152: The Secret Sex Lives of Eunuchs | Dark History
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It's that time of the year. Let's dial up Matt Ceretta, General Manager at Van Chevrolet. Thanks for calling Van Chevrolet, home of the Green Friday sales event. You mean Black Friday, right? Black Friday sales events are a bunch of nothing burgers. Everybody has them. We want everyone saving a ton of green.

up green. Yeah, but it's for one day only, right? Wrong. Green Friday savings last all month long. Together, let's drive to Van Chevrolet on Frank Lloyd Wright in Scottsdale. And online all the time at vanchevrolet.com. Do you guys remember the Heaven's Gate cult? I actually did a murder mystery makeup on it, but essentially they were a religious group who believed they were going to catch a ride on the Hale-Bopp comet in 1997. Now,

Now they believed that this comet was actually a spaceship. Oh yeah. And in order to ride the spaceship, you actually had to die. Yeah. Heaven's Gate is honestly such a wild, wild story. But what a lot of people did not know was that their leader, the leader of Heaven's Gate, was a eunuch. Meaning he voluntarily had himself castrated, a.k.a.

His testicles was, they were removed, you know? He did this because he wanted to achieve spiritual purity. I know. Now I know to you and I, this sounds like a little extreme, but there was actually a time when choosing to become a eunuch was pretty normal. And not just for religious reasons, but as a career opportunity and a way to climb the social ladder. Oh yeah. Yeah.

Over many cultures and many years, being a eunuch has meant something different. Like in ancient China, eunuchs were thought to be more trustworthy, so they became political advisors. Or in Italy, they realized it stopped men's voices from developing. Oh yeah, so eunuchs formed a special class of opera singers. ♪

I know. Sometimes the process of becoming a eunuch was voluntary and other times not so much. Look, a lot of the times it was done by force and look, they didn't even want it. Okay? I know. Bailey, why the hell are you doing an episode about wieners and balls getting cut off? Where am I? Am I okay? No.

Welcome to Dark History. But where did these traditions start? And why is this Heaven's Gate guy like the only eunuch I personally knew about? Well, guess what? We're about to learn a lot more. Because today, we are talking about the Dark History of Eunuchs. ♪♪

Hi friends, I hope you're having a wonderful day today. My name is Bailey Sarian and I'd like to welcome you to my podcast, Dark History. Hi. Hi, how are you today? Here we believe history does not have to be boring. It might be tragic. Sometimes it's happy. A lot of times it's sad. But either way, you know, it's our dark history. Before we get into it, don't forget to like and subscribe because I'm always here for you, posting new content.

Oh yes I am. And also don't forget to let me know what you think down below in the comments section, 'cause I love hearing from you. You're wild. So, eunuchs, how'd we get here, huh? Let me tell you. We're gonna start with the basics. Because if you're anything like me, you might be wondering what makes a eunuch a eunuch. Or you're wondering why eunuchs, Bailey? Because it's interesting. And that's what this whole show is. All right, so just go on this journey.

The first thing I was thinking about was like, do they take the whole situation, the whole enchilada, the twig, the berries? Do they take everything? What is it? I wanted to know. Well, that depends really on the culture. Basically a eunuch is a man that has been castrated. Sorry for the men listening out there. Listen, this is history. Basically a eunuch is a man that has been castrated. Now that could mean he just had his testicles removed

Or sometimes it could mean that he had his penis and his testicle removed. Testicles, sorry, removed. Sometimes you didn't need to remove anything. Back in ancient Rome, there were three different types of eunuchs. Men who had been infertile since birth, men who were castrated, and men who had their testicles crushed. Yeah.

