February 2, 2024 • 8 mins
What would we do to live better, longer, or maybe even forever? Lots of quests for immortality involved mystical potions or objects. And one very popular fad in the 1920s involved transplanted monkey testicles!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The quest for immortality is kind of the holy grail
for human life. Would you want it? What would you
do to get it? If you did? Well? Centuries ago,
blood from children and teens seem to be the magic potion,
and guess what, for some folks it still is. And
then there was the nineteen twenties craze for transplanted monkey testicles.
(00:22):
I'm Patty Steele, searching for forever. Next on the backstory.
We're back with the backstory. I mean, really, would you
actually want to live forever? Think about it? The people
and events that drive you nuts as things change in
our world would continue to drive you nuts forever. Would
(00:43):
you continue to have kids or would someone in charge
control your reproduction after a few centuries, since the world
would get really crowded really fast? Would you continue to work?
No retirement ever? And then there's the question of what
you'd have to do to achieve immortality. This has always
been the kind of ultimate existential question for us humans,
(01:05):
How can we live forever? And the follow up, what
the heck would we do with all that time on
our hands if we did live forever. The earliest writings
about immortality involve a mythical story based on a real
king in Mesopotamia over four thousand years ago, King Gilgamesh,
when his best friend died suddenly, he realized he was
(01:27):
vulnerable too, and he launched a pretty intense search for
a way to overcome death. He didn't find it, but
he says the search finally taught him the meaning of life.
He said, humans are born, they live, and then they die.
Until the end, enjoy your life, Spend it in happiness,
not to spare love the child who holds your hand,
(01:47):
and give your wife pleasure in your embrace. Kind of
a nice wrap up for his search. Right. One of
the hottest quests in medieval times and right into the
early twentieth century was for the Holy Grail, said to
have been the cup that Jesus drank from at the
Last Supper. The story goes that sipping from it would
grant you eternal life. Even the Nazis searched for the
(02:08):
Holy Grail in the nineteen thirties and forties, it still
hasn't turned up now. Back in fourteen ninety two, Pope
Innocent the Eighth decided the best way to live forever
was to get himself injected with the blood of a
bunch of healthy little kids. That was really a no go.
(02:29):
He died, as did the children. And what about bathing
in the blood of virgins. At the turn of the
seventeenth century, one Hungarian countess regularly took dips in young blood,
believing it kept her skin from wrinkling. Then there was
the search for the Fountain of Youth. Spanish explorer ponste
(02:49):
Leone was intent on finding it, and that brought him
to what is now Saint Augustine, Florida in fifteen thirteen.
While there is a Fountain of Youth archaeological park there
with a fountain from which you can sip some really
awful tasting water, and I say that firsthand, it doesn't
appear to have any reverse aging effects, at least it
didn't for me. Fast forward now, right to the early
(03:12):
twentieth century. This is wild. Doctor Sergei Voranov, known as
the monkey gland expert, believed that shoving monkey testicles into
people was the ticket to reverse aging. He said the
sex gland stimulate cerebral activity, muscular energy, and amorous passion.
It restores the cells and spreads happiness. So he transplanted
(03:35):
small pieces of monkey testicle into aging humans and said
it restored vigor to men and turned grandmothers into debutantes.
By nineteen twenty five, at least three hundred people had
it done, and the numbers grew. It was so successful
he managed to buy himself a castle on the French Riviera,
where he raised monkeys for use in his rejuvenation clinic.
(03:58):
Can you imagine wanting to extend your life so much
you would allow someone to try this on you. Hundreds
of people were on his waiting list, and doctors all
over Europe cheered him on. Some of the celebrities who
spent time at the castle included the Prime Minister of France,
the King of Romania, the President of Turkey, as well
as the iconic Parisian singer Josephine Baker and famous American
(04:21):
actress Sarah Bernhardt. Voronoff was so popular there was a
Sherlock Holmes book that borrowed his story called The Creeping Man,
and it inspired the nineteen twenty six film classic The Magician.
