Welcome to Erin Mankie'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.

Sometimes you just want to pack your bags and get away from it all for a while.

And a regular vacation just won't cut it.

You need sun, you need sand, you need your own micro-nation.

A micro-nation is a piece of territory whose residents demand that they be recognized

as an independent nation.

However, they're usually tiny and rarely considered self-governing because they don't technically

exist under international law.

Most micro-nations never get the approval they need from the other countries.

That doesn't mean people stop trying, though.

Plenty of people have attempted to form their own micro-nations in the past hundred years.

People like Lester.

Lester was born on April 1st of 1915 and was the baby of the family.

He already had an older brother far away fighting in the Great War and four older sisters

who didn't have much time for a toddler.

With his sisters out most of the day and his doctor-father making house calls, little Lester

was largely raised by his mother and his grandparents.

...