Yeah, exactly what you're imagining. Their testicles were squished until they were no longer functional. Other times, a string would be tied around the testicles, which would just like cause the blood supply to be cut off completely, and then they would like wither and fall off. Now, no one really is sure who created the first eunuch, since they exist across a

like a ton of different cultures. Now the earliest record of a eunuch goes all the way back to the 21st century BC in Mesopotamia. So you're probably wondering why they would do it in the first place. Why Bailey? Why are they doing this? Back in the 1800s, there was a Russian cult called the Scopsey and they believed having your testicles cut off made you free from sin. In their opinion, one of like the worst sins you could do was to have sex. So castration meant that like

they would never be tempted and they could stay pure. The Scopsi called themselves the White Doves. They believed in order to be a real Christian and follow the path of Jesus Christ, you had to castrate yourself. The Scopsi were so intense that they actually, they freaked Stalin out and he actually ended up banning them. That kind of says a lot because Stalin was

wild, but in other places, people became eunuchs for their career. It was believed that losing your genitals gave you special abilities that made you better qualified for certain jobs, which is why eunuchs were specifically made to be servants and political advisors to kings in ancient China and Persia. Now here was the logic. If a eunuch couldn't have a family of his own, he would be more dedicated to his king and his career

It makes sense. He wouldn't be all distracted with like boning all the ladies, you know? And this in turn benefited the king because if all of his closest advisors were eunuchs, then he wouldn't be like worried that this guy was gonna be fucking all of his chicks,

his wife, you know, kind of makes sense. I get it. I get it. An added bonus, a eunuch couldn't impregnate anyone. So the king would know that all of the children born in the palace were indeed his, the king, you know? But there were some eunuchs who took advantage of being constantly underestimated. Some of them even gained more power than the kings that they served.

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One of the first eunuchs to defy all odds and like rise to power, this guy was badass. And guess what his name is? You'll never guess. His name was Bag-O-Ass the Elder, Bag-O-Ass.

Yeah that was his name though. But this was back in like 4th century BC in Persia, Bag-O-Ass. I guess Bag-O-Ass was a name that was commonly given to eunuchs in Persia. Now this was because there were hundreds if not thousands of eunuchs serving the king at the time. And I guess the king had better things to do than learn every eunuch's name. So he would refer to all of them as Bag-O-Ass.

It's not funny. It was the same in China because there were so many eunuchs, the emperor made them choose from like a small number of names. Their names would emphasize their loyalty to him. Many were called Jinzong, which meant entered the palace in loyalty. It kind of reminds me of like those 18 kids and counting how they're like John, Jacob, Josephina, Jananiah, Jedidah,

John Jacob Jingleheimer Smith, you know, it's like that. I don't know, made it easy for them. So if you were a eunuch and you were working in the palace, now you were kind of like Loki the shit because you knew everything about everybody. Like the eunuchs knew everyone's business. They would be the people you'd want to gossip with.

because they knew shit and they weren't preoccupied with you know raging boners or anything. They had time to sit listen and watch and I like those types of people. Technically they were like on the lower end of the totem pole but like look you didn't want to mess with a eunuch because a eunuch

I don't know if this is a fair comparison, but look, it kind of reminds me like they're the little minions, not little minions, but they're kind of like the minions and they hear and then they watch everything. And then they go back to the king and they let him know what's going on. You know what I'm saying? The eunuchs. So like if you got on a eunuch's bad side, he would go right to the king and let him know what is up. And this was not, this was not ideal. You did not want the king to know what's going on.

you were doing something fishy. So there are a bunch of eunuchs and not all of them became close with the king just because you went through with the procedure didn't automatically make you the king's right-hand man. But Baghoas, the elder, he was one of those special eunuchs who ended up rising to the top. He worked hard. He became a private minister to the king of Persia. King Artaxerxes III,

So the king relied on Bag-O-Ass's opinion heavily. So whether it was for personal matters, politics, whatever was going on, he wanted to know. He wanted to hear it. But what the king didn't know at the time was that Bag-O-Ass was not a friend.

Ooh, he was shady. Baguaz was looking out for himself, okay? And not only that, he had bigger plans. He wanted to take over Persia and he felt like he could. He knew everything about everyone and how the king worked. It's kind of smart. Now Baguaz knew like, okay, he can't just like take over with his current king in charge. You know, this guy's too powerful. So instead he's like, you know what I gotta do?

So Bagolas ended up murdering the king, I don't know how, and not only that, but also murdered his sons. He ended up leaving one of his sons alive,

And that was on purpose because Baguaz wanted this son specifically to be in charge because he was kind of a little shit, kind of dumb, moldable. I can get this guy to like work for me is what he's thinking. It's part of his plan. So, you know, the whole family just got murdered. No one knows who did it. And then the son now becomes king.

