Public Spectacles of Death Pt. 2 (Episode 170)

The curtain rises again on humanity’s most jaw-dropping exits. In Part 2, we dive headfirst into a fresh wave of high-stakes disasters — from fiery race car crashes witnessed by millions, to deadly attempts at breaking world records that went down in history for all the wrong reasons. These are the moments where ambition, danger, and audience collide… with tragic results. Because when the spotlight hits, sometimes death takes center stage.

🔊 Listener discretion is advised. Things get wild.

Death in Entertainment is hosted every week by Kyle Ploof, Jerii Aquino and Ben Kissel.

Story by Brandon Preo

#truecrime #racecardisasters #worldrecordfails #darkhistory #publicdeath #podcast

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Episode Transcript

(00:02):
Live from Los Angeles. 911 What is your emergency?
Here in Hollywood now 2 counts of murder, 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. Entertainment.

(00:26):
Greetings, Deado Universe, how are you?
My name is Kyle Plouffe. And I'm Jerry Aquino.
And I'm Ben Kissel. Some things are best done in
private, such as death. But today we're talking about
public spectacles of death. Don't.
Do that. Part 2.
Part 2. Yes.
We're getting this podcast in the air.

(00:47):
All right, let's go. In our last episode, we talked

(01:18):
about some of the worst tragedies of public spectacle
when it comes to things that fly.
Oh yeah, we had the sheep going up in the air.
They survived. Though, right.
I think it was more things that fall, wasn't it?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean the dude that fell off of
the Eiffel Tower, he was trying to fly.
He was trying to, yeah, yeah. Whether it be fireworks,
balloons, rockets, parachutes, planes, mice, sheep are humans.

(01:40):
Jesus. Leave the mice alone that.
Was fun. Yeah.
Even in the air, someone could always hear you scream.
Not in space. Though, no, that's a vacuum.
That's what they say. That's my preferred.
Yep, that's my preferred method of suicide.
By the way, is. To go to space.
Go to space, take your helmet off, Sure.
Get done instantly. OK, Yeah.

(02:02):
Baby, you're a firework. You're the next Katy Perry.
It's really expensive to do that.
Yeah, yeah. I was going to say you have to
afford to be able to do that. Or I just got my level of
celebrity up there enough to be able to get shot off like Katy
Perry. OK, wow.
That's going to happen. You're going.
To get some heavy tits though, let's.
Go. You're going to start.
Making out with the ground now. Yeah, lucky ground.
So in today's episode, we will finish the Tales of the Sky with

(02:25):
a story about the worst air stunt disaster in American
history. After that, we're going to hit
the ground running with some stories about how public
spectacles can go unequivocally,horribly wrong right here on
Earth. Or do they go super right I.
Guess sometimes if you plan out the proposal just right, yeah,
if you put up all the signs, they're like, will you go to

(02:46):
prom with me? Those are the public spectacles
that might work sometimes. They could.
If they don't involve fire. Often times people watch NASCAR
for the crashes. I would assume people go to air
shows for the unbelievable possible possibility of a
flaming death. Messed up.
That's not why I would go to an air show.
That's why a lot of people go. I would go to an air show so
that I can see the professionalsdo their professional thing in

(03:06):
the sky and make it safely on the ground.
And possibly die in an explosion.
Don't like that? Okay.
So we ended our last episode with the story of how America
helped win World War 2. American aviation was now
reaching his peak at home and abroad.
The world police were displayingtheir might and influence all
around the globe. That's us.
Yeah. Cool.

(03:26):
The. World Police.
Team America. Oh, got it.
This was never more evident thanin the places they had recently
conquered in war, Japan and Germany ever since the early
1950's. the US Air Force Base atRammstein.
Did I say that right? Is it Rammstein?
Rammstein, Rammstein Rammstein, Rammstein, Rammstein.

(03:47):
Duh, duh. Mesh.
It was pretty good. Yeah, it was very.
It was really nice. Yeah, and he knew it was the US
planes flying overhead because they kept on dropping mayonnaise
on everybody. Yeah.
Yeah. You want.
You got to win the culture war first.
Yeah. And you got to start with the
sandwiches. So this is in West Germany and
this Air Force Base, they would host the Fluke tag air show
well. That sounds fun.

(04:08):
So fluke tags I originally thought.
I thought Red Bull invented it. OK, so because they always had
the fluke tag thing. What's a flu dog?
This is the most I've ever heardthe word I've never.
Heard that word ever in my life.Sounds like an excuse to stay
home from school. I get the fluke dog.
So from the start, the annual event was a chance for American
military personnel and family, as well as German civilians, to
socialize, interact and enjoy public spectacle.

(04:31):
They were meant to heal their war wounds of the past.
For aviation enthusiasts, the event allowed them to experience
up and close the next generationof fighter aircraft really seen
by civilians. What a day to love aviation.
Yeah, so during Fluke Talk 1988,more than 300,000 visitors came
to see aircraft like the American B1 bomber and the F16

(04:52):
fighter jet. I love that.
And the halftime show was SteelyDan.
Oh my God, imagine we're going back.
Check. Nice.
But the biggest draw by far was the air show, where the
international aerobatic teams from all over Europe and the USA
showcase their skills. Isn't this a little bit

(05:14):
triggering because we were just at war?
I mean, I guess what, this is 88.
You said it's been a minute, Allright.
We're about to get into another one, apparently 91.
Oh sweet. Yeah, that's Desert Storm,
right? Another.
Another. One.
Well, yeah. So it's the first Iraq war?
So would it be the 3.5? Something like that.
Yeah, something like that. And Desert Storm.
It was real fast and we got trading cards.

(05:35):
Yeah, it was kind of fun. Cool.
I made it fun, yeah. The highlight of the afternoon
was an aerial performance by theiconic Italian Air Force
Aerobatic display team. Just don't see Italians flying.
The aerobatic Italian display team.
Here we go. Dressed in their distinctive

(05:56):
flight suits, the pilots, FrecheTricolori Freche Tricolori
shared final instructions and made preparations for their
aerial maneuvers. Their mission was to Florida
State execute the Pierced Heart formation.
What? Is the pierced heart formation.
Well, it is an impressive display that demanded impeccable

(06:17):
timing and synchronization. That is 1 spicy meatball.
It's got to look like the so youguys are the arrows and we're
the heart of the Cupid and it's got to look like the arrows just
going straight. In Oh yeah of.
Course. Italians incorporate romance
into everything, right? The highly skilled aerial
display unfolds as 10 aircraft, designated as Pony One through

(06:38):
Pony 10, take flight and ascend.What is it?
Are the outsiders? What's happening?
They then split apart in a synchronized maneuver. 5 planes
go to the left while four roll over to the right, all trailing
smoke behind them. That love, that good for the
world. Yeah, absolutely.

(06:58):
Very Italian. Yeah, and the smoke ultimately
forms a giant heart shape in thesky as the two groups intersect
just 100 feet above the ground, parallel to the ground.
Damn that is pretty close to theground.
That's crazy. Why are they going that close?
You can almost smell the perfume.
Yeah, could definitely smell thegasoline.
Flying Pony 10 was Evo Nudarelli, an experienced solo

(07:21):
pilot faced with the most challenging task of the
formation. His mission was to Pierce the
heart-shaped formation, soaring through the intersecting groups
at a perpendicular angle, thrilling the crowd below.
OK, I like it so far. His I think nothing could go
wrong. Yeah, nothing.
Oh man. Well, his aircraft roared into
the sky, leaving behind red, white and green smoke trails fun
the the Italian flag. Oh, I like that, yeah.

(07:44):
The audience's anticipation reached a crescendo.
Despite having performed this maneuver more than 70 times.
This time, Nudarelli's attempt went horribly wrong.
As the plane soared, it climbed higher than anticipated and
rapidly dove downward. I mean, he did it right.
The plane wasn't like I'm going to take care of this now.
Could be OK. But once it like gets too high

(08:06):
up, you can't control it and then it falls and then things
breakdown. And then it could stall.
Recognizing the dangerous situation, Nudarelli swiftly
deployed the belly mounted air brake to slow his descent.
I want one of those. Belly mounted air break.
Yeah, that just means give me another slice of pizza.
Yeah, stops you from going to the buffet.

(08:27):
Ohh no it. It sounds like like you're just
like falling face, like stomach flat to like a slip and slide.
Oh yeah, yeah. Apparently a lot of people got
injured on slip and slides. I was watching this fantastic
YouTube video about dangerous toys.
Oh yeah, people would break their necks.
Well, yeah, people would have like rocks underneath it.
You'd be getting fucked up and all bruised and everything.

