WEBVTT - SYSK Live Christmas Spectacular! 0:00:16.120 --> 0:00:19.159 Hey, everybody, Uh, what you were about to hear is 0:00:19.200 --> 0:00:24.759 our very first live Christmas spectacular. Hey, everybody, Josh is 0:00:24.760 --> 0:00:28.280 here too, so yeah, this is a lot of fun. Man. 0:00:28.320 --> 0:00:31.360 We did a hometown live Christmas show at the Center 0:00:31.360 --> 0:00:34.080 Stage Theater in Atlanta. This was in real time. This 0:00:34.159 --> 0:00:36.519 is what last just a few days ago. It was 0:00:36.600 --> 0:00:39.520 and it was a great show. We brought the house down, 0:00:39.560 --> 0:00:41.559 I think is how they put it. Yeah, man, And 0:00:41.600 --> 0:00:45.640 it was cold and rainy, and Atlanta United was playing 0:00:45.640 --> 0:00:48.800 in a championship game and people still packed out the 0:00:48.840 --> 0:00:51.680 Center Stage. Uh, and that really meant a lot to us. 0:00:51.720 --> 0:00:54.560 It was great. It was a Christmas miracle. Frankly. Yeah. 0:00:54.680 --> 0:00:57.760 And you're gonna notice something different. We actually used visual 0:00:57.840 --> 0:01:01.360 cues in this episode for the time, and we're going 0:01:01.440 --> 0:01:04.080 to post those on Facebook. So if you want to 0:01:04.360 --> 0:01:07.200 see the pictures that we're talking about, uh in our 0:01:07.200 --> 0:01:09.759 different segments, you can go to Facebook check those out. 0:01:10.120 --> 0:01:12.720 And we also did a Christmas reading this year of 0:01:12.760 --> 0:01:15.800 a contemporary book, which was kind of cool. We did 0:01:15.800 --> 0:01:19.720 a reading, uh from a wonderful, wonderful kids book called 0:01:19.760 --> 0:01:23.240 Meet the lat Because and it tells the actual real 0:01:23.319 --> 0:01:26.480 story of Hanukah and how that came about in a 0:01:26.560 --> 0:01:29.240 very fun, childlike way, and it was written by a 0:01:29.280 --> 0:01:33.240 man name Alan Silverberg. You can buy that wherever you 0:01:33.280 --> 0:01:36.080 buy your books. It's really wonderful. Or you can go 0:01:36.120 --> 0:01:38.720 to silver Books dot com that is s I b 0:01:39.640 --> 0:01:42.840 e Er books dot com and check out what Alan's 0:01:42.920 --> 0:01:45.320 up to. Uh, and it's not just for Jewish families, 0:01:45.319 --> 0:01:47.880 like you should just spread the word of Hanukkah to 0:01:47.880 --> 0:01:50.400 to all children because it's a really great story. Yeah, 0:01:50.400 --> 0:01:52.720 it's a really great book too. So thanks to Allen 0:01:53.200 --> 0:01:57.360 and uh, here we go, oh ware, we go. Welcome 0:01:57.400 --> 0:02:07.240 to stuff you should know from house to Forks dot com. Hey, 0:02:07.280 --> 0:02:10.440 and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, there's Charles 0:02:10.520 --> 0:02:14.120 w Chuck Bryant, Jerry's even out there somewhere, and we 0:02:14.200 --> 0:02:17.840 are here live at center stage, Peter and our hometown 0:02:17.840 --> 0:02:34.320 in Atlanta, Geogia. We love you too. I just lost 0:02:34.360 --> 0:02:38.320 the only gift you've ever given me. That's not true. 0:02:38.320 --> 0:02:40.079 By the way, are you going to put it on? Well? 0:02:40.120 --> 0:02:41.480 I had it on. I was like, how why am 0:02:41.480 --> 0:02:47.160 I hotter than usual? All right? There it is, fit's 0:02:47.280 --> 0:02:50.919 perfectly Yeah, I had the Taylor made for it. Nice. 0:02:51.680 --> 0:02:55.800 So um, Yeah, we wanted to give you guys some 0:02:55.919 --> 0:03:00.119 information because this is a podcast, right. Yes, I'm redoing 0:03:00.200 --> 0:03:03.799 the horrible clumsy segue that I did already before we started, 0:03:05.200 --> 0:03:06.960 and we're going to talk to you about the history 0:03:06.960 --> 0:03:11.320 of aluminium trees. They might have an aluminium tree in here. Okay, 0:03:11.440 --> 0:03:13.600 a few people over eighty Do you see that over there? 