1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:27,360 Speaker 1: Ridiculous History is a production of I Heart Radio. Welcome 2 00:00:27,360 --> 00:00:30,319 Speaker 1: back to the show Ridiculous Historians. Thank you so much 3 00:00:30,480 --> 00:00:33,440 Speaker 1: as always for tuning in. That's our one and only 4 00:00:33,479 --> 00:00:39,440 Speaker 1: super producer, Max Williams over there. I'm ben Uh No, 5 00:00:39,720 --> 00:00:42,919 Speaker 1: I gotta ask you what's here. When's the last time 6 00:00:42,920 --> 00:00:45,400 Speaker 1: you went to Alabama? Well? I lived in Alabama for 7 00:00:45,440 --> 00:00:49,800 Speaker 1: a time, in the iron city of Birmingham, Alabama, known 8 00:00:49,920 --> 00:00:53,800 Speaker 1: for its historical production of iron. Uh. There's a big 9 00:00:53,840 --> 00:00:57,600 Speaker 1: statue of Vulcan, the I believe, the Roman god of 10 00:00:57,720 --> 00:01:01,640 Speaker 1: fire and therefore the forge. Uh. That's a big feature 11 00:01:01,680 --> 00:01:05,720 Speaker 1: in downtown Birmingham, Alabama. And there's a real cool like 12 00:01:05,880 --> 00:01:11,000 Speaker 1: disused iron works called Sloss Furnaces where they actually do concerts. 13 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:12,520 Speaker 1: I think they still do it. But I went to 14 00:01:12,600 --> 00:01:15,960 Speaker 1: like a like a metal type festival. They're called Furnace 15 00:01:16,080 --> 00:01:18,320 Speaker 1: Fest back in the day. So I'm a little bit 16 00:01:18,360 --> 00:01:22,920 Speaker 1: familiar with Alabama. The main export of Birmingham wasn't really 17 00:01:23,080 --> 00:01:26,240 Speaker 1: historically cotton, though, which is definitely something that a lot 18 00:01:26,280 --> 00:01:30,600 Speaker 1: of the other parts of the state relied on heavily historically. Yeah, yeah, 19 00:01:30,720 --> 00:01:33,240 Speaker 1: and I wasn't where you live there. I'm gonna have 20 00:01:33,280 --> 00:01:35,360 Speaker 1: to pick your brains about it later. I just I 21 00:01:35,720 --> 00:01:37,120 Speaker 1: know we got to get on with the show. But 22 00:01:37,480 --> 00:01:39,920 Speaker 1: what what time period in your life was this? Both 23 00:01:39,920 --> 00:01:42,040 Speaker 1: of my brains, you're gonna that's very kind of you been. 24 00:01:42,080 --> 00:01:46,280 Speaker 1: You're really giving me a lot. I think I'm a 25 00:01:46,360 --> 00:01:49,560 Speaker 1: little on the left side. It was my senior year 26 00:01:49,560 --> 00:01:52,360 Speaker 1: in high school, so to date myself, that would have 27 00:01:52,400 --> 00:01:56,440 Speaker 1: been around two thousand and one. Nice. Nice, well, uh, 28 00:01:56,840 --> 00:02:00,120 Speaker 1: congratulations to you, Birmingham for having one of all our 29 00:02:00,280 --> 00:02:03,760 Speaker 1: favorite uh favorite folks as a resident of your town. 30 00:02:03,920 --> 00:02:07,680 Speaker 1: We do expect you to build a memorial or a statue, 31 00:02:07,960 --> 00:02:12,239 Speaker 1: some sort of aunorary real uh well, a commemorative thing, 32 00:02:12,600 --> 00:02:14,600 Speaker 1: you know, a little plaque where it's like so and 33 00:02:14,600 --> 00:02:17,320 Speaker 1: so lived here. Do you know something? I don't know, Ben, 34 00:02:17,360 --> 00:02:20,240 Speaker 1: your freaking no. No, I've going somewhere with this though, 35 00:02:20,320 --> 00:02:24,720 Speaker 1: because this is what in the business we call a segue. 36 00:02:25,120 --> 00:02:28,440 Speaker 1: You see, Alabama, like many of US states, is very 37 00:02:29,040 --> 00:02:34,880 Speaker 1: pro statue, very pro memorial, very pro honoring important places, 38 00:02:34,960 --> 00:02:41,480 Speaker 1: things and events, and Enterprise Alabama is no different. If 39 00:02:41,480 --> 00:02:45,200 Speaker 1: you find yourself in the town of Enterprise, Alabama, you 40 00:02:45,280 --> 00:02:50,160 Speaker 1: might be surprised to learn that amidst their statuary, you 41 00:02:50,240 --> 00:02:56,120 Speaker 1: will find a statue erected in nineteen nineteen dedicated to 42 00:02:56,280 --> 00:02:59,839 Speaker 1: a little bitty beetle known as the bowl Weevil. Yeah, 43 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:01,680 Speaker 1: and like when I first heard about this, I was 44 00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:03,880 Speaker 1: really hoping it was going to be some sort of 45 00:03:03,919 --> 00:03:08,560 Speaker 1: like you know, monster movie type massive sculpture of a 46 00:03:08,639 --> 00:03:10,440 Speaker 1: bowl week because you know those things. When you see them, 47 00:03:10,639 --> 00:03:13,520 Speaker 1: they're tiny and not particularly offensive looking, but if you 48 00:03:13,600 --> 00:03:16,440 Speaker 1: go in with a microscope, they're terrifying. They have crazy 49 00:03:16,560 --> 00:03:20,280 Speaker 1: mandibles and you know, really really like some hr Geeger 50 00:03:20,360 --> 00:03:24,840 Speaker 1: type alien stuff, you know, on their own, not particularly intimidating, 51 00:03:24,880 --> 00:03:27,239 Speaker 1: but they don't really hang out on their own, do 52 00:03:27,400 --> 00:03:31,400 Speaker 1: they been They they swarm, They hang out on mass 53 00:03:31,440 --> 00:03:35,840 Speaker 1: and they literally were responsible for decimating more than twenty 54 00:03:36,040 --> 00:03:40,440 Speaker 1: three billion dollars of American cotton, at least in terms 55 00:03:40,440 --> 00:03:42,920 Speaker 1: of how it translated to profits. And I believe that's 56 00:03:42,960 --> 00:03:46,760 Speaker 1: with with inflation considered US correct. But yeah, it is 57 00:03:46,800 --> 00:03:51,120 Speaker 1: absolutely wild. They came to this country from Mexico in 58 00:03:51,200 --> 00:03:57,120 Speaker 1: eighteen two and absolutely um decimated people's livelihoods. So why 59 00:03:57,240 --> 00:04:00,280 Speaker 1: might you ask did this town that were I'd like, 60 00:04:00,320 --> 00:04:05,520 Speaker 1: I said, so heavily on exporting and selling cotton. Why 61 00:04:05,560 --> 00:04:08,760 Speaker 1: would they want to commemorate such a horrible time in 62 00:04:08,800 --> 00:04:11,440 Speaker 1: their history. Uh, you know, I can understand the statue 63 00:04:11,440 --> 00:04:14,000 Speaker 1: of vulcan you know, I mean, I un that's their industry. 