Public Spectacles of Death Pt. 1 (Episode 169)

🎇 In this episode covering Public Spectacles of Death, we dive into a sky-high trifecta of tragedy: a fireworks celebration for Marie Antoinette’s wedding that turned Paris into a flaming stampede, a Disney character performer in Maine who took flight... without wings, and WWII hero Richard Bong—who survived combat only to be done in by a peacetime jet test. From royal carnage to cartoonish freefall, we explore when the show really shouldn’t go on.

Join Kyle Ploof, Jerii Aquino and Ben Kissel every week on Death in Entertainment.

This week's story written by Brandon Preo.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Bodies lit by sparks. Crowds mesmerized, then
horrified. What begins in celebration
sometimes ends in chaos. In this episode, we turn our
gaze upward into the deadly beauty of the sky.
We explore the moments when spectacle becomes tragedy.
We'll take you from 18th centuryfireworks displays that ignited
royal crowds to 20th century airshows where pilots and

(00:20):
passengers were sacrificed for thrill, explosions, applause,
silence. This is Public Spectacles of
Death Part 1, and that's today on Death in Entertainment.
Live from Los Angeles. 911 What is your emergency?
Here in Hollywood now 2. Counts of murder.

(00:42):
Injury and death, Oh my. God.
Shocking new details. It has stung the entertainment
world. This makes me a little nervous.
The hair stood up on my arms just like in the movies.
What do you call this thing anyway?
Death in. Entertainment.
Greetings Dead O Universe, How'severybody doing?
My name is Kyle Plouffe. And I'm Jerry Aquino.

(01:04):
And I am Ben Kissel, welcome to death and entertainment.
We have another fantastic episode for you today, Death.
Is it best to die alone or to die in front of a crowd?
We'll discuss death by public spectacle.
Yes, let's get this podcast shotout of a cannon.
Yeah, let's go. Do it.

(01:42):
Today's story written by BrandonRio.
So before we start, we'll start with the a dictionary definition
from Merriam Websters Dictionarydefines a public spectacle as
quote, something exhibited to view as unusual, notable, or
entertaining. I thought it was something my
wife did to end the marriage. Hey, hello.

(02:03):
Wow. You've never been married.
No, I haven't. They say it's especially an
eye-catching or dramatic public display, an object of curiosity
or contempt. So, like everyone in New York
City at all times. Yeah, basically public
spectacles come in all shapes and sizes, like us all.
Many people want to perform for crowds, others may want to

(02:26):
impress their friends, and others do it all for.
Ego. Absolutely.
Or all of the above. Yeah, very true.
Public spectacles exist as everything from a grand display
of entertainment or power or pride.
Although always risky, spectacles are generally events
perfectly safe for the entire family.
But like everything else in the world, sometimes things will go

(02:46):
spectacularly wrong. The only ones that aren't safe
for the family are the spectacles that involve
testicles getting smashed by a sledgehammer.
Wow, that happens. Good Lord, when?
Oh, remember America's Funniest Home Videos, which were really
just bad, bad medical emergencies?
Yeah, So just what? You thought it was safe to go

(03:07):
out in public? Here are some of the wildest and
deadliest public spectacles in human history.
Nice. So let's talk about fireworks,
shall we? Let's do that.
Who doesn't like a fireworks display My?
Grandmother. Dogs.
Dogs, yeah. Well, my grandmother and dogs.
Does she not like fireworks? Oh my God, I've told this story
before, but July 4th in Stevens Point, WI Every time a firework

(03:27):
would go off she would stand up,start running, her pants would
fall down and she would trip. What?
What in? That's just, I mean, it was
literally every single time, so.This wasn't like a drinking
thing for grandma. Grandma didn't drink, she got
the guys drunk so she could do God knows what.
Oh man, I love grandma. She was fun.
She was fun. If she's not your grandmother or

(03:47):
your mother, she. Or if there are no fireworks.
Yes, Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
So fireworks are one of the oldest forms of public
spectacles of all time, originating in medieval China
over 1000 years ago. And they still work really well.
They do. People are just always going
outside and be like, wow, like, like it's a, it's a magical
thing. It really.

(04:08):
Is they're starting to do like almost fireworks displays, but
it's all drones, which is slightly terrifying.
That's not as magical. It's not as magical.
It's not as like phenomenon Y. Right, because there's less of a
chance of them exploding. Or like the fireworks going in
all the wrong directions and whole bunch of people dying.
Plus, if you think of like like Disney World, at the end of the

(04:28):
night, they have a fireworks show.
If Disney works started doing like a drone show at the end,
wouldn't you feel like just kindof a little more like
authoritarian? Yeah.
You know, authoritarian. There it is.
Yeah, I agree. And I do think that at this
point, Mickey might as well run the show, right?
Yeah, why not? And I don't understand how it's
just a little tube with like a bunch of, I mean, it's, I'm
going to say dirt for lack of a better term, but it's like

(04:50):
gunpowder. How do they pack smiley faces in
there? Well, they're very smart.
Yeah. Yeah, that there's a whole
science behind fireworks. Smarter than Me brilliance so
fireworks can be viewed on a large scale, broadcast on
television or on a hot summer dry night, even on New Year's
on. Especially on New Year's.
Yeah, not such a dry night when I come around.
You know what I'm talking about.Why?

(05:13):
Because people get aroused. Women get aroused.
Oh. I thought you were the one that
was moist. No, it's the women.
It's the women that I make around.
When I come around, I'm I'm verymoist.
Yeah, I am. Yeah, that's true.
On a small scale, fireworks can be enjoyed from the comfort of
your own front lawn or inside a public toilet.

(05:33):
Oh, you sure? Yeah.
What? Yeah, yeah, blow up a public
toilet. Why not?
Yeah, you throw the firecracker down and it explodes.
Yeah, Poopy July 4th festival. I've never done that.
I haven't done that either. I've never wanted to see, like,
yeah, you can make things go like, boom, and that's fun, but
I've never wanted to, like, see what would happen if I destroyed
a plumbing system. No, yeah, I haven't either.

(05:55):
I'm not much of like a hang out in toilet for fun kind of guy.
Yeah, some people are fascinated.
Call me old fashioned, yeah, butwhat could possibly go wrong
when playing with fire, gunpowder, large crowds and the
fragile human body? A lot.
A hell of a lot. In the evening hours of July
4th, 2015, New York Giants defensive end Jason Pierre Paul

(06:17):
was celebrating Independence Dayin his hometown of Deerfield
Beach, FL, 40 miles north of Jerry's home of Miami.
Oh nice. One of Jerry's homes.
All right, parents. Live, yes, across from a
bustling cookout attended by more than 50 friends and
relatives. He stood on a patch of grass
next to a U-Haul loaded with roughly $1000 worth of fireworks

(06:37):
he had bought for the neighborhood to enjoy.
Wow. As the festivities wound down
near midnight, Pierre Paul noticed there were just a few
more fireworks left in the van. This is where they get you.
Yeah, it's right at the end. You're most intoxicated.
Yeah, so he decided, why not setthose off?
This is the equivalent of when you're at the bar and you yell
shots, let's just do shots, and then you're sick for five hours.

(06:59):
Yeah. Yeah, and you're like, man, if
it wasn't for that last shot, he.
Shouldn't have done that. Shirtless and determined, he
made several attempts to light the fused, struggling against a
persistent wind that kept extinguishing his lighter.
On what he decided would be his final try, the flame finally
caught. What followed was instantaneous,
a sudden explosion in a burst ofgreen and white light that
engulfed his entire 6 foot 5 frame.

(07:21):
Holy shit. It's kind of cool at first.
Though turned into the Green Lantern.
Yeah, it's a Vantage ball. Boom, the Green Lantern.
By the way, why can't they make a good Green Lantern movie?
What's wrong with it? It's it's all DC.
They fuck up every DC movie. I don't know why, just.
So strange we haven't seen like a solid Green Lantern.
Yeah, it's awful. It's a it's a ring.
Give somebody cool the ring. Yeah.

(07:42):
In the seconds that followed, Pierre Paul heard nothing, felt
nothing, saw nothing, and by hearing nothing, you he
definitely just heard. Oh right, the emergency alert of
the brain. Yeah.
Then his reality slowly came back to him.
He looked down at his right hand.
Despite the violence of the explosion, all of his fingers
were still technically attached to his hand.

(08:03):
Hey, technically, yeah. His index and middle finger by
the bone, his thumb by only the skin.
The bone left the skin. I guess tough skin, yeah.
He said to himself. Or was it out loud?
Oh my gosh, what did I do? It's a nice Oh my gosh, you.