(08:47):
It's not on the slip and slide. Yeah, no, it's not.
It's your fault. Slipping slide.
Oh, it's not on the slipping slide.
Yeah, I get what you're saying. But it was like, it wasn't even
like a super comfortable thing to like, fully slide on.
But then they were like, yeah, this like, flat piece of vinyl.
Just fucking throw yourself on the floor and slide down.
Would you gotta get it wet? Got it.
And they and they said adults, they were too fat.
They would go and then they would stop halfway through and

(09:09):
they would break their freaking chunky necks.
Oh God, that's that's a spectacle of death right there.
Fun for the whole family below him, the five planes on the
right of the heart-shaped formation and the four jets
coming in from the left we're hurtling towards each other at
350 miles an hour, performing their meticulously rehearsed
routine. The two formations masterfully

(09:30):
weaved through each other just 130 feet off the ground.
That's. Insane.
Yeah, that is, it's way too close.
Which was much to the delight ofthe thrilled crowd below.
I'm. Sure.
A delight. Meanwhile, Evo Nudarelli's
desperate attempt to decelerate his plane proved futile.
Despite his best efforts, he flew too fast and too low,
tragically intersecting the formation just a few seconds too

(09:51):
early. Yeah, that's a lot of seconds
though. Like that's a lot.
Like in that era, in that time. I'm sorry that seconds are a
lot. Noudarelli's Pony 10 clipped the
cockpit of Pony 2, flown by Giorgio Alessio.
The collision then sent Noudarelli's jet hurtling into
Pony 1, piloted by Mario Naldini.
Oh no, I feel like all their grandmothers can just They're

(10:12):
looking up to the heavens in Italy, knowing something is
wrong. No, no, no.
The force of the impact shattered the tail section of
Pony One, while Noudarelli's aircraft suffered A catastrophic
blow to its front. Pony One and Two crashed on the
northern runway, instantly killing both pilots.
A blaze and spinning out of control, Noudarelli's solo plane

(10:34):
kept its trajectory towards the audience.
With its left wing tip striking the grassy field just 160 feet
short of the front row of spectators, 300 gallons of jet
fuel within its tanks exploded into a relentless wave of fire.
And that's what took down Building 7, yeah.
Oh my God, did it and did the fire reach the audience?
The blazing wreck cartwheeled forward, obliterating a police

(10:56):
car and tearing through a barbedwired fence before slamming into
the densely packed crowd of spectators.
You're going to want to get out of there.
Yeah, out of. There, I mean, the second it
looks like 1, one plane is falling from the sky, it's like,
yeah, I think this show's done, it's time to leave.
Yeah, but they make it look likethat all the time at air shows.
It's like, Oh my God, it's hurling towards the ground.
Then they go. This is why the what?
Yeah, This is why the person whogoes and gets more concessions

(11:18):
always lives. Yes, exactly you got.
To be in line, waiting for your Burr, waiting for your dog,
you're going to be fine. The area of the crash, right
next to the airstrip, had been considered the best seats in the
house. Now spectators were covered in a
cloud of burning fuel and glowing metal from the aircraft
and fence. Glowing metal.
This is not what we paid for. This is not what we paid for.

(11:40):
It's literally turning into magma and lava like on their
fucking bodies. Like RoboCop when he gets hit by
the car. Ohh wow this is creating a lot
of villains. It really is.
The entire sequence of events from initial collision to the
crashed into the spectators unfolded in just 7 seconds.
Damn. Oh my God that must have
happened so fast. Like so beyond comprehension.

(12:02):
Like what? I was looking at the sky at one
point and now I'm on fire. Yeah, but does time stand still
at those moments in life? Yeah, it's, it's longer in that
time. It might be.
It might be. 7 seconds is usually good.
You get 7 seconds in heaven withsomeone in a closet at a party
and they go yeah make out, make out, fuck.
Yeah, I I'm thinking I don't want to go to heaven if that's
what it is. 7 seconds. We did 7 minutes in heaven.

(12:24):
Oh wow, that's a long time. Dominican.
That's enough to keep Yeah, you get.
I have a whole family by the. Time you're out of there, that's
usually and that then that's whyeveryone is so populated.
This comes on the grandmother, yeah.
With no time to escape, 31 people died instantly.
Oh my God. Wow.
Within the next 45 minutes, two dozen emergency vehicles and
eight rescue helicopters were onthe scene, picking up hundreds

(12:47):
of gravely injured people. The regulations of the US
military dictated that injured individuals should be
transported to a hospital as quickly as possible, a protocol
known as load and go. Well, isn't.
Yeah. What else would they do?
Yeah, I mean, take these injuredpeople and get the fuck out of
here. That's what I hoped for.
Put them back in the crowd. We want to make.
We want to make it look like it's full for the cameras.
Yeah, not this one. This approach contrasted with

(13:10):
the local German practice of assessing injuries on site and
administering initial emergency treatment before transportation.
Do you want? That what do you do first?
Yeah, I don't know if you want the Germans to be assessing your
injuries. What is it?
Yeah, you're just on fire. Yeah, I can't figure it out.
A German paramedic in the midst of the disaster was recorded on

(13:31):
radio saying, quote, we are constantly searching for burn
victims who are being snatched away from us by the Americans
and transported without receiving any treatment at all.
People with burnt clothes and sagging burnt skin were swarming
with pain and shock in the back of a pickup truck that were not
even using the emergency exit road.
Oh my. God, that is very That is the

(13:52):
most American form of EMT. Load and go.
Load and go put them in the backof the truck.
Let's go. Let's take the scenic route
though. Oh, of course.
Well, it's beautiful even if you're Slough in your skin off
your body. Like, oh, this Amalfi Coast is
nice. It is.
Nice my. God beautiful.
The disaster would ultimately claim the lives of 67
spectators. Wow.

(14:13):
Plus 3 pilots. And they count, They count.
That's 70 people. It is.
And the planes, right, Which if they're sentient, you got to add
them too. More than 500 other civilians
had to undergo hospital treatment for the incident.
And then just one person was like, I demand to see your
manager. I would like a refund.
I was promised to see the heart,and I don't think they finished
it. Yeah.

(14:34):
What started as a public spectacle of the skies ended as
an unimaginable disaster on land, which is where we pivot to
next. Land deaths.
The land, I don't like that that's where we are, yeah.
Yeah, yeah. I don't want to find out ways
that I could die on land. I'm already constantly worried
about it. Oh, my God.
I had a tripping fall a couple of years ago.
I thought that was it. Yeah.
Yeah, that's how I'm going to. That's how all of us are going

(14:56):
to go. Tripping and falling.
Tripping, falling. You know, something real stupid.
Everyone dies from something real stupid.
Yeah, I had. Whooping cough and I freaking
fell in the middle the road and the car had to like stop and
screech right in front of like running my head over and people.
Judged him. They thought he was a drug
addict. Yes, almost like I thought you
were on drugs. Another one was like, I thought
you were drunk and then one girlwas crying.
That's hilarious. She thought she was witnessing
me fucking dying. That is really funny.

(15:18):
I had to be like, sorry to her. I was consoling her seems.
Like the full cast of an intervention?
Seriously. So after what happened in the
skies above West Germany in 1988, you wouldn't think that
Americans on solid ground could do any worse.
Right now, give us a chance. But you would be wrong, OK?
In fact, almost 100 years earlier, a publicity stunt in

(15:41):
Texas ended with an equal amountof explosions and carnage.
Oh, this is when publicity stunts were really fun and
dangerous and scary. And what was that like?
There was no rules, no restrictions.
Yeah, it's not like just like some celebrity dating another
celebrity. Yeah.
Well, that whoa, that happens, and they all pretend like
they're lesbian or straight, depending on the week.

(16:01):
Yeah. Or gay gay gay.
The crash at Crush was a one daypublicity stunt in the US state
of Texas that took place on September 15th, 1896.
Oh man, you never think about them having any fun ever.
No, yeah. Like they must have seen the
Flyers in the whole like, month they were getting ready for
this. I know you always think of them
working and struggling. Yes.

(16:23):
And then just like building. Yep, and then just coughing to
death, right? Right, This is insane.
So this stunt, the whole thing was to have two locomotives that
were let loose. What?
Full steam ahead and they were meant to crash head on into each
other at a high speed. We've always been stupid, that.
Does sound pretty fun. USAUSA this.

(16:44):
Is what they needed trained? Yeah, like let's just fucking
destroy them. Well.
Let's just So what? Would happen if one of them like
hits another one like. I don't know you want to try.
It, that's a great idea. Further, faster.
That's great, yeah. I think we can sell tickets to
that a lot. Of people would want to see
that, yeah, like I second that. Yeah, I love that.
Great idea. Great idea.
So this guy, William George Crush, good old Billy Crush.

