Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities
Episode: "Scent of a Traitor"
Date: February 17, 2026
Host: Aaron Mahnke

Overview

In this episode, Aaron Mahnke shares two fascinating, bite-sized tales focused on the curious interplay between ambition, secrecy, and the scent of notoriety. First is the incredible life story of Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel, whose drive for power led her from orphanage to the heights of Parisian haute couture, but also into controversial wartime collaboration. The second story unearths the mysterious 2004 discovery of a secret underground cinema deep within the Paris Catacombs, exposing the covert activities of a group called Les UX, modern urban explorers with a penchant for restoration—and mischief.

Tale #1: The Ambitious Orphan – Coco Chanel

(Start: 00:23)

Key Discussion Points

• Early Hardship and Formation

  • Gabrielle Chanel was born in 1883 in western France and orphaned at 12. Raised by strict nuns, she detested their austere lifestyle but gained indispensable skills in sewing and cleaning.

    “[The nuns] taught her how to sew and clean. She developed a preference for a clean home and immaculate hygiene. And these skills and traits would define her life and even lead her to change the world.” (00:52)

• Rise to Fashion Icon

  • By age 20, living in Paris, Gabrielle opened a successful hat shop in 1910 that quickly drew attention from local performers and high society.
  • Noted for her impeccable hygiene, she was dismayed by the lack of cleanliness in her wealthy clientele, leading her to foray into perfume, commissioning and eventually selling the now-legendary Chanel No. 5.

    “Not only would it make her money, but it would keep her from having to smell the BO of her clients as she fitted them for hats and dresses.” (01:44)

• The Little Black Dress

  • Chanel’s innovations included the iconic "little black dress," a symbol of women’s liberation in fashion.

    “She also invented the first little black dress, which is a simple and slim dress. In contrast to the big gowns of previous decades. She had liberated women’s fashion, but she wasn’t exactly a feminist.” (02:06)

• Ambition Over Allegiance

  • Chanel’s personal ambition drew her into the spheres of the elite—both in romance and power, including English royalty and Winston Churchill.
  • During WWII, her affair with Nazi officer Hans Gunther von Dincklage led her to collaborate with the occupiers:

    “Gabrielle quickly struck up an affair with German officer Hans Gunther von Dincklage. In addition to having the most German name imaginable, he was also a spy tasked with infiltrating the French Resistance. This seems to have been Gabrielle’s most long lived and passionate affair.” (03:01)

• Controversy and Legacy

  • Chanel attempted to exploit Nazi laws to wrest her company away from Jewish business partners but was ultimately thwarted.

    “She tried to essentially steal their stake from them under Nazi laws... This ultimately failed when those Jewish partners smartly sold their stake to a different French industrialist before fleeing to the United States.” (03:31)

  • After the liberation of Paris, Chanel was arrested but quickly released, possibly due to her influential friends.
  • Her legacy remains complicated: celebrated for her contributions to fashion yet stained by collaboration.

    “Curiously, her insatiable desire for power actually undermined her success in the long run. If she had remained loyal to France, she would be remembered today as the saintly godmother of all modern fashion. Maybe she should have listened to those nuns. After all.” (05:48)

Notable Quotes

• On Chanel’s ambition:

  “More than anything, she just wanted success and the money and power that came with it. She wanted to be a part of high society, to show that she was more than just an orphan raised by nuns.” (02:18)

• On her post-war legacy:

  “She never again had the same prominence in the fashion world and died bitter and alone in 1971. Today, Gabrielle Coco Chanel, as she was better known, is respected for her contributions to the fashion world... Naturally, the extent of her antisemitism and collaboration with the Nazis will always be debated.” (05:27)

Tale #2: The Catacombs Cinema – Les UX

(Start: 07:06)

Key Discussion Points

• The Paris Catacombs: City of the Dead

  • Under Paris lie over 170 miles of catacombs, harboring the bones of 6 million people. While most passages are off-limits, some are used for municipal purposes or, as this story reveals, secret adventures.

• Police Discovery in 2004

  • Officers training in the catacombs near Trocadero stumble upon a tarp labeled "Building Site No Access," leading to a bizarre setup:

    “Almost immediately, they discovered something unusual. A large tarp blocking a previously uncharted passage with a sign saying Building Site No Access.” (07:35)

  • Beyond the tarp: a desk, a CCTV camera (recording everyone passing), and, triggered by motion, a sound system playing fierce dog barks.

• The Underground Cinema

  • The police uncover a full clandestine cinema:

    “Further down, the tunnel opened into a huge cavern, and inside the rock had been carved into seats and benches for people to sit in. Investigators found an enormous movie screen and projection equipment, along with a collection of movies... On the far side of the cavern was another room with a makeshift bar and a restaurant.” (08:07)

  • Unusually, the space is powered by electricity—with multiple phone lines, bar, restaurant, and a pressure cooker.

• The Culprits: Les UX

  • A group called Les UX (Urban eXperiment) claims credit for the cinema and various secret restoration projects in Paris:

    “Le ux, short for Urban Experiment, is a secret organization taking on urban renewal projects all over Paris, which the French government lacks funding for or chooses not to pursue.” (09:11)

  • Past feats include the covert restoration of the Pantheon’s clock (2007), a project carried out in secret over a year.

• Evading Capture

  • Despite police and utility-company efforts to trace them, Les UX dismantle the entire cinema overnight, leaving only a note:

    “The note said simply, do not come searching for us.” (11:46)

Notable Quotes & Moments

• On the eerie catacombs entrance:

  “There are so many bodies down there that one sign above a public entrance reads, ‘stop. The empire of death lies here.’” (07:24)

• On the cinema’s sudden disappearance:

  “The tarp, the sign, and the camera were all gone. In fact, the entire theater had been emptied. No pressure cooker, no phone lines, no movie screens or liquor. The only sign that something had been in the cavern at all was a scrap of paper left in the center of the room addressed to the Parisian police. The note said simply, ‘do not come searching for us.’” (11:37)

Episode Structure & Tone

• Aaron Mahnke’s narration combines intrigue, dark humor, and a journalist’s precision with a storyteller’s flourish.
• Both stories explore ambition manifesting in unexpected, often dubious ways—whether in fashion or urban exploration.
• The tales, while strange, are as much about curiosity and human nature as they are about the peculiar facts.

Major Timestamps

• 00:23 – Introduction to Gabrielle Chanel’s early life
• 01:44 – Chanel’s entry into perfume and the creation of Chanel No. 5
• 03:01 – Chanel’s collaboration with Nazi officers
• 05:27 – Discussion of Chanel’s controversial legacy
• 07:06 – Introduction to the Paris Catacombs story
• 07:35 – Police discover the underground cinema setup
• 08:07 – Description of the complete underground cinema and restaurant
• 09:11 – Reveal of Les UX and their secret projects
• 11:37 – Police find the cinema dismantled, with only a warning note left behind

Final Takeaways

• The dual stories are connected by the theme of secrecy and the pursuit of power or passion, whether in the public eye (Coco Chanel) or under literal cover of darkness (Les UX).
• Mahnke’s closing reminder: stay curious—the world always has another secret waiting around the corner.