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 Curiosity's.

Charles Lindbergh is a controversial name in American history. He was an aviator first, but in many ways he was also one of the first American mass media celebrities. And like so many celebrities, his downfall was as sharp as his rise to fame. But before he was a household name, he had to make his famous nonstop transatlantic

flight, while the average person might worry about mechanical failure or getting lost at sea,

for Charles the only real issue was staying awake. For such a monumental undertaking, Charles approached

his transatlantic flight as if it were an everyday chore. In the

weeks leading up to his flight, he studied navigation at his local library. He learned how to track

the sun, the moon, and the stars, and how to calculate his rate of travel and rate of fuel loss.

He needed to be able to do these things in his head because he couldn't bring much equipment

on board.

The plane was small and made of wood and fabric, like many planes of the time.

It couldn't handle a lot of weights, and he would have to dedicate most of that to the

451 gallons of gasoline that he would need to make it all the way from New York to Paris.

That was the challenge issued by an American businessman

who wanted to see a pilot from an Allied nation make a non-stop flight across the Atlantic. He

offered up $25,000 as a prize, which Charles aimed to win. In addition to the gasoline, Charles packed

a bottle of water and a bag of sandwiches, and that was about it.

You would think that he was just taking a bus cross-country, not crossing the entire

Atlantic on his own in a rickety plane.

But that's not to say that Charles wasn't nervous.

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