(17:06):
I love that name. He was an agent of the Missouri,
Kansas, Texas Railroad. He conceived the idea in order
to demonstrate a stage train wreck as a public spectacle.
Love that no admission was charged as long as you could
afford a rail ticket to the event at three $3.50.
OK. So it was $3.50.
Cents it was, $3.50 it was. Three, but that's $132.00 in
2025. Well, yeah, yeah, we got to go

(17:30):
back in time. Well, not for nothing, but for
watching trains crash into each other, that's still pretty fair.
Yeah, I yeah, All right. Sure.
Yeah. So as a result, an estimated
40,000 people attended this event.
Wow, they really want people, really wanted to see those
trains crash into each other. Yeah, were they like super bored
or? There wasn't a lot of
entertainment happening back. Then yeah, you either go to

(17:52):
church or stare at a wall. Yeah, you could probably see
livestock doing funny stuff to one another and shit like.
That, yeah. Or you could do the funny stuff.
Yeah, well, yeah, that happens every year in Wisconsin.
Couple people, couple of cow fuckers out there.
Really. Every year in Wisconsin.
Oh, no, the cows don't even know.
I don't think. Maybe they do.
I don't know. They have to.

(18:13):
I'm sure they do. And it's sad.
Yeah. And you know, as the consumer
when your when your beef Patty is just all salty and gross.
Wow. They do it to completion.
Yeah, I. Wow.
Oh my God, I think I just becamevegetarian.
Well. So that's what did it.
You should see what they do to the tomatoes.

(18:33):
Each train reached a speed of about 45 miles an hour by the
time they met near the anticipated collision spot.
I could see that on the 101 right now.
Yeah, Every day. Come on.
Yeah. Unexpectedly, yet
understandably, the impact caused both engine boilers to
explode, resulting in a shower of flying debris that caused
numerous injuries among the spectators.

(18:54):
What? No this.
Crazy something went wrong. But did it?
What did they expect? Yeah, right, right.
Not that. I thought that they, but they
thought they wanted the accident.
Yeah. So then things go flying 'cause
it's a whole car crash. Yeah, I would.
I would have thought that they had everyone like at a solid
distance away. At least give them a little
umbrellas. Yeah, yeah.

(19:14):
An eyewitness described the scene.
There was a large explosion, a crash, a sound of Timbers rent
and torn, and then a shower of splinters.
The locomotives and their box, yeah, the locomotives and their
box Cars were reduced to scraps of wood and steel.
The air was filled with flying missiles of iron and steel.
Yeah, I mean, makes sense. Yeah, debris varying in size

(19:38):
from a postage stamp to half thesize of a steering wheel was
blown hundreds of feet into the air.
I'll take the potion, Stab one. Yeah.
Steering. Well, that's going to hurt.
It's going to go right through you.
Panic quickly broke out as the crowd turned and ran.
Some of the debris came down amongst the spectators, killing
two and seriously injuring at least six others.
Dude fucking ow it's all. And it's hot too, because it

(20:00):
just exploded. Yeah.
Oh yeah. Sharp, heavy and coming out too
fast and it's hot. This is kind of the Astro world
of train collisions. Yeah, it's like always whenever
someone comes up with some crazyidea and they're like, wouldn't
it be funny if it's always funnyto like, think about it, but
it's never funny when it actually happens.
Yeah. Yeah, for the most part.
Yeah. Yeah, for the most part.

(20:20):
My buddy was like, wouldn't it be?
It was the first time 9/11 was on a Saturday and we were doing
a comedy show in Boston. And my buddy before was like,
wouldn't it be funny if I did like a bunch of 911 jokes to
open? And I was like, yeah, that would
be funny. And then he went up and was just
like doing 911 jokes. How'd it go?
Not good. Oh, it didn't go well.
Yeah, I remember he was just like, and, you know, all the
people that were doing coverage on 9/11, they're on TV all day

(20:41):
today. They're not getting any
residuals. That's.
Well, that's kind of good. And that does that brings us to
our next point about actor pay, because weren't there a lot of
crisis actors during 9/11? Yeah, if it happened.
Wow. Yeah, OK.
The point of it is just to not forget.
And you know what? We're still, we still are
remembering. We're talking about it.
So Yep. We are, although there's a whole

(21:03):
generation that never lived through it.
Yeah, us millennials, we've really seen a lot.
We haven't. Seen so much?
But you know what we haven't seen?
What this next story. Oh, that's it.
So everyone's dead. Everyone's dead and that's it.
Oh damn, yeah. Dead or burned?
And they never tried to crash locomotives into one another
again. They were like, maybe this

(21:23):
wasn't the most well thought idea.
I mean, did it go perfectly or did it go horribly wrong?
I mean, I hope they at least gotsome good country songs out of
it. Yeah, maybe.
Everyone knows either dead or burned in Texas.
Well. That's a good one.
Oh wow, yeah, I guess so. That's.
When they got divorced and that's where all your exes live
there. Yeah, Yeah.
Which you're not allowed to do if you who are married.

(21:44):
You have to. If there's someone gets burned
alive, you got to stay with them.
Yeah. Yeah.
That's the rules you made-up. That is the rules you make up
and if you do have exes in Texas, you tell them that you
know that she got back with her ex-boyfriend.
Don't think I didn't see it. No, absolutely.
Or you just avoid them at all costs because they're very
dangerous. Yeah.
So what if you don't believe in the sky?

(22:06):
I'm sorry, what? What if you don't think the
Sky's real? Like the Truman Show thing?
Yeah, it would. It's just like you're just going
to find the end of it, the paper.
You know, the more they put themsatellites up there, I'm
starting to think this guy ain'treal.
Just a bunch of goddamn TV cameras.
It's pretty real. It I think it's real.
I think so. Well, there was a famous

(22:27):
American flat earther named Mad Mike Hughes and he believed that
the planet Earth is flat. Yeah, that makes sense.
And in order to prove that, he built a steam powered rocket
ship that would send him high enough to prove it.
See, I like this guy, though. He's using science to prove his
point. Yeah.
He's like, there's got to be a way I can get up there and see
it. There's probably some sky I can
hold on to, but then. He's just gonna doink, he's

(22:49):
gonna hit it and come back down.Yeah.
That's not fun. Yeah.
On Saturday, February 22nd, 2020, Mad Mike climbed inside of
his homemade rocket and aimed itat the flat sky of San
Bernardino, CA. 2020, yeah. This is so we did see this I I
do remember this story. I will say if this if there is a
Dome over us, I know people who tag for a living, the whole

(23:12):
fucking thing will be tagged out.
That's very true. Say those digits.
Yes, exactly. Rose.
Battle Rose that of lowest digits.
Check it out. Tigers get up on everything.
They do. So I think that disproves Flat
Earth right there. That's a very good point, thank
you. So true.
The entire series of events was being filmed for a new TV series
about amateur rocket makers and to be aired on the US Science

(23:34):
Channel. Nothing could go wrong.
Once again, not when television's involved.
I'm. Dead.
With the help of his steam powered rocket, Hughes was
trying to reach an altitude of 5000 feet.
OK, that's very high. Yeah, with steam powered, Yeah
sure seems like a lot. In a video of the launch, a
parachute can be seen trailing behind the rocket, apparently
deployed too early seconds aftertakeoff.

(23:57):
So it wasn't really well put together.
Now San Bernardino Aeronautics fails again.
Well, I've huffed a lot of gas so I'm pretty sure I know how to
do this. The San Bernardino County
Sheriff's Department said it's officers were called to a rocket
launch at about 12:00 local time, so 12 noon.
A what now? A rocket launch.

(24:18):
Yeah, let's go eat our lunch. Oh yeah.
According to the Sheriff's Office, a man was pronounced
deceased after the rocket crashed into the open desert.
Oh, OK. Yeah, that'll do it.
That'll take them right out. Point proven or not.
I wonder, yeah, I wonder if there was any point when he was
falling where he was like, oh, wow, the horizon is kind of
rounding out of it. I just don't get the Flat Earth

(24:42):
thing in the person from. The person, what do they think
the entire the shape is? They think they think it's flat
and then there's ice walls that stop us from going off of it,
and then it's domed as well. So they don't believe in the
universe in many ways. That's insane.
It's it's well, it is interesting.
It's very stupid. And there's a full.
Of themselves. Yeah, there's a Flat Earth

(25:04):
documentary where they prove that the earth is round on
ironic. Well, ironically, because they
were trying to prove it was flat, right?
But then they just made-up another reason as to why it's
not round. So it's honestly what I learned
from that documentary was it's all, it's very interesting.
It's all about community. Yeah.
These people don't have anything.
And they finally found people that are like, oh, you're a flat
earther. And they bond, they get married

(25:25):
and they have conventions. Yeah.
That's what it's all. About It's always about
community. It really is.
That's it. But it's also important to
remember as people, we need to have our opinions, not let our
opinions have us. Oh, absolutely.
The truth. That's good.
Moving on. So he's dead.
Yeah, he's he's gone. He's dead.
So. He but who watched it?

