The Heist

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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.

If you travel around South Africa, you might wind up in Klein Karoo, an arid valley in the Western Cape.

Nestled between two mountain ranges, the valley is known for stunning views and gorgeous weather.

It's also home to nine elaborate mansions, each looking like a tiny palace fit for a Maharaja.

These are called the Feather Palaces.

They were built by nine South African families who became rich during the feather craze of the early 1900s.

Yes, you've heard that right.

The feather craze.

Now, if you've never heard of it before, you are not alone.

Most people have no idea that at one point, feathers were worth more by weight than diamonds.

Even more bizarre were the lengths that some people went to to corner the feather market.

They were ready to beg, borrow, and literally steal just to get their hands on some ostrich plumes.

By 1910, American women were obsessed with big, stately hats adorned with bushy feathers.

The bigger the feathers, the better the hat.

Some women even fixed taxidermy birds to their brims.

After all, why settle for a few feathers when you can have the whole animal?

And ostrich feathers were the fluffiest feathers on the market, so they were the most sought after.

And since they had to be shipped from overseas, they were expensive.

At the time, South Africa was the ostrich farm capital of the world.

Ostrich feathers were the fourth largest expoint, just behind gold and diamonds.

And interestingly enough, the ostrich trade was largely run by a Lithuanian Jewish community.

They had escaped czarist rule and emigrated to a town called Oatzhorn in the Klein Karoo Valley, where they swiftly set up ostrich farms.

And before long, they were raking in the dough.

At first, they enjoyed a feather boon and made money hand over fist.

But soon enough, American competitors crowded into the market.

The South African ostrich industry needed an edge if they wanted to stay competitive with American ostrich farmers.

Now, the best ostrich feathers in the world didn't actually come from South Africa.

They were plucked from Barbary ostriches.

The problem with that was that nobody knew where Barbary ostriches were from.

The prevailing rumor was that they were bred in Nigeria.

So the South African government decided to fund an expedition to Nigeria to see if they could figure out where the ostriches were bred and whether they could buy some.

Naturally, they hired a group of agricultural professors to lead this expedition.

So in 1911, a small group of professors landed in Nigeria.

They hired 100 local men to carry their luggage and equipment into the Sahara Desert, and they set up camp along a trade route.

And every time a trader passed through with ostriches, the professors would secretly inspect the birds to see if they were the sacred Barbary ostriches.

And eventually, some traders passed through with a flock of the desired birds.

But there was a problem.

As it turns out, the ostriches were not from Nigeria.

They came from just across the border, which at the time was a French military territory.

The South African government asked France if they could buy a flock of Barbary ostriches, and predictably the French government said,

no.

And that should have been the end of the conversation.

But remember, ostrich feathers were South Africa's fourth largest export.

They desperately needed to stay on top of the market.

So they told the professors, if you can't buy the birds, just steal them.

And so in the dead of night, these professors snuck over the border and into military territory.

They ducked past soldiers and gangs of bandits until they finally located a massive flock of Barbary ostriches, and they managed to make it back to their camp with 156 birds in tow.

Of course, this presented the professors with a new challenge.

They couldn't just take the birds on a train train back to South Africa because that would arouse suspicion.

So how would they get the ostriches back across the Sahara Desert?

Well, remember those 100 local men they hired to set up their camp?

Well, the professors hired the men again to carry their belongings and helped them build crude ostrich pens out of sticks.

They then loaded the ostriches inside the pens, marched them about 180 miles across the desert to Lagos, where it was safe to board a boat for home.

And when they arrived back in South Africa with these birds, the professors were lauded as heroes.

For the moment, it seemed as if they had saved the South African feather trade.

But fate, as always, would get the last laugh.

Just a year after this elaborate heist, the feather industry collapsed.

In the United States, cars were becoming a popular mode of transportation, and cars back then didn't have tops, so it was impossible to wear giant feathered covered hats while sitting in the front seat of a car.

Women traded in their feather hats for driving caps, and the price of feathers plummeted.

In the end, the professors risked their lives for a journey that wasn't worth the trip.

But in terms of great stories, it's safe to say that this one was a real feather in their caps.

Banking with Capital One helps you keep more money in your wallet.

with no fees or minimums on checking accounts and no overdraft fees.

Just ask the Capital One bank guy.

It's pretty much all he talks about.

In a good way.

He'd also tell you that this podcast is his favorite podcast, too.

Oh, really?

Thanks, Capital One Bank Guy.

What's in your wallet?

Terms apply.

See capital One.com/slash bank.

Capital One NA member FDIC.

Eloceano nos muede, ya sía surfiendo naola o disfrutandos unlensidar.

Eloceano nos alimenta.

Las practicas so senibles de pescanos trien su ríqueza a la mesa.

