August 25, 2026 • 42 mins
If you think about it, burying a bunch of random stuff in the ground isn’t the most logical practice. But for centuries, people have created time capsules for future generations to find. Today Will and Mango dig in, literally, to this strange phenomenon. What counts as a time capsule? Are there limits to what can be preserved? What are the most surprising (and disappointing) objects ever hidden away? Plus: The shocking true story of Blinky, the little lizard who could. Or couldn’t, as the case may be.
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Speaker 1 (00:14):
You're listening to part Time Genius, the production of Kaleidoscope
and iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Guess what mango was that? Well, so do you remember
back at the turn of the millennium when everyone started
making these time capsules?
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Oh, my god, definitely. I am certain. There are so
many shoe boxes and backyards and playgrounds across the country
that are just filled with like POGs and slap bracelets
and Pokemon cards.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
You name. That's so weird. Like you named the the
three things that I put in my time capsule in
one day, I'm going to dig that thing up. But
you know, one thing I'd actually forgotten is that the
time capsule craze was so widespread that even the US
government got in on this. And it was the Clinton
administration that was in office at the time, and so
they put together this National Millennium Time Capsule, and it
(01:05):
was based on the suggestions of everything from former presidential
and congressional medal winners to groups of students from across
the country. There were more than thirteen hundred items that
were selected, and these were there to tell the story
of life in the twentieth century.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
So what kind of things made the cut?
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Well, it was a range of stuff. So they had
footage from the moon landing, a model of the Liberty Bell,
a piece of the Berlin Wall, and of course Ray
Charles sunglasses.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Ray Chel sunglasses. I love it.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
That was pretty great.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
But what really stuck out to me was something submitted
by a group of high schoolers from Washington State. Their
gift to Americans of the twenty second century was a
pack of Hostess Twinkies, which Bill Clinton agreed was quote
an object of enduring American symbolism, and honestly I kind
of have to agree.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Yeah, I love that. So there's a box of old
Twinkies sitting in the National Archives.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Well there should be. But here's the thing. All the
objects included in the time capsule had to pass the
archives rigorous perpetuity test, as they called it. And although
urban legend claims that twinkies can last as long as
fourteen years, their true shelf life is only forty five days,
which actually I found quite surprising. I bought it into
the whole thing because my first thought when I saw
(02:23):
that they had submitted this, I was like, oh, well,
those will be just fine. They could probably eat them
in a hundred years. But turns out. Not only would
the snackcakes not have been good at that time, you know,
the staff also worried that food might attract mice, so
there was real concern about this.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
So what happened to all those twinkies?
Speaker 2 (02:42):
This is the best part actually, so according to former
archive is David s. Fario, the staff actually ate them,
which I guess is better than just throwing them out.
But what's funny is that despite the fact that the
time capsule contents are almost always underwhelming, we just can't
resist making them. It's a pretty bizarre cultural practice. So
(03:02):
today we're going to try to make sense of this,
like what's the appeal of the time capsule? What actually qualifies?
What are the best and most bewildering things that people
have stashed inside them? It's time to dig up some answers,
so let's dive in. Hey, their podcast listeners, welcome to
(03:38):
part time genius Samuel Pearson, And as always I'm joined
by my good friend mangesh Hot Ticketer and over there
in the soundproof booth, filling a tupperware bin with a
tin of glitter, a box of hot pockets yum, and
some nicely folded athletic socks. That's our Palain producer Dylan Fagan.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
I know, when I asked Don why he was filling
his time capsule with us, he just said they'll want
to know how he lived, which only made me more confused.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
That Dylan always making lots and lots of sense. Well,
let's get into the concept of time capsules, because the
term is more flexible than you might think. For example,
say you define a time capsule as a collection of
preserved objects that provide a cultural record of the past.
In that case, an ancient Egyptian tune is actually a
time capsule.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
I mean I could see that, Yeah, But something like.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
A childhood bedroom that somehow wasn't converted to a home
gym could also be a time capsule. But neither of
those things feels like what we mean when we're talking
about a time capsule here.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Yeah, I mean, I guess does kind of feel like
accidental time capsules because that wasn't the primary intent, right,
Like they tell future visitors about what life was like
for someone in a certain time and place. But that's
obviously not what they were meant to do.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Right, And that's something that most experts on the subject
will point out. For example, a faculty librarian named William E.
Jarvis wrote in his two thousand and two book Time Capsules,
a Cultural History, that for something to be considered a
true time capsule, it has to meet two criteria. The
first one it has to be created with the intention
of being found, and second it has to have a
(05:14):
definite date for when it's to be opened.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
I like that, so, so in his definition, it's about
this intentional communication with the future.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
That's exactly right. It's a great way to put it.
And one early precursor to the modern time capsule is
the cornerstone deposit, which fails this test because it was
designed to stay hidden.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
So I've actually never heard of a cornerstone deposit. What
is that?
Speaker 2 (05:36):
So it's a box of objects or documents that's placed
in the foundation of a building during the construction of
that building, typically underneath or inside the cornerstone, which is
where it gets its name. And so one of the
most famous examples is a copper box that Paul Revere
and Samuel L. Adams buried during the construction of the
Boston State House. This was on July fourth, seventeen ninety five.
(06:00):
Now the box was unearthed in twenty fourteen due to
concerns about water damage, and when museum conservator Pat Hatchfield
managed to pry it open, she found newspapers, coins, there
was a metal depicting George Washington, and a silver dedication plaque.
Now this wasn't the most interesting collection of artifacts, but
the box's opening was still big news because it was
(06:22):
widely regarded as the oldest time capsule in America. But again,
Revere and Adams never meant for it to be recovered,
much less on a specific date.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
That's really fascinating. So what is the point of doing
this if it's not meant to be found?
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Yeah, I was wondering the exact same thing, and I
guess it turns out there's no clear cut reason. According
to William Jarvis, the practice dates back to ancient Mesopotamia. Now,
the best guess is that people started depositing items in
foundations and cornerstones as kind of a good luck charm,
I guess. And so the practice moved to medieval Europe,
where clergy began placing holy objects in the foundations of
(06:59):
churches and cathedrals, and eventually government institutions, fraternal orders, even
private businesses adopted the practice as well, now, the other
big authority on time capsules is a writer named canut Berger.
He and Jarvis are actually founding members of the International
Time Capsule Society, and he points out that cornerstone deposits
(07:20):
can also serve as kind of a signature, either for
the builders themselves or for the people who spearheaded the project.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
That's kind of funny. I like the idea of it
being a secret signature. And now I'm kind of curious
how many buildings and spaces I've been in where they
are actually these like hidden cornerstone boxes. But just out
of curiosity, do we know what the oldest actual time
capsule is?
Speaker 2 (07:44):
I mean I think we do, or at least the
oldest time capsule in the US. It was this project
called the Century Safe. It was created for the eighteen
seventy six Philadelphia World's Fair, and it was meant to
be opened during the bi centennial in nineteen seventy six.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
That is fun Also, I had no idea that they
were doing World's Fairs in eighteen seventy six.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Those great go way back. But you know the actual
contents of this thing were We're unfortunately a little bit boring,
Like the items included a book on the Temperance movement,
a collection of random signatures, and some early photographs of
US politicians. I mean, talk about a letdown.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
I feel like if you're waiting one hundred years to
crack open the safe and like that's what you get.
It feels like a trick, like trick on you.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
It's it's totally a drink your ovaltine kind of moment.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
So lucky for us. Time capsules get a bit more
interesting in the mid nineteen thirties, and this is when
the concept really starts cooking with the public. And the
person credited with kickstarting the trend is Thornwell Jacobs, who
is president of Oglethorpe University in Atlanta. Now. Jacobs was
inspired by the opening of Egyptian tombs in the nineteen
(08:57):
twenties and he decided he wanted to create a record
of human culture, whereas he called it the Crypt of Civilization. Now,
true to its name, the Crypt is a twenty foot long,
ten foot high, air tight stone chamber and to this
day it lies undisturbed beneath the building on the Oglethorpe campus.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
That's a pretty big space.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
So what's inside, Well, a whole bunch of objects and
files that Jacobs and his team assembled. They were meant
to create this portrait of life on Earth. It includes
over six hundred and forty thousand pages of microfilm documents,
but also thousands of random objects. There's like a plastic flute,
a pair of stockings, a quart of beer, a bar
(09:38):
of soap shaped like a bowl for some reason, there's
a life size cutaway model of a pregnant woman. You know,
just the important stuff. We have to edit this down.
But Jacob's Crypt was sealed up in nineteen forty and
it's not scheduled to be opened until the year eight thousand,
one hundred and thirteen or eighty one thirteen. Oh WHOA
(10:00):
should probably mark your calendar for that.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Yeah, I thought you're going to say, like twenty forty
or I don't know, that's wild. I mean most time
capsules shoot for feels like one hundred years or one
thousand at most, But what is that like six millennia?