(08:23):
Blew your hand off buddy I. Do well I I know well.
Just his hand. Just his hand, yeah.
I kind of thought it said that the green light engulfed his
entire body. It did, but the explosion was
the only real. I wonder if the energy came
through the hand popped it off. Energy, yeah.
He was in shock. I could definitely see that.
Immediately, he wrapped his handin a shirt and was soon rushed

(08:45):
to the hospital by ambulance. He recalled occasionally
unwrapping the shirt just to take a peek at his phalanges.
Oh my God. Still hanging on by a thread.
Why would he do that? That's such a bad idea.
It's a sick curiosity, yeah, andI think I would do it too when
my little dog Jerry, when his head was exposed like he just
met Pinhead and Hellraiser, cannot.

(09:06):
Imagine what? It looked like it was so nasty.
There wasn't a lot of blood because it cuts so deep.
That's like a cenobite, yeah. But you can't really look away.
Wow. Wow, he said.
You see all your ligaments, yourtendons, everything.
I saw how the hand really is without the skin on it.
Oh my God. Which is something I hope to
never say in my life. Yeah.

(09:28):
Seriously, I don't need to see my hand without the skin on it.
Right. We're so fragile.
It's so weird because I feel so strong.
I know we're absolutely nothing,yeah.
It's crazy. Pierre Paul was hurried into
surgery where doctors rushed to salvage what they could of his
hand. What could they salvage?
He. Had a broken thumb.
The index finger required amputation, unfortunately.

(09:49):
Get rid of that one. It's the loser.
Yeah, the middle finger appearedto have melted into itself.
What? Well bent so he just was at a
constant like crip sign. Oh my God, it molded into Oh my
God, that's awful. I would like to point out I am a
member of the Bloods guys, this was a firework accident.
I was just waving hello. His so he already has like a

(10:12):
really good, like kind of shocker situation.
Yeah, in his hand. But it's kind of just for the
stink, none for the pink. Right.
Well, you gotta find that because.
He lost the index finger. Yeah, thank God he's in Florida.
And also, his charred palm needed multiple skin grafts.
Yet one year later, in an interview with Sports
Illustrated, Jason Pierre Paul proudly exclaimed.

(10:35):
I have no regrets at all. None.
I mean, come on. Yeah, not even that one last
trip to the truck. Right.
The lie detector determined thatwas a lie.
Absolutely. I would assume sobriety was not
at play here. I would have to guess definitely
right? I would hope so.
Oh, that. This is one of the accidents
where it's like, if you're drunk, you almost are.

(10:56):
Like, all right, at least he wasdrunk.
If he's sober, holy hell. We got some problems.
Others, like Jason Pierre Paul, would never have the ability to
contemplate their good intentions and bad decisions,
mostly because they wouldn't have a head left to contemplate
with. So it gets worse than just
losing the hand. Yeah, so that was the death of,
you know, his fingers. Right.
And then he still went on to play football.

(11:16):
Yeah, they gave him like he his hand.
They gave him a glove that looked like the Hamburger
Helper. Yep.
Yeah, yeah. Holy shit they did.
Yes they did. I'm looking it up right now.
This is absolutely insane. He was still pretty productive
on the field. He was?
Yep. He had a whole Mitt.
Yeah. He had, and they let him play
with the Mitt. Yeah, and he actually was still

(11:37):
a pretty good player. He was pretty good.
And also he was able at halftimeto take the to take the brownies
out of the oven and then feed the rest of the team.
Yeah, there is his. Hand and he's a strong.
Hand. Yes, it is a hand.
You could call it a hand. It's something.
I've I've just been sitting here.
I would be shocked and stunned too.
Yeah, it is an an appendage consistent with the appearance

(11:57):
of a hand. Yeah, it kind of looks like a
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. Yeah.
Yes. That's pretty cool, exactly what
he looks like he. And it doesn't help that his
neck is so fat. Yeah, yeah, that is true.
Muscular so. He's a.
Thick neck. We got bad news and good news.
Bad news, you lost a lot of yourhand.
Good news, we have your Halloween costume for the rest
of your life. I hope you like Raphael.
He. I was a very cute face.

(12:19):
Oh, he's a cute guy, fine. Very wealthy.
Very wealthy. On that very same 4th of July in
2015, 22 year old Devin Staples was celebrating the holiday with
family and friends in Maine. In fact, Devin was having a
summer to remember. Oh, he had recently gone viral
after several videos of him began popping up all over the
Internet with hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube.

(12:41):
Oh, he was in fact, an actor, orrather, a cast member.
Staples worked at Disneyland in Orlando, FL, performing inside
the park dressed as the character Gaston, OH.
That's fun. Wow, and I do think Gaston out
of all the characters would be the most likely to light himself
on fire with a firework. Considering he's like, like

(13:01):
fire, yeah, he's a candle. No, no.
Gaston is the That's Gaston. Gaston is the jacked guy that's
trying to bang Bell all the time.
Right, that's right. That's the dude that technically
is the good guy of the film. Thank.
You totally flip it on him and they make him look like a crazy
person. Thank you so much.
Also original beauty and the beast, she gets kidnapped by the

(13:22):
beast. She hates the beast because the
beast is really mean to her. Then she goes back to Gaston and
and he is really nice, but she goes back to the Beast because
she has Stockholm syndrome and the whole thing is much more
bizarre. What that like a book?
That's the OG story, yeah. Where?
Where is this OG story? The original 1 then they Disney

(13:43):
fight it and made the beast all nice to her but in reality the
beast is all mean to her and shestill sticks with him because
she's all fucked up in the head.Yeah, I know.
We all know. It's like a story of Stockholm
syndrome. Yes, definitely.
And as I've always said, most Princess have spina bifidis.
So what if she kisses him and then he's like, thank you, Bill,
you, me. And she's like, oh, yuck, you're
a real Prince. They're all inbred.
Yeah, that's very true. I mean, that's really, really

(14:05):
gross that Disney just took thatstory and then, like, gave it
like a, like a cute little bow at the end, like a happy ending.
It's like, but don't worry. Like if, if, if you like, fall
for the troll, he turns into a really pretty man.
Yeah. And dance with them forever.
It's like that Elizabeth Smart story, but like totally
different. Yeah, and.
She's all kidnapped. She's kind of like that.
Yeah. Insane.
So in these viral clips he can be seen charming little

(14:27):
princesses challenging the manliest men to push up
competitions and thwarting away less desirable women fawning
over him in the street. Oh, he's rolled me.
Into the real asshole to all thefatties.
Away the less desirable women. That's not nice.
They've made a lot of money to live the fantasy that they were
a Princess. Yeah.
Wow, really messed up. It is, yeah.

(14:48):
On this Saturday evening in Maine, however, Devin Staples
was only interested in entertaining his friends.
Everybody plays the fool from time to time and Devin decided
it would be funny to place a mortar type explosive on his
head and light it off. God, Barry Gaston.
Barry Gaston. Yeah, he's going to end up like
Garzon. His friends tried to tell him
that was a bad idea, so they thought he would put the massive

(15:10):
firework down, comfortable in knowing that Devin was not the
kind of person who would do something stupid.
He was the kind of person who would pretend to do something
stupid to make people laugh. He's an actor, yes.
That's half the half the job. Right in another instant, there
was an explosion, and when the smoke cleared, Devin's head was
gone. Oh my God.
No. Shit, it was gas gone.

(15:31):
Gas gone? I believe it, yeah.
That's insane. His brother Cody remembers the
moment painfully saying there was no rushing him to the
hospital. There was no Devin left when I
got there. Holy shit.
I hate it. Yeah, that's not fun at all.
That's not, that sounds like themost brutal scene.
It has to be like so surreal, really.
You think you're watching, it's some kind of a horror film.

(15:53):
You're like, no, that's legitimately what's left of my
brother. Yeah, those horror movies are
pretty accurate, and it's what it looks like.
Yeah, like, wow, that is what itlooks like.
And Walt Disney, they had to find themselves a new character
actor, didn't. They.
Oh, definitely. That ain't easy.
That ain't easy. Yes, it is no.
Don't got a line waiting outside.
No. Oh, for for that.
Role. They've got a line out the door.

(16:13):
Oh yeah, it's all of all of the the very few straight dudes in
every theatre school all over the country.
You want to be guest on all? Right.
I believe you. Yeah.
I mean, straight guys like my, we're fighting for the roles,
right? No one's given us anything.
No. Were you fighting for guest?
Did you want to be guest on? No, We can get the costume.

