1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:03,000 Speaker 1: There's nothing better than feeling comfortable in your own shoes, 2 00:00:03,279 --> 00:00:05,240 Speaker 1: and that doesn't mean flopping down on the couch with 3 00:00:05,280 --> 00:00:08,640 Speaker 1: bunny slippers. Maybe you're a parent raising a little rock star, 4 00:00:09,119 --> 00:00:11,959 Speaker 1: or a tech nomad working from anywhere and jumping from 5 00:00:11,960 --> 00:00:14,920 Speaker 1: one thing to the next. Whoever you are, all Birds 6 00:00:14,960 --> 00:00:17,360 Speaker 1: wants you to be comfortable in your actual shoes too. 7 00:00:17,720 --> 00:00:21,279 Speaker 1: They're wool runners, pipers, and loungers are designed for a 8 00:00:21,400 --> 00:00:23,480 Speaker 1: level of coziness that makes you feel like you can 9 00:00:23,520 --> 00:00:26,479 Speaker 1: do anything. 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That's alll bi rds 19 00:00:58,960 --> 00:01:12,600 Speaker 1: dot com. In the early hours of one autumnal morning 20 00:01:12,800 --> 00:01:16,840 Speaker 1: of sixteen eighty eight in the quaint market town of Cambridge, England. 21 00:01:17,520 --> 00:01:20,880 Speaker 1: All about is quiet save for a small corner tucked 22 00:01:20,880 --> 00:01:24,880 Speaker 1: away beside the east gate of Trinity College, a grand 23 00:01:24,920 --> 00:01:27,959 Speaker 1: sprawl of towers and cloisters home to some of the 24 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:32,160 Speaker 1: finest academic mines of the age. In the dark of 25 00:01:32,160 --> 00:01:35,960 Speaker 1: a walled garden, a gentle orange light emanates from a 26 00:01:36,040 --> 00:01:41,360 Speaker 1: small private laboratory. Inside, a man with long silver hair 27 00:01:41,760 --> 00:01:46,679 Speaker 1: and patrician face sits deep in concentration, illuminated by the 28 00:01:46,720 --> 00:01:50,200 Speaker 1: flickering light of candles and the roaring flames of a 29 00:01:50,320 --> 00:01:56,880 Speaker 1: large brick furnace. Around him, glass vessels, distillers, and crucibles 30 00:01:56,920 --> 00:02:00,640 Speaker 1: are perched precariously, and all about the sound of things 31 00:02:00,640 --> 00:02:05,440 Speaker 1: bubbling and boiling, while the air thickens with strange scented fumes. 32 00:02:07,200 --> 00:02:11,160 Speaker 1: The man, skittish and sleep deprived, having barely left the 33 00:02:11,240 --> 00:02:14,840 Speaker 1: room in weeks, reaches for a large leather bound manuscript. 34 00:02:15,360 --> 00:02:20,040 Speaker 1: Its cover bears the title in troitus apertus ad occlusum 35 00:02:20,160 --> 00:02:25,040 Speaker 1: regis pallatium, or an open entrance to the shut palace 36 00:02:25,120 --> 00:02:29,360 Speaker 1: of the King. The man turns a page and begins 37 00:02:29,400 --> 00:02:36,079 Speaker 1: to read. This chaos is called arsenic, our air, our luna, 38 00:02:36,880 --> 00:02:41,280 Speaker 1: but in diverse respect, because our matter undergoes various states 39 00:02:41,639 --> 00:02:45,920 Speaker 1: before our regal diadem is extracted. So learn who the 40 00:02:45,960 --> 00:02:50,480 Speaker 1: comrades of Cadamus are and who the serpent who ate them. 41 00:02:50,720 --> 00:02:53,800 Speaker 1: Learn what the doves of Diana are, which conquer the 42 00:02:53,800 --> 00:02:58,320 Speaker 1: green lion, the Babylonian dragon, killing all by his means. 43 00:02:59,520 --> 00:03:03,120 Speaker 1: The word are a code, a spell of sorts, or 44 00:03:03,160 --> 00:03:08,080 Speaker 1: to the initiated, a recipe for the hallowed philosophic mercury, 45 00:03:08,160 --> 00:03:12,560 Speaker 1: the fundamental constituent of the mythical philosopher's stone that is 46 00:03:12,600 --> 00:03:16,399 Speaker 1: said to turn base metals into gold and grant immortality. 47 00:03:17,320 --> 00:03:21,119 Speaker 1: Our alchemist, no mere tourist on these shores, is all 48 00:03:21,160 --> 00:03:24,120 Speaker 1: too aware that this chaos is but another term for 49 00:03:24,160 --> 00:03:29,320 Speaker 1: the chemical element antimony. That Cadmus's comrades refers not only 50 00:03:29,360 --> 00:03:32,520 Speaker 1: to the soldiers of Cadmus, the founder of Thebes, who 51 00:03:32,520 --> 00:03:35,640 Speaker 1: were eaten by a serpent, but also to the metallic 52 00:03:35,760 --> 00:03:39,520 Speaker 1: element iron, And that serpent who ate them is the 53 00:03:39,560 --> 00:03:46,360 Speaker 1: sulfide ore stibnite. The alchemist, this natural philosopher, adds the 54 00:03:46,400 --> 00:03:50,360 Speaker 1: resulting antimony to a flask of mercury and watches as 55 00:03:50,400 --> 00:03:54,560 Speaker 1: the liquid metals fuse while cinders crackle in spit from 56 00:03:54,560 --> 00:04:00,600 Speaker 1: the fire, adding finally the last ingredient, two doves of Diana, 57 00:04:01,600 --> 00:04:07,240 Speaker 1: the goddess of the Moon, also known as silver. Next 58 00:04:07,320 --> 00:04:10,720 Speaker 1: will come distillation, after which he will attempt to extract 59 00:04:10,800 --> 00:04:15,000 Speaker 1: the purest of philosophical mercury. It is said that by 60 00:04:15,040 --> 00:04:19,000 Speaker 1: combining this most refined of elements with gold will reduce 61 00:04:19,040 --> 00:04:22,760 Speaker 1: the precious metal to its constituent parts, thereby revealing the 62 00:04:22,760 --> 00:04:25,640 Speaker 1: base from which all metals are made, and with it 63 00:04:25,760 --> 00:04:29,880 Speaker 1: the key to turning any metal into gold. Such a 64 00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:33,000 Speaker 1: rare act of change would have been fitting for the age. 65 00:04:35,080 --> 00:04:38,159 Speaker 1: The past forty years in England had seen revolution take 66 00:04:38,200 --> 00:04:41,480 Speaker 1: the head of the monarchy, King Charles First, and with 67 00:04:41,520 --> 00:04:45,400 Speaker 1: it the insidious fallacy of the divine right of kings, 68 00:04:45,440 --> 00:04:48,279 Speaker 1: only for it to be restored a decade later upon 69 00:04:48,320 --> 00:04:52,440 Speaker 1: the shoulders of his son, Charles the Second. By the 70 00:04:52,480 --> 00:04:55,480 Speaker 1: time of Charles's death in sixteen eighty five and the 71 00:04:55,520 --> 00:04:58,320 Speaker 1: transference of the crown into the hands of James the Second, 72 00:04:59,040 --> 00:05:01,680 Speaker 1: it seemed that the spirit of the revolution had all 73 00:05:01,720 --> 00:05:07,719 Speaker 1: but been dissolved. But such rebellious seeds seldom wither so easily. 74 00:05:09,200 --> 00:05:13,000 Speaker 1: Three years later, James's wife, Mary gives birth to a son, 75 00:05:13,640 --> 00:05:17,800 Speaker 1: and with him the promise of a new Catholic dynasty. 