September 12, 2023 • 34 mins
When the guys recorded their episode on broken arrows -- lost nuclear weapons throughout history -- they didn't get to one fascinating (and disturbing) tangent: the world of nuclear test sites. In the first episode of the continuing Leftover series, Ben, Noel and Max explore the astonishing, at times ridiculous, tales of nuclear test sites you can actually visit in the modern day.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartRadio. Welcome back to
(00:27):
the show Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always so much
for tuning in, and shout out to our super producer
Max Adenda Williams Sele. This is speaking of selector. These
are some selects for us your nol I am Ben. Yeah,
we are doing something different. It's our first quote unquote
(00:48):
clip show of Matrosh goadl of Segues.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Yeah, we're kind of like uh cure, We're like DJs
on the BBC, you know, like playlist or something.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Mm hmm. Yeah. And this is this is funny big
because backstage this brief explanation, Max Noel and I talked
about the different things that get left out of episodes
because you know, it is when you're deep in research,
you're a sponge. You gather all this stuff and sometimes
it doesn't make it in because of time or because
(01:17):
it's an interesting fact that may not fit the story.
So we're doing something kind of like, as Max pointed out,
kind of like Morty's mind blowers from the show Rick
and Morty or interdimensional Cable now that I think about it.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
So speaking of the kind of stuff you see in
that Rick and Morty episode. Ben, I love the idea
of sponge gathering things. I'm just picturing a sort of
anthropomorphic sponge with weird long arms. It's just kind of
gathering things up in baskets.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Love it. Yes, so we are. That's what we are doing.
That's who we are today. We have a lot of
tangents and trivia and we just wanted to explore some
of these interesting ones that we couldn't let go of.
They didn't make it in the show. Although we are
that we have a fourth person here. We do. We
have our special guest, Alex Circa Alex, thank you for
(02:04):
coming on the show. Thanks for having me nice on air. Yeah,
it's like we're being observed. We guess one will go.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
We've got the observation windows on the outside. Here people
lookie lose, and then we've got these lookie loose over here.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
We've got the cameras. We've got a big television screen time.
We should just put someone on the screen, just like
a still image, very awkwardly stare at random person. I
would go, Christopher, They're just like nodding their head. They
like it. Or boring cam feed of all time. Put
(02:39):
on c Span put on the crazy compilation clips of
Sea Span anyway speaking and clips Uh no, maybe we
open with this one. A while back. We looked at
nuclear test sites. We looked at broken Arrows. Very interesting
and surprisingly terrifying. Well it's not surprising, it's a regular terrify.
(03:00):
Losing nukes is crazy. We wanted to explore nuclear test sites.
We didn't get a chance to do this in the episode. Folks,
It turns out there are some nuclear test sites you
can visit today.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Cool bring your own Geiger counter or maybe they even
issue them. I love the sound those things make, those
little click click clicks. I feel bad. I haven't seen
Oppenheimer yet. I did see the Barbie movie though, and
it was delightful. But yeah, Trinity, of course back where
it all began in Sikoro, New Mexico is obviously a
very important location in the film Oppenheimer about the creation
(03:38):
of the atomic bomb. On July sixteenth, nineteen forty five,
in New Mexico, Deep Deep, New Mexico, the age of
atom was birthed.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
And this is weird, Okay, there are some caveats with
exploring this test site. The US military detonated a third
team pound klutonium contraption. It just annihilated things. It was
almost it was like biblical, a six hundred foot wide fireball.
Sand is turning into glass windows one hundred and twenty
(04:12):
miles away. They're just popping. And people didn't know about
the test. They were like, I should have bought I
shouldn't have gone cheap on the windows.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Exactly is this this You mentioned it as a contraption.
Was this the one that was referred to as the Gadgets?
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Yes? Yeah, that was uh go go Gadget Apocalypse? Am
I right?
Speaker 2 (04:30):
They didn't have a lot of time to work on
the name. They were focused on other stuff. But I
thingy yeah, yeah, the watch Man call it the do Dad.
Here's the deal. And I have a good friend who
lives in Atlanta, are Pal Steve Dixie. He has visited
this site and he had to plan ahead because here's
the big caveat the site of the Trinity detonation is
(04:53):
open to the public, but only one day out of
the year, really, the first Saturday of April. That's why
else and apparently it's worth the trip. Okay, what happens
to the rest of the Saturdays and other days?
Speaker 1 (05:05):
I don't know. You know, like blocked off.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Or they're like, you know, shooters on towers to keep
you away.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Like what are we talking here? Why?
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Why?
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Why all the hush hush. It's super super exclusive. I
guess you know what, if we if what we have
learned about the US government is correct, it might just
be a budget thing. Maybe, so maybe they got like
they they made the budget for visitors and they didn't
remember to carry a digit, and so now they only
have the one day. Let's pause one moment. There's a
(05:35):
quick addendum here. It turns out that the Trinity Site
is actually open not just one day a year, but
two days per year, so you can go on the
first Saturday in April or the third Saturday in October,
which is coming up soon.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Well, another spot you can visit if you want to
see some nuclear craters is the Marshall Islands, where you
can visit some nuclear crater concrete domes. The US has
a long history that we've discussed multiple times, of using
remote island areas in order to blow things up and
to test weaponry, you know, because it's fine, it's out
(06:17):
of the way.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
It was good in any to worry about the aftermath, right, sure, yeah,
you know what, it's so chill. We probably don't even
have to ask the people who live there. Yeah, they'll
be fine. They'll be fine with it. And if you
want to learn more, checkout stuff they once you know,
as episode on nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands. The
Marshall Islands were only one example. Islands and atolls in
(06:37):
the South Pacific were used in like over one hundred
times for nuclear test and there wasn't a real effort
to clean this up until the nineteen seventies. Tale as
old as time. It's always that lag.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
It's like we just talked about with Nator and like
traffic safety, you know, people have been driving cars for
practically one hundred years of four people thought maybe we
should make sure people don't die as a result of
the things that we've let out into the world for
money and or you know, global supremacy.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Oh yeah, nuclear Yeah, And there's there's a weird story
with that one too, because this crater that we're talking about,
the crater was created in a nuclear test code named Cactus.
And I feel like that's just very bad security because
if people are spying on you, right, they're gonna ask
why are you talking about a cactus in the South Pacific.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Right, you think it would be like palm tree or something. Yeah, yeah, perhaps.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Raft or maybe maybe just the mango. Maybe the phrase
nothing sketchy. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
I like Operation Mango. I feel like there should be
an Operation Mango. I'm sure there is that probably is? Yeah,
or is that? What is that what we just call
it when we hang out with our pale mangesh Operation Mango.
I'm gonna start saying that.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
I love that. So three years.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Later, and after expend in the neighborhood of a quarter
of a billion dollars, they just.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Built a dome over it. Oh nice, a big, giant
concrete dome. So it's kind of it's the geopolitical version
of throwing all your stuff in the closet when company
comes over. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
I mean it takes a little more planning and effort
than that I would argue, but essentially you're not far off.
We are talking about a foot and a half thick
concrete dome measuring around one hundred thousand square feet built
over the nuclear crater with signage, of course, trying to
ward people off, but it is possible to get to there.