(16:34):
No. Oh.
My God. I don't I would.
I would like to be the beast or the cupboard.
We could all technically do likea Beauty and the Beast fucking
we. Could do a Halloween thing the.
Halloween thing, it's just, it'sjust an it's just let's table
that. Let's table it.
We'll table it. No explosives.
No explosives allowed, Yeah. This would of course not be the
last time someone lost their head due to a fireworks

(16:54):
disaster, nor had it been the 1st.
And and all and and that that was that was Disney World
public. So many kids around to see that
one. Yeah, so many families.
Well, that was in Maine, so luckily it wasn't at.
Not at Disney, but it probably reverberated through the park
that they knew they lost one of their own.
Oh, in my head it was like rightin front of like Cinderella.

(17:15):
Just at the gate, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That's exactly where it's been happening in my head for the
last like 4 minutes. I mean, if it was the original
it probably would have because in the original Cinderella the
stepsisters cut off their fucking toes.
Yes, and try to fit into the sneaker that way.
That's. Fucked.
Up also they did read it is Air Force Ones now that she's trying
to wear in the new Cinderella. Oh my.
It is no, but that would be amazing.

(17:37):
So. That would actually be like one
of the changes for the. Weekend.
It really would be, yeah. Cinderella's cool.
Yeah. Can you dunk?
In fact, the deadliest fireworksdisaster in history can be
traced all the way back to France in 1770 during the
wedding ceremony of the future King Louie the 16th.
OK, I I know letters. Yeah, sure.

(17:59):
Yeah, it's a lot of Louise. Yeah.
And then Amy want to pass on, pass on and pass on.
Little Louie. Little Louie and his bride,
Marie Antoinette. Oh no shit.
Both of whom would find their heads detached from their bodies
in decades to come. Yes, we just looked at the shoe
that she was wearing before she got decapitated.
Oh, it was. Quite a fancy little cloggy
shoe. It was.

(18:19):
It was a cloggy fancy shoe. Wow.
The Ruggieri brothers, Antonio, Francesco, Gaetano, Petronio and
Pietro are today considered the founding fathers of modern
fireworks. So move over China.
OK, we got some Italians ready to take that over.
Why is that? 'Cause they did, I guess.
They're Italian, yeah, they're creative, but also like, you

(18:42):
know, I don't. They're creative with foods and
fire, sure. They know about fire?
Yeah. They were born in Italy and
emigrated to France around 1740.They would become the patriarchs
of a long family line of pyrotechnicians that brought the
techniques and features of the fireworks we enjoy today.
Cool. And they brought that to the
kingdoms, the monarchs, the courts, the theaters, the lawns

(19:05):
and riverfronts all throughout Europe and the Middle East in
the 18th century. Well, that's fantastic, yeah.
The nice thing, Yeah, Thanks forgiving the Middle East
explosives. Yeah, seriously.
We gave them the explosives and they also that they don't need
fireworks because they have the real thing, which is bombs.
Yeah, and thank you. So fun to see oil.

(19:26):
Yeah, that's my new favorite show.
Have you seen it? It's streaming right now.
World War 3. You see it?
It's been. Yep, it's really fun.
Oh. Yeah, the Ruggeris invented
multi colored fireworks, moving fireworks and quick match which
allowed pyrotechnicians to be able to light several fuses at
once. So they're called the RE Jerrys
like Jerry again. Ruggieris.

(19:46):
Yes, the Ruggieris. RUGGIERI.
Each clone Dumber than the last I'm.
Gonna start a band called Jerry and the RE Jerrys.
I like that it's. Pretty cool.
Yeah, it would be really fun. They pioneered mounting
displays, mobile displays, waterborne displays and even
artificial volcanoes. Well, that one is pretty easy.
We all did that in like 6th grade.

(20:06):
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah.
Little, yeah, little baking soda.
Vinegar. The Ruggeris turned fireworks
into a spectacle that was once reserved for only the Royals and
brought it to the public space. Love that.
Yeah, we love that. Bringing all the ritzy stuff to
the the little people. Yeah, give us fucking something,
yeah. We're going to kill each other.
On May 30th, 1770, in Paris, France, a wedding celebration

(20:29):
was held between Dolphin Louis of France and Archduchess Marie
Antoinette of Austria. The arranged marriage was a
means to unify the two monarchies and bring peace to
that western part of Europe thathas not seen it in decades.
This is when marriage really meant something.
Yeah, that's a lot of pressure. Yeah, it solved.
Problems instead of caused them.Right.
Well, that's true. That's crazy.
Yeah. Look what's happening with

(20:50):
Meghan Markle and her her husband.
Yeah, she's splitting up the whole monarchy.
She did it. Oh yeah, she technically did,
didn't she? Yeah.
I can't go, Meghan. I can't stop watching that
podcast she did with that woman.Yeah, she's like Meghan Markle.
She's like, my last name's not Markle.
I'm a Sussex. Yeah, but then she said the
word, the power of the word yet.And yet and yet.

(21:10):
And yet. Yeah, yeah, that that actually
makes sense for her. Yeah, I put a little comment.
It got a couple of likes on my Instagram that says it makes me
wish I was on Flight 93. Ohh, very nice.
Kind of funny thing. Think about 911.
Yeah, yeah. The culmination of festivities
was to be the fireworks display over the same river at the Place
de la Concorde. And of course, the brothers were

(21:33):
hired to put on the show. Let's go.
This is before the same river was so full of human shit.
Yeah. That they had to delay the
Olympics. They set up a construction site
across from the Rue Royale, which was a wide Blvd. that
connected the city of Paris to the Place de la Concorde.
A first hand account by Louis Sebastian Mercer, who attended
the event, described the scene as quote the square and

(21:55):
surrounding streets were packed tightly full of of hundreds of
thousands of Parisians hoping toget their first glimpse of the
fireworks. Oh my God, You can still smell
it to this very dead. That's a lot, yeah.
The fireworks were being launched from the famous Temple
of Hymen. So you don't want to break that.
Sure it is. Yeah, it is.
No, we're still a virgin. The Temple of Hymen still

(22:17):
stands. Not for long, OK?
A temporary wooden structure built by the Rajeri brothers and
resembling something more like astage set than a launchpad.
Oh my God, why? You got me thinking of Launchpad
now, yeah? Seriously, I'm just thinking
thinking about my ex. Always something brings you back
to your ex. I was thinking of the was it

(22:37):
Chippendales who has launchpad? Oh, Darkwing duck.
Yes, it was a pyramid structure featuring a platform, fountains
and rising mountain slopes on either side that led to a Greek
style temple at the very top. What began as a dazzling
fireworks display quickly turneddisastrous when the final
rockets of the night ignited thewooden launch platform itself.
Yeah, maybe wood wasn't the right thing to use.

(22:59):
Seriously, like what? Why don't we just put it all in
a little kindling, yeah? They're more, they're more fire
guys. Not fire proofing, no.
OK. Very smart.
At first, the crowd in Paris mistook the flames for part of
the entertainment, but as the fire spread and the danger
became clear, panic swept through the massive gathering.
That is the worst, Yeah. When you're like, this show's

(23:21):
incredible. Oh shit.
This isn't part of the. Show Whoa.
Those flames are licking that hymen serious.
Oh my God. Kind of like when Marilyn Manson
fell off that ladder that one time.
I don't. Remember he actually when he was
on stage. Yeah, yeah, he, he fell off.
It was like a giant prop ladder that had like 2 giant guns just
like, Oh yeah, climbed up to thetop.

(23:44):
And then it just fully like wentdown.
And at first everyone was like, yeah, but then no one saw him
come back up. You're like, oh, whoa, Oh, yeah.
There is something about a goth doing comical slapstick humor
that just you have to laugh. We're all human, aren't we?
It was so, yeah, it was. And the audience was like, no,
no, I hope he's okay. And I was like, it's pretty

(24:04):
funny, pretty good. But as the fire spread and the
danger became clear, panic sweptto the massive gathering.
Chaos broke out as people surgedtowards the Cramp Rue Royale,
the same escape route being usedby the aristocrats and Royals
and carriages, including the newlywed Louis and Marie
Antoinette. Their wedding is ruined.
Yeah, that's what happened at the Station nightclub.
They wouldn't allow people to get out the door that the band

(24:25):
just went through. Oh my God.
Wow, like that's what bands onlythey just didn't get it.
That's for. The stupid.
That is so stupid, yeah. Eyewitnesses later described a
scene of terror, with some individuals being trampled under
foot while others were shoved into the same river.
And drown. OK, so do you want so yeah, you
get trampled, you drown or the fire.

