Self-Amputation, Hidden Homes, and Cars in the Chicago River

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Strange news dominates this Friday morning episode as we explore bizarre and disturbing stories that defy ordinary explanation. 

The most shocking report involves a UK vascular surgeon who was jailed after deliberately causing frostbite to his own legs with dry ice, leading to their amputation. This disturbing case of self-mutilation was motivated by a sexual interest in amputation and complicated by insurance fraud when he claimed the injuries resulted from sepsis. The story raises uncomfortable parallels to body integrity disorders and our society's approach to psychological disturbances.

We also track the continuing manhunt for Travis Decker, the army veteran with survival expertise who allegedly murdered his three young daughters and has evaded capture for over three months. While bones were recently discovered during a grid search, they proved not to be human, leaving this tragic case unresolved with a $20,000 reward still offered for information.

The episode covers two additional extraordinary stories: an Oregon man discovered living in a fully-furnished crawl space of a condominium complex, complete with stolen electronics and furniture; and dive teams finding nearly 100 cars mysteriously submerged in the Chicago River while searching for a couple who vanished in 1970. We wrap up with a lighthearted discussion about what we'd do if we won the current record-breaking lottery jackpot—would you keep working? Travel? Buy a new home?

Subscribe to my YouTube channel where I'm creating quick videos during lunch breaks. Your support helps grow our community of curious minds who appreciate these strange-but-true stories that remind us just how mysterious our world can be.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning, it's Friday.
We made it.
I have some interesting stories.
We have some bizarre stories,some interesting stories and an
update story.
Where should I start?
Where should I start?
First of all, please gosubscribe to my YouTube channel.
That would be great.
Just look at YouTube andAmericanist, and I've put a

(00:22):
bunch of YouTube videos out on X, on my X feed.
Just click on any of those.
You'll be able to find me andsubscribe.
Let's start with the mostbizarre.
Let me find it.
This guy, this surgeon, neilHopper, jailed after amputation
of his own legs.
I saw this story Matt Walshposted it last night, and so, of

(00:44):
course, I had to go see formyself.
Was this true?
I searched it and, sure enough,it is true.
This is disgusting and it'sbecause of his sexual perversion
.
I mean, this is no differencethan trans.
This is no difference thantrans.
This is from the BBC and it was16 hours ago.
Let's see an nhs.

(01:07):
This guy is over in england.
I think he's not here inamerica.
He did this to himself.
Uh, I don't get it.
I don't get it all right.
Here we go.
An nhs vascular surgeon who hadhis own legs removed has been
jailed for two years and eightmonths for insurance fraud and
processing oh I'm sorry andpossessing extreme pornography.

(01:31):
Hello, neil Hopper, 49 years old, of Truro, cornwall, carried
out hundreds of amputationoperations before having his own
legs removed in 2019.
So I don't know if this articlegoes on to tell it.
I may have read it in adifferent article, but he kind
of messaged and communicatedwith another person who is in

(01:53):
jail for life for doing the samething.
All right, I think it's alittle more nuanced than that
with the other guy, but we'retalking about this guy here.
The Truro Crown Court heard helied to insurers by claiming
that injuries to his legs werethe result of sepsis and not
self-inflicted.
This guy did this to himself.
He put ice on his legs and heput dry ice on his legs to cause

(02:18):
damage so he can have themamputated.
This is so disturbing.
Remember back when the transthing was happening and some
people said would you take aperson to go get their limb
amputated?
Of course not.
Well, here you go.
Here you have it.
The court heard Hopper, whoadmitted two counts of fraud and
three of possessing extremepornography.

(02:41):
I mean, pornography is extremeanyway, is it not Okay?
I don't know.
I don't even want to know Idon't want to know had a sexual
interest in amputation?
What this is so gross?
I don't get it.
I don't.
What is wrong with people?
What is wrong?
Somebody needs to to observetheir brains.