(08:40):
You can actually land. I think on run It Island
and then head over to the old Cactus Dome, the
nuclear Sarcophagus. It's also called yeah, which I think is
a is a more appropriate name than just concrete dome.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Also to jump in.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
There are some eight videos out there of people actually
going to the concrete doun, like you know, reporters and stuff.
It's it's pretty terrifying and it really makes you hate
what the United States have done here.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
So question, I mean, were they building this like so
people wouldn't fall in or is there actually still like
you know, radioactivity.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Oh, there is full blown radio Ka's and the concept
of it is to keep all that in there. They
basically because they blew up like Bikini Island and stuff
like that, they took all that dirt and they dumped
into this like crater and they built concrete around it
and they did a really bad job.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Let's the same yeah. Yeah, And this was also part
of something called Operation Ivy or it's a consequence. It's
a great band. Yeah, it is a great band. That's
what we're bringing them up. And also, oh, we forgot,
we forgot because we have company over. We've got to
do the max with the fact sound.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Cue yeah, but she won't be able to hear it
in real time. Okay, Alex, you're just gonna is really good.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
I can get in real time. Did you sign it
to a button like a real disc jockey here? He
had to take off his headphones. I can hear you. No,
it's it's just gonna take a second. I gotta find
it in dropbox. Is that sneaking in the phone and
(10:15):
he's fallen? Know it's just for you? Right? It makes
my heart saying that's our palm Matt Frederick, Alex, what
do you think? I mean? That was amazing.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
It's pretty good. We can claim no credit for it.
That's why we're able to really give it. Give it props. No,
did you hear the one I made for Lauren? No?
Speaker 1 (10:37):
No, I didn't.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
Who's that guess hosting the show?
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Lauren? And she's on this podcast? Hey Lauren? Sorry, that
was what got me instead.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
Yeah, I'll send it to you later. We played on
the show once before. I think that's one too many
times already.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Okay, it's a little more of a beat poet vibe.
I love that. Yeah, I mean I gave it my
best shot.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Well, your efforts were much appreciated. And you know, speaking
of like covering stuff up, that's that is bad that
people should not venture near, you know. I think I
mentioned before in the past, in a previous life, I
covered some nuclear waste dumping sites, you know that are
very hilariously referred to as superfund sites. I originally thought
(11:30):
that they were saying super fun sites, you know, but
that's not what they're They're not that much fun at all.
But in Augusta, where I did some work for public
radio and that was kind of my little area.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Uh, there's a place called the Savannah.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
River Site that is actually a storage site for nuclear
waste from nuclear weapons and for like decommissioned nuclear weapons.
And they monitor that area by like tagging wildlife and
like kind of catching and really them and then measuring
them with Geiger counters. And a lot of these these
(12:04):
sites are literally just pits in the ground or they
dumped a lot of this waste.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Yeah, it's unfortunately not surprising. And when we when we
look at the South Pacific, when we look at places
like Enawa, tak and Bikini both A toolls, what we
see is that they had to be evacuated. There were
dozens and dozens and dozens of tests, nuclear tests that
absolutely rock these islands. The consequences continue today, even though
(12:31):
these atolls have been partially resettled. From nineteen seventy seven
to nineteen eighty, the US had a two hundred million
dollar nuclear cleanup and rehab program for Enawa Talk in particular,
and people had to live in exile for thirty three
years before they could move back to their land. And
(12:55):
again they didn't get any say so on this nuclear testing,
and likely, you know, if anything, symbolic compensation, certainly not
adequate compensation. You know. Again, for more details, check out
our stuff. They want you a new episode on nuclear
testing the Marshall Islands. Let's travel to a couple of
places before we come back home to the US. Let's
(13:15):
go to the Soviet Union. Let's go to Kazakhstan. Do
you ever feel that way? Do you ever just wake
up and you're like, let's go to kasaicstr just s
pop over to Kazakhstan.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Yeah, So, this of course is putting us in the
shoes of the other major nuclear power during the Cold War,
the Soviet Union. And this a place called semi Politensk
was the Soviet Union's main test site, the Polygon, which
is what it was referred to, which is located in
(13:52):
the former Soviet Union. It was a closed city near Semipalatensk.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
I think I'm saying that right.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
I believe today they refer to just as Semi, which
I fully stand by.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
I wish I had said it that way from the start.
You know, you're probably not alone in that, including the
people who live there. We are, of course not native
Russian speakers.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Right, forgive us of any transgressions in the pronunciation department.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
What we need to know about this place is that
between nineteen forty nine and nineteen eighty nine, over forty years,
there were more than four hundred and fifty nuclear tests
just in this place. Three hundred and forty were underground.
There were one hundred and sixteen explosions in the atmosphere.
(14:37):
The equivalent of this, if you add it all up,
this is like blowing up two thousand, five hundred Hiroshima bombs.
So there are a lot of craters in the area.
It's like a lunar surface the moon man. Yeah, and
you know another.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Thing that the Soviet Union former Civiet Union has a
reputation for is not being too transparent with their communication
to their citizenry. You know, as we know in the
Chernobyl crisis, the nuclear meltdown, information was contained, you know,
to an alarming degree, even when it became clear that
there would be nuclear fallout that could affect surrounding areas.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Same deal here, absolutely. Yeah, we know that, we know
that they were We know that the Soviet Union was
aware of what it was doing. But it's the Cold War,
so they were saying they were making the greater good argument.
And as a result of this greater good, eighteen thousand
square kilometers, well more than eighteen thousand square kilometers are
(15:38):
heavily contaminated. Over a million people have some serious health
problems as a result of this. And it's kind of
like that town where they just mine as bestos. Yeah,
it's called asbestos, right. People just live in the Polygon
area in this former test site.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
And as we've talked about it, I think we talked
about it with Jake Hanrahan on stuff that I want
you to know a lot of the scientists that work,
you know that are members of this society.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
They are kind of.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Under the thumb in many ways of the government in
terms of like what they say, is allowable levels of
this kind of contamination. And as we know, even here
in the States, where scientists are arguably a little more
free to speak their minds, yeah, arguably, it's still kind
of hard to tie health issues specifically to something even
(16:26):
as alarming as this level of contamination, right, causality and all.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
That good stuff in christ Yeah, And just like the
Ralph Nader consumer movement thing, it's a real David and
Goliath situation. There's another there's a returning guest from stuff
they don't want you to know that shows up in
our next example, also Soviet Union. This one is in
Novaya Zemla, Russia. It's the biggest bomb ever exploded, the
(16:52):
sar Bumba. That's a great name for a big bomb.
That's a great name for like a Davashka Beirut type bad.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
Yeah, or it could be like an LCD sound system
type in like a cool kind of dance punk type
in I'm down with that sar bomba. I'm putting that
in my back pocket for my next disco project. But yeah,
this is the bde bomb. And just to quote a
fabulous article from Atlas Oscura, exiety is thinking they do
is such a good job at turning a phrase here,
(17:21):
who's the who's the author been?