(25:46):
Anyone watch? It Oh yeah, the the video's out
there. Oh.
Great. The truth is out there.
It is. So he was, he had a publicist
and. Oh man, that.
Lady, if he can get one. I gotta call our PR team and
make sure actually. Yeah.
You know, it's a marble, right? That's just marble ish.
Yeah. So his publicist confirmed to
the US media outlets that it wasMad Mike himself who had been

(26:07):
killed. He was the guy in his own
rocket, his rocket actually never making it off the ground,
so it was just like and dead never.
Made it off the ground. It just kind of fell over and he
cracked his head and died. No bad Mike, that's not that bad
at all. Poor bastard.
Had like a concussion from this.I know.

(26:28):
Yeah. That he died.
Yeah, such a fucking blow. That really does suck for him.
Yeah, he was 64 years old. Well, that's a good run.
Yeah. So that was definitely his blow.
That was his Eiffel Tower moment.
That was it. There it is.
That's perfect. Good for him.
He he made an scientific experiment.
He was brave enough to put himself in that experiment and

(26:50):
he failed miserably. But did he?
We don't know. We don't.
In 2019, just one year earlier, in the little known vast
emptiness of Eastern Oregon, a celebrity of a different ilk had
arrived to set some records of her own.
Oh, not the Sasquatch, No. OK, because they say he might be
an organ. Oh.
He's not. He might be.
He looks. He might.

(27:10):
Be in this room right now. That's just Ben you there?
You know well, no, he could be. He might be an invisible, he
might go in between dimensions, might have a bloking device.
That's right, he's in between dimensions.
It's possible. So by this logic, unicorns are
also real. Why not baby?
Let's go, unicorns. I mean, yeah.
I mean, they're just fucked up horses with stupid things in

(27:31):
their head. Whoa, whoa, whoa.
It's a bone protrusion. It's a bone protrusion, but
that's all the Unicorn is, right?
Does it have any special powers?The.
Power to fuck with its head. Exactly.
Oh, wow. Jesus.
Don't tell. It's tough enough for a man to
find a lady. All of a sudden they got
unicorns that we're going to fight with.
Yeah. I mean, I still I've caught up
with the whole thing that Sasquatch doesn't have clothes,

(27:53):
but he can like Quantum Leap. I don't.
He doesn't quantum leap. He's he's.
Calling Ziggy on the phone. Doesn't end up a boxer in the
1940s. He's not.
Quantum leaping, Quantum leap. Oh boy, whatever.
Well, there's this woman, Jesse Combs, OK, And she was a race
car driver, which I thought Jerry's car driver.
The ha ha ha. Driver.

(28:14):
No, no. Yeah, no, no.
No, that was perfect. We're gonna get copy written
stroke for that. Really good.
So Jesse Combs. She was a television
personality, race driver, stunt performer, all that stuff.
She was reaching mainstream celebrity status at American pop
culture. She had hosted her own TV show
for five years in 90 episodes onSpike TV.

(28:34):
Oh, nice. Jesse had appeared on dozens of
reality TV shows, including Mythbusters, Overhauling Jay
Leno's Garage and 100 or 1001 Things 1001 Car Things to Do
Before You Die. Oh.
That's a lot of car things to do.
I'm running out of the car stuffquick.
I thought it was just like a cross country trip.

(28:56):
I don't recognize her but I guess she was everywhere.
Damn, she's. Nice packs.
Yeah, she's all jacked up. Oh yeah.
As an avid race car driver with the need for speed, Jesse Combs
set the world's land speed record for a four wheel vehicle.
No shit. 440 miles an hour in 2013.
Dang, All right, Jesse, let's go.

(29:17):
Very. Nice.
In 2016, she broke her own record with a top speed of
477.59 miles an hour. Well, that's a lot, yeah.
I mean, I guess you go, you're going really fast.
Yeah, she did that. She.
Went fast. She going real fast.
She liked going fast. Yeah, in 2019, Jesse was set on
breaking her own land speed record again.
One more time. Oh come on, let.

(29:39):
The would be the final time. I mean, at some point aren't you
losing? To yourself.
Yeah, yeah. Why just just you're already the
victor. Yeah, yeah, I would let it be,
but. I'm gonna be myself now.
But yeah, then you're 2nd place to yourself.
No one's gonna top me but me. Yeah, I feel like maybe if
anyone's gonna stand in my way, it's probably me.

(30:01):
So. That is very true, relatable,
and more things to talk to your psychiatrist about.
Very true. What's this you say?
Self destruction? What is this you say?
Sabotage. Self sabotage.
Am I the? Am I the only consistent in all
of my problems? No.
No. On August 27th, 2019, she

(30:25):
arrived at the Alvert Desert. The Alvert Desert, a 12 mile by
7 mile flat stretch of dry lake bed in southeastern Oregon.
That's exciting. Yeah.
That's my ex-wife. Dry.
Yeah, that's a big woman. Dry lake bed.
Old dry lake bed. Tammy.

(30:46):
Yeah. She said she's really, really
happy with her new girlfriend and soon to be wife.
She said she's all wet. Wet again.
Oh. That's good.
Turns out it was me. Yeah, yeah.
Nice and dry, Yeah. She sat in the seat of her car.
It was built using the fuselage of a Lockheed F104A10
Starfighter. This is not.
She's not Batman. This is not going to be good.

(31:07):
Yeah. Yeah, not at all.
That's yeah, that's bad. It does seem bad because it's
the wrong kind of engine for a car.
You know that. No, but I would assume it's a
jet one, yeah. Yeah, that makes sense.
It was powered by a General Electric LM 1500 turbojet
engine. Means nothing to me, but I it's,
it's a lot. Yeah.
I'm going to say that's a lot ofan engine.

(31:28):
It's Yeah, She broke her own record, a world land speed
record attempt of 522.78 miles an hour.
All right, It's BeenVerified by Guinness World Records.
OK. So congratulations.
You're fat. You've gone fast again.
Yes, yes. So she went the the the speed
didn't kill her, it was the crash that followed.

(31:50):
Oh, I see. She didn't slow down.
Yeah, yeah, why not slow down? It was caused by a mechanical
failure of the front wheel, likely due to striking an object
on the track. Who was supposed to sweep the
track? Come on.
Damn it, it caused the front wheel assembly to collapse.
If not for the accident, it was believed that she would have hit
speeds during 620 miles an hour.Wow.

(32:12):
She was 39 years old. That's.
So. Sad, that ain't fun at all but
you. Know she she she died doing what
she loved. I don't want to, like, I'm not
trying to be that kind of guy, but she, she, she didn't, it's
not the record. She died.
You're about to be that. Guy No, because she didn't
complete it. She she did.
No, she didn't. Her body went that fast.

(32:34):
Yeah, but she didn't stop. You have to the land speed
record. At some point you have to stop
and get out. Oh.
She stopped. Yeah, no, she died, stopped.
Yeah, I don't think that that counts.
I think that Guinness. Is fucked up.
That's no, that's no, that's. She, I don't think it counts
because she died. She failed at it.
No, she achieved the speed. The though I think that the

(32:57):
assessment of achievement is based upon if you live, if you.
Survive it? Yes.
No, not. When it comes to speed, but it
was the. Speed, she definitely, she
reached that height and that's in her and that's in the record
of her legacy. Then anyone can set a record
doing anything. If you can die, yeah, I'll
fucking set a record right now for getting, I don't know, eaten

(33:18):
by the most fucking answer. Put them up my fucking asshole.
Eating, drinking the most recovery monster drinks I'm in.
Recovery. You're in recovery.
You're going to recover yourselfto death.
I've been peeing a lot. Yeah.
Is it like green yet? No, it's really, really dark and
it's. That's fucked.
You should drink water. Oh, I know it's bad.

(33:38):
No, it's bad. Yeah, Yeah, I know.
That's OK. I'm working on it.
Yeah. My next step is kidney stones.
No, don't do that. I don't want that.
I've had that. It's for the birds.
Oh God, they hurt. Well, sticking with race cars,
yeah, while also remembering thedaredevils of France's past,
let's briefly talk about the worst motor race accident of all
time. Oh.
No, Oh, I don't like it. It's going to be head someone.