0:03:15.520 --> 0:03:17.920 There is an aluminum tree over here, and chuck, you 0:03:17.960 --> 0:03:20.760 get that. Yeah. The story here is is that this 0:03:21.000 --> 0:03:25.040 is now belongs to us in my family. This belonged 0:03:25.280 --> 0:03:29.320 to Emily's grandmother. She's still with us. She's not here 0:03:29.360 --> 0:03:31.760 to night because as you all know, Mary is. How 0:03:31.760 --> 0:03:37.160 old is she now? Yes, oh, they're over there. It 0:03:37.320 --> 0:03:38.920 was like, that's so weird that that person over there 0:03:38.960 --> 0:03:42.280 knows old Mary is and she sounds just like my wife, 0:03:42.280 --> 0:03:44.680 who I've been looking at over here, Emily's and that 0:03:44.800 --> 0:03:48.720 lady's like, Chucks, a total creep because he's just looking 0:03:48.760 --> 0:03:51.600 at me. Emily's throwing your voice, that's what he did. 0:03:52.880 --> 0:03:54.600 So she's nine years old. She's still with us, which 0:03:54.640 --> 0:03:57.600 is amazing. But that was their tree. And as you 0:03:57.600 --> 0:03:59.320 can tell if you're on the side of the stage, 0:03:59.720 --> 0:04:02.080 we will describe all these things in greater detail. But 0:04:02.160 --> 0:04:04.440 that is an original, I guess from the nineteen fifties 0:04:04.520 --> 0:04:09.840 or early sixties. Aluminium tree completes with color wheel there. 0:04:09.960 --> 0:04:13.080 I'm sorry. You can see it peaking above the bar. 0:04:14.160 --> 0:04:17.200 So it's an aluminum tree, as Chuck said, and the 0:04:17.279 --> 0:04:23.159 aluminum trees gather start through the great American process of 0:04:23.240 --> 0:04:27.159 idea of intellectual property theft. That's right. There was a 0:04:27.200 --> 0:04:30.120 guy from a company called Aluminum Specialties and he was 0:04:30.120 --> 0:04:32.440 walking down the street Chicago one day and he stopped. 0:04:32.839 --> 0:04:35.800 He saw a tree made out of aluminum, and he 0:04:35.839 --> 0:04:38.159 thought was the most amazing thing ever. And then he 0:04:38.160 --> 0:04:39.920 looked at the price. He was like, a hundred bucks. 0:04:39.960 --> 0:04:42.200 That seems a little steep and it looks a little heavy. 0:04:42.279 --> 0:04:44.279 I'll bet I can do better than that. So we 0:04:44.320 --> 0:04:47.680 went back to headquarters and he said, look, guy, I 0:04:47.720 --> 0:04:52.280 saw a tree made out of wait for it, aluminum. 0:04:52.360 --> 0:04:54.279 But it was too heavy, it was too expensive. We 0:04:54.320 --> 0:04:58.280 can do better, and an Aluminum Specialty said Gideo, that's right. 0:04:58.440 --> 0:05:01.000 And by the way, I heard a bell jingling and 0:05:01.040 --> 0:05:03.960 I was looking here, and I was looking there. It's 0:05:03.960 --> 0:05:07.280 my hat And I was like, is there someone behind me? 0:05:09.160 --> 0:05:14.000 The bell? So everyone the acid is kicking in, it 0:05:14.040 --> 0:05:18.640 should be a good show. Uh So I did a 0:05:18.680 --> 0:05:21.840 little I know you're the you're the inflation calculator man, 0:05:22.320 --> 0:05:25.120 but I did a little calculating. So those original trees 0:05:25.200 --> 0:05:27.320 from Chicago that he saw and decided to rip off 0:05:27.600 --> 0:05:32.920 in today's dollars were close to nine bucks, what yeah, 0:05:33.200 --> 0:05:36.679 eight and eighty five dollars, and so Mr tom Gannon 0:05:36.800 --> 0:05:40.359 of Aluminum Specialty, like he said, was like, they're getting 0:05:40.440 --> 0:05:42.279 ripped off. And if I think if we can package 0:05:42.279 --> 0:05:46.280 these for twenty bucks and we can make them so 0:05:46.360 --> 0:05:48.680 that a lady with her little lady arms can pick 0:05:48.720 --> 0:05:51.840 them up, that's literally well you didn't say that. This 0:05:51.920 --> 0:05:54.440 was said at a marketing strategy meeting though, but it 0:05:54.480 --> 0:05:56.040 really was. They were like, well, we need to make 0:05:56.080 --> 0:05:58.920 them all in and a box light enough for women 0:05:58.960 --> 0:06:01.480 to pick them up off the shelf, right because it's 0:06:01.560 --> 0:06:05.520 ninety seven. But they did just that. Yep. Then they 0:06:05.560 --> 0:06:07.160 put him in a box and on the box that 0:06:07.279 --> 0:06:11.279 said Aluminum for Lasting Beauty, because