Who knows if people are going to be around at
that point.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
I know, they really really went for it. I mean,
the Crypt was this massive undertaking, and Jacob's got so
much buzz for the project that the Westinghouse Company decided
to launch a similar project during its exhibition at the
nineteen thirty nine World's Fair, and that's actually how we
get the term time capsule. The company borrowed the idea
(10:35):
of filling a container with various objects that were, you know,
indicative of the era, but instead of stuffing them into
an underground bunker, Westinghouse used a big rocket shaped cylinder.
Now the pr consultant they were using at the time,
this guy named George E. Pendre initially wanted to call
the capsule a time bomb because of the container's shape,
(10:56):
and you know, it kind of seems fun like it
explodes with all this nostalgia, but there was a world
war looming, so they thought better of it, and he
came up with the term time capsule. But even though
Pendre used a different name for the device, he basically
copied everything else from the Crypt, including its multi millennia timeline. So,
in a bid to beat Jacobs to the punch, the
(11:19):
company chose the year six nine hundred and thirty nine
for its opening date, so they went with a conservative
five thousand years in the future compared to the Crypt
six thousand.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
That is just wild. So what did Westinghouse put in
their time capsule.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
I mean, it's kind of like an equally random assortment
of objects. There's an alarm clock, an electric razor, a
can opener, a Mickey mouse cup, a dollar in change,
and a pack of Camel's cigarettes, among other things. But
Westinghouse also included messages from three Nobel Prize winners, which
is kind of interesting, right, like Robert Milliken, Thomas Mann,
(11:55):
and Albert Einstein. Now, the project was meant to complement
the World's Fairs theme, which was building the World of tomorrow.
But you can tell the mood was pretty tense at
the time because obviously, with this world war on the horizon,
none of the men's letters were actually that hopeful. Like
Einstein actually wrote quote, people living in different countries kill
(12:17):
each other at irregular time intervals, so that anyone who
thinks about the future must live in fear and terror.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Oh wow, Yeah, that does sound very Einstein though, and
honestly pretty pretty grim though.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
I mean, it doesn't seem like Einstein with his tongue
out right. It feels like a very different Einstein. But
I guess it pairs well with Mickey mouse cup and
a pack of camels. But the other thing that hadn't
really occurred to me was how solemn that burial process
can be. It's pretty interesting. Like the articles about this
from the Time show that the Westinghouse time capsule was
(12:52):
buried fifty feet beneath the New York Fairgrounds in a
location dubbed the Immortal Well, and as it was being low,
spectators took off their hats as the capsule was going down,
like they were at a funeral or paying respects to
this moment, And that, to me feels kind of surprising.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
It's almost like they're paying tribute to a box of
home appliances and spare change. It feels a little dramatic.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Especially because like when you think about it, it feels
like a glorified juncturer or like everything I stuffed into
a closet before guests come over. But to be fair,
it is hard to predict the future, right, like time
capsule makers never know what later generations will care about
or what they'll know about our time right right.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
I guess what surprises me is that so many people
still think time capsules are worth the bother, even though
it is all based on guesswork, Like it seems a
little weird to assume that strangers thousands of years from
now will share our interest, or that, you know, the
minutia of daily life will teach them something. It's really
such a guessing game.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
M hmm. I mean. The other funny thing about it
is that placing items underground in dirt is typically not
the best way to preserve of them. A lot of
amateur time capsules get ruined because people forget groundwater is
a thing. I also like how optimistic it is. You know,
it feels to me like it's almost like a message
in a bottle that you're just hoping someone will stumble
(14:14):
into and you know, maybe that'll delight them. But there's
actually a quote from kanoo Berger where he says, when
it comes to time capsules, the ritual is almost more
important than the substance. What matters is that you were there,
And I think that's true and also kind of sweet.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Yeah, and you know, especially an hour college, did you
know do you know about this where the kids in
our class buried a time capsule to be opened this
year and then there was a big WhatsApp post trying
to figure out where the spot was because no one
could remember. No one could remember, and the campus had
changed a lot, and they actually never found this thing.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
I mean, I'm guessing it was just like a Dave
Matthews album and a poster the basketball team. It can't
be that interesting.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
That's got to be exactly what it was, all right. Well,
after a quick break, I'm going to tell you about
one of the few occasions when people opening a time
capsule were deeply invested in what they might find inside,
even though the only two options were a dead lizard
or a live one. So stay tuned, Welcome.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
Back to Part Time Genius. If you're enjoying this episode,
please do not seal it inside a time capsule for
a thousand years. Share it with a friend. You can
also leave us a nice rating and review on your
favorite podcast app. It helps inform future listeners and it
makes us feel very good about the present. Okay, well,
so before the break, you tease the story about a lizard.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Go all right, thank you? All right. So our tale
begins back in eighteen ninety seven, and it was at
the groundbreaking ceremony for a new courthouse. This was in Eastland, Texas.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
Hold on, I thought we established that foundation deposits don't
count as time capsules because they are meant to be opened.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
That is generally correct, But in this case, there was
one person who had always intended for it to be
open and at a specific time as well, one hundred
years in the future. His name was Ernest Wood, and
at the time of the building's dedication, he was a
county clerk in Eastland. Now, like most folks in Texas
back then, would had grown up hearing stories about the
supposedly long lives of local horned lizards, or as they
(16:32):
were better known, horny toads. So while most lizards only
lived for a few years in a while, Texas legend
holds that horned lizards can live up to a hundred
years in hibernation, not just one hundred years. One hundred
years in hibernation without the need for any food or.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
Water, and so people I should believe that.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Well, that's what Ernest Wood wanted to find out, and
he figured the courthouse dedication would be the perfect way
to test this theory. Now, as luck would have it,
his four year old son will had recently caught a
horned lizard and named it Blinky. And since the building's
cornerstone was already set to house typical commemorative items, including
a bible, several town documents. Ernest convinced Will to let
(17:13):
him put Blinky in there as well.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
I mean the fact that the lizard has a name
and it's his son's lizard.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
It's so much worse it is. This is totally totally tragic,
and I guess the kid believed in Blinky, and Ernest
figured in a hundred years the boy might still be
around to dig up the box and check the outcome.
You just never know, the love of Blinky might keep
him going, you know. But things shockingly didn't go as
(17:42):
planned because the town of Eastland grew much faster than expected,
and after just thirty years, they needed a bigger courthouse,
so the old one was scheduled to be demolished in
early nineteen twenty eight. Ernest Wood was still very much
alive at that point, and in the lead up to
the demolition he told the editor of the local paper
about the lizard he had sealed inside the cornerstone. Now again,
(18:03):
everyone in Texas was familiar with this legend, so the
chance to confirm it was hugely exciting for people.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
It is so weird that everyone was invested. But I
guess I'm glad that many people in Texas are excited
about science.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Yeah. I love that we're somehow calling this science rather
than just murdering a lizard.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
It's an experiment. Yeah, at a courthouse.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Well, the hype really spread and the paper ran a
story under the headline all ready for the Liberation of
the horn Toad, and the article flew across the wire services.
And as a result of this, on February eighteenth, nineteen
twenty eight, three thousand people gathered at the court. Three
thousand can you imagine this to see a dead lizard?
(18:48):
To watch as the cornerstone was open, and among those
in attendance County Judge Ed Pritchard, whose job was to
verify that the lizard hadn't been secretly swapped out for
a fresh one.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
I mean, if there's anyone I trust, this County Judge
Ed Pritchard. Yeah, no, you know you can count on
the amazing and well, I'm pretty sure I know the answer.
I feel like I'm on the edge of my seat
for this one.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
Well, you might be surprised here because when the lizard
was finally pulled from its resting place, it did initially
seem dead It was flat as a pancake and covered
in a thick layer of dust. But then Mango, all
of a sudden, one of its legs began to twitch.