Speaker 1 (17:23):
There's not an author in this one.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
That's jack because sometimes they just do to editorial. At
first glance, the barren landscape of Navoya Zemlia Russian for
new Land might not seem like the sort of place
where anything interesting has ever happened. Wow, but I know
re hatless obscure. It needs some coffee, hot take. But
it's remote location and small population meant that it was
designated as a nuclear test site in nineteen fifty four,
(17:44):
and over the next thirty five years is the location
of two hundred and twenty four nuclear detonations, including the
world's large nuclear explosion.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
Zar Bomba Bombo Bombo Boombo. The bomba is also like
a dance right like.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Dropped by the Soviet Union in nineteen sixty one over
at Navoya Zemlia Island. Most of the island still remains
a military based this day, although cruise ships often frequent
the southern part of the archipelago, which is a fun
word to say, archipelago, not cruise ship.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
I love I love an archipelago, man, I like saying archapella.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Oh see, I only do arch but I think maybe
that's wrong, but that's just the way my mouth says it.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
I like that word because it feels like you're juggling
with your mouth.
Speaker 3 (18:26):
So what you guys are saying is Ben is an architect,
while Noel you're an arch villain.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
That's right, Yeah, archie nemesis. Uh oh, Jonathan's going to
be mad. No, we don't. We don't have two nemeses
in the budget.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
I also have fallen arches, which is why I'm excluded
from military service, and bone spurs likely story but ansariasis yeah,
and malays, Yeah, totally general malays.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Let's not forget that one. I wonder birds well, who
go to war with birds? Oh? God? If that ever happens,
I'm out. I want to do. I do want to do, dude,
I do want to do a episode in the future
on obscure historical maladies. I love reading things like that
when they say, unfortunately, young Winnifred felled to the brain fevers. Yes, indeed, speaking.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Of bird wars, though by the way, there what there was?
Did we just mean on the EMU wars in Australia? Yeah, yeah,
I think we did. EMUs are terrifying man, they're dinosaur
clause could disemboweu you like a raptor in two point five.
You'd be holding your guts like Dennis Nedrie in the
book version h. Cassawries as well.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Those are the worst ones. Those are even worse. I
don't know why. I know they're more dangerous, but shoe
bills freak me out. Have you ever heard the sound
they make? I know that they're horrible, horrible nightmare faces
and beaks. They look like they're always scheming. It's awful.
They're always like really narrowed eyes. Yeah, they're rough man,
not cool. That's what the cashuarty though, really does disembowel
(19:49):
its prey. It will one hundred percent. Yeah, it is
a swoop. It is an f around and foul out
f o w L. So anyway, Atomic Survival Town, that's
the name of real place we're gonna end this one here?
Is this like an amusement park? Ya?
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Can I go here and they issue you like a
cool like you know, like a gas mask or like whatever, like.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
A fallout suit. Yeah, yeah, has bad suit or something
that sounds like fun. I want to go to Atomic
Survival Town. It sounds like ghost town.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
In the sky or like one of those like you know,
kind of front Frontier type, you know, attractions.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
Yeah, this is probably one of the better known sits
on our list. Going back to Atlas Obscura in nineteen
fifty five, there were fourteen different test explosions at Yuko
Flat and this was part of something called Operation Tea Cup,
which sounds so dainty. I yeah, pinky up. You know,
I always want decorum. I always wanted the job of
(20:48):
being the person gets to pick those names. I feel
like craation mango for me all day. Yeah, we had
some good ones.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
We had Operation Cottage, Operation land Crab what was that
two weeks ago?
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Mm hmm yeah, yeah, yeah, And so you should be
in charge of naming more of these top secret government operations.
We'll write the email.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Later, Operation Ground and find Out or f Around and
foul Out, the Cassaway deployment.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
So yes. So the most memorable parts of these tests
were the reasons called Atomic Survival Town is because they
built a dummy town. Cool sort of like when the
Allies built that fake Paris. Just so yeah, which is
an episode that's sort of like what is it the
Mandala effect. We're like we swear we did this episode
(21:34):
or did we just hang out and talk about it.
I think we had a brief for this and we
in our minds totally did it, but we obviously didn't
do it, or it's been lost to time and or
are publishing apparatus.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Because we're saving it for our pal, Casey Pegrick. That's right,
because he's our resident Francophone. Yes, franc Fi very much
is francopheliac. No, that makes it sound weird, So yeah,
he is. He is definitely our francophone friend. And for
folks who have asked, I want to take a quick
aside here, Casey is still very much a big part
(22:09):
of the show. We are all friends, we hang out.
Casey is just a very busy guy. He makes a
lot of other shows, but he says hello, and we're
going to have him on one day for the Paris
episode that we can't remember recording.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
But to get back to the topic it hand.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Here Atomic Survival Town in Nevada a series of fourteen
nuclear test sites that were a part of Operation Teacup.
As he said, the most memorable part of this operation
was a purpose built town with homes and other townly
structures built at varying distances from the blast to just
(22:48):
see f around and find out see how these structures
would be affected. This, one could argue, is a thoughtful
operation that does take the human collateral into.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
And that's the creepiest part. You're right, it is a
better plan than many of the other ones. It's also
very Twilight Zone because they didn't just make fake buildings
and a fake town. They populated it with fake people. Oh,
realistic looking mannequin families, departly dressed, No doubt. I don't
(23:25):
like being around mannequins. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
It's also like anytime there's a creepy basement or a
creepy addict, there's a mannequin. There's always a mannequin with
no arms.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Just hanging out. Where did they come from? I feel
like they're judging I.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
Well, I'm taking of the ones with no head and
no arms, you know, like a dressmaker's dummy or whatever.
But I think it's just every horror house had someone
that was trying needle work, you know, or making their
own clothes and then just kind of gave up and
then the thing goes in the attic.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
I mean once it's such a sunk cost fallacy. Once
you have a mannequin, what are you gonna do? Throw
it away? Weird? Yeah, you put it in the weirdest
room in your house. You guys know, My grandfather when
it was alive, was a sculptor, and so he had
mannequins and they were in the part of the garage
that people didn't go to.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
That way, when the Scooby Doo gang comes a call
and you give them a good fright.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Yeah sure, and then give them, you know, a constellation mannequin.
He didn't solve the murder, but here's here's a body. Yeah. Anyway,
So this survivement Caboostia, yeah yeah, again the needlework. This
survival town also sometimes called Doomtown, that had these folks
also good band name, yeah yeah, also had these folks
going about their day to day routines, you know, And
(24:33):
they did some research. They said, where would these people
be at this point, at this time of day when
this bomb detonates. What happens when a bomb explodes over
a real town. So this was definitely worthwhile research. But folks,
look up the pictures if you if you can't tell
how creeped out we are by talking about this. Just
go ahead and ruin your afternoon. Total Spooksville one hundred
(24:57):
percent spooky Town, and you know what happened just now, Noel, Max, Alex, Hey,
thanks for hanging out. I think we're gonna have to
make this just the nuclear Bits episode. I know it's
a little bit short, but we have this long list
of lost bits. We might have to go like category
by category. This one is deemed.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
It felt that way, it felt right and natural. Also,
we got a holiday coming up, so you know, we'll
just give us a break, y'all.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
Come on, come on. We're people to It's Labor Day.
Podcasters are people to It's Labor Day, and you can
celebrate it even if you're not currently pregnant. Is that right?
Is that the one where you're not supposed to wear
white after it or you do wear white after it?
Or it's one don't you don't why? I don't understand.
And that's a tail for another day. Yeah, we should
(25:44):
also get into the history of the Labor Day movement,
right since we just did a Nator episode representing consumers,
and I think when we do that, when we can,
maybe we can save the wearing white reveal. What can
I just do it? Now I've already got it up
on the screen. It's just I think we should this
(26:04):
obviously shouldn't be a thing. This is correct.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
The holiday, originally in the eighteen eighties, was the official
end of the summer and the start of the fall.
