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.

Some of the best legendary figures from history are the ones shrouded in mystery, where they

came from and what their upbringing was like always seems to make them more human than myth,

which makes us unable to fill in the gaps with our own embellished details.

But little is known about Vincent de Groof.

Some say that he was Dutch, others Belgian.

He was born around 1838 and once worked as a shoemaker, but his ambitions took him much

higher.

Literally, Vincent fancied himself something of an Aeronaut at the time when many were

exploring the skies.

In the mid to late 1800s, Aeronauts like Henry Coxwell and James Glysher were setting

records and making advances in the field of flight, specifically with hot air balloons.

In 1862, for example, Glysher and Coxwell reached an altitude between 29,000 and 35,000

feet in a balloon with a 93,000 cubic foot capacity, the largest such vessel built up

to that point.

Vincent wanted to make a name for himself like Coxwell and Glysher, but hot air balloon

was only part of the plan.

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