What he didn't know was that he was really just a puppet. Bag-O-Ass was right by his side, you know, giving him feedback, telling him what to do. And this new king is doing as he suggested because, you know, Bag-O-Ass seems to know better. He's been here longer. He's been working for the king for like a long time.

So yeah, I'm gonna listen to him. So a couple of years go by. Bag-O-Ass decides it's time to switch things up again. Bag-O-Ass kills this last king, okay? And now there's a new guy. His name's Darius.

I know, we get some like wild king names and then sometimes you get the normal ones. They're just like Darius. Anyways, Darius is on the throne. He's the new king. Unfortunately for Bag-O-Ass though, Darius was like smart. He was a little smarter than the last two kings. Maybe he took notice that the, you know, something funky was going on because murder kept taking place. And, you know, he decided to keep an eye out

for Selina. Anyways, but he's kind of putting two and two together. He's thinking that this bago-ass guy is the common denominator and everyone's getting murdered.

So Darius is in charge and he's making his own decisions. But Bag-O-Ass wanted him out. He wasn't listening to his advice like the others. So one day Bag-O-Ass decides he's going to poison Darius's drink. Once again, murder. Trying to get rid of him. So Bag-O-Ass has this drink, comes to Darius. And he's like, here, I brought you something to drink. And instead, Darius was like, you know what?

Why don't you drink it? You know, to prove like there isn't poison in it or anything, just to make sure. So Baguaz was put on the spot and Baguaz was really dedicated to the bit. So he drank the poison drink, which then led to his death.

That's a real aqua to fauna. That is the aqua to fauna story, right? Come on, my murder mystery friends, you know what's up. Bag O' Ass wasn't the only power hungry eunuch. Over in China, eunuchs also served as political advisors. One difference was that in China, eunuchs were considered men whose penis and...

Testicles were removed. You gotta do both. Eunuchs were extremely important to the emperor of China. Traditionally, the emperor kept about 2,000 eunuchs in his service at any given time. Now that number varied a lot depending on the emperor's personal preference. In the 16th century, there were as many as 100,000 eunuchs living in the Forbidden City, which was China's main palace complex.

So working in the Forbidden City was like getting an internship in the White House. Except you had to do a lot more. The process of becoming a eunuch and getting to work in the Forbidden City, it wasn't easy. Shit, it was actually pretty messed up. During the holidays, it feels like I always have a million things to do. And I don't know about you guys, but I can only get through my to-do list if I'm listening to something. I don't know. But listen, I need a break from like Christmas carols, okay? Ah!

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Audible. There's more to imagine when you listen. Go to audible.com slash dark history and discover all the year's best waiting for you. It was believed by those in charge that the best eunuchs with the most potential came from poor families. I mean, the ideal candidate for a eunuch was believed to be about 11 or 12 years old.

Now usually young boys from poor families would get scouted by Imperial recruiters. They would tell these boys that becoming a eunuch was like their only option for a better life. They would tell the boy you get to live in the royal palace. You get an allowance, you know? And you can send that allowance like back to your families. Like you wanna work.

in the palace is what they're telling these boys. Usually the boys, they had no idea what they were being asked to give up. Most of the time, the boys didn't even realize what exactly they were agreeing to until after

the situation, the surgery, the removification of it all. Well, maybe the boy would agree and be like, "Oh my God, yeah, this sounds weird. I'll do it." So the recruiter would take the boy to a special group of people who performed the eunuch surgery. These people were called the knifers.

Oh, right. I mean, very straightforward. You know, they were very familiar with the surgery and they had it down to a science. Before chopping off the boy's penis and testes, it was a ritual for the knifer to always ask in Chinese, will you come to regret this decision? So they're like asking, they're asking for consent, but like from a young boy, you know, it's not appropriate. But the boy would say no, and then they would chop off

So once the parts were removed, it was actually tradition for the severed penis and testicles to be hung in the family's home from the highest beam in the ceiling. Now this was to signify the heights that he might reach in his upcoming career as a eunuch. Once the boy was healed and ready to get to work, he would take his parts down from the ceiling and then put them in a jar

and then bring it with him to live in the palace. And then you actually kept your penis and testes in that jar your whole life until you died. And then you would be buried with it. Oh yes, this was so that you could be whole in the afterlife. Sometimes poor families would try to create a loophole and perform like, you know, the surgery on their kids themselves, hoping for the best. I don't know how they...

