This is an IHeart podcast.

Guaranteed Human.

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.

Our personality is... Our personalities are deeply ingrained within us.

We all have certain traits and quirks that we can't change, no matter how hard we try.

But what exactly is it that makes you, you?

Modern science has some ideas, and it's all thanks to a 19th century railroad worker named Phineas. On September 13th of 1848, Phineas was working at a construction

yard outside Cavendish, Vermont. He was regarded as his company's best foreman. He had a steady mind

and a good business sense, and everyone on the crew

respected him. The job that day was supposed to be simple, too. They were clearing rocks to make

way for the new Rutland and Burlington Railroad. So once the crew had drilled a hole into the rocky

ground, Phineas filled it with explosives, and then he picked up a long iron tamping rod

and used it to pack sand into the hole. But while he was doing so, the iron rod gave off a spark,

and suddenly the explosives detonated, blasting the rod out of Phineas's hand, and threw his left

cheekbone. The rod tore through his brain out the top of

his skull and landed on the ground 80 feet behind him. Phineas was knocked onto his back with a massive

hole through his head. But as the smoke cleared, Phineas sat up. Not only was he alive,

but he was still conscious. He stood up, calmly walked over to an

ox-cart, and asked his co-workers to give him a ride to town to see a doctor. Phineas was taken to a

...