Welcome to AirNManky'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.

Charles Joseph made cabinets, but he was a musician too.

He played the serpent, a wooden instrument in the shape of a large S, but instruments were

expensive in the early 1800s, and Charles Joseph decided to make one for himself.

He followed the pattern of another Belgian craftsman, and soon enough had his own serpent,

ready for him to play.

But his budding talent for crafting musical instruments wasn't the only thing he was

nurturing.

There was also his courtship with Marie.

He met her when he turned his talent for crafting intricate mechanical devices to the

service of a local factory.

He made their spinning machines, and he met his future wife at the same time.

After they were married, he was soon also nurturing his young son, Antoine Joseph.

That was a bit of a mouthful though, so the little boy was nicknamed Adolf, the first

of the family's 11 children, but one of just three who would grow to adulthood.

It was a time of great loss for the family, but it was a time of change beyond them.

The factory closed, and they moved along.

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