Maybe they would do it and then be like, "Go, just sneak into the palace." They'll never know. So I guess they were even grown men who would try to castrate themselves in hopes of bettering their lives. I don't know what the plan was. Like they would castrate themselves and then would they sneak into the palace? Would they tell it? I don't know.

but they did that, you know? I don't know. But like, let's say you did castrate yourself. If people found out that you did that, it would backfire and you would actually be like completely banned from the palace. But even if you went about it in like the right way, being a eunuch just wasn't easy. It seems so complicated depending on where you're at too. Like once you became a eunuch, you were kind of a social pariah.

So if you were a eunuch and you decided to go home to your village and like just visit family, you're like, "Hey, I'm gonna go see like my friends, yay." If people knew you were a eunuch, you would totally get treated differently. Like even your own family, they were like, "Hmm." Like they were kind of afraid of you because again, like you worked for the emperor or the king or whoever was in charge. So it's like, if I mess up, are you gonna rat on me?

are you gonna rat on me brad you know and then if they did rat on you you could be killed so this was like intimidating and a lot of people just kind of didn't want to be around you next because you had to be on your best best behavior they were judging they were

They were judging. So there were some eunuchs who would actually end up running away from the palace because they missed home. You know, they were taken from like a young age. They didn't know what they were getting into. So then they wanted to get the F out of there and they would run away. Then if they did run away and they were now living at home, they would try to blend in and pretend that everything was normal, right? I'm not a eunuch. That's crazy. Do you think that? Because I'm not. Whoa. If they ever were found out, um...

They could like get kicked out of their home. Again, everyone would know. No one would feel safe around you. And you were just kind of screwed. But the reason so many people became eunuchs and like took that risk was because there was always a small chance that you could become insanely powerful. And if that happened, it was like winning the lottery. And this is what happened to a eunuch named Zhao Gao.

Zhao came from a family who had been through a lot of trauma. Like his father was convicted of a crime. I'm not sure what crime, but it was bad. It was bad enough that he ended up being castrated as punishment. Meanwhile, Zhao's mother and siblings were all taken to live in the palace as slaves. Now because of their father's crime, because he was a bad guy, Zhao and all of his brothers were castrated at once.

birth because they're they came from his dad you know it's punishment. Zhao worked as an official for the first emperor of the Qin dynasty Qin Shi Huang and everyone really liked Zhao

He quickly rose to the ranks and became the number one guy to Emperor Qin Shi Huang. Now this emperor was a very big deal. He conquered and united different warring states within China. Basically he created China like as we know it today. He also was the emperor who started the Great Wall of China. So he was doing big things, okay?

And Zhao was right there as his right hand, just in a really good spot. Most people in China today, they know him as the original gaslighter. Zhao is associated with a very popular Chinese expression,

Ready for it? Pointing at a deer and calling it a horse. Huh, I know. Okay, go on. Well, even though the emperor thought Zhao was trustworthy, Zhao was only ever like looking out for himself. In fact, he was considering doing the worst thing possible.

betraying his country and taking over the Qin government. So he has to like make a plan you know. So before he takes over the whole government and everything Zhao has to be sure that the other court officials would listen to him and only him. So he came up with a little test. He brought a deer, here's my deer, into the palace and he marched it right up to the emperor

and he tells the emperor, "This is a horse." And the emperor, I guess, laughed and said like, "Is the chancellor perhaps mistaken, calling a deer a horse?" Drama, I know. And then the emperor asked everyone around him to back him up. He's like, "Right, that's not a deer, everyone.

So the emperor asked everyone to like back him up and a lot of the people stayed quiet while others tried to please Zhao and say like yeah it's it's a horse. That's crazy that's a horse. What? That's a horse. You know because they didn't want to like upset Zhao. Zhao was like very powerful. Some people didn't agree with him and they were like that's a deer Zhao like are you dumb?

