September 30, 2025 • 41 mins
This week, Sierra brings us some dumb criminals that actually may have discovered invisibility? In January of 1995, McArthur Wheeler and Clifton Earl Johnson robbed two banks in Pittsburg disguising their faces with lemon juice; their behavior inspired the Dunning-Kruger effect. Get ready for some Science with Sierra!
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You can buy us a drink on Buy Me A Coffee https://www.buymeacoffee.com/twistedpod
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Follow us on all of the socials:
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, Twisted humans.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Do you find yourself wanting to know more about the
latest murder, conspiracy, cult or haunting.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Than this is the podcast for you. I'm Alicia and
I'm Sierra and this is Twisted and Uncorked.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Hello, and welcome to episode two twelve of this podcast. Today,
why is France calling me?
Speaker 1 (00:28):
I don't know, hopefully to invite you? They ended?
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Okay, Oh hang on, I think it's my child one second, Okra.
Today we will be discussing possibly some of the dumbest
criminals from the last few decades and how they supposedly
directly influenced a scientific discovery. This is a murderless episode
airing in October, and it pairs well with today's costume
(00:55):
theme of Robbers. Let's show our costumes.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Three two one. Oh, that's so good. I love it
like mine has music with it. It's perfect. It is
so good. Headband wouldn't cooperate with my sims, Yes, Diamond,
(01:22):
so we live off to the side.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
We went very similar though. I'm a hamburglar.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
That is amazing. But yeah, the mask, the sure your
mask is way better than mine. Let's let's just pretend
I bought a match.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
We do listen, we did it again.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
I'm not even trying.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
I bought a masquerade mask and just cut it in
the shape of circle because I was.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Like, I'm all that way smarter, So yeah, well that
would have been smarter. I was originally gonna buy felts
and then I forgot. So here we are with the
paper mask again. But it works. She works. Yes, when
you said Robert, I immediately thought of in the sims
when that music plays and then the little slinking down
(02:09):
the street. That's amazing. I love that we're doing today.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
That was good.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
I'm very good. Good. I like it. Are you using
that costume for Halloween? Because you said your kids wanted
to dress up as ah?
Speaker 2 (02:21):
No, my costume is I don't know what my kids are.
Sissy wants to be a vampire with all of her friends.
That's fine, but actually our Halloween never mind. Sorry, guys,
you gotta go to Bitch and Wine for all of that.
I will discuss over behind a table. No, this is
(02:42):
not my Halloween costume. This is just one of, you know,
one of our weekly things I was able to put together.
I did get really hungry for a hamburger after putting
on this costume. And so beforehand, I went and had
a hamburger and I took a picture of my costume
with the hamburger in hand, so it's gonna look really
(03:03):
good for the Instagram.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Perfect. Well, I did manage to get one photo with
my headband.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Before it aggressively, so good enough.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
There we go. This is actually the duke you made me.
Its just flipped inside out.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Oh nice, Well, that one's really bulky, so that's probably
why it's not staying. Well, it's a very warm duke.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Well, I like poked uh sewing needle through the top
and around the paper clip that's on the bottom of there.
But it was the paper that I used for the
diamond is too heavy, so it keeps like falling backwards.
And I'm like, oh, everyone that did the costume idea
did it with like just like a last minute costume,
(03:46):
so they were themselves but assim so they had it
on the band and it stays.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
With Yeah, you should have put it on your headphones band.
Oh would.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Next time? There you go insert creepy music down the
street here. Although in the SIMS four you can beat
up the robber and try and scare it away, whereas
like in the old SIMS. You just have to let
them steal something, which always really sucked because it was
(04:23):
usually your TV or something expensive.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Wow, I always cheated anyway, Rosebud true infinity money.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
I literally tried so many times to have like a
legitimate SIMS family where they worked for a living and
never but it doesn't work.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Yeah, it always like for for about I don't know,
ten minutes, I'm like, I'm gonna be good, and then
I'm like, this is boring.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
I need money, and my cheek, like my house looks
like shit.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Yeah, it's not fun when you don't have money.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
It's true. Life isn't fun when you don't have that. Yeah, Simms,
I'm not playing game. I'm not playing.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
SIMS because I want to live my real life and
playing SIMS because I want to live a fake life.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Oh that just came out with a fairy expansion pack too.
Oh better believe I won't be purchasing it.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
All right, all right, let's get into the episode.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Do you have a fun fact for me? I do
have a fun fact for you, and it is SIMS related.
As I'm sure you're shocked. There is an Escape from
Prison expansion pack that I never played or saw so
this may be a Mandela effect, but it's for the sims. Three.
And apparently if you dig holes near the police station
in town, imprisoned sims might find a way to escape
(05:42):
and reward you for helping them. That's sort of creepy, right.
Can you imagine just like dig it away and a
person pops out of this hole?
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Is fun fact is that invisible ink messages that show
up with UV light have as an ingredient as bleach
absorbs the light and UV light specifically and appears darker
under the light. However, invisible ink can be made by
using common household substances like lemon juice, milk, or sugar water.
(06:17):
These liquids darken into a brown stain when heat is added,
So adding a flame near the paper where you wrote
an invisible message with these substances will cause that message
to be revealed. And speaking of lemon juice, this episode
pairs well with a drink that I'm calling a Strawberry
Sunrise lemonade, as I was inspired by the strawberry Sunrise
(06:43):
flavored Alani. I don't know if you've had those ones.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Are so good?
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Why do people keep calling me? I'm not answering this one,
I don't know that number.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
The very tasty, and I actually had help for today's drink. Perfect.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
This drink is made with strawberry syrup, which you can purchase,
or make it with muddled strawberries and honey, and then
half orange juice, half lemonade, and topped with tonic water
or champagne if you want to make it boozy, some
sort of bubbly bonus. Fun facts about the drink. Strawberries
contain vitamin C and full late, which are essential for
(07:16):
cognitive function. Oranges are high in vitamin CEA, which improves
blood float to the brain, and lemon juice does not
turn you invisible. But we're going to get into the story.
How is your drink? Here's mine. It's pretty because I
haven't mixed it yet.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
I cheated and I started drinking it while you were
talking to me, and it is very delicious. All of
my strawberries are now floating at the top. Yours looks
more like a sunrise. It's very tasty. I use ginger
ale for mine because that was all that I had
for bubbly, but it works. It works. I added some
(07:56):
extra lemon juice as well, just to the sweetness. A
little bit, but it was tasty.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Yeah, I think next time I would do especially because
I did the syrup where I did muttal strawberries and
honey already, I think instead of lemonade, if I make
it again, I'm gonna do orange juice and lemon juice,
not lemonade because the lemonade has sugar as well.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
But it is really good. It is. I think if
we threw some Nick Jonas tequila in their next summer,
it could be a delicious take on a tequila sunrise.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Oh, that's a good idea.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Put it. Putting it in our idea book for twenty
twenty six.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
That's an idea for sure.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
All right.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
So you know there's a saying that goes, put my
thun right here so I can look at you. There's
a saying that goes you are braver than you believe,
stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
From Winnie the Poop.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Well, apparently that is only true for like half of
the world. The other half is much dumber than they think.
We often talk about how criminals are stupid and they
almost always get caught. Turns out there's a whole psychological
study and definition that describes exactly this. It is called
(09:16):
the Dunning Krueger effect.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Please tell me in your list of dumb criminals that
you have a duct tape bandit a duct tape bandit. No,
not damn. I was like, that's the dumbest criminal I've
ever seen.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
It's really only two criminals who did the same thing,
but it's all about the same.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Excite on this side.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Yeah. So here is a quote from the first paragraph
of the paper entitled Unskilled and Unaware of It How
difficulties in recognizing one's own incompetence led to inflated self assessment.