76 00:05:17,920 --> 00:05:24,119 Speaker 1: But elsewhere, men of Orange are conspiring. In November, led 77 00:05:24,160 --> 00:05:27,200 Speaker 1: by their leader William, they will cross the vicious chill 78 00:05:27,320 --> 00:05:31,440 Speaker 1: of the North Sea waves, landing at the port of Brixham. 79 00:05:31,480 --> 00:05:34,640 Speaker 1: Within a year, King James the Second's reign will be 80 00:05:34,680 --> 00:05:38,800 Speaker 1: at an end, replaced by the Protestant King William and Mary, 81 00:05:39,120 --> 00:05:43,280 Speaker 1: James's Protestant daughter, their union, marking the final end for 82 00:05:43,360 --> 00:05:49,960 Speaker 1: Catholicism as a substantial influence in English society. More than that, however, 83 00:05:50,560 --> 00:05:53,240 Speaker 1: it marked the beginning of the end for the Church 84 00:05:53,320 --> 00:05:57,960 Speaker 1: and the monarchy as significant political powers. To secure his 85 00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:01,799 Speaker 1: assent to the throne, William was given support in return 86 00:06:01,880 --> 00:06:05,240 Speaker 1: for his agreeing to the Bill of Rights, signed in 87 00:06:05,320 --> 00:06:08,720 Speaker 1: sixteen eighty nine. The Bill declares an end to royal 88 00:06:08,720 --> 00:06:12,760 Speaker 1: prerogative powers. No longer could an English monarch suspend laws, 89 00:06:13,240 --> 00:06:16,640 Speaker 1: levy taxes, or raise an army without consent of Parliament. 90 00:06:17,960 --> 00:06:19,760 Speaker 1: It was a turning from the light of the Lord 91 00:06:20,200 --> 00:06:23,400 Speaker 1: to the light of the people. The age of reason 92 00:06:23,600 --> 00:06:28,640 Speaker 1: had begun. Over the next three hundred years, the revolutionary 93 00:06:28,680 --> 00:06:32,400 Speaker 1: spirit of enlightenment will come to dominate the world of ideas, 94 00:06:33,120 --> 00:06:37,960 Speaker 1: an unparalleled time of extraordinary discovery, invention, and social upheaval, 95 00:06:38,960 --> 00:06:42,680 Speaker 1: with one man's ideas, perhaps more than any other, providing 96 00:06:42,720 --> 00:06:46,039 Speaker 1: the touch paper for this explosion of knowledge. Although he 97 00:06:46,160 --> 00:06:49,320 Speaker 1: himself would say that if he had seen further than most, 98 00:06:49,920 --> 00:06:52,240 Speaker 1: it was only because he had stood on the shoulders 99 00:06:52,279 --> 00:06:57,040 Speaker 1: of giants. And so we returned to that man, our 100 00:06:57,080 --> 00:07:02,680 Speaker 1: alchemical magus, toiling away in his candlelit laboratory, practicing magic. 101 00:07:04,240 --> 00:07:10,360 Speaker 1: His name, of course, is Isaac Newton. Just a year previously, 102 00:07:10,800 --> 00:07:16,320 Speaker 1: Newton's mathematical principles of natural philosophy had completely revolutionized science, 103 00:07:17,120 --> 00:07:20,080 Speaker 1: gifting to the world his three laws of motion, to 104 00:07:20,160 --> 00:07:23,520 Speaker 1: which he would later add modern calculus and the color 105 00:07:23,560 --> 00:07:27,960 Speaker 1: spectrum of light, amongst many other discoveries. He was quite 106 00:07:27,960 --> 00:07:33,920 Speaker 1: simply a genius, a shining beacon of rationality, and yet 107 00:07:34,400 --> 00:07:37,720 Speaker 1: so too did he give genuine consideration to the impossible 108 00:07:37,800 --> 00:07:41,960 Speaker 1: dream of the philosopher's stone. But what drove Newton in 109 00:07:41,960 --> 00:07:45,720 Speaker 1: those magical endeavors was not so much a blind folly, 110 00:07:45,760 --> 00:07:49,400 Speaker 1: but rather his belief in an omnipresent God, a hidden 111 00:07:49,400 --> 00:07:54,120 Speaker 1: truth behind all things. He wasn't looking for gold, so 112 00:07:54,160 --> 00:07:57,360 Speaker 1: to speak, but rather for the hidden world that he 113 00:07:57,400 --> 00:08:01,160 Speaker 1: believed was located in the spaces between its constituent parts. 114 00:08:03,040 --> 00:08:06,680 Speaker 1: Newton kept his occult studies secret during his lifetime for 115 00:08:06,800 --> 00:08:11,280 Speaker 1: fear of being accused of heresy. After his death, his heir, 116 00:08:11,400 --> 00:08:14,920 Speaker 1: John Conduit, was so horrified to find amongst his manuscripts, 117 00:08:15,040 --> 00:08:18,480 Speaker 1: notes and letters over one million words pertaining to his 118 00:08:18,560 --> 00:08:22,040 Speaker 1: studies of alchemy and biblical prophecy, he made it his 119 00:08:22,120 --> 00:08:27,000 Speaker 1: legacy to suppress them. It wouldn't be until the nineteen thirties, 120 00:08:27,160 --> 00:08:31,000 Speaker 1: after economist John Maynard Keynes bought a set of Newton's 121 00:08:31,040 --> 00:08:34,640 Speaker 1: previously unpublished notes, that the true extent of his fascination 122 00:08:34,720 --> 00:08:41,240 Speaker 1: with alchemy became public knowledge. Keynes as extraordinary fine prompted 123 00:08:41,320 --> 00:08:44,560 Speaker 1: him to remark that perhaps Newton wasn't, in fact the 124 00:08:44,600 --> 00:08:48,200 Speaker 1: first of the Age of Reason, but rather the last 125 00:08:48,200 --> 00:08:53,280 Speaker 1: of the magicians, the Babylonians and the Summarians, the last 126 00:08:53,360 --> 00:08:56,800 Speaker 1: great mind which looked out on the visible and intellectual 127 00:08:56,840 --> 00:08:59,480 Speaker 1: world with the same eyes as those who began to 128 00:08:59,520 --> 00:09:03,840 Speaker 1: build intellectual inheritance. Rather less than ten thousand years ago, 129 00:09:05,840 --> 00:09:08,880 Speaker 1: had Newton lived in more recent times. We can only 130 00:09:08,920 --> 00:09:11,880 Speaker 1: wonder what evidence of the divine he might have discerned 131 00:09:12,360 --> 00:09:15,720 Speaker 1: deep within the realm of quantum mechanics or woven into 132 00:09:15,720 --> 00:09:20,120 Speaker 1: the fabric of space time. Either way, it is highly 133 00:09:20,160 --> 00:09:22,560 Speaker 1: likely he would have been at the forefront of such 134 00:09:22,600 --> 00:09:27,160 Speaker 1: groundbreaking investigations. As for whether he would have retained an 135 00:09:27,160 --> 00:09:32,079 Speaker 1: interest in the occult sciences is anyone's guess. One thing's 136 00:09:32,080 --> 00:09:35,360 Speaker 1: for sure, though, he wouldn't have been alone if he did. 137 00:09:36,840 --> 00:09:40,080 Speaker 1: For it turns out that Isaac Newton was not the 138 00:09:40,160 --> 00:09:44,040 Speaker 1: last of the magicians at all, not by a long shot. 139 00:09:47,640 --> 00:10:00,240 Speaker 1: This is unexplained, and I'm Richard McClean smith. Though many 140 00:10:00,280 --> 00:10:03,920 Speaker 1: heads turned that summer morning in nineteen twenty six when 141 00:10:03,960 --> 00:10:07,319 Speaker 1: the limousine pulled up to the front lawn of Pasadena's 142 00:10:07,440 --> 00:10:12,880 Speaker 1: George Washington Junior High While some kids ignored the peculiar sight, 143 00:10:13,559 --> 00:10:17,320 Speaker 1: others huddled together, growing even more intrigued when a twelve 144 00:10:17,400 --> 00:10:21,360 Speaker 1: year old child stepped out of the vehicle with dark, 145 00:10:21,520 --> 00:10:25,439 Speaker 1: slicked back hair. The baby faced boy seemed strangely grown 146 00:10:25,520 --> 00:10:29,520 Speaker 1: up in his gray blazer and sparkling brown leather shoes. 