Now here's the thing. This all sounds a little bit wacky, right,
but the search for a fountain of youth has only
increased immortality or anti aging. They say, is the next
(04:45):
big thing insiders estimate the industry's worth will hit a
staggering six hundred and ten billion dollars by the end
of this year. At least thirteen billionaires have invested in
life extension companies, including Jeff Bezos, Mark zucker Berg, Larry Ellison,
and Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, who didn't just put his
fortune into it, he put himself into it too. Jack
(05:08):
has adopted an intense health routine in his quest to
live forever that includes very little food, long fasts, meditation,
and daily ice baths. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, worth just
shy of two hundred billion dollars, has invested in Altoslab,
a startup working on cellular rejuvenation programming. The idea is
(05:30):
that the main reason that we eventually die is because
every time our cells replicate, which is about every seven years,
they lose a little bit of their power and thus
the aging process now. PayPal co founder Peter Tiel meanwhile
put millions into the Methusla Foundation, a nonprofit that wants
to make ninety the new fifty by twenty thirty. Oracle
(05:53):
co founder Larry Ellison, worth one hundred and thirty billion bucks,
has donated Untold millions to anti AIDS research since nineteen
ninety seven. He says death has never made any sense
to me. How can a person be there and then
just vanish, just not be there. Then there's the retired
billionaire CEO of doll Fruits and Vegetables, David Murdoch. His
(06:16):
quest for a long life has him living on seafood,
egg whites, beans, nuts, and smoothies made with twenty different
fruits and veggies. He works out every day and says
he believes he can live until at least one hundred
and twenty five. He's about to turn one hundred and
one and going strong, married to his sixth wife. Finally,
maybe the weirdest rich guy in the search for eternal
(06:38):
life is Brian Johnson, a forty six year old who
made his money in biotech. He started a program called
Project Blueprint. He eats very little, fasts a lot that
seems to be a thing for these guys, exercises a lot,
takes a ton of supplements, and for a six month period,
spent hundreds of thousands of dollars each month on having
(06:59):
a leap of his teenage son's blood plasma separated and
infused into his own blood stream. I wonder if the
kid appreciated that now at the end of the day.
Maybe The company I'm most fascinated with is a biotech
startup that just got FDA backing. It's called Loyal and
its aim is to develop drugs that will allow dogs
(07:20):
to live longer. If their clinical trials are effective, They're
going to apply the same science to humans. Think about it,
what's the point of living forever if your best friend
isn't right by your side. If you have a story
(07:44):
you'd like me to take a deep dive into and share,
please direct message me on Instagram at Real Patty Steele
or on Facebook at Patty Steele. I'm Patty steel The
Backstory is a production of iHeartMedia, Premier Networks, the Elvis
Durand Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser.
(08:05):
Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday
and Friday. Feel free to reach out to me with
comments and even story suggestions on Instagram at Real Patty
Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening
to the back Story with Patty Steele. The pieces of
history you didn't know you needed to know
The quest for immortality is kind of the holy grail
for human life. Would you want it? What would you
do to get it? If you did? Well? Centuries ago,
blood from children and teens seem to be the magic potion,
and guess what, for some folks it still is. And
then there was the nineteen twenties craze for transplanted monkey testicles.
(00:22):
I'm Patty Steele, searching for forever. Next on the backstory.
We're back with the backstory. I mean, really, would you
actually want to live forever? Think about it? The people
and events that drive you nuts as things change in
our world would continue to drive you nuts forever. Would
(00:43):
you continue to have kids or would someone in charge
control your reproduction after a few centuries, since the world
would get really crowded really fast? Would you continue to work?
No retirement ever? And then there's the question of what
you'd have to do to achieve immortality. This has always
been the kind of ultimate existential question for us humans,
(01:05):
How can we live forever? And the follow up, what
the heck would we do with all that time on
our hands if we did live forever. The earliest writings
about immortality involve a mythical story based on a real
king in Mesopotamia over four thousand years ago, King Gilgamesh,
when his best friend died suddenly, he realized he was
(01:27):
vulnerable too, and he launched a pretty intense search for
a way to overcome death. He didn't find it, but
he says the search finally taught him the meaning of life.
He said, humans are born, they live, and then they die.
Until the end, enjoy your life, Spend it in happiness,
not to spare love the child who holds your hand,
(01:47):
and give your wife pleasure in your embrace. Kind of
a nice wrap up for his search. Right. One of
the hottest quests in medieval times and right into the
early twentieth century was for the Holy Grail, said to
have been the cup that Jesus drank from at the
Last Supper. The story goes that sipping from it would
grant you eternal life. Even the Nazis searched for the
(02:08):
Holy Grail in the nineteen thirties and forties, it still
hasn't turned up now. Back in fourteen ninety two, Pope
Innocent the Eighth decided the best way to live forever
was to get himself injected with the blood of a
bunch of healthy little kids. That was really a no go.
(02:29):
He died, as did the children. And what about bathing
in the blood of virgins. At the turn of the
seventeenth century, one Hungarian countess regularly took dips in young blood,
believing it kept her skin from wrinkling. Then there was
the search for the Fountain of Youth. Spanish explorer ponste
(02:49):
Leone was intent on finding it, and that brought him
to what is now Saint Augustine, Florida in fifteen thirteen.
