This is an IHeart podcast.

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.

If you were lucky enough to spend your entire childhood in one home, it can be hard to say goodbye to it. You make so many memories there and spend so many years analyzing every nook and

cranny that it almost becomes like a member of the family. But time moves on,

children grow up and move away, and parents often need to downsize, most of the time. Some parents

just can't let go, though, and they hold on to their homes at all costs. Now, we've talked

on the show before about how the state of Michigan traded the city of Toledo in order to gain its upper peninsula

in 1836. This concluded the so-called Toledo War, and it proved to be an even trade,

as the mineral wealth of the Upper Peninsula seemed to be virtually endless. No one took better

advantage of this than a man named John M. Longyear. John was an incredibly hard worker,

and he spent his youth surveying the peninsula for signs of minerals. In the 1870s, he surveyed

multiple mountain ranges on behalf of various mining companies, producing some of the first

maps of the region, and helping to open several mines. In the 1880s, he went into business for himself,

opening even more mines and shipping millions of tons of ore. With generational wealth now secured,

John built his family a large mansion on a bluff, overlooking Lake Superior. And I mean,

it was massive, with 65 rooms that took up an entire city block.

There were whole rooms dedicated to different activities, whether it was bowling, billiards,

piano, you name it. And of course, there was a giant lake at the foot of the cliff if

anyone ever wanted to go swimming or boating. It was a magical place for John's children to grow up in.

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