147 00:10:30,920 --> 00:10:33,600 Speaker 1: A single stars and stripes flag placed at the back 148 00:10:33,640 --> 00:10:36,560 Speaker 1: of the wide lawn flapped high above as the boy 149 00:10:36,600 --> 00:10:41,280 Speaker 1: watched his grandfather's car drive away. Turning back to the school, 150 00:10:41,400 --> 00:10:44,040 Speaker 1: which loomed up a good three flights of steps in 151 00:10:44,080 --> 00:10:47,319 Speaker 1: the distance, Jack sensed it would be a long walk 152 00:10:47,480 --> 00:10:50,640 Speaker 1: to the front entrance as more children stopped to gorp. 153 00:10:52,600 --> 00:10:55,880 Speaker 1: Taking a deep breath, he hoisted his satchel onto his back, 154 00:10:56,440 --> 00:10:59,600 Speaker 1: and with his three copies of Amazing Stories magazine sticking 155 00:10:59,600 --> 00:11:02,600 Speaker 1: prominent at the top, he made his way up to 156 00:11:02,640 --> 00:11:08,240 Speaker 1: the school. Hugo Gernsback's recently launched magazine featuring tales from 157 00:11:08,320 --> 00:11:11,880 Speaker 1: Jules Verne and H. G. Wells, was a favorite of Jack's, 158 00:11:12,360 --> 00:11:16,240 Speaker 1: a place to get lost and stir his dreams, but 159 00:11:16,320 --> 00:11:18,920 Speaker 1: as he made his way to class that morning, they 160 00:11:18,960 --> 00:11:21,400 Speaker 1: seemed just another reason for the other kids to make 161 00:11:21,440 --> 00:11:26,480 Speaker 1: fun of him and his bazaar affected English accent. Months later, 162 00:11:26,960 --> 00:11:31,280 Speaker 1: fourteen year old Ed Foreman, newly appointed recess monitor, was 163 00:11:31,320 --> 00:11:33,560 Speaker 1: about getting ready to summon the kids back in for 164 00:11:33,679 --> 00:11:36,360 Speaker 1: class when a scuffle broke out at the back of 165 00:11:36,360 --> 00:11:41,280 Speaker 1: the playground. Amidst the chaos and cries of sissy, Ed 166 00:11:41,360 --> 00:11:44,120 Speaker 1: could just about make out someone being kicked on the 167 00:11:44,160 --> 00:11:49,400 Speaker 1: floor by another much bigger pupil. Ever, the egalitarian Ed 168 00:11:49,559 --> 00:11:54,280 Speaker 1: rushed into the malay, punching the assailant away. Jack looked 169 00:11:54,360 --> 00:11:56,880 Speaker 1: up from the ground to find a hand being thrust 170 00:11:56,880 --> 00:12:01,079 Speaker 1: out towards him, picking him up from the dirt. From 171 00:12:01,120 --> 00:12:05,600 Speaker 1: then on, the pair were inseparable, almost preternaturally drawn together. 172 00:12:06,720 --> 00:12:09,960 Speaker 1: Evenings and weekends would be spent at each other's homes, or, 173 00:12:10,000 --> 00:12:15,000 Speaker 1: more precisely, at Jack's grandparents' vast mansion on Orange Grove Avenue. 174 00:12:16,840 --> 00:12:21,240 Speaker 1: Though both boys lived in Pasadena, they occupied very different worlds, 175 00:12:21,760 --> 00:12:26,560 Speaker 1: as Ed would soon come to realize. Jack was born 176 00:12:26,760 --> 00:12:31,600 Speaker 1: Marveled Parsons in October nineteen fourteen, named after his father, 177 00:12:31,760 --> 00:12:34,680 Speaker 1: who had met Jack's mother, Ruth, in Chicago a few 178 00:12:34,760 --> 00:12:40,559 Speaker 1: years previously. The couple had decided to move to Pasadena, California, 179 00:12:40,800 --> 00:12:44,400 Speaker 1: located just ten miles northeast of Los Angeles, after the 180 00:12:44,440 --> 00:12:48,120 Speaker 1: devastation of losing their first child, who had been still born. 181 00:12:49,360 --> 00:12:52,400 Speaker 1: The city had become somewhat of a retreat for East 182 00:12:52,440 --> 00:12:56,360 Speaker 1: Coast bospice liberals and industrialists seeking a haven in the 183 00:12:56,440 --> 00:13:01,560 Speaker 1: sun away from the complications of the big cities. For Ruth, however, 184 00:13:01,760 --> 00:13:04,240 Speaker 1: it was not quite the tree lined Paradise. It had 185 00:13:04,280 --> 00:13:08,839 Speaker 1: first appeared. Within weeks of Jack's birth, she made the 186 00:13:08,880 --> 00:13:12,120 Speaker 1: crushing discovery that her husband had been paying other women 187 00:13:12,240 --> 00:13:17,000 Speaker 1: for sex. Ruth wasted little time throwing him out, and 188 00:13:17,040 --> 00:13:20,880 Speaker 1: by the following year they were divorced. If Jack could 189 00:13:20,880 --> 00:13:23,640 Speaker 1: remember seeing his father the day he left, it would 190 00:13:23,640 --> 00:13:25,680 Speaker 1: be the last time he would do so for over 191 00:13:25,760 --> 00:13:30,480 Speaker 1: twenty years. In a final effort to expunge all memory 192 00:13:30,480 --> 00:13:33,440 Speaker 1: of her ex husband, Ruth removed all mention of the 193 00:13:33,520 --> 00:13:37,520 Speaker 1: name Marvel on her son's official records. He would henceforth 194 00:13:37,760 --> 00:13:42,320 Speaker 1: be known as Jack. The vast Italian style villa that 195 00:13:42,440 --> 00:13:45,120 Speaker 1: Jack and Ed were sitting in now as they flicked 196 00:13:45,120 --> 00:13:50,080 Speaker 1: through Jack's extensive magazine collection had been bought by Ruth's father, Walter, who, 197 00:13:50,160 --> 00:13:53,199 Speaker 1: along with her mother Carrie, had traveled out to California 198 00:13:53,280 --> 00:13:57,120 Speaker 1: to support their daughter. The boys had been quick to 199 00:13:57,160 --> 00:14:00,720 Speaker 1: bond after that first meeting, with Ed drawn to Jack's 200 00:14:00,760 --> 00:14:05,000 Speaker 1: encyclopedic knowledge and worldly air listening wrapped as he recited 201 00:14:05,000 --> 00:14:08,960 Speaker 1: poetry from heart. Jack was in turn enamored of the 202 00:14:09,040 --> 00:14:12,640 Speaker 1: streetwise and confident Ed, and loved nothing more than to 203 00:14:12,679 --> 00:14:16,760 Speaker 1: share his favorite stories with him. But what they loved 204 00:14:16,800 --> 00:14:22,040 Speaker 1: more than anything was rockets. It was Jack's dream to 205 00:14:22,120 --> 00:14:25,000 Speaker 1: fly a rocket to the moon, but for now, at least, 206 00:14:25,160 --> 00:14:27,520 Speaker 1: they would have to settle for letting off explosives in 207 00:14:27,560 --> 00:14:33,640 Speaker 1: the villa's gardens. Being the adventurous inquisitive minds that they