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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 Curiosity's.

In the early 1880s, a man known as Doc Carver rode his horse across the open plains of Nebraska,

Lost in Thought. Carver was a drift. He was an expert sharpshooter, and he'd spent the past few years traveling around the world in touring exhibitions and vaudeville shows.

He had even teamed up with another famous showman, Buffalo Bill Cody, to start their own traveling circus,

but they had a bitter falling out, and now Carver was striking out on his own once again.

He wanted to start his own show, but he was having trouble finding a hook that people would

be drawn to. He needed a fresh idea, something that no other circus was doing.

As he crossed a bridge over the Platte River, his mind wandered with possibilities.

Then all of a sudden, he heard a deep groan. The bridge was

collapsing. There was a loud snap, and Carver and his horse both tumbled down toward the river.

With a graceful arc, the horse dove down and splashed into the water. Carver clung to its back

as it swam toward the banks. As he climbed onto the grass,

Carver hopped down to check the horse for injuries, and amazingly, they had both made it out unscathed.

As Carver remounted his horse and navigated it toward the road, an idea began to form in his mind.

Everyone had animals in the circus, but no one else had animals doing water tricks.

Soon enough, at a fairgrounds in St. Louis, Missouri, a curious audience gathered around a tall

wooden ramp that rose at the edge of a deep tank of water. Doc Carver greeted the crowd

...