1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:27,120 Speaker 1: Ridiculous History is a production of I Heart Radio. Welcome 2 00:00:27,120 --> 00:00:30,240 Speaker 1: back to the show Ridiculous Historians. As always, thank you 3 00:00:30,400 --> 00:00:33,000 Speaker 1: so much for tuning in. Shout out to our super 4 00:00:33,080 --> 00:00:39,280 Speaker 1: producers Casey Pegram, the one and only Max Williams, and 5 00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:42,680 Speaker 1: you know what. Shout out to everyone who is back 6 00:00:42,720 --> 00:00:45,920 Speaker 1: to flying the friendly skies these days. Yeah. I think 7 00:00:45,960 --> 00:00:49,680 Speaker 1: you and I both took a couple of little jaunts recently. Um, 8 00:00:49,720 --> 00:00:52,960 Speaker 1: I just got back from Los Angeles and it's not 9 00:00:53,040 --> 00:00:55,680 Speaker 1: as scary as I maybe would have thought. Keeping that 10 00:00:55,760 --> 00:00:58,080 Speaker 1: mask on the whole time, especially on overnight flights a 11 00:00:58,080 --> 00:01:00,000 Speaker 1: little weird. It's hard to sleep in one of those things. 12 00:01:01,400 --> 00:01:04,560 Speaker 1: And I should I should say that I went to 13 00:01:04,680 --> 00:01:09,840 Speaker 1: Philadelphia recently. It was a wonderful trip. Love the city. Uh, 14 00:01:10,440 --> 00:01:13,199 Speaker 1: I'm Ben, your Neel and you You and I once 15 00:01:13,240 --> 00:01:16,880 Speaker 1: went to Philly together. Remember that we did do that thing, Ben, 16 00:01:17,280 --> 00:01:20,000 Speaker 1: We did a show with our other podcast stuff they 17 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:22,400 Speaker 1: don't want you to know what the World Cafe and 18 00:01:22,440 --> 00:01:25,679 Speaker 1: it was awesome. It was awesome, and we can't wait 19 00:01:25,720 --> 00:01:29,080 Speaker 1: to get back on the road soon. Max. Have you 20 00:01:29,240 --> 00:01:32,240 Speaker 1: hopped on a plane recently? Not yet? I mean I 21 00:01:32,280 --> 00:01:34,120 Speaker 1: was planning to go out to Portland. I had a 22 00:01:34,120 --> 00:01:36,839 Speaker 1: buddy move out there right before the start of the pandemic, 23 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:38,600 Speaker 1: and I just love that city. So I was like, 24 00:01:38,600 --> 00:01:40,280 Speaker 1: oh man, I'll come see you. And then pandemic has 25 00:01:40,280 --> 00:01:41,720 Speaker 1: been going and then I've been talking to him like, hey, 26 00:01:41,720 --> 00:01:43,720 Speaker 1: I'm gonna come out soon. He's like, well, I'm coming 27 00:01:43,720 --> 00:01:48,400 Speaker 1: to Atlanta pretty soon. Anyways. I'm like, well, zero some game, 28 00:01:48,920 --> 00:01:50,920 Speaker 1: you come see me here in Atlanta, then offline out 29 00:01:50,920 --> 00:01:52,600 Speaker 1: in Portlands, like I don't know with you, and then 30 00:01:52,600 --> 00:01:54,400 Speaker 1: we just hang on in Portland. I don't know. I 31 00:01:54,440 --> 00:01:57,680 Speaker 1: think that that's a good plan. I have a question 32 00:01:57,680 --> 00:02:00,600 Speaker 1: for you guys. What is the longest you have gone 33 00:02:00,760 --> 00:02:04,920 Speaker 1: after a flight where your ears didn't pop back? You 34 00:02:04,960 --> 00:02:06,760 Speaker 1: know what I mean? Like you have that thing where 35 00:02:06,760 --> 00:02:09,680 Speaker 1: you get that muffled kind of like headphones with no 36 00:02:09,880 --> 00:02:12,360 Speaker 1: music on kind of vibe and you kind of like 37 00:02:12,560 --> 00:02:14,320 Speaker 1: you got this feeling in your jaw and you're like 38 00:02:14,960 --> 00:02:17,040 Speaker 1: doing the yawn and trying to make them pop. I 39 00:02:17,080 --> 00:02:18,600 Speaker 1: had I have a horror story about that, but I 40 00:02:18,919 --> 00:02:21,720 Speaker 1: love I'd love to get y'all's perspective. Ben, how about 41 00:02:21,720 --> 00:02:25,200 Speaker 1: how about you. Let's see, it was a very long flight, 42 00:02:25,760 --> 00:02:28,919 Speaker 1: either thirteen or fourteen hours, I want to say, maybe 43 00:02:28,919 --> 00:02:31,960 Speaker 1: a little more, And it was several It took several 44 00:02:32,040 --> 00:02:36,560 Speaker 1: days for my ears to adjust. But also, as you 45 00:02:36,560 --> 00:02:38,840 Speaker 1: could tell just from hearing how long I was in 46 00:02:38,880 --> 00:02:40,880 Speaker 1: the in the sky that time, I had a lot 47 00:02:40,919 --> 00:02:43,640 Speaker 1: going on, you know what I mean. I was like, 48 00:02:43,760 --> 00:02:46,160 Speaker 1: we're just gonna deal with the ear thing later when 49 00:02:46,200 --> 00:02:48,240 Speaker 1: we get back to regular life. If we make it, 50 00:02:48,440 --> 00:02:50,240 Speaker 1: oh totally, you know, I get I get where you're 51 00:02:50,240 --> 00:02:53,160 Speaker 1: coming from. Max. How about you? Any long term ear 52 00:02:53,600 --> 00:02:56,720 Speaker 1: situations resulting from flights, Not that I can think of. 53 00:02:56,760 --> 00:03:01,680 Speaker 1: The longest flight I've ever taken was Seattle, um Atlanta. See, 54 00:03:01,720 --> 00:03:04,359 Speaker 1: I'm afraid of heights and I'm claustrophobics, so flights that 55 00:03:04,440 --> 00:03:06,920 Speaker 1: I do not get along very well. I'll try to 56 00:03:06,919 --> 00:03:10,079 Speaker 1: avoid them at all costs, but I'll probably say, like 57 00:03:10,080 --> 00:03:11,640 Speaker 1: the only a couple of hours afterwards, and then it 58 00:03:11,680 --> 00:03:13,200 Speaker 1: was gone. But it wasn't like it would just go 59 00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:16,960 Speaker 1: away immediately. It was just like slow, Well, you, sir, 60 00:03:17,240 --> 00:03:19,280 Speaker 1: are one of the lucky ones. What about you, Noel, 61 00:03:19,360 --> 00:03:21,720 Speaker 1: What's what's your horror story? Well? Yes, I don't know 62 00:03:21,720 --> 00:03:23,280 Speaker 1: it's the horror story, but it makes me think of 63 00:03:23,320 --> 00:03:25,760 Speaker 1: today's story. This is why I bring it up. I 64 00:03:25,880 --> 00:03:28,760 Speaker 1: once had a flight it was like I think, east 65 00:03:28,760 --> 00:03:31,320 Speaker 1: coast west coast flight where my ears didn't pop for 66 00:03:31,320 --> 00:03:34,600 Speaker 1: the whole duration of my visit. And then I assumed, okay, surely, 67 00:03:34,680 --> 00:03:37,720 Speaker 1: on the return flight, having that change in altitude, you know, 68 00:03:37,800 --> 00:03:40,560 Speaker 1: up and down again, we'll cool knock something loose and 69 00:03:40,600 --> 00:03:43,600 Speaker 1: cause my ears to pop back to normal. But it didn't. 70 00:03:43,600 --> 00:03:46,600 Speaker 1: And I went a whole week after the trip with 71 00:03:46,640 --> 00:03:48,560 Speaker 1: my ears still feeling like they were full of like 72 00:03:48,640 --> 00:03:51,080 Speaker 1: cotton balls. And like you said, Max, it really was 73 00:03:51,160 --> 00:03:53,120 Speaker 1: kind of a gradual process, but for me one that 74 00:03:53,440 --> 00:03:56,600 Speaker 1: was barely perceptible because it was just like, oh my god, 75 00:03:56,600 --> 00:03:59,920 