From the Journal of Personality and Psychology, written by David
(09:55):
Dunning and Justin Krueger.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Quote.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
In nineteen ninety five, MacArthur Wheeler walked into two Pittsburgh
banks and robbed them in broad daylight, with no visible
attempt at disguise. He was arrested later that night, less
than an hour after videotapes of him taken from surveillance
cameras were broadcasted on the eleven o'clock news. When police
later showed him the surveillance tapes, mister Wheeler stead mister
(10:22):
Wheeler stared in incredulity. But I wore the juice, he mumbled. Apparently,
mister Wheeler was under the impression that rubbing one's face
with lemon juice rendered it invisible to videotape cameras. End quote,
stop it. According to the newspaper article in which the
(10:44):
authors used as the source for this information, Wheeler told
officers that he tested out the invisibility theory theory before
he did the crime, by putting lemon juice on his
face and taking a photo of himself with a polaroid camera.
Did not appear in the photo, so he assumed the
lemon juice trick worked. Police assumed that either the camera
(11:07):
malfunctioned or the guy was so dumb that he didn't
even properly point the polaroid camera at himself.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
This or he's a ghost.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
This bank robbery is what inspired David Dunning and Justin
Krueger to name this effect and publish the idea to others,
though William Shakespeare had a similar idea hundreds of years prior,
as seen in his quote, the fool thinks himself to
be wise, while a wise man knows himself to be
(11:39):
a fool. The basis of this theory is that some
people are so dumb that they don't know how dumb
they really are, and so they think they are smart.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Quote.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
The phenomenon is known as cognitive bias of illusionary superiority
end quote. And now it's time for science with Sierra.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Sort of because I don't know this is mint uh so.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Apparently, metacognition is when you think about thinking, and dumb
people don't have metacognition. They don't think about thinking. They
learn something and believe that that is the most smart
thing about the subject. They feel like a genius now.
They don't even have an inkling in their mind to
think that other people already knew this or even know
(12:30):
more than this about this thing. They're just like, wow,
I'm so smart now, And since they don't think to
think further, it gives them confidence, especially when they're living
in an echo chamber of other people who are also dumb,
and those people don't know that one thing that they
just discovered, so they're like the king of all these dummies.
(12:54):
There's a lot of idiots walking around just confidently spreading
information that might not even be true, like lemon juice
since it's an invisible ink substitute will make you invisible.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
The flip side.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Of this cognitive bias of illusionary superiority phenomenon is that
smart people are smart enough to know that there is
always more to learn, so they seem more humble or
even self deprecative in insisting that they aren't really that
smart or ignorant. Like Shakespeare said, a wise man knows
(13:32):
himself to be a fool. There seems to be examples
of this phenomenon everywhere you look. Criminals being really confident
but getting caught anyway, new drivers getting into accidents because
they're over confident in their abilities due to having recently
passed the driver's test. Elderly drivers getting into accidents because
(13:52):
they've been driving for forever and they are overly confident
that they don't need to pay attention to the new
ways people are doing things being the ones that go
the most viral because their confidence is captivating and the
rate at which misinformation spreads.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Think about this.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
If a company is going to hire someone for a job,
they usually want someone who is confident in their ability
to do the job well. Confidence will win over timidness
every time in a job interview. But according to this
phenomenon that confidence does not equal knowledge. In fact, the
humbleness does. So again, according to this the dumbest people
(14:34):
keep getting those jobs. The dumbest people are the loudest.
The dumbest people are probably making the biggest decisions about
our world. Sort of a scary thought.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
We already know that's a little bit true.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
But let me ease your worries, or at least throw
a wrench into this entire theory by saying that the
people who created this theory or effect are likely more
in the dumb side than they realize. For starters, there
are many people who have reported that whenever someone tries
to debate this effect, the authors, or at least David Dunning,
(15:11):
according to my sources, gets really defensive about the subject
and doubles down so by his own theory. In being
overly confident that he is correct about his original published paper,
he actually isn't that smart on the subject, because if
he was, he wouldn't be so confident, and he'd be
open to criticism and gaining more insight on the topic.
(15:34):
There is always more to learn. And for another thing,
he or they did a terrible job at fact checking
what was actually going on. In this bank robbery la.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
La la la la da, which was the whole basis
for this paper.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
So the very first paragraph that I read to you
was full of misinformation and or unprovable information, so much
so that it makes me wonder if the officer quote
it in the newspaper used as Dunning and Kruger's source
was trying to pull an inventor of the toaster by
rewriting history, just to see how far.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
It would go.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
It seems that a lot of people read that first
paragraph from the Dunning Kruger effect paper and thought it
was hilarious and shared it. It's been shared many times
and is always accepted as a factual basis.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
However, the photo.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
That goes along with it may not even be of
MacArthur Wheeler. Fortunately, I am not the only one who
wanted to go down this rabbit hole, so I was
able to find tiny tidbits of information that contradict all
of this. Unfortunately, it's only tiny tidbits, so we may
never know the real truth. But here is what I
(16:45):
discovered after piggybacking off of other sleuths. MacArthur Wheeler was
involved in at least one, possibly two bank robberies in
nineteen ninety five. He had an accomplice and they robbed
these banks together. The accomplice was clint Earl Johnson. Johnson
(17:07):
was described as a black five foot eleven inches tall
two hundred and seventy five pound man in the papers
that reported the robbery before he was even caught. This
was the description that they put out. The paper said
that this man later identified as Johnson held up the
bank teller at gunpoint, while another man later identified as
(17:27):
Wheeler stood in line as if he was a customer,
but ran out of the bank with the robber. So like,
if he's standing in line as a customer, does he
even need a disguise? The man in the photo that
comes up with the Dunning Kruger effect quote is standing
with a gun pointed towards a bank teller. Clint Earl
(17:49):
Johnson is never mentioned by name in the caption, but
he was the one who stood with the gun according
to initial reports. Maybe they just got the names wrong,
but because also the man in the photo is not
a black five foot eleven inches tall two hundred and
seventy five pound man.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
There is one.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Photo that I'm going to send to you that I
would like you to use for contents even though it
is wrong, just because it's hilarious. And let me, I
think it's on my iPad. I'm gonna send it to
you right now, so I just sign this hilarious. This
is the photo that they use, but again, he is
(18:29):
not Wheeler is not the one who points the gun,
and so in this photo they're circling nothing because he's
invisible and saying, oh, that must be Wheeler, which none
of this is because the man that you can see
can't be Johnson either, because he's not a two hundred
(18:49):
and seventy five pound black man.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
So true.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
I don't know where they got this stock image seemingly
of this robber, but none of this is real. Okay,
that motherfucker right there is not real. So anyway, another
issue with the quote that is published in the Dunning
Kruger Effect paper, a paper that in twenty twenty three,
(19:13):
by the way, won the Grammeyer Award in Psychology for
one hundred thousand dollars, even though it's factually incorrect, is
that the dates are wrong. So like, this is something
you can easily fact check, and it's wrong. The dates
he said that Wheeler robbed two banks on the same day,
(19:35):
and he was caught later that night, but that is
not what happened. At least one robbery happened on January sixth,
nineteen ninety five. They got away with a little over
five thousand dollars, which would be double that in today's money.
It was reported about in the Pittsburgh Gazette the next day,
January seventh.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
Quote.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Swissvale police said that the Melon Bank branch on No
Street in Swissvale was robbed at two forty seven pm
yesterday by a man with a semi automatic handgun. He
was described as black, five feet eleven inches tall, two
hundred and seventy five pounds, and wearing a blue parka.
Another man who was in line during the robbery was
(20:16):
thought to be involved because he ran out of the
bank with the robber end quote. Future newspaper articles said
that the robbery at the Swissle branch happened on the fifth,
not the sixth, but either way, no one was caught
the same night because the next day they were reporting
about it. Sources do say that Johnson was arrested six
days later, on January twelfth, for multiple robberies, including the
(20:40):
ones that Wheeler was a part of, but also at
least two that Wheeler was not a part of, or
at least he wasn't visible.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
It was just the same.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
But this piece of information is so easy to find
the six days later thing that I'm baffled at a
one hundred thousand dollars a way award winning paper getting
this so wrong. And he wasn't even talking about Johnson.
