1
00:00:24,079 --> 00:00:30,600
Speaker 1: Let's begin today's episode with the busting of a popular myth.

2
00:00:31,280 --> 00:00:36,440
Speaker 1: You have probably often heard that the proper amount of

3
00:00:36,520 --> 00:00:40,159
Speaker 1: walking average person should do a day works out to

4
00:00:40,280 --> 00:00:42,760
Speaker 1: ten thousand steps. Oh that's true. That's what your little

5
00:00:42,760 --> 00:00:44,559
Speaker 1: fitness trackers supposed to say at the end of the day,

6
00:00:44,720 --> 00:00:47,560
Speaker 1: right right. And that's a lot of corporate initiatives say,

7
00:00:47,640 --> 00:00:50,840
Speaker 1: let's all walk ten thousand steps. You know, that's good

8
00:00:50,880 --> 00:00:54,000
Speaker 1: for you. But there's not a lot of really compelling

9
00:00:54,200 --> 00:00:58,520
Speaker 1: science that nails exactly ten thousand steps. It is a

10
00:00:58,560 --> 00:01:02,120
Speaker 1: digestible number, though, is it hunt And it is it is.

11
00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:05,160
Speaker 1: It's a nice, easy, round number that sounds big and

12
00:01:05,240 --> 00:01:10,399
Speaker 1: ambitious but achievable. And we're bringing that up just to

13
00:01:10,440 --> 00:01:15,760
Speaker 1: set up a fantastic segue into a story about walking

14
00:01:16,760 --> 00:01:21,600
Speaker 1: and into a story about ambition. Several stories in fact.

15
00:01:22,600 --> 00:01:26,679
Speaker 1: Oh in this iteration, they call me bet in this one. Okay, Yeah,

16
00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:30,920
Speaker 1: there are alternate versions. I mean, you know, you contain multitudes. Hey, right,

17
00:01:30,959 --> 00:01:33,839
Speaker 1: If I contradict myself very well, then I contradict myself.

18
00:01:33,880 --> 00:01:36,600
Speaker 1: But enough about me, what about you? I don't want

19
00:01:36,600 --> 00:01:38,440
Speaker 1: to talk about me, But who are you? I'm no,

20
00:01:38,880 --> 00:01:41,200
Speaker 1: this is ridiculous history. And we have clearly run out

21
00:01:41,200 --> 00:01:43,960
Speaker 1: of ideas, which is fine, Which is fine, happens to

22
00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:45,800
Speaker 1: the best of us. UM, but we're gonna do our

23
00:01:45,840 --> 00:01:48,360
Speaker 1: damn doist with this one talking about a dude, an

24
00:01:48,360 --> 00:01:52,360
Speaker 1: English guy who walked a lot and um had ambitions,

25
00:01:52,520 --> 00:01:54,680
Speaker 1: And then we're gonna follow that up with a story

26
00:01:54,680 --> 00:01:57,200
Speaker 1: about another guy with ambitions, and then I think we'll

27
00:01:57,240 --> 00:02:00,240
Speaker 1: wrap up with some little nuggets about other weird people

28
00:02:00,240 --> 00:02:04,120
Speaker 1: that did weird stuff. I you know, I respectfully disagree.

29
00:02:04,240 --> 00:02:07,200
Speaker 1: I don't think we've run out of ideas. I think

30
00:02:07,240 --> 00:02:09,280
Speaker 1: we're definitely going weird with this one. I like it.

31
00:02:09,440 --> 00:02:11,079
Speaker 1: It's it's gonna be a fun one. It's gonna be

32
00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:13,959
Speaker 1: a grab bag type episode, and and we're gonna wrap

33
00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:18,359
Speaker 1: it up with some surprises. Yeah. Yeah, we have something

34
00:02:18,400 --> 00:02:20,799
Speaker 1: special for you at the end. What is it? You

35
00:02:20,880 --> 00:02:24,840
Speaker 1: might ask? Stay tuned. Uh So, First things first, we'd

36
00:02:24,919 --> 00:02:29,160
Speaker 1: like to introduce you to a fellow named Simeon Ellerton.

37
00:02:30,160 --> 00:02:35,240
Speaker 1: This guy is British and British listeners you may already

38
00:02:35,240 --> 00:02:39,440
Speaker 1: recognize his name because he's often referenced when someone talks

39
00:02:39,480 --> 00:02:45,440
Speaker 1: about the notable British eccentricity. Speaking of British listeners um

40
00:02:45,480 --> 00:02:48,480
Speaker 1: over on our Facebook page at Ridiculous History. I got

41
00:02:48,520 --> 00:02:50,760
Speaker 1: a real nice dang or we did, I guess for

42
00:02:51,080 --> 00:02:55,000
Speaker 1: um our guy Fox episode where a listener um said

43
00:02:55,280 --> 00:02:57,799
Speaker 1: that he cringed his way through the episode because we

44
00:02:57,919 --> 00:03:00,600
Speaker 1: pronounced um the guy who was in charge of the

45
00:03:00,600 --> 00:03:04,520
Speaker 1: gunpowder plot, who we pronounced as Catsby, it's apparently Catesby,

46
00:03:05,200 --> 00:03:07,400
Speaker 1: And he said that just made him shrivel in horror.

47
00:03:07,639 --> 00:03:09,600
Speaker 1: So hopefully we don't do that again. I'm sure I

48
00:03:09,600 --> 00:03:12,640
Speaker 1: don't think there's any other way to pronounce Simeon Simon.

49
00:03:13,080 --> 00:03:14,920
Speaker 1: Maybe what if it's pronounced Simon and we don't know

50
00:03:15,760 --> 00:03:19,120
Speaker 1: the die is cast exactly? You know what, he's got

51
00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:20,919
Speaker 1: a double down. We just gotta roll with it. So

52
00:03:20,960 --> 00:03:25,120
Speaker 1: Simeon Ellerton was. He's often described in a couple of

53
00:03:25,120 --> 00:03:28,680
Speaker 1: ways in different accounts, one of which is a known

54
00:03:29,400 --> 00:03:32,359
Speaker 1: a noted pedestrian. That is my favorite. I love that.

55
00:03:32,800 --> 00:03:34,920
Speaker 1: I wish I was known as a noted pedestrian or

56
00:03:35,080 --> 00:03:40,240
Speaker 1: a fitness enthusiast. Fitness enthusiast um. You know, the term

57
00:03:40,280 --> 00:03:43,080
Speaker 1: eccentric gets thrown around quite a lot. But let's just

58
00:03:43,120 --> 00:03:45,720
Speaker 1: give you the broad strokes who was Simme and Ellerton.

59
00:03:46,400 --> 00:03:51,760
Speaker 1: He was employed by the gentry of his neighborhood, just

60
00:03:51,800 --> 00:03:56,360
Speaker 1: the general gentry, to execute This is a quotation to

61
00:03:56,600 --> 00:03:59,360
Speaker 1: execute commissions in the South. Were sort of an assassin,

62
00:04:00,600 --> 00:04:05,760
Speaker 1: just of commissions, which he executed with fidelity and diligence.

63
00:04:06,040 --> 00:04:08,680
Speaker 1: Not that we're going to be vain about this, but

64
00:04:08,960 --> 00:04:11,120
Speaker 1: we want you to know that's a quote, because neither

65
00:04:11,160 --> 00:04:14,440
Speaker 1: of us would use execute or another version of it

66
00:04:14,480 --> 00:04:18,560
Speaker 1: twice in the same SENI where is that? Uh No,

67
00:04:18,800 --> 00:04:20,880
Speaker 1: So I guess what that means in in in in

68
00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:24,000
Speaker 1: normal human speak, is that he he was kind of

69
00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:28,160
Speaker 1: a courier, and that was directly tied to his fondness

70
00:04:28,800 --> 00:04:32,800
Speaker 1: of the walk. Right, So it wasn't just that he

71
00:04:33,080 --> 00:04:36,400
Speaker 1: enjoyed a stroll, which a lot of people do. Uh.