Then someone shouted the derned things alive, and the whole
(19:32):
crowd burst into cheers, like, no joke, this happened.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
I guess if you put a Bible in there too,
it makes a lot of sense. That feels incredible.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
So this really happened, well, I mean that was what
was reported. Blinky was renamed old Rip after the fairy
tale character Rip van Winkle, and following his resurrection, old
Rip became a full blown national celebrity. Newsreel staged reenactments
of the cornerstone removal and old Rip was reported and
every periodical from the New York Times to peer reviewed
(20:03):
science journals now. A print run of sixteen thousand old
Rip postcards sold out immediately, and the Fort Worth Star
Telegram proclaimed Rip to be quote the most famous animals
since the Serpent and the Garden of Eden. These people
were all about this situation.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
I mean, that's pretty good branding, right, That's a good line.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Well, and it wasn't even the end of it. So
old Rip was escorted on a publicity tour around the
country by will Wood, the now adult man who had
caught him as a child. They traveled together to Washington,
d C. To meet President Calvin Coolidge, who reportedly canceled
several prior engagements to make room in his schedule for
Old Rip.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
I'm just gonna block out the day. I feel like
Old ripped down.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
Yeah he did, he did.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
Coolidge famously had a ton of pets, right like, he
had a raccoon, dogs, a pygmy hippopotamus, so I'm sure
he was like to beat the creature.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Good memory there. I think we covered that in mental
loss back in the day. But to the press, Coolidge
stroked the lizard's back with his own horn rimmed glasses.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
Which is a weird thing to do.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Very weird thing to do, but that's definitely what he did,
and will Wood telegraphed home saying that Old Grip had
blinked approvingly at the president.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
Which I mean his name was Blinky, so I guess
that's a less weird thing to do.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Definitely.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
Well.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
The lizard made his rounds in style, living in a
sand filled fish bowl, where he enjoyed all of the
ants he could eat. But sadly, old Rip's career was
cut short when he died of pneumonia on January nineteenth,
nineteen twenty nine, just eleven months after his grand reemergence.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
That is amazing, and I guess kind of sad like
it might have been better for him to just stay
sealed in that cornerstone, right.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
I don't know, Mango, did you miss the part about
him hobnobbing with the president? I mean, that's a big deal.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Well, there's no way that's the same lizard, right, Like,
I know the judge was on hand authenticate it, but
someone must have like switched them out.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
Well, it depends on who you ask. So after his death,
Blinky was embalmed and laid to rest in a tiny, red,
velvet lined casket. This was in the lobby of the
New Eastland Courthouse. He remained there until nineteen seventy three,
at which point his remains went missing. There was a
ransom note explaining that the thief was one of five
young men who'd perpetrated the hoax on the town almost
(22:23):
fifty years earlier. The anonymous confessor claimed that in nineteen
twenty eight, he and his friends had removed the very
much deceased lizard from the cornerstone and switched it with
a live imposter lizard. Now, the thief promised to return
Old Rip's body only if his accomplices came forward to
back up his story, but no one ever did. Eventually,
(22:45):
the kidnapper sent another note saying that Old Rip could
be found at the county Fairgrounds. Officials retrieved the beloved
dead lizard and returned him to his place of honor
in the courthouse.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
That is such a weird ending to this story. It's amazing, seriously.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
But whether the thiefs account with true or not remains unknown.
And if you ask the people of Eastland, Texas, they'll
tell you that Old Rip was the genuine article and
that his kidnapper was the real impost.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
So where is old Rip now? Or? As obviously I
still call him Blinky.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Yeah, Blinky of course. Yeah, he's still in the Eastland
County Courthouse. You can visit his preserve remains, as well
as the original cornerstone where he spent the bulk of
his life. That actually makes me want to go there now,
it's such a weird thing. Yeah, but that isn't the
only place they keep his story alive. There's a whole
bunch of local events held in his honor, including Old
(23:38):
Rip Day, the Horn tod Derby, the Rips Ribs Cookoff,
and of course rip Fest. This is an annual citywide
celebration that includes a rip themed parade and of course
a five k fun run.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
I mean, we should make a weekend of it and
run in that, or you should run at it and
I'll drive to the fish line.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Sounds like a sounds like a great one. Well, there's
one more fun connection that I have to mention or
else our old pal Gabe is going to be livid
about this. Do you remember that famous nineteen fifty five
Looney Tune short. It was called One Froggy Evening. It's
the one with the singing frog and the top hat.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
I definitely know that frog, right Michigan j Frog. He
kind of like struts around and sings, hello my baby, Hello,
my baby, Hello my honey, Hello my rack.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
It's exactly it. But the joke of it is he'll
only sing in front of one guy and around everybody
else he just acts like a normal frog.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
You read that part.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
She actually knew that I'd completely forgotten that I wouldn't
have known that if you hadn't mentioned it.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
So Steven Spielberg once called it the Citizen Kane of
the animated short. That's how much he how highly he
thought of it. But that character is thought to be
an homage to Old Rip. In the short, a construction
worker who's demolishing a building pries off the top of
a cornerstone and discovers a box inside it. So when
he opens it he finds a document dated back to
(25:00):
eighteen ninety two, along with a frog who promptly dons
a top had and starts belting out some ragtime numbers.
And it's never been confirmed, but since the story of
Old Rip was so well publicized and so similar to this,
it's pretty clear the short was actually based on him.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
That is awesome, and it's actually like a pretty big
legacy for one little lizard. Well, we have to take
one more break, but when we come back, we're gonna
switch gears and talk about some of the biggest letdowns
in time capsule history, plus one that's still worth looking
forward to.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
Don't go anywhere, Welcome back to Part time Genius.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
All right, man, it's time to shift course from the
thrilling story of Old rip. But what are some of
the biggest disappointments to ever be unearthed?
Speaker 1 (25:58):
There is no shortage of disappointments to choose from, because,
despite the best intentions of the people who bury them,
most time capsules are underwhelming, especially because you've waited all
this time to open them. So you know, it's kind
of hard to live up to the hype. But that
is exactly what happened in nineteen eighty six when a
long awaited time capsule was exhumed at the Campbell Plaza
(26:20):
shopping center in Tucson, Arizona. Now this had been buried
for twenty five years to celebrate the grand opening of
America's first air conditioned strip ball.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
I mean, this is a truly historic moment. I can
only imagine how exciting this was.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
It gives me goosebumps just thinking about that. But because
the developers had never revealed what was inside, the contents
had become this local mystery. So when the big day
finally arrived, this huge crowd gathered along with three TV crews,
and when the workers finally pried open the capsule, there
was nothing inside but business cards and a faded local newspaper. Now,
(27:00):
one archaeologist who attended the event described the paper as
quote in worse condition than many have witnessed being excavated
from the bowels of landfills. People were expecting items related
to local history or something sweet and nostalgic. Instead they
got some very old classified ads and some business cards, which,
(27:21):
you know, it kind of reminds me of that old
Mitch Hedberg joke about like people handing out flyers on
the street corner, where he's just like, here, you throw
this out, you throw this out.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
You know, that's so accurate. But I love the business cards,
like anybody would be interested in business cards from twenty
five years ago. It's pretty pretty rough, but actually I
think I've got one that may be even worse. So
in twenty nineteen and Dairy, New Hampshire. This is the
Nutfield community which includes Dairy and two other towns. They
(27:51):
assembled this time capsule for its two hundred and fiftieth
anniversary back in nineteen sixty nine. It was a small
steel safe and the directive had been and to keep
it sealed at the local library for the next fifty years. Now,
no one knew exactly what was inside, but given the
year the time capsule had been made. Most people assumed
and hoped it would include some memorabilia from Darry's most
(28:13):
famous son. This would be Apollo astronaut Alan Shepherd. Seems
like a good guest there, But instead, when it came
time to open the capsule, officials found absolutely nothing. The
safe was totally empty. It turns out the safe had
been moved several times over the years, and it's possible
that someone made off with the contents during that time,
(28:35):
especially since the combination was written on the back of
the safe. They are not good at this.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
That is so sad, and youre was thinking how smart
it was that they didn't bury a time capsule and
risk of being ruined, right, So, I mean, Alan Shepherd's
a big deal, first American to travel space totally. I
really kind of hope they didn't lose anything precious.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Well, the weirdest part about the whole thing is that,
based on the photos from the nineteen sixty nine event,
the original Nutfield time capsule wasn't actually a safe at all.
It was a long metal cylinder, I guess. And if
that wasn't mysterious enough, there were also conflicting reports about
where the time capsule was stored several newspapers said it
was buried in nearby park, while one of the organizers
(29:18):
claimed it was in the town hall basement.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
That is so bizarre. And you know, I'm guessing it's
two hundred fifty is a big anniversary. I'm guessing someone
checked all those locations, right.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
Oh, definitely. A dairy librarian scoured the park with a
metal detector. All they dug up were bottle caps and
Christmas lights. They would have searched the town hall basement too,
but the building had been demolished decades earlier to make
way for a CVS, so instead they combed through the library,
even looking into the walls of the boiler room using
an endoscopic camera. But all they saw were pipes and fiberglass.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
So the real time capsule might still be out there
somewhere like our college time capsule. But if that story's
all true, then where did the safe come from? Like?
Why did everyone think that was the time capsule?
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Nobody really knows. Some folks think the capsule's contents were
transferred to the safe when the town hall was destroyed,
but others think the safe was planted, either as a
prank or as a way for the capsule thief to
cover their tracks. But whatever the truth, everyone assumed the
safe was the time capsule because it said three hundredth
anniversary right on the front of it.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
That is pretty weird to put the anniversary number on
the front and also like to put the combination in
the back, right, Yeah, but weirdly, there are some things
worse than finding a box full of nothing. For instance,
I read about this time capsule that was buried in Smithtown,
Long Island, and this was back in nineteen sixty five.
It was opened fifty years later for the town's three
hundred and fiftieth anniversary, and there was a ceremony where
(30:51):
town officials and colonial costumes unveiled the contents. So inside
they found a phone book, a bonnet, a hat, some
town documents, and a pile of pennies.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
I mean, that does sound pretty boring, but I don't
see how it's worse than an empty safe.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
That's because I haven't told you about the really bad
part yet. So this particular time capsule was one of
those old metal milk cans that you see on dairy farms,
and apparently it hadn't been cleaned out before it was
repurposed as a time capsule, because when they popped it
open during the ceremony, the foul smell of fifty year
old Rancid Milk wafted over the crowd. The director of
(31:28):
the local historical society told Newsday quote, the most interesting
thing that came out of the time capsule was the smell.