And he was like, he didn't say anything. And then afterwards, when this was all over behind closed doors, he got everyone who said it was a deer and had them executed. Oh, that'll teach them. After this, you know, word gets around about what Zhao did. And now everyone at the palace was like terrified of Zhao. Like what?

It was a horse, you know? I don't know. After this, everyone at the palace was terrified of Zhao and he was able to gain control of the Chinese military as a result. Zhao was notorious by the time he died. He became the poster child for why eunuchs should not be trusted. But after Zhao died,

The Qin Dynasty basically fell apart. So this made people be like, "See, you need eunuchs because if not, like the whole thing falls apart, you know? Like we need them. We need them for dynasties to succeed." So there was like a lot of mixed messaging going on about eunuchs. Some people loved them. Some people didn't like them. But in China, the tradition of having them continued for thousands of years.

In fact, the very last Chinese eunuch on record, whose name was Sun Yaoting, didn't die until 1996. Another common misconception about eunuchs, besides them not being trustworthy, was people didn't think that they were sexually active. Now, except for in China where they did remove the penis in addition to the testes,

Many eunuchs were completely capable of having sex and you know, they still had sex drives. It was actually said that eunuchs made better lovers because they lasted longer. I could see that. Yeah, I could see that. But I guess it's all dependent on like when exactly the surgery took place. So if a boy was castrated in his early teenage years,

usually he would have some hormones still in his body and he would like develop normally. Sometimes like he wouldn't have body hair but for the most part they'd be a normal a normal boy. Men who were castrated closer to adulthood would have like facial hair, body hair, and active sex drives. Some eunuchs were castrated when they were like very young children and then their parts would never like fully develop and this would impact their physical development for like

In the Qin Dynasty, for example, boys who were castrated at this very young age had a tendency to grow extremely tall and lanky because of a hormonal imbalance. Now, because they were like tall and lanky, they actually had a special place in the emperor's guard. They were the last line of defense.

fence against palace invaders. But across the many cultures where eunuchs existed, there was a common misunderstanding that they were not sexual.

This is why many of them were used as guards to protect the women of the palace. In Muslim courts, for example, eunuchs were created to work as bodyguards for the king's harems. A harem is sort of like a house where a king would keep all of his wives and like sex servants. And if a eunuch were to have a secret affair with any of the women he was supposed to be guarding, well, it was kind of like, um,

perfect crime because they wouldn't be able to get the woman pregnant and bada bing bada boom. Maybe this is why some eunuchs were actually heartthrobs in their day, especially a castrati. Castrati is the word for a male singer who undergoes castration before puberty in order to keep their high vocal range. That

is dedication. This practice started in the 16th century and the castrati were the biggest stars in the world of Italy's Baroque

So they started out as young boys from like lower class families who had singing talent. Just like in China, these boys would be scouted. And before puberty hit and their voices would drop, they were taken in for castration. After the surgery was over, they would usually be sent to study music at schools and churches across the country. And the whole goal was getting more men who could sing in a higher vocal range. I know, and you might be thinking, "Bailey, Bailey, Bailey."

Bailey, why couldn't they just have women sing in this high vocal range? Well, it's 16th century, Brenda, okay? Women were not allowed to sing in the Catholic church. Get it together. Actually, women weren't even allowed to talk in church. So no, we must castrate the boys. It made more sense to them to like castrate children than to let women sing. So...

That says a lot, huh? But like I said, the Castrati, they were stars. They were celebrated all across Europe. People loved them for their talent, but not really a lot was known about the situation because castration in Italy at this time was a very

taboo subject. I mean I think it is still a very taboo subject you can say. So people didn't really know. They just thought these were like talented boys which is so sad. You know everything about these boys was kept a secret. Like no one really knew exactly how or when or why or what these boys were castrated. Yeah I guess they just wanted people to believe that these bunch of boys throughout the Italian countryside just happened to have these beautiful singing

voices, you know, little angels. Wow. And like, it just so happens that they also had no testicles. It was just a weird coincidence. I don't know, but listen to them. Wow. You know, but behind those PR stories, the truth, obviously it was a lot darker.

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like who showed promise from a young age, were not only scouted, no, get this, they were often drugged, kidnapped, and taken to a back alley, a back alley surgeon, to have their testes cut off.