He was talking about Wheeler. Wheeler wasn't caught until three
months later, after Johnson turned on him and said he
(21:15):
would testify against him for a shorter sentence. So two
months after Johnson's arrest in March, I guess he was
given this deal, this if you turn in your buddy, we'll,
you know, give you whatever less time, because it was
at this time that an arrest warrant was issued for
MacArthur J.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Wheeler.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Even still, a whole month went by of police looking
for and not being able to find him allegedly. On
April nineteenth, Crime Stoppers aired a segment on the eleven
o'clock news about looking for this man, photo and all,
but no one can actually find the recording or the
real photo of the Crime Stoppers segment. I don't know
(21:57):
if it's this one that they're showing, you know, with
Wheeler being invisible or like. I don't know where this
photo came from. I don't know if this is the
photo that they showed. I don't know if this is
actually Wheeler from maybe a different bank robbery, I don't know.
After the alleged crime stopper segment, MacArthur Wheeler was arrested
at midnight on April twentieth, after a tip came in
(22:18):
with his whereabouts. And then this is when the first
story about the lemon juice dropped. Apparently Johnson was the
one who told Wheeler it would work. Wheeler tested it
on himself with a polaroid and then believed it. But
again I cannot find any proof of that except the
news article that quoted an officer saying this. There is
(22:39):
no public official police report of this. One newspaper said
this quoted a police officer, and since that day, every
other newspaper seems to reference that first newspaper who talked
about the lemon juice.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
There are, however, police reports that can be purchased from
this event and this arrest, which I along with the
sleuths whose help I used find very strange. Most information
on closed cases are free to the public, especially in
a bank robbery in which they only got five thousand
dollars and no one got hurt? Why are we keeping
(23:15):
that behind a paywall. Even weirder was the sentencing, though,
since Johnson agreed to testify against Wheeler for a reduced sentence,
Wheeler's court date and sentencing came first. He was sentenced
to twenty four and a half years for being an
accomplice who stood in line with no visible disguise, pretending
(23:39):
to be a customer but acting as a lookout during
two bank robberies.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Twenty four that's more or less most attempted murders.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Yeah, Like, did he actually discover invisibility? Why are they
trying to arrest him for twenty four years? That's so long?
Speaker 1 (23:56):
He really was in that photo?
Speaker 2 (23:58):
He he had to have been invisible, Like, why else
would you put this man? It's crazy? So then was
Johnson's court date. He received a sentence for pleading guilty
to three bank robberies in which he was armed and
in which he made out with a total of nine
thousand dollars. Johnson's punishment for three armed bank robberies was
(24:24):
five years five years because.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
He tested their death against sweeler discovered invisibility. Really know,
this is no other exploitation. I don't understand.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
I just I do not understand how and why our
justice system is what it is or what it was.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
I don't know, if somebody was drinking that day.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Uh. There is a possibility that the political timing of
it played a part, being that OJ's trial was, you know,
recently prior to the Rodney King riots for a couple
of years before that. Johnson was a black man, so
maybe they're like, you know, we can't punish black man
really harshly right now at this time. I don't know,
I don't know. There's also a possibility that highly rewarding
(25:09):
snitches as to make an example for other inmates played
a part, Like maybe they're like, you know, let's really
cut his sentence for being a snitch, and maybe other
people will start snitching.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
You know.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
I don't know, but in my mind there is always
a possibility that the government has some weird involvement involvement
in this, like maybe some of it was staged, maybe
some of it was a false confession, maybe it was
all some weird LSD mind control experiment to see if
they could make someone believe they were invisible, because people
can't really be that dumb, Or maybe he discovered invisibility.
(25:43):
These thoughts are not completely baseless. According to public records
found by some sleuths, MacArthur Wheeler requested and paid a
lot of money for the entire transcript of the entire trial.
What happened during that trial that made him want a
physical copy of it? I don't know, But then again,
(26:05):
maybe I'm just being dramatic. In two thousand and four,
Wheeler requested an appeal of at least half of his sentence,
maybe this second bank robbery that I can't find any
evidence of him committing, or maybe just because the sentence
of twenty four and a half years for being an
accomplice was ridiculous, or maybe he needed the court transcripts
to appeal in order to prove something sketchy was going on,
(26:27):
like hey, look at this thing that happened.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
I don't know well that and is that why it's
behind to pay? Well? Maybe like what happened, I need
to know somebody went invisible in that courtroom.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
After Johnson's sentence of five years was over and he
was released. He ended up in North Carolina, where he
was arrested again in twenty ten for armed bank robbery. Again,
it was right after this trial, I'm sorry, it was
right after this arrest now twenty twelve that Wheeler's appeal
was proved and he was released from prison. So Wheeler
(27:03):
did not was not made to do all twenty four years.
He was released after Johnson was re arrested. Maybe he
used that as part of his basis of like, hey,
look I'm not the criminal here he is. He was
rearrested right in twenty nineteen. Johnson died as an inmate
in prison. Wheeler, however, has never been found in a
(27:26):
police record since being released in twenty twelve. As far
as we know, he never reoffended, or at least he
was never seen reoffending again. Maybe he found the real
invisibility recipe. Special thanks in this episode to user Jimmick
on Reddit, who did the deepest of dives and posted
(27:49):
about this in multiple subreddits. Jimmick, if you are listening,
I would love to pick your brain about theories.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
Is Wheeler invisible? That's the only explanation that the only
reason wall. That's the only reason why the disparity in
sentencing and why he's never been constance. He's a criminal mastermind,
criminal mastermind. He belongs in a Minion's cartoon.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
He definitely doesn't wear bright red and yellow when he's burglarizing.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
I'll tell you that.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
No, or maybe maybe it doesn't matter because he's invisible.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Blum blob above their head. Yeah. Yeah, he could be
wearing like a rainbow spandex suit for all we emi.
I think he's a real life superhero. That's the only
way that it makes Can you imagine if.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
He's got that covering himself with lemon juice would make
him invisible and then he went in naked, can you imagine?
Speaker 1 (28:51):
I mean, I would love to be on a fly
on a wall that day because that would just be funny.
When you originally said dumb criminals, I was like, Okay,
she's doing shit dives because in addition to lemon juice
and invisibility, criminals have thought I'm just gonna wrap my
whole head and duct tape and who I am. Yeah.
And then there was two guys that robbed a liquor
(29:12):
store wearing watermelons over their head. So dumping lemon juice
on yourself and claiming a visibility somehow doesn't surprise me.
But it is my favorite. It's fun. This is kind
of like a conspiracy. It's kind of a conspiracy. Yeah, yeah,
very interesting. I would love this Reddit user to come
on the show for Jimmick. Come on, hit us up.
(29:35):
That is a lot of fun, though, my Yeah, that's
the only explanation. You can't tell me otherwise, that's it.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
I don't understand, Like, it just doesn't make sense. It
doesn't make sense.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
If you could choose any superpower, what would it be?
I have always said flying.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
But invisibility sounds really cool too, because then I can
just get on whatever plane I want, right.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
That's true. No one needs to know that you're standing
in the aisle. Yeah, it's just like stand out of
the way. You're fine. Yeah, I think invisibility would be
a good one too. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
I feel like it's always between those two.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
But in visibility now, I'm like, I could. I wouldn't
want to steal see that. I'm no better than Wheeler,
but I mean I'm not.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
I don't if he was actually invisible, I'm not mad
at him, you know. That's a really great invention.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
Mm hmmmmm. You should profit from it at some point.
That and if you're stealing from the rich, you're basically
Robin Hood who cares? Well give it to the poor
first please, thank you? Yes, and then your Robin Hood.
And just to clarify where the poor m sent help.
That's all right, that was a good one.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
I like, thanks, It's just a little thing, but I all.
What happened was I was gonna use it as a
fun fact because I found the picture with the quote
and I was like, oh my god, what idiots. And
then I started looking into it and I was like,
because that's what I do. I like to fact check
my fun facts. And then I was like, okay, wait
a minute, something fishy is going on here, and.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
I turned into a whole Reddit rabbit hole.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
Yeah, it's great, it's great.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
You did a great job, and let us know what
you think listeners. As always, I know we are recording
Bitch and Wine after this, But is there anything fun
you would like to share with the class? Yes? There is.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
I have discovered my new favorite thing. It is called majong.