It was horrible. I've smelled history before. History does not
smell like that. It was the most powerfully musty smell
I've ever smelled in my life.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
That is pretty great. I mean, honestly, it's pretty funny
if that was done as a prank.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
I hadn't even thought about the fact that you could
preserve since for that long, and it's kind of nuts.
But you know, there are plenty of other bad stories
about time capsules too, Like there was this one in
Great ben, Kansas that was buried in nineteen seventy two.
The organizers had asked townspeople to bring something of cultural
importance or an item that held sentimental values so they
(32:11):
could add it to the capsule. But everyone just threw
in whatever they had in their pockets, and so it
was supposed to be this super thoughtful exercise, but it
just evolved into people chucking in gum wrappers and loose change.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
That's really wow. I'm sure the organizers really appreciated that,
you know, because I don't want our listeners to think
that every time capsule out there is bound to be
a bust. I do think we should close with a
good one. So let's actually think about one worth looking
forward to. It's called the Future Library, and it's the
passion project of a Scottish visual artist named Katie Patterson.
(32:45):
Back in twenty fourteen, Katie began inviting prominent contemporary authors
to submit unpublished manuscripts for inclusion and a special collection
in the Oslo Public Library. So each year since she's
added a new work to the lineup, including never before
four seen stories by the likes of Margaret Atwood, Hong
Kong and David Mitchell. So pretty interesting collection here. But
(33:07):
here's the catch. None of these works will be available
to read until the year twenty one, fourteen, one hundred
years from when the project first began. So by the
time the Future Library is open to the public, it'll
consist of one hundred brand new works from some of
the most talented writers of the twenty first century. This
is pretty cool, right.
Speaker 1 (33:26):
That is incredible. So, like, all these manuscripts are just
sitting locked away in this fault in Norway.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
That's exactly right. They're in lopped glass drawers inside a
small wooden repository called this Silent Room. But if you
want to get technical, the Future Library actually exists in
two forms, as the Unseen anthology that currently resides in
Oslo and as a purpose grown Norwegian forest. And that's
because the plan is to publish these works in twenty
(33:53):
one fourteen using paper from a thousand spruce trees that
were planeted specifically for this job. This is like such
a so cool project. So, as David Mitchell told BBC,
the Future Library project is a vote of confidence in
the future. We have to trust our successors and their
successors and theirs to steer the project through one hundred
(34:15):
years of political school doggery, climate change, budget cutbacks and
zombie apocalypses. Trust is a force for good in our
cynical world, and the Future Library is a trust generator.
Speaker 1 (34:27):
Oh, I really really love that. It's a beautiful idea
and the only thing I don't like about it is
that I'll probably never get to read those stories.
Speaker 2 (34:35):
Yeah, I mean that part is a little bit of
a bummer. But if the episode has shown us anything
it's that nothing lasts forever.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
Except sometimes a horn toad that is in a box
and a building, as long as it doesn't get pneumonia
before we close out, Why don't we make time for
a fact off?
Speaker 2 (34:52):
Sounds like a great idea, all right, So here there's
one to get us going. In twenty fifteen, Dolly Parton
wrote and recorded a song that no one has ever heard.
It's called My Place in History. The only copy of
the song is on a CD that was placed inside
a time capsule at Dollywood. Now the plan is to
(35:15):
keep it sealed there until the singer's one hundredth birthday
that'll be in twenty forty six, but in late twenty
twenty two, Parton cast some doubt on the scheme, telling
Kelly Clarkson, I want to dig that up so bad.
It's a really good song, and it's just burning me
up inside that I have to leave it in there.
Speaker 1 (35:31):
I kind of love that. Well. Sticking with music, there's
a time capsule filled with BTS memorabilia on display at
the National Museum of Korean Contemporary History, and that's in Seoul.
It was presented by the K pop supergroup to the
South Korean President during the country's first annual Youth Day
in twenty twenty, and it's scheduled to be reopened in
(35:53):
twenty thirty nine. The roughly twelve by sixteen inch purple
box is set to contain objects related to young people,
K pop music, and BTS's fans, which I'm sure that
the youth of twenty thirty nine will find every bit
as interesting as today. No.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
One hundred percent Cardell's speaking of use. One of the
most famous time capsules from the nineteen nineties was one
buried at Nickelodeon Studios in Orlando, Florida. Now. It was
filled with quote items and thoughts that were important to
kids of nineteen ninety two, which included classic childhood staples
such as a baseball, a stick of bubblegum, as well
(36:29):
as Nick branded merchandise like a ren and Stempy T shirt,
which actually seems pretty representative of the time now. The
capsule currently resides in the courtyard of the Nickelodeon Animation
Studio in Burbank. It's set to be reopened in twenty
forty two. But my favorite fact about this is that
It also included two items that would later find their
(36:50):
way to the National Millennium time Capsule that I mentioned
at the top of the show. There was a chunk
of the Berlin Wall and a pack of Twinkies. But
in this case the twinkies state put and were not
devoured by government employees. So I'm actually eager to see
how this plays out and whether the twinkies are any good.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
It all comes back to twinkies. Here's a funny one.
Starting in nineteen seventy four, Andy Warhol began assembling his
own personal time capsules, which he planned to eventually auction off.
On opened, each cardboard box contained random junk from the
artist's day to day life, including magazines, photographs, drink umbrellas,
empty altoid tins, and John Cale's passport. For some reason,
(37:31):
once a box was fulled, he'd seal it, mark it
with a day, and store it away. Warhol continued this
habit right up to his death in nineteen eighty seven,
by which point he had amassed six hundred and twelve
time capsules. Luckily, he never followed through on the plan
to sell them, and today the full collection is at
the Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. It is this very quirky
(37:52):
tribute to consumer culture, meta commentary on mortality, and obviously
a weirdo record of Warhol's life all role into one.
Speaker 2 (38:01):
All right, Well, we've talked about some truly mundane time
capsules today, but there are at least two of them
that are truly out of this world. I'm talking, of course,
about the Voyager disc also known as the Golden Records.
These were launched by NASA in nineteen seventy seven, the
Voyager one and the Voyager two space probes that were
tasked with exploring the outer edge of the Solar System
(38:22):
and beyond, and they also had a second goal to
serve as ambassadors of Earth should they happen to cross
paths with any extraterrestrials. So to that end, both Voyager
one and Voyager two were outfitted with a kind of
introductory time capsule. Attached to the whole of each probe,
there was a gold plated copper disc containing information about
(38:43):
Earth and its inhabitants. These identical twelve inch phonograph records
were titled Sounds of Earth, and they featured a collection
of audio recordings that were meant to be representative of
human civilization and the planet as a whole. The selections
were chosen by astronomers Carl Sagan and Frank Drake in
cooperation with a panel of historians, artists, folklorist and music cologists,
(39:06):
and the contents they chose included spoken greetings in fifty
five languages, twelve minutes of nature sounds, messages from President
Jimmy Carter and other world leaders, and about ninety minutes
of music from a variety of different eras and cultures. Obviously,
a lot would have to go right for an alien
to actually find and play humanities messages, but the Voyager
(39:27):
twins are playing the long game. Thanks to their inertia
and momentum, they keep ride on sailing through the galaxy
long after they've run out of power. In fact, unless
the probes collide with something, they'll pretty much keep going forever,
and on a long enough timeline, there is no telling
what or who they might actually encounter.
Speaker 1 (39:46):
Also, vintage vinyl is so in again that I'm sure
aliens would be thrilled to add it to the collection.
Speaker 2 (39:52):
Right, totally, totally yeah.
Speaker 1 (39:55):
But well, I've got to say between that Dolly Pardon
song that we all can't wait to hear and the
story Blinky the Horned Lizard. I think you have got
to take today's trophy. You just deserve it, so I
have taken the liberty of burning it under a tree
in Central Park. Your grandkids are welcome to collect it
on your behalf in the year twenty one twenty.
Speaker 2 (40:13):
Six, well on behalf of my future grandkids. Thank you
so much. It's truly an honor.
Speaker 1 (40:21):
And if anyone listening has a time Castle story of
their own, we want to hear about it. So give
us a call at three oh two, four oh five,
five nine two five. You can also send us an
email at high Geniuses at gmail dot com. You can
find us on Instagram and blue Sky at part Time Genius.
We will be back next week with another new episode,
but in the meantime from Will, Dylan, Gabe, Mary, and myself,
(40:44):
thank you so much for listening. Part Time Genius is
a production Kaleidoscope and iHeartRadio. It is hosted by my
good pal Will Pearson, who I've known for almost three
(41:06):
decades now. That is insane to me. I'm the Utaco host,
Mangeshatikular aka Mango. Our producer is Mary Phillips Sandy. She's
actually a super producer. I'm going to fix that in post.
Our writer is Gabe Lucier, who I've also known for
like a decade at this point, maybe more. Dylan Fagan
(41:26):
is in the booth. He is always dressed up, always
cheering us on, and always ready to hit record and
then mix the show after he does a great job.
I also want to shout out the executive producers from
iHeart my good Pals Katrina and Norvel and Ali Perry.