What in the, what is going on? These were boys between the ages of like seven and nine. And many of them didn't even know what happened until like they woke up. And it's even worse than like what you're imagining in your head right now, because these weren't specialists, like the knifers, you know, in China. These were people called barber surgeons, meaning like these are the guys that you would go to for haircuts. Yeah.

We actually talked about barber surgeons in our oral hygiene episode. Barber surgeons kind of just belong in the strangest episodes here at Dark History, don't they? Yeah. The barber surgeon, okay look, they would drug these boys, they would take them to the alley. These barber surgeons would cut the ducts in the testicles. Show a picture.

Can we? I don't know. And then the testicles would shrivel up leading to the boy's testosterone to just plummet. So if the boy even survived the surgery, he'd go on to like intense training in order to sing like an angel for the Pope. I know. I was thinking, did the Pope know? Did the Pope make them do this? Like who agreed that this was what they were gonna do is what I was thinking too. I don't know.

I guess we'll never know. Famous male singers are always gonna have groupies. And this was very much true for the castrati. They were extremely desired by women in high society. In England, multiple castrati had affairs with married noble women. One especially famous castrati was named Farinelli. And Farinelli was born in 1705.

And when he was about 12, he was forced to become a eunuch, which at 12 years old, we now know is actually a lot older than most. So he was like a little bit more developed. But Farinelli became huge. He was major. People love this guy. They're throwing bras. They're like lighting their lighters. Like, oh.

And, you know, the ladies just loved him. By 1737, Farinelli was 32 years old and performing all over Europe.

And that's when he caught the eye of the queen of Spain who brought him over to her court. Apparently the queen thought like his voice was so special that it would heal her sick husband, King Felipe V. King Felipe was going through bouts of mania and depression. Today he might be diagnosed with something like bipolar disorder, but you know, it's 1737.

So they didn't have like medicine or anything. So opera was the treatment. Farinelli came to court and started performing for the king every single night. And to everyone's surprise, it kind of worked. His singing really did help the king. And Farinelli became very close with him.

with him. Like other eunuchs before him, Farinelli was one of the most influential people in the country. But unlike some other guys we've talked about, Farinelli didn't kill anyone for power. I mean that we know of. He just sung his way into power. He ended up retiring in 1759 and he, I don't know, he just like hung out with other famous people like Casanova and Mozart until he died.

in 1782. That's his story. You know, this is pretty much like the best case scenario for, for Castrati. Eventually people started to learn about like what was going on with this whole forced castration situation. And by 1878,

Pope Leo XIII banned any new hiring of castrati by the church. That took a while. I don't know how word got out, but it just did. Like people started to find out. The last castrati in the Pope's choir retired in 1913. You know what's crazy though that I was thinking about? How come the Popes don't

become eunuchs. You know, I think actually it would solve a lot of issues, if you know what I mean. And it would prove their devotion to God and the religion and the church. And I say they should do that. Thank you.

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That's how I ride my bike. So the act of castration in itself is pretty gruesome.

sure you can, yeah, you know, it's pretty intense. No one's using some kind of numbing cream. There's no like, you know, IV where you knock out and then like you get it removed. This is just, they raw dogged it to a lot of people who didn't even want it and thought they were gonna have a better life. Like the whole thing is pretty messed up. But so far the eunuchs we've talked about have gone on to have successful career singing performances.

or trying to overthrow the government, murdering people. And it elevated them to another level in society. But stories like these are few and far between. Sadly, the majority of men getting castrated weren't in line for a promotion. Most of them, more often than not, it was just simply mutilation, period. Back in the 11th century in France, there was a successful philosopher named Peter

and Peter was hired to tutor a young girl named Eloise from the Plaza. I know, the crossover, you didn't expect. I'm just kidding, I don't know any other Eloise. She was considered one of the most educated women of the time. So she needs a tutor, you know, to further her education. So her uncle hired a tutor, Peter. Pretty soon after, like it was kind of normal, I guess, if you're rich, like your tutor would move into your house.