64 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:15,480 Speaker 1: It's something that you want to be proud of and 65 00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:17,599 Speaker 1: show that it's part of your heritage or whatever. But 66 00:04:17,680 --> 00:04:20,560 Speaker 1: why the bull weevil, by the way, similar vibes. It 67 00:04:20,720 --> 00:04:23,800 Speaker 1: is not a massive monster movie bowl weevil. It is 68 00:04:23,839 --> 00:04:26,839 Speaker 1: a Greek goddess. Yes, that used to be holding a 69 00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:29,919 Speaker 1: like fountain aloft I believe, but instead they removed the 70 00:04:29,960 --> 00:04:34,200 Speaker 1: fountain and replaced it with the humble bull weevil. Yep, yep, 71 00:04:34,320 --> 00:04:38,000 Speaker 1: you will find a statue of this Greek woman with 72 00:04:38,240 --> 00:04:41,080 Speaker 1: her arms stretched above her head holding a bull, and 73 00:04:41,160 --> 00:04:44,200 Speaker 1: on top of that is a fifty pounds statue of 74 00:04:44,240 --> 00:04:47,680 Speaker 1: a bull weevil. I should say she's holding a bowl 75 00:04:48,200 --> 00:04:51,040 Speaker 1: and a bo l l weevil is on top of that. 76 00:04:51,400 --> 00:04:55,160 Speaker 1: This is I'm so glad you asked, because this is 77 00:04:55,200 --> 00:04:58,719 Speaker 1: the point of today's episode, right. So we were looking 78 00:04:58,760 --> 00:05:04,720 Speaker 1: into this with some fantastic help from Lorraine Balsagnew over 79 00:05:04,839 --> 00:05:08,080 Speaker 1: at Smithsonian, from the good folks at Wall Street Journal, 80 00:05:08,200 --> 00:05:12,239 Speaker 1: and of course our pals over at mental Floss fun Fact. 81 00:05:12,320 --> 00:05:15,760 Speaker 1: Our research associate Gabe used to work for Mental Floss himself, 82 00:05:16,360 --> 00:05:19,960 Speaker 1: and here's here's what we found. Like you said, Noel, 83 00:05:20,760 --> 00:05:27,120 Speaker 1: this statue appears to be celebrating a tremendous economic disaster. 84 00:05:28,240 --> 00:05:33,039 Speaker 1: The habit, the chaos that this creature wrought not just 85 00:05:33,160 --> 00:05:36,720 Speaker 1: on enterprise Alabama, but a large swath of the Southern 86 00:05:36,760 --> 00:05:42,400 Speaker 1: economy was so profound that even today some scholars will argue, 87 00:05:42,960 --> 00:05:46,880 Speaker 1: you can't just measure the cost in terms of finance 88 00:05:46,920 --> 00:05:51,000 Speaker 1: adjusted for inflation. They say that the bull Weevil disaster 89 00:05:51,800 --> 00:05:54,200 Speaker 1: was one of these sparks that led to what we 90 00:05:54,240 --> 00:05:57,159 Speaker 1: know is the Great Migration, the movement of six million 91 00:05:57,240 --> 00:06:01,240 Speaker 1: African Americans from the US South to urban areas in 92 00:06:01,279 --> 00:06:04,360 Speaker 1: the US North. And that makes sense because people have 93 00:06:04,480 --> 00:06:06,400 Speaker 1: to move where their jobs are, and there tend to 94 00:06:06,440 --> 00:06:10,479 Speaker 1: be more jobs in cities. Yeah, it certainly made the 95 00:06:10,520 --> 00:06:12,960 Speaker 1: folks that you know came up with the Industrial Revolution 96 00:06:13,040 --> 00:06:14,720 Speaker 1: feel like they were pretty smart, because it was just 97 00:06:14,760 --> 00:06:16,440 Speaker 1: a couple of folks that came up with that whole thing. 98 00:06:16,440 --> 00:06:19,479 Speaker 1: It was to everybody knows that. Uh, but yeah, totally 99 00:06:20,040 --> 00:06:22,719 Speaker 1: backchecking really quickly, I said, they removed the fountain, but 100 00:06:22,760 --> 00:06:26,120 Speaker 1: in fact, then the fountain was that bowl you speak up, um, 101 00:06:26,520 --> 00:06:29,599 Speaker 1: So they literally just perched the bulweevil add on on 102 00:06:29,720 --> 00:06:34,120 Speaker 1: top of that of that pre existing bow bull. So 103 00:06:34,120 --> 00:06:40,560 Speaker 1: so why why is the bull weevil so interested in cottonal? 104 00:06:40,720 --> 00:06:42,760 Speaker 1: I mean like to And I think that's part of 105 00:06:42,760 --> 00:06:45,440 Speaker 1: our that's part of what we have to answer when 106 00:06:45,480 --> 00:06:49,120 Speaker 1: we're answering how the statue came to be. Right, the 107 00:06:49,240 --> 00:06:53,039 Speaker 1: reason the bull weevil is uh such a character in 108 00:06:53,080 --> 00:06:59,120 Speaker 1: American history is for its insatiable appetite for and very specialized. 109 00:06:59,400 --> 00:07:02,240 Speaker 1: It's a real key eater. It only likes the very 110 00:07:02,279 --> 00:07:06,839 Speaker 1: silky fibrous bits inside of the bowl of the cotton, 111 00:07:06,880 --> 00:07:09,400 Speaker 1: which is that seed pot that everything you know kind 112 00:07:09,440 --> 00:07:13,600 Speaker 1: of springs from. Um. It is officially scientifically known as 113 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:18,360 Speaker 1: autonomous grandest and as I said earlier, came from Mexico, 114 00:07:18,560 --> 00:07:24,360 Speaker 1: and it lives pretty much exclusively on cotton plants um 115 00:07:24,400 --> 00:07:27,760 Speaker 1: and every planting season or every cotton season, Uh, the 116 00:07:27,800 --> 00:07:31,280 Speaker 1: adults feed on the leaves and then they eat into 117 00:07:31,440 --> 00:07:35,400 Speaker 1: the cotton. It's called the cotton square, which is the bud. 118 00:07:35,760 --> 00:07:37,360 Speaker 1: When they say nipping in the bud, that's what they're 119 00:07:37,360 --> 00:07:38,880 Speaker 1: talking about. But you know, you don't want to nip 120 00:07:38,920 --> 00:07:40,720 Speaker 1: the cotton in the bugs. If you nip that budge, 121 00:07:40,720 --> 00:07:43,160 Speaker 1: you get no cotton. So it's the part that happens 122 00:07:43,200 --> 00:07:47,280 Speaker 1: before the plant flowers and they lay their eggs, and 123 00:07:47,320 --> 00:07:49,960 Speaker 1: then those eggs hatch, and it's the little babies, the 124 00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:53,720 Speaker 1: grubs that like eat their way out of the cotton 125 00:07:53,760 --> 00:07:57,840 Speaker 1: bowl from the inside like alien style, like literally like 126 00:07:57,880 --> 00:08:00,800 Speaker 1: face hugger style. They plant the seed inside of the 127 00:08:00,840 --> 00:08:02,920 Speaker 1: thing and then it eats its way out, killing the 128 00:08:02,960 --> 00:08:05,400 Speaker 1: thing and in the process. And if you're cotton, no 129 00:08:05,440 --> 00:08:09,000 Speaker 1: one can hear you scream to paraphrase, uh some horrid 130 00:08:09,280 --> 00:08:11,680 Speaker 1: You're welcome, Max, You're welcome. I saw that. I don't 131 00:08:11,680 --> 00:08:15,000 Speaker 1: think I'm not watching you or recording. Cotton screams are 132 00:08:15,240 --> 00:08:22,800 Speaker 1: very muffled. They are so uh nailed it. So we know, 133 00:08:23,320 --> 00:08:27,800 Speaker 1: we know, like you said, no, that the bullweevil originated 134 00:08:28,560 --> 00:08:32,440 Speaker 1: in Mexico, but we don't really know when and how 135 00:08:32,520 --> 00:08:36,080 Speaker 1: it got to the US because these little guys can't 136 00:08:36,120 --> 00:08:39,679 Speaker 1: fly very long distances. They were first they were first 137 00:08:39,679 --> 00:08:43,520 Speaker 1: spotted in Texas, like you said back in two they 138 00:08:43,559 --> 00:08:47,080 Speaker 1: saw have a mysterious origin story in Texas. But we 139 00:08:47,160 --> 00:08:53,800 Speaker 1: know despite their lack of long distance transportation. They were 140 00:08:53,840 --> 00:09:00,240 Speaker 1: incredibly effective. According to Fabian Lang, Alan Olmstead, and Paul W. Rowe, 141 00:09:00,600 --> 00:09:03,240 Speaker 1: three economists who sort of vultron up together for this. 142 00:09:03,960 --> 00:09:07,680 Speaker 1: They they say that within five years of the bull 143 00:09:07,760 --> 00:09:12,240 Speaker 1: weavil landing state side, total cotton production, all of the 144 00:09:12,240 --> 00:09:16,480 Speaker 1: cotton production in the US declined by at least or 145 00:09:16,520 --> 00:09:22,160 Speaker 1: around totally and so consequently land values took a dive 