The quote unquote rule you cannot wear white after Labor
Day spans back to the late nineteenth century and was
reportedly invented by an elite group to use fashion to
separate those with and without money. Booo, not in the
spirit of the labor movement at all.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
I like wear white. I like the idea. Well. As
a color blind person, I'm kind of restricted to great white.
You got your white? Oh nice, that's gonna last at
least a couple of weeks. Fight the system. Also, whenever
I think of wearing white after Labor Day, I am
reminded of one very amazing film, Serial Mom. Do you
(26:47):
guys remember Serial Mom.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
I know she murdered people based on them not having
you know, white manners.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
Yeah, and she killed people. She killed someone for wearing
white shoes after Labor Day. That's right, that's the that's funny.
And I think that's a John Waters movie. That's yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
A lot of people don't realize that, oh that tracks
tracks Yeah, and it holds up. It's it's pretty funny.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
Yeah, I haven't seen in years.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
I just remember thinking it was probably it felt like
his more accessible John Waters movie, considering that some of
his early stuff involves like eating poop and stuff like.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
Yeah, corporate, that's right? Is that the word? So good?
With these words?
Speaker 3 (27:23):
A guys to jump in here, because you know, since
we're you know, just gonna talk about nukes today, I
got one more I wanted to throw in there. This
is not in the sheet secret careful. We're talking about
Bikini Atoll, which is also part of uh of the
Marshall Islands. This is the one they basically blew up.
But funny enough, this is the origin story for Godzilla.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
That's right, that's right, Yeah, there was.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
There were some people who were safely evacuated. I'm doing
strong air quotes across the glass to y'all. I don't
know if you'll see them, but they just saw this
giant explosion. And then there was this conspiracy theory that
the explosion and all, you know, all the dirt everything
rising up was a monster coming from the sea, which
is where the creation myth of Godzilla came from what
(28:08):
all actual do they just blew up an island in
a country in the middle of the ocean. I think
we talked about this many times that yet just have this,
you know, this weird kind of fed up kink of
just going to the ocean and just blowing up these
beautiful islands.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
They called it manifest destinies.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
And Godzilla is almost this this this personification of like
retribution for trying to play god Sure, you know, like
it comes for your cities.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
You know, your your modern uh you.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
Know, meccas or whatever, and and Godzilla doesn't care.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
Let's do the orgins of Godzilla too.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
There's so much symbolism we're talking about that kind of
stuff and that kind of genre. And I'm sure, Ben,
I'm pretty positive you've seen this. There is a film
by Bung June Ho called The Host, which is a
very cool modern kind of Godzilla. It's not a giant creature,
which I like, which I think, if you know, if
you want a modern giant creature film, I still think Cloverfield,
(29:02):
the original one is quite quite good. But The Host
is it doesn't even bother with the backstory too much.
It just basically starts with a bunch of scientists messing
with chemicals, and then there's a monster and then that's
the movie.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
And it's it's Korean Korean.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
Yeah, it's it's it's it's very much a character study,
and all of these characters kind of end up being
these archetypes. And there's like one who's like an Olympic archer,
and of course some archery comes into play, but the
c G I really holds up. There's the first kind
of monster attack scene is like on a lake side
kind of and it is really really good.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
Also, I was curious about this. I know, I'm always
proposing adventures and you guys aren't always into them. Are
you talking about not doing that? Not doing that? That's that?
That was a bait. That wasn't fair, you know, I
just don't. I've got a heights thing, man.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
You can visit here's who talk about. Yeah, no, did
an entire episode about this. You don't get to know
what is life if not to be lived?
Speaker 1 (30:04):
I bet I like I want my life to be longer.
Hot air balloons are just death traps. So you're saying,
especially some mob might come hollo think of them as
freedom traps. Yeah, or or or how about this, because
you want to fly like a bird man I am.
How about this, guys, you don't have to go in
(30:25):
the hot air balloon. You know. I'm working on giving
my pilot license for a real playing no offense to
hot air balloon nuts balloonis but uh, but we can
once the war ends, and we all hope the war ends,
there's a week war. We could travel to Chernobyl. The
war with Eurasia. We've always been a war with East
Asian I.
Speaker 3 (30:44):
Have a better idea.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
What do you think of hot air balloons? I can
confirm I've been on one before.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
Cool, you're the bravest one amongst us, and yeah, good,
good job.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
I would do like.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
I also am not a huge fan of open air
high roller coasters. They freak like the Goliath flags.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
I go through these periods where I'll get over a
fear and do it for a while, and then the
fear returns and then I'll no longer do it.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
That's not my claustrophobia? Is it? Waxes in Waynes? All right? Yeah? Well,
how is your what would the word be radiophobia? Your
fear of radiation? Chernobyl has some amazing wildlife. When the
war in Ukraine ends, I think it would be really
cool to go there.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
Yeah, it's it's like become sort of this weird wildlife
refuge like them.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
That's right. Remind me what Gorky Park is been.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
There's a song by the Scorpions called the Winds of Change,
and there was an excellent podcast about how that was,
like theoretically was meant to be, Like it was like
a sleeper kind of like government implant to like create
this sense of like you know, Russia, Russian kind of
unity or something like that.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
There's a there's a park in Moscow.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
Yeah, but there's park, but the lyric is like something
like down in Gorky Park and it's you know, the
winds of Change.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
Ah. Yes, So they're probably there is funding from the
FBI historically that goes into those sorts of hearts and minds,
war of entertainment. So it might be something like that.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
That they never prove it unequivocally I believe in the podcast,
but it is something that the lyric is. I follow
the Muskva down to Gorky Park listening to the wind
of Change an August summer night. Soldiers passing by listening
to the Winds of Change. It's weird because the Scorpions
were a German band, and it's just it's a really
interesting podcast.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
What year was that song? This song came out in
nineteen ninety Okay, that tracks for me, you know why
because the Berlin Wall fell in nineteen eighty nine. That's right.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
So there's an article in the Guardian Winds of Change.
Did the CIA write the Cold War's biggest anthem, Scorpions
power ballad was the sound of the Iron curtains fall?
But a new podcast explores rumors that it was propaganda.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
Nice and we're going to call it a day there.
We can't wait to explore more of the things we
thought we lost. Congratulations Max, Noel, Alex, it's our first
clip show. Thank you guys for hanging out. Thanks our
research associate, Max Williams, H Noel, thank you to you.
Thank you to the quist, our own Cold War nemesis,
(33:18):
H and Alex Williams.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
Who can goose maeah this bang and bop that you're
hearing right betwixt your very hate right the CIA guys.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
Question question, question for you.
Speaker 3 (33:28):
So if the biggest Russian nuke was called the tsar Bamba.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
What would Strickland's name be if he was a nuke?
It was Tarbalda. Ouch. Oh that's so mean. I mean,
isn't that what we were going for? But he said
he doesn't like called chrome dome and things like that.
Yeahar Balda is a little more innocuous. Tom. He was
on that episode, wasn't he He was on that episode. Well,
(33:53):
that one's for you, Stric. Hope you are well. I
can't wait for you to join us again soon on air.