Speaker 1: it's just my life. Now. You know, today's story it's 76 00:04:00,200 --> 00:04:02,680 Speaker 1: about the opposite. But I couldn't help but think the 77 00:04:02,720 --> 00:04:07,200 Speaker 1: idea of taking flights to cure deafness um around the 78 00:04:07,200 --> 00:04:10,200 Speaker 1: early nineteen twenties, where flights were still in some ways 79 00:04:10,480 --> 00:04:13,640 Speaker 1: a novelty, and they were used for tricks and you know, 80 00:04:13,680 --> 00:04:17,080 Speaker 1: acrobatics and things like that at various fairs, and you 81 00:04:17,160 --> 00:04:19,640 Speaker 1: had m folks doing like all kinds of you know, 82 00:04:19,720 --> 00:04:24,120 Speaker 1: death defying stunts, and this literally became a prescription for 83 00:04:24,160 --> 00:04:26,520 Speaker 1: folks who were hard of hearing, or even other maladies 84 00:04:26,560 --> 00:04:29,120 Speaker 1: that we're gonna get into today. Um, and I assume 85 00:04:29,200 --> 00:04:31,039 Speaker 1: that it has something to do with this like change 86 00:04:31,040 --> 00:04:33,719 Speaker 1: and altitude, but that's actually the least of of what 87 00:04:33,800 --> 00:04:35,560 Speaker 1: has leaned on, at least in the kind of like 88 00:04:35,640 --> 00:04:39,039 Speaker 1: conventional wisdom behind all this stuff in terms of it 89 00:04:39,080 --> 00:04:41,880 Speaker 1: wasn't really a particularly good method, but it has more 90 00:04:41,920 --> 00:04:45,200 Speaker 1: to do with like scaring the condition out of you, 91 00:04:45,440 --> 00:04:48,960 Speaker 1: right right. So I want to step back because we 92 00:04:49,040 --> 00:04:55,320 Speaker 1: are talking a lot about the condition known as deafness today, 93 00:04:55,400 --> 00:05:00,160 Speaker 1: and before we get into this attempt to quote unquote 94 00:05:00,160 --> 00:05:03,880 Speaker 1: cure deafness, we've got to acknowledge that when you're talking 95 00:05:03,920 --> 00:05:07,080 Speaker 1: about understanding deafness, you have to understand that many people 96 00:05:07,200 --> 00:05:11,000 Speaker 1: in the community don't want to be quote unquote fixed. 97 00:05:11,160 --> 00:05:14,760 Speaker 1: This is a pretty controversial issue, and part of it 98 00:05:14,880 --> 00:05:18,080 Speaker 1: is because some people might look at those attempts, however 99 00:05:18,200 --> 00:05:24,320 Speaker 1: well intentioned, as something that is eroding or destroying their community. 100 00:05:24,480 --> 00:05:26,760 Speaker 1: You can read an excellent article on this in The 101 00:05:26,800 --> 00:05:32,240 Speaker 1: Atlantic by Allegra Ringo Understanding Deafness. Not everyone wants to 102 00:05:32,240 --> 00:05:35,159 Speaker 1: be fixed. Highly recommended. If you'd like to learn more 103 00:05:35,200 --> 00:05:38,680 Speaker 1: about this and so the context in which this occurs, 104 00:05:38,760 --> 00:05:41,960 Speaker 1: as you say, early in the nineteen twenties or so 105 00:05:42,160 --> 00:05:45,919 Speaker 1: or early twentie century. Uh. The context here is important 106 00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:51,680 Speaker 1: because different institutions and individuals in the US had attempted 107 00:05:52,120 --> 00:05:58,839 Speaker 1: to cure, cure, or you could say, assimilate deaf people. 108 00:05:59,320 --> 00:06:02,560 Speaker 1: One example comes to us from Stephanie Ane Goldberg writing 109 00:06:02,600 --> 00:06:05,920 Speaker 1: for the smart set dot com, where she describes what 110 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:08,480 Speaker 1: was called oralism and this is what I mean by 111 00:06:08,600 --> 00:06:13,200 Speaker 1: assimilation or cure, the line between those. When oralism, deaf 112 00:06:13,200 --> 00:06:18,640 Speaker 1: people were forced to speak and lip read rather than 113 00:06:18,720 --> 00:06:22,360 Speaker 1: to use sign language like a sl American sign language. 114 00:06:22,680 --> 00:06:27,719 Speaker 1: So there were also things like putting electricity in people's ears, 115 00:06:27,920 --> 00:06:31,880 Speaker 1: and of course more spiritual treatments like praying. But with 116 00:06:31,960 --> 00:06:35,839 Speaker 1: the novelty of aircraft and the discovery of how air 117 00:06:35,880 --> 00:06:42,120 Speaker 1: pressure changes can affect people's ears, someone decided two see 118 00:06:42,240 --> 00:06:46,520 Speaker 1: whether or not there was a way to give people 119 00:06:46,640 --> 00:06:51,440 Speaker 1: the ability of hearing through exposing them to airplane trips. 120 00:06:51,480 --> 00:06:55,640 Speaker 1: And it really all dates back to something called the 121 00:06:55,680 --> 00:07:01,440 Speaker 1: Wren's Junior incident in one right, that's right, And much 122 00:07:01,440 --> 00:07:04,400 Speaker 1: of this research comes to us from a fantastic article 123 00:07:04,520 --> 00:07:09,960 Speaker 1: in Smithsonian magazine describing this phenomenon of doctors prescribing death 124 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:14,080 Speaker 1: defying flights to quote unquote cure deafness. In That article 125 00:07:14,280 --> 00:07:19,360 Speaker 1: was written by the incredibly talented Greg Doherty for Smithsonian 126 00:07:19,400 --> 00:07:23,560 Speaker 1: mag dot com on September twenty six, twenty seventeen. The 127 00:07:23,560 --> 00:07:26,200 Speaker 1: event you're referring to, Ben took place in March of 128 00:07:26,360 --> 00:07:30,920 Speaker 1: nineteen twenty one. There was an Army air service plane 129 00:07:31,320 --> 00:07:35,400 Speaker 1: that took off from a military base in Washington, d c. 130 00:07:35,760 --> 00:07:38,120 Speaker 1: And one one of their air fields, and there were 131 00:07:38,160 --> 00:07:41,320 Speaker 1: two men on board, the pilot and a passenger, a 132 00:07:41,320 --> 00:07:44,560 Speaker 1: gentleman by the name of Harry A. Rens, Jr. Who 133 00:07:44,600 --> 00:07:47,800 Speaker 1: was twenty two at the time. Rens was a veteran 134 00:07:47,920 --> 00:07:50,560 Speaker 1: of World War One and had lost his ability to 135 00:07:50,680 --> 00:07:54,320 Speaker 1: speak about eight months before this. Uh this flight took place. 