146 00:09:22,320 --> 00:09:24,720 Speaker 1: and the U. S d. A chief in the Bureau 147 00:09:24,800 --> 00:09:29,480 Speaker 1: of Plant Industry, called them a wave of evil. Um, 148 00:09:29,520 --> 00:09:32,520 Speaker 1: which is not I mean, it's not terribly hyperbolic. I mean, 149 00:09:32,520 --> 00:09:35,160 Speaker 1: this really was doing great evil to people's lives and 150 00:09:35,440 --> 00:09:38,199 Speaker 1: their ability to earn for their families. Um. This is 151 00:09:38,240 --> 00:09:40,240 Speaker 1: a nineteen o three, by the way, and it just 152 00:09:40,320 --> 00:09:43,600 Speaker 1: got worse. By nineteen twenty or the early nineteen twenties, 153 00:09:43,840 --> 00:09:48,120 Speaker 1: bullweevils were absolutely wrecking shop in the South. This is 154 00:09:48,120 --> 00:09:50,200 Speaker 1: really interesting. I didn't know this, but in the Smithsonian 155 00:09:50,200 --> 00:09:53,120 Speaker 1: mag article we reference, uh, they talk about the kind 156 00:09:53,120 --> 00:09:55,800 Speaker 1: of life cycle of the bowlweevil, and you know, in 157 00:09:55,840 --> 00:09:59,640 Speaker 1: the cold season they're actually able to hibernate and kind 158 00:09:59,640 --> 00:10:02,960 Speaker 1: of go dormant in woods wooded areas nearby. They like 159 00:10:03,080 --> 00:10:06,800 Speaker 1: to live in things like Spanish moss and even debris 160 00:10:06,880 --> 00:10:09,680 Speaker 1: I guess, sort of like dead leaves and such um. 161 00:10:09,760 --> 00:10:13,360 Speaker 1: And then they you know, wake up and find their 162 00:10:13,360 --> 00:10:15,440 Speaker 1: way back to the fields and just you know, have 163 00:10:15,559 --> 00:10:18,079 Speaker 1: a have a real go of it. I'm laughing because 164 00:10:19,040 --> 00:10:23,280 Speaker 1: I think the specific phrase the Smithsonian uses is field 165 00:10:23,400 --> 00:10:26,839 Speaker 1: trash and uh, that's what That's what Max, who is 166 00:10:26,840 --> 00:10:30,520 Speaker 1: a big sports fan, uh calls it when fans of 167 00:10:30,840 --> 00:10:34,920 Speaker 1: opposing sports teams make it onto the field, right Max. 168 00:10:35,000 --> 00:10:37,880 Speaker 1: And the what you call them called field trashs absolutely not. 169 00:10:38,000 --> 00:10:41,120 Speaker 1: I don't know where you get that from. Okay, I 170 00:10:41,120 --> 00:10:43,000 Speaker 1: mean when I when I was in little league baseball, 171 00:10:43,040 --> 00:10:45,080 Speaker 1: I was field trash. I was like the you know 172 00:10:45,240 --> 00:10:48,200 Speaker 1: outfielder that just was a total turd and just didn't 173 00:10:48,200 --> 00:10:50,520 Speaker 1: really do anything, just kind of stood there. I would 174 00:10:50,559 --> 00:10:53,199 Speaker 1: say that would be a good example of a field trash. 175 00:10:53,280 --> 00:10:57,199 Speaker 1: I was, you know, I was in little league and uh, 176 00:10:57,280 --> 00:11:00,240 Speaker 1: I caught a fly ball once that was my own. Wait, 177 00:11:00,280 --> 00:11:02,920 Speaker 1: and I hit I did hit one home run, so 178 00:11:02,960 --> 00:11:04,480 Speaker 1: I got one for one and then I was out 179 00:11:04,559 --> 00:11:08,280 Speaker 1: of the game. You're welcome, other athletes. Is that the 180 00:11:08,280 --> 00:11:09,960 Speaker 1: one where you just kind of stuck your mitt out 181 00:11:10,080 --> 00:11:11,600 Speaker 1: and it just sort of found its way to you. 182 00:11:12,080 --> 00:11:14,160 Speaker 1: It's always a beautiful moment in the game and the 183 00:11:14,240 --> 00:11:16,360 Speaker 1: in the movies or whatever where the kind of ineffectual 184 00:11:16,400 --> 00:11:19,360 Speaker 1: outfielder gets his moment of glory literally just by shoving 185 00:11:19,360 --> 00:11:20,800 Speaker 1: his fist out into the air and it just kind 186 00:11:20,800 --> 00:11:22,680 Speaker 1: of finds its right right into that mip. I was 187 00:11:22,760 --> 00:11:24,880 Speaker 1: so out of it. I was so unexpected for me 188 00:11:24,960 --> 00:11:26,840 Speaker 1: to actually catch a ball, because you know, they stick 189 00:11:26,880 --> 00:11:29,319 Speaker 1: kids like us in the outfield for a reason. When 190 00:11:29,360 --> 00:11:31,040 Speaker 1: I caught the ball, I wasn't sure what to do. 191 00:11:31,160 --> 00:11:32,840 Speaker 1: I was like, it was like when you get to 192 00:11:32,840 --> 00:11:35,640 Speaker 1: a new level of a video, just one catching the ball. 193 00:11:35,840 --> 00:11:40,680 Speaker 1: Just what it's like. It's like if you only knew 194 00:11:40,720 --> 00:11:43,160 Speaker 1: the first part of CPR, you know what I mean, 195 00:11:43,160 --> 00:11:46,800 Speaker 1: You're not getting the job done. But the bullweevils certainly were. 196 00:11:47,160 --> 00:11:51,120 Speaker 1: And at this point there was path dependency for the farmers. 197 00:11:51,160 --> 00:11:55,360 Speaker 1: They literally could not afford to move to a different crop, 198 00:11:55,800 --> 00:11:59,800 Speaker 1: so they tried increasingly desperate solutions to get rid of 199 00:11:59,840 --> 00:12:03,960 Speaker 1: these weavils. This is happening across the cotton growing area 200 00:12:03,960 --> 00:12:06,640 Speaker 1: of the US, so they said, okay, maybe we can 201 00:12:06,720 --> 00:12:11,000 Speaker 1: get uh cotton that grows up more quickly. Maybe we 202 00:12:11,120 --> 00:12:14,960 Speaker 1: can spray some kinds of early pesticides on this, Maybe 203 00:12:15,040 --> 00:12:17,600 Speaker 1: we can burn the cotton at the right time. Theodore 204 00:12:17,720 --> 00:12:21,120 Speaker 1: Roosevelt was even like, I know, these pretty nasty ants 205 00:12:21,160 --> 00:12:24,920 Speaker 1: from Guatemala, but probably we evils. It sounds like a 206 00:12:25,040 --> 00:12:28,920 Speaker 1: great idea, Theodore Roosevelt. Let's just introduce like the murder 207 00:12:29,000 --> 00:12:31,600 Speaker 1: ants into the equation. That'll totally give the It's one 208 00:12:31,600 --> 00:12:33,560 Speaker 1: of those things where it's like the solution ends up 209 00:12:33,559 --> 00:12:36,120 Speaker 1: being worse than the problem. Um. But here's the thing. 210 00:12:36,280 --> 00:12:40,120 Speaker 1: You know, it seems as though enterprise kind of got 211 00:12:40,160 --> 00:12:42,280 Speaker 1: wise to this because again, we knew about this, or 212 00:12:42,280 --> 00:12:44,360 Speaker 1: at least, you know, American farmers knew about this for 213 00:12:44,400 --> 00:12:46,320 Speaker 1: going on twenty years, or at this point it was 214 00:12:46,559 --> 00:12:50,520 Speaker 1: almost ten years. So by nineteen o nine, Mobile Alabama, 215 00:12:50,600 --> 00:12:54,200 Speaker 1: Mobile County, Alabama rather had started to really feel the 216 00:12:54,320 --> 00:12:58,319 Speaker 1: sting of the dreaded bowl weevil, and like many other 217 00:12:58,360 --> 00:13:01,760 Speaker 1: places in the rural South, cotton was their main export, 218 00:13:01,800 --> 00:13:04,040 Speaker 1: their main cash crop, and now that they had the 219 00:13:04,080 --> 00:13:07,800 Speaker 1: weevils in the mix, these yields were getting smaller and 220 00:13:07,880 --> 00:13:17,480 Speaker 1: smaller and smaller. The numbers nationally really do match up 221 00:13:17,480 --> 00:13:20,000 Speaker 1: on what was