I've seen rich people do this. I saw a movie about it. What was it called? The tutor, I think it's called. Where like the tutor moves in and then he gets all weird. Anyways, so Peter moves into their house. Around this time, Eloise and Peter, they start falling for each other. You know, he's like teaching her how to do math and she's like, oh my God, that's so sexy. And they just like fall in love. And they start to have an affair and it's just hot. Well, Eloise's uncle,

He didn't like this. No, he did not. He tried to stop it, but he was too late because Eloise ended up pregnant. Right? Peter's not a eunuch. I forgot. I was like, where are we right now? So Peter, you know, he stepped up. He proposed to her. They ended up getting married and Eloise had a baby and she named her baby. Get this. This is great.

Astro Blade. Yeah, they named their baby Astro Blade. Yeah, it sounds like a roller skate. It's bizarre, but whatever. We're not judging. But Eloise's uncle, she was not done with them yet. He was furious about his niece running off with Peter. So...

He, being weird, like tracked them down. Yeah. Eloise's uncle is like obsessed. So Eloise's uncle got a bunch of men together and made them break into Peter's home in the middle of the night. I guess, you know, they break into the home, they hold Peter down, and then they violently castrated him as punishment for impregnating Eloise, which is so lame. Like they already have a kid.

They're together, they're married. Just let it go, dude, right? But well, Peter, he's like, "Shit, man." He doesn't know what to do, so he then becomes a monk.

And Eloise was forced into a convent. But the two of them kept exchanging love letters. I guess they were very steamy. And they're kind of famous to this day. Eloise's writing is now considered some of the earliest feminist philosophy. So, you know, we've only talked about surgical castration. But as time goes on and science advances, chemical castration becomes a thing. Chemical.

Chemical castration sounds really scary. Well, it all sounds scary, but for some reason the word chemical castration, it just sounds really, really scary. Chemical castration is when hormonal drugs are prescribed in an attempt to reduce libido. Now this has been used for people convicted of sexual crimes like pedophilia. The idea is that if testosterone is reduced, so will the man's sex drive. And hopefully...

The goal is that this will stop him from committing sexual crimes. And at one point being gay was considered a sexual crime. Back in the 1930s, there was this like genius mathematician and scientist and his name was Alan Turing. So basically during World War II, he worked for the British government to try and break the code Germans were using to send like secret messages.

So he was like, I'm going to figure out what they're saying. And in fact, without Alan doing what he did,

the Nazis might have won World War II. Like he was an international hero, at least like he should have been. But Alan was gay and he was in a relationship with another man named Arnold Murray. So one night Alan called the cops regarding a robbery at his home, but the cops decided to ignore the robbery situation and instead investigate something else.

Allen's sexuality. It was the 1950s and in England, technically, homosexuality was illegal. You know, but Allen didn't care. He was living his life. He made it a point to be open about his sexuality and who he loved. So when the police brought the charges of gross indecency against him, Allen refused to deny the allegations on principle.

Ultimately, this meant that he was convicted for being in a relationship with a man. And Alan's punishment for that? Chemical castration. Lame. He was put on hormone therapy meant to reduce his libido and cure him of his criminal interests. But the hormones had awful side effects. His libido wasn't just reduced, he actually became fully impotent. And he was taking a bunch of estrogen, so it caused him to develop some

breasts. So now, Allen had a criminal record and because of this, his security clearance was revoked, meaning he could no longer work. He could no longer do his life's work. Like everything was taken from him. Now this is a man who should have been treated like a war hero, you know, like seriously, but instead he had his whole life completely destroyed by the government that he protected. I mean,

You would be pissed. Fuck that, you know? It was just, it was horrible. Sadly, in 1954, Alan Turing ended his own life. Poor guy. But you know, there are some conspiracies out there because whenever, you know, a person dies in a strange way and like the government's kind of involved and I guess Alan's death was strange, people think like maybe he, maybe he was handled wrong.

Do you know what I'm saying? Well, I guess he allegedly poisoned himself by eating an apple laced with cyanide. Very Snow White, huh? But Alan's legacy lives on. In 2013, Queen Elizabeth issued Alan Turing a royal pardon. Wow. I mean, it's nice, but it's like a little too late, ma'am. But okay, you know, whatever.

