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 Curiosities. On Christmas Eve of 2009,

Gergley Barkie was looking desperately for a way to keep his three-year-old daughter entertained.

There was lots of work to do to ensure a magical Christmas morning,

and Barkey was eager to get his daughter to settle down.

Like many families, Barkie's household had run through all the usual Christmas movies.

Barkey flipped across dozens of television channels, all playing the same three

holiday films, until they finally came across one playing something different.

One channel had just begun playing the 1999 movie Stuart Little.

Not very festive, but at least it was something Barkie's daughter hadn't seen.

And just as he was about to return to his Christmas morning preparations, his daughter

asked him to sit and watch it with her.

Barkie fought off a groan.

Fine, he would watch this 10-year-old movie

featuring a talking mouse instead of attending to his growing to-do list. It was Christmas,

after all. When Barkey agreed to spend this time with his daughter, he had no way of knowing

that he would be rewarded with the best Christmas gift he could have ever asked for. Not quality family time,

...