We have social media support from Calypso Rallis. If you
like our videos, that is all Calypso's handiwork for more
(41:49):
podcasts from Kalidoscope and iHeartRadio. Visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or tune in wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
That's it from us here at Part Time Genius. Thank
you so much for listening.
You're listening to part Time Genius, the production of Kaleidoscope
and iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Guess what mango was that? Well, so do you remember
back at the turn of the millennium when everyone started
making these time capsules?
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Oh, my god, definitely. I am certain. There are so
many shoe boxes and backyards and playgrounds across the country
that are just filled with like POGs and slap bracelets
and Pokemon cards.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
You name. That's so weird. Like you named the the
three things that I put in my time capsule in
one day, I'm going to dig that thing up. But
you know, one thing I'd actually forgotten is that the
time capsule craze was so widespread that even the US
government got in on this. And it was the Clinton
administration that was in office at the time, and so
they put together this National Millennium Time Capsule, and it
(01:05):
was based on the suggestions of everything from former presidential
and congressional medal winners to groups of students from across
the country. There were more than thirteen hundred items that
were selected, and these were there to tell the story
of life in the twentieth century.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
So what kind of things made the cut?
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Well, it was a range of stuff. So they had
footage from the moon landing, a model of the Liberty Bell,
a piece of the Berlin Wall, and of course Ray
Charles sunglasses.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Ray Chel sunglasses. I love it.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
That was pretty great.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
But what really stuck out to me was something submitted
by a group of high schoolers from Washington State. Their
gift to Americans of the twenty second century was a
pack of Hostess Twinkies, which Bill Clinton agreed was quote
an object of enduring American symbolism, and honestly I kind
of have to agree.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Yeah, I love that. So there's a box of old
Twinkies sitting in the National Archives.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Well there should be. But here's the thing. All the
objects included in the time capsule had to pass the
archives rigorous perpetuity test, as they called it. And although
urban legend claims that twinkies can last as long as
fourteen years, their true shelf life is only forty five days,
which actually I found quite surprising. I bought it into
the whole thing because my first thought when I saw
(02:23):
that they had submitted this, I was like, oh, well,
those will be just fine. They could probably eat them
in a hundred years. But turns out. Not only would
the snackcakes not have been good at that time, you know,
the staff also worried that food might attract mice, so
there was real concern about this.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
So what happened to all those twinkies?
Speaker 2 (02:42):
This is the best part actually, so according to former
archive is David s. Fario, the staff actually ate them,
which I guess is better than just throwing them out.
But what's funny is that despite the fact that the
time capsule contents are almost always underwhelming, we just can't
resist making them. It's a pretty bizarre cultural practice. So
(03:02):
today we're going to try to make sense of this,
like what's the appeal of the time capsule? What actually qualifies?
What are the best and most bewildering things that people
have stashed inside them? It's time to dig up some answers,
so let's dive in. Hey, their podcast listeners, welcome to
(03:38):
part time genius Samuel Pearson, And as always I'm joined
by my good friend mangesh Hot Ticketer and over there
in the soundproof booth, filling a tupperware bin with a
tin of glitter, a box of hot pockets yum, and
some nicely folded athletic socks. That's our Palain producer Dylan Fagan.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
I know, when I asked Don why he was filling
his time capsule with us, he just said they'll want
to know how he lived, which only made me more confused.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
That Dylan always making lots and lots of sense. Well,
let's get into the concept of time capsules, because the
term is more flexible than you might think. For example,
say you define a time capsule as a collection of
preserved objects that provide a cultural record of the past.
In that case, an ancient Egyptian tune is actually a
time capsule.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
I mean I could see that, Yeah, But something like.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
A childhood bedroom that somehow wasn't converted to a home
gym could also be a time capsule. But neither of
those things feels like what we mean when we're talking
about a time capsule here.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Yeah, I mean, I guess does kind of feel like
accidental time capsules because that wasn't the primary intent, right,
Like they tell future visitors about what life was like
for someone in a certain time and place. But that's
obviously not what they were meant to do.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Right, And that's something that most experts on the subject
will point out. For example, a faculty librarian named William E.
Jarvis wrote in his two thousand and two book Time Capsules,
a Cultural History, that for something to be considered a
true time capsule, it has to meet two criteria. The
first one it has to be created with the intention
of being found, and second it has to have a
(05:14):
definite date for when it's to be opened.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
I like that, so, so in his definition, it's about
this intentional communication with the future.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
That's exactly right. It's a great way to put it.
And one early precursor to the modern time capsule is
the cornerstone deposit, which fails this test because it was
designed to stay hidden.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
So I've actually never heard of a cornerstone deposit. What
is that?
Speaker 2 (05:36):
So it's a box of objects or documents that's placed
in the foundation of a building during the construction of
that building, typically underneath or inside the cornerstone, which is
where it gets its name. And so one of the
most famous examples is a copper box that Paul Revere
and Samuel L. Adams buried during the construction of the
Boston State House. This was on July fourth, seventeen ninety five.
(06:00):
Now the box was unearthed in twenty fourteen due to
concerns about water damage, and when museum conservator Pat Hatchfield
managed to pry it open, she found newspapers, coins, there
was a metal depicting George Washington, and a silver dedication plaque.
Now this wasn't the most interesting collection of artifacts, but
the box's opening was still big news because it was
(06:22):
widely regarded as the oldest time capsule in America. But again,
Revere and Adams never meant for it to be recovered,
much less on a specific date.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
That's really fascinating. So what is the point of doing
this if it's not meant to be found?
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Yeah, I was wondering the exact same thing, and I
guess it turns out there's no clear cut reason. According
to William Jarvis, the practice dates back to ancient Mesopotamia. Now,
the best guess is that people started depositing items in
foundations and cornerstones as kind of a good luck charm,
I guess. And so the practice moved to medieval Europe,
where clergy began placing holy objects in the foundations of
(06:59):
churches and cathedrals, and eventually government institutions, fraternal orders, even
private businesses adopted the practice as well, now, the other
big authority on time capsules is a writer named canut Berger.
He and Jarvis are actually founding members of the International
Time Capsule Society, and he points out that cornerstone deposits
(07:20):
can also serve as kind of a signature, either for
the builders themselves or for the people who spearheaded the project.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
That's kind of funny. I like the idea of it
being a secret signature. And now I'm kind of curious
how many buildings and spaces I've been in where they
are actually these like hidden cornerstone boxes. But just out
of curiosity, do we know what the oldest actual time
capsule is?
Speaker 2 (07:44):
I mean I think we do, or at least the
oldest time capsule in the US. It was this project
called the Century Safe. It was created for the eighteen
seventy six Philadelphia World's Fair, and it was meant to
be opened during the bi centennial in nineteen seventy six.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
That is fun Also, I had no idea that they
were doing World's Fairs in eighteen seventy six.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Those great go way back. But you know the actual
contents of this thing were We're unfortunately a little bit boring,
Like the items included a book on the Temperance movement,
a collection of random signatures, and some early photographs of
US politicians. I mean, talk about a letdown.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
I feel like if you're waiting one hundred years to
crack open the safe and like that's what you get.
It feels like a trick, like trick on you.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
It's it's totally a drink your ovaltine kind of moment.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
So lucky for us. Time capsules get a bit more
interesting in the mid nineteen thirties, and this is when
the concept really starts cooking with the public. And the
person credited with kickstarting the trend is Thornwell Jacobs, who
is president of Oglethorpe University in Atlanta. Now. Jacobs was
inspired by the opening of Egyptian tombs in the nineteen
(08:57):
twenties and he decided he wanted to create a record
of human culture, whereas he called it the Crypt of Civilization. Now,
true to its name, the Crypt is a twenty foot long,
ten foot high, air tight stone chamber and to this
day it lies undisturbed beneath the building on the Oglethorpe campus.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
That's a pretty big space.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
So what's inside, Well, a whole bunch of objects and
files that Jacobs and his team assembled. They were meant
to create this portrait of life on Earth. It includes
over six hundred and forty thousand pages of microfilm documents,
but also thousands of random objects. There's like a plastic flute,
a pair of stockings, a quart of beer, a bar
(09:38):
of soap shaped like a bowl for some reason, there's
a life size cutaway model of a pregnant woman. You know,
just the important stuff. We have to edit this down.
But Jacob's Crypt was sealed up in nineteen forty and
it's not scheduled to be opened until the year eight thousand,
one hundred and thirteen or eighty one thirteen. Oh WHOA
(10:00):
should probably mark your calendar for that.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Yeah, I thought you're going to say, like twenty forty
or I don't know, that's wild. I mean most time
capsules shoot for feels like one hundred years or one
thousand at most, But what is that like six millennia?
Who knows if people are going to be around at
that point.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
I know, they really really went for it. I mean,
the Crypt was this massive undertaking, and Jacob's got so
much buzz for the project that the Westinghouse Company decided
to launch a similar project during its exhibition at the
nineteen thirty nine World's Fair, and that's actually how we
get the term time capsule. The company borrowed the idea
(10:35):
of filling a container with various objects that were, you know,
indicative of the era, but instead of stuffing them into
an underground bunker, Westinghouse used a big rocket shaped cylinder.
