Wiki Walks

Episode Notes Those who suffer from Capgras Delusion believe that their friends, family members, even lovers, have been replaced by uncanny imposters. Today we delve into the bizarre and frightening world of unusual delusional disorders. Capgras Delusion Wiki Instagram // Facebook // YouTube // Twitter http://wikiwalks.net

Episode Notes In 1984, the Union Carbide pesticide chemical plant had a major gas leak that caused a huge poisonous cloud to descend over the town of Bhopal, India during the middle of the night. The sun rose on a town that had been gassed and thousands were left dead or dying in the wake of incredible negligence and corporate malfeasance. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhopal_disaster Instagram //...

Episode Notes David Hahn was just your normal teen in the 90s. He loved sports, science experiments, the Boy Scouts...and he built an actual working nuclear reactor in a garden shed and got shut down by the FBI. The crazy true tale of one very radioactive Boy Scout. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hahn Instagram // Facebook // YouTube // Twitter http://wikiwalks.net

Episode Notes In 1982, LA resident Larry Walters took a 45-minute flight in a homemade airship made of an aluminum lawn chair and 45 helium-filled weather balloons, armed only with a CB Radio and a pistol. The aircraft rose to an altitude of over 15,000 feet where it was nearly hit by passing aircraft as he sailed closer to the Pacific. Ever see the movie, “Up”? Yeah…they based it off this guy. ht...

Episode Notes In the 1300's, French noblewoman Jeanne de Clisson's husband is wrongfully executed by France for treason. Enraged, Jeanne sells everything, raises a pirate navy, paints her boats black and her sails blood-red, is known as the "Black Fleet", and terrorizes French ships for over 13 years. What a Badlass! The Lioness of Brittany might be my new favorite historical character, ever. http...

Episode Notes The Japanese Buddhist folk tale of The Straw Millionaire tells a story where a peasant is able to, through a series of trades, move up from one piece of straw to being a millionaire. As crazy as it seems, this happened in real life, as a Canadian man was able to trade up from just one red paperclip to owning a two story farm house in Saskatchewan without spending a dime. https://en.w...

Episode Notes Smallpox has been one of, if not THE, biggest killers in medical history. Hundreds of millions died as the result of the miniature menace, but it was eventually completely eradicated after British scientist Edward Jenner noticed that dairy farm-working milkmaids never got infected. The story of the FIRST vaccine. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smallpox_vaccine Instagram // Facebook //...

Episode Notes Ben Franklin discovered that he was able to ingratiate himself to his most ardent enemies and critics by asking them to do him a favor. This outrageously counterintuitive strategy is the most famous example in our foray into the psychological minefield that is cognitive dissonance. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Franklin_effect Instagram // Facebook // YouTube // Twitter http://wi...

Episode Notes Scotsman John Macadam is the man who took us from rutted-out dirt roads to the tar covered boulevards we know today. His invention is the inspiration behind the airport "tarmac". All roads might lead to Rome, but it was probably made from macadam. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Macadam Instagram // Facebook // YouTube // Twitter http://wikiwalks.net

Episode Notes A double peg-legged South African railway employee teaches his pet baboon to throw the switches when trains come through his signal house, while the railway managers are none the wiser to this brilliant baboon's mistake-free railroad record. Wikipedia: Jack the Railway Baboon Instagram // Facebook // YouTube // Twitter http://wikiwalks.net

Episode Notes Musicians are notorious for including insane riders in their contracts when it comes to live shows. Kanye demands a barber chair in his dressing room, for example. But rock gods Van Halen had a particularly odd demand that there be no brown M&Ms in their dressing room. Was this just classic diva behavior, or a brilliant strategic test? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Halen Inst...

Episode Notes An industrial accident in Boston caused a massive tidal wave of molasses to descend upon an unsuspecting neighborhood, killing 21 people and injuring 150 more. This actually happened. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Molasses_Flood Instagram // Facebook // YouTube // Twitter http://wikiwalks.net

Episode Notes The absolutely bonkers story of Tarrare, a deranged Frenchman who could not stop eating anything and everything he could get his hands on. Garbage, cats, people, more garbage. This remorseless eating machine could not be stopped. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarrare Instagram // Facebook // YouTube // Twitter http://wikiwalks.net

Episode Notes Thanks to some beneficial corporate tax laws in the state, one forgettably single story building in Delaware is the legal home to nearly ever large US company you've ever heard of....in fact, over 285,000 businesses call this little shabby office home. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporation_Trust_Center_(CT_Corporation) Instagram // Facebook // YouTube // Twitter http://wikiwalks....

