Strangest Things (2021–2022): Season 1, Episode 2 - Romans, Lost Treasure and a Leech - full transcript

[narrator] What is this
strange Roman device

that has baffled
archaeologists for centuries?

[Dr. Abigail Graham] The Romans
were meticulous administrators,

but we don't have any written
accounts about these objects.

[narrator] Is a machine
powered by blood-sucking leeches

the original weather app?

[Goodman] It's impossible.
Mad ideas didn't seem so mad.

[narrator]
Do these ancient scrolls

mark the locations
of buried treasure?

By the time they did
the complete tally,

it was something like 200 tons
of gold and silver,



something worth billions
of dollars today.

[narrator] These are the most
remarkable and mysterious objects on Earth.

Hidden away in museums,
laboratories and storage units.

Now, new research and
technology can get under their skin

like never before.

We can rebuild them,
pull them apart

and zoom-in
to reveal the unbelievable,

the ancient
and the truly bizarre.

These are
the world's strangest things.

[narrator] This strange bronze
artifact is one of the great mysteries

of the Roman Empire because
we have no idea what it is.

We don't have any written
accounts about these objects.

When we don't have a clear place
to put fantastic objects like these,

we end up in a vast mire
of speculation.



[narrator]
As nothing is known about it,

archaeologists simply call it
a Roman dodecahedron,

after its 12 sides.

It might be considered

nothing more than a curiosity
if there was only one.

But incredibly, 116 of these
dodecahedrons have been found.

No two are exactly alike.

They vary in size from one and a
half inches to four and a half inches.

[Dr. Andrew Steele] A Roman
dodecahedron takes a 12-sided shape

and has little spheres
to each of the corners.

And that means you can
stand it up nice and easily.

And also on the faces,
there are holes,

and these holes are circles,

but they're different sizes
on every one of those faces.

[Dr. Graham]
When the bronze was polished,

it would have sheen
or sparkle in the sunset

It would catch your eye.

[narrator] There are
no numbers, no writing,

no other marks
to explain what it is for.

Now a theory has emerged.

We may have been getting
the purpose

of the dodecahedrons
wrong for centuries.

So what is it really for?

Where does it come from?

What is this strange object?

One thing we know for certain,
Romans were obsessed with gambling.

[Dr. Graham] It's a cuboid.

It could be used for games,

and the Romans loved
their dice games.

Everyone played them.

And in the same way

that we see people on the tube
playing Candy Crush

or a game on their telephone.

When you excavate buildings
in Rome,

often major temples are
riddled with game boards

where people just sat
and played dice.

We have tons of
archaeological evidence.

In Pompeii,

there's a famous wall painting that
shows men fighting over a dice game.

Caesar, before he crossed
the Rubicon,

is famous for saying,
"Alea iacta est!"

"The die is cast."

"I'm throwing in my fate."

[narrator] Romans used dice
in endless combinations

of shape and size
to suit a multitude of games.

So, is it a dice?

Unfortunately, there are
flaws to this theory.

You pick these things up
and you try to throw them,

well, because they don't
have a flat face,

They don't bounce correctly.

They don't land right and they
don't have numbers on them.

[narrator] Magnifying it, it reveals
that every hole is a different size,

so the weight of each side is
different, which makes it a loaded dice.

So, the primary
function of a die

isn't really adhered to by these
objects, so that's a bit of a problem.

[narrator] Another suggestion
is that it's a candleholder.

[Dr. Graham] I understand
where the idea came from,

which is that,
some traces of wax

have been found on
the inside of one of these.

[narrator] But this theory
also has serious flaws.

It would be a candleholder
that didn't really work very well

in protecting your hands from getting
burned or holding a very large candle.

If you've ever
used a candlestick,

there's a grip and a long whim
around the top of it

to stop the wax dripping
onto your hand.

[narrator] It's even been
suggested that it's a child's toy.

[Dr. Graham] The idea
that you'd give your child

a small metal toy to play with,

my son would have had it
in his mouth, in its ear.

He'd have probably tried
to get it up his nose.

[narrator] So not a dice, not a
candle holder, and definitely not a toy.

Is there a clue in the pattern
of where these

mysterious artifacts
have been found?

Every Roman dodecahedron
discovered

is in the north and northwest
regions of the empire,

where the weather is colder
and generally less pleasant.