were, however, 208 00:14:33,920 --> 00:14:37,120 Speaker 1: it wasn't long before they were adapting the standard firecrackers 209 00:14:37,440 --> 00:14:41,880 Speaker 1: into something with a bit more bang. With the help 210 00:14:41,880 --> 00:14:45,640 Speaker 1: of Jack's family's money and Ed's father's electrical engineering tools, 211 00:14:46,120 --> 00:14:50,280 Speaker 1: the pair soon started constructing rockets from balsawood, taking the 212 00:14:50,320 --> 00:14:53,640 Speaker 1: explosives from multiple fireworks and packing it into their own 213 00:14:53,760 --> 00:14:58,680 Speaker 1: novel creations. As the rockets increased in size, the pair 214 00:14:58,760 --> 00:15:01,480 Speaker 1: were forced to relocate the testing site to the arid 215 00:15:01,520 --> 00:15:05,080 Speaker 1: slopes of the nearby of Royo Seco, a seasonal river 216 00:15:05,120 --> 00:15:09,200 Speaker 1: canyon and thicketed wilderness of dust and sagebrush that ran 217 00:15:09,320 --> 00:15:14,920 Speaker 1: alongside Pasadena's western edge. Walking to find a good launching spot, 218 00:15:14,960 --> 00:15:18,120 Speaker 1: one morning, Ed tells Jack about the time he had 219 00:15:18,160 --> 00:15:21,360 Speaker 1: first moved to Pasadena with his family. Too poor to 220 00:15:21,400 --> 00:15:24,440 Speaker 1: rent a hotel while they searched for a house, they 221 00:15:24,440 --> 00:15:26,800 Speaker 1: had been forced to camp in the canyon until his 222 00:15:26,880 --> 00:15:30,400 Speaker 1: father had found a job. As the friends picked their 223 00:15:30,440 --> 00:15:33,320 Speaker 1: way through the scrub, they catch sight at the Devil's 224 00:15:33,320 --> 00:15:37,560 Speaker 1: Gate Dam in the distance. As they draw closer, a 225 00:15:37,640 --> 00:15:42,000 Speaker 1: peculiar formation in the cliffside becomes visible. It looked like 226 00:15:42,080 --> 00:15:47,320 Speaker 1: a horned face. It's the devil, says Ed. That's where 227 00:15:47,320 --> 00:15:51,560 Speaker 1: the dam gets its name. That's not the devil, replies Jack. 228 00:15:52,760 --> 00:15:56,120 Speaker 1: Ed looks to his friend, confused. How do you know, 229 00:15:56,440 --> 00:16:02,280 Speaker 1: he asks, because I've seen him one evening alone in 230 00:16:02,320 --> 00:16:04,760 Speaker 1: his bedroom a few months ago. As Jack went on 231 00:16:04,800 --> 00:16:08,120 Speaker 1: to explain, he was trying out a magic ritual that 232 00:16:08,200 --> 00:16:10,120 Speaker 1: he'd found in the back of one of his books. 233 00:16:10,760 --> 00:16:16,600 Speaker 1: When something unspeakable had materialized. The instant had sent him 234 00:16:16,600 --> 00:16:19,400 Speaker 1: sprawling to the back of the room, shivering with terror, 235 00:16:19,600 --> 00:16:24,400 Speaker 1: until the monstrous figure had departed. Ed can only look 236 00:16:24,440 --> 00:16:33,080 Speaker 1: on speechless as his friend walks on ahead. 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As Jack and Ed's rockets grew larger, 254 00:17:43,560 --> 00:17:46,400 Speaker 1: so did the explosive force require to propel them ever 255 00:17:46,520 --> 00:17:50,000 Speaker 1: higher into the sky. But Jack's obsession was beginning to 256 00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:53,800 Speaker 1: concern his mother, Worried that her estrangement from his father 257 00:17:53,960 --> 00:17:56,879 Speaker 1: had left him lacking discipline, and eager that he should 258 00:17:56,880 --> 00:18:00,800 Speaker 1: become more sociable like other teenagers his age, she enrolled 259 00:18:00,880 --> 00:18:05,840 Speaker 1: him in a military school a hundred and thirty miles away. Jack, 260 00:18:05,880 --> 00:18:08,720 Speaker 1: who was becoming an increasingly adept chemist by the day, 261 00:18:09,400 --> 00:18:12,960 Speaker 1: reacted by blowing up the toilets and getting himself expelled. 262 00:18:13,880 --> 00:18:17,280 Speaker 1: He was promptly returned to Pasadena and reunited with Ed. 263 00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:22,159 Speaker 1: At some point, flicking through one de Story's magazine, the 264 00:18:22,240 --> 00:18:26,800 Speaker 1: pair discover an advert for the American Interplanetary Society, a 265 00:18:26,880 --> 00:18:30,920 Speaker 1: small collection of rocket enthusiasts who in nineteen thirty represented 266 00:18:30,960 --> 00:18:35,359 Speaker 1: the vanguard of U S rocket science. Both joined immediately 267 00:18:35,840 --> 00:18:39,480 Speaker 1: and was soon receiving regular bulletins from the organization about 268 00:18:39,520 --> 00:18:42,679 Speaker 1: all the latest tests and progress being made around the world. 269 00:18:43,880 --> 00:18:47,960 Speaker 1: The pair were also introduced to the Verine fur Raumschiffart, 270 00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:52,640 Speaker 1: the German equivalent of the A I s now insatiable 271 00:18:52,800 --> 00:18:55,560 Speaker 1: for all and any knowledge to better improve their devices. 272 00:18:56,080 --> 00:18:58,560 Speaker 1: Jack found the contact details for a member of the 273 00:18:58,680 --> 00:19:03,000 Speaker 1: v f R, his name Verne of von Braun. Over 274 00:19:03,040 --> 00:19:05,960 Speaker 1: the next year, a fifteen year old Parsons and the 275 00:19:06,040 --> 00:19:08,960 Speaker 1: seventeen year olds Ed Foreman and Verne of von Braun 276 00:19:09,280 --> 00:19:12,359 Speaker 1: frequently spoke on the phone, trading what they knew, until 277 00:19:12,400 --> 00:19:15,280 Speaker 1: it became apparent to Jack and Ed that von Braun 278 00:19:15,720 --> 00:19:20,600 Speaker 1: was merely pumping them for information. In early nineteen twenty nine, 279 00:19:20,960 --> 00:19:24,239 Speaker 1: Jack's grandfather, Walter, decided to move the family to an 280 00:19:24,240 --> 00:19:27,000 Speaker 1: even more grand mansion on the western side of the 281 00:19:27,080 --> 00:19:31,159 Speaker 1: Arroyo Secco, not far from the majestic Colorado Bridge that 282 00:19:31,359 --> 00:19:34,440 Speaker 1: spanned the canyon and divided those on the hill from 283 00:19:34,440 --> 00:19:39,520 Speaker 1: those down in the city. But everything was about to change. 284 00:19:40,080 --> 00:19:43,359 Speaker 1: In October, a financial crash the likes of which the 285 00:19:43,400 --> 00:19:46,800 Speaker 1: world had never seen, wiped forty billion dollars of the 286 00:19:46,880 --> 00:19:51,200 Speaker 1: value of shares in five days. Like many of his ilk, 287 00:19:51,760 --> 00:19:55,680 Speaker 1: much of Walter's wealth, largely inherited from a manufacturing dynasty 288 00:19:55,840 --> 00:20:00,960 Speaker 1: stretching back centuries, was eviscerated for those that held a 289 00:20:00,960 --> 00:20:04,040 Speaker 1: person's bank balance as the true sigil of their being. 