(34:01):
I know it. Oh, it has to these.
Motor accidents are insane. Final Destination part deal, I
believe. Or was it part three-part 4?
I don't know. You fucking know There was a
motor, one of them. Whatever.
Also Earnhardt. Dale Earnhardt.
He's dead from motorcycle from acar crash.
That was very basic. Yeah.
Future episode. Oh, interesting.
Yeah. The 1955 Le Mans disaster

(34:21):
occurred on June 11th, 1955 during the 24 Hours of Le Mans
motor race, Circuit de la Tsar in Le Mans, France.
It was very, very happy. It actually took place in 1955
and they didn't just call it that.
Yeah, During lap 35, Jaguar driver Mike Hawthorne moved to
the right side of the track, breaking sharply in preparation
for a pit stop. This maneuver forced Lance

(34:41):
Macklin, driving for Austin Healey, to swerve left to avoid
a collision. Now hear me out little Starbucks
for the pit stops. Give the guys little.
Starbucks they they got backpacks with like hoses in
their mouth. Yeah, but I feel like a A pit
stops fun. You get out, you go to the
bathroom, you get a slushie, youhave a good time.
Lose the race. Well, they're pits.
I'm I'm saying they should incorporate more of a fun

(35:02):
atmosphere to. It like it's a break.
Like a break, Yeah. Like a pit stop, Yeah.
In doing so, Macklin moved directly to the path of Pierre
Lavey, who was rapidly approaching in his Mercedes-Benz
300 SLR. Yeah, that curly mustache
motherfucker. Yeah, yeah, Pierre.
Lavey collided with Macklin at ahigh speed, launching Lavey and
his Mercedes into the air. Oh.

(35:23):
Oh. That's not good.
Traveling at approximately 125 miles an hour, Lavey's car
vaulted over the earthen embankment designed to shield
spectators. Instead, it became a launch
ramp. Oh my God.
Hey, honey, you think that car is getting a little bit close to
us or No, No, they know what they're.
Doing doing. Oh wait.
Maybe though. If I ever told you I love Oh.

(35:45):
I'll leave these seats when carsfly.
Oh, whoa. Whoa.
The vehicle bounced multiple times amongst the crowd before
slamming into the concrete structure and disintegrating.
Disintegrating. Yeah, good.
Like it wasn't even there to begin with.
Wow, it was all of an illusion. Levay was ejected from the car
and died instantly upon impact with the ground.
Pieces of the Mercedes, including the engine block,

(36:07):
front suspension and radiator, were hurled back into the crowd,
flattening everyone within a 330foot path.
Flattening, flattening. What is with these?
This story is filled with a lot of cartoon like dying.
It really is. I'm not going to.
I mean, I kind of want to go to NASCAR, in which case if I'm
drinking beers or not, at that point I will be no matter what.

(36:30):
Yeah, it's like if you go to a NASCAR event sober, then you
really have a problem. There's there's an issue.
But I don't know what what are the time, what seats do you sit
in where you're guaranteed not to get hit by a fucking wheel
or. AI would I would rather sit in
the nosebleeds for that. Yeah.
Because once you're up close to it, you're hearing like bam,
bam, bam, bam. It's already it's extremely
loud, even all the way up. Anyway, the entire thing is just

(36:52):
exploding in your ears. Right.
True. Yeah, up in the nosebleeds where
our people are. That's what's go Yeah, The hood
of the vehicle flew through the air like a French guillotine of
old. Guillotine, guillotine,
guillotine, guillotine, guillotine.
Literally decapitating every spectator in its way.
Oh, so people are flattened and then the rest of them got their
heads cut off? And look what happened to that

(37:12):
asshole. Oh shit, it seems to be coming
for me. I guess the beheading is
probably better than being flattened because you can live
for a little while with all yourbones crushed and shit.
Yeah, that is horrifying. Sounds like a pretty painful
couple of seconds. Kind of cool.
Kind of a cool way difficult thing.
Am I flat? Am I flat?
Yeah. Me, me, me, me, me, me.

(37:33):
Yeah, yeah. I'd go with guillotine.
I'd take that. Yeah, driver Duncan Hamilton
recalled the moments just after the crash, saying, quote, the
scene on the other side of the road was indescribable.
The dead and dying were everywhere.
Wow. The cries of pain, anguish and
despair screamed catastrophe. I don't like that part.
Yeah, yeah. That sounds dark.
I stood as if in a dream, too horrified to even think.

(37:56):
Yeah, that sounds like a, that sounds like a freaking a, a
purgatory level in Dante's Inferno.
Yeah, just like somewhere where everyone's flat ended in pain
and screaming. Yeah, it's horrible.
Someone's head is cut off, but you can still see the nachos in
their hands that they were holding.
Yeah. Yeah, they start shoving it into
someone's pants. We cover that story in OK Bud.
Yeah, the hood of a Marlboro carfucking takes your head off.

(38:19):
Oh well, while you're smoking a cigarette.
If the cigarettes don't kill you, the car will, yeah.
So they get you. Every time.
What was left of Lavey's car when it finally came to arrest
the rear mounted fuel tank suddenly exploded, triggering a
fire. Oh my God.
So we're getting people flattened, heads cut off, and
now the intense heat from the fire raised the temperature of
the car's magnesium alloy body work to the point of spontaneous

(38:41):
ignition, erupting into intense white hot flames, showering the
track and crowd with magnesium embers.
So again, this is just another volcano lava situation.
Yeah, I hate it. Yeah.
No, I don't like it. It must look kind of cool from
the outside. So much there's probably people
melted into each other. Oh my God.
Twinsies. That's amazing.
Yeah, well, we did kind of wear the same thing today.

(39:04):
Isn't that kid? Yeah.
Yeah, it's better. It's stronger than marriage.
It's literally fusing us together.
Fusing together? Has anyone loved anyone enough
to fuse together with them? I don't think so.
Exactly. Squidward and SpongeBob did it
once, Did they? Yeah.
He was like, we're closer than you think.
And then he lifted up his shirt and their stomachs were fused.
That's. Just so crazy.

(39:26):
The situation worsened when emergency responders, unaware of
how magnesium reacts to water, attempted to extinguish the
flames using conventional methods.
Oh my God, that's what I did with my candle wax situation,
which is why my kitchen is stillfull of candle wax and I can't
use my oven. Oops.
Yeah. So they're trying to throw water
on it, and instead of putting out the fire, the water
intensified the combustion. Magnesium burns more fiercely in

(39:48):
water's presence. See, this is the craziest thing.
Yeah. What?
I mean, how are they supposed toknow?
I mean, they probably should know.
Well, they found out. Should probably know.
Yeah, he's in 1955. We had like a bunch of science
and stuff. We're like 10 years away from
going to the moon. Yeah.
Well, not. Not going to the moon.
Not, not, not going to the moon.Not, not, not going to the moon.
Oh, we can do this all day. We can do it all.

(40:11):
Day baby I don't want. It so as a result, these fires
continued to burn for several more hours.
Dang Lavey's lifeless body, severely burned, lay in full
view on the pavement until a policeman hauled down a banner
to recover it. Yeah.
You're gonna wanna wave the white flag there.
You wanna slow down the cars? Yeah, the race is gonna pause.

(40:31):
We have to pause. You wanna?
Cover up the roasted pilot. Yeah, Yeah, yeah.
They should call him pilots, notdrivers.
I like that. Yeah, yeah, they're, they're
piloting. He's.
A pilot race car pilots. Race car pilots.
It's fucking cool. He's a pilot.
It's a good band name. The race car pilots.
Yeah, 1 is they don't cry all the time.
They. Probably would.
I just can't with it's. It's a white thing.

(40:53):
It's a white man thing where they cry all the time.
I love emo music. I can't I.
Do I love a nice man crying somemusic?
I love a cry. Why I love a good cry.
Because it's how I feel inside. Because no one understands me.
But it's not how you, it's not how you feel inside.
It's because you're fucking screaming at.
It's how you should feel inside.Yeah, and not out, not outside.

(41:15):
Nobody understands what I'm going through, not even in this
arena full of 100,000 other people in this one city.
Like that van stained? Yeah.
Like it's whatever. It's fine outside.
Yeah, OK. It's because you were 86 from
the bar because you took a piss on top of it.
Yeah, well, you can't do that. Not legally, I don't want to
leave. I pissed on a DJ boost once.

(41:35):
It was pretty funny. The guy sucked.
Oh my God, you did it like on the turntables.
No, I was talking. About him completely while
going. Food.
I pissed on the base, like the base of the thing and I was
talking to him. That is even.
Weird. And then and then I continued my
piss walking out the front door.And then two cops were like,
hey, here's your citation for urinating in public.

(41:57):
And I was like, ah, urinating inpublic.
And then they showed me the trail and then I was like, ah,
you got me. And then I paid a $25 fine and.
Thought I felt the wind on my Dick.
Yeah, it was different times. Wow, it was 2021 maybe?
Good shit head behavior. Yeah, I would like to apologize
especially. That DJ.
He sucked. I'm telling you, he sucked.