136 00:07:54,680 --> 00:07:57,280 Speaker 1: It's a little unclear in the research and the history 137 00:07:57,280 --> 00:07:59,640 Speaker 1: as to what caused it, if there was a particular 138 00:07:59,640 --> 00:08:02,040 Speaker 1: injury that caused it, whether it was tied to some 139 00:08:02,120 --> 00:08:04,560 Speaker 1: kind of other trauma that he experienced during the war, 140 00:08:04,680 --> 00:08:07,920 Speaker 1: But it is most likely some sort of result of 141 00:08:08,000 --> 00:08:11,960 Speaker 1: his service. So the doctors had tried everything to kind 142 00:08:11,960 --> 00:08:15,440 Speaker 1: of bring his speech back to him. That included some 143 00:08:15,760 --> 00:08:20,160 Speaker 1: kind of dicey sounding surgeries like removing his adnoids and 144 00:08:20,280 --> 00:08:22,800 Speaker 1: his tonsils. It seems like a pretty odd leap there, 145 00:08:22,800 --> 00:08:25,240 Speaker 1: don't you think. Then yeah, you get the feeling that 146 00:08:25,320 --> 00:08:29,520 Speaker 1: maybe they were increasingly moving towards a throwing spaghetti at 147 00:08:29,560 --> 00:08:33,360 Speaker 1: the wall situation. They wanted this guy, it was very 148 00:08:33,440 --> 00:08:37,640 Speaker 1: young guy, to be able to regain the power of speech, 149 00:08:38,120 --> 00:08:41,559 Speaker 1: but they weren't sure how to do it, and and 150 00:08:41,600 --> 00:08:46,280 Speaker 1: after exhausting several options, Rends eventually meets a doctor named 151 00:08:46,320 --> 00:08:49,959 Speaker 1: Charles H. Mcinnerney at the U. S Public Health Service, 152 00:08:50,400 --> 00:08:55,120 Speaker 1: and this doctor says, you know what, Rends, I think 153 00:08:55,160 --> 00:08:59,120 Speaker 1: your problem is psychological and I'm gonna do something a 154 00:08:59,120 --> 00:09:01,439 Speaker 1: little different. You don't need to take pills or have 155 00:09:01,480 --> 00:09:04,679 Speaker 1: any more surgeries. I want you to go on a plane. 156 00:09:05,080 --> 00:09:08,480 Speaker 1: And then he explains this later to a newspaper reporter 157 00:09:08,559 --> 00:09:12,520 Speaker 1: from the time, detailing the psychological aspect. He says, quote, 158 00:09:12,640 --> 00:09:15,320 Speaker 1: when the patient feels himself being taken up to twelve 159 00:09:15,360 --> 00:09:18,440 Speaker 1: thousand or fourteen thousand feet or more, and then suddenly 160 00:09:18,520 --> 00:09:21,040 Speaker 1: the machine does a nose dive or a loop. The loop, 161 00:09:21,400 --> 00:09:24,800 Speaker 1: the sufferer from hysteria is most likely to forget his 162 00:09:24,840 --> 00:09:27,959 Speaker 1: other troubles. I selected the airplane for my work because 163 00:09:27,960 --> 00:09:30,800 Speaker 1: it was the most convenient means at hand. The same 164 00:09:30,840 --> 00:09:33,440 Speaker 1: thing might have been accomplished by tying the patient to 165 00:09:33,520 --> 00:09:38,040 Speaker 1: a railroad track. Hardcore doctor, hardcore whoa, So this is 166 00:09:38,080 --> 00:09:43,520 Speaker 1: literally like, you know, let's terrify this condition out of you, right, Yeah, 167 00:09:43,960 --> 00:09:47,040 Speaker 1: he couldn't just like wait around a corner, because that's 168 00:09:47,040 --> 00:09:50,120 Speaker 1: what he's describing. I guess he he really wanted it 169 00:09:50,160 --> 00:09:53,480 Speaker 1: to feel like a life threatening situation. And you know, 170 00:09:53,520 --> 00:09:55,199 Speaker 1: what's odd. I don't know if we're going to keep 171 00:09:55,240 --> 00:09:59,120 Speaker 1: this in this episode. What's really odd is, uh, last night, 172 00:09:59,679 --> 00:10:01,920 Speaker 1: I ate some cheese right before I went to bed 173 00:10:01,960 --> 00:10:04,640 Speaker 1: at a late hour, and I had this continual, long 174 00:10:04,800 --> 00:10:09,480 Speaker 1: dream of being in an out of control helicopter but 175 00:10:09,600 --> 00:10:11,560 Speaker 1: I was flying and I couldn't figure out how to 176 00:10:11,600 --> 00:10:14,720 Speaker 1: fly the thing. And it was one of his dreams 177 00:10:14,720 --> 00:10:16,520 Speaker 1: were do you ever wake up and you fall back 178 00:10:16,559 --> 00:10:19,280 Speaker 1: asleep and you're still stuck in the same total as 179 00:10:19,320 --> 00:10:21,959 Speaker 1: one of those, So I I'm feeling this. It's also 180 00:10:22,040 --> 00:10:25,680 Speaker 1: that classic dream scenario of like being unprepared, like, gosh, 181 00:10:25,720 --> 00:10:29,080 Speaker 1: I really should have taken you know, helicopter pilot classes 182 00:10:29,400 --> 00:10:32,920 Speaker 1: before entering this vehicle. That that seems very terrifying and cable. 183 00:10:32,960 --> 00:10:35,599 Speaker 1: Why did I not bring a jet like a parachute 184 00:10:35,640 --> 00:10:40,240 Speaker 1: for or like the far side says, uh, you know, 185 00:10:40,320 --> 00:10:42,760 Speaker 1: the fear of going to the lecture and being the 186 00:10:42,800 --> 00:10:45,160 Speaker 1: only one without your duck? Do you guys remember that 187 00:10:45,480 --> 00:10:48,200 Speaker 1: clip or comic? No? But I get I think I 188 00:10:48,240 --> 00:10:50,040 Speaker 1: get where it's going. What was the duck meant to 189 00:10:50,080 --> 00:10:52,920 Speaker 1: be like some sort of safety blanket? Like what what 190 00:10:53,040 --> 00:10:54,679 Speaker 1: is or is that just dream logic? I think it's 191 00:10:54,720 --> 00:11:02,080 Speaker 1: dream logic? Genius? But but you're absolutely right, like this 192 00:11:02,160 --> 00:11:05,880 Speaker 1: does seem clearly a psychological approach, right, I mean the 193 00:11:05,880 --> 00:11:08,320 Speaker 1: guy even uses the H word, which we talked about 194 00:11:08,320 --> 00:11:11,680 Speaker 1: in past up hysteria. That's exactly right, man. It probably 195 00:11:11,720 --> 00:11:14,520 Speaker 1: should be reduced to the H word. Yes, Uh, it 196 00:11:14,640 --> 00:11:17,160 Speaker 1: certainly is a very loaded word, especially when it comes 197 00:11:17,200 --> 00:11:20,560 Speaker 1: to doctors of this era as well, treating women and 198 00:11:20,640 --> 00:11:22,679 Speaker 1: using this as a term of abuse, almost in terms 199 00:11:22,720 --> 00:11:25,839 Speaker 1: of like, oh, she is all in her head. She 200 00:11:25,960 --> 00:11:28,480 Speaker 1: was just hysterical the idea of hysterical women. But it 201 00:11:28,520 --> 00:11:31,680 Speaker 1: can be used for men too, apparently, so uh, equal 202 00:11:31,679 --> 00:11:35,000 Speaker 1: opportunity kind of gas lighters these doctors were. But you know, 203 00:11:35,040 --> 00:11:37,760 Speaker 1: it's really just kind of a more extreme example of 204 00:11:38,280 --> 00:11:40,839 Speaker 1: the idea of like scaring someone to get rid of 205 00:11:40,880 --> 00:11:44,040 Speaker 1: the hiccups. You know, Yeah, that's I think that's a 206 00:11:44,080 --> 00:11:48,199 Speaker 1: really good comparison. And shout out to our own Frank 207 00:11:48,280 --> 00:11:53,760 Speaker 1: Ball Herron, who has this very weird trance like hiccups cure. 208 00:11:54,640 --> 00:11:56,560 Speaker 1: He was on a he was on our show earlier, 209 00:11:56,679 --> 00:12:01,280 Speaker 1: was idiomatic for the people. Yes, are are four part 210 00:12:01,400 --> 00:12:04,679 Speaker 1: series on idioms, so check that out if you want 211 00:12:04,679 --> 00:12:07,720 Speaker 1: to learn more. But got what a good comparisonal In 212 00:12:07,920 --> 00:12:12,880 Speaker 1: Ren's his case, this appears to have some sort of 213 00:12:12,920 --> 00:12:17,000 Speaker 1: efficacy because, again his Dohorty points out in the Smithsonian, 214 00:12:17,640 --> 00:12:19,520 Speaker 1: they're only up in the air for about an hour, 215 00:12:19,960 --> 00:12:24,199 Speaker 1: and when they land, Ren's is walking down the ramp, 216 00:12:24,240 --> 00:12:28,480 Speaker 1: he's getting off the airplane, and his first words were, 217 00:12:29,120 --> 00:12:33,240 Speaker 1: I don't know whether I can talk or not. Okay, 218 00:12:33,360 --> 00:12:37,560 Speaker 1: I'm not laughing, and it is obviously great great, yeah, 219 00:12:37,960 --> 00:12:41,160 Speaker 1: but but it's like, what, I don't know what happened? 