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.

The ancient Roman satirist, Juvenile, famously said that the secret to being loved as a ruler is not good governance,

but providing the public bread and circuses, food and entertainment.

But it must be said that people sometimes are particular about what sort of circuses they're presented.

Escapism and politics, although seemingly very far apart,

often collide in the most turbulent of ways. That said, William McCready wasn't thinking of this

when the curtain rose on May 7th of 1849. He was one of the most acclaimed British actors of his

era, and he was focused on his craft. He stepped out onto a stage

in Manhattan, ready to perform the lead in William Shakespeare's Macbeth, and was greeted by a

wall of jeers and booze. McReedy froze. He hadn't even delivered a line yet, and already the audience

was turning against him. Moments later, the crowd began to throw rotten vegetables at him, as well as eggs and

coins.

It was so noisy that McCready and his fellow actors struggled to make themselves heard

over the rabble.

And this wasn't the first time that locals had disrupted McCready's performances.

Earlier that week, someone had thrown a dead sheep onto the stage.

It was an actor's worst nightmare, and everyone knew that there was only one person to blame.

You see, that very same night, at a nearby Broadway theater, another performance of

Macbeth was underway, and the lead there was an American named Edwin Forrest. The rowdy audience

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