you know your tree 0:06:11.320 --> 0:06:13.320 will rot and die just trying to keep it around 0:06:13.400 --> 0:06:15.760 past February. It's going to go up in flames, right 0:06:16.400 --> 0:06:19.000 we do. Plus it was the safety tree too, because 0:06:19.000 --> 0:06:20.760 it won't go up in flames no matter how long 0:06:20.839 --> 0:06:23.280 you keep it around. Yeah, I'm not sure about that. 0:06:23.279 --> 0:06:26.560 That thing looks highly flammable to me that one. Yeah, 0:06:26.920 --> 0:06:28.920 I'm not gonna test it. I think it just kind 0:06:28.920 --> 0:06:31.800 of melt into a pool and then we die from 0:06:31.800 --> 0:06:35.239 the fumes. That's what we get. So they set up shop. 0:06:35.400 --> 0:06:38.920 They already had a plant in Manitowac, Wisconsin, right there 0:06:38.960 --> 0:06:44.240 on the shores, really right there, represent right there on 0:06:44.279 --> 0:06:47.800 the shores of Lake Michigan. Uh. During World War Two, 0:06:47.839 --> 0:06:50.599 they were building submarines I guess out of aluminum, which 0:06:50.640 --> 0:06:53.320 I don't think it's true at all. I had to 0:06:53.360 --> 0:06:56.440 beat something more durable than that. Right, Well, I don't 0:06:56.440 --> 0:06:59.680 think Aluminum Specialties is making submarines. The town was known 0:06:59.720 --> 0:07:05.080 for Oh I told you, I was unprepared. So they 0:07:05.080 --> 0:07:08.120 started getting these out the door for twenty bucks. They 0:07:08.120 --> 0:07:11.119 had models that were four two, four, six and seven 0:07:11.120 --> 0:07:14.160 ft high. Uh, And initially people made fun of them. 0:07:14.160 --> 0:07:17.440 They called them tin tannin bombs. Uh. People were mad 0:07:17.560 --> 0:07:21.120 when they saw them at first, in nine because they 0:07:21.120 --> 0:07:24.680 thought it was gaudy and gross and not a real tree, 0:07:25.120 --> 0:07:28.680 not some beautiful what one day be appreciated, appreciated as 0:07:28.720 --> 0:07:31.680 like a kitchy beautiful item. Well plus also it was like, 0:07:31.720 --> 0:07:33.880 what do you mean an aluminum tree? We just want 0:07:33.960 --> 0:07:38.640 tree trees. What are your communist tree? Exactly? I'll try 0:07:38.680 --> 0:07:41.720 to take my real tree. Let's say happy holidays to me. 0:07:45.800 --> 0:07:51.040 All right, there you go. So the aluminum specialties cookies 0:07:51.080 --> 0:07:55.320 were saved by, believe it or not, tire sales people. 0:07:55.800 --> 0:07:59.040 So in in Wisconsin in the wintertime, they don't sell 0:07:59.080 --> 0:08:02.480 a lot of tires, and so tire store said, well, 0:08:02.520 --> 0:08:04.840 we need to make some some bread somehow we gotta 0:08:04.920 --> 0:08:07.320 get Christmas presents for our kids. How are we going 0:08:07.360 --> 0:08:09.440 to do this? And they heard about these aluminum trees, 0:08:09.840 --> 0:08:12.760 and they started setting up in their showrooms. And of course, 0:08:13.120 --> 0:08:16.320 the pride of every town is the the tire store 0:08:16.400 --> 0:08:20.600 that everyone walks past constantly. But people started walking past 0:08:20.600 --> 0:08:24.800 the tire store seeing the aluminum trees in there and said, okay, 0:08:24.920 --> 0:08:27.880 they actually are quite beautiful. I want one, And they 0:08:27.920 --> 0:08:31.360 started selling them like hot kids. Here's an actual quote. 0:08:31.400 --> 0:08:33.200 I wish you could have found out who this person was. 0:08:33.800 --> 0:08:37.520 This was someone who worked at Aluminum Treemakers of America. 0:08:38.000 --> 0:08:40.600 He said it was a salesman's dream to have this happen. 