Trail Off Tuesdays: The Man Who Mailed Himself Home

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Have you ever felt so desperate to get home that you'd try anything? Probably not as desperate as Reg Spiers, the Australian javelin thrower who, in 1964, packed himself into a wooden crate and mailed himself from London to Australia when he ran out of money after failing to qualify for the Olympics.

We dive into this extraordinary tale of desperation and survival as Reg constructed a simple 5x3 foot wooden box, equipped with only the barest essentials: a torch, blanket, some food, and water. The audacity of his plan was matched only by its dangers. For five excruciating days, Reg remained curled in darkness, unable to move, stretch, or even use proper bathroom facilities as his crate traveled across continents.

The journey nearly ended in tragedy when his human-carrying cargo was left baking on the tarmac in Bombay under the scorching sun. Inside his wooden prison, each breath became more labored than the last as oxygen dwindled and temperatures soared. By his own admission, just a few more hours would have been fatal. Yet somehow, Reg survived to complete his journey to Perth, where stunned customs officials discovered this human package and a legend was born.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:22):
Welcome back to Trail of Tuesdays, the little side
path of Cloutrelle, where wewander into the strange corners
of history.
Today's story, it's about a manwho mailed himself home.
Literally, he packed himselfinto a wooden crane, addressed

(00:44):
it and trusted the postal systemto deliver him across the ocean
.
It sounds impossible, but itreally happened.
Our story begins in the 1960swith Reg Spears, an Australian

(01:14):
athlete.
He was a javelin throwertalented enough to compete
internationally.
So in 1964, reg travelled toEngland to try for a spot in the
Olympic team.
But things didn't go to plan.
He actually missed out onqualification and, worse, he ran

(01:36):
out of money.
So he was now stuck in Londonwith no way home.
He had no ticket, no savingsand no sponsorship.
Most people in his situationmight have gone to the embassy,
borrowed from friends or takenwhatever job they could find.
But no, reg had a differentidea.

(02:01):
His plan was fairly simple whatif he posted himself?
The idea wasn't entirely new.
You see, back in the early 20thcentury, when parcel post first
started, there were stories ofparents mailing their children
shorter distances because it wascheaper than buying a train

(02:24):
ticket.
Distances because it wascheaper than buying a train
ticket.
But mailing yourself acrosscontinents.
That was something else.
So Reg got down to business andstarted working out the
logistics.
First he didn't need a bigenough box with air holes, some
food and water.

(02:45):
Then he would need to arrangefor the crate to travel as air
cargo, loaded into a plane boundfor Australia.
And lastly, he'd need to keepperfectly still for the journey.
No bathroom breaks, nostretching and no standing up.

(03:06):
It was very risky,uncomfortable and potentially
deadly.
But it was cheap and that washis goal.
So Reg built himself a woodenbox and in October 1964, he
climbed into his makeshift crate, which measured about 5 feet by

(03:27):
3 feet.
It had just enough room to curlup.
He packed himself a small torch, blanket, some food and a
bottle of water.
Then the box was labelled andloaded as air freight at
Heathrow airport, destinationThird, western Australia.

(03:59):
At first everything wentsmoothly but, as you can
probably guess, it didn't last.
The journey was anything butdirect.
Cargo was reshuffled at everytransfer, flights were delayed
or rerouted without notice andthe crate, unmarked and

(04:21):
anonymous, was treated like anyother piece of freight.
To the handlers it was justanother wooden box amongst
thousands, stacked, pushed androlled across concrete floors.
Then the crate arrived inBombay, where the cracks really
began to show.

(04:43):
His crate was offloaded and leftsitting on the tarmac under the
blazing sun.
And left sitting on the tarmacunder the blazing sun.
From the outside it lookedharmless enough a box left in
heat waiting for the next flight.
Workers passed it without asecond thought.
But inside it was a differentstory.

(05:03):
Each breath came shallower thanthe last.
The air was unbearable.
Each breath came shallower thanthe last.
The air was unbearable.
Each breath came shallower thanthe last.
Sweat soaked his clothes andthe wood pressing in around him
as the hours dragged on.
It was a slow, suffocatingprison.

(05:24):
A few more hours and thejourney would have ended there.
Red survived it, but only justAfter five long days in transit.
Five days curled in darkness,barely able to move.
The crate finally reached bird.

(05:45):
When customs officials pried itopen, they weren't expecting to
find a man inside, but outclimbed Reg Spears, dusty, his
clothes, damp with sweat, butalive.
For a moment there was onlystunned silence.

(06:06):
Then came the disbelief, thequestions and eventually the
headlines.
Within hours the story was outA man who had posted himself
across the world in a wooden box.
The newspapers couldn't resist.
They dubbed him the man whoposted himself home.

(06:29):
They dubbed him the man whoposted himself home.
Legally, his punishment wasalmost laughable compared to the
ordeal.
He received a fine fortravelling without a ticket.
But the attention was enormous.
For a brief time, reg was aminor celebrity, known less for

(06:50):
his athletic career but more forthe audacity of mailing himself
halfway across the globe andsurviving, to tell the tale.
Now you might think Reg wouldhave settled down after such a
stunt, but his life was anythingbut quiet.
He later became involved indrug trafficking and served

(07:13):
prison time.
His great stunt was daring, butit was just one chapter in a
turbulent life.
Still, the story of mailinghimself home has outlived all
the rest.
It captured the imaginationsbecause it was so strange, so

(07:33):
bold and so absurdly simple.
He didn't have money for aticket, but he had a box, some
nails and an idea.
That's the story of Reg Spears,the man who mailed himself home

(08:01):
.
Trail of Tuesdays is where wewander into the odd, the
unbelievable and the storiesthat make you shake your head
and wonder did that reallyhappen?
Until next time, stay curious.
Thank you you.