Welcome to AirNenky's Cabinet of Curiosity's, a production of I Heart Radio and Grimm

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 Curiosity's.

Everybody underestimates the class clown.

They're lazy, they're unfocused, and in most cases they're pretty disruptive, they'd rather

crack a joke than crack a book.

The thing is, they're the ones you want to watch out for, because left to their own

devices, they might wreak untold havoc, or start their own companies.

In the late 1950s and early 60s, a new phenomenon was taking hold of America's youth, and in

a surprising place, Ivy League Universities.

It was called Phone Freaking with APH, and it was an early form of hacking.

Freakers, as they were called, would find new and innovative ways to disrupt landline

phone systems.

For example, they might impersonate switchboard operators or telephone company employees while

talking to unsuspecting customers.

They would also pay attention to the tones that rang out when calls were routed or ended.

Freakers with perfect pitch could then replicate those tones with a whistle to open a phone

line to connect themselves long distance for free.

As time went on, however, those who couldn't whistle wound up relying on simple devices

...