290 00:20:04,800 --> 00:20:10,040 Speaker 1: The psychical fallout was catastrophic. If Jack had been innocent 291 00:20:10,080 --> 00:20:12,760 Speaker 1: at all about the cosseted paradise he had grown up 292 00:20:12,800 --> 00:20:16,119 Speaker 1: in a different world had revealed itself for the first 293 00:20:16,160 --> 00:20:20,879 Speaker 1: time as one after another men marched themselves to the 294 00:20:20,920 --> 00:20:25,520 Speaker 1: grand Colorado Bridge and leaped into oblivion, often leaving their 295 00:20:25,560 --> 00:20:29,560 Speaker 1: wives behind to pick up the pieces. Though Walter did 296 00:20:29,600 --> 00:20:34,080 Speaker 1: nothing quite so drastic, his health, along with his family's fortunes, 297 00:20:34,359 --> 00:20:38,240 Speaker 1: never recovered, and in nineteen thirty one they took him 298 00:20:38,320 --> 00:20:42,280 Speaker 1: with them. The loss for Jack, who had treated Walter 299 00:20:42,359 --> 00:20:46,199 Speaker 1: like a father was devastating, but a valuable lesson in 300 00:20:46,280 --> 00:20:48,840 Speaker 1: those things and the cosmos over which you have no 301 00:20:48,920 --> 00:20:54,159 Speaker 1: control had been learnt. Unnerved by the sudden change in 302 00:20:54,200 --> 00:20:58,400 Speaker 1: the family's finances, Jack sought out employment, landing a job 303 00:20:58,440 --> 00:21:02,480 Speaker 1: at Hercules Powder, a chemical and munitions company based out 304 00:21:02,520 --> 00:21:06,720 Speaker 1: of Los Angeles. It was here that Parsons learnt about 305 00:21:06,720 --> 00:21:09,840 Speaker 1: the history of explosives, how to mix for both high 306 00:21:09,880 --> 00:21:13,840 Speaker 1: and low end, and which chemical combinations produced which kind 307 00:21:13,840 --> 00:21:17,560 Speaker 1: of burn. Jack worked all the hours he could find 308 00:21:17,680 --> 00:21:20,800 Speaker 1: in between college, and each week end he and Ed 309 00:21:20,840 --> 00:21:24,760 Speaker 1: would put his newfound knowledge to the test. Out was 310 00:21:24,800 --> 00:21:28,920 Speaker 1: balsewood and in was tough and metal casings fashioned by Ed. 311 00:21:30,320 --> 00:21:34,880 Speaker 1: But something was lacking. Though their rockets were improving, their 312 00:21:34,920 --> 00:21:40,199 Speaker 1: progress was slowing down. When Jack graduates from college in 313 00:21:40,280 --> 00:21:44,800 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty three, he emerges significantly changed from that intense, 314 00:21:44,960 --> 00:21:47,320 Speaker 1: lonely child that Ed had picked up from the dirt 315 00:21:47,520 --> 00:21:51,760 Speaker 1: all those years ago. When he sees his friend, now 316 00:21:52,359 --> 00:21:56,399 Speaker 1: eighteen years old, standing over six feet tall, the magnetic 317 00:21:56,440 --> 00:21:59,879 Speaker 1: intensity is still there, but no longer as it turned 318 00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:05,560 Speaker 1: inward but radiating out. Perhaps Jack was starting to notice 319 00:22:05,560 --> 00:22:08,480 Speaker 1: it too, the way others seemed no longer to be 320 00:22:08,520 --> 00:22:11,840 Speaker 1: inching away from him as he walked past, but drawing 321 00:22:11,920 --> 00:22:17,040 Speaker 1: a step closer. That winter, Jack and Ed attend a 322 00:22:17,119 --> 00:22:21,080 Speaker 1: Christmas dance together held at the Pasadena First Baptist Church. 323 00:22:22,440 --> 00:22:24,440 Speaker 1: Ed can see the way the young women are looking 324 00:22:24,440 --> 00:22:27,680 Speaker 1: at his friend, but Jack only has eyes for one 325 00:22:27,720 --> 00:22:32,359 Speaker 1: of them. She is tall, with brown hair, and, unlike 326 00:22:32,359 --> 00:22:38,080 Speaker 1: the others, appears to want nothing to do with him. 327 00:22:38,119 --> 00:22:41,239 Speaker 1: At twenty two, Helen Northrup was four years older than 328 00:22:41,320 --> 00:22:46,880 Speaker 1: Jack when they began dating tentatively at first. Like Jack, 329 00:22:47,160 --> 00:22:49,480 Speaker 1: she too had lost her father at an early age, 330 00:22:49,920 --> 00:22:53,480 Speaker 1: but unlike him, her mother, Olga wasn't quite so free 331 00:22:53,560 --> 00:22:57,800 Speaker 1: to bring up her children alone. Not long after her 332 00:22:57,840 --> 00:23:01,800 Speaker 1: father had died, Helen's mother, Olga had met and married 333 00:23:01,840 --> 00:23:06,600 Speaker 1: Burton Northrop, a traveling salesman. It isn't known when he 334 00:23:06,640 --> 00:23:09,399 Speaker 1: started turning his attentions to the nine year old Helen, 335 00:23:10,240 --> 00:23:13,800 Speaker 1: but she suffered his abuse throughout her childhood and teenage years. 336 00:23:14,720 --> 00:23:17,400 Speaker 1: Olga and Burton would later have two daughters of their own, 337 00:23:18,040 --> 00:23:24,000 Speaker 1: and he abused them too. Burton had forbidden Helen from 338 00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:28,159 Speaker 1: meeting with boys, but was oddly enthusiastic about Jack and 339 00:23:28,280 --> 00:23:31,760 Speaker 1: perhaps hoping to take advantage of his no longer existent wealth, 340 00:23:32,480 --> 00:23:36,360 Speaker 1: encouraged her to stick with him. Helen was only too 341 00:23:36,359 --> 00:23:42,879 Speaker 1: pleased to escape the monster once. Helen told Jack a 342 00:23:42,920 --> 00:23:47,000 Speaker 1: peculiar story. One night when she was twelve, back when 343 00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:50,320 Speaker 1: her family were living in Chicago, she had been unable 344 00:23:50,400 --> 00:23:54,399 Speaker 1: to sleep. Hearing voices coming from the kitchen, she crept 345 00:23:54,440 --> 00:23:56,720 Speaker 1: to the bottom of the stairs and peered into the 346 00:23:56,800 --> 00:23:59,719 Speaker 1: room to find her mother and some friends sat at 347 00:23:59,720 --> 00:24:02,040 Speaker 1: the table table in front of a strange board and 348 00:24:02,160 --> 00:24:05,720 Speaker 1: in the middle of it an upturned glass. Her mother 349 00:24:05,800 --> 00:24:09,480 Speaker 1: and friends placed their fingers on the glass and asked 350 00:24:09,600 --> 00:24:13,560 Speaker 1: where Olgush had moved the family. Helen watched and wrapped 351 00:24:13,760 --> 00:24:16,600 Speaker 1: as the glass had moved around the board, spelling out 352 00:24:16,600 --> 00:24:21,639 Speaker 1: the word Pasadena. To Parsons, it was a clear sign 353 00:24:22,359 --> 00:24:25,840 Speaker 1: something was guiding them to each other for a purpose. 