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Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 2: Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh, and there's

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Speaker 2: Chuck and Jerry's here too, and this is stuff you

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Speaker 2: should know.

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Speaker 1: That's right. I don't want to give away what this

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Speaker 1: one contains, so let's just say it is the strange

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Speaker 1: tale of a man named Larry Vader.

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Speaker 2: Yes, he went to Great Links to escape Ohio.

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Speaker 1: Right, well, you just gave it away. Not really, this guy,

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Speaker 1: Lawrence Joseph Bater. He was an Akron native, So shout

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Speaker 1: out to my people, my wife's folks, and Akron, Akron,

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Speaker 1: Akron Akron, as she says, because of that bridge. If

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Speaker 1: you've been through there, you know what I'm talking about.

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Speaker 1: He was born in nineteen twenty six to a Catholic,

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Speaker 1: pretty well to do Catholic family. His father was a dentist,

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Speaker 1: and Lyvia dug up some dirt from a family friend

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Speaker 1: who was like, you know, Larry and his brothers and

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Speaker 1: sisters were spoil little rich kids. Larry was pretty careless

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Speaker 1: with his money because he could just get more anytime

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Speaker 1: he needed it. But he was pretty funny, guys, pretty

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Speaker 1: fun dude. Had a lot of personality and he used

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Speaker 1: to do weird things, like in one of his party tricks,

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Speaker 1: would he would he would eat a whole chicken, like

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Speaker 1: including the bones.

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Speaker 2: Yeah that's special.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, but put a pin in that. We're not just

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Speaker 1: mentioning that strange factor for no reason.

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Speaker 2: No, So he joined the Navy in nineteen forty four.

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Speaker 2: I think he left high school to join the Navy

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Speaker 2: because the United States was in the grip of World

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Speaker 2: War Two and he served for I think a little

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Speaker 2: under two years. And when he came back, he graduated

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Speaker 2: from high school and he went to the University of Akron,

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Speaker 2: but school was just not for him, and he dropped

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Speaker 2: out after a semester. Apparently he was known for money

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Speaker 2: making schemes more than he was known for acing tests.

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Speaker 1: I gotta say, if you're known for money making schemes

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Speaker 1: after a semester, you must have been doing a lot

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Speaker 1: of money making, well, highly visible money making schemes. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Or you wear a suit that's got dollar dollar signs

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Speaker 2: printed all over it. It's a green suit with dollar signs.

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Speaker 2: That's another way to become known for money making schemes.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's bait. All my suits look like that. You

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Speaker 1: know nothing, You threw me off, all right, So he's

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Speaker 1: not lasting in college. He didn't last long in the navy.

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Speaker 1: But while he was in college, he did accomplish something

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Speaker 1: because he got married. He met a woman named Mary

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Speaker 1: loud Knapp with a K. They got married nineteen fifty

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Speaker 1: two and within five years had three kids, with a

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Speaker 1: fourth on the way. And he was doing pretty well

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Speaker 1: for himself. He was making the equivalent of about one

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Speaker 1: hundred and twenty thousand dollars a year these days as

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Speaker 1: a cookwear salesman, and that was about twice the median

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Speaker 1: income at the time. So he's doing pretty good. But

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Speaker 1: he still had some debts. He had a pretty hefty mortgage,

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Speaker 1: He had a new car, and was about two four

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Speaker 1: hundred dollars in debt. Basically, you can multiply most stuff

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Speaker 1: from this era by ten and arrive at our modern

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Speaker 1: conversion rate, so you know, roughly twenty four thousand dollars

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Speaker 1: in debt is pretty hefty.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. He also like he didn't pay his taxes for

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Speaker 2: like five years.

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Speaker 1: I think, yeah, not good.

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Speaker 2: No, And it was bad enough. He was bad enough

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Speaker 2: with the bills or behind enough that the milkman apparently said, like,

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Speaker 2: I'm not bringing milk anymore until you pay your milk bill.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: So the thing is, is this guy, like you said

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Speaker 2: family friend from when he was a kid, was like

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Speaker 2: he was a rich kid, but he was actually really charming,

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Speaker 2: fun to be around, rich kid, And apparently as he

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Speaker 2: grew up into an adult, he remained essentially the same.

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Speaker 2: Like basically everyone who met him or had something to

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Speaker 2: say about him later on basically unanimously said, this guy

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Speaker 2: was a good guy. So if he's like cracking under

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Speaker 2: the pressure of these bills and this debt, it's not

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Speaker 2: showing outwardly to anybody who knew him. One of his

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Speaker 2: friends said that he was a red blooded American thirty

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Speaker 2: year old family man who liked hanging out and drinking

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Speaker 2: beer with friends, and his friends liked hanging around him

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Speaker 2: because he was just fun to be around, essentially without

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Speaker 2: being like a reckless party animal. He was just fun

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Speaker 2: to be around.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, just sort of your average fun guy exactly. And

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Speaker 1: he was also and put a pin in this, we

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Speaker 1: just were not mentioning this for no reason. He was

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Speaker 1: also very good at archery, had won some competitions, so

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Speaker 1: he was an archery He was a fun guy and

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Speaker 1: everything swimming along in his life, making a pretty good living,

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Speaker 1: little bit in debt, and then on Wednesday May fifteenth,

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Speaker 1: nineteen fifty seven, he had collected some bad payment checks

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Speaker 1: from vendors from his business and said, you know what,

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Speaker 1: I got to go to Cleveland to kind of clear

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Speaker 1: up these bad checks with these vendors. He tells this

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Speaker 1: to his wife, Mary Lou who is, keep in mind,

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Speaker 1: four months pregnant, and he said, so, I'm going up

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Speaker 1: to Cleveland. It's going to be the morning, and then

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna probably do a little fishing in the afternoon

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Speaker 1: in Lake Erie, and so I'll be home late. And

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Speaker 1: she said what any partner should say in that situation,

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Speaker 1: which is, maybe you could also come home and be

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Speaker 1: a father and husband instead of going fishing after you

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Speaker 1: do your work. And he supposedly replied with, yeah, maybe

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Speaker 1: I will, maybe I won't. All right, So I'm not

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Speaker 1: saying he's some really bad guy. It may have been

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Speaker 1: a cheeky response, that may have been how things went

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Speaker 1: in their marriage, but he just was a little vague,

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Speaker 1: and that will come into play.

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Speaker 2: So one of the things he did was he paid

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Speaker 2: some bills before he left, and one of those bills

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Speaker 2: was a life insurance premium. He had recently adjusted or

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Speaker 2: changed the policy to include a nice payout for an

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Speaker 2: accidental death. And he whistled as he drove off to

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Speaker 2: Cleveland and eventually went to Rocky River, Ohio, which is

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Speaker 2: a little town on the Rocky River which flows into

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Speaker 2: Lake Erie, and he runted a boat at Eddie's Boat Dock,

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Speaker 2: about a half a mile inland from the lake from

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Speaker 2: a guy named Lawrence Cott cut leure, yeah, cut lower Yeah. Anyway,

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Speaker 2: he paid fifteen bucks from a big roll of bills.

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Speaker 2: It's also kind of important. And he said, hey, Lawrence,

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Speaker 2: I want you to put some running lights on this

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Speaker 2: boat because I'm probably going to be out after dark.

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Speaker 2: And Lawrence said, okay, I'll do that, but it's going

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Speaker 2: to cost you an extra fiver I'm presuming here at

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Speaker 2: this time. And Larry Bader paid it.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, he paid it, and he was like, all right, whatever, buddy.

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Speaker 3: Uh.

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Speaker 1: He did notice, and this is stuff that you know.

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Speaker 1: They interviewed Lawrence afterward for reasons that we still don't

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Speaker 1: know because we're keeping this a secret. Well we know, yeah, sure,

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Speaker 1: but he did notice that he had a suitcase with him.

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Speaker 1: He thought that was a little bit weird. He said,

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Speaker 1: you know, you got a storm coming, you might not

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Speaker 1: want to be out there after doc.

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Speaker 2: Let us people in Cleveland. Sure it is, and King

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Speaker 2: novel about Cleveland.

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Speaker 1: So people don't go in there. That's why the Browns play.

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Speaker 1: So he warned you about the storm. Uh. He goes

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Speaker 1: out on Lake Erie. The coastguard sees him and says, hey, there,

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Speaker 1: you know there's a big storm coming in after sunset,

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Speaker 1: and I've noticed you have some running lights, so you

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Speaker 1: clearly plan on being out after dark. And he was like,

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Speaker 1: it's fine, and so they said, all right, go about

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Speaker 1: your way. Three hours later, that storm does come in

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Speaker 1: and Larry Baier has disappeared. They find the boat the

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Speaker 1: next day about five miles away. The life jackets were

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Speaker 1: all on board. There was a some scratches like it

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Speaker 1: had hit some rocks. There was a bent propeller, and

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Speaker 1: some accounts say that it was either a gas line

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Speaker 1: had been disconnected or the gas cans were empty, but

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Speaker 1: either way, and I guess it's the kind where the

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Speaker 1: gas line runs directly into like a gas can. That

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Speaker 1: sitting on the boat must have been one of those

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Speaker 1: kind of boats. But basically they were like, but nothing

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Speaker 1: shows the kind of distress where a human would be

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Speaker 1: completely missing, Like it wasn't capsized or sunk or anything

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Speaker 1: like that.