None are found in the sunny
or southern regions,

which has led to a new theory.

So, one of
the pervading theories

is that these were then used
for knitting

and perhaps to knit gloves.

So to test this theory,
someone has actually

printed out a 3D scan
of one of these

and used it to knit
a five-fingered glove.

I really like the idea

that these were
for knitting gloves.

If it's not
the sort of thing that

smart Archaeologists were
scratching their heads over,

chatting to astronomers and
mathematicians for decades,

but you show it to someone
who knows how to knit.

And they go, "It's obviously
for making gloves."

[narrator]
But not everyone is convinced.

[Dr. Graham] I'm not saying
that it's not possible

that it was used
as a knitting device.

But gloves are kind of
commodity item.

There are pre-existing
instruments for weaving.

The idea that it was used
generally to knit a pair of gloves,

it doesn't fit with how expensive
these objects were to make and produce.

[narrator] The problem is
that nearly every dodecahedron

is made of bronze.

And bronze doesn't come cheap.

It's made out of the same
materials that money is made out of.

[narrator] The Roman technique
for casting hollow bronze items

is still used today.

It's time consuming
and difficult.

You start off with a clay core.

You coat this with wax.

In the wax, you carve
the intricate details,

whatever shapes you want to
make out of bronze.

[narrator] You then cover the
whole thing again in clay, and bake it.

The wax melts out.

So, once you've done that,
you've got a mold

that has got the negative space

of what you want to make
out of bronze.

Then you get your bronze.

You melt it up to over a thousand
degrees, so it's nice and runny.

It's like red hot metal now,

and you pour it into the molds,

bits in it sparks, and then
you wait for that to cool down.

[narrator] This technique is far
too expensive for everyday objects.

It doesn't, from a financial,
economic point

or from a trade point,
make a lot of sense

to take all the time and effort

to make one of these incredibly
intricate, beautiful objects

for something that is
really an everyday-use item.

[narrator] So what could
justify the expense and effort

that goes into making
one of these bizarre things?

After centuries of mystery,
is there finally an answer?

[narrator]
This Roman dodecahedron

has baffled archaeologists
for centuries

and has led to a series
of competing theories,

each of which has
as many flaws as answers.

Now there is an idea
that seems to fit perfectly.

One thing that is incredible
about Rome is,

wherever you go
in northern Europe

and actually across most of
the Roman Empire,

and you look at
a Roman military camp

and the way that it is laid out,

it is very similar
across the Roman Empire.

They had an exact plan, and
to put out those exact plans,

they needed to have a means
of taking basic measurements.

How do you plan a road?

How do you set out
your milestones?

What marks the Roman empire
for me

is that they measured distances

and not only measured them
but marked them out.

They had milestones
along their routes

to record those distances,
and they were accurate.

[narrator] The dodecahedrons might
be one of the secrets to this accuracy.

It's all to do with the different
sizes of the opposing holes.

[Dr. Steele] You look through it,
because the holes are different sizes,

at a certain distance away,

at which the circles will
appear to be the same size,

and that's always going to be
the same fixed distance

away from your eyes.

[narrator] All you need then
is an object of unknown size,

preferably one that can be
carried high up off the ground.

[Dr. Steele] So, for example,
you might get a Roman centurion

carrying it standing.

Then he could march
off into the distance.

Place that standard down,
when that standard

is exactly the same size
as your two circles,

you know that he is
a certain distance away.

[narrator] This theory also explains
why all the holes are different sizes.

So just by rotating it,

you could measure a variety
of different distances.

[Dr. Graham]
If you're holding it,

you need to be able
to manipulate it.

It explains the nodules.

It explains
the different size holes.

It would even be a way of explaining
the drawings outside of the holes

that are used to
kind of line them up.

And it's also something that functionally
fits with the needs of the Roman army.

[narrator] And the most essential
need of all for the Roman army

is winning wars.

[Dr. Graham] They had to know
when people were in range.

Not only for things like arrows,
but they also had catapults.

And it's not just about
having this technology.

It's about knowing when exactly
is the right time to employ it.

So this sort of thing
would have great functionality

in setting out roads,
in setting up base camp,

but also in terms of actual
fighting, in terms of knowing

when the enemy was in range,
knowing when to fire their catapults.

[narrator]
So, is that case closed?

Is it definitely a measuring
device rather than a dice

or a glove making tool
or a candle holder?