(24:46):
How do you want to go out in this scenario?
Shit, I'll take drowning. You're.
Going to go drowning. I can also swim.
So you might live. Yeah, I think I just want to
boot. Maybe just a really big boot to
the head. Yeah.
Smash the brain. But does it work like that or?
Does it? No, you're gonna, it's gonna be
like a couple of really painful blows before things really start

(25:07):
breaking and that and then you'll knockout from pain.
Alright, give me the fire. I'll just take.
I'm gonna take a deep breath. Pass out, Yeah.
I'd either do that or I'd take the trampling.
I was almost trampled to death once at a Pennywise concert.
I was stuck in the front and everyone was pushing.
It was crowd crushed towards thestage and my stomach was on the
guardrail and I was getting pushed in.
I couldn't breathe. I completely passed out and one

(25:27):
of the guys, the security guards, pulled me over and so it
was pretty quick. It hurt for a second.
I think we've mentioned this before, but apparently that
Astro World documentary shows itmuch more serious than we think
it is. Yeah, yeah.
Oh yeah, It looks. I mean, it looked terrible at
the time, but now? It's really bad.
Oh man, I was gearing up to watch that.

(25:48):
Yeah, and then Travis Scott got a McDonald's meal, like, named
after him. That's nice.
It involves Sprite. Wow, yeah.
Louis Sebastian Mercier once again chronicled the scene he
witnessed, saying, I may say without exaggeration that in the
general panic and crush more than 1200 unfortunate persons
lost their lives, our entire family disappeared, and there

(26:08):
was scarcely a household which had not to lament the death of a
relative or friend. Wow.
So everybody knew somebody that died.
Right. Later historians have more
accurately placed the final death toll at about 3000,
ensuring that it was the deadliest fireworks disaster of.
All time. Oh my God.
And that led them into a war for20 years in Afghanistan.

(26:29):
Exactly, Yeah. Louis and Marie Antoinette were
understandably horrified by the tragedy.
They donated their personal wealth to the victims and their
families, helping to bury the dead at the Cemetery of Laville
Lavac. Oh, that's that's one of the
better ones. Yeah.
That's a how'd you get in there?Wow, that's going to be a pretty
cool ghost. Yeah, so it's very nice.

(26:49):
Well, it's just nice of them to have helped, you know?
Bury all the dead. Yep.
Yeah, it's really nice. Yeah.
I mean, I think they hired the group of morons in the first
place. But they also did, yeah.
Yeah, yeah. In the ultimate irony, 23 years
later, they would both be buriedin that same cemetery, their
torsos tossed in a heap, their bodies left without their heads,
much like Devon Staples. Wow.

(27:13):
All right, You wanna, you want that?
You're gonna want that. Yeah, When it comes to your
head. Yeah, you're gonna, you're gonna
want that. Yep, Yep.
And they say the human mind doesn't die right away.
It takes about 30 seconds. Oh.
That's fun. Absolutely insane.
Right. Well.
Scary. That sounds like a nightmare of
30 seconds. It sounds interesting though,
like I wish there was a drug. Do any drugs simulate like your

(27:35):
heads chopped off? No, no.
DMT simulates what goes through your head when you die, so you
can get kind of close to that, but I don't know.
Head. Yeah, you're a pineal gland.
It just excretes DMT when you'redying.
That's why people see all crazy shit.
But then I heard sometimes what I heard was sometimes if you
actually do have a near death and you took too many drugs, you
don't get the Super tripping near death.

(27:56):
No, you wasted it all and I wantthat fucking near death shit.
Damn that should be a bigger PSA.
Don't do drugs because if you die then you got you won't get
the light show. The ultimate high of death.
Wow. Supposed to be pretty rad.
Damn downside of doing drugs, yeah.
Yeah, just say no. Yeah, Because you, you wanna.
I don't know. That's horrible.

(28:17):
I don't know if it's gonna work.Yeah, yeah, it's a weird way to
say don't. You, yeah, don't do drugs
because when you die, you're gonna want to trip out a little
bit, right? Like, the only bad thing, that's
the only downside of drugs, guys, yeah.
So yeah, that is fireworks. If you want to hear more about a
terrible fireworks incident, youcan go back to Death and
Entertainment, the story about the Station nightclub fire,

(28:37):
because that was absolutely insane.
That was The Great White. Yes, a band.
Of yes. Yes and yes.
Literally yes. Literally.
They're going to say the Great White of House club fires.
I mean, that's. Yes, it was a lot of Caucasian.
So now we move on to aerial displays.
Ohh. Yeah, like nipples.

(29:00):
Areolas. Aerials.
Ohh no, that got Janet Jackson banned still from the Super
Bowl. That's a shame.
That's so tough. It is insane.
It's a nice nipple. It was a.
Beautiful ring. Kiersten everything, yeah.
Expensive ring. How are we ever going to explain
to our children what a female nipple is?
And now all these people have gay kids and it's like, you
should have let them look. You should have let them fall in

(29:22):
love with the female nipple. Yeah, very true.
So the story of the Ruggeris does not end here.
In fact, the family business is still very much in operation in
France to this day. Claude Ruggieri was born in
Paris in 1777, the son of the 4th Ruggieri brother Petronio
Claude. Always hammered.

(29:42):
They call me Petronio. It was.
They said it was easier than call me drunk.
Fucking asshole. Yeah, whatever you say,
Petronio. Claude, more so than his father
and uncles, became obsessed withballoons, rockets and
parachutes. Why not aerial stuff?
Yeah. Oh yeah, there it is.
I don't want to see fire. I want to see my my uncle up
there. Yeah, I could see that.
This is pretty cool. Yeah.

(30:03):
You know. Things in the sky.
Things in the ski. So Claude, along with his friend
and inventor, balloonist friend Andre Jacques Garnian.
Which means he has a balloon fetish.
Yeah, Latex. He he invented the balloon
fetish. Probably.
That one is an odd one where they like the popping.
I just I don't fully get that like.
The pop they like the rubbing. You're too right.

(30:23):
They like how it gets all big and bold.
They're like, yeah, put more airin that bitch.
Yeah, and then that sound, I just that sound is like nails on
a chalkboard, but they they're. Like, yeah, I'm gonna put one
and put one on my stomach and then you put one on your stomach
and then we'd like bump togetherand then just like, rub them but
don't make them pop. Don't make them.
Yeah, not yet. Not yet.

(30:44):
Don't do it yet, I'll tell you when.
Just a lot of work. That is a lot of work.
Oh my God, that's all right. So these two guys, they just
designed the first ever aerial fireworks display.
On Bastille Day 18, O1 RuggerianGuardian successfully launched a
balloon carrying fireworks into the air, which ignited the
Parisian skies. OK, cool so far.

(31:05):
Yeah, Next Claude became fascinated by rockets and
parachutes. He began experiments with
self-guided rockets and more specifically, the idea of using
them to carry passengers into the air.
Nope. Only the idea of rockets
carrying pass, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Hard pass on that one. Yeah, so shoot you off into a
rocket and then he wanted to have his parachute bring them
down to Earth. And this was in the 1800s.

(31:26):
Yes. OK.
No, I'm not gonna. I don't.
Absolutely not. Don't really trust it now.
Yeah, yeah. So in 1806, Ruggieri began
sending mice and rats up in rockets, recovered them through
the use of parachutes. So I wonder if it was like small
bottle rockets and like, and then it's just a tiny little
parachute. It's like it's got a little
mouse with its little hat on a little.

(31:48):
Air traffic controller going up.That's about his hair's all
blown back. Yeah, that was a lot.
Oh my God, that was crazy. Send me back up.
You're just the mouse we want. I feel alive.
I feel alive. We do it again.
He also once launched a sheep roughly 600 feet into the air.

(32:10):
Oh my, the sheep is not a air animal.
How did? He launch ohh Porsche.
Shot with the rocket and then brought it back down unharmed,
he claims, with parachutes. Deeply traumatized.
Exactly. Unharmed is very subjective
there. How?
Did he get the parachute to likego off from the top?
If if he's from if he's at the bottom, that's I like a lever

(32:33):
someone has to pull. They're doing good.
They're real scientists. Yeah.
Seen hundreds and they're they're doing these
successfully. The The sheep is coming back
down. Yeah, I think most of the time
we experiment with animals that gosh.
She would go. I don't know, I.
Fuck if I know that's. Insane.
The wrong crowd for does anyone know?
Anyone. Pano might know.

