Welcome to Aaron Manky's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of I Heart 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. To succeed in life a person must never rely on only one perspective. It's important to view problems from all sides and see every angle.

That might mean getting a second opinion or imagining yourself in someone else's shoes.

And for one group of French Shepherds, those shoes were pretty darn big.

Along the southwestern coast of France is the Londe region, just below Bordeaux.

It looks out on the bay of Biscay and is covered in a lush forest of maritime pine trees, but Lond

didn't always look this way. In fact, more than a century ago, it wasn't nearly as verdant

and full of life. It was maintained as a feeding ground for the 1 million sheep in the area.

Locals would burn parts of the land to keep it suitable for the sheep to graze, leaving it soft, flat, and marsh covered.

It was almost impossible to get around on foot,

and there were no proper roads on which to drive.

So instead, Shepherds found another way to navigate the uneven terrain. They walked around on stilts. These were

five foot tall leg extensions that were fastened to the shepherd's leg so they could

walk above the flocks without sinking into the soil.

A long staff was used to keep them from falling over

and to direct the sheep where they needed to go.

Those who lived in Lond during the 19th century

learned how to walk on these stilts as children.

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