It certainly sounds
convincing, but the truth is,

unless we find a written account
or fresh archaeological evidence,

we may never know for sure.
But it's fun guessing.

[narrator] In 1952,
hidden in a cave in Israel,

archaeologists find some
of the most controversial

and baffling objects
ever uncovered.

Ancient strips of
rolled up metal.

The copper scrolls.

There's nothing like them
in the world.

They are 12 inches long

and two inches wide,
corroded and brittle.

But stamped into them
are traces of an ancient text

that has sparked
a billion-dollar treasure hunt

and a passionate argument
that is still raging today.

Is it a treasure map?

Isn't it a treasure map?

Now, new research may
finally hold answers

to one of the greatest archaeological
mysteries of the twentieth century.

Who made these
one-of-a-kind scrolls?

Where do they come from?

Is there really hidden
treasure in the desert?

Or is it just the dream of
an enthusiastic archaeologist?

What are the copper scrolls?

1947, the northwest bank
of the Dead Sea.

A young goat herd

was scrabbling around
the rocky wilderness

near the village of Qumran,
about 15 miles east of Jerusalem.

He entered a cave
and discovered some jars

that seemed to have broken pieces
of parchment and papyrus in them.

[narrator] These
2,000-year-old documents,

are some of the most important
archaeological finds of modern times...

The Dead Sea scrolls.

Their discovery is a game
changer for archeologists.

They include some of the oldest
known fragments of the Hebrew Bible.

When scholars found these
well-preserved scrolls,

they were really thrilled.

They had now some of
the earliest biblical sources,

as well as community sources
that would have described the region,

the kinds of practices that
were going on

during this time of really
tumultuous Jewish history.

For biblical archaeologist,
this was the find

of a lifetime of the century,
perhaps of a millennium.

[Dr. Altaweel] This gives us back
a sense effectively, of a period

not far away from
when the Bible,

or parts of the Bible,
were written.

So this allowed scholars to
really have a connection to a period

when a lot of the religious
works in religious communities

that arose to create these
works, uh, were developing.

[narrator] Just five years
later, a team of archaeologists

are examining a nearby cave
when they discover the copper scrolls.

And it's immediately obvious to them
that these are something totally different.

[Dr. Graham] One of the most
unusual things about the copper scroll

is in its name
that it's a scroll,

but something that isn't made
from parchment,

that is made from copper...

material that's far more valuable
and also difficult to inscribe.

So this is something
that distinguishes it

as probably
an important document,

possibly a sacred one.

[narrator] What could be
so important that it justifies

the effort of writing
it on copper?

A few words visible
on the outer layer

of the tightly-rolled scrolls
catch the experts' eyes.

Those words include digging
cubits, a measure of size, and gold.

Some archaeologists jumped
to the very obvious conclusion.

We say not to judge a book by its cover,
but this is every archaeologist's dream.

"I found a treasure map."

[narrator] The only way to
be certain the copper scrolls

are a treasure map
is to unroll them.

But that is very risky.

[Dr. Ploszajski] The problem
with copper is that

if you leave it lying around
for thousands of years,

it oxidizes.

And this oxidation
makes it very brittle.

The copper is extremely thin, so if
you were going to try and unroll it,

what would happen is the brittle
copper would basically just snap.

[narrator] But one expert
doesn't give up.

[Prof. MacDonald] In 1955,

John Allegro,
a British archaeologist,

convinces the authorities
in Jerusalem

to allow him
to cut open the scroll

so that it could be
translated properly.

[narrator] The problem is,

no machine capable of such
specialized and precise work exists.

So Allegro asks Prof. Wright
Baker at Manchester University

to invent one.

On the first of October 1955,
using a machine bolted together

from a modified circular saw
and a dentist's suction brush,

Wright Baker begins to cut open the
two priceless 2,000-year-old scrolls.

One slip could be catastrophic.

Over the next
three and a half months,

Wright Baker's machine breaks
the scrolls down into 23 segments.

For the first time
in 2,000 years,

their secrets are revealed.

So, is it a treasure map?

The references to hidden gold
visible on the outside

turn out to be
the tip of the iceberg.

[Altaweel] When they begin
to put the scroll together

and translate
the different parts,

they realize it's not really
just a treasure map.

Rather, it sounds like
a series of treasure maps.