Pal Jonathan does have a lot of cool things he
is cooking up, and maybe maybe if we can have
a bit of an amnesty on air, he'll tell us
about them. I'm sure we can do an armistice. We'll
see you next time, folks.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartRadio. Welcome back to
(00:27):
the show Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always so much
for tuning in, and shout out to our super producer
Max Adenda Williams Sele. This is speaking of selector. These
are some selects for us your nol I am Ben. Yeah,
we are doing something different. It's our first quote unquote
(00:48):
clip show of Matrosh goadl of Segues.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Yeah, we're kind of like uh cure, We're like DJs
on the BBC, you know, like playlist or something.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Mm hmm. Yeah. And this is this is funny big
because backstage this brief explanation, Max Noel and I talked
about the different things that get left out of episodes
because you know, it is when you're deep in research,
you're a sponge. You gather all this stuff and sometimes
it doesn't make it in because of time or because
(01:17):
it's an interesting fact that may not fit the story.
So we're doing something kind of like, as Max pointed out,
kind of like Morty's mind blowers from the show Rick
and Morty or interdimensional Cable now that I think about it.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
So speaking of the kind of stuff you see in
that Rick and Morty episode. Ben, I love the idea
of sponge gathering things. I'm just picturing a sort of
anthropomorphic sponge with weird long arms. It's just kind of
gathering things up in baskets.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Love it. Yes, so we are. That's what we are doing.
That's who we are today. We have a lot of
tangents and trivia and we just wanted to explore some
of these interesting ones that we couldn't let go of.
They didn't make it in the show. Although we are
that we have a fourth person here. We do. We
have our special guest, Alex Circa Alex, thank you for
(02:04):
coming on the show. Thanks for having me nice on air. Yeah,
it's like we're being observed. We guess one will go.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
We've got the observation windows on the outside. Here people
lookie lose, and then we've got these lookie loose over here.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
We've got the cameras. We've got a big television screen time.
We should just put someone on the screen, just like
a still image, very awkwardly stare at random person. I
would go, Christopher, They're just like nodding their head. They
like it. Or boring cam feed of all time. Put
(02:39):
on c Span put on the crazy compilation clips of
Sea Span anyway speaking and clips Uh no, maybe we
open with this one. A while back. We looked at
nuclear test sites. We looked at broken Arrows. Very interesting
and surprisingly terrifying. Well it's not surprising, it's a regular terrify.
(03:00):
Losing nukes is crazy. We wanted to explore nuclear test sites.
We didn't get a chance to do this in the episode. Folks,
It turns out there are some nuclear test sites you
can visit today.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Cool bring your own Geiger counter or maybe they even
issue them. I love the sound those things make, those
little click click clicks. I feel bad. I haven't seen
Oppenheimer yet. I did see the Barbie movie though, and
it was delightful. But yeah, Trinity, of course back where
it all began in Sikoro, New Mexico is obviously a
very important location in the film Oppenheimer about the creation
(03:38):
of the atomic bomb. On July sixteenth, nineteen forty five,
in New Mexico, Deep Deep, New Mexico, the age of
atom was birthed.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
And this is weird, Okay, there are some caveats with
exploring this test site. The US military detonated a third
team pound klutonium contraption. It just annihilated things. It was
almost it was like biblical, a six hundred foot wide fireball.
Sand is turning into glass windows one hundred and twenty
(04:12):
miles away. They're just popping. And people didn't know about
the test. They were like, I should have bought I
shouldn't have gone cheap on the windows.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Exactly is this this You mentioned it as a contraption.
Was this the one that was referred to as the Gadgets?
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Yes? Yeah, that was uh go go Gadget Apocalypse? Am
I right?
Speaker 2 (04:30):
They didn't have a lot of time to work on
the name. They were focused on other stuff. But I
thingy yeah, yeah, the watch Man call it the do Dad.
Here's the deal. And I have a good friend who
lives in Atlanta, are Pal Steve Dixie. He has visited
this site and he had to plan ahead because here's
the big caveat the site of the Trinity detonation is
(04:53):
open to the public, but only one day out of
the year, really, the first Saturday of April. That's why
else and apparently it's worth the trip. Okay, what happens
to the rest of the Saturdays and other days?
Speaker 1 (05:05):
I don't know. You know, like blocked off.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Or they're like, you know, shooters on towers to keep
you away.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Like what are we talking here? Why?
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Why?
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Why all the hush hush. It's super super exclusive. I
guess you know what, if we if what we have
learned about the US government is correct, it might just
be a budget thing. Maybe, so maybe they got like
they they made the budget for visitors and they didn't
remember to carry a digit, and so now they only
have the one day. Let's pause one moment. There's a
(05:35):
quick addendum here. It turns out that the Trinity Site
is actually open not just one day a year, but
two days per year, so you can go on the
first Saturday in April or the third Saturday in October,
which is coming up soon.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Well, another spot you can visit if you want to
see some nuclear craters is the Marshall Islands, where you
can visit some nuclear crater concrete domes. The US has
a long history that we've discussed multiple times, of using
remote island areas in order to blow things up and
to test weaponry, you know, because it's fine, it's out
(06:17):
of the way.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
It was good in any to worry about the aftermath, right, sure, yeah,
you know what, it's so chill. We probably don't even
have to ask the people who live there. Yeah, they'll
be fine. They'll be fine with it. And if you
want to learn more, checkout stuff they once you know,
as episode on nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands. The
Marshall Islands were only one example. Islands and atolls in
(06:37):
the South Pacific were used in like over one hundred
times for nuclear test and there wasn't a real effort
to clean this up until the nineteen seventies. Tale as
old as time. It's always that lag.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
It's like we just talked about with Nator and like
traffic safety, you know, people have been driving cars for
practically one hundred years of four people thought maybe we
should make sure people don't die as a result of
the things that we've let out into the world for
money and or you know, global supremacy.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Oh yeah, nuclear Yeah, And there's there's a weird story
with that one too, because this crater that we're talking about,
the crater was created in a nuclear test code named Cactus.
And I feel like that's just very bad security because
if people are spying on you, right, they're gonna ask
why are you talking about a cactus in the South Pacific.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Right, you think it would be like palm tree or something. Yeah, yeah, perhaps.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Raft or maybe maybe just the mango. Maybe the phrase
nothing sketchy. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
I like Operation Mango. I feel like there should be
an Operation Mango. I'm sure there is that probably is? Yeah,
or is that? What is that what we just call
it when we hang out with our pale mangesh Operation Mango.
I'm gonna start saying that.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
I love that. So three years.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Later, and after expend in the neighborhood of a quarter
of a billion dollars, they just.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Built a dome over it. Oh nice, a big, giant
concrete dome. So it's kind of it's the geopolitical version
of throwing all your stuff in the closet when company
comes over. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
I mean it takes a little more planning and effort
than that I would argue, but essentially you're not far off.
We are talking about a foot and a half thick
concrete dome measuring around one hundred thousand square feet built
over the nuclear crater with signage, of course, trying to
ward people off, but it is possible to get to there.
(08:40):
You can actually land. I think on run It Island
and then head over to the old Cactus Dome, the
nuclear Sarcophagus. It's also called yeah, which I think is
a is a more appropriate name than just concrete dome.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Also to jump in.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
There are some eight videos out there of people actually
going to the concrete doun, like you know, reporters and stuff.