Now the pr consultant they were using at the time,
this guy named George E. Pendre initially wanted to call
the capsule a time bomb because of the container's shape,
(10:56):
and you know, it kind of seems fun like it
explodes with all this nostalgia, but there was a world
war looming, so they thought better of it, and he
came up with the term time capsule. But even though
Pendre used a different name for the device, he basically
copied everything else from the Crypt, including its multi millennia timeline. So,
in a bid to beat Jacobs to the punch, the
(11:19):
company chose the year six nine hundred and thirty nine
for its opening date, so they went with a conservative
five thousand years in the future compared to the Crypt
six thousand.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
That is just wild. So what did Westinghouse put in
their time capsule.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
I mean, it's kind of like an equally random assortment
of objects. There's an alarm clock, an electric razor, a
can opener, a Mickey mouse cup, a dollar in change,
and a pack of Camel's cigarettes, among other things. But
Westinghouse also included messages from three Nobel Prize winners, which
is kind of interesting, right, like Robert Milliken, Thomas Mann,
(11:55):
and Albert Einstein. Now, the project was meant to complement
the World's Fairs theme, which was building the World of tomorrow.
But you can tell the mood was pretty tense at
the time because obviously, with this world war on the horizon,
none of the men's letters were actually that hopeful. Like
Einstein actually wrote quote, people living in different countries kill
(12:17):
each other at irregular time intervals, so that anyone who
thinks about the future must live in fear and terror.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Oh wow, Yeah, that does sound very Einstein though, and
honestly pretty pretty grim though.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
I mean, it doesn't seem like Einstein with his tongue
out right. It feels like a very different Einstein. But
I guess it pairs well with Mickey mouse cup and
a pack of camels. But the other thing that hadn't
really occurred to me was how solemn that burial process
can be. It's pretty interesting. Like the articles about this
from the Time show that the Westinghouse time capsule was
(12:52):
buried fifty feet beneath the New York Fairgrounds in a
location dubbed the Immortal Well, and as it was being low,
spectators took off their hats as the capsule was going down,
like they were at a funeral or paying respects to
this moment, And that, to me feels kind of surprising.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
It's almost like they're paying tribute to a box of
home appliances and spare change. It feels a little dramatic.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Especially because like when you think about it, it feels
like a glorified juncturer or like everything I stuffed into
a closet before guests come over. But to be fair,
it is hard to predict the future, right, like time
capsule makers never know what later generations will care about
or what they'll know about our time right right.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
I guess what surprises me is that so many people
still think time capsules are worth the bother, even though
it is all based on guesswork, Like it seems a
little weird to assume that strangers thousands of years from
now will share our interest, or that, you know, the
minutia of daily life will teach them something. It's really
such a guessing game.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
M hmm. I mean. The other funny thing about it
is that placing items underground in dirt is typically not
the best way to preserve of them. A lot of
amateur time capsules get ruined because people forget groundwater is
a thing. I also like how optimistic it is. You know,
it feels to me like it's almost like a message
in a bottle that you're just hoping someone will stumble
(14:14):
into and you know, maybe that'll delight them. But there's
actually a quote from kanoo Berger where he says, when
it comes to time capsules, the ritual is almost more
important than the substance. What matters is that you were there,
And I think that's true and also kind of sweet.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Yeah, and you know, especially an hour college, did you
know do you know about this where the kids in
our class buried a time capsule to be opened this
year and then there was a big WhatsApp post trying
to figure out where the spot was because no one
could remember. No one could remember, and the campus had
changed a lot, and they actually never found this thing.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
I mean, I'm guessing it was just like a Dave
Matthews album and a poster the basketball team. It can't
be that interesting.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
That's got to be exactly what it was, all right. Well,
after a quick break, I'm going to tell you about
one of the few occasions when people opening a time
capsule were deeply invested in what they might find inside,
even though the only two options were a dead lizard
or a live one. So stay tuned, Welcome.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
Back to Part Time Genius. If you're enjoying this episode,
please do not seal it inside a time capsule for
a thousand years. Share it with a friend. You can
also leave us a nice rating and review on your
favorite podcast app. It helps inform future listeners and it
makes us feel very good about the present. Okay, well,
so before the break, you tease the story about a lizard.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Go all right, thank you? All right. So our tale
begins back in eighteen ninety seven, and it was at
the groundbreaking ceremony for a new courthouse. This was in Eastland, Texas.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
Hold on, I thought we established that foundation deposits don't
count as time capsules because they are meant to be opened.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
That is generally correct, But in this case, there was
one person who had always intended for it to be
open and at a specific time as well, one hundred
years in the future. His name was Ernest Wood, and
at the time of the building's dedication, he was a
county clerk in Eastland. Now, like most folks in Texas
back then, would had grown up hearing stories about the
supposedly long lives of local horned lizards, or as they
(16:32):
were better known, horny toads. So while most lizards only
lived for a few years in a while, Texas legend
holds that horned lizards can live up to a hundred
years in hibernation, not just one hundred years. One hundred
years in hibernation without the need for any food or.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
Water, and so people I should believe that.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Well, that's what Ernest Wood wanted to find out, and
he figured the courthouse dedication would be the perfect way
to test this theory. Now, as luck would have it,
his four year old son will had recently caught a
horned lizard and named it Blinky. And since the building's
cornerstone was already set to house typical commemorative items, including
a bible, several town documents. Ernest convinced Will to let
(17:13):
him put Blinky in there as well.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
I mean the fact that the lizard has a name
and it's his son's lizard.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
It's so much worse it is. This is totally totally tragic,
and I guess the kid believed in Blinky, and Ernest
figured in a hundred years the boy might still be
around to dig up the box and check the outcome.
You just never know, the love of Blinky might keep
him going, you know. But things shockingly didn't go as
(17:42):
planned because the town of Eastland grew much faster than expected,
and after just thirty years, they needed a bigger courthouse,
so the old one was scheduled to be demolished in
early nineteen twenty eight. Ernest Wood was still very much
alive at that point, and in the lead up to
the demolition he told the editor of the local paper
about the lizard he had sealed inside the cornerstone. Now again,
(18:03):
everyone in Texas was familiar with this legend, so the
chance to confirm it was hugely exciting for people.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
It is so weird that everyone was invested. But I
guess I'm glad that many people in Texas are excited
about science.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Yeah. I love that we're somehow calling this science rather
than just murdering a lizard.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
It's an experiment. Yeah, at a courthouse.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Well, the hype really spread and the paper ran a
story under the headline all ready for the Liberation of
the horn Toad, and the article flew across the wire services.
And as a result of this, on February eighteenth, nineteen
twenty eight, three thousand people gathered at the court. Three
thousand can you imagine this to see a dead lizard?
(18:48):
To watch as the cornerstone was open, and among those
in attendance County Judge Ed Pritchard, whose job was to
verify that the lizard hadn't been secretly swapped out for
a fresh one.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
I mean, if there's anyone I trust, this County Judge
Ed Pritchard. Yeah, no, you know you can count on
the amazing and well, I'm pretty sure I know the answer.
I feel like I'm on the edge of my seat
for this one.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
Well, you might be surprised here because when the lizard
was finally pulled from its resting place, it did initially
seem dead It was flat as a pancake and covered
in a thick layer of dust. But then Mango, all
of a sudden, one of its legs began to twitch.
Then someone shouted the derned things alive, and the whole
(19:32):
crowd burst into cheers, like, no joke, this happened.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
I guess if you put a Bible in there too,
it makes a lot of sense. That feels incredible.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
So this really happened, well, I mean that was what
was reported. Blinky was renamed old Rip after the fairy
tale character Rip van Winkle, and following his resurrection, old
Rip became a full blown national celebrity. Newsreel staged reenactments
of the cornerstone removal and old Rip was reported and
every periodical from the New York Times to peer reviewed
(20:03):
science journals now. A print run of sixteen thousand old
Rip postcards sold out immediately, and the Fort Worth Star
Telegram proclaimed Rip to be quote the most famous animals
since the Serpent and the Garden of Eden. These people
were all about this situation.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
I mean, that's pretty good branding, right, That's a good line.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Well, and it wasn't even the end of it. So
old Rip was escorted on a publicity tour around the
country by will Wood, the now adult man who had
caught him as a child. They traveled together to Washington,
d C. To meet President Calvin Coolidge, who reportedly canceled
several prior engagements to make room in his schedule for
Old Rip.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
I'm just gonna block out the day. I feel like
Old ripped down.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
Yeah he did, he did.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
Coolidge famously had a ton of pets, right like, he
had a raccoon, dogs, a pygmy hippopotamus, so I'm sure
he was like to beat the creature.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Good memory there. I think we covered that in mental
loss back in the day. But to the press, Coolidge
stroked the lizard's back with his own horn rimmed glasses.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
Which is a weird thing to do.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Very weird thing to do, but that's definitely what he did,
and will Wood telegraphed home saying that Old Grip had
blinked approvingly at the president.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
Which I mean his name was Blinky, so I guess
that's a less weird thing to do.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Definitely.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
Well.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
The lizard made his rounds in style, living in a
sand filled fish bowl, where he enjoyed all of the
ants he could eat. But sadly, old Rip's career was
cut short when he died of pneumonia on January nineteenth,
nineteen twenty nine, just eleven months after his grand reemergence.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
That is amazing, and I guess kind of sad like
it might have been better for him to just stay
sealed in that cornerstone, right.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
I don't know, Mango, did you miss the part about
him hobnobbing with the president? I mean, that's a big deal.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Well, there's no way that's the same lizard, right, Like,
I know the judge was on hand authenticate it, but
someone must have like switched them out.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
Well, it depends on who you ask. So after his death,
Blinky was embalmed and laid to rest in a tiny, red,
velvet lined casket. This was in the lobby of the
New Eastland Courthouse. He remained there until nineteen seventy three,
at which point his remains went missing. There was a
ransom note explaining that the thief was one of five
young men who'd perpetrated the hoax on the town almost
(22:23):
fifty years earlier. The anonymous confessor claimed that in nineteen
twenty eight, he and his friends had removed the very
much deceased lizard from the cornerstone and switched it with
a live imposter lizard. Now, the thief promised to return
Old Rip's body only if his accomplices came forward to
back up his story, but no one ever did. Eventually,
(22:45):
the kidnapper sent another note saying that Old Rip could
be found at the county Fairgrounds. Officials retrieved the beloved
dead lizard and returned him to his place of honor
in the courthouse.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
That is such a weird ending to this story. It's amazing, seriously.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
But whether the thiefs account with true or not remains unknown.