220 00:12:41,200 --> 00:12:45,080 Speaker 1: Like okay, So maybe this does point to the lack 221 00:12:45,120 --> 00:12:48,719 Speaker 1: of the loss of his speech. The Mr Rend's a 222 00:12:48,800 --> 00:12:53,120 Speaker 1: speech as being psychological. If if surgery didn't do the trick. 223 00:12:53,240 --> 00:12:56,000 Speaker 1: These weird, irrelevant seeming surgeries didn't do the trick. And 224 00:12:56,040 --> 00:12:58,200 Speaker 1: then all of a sudden he was just spooked into speaking, 225 00:12:58,240 --> 00:13:00,200 Speaker 1: I guess. And a big part of this too was 226 00:13:00,240 --> 00:13:02,960 Speaker 1: that they wouldn't tell the passenger like, you're in for 227 00:13:03,040 --> 00:13:06,679 Speaker 1: some crazy, you know, areal acrobatics. It was just gonna 228 00:13:06,679 --> 00:13:08,599 Speaker 1: be you know, you're gonna go for this fight that 229 00:13:08,679 --> 00:13:12,319 Speaker 1: we're prescribing you. But really, as we've indicated, the shock 230 00:13:12,400 --> 00:13:15,000 Speaker 1: and awe of it all really was supposedly what you know, 231 00:13:15,360 --> 00:13:18,360 Speaker 1: turned something on or off in the brain. Uh, and 232 00:13:18,400 --> 00:13:20,920 Speaker 1: it would appear that it worked, and the newspapers ran 233 00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:26,040 Speaker 1: with it. Yeah, that's the thing. So again, airplanes are 234 00:13:26,720 --> 00:13:30,920 Speaker 1: nowhere near as common or ubiquitous as they are today 235 00:13:31,240 --> 00:13:33,760 Speaker 1: twenty years old roughly, right. I mean, they still we 236 00:13:34,080 --> 00:13:36,240 Speaker 1: were starting to become more mainstream, but they were still 237 00:13:36,360 --> 00:13:39,439 Speaker 1: somewhat of a fascination. And I do not believe we 238 00:13:39,480 --> 00:13:43,800 Speaker 1: would have had the type of commercial airline situation that 239 00:13:43,840 --> 00:13:47,040 Speaker 1: we would know today. I mean, it's even even newer 240 00:13:47,080 --> 00:13:51,679 Speaker 1: than that. It was. The first controlled like the first 241 00:13:51,720 --> 00:13:56,920 Speaker 1: powered airplane flights occurred December of nineteen o three. December seventeen, 242 00:13:57,080 --> 00:14:00,520 Speaker 1: nineteen o three, so this is less than twenty years old. 243 00:14:01,120 --> 00:14:03,400 Speaker 1: What we're saying is like with a lot of new 244 00:14:03,440 --> 00:14:08,640 Speaker 1: emergent technology, people worked completely sure what it was capable of, 245 00:14:09,000 --> 00:14:13,440 Speaker 1: you know, and this, this could be easily misconstrued as 246 00:14:13,920 --> 00:14:16,840 Speaker 1: a panacea, and all you need is one story that 247 00:14:16,920 --> 00:14:22,040 Speaker 1: appears to indicate this works, and their sample size is 248 00:14:22,120 --> 00:14:27,120 Speaker 1: necessarily so low. According to Jennifer van Vleck, curator of 249 00:14:27,240 --> 00:14:31,200 Speaker 1: Social and cultural history of aviation over the Smithsonian National 250 00:14:31,240 --> 00:14:35,640 Speaker 1: Air and Space Museum, she calls it a technological wild West. 251 00:14:36,280 --> 00:14:40,760 Speaker 1: Everybody had was full of speculation and ideas about what 252 00:14:41,120 --> 00:14:46,320 Speaker 1: airplanes could do both two and four passengers. Yeah, it's funny. 253 00:14:46,400 --> 00:14:49,960 Speaker 1: Then there was a commercial flight that took place in 254 00:14:50,080 --> 00:14:54,200 Speaker 1: nineteen fourteen, but it was very much like a historical situation. 255 00:14:54,280 --> 00:14:57,560 Speaker 1: It was the world's first scheduled passenger airline flight that 256 00:14:57,640 --> 00:15:01,360 Speaker 1: took off between St. Petersburg and Tampa of Florida, and 257 00:15:01,520 --> 00:15:04,520 Speaker 1: it was considered kind of like a flash in the 258 00:15:04,520 --> 00:15:07,960 Speaker 1: pan The St. Petersburg Tampa Airboat Line, what was called 259 00:15:08,560 --> 00:15:11,040 Speaker 1: was considered we only lasted for four months, but it 260 00:15:11,080 --> 00:15:12,680 Speaker 1: would have kind of paved the way for what we 261 00:15:12,680 --> 00:15:16,920 Speaker 1: would know today as commercial airlines, but around nineteen twenty 262 00:15:16,960 --> 00:15:19,920 Speaker 1: that I think there were some outside of the US, 263 00:15:19,960 --> 00:15:22,040 Speaker 1: but certainly not to the degree that we see today, 264 00:15:22,320 --> 00:15:25,680 Speaker 1: which you're right then about Jennifer van Vlex comment that 265 00:15:25,760 --> 00:15:28,960 Speaker 1: this would have been the technological wild West. Also, you 266 00:15:29,000 --> 00:15:32,320 Speaker 1: know clearly the psychological and medical wild West. So all 267 00:15:32,320 --> 00:15:35,160 Speaker 1: those things kind of coalesced together to to breathe this 268 00:15:35,400 --> 00:15:40,200 Speaker 1: weird kind of meeting of two three rather disciplines. And 269 00:15:40,600 --> 00:15:43,720 Speaker 1: when this started to hit the wires, Uh, it was 270 00:15:43,760 --> 00:15:47,080 Speaker 1: an absolute sensation, um, because you know, this was a 271 00:15:47,120 --> 00:15:50,120 Speaker 1: burgeoning new industry and hey, if we have another reason 272 00:15:50,160 --> 00:15:53,160 Speaker 1: for people to get excited about taking flights, we should 273 00:15:53,160 --> 00:15:56,960 Speaker 1: go for it. Flying Magazine really put out the call 274 00:15:57,160 --> 00:16:01,880 Speaker 1: to look into this as having quote serious therapeutic value. 275 00:16:02,240 --> 00:16:04,480 Speaker 1: The quote from the magazine is, even from the meager 276 00:16:04,480 --> 00:16:07,760 Speaker 1: details now available, it seems conclusive that the future in 277 00:16:07,800 --> 00:16:12,520 Speaker 1: this field holds tremendous possibilities. May we not predict that 278 00:16:12,560 --> 00:16:17,240 Speaker 1: the aerials, sanatorium, roof and the aero therapist will yet 279 00:16:17,400 --> 00:16:21,440 Speaker 1: have their day? Uh? Yeah, you see why they phrased 280 00:16:21,520 --> 00:16:24,400 Speaker 1: that as a question. The answer will find out is 281 00:16:24,520 --> 00:16:27,680 Speaker 1: that yes, you can predict whatever you wish. In this case, 282 00:16:27,960 --> 00:16:32,080 Speaker 1: your prediction will be incorrect. But let's put ourselves back 283 00:16:32,240 --> 00:16:35,600 Speaker 1: in this time period in the nine twenties. Let's say 284 00:16:35,800 --> 00:16:39,720 Speaker 1: you're someone who has your own speech impediment, right, um, 285 00:16:39,840 --> 00:16:44,720 Speaker 1: perhaps a stutter, just just for an example, and you think, well, 286 00:16:44,920 --> 00:16:48,240 Speaker 1: this might if this could help somebody who was mute, 287 00:16:48,480 --> 00:16:50,720 Speaker 1: if this could help them regain the power of speech, 288 00:16:51,080 --> 00:16:54,520 Speaker 1: perhaps it will help me with my own condition. And 289 00:16:54,720 --> 00:16:59,520 Speaker 1: so other patients started. It started with other people who 290 00:16:59,600 --> 00:17:03,480 Speaker 1: had to be each impediments. They started going on airplanes 291 00:17:04,280 --> 00:17:06,960 Speaker 1: in the hopes that it would ameliorate their condition. But 292 00:17:07,160 --> 00:17:11,640 Speaker 1: then some people who had hearing problems, who are maybe 293 00:17:11,720 --> 00:17:15,600 Speaker 1: hard of hearing or had some other specific condition, they 294 00:17:15,640 --> 00:17:20,600 Speaker 1: started noticing this treatment too, and French doctors even got involved. 