72
00:04:36,440 --> 00:04:41,080
Speaker 1: He liked to walk incredibly long distances. And when he

73
00:04:41,240 --> 00:04:45,159
Speaker 1: was on these meandering journeys, he picked up a weird

74
00:04:45,200 --> 00:04:50,320
Speaker 1: habit which literally involved picking things up. He collected stones

75
00:04:50,560 --> 00:04:53,960
Speaker 1: from across England and then he would just bring them

76
00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:56,839
Speaker 1: back with him. I'm assuming in some sort of pile

77
00:04:57,480 --> 00:05:00,600
Speaker 1: that he maintained. Yeah, he would he we carry them

78
00:05:00,600 --> 00:05:03,880
Speaker 1: though on his head. Oh yeah, yeah right. But at

79
00:05:03,920 --> 00:05:07,719
Speaker 1: first he just started piling stones on his land. He

80
00:05:07,839 --> 00:05:12,400
Speaker 1: was so known us as being a enthusiastic walker. That's

81
00:05:12,480 --> 00:05:15,719
Speaker 1: probably what led him to be employed by the gentry

82
00:05:15,760 --> 00:05:17,680
Speaker 1: in the first place. They were like, well, simmyon'll go,

83
00:05:18,520 --> 00:05:26,080
Speaker 1: he's already walking from Surry too, God Yorkshire English listeners.

84
00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:29,720
Speaker 1: You can also school us on ridiculous history Facebook about

85
00:05:29,720 --> 00:05:32,560
Speaker 1: the geography of England. But hey, spoiler alert, I don't

86
00:05:32,600 --> 00:05:35,640
Speaker 1: know the geography of my country either, so you're not

87
00:05:35,640 --> 00:05:38,800
Speaker 1: gonna hurt my feelings. Man, oh man, I'm really bad

88
00:05:38,800 --> 00:05:41,680
Speaker 1: at geography. But no, he would go like fifty miles

89
00:05:41,920 --> 00:05:46,240
Speaker 1: on foot round trip, yeah, or eighty kilometers for our

90
00:05:46,279 --> 00:05:50,160
Speaker 1: friends across the pond, all while carrying these stones upon

91
00:05:50,440 --> 00:05:53,480
Speaker 1: his his head. Yeah yeah, which feels like a weird

92
00:05:53,520 --> 00:05:56,160
Speaker 1: way to carry stone. Surely not balancing though, you know,

93
00:05:56,680 --> 00:05:59,680
Speaker 1: one would think it depends on the size of the stone.

94
00:06:00,240 --> 00:06:03,200
Speaker 1: But given the distance, you would imagine he would have

95
00:06:03,320 --> 00:06:06,640
Speaker 1: to hold it with both hands or have a contraption

96
00:06:06,760 --> 00:06:09,400
Speaker 1: that he was to strapped. To us, he wasn't a

97
00:06:09,480 --> 00:06:12,520
Speaker 1: noted contraptionist though, No, he was not a contraption air.

98
00:06:12,680 --> 00:06:16,320
Speaker 1: You think that would have figured into his his CV, right,

99
00:06:16,600 --> 00:06:19,680
Speaker 1: That's something you would mention. I think in this time

100
00:06:19,720 --> 00:06:24,480
Speaker 1: period a contraption would also be notable. So he's got

101
00:06:24,480 --> 00:06:27,160
Speaker 1: this pile of stones, and we've been doing this for years.

102
00:06:27,240 --> 00:06:29,440
Speaker 1: He's been doing this for years and years and years,

103
00:06:29,560 --> 00:06:33,720
Speaker 1: and eventually he looks around the pile and he thinks,

104
00:06:34,880 --> 00:06:38,039
Speaker 1: I should do something. I should do something other than

105
00:06:38,080 --> 00:06:40,279
Speaker 1: just walking and throwing these into a pile. Well, that

106
00:06:40,360 --> 00:06:42,600
Speaker 1: is one interpretation, Ben. The other would be maybe he

107
00:06:42,680 --> 00:06:44,480
Speaker 1: knew all along what he was going to do with it.

108
00:06:45,560 --> 00:06:48,640
Speaker 1: I don't know, what do you think? The record is unclear.

109
00:06:49,480 --> 00:06:53,039
Speaker 1: The record is unclear. I would like to imagine that

110
00:06:53,120 --> 00:06:56,159
Speaker 1: he had a plan, you know, wouldn't wouldn't you like

111
00:06:56,240 --> 00:06:59,279
Speaker 1: to imagine that that's what I'm doing, Okay, because other

112
00:06:59,440 --> 00:07:05,760
Speaker 1: otherwise it seems um indicative of something beyond eccentricity. Exactly

113
00:07:05,880 --> 00:07:11,200
Speaker 1: exactly that plan in question is was that he was

114
00:07:11,240 --> 00:07:16,200
Speaker 1: going to use these stones to build himself a little

115
00:07:16,320 --> 00:07:21,720
Speaker 1: stone cottage that he would also design himself. And this

116
00:07:21,880 --> 00:07:25,800
Speaker 1: was a brilliant plan financially speaking, because he didn't have

117
00:07:25,880 --> 00:07:28,960
Speaker 1: to pay for someone else to haul the stones. He

118
00:07:29,000 --> 00:07:31,640
Speaker 1: didn't have to pay for the stones himself. He was

119
00:07:31,720 --> 00:07:35,080
Speaker 1: just finding them. But you know, in the Hills by

120
00:07:35,120 --> 00:07:39,800
Speaker 1: the road and doing all the transit on his own power. This,

121
00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:43,840
Speaker 1: according to folks like Andy Staffer, the owner of stafford

122
00:07:43,920 --> 00:07:47,320
Speaker 1: Son's Construction, puts him ahead of his time by a

123
00:07:47,320 --> 00:07:50,240
Speaker 1: matter of centuries. Yeah, very much so. I mean, the

124
00:07:50,320 --> 00:07:55,840
Speaker 1: idea of using reclaimed material to build a home UM

125
00:07:55,840 --> 00:08:00,200
Speaker 1: today is very much in fashion. Um Staffer says in

126
00:08:00,240 --> 00:08:02,640
Speaker 1: an interview with How Stuff Works that using material it

127
00:08:02,640 --> 00:08:04,800
Speaker 1: already exists on your land can be a huge advantage.

128
00:08:04,800 --> 00:08:06,840
Speaker 1: And then the materials are free and you don't need

129
00:08:06,840 --> 00:08:08,680
Speaker 1: to ship them to your jobs like I can imagine

130
00:08:08,720 --> 00:08:14,320
Speaker 1: shipping masonry. You know, that's that's expensive, very very expensive. Yeah,

131
00:08:14,360 --> 00:08:16,080
Speaker 1: and he says, or your job site. And he says,

132
00:08:16,120 --> 00:08:18,600
Speaker 1: the challenge is that builders must ensure the items found

133
00:08:18,640 --> 00:08:21,480
Speaker 1: on a property can be used for structural material. Here's

134
00:08:21,480 --> 00:08:24,400
Speaker 1: the thing too, though, Ben, this was in you know,

135
00:08:24,520 --> 00:08:29,200
Speaker 1: the seventeen hundreds, and I can't imagine that there were

136
00:08:29,480 --> 00:08:34,680
Speaker 1: exactly building codes and and did he own the land?