And if you ask the people of Eastland, Texas, they'll
tell you that Old Rip was the genuine article and
that his kidnapper was the real impost.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
So where is old Rip now? Or? As obviously I
still call him Blinky.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Yeah, Blinky of course. Yeah, he's still in the Eastland
County Courthouse. You can visit his preserve remains, as well
as the original cornerstone where he spent the bulk of
his life. That actually makes me want to go there now,
it's such a weird thing. Yeah, but that isn't the
only place they keep his story alive. There's a whole
bunch of local events held in his honor, including Old
(23:38):
Rip Day, the Horn tod Derby, the Rips Ribs Cookoff,
and of course rip Fest. This is an annual citywide
celebration that includes a rip themed parade and of course
a five k fun run.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
I mean, we should make a weekend of it and
run in that, or you should run at it and
I'll drive to the fish line.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Sounds like a sounds like a great one. Well, there's
one more fun connection that I have to mention or
else our old pal Gabe is going to be livid
about this. Do you remember that famous nineteen fifty five
Looney Tune short. It was called One Froggy Evening. It's
the one with the singing frog and the top hat.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
I definitely know that frog, right Michigan j Frog. He
kind of like struts around and sings, hello my baby, Hello,
my baby, Hello my honey, Hello my rack.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
It's exactly it. But the joke of it is he'll
only sing in front of one guy and around everybody
else he just acts like a normal frog.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
You read that part.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
She actually knew that I'd completely forgotten that I wouldn't
have known that if you hadn't mentioned it.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
So Steven Spielberg once called it the Citizen Kane of
the animated short. That's how much he how highly he
thought of it. But that character is thought to be
an homage to Old Rip. In the short, a construction
worker who's demolishing a building pries off the top of
a cornerstone and discovers a box inside it. So when
he opens it he finds a document dated back to
(25:00):
eighteen ninety two, along with a frog who promptly dons
a top had and starts belting out some ragtime numbers.
And it's never been confirmed, but since the story of
Old Rip was so well publicized and so similar to this,
it's pretty clear the short was actually based on him.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
That is awesome, and it's actually like a pretty big
legacy for one little lizard. Well, we have to take
one more break, but when we come back, we're gonna
switch gears and talk about some of the biggest letdowns
in time capsule history, plus one that's still worth looking
forward to.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
Don't go anywhere, Welcome back to Part time Genius.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
All right, man, it's time to shift course from the
thrilling story of Old rip. But what are some of
the biggest disappointments to ever be unearthed?
Speaker 1 (25:58):
There is no shortage of disappointments to choose from, because,
despite the best intentions of the people who bury them,
most time capsules are underwhelming, especially because you've waited all
this time to open them. So you know, it's kind
of hard to live up to the hype. But that
is exactly what happened in nineteen eighty six when a
long awaited time capsule was exhumed at the Campbell Plaza
(26:20):
shopping center in Tucson, Arizona. Now this had been buried
for twenty five years to celebrate the grand opening of
America's first air conditioned strip ball.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
I mean, this is a truly historic moment. I can
only imagine how exciting this was.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
It gives me goosebumps just thinking about that. But because
the developers had never revealed what was inside, the contents
had become this local mystery. So when the big day
finally arrived, this huge crowd gathered along with three TV crews,
and when the workers finally pried open the capsule, there
was nothing inside but business cards and a faded local newspaper. Now,
(27:00):
one archaeologist who attended the event described the paper as
quote in worse condition than many have witnessed being excavated
from the bowels of landfills. People were expecting items related
to local history or something sweet and nostalgic. Instead they
got some very old classified ads and some business cards, which,
(27:21):
you know, it kind of reminds me of that old
Mitch Hedberg joke about like people handing out flyers on
the street corner, where he's just like, here, you throw
this out, you throw this out.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
You know, that's so accurate. But I love the business cards,
like anybody would be interested in business cards from twenty
five years ago. It's pretty pretty rough, but actually I
think I've got one that may be even worse. So
in twenty nineteen and Dairy, New Hampshire. This is the
Nutfield community which includes Dairy and two other towns. They
(27:51):
assembled this time capsule for its two hundred and fiftieth
anniversary back in nineteen sixty nine. It was a small
steel safe and the directive had been and to keep
it sealed at the local library for the next fifty years. Now,
no one knew exactly what was inside, but given the
year the time capsule had been made. Most people assumed
and hoped it would include some memorabilia from Darry's most
(28:13):
famous son. This would be Apollo astronaut Alan Shepherd. Seems
like a good guest there, But instead, when it came
time to open the capsule, officials found absolutely nothing. The
safe was totally empty. It turns out the safe had
been moved several times over the years, and it's possible
that someone made off with the contents during that time,
(28:35):
especially since the combination was written on the back of
the safe. They are not good at this.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
That is so sad, and youre was thinking how smart
it was that they didn't bury a time capsule and
risk of being ruined, right, So, I mean, Alan Shepherd's
a big deal, first American to travel space totally. I
really kind of hope they didn't lose anything precious.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Well, the weirdest part about the whole thing is that,
based on the photos from the nineteen sixty nine event,
the original Nutfield time capsule wasn't actually a safe at all.
It was a long metal cylinder, I guess. And if
that wasn't mysterious enough, there were also conflicting reports about
where the time capsule was stored several newspapers said it
was buried in nearby park, while one of the organizers
(29:18):
claimed it was in the town hall basement.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
That is so bizarre. And you know, I'm guessing it's
two hundred fifty is a big anniversary. I'm guessing someone
checked all those locations, right.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
Oh, definitely. A dairy librarian scoured the park with a
metal detector. All they dug up were bottle caps and
Christmas lights. They would have searched the town hall basement too,
but the building had been demolished decades earlier to make
way for a CVS, so instead they combed through the library,
even looking into the walls of the boiler room using
an endoscopic camera. But all they saw were pipes and fiberglass.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
So the real time capsule might still be out there
somewhere like our college time capsule. But if that story's
all true, then where did the safe come from? Like?
Why did everyone think that was the time capsule?
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Nobody really knows. Some folks think the capsule's contents were
transferred to the safe when the town hall was destroyed,
but others think the safe was planted, either as a
prank or as a way for the capsule thief to
cover their tracks. But whatever the truth, everyone assumed the
safe was the time capsule because it said three hundredth
anniversary right on the front of it.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
That is pretty weird to put the anniversary number on
the front and also like to put the combination in
the back, right, Yeah, but weirdly, there are some things
worse than finding a box full of nothing. For instance,
I read about this time capsule that was buried in Smithtown,
Long Island, and this was back in nineteen sixty five.
It was opened fifty years later for the town's three
hundred and fiftieth anniversary, and there was a ceremony where
(30:51):
town officials and colonial costumes unveiled the contents. So inside
they found a phone book, a bonnet, a hat, some
town documents, and a pile of pennies.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
I mean, that does sound pretty boring, but I don't
see how it's worse than an empty safe.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
That's because I haven't told you about the really bad
part yet. So this particular time capsule was one of
those old metal milk cans that you see on dairy farms,
and apparently it hadn't been cleaned out before it was
repurposed as a time capsule, because when they popped it
open during the ceremony, the foul smell of fifty year
old Rancid Milk wafted over the crowd. The director of
(31:28):
the local historical society told Newsday quote, the most interesting
thing that came out of the time capsule was the smell.
It was horrible. I've smelled history before. History does not
smell like that. It was the most powerfully musty smell
I've ever smelled in my life.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
That is pretty great. I mean, honestly, it's pretty funny
if that was done as a prank.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
I hadn't even thought about the fact that you could
preserve since for that long, and it's kind of nuts.