(42:19):
What sucked worse the the the music going into your ears are
the fucking piss that everyone had to walk through.
That's funny. No, it is not.
Yeah, it is, because they don't even know they're walking
through my piss. That's true.
Then you what? Look at them and you're like,
you know, pisses. Wow.
My piss. Although the exact number is not
known, there were at least 81 spectator deaths, plus Pierre

(42:41):
Lavey and over 120 other injuries.
God Dang. So it's a final destination ass
moment. Exactly.
Almost don't want to live, you want to just get it done with.
Despite the enormous tragedy andloss of life, the race
continued. It did, yeah.
Wait, why? Why would it?
'Cause they gotta figure out whowas the best guy, OK?

(43:01):
Else was there to watch it. There's only one guy.
He's like, I'm finishing this fucking race.
Yeah, like. Was the race that fucking
important? Yeah, yeah.
The Mercedes-Benz team and the Ferrari team both dropped out,
understandably, yeah. But the Jaguar team, including
driver Mike Hawthorne, who initiated the disastrous series
of events, decided I'm gonna keep going.

(43:21):
I'm finishing this race. Wow, the show must go on,
people. Yeah, it's like when Walter was
screaming about the Vietnam War and Big Lebowski, like, I'm
finishing my coffee, right? I'm finishing.
Oh, my God. Well, good for this.
So they won in a race where no one else wanted to race.
Well, there was one other team that.
Died. What was the other team like?
Kia. So in the end, Hawthorne won the

(43:42):
race for Jaguar, beating the Aston Martin team by 5.
Lines Does he really think that win counts?
Does he feel good about this winon this day?
Does it count more or less? Well.
Yeah, it's kind of like the bubble championship with the
NBA. It's is it more difficult or
less difficult? Everyone's dead.
Like he's he's literally racing in front of a bunch of burning
corpses. Yeah, it's got to be

(44:02):
distracting. There's good, yeah.
There's like ambulances, like EMTs everywhere trying to treat
injured people. Just, like half of the
concession stands closed, but then the other person is like,
no, we're staying open. Our section isn't dead.
And the guy was like, I was really hoping I could go hang
out with my friends after this. Like, no, we're staying open
till the end of the race. Sorry.
Yeah. Sorry, Tommy.
Yeah. Yes, sit the fuck down.
Sit the fuck down. Serve goddamn nachos.

(44:23):
There was a French magazine, La Otto Journal, that published a
photo of Mike Hawthorne smiling and drinking from the victor's
bottle of champagne. What an asshole.
With the sarcastic caption to your health, Mr. Hawthorne.
What? This guy.
Holy shit the nuts on this guy. Mike Hawthorne is a real fucking
Sky I. Kind of like him.

(44:46):
He's filthy. So he caused the accident and he
fucking won, yeah. Asshole.
He saw Aston Martin. He's just flew by them.
Was like, we're still racing. Oh my God, that's hilarious.
I win. Everyone would have been dead
anyway if they didn't die on this day 'cause it's 1955, so
it's not so bad, right? Well, that takes us to
Daredevils, an escape artist to round out the episode.

(45:07):
Oh, let's round it out, baby. That's what my grandmother used
to say when she would give me a cake or a piece of pie.
She'd be like, you want to roundout the meal?
Always want to round it out. That's what I say to myself when
I'm at the gym and with my with my glutes, I'm like, you want to
round them out, girl? Squat.
You're like a gym, a gym rat. I try to be.
You're in shape. Yeah.

(45:28):
Well, the final type of public spectacle we're going to talk
about, like I said, is it's, it's it's very own specific
niche, niche in the entertainment world, The Oxford
Dictionary, they describe being a daredevil simply as a reckless
person who enjoys doing dangerous things.
See, I would disagree with the reckless part because they're
all about the math. Well, if they're smart.
Yeah. If they're smart, then they're

(45:49):
really, but they're they're purpose.
I would say they're purposeful, not reckless.
I would say very intentional. Just even the the Jackass guys,
they're, they were, they're dangerous.
Maybe not, maybe not like, maybenot movie one, but like movie 4,
you know, they kind of got a little soft.
Yeah, a lot of drama with that group too.
You. Want to party?

(46:10):
The other side of the coin is the escape artist, and they
describe an escape artist as an entertainer, usually adept at
escaping from confinement. I hate that I would never ever
do. Why do you want to put yourself
through that? Seriously, just be.
Grounded a bunch. Oh, that's true.
Yeah, Rapunzel, she had to grow out her hair.
Daredevils and escape artists are similar in that both types

(46:32):
of performers put themselves into a dangerous situation and
then thrills the audience by finding some way out of.
It you know there's a feud though daredevils and escape
artists. Yeah, like, oh, you got out of a
box. That's pretty cool, Is there?
Yeah. I butt fucked this horse in mid
air, went 500 yards. What you do on my motorcycle,
right? I'm a daredevil.
My mom. My mom yells at me and texts and

(46:53):
then I screenshot it and share it with everyone on Instagram.
That is Daredevil. That's flying, yeah.
Too close to the sun, that. Is dangerous territory.
Yeah. This is how I I got to be Privy
to one of their interactions today.
And it is cute from the outside.Yeah, that's adorable.
Two of the most famous examples of this type of entertainer
would be Harry Houdini. Oh yes.

(47:15):
On that side and then Evel Knievel on the daredevil side.
Great documentary on him as well.
You learn a lot, yeah. Well, both deserve an entire
episode of their own. We'll first briefly dispel the
myth and mystery surrounding thedeath of Houdini.
OK, so are going to. Go over him.
For a second because people havediffering opinions on how he.
Died. Can I say what I thought?

(47:36):
Wait till we get to it. OK, wait till we get to it, OK?
It's a question that's been asked countless times over the
last 100 years. How did Houdini die?
Did he die? From being punched in the
stomach. That's what I heard, yeah.
What During the autumn of 1926, Harry Houdini, then 52, was on
tour. But the tour was plagued from
the start. His wife Bess suffered from food

(47:56):
poisoning and Houdini himself fractured his ankle, performing
a difficult escape. But he still was like fuck it,
I'm going. He's got to go.
On Friday, October 22nd, while backstage at the Princess
Theatre in Montreal, Canada, a student from McGill University
named named Jay Jordan Whitehead.
Oh, that's that's one of those last names.
You can't get a zit if you're that.

(48:17):
Guy no, you're really it's up, Whitehead.
Yeah. He's a nasty ass.
Yeah, it has. The clearest skin.
Yeah, he's got to. He was eager to test the popular
claim that Houdini could withstand any blow to the
abdomen. Whitehead struck him so hard
that in less than two weeks, Houdini would be dead.
Oh, OK, so he didn't die right then.
No, no. He like probably like caused

(48:38):
some like internal bleeding. Yeah, well, here's the thing.
OK, the punch did happen, but what was the cause?
The truth is that Houdini had already been feeling ill before
the punch. His condition worsened the
following day, yet he didn't stop performing.
After his Saturday night show, he could barely get dressed.
Still, he boarded a night train to Detroit to keep a schedule,

(48:58):
to keep a scheduled appearance. Wow.
On Sunday, a physician examined him and diagnosed him with what
appeared to be acute appendicitis.
Yo, take a break. That is terrible.
Take a break, Houdini. Yeah, he had a high fever and
significant abdominal pain. Despite being told to go to the
hospital, Houdini refused. The show was sold out and he was

(49:20):
determined to perform. These Michiganders need to be
entertained, yeah. They already got their
babysitters. They're there.
Well, they didn't have babysitters back then.
Kids were forced to survive. My kids in my window balcony.
Yeah, exactly. Afterward, he was barely able to
stand and again declined declined treatment from doctors.
It wasn't until hours later thata hotel doctor summoned a

(49:41):
surgeon to examine him. And that, of course, is the
hotel chef. Yeah.
Finally, on Monday afternoon, October 25th, he underwent
surgery. The doctors discovered that his
appendix had burst, causing widespread heritinitis.
Wow, a deadly infection of the abdominal.
Cavity. It is insane that he went days

(50:01):
with appendicitis without havingit go treated without having
anything to like relieve his pain.
It'll fuck you up. And then it literally burst and
he'd still like barely was in the hospital.
He's they They were tougher backthen.
They literally yeah. They but Dumber too, because he
died but right. Yeah, and an era before
antibiotics. Such an infection was usually
fatal. Houdini held on for six more

(50:23):
days before passing away on Halloween, October 31st, 1926.
Whoa, good day to die though. Kind of a cool day to die.
Daredevil for doing that, yeah. The official cause of death was
generalized peritonitis brought on by a ruptured appendix.
Yeah, the guy broke his appendix, that's what.
Happened. Yeah.
So the punch did break his appendix.

(50:44):
It's possible or it was already busted open.
I believe Brandon's making the case that the punch was not
responsible, he says. The evidence says no.
OK, but it didn't help no it. Definitely didn't help the
punch. Didn't help, yeah.
Houdini's condition had begun before he was struck.
But yes, you can get appendicitis without it
bursting. I think the punch actually
probably burst it. God, yeah.