137
00:08:34,720 --> 00:08:36,559
Speaker 1: That's the thing, you guys. There's a lot of conjecture

138
00:08:36,600 --> 00:08:40,480
Speaker 1: here because there's precious little about this. This fellow UM

139
00:08:40,480 --> 00:08:43,800
Speaker 1: one of the most prominent sources of the very few

140
00:08:43,800 --> 00:08:47,439
Speaker 1: sources about him at all Um was a publication called

141
00:08:47,920 --> 00:08:53,520
Speaker 1: the Yorkshire County Magazine, UM, and it describes uh Simeon

142
00:08:53,600 --> 00:08:57,280
Speaker 1: by way of his death in sevent He's not dead

143
00:08:57,280 --> 00:08:58,720
Speaker 1: to us you have for the purposes of the story,

144
00:08:58,760 --> 00:09:00,120
Speaker 1: but I just want to read this to to you

145
00:09:00,200 --> 00:09:02,800
Speaker 1: for the sake of a little context. Um. He died

146
00:09:03,559 --> 00:09:07,839
Speaker 1: at Craig craikey Craig. What do you think, Ben, c

147
00:09:08,080 --> 00:09:09,720
Speaker 1: r A I k e right in let us know,

148
00:09:09,880 --> 00:09:12,840
Speaker 1: go with Craig Craig. Yeah, I'm gonna do Craig in

149
00:09:12,880 --> 00:09:15,760
Speaker 1: the County of Durham. Now that one at the advanced

150
00:09:15,800 --> 00:09:19,800
Speaker 1: age of a hundred and four years old. No small

151
00:09:19,880 --> 00:09:23,040
Speaker 1: task in those days, right Ben? So now yeah, no

152
00:09:23,160 --> 00:09:27,360
Speaker 1: small task? And now we see uh the advantage of

153
00:09:27,520 --> 00:09:33,440
Speaker 1: his continual exercise that had to play some sort of role. Absolutely.

154
00:09:33,520 --> 00:09:36,360
Speaker 1: And my whole question here is like what was his lineage?

155
00:09:36,400 --> 00:09:38,719
Speaker 1: Where did he live before he built himself this this

156
00:09:38,880 --> 00:09:42,280
Speaker 1: stone hut? Yeah? What did it look like? Right? Did

157
00:09:42,320 --> 00:09:45,440
Speaker 1: people come visit him? Because he sounds just sort of

158
00:09:45,480 --> 00:09:49,680
Speaker 1: like a like a village oddball who people would throw

159
00:09:49,720 --> 00:09:52,440
Speaker 1: a couple of shillings to to carry their letters because

160
00:09:52,440 --> 00:09:58,160
Speaker 1: he was already going or really smart, determined guy with

161
00:09:58,240 --> 00:10:03,760
Speaker 1: like uh and d Dufrayne and Shawshank, redemption level, dedication

162
00:10:03,840 --> 00:10:07,160
Speaker 1: to a task and forethought right, very forward thinking. Um.

163
00:10:07,160 --> 00:10:08,720
Speaker 1: It goes on to say, yeah, he was. So he

164
00:10:08,760 --> 00:10:10,280
Speaker 1: died of the advanced age of a hundred and four,

165
00:10:10,520 --> 00:10:16,480
Speaker 1: making him a centenarian. Yeah, centenarian over one hundred years

166
00:10:16,520 --> 00:10:18,599
Speaker 1: old or just a hundred, but in his case a

167
00:10:18,679 --> 00:10:21,280
Speaker 1: hundred and four, got it. This obituary really goes on

168
00:10:21,320 --> 00:10:25,200
Speaker 1: to say he was a noted pedestrian that one love that,

169
00:10:25,559 --> 00:10:28,199
Speaker 1: and was often employed by gentleman in the neighborhood on

170
00:10:28,240 --> 00:10:31,360
Speaker 1: commissions to London and other places, which he always executed

171
00:10:31,400 --> 00:10:34,600
Speaker 1: on foot. And as you said before, Ben with fidelity

172
00:10:34,640 --> 00:10:37,160
Speaker 1: and diligence, So you know he's a dependable guy, and

173
00:10:37,200 --> 00:10:40,480
Speaker 1: he's honest, very honest. He lived in a neat stone

174
00:10:40,520 --> 00:10:44,080
Speaker 1: cottage of his own building. And what was remarkable he

175
00:10:44,120 --> 00:10:47,640
Speaker 1: had literally carried it on his own head. And these

176
00:10:47,640 --> 00:10:51,560
Speaker 1: would be for journeys of over fifty miles, and that

177
00:10:51,559 --> 00:10:55,840
Speaker 1: would not be an infrequent amount of mileage for him.

178
00:10:55,880 --> 00:11:00,079
Speaker 1: The story continues, so that account in the York Or

179
00:11:00,160 --> 00:11:05,440
Speaker 1: County magazine is expanded upon in the Historical Register of

180
00:11:05,559 --> 00:11:07,959
Speaker 1: remarkable events. That's true. And just a quick note, the

181
00:11:08,640 --> 00:11:11,800
Speaker 1: headline for Simeon's little entry in the Yorkshire magazine was

182
00:11:12,520 --> 00:11:16,240
Speaker 1: part of a list of Yorkshire Centernarians. Yes, yeah, yeah,

183
00:11:16,559 --> 00:11:19,920
Speaker 1: and there's a surprising number there. I always feel like

184
00:11:19,920 --> 00:11:23,320
Speaker 1: it's surprising when there's more than one. Yeah. So, so

185
00:11:23,440 --> 00:11:29,120
Speaker 1: what happens after he builds this cottage? Uh? He continues

186
00:11:29,240 --> 00:11:31,880
Speaker 1: carrying stones, doesn't he? He does? And not only that,

187
00:11:31,960 --> 00:11:33,920
Speaker 1: even leading up to building the cottage, he was looking

188
00:11:33,960 --> 00:11:36,280
Speaker 1: for a particular type of stone. He wanted them to

189
00:11:36,360 --> 00:11:39,040
Speaker 1: be just so. And I haven't seen anything listed as

190
00:11:39,040 --> 00:11:42,560
Speaker 1: to what exactly the qualities were, but I would imagine

191
00:11:42,960 --> 00:11:45,319
Speaker 1: they had to be pretty smooth. Then they needed to

192
00:11:45,360 --> 00:11:48,080
Speaker 1: be able to be stitched together or stacked in a

193
00:11:48,080 --> 00:11:51,839
Speaker 1: way that would, you know, make them sturdy load bearing. Yeah.

194
00:11:52,440 --> 00:11:54,560
Speaker 1: Not clear if he was using masonry or if he

195
00:11:54,640 --> 00:11:58,120
Speaker 1: was like, you know, putting them together with concrete or anything,

196
00:11:58,160 --> 00:11:59,720
Speaker 1: or if he was literally just stacking them. I don't

197
00:11:59,720 --> 00:12:02,080
Speaker 1: know what do you think man going for an aesthetic?

198
00:12:02,480 --> 00:12:06,160
Speaker 1: He may have just collected rocks that he enjoyed as

199
00:12:06,160 --> 00:12:09,720
Speaker 1: well as rocks that you found suitable for construction. But yes,

200
00:12:10,200 --> 00:12:16,200
Speaker 1: he would rarely come home without carrying stones, and he

201
00:12:16,320 --> 00:12:19,520
Speaker 1: became known for this throughout the county. And let's go

202
00:12:19,600 --> 00:12:24,800
Speaker 1: back to Andy Staffer for a moment here, because he

203
00:12:24,960 --> 00:12:29,080
Speaker 1: has an anecdote about a house he was working on

204
00:12:29,120 --> 00:12:33,359
Speaker 1: that was built in and had burned down and needed rebuilding.