[Prof. MacDonald]
What was discovered is

that, in fact, they
were all originally part

of one single continuous
scroll, eight feet long.

This scroll had
64 individual entries

for buried hoards of items
ranging from coinage,

to valuable metal items, to
various ritual holy objects.

The sheer amount of wealth
that is represented in the document

was unimaginable.

[Altaweel] By the time
they did the complete tally,

it was something like
200 tons of gold and silver,

something worth billions
of dollars today.

So, a really mind boggling
amount was buried in deserts.

[narrator]
But something doesn't add up.

That amount of wealth
just seems too large.

How can anyone 2,000 years ago
gathered together

such an obscene amount of
wealth or keep it secret?

So, is there a billion-dollar
fortune buried in the desert?

[narrator] Some archaeologists
believe that these unique copper scrolls

are the key to a hidden fortune

buried somewhere
in the vast Judean desert.

But others struggle to accept
this interpretation.

The problem is that the
scholarship also connected this list

to the ASEAN community,

who were relatively austere mystic
sect at the edge of the Jewish world.

[Altaweel] They're kind of
poor people

on the desert dedicated
to religious life.

Yet the amounts of gold and
silver were thought to be

billions of dollars in worth
of gold and silver.

So, you're looking at these guys
who look like basically pauper monks

but yet they have the wealth of
Elon Musk or something like that.

So it's not something
you would expect.

[narrator] The treasure story
splits the academic world in two.

John Allegro, the British archaeologist
who sliced the scrolls open,

is convinced,
the treasure is real.

The opposing camp is
led by one of the team

that discovered
the copper scrolls,

Biblical scholar and
Catholic priest Jozef Milik.

Jozef Milik begins to look
at this,

and he does the calculations
and numbers,

and he realizes these
numbers are far too much.

There's something wrong here.

[narrator]
Milik doesn't just think

that this was too much wealth
for the Essenes.

The numbers are so vast, he's
convinced it's too much treasure

for the whole of the Qumran
region 2,000 years ago.

John Allegro accepts that the
initial estimates may be too high,

but he has an
explanation for that.

It's a miscalculation.

The unit used in the text is
'talents', which can vary over time,

and sometimes it has different
meanings to different communities.

So, which weight of talent
are we looking at?

If we're looking at
a relatively lighter weight,

then the value of these hoards
could be significantly altered.

[Altaweel] So it's possible
that the calculation used

to determine the amounts of modern
day tons from a talent is incorrect.

Potentially, the translation of the
units or the conversion of the units,

was quite different.

The community may have used a very
different standard effectively for talent,

and so the amounts may
have been far less.

[narrator] Allegro argues that
valuing the treasure

in the millions rather than billions
makes it historically credible.

But that still doesn't answer
one crucial question.

Where does all this wealth
come from in the first place?

15 miles from Qumran
is Jerusalem's Wailing Wall,

a sacred site of Jewish
prayer and pilgrimage.

It's the last remaining relic
of a mighty structure

known as the Herodian
Second Jewish Temple.

The Second Temple was
the place of worship for Jews,

and when I mean 'the', is that it was
practically the only place of worship,

and it would have had
all the treasures and gold

of all of the Mainline Jewish
believers.

So it would have
been a very wealthy place.

Allegro believes this
could explain the treasure.

John Allegro's argument
was based upon the notion

that these were the treasures
of the Second Temple,

stashed away for safekeeping
during the time of the Jewish Civil War.

This is where coin hoards come
from, things that are put away,

hopefully to be reclaimed
in better days.

[narrator] Milik counters that the
treasure never exists in the first place

and believes Allegro is
misinterpreting the scrolls.

To resolve this, they need a
complete translation of the text.

Officially, this is Milik's job.

But to Allegro's frustration, Milik
delays publishing his translation.

With good reason.

[Prof. MacDonald]
If he says that it's fake,

then he could be
accused of a cover up.

If he says it's real, then there would
be a descent of treasure hunters

into the region, trying to find
these lost gold and other items.

So, naturally he delayed

and procrastinated
as long as possible.

So, John Allegro goes ahead and publishes
the list and caught media attention.

The result is a great deal of recrimination
and bitterness between the two scholars.

[narrator]
In 1962, to prove his theory,

Allegro leads an expedition in
search of the lost treasure.

The search for lost treasures is a
phenomenon which is back into humanity

over the centuries.