going on more granularly in all these 222 00:13:20,040 --> 00:13:25,400 Speaker 1: individual areas. For sure. In nineteen fourteen, the Cotton gin 223 00:13:25,880 --> 00:13:32,040 Speaker 1: At Enterprise, Alabama processed around fifteen thousand bales of cotton, 224 00:13:32,280 --> 00:13:36,200 Speaker 1: and just the next year nine that number plummeted down 225 00:13:36,240 --> 00:13:39,920 Speaker 1: to five thousand bales. This comes to us from Doug Bradley, 226 00:13:40,120 --> 00:13:44,640 Speaker 1: president of the p River Historical and Genealogical Society. It's 227 00:13:44,720 --> 00:13:46,679 Speaker 1: p P e A. Just so you're not thinking, this 228 00:13:46,720 --> 00:13:48,880 Speaker 1: is like a river that everyone PE's in, right, right, 229 00:13:48,960 --> 00:13:53,240 Speaker 1: good note, good note. And so this this is strange 230 00:13:53,320 --> 00:13:56,480 Speaker 1: because according to Wall Street Journal, there was one guy 231 00:13:56,520 --> 00:13:59,480 Speaker 1: who lived in town named h Alm Sessions. I can't 232 00:13:59,520 --> 00:14:02,400 Speaker 1: say it with out really leaning into the southern accent. 233 00:14:02,640 --> 00:14:08,800 Speaker 1: He was, and he was a seed broker who you know, 234 00:14:08,880 --> 00:14:13,320 Speaker 1: sold sold seats to farmers. And he said, well, something 235 00:14:13,440 --> 00:14:18,400 Speaker 1: must be done. And uh he thought he realized the problem. 236 00:14:18,440 --> 00:14:20,480 Speaker 1: You know, Let's see, you're a farmer, you got cotton. 237 00:14:20,840 --> 00:14:24,240 Speaker 1: You can switch to another crop because the bowl weevil 238 00:14:24,480 --> 00:14:27,680 Speaker 1: has a very specific diet. It's a chooesy eater. But 239 00:14:27,800 --> 00:14:31,640 Speaker 1: the problem is cotton didn't just generate the highest profits. 240 00:14:31,960 --> 00:14:35,840 Speaker 1: It also grew on land that was unsuitable for a 241 00:14:35,880 --> 00:14:38,640 Speaker 1: lot of other crops, right, I mean that was the 242 00:14:38,640 --> 00:14:41,400 Speaker 1: thing that was done anyway, I think like crop rotation, 243 00:14:41,520 --> 00:14:43,520 Speaker 1: where you would like rotate out crops so that the 244 00:14:43,560 --> 00:14:47,720 Speaker 1: soil wouldn't get like totally decimated by one particular crop, 245 00:14:47,760 --> 00:14:50,560 Speaker 1: because I think things require different types of I'm not, 246 00:14:50,920 --> 00:14:53,280 Speaker 1: obviously not a farmer, but I know crop rotation was 247 00:14:53,320 --> 00:14:56,480 Speaker 1: already a popular method for making sure that you kept 248 00:14:56,480 --> 00:14:59,160 Speaker 1: your soil in good shape. Um, so this was more 249 00:14:59,200 --> 00:15:01,280 Speaker 1: of a move of death biration to be like, Okay, 250 00:15:01,320 --> 00:15:04,320 Speaker 1: we really need to up the anti on this rotation significantly. 251 00:15:04,640 --> 00:15:07,440 Speaker 1: But you're right. Then, the soil they were dealing with 252 00:15:07,680 --> 00:15:12,960 Speaker 1: was sandy and particularly dry soil, so there weren't a 253 00:15:12,960 --> 00:15:17,120 Speaker 1: ton of other crops that could handle that not incredibly 254 00:15:17,160 --> 00:15:21,240 Speaker 1: fertile soil. And one of them, the coold was peanuts. Yeah, exactly. 255 00:15:21,360 --> 00:15:26,760 Speaker 1: So picture agricultural crops as tenants in a neighborhood. Cotton 256 00:15:26,760 --> 00:15:29,320 Speaker 1: and peanuts are two of the tenants that can live 257 00:15:29,360 --> 00:15:33,800 Speaker 1: in a rough neighborhood and still be fine. So our 258 00:15:33,880 --> 00:15:37,960 Speaker 1: guy Sessions goes to visit North Carolina and Virginia and 259 00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:41,680 Speaker 1: then he sees peanuts being grown. This is largely, to 260 00:15:41,760 --> 00:15:45,200 Speaker 1: be sure, due to the efforts of George Washington Carver. 261 00:15:45,680 --> 00:15:48,680 Speaker 1: Sessions is on board. He gets sold and he comes back, 262 00:15:48,920 --> 00:15:51,480 Speaker 1: rememberies of seed broker. He comes back with peanuts seeds, 263 00:15:51,480 --> 00:15:53,960 Speaker 1: and that's when he sells them to a farmer in 264 00:15:53,960 --> 00:15:57,240 Speaker 1: the area named C. W. Boston. I can't believe we 265 00:15:57,280 --> 00:15:59,520 Speaker 1: didn't make this parallel. We just did the episode about 266 00:15:59,600 --> 00:16:04,080 Speaker 1: the uh potato evangelist in France. His name is already 267 00:16:04,200 --> 00:16:06,280 Speaker 1: giving me but he kind of was the like potato 268 00:16:06,360 --> 00:16:10,800 Speaker 1: equivalent of George Washington Carver Parmentier, I believe that's the man. 269 00:16:11,320 --> 00:16:13,480 Speaker 1: But sure, right, so we know George Washington Carver was 270 00:16:13,560 --> 00:16:18,160 Speaker 1: all about how diverse and useful and um versatile the 271 00:16:18,280 --> 00:16:20,600 Speaker 1: peanut was. So it was already starting to be on 272 00:16:20,600 --> 00:16:22,720 Speaker 1: the radars of a lot of farmers around the time. 273 00:16:23,040 --> 00:16:28,560 Speaker 1: And this guy Baston is willing to take a gamble 274 00:16:28,760 --> 00:16:32,480 Speaker 1: on peanuts. He doesn't. He doesn't just doubled out. He 275 00:16:32,520 --> 00:16:36,400 Speaker 1: turns his entire crop toward peanuts. He's not he's out 276 00:16:36,400 --> 00:16:39,200 Speaker 1: of the cotton game. He's spending the whole year of 277 00:16:39,320 --> 00:16:44,960 Speaker 1: nineteen sixteen just growing peanuts. And in the end, no, 278 00:16:45,360 --> 00:16:51,480 Speaker 1: he ends up walking away with eight thousand dollars in profit, 279 00:16:51,840 --> 00:16:54,200 Speaker 1: he could still pay off the debt he had racked 280 00:16:54,280 --> 00:16:58,920 Speaker 1: up during this ongoing bullweevil disaster and have money left over. 281 00:16:59,440 --> 00:17:04,480 Speaker 1: If we could inflation calculate, we'll see, we'll see some 282 00:17:04,600 --> 00:17:07,159 Speaker 1: interesting numbers here. So what do you say we we 283 00:17:07,280 --> 00:17:10,560 Speaker 1: fire up, fire up the old inflation calculator. Here, can 284 00:17:10,560 --> 00:17:19,560 Speaker 1: I get a boot? There we go. And so if 285 00:17:19,600 --> 00:17:23,280 Speaker 1: we calculate this, now, what we see is that eight 286 00:17:23,320 --> 00:17:27,119 Speaker 1: thousand dollars in nineteen sixteen had the purchasing power of 287 00:17:27,200 --> 00:17:33,040 Speaker 1: get this on four hundred and nine dollars and cents. 