Whatever, sure. And then a year later, a movie came out called The Imitation Game and Benedict Cumberbatch played Alan. So people now are like finally recognizing, you know, how important he was. You know, throughout history, we've been doing this. We've been doing it for thousands of years and somehow keep finding new reasons to do it. It's given us politicians, advisors, guards, singers, celebrities, actors,

But I think for the most part it's like really just ruined lives. Some people choose to become eunuchs willingly believing it will be like their lottery ticket to a better life or maybe like a more spiritual one. And sometimes it's just a matter of tradition. But it's a part of history I personally knew nothing about. This was like all shocking to me. I was, my mind was blown. I was like what? Because I always hear about women's, you know,

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. You've heard of it, too. I've heard of that. But I haven't heard about, like, male castration, really. Anyways, that's how I ended up here. But I would love to hear you guys' thoughts.

because I've bought so many books on eunuchs and I am having a eunuchs moment right now. It's just wild to me that castration meant so many different things to different cultures. Okay, so let me tell you what you're gonna look forward to next week. I went down a rabbit hole and I found out the craziest cocktail

Did you know that in 2010, Jimmy Heselden, he's the owner of Segway. He died by accidentally Segwaying off a cliff. I was like, what?

I mean, that's sad, but like kind of ironic. I mean, it's sad because like Jimmy probably would still be alive if he had been walking, right? So this got me thinking, I wonder how many genius inventions out there ended up killing the people who invented them. It's kind of Frankenstein-ish, huh? Well, join me next week because we're doing the dark history of creators ruined by their creations.

Oh shit. It's actually good.

Well friends, thank you for hanging out with me today. I hope you learned something new. Did you know you can join me over on my YouTube where you can actually watch these episodes on Thursday after the podcast airs. And while you're there, you can also catch My Murder Mystery in makeup. Don't forget to subscribe because I'm here for you weekly. Damn it. I'd love to hear your guys' reactions to today's story, so make sure to leave a comment down below so I can see what you're saying and your comment might actually be featured in a future episode.

Now let's read a couple of comments that you guys have left me.

Yay! StarryAdventure8922 left me a comment saying, "I love that Bailey comes up with topics for Dark History that we'd never expect had one. Love you, Bailey. Thank you for our happy place on Thursdays." Thursdays. StarryAdventure, thank you. You're so sweet. I've been saying this for a long time. I'm a very curious person and I love it 'cause when we sit down and we think about topics, man, you wanna, it's just like, you can go anywhere.

Everything has a weird dark history is what I've learned, right? You just like never know what, why, when, where, how.

Blows my mind every time I sit down. I'm like, wow. And then I learned so much. I hope you do too, but thank you for watching. It means a lot. I appreciate you. Heather Renee 30292 left a comment on our organ transplant episode saying, I had a kidney transplant. I know my donor. He is allergic to milk. Morphine. Also loved fish. I never had an issue with milk or morphine till after my transplant. Now I am allergic.

Also, hated fish and now I love it. My donor is one-third Hawaiian, one-third Japanese, and one-third white. Also, my hair and eyes both got darker. Heather, oh my god. First of all, congratulations on your kidney transplant. I hope you're doing well. Secondly, that's nuts. That's nuts. Especially the thing with your hair and your eye color changing. And like what? What? Really? Really?

That's crazy. I love, thank you for sharing. That was very interesting. I hope you're doing well.

I'm sorry you can't have milk. Sarah Joe 3396 left us an episode suggestion. I'd love to hear you talk about the 1986 Ohio balloon launch disaster. That story has a few different levels to it and I'd love to hear an in-depth episode on it. Sarah, it's so funny you bring that up. I literally was just watching a little like mini documentary situation on it and I was like what is this even about?

I'm with you. We should do a story on it. Love this for us, Sarah. Thank you, Sarah. Love this. All right, well, we are done finally. I appreciate you so much for hanging out and watching. And if you don't know, Dark History is an Audioboom original. I want to give a big special thank you to our expert, Norman Kutcher.

I know, I didn't know we can find a Unix expert, but we did. And Norman was great. Appreciate you. And I'm your host, Bailey Sarian. I hope you have a good day. You make good choices, please. Thank you so much. And I'll be talking to you later. Goodbye.