Welcome to Aaron Menke's Cabinet of Curiosity's, a production of IHeart Radio 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.

To survive the court of King Louis XIV, you needed one thing, money. The Sun King had a

penchant for excess, and a typical day in court meant wild parties, grand feasts, high-stakes

gambling, and the funds to keep all of that going. To stay in the king's favor, some nobles were

forced to extremes, and starting in the king's favor, some nobles were forced to extremes,

and starting in the late 1600s, the rush to keep up with the royals led to a scandal

of supernatural proportions. The whole thing started with a break-in. One night in Paris,

somebody was seen going into the laboratory of Captain Gudan de Saint-Croix,

which wouldn't have been unusual, except that the captain had just died.

The police were called, and while they didn't find any burglars, they did soon discover

a curious red leather trunk.

Inside were letters between the handsome captain and his lover, the beautiful, married

noblewoman Marie de Braunvillier.

This was itself not very strange. All of Versailles knew that Godin and Marie were having an affair.

It was what was in the letters that was shocking. These weren't simple declarations of love.

Many of the letters instead detailed Marie and Gudan's shared passion, trying to develop

the perfect poison.

And judging by the vials of tasteless, odorless liquid inside the case, it seemed the two

had been successful.

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