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Speaker 2: No, and the life jacket was in the boat.

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Speaker 1: You said, right, that's right.

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Speaker 2: So that's a really that's so that's a big point

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Speaker 2: because the coastguard was like, that was one heck of

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Speaker 2: a storm on Lake Erie. There's no way that anybody

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Speaker 2: could have survived this. Even a strong swimmer like Larry

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Speaker 2: Baiter was known to be without a life jacket.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, one of the oars was missing, but you know,

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Speaker 1: just do with that what you want, right.

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Speaker 2: But the boat was generally in pretty good shape. The

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Speaker 2: thing is is like, this is not an uncommon thing,

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Speaker 2: Like people drown in Lake Erie pretty frequently. It's a

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Speaker 2: great lake. It's a very big lake. And just as

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Speaker 2: a little side anecdote, when I was a kid, we

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Speaker 2: used to vacation on Kataba Island on Lake Erie, and

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Speaker 2: every week we would go there for a week every summer,

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Speaker 2: and every time we went, I would have to wait

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Speaker 2: on the beach the first half of the week because

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Speaker 2: somebody had drowned, and I was convinced that if I

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Speaker 2: went in the water, they would their dead body would

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Speaker 2: bump up against me, and I just couldn't even bear

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Speaker 2: the thought of that. So finally I would watch the

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Speaker 2: news every night, and finally when they announced they found

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Speaker 2: the missing person. Wow, then I would start to go

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Speaker 2: into the lake.

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Speaker 1: And you thought, I won't run into that body. Now

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Speaker 1: I might become one, but it's worth the.

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Speaker 2: Risk, right, yeah, because no one had any business swimming

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Speaker 2: in Lake Erie back when I was a kid.

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Speaker 1: What do you what's Kataba Island? Like? What do you

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Speaker 1: do there?

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Speaker 2: Oh? You play mini golf and putt putt?

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Speaker 1: Okay.

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Speaker 2: We stayed at this place. It was just like a

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Speaker 2: block of like I guess, little condos or apartments or

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Speaker 2: something like that. And everybody had beach towels like drying

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Speaker 2: over like the railing and it was like on the beach,

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Speaker 2: like the sand came up into your little front stoop

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Speaker 2: and it was just great. It was one of it.

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Speaker 2: I remember my oldest sister went on a date with

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Speaker 2: the dude she met there, and they went and saw

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Speaker 2: a top secret at the drive in.

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Speaker 1: Oh, the vacation date. That's always great, man, that's nice.

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Speaker 1: I love young Josh stories, all right, So they looked

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Speaker 1: for Larry Bayder for a couple of months. The coast

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Speaker 1: guard was like, no one's going to survive that storm

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Speaker 1: if they don't have a life jacket, but they looked anyway,

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Speaker 1: and they were also were like, well he was a

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Speaker 1: strong swimmer though, so it's a little weird that, like

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Speaker 1: the boat wasn't that damage and he's just nowhere to

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Speaker 1: be found. Some people thought, you know, he had this

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Speaker 1: big wad of cash. I don't think, we said, but

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Speaker 1: he cashed a four hundred dollars check, so if you

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Speaker 1: do the math, you know, that's probably like four thousand

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Speaker 1: bucks a lot of dough. So he may have been

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Speaker 1: you know, robbed and murdered or something. And also the

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Speaker 1: suitcase was gone, so that could also explain that. But

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Speaker 1: either way, they said, we just got to put this

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Speaker 1: one to rest. And so in nineteen sixty he was

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Speaker 1: declared dead and his wife got that forty thousand dollars

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Speaker 1: insurance policy and Social Security started rolling in. That's right,

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Speaker 1: and I believe that's where we should take a break

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Speaker 1: and see what happened to Larry Bader.

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Speaker 2: Okay, Chuck, where we last left off, Larry Baters missing,

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Speaker 2: he's disappeared, but enough years have gone by, I think

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Speaker 2: roughly three that he's officially declared dead. His insurance policy

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Speaker 2: has come in, his wife has said, this is what

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Speaker 2: you get for telling me. Maybe I will, maybe I

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Speaker 2: won't when I tell you not to go fishing. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: and if we rewind just a little bit to the

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Speaker 2: day that Larry Batter went out on the lake and

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Speaker 2: add usually people say about three days zoom on over

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Speaker 2: from Lake Erie over to Omaha, Nebraska. When we sit

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Speaker 2: down at a little bar called the Round Table Bar

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Speaker 2: in Omaha, what we will see on May eighteenth, nineteen

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Speaker 2: fifty seven, as a guy walk in and his name

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Speaker 2: is John Johnson. Take it, Chuck.

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Speaker 1: That's right.

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Speaker 3: Oh.

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Speaker 1: I was so busy trying to work up a Saturn

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Speaker 1: joke about that eight hundred miles, but I couldn't do

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Speaker 1: it in time.

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Speaker 2: Well wait, if you can, I'll give you an hour.

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Speaker 1: Eight hundred miles between Omaha and Acri and roughly one

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Speaker 1: third the size of the distance between. And then I

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Speaker 1: couldn't remember what it was on Saturday.

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Speaker 2: The Cassini Division.

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Speaker 1: That Cassini Division.

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Speaker 2: So that's not a joke. That's making fun of my

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Speaker 2: hard work.

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Speaker 1: I know. So here's what happens. Three days after Larry

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Speaker 1: Bader disappears, eight hundred miles away, a dude shows up

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Speaker 1: in Omaha at the Round Table Bar. He said his

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Speaker 1: name was John Johnson. He said, I got this driver's

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Speaker 1: license here, it's got my name on it. I was

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Speaker 1: a fourteen year veteran of the Navy. It's a Navy license,

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Speaker 1: as you'll see. I got out because of a bad back.

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Speaker 1: And I go by the name Fritz. And there was

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Speaker 1: a bartender there named Betty who said he was a

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Speaker 1: really well dressed guy. He clearly had money. He was

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Speaker 1: really sort of fascinating and charming. He asked me out

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Speaker 1: like thus second he met me, which is I assume

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Speaker 1: what you do if you three days after you have

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Speaker 1: left your wife and soon to be four kids. Oh well,

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Speaker 1: probably ask out the first woman you see. Well we have.

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Speaker 2: I haven't said it yet, but okay. John Johnson bore

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Speaker 2: a really striking resemblance to Larry Bader.

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Speaker 1: Also, yeah, I mean, didn't people see that coming.

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Speaker 2: I don't know. I mean now they do.

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Speaker 1: Okay, So this guy, John Johnson aka Fritz, gets a

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Speaker 1: job not there, but at Ross's Steakhouse. And basically it

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Speaker 1: was like, hey, I came from an orphanage in Boston.

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Speaker 1: There were twenty two boys in this orphanage. They named

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Speaker 1: us all john Johnson and gave us all nicknames so

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Speaker 1: they could tell us apart instead of just naming us

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Speaker 1: different things. It's very strange, but they called me Fritz

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Speaker 1: because I reminded them of a character from a comic,

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Speaker 1: The Kats and Jammer Comic, Cats and Jammer Kids Comic.

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Speaker 1: Different times during that period, he also would say that

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Speaker 1: his navy buddies thought his haircut made him look like

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Speaker 1: a German soldier, so he went by Fritz. But either way,

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Speaker 1: this is some new dude in town, and he was like,

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Speaker 1: all of a sudden, the talk of Omaha.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Betty Johnson's impression was not isolated. Apparently, people who

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Speaker 2: met Fritz Johnson felt essentially the same way that she did.

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Speaker 2: Like he was a cool dude that you wanted to

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Speaker 2: be around. Debonair, you could say. But he also was

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Speaker 2: a bit of a character. And by a bit, let

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Speaker 2: me just say that he bought a hearse and rearranged

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Speaker 2: the back so that it was like a little lounge

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Speaker 2: area for him when he picked up women on dates.

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Speaker 2: And I saw one place but it was a legitimate source,

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Speaker 2: like a contemporary newspaper article that said that it he

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Speaker 2: had somehow gotten it licensed with the city as a

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Speaker 2: hunting vehicle. Can you imagine anything more nineteen fifty seven

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Speaker 2: than that nineteen fifty seven bachelor?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean he was an avid hunter.

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Speaker 2: That is not what he was going for.

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Speaker 1: You think it? Is it? I mean, I don't know.

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Speaker 2: Yes, you don't put a lounge area in the back

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Speaker 2: of your heart for dead deer.

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Speaker 1: No, no, no, I know. But do you think he

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Speaker 1: had it licensed as a hunting vehicle because like he

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Speaker 1: was hunting ladies and he just want to be able

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Speaker 1: to tell people that yes I do. Okay, I don't agree.

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Speaker 2: Okay, that's fine, but either way with UPI buddy.

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Speaker 1: He's an eccentric dude. He wears a leather beret. His

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Speaker 1: apartment apparently was just a bunch of like beanbags and

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Speaker 1: throw pillows. He had champagne parties, he had Sime's fighting fish.

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Speaker 1: He was an archer. He said, you know, I hurt

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Speaker 1: my back, and so archery really helped strengthen the back,

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Speaker 1: and so I took up archery. And then five weeks

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Speaker 1: later he's won a state championship in Nebraska and then

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Speaker 1: one's thirteen I believe twelve more thirteen total archery titles

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Speaker 1: in the state, and at parties would do the eat

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Speaker 1: the whole Chicken, including the bone.