(03:06):
Do we not have people to dothat, as all the medic in all of
the medical industrial complexthat we have?
You think we would havescientists that would be
seriously looking at disturbedpeople?
I mean, please do something.
I don't get it.
You can go finish reading that,because I'm just going to sit

(03:27):
here and go on and on about.
I can't believe it.
I can't believe it.
I can't believe it.
This is really gross.
It's on my x file if you wouldlike to go see it.
All right, next story up.
Remember this guy, uh, travisDecker, who murdered his
daughters.
He was kind of like, oh it well, he's a veteran.
He was kind of like a homelessguy.
He didn't really have a steadyhome to provide for his

(03:51):
daughters.
His wife and he were divorced.
Why he was able to get custodyof these girls I mean not
custody why he was able to takethem for the weekend with not
having a home is beyond me.
What is wrong with the system?
This is from the New York Post.
Anyway, there were some bonesfound and they thought it might

(04:11):
be him and it's not.
So he is still on the run.
Y'all.
The FBI said Wednesday thatremains discovered during last
week's grid search for fugitivefather Travis Decker were
reviewed and found not to behuman.
Officials recovered bonesduring their two-day search of
Washington campgrounds on August25th through the 26th as part
of the manhunt for Decker, theman accused of murdering his

(04:33):
three daughters.
The bones were analyzed andfound to not be human.
Yeah, we got that alreadyDuring the search.
Personal recovery yeah, we gotthat Okay.
So anyway, it's not him alreadyduring the search.
Personal recovery yeah, we gotthat okay.
So, anyway, it's not him.
It's not.
He is still on the run.
Be on the lookout.
The us marshal service isoffering up to twenty thousand
dollars for information leadingto his arrest.

(04:53):
Uh, where, maybe confirmed?
Um, okay, decker, an armyveteran with survivor x with
survival expertise, has evadedcapture for more than three
months.
Authorities began searching forhim on June 2nd, when he failed
to return his daughters, peyton, who was nine, evelyn, who was

(05:14):
eight, and Olivia, who was five.
The children's body werediscovered near Rock Island
Campground along Icicle Creekwith bags over their heads,
goodness gracious, so he's stillon the run.
They need to find him.
Okay, this next story is creepy.
Oregon man discovered livinginside tricked-out crawl space

(05:37):
in quaint condo complex.
What would you do if you foundthis out?
Oh, this is so weird anddisturbing Residents of a.
So we have a, we have a,something like this, and out we
live in townhomes.
We have something like this inour upstairs bedroom with a
crawl space.
I've never been in it.
I wonder, you know, sometimes Iwonder, wonder, I wonder if

(05:59):
anybody's living up there.
All right, so anyway, let'sread the story.
Residents of a quaint oregoncondominium of course it's
oregon, of course this explainseverything condominium complex
shockingly discovered a manliving inside a crawl space at
the residences for an unknownbut extended amount of time,
according to cops and photos ofhis makeshift abode.

(06:21):
Oh, yeah, it's nice I couldlive there.
That's not bad.
Wow, he's got lights strung up.
Yeah, that's not bad.
The disturbing discovery wasmade on Wednesday by sheriff
deputies who responded to alate-night call from the condos
in which a resident reportedseeing a strange man park his

(06:42):
car and meander behind one ofthe buildings.
So he has a car too.
The caller said they noticedthat the door to a crawl space
was left open and that there wasa light coming from inside,
which shouldn't have beenpossible as there was no power.
The homeowner told authorities.
The residents admitted tohearing strange noises coming
from the crawlspace in the past,but had never investigated.

(07:06):
According to the sheriff'soffice, deputies wound up having
to force their way into thecrawlspace and found Buecher
inside, surrounded byfurnishings he allegedly stole
over time, including a bed,televisions, chargers and other
electronics sapping power fromthe home.
Other items visible in photostaken by sheriff deputies,

(07:28):
including an Xbox controller, anelectric fan and a worn camping
chair.
Officials said that Buecher hadtaken significant steps to
improve the conditions insidethe homey crawlspace and was
obviously living inside.
Yeah, he has been.
They've had pictures of it.
He was charged with burglary inthe first degree and later

(07:50):
unlawful possession ofmethamphetamines Uh-oh,
methamphetamines, oh boy, allright.
Well, there you go.
A woman who claimed to share afive-year-old daughter with
Buecher apologized on his behalfand wrote that jail and
probation is the only thing thatkeeps him clean.
Oh, wow, so that's sad.
All right, let's see.