0:08:41.000 --> 0:08:42.839 Suddenly the guy who wouldn't give you the time of 0:08:42.920 --> 0:08:45.000 day is your best friend. I think that was actually 0:08:45.000 --> 0:08:48.440 a tire store guy. Sure, come on, give me more 0:08:48.480 --> 0:08:51.920 aluminium trees. I need them, man, I'm selling them too fast. 0:08:52.240 --> 0:08:57.240 So they sold something like, um, I think, ninety thousand 0:08:57.559 --> 0:09:00.080 in the first year, is that correct, Chuck? Ye know 0:09:00.160 --> 0:09:02.600 they sold over a hundred thousand. They sold forty thousand 0:09:02.600 --> 0:09:07.520 in the first month, which is crazy. So within of course, weeks, 0:09:07.559 --> 0:09:11.920 because Aluminum Specialty stole it from this other company, other 0:09:11.960 --> 0:09:15.160 people started stealing Aluminum Specialties idea in the American way. 0:09:15.400 --> 0:09:17.920 They came out with this thing. Within weeks, other people 0:09:17.960 --> 0:09:21.559 were selling aluminum trees, and so everybody started having an 0:09:21.559 --> 0:09:25.440 aluminum treat. Some of them were more expensive, somewhere were less. 0:09:25.480 --> 0:09:28.920 But Aluminum Specialty played it smart. They pointed right down 0:09:29.000 --> 0:09:31.680 the middle, and they have like six of the market share, 0:09:31.760 --> 0:09:34.800 and even today they're ever gleam product was is like 0:09:34.880 --> 0:09:39.040 the most sought after. It's like the Cadillac of aluminum trees. 0:09:39.120 --> 0:09:42.959 I guess that doesn't that's that's a terrible analogy, but 0:09:43.040 --> 0:09:46.240 you get what I'm saying. I like it, Tires, Cadillacs, 0:09:46.280 --> 0:09:49.240 it's all coming around. So some of these companies, because 0:09:49.240 --> 0:09:50.920 it's the nineteen fifties, we thought we'd read some of 0:09:51.000 --> 0:09:53.360 these names of companies that ripped them off because it's 0:09:53.400 --> 0:10:00.400 just so nineteen fifties. Morris Novelties, Holiday Industries, Regal electri ONYX, 0:10:00.520 --> 0:10:06.880 hold On Holiday Industry. This is my favorite. Astra Light 0:10:07.160 --> 0:10:10.839 lt D. That's a British company. H and As fest 0:10:10.840 --> 0:10:17.120 As Farms. It's really sweet. I made up that last one. 0:10:17.240 --> 0:10:20.000 This thing just i'd like my nicks itched when you 0:10:20.040 --> 0:10:22.800 said that, I'm getting uncomfortable, just like every time I 0:10:22.840 --> 0:10:24.280 look over there, I want to take that off of you. 0:10:25.200 --> 0:10:30.200 Can I take this off everybody? Yeah, you're gonna literally 0:10:30.280 --> 0:10:38.000 come thank you, thank you, little something for you, A 0:10:38.040 --> 0:10:43.559 little something I constructed and look it's a nice Mounty Garland. 0:10:45.920 --> 0:10:49.320 Thank you everybody, all right. So they started gussie up 0:10:49.320 --> 0:10:51.560 their trees a bit. One of these is gussied up 0:10:51.600 --> 0:10:53.520 because you see those little pom poms on the end. 0:10:54.040 --> 0:10:55.960 That was an addition that they made the later trees 0:10:56.920 --> 0:10:59.079 because I guess they just wanted to make them special. 0:10:59.120 --> 0:11:01.559 They made them a different I think the pink ones 0:11:01.600 --> 0:11:04.040 these days are the most prized ones that you can 0:11:04.040 --> 0:11:05.760 buy on eBay. Yeah, one of them sold for like 0:11:06.720 --> 0:11:09.559 bucks once. Yeah, that's the appropriate. What can I get 0:11:09.600 --> 0:11:13.320 for that one? I don't know. Are you familiar with 0:11:13.360 --> 0:11:21.600 the term struggling? Yeah, that tree is struggling. There's a 0:11:21.840 --> 0:11:25.080 somewhere in smell Bill there's a ninety eight year old 0:11:25.080 --> 0:11:29.360 woman very angry at so you struggle in it. She's 0:11:29.400 --> 0:11:33.040 not Snowville. She's down at the the game, the football game. 0:11:33.360 --> 0:11:38.720 Oh yeah, she's watching Atlanta United lose. No, I don't 0:11:38.760 --> 0:11:42.360 want that to happen everybody. I'm just from Atlanta. I'm 0:11:42.400 --> 0:11:46.280 preparing myself. You just turn the crowd on it, I know, 0:11:47.960 --> 0:11:50.679 all right. So these things are moving like hotcakes. They 0:11:50.800 --> 0:11:55.360 literally sell over a million of these, uh combined. And then, 0:11:55.480 --> 0:11:57.920 of course, like every sort of Christmas fad that comes, 0:11:58.000 --> 0:12:01.480 it goes, and some people lay the blame at the 0:12:01.480 --> 0:12:04.480 feet of none other than Charlie Brown. Yeah, and