Have you heard of this?
Speaker 1 (31:46):
Yes, I've heard of Majong. Have you played it. No,
I've never had anyone know how to play to teach me,
but it's so fine.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
I am obsessed with Majong. I went to a Majong
night at like a local boutique here where they sell
Majhong accessories and whatnot, so they had a bunch of.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
Jist patron by like twenty years.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
I was introduced to Majong by my friend Jayden, who
is twenty four. It is very popular on TikTok right now.
That's how she learned of it, yesh Goda.
Speaker 1 (32:22):
That's what brings the old lady board games back into
the the mix. Uh. It's very hard though, like I've
heard that as well. My grandma used to I'm surprised.
Speaker 2 (32:33):
An old woman would know how to play like we
play me Jaden, Julie and Mamma. And Mamma is not
great Okay, I love her and it's so fun anyway,
but she's clarified.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
While we Underworld today or I mean, I wasn't checking,
but Jaden showed me how to play. I thought it
was going to be layam.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
I had fun. We had a whole day of it.
We did Amomus and Mama and mimosas yes, it was great.
And then last week, a week later, they had at
a local boutique a Majong night where they brought their
own Like the boutique place gave you Majong boards to
play because I don't know if you know this, but
buying Majong is like nine hundred freaking dollars.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
Because aren't they like specialty tiles.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
The tiles are made of bone. Oh my god, yes,
So the original Majong is the oldest, like one of
the oldest games in history, and the tiles are originally
made of bones. So the ones that are really expensive
are bone, and then the other ones are like porcelain,
but they're kind of piggybacking off of the fact that
the bone ones are really expensive, and so even the
(33:42):
porcelain ones are like, you know, seven hundred dollars or whatever,
which is kind of annoying, like give me some plastic
ones and let me play, you know, but whatever, it's fun.
So the boutique gives out, you know, for the length
of the play tiles to play with. So we got
to play with really fancy nine hundred dollar ones and
they were so pretty and beautiful and I loved it.
(34:05):
And there was like a competition and I won. I
won majong for the entire night.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
It was awesome shot. I'm obsessed. I loved so fun. Well,
when I come to visit, you will have to take
me to masong night because yeah, we're gonna have to
go to a mash.
Speaker 2 (34:22):
I'm not buying nine hundred dollars. I'm just not that's
I told Jesse that he should cut out like little
wood tiles and I can like get some stickers and
a lacquer room and stuff like that. I'll make my
own maje. But I'm not buying that.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
That would be really cool with wood. Yeah, I think
that's would be a very unique, like woodsy take on
your set. I love that. What type of bone like
animal boat? I assume animal Okay, I don't know. I
assume ancestors like I. Just as soon as you said bone,
(34:58):
I don't know. I didn't look into it.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
I told Jesse that I loved it and that I
wanted it, and then it was nine hundred dollars. So
don't ever think you actually have to get it for me,
even though I love it and I want it. And
then he looked it up and he was like, oh,
that's because real mashong is still made with bone. And
I was like, oh okay, I didn't where coming from.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
Like I feel like, ethnically speaking, we need to look
at where are the bones, and you like, don't instead
of donating your bones to be a tree, can you
donate your bones to be a macho That would be
so cool.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
I want to be played with for the rest of eternity.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
Oh my god. Your kids are just like having a
games night with their friends and they're like, oh, these
tiles are beautiful. Word my mom. That's my mom. I
love it. I love it all right. I need you
to add that to your will immediately. I want to
be majong. Oh my god. And then when your kids
(36:01):
are gone, then their kids can play. Oh my god,
it's a whole thing. I'm going to be around.
Speaker 2 (36:07):
This is way better than being a tree because trees
can get struck by lightning.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
You can move, they can get down.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
Yeah, yeah, no, I wouldn't be a Yeah, I'm gonna together,
thank you.
Speaker 1 (36:22):
That's hilarious. And then you know, like when your kids
want to like give them like a tile to somebody
that loved Sierra. If for some reason you've died before me.
I want a tile.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
Yeah, we'll make extras just in case any get lost or.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
Hand them out. Yeah, that's so funny. Well, no, because
you can't throw away a piece of sierra. That would
be terrible. Exactly, you'd be haunted forever. I'm obsessed with
this idea. I don't think I can top that with my.
Speaker 2 (36:53):
Well tell me something anyway, My exciting.
Speaker 1 (36:55):
News was well, it was just I wanted to touch
on it because last week when we were for last
week's episode, I said I was going to the Jonas
Brothers concert and I was gonna get the Red Dressed
T shirt. They did have the Red Dressed T shirt there. Oh,
I did not get it, though, I got a different
T shirt with all of them on it, because as
I was wearing my red Dressed T shirt, I felt
(37:16):
guilty somehow. That and fucking Roger's Rena adds like twenty
five dollars to the costs of the T shirts. So
you want you want to know how much it was.
It wasn't the sixty four dollars online is eighty eighty
four dollars. That's a lot, and they don't even have
(37:36):
extra smalls, so it's too big for me. Anyway, I'm
gonna attempt to shrink it a little bit. It is
a very nice shirt and like a good photo of
all of them, and it's kind of got like vintage vibes,
which I'm here for. Yeah, so my point being, I
still may get the red dress T shirt online because
(37:57):
fuck Roger's arena. That's crazy. But it was a very
good concert and in a plot twist moment, they didn't
bring out anyone from Vancouver. They brought out MGK. I
saw that it was It was cool, but I'm also like,
that's cheating. Yeah, and he looked like a massive giant
next to our short kings one I think six three,
(38:23):
I don't know, and they're all like five eight. I
have no idea. They're definitely not five eight. Okay, yeah
they are, No, they are. Have you never googled this? No,
they're short kings, my friend. But eight that's shorter than Jesse. Yeah,
no way, I'm pretty sure Kevin is the tallest one
(38:43):
at five nine. I have to google it. Yeah, we're
fact checking. Insert dude, udeudude, I can hear your stomach alls.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
Kevin is five eleven, Joe is five to seven, and
Nick is five six.
Speaker 1 (38:59):
Dang gosh, that is crazy. I didn't think he was
five to six Jonas.
Speaker 2 (39:09):
Because I'm only five feet tall.
Speaker 1 (39:11):
He is five six. That's wow. The more you know
Kevin's five eleven, good for him, Good for him. So
sorry if I just you know, crushed any dreams for
anyone out there, not me, and are good and me
are good. We can still wear heels and be shorter
(39:34):
than him. Yeah they're short kings, but uh, we love
him anyway, and uh, it was a good show. Brianna
was a trooper, that is all. I missed you though
I have videos from boys like girls, so I was Yeah,
I did my best with my with my excitement, but
(39:56):
it was like weird because I was holding my camera
perfectly still, and because the crowd is moving, it looks
like I'm moving, and I'm like, I swear to in
the video you hear I swear to God, I'm holding
the still. But it was funny, but you were definitely missed.
And uh, buying that T shirt online. I need be
(40:20):
something cool when I die. We'll figure it out eventually
into a SIMS game. That would be really cool. But
then I'm just like, is there medic cognition? Happening while
I'm in the SIMS game? Are you thinking my spirit?
(40:43):
Is my spirit within the game? Can I think about
what's happening? I think so.
Speaker 2 (40:47):
Have you ever seen a show called Upload? No, you
should watch it.
Speaker 1 (40:50):
It's pretty cool. We'll listen to you kind of like that. Okay, yeah,
we will report back next week on what's happening when
I die. And in the meantime, Goalie, of those five
star ratings and reviews I have, you can see these costumes. Yes, yes,
make sure you're following us on social media and we
will be back next week for my episode bless me
(41:16):
you on my God can please? Thanks bless me. I
will see you next week for my episode that is
going to be high school related. Oh and in the meantime,
keep it twisted. Twisted and Uncorked is hosted and produced
by Sierra Zuren and Alicia Watson. If you like the show,
(41:38):
don't forget to leave a five star rating and review
wherever you are listening now. It really is the best
way to spread the word. You can check out all
things twisted on our website Twisted and uncork dot com,
and we will see you next Tuesday for a brand
new episode.