It's it's pretty terrifying and it really makes you hate
what the United States have done here.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
So question, I mean, were they building this like so
people wouldn't fall in or is there actually still like
you know, radioactivity.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Oh, there is full blown radio Ka's and the concept
of it is to keep all that in there. They
basically because they blew up like Bikini Island and stuff
like that, they took all that dirt and they dumped
into this like crater and they built concrete around it
and they did a really bad job.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Let's the same yeah. Yeah, And this was also part
of something called Operation Ivy or it's a consequence. It's
a great band. Yeah, it is a great band. That's
what we're bringing them up. And also, oh, we forgot,
we forgot because we have company over. We've got to
do the max with the fact sound.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Cue yeah, but she won't be able to hear it
in real time. Okay, Alex, you're just gonna is really good.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
I can get in real time. Did you sign it
to a button like a real disc jockey here? He
had to take off his headphones. I can hear you. No,
it's it's just gonna take a second. I gotta find
it in dropbox. Is that sneaking in the phone and
(10:15):
he's fallen? Know it's just for you? Right? It makes
my heart saying that's our palm Matt Frederick, Alex, what
do you think? I mean? That was amazing.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
It's pretty good. We can claim no credit for it.
That's why we're able to really give it. Give it props. No,
did you hear the one I made for Lauren? No?
Speaker 1 (10:37):
No, I didn't.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
Who's that guess hosting the show?
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Lauren? And she's on this podcast? Hey Lauren? Sorry, that
was what got me instead.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
Yeah, I'll send it to you later. We played on
the show once before. I think that's one too many
times already.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Okay, it's a little more of a beat poet vibe.
I love that. Yeah, I mean I gave it my
best shot.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Well, your efforts were much appreciated. And you know, speaking
of like covering stuff up, that's that is bad that
people should not venture near, you know. I think I
mentioned before in the past, in a previous life, I
covered some nuclear waste dumping sites, you know that are
very hilariously referred to as superfund sites. I originally thought
(11:30):
that they were saying super fun sites, you know, but
that's not what they're They're not that much fun at all.
But in Augusta, where I did some work for public
radio and that was kind of my little area.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Uh, there's a place called the Savannah.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
River Site that is actually a storage site for nuclear
waste from nuclear weapons and for like decommissioned nuclear weapons.
And they monitor that area by like tagging wildlife and
like kind of catching and really them and then measuring
them with Geiger counters. And a lot of these these
(12:04):
sites are literally just pits in the ground or they
dumped a lot of this waste.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Yeah, it's unfortunately not surprising. And when we when we
look at the South Pacific, when we look at places
like Enawa, tak and Bikini both A toolls, what we
see is that they had to be evacuated. There were
dozens and dozens and dozens of tests, nuclear tests that
absolutely rock these islands. The consequences continue today, even though
(12:31):
these atolls have been partially resettled. From nineteen seventy seven
to nineteen eighty, the US had a two hundred million
dollar nuclear cleanup and rehab program for Enawa Talk in particular,
and people had to live in exile for thirty three
years before they could move back to their land. And
(12:55):
again they didn't get any say so on this nuclear testing,
and likely, you know, if anything, symbolic compensation, certainly not
adequate compensation. You know. Again, for more details, check out
our stuff. They want you a new episode on nuclear
testing the Marshall Islands. Let's travel to a couple of
places before we come back home to the US. Let's
(13:15):
go to the Soviet Union. Let's go to Kazakhstan. Do
you ever feel that way? Do you ever just wake
up and you're like, let's go to kasaicstr just s
pop over to Kazakhstan.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Yeah, So, this of course is putting us in the
shoes of the other major nuclear power during the Cold War,
the Soviet Union. And this a place called semi Politensk
was the Soviet Union's main test site, the Polygon, which
is what it was referred to, which is located in
(13:52):
the former Soviet Union. It was a closed city near Semipalatensk.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
I think I'm saying that right.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
I believe today they refer to just as Semi, which
I fully stand by.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
I wish I had said it that way from the start.
You know, you're probably not alone in that, including the
people who live there. We are, of course not native
Russian speakers.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Right, forgive us of any transgressions in the pronunciation department.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
What we need to know about this place is that
between nineteen forty nine and nineteen eighty nine, over forty years,
there were more than four hundred and fifty nuclear tests
just in this place. Three hundred and forty were underground.
There were one hundred and sixteen explosions in the atmosphere.
(14:37):
The equivalent of this, if you add it all up,
this is like blowing up two thousand, five hundred Hiroshima bombs.
So there are a lot of craters in the area.
It's like a lunar surface the moon man. Yeah, and
you know another.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Thing that the Soviet Union former Civiet Union has a
reputation for is not being too transparent with their communication
to their citizenry. You know, as we know in the
Chernobyl crisis, the nuclear meltdown, information was contained, you know,
to an alarming degree, even when it became clear that
there would be nuclear fallout that could affect surrounding areas.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Same deal here, absolutely. Yeah, we know that, we know
that they were We know that the Soviet Union was
aware of what it was doing. But it's the Cold War,
so they were saying they were making the greater good argument.
And as a result of this greater good, eighteen thousand
square kilometers, well more than eighteen thousand square kilometers are
(15:38):
heavily contaminated. Over a million people have some serious health
problems as a result of this. And it's kind of
like that town where they just mine as bestos. Yeah,
it's called asbestos, right. People just live in the Polygon
area in this former test site.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
And as we've talked about it, I think we talked
about it with Jake Hanrahan on stuff that I want
you to know a lot of the scientists that work,
you know that are members of this society.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
They are kind of.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Under the thumb in many ways of the government in
terms of like what they say, is allowable levels of
this kind of contamination. And as we know, even here
in the States, where scientists are arguably a little more
free to speak their minds, yeah, arguably, it's still kind
of hard to tie health issues specifically to something even
(16:26):
as alarming as this level of contamination, right, causality and all.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
That good stuff in christ Yeah, And just like the
Ralph Nader consumer movement thing, it's a real David and
Goliath situation. There's another there's a returning guest from stuff
they don't want you to know that shows up in
our next example, also Soviet Union. This one is in
Novaya Zemla, Russia. It's the biggest bomb ever exploded, the
(16:52):
sar Bumba. That's a great name for a big bomb.
That's a great name for like a Davashka Beirut type bad.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
Yeah, or it could be like an LCD sound system
type in like a cool kind of dance punk type
in I'm down with that sar bomba. I'm putting that
in my back pocket for my next disco project. But yeah,
this is the bde bomb. And just to quote a
fabulous article from Atlas Oscura, exiety is thinking they do
is such a good job at turning a phrase here,
(17:21):
who's the who's the author been?
Speaker 1 (17:23):
There's not an author in this one.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
That's jack because sometimes they just do to editorial. At
first glance, the barren landscape of Navoya Zemlia Russian for
new Land might not seem like the sort of place
where anything interesting has ever happened. Wow, but I know
re hatless obscure. It needs some coffee, hot take. But
it's remote location and small population meant that it was
designated as a nuclear test site in nineteen fifty four,
(17:44):
and over the next thirty five years is the location
of two hundred and twenty four nuclear detonations, including the
world's large nuclear explosion.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
Zar Bomba Bombo Bombo Boombo. The bomba is also like
a dance right like.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Dropped by the Soviet Union in nineteen sixty one over
at Navoya Zemlia Island. Most of the island still remains
a military based this day, although cruise ships often frequent
the southern part of the archipelago, which is a fun
word to say, archipelago, not cruise ship.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
I love I love an archipelago, man, I like saying archapella.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Oh see, I only do arch but I think maybe
that's wrong, but that's just the way my mouth says it.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
I like that word because it feels like you're juggling
with your mouth.