205
00:12:33,440 --> 00:12:35,280
Speaker 1: And this gives us a little bit of a look

206
00:12:35,320 --> 00:12:38,600
Speaker 1: at the appropriate rock for this kind of foundation. Yeah,

207
00:12:38,640 --> 00:12:41,160
Speaker 1: that's true. Um, he said the foundation of this house

208
00:12:41,240 --> 00:12:43,200
Speaker 1: was made of river rocks that have been taken from

209
00:12:43,200 --> 00:12:47,679
Speaker 1: the local river. But today you can't use rocks like that, um,

210
00:12:47,720 --> 00:12:51,240
Speaker 1: because of things like building codes. Right. Um, he does

211
00:12:51,280 --> 00:12:54,160
Speaker 1: say that you could use these natural, beautiful looking rocks

212
00:12:54,400 --> 00:12:58,120
Speaker 1: to as decorative pieces. But Simeon clearly was you know,

213
00:12:58,320 --> 00:13:00,240
Speaker 1: he wanted to build this on the cheap, as in

214
00:13:00,360 --> 00:13:04,560
Speaker 1: on the no money. You know, his whole goal, I'm

215
00:13:04,600 --> 00:13:06,840
Speaker 1: hoping the long term goal was to build his house

216
00:13:06,840 --> 00:13:09,920
Speaker 1: out of these stones. Um. And then so Stiffer goes

217
00:13:09,960 --> 00:13:12,080
Speaker 1: on to add, quote, if we had wanted to build

218
00:13:12,080 --> 00:13:14,720
Speaker 1: a natural stone wall but didn't have access to this

219
00:13:14,760 --> 00:13:16,920
Speaker 1: collection of rock already on the property, it would have

220
00:13:16,960 --> 00:13:19,920
Speaker 1: caused a considerable amount to import them. So in this case,

221
00:13:19,960 --> 00:13:22,120
Speaker 1: having found material is a great benefit. For both the

222
00:13:22,160 --> 00:13:26,240
Speaker 1: cost efficiency and beauty perspective, because again he had you know,

223
00:13:26,320 --> 00:13:30,040
Speaker 1: no one, no one has a lifetime to carry rocks

224
00:13:30,120 --> 00:13:32,360
Speaker 1: for a building job. But I mean seemed like he

225
00:13:32,400 --> 00:13:33,760
Speaker 1: had all the time in the world. He's a very

226
00:13:33,840 --> 00:13:36,560
Speaker 1: zen character. To me, I really I kind of dig

227
00:13:36,600 --> 00:13:40,160
Speaker 1: his old vibe. It's interesting to watch your interpretation of

228
00:13:40,240 --> 00:13:43,760
Speaker 1: him evolved even in the course of this episode. And

229
00:13:44,320 --> 00:13:48,400
Speaker 1: we don't have a ton of information about Ellerton as

230
00:13:48,480 --> 00:13:51,400
Speaker 1: we as we said at the top, but we do

231
00:13:51,679 --> 00:13:55,560
Speaker 1: know that he kept going in some way in a

232
00:13:55,600 --> 00:13:57,920
Speaker 1: symbolic way. So after he has his home built, he's

233
00:13:57,920 --> 00:14:02,440
Speaker 1: not carrying these heavy load bearing, potentially low bearing rocks

234
00:14:02,440 --> 00:14:06,240
Speaker 1: on his head, but he's still walking around with a

235
00:14:06,400 --> 00:14:09,560
Speaker 1: very interesting habit. He had a bag of rocks, right,

236
00:14:10,120 --> 00:14:11,960
Speaker 1: And to me, this this is sort of the clue

237
00:14:12,000 --> 00:14:14,360
Speaker 1: I was looking for that he he had a plan.

238
00:14:14,920 --> 00:14:18,680
Speaker 1: He was that Andy Dufrain level of like forward thinking.

239
00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:21,000
Speaker 1: You know, there was a lot going on this. I'm like,

240
00:14:21,080 --> 00:14:23,240
Speaker 1: you're right. My perspective on this guy really is evolving.

241
00:14:23,240 --> 00:14:25,640
Speaker 1: And the more we talk about him, I like him

242
00:14:25,760 --> 00:14:29,400
Speaker 1: very very much. And it's reported that he still felt

243
00:14:29,400 --> 00:14:32,480
Speaker 1: as though the extra weight was a requirement for him

244
00:14:32,560 --> 00:14:36,640
Speaker 1: to enjoy walking. And maybe we end this part of

245
00:14:36,680 --> 00:14:39,760
Speaker 1: weird people who built weird things. Uh, maybe we end

246
00:14:39,800 --> 00:14:42,840
Speaker 1: it with one of our favorite quotes that we found

247
00:14:42,920 --> 00:14:46,280
Speaker 1: from Ellerton. Yeah. I mean, you know, he was a

248
00:14:46,400 --> 00:14:49,560
Speaker 1: known dude around town and people would stop him. Seems

249
00:14:49,600 --> 00:14:53,000
Speaker 1: like he was probably pretty friendly because whenever someone would

250
00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:57,520
Speaker 1: inquire his reason for carrying these rocks are having a

251
00:14:57,600 --> 00:15:00,640
Speaker 1: weight upon his head? Um, he would all always reply,

252
00:15:01,520 --> 00:15:07,400
Speaker 1: tis to keep on my hat. I mean, this guy

253
00:15:07,400 --> 00:15:10,480
Speaker 1: seems like he'd be fun to hang out. He really

254
00:15:10,480 --> 00:15:13,680
Speaker 1: really does. I I I want to build a religion

255
00:15:13,720 --> 00:15:18,760
Speaker 1: around this man. Ah. I'm glad that we're verging into

256
00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:25,400
Speaker 1: spirituality here or the more esoteric fields, because we found

257
00:15:25,440 --> 00:15:30,320
Speaker 1: another person that we wanted to explore, another weird guy

258
00:15:30,480 --> 00:15:33,160
Speaker 1: or visionary who built a weird thing or should we

259
00:15:33,200 --> 00:15:37,080
Speaker 1: say a visionary thing. The choice, friends and neighbors, is

260
00:15:37,200 --> 00:15:40,120
Speaker 1: up to you. We would like to introduce you to

261
00:15:40,280 --> 00:15:45,320
Speaker 1: something called Coral Castle, built by a man named Edward

262
00:15:45,760 --> 00:15:48,680
Speaker 1: Leads Skeldon. That's a doozy of a last name there.

263
00:15:48,800 --> 00:15:57,280
Speaker 1: He's Latvian. So there's a small town in Florida it's

264
00:15:57,320 --> 00:16:01,200
Speaker 1: called Homestead And in homestead is one of the most

265
00:16:01,240 --> 00:16:06,360
Speaker 1: bizarre structures in Florida. It's a tin acre stone park

266
00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:13,720
Speaker 1: called Coral Castle. By himself. Edward built this thing, and

267
00:16:13,760 --> 00:16:17,240
Speaker 1: he made it using around two hundred and forty three

268
00:16:17,360 --> 00:16:21,240
Speaker 1: tons of gigantic coral blocks. Okay, so he's upping the

269
00:16:21,280 --> 00:16:22,960
Speaker 1: annie here a little bit. And this is there is

270
00:16:22,960 --> 00:16:25,160
Speaker 1: about a hundred years later than our boy sime In,

271
00:16:25,480 --> 00:16:29,600
Speaker 1: and some technology does come into play for this man's story.

272
00:16:29,640 --> 00:16:32,480
Speaker 1: But set the scene for us, Ben sure, sure? So uh,

273
00:16:33,760 --> 00:16:37,680
Speaker 1: let's let's lead up to the construction of the castle.

