Welcome to AirNmenky'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 1818, civil engineer Sir William Cubitt invented a form of torture.

It didn't drip water nor did it stretch its victims to uncomfortable lengths.

It didn't even draw a single drop of blood.

But it did cause a lot of sweat and pain.

He designed the device for use in prisons as a means to reform criminals.

If incarceration wasn't incentive enough, he believed his method would surely deter

prisoners from becoming repeat offenders.

And before long, prisons across Britain installed their own.

And they called it the eternal staircase.

Prisoners were forced to climb the thin spokes of a pedal wheel repeatedly.

It was effective too.

In fact, the British Society for the Improvement of Prison Discipline published a guideline

and rules for the House of Corrections and Penitentiaries in which Cubitt's staircase

was listed as a way for prisoners to earn and honest day's work.

You see the repetitive motion of climbing the large pedal wheel created enough power

to crush grains for mills or pump water.

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