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Speaker 2: Trick and the last three listeners.

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Speaker 1: That's right, so's he's working at the bar, but he

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Speaker 1: butties up with a guy that works at a radio

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Speaker 1: station kbo IN, and he lets him come in there

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Speaker 1: to kind of just monkey around because he was interested

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Speaker 1: in broadcasting. And he's monkeying around enough to where he

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Speaker 1: figures it out and deers himself like he seems to

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Speaker 1: be doing to everybody gets a job as a DJ

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Speaker 1: reading the news.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I want to just backtrack a little bit and

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Speaker 2: specifically say there was nobody in any interview or any

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Speaker 2: article that I read about this who seemed to think

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Speaker 2: that Fritz Johnson was a creep or like a jerk,

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Speaker 2: or like a sicko or anything like that. I know,

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Speaker 2: he kind of painted him a little questionably, but there

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Speaker 2: doesn't seem to be anybody who had any kind of

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Speaker 2: weird vibes from him at all. He was just a

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Speaker 2: fun guy to be around and just living up the

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Speaker 2: bachelor life. Apparently he was saying like I spent you know,

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Speaker 2: my youth and an orphanage having to listen to the

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Speaker 2: people who ran the place tell me what to do.

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Speaker 2: I spent fourteen years in the Navy listening to them

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Speaker 2: tell me what to do. And now I'm finally free.

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Speaker 2: I'm living it up. So that's essentially I think the best,

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Speaker 2: the best way to paint his character is that he

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Speaker 2: was living it up his newfound freedom.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure he and we can talk about some

341
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Speaker 1: more of his plamboyants, just because it's simply really funny

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Speaker 1: and interesting. When he wrote a personal check to someone,

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Speaker 1: he would sign it Fritz only, and then he wouldn't

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Speaker 1: put it in a date. I don't know why I

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Speaker 1: love this so much. He wouldn't put a date. He

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Speaker 1: would just put a season. So he would write a

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Speaker 1: check to someone on the date of, you know, autumn,

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Speaker 1: and then he would just sign it Fritz.

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Speaker 2: Isn't that weird that they would catch I.

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Speaker 1: Think it's well, it's a nineteen fifties. I guess stuff

351
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Speaker 1: like that would happen. It was also the nineteen fifties,

352
00:18:53,840 --> 00:18:56,240
Speaker 1: so you could collect your tip money as a bartender

353
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Speaker 1: in a milk bottle and then just go hand that

354
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Speaker 1: milk bottle to the uncounted to the person working at

355
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Speaker 1: the bank and fill out the deposit slip one court

356
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Speaker 1: of money. And I'm sure they thought, oh, he's such

357
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Speaker 1: a character, but like, now I got to count on

358
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Speaker 1: the stuff. Yeah, thank good, lot, dude.

359
00:19:13,800 --> 00:19:17,000
Speaker 2: Yeah, every time he made that deposit, he think to himself,

360
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Speaker 2: are you going to withhold the milk deliveries?

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Speaker 1: H yeah exactly.

362
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Speaker 2: So one of the other things that he was known

363
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Speaker 2: for is being a little unkind to friends who were

364
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Speaker 2: engaged or married or about to get married. He was like,

365
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Speaker 2: marriage is just another way to trap a fella. Yeah,

366
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Speaker 2: whoever gets married is a sap. Probably said something.

367
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Speaker 1: Along those lines, that old thing.

368
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Speaker 2: And then a few years after he appeared in Omaha

369
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Speaker 2: in nineteen sixty one, he got married. Yeah, he got

370
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Speaker 2: married to a model named Nancy Zimmer who was twenty

371
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Speaker 2: one at the time, and she had a daughter from

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Speaker 2: her first marriage. She said later that they were just

373
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Speaker 2: too young, and not only did Fritz Johnson adopt her daughter,

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Speaker 2: they also had their own son. So he had a

375
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Speaker 2: family all of a sudden, within just a couple of years.

376
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Speaker 1: Yeah. So he's working part time at the radio station,

377
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Speaker 1: eventually works full time there and then transfers over to

378
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Speaker 1: TV when he got a job at k E TV,

379
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Speaker 1: the local affiliate there, eventually getting promoted up to sports

380
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Speaker 1: director and also on the side, he was advising, like consulting,

381
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Speaker 1: I guess for archery companies because he was just so

382
00:20:28,720 --> 00:20:29,200
Speaker 1: good at it.

383
00:20:29,359 --> 00:20:32,280
Speaker 2: And he's like, well, maybe consider making the arrows straight.

384
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Speaker 1: And it's MARCHERI at the camp. We took a big

385
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Speaker 1: family trip with a bunch of families, and I got

386
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Speaker 1: the archery set out and it was quite fun and

387
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Speaker 1: I'm a pretty good shot.

388
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Speaker 2: Oh yeah, any bulls eyes.

389
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Speaker 1: Yeah, I was hitting some bulls eyes on the rag.

390
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Speaker 1: And I've never even done much archery. It just seems intuitive,

391
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Speaker 1: you know, just kind of hold it steady and aim

392
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Speaker 1: at the thing and then let it go.

393
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Speaker 2: You're like, I'm just as surprised as any of you.

394
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Speaker 1: I really was.

395
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Speaker 2: How far away though, are we talking like five feet?

396
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Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know what standard archery is. I

397
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Speaker 1: was shooting I bet from about probably from about thirty

398
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Speaker 1: five feet would be my guest.

399
00:21:07,840 --> 00:21:09,040
Speaker 2: Oh that is good man.

400
00:21:09,280 --> 00:21:11,240
Speaker 1: I don't know what standard is. But everyone's like, oh, yeah,

401
00:21:11,240 --> 00:21:12,399
Speaker 1: I can come up here on the time and do this.

402
00:21:12,440 --> 00:21:15,119
Speaker 1: I was like, I actually never do this. I'm just

403
00:21:15,200 --> 00:21:15,760
Speaker 1: good at it.

404
00:21:16,400 --> 00:21:18,439
Speaker 2: Yeah, you just have to say that out loud with

405
00:21:18,480 --> 00:21:19,160
Speaker 2: every shot.

406
00:21:19,280 --> 00:21:21,720
Speaker 1: I know, like, don't compliment me because you think I've

407
00:21:21,720 --> 00:21:22,240
Speaker 1: worked at.

408
00:21:22,119 --> 00:21:25,000
Speaker 2: This, right, this is all blind luck.

409
00:21:25,240 --> 00:21:25,680
Speaker 1: That's right.

410
00:21:27,160 --> 00:21:30,600
Speaker 2: Speaking of blind luck, one of the other things that

411
00:21:31,359 --> 00:21:34,880
Speaker 2: kind of made Fritz Johnson a noted character around town

412
00:21:35,800 --> 00:21:39,480
Speaker 2: is that he ended up donning an eyepatch. And he

413
00:21:39,640 --> 00:21:42,400
Speaker 2: was one of those eyepatch wears who really needed one

414
00:21:42,800 --> 00:21:45,560
Speaker 2: because they found a tumor behind his eye, I think

415
00:21:45,560 --> 00:21:48,200
Speaker 2: his left eye, and to remove the tumor, they had

416
00:21:48,200 --> 00:21:51,199
Speaker 2: to permanently remove his left eye. So he wore an

417
00:21:51,200 --> 00:21:55,080
Speaker 2: eye patch rather jauntily from what I can tell, and

418
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Speaker 2: that just made his legend even more so, Like one

419
00:21:58,680 --> 00:22:02,800
Speaker 2: of the local lod TV announcers now wears an eye

420
00:22:02,800 --> 00:22:06,840
Speaker 2: patch with his little pencil thin mustache and everybody just

421
00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:08,359
Speaker 2: loves the sky so much.

422
00:22:09,040 --> 00:22:12,199
Speaker 1: Let me ask you something, Uh, are you saying that

423
00:22:12,240 --> 00:22:15,000
Speaker 1: there are people who wear eye patches just for attention

424
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Speaker 1: that don't need them?

425
00:22:18,040 --> 00:22:20,320
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I've never met one, but yes, I'm

426
00:22:20,320 --> 00:22:22,680
Speaker 2: sure those people out there there that's I mean, they're

427
00:22:22,720 --> 00:22:26,399
Speaker 2: they're the same people who wear glasses. That's how they start.

428
00:22:26,440 --> 00:22:28,760
Speaker 2: It's the gateway. Drug is like wearing glasses that you

429
00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:29,879
Speaker 2: don't actually work.

430
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Speaker 1: You know that I did that? I know? Are you well?

431
00:22:32,920 --> 00:22:34,639
Speaker 2: The ipatch were waiting to happen.

432
00:22:36,040 --> 00:22:39,160
Speaker 1: Oh man, I hope someone writes in that knows somebody

433
00:22:39,280 --> 00:22:41,240
Speaker 1: or maybe that even did that for a time. If

434
00:22:41,240 --> 00:22:45,000
Speaker 1: you did this in middle school, you get a pass

435
00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:47,000
Speaker 1: like it seems like something John Hodgman might have done

436
00:22:47,040 --> 00:22:47,720
Speaker 1: in middle school.