And leads many a person to ruin.

[narrator] Allegro doesn't find
even a single nugget of gold,

and despite decades of
searching by treasure hunters,

these incredible riches
remain elusive.

So, is it simply a fable?

Now, new research
may finally answer

the secrets
of the copper scrolls,

and it's a total shock.

[narrator] New research now
suggests a radical alternative explanation

for the 2,000-year-old
copper scrolls.

In 2015, a new theory emerged.

Could the copper scroll have
been merely an accountability list

of items which had been
donated to the temple over time

and never actually all existed
at any one given moment?

[Altaweel] There are other
Jewish ancient Hebrew text

that effectively talk about a
made up version of the treasure

that didn't actually exist,
but rather a kind of

idealized number or value of a treasure
that could have existed in the past.

[narrator] This idea may be
connected to the ancient Greeks.

This is the Lindos Chronicle,
an inventory of items

in a temple to Athena,
written 200 years

before the copper scrolls.

[Dr. Graham] Towards the start
of the text,

they actually say
all these things

that we've been cataloguing
weren't actually there.

They may have existed
at one point,

but the idea was that I would give these
items to Athena, the goddess of Athens,

as supplication,
as a dedication to her,

even if I don't actually
have those items.

To show the dedication
that you would have to her.

So, it's a way to show how
much you love the God, effectively.

[narrator] And there's a
connection between lists like this

and the enigmatic
copper scrolls.

The scroll is written in
ancient Hebrew,

but a closer look reveals Greek
letters at the end of some of the entries.

Greek inventories use similar
notations, known as letter labels.

It's a simple cataloging system,
like numbering an index card.

Is that what the Greek letters
on the copper scrolls mean?

So, how do you present it
to your God?

You have to organize
it in some way.

And so using Greek letters
might be the way that was done.

So, like the Lindos Chronicle, the
scroll could be a record of wealth

for display in the temple, which
may explain why it's made of metal.

[Prof. MacDonald]
Why was it in copper?

Perhaps it was
a matter of display.

Perhaps this was,
rather than a scroll,

more of a plaque detailing
on the wall of the temple,

all of the great items,
all of the treasure,

which had been bestowed
upon it over the years.

[narrator]
There's just one problem.

Unlike the Lindos Chronicle,
the copper scrolls

identify locations
for the treasure.

Whether all this wealth
is real or historic,

why would they advertise this
for any treasure hunters to see?

The answer may lie in
the final lines of the scroll.

Ironically, the last entry on
the final sheet of the scroll

is a specifications about
where you can find the list.

Probably another copper scroll
which can decode the locations

for the items in
the larger list.

So, effectively, not only
the treasure is missing,

but the very means to locate
them remains missing as well.

[narrator] But as long as the
potential for real treasure exists,

treasure hunters will keep coming
back to Qumran, to seek their fortune.

[narrator] Whitby,
in the north of England.

Tucked away in the local museum
is a replica of one of the strangest

and most bizarre
inventions in history.

Standing over three feet tall, it
looks like a model fairground carousel.

But it's not.

This is a Victorian cutting-edge
scientific instrument.

It's an intricate contraption
of polished mahogany, glass,

silver and brass, and it's
designed to change the world.

There has never been anything
like it before or since.

[narrator] This is the
tempest prognosticator

built to crack one
of the greatest

and most challenging problems
of the Victorian age...

the weather.

Using the power...

of leeches.

Twelve tiny leeches
living in jars of water

that are trained to ring a bell.

[Prof. Tim Denison] In the
presence of extreme weather,

the leeches would rise up

and kind of signal that inclement
weather was coming to you.

[narrator] 150 years ago,

this is a serious idea.

People treat it seriously.

Who comes up with
this bizarre device?

How's it supposed to work
and why does anyone believe

a leech can tell them
it's going to rain?

[thunder rumbling]

[narrator] The tempest
prognosticator is an invention

designed to predict bad weather

using the power of leeches.

[bell dinging]

It sounds crazy now,
but in the Victorian era,

anything seems possible.

[bell dinging]

Mad ideas didn't seem so mad.

[narrator] By the 1850s,

Victorians were making huge
strides in technology and science.

New inventions
like rubber tires,

photography, and bicycles

are revolutionizing the way
people live, work, and travel.

That's a very mid-era.

