel it. With affordable tuition and over 200 flexible online programs, APU helps you gain the skills and confidence to move forward. Whether you're changing careers, starting fresh and or pursuing a lifelong passion, APU's programs are designed for people who never stop you. Bring the fire. APU will fuel the journey. Learn more at apu Apus. Edu. At the top of the page, the title letter of condolence is written in shaky black ink. Beneath it, a short message explaining that your registration was approved. You're one of 40 applicants chosen to participate in this race. Hand selected out of thousands, the letter contains a set of coordinates which will require you to trek deep into the Appalachian wilderness, beyond the reach of any GPS signal, with no idea if you're going in the right direction. And that's just to get to the starting line. It may sound intense, but that's just what it's like for the runners of the Barclay marathons, the world's most mysterious ultramarathon. Now, the word ultra marathon might sound redundant. After all, running a marathon is an impressive feat all on its own. But an ultramarathon, which refers to any race longer than 26.2 miles, is more of an extreme sport. Barkley's marathons were created by a lifelong runner named Lazarus, whose real name is Gary Cantrell. It was created in partnership with a group of his running buddies. But I have to tell you, the origins of the race are a lot darker than one might expect. The story begins with a failed prison escape. James Earl Ray, the man convicted of assassinating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Was held in a Memphis prison after his arrest in 1968. But James Earl Ray escaped prison almost 10 years later for a total of 54 hours. Over the course of those 54 hours, though, he covered eight miles of wilderness before being recaptured. And this is where the dark part of the story comes in. Because Dr. King was a civil rights visionary and legend. And rather than lament his killer's escape, Gary Cantrell and his friends allegedly laughed about it. One man even said that 8 miles was a pathetic amount of distance to run when you'd escaped prison, especially in 54 hours. And Gary Cantrell himself, well, he argued that in that time, through the same wilderness, he could run a hundred. And from there, Gary Cantrell charted a rough path. One loop roughly 20 miles long through uncharted Appalachia, covering dense brush, rocky inclines, and even a mountain trek. Contestants would complete the 20ish mile loop 5 times for an approximate total of 100 miles. With a cutoff time of 60 hours. Runners would risk exposure, wild animals, sleep deprivation, dehydration, and most significantly, going off course. In 2017, for example, runner Gary Robbins missed the 60 hour cutoff time by less than A minute after getting lost on his final lap. And in 2006, one contestant became lost only two miles into the race and spent 32 hours in the wilderness trying to find his way back. Since Barkley's marathons take place in protected forests and parks, spectators are not allowed on the course and strongly discouraged even at the start or finish line. In fact, the 20 mile course has only two water stations and most contestants never find either of them. Each lap begins and ends at a yellow trail gate where Lazarus waits to document each runner's time. Some runners nap for about 20 minutes after each loop, the only rest they get during the entire 60 hour race. The race also forbids the use of GPS. Instead, runners must use their own hand drawn maps made from Cantrell's description of the route, which often includes sections named Rat Jaw or Meat Grinder. By now, you might be starting to see why Cantrell calls the registration tickets a letter of condolence. But how does anyone know if a runner actually completes the course if no one is around to watch? Well, every few miles, Cantrell places books somewhere along the route. At the start of each 20 mile loop, Cantrell assigns runners a new page number they must collect from each book to prove they've completed the planned course. And I know that in theory that might not sound hard. But remember that these races don't take place on a trail. The Barkley marathons require runners to complete the full course with almost no idea if they're even on the right track. You might not be surprised to hear that most years no one finishes the race at all. And Cantrell says that's just fine with him. He knows that the event attracts the most elite athletes and thinks failure is an important part of their growth as. As well, runners and as people. 2024's race set the record with a grand total of five finishers. Two of the finishers had completed the race in past years, but the most notable of the group was Jasmine Paris. Jasmine became the first woman to complete the race, finishing 99 seconds before the cutoff time. For most of us, this whole race probably sounds like a nightmare. But if you're someone who's got what it takes to run a Barclays marathon, the story might sound like the challenge you've been looking for. And if you do decide to sign up for the race, may I offer you my own condolences. I hope you enjoyed today's guided tour through the Cabinet of Curiosities. This show was created by me, Erin Manke, in partnership with iHeart podcasts researched and written by the Grim and Mild team and produced by Jesse Funk. Learn more about the show and the people who make it over@grimandmild.com curiosities. You'll also find a link to the official Cabinet of Curiosity's hardcover book, available in bookstores and online, as well as ebook and audiobook. And if you're looking for an ad free option, consider joining our Patreon it's all the same stories but without the interruption for a small monthly fee. Learn more and sign up over@patreon.com grimandmild and until next time, stay curious. This show is sponsored by American Public University. Success starts with your drive, and American Public University is here to fuel it. With affordable tuition and over 200 flexible online programs, APU helps you gain the skills and confidence to move forward. Whether you're changing careers, starting fresh, or pursuing a lifelong passion. APU's programs are designed for people who never stop you. Bring the fire. Apu will fuel the journey. Learn more at Apu Apus. Edu.
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This is an iHeart podcast.
- [14:47]
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Guaranteed Human.