Welcome to Erin Mankie'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.

In the 1978 Superman film starring Christopher Reeve, Lex Luther delivers a speech to his

henchman and henchwoman about what truly matters in life.

He says, and I quote,

stocks may rise in fall, utilities and transportation systems may collapse, and people are no damn good,

but they will always need land and they'll pay through the nose to get it.

And he wasn't wrong.

Look back at the legend of Johnny Appleseed, for example.

He was a real man named John Chapman who hailed from Massachusetts.

A nursery man by trade, Chapman spent much of his life working around plants and flowers.

He set out in the late 1700s to plant vast apple orchards in states like Ohio, Pennsylvania,

Illinois, Indiana, and even up north into Ontario, Canada.

But contrary to the stories told in school, he wasn't doing it randomly.

You see, the government recognized new orchards on unclaimed land as proof of ownership.

In other words, Chapman planted apple trees to build up his real estate portfolio.

But Johnny Appleseed had gone about things the right way.

He'd been a shrewd businessman who worked within the law to earn himself a hefty income.

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