(51:05):
Probably. I'd punch you bro.
Gonna put bro let me punch you. Did he let him punch him or was
it a shock attack? No, he let him punch him.
He did OK. Because I was I was under the
impression a guy just randomly walloped the.
Sucker punched him in the stomach.
Exactly. That would suck.
Hell yeah, it doesn't feel good.So yeah, bacterial infection,
infection when it came down to it, it, it wasn't trauma, it was
the infection with that's how hedied.

(51:28):
But yeah, I'm going to go ahead and say didn't help.
Out of all the ways that Houdini, out of all the ways he
could have died, it's interesting that he kind of died
like a like a normal man. Yeah, like.
A normal man. Like a normal man like.
Us with a birth with. A burst appendix.
The birth appendix. The birth appendix.
A birth appendix. That's why you can't go to a
doctor with a if you have a birth appendix like I.

(51:50):
Have what? You gotta get the fuck out of
here. What did I birth?
While Houdini is remembered today as the ultimate escape
artist, others that have followed in his path are too
easily forgotten. Inspired by his personal hero.
Inspired by his personal hero Harry Houdini and dedicated to
him, the amazing Joe Burress arranged for a Halloween Night

(52:13):
1990 spectacle at Blackbeard's Family Fun Center in Fresno, CA.
No idea who this is. There, poor guy.
The Amazing Joe at Blackbeard's Family Fun Center in Fresno.
Burroughs had worked for years as a tree trimmer in Salem, OR.
And then, of course, you become the The Amazing Joe.
Of course, Yeah, yeah. Why is that for him?

(52:35):
I believe it. When, at the age of 32, he
decided he was getting too old for this shit, his true calling
in life was magic. So he quit drinking and he
started learning card tricks. Very wholesome, yeah.
It's horrible. He quickly graduated to stunts
and escapes. In his own words.
He exclaimed. I consider myself a master of

(52:55):
illusion and escape. I believe I'm the next Houdini
and greater I. Don't know 'cause.
We didn't hear of. Him so it didn't hurt no it.
Didn't he was also kind of dumb?It might be.
His greater and final act was tobe buried alive.
Oh, no, no, no, no. Oh my God, no.
But it was more complicated thanthat.

(53:17):
You're more complicated than that.
I hate it. It's not complicated.
Not only would he be handcuffed,chained and placed inside of a
glass coffin, fucking why The coffin would then be lowered
into a 7 foot deep grave coveredin dirt and then have concrete
poured on top of that. I don't.
What the Hell's wrong with him? There's some safety concerns

(53:40):
here, yeah. If going according to plan, the
Amazing Joe would have escaped his chains and cuffs and
secretly exited the coffin within one minute.
This is literally how they triedto kill Jason Voorhees, Yeah.
That one minute would have been way before the concrete began
pouring. He had performed a He had
performed a trial run beforehandwhich took him 5 minutes to

(54:02):
escape the coffin, but he still thought the trick would work.
He is. He's like, no, it's Showtime.
I'll do it. Yeah.
Oh my. God, yeah, get ready.
Oh no. Buddy Sean Henderson was one of
the workers tasked with shoveling the dirt on top of
Joe, he said. When we started burying him, he
knocked and wanted us to stop, Henderson recalled.
So we stopped and uncovered the edges of the coffin and UN keyed

(54:23):
the locks and open the coffin enough so that he could talk.
Burris told Henderson that the chain around his neck was too
tight. Oh my God, dude.
Oh my God. Yolo claustrophobic in here.
Can anyone can anyone even see it?
Was there a camera in there or something?
I don't think. So I don't think.
So Oh my Lord, OK. This is this is 1990 so.
Yeah, the cameras weren't tiny enough yet.
Yeah, exactly. After Burris slipped off the

(54:45):
chain, his assistants put the locks back on and started
burying him again. The cheat, cheat.
Yeah, the assistant shoveled 3 feet of dirt into the hole, and
then that truck poured another 3feet of wet cement.
But if you're the audience, all you see is cement being poured
into a hole. You don't see any of this.
Right as soon as we so, Henderson then is recalling.

(55:06):
As soon as we finished and the truck pulled away, the whole
thing dropped about two feet. That's not good.
Oh shit. So the grave and the coffin
collapse. Oh my.
God, yeah. Something with that concrete
maybe, yeah. You think that weighs something?
No. The cement busted the coffin.
Oh my God. Workers quickly pulled Burris

(55:28):
out of the hole, but paramedics could not revive him, it was
pronounced. He was pronounced dead at the
scene, his chest crushed by the cement.
Oh my God. Yeah, that's what Big Boy did to
his enemies and Dick Tracy drowned him in cement.
Later, it was determined that the glass coffin had previously
been damaged. Oh my God dude, you didn't get a
new glass coffin? Joe himself repaired it with

(55:48):
glue. Ohh my.
You know, OK, he's a regular Stockton rush.
Yes, some. At least he didn't bring anyone
else with him. Seriously, as he porch people,
I'm like, let's go underground. We can totally make it out of
this. The amount of concrete poured on
top of him weighed over 7 tons. Yeah.
There's no way. He was making that.

(56:10):
No, don't worry, I got some epoxy on there.
Yeah, it's pretty good. This is even before Gorilla Glue
came out. The last attempt we will discuss
is a more recent one. In fact, it was recorded for the
television series America's Got Talent, Oh no in October 2021.
What? I didn't know there was a death
from that. Jonathan Goodwin had previously
appeared on Britain's Got Talentand was carving out a name for

(56:32):
himself as one of the best escape artists and stunt
performers in the world. Britain's Got Talent.
What do you do? Brush his teeth?
An older joke there. Kind of an older joke that's
pretty good. Pretty good joke there.
During a stunt rehearsal for America's Got Talent, Goodwin
was encased in a straight jacketwhile suspended 30 feet in the
air. Two vehicles were also suspended
on wires on either side of him. Why?

(56:53):
Oh my God, to prove he's Got Talent.
Prove he's Got Talent. To America Before the trick,
Goodwin would escape from the jacket and drop onto the padding
below. It's really sad though too
'cause he was probably in between like someone who could
play like a ukulele with his taint and like his.
Wow. Because the some of the talents
aren't that talented, no. No, they're just like weird

(57:14):
things that they do right? And this guy's like, this seems
like a coping mechanism for yourterrible upbringing and as a
child. That's what most of it is, yeah.
Yeah. The two cars would be released
and swing head on into each other, exploding in a controlled
pyrotechnic flame in the space that Goodwin had been just
dangling from a split second before.

(57:35):
Oh, wow. I mean, this sounds kind of
cool, yeah. Just we're trying to one up each
other all the time, right? Oh, he got out of a straight
jacket. Well, I'm gonna do it in the
sky. Oh, yeah.
Well, I'm gonna do it in the skywhile two cars are crashing into
me at the same time and they're gonna explode.
Mm hmm. Yeah.
During the rehearsal, however, Goodwin could not escape in
time. He was crushed between the two

(57:55):
cars before they were set ablaze.
It was the rehearsal. Yeah.
So this isn't even, this is justa test run.
They were like, oops. Why'd they do it for real in the
rehearsal? I don't know.
He was crushed between the two cars and before they were set
ablaze, he then fell to the floor.
The daredevil suffered third degree burns, fractured legs and

(58:15):
broke his spine, which caused him to be paralyzed from the
waist down. Wow, poor guy.
Yeah. Did he move on to the next round
or well? He made his mobility disappear,
Yeah. And that's a talent.
It's that's a talent, yeah. He survived to tell his story in
his own words. It was pretty gnarly.
You know, it sounds very dramatic sitting here, but I did
nearly die. Yeah, I fucking believe that.

(58:37):
That's hilarious. I know you're going to think I'm
a drama queen for saying this, but I did almost die.
So thank you guys for coming to Thanksgiving, right?
Oh. This really learned how I.
Think we're missing a chair And then he just rolls up?
Never mind. Handicap spot Another daredevil
inspired by his hero was Gary Wells, following in the skid

(58:58):
marks of Evel Knievel. Skid marks.
That implies poopy poops. Yeah, that's poopy.
Poopy underwear. Yeah, yeah.
Gary decided to jump from the infamous Gary decided to jump
from the famous fountains at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas,
NV. Those aren't that high, are
they? They seem pretty high though.
They probably kill me. Yeah, yeah, I guess so.
Sure, the. Bellagio's higher.