274
00:16:38,560 --> 00:16:42,200
Speaker 1: You see when he was around twenty six. Edward was

275
00:16:42,280 --> 00:16:47,600
Speaker 1: born in January eighteen seven in Latvia. We don't know

276
00:16:47,760 --> 00:16:52,200
Speaker 1: too much about his childhood other than he wasn't super

277
00:16:52,240 --> 00:16:54,640
Speaker 1: well off, He wasn't part of the lat via an elite,

278
00:16:55,000 --> 00:16:57,640
Speaker 1: and he only had a formal education going up to

279
00:16:57,720 --> 00:17:02,520
Speaker 1: about fourth grade. But he was real bookworm. And when

280
00:17:02,520 --> 00:17:05,760
Speaker 1: he was around twenty six, he was engaged to marry

281
00:17:05,760 --> 00:17:09,719
Speaker 1: a lady named Agnes Scuffs. She was about ten years

282
00:17:09,800 --> 00:17:15,159
Speaker 1: younger than Edward, and when she broke the engagement, he said,

283
00:17:15,600 --> 00:17:18,840
Speaker 1: blasted all and he decided that he was going to

284
00:17:18,880 --> 00:17:25,040
Speaker 1: move to the United States. So he immigrated to North America.

285
00:17:25,760 --> 00:17:29,119
Speaker 1: Originally he arrived in New York City and then he

286
00:17:29,200 --> 00:17:34,440
Speaker 1: originally after that traveled to Oregon, but he caught tuberculosis

287
00:17:35,080 --> 00:17:39,400
Speaker 1: and this inspired him to move to Florida for the climate,

288
00:17:39,520 --> 00:17:44,240
Speaker 1: right yeah, yeah, for the climate. Then he purchased an

289
00:17:44,280 --> 00:17:49,639
Speaker 1: acre of land, and according to newspaper reports at the time,

290
00:17:50,200 --> 00:17:53,040
Speaker 1: he was going to construct a home and an acre,

291
00:17:53,280 --> 00:17:55,879
Speaker 1: and that was affordable. He didn't have to be a

292
00:17:55,960 --> 00:17:59,080
Speaker 1: swell to afford an acre, right, yeah, exactly. Everyone had

293
00:17:59,119 --> 00:18:02,240
Speaker 1: an opportunity. It was land of opportunity in those days. Now,

294
00:18:02,359 --> 00:18:05,400
Speaker 1: you know, buy me an acre in Atlanta, I'll show

295
00:18:05,440 --> 00:18:09,159
Speaker 1: you a square that costs a million dollars. Oh yeah,

296
00:18:09,520 --> 00:18:12,439
Speaker 1: too true, and that might be a deal. So, like

297
00:18:12,480 --> 00:18:16,040
Speaker 1: our earlier example with Ellerton, there's not a whole lot

298
00:18:16,119 --> 00:18:20,080
Speaker 1: known about this guy's early life, but there's a there's

299
00:18:20,119 --> 00:18:23,719
Speaker 1: a lot of conjecture. What we do know is that

300
00:18:23,760 --> 00:18:29,320
Speaker 1: instead of building a normal house quote unquote normal house, uh,

301
00:18:29,359 --> 00:18:33,920
Speaker 1: he spent over twenty years the net almost the next

302
00:18:33,920 --> 00:18:43,199
Speaker 1: three decades expanding this strange, bizarre stone garden. Uh. And

303
00:18:43,440 --> 00:18:49,080
Speaker 1: he worked in secret and by himself, and even today

304
00:18:50,320 --> 00:18:53,720
Speaker 1: some people will argue that he had some sort of

305
00:18:54,240 --> 00:18:58,800
Speaker 1: mysterious insight into construction. Well, he was carrying a torch

306
00:18:58,880 --> 00:19:01,879
Speaker 1: for at this right this whole time, this was all

307
00:19:02,040 --> 00:19:05,280
Speaker 1: an act of of sadness kind of right, or it

308
00:19:05,359 --> 00:19:06,959
Speaker 1: was like meant to be a monument to her in

309
00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:10,480
Speaker 1: some way, even though she totally screwed him over. Yeah. Yeah,

310
00:19:10,680 --> 00:19:15,679
Speaker 1: almost like a dirt h a breakup love song in

311
00:19:15,880 --> 00:19:19,719
Speaker 1: stone form. And you can see the sheer scale of

312
00:19:19,760 --> 00:19:24,880
Speaker 1: these things today. It's also strange that Ed you want

313
00:19:24,880 --> 00:19:27,720
Speaker 1: to just call him Ed for this? Yeah, Eddie, Yeah, Eddie,

314
00:19:27,760 --> 00:19:31,199
Speaker 1: there we go. Uh Eddie was five ft tall and

315
00:19:31,359 --> 00:19:36,679
Speaker 1: only around a hundred pounds. Yeah. No one saw him work,

316
00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:42,080
Speaker 1: like literally, no one ever saw how he constructed it.

317
00:19:42,560 --> 00:19:46,080
Speaker 1: And when we say a rock garden, we're not just

318
00:19:46,160 --> 00:19:51,879
Speaker 1: talking about several large slabs of coral stuck, you know,

319
00:19:52,080 --> 00:19:55,080
Speaker 1: thirty feet apart from each other or something. He was

320
00:19:55,359 --> 00:20:03,400
Speaker 1: carving this. He even made furniture, these oversized beds, rocking chairs, fountains, tables,

321
00:20:04,080 --> 00:20:08,119
Speaker 1: sun dials, a throne. So I guess he made the

322
00:20:08,680 --> 00:20:10,800
Speaker 1: I guess he made like a chair and then said,

323
00:20:10,840 --> 00:20:13,320
Speaker 1: you know what, decided that asked to rock or look

324
00:20:13,400 --> 00:20:15,520
Speaker 1: regal and do we talk about the fact that he

325
00:20:15,600 --> 00:20:18,760
Speaker 1: started this in one location and moved it about ten miles,

326
00:20:18,920 --> 00:20:21,040
Speaker 1: we should mention that, yeah, because he had to expand it,

327
00:20:21,040 --> 00:20:23,760
Speaker 1: because he started with that one acre and he ended

328
00:20:23,840 --> 00:20:25,760
Speaker 1: up with ten He needed more room. Where's his money

329
00:20:25,760 --> 00:20:28,440
Speaker 1: coming from, Ben, Where's his money coming from? Well, he

330
00:20:28,520 --> 00:20:37,200
Speaker 1: did make some pamphlets, So what you're saying is questionable. Questionable,

331
00:20:37,280 --> 00:20:40,679
Speaker 1: No questionable. We know that he did publish pamphlets on

332
00:20:40,960 --> 00:20:45,080
Speaker 1: a number of subjects that people have paid for, including

333
00:20:45,760 --> 00:20:51,800
Speaker 1: pamphlets on his beliefs about magnetism. He was another eccentric

334
00:20:52,480 --> 00:20:56,360
Speaker 1: and because of these pamphlets he published where he remarked

335
00:20:56,760 --> 00:21:01,160
Speaker 1: on his perception of the nature of you know, forces

336
00:21:01,200 --> 00:21:05,200
Speaker 1: in the universe, a lot of people had thought that

337
00:21:05,280 --> 00:21:08,120
Speaker 1: he had some all they would call it an ancient

338
00:21:08,440 --> 00:21:12,400
Speaker 1: insight into gravity or magnetism. It did not help that

339
00:21:12,480 --> 00:21:17,240
Speaker 1: in one in one response, when people asked him how

340
00:21:17,280 --> 00:21:20,560
Speaker 1: he built Coral Castle, all he said was that he

341
00:21:20,600 --> 00:21:28,800
Speaker 1: had quote learned the secrets of the pyramids? Cool vague.