then 0:12:04.559 --> 0:12:08.000 weird like most people think that Charlie Brown did away 0:12:08.000 --> 0:12:10.920 with the aluminium Christmas tree because in the Charlie Brown 0:12:10.960 --> 0:12:14.920 Christmas Special, um Lucy sends Charlie Brown and lin Us 0:12:14.960 --> 0:12:17.840 out to go get a treat the biggest aluminium tree 0:12:17.840 --> 0:12:21.280 you can find, preferably pink, right, And so they go 0:12:21.600 --> 0:12:24.240 off on this mission and they find some Linus taps 0:12:24.280 --> 0:12:26.040 on one and it sounds like he's tapping on a 0:12:26.120 --> 0:12:29.719 ship's hole. Um, And Charlie Brown's like, no, no, I'm 0:12:29.720 --> 0:12:32.120 not doing this. I'm going with this tree, this little 0:12:32.200 --> 0:12:37.320 weird creekly treat a struggling Christmas tree. Um. And Charlie 0:12:37.320 --> 0:12:39.440 Brown takes it home and loves it. And it was 0:12:39.480 --> 0:12:42.079 like the spirit of Christmas was found in this little 0:12:42.080 --> 0:12:46.760 tree and the commercialization of Christmas was personified in the 0:12:46.880 --> 0:12:49.240 in the aluminum trees. And some people say that's what 0:12:49.320 --> 0:12:51.720 kind of turned the tide, that's right. Other people say 0:12:51.720 --> 0:12:54.079 it was just coincidence and it was bound to be 0:12:54.120 --> 0:12:57.120 a Christmas pad no matter what. Charlie Brown just kind 0:12:57.120 --> 0:12:59.960 of helps push it over the cliff. Charlie Brown as 0:13:00.040 --> 0:13:03.600 he does, he's got a lot of blood on his hands. 0:13:06.360 --> 0:13:08.760 But also gradually over the years they did come back, 0:13:08.840 --> 0:13:12.440 thanks to things like eBay and Etsy uh and people 0:13:12.520 --> 0:13:15.480 with extra money in their pockets that want to pay 0:13:15.520 --> 0:13:18.360 three thousand dollars for a vintage street people with no kids, 0:13:18.440 --> 0:13:22.160 I think. In other words, exactly, but we still have ours, 0:13:22.200 --> 0:13:24.280 and and it still looks great despite what Josh says. 0:13:25.520 --> 0:13:32.040 Let's give it up for the treat So we made 0:13:32.080 --> 0:13:35.440 it to a segment. We made it through one tomorrow. 0:13:37.160 --> 0:13:41.200 So uh, it wouldn't be Christmas everybody without a good 0:13:41.280 --> 0:13:44.760 Christmas miracle story or three, and we just so happened 0:13:44.760 --> 0:13:47.680 to have three of them for you. We had more, 0:13:47.760 --> 0:13:49.720 but we found out that a lot of them actually 0:13:49.760 --> 0:13:52.840 don't really add up when you start digging into them. 0:13:52.920 --> 0:13:56.080 These are legitimate bona fide. The Pope is signed off 0:13:56.120 --> 0:14:01.439 on them. Christmas miracles. Okay, hey, everybody, that's that's what 0:14:01.559 --> 0:14:07.000 the folks says. Everybody that was irish. I don't even 0:14:07.000 --> 0:14:11.080 know what's gonna all right, Miracle number one and this 0:14:11.080 --> 0:14:15.280 one's gonna knock your socks off. This was we're going 0:14:15.320 --> 0:14:21.320 back in the way back machine further in time. That's 0:14:21.440 --> 0:14:33.440 that's that's what powers the way back machiness. Oh yeah, whoa, whoa? Everyone? 0:14:33.520 --> 0:14:35.760 Really we went too far? Are you dummies? Were in 0:14:35.760 --> 0:14:39.520 like eighteen fifty two dinosaurs? Can you guys say, whoops 0:14:39.800 --> 0:14:51.640 in like reverse? That works? It's working all right? All right? Wow, 0:14:51.680 --> 0:14:57.720 I've never felt this powerful before. Alright. So there's a 0:14:57.760 --> 0:15:00.680 couple named Ed and Julius Stewart. They were making their 0:15:00.680 --> 0:15:04.440 way across Arizona on a Christmas Eve going home, and 0:15:04.760 --> 0:15:07.200 they stopped to change attire because it got a flat 0:15:07.200 --> 0:15:11.120 out in the middle of nowhere near a town called Superior, Arizona. 0:15:11.400 --> 0:15:13.760 By the way, I looked up the population, yes, because 0:15:13.800 --> 0:15:16.160 you kept saying, you know, it's in the middle of nowhere, 0:15:16.240 --> 0:15:18.280 and I was like, yeah, we'll see about that their 0:15:18.280 --> 0:15:25.400 population and was about people, and now it's about hundred people. 