295 00:17:27,480 --> 00:17:30,240 Speaker 1: That's right, this was not confined to just the United States. 296 00:17:30,359 --> 00:17:33,399 Speaker 1: The word got out and French doctors were noticing that 297 00:17:33,520 --> 00:17:35,800 Speaker 1: passed this again. This is like, you know, it's one 298 00:17:35,800 --> 00:17:38,359 Speaker 1: of those things where you can say something happens in 299 00:17:38,480 --> 00:17:41,600 Speaker 1: this situation, therefore they must be related. It can show 300 00:17:42,080 --> 00:17:46,040 Speaker 1: kind of the coincidental connection of these two events, but 301 00:17:46,119 --> 00:17:48,760 Speaker 1: not necessarily causation. And in this case that ended up 302 00:17:48,800 --> 00:17:52,040 Speaker 1: being exactly what It was French doctors noticing that passengers 303 00:17:52,119 --> 00:17:55,600 Speaker 1: on long airline flights would fall asleep and and therefore 304 00:17:56,480 --> 00:18:00,760 Speaker 1: they thought maybe air travel might be a treatment for insomnia. Uh, 305 00:18:00,840 --> 00:18:04,280 Speaker 1: and that was reported um in the Paris news. So 306 00:18:05,200 --> 00:18:08,920 Speaker 1: very long leaps of judgment being made, you know, noticing 307 00:18:09,080 --> 00:18:12,280 Speaker 1: something working in one situation, and therefore like you might 308 00:18:12,359 --> 00:18:14,200 Speaker 1: as well, must be some sort of magical cure. All 309 00:18:14,920 --> 00:18:17,879 Speaker 1: so they started to develop a reputation. They actually had 310 00:18:17,920 --> 00:18:20,240 Speaker 1: a name, even though they were being used to treat 311 00:18:20,400 --> 00:18:24,600 Speaker 1: other ailments. They were referred to as death flights, to 312 00:18:24,720 --> 00:18:28,959 Speaker 1: the point where certain stunt pilots I guess, um, who 313 00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:31,159 Speaker 1: would we were trying to get in on the action. Um. 314 00:18:31,200 --> 00:18:33,320 Speaker 1: They would hire themselves out for certain events, and they 315 00:18:33,359 --> 00:18:36,000 Speaker 1: started to add death flights to that list of things 316 00:18:36,040 --> 00:18:38,960 Speaker 1: that they would do. Yeah, now you're not just watching 317 00:18:39,680 --> 00:18:44,520 Speaker 1: aerial daredevils for fun. You're also watching them for a 318 00:18:44,720 --> 00:18:47,400 Speaker 1: good cause. At least you can you can see how 319 00:18:47,600 --> 00:18:50,520 Speaker 1: the marketing works there. A lot of this comes from 320 00:18:50,560 --> 00:18:54,960 Speaker 1: the work of Dr Jay Pritte Verdi, medical historian who 321 00:18:55,359 --> 00:18:59,080 Speaker 1: runs a great website called from the Hands of Quacks 322 00:18:59,240 --> 00:19:03,000 Speaker 1: dot com and in their research on this, Dr Verdy 323 00:19:03,440 --> 00:19:08,720 Speaker 1: talks about the specific stunts these pilots would perform. The 324 00:19:08,800 --> 00:19:12,840 Speaker 1: pilots would ride to ten thousand feet, they would dive suddenly. 325 00:19:13,160 --> 00:19:16,159 Speaker 1: They would even have people jump out of the plane 326 00:19:16,560 --> 00:19:21,440 Speaker 1: in parachutes, and this was often not this important to note. 327 00:19:21,480 --> 00:19:23,840 Speaker 1: It was often not the pilots going yeah, I don't know, 328 00:19:24,000 --> 00:19:26,399 Speaker 1: maybe do like a little corkscrew and then tell me, 329 00:19:26,840 --> 00:19:29,200 Speaker 1: tell me how you're you know, if you feel like 330 00:19:29,280 --> 00:19:33,720 Speaker 1: you can talk yet. Now, these were recommended by your 331 00:19:33,880 --> 00:19:37,520 Speaker 1: specialists of the day because they knew that changing your 332 00:19:37,600 --> 00:19:42,639 Speaker 1: air pressure can affect ears. But there, just like the 333 00:19:42,720 --> 00:19:45,199 Speaker 1: French doctors, I think what we're really talking about, their 334 00:19:45,280 --> 00:19:50,440 Speaker 1: know is correlation versus causation. One does not necessarily create 335 00:19:50,680 --> 00:19:54,399 Speaker 1: the other. And so they didn't have a lot of 336 00:19:54,960 --> 00:19:59,840 Speaker 1: data or information that could support this idea of aircraft 337 00:20:00,200 --> 00:20:05,760 Speaker 1: restoring hearing or even demonstrating any measurable improvement, Like if 338 00:20:05,840 --> 00:20:08,240 Speaker 1: you did a hearing test before the flight and you 339 00:20:08,320 --> 00:20:11,600 Speaker 1: did it after the flight, you really wouldn't find much there, 340 00:20:11,720 --> 00:20:15,040 Speaker 1: or they hadn't yet, to be completely fair, But that 341 00:20:15,200 --> 00:20:18,119 Speaker 1: didn't that didn't stop the news in the media of 342 00:20:18,200 --> 00:20:21,360 Speaker 1: the time from saying, you know, hey, go look out 343 00:20:21,480 --> 00:20:24,600 Speaker 1: over the sky of your fair metropolis. There's a death 344 00:20:24,640 --> 00:20:27,879 Speaker 1: flight scheduled for Saturday or something like that. What we 345 00:20:27,920 --> 00:20:32,639 Speaker 1: see instead from contemporary media is a little bit of 346 00:20:32,800 --> 00:20:38,640 Speaker 1: cherry picking, like desperately searching for a story that shows 347 00:20:38,880 --> 00:20:42,639 Speaker 1: this appearing to work. Yeah, there there's a few. I mean, 348 00:20:42,640 --> 00:20:45,000 Speaker 1: there are a few anecdotal we we've already heard about 349 00:20:45,040 --> 00:20:47,480 Speaker 1: the you know, the the initial case um with the 350 00:20:48,040 --> 00:20:50,399 Speaker 1: World War One that who said I don't know if 351 00:20:50,440 --> 00:20:53,080 Speaker 1: I can talk or not, which seems like he absolutely 352 00:20:53,160 --> 00:20:55,399 Speaker 1: could talk because he said those words. But there are 353 00:20:55,520 --> 00:20:58,119 Speaker 1: several other examples of the press picked up on and 354 00:20:58,520 --> 00:21:01,320 Speaker 1: the way their cover really does indicate that this is 355 00:21:01,359 --> 00:21:04,560 Speaker 1: like proof positive that this is definitely a excellent method 356 00:21:04,760 --> 00:21:06,400 Speaker 1: in a way of of treating all of these things. 357 00:21:06,440 --> 00:21:11,720 Speaker 1: So September of nine two, you had us report stating 358 00:21:11,760 --> 00:21:16,080 Speaker 1: that a quote hopelessly deaf former soldier named Augustus S. 359 00:21:16,160 --> 00:21:19,320 Speaker 1: Harris had gotten his hearing back after a pilot took 360 00:21:19,400 --> 00:21:22,280 Speaker 1: him up to fifteen thousand feet over the city of Chicago. 