342
00:21:29,840 --> 00:21:32,919
Speaker 1: So does this mean that he had you know? For

343
00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:35,800
Speaker 1: some of the more conspiracy minded folks, would this mean

344
00:21:35,840 --> 00:21:40,480
Speaker 1: that he had access to some ancient wisdom? I mean maybe,

345
00:21:40,560 --> 00:21:44,560
Speaker 1: according to writers like Benjamin Radford, the secret of the

346
00:21:44,600 --> 00:21:48,560
Speaker 1: pyramid maybe a real thing, largely forgotten construction techniques. But

347
00:21:48,640 --> 00:21:54,000
Speaker 1: instead of like strange electromagnetic forces or anti gravity or

348
00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:57,639
Speaker 1: any of that jazz, maybe he just built police tripods

349
00:21:57,640 --> 00:22:02,720
Speaker 1: and winches to exert leverage and provide mechanical advantage. And

350
00:22:02,720 --> 00:22:04,800
Speaker 1: this is still there, right, Yeah, this is still there.

351
00:22:04,840 --> 00:22:07,240
Speaker 1: You can go see it. Uh. The average weight of

352
00:22:07,240 --> 00:22:10,639
Speaker 1: the stones about fourteen tons each. He also made a

353
00:22:10,760 --> 00:22:14,159
Speaker 1: tower twenty two ton obelisk. And he was a master

354
00:22:14,240 --> 00:22:16,840
Speaker 1: of balancing things. So there's like a door that opens

355
00:22:16,880 --> 00:22:21,200
Speaker 1: and stuff all made of coral, all fragnes, scruffs, old

356
00:22:21,240 --> 00:22:23,880
Speaker 1: scruffy um. And so you know, he passed away um

357
00:22:23,960 --> 00:22:28,240
Speaker 1: in I think fifty one. UM and his nephew, who

358
00:22:28,240 --> 00:22:30,520
Speaker 1: had been living in Michigan at the time, inherited the castle.

359
00:22:31,080 --> 00:22:32,880
Speaker 1: And this is a kind of a creepy part Um

360
00:22:32,920 --> 00:22:35,720
Speaker 1: when the ownership was being was switching hands. After the

361
00:22:35,760 --> 00:22:39,919
Speaker 1: death UM, they found a box of old eddies, uh stuff,

362
00:22:40,000 --> 00:22:44,320
Speaker 1: personal stuff, and it had a list of instructions that

363
00:22:44,400 --> 00:22:47,320
Speaker 1: led to the discovery of his life savings, which was

364
00:22:47,480 --> 00:22:53,159
Speaker 1: thirty five dollar bills. Inflation has been right here we

365
00:22:53,240 --> 00:22:57,840
Speaker 1: are thirty five hundred dollars in nineteen fifty three, is casey,

366
00:22:57,880 --> 00:23:07,840
Speaker 1: could we have a drum roll please? Thirty two thousand,

367
00:23:07,920 --> 00:23:12,000
Speaker 1: seven hundred sixty dollars and nine seven cents. Okay, So

368
00:23:12,080 --> 00:23:15,199
Speaker 1: not a rich man, but very much a kindred spirit

369
00:23:15,440 --> 00:23:21,960
Speaker 1: to Simmey and Ellerton. Big time forward thinking um in genuitus?

370
00:23:22,280 --> 00:23:24,280
Speaker 1: Is that? Is that a word? I mean, English is

371
00:23:24,320 --> 00:23:27,200
Speaker 1: a living language. So I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm making

372
00:23:27,200 --> 00:23:29,720
Speaker 1: it a word, go for it, coining it right now?

373
00:23:30,080 --> 00:23:31,480
Speaker 1: It in. But you said, don't you think they're both? Like?

374
00:23:31,480 --> 00:23:33,520
Speaker 1: I mean, it's kind of it's a bummer that Ed's

375
00:23:33,560 --> 00:23:36,400
Speaker 1: story is a little bit more sad. Although we don't

376
00:23:36,440 --> 00:23:38,399
Speaker 1: know what happened to Simmy and Ellerton, we don't know

377
00:23:38,440 --> 00:23:40,840
Speaker 1: why he was carrying those stones. He could have been

378
00:23:40,880 --> 00:23:44,280
Speaker 1: carrying them as some kind of ritual for someone that

379
00:23:44,359 --> 00:23:47,359
Speaker 1: he had lost. As well. The legend that I just

380
00:23:47,520 --> 00:23:50,040
Speaker 1: made up is that you can still find him out

381
00:23:50,040 --> 00:23:53,720
Speaker 1: there in the hills walking today. A shiver just went

382
00:23:53,800 --> 00:23:58,160
Speaker 1: up my spine, man when you said that. So, so, uh, yes,

383
00:23:58,320 --> 00:24:00,800
Speaker 1: we do not know what happened to sim and Ellerton.

384
00:24:01,480 --> 00:24:06,080
Speaker 1: We do know a little bit more about Edward passing away.

385
00:24:06,119 --> 00:24:09,639
Speaker 1: But we can end on a positive note with his

386
00:24:09,720 --> 00:24:14,159
Speaker 1: story by saying that he did not just construct something grandiose,

387
00:24:14,200 --> 00:24:17,679
Speaker 1: ambitious and weird. He constructed it to a high degree

388
00:24:17,680 --> 00:24:23,320
Speaker 1: of competency. During Hurricane andrew In, not one of these

389
00:24:23,320 --> 00:24:27,840
Speaker 1: stones shifted. Uh. The eight foot wall that rings the

390
00:24:28,119 --> 00:24:32,359
Speaker 1: property is still at the same height. And today people

391
00:24:32,400 --> 00:24:36,720
Speaker 1: will still tell you, with varying degrees of credibility, what

392
00:24:36,880 --> 00:24:42,920
Speaker 1: they think his secret method actually was. And he himself

393
00:24:43,119 --> 00:24:49,680
Speaker 1: claimed to harness a perpetual power to move the stones.

394
00:24:50,320 --> 00:24:54,640
Speaker 1: He certainly possessed a perpetual power to move me, my friend. Um.

395
00:24:54,720 --> 00:24:59,040
Speaker 1: And and you know another connection between Simeon and Edward. Um.

396
00:24:59,080 --> 00:25:00,960
Speaker 1: I wish we knew a little bit more about Simmy

397
00:25:00,960 --> 00:25:03,159
Speaker 1: and how long it took him to collect all those stones.

398
00:25:03,440 --> 00:25:06,120
Speaker 1: We do know, though, however, about Edward, that it took

399
00:25:06,200 --> 00:25:11,040
Speaker 1: him from nineteen three to nineteen fifty one to knock

400
00:25:11,080 --> 00:25:16,040
Speaker 1: out that that coral castle. And you know, if you

401
00:25:16,200 --> 00:25:20,240
Speaker 1: ever find yourself in the area, do pay it a visit.

402
00:25:20,440 --> 00:25:23,239
Speaker 1: You know, it's it's a part of obscure history that

403
00:25:23,600 --> 00:25:26,439
Speaker 1: a lot of people miss. But he was not the

404
00:25:26,480 --> 00:25:29,679
Speaker 1: only person who built a weird thing. I want to

405
00:25:29,720 --> 00:25:32,120
Speaker 1: give a shout out to just a couple of people. Please.

406
00:25:32,119 --> 00:25:33,439
Speaker 1: We promised that at the top of the show. We

407
00:25:33,480 --> 00:25:38,200
Speaker 1: can't let people down right, Well, shout out to rich Art.

408
00:25:38,520 --> 00:25:41,840
Speaker 1: That's Uh, Richard with a T instead of a D.

409
00:25:42,240 --> 00:25:45,760
Speaker 1: Rich Art. So A s O w A who built

410
00:25:46,119 --> 00:25:52,640
Speaker 1: the very inspiring Spiral Island and its replacement, Joyce Island

411
00:25:53,160 --> 00:25:57,040
Speaker 1: U j O y x e E. These are built

412
00:25:57,080 --> 00:26:00,840
Speaker 1: out of sustainable materials. He built the island by himself.