437
00:22:47,840 --> 00:22:51,840
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure, for sure. But yeah, also not as

438
00:22:51,840 --> 00:22:54,440
Speaker 2: a pirate. You can't be dressed as a pirate of no, no, no,

439
00:22:54,520 --> 00:22:55,879
Speaker 2: just be like normal street clothes.

440
00:22:55,960 --> 00:23:00,440
Speaker 1: Yeah, amazing, that's the rules. Should we take our now?

441
00:23:00,760 --> 00:23:03,639
Speaker 2: Yeah? I think there's no other place to take our

442
00:23:03,680 --> 00:23:04,520
Speaker 2: second break on this?

443
00:23:04,760 --> 00:23:06,879
Speaker 1: All right? We got another big reveal coming up right

444
00:23:06,920 --> 00:23:07,200
Speaker 1: it for.

445
00:23:07,160 --> 00:23:31,480
Speaker 3: This all right?

446
00:23:31,520 --> 00:23:34,160
Speaker 1: So I promised a big reveal. Things are going great

447
00:23:34,240 --> 00:23:38,320
Speaker 1: for old Fritzy. He's in a town, he's scoring with

448
00:23:38,359 --> 00:23:41,320
Speaker 1: the ladies in the back of a hearse, he's eating

449
00:23:41,400 --> 00:23:43,480
Speaker 1: chickens through the bone and people think it's the best

450
00:23:43,520 --> 00:23:46,080
Speaker 1: thing you've ever seen. He's on TV, for goodness sakes,

451
00:23:46,080 --> 00:23:46,879
Speaker 1: with an eye patch.

452
00:23:47,119 --> 00:23:49,400
Speaker 2: Can I say one more thing about the chicken eating thing.

453
00:23:49,920 --> 00:23:52,160
Speaker 1: Yeah, like, how do you eat bones? No?

454
00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:53,560
Speaker 2: I mean I can get that if you cook a

455
00:23:53,640 --> 00:23:55,000
Speaker 2: chicken enough, like it can.

456
00:23:54,840 --> 00:23:56,520
Speaker 1: Be just dissolve it sort of.

457
00:23:56,600 --> 00:24:00,639
Speaker 2: Yeah, Okay, the thing is this that's not a party

458
00:24:00,680 --> 00:24:03,439
Speaker 2: trick that you do quickly. People don't have to stand

459
00:24:03,480 --> 00:24:07,920
Speaker 2: around you for possibly dozens of minutes while you do

460
00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:08,520
Speaker 2: this trick.

461
00:24:08,560 --> 00:24:10,800
Speaker 1: So everybody watch this right.

462
00:24:11,520 --> 00:24:13,800
Speaker 2: Stop what you're doing and come over and quietly watch me,

463
00:24:14,080 --> 00:24:17,280
Speaker 2: like it takes a real showman to hold people's interest

464
00:24:17,840 --> 00:24:19,520
Speaker 2: while you're eating a whole chicken.

465
00:24:20,480 --> 00:24:22,600
Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean the only party trick I ever did

466
00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:24,679
Speaker 1: is that thing with the hat against the wall, and

467
00:24:24,680 --> 00:24:26,119
Speaker 1: that takes like two seconds. M.

468
00:24:26,920 --> 00:24:27,760
Speaker 2: I don't know what that is.

469
00:24:28,480 --> 00:24:31,399
Speaker 1: You put a like a baseball cap on backwards and

470
00:24:31,440 --> 00:24:33,200
Speaker 1: then you can kind of get up against a wall

471
00:24:33,280 --> 00:24:36,360
Speaker 1: and then you act like you're blowing your cheeks out,

472
00:24:36,520 --> 00:24:39,199
Speaker 1: and what you're doing is putting the brim against the

473
00:24:39,240 --> 00:24:41,719
Speaker 1: wall such that the hat kind of levitates off your

474
00:24:41,720 --> 00:24:43,080
Speaker 1: head like you're blowing it off your head.

475
00:24:43,119 --> 00:24:45,000
Speaker 2: Oh that's I want to see that. Why have you

476
00:24:45,040 --> 00:24:45,960
Speaker 2: never done that for me?

477
00:24:46,320 --> 00:24:49,560
Speaker 1: Hey, buddy, next time I see you. The only I

478
00:24:49,560 --> 00:24:51,040
Speaker 1: mean I haven't done it for years because I refuse

479
00:24:51,119 --> 00:24:52,960
Speaker 1: to put a baseball cap on backwards because I'm a

480
00:24:53,040 --> 00:24:56,080
Speaker 1: human adult. But I'll do it for you.

481
00:24:56,440 --> 00:24:57,119
Speaker 2: Okay, thank you.

482
00:24:57,520 --> 00:25:00,000
Speaker 1: Okay. The guys out there with their hat on backwards, right,

483
00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:02,720
Speaker 1: they were like, what's wrong? Is that not cool? No,

484
00:25:02,840 --> 00:25:03,119
Speaker 1: it's not.

485
00:25:04,560 --> 00:25:07,080
Speaker 2: My only party trick was holding my breath until I fainted.

486
00:25:07,600 --> 00:25:09,240
Speaker 1: Right, Did you ever do that?

487
00:25:10,640 --> 00:25:12,399
Speaker 2: Yeah? We used to do that where you'd hold your

488
00:25:12,440 --> 00:25:15,200
Speaker 2: breath like you bend over and hyperventilate yourself and take

489
00:25:15,240 --> 00:25:17,359
Speaker 2: that last breath, cross your hands or your chest, and

490
00:25:17,359 --> 00:25:19,159
Speaker 2: your friend just push as hard as they could on

491
00:25:19,200 --> 00:25:20,320
Speaker 2: your chest and you just faint.

492
00:25:20,680 --> 00:25:23,600
Speaker 1: I did it once, and this is something you should

493
00:25:23,600 --> 00:25:24,600
Speaker 1: not do. It's dangerous.

494
00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:27,400
Speaker 2: Yeah, I shouldn't have that tone of voice right now.

495
00:25:27,720 --> 00:25:32,040
Speaker 1: But like it was super fun. Yeah, actually pass out?

496
00:25:32,200 --> 00:25:34,439
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah I did one time. And that was the

497
00:25:34,440 --> 00:25:36,359
Speaker 1: only time I had ever passed out up into that point,

498
00:25:36,680 --> 00:25:38,080
Speaker 1: and it was very, very strange.

499
00:25:38,440 --> 00:25:40,639
Speaker 2: It was very strange. I remember feeling like I was

500
00:25:40,720 --> 00:25:43,720
Speaker 2: dropping in on a halfpipe on a skateboard. As I went,

501
00:25:43,800 --> 00:25:46,560
Speaker 2: oh cool, I was kind of like, this is all right.

502
00:25:46,840 --> 00:25:48,080
Speaker 2: We didn't do it long.

503
00:25:49,080 --> 00:25:51,480
Speaker 1: Yeah, do not try this. It is such a bad idea.

504
00:25:51,720 --> 00:25:53,199
Speaker 1: I can't believe we were even talking about it.

505
00:25:53,720 --> 00:25:56,160
Speaker 2: Yeah, we should probably edit this out. Yeah, I'm sure

506
00:25:56,240 --> 00:25:59,720
Speaker 2: Jerry will with her responsibleness all right.

507
00:25:59,760 --> 00:26:02,840
Speaker 1: So, like I said, he's living his best life. Then

508
00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:07,560
Speaker 1: on February second, nineteen sixty five, a guy who knew

509
00:26:07,640 --> 00:26:13,399
Speaker 1: John Bader disappeared. Man saw Fritzy at an archery demonstration

510
00:26:13,520 --> 00:26:16,360
Speaker 1: at a Sporting Good show in Chicago and was like,

511
00:26:17,040 --> 00:26:20,280
Speaker 1: that's Larry Bater, Like I would bet my life on it.

512
00:26:20,800 --> 00:26:24,399
Speaker 1: And his niece lives nearby, and I know this, so

513
00:26:24,440 --> 00:26:26,000
Speaker 1: I'm going to call her. She's twenty one years old,

514
00:26:26,040 --> 00:26:28,800
Speaker 1: her name is her name is Susannah. She drives over

515
00:26:29,480 --> 00:26:33,320
Speaker 1: and she's like uncle Larry basically pretty much.

516
00:26:33,600 --> 00:26:35,399
Speaker 2: Yeah. He quote was pardon me, but aren't you my

517
00:26:35,560 --> 00:26:40,080
Speaker 2: uncle Larry Bater, who disappeared seven years ago. Yeah, and

518
00:26:40,119 --> 00:26:43,440
Speaker 2: he was like ho ho ho, no, I'm not go away.

519
00:26:43,760 --> 00:26:47,400
Speaker 2: Actually supposedly he was super polite, yeah, but was quite

520
00:26:47,520 --> 00:26:49,639
Speaker 2: insistent that they had the wrong person.

521
00:26:49,920 --> 00:26:52,760
Speaker 1: He said, would you like to see my hearse? Right?

522
00:26:53,600 --> 00:26:53,960
Speaker 1: But the.

523
00:26:55,640 --> 00:26:59,240
Speaker 2: Resemblance was enough that then Susannah turned around and called

524
00:26:59,560 --> 00:27:04,960
Speaker 2: hers Larry's brothers, and they I think got on the

525
00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:08,200
Speaker 2: phone with this guy, and his voice enough convinced them

526
00:27:08,240 --> 00:27:11,480
Speaker 2: that they should fly out to Chicago. They flowted Chicago.