Hello, Twisted humans.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Do you find yourself wanting to know more about the
latest murder, conspiracy, cult or haunting.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Than this is the podcast for you. I'm Alicia and
I'm Sierra and this is Twisted and Uncorked.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Hello, and welcome to episode two twelve of this podcast. Today,
why is France calling me?
Speaker 1 (00:28):
I don't know, hopefully to invite you? They ended?
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Okay, Oh hang on, I think it's my child one second, Okra.
Today we will be discussing possibly some of the dumbest
criminals from the last few decades and how they supposedly
directly influenced a scientific discovery. This is a murderless episode
airing in October, and it pairs well with today's costume
(00:55):
theme of Robbers. Let's show our costumes.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Three two one. Oh, that's so good. I love it
like mine has music with it. It's perfect. It is
so good. Headband wouldn't cooperate with my sims, Yes, Diamond,
(01:22):
so we live off to the side.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
We went very similar though. I'm a hamburglar.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
That is amazing. But yeah, the mask, the sure your
mask is way better than mine. Let's let's just pretend
I bought a match.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
We do listen, we did it again.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
I'm not even trying.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
I bought a masquerade mask and just cut it in
the shape of circle because I was.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Like, I'm all that way smarter, So yeah, well that
would have been smarter. I was originally gonna buy felts
and then I forgot. So here we are with the
paper mask again. But it works. She works. Yes, when
you said Robert, I immediately thought of in the sims
when that music plays and then the little slinking down
(02:09):
the street. That's amazing. I love that we're doing today.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
That was good.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
I'm very good. Good. I like it. Are you using
that costume for Halloween? Because you said your kids wanted
to dress up as ah?
Speaker 2 (02:21):
No, my costume is I don't know what my kids are.
Sissy wants to be a vampire with all of her friends.
That's fine, but actually our Halloween never mind. Sorry, guys,
you gotta go to Bitch and Wine for all of that.
I will discuss over behind a table. No, this is
(02:42):
not my Halloween costume. This is just one of, you know,
one of our weekly things I was able to put together.
I did get really hungry for a hamburger after putting
on this costume. And so beforehand, I went and had
a hamburger and I took a picture of my costume
with the hamburger in hand, so it's gonna look really
(03:03):
good for the Instagram.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Perfect. Well, I did manage to get one photo with
my headband.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Before it aggressively, so good enough.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
There we go. This is actually the duke you made me.
Its just flipped inside out.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Oh nice, Well, that one's really bulky, so that's probably
why it's not staying. Well, it's a very warm duke.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Well, I like poked uh sewing needle through the top
and around the paper clip that's on the bottom of there.
But it was the paper that I used for the
diamond is too heavy, so it keeps like falling backwards.
And I'm like, oh, everyone that did the costume idea
did it with like just like a last minute costume,
(03:46):
so they were themselves but assim so they had it
on the band and it stays.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
With Yeah, you should have put it on your headphones band.
Oh would.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Next time? There you go insert creepy music down the
street here. Although in the SIMS four you can beat
up the robber and try and scare it away, whereas
like in the old SIMS. You just have to let
them steal something, which always really sucked because it was
(04:23):
usually your TV or something expensive.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Wow, I always cheated anyway, Rosebud true infinity money.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
I literally tried so many times to have like a
legitimate SIMS family where they worked for a living and
never but it doesn't work.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Yeah, it always like for for about I don't know,
ten minutes, I'm like, I'm gonna be good, and then
I'm like, this is boring.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
I need money, and my cheek, like my house looks
like shit.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Yeah, it's not fun when you don't have money.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
It's true. Life isn't fun when you don't have that. Yeah, Simms,
I'm not playing game. I'm not playing.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
SIMS because I want to live my real life and
playing SIMS because I want to live a fake life.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Oh that just came out with a fairy expansion pack too.
Oh better believe I won't be purchasing it.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
All right, all right, let's get into the episode.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Do you have a fun fact for me? I do
have a fun fact for you, and it is SIMS related.
As I'm sure you're shocked. There is an Escape from
Prison expansion pack that I never played or saw so
this may be a Mandela effect, but it's for the sims. Three.
And apparently if you dig holes near the police station
in town, imprisoned sims might find a way to escape
(05:42):
and reward you for helping them. That's sort of creepy, right.
Can you imagine just like dig it away and a
person pops out of this hole?
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Is fun fact is that invisible ink messages that show
up with UV light have as an ingredient as bleach
absorbs the light and UV light specifically and appears darker
under the light. However, invisible ink can be made by
using common household substances like lemon juice, milk, or sugar water.
(06:17):
These liquids darken into a brown stain when heat is added,
So adding a flame near the paper where you wrote
an invisible message with these substances will cause that message
to be revealed. And speaking of lemon juice, this episode
pairs well with a drink that I'm calling a Strawberry
Sunrise lemonade, as I was inspired by the strawberry Sunrise
(06:43):
flavored Alani. I don't know if you've had those ones.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Are so good?
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Why do people keep calling me? I'm not answering this one,
I don't know that number.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
The very tasty, and I actually had help for today's drink. Perfect.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
This drink is made with strawberry syrup, which you can purchase,
or make it with muddled strawberries and honey, and then
half orange juice, half lemonade, and topped with tonic water
or champagne if you want to make it boozy, some
sort of bubbly bonus. Fun facts about the drink. Strawberries
contain vitamin C and full late, which are essential for
(07:16):
cognitive function. Oranges are high in vitamin CEA, which improves
blood float to the brain, and lemon juice does not
turn you invisible. But we're going to get into the story.
How is your drink? Here's mine. It's pretty because I
haven't mixed it yet.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
I cheated and I started drinking it while you were
talking to me, and it is very delicious. All of
my strawberries are now floating at the top. Yours looks
more like a sunrise. It's very tasty. I use ginger
ale for mine because that was all that I had
for bubbly, but it works. It works. I added some
(07:56):
extra lemon juice as well, just to the sweetness. A
little bit, but it was tasty.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Yeah, I think next time I would do especially because
I did the syrup where I did muttal strawberries and
honey already, I think instead of lemonade, if I make
it again, I'm gonna do orange juice and lemon juice,
not lemonade because the lemonade has sugar as well.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
But it is really good. It is. I think if
we threw some Nick Jonas tequila in their next summer,
it could be a delicious take on a tequila sunrise.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Oh, that's a good idea.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Put it. Putting it in our idea book for twenty
twenty six.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
That's an idea for sure.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
All right.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
So you know there's a saying that goes, put my
thun right here so I can look at you. There's
a saying that goes you are braver than you believe,
stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
From Winnie the Poop.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Well, apparently that is only true for like half of
the world. The other half is much dumber than they think.
We often talk about how criminals are stupid and they
almost always get caught. Turns out there's a whole psychological
study and definition that describes exactly this. It is called
(09:16):
the Dunning Krueger effect.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Please tell me in your list of dumb criminals that
you have a duct tape bandit a duct tape bandit. No,
not damn. I was like, that's the dumbest criminal I've
ever seen.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
It's really only two criminals who did the same thing,
but it's all about the same.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Excite on this side.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Yeah. So here is a quote from the first paragraph
of the paper entitled Unskilled and Unaware of It How
difficulties in recognizing one's own incompetence led to inflated self assessment.
From the Journal of Personality and Psychology, written by David
(09:55):
Dunning and Justin Krueger.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Quote.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
In nineteen ninety five, MacArthur Wheeler walked into two Pittsburgh
banks and robbed them in broad daylight, with no visible
attempt at disguise. He was arrested later that night, less
than an hour after videotapes of him taken from surveillance
cameras were broadcasted on the eleven o'clock news. When police
later showed him the surveillance tapes, mister Wheeler stead mister
(10:22):
Wheeler stared in incredulity. But I wore the juice, he mumbled. Apparently,
mister Wheeler was under the impression that rubbing one's face
with lemon juice rendered it invisible to videotape cameras. End quote,
stop it. According to the newspaper article in which the
(10:44):
authors used as the source for this information, Wheeler told
officers that he tested out the invisibility theory theory before
he did the crime, by putting lemon juice on his
face and taking a photo of himself with a polaroid camera.