288 00:17:33,520 --> 00:17:37,560 Speaker 1: Can you believe it? Almost two hundred thousand dollars. Basically 289 00:17:38,520 --> 00:17:42,320 Speaker 1: imagine being someone else who's a farmer in enterprise at 290 00:17:42,320 --> 00:17:45,000 Speaker 1: that area. Like that is the talk of the town. 291 00:17:45,480 --> 00:17:48,000 Speaker 1: People who once said, you know, cotton is the way 292 00:17:48,040 --> 00:17:52,400 Speaker 1: to go are immediately a hundred percent on board with peanuts. Right, Yeah, 293 00:17:52,400 --> 00:17:55,879 Speaker 1: it's true. And by nineteen seventeen, farmers in the area 294 00:17:56,400 --> 00:18:01,159 Speaker 1: produced over a million bushels of peanuts that's sold for 295 00:18:01,240 --> 00:18:05,920 Speaker 1: more than five million dollars. And our boy Bradley from 296 00:18:05,960 --> 00:18:10,040 Speaker 1: the Pee River Society, UM, he has memories actually of 297 00:18:10,080 --> 00:18:12,480 Speaker 1: working in the cotton fields when he was a young boy, 298 00:18:12,520 --> 00:18:14,520 Speaker 1: in the forties and fifties, because I mean, it wasn't 299 00:18:14,560 --> 00:18:18,200 Speaker 1: like things completely pivoted away from cotton. There was still 300 00:18:18,240 --> 00:18:20,720 Speaker 1: a huge thing, and the bullw weevils were absolutely still 301 00:18:21,040 --> 00:18:23,679 Speaker 1: a scourge that late in the game in the nineties 302 00:18:23,720 --> 00:18:27,639 Speaker 1: and fifties, but he remembers seeing how awful it was, 303 00:18:28,040 --> 00:18:33,080 Speaker 1: and he said, by that point, Enterprise uniquely had diversified 304 00:18:33,119 --> 00:18:38,359 Speaker 1: even beyond peanuts into potatoes, sugarcane, tobacco, and sorghum. I 305 00:18:38,400 --> 00:18:41,359 Speaker 1: always forget exactly what sorghum is. You can use it 306 00:18:41,400 --> 00:18:46,040 Speaker 1: to make bread, uh, you can use it in couscous. Uh. 307 00:18:46,080 --> 00:18:49,280 Speaker 1: You can also make some different kinds of beverages with it, 308 00:18:49,400 --> 00:18:52,720 Speaker 1: and some people eat it as a fresh vegetable. Yeah, 309 00:18:52,720 --> 00:18:54,200 Speaker 1: it looks kind of like a grain, and I guess 310 00:18:54,240 --> 00:18:57,880 Speaker 1: it comes off the buds in these tiny little pods 311 00:18:57,880 --> 00:19:00,920 Speaker 1: that almost looked like couscous already or like uh, risotto 312 00:19:01,080 --> 00:19:04,720 Speaker 1: or something right exactly, So people were people were into 313 00:19:04,760 --> 00:19:09,840 Speaker 1: this and they had experienced of financial rebound. Folks looked 314 00:19:09,840 --> 00:19:13,439 Speaker 1: around and said, you know, we wouldn't have reached this 315 00:19:13,560 --> 00:19:16,600 Speaker 1: level of success or diversity if we hadn't been forced 316 00:19:16,840 --> 00:19:19,800 Speaker 1: to change our tune due to the bull weevil. So 317 00:19:19,920 --> 00:19:23,600 Speaker 1: as peanuts become you know, number one with a bang 318 00:19:23,680 --> 00:19:27,280 Speaker 1: in Coffee County, where Enterprise Alabama is located. There's a 319 00:19:27,280 --> 00:19:30,880 Speaker 1: guy who comes to the picture named Roscoe Owen Fleming, 320 00:19:31,280 --> 00:19:34,160 Speaker 1: and he says, and we think he was joking at first, 321 00:19:34,200 --> 00:19:36,840 Speaker 1: by the way he says, you know what we should do. 322 00:19:37,480 --> 00:19:39,920 Speaker 1: We should really just own up to it, the bull. 323 00:19:40,000 --> 00:19:43,000 Speaker 1: We will save the town, right, folks, Let's make a 324 00:19:43,080 --> 00:19:47,760 Speaker 1: statue about it. And and uh, he's even though he 325 00:19:47,800 --> 00:19:51,240 Speaker 1: said this is a joke, it caught on, and you know, 326 00:19:51,240 --> 00:19:55,160 Speaker 1: all those conversations go Eventually. Fleming is like doubling down. 327 00:19:55,359 --> 00:19:58,679 Speaker 1: He's the guy who buys that original statue of the 328 00:19:58,760 --> 00:20:01,880 Speaker 1: Grecian woman and he gets it from Italy. And I 329 00:20:01,920 --> 00:20:05,200 Speaker 1: think originally she was holding something else over her head, 330 00:20:05,280 --> 00:20:08,840 Speaker 1: right Aha, Ben see, I I shouldn't have corrected myself 331 00:20:08,840 --> 00:20:10,800 Speaker 1: in the first place. So there was something else in 332 00:20:10,840 --> 00:20:13,960 Speaker 1: the bowl before the weevil made its appearance, and it 333 00:20:14,040 --> 00:20:16,520 Speaker 1: was like a trophy. And so the trophy is what 334 00:20:16,640 --> 00:20:19,680 Speaker 1: the fountain was, and the bowl just caught the excess 335 00:20:19,880 --> 00:20:22,840 Speaker 1: overflow water. Um, so okay, I was I was right 336 00:20:22,880 --> 00:20:25,480 Speaker 1: in the first place. Sorry about that, but Yeah, that's 337 00:20:25,480 --> 00:20:28,840 Speaker 1: exactly right. It was this kind of flowing classic Greek 338 00:20:29,200 --> 00:20:32,640 Speaker 1: goddess type figure holding this trophy over over her head, 339 00:20:32,640 --> 00:20:35,159 Speaker 1: and there were two street lights next to it, and 340 00:20:35,240 --> 00:20:37,560 Speaker 1: kind of an array that lit up this you know, 341 00:20:37,680 --> 00:20:41,000 Speaker 1: column um that she was standing on. It was around 342 00:20:41,080 --> 00:20:44,040 Speaker 1: thirteen feet tall, and it was three thousand dollars to 343 00:20:44,160 --> 00:20:47,840 Speaker 1: erect at the time, including materials today that'd be roughly 344 00:20:51,400 --> 00:20:53,600 Speaker 1: a forty grand, and it was personally paid out of 345 00:20:53,640 --> 00:20:56,320 Speaker 1: Fleming's own pocket for the most part. Yeah, talk about 346 00:20:56,320 --> 00:20:59,360 Speaker 1: committing to the bit. Huh. Now, we've had we've had 347 00:20:59,400 --> 00:21:02,000 Speaker 1: our kind of in jokes that we go with, but 348 00:21:02,040 --> 00:21:04,040 Speaker 1: I don't think any of us has ever put forty 349 00:21:04,040 --> 00:21:08,640 Speaker 1: grand down on it yet. We'll see, so you're absolutely right. 350 00:21:08,880 --> 00:21:13,000 Speaker 1: December eleventh, nineteen nineteen, there's a dedication ceremony. A ton 351 00:21:13,040 --> 00:21:17,240 Speaker 1: of people show up, five thousand people. George Washington Carver 352 00:21:17,680 --> 00:21:20,399 Speaker 1: was scheduled to speak at it about the you know, 353 00:21:20,600 --> 00:21:24,280 Speaker 1: thanking the bullweevil, extolling the glory of the peanut, but 354 00:21:24,480 --> 00:21:29,080 Speaker 1: unfortunately floods complicated his transit and he wasn't unable to 355 00:21:29,119 --> 00:21:33,600 Speaker 1: make it, but they still partied. It wasn't until thirty 356 00:21:33,800 --> 00:21:40,080 Speaker 1: years after this dedication ceremony that someone said, Hey, you know, 357 00:21:40,200 --> 00:21:42,560 Speaker 1: it's weird. We got a statue that's all about the 358 00:21:42,600 --> 00:21:45,240 Speaker 1: Bowl Weevil, but we don't have a Bowl Weevil on 359 00:21:45,359 --> 00:21:49,400 Speaker 1: our Bowl Weevil Appreciation statue. Yeah, so they popped one 360 00:21:49,480 --> 00:21:53,159 Speaker 1: up there, um and uh, it kind of made it 361 00:21:53,200 --> 00:21:55,919 Speaker 1: a bit of a target for vandals and you know, 362 00:21:55,960 --> 00:21:58,199 Speaker 1: people wanted to pull pranks and all that. So it 363 00:21:58,320 --> 00:22:02,720 Speaker 1: was something that was on occasion damaged and it actually 364 00:22:02,720 --> 00:22:05,639 Speaker 1: has been stolen, which is interesting. I wonder how they 365 00:22:05,640 --> 00:22:07,840 Speaker 1: have just like pride it off or whatever. That seems 366 00:22:07,840 --> 00:22:10,280 Speaker 1: like a lot of effort. It does, it does, and 367 00:22:10,640 --> 00:22:14,800 Speaker 1: it's weird what what people will do to vandalize statues. 