413
00:26:01,400 --> 00:26:04,440
Speaker 1: The first one was sixty six ft in diameter, made

414
00:26:04,440 --> 00:26:08,160
Speaker 1: out of a hundred thousand bottles. And then I expanded

415
00:26:08,200 --> 00:26:12,120
Speaker 1: as he planted mangroves growing on the island. It's got

416
00:26:12,119 --> 00:26:16,120
Speaker 1: a beach house grow. Is that like a mango? It's

417
00:26:16,160 --> 00:26:19,480
Speaker 1: a It's a type of small tree that grows in

418
00:26:19,600 --> 00:26:25,120
Speaker 1: coastal waters or you know, brackish semi salty waters. So

419
00:26:25,480 --> 00:26:29,640
Speaker 1: he continued growing this uh, partially as an artistic statement

420
00:26:29,680 --> 00:26:33,680
Speaker 1: and partially as an aim towards, you know, an example

421
00:26:33,680 --> 00:26:41,560
Speaker 1: of how we could live more sustainably. There's another man

422
00:26:41,640 --> 00:26:48,159
Speaker 1: named Astavao Silva Knau who built on his own a

423
00:26:48,240 --> 00:26:51,960
Speaker 1: house made of found materials. You can see in the

424
00:26:52,000 --> 00:27:00,160
Speaker 1: walls yeah, cups rocks sculpture. Uh and of Sea Rock City. Oh,

425
00:27:00,320 --> 00:27:02,480
Speaker 1: that's a good call to That's so cool. I wish

426
00:27:02,480 --> 00:27:04,399
Speaker 1: you wish this was an audio podcast. So this is

427
00:27:04,480 --> 00:27:08,000
Speaker 1: just this is just probably titilating you in a negative way.

428
00:27:08,040 --> 00:27:10,080
Speaker 1: But look, what's it? What's it? How do you? How

429
00:27:10,119 --> 00:27:12,840
Speaker 1: do you find this? Ben? Uh? You can you can

430
00:27:12,880 --> 00:27:15,960
Speaker 1: find this. There's a great thing you can see. Uh

431
00:27:16,119 --> 00:27:22,440
Speaker 1: on Reuters called Brazil's homegrown Gaudi by Paolo Whittaker because

432
00:27:22,560 --> 00:27:27,800
Speaker 1: this is located in uh Favela in sal Polo, and

433
00:27:28,200 --> 00:27:33,080
Speaker 1: it drew comparisons to a famous Catalan architect named Antony Gaudi.

434
00:27:33,560 --> 00:27:36,040
Speaker 1: And the guy who built it had never heard of

435
00:27:36,040 --> 00:27:39,320
Speaker 1: this architect, He had never seen any photos of that work.

436
00:27:39,440 --> 00:27:41,520
Speaker 1: He had just built this home for himself and then

437
00:27:41,600 --> 00:27:45,160
Speaker 1: later started a family in it. And you know, personally,

438
00:27:45,160 --> 00:27:49,320
Speaker 1: I find these stories incredibly inspiring and we'd like to

439
00:27:49,359 --> 00:27:53,720
Speaker 1: hear some more stories from you. Is there anybody in

440
00:27:53,760 --> 00:27:57,920
Speaker 1: your neck of the Global woods who has built a strange,

441
00:27:58,000 --> 00:28:02,240
Speaker 1: fascinating structure, edifice of their own power? And you know what,

442
00:28:02,320 --> 00:28:04,440
Speaker 1: you know what, let's let's open it up a little.

443
00:28:04,480 --> 00:28:07,840
Speaker 1: I think let's maybe not say just a single person,

444
00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:11,639
Speaker 1: but maybe like a family. There's some siblings or something.

445
00:28:12,320 --> 00:28:15,040
Speaker 1: And speaking of broadening the net, I think it's time

446
00:28:15,080 --> 00:28:18,840
Speaker 1: for our first ever attempt at a new segment we'd

447
00:28:18,840 --> 00:28:25,720
Speaker 1: like to call extra Credit. Yes, that's right, Friends and neighbors.

448
00:28:25,920 --> 00:28:31,680
Speaker 1: Extra Credit, the segment where we are expanding the typical

449
00:28:31,760 --> 00:28:34,840
Speaker 1: show that we might normally do you know. And uh,

450
00:28:34,920 --> 00:28:37,919
Speaker 1: we've been talking back and forth about this one, and

451
00:28:37,960 --> 00:28:40,880
Speaker 1: we're excited because what better way to kick it off

452
00:28:41,040 --> 00:28:45,240
Speaker 1: than with a very very special guest. Yes, we have

453
00:28:45,360 --> 00:28:49,560
Speaker 1: a child, a human child here, I guest studio smartest

454
00:28:49,560 --> 00:28:51,040
Speaker 1: one in the room. She is the smartest one in

455
00:28:51,040 --> 00:28:56,360
Speaker 1: the room. Um, and and she's actually we're related. Nepotism

456
00:28:56,360 --> 00:28:59,280
Speaker 1: going on here. This is uh, ladies and gentlemen, Eden

457
00:28:59,600 --> 00:29:06,600
Speaker 1: Eden Brow Um, hello, you just waved. Um. We don't

458
00:29:06,640 --> 00:29:08,360
Speaker 1: really know what this segment is all about. We're just

459
00:29:08,360 --> 00:29:11,480
Speaker 1: gonna play it by ear Are you Are you into it? Okay,

460
00:29:11,600 --> 00:29:16,240
Speaker 1: because we're gonna ask you some questions. Okay, Well you've

461
00:29:16,280 --> 00:29:19,640
Speaker 1: got this seed and so so thank you so much

462
00:29:19,960 --> 00:29:24,000
Speaker 1: for coming on this show. And we're really we're really

463
00:29:24,040 --> 00:29:27,400
Speaker 1: thrilled to have you. And you heard earlier we were

464
00:29:27,440 --> 00:29:30,600
Speaker 1: talking about these people who built these crazy things out

465
00:29:30,600 --> 00:29:34,040
Speaker 1: of stone by themselves. If you were going to build

466
00:29:34,120 --> 00:29:36,240
Speaker 1: something like that, what what what kind of thing would

467
00:29:36,240 --> 00:29:41,240
Speaker 1: you build? I would build the sculpture of a unicorn?

468
00:29:41,640 --> 00:29:45,400
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, how big would it be? Dude? Can you

469
00:29:45,400 --> 00:29:48,000
Speaker 1: give us some specific measurements? Could you sketch it out

470
00:29:48,040 --> 00:29:53,440
Speaker 1: for us? Hang on, ladies and gentlemen, she's sketching. We're handy,

471
00:29:53,480 --> 00:29:57,920
Speaker 1: Miss Brown's some pen and paper. Okay, no, could you narrate? Okay,

472
00:29:57,920 --> 00:29:59,760
Speaker 1: she's drawing a line here. It looks like that's the

473
00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:03,520
Speaker 1: of corns. I'm thinking that's it's but no, that's the horn.

474
00:30:03,640 --> 00:30:06,200
Speaker 1: Excuse me, excuse me? Okay, I think we get the idea.

475
00:30:06,320 --> 00:30:09,680
Speaker 1: So Eden, Why why a unicorn? And what would this

476
00:30:09,760 --> 00:30:15,680
Speaker 1: mean to you? What would you want? You're obsessed with unicorns? Orn? Really?