(32:54):
Yeah, OK, Bud, [e-mail] letus know it's.
I want, I, I, I want receipts onthis story.
This is this is a wild fucking story.
It's true, it is. As a result, Ruggieri is
credited with being the first person to ever successfully
launch living animals into the air using rocket technology.
Good for him. Technology.
Good for him. I still I'm imagining that it's

(33:14):
like that sepia colored of the 1800s.
Everything was sepia. Colored, of course.
Yeah, yeah. And then he just has like a
giant box with giant matches andhe picks one up and he like,
like swipes it on the side. Oh yes.
And then he sends it off. Yeah, yeah, it's fun.
This all came 150 years before the Soviets and Americans began
the space race, and we were sending dogs and monkeys and

(33:38):
everybody. Wants like a bunch of shit.
Then they say people, but I don't believe it.
We did, we did, We have send people.
To the moon. Probably.
Probably that's not 100%. We're not getting into this.
No, that's a whole another episode, cow.
For his next feat in 1830, Ruggieri announced that he would

(33:58):
use a cluster of rockets to liftan even heavier animal into the
air. Better leave my big creatures
alone. This time a RAM, however, an 11
year old boy stood up and offered to replace the RAM as a
passenger on the test flight. And how do you do?
Plans were made for the young man to ascend to the heavens.

(34:18):
Jesus Christ it is. Of course, his parents weren't
around anywhere. No, probably.
Yeah. He's just an orphan in France.
Just just, you know, like this is like even before latchkey
kids were a thing. Right.
You know. Like it's way before.
So the kid, they were just like,hey, maybe come back.
I don't know. Yeah, I mean, honestly, if he
was cute like the fat kid from UP and I'd be like, all right,
you get an Oriental meatball, get on up there.

(34:42):
French authorities, however, intervened and canceled the
flight, apparently due to the volunteers young age.
So they were like, it's OK if they're a little bit older.
Yeah, come on, French losers like. 13 Come on.
I see. Let him up there.
Yeah, why not? Yet the French obsession with
flight would not end there. By the dawn of the 20th century,
a new inventor, Franz Reichfeldt, would take center

(35:06):
stage. Reichfeldt was known by the
epithet The Flying Tailor. Cool.
Name's Franz. You might know me as the Flying
Tailor. Nope, never heard of it.
Some people call me, they call me that.
Is that because your fly is down?

(35:26):
Born in Austria but living in France, France was in fact a
tailor by trade, as well as an inventor and pioneer of the
development of wearable, wearable parachutes.
Wearable. Just in case.
Just in case you got up onto a platform high enough.
Right. And if you want to look like a
fruit, bad all the time. You never know when you're gonna

(35:48):
need a parish it. Yeah, right.
Yeah, he just has it out and it's just dragging trash behind.
Right. For real.
Pretty cool. How?
Yeah, the flying tailor. Bronze began his experiments
with the use of crash test dummies, his own version.
Nice. His own version of crash test.
Were they people or? Animals, right?
Like what are? What is his version of a crash
test? Like a mannequin cuz he was a
tailor so he mannequins to throwaround.

(36:09):
Cuz I remember when they were really pushing crash test
dummies. Y'all are too young to remember
that cartoon. Oh.
I don't remember that. There was a cartoon.
Yeah, the little. Guy's name was Axel.
Funny. Crash and Axel.
Yeah, that's pretty funny. Yeah, so it was propaganda like
for for for safety and driving. Driving safety.
It's just like, give me going onCaptain Planet.

(36:31):
Oh that is insane propaganda. Oh yeah.
Thank you. You're.
You're welcome. So he found early success by
equipping the dummies with foldable silk wings.
OK. Dropping them from the heights
of 50 to 75 feet. All right.
They touched down lightly in hisdescription.
Great. Lightly they were probably like
bam yeah right it. Was pretty light.

(36:53):
But applying these prototypes towards human use proved very
difficult. Why?
Because we weigh so much more. Yeah, we weigh more.
We're moving around. But don't.
But don't sheep weigh a lot? Yeah, probably as much as a
dummy. I they can't weigh as much as we
do. I think a sheep would be more
than a dummy. Well, I will do some searching.
Some research. Thank you.
In 1911, Colonel Lalance of the Aero Club de France offered a

(37:18):
10,000 franc, which is 12,000 USreward for the development of a
reliable parachute for aviators.OK.
And. That was a lot of money back
then. Yeah, they had strict criteria.
1, the parachute had to weigh nomore than 55 lbs.
And two, the contest would be open to contenders over a span
of three years. So they're giving them some
time. OK.

(37:39):
OK so I searched average weight of a French sheep.
They say they can be 250 to 300 lbs.
So, yeah, and apparently, and that one landed super safely and
lightly, yeah. So I don't know.
Wow, wow, I didn't deliver that fucking huge.
That's scary. I can't picture how he's

(37:59):
strapping these things to a rocket.
Right, right. Well, Franz responded to the
challenge by continually modifying his design, managing
to lighten the apparatus while expanding its fabric to a
surface area of about 130 squarefeet.
I feel like the French were really big on this stuff because
do you remember the first guy that was like, oh, I created a
suit, like a body suit where I can fly.

(38:20):
And then he jumped off the what's the name of that place?
Not the Empire State Building, the big old thing in France.
Statue of Liberty. No, in the Eiffel Tower.
Yeah. And then he just fell right
down. Yes.
And they were like, it didn't work at all because he died.
Holy shit that's fucking crazy. Eiffel towering has a different
meaning now from. All the way from the top.

(38:40):
Yeah, it was all the way from the top and he just straight up,
he just like fell right down. Oh my God, There's footage of
it. There is, yeah.
I just started on Instagram. Now now Eiffel towering involves
a sexual act. Oh.
Right. It makes you create life instead
of take it away. It could, yeah, Despite these
efforts. Mom, how was I born?
Well. It was very French.

(39:02):
Yes, it was me, your dad, your dad's friend.
Uncle Greg. Uncle Greg So despite these
efforts, his trials using dummies, they consistently ended
in failure, with the test objects crashing to the ground
in the courtyard of his housing complex, which had to be so.
Fucking annoying. You think your neighbor is bad?
Yeah. Seriously.
Just constantly crashing test dummies into the the the porch

(39:24):
there it. Was kind of fun though.
Yeah, you. Know And that's just Peter.
Don't worry, you get used to it.Oh.
Can't even have a cookout out here.
Undeterred, Franz attempted a personal test jump in 1911 from
a height of approximately 33 feet.
Although the parachute did not function properly, a
strategically placed straw heap prevented serious harm.

(39:48):
Very good. Good old straw.
Heap. Good old straw heap.
Where were you on 9/11? I don't know why I'm thinking of
nine. 11 So I don't know why areyou bringing it.
Up. I don't know why I'm bringing
it. Up.
If they do it through a giant straw heap in front of the
towers, it would've. Stopped, but that probably
wouldn't have worked. Flammable and everything was.
It was horrible. It was a bad day.
Yeah, I was not. I'm still working through the
trauma. Yeah, Well, never forget.
Thank you. You're.
Welcome. This did not deter Franz.

(40:10):
He attempted again, where a fallfrom 26 feet left him with a
broken leg. Oh.
Geez, you should be so lucky. Yeah, the straw heap didn't
really work too well. Yeah, a little bit.
And I'm guessing they didn't, they didn't invent all of the,
you know, plushy like things that we have now for no stunt
people. I think they would sleep on
straw beds with straw pillowcases and stuff and straw

(40:30):
pillows. Sounds itchy.
Yeah, I think. That sounds uncomfortable.
Really uncomfortable. Believing the suit needed more
height and time to deploy successfully, Franz began
petitioning the Paris authorities to allow him to use
the newly built Eiffel Tower to further test his experiments.
Finally, in early February of 1912, he announced to the media

(40:52):
that he had finally received permission and would shortly
conduct an experiment from the Eiffel Tower to prove the value
of his invention. Oh my goodness, we've discussed.
We have Early on the morning of Sunday, February 4th, at 7:00
AM, Franz Reichfeldt arrived at the Eiffel Tower accompanied by
two friends. So that's fun.
You bring two of your buddies with you.
Like, you fucking really do thisthing?
Yeah, two really not good friends.