368 00:22:14,840 --> 00:22:18,480 Speaker 1: You know, my grandfather's region was a regional sculptor and 369 00:22:18,840 --> 00:22:21,200 Speaker 1: he had a statue in a bank where somebody stole 370 00:22:21,280 --> 00:22:24,760 Speaker 1: the head and he suspected frat rose. But yeah, so 371 00:22:24,840 --> 00:22:28,000 Speaker 1: this was this was stolen and the the original one 372 00:22:28,119 --> 00:22:31,000 Speaker 1: was first stole in the nineteen fifties. It was never found, 373 00:22:31,200 --> 00:22:35,000 Speaker 1: which means the odds are that there is someone, maybe 374 00:22:35,119 --> 00:22:40,240 Speaker 1: even in Enterprise, Alabama, who has a fifty pound statue 375 00:22:40,400 --> 00:22:49,960 Speaker 1: of a bull weevil. Today. It reminds me of isn't 376 00:22:49,960 --> 00:22:52,920 Speaker 1: there a plot in The Simpsons where the statue of 377 00:22:53,040 --> 00:22:57,840 Speaker 1: Jebediah Springfield's head is removed? Yes, yes, your spot odd, 378 00:22:57,880 --> 00:23:01,960 Speaker 1: which just shows us that this is a not uncommon practice. 379 00:23:02,400 --> 00:23:05,680 Speaker 1: And so what what the city did when the original 380 00:23:05,680 --> 00:23:08,520 Speaker 1: guy was stolen is they said, all right, we're gonna 381 00:23:08,560 --> 00:23:12,160 Speaker 1: replace this bullweevil. We're gonna make it larger, we're gonna 382 00:23:12,160 --> 00:23:16,439 Speaker 1: make it more anatomically correct, and uh several you know, 383 00:23:16,440 --> 00:23:20,800 Speaker 1: a couple of decades past, nineteen four, thieves strike again, 384 00:23:21,160 --> 00:23:24,000 Speaker 1: but this time they don't steal just the bull weevil. 385 00:23:24,080 --> 00:23:27,400 Speaker 1: Do they know it's true? Yeah, we're talking the seventies now. 386 00:23:27,520 --> 00:23:29,719 Speaker 1: It seems like they had a good little period of 387 00:23:29,720 --> 00:23:34,560 Speaker 1: of peace towards the statue. But in nineteen seventy four, 388 00:23:35,840 --> 00:23:37,600 Speaker 1: you know, in the same way they needed a double 389 00:23:37,640 --> 00:23:40,800 Speaker 1: down by making a bigger and better bulwevil. The thieves 390 00:23:40,800 --> 00:23:43,000 Speaker 1: had to double down to you know, they had to 391 00:23:43,119 --> 00:23:45,639 Speaker 1: one up their their predecessors. And they didn't just steal 392 00:23:46,000 --> 00:23:49,280 Speaker 1: the weevil. They stole the whole damn thing, the whole statue, 393 00:23:50,200 --> 00:23:54,720 Speaker 1: which is imp you know, just logistically, it's it's it 394 00:23:54,800 --> 00:23:56,560 Speaker 1: would be a real feat to pull off and not 395 00:23:56,640 --> 00:23:59,080 Speaker 1: to get caught in the act, right, that's you have 396 00:23:59,119 --> 00:24:00,840 Speaker 1: to get a jack m are something to get that 397 00:24:00,840 --> 00:24:02,760 Speaker 1: thing out of the ground. It is much more difficult 398 00:24:02,840 --> 00:24:06,000 Speaker 1: than that heist of potatoes that we talked about in 399 00:24:06,040 --> 00:24:08,960 Speaker 1: our partimentier episode, you know where we where we got 400 00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:11,680 Speaker 1: together and the guards let us get away. These guys 401 00:24:11,760 --> 00:24:16,159 Speaker 1: made off with a whole statue anyhow, and they get it. 402 00:24:16,280 --> 00:24:19,440 Speaker 1: The town gets it back, but it's badly damaged because 403 00:24:19,480 --> 00:24:22,400 Speaker 1: it turns out, you know, stealing a statue under cover 404 00:24:22,520 --> 00:24:25,119 Speaker 1: of night is kind of tough and you have to 405 00:24:25,119 --> 00:24:30,200 Speaker 1: move quickly. Just the bug gets stolen, they just take 406 00:24:30,240 --> 00:24:34,800 Speaker 1: the evil again again and it also disappears, which means 407 00:24:34,880 --> 00:24:38,520 Speaker 1: I pause it that it is possible someone maybe in 408 00:24:38,520 --> 00:24:41,840 Speaker 1: the area of Enterprise, Alabama, has not one, but two 409 00:24:42,160 --> 00:24:45,400 Speaker 1: ginormous statues of a bowl weevil. At this point, it's 410 00:24:45,400 --> 00:24:48,240 Speaker 1: probably getting weird when you have to explain that to 411 00:24:48,280 --> 00:24:51,720 Speaker 1: your friends as they come over. No joke or it's 412 00:24:51,720 --> 00:24:53,800 Speaker 1: a point of pride, and you have it like prominently 413 00:24:53,840 --> 00:24:59,080 Speaker 1: featured in your living room. Exactly is that? Well, do 414 00:24:59,240 --> 00:25:03,000 Speaker 1: come into the hall. I believe a Ganda will explain 415 00:25:03,040 --> 00:25:08,520 Speaker 1: it all because they still talked like that. Sure which 416 00:25:08,560 --> 00:25:12,840 Speaker 1: is where we are now, because they finally were like, 417 00:25:13,119 --> 00:25:14,399 Speaker 1: you know, the people that have to deal with this 418 00:25:14,440 --> 00:25:18,120 Speaker 1: stuff understandably, we're a little bit fed up. So they 419 00:25:18,200 --> 00:25:21,000 Speaker 1: moved it to a museum, you know, so it could 420 00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:24,680 Speaker 1: be like guarded um. And in its place, they created 421 00:25:24,720 --> 00:25:28,000 Speaker 1: a resin replica that was made from a cast that 422 00:25:28,080 --> 00:25:32,040 Speaker 1: was used to make another replica as they submission to 423 00:25:32,160 --> 00:25:35,360 Speaker 1: the Southern History Exhibit at the nineteen ninety Summer Olympics 424 00:25:35,400 --> 00:25:39,919 Speaker 1: here in Atlanta. Yeah. Yeah, and b oh and by 425 00:25:39,920 --> 00:25:42,119 Speaker 1: the way, was also stolen again in nineteen two. Like 426 00:25:42,160 --> 00:25:45,439 Speaker 1: this went on for a while, but the resident, the 427 00:25:45,480 --> 00:25:49,280 Speaker 1: resident replica seems to be the solution here. And if 428 00:25:49,400 --> 00:25:54,560 Speaker 1: you are planning to make your own Bullweevil heist, do 429 00:25:54,760 --> 00:25:59,280 Speaker 1: be warned. The Bullweevil Statue and Enterprise, Alabama is now 430 00:25:59,400 --> 00:26:03,879 Speaker 1: monitored twenty four seven by security cameras, which I think 431 00:26:04,920 --> 00:26:08,639 Speaker 1: means there just might be a real Mexican get a 432 00:26:08,720 --> 00:26:16,240 Speaker 1: dumb sound crime movie sound cube Bull Weevil Force law. 433 00:26:16,280 --> 00:26:21,960 Speaker 1: And it's very specific. It's very specific. You wouldn't it 434 00:26:22,080 --> 00:26:25,760 Speaker 1: went to seven seas now, you would? Uh, it didn't 435 00:26:25,760 --> 00:26:27,880 Speaker 1: seem like it jumped the shark though. Around season three 436 00:26:28,080 --> 00:26:30,040 Speaker 1: that's gonna lie. It seems like they were coasting a 437 00:26:30,040 --> 00:26:33,200 Speaker 1: little bit, but it's it's a really interesting story. And 438 00:26:33,280 --> 00:26:36,239 Speaker 1: today the bull weevil is still a thing. Like, we 439 00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:40,520 Speaker 1: didn't completely eradicate this, Uh, the species of insect that 440 00:26:40,760 --> 00:26:43,800 Speaker 1: you know feeds exclusively on the cotton, the copious amounts 441 00:26:43,800 --> 00:26:46,320 Speaker 1: of cotton that are still planted and