It's a time of
enormous innovation,

of enormous social and physical
and industrial and economic change.

Things are happening so fast,
it would take your breath away.

[narrator] Business and trade
are booming,

and that's where
the weather comes in.

[thunder rumbling]

Increasingly, as trade
became more important,

as there was more traffic on the
seas, it became ever more important

to be able to predict storms
and so forth.

[Goodman]
There is more to be lost

when you've got huge
fleets at sea

than there was when it
was just a few boats in shore.

As the world became more
connected and trade grew,

weather had more of an impact.

[narrator] Unfortunately, weather
forecasting is stuck in the Dark ages.

There have always been
all these sort of

folklore signs of the weather.

Things like, "Red sky at
night, shepherd's delight."

"Red sky in the morning,
shepherd's warning."

[narrator] But folklore
doesn't sit comfortably

with the new Victorian age
of science.

From electricity to
magnetism to evolution,

nature is giving up its secrets.

One after another,

all sorts of mysteries
are being cracked.

Could reliably predicting the weather
be science's next, great conquest?

By the Victorian times, it began
to look possible to bring weather

within the sort of remit of
things that scientists could

measure and understand
and predict.

But this was a science, really at
its birth, and it's very early stages

and no one was really sure what
would work and what wouldn't.

[narrator] Enter gentleman
scientist, George Merryweather.

Merryweather was a doctor of Whitby, and it
seems he had all kinds of side interests.

He was the curator
of the local museum.

[narrator] Another of his side
interests is invention.

In 1850, he produces
his most famous

and groundbreaking creation, the
leech-powered tempest prognosticator.

The core of his invention
is a glass bottle

containing a few inches of
water and a leech.

Hidden away at the top
of each bottle

is a system of levers and
chains connected to a bell.

[Dr. Ball] There was a little
mechanism made from very fine boat

that would be triggered by the leech
coming past, and that would ring a bell.

[narrator] Of course there's always a
risk that one leech might misbehave.

But Merryweather has
a plan for that.

His machine uses 12 of them.

[Prof. Denison] As opposed
to relying on just one leech

and its wisdom
on the weather report,

there was actually
a ring of these jars

so that you could take
more of a majority vote

on the activities
of the leeches.

The more bells that rang, then
the stronger your prediction was.

[narrator] It all sounds terribly
rational, except for one thing.

Why does Merryweather believe
leeches can predict the weather?

Animals often appear in the
folklore of weather prediction.

There's a long history of
looking at animal behavior

to try to anticipate
changes in the weather.

[Goodman] Cows lying down in
fields is supposed to be an indicator

that rain is on its way.

There are many of these across
all cultures all over the world.

[narrator] In Germany, frogs
are the go-to weather predictors.

Every German thinks

that you can predict the
weather by putting a frog in a jar

with a little ladder in it,
mostly made of wood,

and then depending on where
the frog sits, you know

if it's going to rain
or if it's going to be sunny.

[narrator]
Merryweather goes for leeches.

An animal that holds a unique
fascination to Victorians.

He claims that leeches can
sense a change in the weather

and will rise up towards
the surface of water

when rain is coming.

The leech looks like a really
primitive thing, just kind of a slug.

But actually, it's an amazingly
sophisticated creature.

[Dr. Benecke] They're worms.
They're not slugs or snails.

They're beautifully colored.

They can have
orange-green color pattern.

[narrator] But the principal attraction of
leeches is their macabre dietary habits.

Leeches are very much
like a worm vampires.

[Dr. Ball]
It likes to drink blood

and in order to do that,
it has two suckers,

so one sticks on to the host.

The other one is
lined with teeth,

hundreds of teeth, so they bite.

And as the leech sucks blood,

it gives out two chemicals.

One is, uh, kind of anesthetic

and the other one
is an anti-coagulant,

a chemical that stops
the blood from clotting,

so it can continue to drink.

Once it's gorged itself,

in this way, the leech can survive
for up to a year without feeding again.

[narrator] This ability to draw
blood is important to Victorians

because many of them
believe human health

depends on maintaining balance
between the four humors.

Black bile, yellow bile,
phlegm and blood.

Most attention
was given to blood

because either
you had too much blood

or you had bad blood,

and in both cases, the medical
leech could help.

[narrator] Medical leeches are
wildly popular.

There were people whose profession was
leech gathering literally, usually women.