(41:14):
Yeah, dude, dude, dude. He's really gonna do it.
You know me fucking so much money.
This is awesome. You bet.
Right over under. Like, yeah, he's going under.
He was already dressed in the the experimental parachute, and
newsreel footage actually captured him showcasing the
outfit in its compact form. Local newspapers reported it as
barely bulkier than normal clothing, which is probably not
good. No.

(41:35):
When worn with the parachute folded, it allowed for full
freedom of movement. Deploying the parachute was
intended to be straightforward. All one had to do was simply
extend the arms outward to form a cross shape with the body.
He had automatic releases on this thing.
That's insane. Yeah, When open, the suit took
on the appearance of a large silk cloak with an oversized
hood and a canopy of 16 feet. Really stupid.

(41:57):
Batman, Yeah. Basically.
It's the flying Taylor. Taylor.
Whoa. The suit's weight was about £20.
OK. The weather that morning was
bitterly cold with sub zero temperatures and a brisk wind
sweeping over the Chomp Tamar. And all the way up there,
probably even colder. Oh, he was cold.
Yeah, I don't like that one bit.So he took to it and ascended

(42:18):
the Eiffel Tower. His friends urged him to
reconsider, suggesting he use a dummy for the demonstration
instead. They really.
It's nice of the friends anyway.Yeah, all these friends are
trying to talk people out of doing dumb shit.
Yeah, good. I did the little ascent up the
Eiffel Tower. I've done that before.
It's fine. It's a little overrated.
Yeah, you think it's? Overrated.
It's stairs. It's.

(42:38):
I mean I know it's stairs and inelevators and stuff, but at the
same time like as someone that'safraid of heights, like I
couldn't make it past the first level.
It's scary like that. The first level was why?
I was like, this is enough. And then I looked up and I was
like, oh, there's like two more levels.
You absolutely not right? And we get about it.
When you get to the top it like sways a little bit.
Absolutely. At some point it is gonna fall,

(42:59):
so yeah. Yeah, Nope, Nope.
Miss me with that. Well, his friends reassured him
that there would be future opportunities for him to test
the parachute himself. Yeah, gravity isn't going
anywhere bro. Be here for a while for.
Real. When that failed to sway him,
they pointed to the strong wind as a serious safety concern and
advised him to postpone the jumpuntil conditions improved.

(43:22):
Despite their efforts, he remained unwavering.
Wow, this is his life calling, dude.
Yeah, this is the plan. He couldn't stop if he wanted
to. He needs to jump.
He needs it, you know. Undiscouraged by his earlier
failures, he told reporters thathe had complete faith in his
invention and was confident it would perform as intended.
Even though it had never worked before.
No, with one day I'll be reincarnated in a Stockton rush.

(43:45):
Oh God, and I will find the Titanic.
When asked if he planned to takeany safety measures, such as
securing himself with a rope, hefirmly declined, insisting that
he was prepared to entrust his life entirely to his own device.
My God. He did it.
He definitely did that. Come on dude, like just they're

(44:05):
giving you all of these options.And like.
Just do it with these safety measurements at hand.
You can still test out your own device.
You still have a fail safe to survive.
Right. Also, like if it did work,
what's the react like? Oh, right.
Wow, you oh, you didn't you fellslow.
Yeah, you fell all different andslow.
Yeah. Yeah, this is all all like a

(44:26):
more polite way of saying I ain't no pussy.
Basically. Yeah, he's getting up there.
So he quoted, he was quoted in the newspapers as saying, I want
to try the experiment myself, and without trickery, as I
intend to prove the worth of my invention.
You're going to see how my 159 lbs and my parachute will give
your arguments the most decisiveof denials.
Oh, he thought because he was all skinny and brittle and shit

(44:47):
he would be able to do it. He's like, I'm half bird, my
bones are hollow. Literally, he's so prepared to
be like, you guys are going to see, watch, just watch.
You'll all see. And if it did work again, maybe
2 days in the press, maybe he gets the front page.
Well, I mean, this is this wouldbe huge.
It would be gigantic that someone jumped off the Eiffel

(45:08):
Tower and survived. And you could too.
Keep in mind fireworks were crazy at this time.
That's true. Again, fireworks are still
crazy. They still are, yeah.
They've stood the test of time. At 8:22 AM, observed by a crowd
of about 30 journalists and curious onlookers.
Oh no. Franz readied themselves

(45:29):
standing on a stool placed against the guardrail of the
Eiffel Tower's first deck. We all would have been there,
but because we didn't sleep the night before and we'd be like,
what the fuck's going on over there?
Yeah. Is that gonna jump?
Nah, you're tripping, dude. Think he's gonna jump?
Yeah. Dude, you're still fucked up
from last night. This is last night.
It was 187 feet above the ground, which didn't mean much

(45:50):
at the time, but that's now the police code for murder.
Does it tie? Does it?
Tie 1870. Got it.
It's a 187 on an undercover cop.Oh, I thought it was
motherfucking cop. Well, they say both.
Oh. Interesting, I did the radio
safe version. Oh, after adjusting his
apparatus with the assistance ofhis friends and checking the
wind direction by throwing a piece of paper taken from a

(46:11):
small book. Hopefully it wasn't a Bible
verse. Yep.
That's about right. That is yeah, that's that's
going to help. Saying his last same.
Thing. His last words he let out a very
cheery See you soon. Oh my God.
As he placed one foot on the guardrail, hesitated for about
40 seconds and then leapt outwards.

(46:34):
Holy shit. Fucking flat.
Oh my God, that reminds me one of Prince.
Was it Prince Charles's or one of the Prince's friends just
swallowed a bee while playing polo?
Oh yeah, the billionaire. Yeah, yeah, his last words were.
I think I've swallowed something.
Right. You sure did, pal.
See you soon. 40 seconds. He In those 40 seconds, he was

(46:55):
like, man, I could take this, but now I'm already here.
Fucking fucking fucking. Yeah, when you're doing
something that intense, 40 seconds must seem like so long.
Yeah, just staring down to your own death.
I would be so nervous. Just yeah.
I hate heights so much, yeah. And it was the first deck of the
Eiffel Tower. It was.
Just the first. Yeah, the same place that I

(47:16):
didn't make it past. Wow, honestly if he would have
gone up higher maybe it would have been better.
I mean, that's what my my friends are pilots.
They say if there is anything that goes wrong with a plane,
the higher up you are, the better you are.
It's counterintuitive, but you have more time to correct.
Fantastic. Well, that's great.
Yes, I love that. For time to correct.
Yeah, if we ever go on a tour orwhen we go on tour, it's going

(47:37):
to be called driving. We're going to drive nice ten
hour, 10 hour radius. That's I.
Love that. Drive, don't worry about it.
I. Know, I know, your car is so
comfortable. It is unless I try to park.
I'm going to drive and then Jerry Park.
Park and then I'll park. Yeah, because I don't know
spaces very well, yeah. Well, this guy didn't know
distances either. His parachute, which only seemed

(47:59):
to be half open. His entire parachute folded
around him almost immediately, and he fell for a few seconds
before striking the frozen soil at the foot of the tower.
Wow. It's also, yeah, it's nice that
it was frozen too. Makes it you know it was.
Pretty immediate, yeah. Yeah.
Reporters and onlookers rushed to his body.
His right leg and arm were crushed.

(48:19):
His skull and spine were broken.Oh my God.
He was bleeding from his mouth, nose and ears.
Oh my God. Which that tell me guys.
This doesn't work. Did I do good?
Yeah. Buddy, you did great.
You did great. Buddy, am I?
Am I still still flying? Yeah, yeah, man, yeah, just.

(48:40):
Go wait till I get a load of meat.
Right. Oh my God.
Oh God. Newspapers noted that his eyes
were wide open and dilated, so he hit the ground was like.
Oh my God. Shit.
Oh. Holy.
I mean, yeah, it must be a crazyrealization.
And it's not even enough time toeven realize that.