361 00:21:22,720 --> 00:21:27,040 Speaker 1: The Chicago Tribune reported that he had been unable to 362 00:21:27,200 --> 00:21:30,520 Speaker 1: hear something, as you know, relatively loud if you put 363 00:21:30,560 --> 00:21:32,120 Speaker 1: it right up to yours the ticking of a watch 364 00:21:32,200 --> 00:21:33,760 Speaker 1: if you stick it right in there, and it's kind 365 00:21:33,760 --> 00:21:37,159 Speaker 1: of hard to miss. But after the flight, he was 366 00:21:37,240 --> 00:21:40,880 Speaker 1: able to have a phone conversation with his mother where 367 00:21:41,080 --> 00:21:44,920 Speaker 1: he was able to seemingly hear just fine, very close. 368 00:21:45,080 --> 00:21:47,840 Speaker 1: Following on this story, um, we had a Lutheran minister 369 00:21:47,920 --> 00:21:51,560 Speaker 1: in San Francisco telling reporters that he had had his 370 00:21:51,680 --> 00:21:54,920 Speaker 1: hearing completely restored after a flight took him up to 371 00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:58,520 Speaker 1: thirteen thousand feet on his doctor's recommendation, plans to take 372 00:21:58,640 --> 00:22:02,320 Speaker 1: three more flights. And uh, it's it wasn't even limited 373 00:22:02,359 --> 00:22:05,760 Speaker 1: to humans. There were some cases of animals being, you know, 374 00:22:05,920 --> 00:22:10,679 Speaker 1: miraculously cured by these these death flights. Yeah. One story 375 00:22:10,800 --> 00:22:13,400 Speaker 1: that BuzzFeed would have loved to cover if it existed 376 00:22:13,400 --> 00:22:16,600 Speaker 1: at the time is the story of a doctor who 377 00:22:16,680 --> 00:22:21,400 Speaker 1: sent his death seven month old Collie puppy up into 378 00:22:21,480 --> 00:22:24,840 Speaker 1: the sky. And we don't know what how the dog 379 00:22:25,280 --> 00:22:28,480 Speaker 1: felt afterwards, but the owner said, quote the dog appeared 380 00:22:28,520 --> 00:22:31,680 Speaker 1: to hear much better after his exciting trip. And this 381 00:22:31,920 --> 00:22:36,600 Speaker 1: wasn't some fringe reporting, this was the Associated press. This, 382 00:22:36,920 --> 00:22:40,280 Speaker 1: this got so much press that celebrities of the day 383 00:22:40,480 --> 00:22:45,840 Speaker 1: started to enter into the conversation. Most notably perhaps the 384 00:22:45,960 --> 00:22:51,840 Speaker 1: famous airman himself, Charles Lindbergh. He hadn't he hadn't made 385 00:22:52,040 --> 00:22:54,800 Speaker 1: his name quite yet as one of the age's most 386 00:22:54,920 --> 00:22:57,480 Speaker 1: famous pilots, but he was in the mix. And what 387 00:22:57,600 --> 00:22:59,359 Speaker 1: was the deal of the Lindbergh baby. That was a 388 00:22:59,440 --> 00:23:03,320 Speaker 1: big kerfuffle. I believe he had it was kidnapped. The 389 00:23:03,440 --> 00:23:07,240 Speaker 1: shot was kidnapped, isn't that right? Yeah, that was gonna 390 00:23:07,359 --> 00:23:10,639 Speaker 1: that was gonna happen. About ten years later, the twenty 391 00:23:10,720 --> 00:23:14,280 Speaker 1: month old son of Charles Lindbergh was kidnapped in March 392 00:23:14,359 --> 00:23:17,359 Speaker 1: of that year. And I think is Perry Mason based 393 00:23:17,440 --> 00:23:21,560 Speaker 1: on the Perry Mason reboot? No, that's just another that's 394 00:23:21,560 --> 00:23:24,639 Speaker 1: another child kidnapping. But do you watch Perry Mason if 395 00:23:24,640 --> 00:23:27,200 Speaker 1: you get a chance. It's very well done. It is good. 396 00:23:27,280 --> 00:23:30,240 Speaker 1: It's a super well crafted like Noir in the set 397 00:23:30,320 --> 00:23:33,200 Speaker 1: building and the world building of it is fantastic. But Lindbergh, 398 00:23:33,200 --> 00:23:34,560 Speaker 1: you know, you're right. He went on to become this 399 00:23:35,040 --> 00:23:38,919 Speaker 1: probably one of the most famous aviators in American history, 400 00:23:39,160 --> 00:23:40,880 Speaker 1: But at the time he was just kind of trying 401 00:23:40,920 --> 00:23:43,520 Speaker 1: to make his way by, like like we were saying earlier, 402 00:23:43,680 --> 00:23:47,479 Speaker 1: doing these kind of events I guess, or or like, uh, 403 00:23:48,119 --> 00:23:51,000 Speaker 1: you know, fairs and carnivals. And he had business cards 404 00:23:51,359 --> 00:23:55,080 Speaker 1: that said, quote fair and carnival exhibition work offering plane 405 00:23:55,400 --> 00:23:58,240 Speaker 1: change in mid air exactly what it sounds like, literally 406 00:23:58,280 --> 00:24:01,760 Speaker 1: hopping from one plane to another, wing walking. Also what 407 00:24:01,880 --> 00:24:05,440 Speaker 1: it sounds like parachute jumping breakaways, which is where I 408 00:24:05,480 --> 00:24:07,359 Speaker 1: believe you'd have like a ladder or some sort of 409 00:24:07,520 --> 00:24:09,119 Speaker 1: rope hanging from the bottom of a plane and you 410 00:24:09,200 --> 00:24:11,400 Speaker 1: climb out of the cockpit. Remember these are like open 411 00:24:11,560 --> 00:24:14,480 Speaker 1: cockpit planes, and climb down and and and um, you know, 412 00:24:14,520 --> 00:24:17,240 Speaker 1: I guess, have a co pilot piloting while you dangled there. 413 00:24:17,920 --> 00:24:20,119 Speaker 1: Um something called night fireworks, which I imagine is what 414 00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:24,280 Speaker 1: it sounds like, smoke trails and death flights. I wonder 415 00:24:24,280 --> 00:24:26,200 Speaker 1: if he penciled that end the end because it was 416 00:24:26,240 --> 00:24:30,360 Speaker 1: such a new phenomenon, right, Perhaps yeah, or maybe it's 417 00:24:30,440 --> 00:24:33,120 Speaker 1: the it's got the honor of being the last thing 418 00:24:33,320 --> 00:24:36,840 Speaker 1: with the end, because that is one that's one thing 419 00:24:36,920 --> 00:24:39,040 Speaker 1: he really wants to stay with people when they read 420 00:24:39,080 --> 00:24:41,879 Speaker 1: the card. But yeah, these are impressive and in some 421 00:24:42,040 --> 00:24:47,800 Speaker 1: cases incredibly dangerous stunts. A biographer of Limburg named A. 422 00:24:48,040 --> 00:24:52,280 Speaker 1: Scott Berg has done some deep digging on this and 423 00:24:52,640 --> 00:24:56,920 Speaker 1: looked into Limburgh's correspondence, and you found in a letter 424 00:24:57,080 --> 00:25:02,560 Speaker 1: to Limburgh's mother, the aviator describes the ins and outs 425 00:25:02,840 --> 00:25:07,200 Speaker 1: of a death flight. He has one client who's been 426 00:25:07,840 --> 00:25:11,000 Speaker 1: hard of hearing or partially deaf for about three decades, 427 00:25:11,160 --> 00:25:14,280 Speaker 1: and he says the following, I took him up seven thousand, 428 00:25:14,359 --> 00:25:17,960 Speaker 1: four hundred feet he thinks thirteen thousand feet, and brought 429 00:25:18,080 --> 00:25:20,800 Speaker 1: him down in a twenty eight turned spin. He was 430 00:25:20,880 --> 00:25:23,440 Speaker 1: sure sick and couldn't hear as well as before, but 431 00:25:23,560 --> 00:25:28,720 Speaker 1: the next day his hearing was noticeably improved. What's interesting 432 00:25:28,800 --> 00:25:32,280 Speaker 1: about this is it already seems