(08:11):
Oh, this is interesting.
This is.
I think this is the best onefor the last real quick dive
teams find nearly 100 carssubmerged in chicago river while
searching for missing couple in1970 cold case.
What I need to see images ofthis.
This is insane and crazy.

(08:33):
Nearly 100 y'all were foundsubmerged in the Chicago River
as dive teams searched for amissing couple in a decades-old
cold case.
According to reports andauthorities, edward and Stefana
Andrews disappeared on May 15,1970, while driving home in
their Oldsmobile from a cocktailparty at the Sheraton Hotel in

(08:55):
downtown Chicago.
The couple was reported missingthe following Monday, but over
half a century later authoritiesknow little about their
disappearance.
Investigators renewed theirefforts to find the couple in
1994, but found few answers.
The outlet reported In anotherattempt, the Chaos Drivers team

(09:15):
took the plunge into the ChicagoRiver last Wednesday to find
the couple's car.
According to the publication Wow, during the dive the team found
a whopping 97 cars submerged inthe river.
So is it 97 or is it 100?
Come on, most of the cars werefound in localized piles of 12
to 19 vehicles in one spot.

(09:36):
Is this how we used to disposeof cars back in the day?
Just throw them in the river?
I wonder what.
Wow, we were a little bit moreinterested in those cars.
That's kind of the one off orjust one vehicle by itself,
because that's going to be moreindicative of an accident.
Tell me about the other cars too.

(09:57):
I understand you'reinvestigating this cold case,
but I need to know about theother cars.
What is that about, please?
Somebody tell me.
All right, they havesuccessfully helped, let's see.
The dive team was helpinginvestigate 10 cold cases while
in Chicago using sonar search.
They don't tell me anythingabout the cars.
They just said they found them.
I need to know more about this.

(10:20):
All right, maybe they'll haveupdates.
I doubt it.
Why do you think there are 100cars, like 20 piled up at a time
?
What is going on with that?
I mean, I understand Chicagohad mobs back then, but 100 cars
, I guess.
So, all right, we need to moveon to the question of the day.
All right, let's talk about thelottery, since it's so gigantic

(10:43):
now.
I think this is the biggestamount ever in a lottery.
If you played and you won, whatwould you do?
I heard some of the girlstalking here at work the other
day and they said oh yeah, we'dcome right back to work.
We might take a few days off,but we'd come back to work.
What else am I going to do?
Travel, see the world, not work.
I don't know what I would do.

(11:05):
I would not say anything toanybody for the longest time I
would probably just hand it overto my husband and say, okay,
you do this because he's reallygood at money management and all
that stuff and investments, anduh.
But what I would want to do isI would want to move out of the
house we're in right now.
I would want to stay here wherewe are, get a newer house,

(11:25):
maybe a little bit bigger house,not bigger.
We really don't need that bigof a house.
It's just the two of us.
But uh, there was a lot ofthings I would do with it.
Obviously we're not gonna win.
I don't know why we talk aboutthese silly things like this.
I would travel a little bitmaybe.
I don't know that.
I'd want to travel, thoughright now I don't know what.

(11:46):
Not to any big cities that Iwant, you know.
I don't know how I would, Idon't know what.
Not to any big cities that Iwant, you know.
I don't know how I would try.
I don't want to go overseasanywhere right now, that's for
sure.
I don't know.
I don't know what I would doProbably nothing Upgrade the
home a little bit and maybe geta car.
I don't know.
I don't need a new car, thoughI like the car I have.

(12:07):
I'd definitely set up thefuture for the kids, that's for
sure, and Cameron of course.
Anyway, I know that's all dumbbecause we're not going to win
anyway.
All right, gotta go.
Have a great weekend.
The Gent and I will be back onSunday morning at Brood
Awakening and please gosubscribe to my YouTube videos.
I am having so much fun doingthose stupid videos.

(12:29):
I do them in my car atlunchtime, y'all.
I don't know if you've noticedthat or not.
I have that background.
That was just kind of anaccidental find.
I mean, I made the background,obviously, but as far as finding
how to use it in a video, thatwas an accidental find.
I just love learning to dothese new things like that.
And then, of course, I have ateleprompter that I read from I

(12:52):
don't know if you can tell thator not I'll write something and
put it in a teleprompter.
It's just fun, it's quick, it'seasy, it's fun.
No-transcript.