(49:01):
It's like, oh, I'm not slowing down, I'm fully falling.
Yep. That's the thing, I know, Jerry,
you said you've gone skydiving as well, but that was my first
thought when I was after I jumped out.
It was pure terror. And then it was complete bliss.
And then it was holy fuck the parachute needs to open 'cause
we're flying at the ground at like 100 some miles an hour.
Oh, it sounds awful. I'm not doing it.
Yeah, no, I don't know. When I free fell, I kind of
loved it. Yeah, I like the free because, I

(49:23):
mean, the falling out of the plane, like really, really
sucked. Oh my God, it, yeah, it just, it
just made my whole body, like, melt.
Yeah, but the second, like the wind, like catches up with you
and then it feels like you're racing.
Yeah, you're like floating almost.
It feels like, yeah, it feels like I was going fast and just
not just like falling. Like I feel like I was falling
forward kind of thing. Yeah, so crazy.
But then I felt it when the parachute opened and I was like,

(49:45):
Oh my God, I'm in the middle of the sky.
Yeah, then you felt. That's when I freaked out.
Then you felt a little poke comethrough because the guy was all
aroused. The dude was yeah, because the
dude ended up freaking just cat calling me from behind.
Oh my God. In the middle of the air.
Yeah, well, he was already dead by the time anyone reached him.
Yeah, yeah. Way dead.

(50:06):
Way dead. He was 33 years old.
Well, he packed a lot into. That it's the same age as Jesus.
And me. Yeah, and Larry Birds number.
Wow, look at that, that a lot ofthings have 33, yeah, 30 threes.
But all of those people. Chris Farley.
John Belushi. Oh, wow, look at that.
Yeah. Geez.
I always thought I was going to die at 33, but then you don't

(50:27):
die at 33. And then it's like, OK, and now
I'm almost 44, and that's when John Candy died.
So now I realize I'm just going to have to live until like, I
think I'm going to die at 88. There you go.
Double it, OK. Yeah, I don't know why.
I just feel like 88. I think I'm probably going to go
around 123. I could see that you're going to
live a long time. Yeah, that's too compact.
Yeah, yeah. I mean, I knew all of my great
grandmothers like we all I there.

(50:48):
There's technically a long lifespan, and I love, I love
that, yeah. Footage of the incident shared
with the public showed Franz andhis final moments before the
fatal jump film of the attempt, including the actual footage of
him slamming off the ground and being hastily removed from the
scene, and onlookers measuring the depth of the crater left
behind by his body can still be seen today it.

(51:10):
Can. Yeah, so that's what me and Ben
were talking about right before this story.
We're actually pre empting this.We've seen the footage of it.
Yeah, it's fucking disgusting. Unfortunately, I want to see the
footage. I don't want to, but I do.
Yeah. I mean, you do.
It's interesting. Yeah, it is very interesting
and. Also, while he was going up the
Eiffel Tower, how come people didn't just like secretly set up

(51:31):
some kind of a cushion right while he was going up?
And they were like, yeah buddy, no, yeah, we'll let you for sure
jump off. And then once he like gets onto
the stairs, they're just like, all right, start setting up the
hay sack or something. I.
Don't want to like shame the dead, but he sounds like really
obnoxious. Yeah, sounds like a total prick
who is just like pays a lot of hubris.
Hubris. Literally just like, I'm gonna

(51:53):
do it. I'm gonna just like, OK buddy,
do it then. Exactly.
Oh, you did it. Yeah, you did it anytime.
And he did it. It's like Stockton Rush, right?
Did we learn anything from it? No.
OK. Like there was no like math or
like no formula. We learned from it.
Nah, just like don't do. It Well, yeah, terminal
velocity. Yeah, nudes travelled slow at
the time. And in fact, on February 2nd,
1912, just two days prior to hisfatal jump, an American

(52:16):
maintenance worker named Frederick R Law sounds like a
lawyer. It's very creative.
Freddie law. Freddie Law.
He had successfully parachuted from the viewing platform of the
torch of the Statue of Liberty. That's fucked up.
That's hilarious. And that came from the French.
Yeah, Isn't that nice? Yeah, and he successfully did
it. That's cool, but then he must

(52:37):
have hit the water, right? But they said, well, no, they
they just, he just. There's a little bit of land.
Around there's a Oh yeah, of course.
OK, land around. It OK, so he he jumped 151 feet
from the base of the statue. Wow, seemingly on a whim.
So he just was like, I'm gonna go, you know, start BASE jumping
now. Let's.
Go Yeah. Well, maybe he was better with
the winds because and his friends say that the wind

(52:58):
velocity was dangerous for the French guy.
Yes, so and and as soon as he fell like the parachute
immediately like folded over andwrapped around him.
So I think the winds did have a lot to do with it, May.
Have don't forget, this is all apart of that competition, too.
So he was trying to win $12,000.So that's why in that time,
that's just an insane amount of money.
Yeah. Yeah.
And this guy, Frederick our law,who jumped off the Statue of

(53:20):
Liberty, he already won the prize because he successfully
did it. This guy, this guy who jumped
off the Eiffel Tower, didn't know that the prize was already
won. This is a global prize.
Yes. I blame all of us then.
Yeah, that was ridiculous. Yeah, we're all complicit in
this. Parachute.
So wait for the Raven to get to your city to let you know what's
what. The update is on the game.
It's got to communicate with thelittle dog and then the dog's

(53:42):
got to go talk to a child and got to not believe the child and
the yeah. As the 20th century moved along,
more Americans were beginning tosteal the proverbial torch from
the French in the world of aerial feats and
accomplishments. Take that, French.
Yeah, Jerry sent me an Instagramclip.
Apparently in 2012 they tried tobring bring back horse jumping
or horse. Diving, Horse diving.

(54:03):
They were. Yeah, they were horrible.
They were taking horses on really large on really high
platforms, Yeah, and literally diving straight into water.
What? And then I did a little research
and apparently the horses didn'tlike it and they had massive
PTSD. Yeah.
And then once they could no longer jump, they would be
killed. Oh my.
Holy, yeah, they're like that. He got scared.
That made them walk the plank, yeah.

(54:24):
Wow, yeah, many horses broke their neck 'cause, you know,
it's all stupid. Yeah, till horse dive.
The hell is that? I think that humans have a
fascination with jumping off things.
We really do. So another thing that's like,
it's a simple but still some kind of a magical phenomenon to
us, like fireworks. Well, there's a lot of cultures
where you become a man when you jump off like a big old Cliff or

(54:44):
something. Exactly like why are we?
I don't want to be a man. It always translates like more
as you get older 'cause you're you're younger and you're like,
mate, you see that rock? I'm gonna jump off that shit.
And yeah, but then you get older, that part doesn't go
away. And you're like, see that Eiffel
Tower? I'm I'm going to jump off of it.
And it's like, why? Why dude?
'Cause I can. It's cool.
So during World War One, and even more so in World War 2,

(55:07):
combat pilots known as Flying Aces became the stars of
newspapers and movie theater newsreels around the world with
names like the Red Baron, Eddie Rickenbacker and Chuck Yeager.
Whoa. OK, well, one's a liquor, one's
a pizza, and then the other one just didn't really do anything.
Huh? The.
Other one had rickets. Yeah, these pilots were real
life superheroes, and if they were lucky enough to see life

(55:29):
after the war, they became A list celebrities.
Cool. Yeah, no flying ace during the
time received more success or fame than the American Richard
Bong. Oh, let's go.
Born on September 20. Flying high.
Let's go. Born on September 24th in 1920
in Superior, WI. Oh wow, very nice.

(55:54):
A beautiful place. Beautiful Bong became obsessed
with airplanes at a young age. President Calvin Coolidge had a
summer home in Superior, and a young Bong remembers the Daily
Mail planes. The Daily Mail planes fly to and
from the summer White House, sending and delivering all the
important news and correspondences of the time.
Wow, different time Bong's at the White House.

(56:14):
Fun fun. Era At the age of 18 in 1938,
Richard enrolled in the CivilianPilot Training program and began
taking private flying lessons. On May 29th, 1941, still over
six months before Pearl Harbor, Bong enlisted in the Army Air
Corps Aviation Cadet Program. No way we'll lose that war.
No, we didn't. That was the one we won.

(56:35):
Yeah. One of his flight instructors at
the time was Captain Barry Goldwater.
Oh my goodness. Later AUS Senator from Arizona
and candidate for president in 1964.
Sounds like an awesome powers villain.
Yeah, he was kind of. I read his book.
It was interesting. He began a different kind of
conservative movement, yes, but I believe he lost to a Lyndon

(56:57):
Johnson. Big Dick Linden Bong's
accomplishments and feats of bravery and war have been
recorded in great detail throughout the decade since
World War 2, so for the sake of the podcast, we'll keep it
brief. Bong was sent to the Pacific
Theater in the war, flying in battles such as Bunagona and the
Philippines Campaign. He flew for the United States
Army Air Forces and achieved a rank of Major.

