Cyrus the Great of Persia was a conqueror, and he tried to increase his empire by marrying

Tamiris, the widow of the king of the Massingeti people. She refused his offer, and so he

decided that he would invade her kingdom instead. Turns out, that was a big mistake. Listen to the latest episode of Noble Blood,

available now. Listen to Noble Blood on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you

get your podcasts.

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.

Folks, let's face it, we as a society do love a heartthrob.

We have teen magazines, celebrity fan clubs, even GQ's sexiest man alive.

Back at the turn of the century, though, Americans were just as hungry for tabloid tales about ladies' men.

And in Seattle, one of the last bastions of the Old West, the toast of the town, was Harry Allen.

Harry was unique. He was audacious, unplegetic, and open about who he was. He lived

life exactly on his own terms. Now, perhaps that doesn't sound that unusual, but for a time,

it was, because Harry was someone who, if he lived today, might call himself a trans man.

The Old West was a haven for people who didn't always fit in to society back east.

This went across the board, from rough-and-tumble mountain men to women who wanted to call

their own shots.

The freedom of the Old West was especially attractive to many queer people.

While life on the frontier could be

difficult, it was a lot easier to live the way they wanted. Survival was the most important

order of the day, not gender roles, so the Old West was especially perfect for Harry Allen.

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