527
00:27:11,560 --> 00:27:13,439
Speaker 2: Suddenly this guy's like, man, I wish I didn't have

528
00:27:13,480 --> 00:27:17,240
Speaker 2: to work this convention. People are surrounding me and telling

529
00:27:17,280 --> 00:27:21,119
Speaker 2: me I'm another person, and so to kind of settle

530
00:27:21,160 --> 00:27:23,120
Speaker 2: the whole thing, he's like, how about this, Well, let's

531
00:27:23,160 --> 00:27:26,600
Speaker 2: go get my fingerprints taken. And they were like, that's

532
00:27:26,640 --> 00:27:29,480
Speaker 2: a capital idea because our brother was in the Navy too,

533
00:27:29,720 --> 00:27:33,000
Speaker 2: so his records, his fingerprints will be on record. So

534
00:27:33,040 --> 00:27:36,960
Speaker 2: they went to the local police department, they took his fingerprints,

535
00:27:37,920 --> 00:27:40,840
Speaker 2: They handed him over to the FBI. The FBI compared

536
00:27:40,880 --> 00:27:43,720
Speaker 2: him to the Navy fingerprints on record of Larry Batter

537
00:27:44,040 --> 00:27:46,439
Speaker 2: and the FBI looked up and said, this is a

538
00:27:46,480 --> 00:27:47,320
Speaker 2: perfect match.

539
00:27:47,960 --> 00:27:53,240
Speaker 1: That's right. So Fritzi said, it came as a literal

540
00:27:53,280 --> 00:27:56,600
Speaker 1: physical shock. He said, I don't know anything about that

541
00:27:56,640 --> 00:28:00,520
Speaker 1: other fellow, and he said, why would I have to

542
00:28:00,520 --> 00:28:02,240
Speaker 1: give my fingerprint? I felt like I was trying to

543
00:28:02,320 --> 00:28:05,760
Speaker 1: get some scam, new double life and new identity, Like

544
00:28:05,800 --> 00:28:09,199
Speaker 1: I wouldn't have gotten fingerprinted. It seemed genuinely like he

545
00:28:09,480 --> 00:28:12,439
Speaker 1: didn't know and didn't realize this. He's like, I've got

546
00:28:12,440 --> 00:28:15,359
Speaker 1: all these memories, I remember the orphanage, I remember growing

547
00:28:15,400 --> 00:28:19,199
Speaker 1: up as Printz Johnson that you're saying these memories are

548
00:28:19,200 --> 00:28:21,720
Speaker 1: all fake and this is really starting to bum me out,

549
00:28:21,760 --> 00:28:22,560
Speaker 1: to be quite honest.

550
00:28:22,800 --> 00:28:25,800
Speaker 2: Yeah, like, if he knew he was hiding from his

551
00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:30,240
Speaker 2: family and he was found at this sporting goods convention,

552
00:28:30,359 --> 00:28:33,640
Speaker 2: he would have shot like a smoke bomb tipped arrow

553
00:28:33,720 --> 00:28:36,560
Speaker 2: at the floor and then it vanished as the smoke

554
00:28:36,760 --> 00:28:39,840
Speaker 2: just choked everyone out.

555
00:28:41,280 --> 00:28:43,880
Speaker 1: Oh I could literally smell that. I was so in

556
00:28:43,960 --> 00:28:45,360
Speaker 1: that scene.

557
00:28:45,440 --> 00:28:47,200
Speaker 2: But he didn't do that, and it is a really

558
00:28:47,240 --> 00:28:51,600
Speaker 2: significant thing, Like he so not only remember if he

559
00:28:51,720 --> 00:28:56,240
Speaker 2: was Larry Bader who had assumed a new identity to

560
00:28:56,720 --> 00:29:00,520
Speaker 2: agree to fingerprints is a dumb move to begin with,

561
00:29:00,600 --> 00:29:03,360
Speaker 2: but he could have been calling a bluff or something

562
00:29:03,400 --> 00:29:03,640
Speaker 2: like that.

563
00:29:03,680 --> 00:29:08,120
Speaker 1: Who knows maybe. But he also didn't have It wasn't

564
00:29:08,160 --> 00:29:11,920
Speaker 1: like he had some awful family life like everyone. By

565
00:29:11,960 --> 00:29:14,800
Speaker 1: all accounts, he liked. He liked his wife and kids

566
00:29:14,800 --> 00:29:18,200
Speaker 1: and enjoyed being around them as much as any dad

567
00:29:18,240 --> 00:29:22,000
Speaker 1: did in the nineteen fifties. I'm not saying he was doting,

568
00:29:22,040 --> 00:29:24,959
Speaker 1: but he wasn't like, oh, God, I hate these kids,

569
00:29:24,960 --> 00:29:26,360
Speaker 1: and my wife's a real drag.

570
00:29:26,640 --> 00:29:28,080
Speaker 2: Right. Yeah, it didn't make sense.

571
00:29:28,400 --> 00:29:30,880
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's a little bit in debt, but it wasn't

572
00:29:30,920 --> 00:29:34,160
Speaker 1: like his world was crumbling down around him such that

573
00:29:34,200 --> 00:29:36,440
Speaker 1: he had to escape. It was all debt that he

574
00:29:36,480 --> 00:29:38,240
Speaker 1: could get out of with a little bit of work.

575
00:29:38,280 --> 00:29:39,840
Speaker 1: So none of this was making any sense.

576
00:29:40,040 --> 00:29:40,080
Speaker 3: No.

577
00:29:40,200 --> 00:29:42,520
Speaker 2: Plus, also one other thing, Chuck, if you're on the

578
00:29:42,600 --> 00:29:45,480
Speaker 2: run and a new with a new identity, usually the

579
00:29:45,600 --> 00:29:48,680
Speaker 2: last thing you do is become a local TV personality

580
00:29:48,720 --> 00:29:51,680
Speaker 2: and a largish city in the United States.

581
00:29:51,880 --> 00:29:54,480
Speaker 1: Yeah, let me see if the largest city.

582
00:29:54,720 --> 00:29:57,240
Speaker 2: I said, a largish Oh.

583
00:29:57,600 --> 00:29:59,640
Speaker 1: I was like, oh man, that's not what I know.

584
00:30:00,200 --> 00:30:02,280
Speaker 2: The largest city in Nebraska.

585
00:30:03,840 --> 00:30:06,760
Speaker 1: Yeah, so none of this is adding up. He Yeah,

586
00:30:06,760 --> 00:30:08,160
Speaker 1: you would want to keep a low profile, so it

587
00:30:08,160 --> 00:30:08,840
Speaker 1: didn't make sense.

588
00:30:08,920 --> 00:30:10,920
Speaker 2: Well, put, I think that was much more succinct than

589
00:30:10,920 --> 00:30:12,080
Speaker 2: my whole jam Uh.

590
00:30:12,200 --> 00:30:14,320
Speaker 1: No, I liked it. The whole Omaha thing was great.

591
00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:17,000
Speaker 1: So he hires an attorney, a guy named Harry Farnham.

592
00:30:17,760 --> 00:30:20,400
Speaker 1: This attorney gets a team of psychologists on board. They

593
00:30:20,440 --> 00:30:24,200
Speaker 1: examine Larry and test him along with the neurologists. Over

594
00:30:24,240 --> 00:30:27,600
Speaker 1: about a week and a half. The you hypnosis on him.

595
00:30:27,680 --> 00:30:30,680
Speaker 1: They're like, we can't see anything medically wrong with this guy.

596
00:30:31,520 --> 00:30:35,920
Speaker 1: It doesn't seem like a scam back home, Mary is,

597
00:30:36,560 --> 00:30:39,560
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, Mary lou Is. She gets this news and

598
00:30:39,640 --> 00:30:42,280
Speaker 1: she was like, Oh, I mean, I'd kind of moved

599
00:30:42,280 --> 00:30:45,080
Speaker 1: on with my life. I'm I'm engaged to somebody new

600
00:30:45,120 --> 00:30:48,280
Speaker 1: who I've been dating for a few years. Yeah, but

601
00:30:48,440 --> 00:30:50,080
Speaker 1: I can't like I'm a good catch, Like I'm not

602
00:30:50,160 --> 00:30:55,320
Speaker 1: gonna like divorce Larry, Who's seems to be back in

603
00:30:55,360 --> 00:30:56,040
Speaker 1: my life now.

604
00:30:56,920 --> 00:31:00,000
Speaker 2: Yeah. Initially she said that she wished she'd never been

605
00:31:00,400 --> 00:31:02,880
Speaker 2: he'd never turned up again, that they had gotten used

606
00:31:02,880 --> 00:31:05,840
Speaker 2: to life without him, they'd accepted that he died, And yes,

607
00:31:05,920 --> 00:31:08,720
Speaker 2: she moved on and now all of a sudden her life.