Did not appear in the photo, so he assumed the
lemon juice trick worked. Police assumed that either the camera
(11:07):
malfunctioned or the guy was so dumb that he didn't
even properly point the polaroid camera at himself.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
This or he's a ghost.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
This bank robbery is what inspired David Dunning and Justin
Krueger to name this effect and publish the idea to others,
though William Shakespeare had a similar idea hundreds of years prior,
as seen in his quote, the fool thinks himself to
be wise, while a wise man knows himself to be
(11:39):
a fool. The basis of this theory is that some
people are so dumb that they don't know how dumb
they really are, and so they think they are smart.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Quote.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
The phenomenon is known as cognitive bias of illusionary superiority
end quote. And now it's time for science with Sierra.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Sort of because I don't know this is mint uh so.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Apparently, metacognition is when you think about thinking, and dumb
people don't have metacognition. They don't think about thinking. They
learn something and believe that that is the most smart
thing about the subject. They feel like a genius now.
They don't even have an inkling in their mind to
think that other people already knew this or even know
(12:30):
more than this about this thing. They're just like, wow,
I'm so smart now, And since they don't think to
think further, it gives them confidence, especially when they're living
in an echo chamber of other people who are also dumb,
and those people don't know that one thing that they
just discovered, so they're like the king of all these dummies.
(12:54):
There's a lot of idiots walking around just confidently spreading
information that might not even be true, like lemon juice
since it's an invisible ink substitute will make you invisible.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
The flip side.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Of this cognitive bias of illusionary superiority phenomenon is that
smart people are smart enough to know that there is
always more to learn, so they seem more humble or
even self deprecative in insisting that they aren't really that
smart or ignorant. Like Shakespeare said, a wise man knows
(13:32):
himself to be a fool. There seems to be examples
of this phenomenon everywhere you look. Criminals being really confident
but getting caught anyway, new drivers getting into accidents because
they're over confident in their abilities due to having recently
passed the driver's test. Elderly drivers getting into accidents because
(13:52):
they've been driving for forever and they are overly confident
that they don't need to pay attention to the new
ways people are doing things being the ones that go
the most viral because their confidence is captivating and the
rate at which misinformation spreads.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Think about this.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
If a company is going to hire someone for a job,
they usually want someone who is confident in their ability
to do the job well. Confidence will win over timidness
every time in a job interview. But according to this
phenomenon that confidence does not equal knowledge. In fact, the
humbleness does. So again, according to this the dumbest people
(14:34):
keep getting those jobs. The dumbest people are the loudest.
The dumbest people are probably making the biggest decisions about
our world. Sort of a scary thought.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
We already know that's a little bit true.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
But let me ease your worries, or at least throw
a wrench into this entire theory by saying that the
people who created this theory or effect are likely more
in the dumb side than they realize. For starters, there
are many people who have reported that whenever someone tries
to debate this effect, the authors, or at least David Dunning,
(15:11):
according to my sources, gets really defensive about the subject
and doubles down so by his own theory. In being
overly confident that he is correct about his original published paper,
he actually isn't that smart on the subject, because if
he was, he wouldn't be so confident, and he'd be
open to criticism and gaining more insight on the topic.
(15:34):
There is always more to learn. And for another thing,
he or they did a terrible job at fact checking
what was actually going on. In this bank robbery la.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
La la la la da, which was the whole basis
for this paper.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
So the very first paragraph that I read to you
was full of misinformation and or unprovable information, so much
so that it makes me wonder if the officer quote
it in the newspaper used as Dunning and Kruger's source
was trying to pull an inventor of the toaster by
rewriting history, just to see how far.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
It would go.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
It seems that a lot of people read that first
paragraph from the Dunning Kruger effect paper and thought it
was hilarious and shared it. It's been shared many times
and is always accepted as a factual basis.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
However, the photo.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
That goes along with it may not even be of
MacArthur Wheeler. Fortunately, I am not the only one who
wanted to go down this rabbit hole, so I was
able to find tiny tidbits of information that contradict all
of this. Unfortunately, it's only tiny tidbits, so we may
never know the real truth. But here is what I
(16:45):
discovered after piggybacking off of other sleuths. MacArthur Wheeler was
involved in at least one, possibly two bank robberies in
nineteen ninety five. He had an accomplice and they robbed
these banks together. The accomplice was clint Earl Johnson. Johnson
(17:07):
was described as a black five foot eleven inches tall
two hundred and seventy five pound man in the papers
that reported the robbery before he was even caught. This
was the description that they put out. The paper said
that this man later identified as Johnson held up the
bank teller at gunpoint, while another man later identified as
(17:27):
Wheeler stood in line as if he was a customer,
but ran out of the bank with the robber. So like,
if he's standing in line as a customer, does he
even need a disguise? The man in the photo that
comes up with the Dunning Kruger effect quote is standing
with a gun pointed towards a bank teller. Clint Earl
(17:49):
Johnson is never mentioned by name in the caption, but
he was the one who stood with the gun according
to initial reports. Maybe they just got the names wrong,
but because also the man in the photo is not
a black five foot eleven inches tall two hundred and
seventy five pound man.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
There is one.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Photo that I'm going to send to you that I
would like you to use for contents even though it
is wrong, just because it's hilarious. And let me, I
think it's on my iPad. I'm gonna send it to
you right now, so I just sign this hilarious. This
is the photo that they use, but again, he is
(18:29):
not Wheeler is not the one who points the gun,
and so in this photo they're circling nothing because he's
invisible and saying, oh, that must be Wheeler, which none
of this is because the man that you can see
can't be Johnson either, because he's not a two hundred
(18:49):
and seventy five pound black man.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
So true.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
I don't know where they got this stock image seemingly
of this robber, but none of this is real. Okay,
that motherfucker right there is not real. So anyway, another
issue with the quote that is published in the Dunning
Kruger Effect paper, a paper that in twenty twenty three,
(19:13):
by the way, won the Grammeyer Award in Psychology for
one hundred thousand dollars, even though it's factually incorrect, is
that the dates are wrong. So like, this is something
you can easily fact check, and it's wrong. The dates
he said that Wheeler robbed two banks on the same day,
(19:35):
and he was caught later that night, but that is
not what happened. At least one robbery happened on January sixth,
nineteen ninety five. They got away with a little over
five thousand dollars, which would be double that in today's money.
It was reported about in the Pittsburgh Gazette the next day,
January seventh.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
Quote.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Swissvale police said that the Melon Bank branch on No
Street in Swissvale was robbed at two forty seven pm
yesterday by a man with a semi automatic handgun. He
was described as black, five feet eleven inches tall, two
hundred and seventy five pounds, and wearing a blue parka.
Another man who was in line during the robbery was
(20:16):
thought to be involved because he ran out of the
bank with the robber end quote. Future newspaper articles said
that the robbery at the Swissle branch happened on the fifth,
not the sixth, but either way, no one was caught
the same night because the next day they were reporting
about it. Sources do say that Johnson was arrested six
days later, on January twelfth, for multiple robberies, including the
(20:40):
ones that Wheeler was a part of, but also at
least two that Wheeler was not a part of, or
at least he wasn't visible.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
It was just the same.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
But this piece of information is so easy to find
the six days later thing that I'm baffled at a
one hundred thousand dollars a way award winning paper getting
this so wrong. And he wasn't even talking about Johnson.