Just rolling your skirts, right up
and walking in the sorts of places

where leeches live, so that
they would attach to your legs.

In fact, they were so much used,

that we pretty much
fished them out of existence.

[narrator] According to Merryweather,
inspiration for his prognosticator

comes from a poem written by
vaccine pioneer, physician

and all-round science
superstar, Edward Jenner.

So, the poem is called 'Signs
of Rain' and it includes the lines,

"The leech disturbed
is newly risen,

quite to the summit
of his prison."

[narrator]
And as a Victorian doctor,

Merryweather is probably quite
keen on leeches already.

But is Merryweather right?

Can leeches really be trained
to predict the weather?

Or is this a great
Victorian scam?

[narrator] In 1850, George
Merryweather invents a machine

that he claims can
predict the weather

and change the world
using the power of leeches.

But is this a giant leap
in weather forecasting?

Or a con to steal
from the gullible?

In the end, it all comes
down to one question.

Can a leech really
predict the weather?

[thunder rumbling]

Merryweather claims that
leeches rise up when rain is coming,

and that might not be
as crazy as it sounds

because bad weather is usually
associated with a drop in air pressure.

[Dr. Benecke] One
possible reason why leeches

may detect air pressure
in the surrounding

is that they relate
to the oxygen

because they need to
breathe inside of the water.

[narrator] Leeches get oxygen
directly through their skin,

from the water surrounding them.

They're very, very sensitive

to the concentration of oxygen
in the water

and that will change if there's a
change in atmospheric pressure.

[narrator] When air pressure drops,
there's less oxygen in the water,

so the leeches rise closer to the
surface, where oxygen levels are higher.

It's for them just a matter of
survival, to get into an area

where there's enough oxygen
or to sense

if there's enough oxygen already

and then they can dive deeper.

So that was the kind of mechanical
principle behind the device.

[narrator] It seems Merryweather
may be onto something.

The idea of Dr. Merryweather
was not completely crazy at all.

It was a very nice experiment,
and maybe there's some truth in it.

[narrator] But if his tempest
prognosticator actually works,

why don't we see leech
barometers everywhere?

What goes wrong
with his brilliant plan?

Well, it certainly isn't
a lack of self-belief.

He gave a lovely talk
to the Whitby Literary

and Philosophical Society.

Went on for three hours,
apparently,

about how successful
it had been,

during which he compared
himself to Galileo.

[narrator] But is the
prognosticator really that good?

[Goodman] London
Illustrated News, for example,

carried a story about
his successful prediction

of a major storm, fifty-one and
a half hours before it happened.

It's a fairly generous
margin of error, isn't it?

Mmm.

[narrator] In 1851, Merryweather
takes his revolutionary invention

to the prestigious
Great Exhibition in London.

All the great scientists and inventors
and manufacturers were present.

It was the sensation of the age.

And there he was with his
leeches, in the middle of it.

That is just the most
extraordinary piece of publicity.

Unfortunately, Merryweather
doesn't need

public admiration to succeed,
he needs government funding.

He said that the whole of the
government should install them

all the way up
and down the coast

for the benefit of sailors and
merchant men right across the country.

But unlike the leeches,
the government doesn't bite.

[Dr. Ball] The prognosticator
didn't take off,

and it's probably no surprise
that it didn't.

It would have been, for
one thing, an expensive thing

to produce and to maintain,

you know,
leeches would keep dying.

It wouldn't have been a
terribly reliable instrument.

Had it come
a hundred years earlier,

it would have been perfectly in
keeping with the ideas of the time.

But actually it came at a time
when an instrument like this

were starting to look like
a device from another era.

By the early
to mid-19th century,

scientific instruments
weren't meant to look like,

you know, an aquarium with
little swimming creatures in it.

[narrator] Stuck between
a superstitious past

and a scientific future,

Merryweather's tempest prognosticator is
simply mowed down by better inventions.

[Goodman] It's the telegraph
that makes a big difference

because you can suddenly get
very, very quick results

from weather stations
posted all the way around.

So you can start mapping what the
conditions are in one place or other.

And with those maps,

you can start to make
more informed predictions

rather than just relying
on the leeches.

[narrator] All that remains today
of Merryweather's radical invention

is a replica that sits in the
museum, where he was once curator.

Albeit lacking
its blood-sucking stars.