608
00:31:09,360 --> 00:31:12,520
Speaker 2: To say it was complicated is a real understatement, Like

609
00:31:12,880 --> 00:31:17,400
Speaker 2: a handful of people's lives were ruined when that guy,

610
00:31:17,760 --> 00:31:21,360
Speaker 2: the acquaintance of Bader saw Fritz Johnson at that sporting

611
00:31:21,400 --> 00:31:26,360
Speaker 2: goods convention, like ruined. Not only do you have like

612
00:31:26,560 --> 00:31:32,480
Speaker 2: Mary lou Fritz slash Larry, Larry's wife, Nancy, their kids,

613
00:31:33,440 --> 00:31:37,120
Speaker 2: you also have like the nameless fiance that was engaged

614
00:31:37,120 --> 00:31:41,840
Speaker 2: to marry Lou like people's lives were completely upended by

615
00:31:41,920 --> 00:31:45,800
Speaker 2: the news of this, and apparently the whole time, Fritz

616
00:31:45,880 --> 00:31:48,320
Speaker 2: Johnson is like, this makes zero sense to me, But

617
00:31:49,120 --> 00:31:51,960
Speaker 2: the FBI said that my fingerprints matched this other guy,

618
00:31:52,120 --> 00:31:54,880
Speaker 2: and everybody else from Akron is telling me that I'm

619
00:31:54,880 --> 00:31:58,440
Speaker 2: this other guy. I think I'm Fritz Johnson. But he

620
00:31:58,640 --> 00:32:03,440
Speaker 2: was resigned, resigned himself to be like, maybe maybe this

621
00:32:03,600 --> 00:32:06,880
Speaker 2: is right, maybe they're right. He wasn't just he didn't

622
00:32:06,880 --> 00:32:08,600
Speaker 2: deny it the whole time, and he did not seem

623
00:32:08,640 --> 00:32:11,200
Speaker 2: fishy at any point. He was also more than willing

624
00:32:11,200 --> 00:32:13,040
Speaker 2: to talk to the press as this was going on,

625
00:32:13,320 --> 00:32:15,120
Speaker 2: but he was not an attention hound.

626
00:32:15,720 --> 00:32:18,560
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, not at all. So Mary, all of a sudden,

627
00:32:18,680 --> 00:32:22,400
Speaker 1: her life is up ended with you know, every regional

628
00:32:22,480 --> 00:32:27,000
Speaker 1: news outlet is banging on her door. The insurance company

629
00:32:27,120 --> 00:32:29,560
Speaker 1: was like that forty grand which will be four hundred

630
00:32:29,600 --> 00:32:33,360
Speaker 1: thousand dollars in twenty twenty four, basically life changing money,

631
00:32:33,400 --> 00:32:36,760
Speaker 1: we're gonna need that back, although social Security payments, we're

632
00:32:36,760 --> 00:32:41,320
Speaker 1: gonna need that back. Even Eddie and his boat rental company,

633
00:32:41,640 --> 00:32:46,680
Speaker 1: it's like, you owe us for boat damages. Johnson Fritzi.

634
00:32:46,840 --> 00:32:49,480
Speaker 1: You know he loses that job, the TV station fires him,

635
00:32:49,880 --> 00:32:53,720
Speaker 1: he gets that marriage annulled, He moves into a YMCA

636
00:32:53,880 --> 00:32:56,040
Speaker 1: it starts working at the bar again, making one hundred

637
00:32:56,080 --> 00:32:58,840
Speaker 1: bucks a week, and he's sending money to Mary Lou

638
00:32:58,920 --> 00:33:02,440
Speaker 1: and Nancy, and I'm think keeping about what like seventy

639
00:33:02,560 --> 00:33:05,560
Speaker 1: or thirty bucks for himself to live on, And it's

640
00:33:05,640 --> 00:33:07,680
Speaker 1: just it's upheable everywhere you look.

641
00:33:07,960 --> 00:33:11,600
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure. So a few months later, it's funny

642
00:33:11,840 --> 00:33:13,760
Speaker 2: she waited a few months. Mary Lou took her for

643
00:33:14,040 --> 00:33:17,320
Speaker 2: kids and they went to meet him in Chicago, I guess,

644
00:33:17,360 --> 00:33:21,520
Speaker 2: like a neutral city, and they spent the weekend together

645
00:33:21,560 --> 00:33:23,680
Speaker 2: and she told the press later that she was like,

646
00:33:23,760 --> 00:33:26,880
Speaker 2: he's a great guy, good with the kids, but we're

647
00:33:27,040 --> 00:33:29,920
Speaker 2: strangers to him, so it was a bit of an

648
00:33:29,920 --> 00:33:34,560
Speaker 2: awkward weekend. Essentially, the thing is is she didn't really

649
00:33:34,600 --> 00:33:37,000
Speaker 2: have a choice now, Like she was a Catholic, like

650
00:33:37,040 --> 00:33:38,880
Speaker 2: you said, she didn't believe in divorce, and now her

651
00:33:38,960 --> 00:33:41,520
Speaker 2: husband was all of a sudden back, so she has

652
00:33:41,560 --> 00:33:44,400
Speaker 2: to figure out how to work him back into her

653
00:33:44,480 --> 00:33:50,200
Speaker 2: life and their kids' lives as minimally disruptive as possible,

654
00:33:50,240 --> 00:33:54,040
Speaker 2: and she's just completely just lost. By this time, Nancy

655
00:33:54,120 --> 00:33:56,840
Speaker 2: Also she was saying, you know, I'm going to stand

656
00:33:56,840 --> 00:34:01,080
Speaker 2: by my husband Fritz. At some point she even said,

657
00:34:01,080 --> 00:34:04,280
Speaker 2: I'm willing to go back to work to help pay

658
00:34:04,600 --> 00:34:08,200
Speaker 2: Mary lou child support if he's going to stay with me.

659
00:34:08,280 --> 00:34:11,759
Speaker 2: But it just did not. It didn't work out as well.

660
00:34:11,800 --> 00:34:14,680
Speaker 2: So Nancy took her kids and kind of went back

661
00:34:14,719 --> 00:34:17,759
Speaker 2: into the background to leave Fritz to deal with this

662
00:34:18,480 --> 00:34:19,799
Speaker 2: whole Akron thing.

663
00:34:20,640 --> 00:34:22,839
Speaker 1: Yeah, the whole Akron thing. Yeah, I mean, and as kids,

664
00:34:22,840 --> 00:34:25,000
Speaker 1: I don't think we mentioned their ages. They were two,

665
00:34:25,080 --> 00:34:28,840
Speaker 1: four to six and unborn when he disappeared, So maybe

666
00:34:28,880 --> 00:34:31,560
Speaker 1: that six year old has a memory. The others probably

667
00:34:31,560 --> 00:34:34,000
Speaker 1: had not even any memory of former dad.

668
00:34:34,239 --> 00:34:38,560
Speaker 2: Right. So again, he's not denying this. He's saying, I

669
00:34:38,680 --> 00:34:41,120
Speaker 2: don't get this. This doesn't make sense to me. But

670
00:34:41,200 --> 00:34:44,440
Speaker 2: he's not like he stopped denying it after the fingerprint thing,

671
00:34:44,760 --> 00:34:46,920
Speaker 2: but not like a oh you caught me kind of thing.

672
00:34:47,280 --> 00:34:51,799
Speaker 2: He seemed genuinely baffled by this. There's a really good

673
00:34:51,960 --> 00:34:55,480
Speaker 2: kind of Like one of the authoritative articles on this

674
00:34:55,560 --> 00:34:58,880
Speaker 2: whole thing that was written by the Akron Bacrin Journal

675
00:34:58,920 --> 00:35:01,040
Speaker 2: in September nineteenth sixty five.

676
00:35:01,200 --> 00:35:07,520
Speaker 1: Beacon, Beacon, what did I say Akron Beacrin, the Akron.

677
00:35:07,080 --> 00:35:08,960
Speaker 2: Beacon journal I say it like a local.

678
00:35:09,360 --> 00:35:09,520
Speaker 1: Yes.

679
00:35:10,760 --> 00:35:14,080
Speaker 2: And it's funny because the journalist who wrote this clearly

680
00:35:14,160 --> 00:35:18,400
Speaker 2: had just read Hell's Angels by Hunter Thompson was trying

681
00:35:18,400 --> 00:35:20,879
Speaker 2: his hand at it. So like the whole the whole

682
00:35:20,880 --> 00:35:25,799
Speaker 2: thing starts in this jet flight that he's on on Omaha,

683
00:35:26,320 --> 00:35:28,680
Speaker 2: it ends on the jet flight too, and like he's

684
00:35:28,680 --> 00:35:31,120
Speaker 2: talking about them walking through the town to the YMC.

685
00:35:31,280 --> 00:35:34,880
Speaker 2: It's just like he wrote himself into this this article.

686
00:35:34,960 --> 00:35:37,120
Speaker 2: And it was just kind of funny to see.

687
00:35:37,320 --> 00:35:41,160
Speaker 1: The drugs started to gig in around barstow Right, But

688
00:35:41,520 --> 00:35:43,160
Speaker 1: what are you doing in barstow Right?

689
00:35:43,640 --> 00:35:45,560
Speaker 2: But there was a quote in there that stood out

690
00:35:45,560 --> 00:35:48,239
Speaker 2: to me that Fritz Johnson told this guy. He said,

691
00:35:48,239 --> 00:35:50,920
Speaker 2: I've begun to think that God might solve the problem.

692
00:35:51,280 --> 00:35:53,520
Speaker 2: And it turns out who was right because later he

693
00:35:53,640 --> 00:35:54,640
Speaker 2: died from cancer.