But you know, there are plenty of other bad stories
about time capsules too, Like there was this one in
Great ben, Kansas that was buried in nineteen seventy two.
The organizers had asked townspeople to bring something of cultural
importance or an item that held sentimental values so they
(32:11):
could add it to the capsule. But everyone just threw
in whatever they had in their pockets, and so it
was supposed to be this super thoughtful exercise, but it
just evolved into people chucking in gum wrappers and loose change.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
That's really wow. I'm sure the organizers really appreciated that,
you know, because I don't want our listeners to think
that every time capsule out there is bound to be
a bust. I do think we should close with a
good one. So let's actually think about one worth looking
forward to. It's called the Future Library, and it's the
passion project of a Scottish visual artist named Katie Patterson.
(32:45):
Back in twenty fourteen, Katie began inviting prominent contemporary authors
to submit unpublished manuscripts for inclusion and a special collection
in the Oslo Public Library. So each year since she's
added a new work to the lineup, including never before
four seen stories by the likes of Margaret Atwood, Hong
Kong and David Mitchell. So pretty interesting collection here. But
(33:07):
here's the catch. None of these works will be available
to read until the year twenty one, fourteen, one hundred
years from when the project first began. So by the
time the Future Library is open to the public, it'll
consist of one hundred brand new works from some of
the most talented writers of the twenty first century. This
is pretty cool, right.
Speaker 1 (33:26):
That is incredible. So, like, all these manuscripts are just
sitting locked away in this fault in Norway.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
That's exactly right. They're in lopped glass drawers inside a
small wooden repository called this Silent Room. But if you
want to get technical, the Future Library actually exists in
two forms, as the Unseen anthology that currently resides in
Oslo and as a purpose grown Norwegian forest. And that's
because the plan is to publish these works in twenty
(33:53):
one fourteen using paper from a thousand spruce trees that
were planeted specifically for this job. This is like such
a so cool project. So, as David Mitchell told BBC,
the Future Library project is a vote of confidence in
the future. We have to trust our successors and their
successors and theirs to steer the project through one hundred
(34:15):
years of political school doggery, climate change, budget cutbacks and
zombie apocalypses. Trust is a force for good in our
cynical world, and the Future Library is a trust generator.
Speaker 1 (34:27):
Oh, I really really love that. It's a beautiful idea
and the only thing I don't like about it is
that I'll probably never get to read those stories.
Speaker 2 (34:35):
Yeah, I mean that part is a little bit of
a bummer. But if the episode has shown us anything
it's that nothing lasts forever.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
Except sometimes a horn toad that is in a box
and a building, as long as it doesn't get pneumonia
before we close out, Why don't we make time for
a fact off?
Speaker 2 (34:52):
Sounds like a great idea, all right, So here there's
one to get us going. In twenty fifteen, Dolly Parton
wrote and recorded a song that no one has ever heard.
It's called My Place in History. The only copy of
the song is on a CD that was placed inside
a time capsule at Dollywood. Now the plan is to
(35:15):
keep it sealed there until the singer's one hundredth birthday
that'll be in twenty forty six, but in late twenty
twenty two, Parton cast some doubt on the scheme, telling
Kelly Clarkson, I want to dig that up so bad.
It's a really good song, and it's just burning me
up inside that I have to leave it in there.
Speaker 1 (35:31):
I kind of love that. Well. Sticking with music, there's
a time capsule filled with BTS memorabilia on display at
the National Museum of Korean Contemporary History, and that's in Seoul.
It was presented by the K pop supergroup to the
South Korean President during the country's first annual Youth Day
in twenty twenty, and it's scheduled to be reopened in
(35:53):
twenty thirty nine. The roughly twelve by sixteen inch purple
box is set to contain objects related to young people,
K pop music, and BTS's fans, which I'm sure that
the youth of twenty thirty nine will find every bit
as interesting as today. No.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
One hundred percent Cardell's speaking of use. One of the
most famous time capsules from the nineteen nineties was one
buried at Nickelodeon Studios in Orlando, Florida. Now. It was
filled with quote items and thoughts that were important to
kids of nineteen ninety two, which included classic childhood staples
such as a baseball, a stick of bubblegum, as well
(36:29):
as Nick branded merchandise like a ren and Stempy T shirt,
which actually seems pretty representative of the time now. The
capsule currently resides in the courtyard of the Nickelodeon Animation
Studio in Burbank. It's set to be reopened in twenty
forty two. But my favorite fact about this is that
It also included two items that would later find their
(36:50):
way to the National Millennium time Capsule that I mentioned
at the top of the show. There was a chunk
of the Berlin Wall and a pack of Twinkies. But
in this case the twinkies state put and were not
devoured by government employees. So I'm actually eager to see
how this plays out and whether the twinkies are any good.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
It all comes back to twinkies. Here's a funny one.
Starting in nineteen seventy four, Andy Warhol began assembling his
own personal time capsules, which he planned to eventually auction off.
On opened, each cardboard box contained random junk from the
artist's day to day life, including magazines, photographs, drink umbrellas,
empty altoid tins, and John Cale's passport. For some reason,
(37:31):
once a box was fulled, he'd seal it, mark it
with a day, and store it away. Warhol continued this
habit right up to his death in nineteen eighty seven,
by which point he had amassed six hundred and twelve
time capsules. Luckily, he never followed through on the plan
to sell them, and today the full collection is at
the Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. It is this very quirky
(37:52):
tribute to consumer culture, meta commentary on mortality, and obviously
a weirdo record of Warhol's life all role into one.
Speaker 2 (38:01):
All right, Well, we've talked about some truly mundane time
capsules today, but there are at least two of them
that are truly out of this world. I'm talking, of course,
about the Voyager disc also known as the Golden Records.
These were launched by NASA in nineteen seventy seven, the
Voyager one and the Voyager two space probes that were
tasked with exploring the outer edge of the Solar System
(38:22):
and beyond, and they also had a second goal to
serve as ambassadors of Earth should they happen to cross
paths with any extraterrestrials. So to that end, both Voyager
one and Voyager two were outfitted with a kind of
introductory time capsule. Attached to the whole of each probe,
there was a gold plated copper disc containing information about
(38:43):
Earth and its inhabitants. These identical twelve inch phonograph records
were titled Sounds of Earth, and they featured a collection
of audio recordings that were meant to be representative of
human civilization and the planet as a whole. The selections
were chosen by astronomers Carl Sagan and Frank Drake in
cooperation with a panel of historians, artists, folklorist and music cologists,
(39:06):
and the contents they chose included spoken greetings in fifty
five languages, twelve minutes of nature sounds, messages from President
Jimmy Carter and other world leaders, and about ninety minutes
of music from a variety of different eras and cultures. Obviously,
a lot would have to go right for an alien
to actually find and play humanities messages, but the Voyager
(39:27):
twins are playing the long game. Thanks to their inertia
and momentum, they keep ride on sailing through the galaxy
long after they've run out of power. In fact, unless
the probes collide with something, they'll pretty much keep going forever,
and on a long enough timeline, there is no telling
what or who they might actually encounter.
Speaker 1 (39:46):
Also, vintage vinyl is so in again that I'm sure
aliens would be thrilled to add it to the collection.
Speaker 2 (39:52):
Right, totally, totally yeah.
Speaker 1 (39:55):
But well, I've got to say between that Dolly Pardon
song that we all can't wait to hear and the
story Blinky the Horned Lizard. I think you have got
to take today's trophy. You just deserve it, so I
have taken the liberty of burning it under a tree
in Central Park. Your grandkids are welcome to collect it
on your behalf in the year twenty one twenty.
Speaker 2 (40:13):
Six, well on behalf of my future grandkids. Thank you
so much. It's truly an honor.
Speaker 1 (40:21):
And if anyone listening has a time Castle story of
their own, we want to hear about it. So give
us a call at three oh two, four oh five,
five nine two five. You can also send us an
email at high Geniuses at gmail dot com. You can
find us on Instagram and blue Sky at part Time Genius.
We will be back next week with another new episode,
but in the meantime from Will, Dylan, Gabe, Mary, and myself,
(40:44):
thank you so much for listening. Part Time Genius is
a production Kaleidoscope and iHeartRadio. It is hosted by my
good pal Will Pearson, who I've known for almost three
(41:06):
decades now. That is insane to me. I'm the Utaco host,
Mangeshatikular aka Mango. Our producer is Mary Phillips Sandy. She's
actually a super producer. I'm going to fix that in post.
Our writer is Gabe Lucier, who I've also known for
like a decade at this point, maybe more. Dylan Fagan
(41:26):
is in the booth. He is always dressed up, always
cheering us on, and always ready to hit record and
then mix the show after he does a great job.
I also want to shout out the executive producers from
iHeart my good Pals Katrina and Norvel and Ali Perry.
We have social media support from Calypso Rallis. If you
like our videos, that is all Calypso's handiwork for more
(41:49):
podcasts from Kalidoscope and iHeartRadio. Visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or tune in wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
That's it from us here at Part Time Genius. Thank
you so much for listening.
Part-Time Genius News
Hosts And Creators
Will Pearson
Mangesh Hattikudur
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