0:15:26.560 --> 0:15:29.600 That's a steep decline person. Yeah, that's they're not going 0:15:29.640 --> 0:15:33.880 in the right direction. But even still people, it's not 0:15:33.920 --> 0:15:36.400 that many. Plus Arizona is not even a state yet. 0:15:36.960 --> 0:15:39.720 It's just basically a bunch of people camping out together 0:15:39.840 --> 0:15:44.320 in the desert is what Superior, Arizona was. And this couple, um, 0:15:44.400 --> 0:15:47.360 their names were Ed and Julius Stewart. Uh. They were 0:15:47.400 --> 0:15:50.360 about ten miles west of Superior when their car got 0:15:50.360 --> 0:15:57.680 a flat on Christmas Eve. Oh just wait, just remember 0:15:58.120 --> 0:16:03.200 it's Christmas Eve when this happened. So they pull over. Uh, 0:16:03.440 --> 0:16:06.520 Ed's fixing the car and his wife is like, well, 0:16:06.560 --> 0:16:09.400 I gotta get use the restroom. I guess out here 0:16:09.480 --> 0:16:13.360 behind a cactus because there's no one around, and oh 0:16:13.400 --> 0:16:16.800 my gosh, there's a hat box laying in the sand 0:16:17.560 --> 0:16:24.000 and it's crying. Yes, there was a baby and a 0:16:24.040 --> 0:16:27.400 hat box. I know, everyone, but this is a Christmas 0:16:27.440 --> 0:16:33.280 miracle story. Don't get too worried. It's a little girl 0:16:33.320 --> 0:16:38.480 in there, and she's like, this is weird. There's a 0:16:38.520 --> 0:16:41.520 little baby in a hat box, almost pete on it. 0:16:43.320 --> 0:16:46.840 They got it cried, uh, and so I think we 0:16:46.880 --> 0:16:49.960 should do the right thing and not leave this baby 0:16:50.000 --> 0:16:52.560 in the middle of the desert. I'm hoping that it 0:16:52.680 --> 0:16:56.600 wasn't even a thought. I'm hoping she didn't even have 0:16:56.680 --> 0:17:00.560 that thought. They flipped a coin and decided to take 0:17:00.600 --> 0:17:03.760 a little hat box baby. He went Anton sugger on 0:17:03.760 --> 0:17:06.080 on the thing. They're like, her baby, call it heads 0:17:06.160 --> 0:17:10.160 or tails. Everyone's seen no country for old man. Yeah, 0:17:10.800 --> 0:17:14.719 that was what that was referencing. So they pick up 0:17:14.760 --> 0:17:17.240 hat box baby. They take hat box baby to a hospital. 0:17:18.160 --> 0:17:19.840 You're laughing, but that's what they called this baby in 0:17:19.840 --> 0:17:23.399 the news. Hat the hat box babe. Seriously should call 0:17:23.480 --> 0:17:26.199 the baby Christmas Eve or just baby Eves. That's a 0:17:26.240 --> 0:17:29.200 real name. Oh yeah, sure, you know yeah, yeah, no 0:17:29.240 --> 0:17:32.360 one names your kid hat box no hat box baby. 0:17:32.520 --> 0:17:36.800 I'm sure somebody saying like a barbershop quartet song too. Yeah, 0:17:36.880 --> 0:17:46.240 that's true, you're my hat box baby. So seventeen couples 0:17:46.920 --> 0:17:49.800 ended up that wanted a little baby born in a 0:17:49.880 --> 0:17:53.640 hat box, and they all apply to adopts little hat 0:17:53.640 --> 0:17:56.760 box baby. Seventeen couples. Uh, and this is the party. 0:17:56.760 --> 0:18:00.359 Don't get how many showed up too? Why what happened 0:18:00.400 --> 0:18:04.520 in between then? And uh that was yesterday. I think 0:18:04.560 --> 0:18:06.760 hat box baby fell out of the news a little bit, 0:18:06.760 --> 0:18:09.080 you know what I'm saying. And so two really had 0:18:09.119 --> 0:18:12.040 what they called stick tutiveness even back then. And of 0:18:12.080 --> 0:18:15.480 those two couples, a judge had to be like, you, guys, 0:18:15.880 --> 0:18:19.520 thanks for coming. There's some other baby, not from a 0:18:19.560 --> 0:18:23.879 hat box that they also found in the desert, right exactly. 