harvested in the 442 00:26:46,840 --> 00:26:50,439 Speaker 1: South today. Right, Yeah, that's absolutely right. This this is 443 00:26:50,480 --> 00:26:54,480 Speaker 1: a serious issue and it's gone on for decades and 444 00:26:54,520 --> 00:26:58,520 Speaker 1: eventually scientists realized that they could influence insects behaviors by 445 00:26:58,640 --> 00:27:03,040 Speaker 1: exposing them to send athetic pheromones. These pheromones were used 446 00:27:03,080 --> 00:27:06,120 Speaker 1: to lure the weevils into traps and then from there 447 00:27:06,160 --> 00:27:10,600 Speaker 1: they were sprayed with pesticides. Thankfully, the weevil has been 448 00:27:10,640 --> 00:27:15,320 Speaker 1: eradicated from nine percent of the what's called the cotton 449 00:27:15,440 --> 00:27:17,600 Speaker 1: land where they grow cotton in the US and in 450 00:27:17,640 --> 00:27:20,680 Speaker 1: parts of northern Mexico. Yeah, but that two percent still 451 00:27:20,760 --> 00:27:23,720 Speaker 1: like there's the most hardcore of the weevils because they're 452 00:27:23,720 --> 00:27:26,320 Speaker 1: obviously what resistant or they just you know, you can't 453 00:27:26,359 --> 00:27:29,800 Speaker 1: lure me with those fake you know la la scents. No, no, 454 00:27:29,920 --> 00:27:32,639 Speaker 1: thank you. I will eat your cotton if you please, 455 00:27:32,920 --> 00:27:36,160 Speaker 1: it's funny. There's I mean, that's practically but I still 456 00:27:36,160 --> 00:27:39,040 Speaker 1: gotta wonder about the last remaining three percent, the last 457 00:27:39,080 --> 00:27:42,200 Speaker 1: stand of the bull Weevil. You know, it's funny. Been 458 00:27:42,200 --> 00:27:45,680 Speaker 1: in my hometown in Augusta, Georgia, which I don't believe 459 00:27:45,880 --> 00:27:49,280 Speaker 1: was necessarily a huge cotton producing town. But there's a 460 00:27:49,280 --> 00:27:52,600 Speaker 1: little cafe called the Bullweevil and they have a really 461 00:27:52,640 --> 00:27:55,920 Speaker 1: lovely selection of cakes and pies. Um. And then they're 462 00:27:56,119 --> 00:27:59,480 Speaker 1: shaped shaped like bowl weevils. Not the pies or the cakes. No, 463 00:28:00,119 --> 00:28:02,720 Speaker 1: they have a little cartoon bowlweevil mascot that I always 464 00:28:02,720 --> 00:28:07,000 Speaker 1: thought was very uh, let's just say hideous. Um. But 465 00:28:07,080 --> 00:28:09,280 Speaker 1: it's something I remember growing up, and I was like, oh, okay, 466 00:28:09,280 --> 00:28:10,960 Speaker 1: I guess this is like a tongue in cheek way 467 00:28:10,960 --> 00:28:15,120 Speaker 1: of acknowledging something that was, you know, ultimately very disastrous. 468 00:28:15,160 --> 00:28:18,040 Speaker 1: But it seems like Enterprise Alabama with a name like enterprise, 469 00:28:18,040 --> 00:28:20,800 Speaker 1: you've gotta be enterprising. It seems like they made a 470 00:28:21,160 --> 00:28:24,560 Speaker 1: they turned lemons into lemonade or bowlweevils into weavenade. Yeah, 471 00:28:24,560 --> 00:28:27,080 Speaker 1: that's that's a thing. Oh no, I agree, I thought 472 00:28:27,119 --> 00:28:30,320 Speaker 1: you landed that one. The also, uh, a lot of 473 00:28:30,359 --> 00:28:33,840 Speaker 1: this is coming from a professor of entomology at North 474 00:28:33,840 --> 00:28:38,560 Speaker 1: Carolina State University named Dominic re Sick, who is a 475 00:28:38,720 --> 00:28:41,480 Speaker 1: go to authority on this, and you can find him 476 00:28:41,480 --> 00:28:44,680 Speaker 1: interviewed in the Smithsonian that we mentioned earlier, as well 477 00:28:44,680 --> 00:28:47,480 Speaker 1: as the several other places for him. For re Sich, 478 00:28:47,600 --> 00:28:51,280 Speaker 1: this is a story of a town beating the odds, 479 00:28:51,320 --> 00:28:58,560 Speaker 1: beating enormous odds, and also getting assistance from government, from scientists. 480 00:28:58,600 --> 00:29:02,600 Speaker 1: Everybody was on ward with fixing this problem, which doesn't 481 00:29:02,640 --> 00:29:05,640 Speaker 1: always happen. So there's a lot of fortune in here 482 00:29:06,480 --> 00:29:10,120 Speaker 1: wrapped up in this misfortune. And if you ask Bradley 483 00:29:10,280 --> 00:29:13,560 Speaker 1: the p River story we mentioned earlier, we asked, if 484 00:29:13,560 --> 00:29:16,160 Speaker 1: you ask him what the lesson is, what the takeaway is, 485 00:29:16,440 --> 00:29:19,040 Speaker 1: he would say, so many people think, why did you 486 00:29:19,080 --> 00:29:22,120 Speaker 1: build a statue to honor something that did so much destruction? 487 00:29:22,640 --> 00:29:25,240 Speaker 1: It was more to recognize the fact that the bullweevil 488 00:29:25,320 --> 00:29:29,160 Speaker 1: cause farmers to seek a better cash crop to replace cotton. Yeah, 489 00:29:29,240 --> 00:29:32,320 Speaker 1: and to this day, enterprise is really leaning into that history. 490 00:29:32,560 --> 00:29:34,239 Speaker 1: And it's also kind of lucky because you know how 491 00:29:34,240 --> 00:29:36,920 Speaker 1: a lot of statues and monuments that were so fond 492 00:29:37,000 --> 00:29:39,440 Speaker 1: of here in the South again pulled down because it 493 00:29:39,440 --> 00:29:41,560 Speaker 1: turns out there a little more than a little racist 494 00:29:41,840 --> 00:29:45,800 Speaker 1: uh not a racist bone in the stone body. That 495 00:29:45,960 --> 00:29:49,800 Speaker 1: is the Bowl Weevil statue. Yeah yea. And Alabama is 496 00:29:49,880 --> 00:29:54,280 Speaker 1: still a big producer of peanuts. And if you go 497 00:29:54,440 --> 00:29:58,280 Speaker 1: to Enterprise right now, Enterprise Alabama, not the rental car place, 498 00:29:58,600 --> 00:30:03,160 Speaker 1: then you can they'll see this statue. And uh, you 499 00:30:03,200 --> 00:30:07,320 Speaker 1: can find pictures of it online. It's uh, it's it's 500 00:30:07,360 --> 00:30:11,800 Speaker 1: an interesting reason to build a statue, and honestly, I 501 00:30:12,120 --> 00:30:14,560 Speaker 1: think it's a pretty cool reason. I think Roscoe would 502 00:30:14,600 --> 00:30:19,760 Speaker 1: be impressed that his joke had expanded so well over 503 00:30:19,840 --> 00:30:21,760 Speaker 1: the decades. And you know another thing we love in 504 00:30:21,800 --> 00:30:24,360 Speaker 1: the South is a good summer festival, uh, and they 505 00:30:24,400 --> 00:30:29,320 Speaker 1: have one there in Enterprise, the annual Bowl Weevil Fall Festival, 506 00:30:29,320 --> 00:30:31,280 Speaker 1: where a fall a follow or a summer festival, whatever, 507 00:30:31,320 --> 00:30:34,240 Speaker 1: they're both equally good. Prefer a fall festival personally because 508 00:30:34,240 --> 00:30:38,040 Speaker 1: the weather is nicer. But that is on October of 509 00:30:38,080 --> 00:30:40,600 Speaker 1: this year, so if you want to, you can go 510 00:30:40,680 --> 00:30:44,080 Speaker 1: on over to visit Enterprise dot com and look up 511 00:30:44,160 --> 00:30:46,400 Speaker 1: vendors and all that good stuff will be at the 512 00:30:46,400 --> 00:30:50,360 Speaker 1: two thousand twenty one Bowl Weevil Festival, So mark your 513 00:30:50,400 --> 00:30:54,000 Speaker 1: calendars folks, and let us and let us know if 514 00:30:54,120 --> 00:30:57,960 Speaker 1: you have