694
00:35:55,120 --> 00:35:59,760
Speaker 1: Wow, I did not see that quote. Here's just the tip,

695
00:36:00,280 --> 00:36:02,759
Speaker 1: don't I'm not a big superstitious guy, but if you

696
00:36:02,800 --> 00:36:04,319
Speaker 1: believe stuff like that, don't say it out loud.

697
00:36:04,840 --> 00:36:08,480
Speaker 2: Right. You don't want to tempt God to kill you.

698
00:36:07,960 --> 00:36:09,839
Speaker 1: No, because he'll do it just for.

699
00:36:09,840 --> 00:36:12,120
Speaker 2: Laughs, just to show you whose ball.

700
00:36:13,000 --> 00:36:16,960
Speaker 1: September sixteenth, nineteen sixty six is when he died. Did

701
00:36:17,000 --> 00:36:17,920
Speaker 1: you say it was the tumor?

702
00:36:18,640 --> 00:36:21,439
Speaker 2: No, I said cancer, he moved to his liver.

703
00:36:21,560 --> 00:36:26,360
Speaker 1: I think, yeah, that tumor came back, passed away. First

704
00:36:26,480 --> 00:36:31,319
Speaker 1: Methodist Omaha had a memorial for him. Then he was

705
00:36:31,360 --> 00:36:35,360
Speaker 1: transported back to Akron buried in his family plot. And now,

706
00:36:36,360 --> 00:36:38,359
Speaker 1: how many of these explanations do you want to go over?

707
00:36:38,480 --> 00:36:42,640
Speaker 1: Because I almost feel like we should just skip to

708
00:36:42,760 --> 00:36:44,719
Speaker 1: the one that you dug up that sounds the most

709
00:36:44,760 --> 00:36:45,400
Speaker 1: plausible to me.

710
00:36:45,560 --> 00:36:48,000
Speaker 2: I agree wholeheartedly. There was just one other thing I

711
00:36:48,000 --> 00:36:50,880
Speaker 2: want to say about his two funerals in Omaha. The

712
00:36:50,920 --> 00:36:54,000
Speaker 2: funeral was given for Fritz Johnson and Akron the funeral

713
00:36:54,080 --> 00:36:56,600
Speaker 2: was given for Larry Bader, but it was the same body.

714
00:36:56,640 --> 00:36:58,200
Speaker 2: They moved from one city to the other.

715
00:36:59,120 --> 00:37:00,600
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's cool.

716
00:37:00,960 --> 00:37:03,319
Speaker 1: That is super cool and a nice little footnote. But

717
00:37:03,520 --> 00:37:06,920
Speaker 1: like we said, there were some theories that don't seem

718
00:37:06,920 --> 00:37:10,279
Speaker 1: to hold water about different kinds of amnesia. But then

719
00:37:10,320 --> 00:37:12,319
Speaker 1: you did some digging, and then I went back and

720
00:37:12,360 --> 00:37:15,200
Speaker 1: did some further digging once you gave me what you

721
00:37:15,320 --> 00:37:18,640
Speaker 1: dug And it seems like a lot of people on

722
00:37:18,680 --> 00:37:21,520
Speaker 1: the Internet, and of course these are Internet people, so

723
00:37:21,520 --> 00:37:25,120
Speaker 1: it's not like science isn't studying this. It's just sort

724
00:37:25,120 --> 00:37:27,480
Speaker 1: of one of those things that's left to smart people

725
00:37:27,520 --> 00:37:31,960
Speaker 1: on Reddit. But what the general consensus seems to be

726
00:37:32,080 --> 00:37:35,680
Speaker 1: on the Internet is that he suffered from what is

727
00:37:35,760 --> 00:37:40,800
Speaker 1: known as a disassociative fugue, which is a very strange

728
00:37:40,840 --> 00:37:45,440
Speaker 1: syndrome in which you can have very very sudden, really

729
00:37:45,719 --> 00:37:51,120
Speaker 1: significant retrograde memory loss that can't be attributed to like

730
00:37:51,719 --> 00:37:53,840
Speaker 1: being hit on the head really hard or something like.

731
00:37:53,880 --> 00:37:57,560
Speaker 1: Other kinds of amnesia can be explained away in other ways,

732
00:37:57,560 --> 00:37:58,240
Speaker 1: and this one can't.

733
00:37:59,080 --> 00:38:02,680
Speaker 2: Right, yes, fugue state, I mean, it's basically like they

734
00:38:02,680 --> 00:38:06,520
Speaker 2: are describing what happened to them. But the essentially what

735
00:38:06,640 --> 00:38:09,600
Speaker 2: happens is get you have this amnesia, but it wipes

736
00:38:09,640 --> 00:38:14,319
Speaker 2: out your episodic memory, your biographical memory, and to the

737
00:38:14,400 --> 00:38:19,880
Speaker 2: point where you accidentally inadvertently move away from home. Depending

738
00:38:19,880 --> 00:38:21,800
Speaker 2: on how long it lasts, you're going to travel fairly

739
00:38:21,840 --> 00:38:24,440
Speaker 2: far away from home. When you get to where you're going,

740
00:38:24,680 --> 00:38:27,400
Speaker 2: you're going to set up a new life, the new identity,

741
00:38:27,760 --> 00:38:31,080
Speaker 2: make new relationships, and you're not going to have any

742
00:38:31,120 --> 00:38:35,319
Speaker 2: memory whatsoever of the life that came before this. That's

743
00:38:35,360 --> 00:38:39,640
Speaker 2: a fugue state. And apparently it is actually real. I

744
00:38:39,680 --> 00:38:42,799
Speaker 2: looked all over for like, like fake, this is made up.

745
00:38:42,880 --> 00:38:46,680
Speaker 2: It's not correct, Like this is a crackpot theory that

746
00:38:46,760 --> 00:38:48,239
Speaker 2: some psychologists came up with.

747
00:38:48,480 --> 00:38:48,560
Speaker 1: No.

748
00:38:49,160 --> 00:38:54,960
Speaker 2: Dissociative fugue is a widely accepted, very very rare medical

749
00:38:55,000 --> 00:38:57,919
Speaker 2: condition that they do not know how to explain. There's

750
00:38:57,960 --> 00:39:01,560
Speaker 2: a struggle between neurology and psychology. Your psychiatry. Is it

751
00:39:01,640 --> 00:39:04,120
Speaker 2: brain based or is it like a break from some

752
00:39:04,360 --> 00:39:08,680
Speaker 2: traumatic experience? And apparently it usually is prompted by some

753
00:39:08,760 --> 00:39:12,400
Speaker 2: negative experience, but it's not something like seeing your family killed.

754
00:39:12,760 --> 00:39:15,760
Speaker 2: It can be something like being twenty four hundred dollars

755
00:39:15,800 --> 00:39:19,520
Speaker 2: in nineteen fifty seven dollars in debt and stressed out

756
00:39:19,560 --> 00:39:20,000
Speaker 2: from that.

757
00:39:21,239 --> 00:39:24,520
Speaker 1: Or I mean, here's what I think. I think it

758
00:39:24,560 --> 00:39:28,120
Speaker 1: could that whole boat trip and fishing expedition was just

759
00:39:28,200 --> 00:39:30,360
Speaker 1: on the level and that's really just what he was doing.

760
00:39:31,000 --> 00:39:34,520
Speaker 1: He had all that cash and the briefcase, the suitcase

761
00:39:34,520 --> 00:39:36,080
Speaker 1: because maybe he just didn't want to keep that stuff

762
00:39:36,120 --> 00:39:38,600
Speaker 1: in the car, and he went out in a really

763
00:39:38,640 --> 00:39:42,360
Speaker 1: bad storm and had a traumatic event happen out there,

764
00:39:43,719 --> 00:39:46,560
Speaker 1: like maybe being tossed overboard. I think that could have

765
00:39:46,640 --> 00:39:50,520
Speaker 1: been the stressful event. So that's one thing. Another thing, too,

766
00:39:50,640 --> 00:39:56,520
Speaker 1: is when this disassociative fugue ends, you will probably remember

767
00:39:56,560 --> 00:39:58,840
Speaker 1: your real life, but you're not going to remember what

768
00:39:58,880 --> 00:40:01,719
Speaker 1: happened in the fugue state. My explanation there is that

769
00:40:02,040 --> 00:40:04,200
Speaker 1: he died of a tumor, so that might have happened

770
00:40:04,200 --> 00:40:07,800
Speaker 1: to him given enough time, and he just died before

771
00:40:07,960 --> 00:40:10,439
Speaker 1: that memory of the real life came back to him.

772
00:40:10,920 --> 00:40:13,040
Speaker 2: So I guess kind of what you're saying is he

773
00:40:13,080 --> 00:40:15,759
Speaker 2: died in a fugue state, like he never emerged from

774
00:40:15,760 --> 00:40:16,439
Speaker 2: the fugue state.

775
00:40:16,520 --> 00:40:18,680
Speaker 1: Huh, Yeah, that's my theory.

776
00:40:19,080 --> 00:40:22,319
Speaker 2: Okay, I think that's a pretty good theory. Actually, I mean,

777
00:40:22,360 --> 00:40:24,520
Speaker 2: it does seem like he was not malingering, he was

778
00:40:24,560 --> 00:40:27,160
Speaker 2: not faking. This was not a con. It's a just

779
00:40:27,440 --> 00:40:32,040
Speaker 2: genuine mystery because also, like he just checks so many

780
00:40:32,080 --> 00:40:35,160
Speaker 2: boxes for a fugue state, but it's just it usually

781
00:40:35,200 --> 00:40:39,239
Speaker 2: goes on for what weeks or months, right, not years?