0:18:24.000 --> 0:18:30.639 I don't want cactus baby, right raised by coyotes. So 0:18:30.760 --> 0:18:33.000 in the end they did find one couple and they 0:18:33.119 --> 0:18:37.119 named the baby Sharon, my mother in law's name. A 0:18:38.760 --> 0:18:41.840 named him after my future mother in law. Little Sharon 0:18:41.840 --> 0:18:45.200 Elliott never met her biological parents, because this was the 0:18:45.280 --> 0:18:48.879 nineteen thirties when you buried the stuff deep under the 0:18:48.920 --> 0:18:52.320 sand and lived a lot your entire life. Not only that, 0:18:52.480 --> 0:18:54.399 she didn't know she was the hat box baby until 0:18:54.480 --> 0:18:59.200 night nine. Seriously, Yes, she knew of the hat box Baby, 0:18:59.280 --> 0:19:01.800 don't we all, But she didn't know she was the 0:19:01.840 --> 0:19:04.879 hat box Baby. Did she find out by opening a 0:19:04.920 --> 0:19:08.520 hat box and having this weird psychic flashback? All right? Yeah, 0:19:08.800 --> 0:19:12.320 she's like, gotta get out, gotta to get out? Was 0:19:12.400 --> 0:19:19.359 coyotes after kotes? Is that the end of the story? Oh? No, 0:19:19.600 --> 0:19:21.960 The end is she did not meet her parents, which 0:19:21.960 --> 0:19:24.560 is very sad. But for the ninet thirties, she went 0:19:24.600 --> 0:19:27.840 on to have a career in the aerospace industry, which 0:19:27.960 --> 0:19:29.639 was uncommon for a woman at the time. So she 0:19:29.720 --> 0:19:32.720 did really well for herself and lived a long and 0:19:32.760 --> 0:19:36.120 fruitful life. And she's here tonight. Everybody give it up. 0:19:36.920 --> 0:19:40.920 Hat box Baby's gonna fly in on it. That's how 0:19:41.000 --> 0:19:47.160 you end a story that was miracle one another one 0:19:47.240 --> 0:19:50.760 for you, two of three starting now? All right? We 0:19:50.760 --> 0:19:54.959 we actually had five, and we had to cancel two miracles. Yeah, 0:19:55.840 --> 0:20:00.840 one because it wasn't that interesting. And I'm just gonna 0:20:00.880 --> 0:20:05.600 briefly say, I don't know. There was this one story 0:20:05.640 --> 0:20:07.600 about a lady who got lost and buried in the 0:20:07.640 --> 0:20:09.760 snow for three days but lived and they found her 0:20:09.760 --> 0:20:11.720 and I was like, this is amazing. I did some 0:20:11.760 --> 0:20:15.480 more research, uh and apparently it was a suicide attempt 0:20:17.000 --> 0:20:19.680 and she lost her arms and legs and then sued 0:20:19.720 --> 0:20:23.760 the hospital. And I was like, I think we should 0:20:23.800 --> 0:20:28.879 not do this one here. What's the exact opposite of 0:20:28.920 --> 0:20:33.560 a miracle? Yeah, it's really bad of a Christmas miracle. 0:20:35.040 --> 0:20:38.800 I can't believe you told them that. Actually, I'm proud 0:20:38.840 --> 0:20:40.879 of you for stuff you should know. Way, all right, 0:20:40.920 --> 0:20:43.160 So where are we going? And we going to uh Korea? 0:20:43.520 --> 0:20:46.280 We are We're going to Korea. During the the onset 0:20:46.280 --> 0:20:49.280 of the Korean War and the Communist the Communists were 0:20:49.280 --> 0:20:52.080 coming down from China into the North Korean, into the 0:20:52.160 --> 0:20:55.720 Korean peninsula, sorry, and they were pushing the North Koreans 0:20:55.760 --> 0:20:58.880 further and further south. Uh In. A bunch of North 0:20:58.960 --> 0:21:04.159 Korean people had assembled at the docks at Hung Nom 0:21:04.200 --> 0:21:06.720 and in Hung m there were a lot of people 0:21:06.840 --> 0:21:09.359 hanging out, something like a hundred thousands billions plus a 0:21:09.400 --> 0:21:12.560 ton of Allied troops being evacuated. There were ships coming 0:21:12.560 --> 0:21:14.520 and going and coming and going and getting people out 0:21:14.640 --> 0:21:17.520 but they were mostly getting the soldiers out and there 0:21:17.560 --> 0:21:21.040 were a lot of civilians standing there stranded. But luckily 0:21:21.119 --> 0:21:24.000 for those civilians, there was a captain with one of 0:21:24.040 --> 0:21:28.320 the greatest names ever, Leonard LaRue. And Leonard LaRue said, oh, 0:21:28.359 --> 0:21:30.320 you're gonna die at the hands of the communists who 0:21:30.320 --> 0:21:35.080 are coming down, not on Leonard LaRue's watch. And he 0:21:35.240 --> 0:21:37.720 just happened to captain a