Speaker 3 (18:26):
So what you guys are saying is Ben is an architect,
while Noel you're an arch villain.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
That's right, Yeah, archie nemesis. Uh oh, Jonathan's going to
be mad. No, we don't. We don't have two nemeses
in the budget.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
I also have fallen arches, which is why I'm excluded
from military service, and bone spurs likely story but ansariasis yeah,
and malays, Yeah, totally general malays.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Let's not forget that one. I wonder birds well, who
go to war with birds? Oh? God? If that ever happens,
I'm out. I want to do. I do want to do, dude,
I do want to do a episode in the future
on obscure historical maladies. I love reading things like that
when they say, unfortunately, young Winnifred felled to the brain fevers. Yes, indeed, speaking.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Of bird wars, though by the way, there what there was?
Did we just mean on the EMU wars in Australia? Yeah, yeah,
I think we did. EMUs are terrifying man, they're dinosaur
clause could disemboweu you like a raptor in two point five.
You'd be holding your guts like Dennis Nedrie in the
book version h. Cassawries as well.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Those are the worst ones. Those are even worse. I
don't know why. I know they're more dangerous, but shoe
bills freak me out. Have you ever heard the sound
they make? I know that they're horrible, horrible nightmare faces
and beaks. They look like they're always scheming. It's awful.
They're always like really narrowed eyes. Yeah, they're rough man,
not cool. That's what the cashuarty though, really does disembowel
(19:49):
its prey. It will one hundred percent. Yeah, it is
a swoop. It is an f around and foul out
f o w L. So anyway, Atomic Survival Town, that's
the name of real place we're gonna end this one here?
Is this like an amusement park? Ya?
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Can I go here and they issue you like a
cool like you know, like a gas mask or like whatever, like.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
A fallout suit. Yeah, yeah, has bad suit or something
that sounds like fun. I want to go to Atomic
Survival Town. It sounds like ghost town.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
In the sky or like one of those like you know,
kind of front Frontier type, you know, attractions.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
Yeah, this is probably one of the better known sits
on our list. Going back to Atlas Obscura in nineteen
fifty five, there were fourteen different test explosions at Yuko
Flat and this was part of something called Operation Tea Cup,
which sounds so dainty. I yeah, pinky up. You know,
I always want decorum. I always wanted the job of
(20:48):
being the person gets to pick those names. I feel
like craation mango for me all day. Yeah, we had
some good ones.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
We had Operation Cottage, Operation land Crab what was that
two weeks ago?
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Mm hmm yeah, yeah, yeah, And so you should be
in charge of naming more of these top secret government operations.
We'll write the email.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Later, Operation Ground and find Out or f Around and
foul Out, the Cassaway deployment.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
So yes. So the most memorable parts of these tests
were the reasons called Atomic Survival Town is because they
built a dummy town. Cool sort of like when the
Allies built that fake Paris. Just so yeah, which is
an episode that's sort of like what is it the
Mandala effect. We're like we swear we did this episode
(21:34):
or did we just hang out and talk about it.
I think we had a brief for this and we
in our minds totally did it, but we obviously didn't
do it, or it's been lost to time and or
are publishing apparatus.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Because we're saving it for our pal, Casey Pegrick. That's right,
because he's our resident Francophone. Yes, franc Fi very much
is francopheliac. No, that makes it sound weird, So yeah,
he is. He is definitely our francophone friend. And for
folks who have asked, I want to take a quick
aside here, Casey is still very much a big part
(22:09):
of the show. We are all friends, we hang out.
Casey is just a very busy guy. He makes a
lot of other shows, but he says hello, and we're
going to have him on one day for the Paris
episode that we can't remember recording.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
But to get back to the topic it hand.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Here Atomic Survival Town in Nevada a series of fourteen
nuclear test sites that were a part of Operation Teacup.
As he said, the most memorable part of this operation
was a purpose built town with homes and other townly
structures built at varying distances from the blast to just
(22:48):
see f around and find out see how these structures
would be affected. This, one could argue, is a thoughtful
operation that does take the human collateral into.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
And that's the creepiest part. You're right, it is a
better plan than many of the other ones. It's also
very Twilight Zone because they didn't just make fake buildings
and a fake town. They populated it with fake people. Oh,
realistic looking mannequin families, departly dressed, No doubt. I don't
(23:25):
like being around mannequins. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
It's also like anytime there's a creepy basement or a
creepy addict, there's a mannequin. There's always a mannequin with
no arms.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Just hanging out. Where did they come from? I feel
like they're judging I.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
Well, I'm taking of the ones with no head and
no arms, you know, like a dressmaker's dummy or whatever.
But I think it's just every horror house had someone
that was trying needle work, you know, or making their
own clothes and then just kind of gave up and
then the thing goes in the attic.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
I mean once it's such a sunk cost fallacy. Once
you have a mannequin, what are you gonna do? Throw
it away? Weird? Yeah, you put it in the weirdest
room in your house. You guys know, My grandfather when
it was alive, was a sculptor, and so he had
mannequins and they were in the part of the garage
that people didn't go to.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
That way, when the Scooby Doo gang comes a call
and you give them a good fright.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Yeah sure, and then give them, you know, a constellation mannequin.
He didn't solve the murder, but here's here's a body. Yeah. Anyway,
So this survivement Caboostia, yeah yeah, again the needlework. This
survival town also sometimes called Doomtown, that had these folks
also good band name, yeah yeah, also had these folks
going about their day to day routines, you know, And
(24:33):
they did some research. They said, where would these people
be at this point, at this time of day when
this bomb detonates. What happens when a bomb explodes over
a real town. So this was definitely worthwhile research. But folks,
look up the pictures if you if you can't tell
how creeped out we are by talking about this. Just
go ahead and ruin your afternoon. Total Spooksville one hundred
(24:57):
percent spooky Town, and you know what happened just now, Noel, Max, Alex, Hey,
thanks for hanging out. I think we're gonna have to
make this just the nuclear Bits episode. I know it's
a little bit short, but we have this long list
of lost bits. We might have to go like category
by category. This one is deemed.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
It felt that way, it felt right and natural. Also,
we got a holiday coming up, so you know, we'll
just give us a break, y'all.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
Come on, come on. We're people to It's Labor Day.
Podcasters are people to It's Labor Day, and you can
celebrate it even if you're not currently pregnant. Is that right?
Is that the one where you're not supposed to wear
white after it or you do wear white after it?
Or it's one don't you don't why? I don't understand.
And that's a tail for another day. Yeah, we should
(25:44):
also get into the history of the Labor Day movement,
right since we just did a Nator episode representing consumers,
and I think when we do that, when we can,
maybe we can save the wearing white reveal. What can
I just do it? Now I've already got it up
on the screen. It's just I think we should this
(26:04):
obviously shouldn't be a thing. This is correct.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
The holiday, originally in the eighteen eighties, was the official
end of the summer and the start of the fall.