pretty unscrupulous, right because 433 00:25:32,359 --> 00:25:35,240 Speaker 1: Lindberg's admitting to lying. I was about to ask, yeah, 434 00:25:35,280 --> 00:25:38,480 Speaker 1: why so he's saying the doctor prescribed thirteen thousand feet 435 00:25:38,760 --> 00:25:41,400 Speaker 1: and he only took him to seventy four hundred feet. 436 00:25:41,440 --> 00:25:45,120 Speaker 1: Why would he do that? And why why the yeah, 437 00:25:45,200 --> 00:25:48,879 Speaker 1: why the discrepancy. It's very, very unusual because most of 438 00:25:48,920 --> 00:25:51,800 Speaker 1: these uh quote unquote prescriptions that we're hearing, uh and 439 00:25:51,840 --> 00:25:54,399 Speaker 1: a lot of these uh, these tellents from these pilots 440 00:25:54,640 --> 00:25:57,359 Speaker 1: usually involved going up to you know, double digits at 441 00:25:57,359 --> 00:26:01,200 Speaker 1: the very least. Yeah. And as we look into the 442 00:26:02,280 --> 00:26:04,399 Speaker 1: nuts and bolts of these flights, what we see is 443 00:26:04,840 --> 00:26:08,360 Speaker 1: it's almost like a roller coaster's therapy. Like you could 444 00:26:08,440 --> 00:26:11,199 Speaker 1: have sent somebody to an amusement park and they were 445 00:26:11,280 --> 00:26:17,480 Speaker 1: capitalizing on the fascination with and fear of this new technology. 446 00:26:18,359 --> 00:26:22,199 Speaker 1: These flights were almost like roller coasters would be one 447 00:26:22,280 --> 00:26:25,400 Speaker 1: good example. A haunted house would be another good example. 448 00:26:25,520 --> 00:26:30,800 Speaker 1: You were supposed to be freaking terrified the entire time, right, spins, 449 00:26:31,040 --> 00:26:34,720 Speaker 1: nose dives, they're they're doing loops. You know, if they're 450 00:26:34,720 --> 00:26:38,480 Speaker 1: really trying to scare people, they could do the one 451 00:26:38,520 --> 00:26:41,280 Speaker 1: thing that happened to me, which I still don't know. 452 00:26:41,680 --> 00:26:44,680 Speaker 1: I don't know whether this was a prank or whether 453 00:26:44,880 --> 00:26:48,560 Speaker 1: this was just an accidental hot mic situation. One time 454 00:26:48,600 --> 00:26:50,960 Speaker 1: I was on a flight or I was going to 455 00:26:51,720 --> 00:26:54,400 Speaker 1: Central America. There was a sun dip as we're flying 456 00:26:54,480 --> 00:26:57,359 Speaker 1: in and the pilot gets on the mic and it's like, 457 00:26:57,720 --> 00:26:59,920 Speaker 1: you know, you know that everybody knows the stairs to 458 00:27:00,040 --> 00:27:04,720 Speaker 1: called pilot White. It's like a little bit of turgy warts. 459 00:27:05,119 --> 00:27:10,800 Speaker 1: Uh flying in wind Northwest? Why do they all sound 460 00:27:10,800 --> 00:27:12,720 Speaker 1: the same? They take a class? Is it? Is it 461 00:27:12,840 --> 00:27:15,280 Speaker 1: part of their training to like talk as as like 462 00:27:15,720 --> 00:27:20,480 Speaker 1: innocuously as possible, as like, wait, here's what happens, here's 463 00:27:21,520 --> 00:27:32,639 Speaker 1: uh cross truck clear should have you down? Oh, and 464 00:27:32,760 --> 00:27:35,399 Speaker 1: then he says, oh, he just leaves it off. The 465 00:27:35,560 --> 00:27:37,720 Speaker 1: flight went fine, by the way, it was just a 466 00:27:37,760 --> 00:27:41,280 Speaker 1: little turbulence, which is not uncommon. And I don't know why, 467 00:27:41,800 --> 00:27:44,560 Speaker 1: like what happened in the cockpit that made him sign 468 00:27:44,640 --> 00:27:48,720 Speaker 1: off with oh I still think about that guy. Oh 469 00:27:48,840 --> 00:27:51,760 Speaker 1: you you Oh my god. Yeah, that would not for 470 00:27:51,880 --> 00:27:54,560 Speaker 1: certain people that have like phobia is about flying, Like 471 00:27:54,640 --> 00:27:57,040 Speaker 1: what what's the what? Like I would like I would 472 00:27:57,040 --> 00:27:58,720 Speaker 1: have gotten out of my seat and like, you know, 473 00:27:59,000 --> 00:28:03,280 Speaker 1: like asked for some assurances. But you know, like we said, 474 00:28:03,480 --> 00:28:06,720 Speaker 1: these results were we we we have several examples of 475 00:28:07,080 --> 00:28:09,680 Speaker 1: miraculous cures. We've got friends, we've got the two cases 476 00:28:09,720 --> 00:28:11,960 Speaker 1: we talked about. We've even got the Collie, which, by 477 00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:16,960 Speaker 1: the way, the Collie was the grandson of Calvin Coolidge's 478 00:28:17,080 --> 00:28:21,200 Speaker 1: White House Collie, according to this article in Smithsonian mag 479 00:28:21,680 --> 00:28:25,000 Speaker 1: I thought that was a fun little detail, completely irrelevant 480 00:28:25,080 --> 00:28:27,720 Speaker 1: to the case, but but worth noting, I suppose. So 481 00:28:29,080 --> 00:28:32,480 Speaker 1: we start to see that this is probably not the 482 00:28:32,600 --> 00:28:35,520 Speaker 1: mystical cure all that it's being made out to be 483 00:28:35,680 --> 00:28:38,800 Speaker 1: relatively quickly. I mean, it was a very short lived 484 00:28:39,200 --> 00:28:42,280 Speaker 1: kind of like fad, I guess this whole thing. So 485 00:28:42,480 --> 00:28:45,080 Speaker 1: I imagine people started kind of realizing, hey, it was 486 00:28:45,160 --> 00:28:47,760 Speaker 1: very expensive. Lindbergh would get fifty bucks for one of 487 00:28:47,800 --> 00:28:59,560 Speaker 1: those flights, which inflation calculators to seven hundred American dollars 488 00:28:59,680 --> 00:29:03,040 Speaker 1: and which just you know, no small change for someone 489 00:29:03,200 --> 00:29:05,240 Speaker 1: just trying a shot in the dark, you know, but 490 00:29:05,320 --> 00:29:08,680 Speaker 1: I guess if there's hope, then probably worth it. But 491 00:29:09,720 --> 00:29:12,160 Speaker 1: it starts to feel a little bit hustery, you know 492 00:29:12,200 --> 00:29:16,920 Speaker 1: what I mean. Yeah, this it's something that it's similar 493 00:29:16,960 --> 00:29:20,680 Speaker 1: to what we've run into with episodes on faith healing 494 00:29:22,040 --> 00:29:24,160 Speaker 1: was doing when it was working for stuff. Then once 495 00:29:24,160 --> 00:29:27,080 Speaker 1: you know, one of the things that we found is 496 00:29:27,200 --> 00:29:33,800 Speaker 1: that people can at times feel temporarily healed or cured 497 00:29:34,600 --> 00:29:38,920 Speaker 1: because they are in an environment that makes them perhaps 498 00:29:39,000 --> 00:29:43,880 Speaker 1: feel pure pressure, perhaps unconsciously nudges them to truly believe 499 00:29:43,960 --> 00:29:47,440 Speaker 1: that something has changed when it has not. And then later, 500 00:29:47,760 --> 00:29:50,320 Speaker 1: you know, after the rush of not dying in a 501 00:29:50,400 --> 00:29:53,600 Speaker 1: plane crash wears off, a lot of people found that 502 00:29:53,680 --> 00:30:00,400 Speaker 1: their conditions had not noticeably changed. And other papers started 503 00:30:00,800 --> 00:30:05,840 Speaker 1: reporting on this. The magazine Variety told the story anecdotal 504 00:30:06,000 --> 00:30:09,440 Speaker 1: about an acrobat who claimed he had regained his hearing 