ship called the S S. 0:21:37.880 --> 0:21:40.800 Meredith Victory. And the S S. Meredith Victory was a 0:21:40.920 --> 0:21:43.720 large cargo ship, but it was in no way, shape 0:21:43.760 --> 0:21:46.159 or form a passenger ship, that's right. And it was 0:21:46.200 --> 0:21:51.440 actually weirdly named after Meredith College in North Carolina, where 0:21:51.520 --> 0:21:55.160 my niece went to school. It's all full circle. Somehow 0:21:55.400 --> 0:21:58.760 this Christmas miracle from Korean nineteen fifty has to do 0:21:58.800 --> 0:22:05.600 with Chuck. I tried everybody I like to feel like 0:22:05.600 --> 0:22:09.679 I had a hand in it. So they pull up 0:22:09.720 --> 0:22:13.440 this SS Meredith Victory. And here's where I got confused, 0:22:13.440 --> 0:22:15.400 and Josh was kind of cleared up because in this 0:22:15.480 --> 0:22:18.400 research it said that it was only designed to hold 0:22:18.440 --> 0:22:22.280 sixty people. Why don't you lower the boom on how 0:22:22.280 --> 0:22:25.200 many civilians they ended up fitting on this Leonard LaRue 0:22:25.280 --> 0:22:30.359 in one shot fit four thousand people. This was a 0:22:30.359 --> 0:22:33.040 shoddy article. Yeah, So I saw that and I was like, 0:22:33.520 --> 0:22:36.520 we're gonna have to erase this one because that's obviously 0:22:36.560 --> 0:22:39.399 a lie. You can't fit fourteen thousand people on a 0:22:39.440 --> 0:22:43.439 sixty person chip. But that was like sixty beds in 0:22:43.480 --> 0:22:46.440 the like crew area. It was a large cargo ship. Uh, 0:22:46.720 --> 0:22:49.679 wasn't large for fourteen thousand people. They literally stuffed them 0:22:49.720 --> 0:22:53.600 in there like sardines. They were all standing like elbow 0:22:53.640 --> 0:22:56.080 to elbow. No one could sit, no one could move 0:22:56.440 --> 0:22:59.399 on deck, below deck. There was no water, no food, 0:22:59.800 --> 0:23:04.399 no heat, no toilets. Yeah. Think about that and fourteen 0:23:04.480 --> 0:23:09.680 thousand civilians think Yeah, fourteen thousand civilians from Korea were 0:23:09.720 --> 0:23:13.919 packed elbow to elbow in this ship, navigating mine infested 0:23:14.000 --> 0:23:18.520 waters for two days at sea. Yeah. I saw a 0:23:18.560 --> 0:23:20.960 quote from one of the um one of the dudes 0:23:20.960 --> 0:23:22.080 that worked on the ship. What are you all? Most 0:23:22.119 --> 0:23:26.159 people dudes that worked on ship ship dudes. Yeah. One 0:23:26.200 --> 0:23:29.600 of the crew members years later recounted and he was like, 0:23:29.880 --> 0:23:32.280 you know, the Korean people are um somewhat stoic in 0:23:32.280 --> 0:23:35.040 their nature, he said, But I couldn't believe even with 0:23:35.080 --> 0:23:39.000 that the way they behaved and no one, he said, 0:23:39.000 --> 0:23:42.040 it was so orderly. No one fought, no one like jostled. 0:23:42.080 --> 0:23:44.679 Everyone just like sort of work together to make this 0:23:44.760 --> 0:23:48.560 Christmas miracle happen. So so okay, there are two miracles 0:23:48.560 --> 0:23:50.560 that came out of this. So they make land at 0:23:50.600 --> 0:23:55.720 gay O j Island on Christmas Day, that's right, And um, 0:23:55.920 --> 0:23:59.440 two miracles happened. One over this two day period, under 0:23:59.480 --> 0:24:04.200 these very treacherous conditions, not one person died, not one 0:24:04.280 --> 0:24:08.960 person was injured. Miracle one. Yeah, you can clap for that. Wait, 0:24:09.680 --> 0:24:15.320 please clap. That was that. I got political again. I'm sorry. 0:24:15.840 --> 0:24:18.520 That was miracle one. What was miracle to Miracle number 0:24:18.520 --> 0:24:22.400 two is they showed up with fourteen thousand and five 0:24:22.640 --> 0:24:28.280 people because guess what, five little babies were born everyone 0:24:29.880 --> 0:24:33.240 in this little journey. There was a medic on board 0:24:33.480 --> 0:24:36.240 that worked with the crew. I found out that didn't 0:24:36.280 --> 0:24:40.320 have any training of course, delivering babies, just running around 0:24:40.359 --> 0:24:41.959