354 00:24:34,160 --> 00:24:37,960 Speaker 1: In nineteen thirty four, Jack, his grandmother Carry and his 355 00:24:38,040 --> 00:24:40,560 Speaker 1: mother Ruth were forced to finally sell up the old 356 00:24:40,600 --> 00:24:43,879 Speaker 1: mansion in return for more modest dwellings closer toward the 357 00:24:43,920 --> 00:24:50,240 Speaker 1: center of Pasadena. Although Jack had always struggled with the 358 00:24:50,280 --> 00:24:53,959 Speaker 1: discipline of academic rigor, suffering from what we would now 359 00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:57,879 Speaker 1: call dyslexia. He knew any chance he had of realizing 360 00:24:57,920 --> 00:25:00,400 Speaker 1: his dream to build a rocket to the moon would 361 00:25:00,440 --> 00:25:05,600 Speaker 1: require formal qualification. He duly enrolled in Pasadena at Junior 362 00:25:05,640 --> 00:25:09,600 Speaker 1: College to study chemistry, and would later be accepted into Stamford, 363 00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:13,280 Speaker 1: but was forced ultimately to turn them down, unable to 364 00:25:13,320 --> 00:25:18,720 Speaker 1: afford the fees. Shortly after meeting Helen, Jack takes a 365 00:25:18,800 --> 00:25:22,359 Speaker 1: promotion at Hercules Powder and has moved to their main plant, 366 00:25:22,560 --> 00:25:27,240 Speaker 1: eight hours north of Pasadena. By day, Jack toils sixteen 367 00:25:27,280 --> 00:25:30,399 Speaker 1: hours at a time, immersed in the dangerous alchemy of 368 00:25:30,480 --> 00:25:36,119 Speaker 1: explosives manufacture, surrounded by billowing acrid clouds of fuming nitric 369 00:25:36,160 --> 00:25:39,800 Speaker 1: acid and furnace flames that reddened the sky. It seems 370 00:25:39,840 --> 00:25:42,480 Speaker 1: to Parsons as if he had descended into a strangely 371 00:25:42,520 --> 00:25:47,320 Speaker 1: alluring rendition of Hell. By night, he attempts to communicate 372 00:25:47,400 --> 00:25:51,480 Speaker 1: telepathecally with Helen, reaching out to touch her hand from 373 00:25:51,520 --> 00:25:57,160 Speaker 1: a seemingly impossible distance. One time, he believes he managed it. 374 00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:02,400 Speaker 1: Helen had felt it too. Back in the desert, Jack 375 00:26:02,440 --> 00:26:04,760 Speaker 1: and Ed were coming to the realization that if they 376 00:26:04,760 --> 00:26:07,480 Speaker 1: were to take their inventions to the next level, they 377 00:26:07,480 --> 00:26:11,240 Speaker 1: would need a more formal structure and maybe some help. 378 00:26:12,800 --> 00:26:15,800 Speaker 1: In March nineteen thirty five, a twenty year old Parsons 379 00:26:15,880 --> 00:26:18,760 Speaker 1: and twenty two year old ed came across an article 380 00:26:18,800 --> 00:26:22,080 Speaker 1: in the La Times regarding a presentation given by grad 381 00:26:22,080 --> 00:26:25,639 Speaker 1: student William Boley on the future of rocket science that 382 00:26:25,760 --> 00:26:28,879 Speaker 1: had taken place at cal Tech a few days previously. 383 00:26:30,520 --> 00:26:32,840 Speaker 1: It was the first time they had ever read mention 384 00:26:32,880 --> 00:26:36,719 Speaker 1: of rocketry outside their science fiction magazines, and it had 385 00:26:36,720 --> 00:26:41,240 Speaker 1: occurred only a few miles from their homes. Within an hour, 386 00:26:41,480 --> 00:26:44,040 Speaker 1: the pair was striding through the entrance hall of cal Tech, 387 00:26:44,560 --> 00:26:49,320 Speaker 1: startling William Boley in his study, confused not only who 388 00:26:49,320 --> 00:26:52,520 Speaker 1: the overexcited pair were, but how on earth they had 389 00:26:52,520 --> 00:26:55,159 Speaker 1: made it as far as his study, Boley was just 390 00:26:55,280 --> 00:26:59,240 Speaker 1: about to dismiss them when they began to speak. Taken 391 00:26:59,240 --> 00:27:03,760 Speaker 1: aback by their beguilingly extensive knowledge and enthusiasm, he pointed 392 00:27:03,760 --> 00:27:09,480 Speaker 1: them towards fellow student Frank Malina further down the hall. Malina, 393 00:27:09,640 --> 00:27:13,240 Speaker 1: who had also attended Bolet's talk and come away deeply inspired, 394 00:27:13,760 --> 00:27:18,880 Speaker 1: recognized his passion in Parsons and Foremen. That afternoon, as 395 00:27:18,920 --> 00:27:22,879 Speaker 1: the men exchanged their ideas and theories, Something was beginning 396 00:27:22,880 --> 00:27:26,320 Speaker 1: to dawn on Jack, something that had occurred to him 397 00:27:26,480 --> 00:27:30,000 Speaker 1: during those early conversations with the young scientist von Braun. 398 00:27:31,640 --> 00:27:35,240 Speaker 1: In the early twentieth century, a number of mind bending ideas, 399 00:27:35,400 --> 00:27:38,960 Speaker 1: from Einstein's theories of relativity to the revelations of hidden 400 00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:43,639 Speaker 1: quantum worlds, had completely upended all previous understandings of outer 401 00:27:43,760 --> 00:27:49,760 Speaker 1: and inner space. Concepts of reality were shifting. Rumors had 402 00:27:49,760 --> 00:27:55,720 Speaker 1: begun circulating too, that space was expanding. Such discoveries had 403 00:27:55,760 --> 00:27:58,400 Speaker 1: filled the pages of Jack and Ed's magazines and with 404 00:27:58,440 --> 00:28:02,480 Speaker 1: it their imaginations. But in the real world, rocketry and 405 00:28:02,560 --> 00:28:06,879 Speaker 1: space exploration was a joke, the concept of space travel 406 00:28:07,040 --> 00:28:13,159 Speaker 1: treated as an impossible dream for naive school children. That afternoon, 407 00:28:13,240 --> 00:28:16,840 Speaker 1: talking to Frank Malina, perhaps the brightest student the Caltech 408 00:28:16,920 --> 00:28:20,639 Speaker 1: had to offer, Jack realized why he and Ed had 409 00:28:20,760 --> 00:28:23,399 Speaker 1: kept coming up against dead ends in their efforts to 410 00:28:23,440 --> 00:28:29,440 Speaker 1: improve their technology. They were the vanguard. Those weren't dead ends. 411 00:28:30,040 --> 00:28:32,639 Speaker 1: They were the hard cliff face at the edge of 412 00:28:32,760 --> 00:28:38,720 Speaker 1: human knowledge, and Melina knew it too. Melina's tutor was 413 00:28:38,760 --> 00:28:43,280 Speaker 1: the famed mathematician Theodore von Carmen. After being introduced to 414 00:28:43,320 --> 00:28:48,280 Speaker 1: his student's two compatriots, Recognizing their brilliance and somewhat enamored 415 00:28:48,320 --> 00:28:52,480 Speaker 1: of their independent, rebellious spirit, he immediately granted his permission 416 00:28:52,600 --> 00:28:56,440 Speaker 1: to use the institute's state of the art facilities. The 417 00:28:56,520 --> 00:29:01,400 Speaker 1: young team named themselves the GALCIT Rocket researched the acronym 418 00:29:01,480 --> 00:29:06,120 Speaker 1: standing for the Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory at the California Institute 419 00:29:06,240 --> 00:29:17,800 Speaker 1: of Technology. The following month, Jack and Helen were married 420 00:29:18,120 --> 00:29:20,920 Speaker 1: and moved into a modest home together in Terrace Drive. 