El loceano nos insena.

Que cada decisión que tomamos dejaguella.

El loceano nos delenta.

Con nutrias juquetonas que restabran vosques de algas costeras.

Elo ciano nos conecta.

Descubre tú conection en Monterrey Bay Aquarium punto oergé diagonal connecta.

In 1485, a Portuguese sailor, let's call him Alvaro, shall we, strained against the oars of a rowboat, swatting at mosquitoes as he went.

He and his fellow sailors were on a river in the rainforests of Nigeria.

They hoped to find the rumored city of Benin, which was said to contain riches unlike any seen in Europe.

Traveling through the jungle was exciting, but also uncomfortable.

There were bugs everywhere, and Alvaro couldn't remember a time when he wasn't sweating profusely.

And there was always a lingering fear in the back of his mind.

They could become lost in the jungle, possibly for nothing.

They were only even here on the word of travelers and traders who claimed to have met people from Benin City.

Alvaro's heart sank when, after a few days of rowing, the river finally came to an end.

They would have to leave their boats and proceed on foot.

The river had at least provided some direction.

Now they would be completely at the mercy of the jungle.

But after only a short bit of walking, Alvaro and his crew were stunned to find a dirt path, clear as could be, leading them north.

Their hearts soared.

Perhaps this was the way to the city.

And so they continued on.

Alvaro kept his eyes on the horizon as always, hoping to catch a glimpse of their destination.

And his eyes were eventually drawn to a strange bird perched atop the tree line.

At first, Alvaro thought that it was some kind of huge condor with its wings expanded, but as they got closer, he realized that it wasn't moving.

It wasn't a real bird at all.

It was a carved one perched atop a tower.

They had found the city.

Alvaro raced ahead, hurrying up the road, unable to contain himself.

When he crested the next hill, he was unprepared for the sight that unfolded before him.

Benin City was massive, stretching out as far as the eye could see.

Dozens of towers with the carved bird toppers dotted the skyline, but most impressive were the walls.

They were about 10 feet high, and they stretched for thousands of miles, it seems, surrounding the city and also breaking it up into into a series of interconnected communities.

And each community was constructed with order and precision.

The streets were long and wide, dividing up the buildings in endless rings.

They were also dotted with metal lamps that Alvaro assumed illuminated the city at night.

He and his crew were greeted warmly at the gates.

The people of the city wore bright and colorful robes, unlike any Alvaro had ever seen before.

They guided the crew through the streets, and Alvaro could peer into each building as as they went.

They had no doors.

Apparently, the citizens weren't worried about theft.

Each home looked very similar, with a central chamber and two rooms connected to it.

And he could see that the main room was for the patriarch of each house, and the side rooms were for the women and children.

In fact, the more he looked, the surer he was that the town centers were full of life, with people trading in the exact kinds of goods the crew had hoped to find.

large elephant tusks, plentiful cracked pepper, and textiles that would have surely impressed the king.

When Alvaro looked ahead again, he suddenly realized that the gateguards had led them to what was surely the royal palace.

It was constructed out of incredibly smooth clay walls that were so clean and polished that you could almost see your reflection in them.

Bronze artwork adorned the entrance, showing the king's many accomplishments.

Alvaro had expected to find some thatched roofs and mud huts.

He had not expected a city that rivaled any in Europe.

Once inside, he and his men immediately bowed as they approached the throne of none other than Oba Ozalua, legendary king of Benin City.

Elvaro and his fellow soldiers quickly produced bars of brass and copper to show what they had to offer the king, who smiled, telling them that they were welcome there.

It seems that a door had been opened between two kingdoms and it would change this legendary city forever.

You see, the additional bronze and copper from Portugal would allow the king of Benin City to war with neighboring kingdoms.

The city soon became involved in the slave trade, selling their captured enemies to the Europeans.

And ruling over a large empire soon meant that there was infighting and civil war inside Benin City.

By the late 1800s, it was an easy target for British colonization, who destroyed the city so that today the only evidence of its former greatness is found in the journals of the explorers who visited it.

For the European explorers of old, there might have been no greater discovery than a lost city.

But looking looking back, it would have been better for those cities to remain as hidden as possible.

I make another award-winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and and television show.

And you can learn all about it over at theworldoflore.com.

And until next time, stay curious.

Banking with Capital One helps you keep more money in your wallet, with no fees or minimums on checking accounts and no overdraft fees.

Just ask the Capital One Bank Guy.

It's pretty much all he talks about.

In a good way.

He'd also tell you that this podcast is his favorite podcast, too.

Oh,

really?

Thanks, Capital One Bank Guy.

What's in your wallet?

Terms apply.

See capital one.com/slash bank, capital One NA member FDIC.

This is an iHeart podcast.