(57:19):
Major Dick Bong. Major Dick bong hot.
Hot. Boxing is playing.
What do you call that cockpit? Nice.
There's a bong in the cockpit. And it's Dick.
Yeah. He was ultimately awarded the
Air Medal 15 times, Distinguished Flying Cross 7
times, Silver Star twice, and the Distinguished Service Cross

(57:43):
and the highest possible military decoration of the Mall,
the Medal of Honor by General Douglas MacArthur.
And a golden bong. Golden Dick.
Oh, gold Dick bong like that? Yeah, the balls or the bubbler?
Smoke it out of the table. Oh yes.
On April 12th, 1944, Bong shot down his 26th and 27th Japanese

(58:04):
aircraft. Dang, this is surpassing Eddie
Rickenbacker's American record of 26 during World War One.
Let's just stop you from just lying.
We'll just make it up. Bong later explained his
personal fighting and flying style in simple terms quote he
considered his gunnery accuracy to be poor, so he compensated by
getting as close to his targets as possible to make sure he hit

(58:25):
them. In some cases he flew through
the debris of exploding enemy aircraft and on one occasion he
collided with his target. Damn.
So yeah, he was just getting right up close, just actually
putting it to the side of their head and bang.
Holy. Hell, in midair, that's crazy.
Wait, wait. Colliding into his target was
not the death of him. I guess not.
What the? Just nicked him, I guess.
Yeah, I don't know. Nobody kills the bong.

(58:47):
That was just people, men, men being men, you know, back in the
day. Yeah, yeah, Aerial locker room
talk. Yeah, grab them by the bong.
Over a year before the war was over, Richard Bong had
established himself as the most effective pilot in U.S. military
history. Nice.
With a verifiable for 40 enemy plane shot down and another 11

(59:09):
receiving substantial damage. Wow, so if there's two, are
there two people per plane? Is it just 40 people or did he
kill 80 people? No, it's no with the with these
like jets, yeah. Isn't it one person just.
One person possible there might have been more people on board,
but it's 40 enemy planes. OK.
Yeah, we'll give him 40. Then he got 40.
He got 40 kills. Yeah, with another 11 that, you
know, we're knocked around enough to be substantially

(59:31):
damaged. Yeah.
Yeah, he was so popular back home that he was given a
promotion and given leave from combat.
So they're like, you've done so well, you can go home.
Honorable discharge. Yeah, yeah.
From the Dick bong, that's what conceived us all.
Honorable discharge. Yes indeed.
I'll never forget when my fathersaluted it.
Nice, He must have had massive PTSD though so it'd be

(59:54):
interesting getting all the awards and him just shaking and
kind of dying inside. Yeah, seriously, it's just
everyone is like fantastic job and he's yeah, I'm a murderer.
Yeah, yeah, it's kind of sticking with me.
The war is kind of staying with me.
Yeah, the military felt that thedeath of Bong would be so
detrimental to American morale that it was better he not
continue fighting at all. Wow.
That's interesting. He's worth more alive than dead.

(01:00:16):
That's pretty, you know. OK, Crazy.
That's good. In the final year of the war,
Bong toured the United States asa celebrity, promoting war bonds
at various PR events. Oh, they got him into crypto.
Yeah, crypto over the time. Yeah, just buy this ticket and
don't lose it. By August of 1945, he became a
test pilot. He flew some of the most
technologically advanced planes of the time, jet planes that

(01:00:38):
would later define the Cold War era, working for Lockheed Martin
at their plant in Burbank, CA. Right.
Oh, we're right here. Bong flew the futuristic P80
shooting star jet fighter over 12 test flights.
He had logged a total of 4 hoursand 15 minutes of flight time.
Well. That's not that much, yeah.
OK, his 13th and final time cameon August 6th, 1945.

(01:01:01):
During takeoff, the main fuel pump on Bong's aircraft failed.
Uh oh, that's not good. For reasons unknown, he did not
engage the backup pump. What?
Dick's got a pump. You want to engage the backup
pump? Yeah, you.
Want to engage the backup? Come on.
He attempted to eject, but the altitude was too low for his
parachute to deploy properly. Wow, that seems like the name of

(01:01:23):
the game this episode. Yep, the Dick needed to
ejaculate, but he wasn't able to.
Higher wasn't erect enough it. Needs to be higher.
Yeah, maybe he was smoking too much out of that bong and his
Ding Dong didn't work, No. More.
Oh damn, yeah. The plane in Bong's life went
down in a small field near the intersection of Oxnard and
Satsuma in North Hollywood. That's right.
That is right fucking there. We're horrifying.

(01:01:47):
Isn't there like a Taco Bell there or something?
Yeah, maybe it's a monument for Bong.
For Bong. Yeah.
He was 24 years old. Wow.
Oh, my God. He did all of that at 24.
Yeah, well, we live longer now, so it's normal to have a longer
time before you succeed at anything.
You know, Morgan Freeman was 50 before he got his major first

(01:02:07):
roles. That's great.
Yeah. We're fine.
We're doing. Fine, keep telling myself that.
Yeah, yeah. And then the other French guy
was like, he was 33. And then his whole life he was
just like shooting up animals into the sky.
Right, right. Yep.
And I'm like, I haven't shot anything up with rock.
I haven't done. Yeah, no, no jumped off
anything. I don't want to jump.
I jumped off a plane. What did Meghan Markle say yet?

(01:02:30):
Yet we haven't exploded ourselves.
Yet yeah, the death of Richard Bong became immediate national
news. But August 6th, 1945 was also
the day the US dropped its firmest first atomic bomb on
Hiroshima. Right.
Good. Flew a little under the radar
then. Yeah, I thought that date
sounded a little familiar. Right.
Kind of overshadowed the death of Bong, yeah.

(01:02:51):
The Los Angeles Times headline on that day read Quote Atomic
bomb hits Japan slash jet plane explosion kills Major Bong.
Ground control to major bomb. Despite the American public's
morale, Bong had died technically during the war.
But in less than a month, the war would be over.

(01:03:13):
Right. And he wasn't.
He didn't die fighting in the war.
Right. He was doing test flights in
Burbank. That's so much.
Sadder crashing in our backyard.It's.
Actually ironic because they really ruined a good story of a
martyr. They really did.
Bong's body was returned to Wisconsin for burial.
In the 1950s, construction beganon the Richard Bong Air Force
Base in southeastern Wisconsin. Is it there?

(01:03:36):
However, by 1959 the plan was abandoned and the land is now
the Richard Bong State Recreation Area.
Oh, that's sweet. Let's go.
Recreational marijuana, perhaps?Yes.
Today, a bridge in Superior, WI is named after him, the Bong
Memorial Bridge. People be smoking on that, all
them cool kids be smoking on there.

(01:03:56):
It's a beautiful, winding, curving piece of art and
engineering unlike any bridge you will ever see.
It was completed in 1984 and spans over 11,800 feet of the
Saint Louis Bay on Lake Superior.
Dang, alright, alright. And just like that story, this
episode has now come to a close bone.

(01:04:17):
But we have plenty more where that came from.
Next week for Part 2 of Death byPublic Spectacle.
There's a part. Two, there's a Part 2 and by the
time that comes out, the episodeafter that, we'll have full
strength. We'll have full video here of
the new studio that's currently under construction.
And yeah, yeah, we will be goinghard.
Oh, we're gonna go real hard. Yeah, so, so hard.

(01:04:39):
Dick Hard. Yeah, Bong Hard.
Yeah. So if you have any episodes you
want us to do, e-mail us at death and
[e-mail] and yeah, go to patreon.com/die bud
2 podcasts 1 Patreon and we got much, much content coming your.
Way I have an episode I want us to Do you want a baraza?
Oh, this is this chick. She was a she was a Juana Juana.

(01:05:02):
She was a Mexican serial killer slash professional slash
professional wrestler. Whoa, I.
Think I've heard of? Her, Yeah.
She killed like a lot of people.Yeah.
Yeah. Wow.
She was, Yeah. Anyway, I would love to do that.
Episode. That would be incredible.
Because I'm big into lucha rightnow.
Yeah. Yeah, it's the best.
Hell yeah. All right, everyone, thank you
all so much for listening to Hail Yourself.

(01:05:23):
Until next week. Don't go dying on us.
Bye bye, you have just heard. A true Hollywood murder mystery.
I have never seen anything like this before.
The movies, Broadway, music, television, all of it.
A place that manufacturers nightmares.
OK, everybody, that's a wrap. Good night, please drive home

(01:05:45):
carefully and come back again soon.