421 00:29:22,560 --> 00:29:25,480 Speaker 1: Around that time, Jack struck up a friendship with the 422 00:29:25,640 --> 00:29:28,880 Speaker 1: used car dealer called Robert Rapinsky whilst looking for a 423 00:29:28,960 --> 00:29:34,040 Speaker 1: car one afternoon. Having grown up suspicious of other people, Parsons, 424 00:29:34,040 --> 00:29:37,440 Speaker 1: the adult, emboldened by his recent acceptance into the academic 425 00:29:37,480 --> 00:29:40,680 Speaker 1: fold of Caltech, was finding himself to be far more 426 00:29:40,720 --> 00:29:44,000 Speaker 1: open and receptive to others, who, in turn, he noticed, 427 00:29:44,080 --> 00:29:49,840 Speaker 1: appeared to greatly enjoy his company back at Caltech. In 428 00:29:49,960 --> 00:29:53,480 Speaker 1: order to sell their venture to his supervisors, Molina had 429 00:29:53,520 --> 00:29:56,800 Speaker 1: to frame their experiments within the context of a workable goal. 430 00:29:57,800 --> 00:30:01,880 Speaker 1: Parsons's initial suggestion to literally shoot for the moon was 431 00:30:01,960 --> 00:30:05,160 Speaker 1: dropped for the more sober endeavor of constructing a rocket 432 00:30:05,240 --> 00:30:09,920 Speaker 1: capable of delivering meteorological equipment twenty five miles high into 433 00:30:09,960 --> 00:30:14,280 Speaker 1: the ionosphere, though Parsons would have to learn to adopt 434 00:30:14,320 --> 00:30:17,520 Speaker 1: a more measured and studious approach to his work, the 435 00:30:17,600 --> 00:30:20,440 Speaker 1: team was soon back out on the Arroyo Seco, just 436 00:30:20,600 --> 00:30:23,520 Speaker 1: as Ed and Jack had been as young boys, doing 437 00:30:23,560 --> 00:30:30,280 Speaker 1: what they loved best, playing with fire. With Melina's mathematical skills, 438 00:30:30,600 --> 00:30:34,600 Speaker 1: Foreman's growing ability as an engineer, and Jack's mastery of chemistry, 439 00:30:35,000 --> 00:30:38,320 Speaker 1: the team's knowledge was increasing at an exponential rate, and 440 00:30:38,440 --> 00:30:41,240 Speaker 1: by October nineteen thirty six, they were ready to test 441 00:30:41,280 --> 00:30:44,760 Speaker 1: their first engine. They had also caught the attention of 442 00:30:44,800 --> 00:30:49,400 Speaker 1: two other Caltech students, Apollo Smith and Rudolph Scott, who 443 00:30:49,400 --> 00:30:53,280 Speaker 1: would assist them with their first test run. Early in 444 00:30:53,320 --> 00:30:57,040 Speaker 1: the morning of Halloween nineteen thirty six, the three students 445 00:30:57,080 --> 00:31:00,160 Speaker 1: of the two amateur enthusiasts made their way to was 446 00:31:00,200 --> 00:31:02,719 Speaker 1: a large patch of dry river bed at the bottom 447 00:31:02,720 --> 00:31:07,560 Speaker 1: of the Arroyo Seco. The team pieced together their apparatus 448 00:31:07,600 --> 00:31:10,240 Speaker 1: in preparation and took a moment to pose for a 449 00:31:10,240 --> 00:31:14,120 Speaker 1: photo marking the occasion before turning their attention back to 450 00:31:14,160 --> 00:31:18,680 Speaker 1: the engine. After Jack lit the fuse, the young men 451 00:31:18,880 --> 00:31:23,160 Speaker 1: dived behind sandbags and waited nervously for full ignition, but 452 00:31:23,280 --> 00:31:26,400 Speaker 1: as gas and liquid rushed into the supply tubes, the 453 00:31:26,480 --> 00:31:31,160 Speaker 1: pressure blew out the engine's fuse. After resetting the equipment, 454 00:31:31,520 --> 00:31:34,240 Speaker 1: they tried again, only for the engine to get completely 455 00:31:34,240 --> 00:31:39,080 Speaker 1: flooded when the fuse blew out again. When they tried 456 00:31:39,080 --> 00:31:42,000 Speaker 1: a third time, the fuse was blasted into the sky, 457 00:31:42,560 --> 00:31:46,240 Speaker 1: igniting the equipment. On its way back down, one of 458 00:31:46,240 --> 00:31:50,240 Speaker 1: the tubes carrying oxygen broke free and spewed flames into 459 00:31:50,280 --> 00:31:54,440 Speaker 1: the air. The men made a haste to retreat, returning 460 00:31:54,480 --> 00:32:00,200 Speaker 1: minutes later once the fire had died down. The team 461 00:32:00,240 --> 00:32:03,480 Speaker 1: made three more tests over the next three months, perfecting 462 00:32:03,520 --> 00:32:07,080 Speaker 1: their motor at each step, until in January nineteen thirty seven, 463 00:32:07,560 --> 00:32:10,680 Speaker 1: the engine roars into life, alive with a blast that 464 00:32:10,800 --> 00:32:16,520 Speaker 1: burns for forty five seconds. As their technology improved, the team, 465 00:32:16,600 --> 00:32:20,120 Speaker 1: having cemented their position at the forefront of US rocket development, 466 00:32:20,520 --> 00:32:25,960 Speaker 1: soon began attracting the national press. In early nineteen thirty eight, 467 00:32:26,160 --> 00:32:28,720 Speaker 1: a twenty three year old Jack is called by the 468 00:32:28,760 --> 00:32:31,560 Speaker 1: county prosecutor to act as an expert witness on a 469 00:32:31,600 --> 00:32:35,360 Speaker 1: criminal case involving a car bombing an attempted murder of 470 00:32:35,400 --> 00:32:39,360 Speaker 1: a private detective who had been investigating corruption in the LAPD. 471 00:32:40,800 --> 00:32:44,600 Speaker 1: The culprit turned out to be head of Police Intelligence LAPD, 472 00:32:44,720 --> 00:32:50,000 Speaker 1: Captain Earl Kinnet. It was thanks to Parson's expert knowledge 473 00:32:50,040 --> 00:32:53,280 Speaker 1: regarding the manufacture of the bomb that Kinnet and two 474 00:32:53,320 --> 00:32:58,960 Speaker 1: accomplices were found guilty of their crimes. But back at Galcit, 475 00:32:59,520 --> 00:33:04,160 Speaker 1: things of not been progressing so well. Despite formal recognition 476 00:33:04,200 --> 00:33:08,200 Speaker 1: from Caltech and increasing interest from the national press, the 477 00:33:08,320 --> 00:33:10,840 Speaker 1: rocket team, who had so far survived largely on a 478 00:33:10,880 --> 00:33:14,480 Speaker 1: surprise one thousand dollar donation, were running out of money. 479 00:33:15,520 --> 00:33:18,320 Speaker 1: Despite efforts from Von Carmen to raise the interest of 480 00:33:18,360 --> 00:33:22,680 Speaker 1: the American military, the establishment remained skeptical of the nascent 481 00:33:22,720 --> 00:33:28,680 Speaker 1: technology's military applications. Jack watches with dismay as one by 482 00:33:28,720 --> 00:33:31,480 Speaker 1: one the team are forced to abandon the project for 483 00:33:31,560 --> 00:33:37,920 Speaker 1: full time employment Elsewhere. At home, Jack and Helen's relationship, 484 00:33:38,080 --> 00:33:41,200 Speaker 1: which had become increasingly strained as Jack poured every last 485 00:33:41,240 --> 00:33:44,960 Speaker 1: penny of their finances into his obsession, was now struggling 486 00:33:45,000 --> 00:33:50,000 Speaker 1: under Jack's increasing despondency over his future. Eventually, he too 487 00:33:50,080 --> 00:33:52,480 Speaker 1: was forced to go back to working long and crippling 488 00:33:52,480 --> 00:33:56,280 Speaker 1: hours amidst the fire and fumes of the Hercules powder factory. 