He was talking about Wheeler. Wheeler wasn't caught until three
months later, after Johnson turned on him and said he
(21:15):
would testify against him for a shorter sentence. So two
months after Johnson's arrest in March, I guess he was
given this deal, this if you turn in your buddy, we'll,
you know, give you whatever less time, because it was
at this time that an arrest warrant was issued for
MacArthur J.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Wheeler.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Even still, a whole month went by of police looking
for and not being able to find him allegedly. On
April nineteenth, Crime Stoppers aired a segment on the eleven
o'clock news about looking for this man, photo and all,
but no one can actually find the recording or the
real photo of the Crime Stoppers segment. I don't know
(21:57):
if it's this one that they're showing, you know, with
Wheeler being invisible or like. I don't know where this
photo came from. I don't know if this is the
photo that they showed. I don't know if this is
actually Wheeler from maybe a different bank robbery, I don't know.
After the alleged crime stopper segment, MacArthur Wheeler was arrested
at midnight on April twentieth, after a tip came in
(22:18):
with his whereabouts. And then this is when the first
story about the lemon juice dropped. Apparently Johnson was the
one who told Wheeler it would work. Wheeler tested it
on himself with a polaroid and then believed it. But
again I cannot find any proof of that except the
news article that quoted an officer saying this. There is
(22:39):
no public official police report of this. One newspaper said
this quoted a police officer, and since that day, every
other newspaper seems to reference that first newspaper who talked
about the lemon juice.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
There are, however, police reports that can be purchased from
this event and this arrest, which I along with the
sleuths whose help I used find very strange. Most information
on closed cases are free to the public, especially in
a bank robbery in which they only got five thousand
dollars and no one got hurt? Why are we keeping
(23:15):
that behind a paywall. Even weirder was the sentencing, though,
since Johnson agreed to testify against Wheeler for a reduced sentence,
Wheeler's court date and sentencing came first. He was sentenced
to twenty four and a half years for being an
accomplice who stood in line with no visible disguise, pretending
(23:39):
to be a customer but acting as a lookout during
two bank robberies.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Twenty four that's more or less most attempted murders.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Yeah, Like, did he actually discover invisibility? Why are they
trying to arrest him for twenty four years? That's so long?
Speaker 1 (23:56):
He really was in that photo?
Speaker 2 (23:58):
He he had to have been invisible, Like, why else
would you put this man? It's crazy? So then was
Johnson's court date. He received a sentence for pleading guilty
to three bank robberies in which he was armed and
in which he made out with a total of nine
thousand dollars. Johnson's punishment for three armed bank robberies was
(24:24):
five years five years because.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
He tested their death against sweeler discovered invisibility. Really know,
this is no other exploitation. I don't understand.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
I just I do not understand how and why our
justice system is what it is or what it was.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
I don't know, if somebody was drinking that day.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Uh. There is a possibility that the political timing of
it played a part, being that OJ's trial was, you know,
recently prior to the Rodney King riots for a couple
of years before that. Johnson was a black man, so
maybe they're like, you know, we can't punish black man
really harshly right now at this time. I don't know,
I don't know. There's also a possibility that highly rewarding
(25:09):
snitches as to make an example for other inmates played
a part, Like maybe they're like, you know, let's really
cut his sentence for being a snitch, and maybe other
people will start snitching.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
You know.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
I don't know, but in my mind there is always
a possibility that the government has some weird involvement involvement
in this, like maybe some of it was staged, maybe
some of it was a false confession, maybe it was
all some weird LSD mind control experiment to see if
they could make someone believe they were invisible, because people
can't really be that dumb, Or maybe he discovered invisibility.
(25:43):
These thoughts are not completely baseless. According to public records
found by some sleuths, MacArthur Wheeler requested and paid a
lot of money for the entire transcript of the entire trial.
What happened during that trial that made him want a
physical copy of it? I don't know, But then again,
(26:05):
maybe I'm just being dramatic. In two thousand and four,
Wheeler requested an appeal of at least half of his sentence,
maybe this second bank robbery that I can't find any
evidence of him committing, or maybe just because the sentence
of twenty four and a half years for being an
accomplice was ridiculous, or maybe he needed the court transcripts
to appeal in order to prove something sketchy was going on,
(26:27):
like hey, look at this thing that happened.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
I don't know well that and is that why it's
behind to pay? Well? Maybe like what happened, I need
to know somebody went invisible in that courtroom.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
After Johnson's sentence of five years was over and he
was released. He ended up in North Carolina, where he
was arrested again in twenty ten for armed bank robbery. Again,
it was right after this trial, I'm sorry, it was
right after this arrest now twenty twelve that Wheeler's appeal
was proved and he was released from prison. So Wheeler
(27:03):
did not was not made to do all twenty four years.
He was released after Johnson was re arrested. Maybe he
used that as part of his basis of like, hey,
look I'm not the criminal here he is. He was
rearrested right in twenty nineteen. Johnson died as an inmate
in prison. Wheeler, however, has never been found in a
(27:26):
police record since being released in twenty twelve. As far
as we know, he never reoffended, or at least he
was never seen reoffending again. Maybe he found the real
invisibility recipe. Special thanks in this episode to user Jimmick
on Reddit, who did the deepest of dives and posted
(27:49):
about this in multiple subreddits. Jimmick, if you are listening,
I would love to pick your brain about theories.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
Is Wheeler invisible? That's the only explanation that the only
reason wall. That's the only reason why the disparity in
sentencing and why he's never been constance. He's a criminal mastermind,
criminal mastermind. He belongs in a Minion's cartoon.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
He definitely doesn't wear bright red and yellow when he's burglarizing.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
I'll tell you that.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
No, or maybe maybe it doesn't matter because he's invisible.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Blum blob above their head. Yeah. Yeah, he could be
wearing like a rainbow spandex suit for all we emi.
I think he's a real life superhero. That's the only
way that it makes Can you imagine if.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
He's got that covering himself with lemon juice would make
him invisible and then he went in naked, can you imagine?
Speaker 1 (28:51):
I mean, I would love to be on a fly
on a wall that day because that would just be funny.
When you originally said dumb criminals, I was like, Okay,
she's doing shit dives because in addition to lemon juice
and invisibility, criminals have thought I'm just gonna wrap my
whole head and duct tape and who I am. Yeah.
And then there was two guys that robbed a liquor
(29:12):
store wearing watermelons over their head. So dumping lemon juice
on yourself and claiming a visibility somehow doesn't surprise me.
But it is my favorite. It's fun. This is kind
of like a conspiracy. It's kind of a conspiracy. Yeah, yeah,
very interesting. I would love this Reddit user to come
on the show for Jimmick. Come on, hit us up.
(29:35):
That is a lot of fun, though, my Yeah, that's
the only explanation. You can't tell me otherwise, that's it.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
I don't understand, Like, it just doesn't make sense. It
doesn't make sense.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
If you could choose any superpower, what would it be?
I have always said flying.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
But invisibility sounds really cool too, because then I can
just get on whatever plane I want, right.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
That's true. No one needs to know that you're standing
in the aisle. Yeah, it's just like stand out of
the way. You're fine. Yeah, I think invisibility would be
a good one too. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
I feel like it's always between those two.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
But in visibility now, I'm like, I could. I wouldn't
want to steal see that. I'm no better than Wheeler,
but I mean I'm not.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
I don't if he was actually invisible, I'm not mad
at him, you know. That's a really great invention.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
Mm hmmmmm. You should profit from it at some point.
That and if you're stealing from the rich, you're basically
Robin Hood who cares? Well give it to the poor
first please, thank you? Yes, and then your Robin Hood.
And just to clarify where the poor m sent help.
That's all right, that was a good one.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
I like, thanks, It's just a little thing, but I all.
What happened was I was gonna use it as a
fun fact because I found the picture with the quote
and I was like, oh my god, what idiots. And
then I started looking into it and I was like,
because that's what I do. I like to fact check
my fun facts. And then I was like, okay, wait
a minute, something fishy is going on here, and.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
I turned into a whole Reddit rabbit hole.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
Yeah, it's great, it's great.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
You did a great job, and let us know what
you think listeners. As always, I know we are recording
Bitch and Wine after this, But is there anything fun
you would like to share with the class? Yes? There is.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
I have discovered my new favorite thing. It is called majong.
Have you heard of this?