782
00:40:39,680 --> 00:40:41,040
Speaker 1: I don't know, that's what I don't know.

783
00:40:41,640 --> 00:40:44,880
Speaker 2: That's what I saw that really, yeah, but that in

784
00:40:44,920 --> 00:40:48,600
Speaker 2: that time, you're so convinced of your new identity that

785
00:40:48,719 --> 00:40:51,120
Speaker 2: you can form relationships that now all of a sudden

786
00:40:51,160 --> 00:40:54,040
Speaker 2: are jeopardized around the rocks because you don't remember these

787
00:40:54,080 --> 00:40:56,959
Speaker 2: people anymore, and you're like, what am I doing in Omaha?

788
00:40:57,160 --> 00:40:59,600
Speaker 1: Yeah? Well when did he die in nineteen sixty six?

789
00:40:59,680 --> 00:41:03,920
Speaker 1: And when in.

790
00:41:02,080 --> 00:41:03,040
Speaker 2: Nineteen sixty five?

791
00:41:03,680 --> 00:41:06,440
Speaker 1: Yeah, so it was only like a year, right, I

792
00:41:06,480 --> 00:41:08,879
Speaker 1: mean that seems plausible for what little I know about it.

793
00:41:09,520 --> 00:41:13,040
Speaker 2: Yeah, hopefully we figure out more about fugue states, because

794
00:41:13,040 --> 00:41:15,400
Speaker 2: then we'll understand a little more about Larry Batter And

795
00:41:16,480 --> 00:41:20,320
Speaker 2: if we don't, then we're never going to know what happened,

796
00:41:20,320 --> 00:41:21,600
Speaker 2: Like it's just a mystery.

797
00:41:22,320 --> 00:41:24,319
Speaker 1: Yeah, this could I was wondering if this could be

798
00:41:24,320 --> 00:41:27,160
Speaker 1: a movie, if there's enough there, and then I decided

799
00:41:27,200 --> 00:41:29,239
Speaker 1: it probably couldn't be a movie, but it could be

800
00:41:29,320 --> 00:41:31,920
Speaker 1: like probably like a ten part Netflix show.

801
00:41:32,640 --> 00:41:36,520
Speaker 2: A ten hour long movie, yeah, with tons and tons

802
00:41:36,560 --> 00:41:37,960
Speaker 2: of archery montages.

803
00:41:38,280 --> 00:41:40,480
Speaker 1: Oh man, so many?

804
00:41:40,640 --> 00:41:42,319
Speaker 2: So you got anything else about Larry Bater?

805
00:41:42,880 --> 00:41:45,719
Speaker 1: I got nothing else? Thanks to Olivia. This is an interesting one.

806
00:41:45,800 --> 00:41:47,480
Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks a lot. Well how'd you hear about this?

807
00:41:47,520 --> 00:41:48,319
Speaker 2: I meant to ask you.

808
00:41:48,280 --> 00:41:52,680
Speaker 1: That I am convinced I know that this came from

809
00:41:52,719 --> 00:41:55,400
Speaker 1: a listener, but I could not find it anywhere an email,

810
00:41:55,440 --> 00:41:57,120
Speaker 1: so I don't think it did. Actually, I think I

811
00:41:57,200 --> 00:41:59,120
Speaker 1: might have just been searching for, like, you know, kind

812
00:41:59,120 --> 00:42:00,239
Speaker 1: of crazy story.

813
00:42:00,280 --> 00:42:02,800
Speaker 2: Or something, or it came to you in a fugue state.

814
00:42:03,760 --> 00:42:05,880
Speaker 1: Maybe maybe I'm not even Chuck Bryant.

815
00:42:06,120 --> 00:42:10,279
Speaker 2: Well, Chuck seems like he's having an autobiographical crisis right now,

816
00:42:10,320 --> 00:42:12,359
Speaker 2: and that of course unlocks listener mail.

817
00:42:15,120 --> 00:42:17,560
Speaker 1: I'm going to call this rare shout out. We don't

818
00:42:17,800 --> 00:42:21,000
Speaker 1: really give shout outs on listener mail because we get

819
00:42:21,000 --> 00:42:23,120
Speaker 1: inundated with people saying like, Hi, can you say my

820
00:42:23,160 --> 00:42:26,840
Speaker 1: sister's name? But we're going to grant this one because

821
00:42:26,880 --> 00:42:29,480
Speaker 1: it is for a nana and we'd like to honor

822
00:42:29,520 --> 00:42:30,239
Speaker 1: the nanas.

823
00:42:29,920 --> 00:42:30,799
Speaker 2: Of the one.

824
00:42:31,560 --> 00:42:33,879
Speaker 1: Hey, guys, hope this message find you well reaching out

825
00:42:33,880 --> 00:42:37,719
Speaker 1: to request a shout out for Nana. My nana. She's

826
00:42:37,760 --> 00:42:39,759
Speaker 1: such a huge fan of you both. Every time I call,

827
00:42:39,920 --> 00:42:42,520
Speaker 1: she always mentioned your show, and you would think you

828
00:42:42,520 --> 00:42:45,319
Speaker 1: guys are family members. If you get into her car,

829
00:42:45,400 --> 00:42:49,600
Speaker 1: the bluetooth speaker automatically starts playing an episode. Your show

830
00:42:49,640 --> 00:42:51,279
Speaker 1: has brought her so much joy over the years and

831
00:42:51,360 --> 00:42:53,879
Speaker 1: kept her sharp. At the age of eighty one and

832
00:42:54,080 --> 00:42:57,759
Speaker 1: has given us something to connect over. Because Nana's high

833
00:42:57,760 --> 00:42:59,359
Speaker 1: praise has got me hooked as well.

834
00:42:59,440 --> 00:43:00,000
Speaker 2: It's awesome.

835
00:43:00,520 --> 00:43:02,359
Speaker 1: For the last few years, she's always dreamed of going

836
00:43:02,360 --> 00:43:04,279
Speaker 1: to one of your live shows, but it's never worked out.

837
00:43:04,760 --> 00:43:07,200
Speaker 1: Now with her age, it would be difficult for her

838
00:43:07,239 --> 00:43:10,960
Speaker 1: to travel to any future potential shows. Mi, Nana is

839
00:43:11,000 --> 00:43:12,880
Speaker 1: the most important person in my life, and I know

840
00:43:12,960 --> 00:43:15,920
Speaker 1: it would mean the world to hear a message from you. Guys.

841
00:43:16,440 --> 00:43:17,960
Speaker 1: It might be a shot in the dark, but I

842
00:43:18,000 --> 00:43:20,480
Speaker 1: thought it would try. Thanks for your time and for

843
00:43:20,600 --> 00:43:26,600
Speaker 1: considering the request. And that is from Nori Shl's or Shalis.

844
00:43:26,600 --> 00:43:29,799
Speaker 1: I'm not sure how you pronounce it, but Nana, we

845
00:43:29,920 --> 00:43:32,839
Speaker 1: just want to say thank you and you're great and

846
00:43:32,880 --> 00:43:35,160
Speaker 1: we appreciate you. And I'm not sure where you live.

847
00:43:35,280 --> 00:43:40,360
Speaker 1: Maybe either you or Nori can write in and we

848
00:43:40,400 --> 00:43:42,880
Speaker 1: can find out kind of how close you are and

849
00:43:43,320 --> 00:43:45,239
Speaker 1: get you to a show somehow. Maybe we'll go do

850
00:43:45,280 --> 00:43:46,279
Speaker 1: one at your house or something.

851
00:43:46,480 --> 00:43:48,160
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was going to say the same thing. A

852
00:43:48,400 --> 00:43:51,960
Speaker 2: show in Nana's living room. That'd be fun, especially if

853
00:43:51,960 --> 00:43:54,360
Speaker 2: it's an Omaha. I've always wanted to see beautiful Omaha.

854
00:43:54,680 --> 00:43:56,040
Speaker 1: Wouldn't that be something well.

855
00:43:56,040 --> 00:43:57,880
Speaker 2: Thanks a lot, Nana, thank you very much for not

856
00:43:57,920 --> 00:43:59,880
Speaker 2: only listening to us all this time, but also for

857
00:44:00,080 --> 00:44:03,400
Speaker 2: turning Nori on to us. That's pretty great stuff. And

858
00:44:03,480 --> 00:44:05,560
Speaker 2: if you want to be like Nori and tell us

859
00:44:05,600 --> 00:44:08,680
Speaker 2: about your awesome grandparent, we want to hear about them.

860
00:44:09,000 --> 00:44:11,040
Speaker 2: You can wrap it up, spank it on the bottom,

861
00:44:11,120 --> 00:44:13,960
Speaker 2: and send it off via email to Stuff Podcasts at

862
00:44:14,000 --> 00:44:18,200
Speaker 2: iHeartRadio dot com.

863
00:44:18,320 --> 00:44:21,200
Speaker 1: Stuff you Should Know is a production of iHeartRadio. For

864
00:44:21,280 --> 00:44:25,640
Speaker 1: more podcasts Myheartradio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or

865
00:44:25,640 --> 00:44:27,440
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.