489 00:33:57,680 --> 00:34:02,720 Speaker 1: But something else was changing too. Throughout the thirties, Jack 490 00:34:02,760 --> 00:34:05,200 Speaker 1: and ed had kept tabs on the development of the 491 00:34:05,280 --> 00:34:09,880 Speaker 1: VPF group in Germany, but around nineteen thirty six they vanished. 492 00:34:10,880 --> 00:34:13,640 Speaker 1: The Gaust Team were well aware of events in Germany 493 00:34:14,040 --> 00:34:17,720 Speaker 1: and had watched with alarm as Adolf Hitler's fascist National 494 00:34:17,800 --> 00:34:22,640 Speaker 1: Socialist German Workers Party had seized power. It was common 495 00:34:22,680 --> 00:34:26,880 Speaker 1: knowledge that the government there were arming heavily. Von Braun 496 00:34:26,960 --> 00:34:31,480 Speaker 1: and his compatriots had been drafted in to help all 497 00:34:31,520 --> 00:34:35,239 Speaker 1: across the globe. With tectonic changes in science seeming to 498 00:34:35,280 --> 00:34:38,480 Speaker 1: occur on a daily basis, new ideas were spreading into 499 00:34:38,480 --> 00:34:42,520 Speaker 1: the social sphere too. The Wall Street Crash, which had 500 00:34:42,560 --> 00:34:46,440 Speaker 1: ushered in a period of unparalleled poverty and depression in America, 501 00:34:46,560 --> 00:34:51,160 Speaker 1: prompted many to question its economic system. Talk of communism 502 00:34:51,400 --> 00:34:53,720 Speaker 1: was a regular topic at one of the many evening 503 00:34:53,719 --> 00:34:57,279 Speaker 1: gatherings the Rocket Team would share. So too, did they 504 00:34:57,320 --> 00:35:00,400 Speaker 1: watch with increasing concern as the leading govern of the 505 00:35:00,440 --> 00:35:05,520 Speaker 1: apparent free world grew increasingly paranoid of its own subjects freedoms, 506 00:35:05,520 --> 00:35:09,200 Speaker 1: clamping down on radical ideas and social transgressions with a 507 00:35:09,280 --> 00:35:15,240 Speaker 1: religious seal for the anti authoritarian Parsons, after the initial 508 00:35:15,280 --> 00:35:18,759 Speaker 1: burst of excitement at establishing the Galcit team and the 509 00:35:18,840 --> 00:35:22,960 Speaker 1: hyper sugar rush of cutting edge innovation by the summer 510 00:35:22,960 --> 00:35:26,280 Speaker 1: of nineteen thirty eight, he looked up to find himself 511 00:35:26,280 --> 00:35:28,799 Speaker 1: in a world on the brink of war and a 512 00:35:28,920 --> 00:35:34,360 Speaker 1: nation dominated by paranoia and an increasingly reactionary social conscience. 513 00:35:35,280 --> 00:35:37,759 Speaker 1: It felt to him as if the world was caught 514 00:35:37,800 --> 00:35:54,600 Speaker 1: in a battle of cosmic proportions. Sometime later, Parsons calls 515 00:35:54,640 --> 00:35:59,160 Speaker 1: in on his friend Robert Rapinsky. While browsing through his bookshelf, 516 00:35:59,480 --> 00:36:02,840 Speaker 1: he by one book in particular that seems not to 517 00:36:02,880 --> 00:36:06,200 Speaker 1: have a name on the spine. Feeling compelled to pull 518 00:36:06,239 --> 00:36:08,880 Speaker 1: it from the shelf, he turns it over to reveal 519 00:36:08,880 --> 00:36:13,280 Speaker 1: a strange and beguiling front cover, a hypnotic monochrome pattern 520 00:36:13,360 --> 00:36:16,520 Speaker 1: printed in gold, which, after studying it for a moment, 521 00:36:17,000 --> 00:36:20,800 Speaker 1: Parsons realizes is the title of the book. The font 522 00:36:21,120 --> 00:36:26,160 Speaker 1: elaborately stretched out to resemble a maze, it spells conks 523 00:36:26,360 --> 00:36:32,640 Speaker 1: En packs Greek for Essays in Light. Rapinsky had all 524 00:36:32,680 --> 00:36:35,239 Speaker 1: but forgotten he had bought it, and is only too 525 00:36:35,280 --> 00:36:39,560 Speaker 1: happy to let his friend take it home. Inside, the 526 00:36:39,680 --> 00:36:43,400 Speaker 1: author promises an introduction to a litany of sacred texts 527 00:36:43,480 --> 00:36:48,520 Speaker 1: and magical practices. Jack had never heard of the author before. 528 00:36:49,400 --> 00:36:54,600 Speaker 1: His name was Alister Crowley. When Jack leaves his friend's 529 00:36:54,640 --> 00:36:59,280 Speaker 1: home that afternoon, carrying those magical words under his arm, 530 00:36:59,440 --> 00:37:03,080 Speaker 1: his life and the world will never be the same again. 531 00:37:11,680 --> 00:37:14,120 Speaker 1: If you enjoy listening to Unexplained and would like to 532 00:37:14,120 --> 00:37:17,480 Speaker 1: show your appreciation, you can now help support us by 533 00:37:17,520 --> 00:37:22,799 Speaker 1: going to Unexplained podcast dot com forward slash support. All donations, 534 00:37:22,920 --> 00:37:31,160 Speaker 1: no matter how large or small, are massively appreciated. All 535 00:37:31,160 --> 00:37:34,440 Speaker 1: elements of Unexplained are produced by me, Richard McClain smith. 536 00:37:34,760 --> 00:37:37,239 Speaker 1: Please subscribe and rate the show on iTunes, But feel 537 00:37:37,280 --> 00:37:39,440 Speaker 1: free to get in touch with any thoughts or ideas 538 00:37:39,440 --> 00:37:42,600 Speaker 1: regarding the stories you've heard on the show. Perhaps you 539 00:37:42,640 --> 00:37:44,560 Speaker 1: have an explanation of your own you'd like to share. 540 00:37:45,320 --> 00:37:48,080 Speaker 1: You can reach us online at Unexplained podcast dot com 541 00:37:48,200 --> 00:39:14,880 Speaker 1: or on Twitter at Unexplained Pod. Now it's time to 542 00:39:14,880 --> 00:39:19,160 Speaker 1: take care of yourself. To make time for you, teledoc 543 00:39:19,280 --> 00:39:22,239 Speaker 1: gives you access to a licensed therapist to help you 544 00:39:22,280 --> 00:39:25,640 Speaker 1: get back to feeling your best. Speak to a licensed 545 00:39:25,719 --> 00:39:29,480 Speaker 1: therapist by phone or video any time between seven a m. 546 00:39:29,680 --> 00:39:33,640 Speaker 1: To nine pm local time, seven days a week. Teledoc 547 00:39:33,680 --> 00:39:38,320 Speaker 1: Therapy is available through most insurance or employers. Download the app, 548 00:39:38,560 --> 00:39:42,760 Speaker 1: or visit teledoc dot com Forward slash Unexplained Podcast Today 549 00:39:42,920 --> 00:39:47,160 Speaker 1: to get started. That's t e l A DC dot 550 00:39:47,200 --> 00:39:49,320 Speaker 1: com Slash Unexplained Podcast