any stories that are similar to this from 515 00:30:58,040 --> 00:31:02,000 Speaker 1: your neck of the Globe woods. What a ride? No, 516 00:31:02,320 --> 00:31:05,120 Speaker 1: I I don't know if I've ever seen a Bowlweevil 517 00:31:05,200 --> 00:31:07,840 Speaker 1: in person? Have you know? But you say what a ride? 518 00:31:07,840 --> 00:31:11,640 Speaker 1: And I immediately picture like a Bowlweevil themed you know, 519 00:31:11,880 --> 00:31:15,440 Speaker 1: Tilt a Whirl at the Bowlwevil Festival. That'd be fun. 520 00:31:15,520 --> 00:31:17,160 Speaker 1: It's funny you say that. I've been trying to figure 521 00:31:17,200 --> 00:31:19,520 Speaker 1: out a place to pitch this, so I'll just do 522 00:31:19,560 --> 00:31:21,560 Speaker 1: it now. Is we're wrapping up, you know, they are 523 00:31:21,600 --> 00:31:24,080 Speaker 1: all these amusement parks, right, I was thinking, what do 524 00:31:24,120 --> 00:31:27,280 Speaker 1: you what do you guys think of? Like a confusedment park? 525 00:31:28,520 --> 00:31:34,600 Speaker 1: Go on? So, so like tell me that ends. There's 526 00:31:34,720 --> 00:31:38,080 Speaker 1: there's bigger stuff next, put your hand down. There's uh, 527 00:31:38,520 --> 00:31:40,920 Speaker 1: there's more to it than that. I am just still 528 00:31:40,960 --> 00:31:43,080 Speaker 1: working out some of the details. You know, what are 529 00:31:43,080 --> 00:31:45,720 Speaker 1: the rides? Like? What? Like? You you could go a 530 00:31:45,800 --> 00:31:48,560 Speaker 1: million directions. Well, it reminds me of this really cool 531 00:31:48,640 --> 00:31:51,760 Speaker 1: art collective called Me a Wolf that started out just 532 00:31:51,840 --> 00:31:55,840 Speaker 1: doing like this one particular installation in San Antonio, Texas 533 00:31:55,920 --> 00:31:58,200 Speaker 1: or Santa Fe. Rather, excuse me, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 534 00:31:58,600 --> 00:32:02,960 Speaker 1: and they did this like basically weird artsy psychedelic haunted house. 535 00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:06,120 Speaker 1: They got so popular that George RR. Martin caught wind 536 00:32:06,120 --> 00:32:08,560 Speaker 1: of it and like bought them a bowling alley. So 537 00:32:08,600 --> 00:32:11,240 Speaker 1: they did essentially what you're describing, sort of an indoor 538 00:32:11,960 --> 00:32:16,040 Speaker 1: weird Alice in Wonderland type art slash amusement situation. And 539 00:32:16,080 --> 00:32:19,120 Speaker 1: they got so popular, especially a documentary about this collective, 540 00:32:19,440 --> 00:32:22,560 Speaker 1: that they have gone completely corporate and they have like 541 00:32:22,680 --> 00:32:26,840 Speaker 1: a fake grocery store in Vegas that's like I forget 542 00:32:26,840 --> 00:32:28,800 Speaker 1: what it's called, but it's like got all the products 543 00:32:28,800 --> 00:32:32,560 Speaker 1: are weird and psychedelic and strange and very like that. Um, 544 00:32:32,600 --> 00:32:34,360 Speaker 1: what's that thing they used to do the deep dream, 545 00:32:34,520 --> 00:32:38,640 Speaker 1: you know, like the weird filtered googly I like psychedelic 546 00:32:38,680 --> 00:32:41,640 Speaker 1: dogs on everything. Not quite like that, but it's got 547 00:32:42,200 --> 00:32:44,880 Speaker 1: definitely like it's like an Alice in Wonderland grocery store. 548 00:32:45,000 --> 00:32:47,400 Speaker 1: And then they have ones in Dubai and there's ones 549 00:32:47,640 --> 00:32:51,320 Speaker 1: and I believe l A anyway, it's a massive undertaking. 550 00:32:51,360 --> 00:32:52,680 Speaker 1: So they might have beaten you to the punch on 551 00:32:52,720 --> 00:32:54,800 Speaker 1: the confusement park, Ben, but I'm sure that you can 552 00:32:54,800 --> 00:32:57,080 Speaker 1: come up with something to make it stand alone. Right, 553 00:32:57,600 --> 00:33:00,320 Speaker 1: we got, we got Today, We're gonna we're gonna ask 554 00:33:00,400 --> 00:33:03,000 Speaker 1: you for help. Ridiculous Histories as always, thank you for 555 00:33:03,080 --> 00:33:05,800 Speaker 1: tuning in. Uh, if you're with meal Wolf, you know, 556 00:33:05,920 --> 00:33:08,800 Speaker 1: let's have a conversation. If you're George rr Martin, or 557 00:33:08,920 --> 00:33:10,600 Speaker 1: if you're just a fan of a show, let us 558 00:33:10,640 --> 00:33:15,880 Speaker 1: know what should be in a confusement park. Very interested 559 00:33:16,280 --> 00:33:19,760 Speaker 1: to hear the very interested to hear the answers, and nol. 560 00:33:19,840 --> 00:33:22,840 Speaker 1: I hope that Neal Wolf builds a builds a little 561 00:33:22,880 --> 00:33:25,680 Speaker 1: pop up over here at our fairte Metropolis of Atlanta, Georgia. 562 00:33:25,920 --> 00:33:28,080 Speaker 1: These are really high production value and like you know, 563 00:33:28,120 --> 00:33:30,960 Speaker 1: permanent installations, but they do do little one off events 564 00:33:30,960 --> 00:33:32,880 Speaker 1: here and there, so that would be super cool. But yeah, 565 00:33:32,960 --> 00:33:35,160 Speaker 1: let us know what are your confusement park ideas. What 566 00:33:35,200 --> 00:33:38,240 Speaker 1: are your experiences with the Bowlweevil or like farming or whatever? 567 00:33:38,480 --> 00:33:41,600 Speaker 1: You can write us. It's true. We've confirmed this at 568 00:33:41,720 --> 00:33:45,120 Speaker 1: Ridiculous at I heart media dot com. Uh, swear to 569 00:33:45,160 --> 00:33:47,280 Speaker 1: god it works. Give it a try, test us put 570 00:33:47,360 --> 00:33:48,920 Speaker 1: us to the test. You can also find us on 571 00:33:48,960 --> 00:33:52,240 Speaker 1: the internet. We've got the Ridiculous Historians Facebook group. It's 572 00:33:52,240 --> 00:33:54,840 Speaker 1: a lot of fun meme sharing and his conversations around 573 00:33:54,840 --> 00:33:56,400 Speaker 1: new episodes and all of that. And you can also 574 00:33:56,400 --> 00:33:59,520 Speaker 1: find Ben and I individually as human people on the Internet. 575 00:33:59,560 --> 00:34:02,680 Speaker 1: I am how now Noel Brown on Instagram and you 576 00:34:02,680 --> 00:34:05,640 Speaker 1: can find me on Instagram as well, getting into all 577 00:34:05,720 --> 00:34:09,880 Speaker 1: kinds of misadventures at my handle at Ben bullan bow 578 00:34:10,200 --> 00:34:14,239 Speaker 1: l I n Thanks as always to Casey Pagraham, Thanks 579 00:34:14,280 --> 00:34:19,160 Speaker 1: as always to Max Williams uh and I got I 580 00:34:19,200 --> 00:34:23,040 Speaker 1: gotta say it, thanks her own old people who made 581 00:34:23,040 --> 00:34:25,680 Speaker 1: the town of our show a little bit better. Yep. 582 00:34:26,920 --> 00:34:29,280 Speaker 1: Jonathan Stricklin, Yeah, that's what. That's what I always Where 583 00:34:29,280 --> 00:34:31,399 Speaker 1: were you going eats? Because he eats us alive from 584 00:34:31,400 --> 00:34:37,960 Speaker 1: the inside. Yes, we're overdue to hang out with him again. Yep, 585 00:34:38,440 --> 00:34:47,680 Speaker 1: overdu Indeed, we'll see you next time. Books For more 586 00:34:47,719 --> 00:34:50,200 Speaker 1: podcasts for my Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, 587 00:34:50,239 --> 00:34:53,360 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.