(59:19):
Right, OK. The state the same stunt had
been infamously attempted by thegreat daredevil Evel Knievel 13
years prior. On December 31st, 1967,
Knievel's Knievel would attempt his longest motorcycle jump yet.
It was 141 feet from the launch to landing, soaring through the
sky and through the majestic fountains I see being filmed for

(59:41):
AB CS Wide World of Sports. Knievel fell short of the
landing ramp and wiped out. Oh my, 2 wide world of sports.
Yeah, his body came to a stop inthe Dunes Hotel parking lot.
Just a fat family from Ohio getting out of their cars and
like, welcome to Las Vegas. Wow, we're really here, Peggy.

(01:00:04):
Knievel suffered Knievel suffered a crushed pelvis,
crushed femur, fractures to his hip, wrist, both ankles and a
concussion that kept him in the hospital for 29.
Days. So like everything he heard
everything. Yeah, yeah. 28 days later.
Right. 13 years later, on September 15th, 1980, Gary Wells
was going to succeed where Knievel failed.

(01:00:27):
I don't know if you are. Even saying to the press before
the jump. Knievel is it?
Knievel is the past tense now. Whoa, he said.
I'm the new. Evil I'm.
Present tense I'm the new Knievel here now.
Everything he has done, I've bettered.
He said what? He said that.
Who the fuck are you? Gary Wells.
Obviously that Also your name isGary Wells and the other guy is

(01:00:49):
Evel Knievel. Get a fucking name bro.
And give it up for Gary. I just saw that guy playing
baccarat. Gary, your wife wants you to
call her. She's she thinks she says you
took the wrong car again. Right after this jump.
Right. Come home to your kids.
She's pissed. Now the kids are probably happy

(01:01:09):
he's gone. Yeah.
They're like she's shot. Yeah.
Don't, don't make him come home,mom.
The similarities between the twoevents are hard to ignore.
This time, the stunt was being filmed for ABC's.
That's incredible. Not quite the world wide world
of sports, right? Like Knievel Wells and his
motorcycle cleared the fountain.But where Knievel fell short of
the landing at 141 feet, Wills Wells missed the ramp

(01:01:33):
completely. Bro, you got to hit the ramp.
After soaring over 170 feet through the air, he.
Crashed like I'm going a little to the left.
Well, the wind is carrying what?He went 170 feet through the air
and he crashed at 80 miles an hour, his body skidding to a
stop after striking a concrete wall.

(01:01:55):
Yikes. Ouch.
Spectator standing on Spectator standing on top of the wall
leaned in for a better view of the carnage.
Oh my God. Where is he?
This is what we paid good money for.
Yeah, look at the body. We paid good.
Baby. $50 a ticket. Look at his body.
The weight of the Oh my God thisis insane.
So they're all looking over the wall, right?

(01:02:17):
And their weight caused the wallto collapse.
Oh my God. It's the people who are rubber
decking. Fat fucks.
End up becoming part of the action themselves.
Wow. Six people along with parts of
the wall fell 15 feet on top of Gary.
All these fat fucking Las Vegas cows.
There you fucking go. Mind your business.

(01:02:37):
You keep fucking walking. Concrete fat people crushing
Gary after he just experienced Atremendous fucking injury.
Oh God, nice thing is I think I lived.
Oh shit. Here comes the buffet.
But Gary, in a weird twist, survived.

(01:02:58):
Oh, good for him. Like Knievel, Wells suffered A
concussion, A fractured pelvis, as well as 2 broken legs and a
tear in the artery. Artery of his heart.
Yeah. And also humiliation.
Totally, Yeah. Especially after he was like oh
I'm the new evil Knievel. Then he was like way further
off. Brachadocious.
Yeah, he needed emergency surgery for his heart artery.

(01:03:19):
Sure. And he later claimed he was
upset someone must have moved his ramp.
He he was sabotaged. Somebody moved the ramp.
Somebody moved my fucking ramp. Someone moved.
OK, so someone moved the ramp oryou fucked?
Up or you didn't like it at all yeah he's like no someone
definitely moved it I. Think he would have noticed,
wouldn't he have noticed, Yeah. In 1989, Robbie Knievel, son of
Evil, Oh yes, became the first person to successfully jump the

(01:03:43):
fountain at Caesar's Palace. And Robbie is legit.
He's good. Really.
Yeah, he's cool. I didn't know.
MM Metzger also did it in 2006 and Travis Pastrana did it in
2018. Well, you.
Don't have to do it anymore. It's been done.
Yeah, it's. Been done, stop doing it.
It's old hat now. Come on, evil.
Knievel died in 2007 at the age of 69.

(01:04:04):
And Gary Wells. AO60. 9 And Gary Wells died in
2020 at the age of 63. I think you said Evil Knievel
died. He did.
Oh, wait, 69. Yes, I'm sorry I did that by
then. Yeah, Evil Knievel died in 2007
at the age of 69. Yeah.
Evil Knievel evil, not his son. No, no, Robbie's still alive,
isn't he? OK, never mind.

(01:04:26):
Yeah, yeah, I'm so stupid. Go on.
Yes, Sorry. No, he died in 2023.
Fuck. Wow.
Robbie Knievel's dead, so I'll just add that at the end too.
And sadly, Robbie Knievel's alsodead.
He died January 13th, 2023 in Reno, NV.
Oh wow. The whole Knievel family's gone.
Yeah, he died at age 60 of pancreatic cancer.

(01:04:46):
Oh, that sucks. Jesus.
Out of all the shit he got fucking cancer.
I know God this is crazy, but that will bring us to final
thoughts. I'm just gonna straight up I'm
taking it TLC don't go chasing waterfalls.
Let's go yeah, stick to the oceans or whatever the floor

(01:05:10):
the. Rivers and lakes that you're
using, Yeah. Stick to those, although you can
drown in those too. That's why you get a dry lake
bed. Yep, but like your old wife.
Yep, Yep. You know, gotta know about math
and science. That's why I don't do this
stuff. I don't know math and science.
Yeah, but even if you do know math and science, you still
can't. The risk is still there.
It's there, it's there. But I think Ben's very much on
to something. If you're gonna do it, you can't
be just some brave lunatic. You gotta actually plan it out

(01:05:33):
and figure it the fuck out. Right.
Yeah, actually. Because then then you're just a
Jackass. Yeah, literally, yeah.
Then you're just buried under 7 tons of fucking concrete for no
reason. But in a way, they all died
doing what they loved, so who's to say let's hope they loved it?
Well, I think you you do it 'cause you love it well.
People do things all the time they don't love.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, but usually.
It's not like they were moonlighting this fucking hobby

(01:05:54):
I mean. They might have been, well, who
knows? I don't know.
Well, I am not. I am.
I am also a creature of land. My final thought is, is if
you're going to have, if you're going to test rocket ships out,
please be a scientist. Yeah, just be a scientist.
Yeah, you need to do. You don't.
You don't got to prove nothing to nobody.
There you go. You don't got to be that guy.
What a pep talk for your future son, Kyle.

(01:06:17):
You don't got to prove nothing to nobody, kid.
You don't have to be that guy. Yeah, yeah.
He's like, Dad, I'm trying to goto college.
Yeah, you failed like every ploof has failed.
OK, that's right. Well, hopefully you can fail
upwards. Yeah, let's go.
All of us. Yeah, you.
Will, do you guys hear that? Yes.
Wait, No, yeah. Oh, no.
Yeah, you've got mail. Oh my goodness, we have a

(01:06:40):
mailbag. Mailbag.
Yes. Delivery.
Delivery here. What have we got?
Last choice invoice. Wait, no last choice, no voice.
That's different than an invoice.
Last. Choice.
No voice. They said as a kid they would go
over the Bong Bridge all the time.

(01:07:00):
They lived in upper Michigan, just over the border from
Wisconsin and they travel a lot.They used to giggle about how it
sounds like. I used to giggle about the the
name of the bridge. Oh, of course.
Bong Bridge. Yeah, you got to get stoned
there. They got to change the name or
just assume kids are going to get stoned there.
Pretty nice. And as seen by by Dave said, I
think you guys found your third.That's you, Jerry, That's you.

(01:07:20):
Jerry. Yeah, you're the fucking third,
so you're always number one in my book.
I. Don't know how to write, but if
my number I am you're number one.
Yeah, I'm probably #2 whoa, OK. So thank you so much for
listening to another episode of Death and Entertainment.
If there's a story you would like to hear specifically, why
don't you go send us an e-mail at

(01:07:41):
[e-mail] you so much and again, go
to patreon.com/die Bud. The studios here at Die Bud
Studios are Dang near finished, OK Bud And Ben Kissel politics.
We got three fantastic shows foryou every single week.
I think there are 7 episodes total.
And yeah, we're going to keep ongrowing.
We got some merch coming very, very soon.

(01:08:02):
And yeah, hail yourself. And until next week.
Don't go dying on us, Bye. 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.

(01:08:25):
Good night, please drive home carefully and come back again
soon.