Speaker 1 (31:46):
Yes, I've heard of Majong. Have you played it. No,
I've never had anyone know how to play to teach me,
but it's so fine.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
I am obsessed with Majong. I went to a Majong
night at like a local boutique here where they sell
Majhong accessories and whatnot, so they had a bunch of.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
Jist patron by like twenty years.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
I was introduced to Majong by my friend Jayden, who
is twenty four. It is very popular on TikTok right now.
That's how she learned of it, yesh Goda.
Speaker 1 (32:22):
That's what brings the old lady board games back into
the the mix. Uh. It's very hard though, like I've
heard that as well. My grandma used to I'm surprised.
Speaker 2 (32:33):
An old woman would know how to play like we
play me Jaden, Julie and Mamma. And Mamma is not
great Okay, I love her and it's so fun anyway,
but she's clarified.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
While we Underworld today or I mean, I wasn't checking,
but Jaden showed me how to play. I thought it
was going to be layam.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
I had fun. We had a whole day of it.
We did Amomus and Mama and mimosas yes, it was great.
And then last week, a week later, they had at
a local boutique a Majong night where they brought their
own Like the boutique place gave you Majong boards to
play because I don't know if you know this, but
buying Majong is like nine hundred freaking dollars.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
Because aren't they like specialty tiles.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
The tiles are made of bone. Oh my god, yes,
So the original Majong is the oldest, like one of
the oldest games in history, and the tiles are originally
made of bones. So the ones that are really expensive
are bone, and then the other ones are like porcelain,
but they're kind of piggybacking off of the fact that
the bone ones are really expensive, and so even the
(33:42):
porcelain ones are like, you know, seven hundred dollars or whatever,
which is kind of annoying, like give me some plastic
ones and let me play, you know, but whatever, it's fun.
So the boutique gives out, you know, for the length
of the play tiles to play with. So we got
to play with really fancy nine hundred dollar ones and
they were so pretty and beautiful and I loved it.
(34:05):
And there was like a competition and I won. I
won majong for the entire night.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
It was awesome shot. I'm obsessed. I loved so fun. Well,
when I come to visit, you will have to take
me to masong night because yeah, we're gonna have to
go to a mash.
Speaker 2 (34:22):
I'm not buying nine hundred dollars. I'm just not that's
I told Jesse that he should cut out like little
wood tiles and I can like get some stickers and
a lacquer room and stuff like that. I'll make my
own maje. But I'm not buying that.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
That would be really cool with wood. Yeah, I think
that's would be a very unique, like woodsy take on
your set. I love that. What type of bone like
animal boat? I assume animal Okay, I don't know. I
assume ancestors like I. Just as soon as you said bone,
(34:58):
I don't know. I didn't look into it.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
I told Jesse that I loved it and that I
wanted it, and then it was nine hundred dollars. So
don't ever think you actually have to get it for me,
even though I love it and I want it. And
then he looked it up and he was like, oh,
that's because real mashong is still made with bone. And
I was like, oh okay, I didn't where coming from.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
Like I feel like, ethnically speaking, we need to look
at where are the bones, and you like, don't instead
of donating your bones to be a tree, can you
donate your bones to be a macho That would be
so cool.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
I want to be played with for the rest of eternity.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
Oh my god. Your kids are just like having a
games night with their friends and they're like, oh, these
tiles are beautiful. Word my mom. That's my mom. I
love it. I love it all right. I need you
to add that to your will immediately. I want to
be majong. Oh my god. And then when your kids
(36:01):
are gone, then their kids can play. Oh my god,
it's a whole thing. I'm going to be around.
Speaker 2 (36:07):
This is way better than being a tree because trees
can get struck by lightning.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
You can move, they can get down.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
Yeah, yeah, no, I wouldn't be a Yeah, I'm gonna together,
thank you.
Speaker 1 (36:22):
That's hilarious. And then you know, like when your kids
want to like give them like a tile to somebody
that loved Sierra. If for some reason you've died before me.
I want a tile.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
Yeah, we'll make extras just in case any get lost or.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
Hand them out. Yeah, that's so funny. Well, no, because
you can't throw away a piece of sierra. That would
be terrible. Exactly, you'd be haunted forever. I'm obsessed with
this idea. I don't think I can top that with my.
Speaker 2 (36:53):
Well tell me something anyway, My exciting.
Speaker 1 (36:55):
News was well, it was just I wanted to touch
on it because last week when we were for last
week's episode, I said I was going to the Jonas
Brothers concert and I was gonna get the Red Dressed
T shirt. They did have the Red Dressed T shirt there. Oh,
I did not get it, though, I got a different
T shirt with all of them on it, because as
I was wearing my red Dressed T shirt, I felt
(37:16):
guilty somehow. That and fucking Roger's Rena adds like twenty
five dollars to the costs of the T shirts. So
you want you want to know how much it was.
It wasn't the sixty four dollars online is eighty eighty
four dollars. That's a lot, and they don't even have
(37:36):
extra smalls, so it's too big for me. Anyway, I'm
gonna attempt to shrink it a little bit. It is
a very nice shirt and like a good photo of
all of them, and it's kind of got like vintage vibes,
which I'm here for. Yeah, so my point being, I
still may get the red dress T shirt online because
(37:57):
fuck Roger's arena. That's crazy. But it was a very
good concert and in a plot twist moment, they didn't
bring out anyone from Vancouver. They brought out MGK. I
saw that it was It was cool, but I'm also like,
that's cheating. Yeah, and he looked like a massive giant
next to our short kings one I think six three,
(38:23):
I don't know, and they're all like five eight. I
have no idea. They're definitely not five eight. Okay, yeah
they are, No, they are. Have you never googled this? No,
they're short kings, my friend. But eight that's shorter than Jesse. Yeah,
no way, I'm pretty sure Kevin is the tallest one
(38:43):
at five nine. I have to google it. Yeah, we're
fact checking. Insert dude, udeudude, I can hear your stomach alls.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
Kevin is five eleven, Joe is five to seven, and
Nick is five six.
Speaker 1 (38:59):
Dang gosh, that is crazy. I didn't think he was
five to six Jonas.
Speaker 2 (39:09):
Because I'm only five feet tall.
Speaker 1 (39:11):
He is five six. That's wow. The more you know
Kevin's five eleven, good for him, Good for him. So
sorry if I just you know, crushed any dreams for
anyone out there, not me, and are good and me
are good. We can still wear heels and be shorter
(39:34):
than him. Yeah they're short kings, but uh, we love
him anyway, and uh, it was a good show. Brianna
was a trooper, that is all. I missed you though
I have videos from boys like girls, so I was Yeah,
I did my best with my with my excitement, but
(39:56):
it was like weird because I was holding my camera
perfectly still, and because the crowd is moving, it looks
like I'm moving, and I'm like, I swear to in
the video you hear I swear to God, I'm holding
the still. But it was funny, but you were definitely missed.
And uh, buying that T shirt online. I need be
(40:20):
something cool when I die. We'll figure it out eventually
into a SIMS game. That would be really cool. But
then I'm just like, is there medic cognition? Happening while
I'm in the SIMS game? Are you thinking my spirit?
(40:43):
Is my spirit within the game? Can I think about
what's happening? I think so.
Speaker 2 (40:47):
Have you ever seen a show called Upload? No, you
should watch it.
Speaker 1 (40:50):
It's pretty cool. We'll listen to you kind of like that. Okay, yeah,
we will report back next week on what's happening when
I die. And in the meantime, Goalie, of those five
star ratings and reviews I have, you can see these costumes. Yes, yes,
make sure you're following us on social media and we
will be back next week for my episode bless me
(41:16):
you on my God can please? Thanks bless me. I
will see you next week for my episode that is
going to be high school related. Oh and in the meantime,
keep it twisted. Twisted and Uncorked is hosted and produced
by Sierra Zuren and Alicia Watson. If you like the show,
(41:38):
don't forget to leave a five star rating and review
wherever you are listening now. It really is the best
way to spread the word. You can check out all
things twisted on our website Twisted and uncork dot com,
and we will see you next Tuesday for a brand
new episode.
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