Episode Notes There Is one unidentified whale who has been singing a song and trying to communicate for 31 years In a frequency that only he/she can understand. This Is the story of the Loneliest Whale In the World. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/52-hertz_whale Instagram // Facebook // YouTube // Twitter http://wikiwalks.net

Episode Notes In the 1960s, FDA scientist Dr. Frances Kelsey refused to approve the sleep-aid medicine Thalidomide, because clinical trials had not proved to her that it was safe for pregnant women to take. Soon, the world would see that thousand of babies were born missing limbs because of this dangerous drug. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Oldham_Kelsey Instagram // Facebook // YouTube //...

Episode Notes United States Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Douglas Hegdahl is captured by the Vietnamese, but pretends to be an absolute idiot and ends up outsmarting his captors, all the while memorizing hundreds of POWs information to the tune of "Old McDonald Had a Farm". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Hegdahl Instagram // Facebook // YouTube // Twitter http://wikiwalks.net Support Wiki Walks...

Episode Notes Tech giants like Google and Apple have taken advantage of an offshore corporate tax loophole that passes money from the USA to Bermuda to Ireland to the Netherlands and back to the Bermuda. The Double Irish with a Dutch Sandwich. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Irish_arrangement Instagram // Facebook // YouTube // Twitter http://wikiwalks.net Support Wiki Walks by contributing t...

Episode Notes The Tulsa race massacre of 1921 took place on May 31 and June 1, 1921, when mobs of white residents attacked black residents and businesses of the Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The attacks ranged from shootings to lynchings to beatings and even to dropping incendiary bombs from biplanes. It has been called "the single worst incident of racial violence in American history." h...

Episode Notes The super annoying test you have to take when creating a new account, where you have to spell out the crazy letters or numbers In order to prove you're a human, has a fascinating history In not only thwarting spammers, but helping digitize all written language, all the while feeding the machine hivemind endless information. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAPTCHA Instagram // Facebook...

Episode Notes A thin metal wire, called an "eruv", is strung up and run around nearly the entirety of the island of Manhattan as a loophole to Jewish law to allow its robust Orthodox population to work on the Sabbath. Its been there for nearly 100 years and I bet you had no idea. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eruv Instagram // Facebook // YouTube // Twitter http://wikiwalks.net Support Wiki Walks...

Episode Notes The most environmentally destructive organism to ever grace the face of our fragile planet, was a Pennsylvanian chemist named Tom. The crazy and horrifying tale of unintended consequences concerning the career of Thomas Midgley, Jr. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas \_Midgley\_Jr. www.instragram.com/wikiwalkspodcast http://wikiwalks.net Support Wiki Walks by contributing to their...

Episode Notes The longest commercial flights ever recorded were nightmarish 32 hour journeys from Australia to Sri Lanka via a hollowed out sea plane flown through two different sunrises to avoid the Japanese navy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The \_Double\_Sunrise http://wikiwalks.net https://www.instagram.com/wikiwalkspodcast Support Wiki Walks by contributing to their Tip Jar: https://tips.pin...

Episode Notes In 1965, a hefty young Scottish lad, in his quest to lose some pounds, decided to just be done with food. Like, completely. He didn't put another bite in his mouth for 382 days, and lived to see his goal weight. The incredible fast of Angus Barbieri. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angus \_Barbieri%27s\_fast www.instragram.com/wikiwalkspodcast http://wikiwalks.net Support Wiki Walks by...

Episode Notes Fritz Haber was a brilliant mind who is considered "the father chemical warfare," but also made discoveries in agriculture that are believed to have prevented the starvation of over a billion people. The poisoner's paradox is a road littered with tragedy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Haber www.instagram.com/wikiwalkspodcast Support Wiki Walks by contributing to their Tip Jar:...