While there is a Fountain of Youth archaeological park there
with a fountain from which you can sip some really
awful tasting water, and I say that firsthand, it doesn't
appear to have any reverse aging effects, at least it
didn't for me. Fast forward now, right to the early
(03:12):
twentieth century. This is wild. Doctor Sergei Voranov, known as
the monkey gland expert, believed that shoving monkey testicles into
people was the ticket to reverse aging. He said the
sex gland stimulate cerebral activity, muscular energy, and amorous passion.
It restores the cells and spreads happiness. So he transplanted
(03:35):
small pieces of monkey testicle into aging humans and said
it restored vigor to men and turned grandmothers into debutantes.
By nineteen twenty five, at least three hundred people had
it done, and the numbers grew. It was so successful
he managed to buy himself a castle on the French Riviera,
where he raised monkeys for use in his rejuvenation clinic.
(03:58):
Can you imagine wanting to extend your life so much
you would allow someone to try this on you. Hundreds
of people were on his waiting list, and doctors all
over Europe cheered him on. Some of the celebrities who
spent time at the castle included the Prime Minister of France,
the King of Romania, the President of Turkey, as well
as the iconic Parisian singer Josephine Baker and famous American
(04:21):
actress Sarah Bernhardt. Voronoff was so popular there was a
Sherlock Holmes book that borrowed his story called The Creeping Man,
and it inspired the nineteen twenty six film classic The Magician.
Now here's the thing. This all sounds a little bit wacky, right,
but the search for a fountain of youth has only
increased immortality or anti aging. They say, is the next
(04:45):
big thing insiders estimate the industry's worth will hit a
staggering six hundred and ten billion dollars by the end
of this year. At least thirteen billionaires have invested in
life extension companies, including Jeff Bezos, Mark zucker Berg, Larry Ellison,
and Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, who didn't just put his
fortune into it, he put himself into it too. Jack
(05:08):
has adopted an intense health routine in his quest to
live forever that includes very little food, long fasts, meditation,
and daily ice baths. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, worth just
shy of two hundred billion dollars, has invested in Altoslab,
a startup working on cellular rejuvenation programming. The idea is
(05:30):
that the main reason that we eventually die is because
every time our cells replicate, which is about every seven years,
they lose a little bit of their power and thus
the aging process now. PayPal co founder Peter Tiel meanwhile
put millions into the Methusla Foundation, a nonprofit that wants
to make ninety the new fifty by twenty thirty. Oracle
(05:53):
co founder Larry Ellison, worth one hundred and thirty billion bucks,
has donated Untold millions to anti AIDS research since nineteen
ninety seven. He says death has never made any sense
to me. How can a person be there and then
just vanish, just not be there. Then there's the retired
billionaire CEO of doll Fruits and Vegetables, David Murdoch. His
(06:16):
quest for a long life has him living on seafood,
egg whites, beans, nuts, and smoothies made with twenty different
fruits and veggies. He works out every day and says
he believes he can live until at least one hundred
and twenty five. He's about to turn one hundred and
one and going strong, married to his sixth wife. Finally,
maybe the weirdest rich guy in the search for eternal
(06:38):
life is Brian Johnson, a forty six year old who
made his money in biotech. He started a program called
Project Blueprint. He eats very little, fasts a lot that
seems to be a thing for these guys, exercises a lot,
takes a ton of supplements, and for a six month period,
spent hundreds of thousands of dollars each month on having
(06:59):
a leap of his teenage son's blood plasma separated and
infused into his own blood stream. I wonder if the
kid appreciated that now at the end of the day.
Maybe The company I'm most fascinated with is a biotech
startup that just got FDA backing. It's called Loyal and
its aim is to develop drugs that will allow dogs
(07:20):
to live longer. If their clinical trials are effective, They're
going to apply the same science to humans. Think about it,
what's the point of living forever if your best friend
isn't right by your side. If you have a story
(07:44):
you'd like me to take a deep dive into and share,
please direct message me on Instagram at Real Patty Steele
or on Facebook at Patty Steele. I'm Patty steel The
Backstory is a production of iHeartMedia, Premier Networks, the Elvis
Durand Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser.
(08:05):
Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday
and Friday. Feel free to reach out to me with
comments and even story suggestions on Instagram at Real Patty
Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening
to the back Story with Patty Steele. The pieces of
history you didn't know you needed to know
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