The quote unquote rule you cannot wear white after Labor
Day spans back to the late nineteenth century and was
reportedly invented by an elite group to use fashion to
separate those with and without money. Booo, not in the
spirit of the labor movement at all.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
I like wear white. I like the idea. Well. As
a color blind person, I'm kind of restricted to great white.
You got your white? Oh nice, that's gonna last at
least a couple of weeks. Fight the system. Also, whenever
I think of wearing white after Labor Day, I am
reminded of one very amazing film, Serial Mom. Do you
(26:47):
guys remember Serial Mom.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
I know she murdered people based on them not having
you know, white manners.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
Yeah, and she killed people. She killed someone for wearing
white shoes after Labor Day. That's right, that's the that's funny.
And I think that's a John Waters movie. That's yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
A lot of people don't realize that, oh that tracks
tracks Yeah, and it holds up. It's it's pretty funny.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
Yeah, I haven't seen in years.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
I just remember thinking it was probably it felt like
his more accessible John Waters movie, considering that some of
his early stuff involves like eating poop and stuff like.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
Yeah, corporate, that's right? Is that the word? So good?
With these words?
Speaker 3 (27:23):
A guys to jump in here, because you know, since
we're you know, just gonna talk about nukes today, I
got one more I wanted to throw in there. This
is not in the sheet secret careful. We're talking about
Bikini Atoll, which is also part of uh of the
Marshall Islands. This is the one they basically blew up.
But funny enough, this is the origin story for Godzilla.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
That's right, that's right, Yeah, there was.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
There were some people who were safely evacuated. I'm doing
strong air quotes across the glass to y'all. I don't
know if you'll see them, but they just saw this
giant explosion. And then there was this conspiracy theory that
the explosion and all, you know, all the dirt everything
rising up was a monster coming from the sea, which
is where the creation myth of Godzilla came from what
(28:08):
all actual do they just blew up an island in
a country in the middle of the ocean. I think
we talked about this many times that yet just have this,
you know, this weird kind of fed up kink of
just going to the ocean and just blowing up these
beautiful islands.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
They called it manifest destinies.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
And Godzilla is almost this this this personification of like
retribution for trying to play god Sure, you know, like
it comes for your cities.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
You know, your your modern uh you.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
Know, meccas or whatever, and and Godzilla doesn't care.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
Let's do the orgins of Godzilla too.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
There's so much symbolism we're talking about that kind of
stuff and that kind of genre. And I'm sure, Ben,
I'm pretty positive you've seen this. There is a film
by Bung June Ho called The Host, which is a
very cool modern kind of Godzilla. It's not a giant creature,
which I like, which I think, if you know, if
you want a modern giant creature film, I still think Cloverfield,
(29:02):
the original one is quite quite good. But The Host
is it doesn't even bother with the backstory too much.
It just basically starts with a bunch of scientists messing
with chemicals, and then there's a monster and then that's
the movie.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
And it's it's Korean Korean.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
Yeah, it's it's it's it's very much a character study,
and all of these characters kind of end up being
these archetypes. And there's like one who's like an Olympic archer,
and of course some archery comes into play, but the
c G I really holds up. There's the first kind
of monster attack scene is like on a lake side
kind of and it is really really good.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
Also, I was curious about this. I know, I'm always
proposing adventures and you guys aren't always into them. Are
you talking about not doing that? Not doing that? That's that?
That was a bait. That wasn't fair, you know, I
just don't. I've got a heights thing, man.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
You can visit here's who talk about. Yeah, no, did
an entire episode about this. You don't get to know
what is life if not to be lived?
Speaker 1 (30:04):
I bet I like I want my life to be longer.
Hot air balloons are just death traps. So you're saying,
especially some mob might come hollo think of them as
freedom traps. Yeah, or or or how about this, because
you want to fly like a bird man I am.
How about this, guys, you don't have to go in
(30:25):
the hot air balloon. You know. I'm working on giving
my pilot license for a real playing no offense to
hot air balloon nuts balloonis but uh, but we can
once the war ends, and we all hope the war ends,
there's a week war. We could travel to Chernobyl. The
war with Eurasia. We've always been a war with East
Asian I.
Speaker 3 (30:44):
Have a better idea.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
What do you think of hot air balloons? I can
confirm I've been on one before.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
Cool, you're the bravest one amongst us, and yeah, good,
good job.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
I would do like.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
I also am not a huge fan of open air
high roller coasters. They freak like the Goliath flags.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
I go through these periods where I'll get over a
fear and do it for a while, and then the
fear returns and then I'll no longer do it.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
That's not my claustrophobia? Is it? Waxes in Waynes? All right? Yeah? Well,
how is your what would the word be radiophobia? Your
fear of radiation? Chernobyl has some amazing wildlife. When the
war in Ukraine ends, I think it would be really
cool to go there.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
Yeah, it's it's like become sort of this weird wildlife
refuge like them.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
That's right. Remind me what Gorky Park is been.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
There's a song by the Scorpions called the Winds of Change,
and there was an excellent podcast about how that was,
like theoretically was meant to be, Like it was like
a sleeper kind of like government implant to like create
this sense of like you know, Russia, Russian kind of
unity or something like that.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
There's a there's a park in Moscow.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
Yeah, but there's park, but the lyric is like something
like down in Gorky Park and it's you know, the
winds of Change.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
Ah. Yes, So they're probably there is funding from the
FBI historically that goes into those sorts of hearts and minds,
war of entertainment. So it might be something like that.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
That they never prove it unequivocally I believe in the podcast,
but it is something that the lyric is. I follow
the Muskva down to Gorky Park listening to the wind
of Change an August summer night. Soldiers passing by listening
to the Winds of Change. It's weird because the Scorpions
were a German band, and it's just it's a really
interesting podcast.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
What year was that song? This song came out in
nineteen ninety Okay, that tracks for me, you know why
because the Berlin Wall fell in nineteen eighty nine. That's right.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
So there's an article in the Guardian Winds of Change.
Did the CIA write the Cold War's biggest anthem, Scorpions
power ballad was the sound of the Iron curtains fall?
But a new podcast explores rumors that it was propaganda.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
Nice and we're going to call it a day there.
We can't wait to explore more of the things we
thought we lost. Congratulations Max, Noel, Alex, it's our first
clip show. Thank you guys for hanging out. Thanks our
research associate, Max Williams, H Noel, thank you to you.
Thank you to the quist, our own Cold War nemesis,
(33:18):
H and Alex Williams.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
Who can goose maeah this bang and bop that you're
hearing right betwixt your very hate right the CIA guys.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
Question question, question for you.
Speaker 3 (33:28):
So if the biggest Russian nuke was called the tsar Bamba.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
What would Strickland's name be if he was a nuke?
It was Tarbalda. Ouch. Oh that's so mean. I mean,
isn't that what we were going for? But he said
he doesn't like called chrome dome and things like that.
Yeahar Balda is a little more innocuous. Tom. He was
on that episode, wasn't he He was on that episode. Well,
(33:53):
that one's for you, Stric. Hope you are well. I
can't wait for you to join us again soon on air.
Pal Jonathan does have a lot of cool things he
is cooking up, and maybe maybe if we can have
a bit of an amnesty on air, he'll tell us
about them. I'm sure we can do an armistice. We'll
see you next time, folks.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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