477
00:30:16,240 --> 00:30:20,400
Speaker 1: Is that true? Do you? Um? What is? What? What

478
00:30:20,480 --> 00:30:23,680
Speaker 1: is it about unicorns that you enjoy so much? They're

479
00:30:23,760 --> 00:30:29,640
Speaker 1: magical and there they dance on rainbows? Do that? Yes?

480
00:30:30,400 --> 00:30:32,720
Speaker 1: I did not know this, so I would you know what?

481
00:30:32,840 --> 00:30:36,400
Speaker 1: I am inspired by that. I would definitely go see

482
00:30:36,720 --> 00:30:40,520
Speaker 1: a massive unicorn. Where would you Where would you build

483
00:30:40,520 --> 00:30:47,520
Speaker 1: this unicorn? M hmm? I would build it in my backyard,

484
00:30:48,680 --> 00:30:51,240
Speaker 1: and would you charge admission? Because that is one thing

485
00:30:51,280 --> 00:30:54,200
Speaker 1: these two stories are. Second guy with the coral castle,

486
00:30:54,480 --> 00:30:57,080
Speaker 1: it did eventually start making a little money off of tours,

487
00:30:57,440 --> 00:30:59,200
Speaker 1: That's true. You know his heart was in the right

488
00:30:59,240 --> 00:31:01,040
Speaker 1: place about just like making it. And then once it

489
00:31:01,080 --> 00:31:02,160
Speaker 1: was done, it's like, well, you know what I mean,

490
00:31:02,200 --> 00:31:03,840
Speaker 1: I did all this work, I might as well make

491
00:31:03,880 --> 00:31:05,920
Speaker 1: a little scratch so when you eat, and I know

492
00:31:05,960 --> 00:31:08,520
Speaker 1: that you upfront would be doing it just for the

493
00:31:08,640 --> 00:31:11,320
Speaker 1: pure joy of doing it. But once it was done,

494
00:31:11,360 --> 00:31:13,400
Speaker 1: how much would you charge for people to come see

495
00:31:13,400 --> 00:31:18,760
Speaker 1: this giant stone unicorn in your backyard? I would cost

496
00:31:21,080 --> 00:31:23,440
Speaker 1: five dollars to come and see it. That seems a

497
00:31:23,480 --> 00:31:27,680
Speaker 1: little steep. Do you get a shirt? Yes? Okay, I'm

498
00:31:27,720 --> 00:31:32,120
Speaker 1: back in Okay, So, uh, I've got a question. I'm

499
00:31:32,160 --> 00:31:35,800
Speaker 1: sure all the all the listeners out there are wondering eating,

500
00:31:36,200 --> 00:31:40,400
Speaker 1: and that is would the unicorn have colors to it?

501
00:31:40,640 --> 00:31:47,680
Speaker 1: Would it be I would paint the rocks and yeah, fantastic,

502
00:31:49,440 --> 00:31:51,040
Speaker 1: and see me, I would hope you get a little color.

503
00:31:53,400 --> 00:31:55,520
Speaker 1: All right, Well, okay, I guess this is what extra

504
00:31:55,560 --> 00:32:00,600
Speaker 1: credit is. Thank you so much, Eating for coming onto

505
00:32:00,640 --> 00:32:03,240
Speaker 1: the show and hanging out with me and your dad

506
00:32:03,280 --> 00:32:06,920
Speaker 1: and our super producer Casey. Spoiler alert, Um Eden took

507
00:32:06,920 --> 00:32:08,960
Speaker 1: a sick day to day and that's why she's here yea,

508
00:32:10,880 --> 00:32:14,120
Speaker 1: and before she infects us all um, we better get

509
00:32:14,160 --> 00:32:17,560
Speaker 1: a move on. Um. We hope that you enjoyed the show.

510
00:32:17,560 --> 00:32:20,000
Speaker 1: We hope you enjoyed our Running Out of Ideas episode,

511
00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:21,560
Speaker 1: which actually turned out to be kind of chock full

512
00:32:21,600 --> 00:32:23,640
Speaker 1: of ideas. I'm still weird a doubt that you call

513
00:32:23,680 --> 00:32:25,720
Speaker 1: it the running out of Ideas episode. It's just a

514
00:32:25,840 --> 00:32:29,920
Speaker 1: subtitle I'm working on. All right, Well, I I am

515
00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:34,120
Speaker 1: still a fan of weird people building weird things. That's fantastic,

516
00:32:34,240 --> 00:32:37,360
Speaker 1: weird people building weird things. The running out of Ideas episode,

517
00:32:38,560 --> 00:32:41,280
Speaker 1: it's a little log. We'll we'll workshop and maybe our

518
00:32:41,320 --> 00:32:44,280
Speaker 1: next episode of extra credit will take us to Coral

519
00:32:44,400 --> 00:32:49,240
Speaker 1: Castle itself anywhere, Chuck e cheese, you know the mall? Yeah,

520
00:32:49,440 --> 00:32:52,560
Speaker 1: David Busters, whatever you got, the Grand Canyon. No, it's true.

521
00:32:52,560 --> 00:32:54,720
Speaker 1: The thing about extra credit is that it's very open

522
00:32:54,800 --> 00:32:57,240
Speaker 1: ended and it's just a good way to do something

523
00:32:57,320 --> 00:32:59,880
Speaker 1: a little different at the end of the show. And

524
00:33:00,960 --> 00:33:04,320
Speaker 1: of course, as always, we would like to thank our

525
00:33:04,400 --> 00:33:10,160
Speaker 1: super producer, Casey Pegram while we're recording this, uh and

526
00:33:10,480 --> 00:33:13,200
Speaker 1: Eden saw this earlier when she was staying outside of

527
00:33:13,200 --> 00:33:16,760
Speaker 1: the booth. We sometimes turned to Casey and raise our

528
00:33:16,800 --> 00:33:19,880
Speaker 1: eyebrows to check to see if he's if he's giving

529
00:33:19,960 --> 00:33:23,400
Speaker 1: his look of approval, and he seems okay. Overall, I

530
00:33:23,400 --> 00:33:26,520
Speaker 1: think it seems like he's in a very fine chipper mood. Um.

531
00:33:26,520 --> 00:33:29,080
Speaker 1: So definitely big thanks to Casey. Big thanks to Alex

532
00:33:29,120 --> 00:33:33,120
Speaker 1: Williams M who composed our theme. Most importantly, big thanks

533
00:33:33,160 --> 00:33:35,320
Speaker 1: to you for tuning in and hanging out with us

534
00:33:35,640 --> 00:33:40,280
Speaker 1: for another episode of ridiculous history. If you have any thoughts, comments, complaints,

535
00:33:40,400 --> 00:33:42,440
Speaker 1: keep the complaints, just just give us the nice stuff.

536
00:33:42,720 --> 00:33:44,160
Speaker 1: You can write to you us a ridiculous at how

537
00:33:44,160 --> 00:33:48,000
Speaker 1: stuff works dot com. Oh and we do have a

538
00:33:48,080 --> 00:33:52,560
Speaker 1: new complaint department. You can write directly to our complaint department,

539
00:33:52,640 --> 00:33:56,800
Speaker 1: Jonathan dot Strickland at how stuff works dot com. You

540
00:33:56,840 --> 00:34:02,800
Speaker 1: can find us on Instagram, Facebook, uh, Twitter, and various

541
00:34:03,000 --> 00:34:06,800
Speaker 1: other internettings. I'm gonna just go with interneting. I like

542
00:34:06,920 --> 00:34:09,880
Speaker 1: it the Internet. It's a net and and of course

543
00:34:09,920 --> 00:34:15,400
Speaker 1: a very special thanks to our inaugural guests of extra credit, uh,

544
00:34:15,760 --> 00:34:18,200
Speaker 1: Eden Brown, No, what say we give her the last

545
00:34:18,239 --> 00:34:29,360
Speaker 1: word Today, goodbye,