505 00:30:09,480 --> 00:30:13,200 Speaker 1: after a flight, but then a little bit later he 506 00:30:13,360 --> 00:30:18,520 Speaker 1: lost it again because a car near him backfired. In 507 00:30:18,640 --> 00:30:21,960 Speaker 1: the case of Rens, who was unable to speak and 508 00:30:22,040 --> 00:30:24,720 Speaker 1: then was able to speak after the plame flight, this 509 00:30:25,280 --> 00:30:30,520 Speaker 1: improvement appears to have only lasted about four days and 510 00:30:31,480 --> 00:30:34,360 Speaker 1: six weeks later, and goes to more and more specialists, 511 00:30:34,680 --> 00:30:38,000 Speaker 1: and he decides that he's gonna try this flight treatment, 512 00:30:38,120 --> 00:30:43,520 Speaker 1: this aerotherapy one more time, and now we know that 513 00:30:43,720 --> 00:30:47,280 Speaker 1: the second time, it also appears. He also appears to 514 00:30:47,320 --> 00:30:50,440 Speaker 1: have been able to speak afterwards. But there's no record 515 00:30:50,520 --> 00:30:53,719 Speaker 1: of how long this lasted, so hopefully it lasted from 516 00:30:53,720 --> 00:30:55,840 Speaker 1: the rest of his life. But the truth is we 517 00:30:56,000 --> 00:30:58,400 Speaker 1: just do not know. We don't know that. But we 518 00:30:58,520 --> 00:31:02,760 Speaker 1: do know is that this relatively short lived fad did 519 00:31:02,880 --> 00:31:05,800 Speaker 1: have a pretty definitive end point, and it was as 520 00:31:05,840 --> 00:31:15,240 Speaker 1: a result of some tragic events that took place in 521 00:31:15,480 --> 00:31:20,640 Speaker 1: April of h professional pianist in his mid forties who 522 00:31:20,800 --> 00:31:24,840 Speaker 1: was concerned that he was losing his hearing. It's obviously 523 00:31:24,880 --> 00:31:27,520 Speaker 1: a very important thing to have if you're a musician, 524 00:31:27,600 --> 00:31:29,560 Speaker 1: you know, whether a singer like you can't really it's 525 00:31:29,600 --> 00:31:33,080 Speaker 1: hard to have a pitch, you know, if you can't hear. Obviously, 526 00:31:33,160 --> 00:31:35,280 Speaker 1: we know that Beethoven made a pretty good go of it, 527 00:31:35,360 --> 00:31:37,360 Speaker 1: but it's certainly not optimum if that's like what you're 528 00:31:37,360 --> 00:31:40,280 Speaker 1: doing and you're a teacher or a composer. So um, 529 00:31:40,480 --> 00:31:45,120 Speaker 1: this individual decided to go for a round of aerotherapy 530 00:31:45,720 --> 00:31:49,880 Speaker 1: and unfortunately was killed in Eureka, California when the plane 531 00:31:50,120 --> 00:31:54,080 Speaker 1: that he hired did one of those super severe nose 532 00:31:54,160 --> 00:31:57,400 Speaker 1: dives and it caused one of the wings to collapse. 533 00:31:57,800 --> 00:32:00,239 Speaker 1: And and I just want to make sure you're one 534 00:32:00,440 --> 00:32:02,400 Speaker 1: remembers that a lot of the planes that were being 535 00:32:02,560 --> 00:32:04,920 Speaker 1: used in these types of you know, kind of flying 536 00:32:05,080 --> 00:32:08,440 Speaker 1: circus type events or these like stunt routines in the 537 00:32:08,560 --> 00:32:11,080 Speaker 1: nineteen twenties would have been the kind of planes that 538 00:32:11,160 --> 00:32:12,640 Speaker 1: you think of when you think of like the Red 539 00:32:12,720 --> 00:32:15,880 Speaker 1: Baron and like Charlie Brown, kind of these like biplanes, 540 00:32:15,920 --> 00:32:17,960 Speaker 1: I guess you'd call them, with the stacked wings, you know, 541 00:32:18,120 --> 00:32:22,080 Speaker 1: and oftentimes they were made with kind of like almost 542 00:32:22,760 --> 00:32:25,240 Speaker 1: they were you know, had a foundation. I assume it 543 00:32:25,320 --> 00:32:27,840 Speaker 1: was made of steel or metal of some kind, and 544 00:32:27,920 --> 00:32:30,120 Speaker 1: all of these wires, these kind of tension wires that 545 00:32:30,200 --> 00:32:33,800 Speaker 1: were keeping the stress evenly distributed. And I think sometimes 546 00:32:33,920 --> 00:32:36,680 Speaker 1: the wings were even covered with like a almost like 547 00:32:36,760 --> 00:32:39,480 Speaker 1: a tent type material, like a not burlap, but some 548 00:32:39,600 --> 00:32:41,760 Speaker 1: sort of like heavy fabric like that, And so I 549 00:32:41,800 --> 00:32:45,360 Speaker 1: can imagine that, you know, these were very very dangerous maneuvers. 550 00:32:45,640 --> 00:32:48,240 Speaker 1: And in fact, there's an article I found on history 551 00:32:48,320 --> 00:32:51,320 Speaker 1: dot net called Flying and Dying for Hollywood in the 552 00:32:51,400 --> 00:32:55,240 Speaker 1: nineteen twenties all about these uh intrepid, you know, stunt 553 00:32:55,280 --> 00:32:57,760 Speaker 1: pilots that were referred to as barn stormers, and how 554 00:32:58,040 --> 00:33:00,920 Speaker 1: many of them lost their lives. It was a very 555 00:33:01,000 --> 00:33:05,160 Speaker 1: very very dangerous business. Yeah. For a specific example, one 556 00:33:05,200 --> 00:33:08,960 Speaker 1: of the most notable planes of this era would have 557 00:33:09,080 --> 00:33:13,080 Speaker 1: been the Spirit of St. Louis, which is one of 558 00:33:13,120 --> 00:33:16,320 Speaker 1: the most famous planes Charles Lindberg flu was a Ryan 559 00:33:16,800 --> 00:33:19,720 Speaker 1: M two and there they look like how you described 560 00:33:19,800 --> 00:33:23,120 Speaker 1: in old They're like a fixed mono plane. The Spirit 561 00:33:23,160 --> 00:33:26,320 Speaker 1: of St. Louis was mainly notable for its pilot and 562 00:33:26,480 --> 00:33:30,320 Speaker 1: the extra fuel tanks that took up most of most 563 00:33:30,400 --> 00:33:33,920 Speaker 1: of the cabin. But yeah, you're right. In plane safety 564 00:33:34,640 --> 00:33:38,720 Speaker 1: and aviation technology has advanced so quickly since nineteen twenty, 565 00:33:39,080 --> 00:33:41,320 Speaker 1: and again we have to remember during these stories that 566 00:33:41,440 --> 00:33:44,360 Speaker 1: we're looking at an industry and a technology that is 567 00:33:44,400 --> 00:33:48,080 Speaker 1: still in a very real way in its infancy. And 568 00:33:48,680 --> 00:33:53,880 Speaker 1: another tragedy occurs. You can read about uh an airplane 569 00:33:53,920 --> 00:33:59,080 Speaker 1: accident involving a six year old boy who was hearing impaired. 570 00:34:00,160 --> 00:34:07,680 Speaker 1: This bad press. These tragedies, coupled with the lack of real, significant, 571 00:34:08,000 --> 00:34:13,880 Speaker 1: quantitative proof of efficacy, they contribute to the decline of 572 00:34:14,120 --> 00:34:20,399 Speaker 1: the fad. Various organizations and experts are starting to look 573 00:34:20,520 --> 00:34:23,960 Speaker 1: more closely into the treatment and they're saying, hey, airplane 574 00:34:24,040 --> 00:34:28,760 Speaker 1: rides may be fun, but you shouldn't you shouldn't assume 575 00:34:28,800 --> 00:34:31,800 Speaker 1: there's any science behind the claim that they can cure, 576 00:34:32,520 --> 00:34:35,919 Speaker 1: you know, all these different conditions. As a matter of fact, 577 00:34:35,920 --> 00:34:39,800 Speaker 1: the Journal of the American Medical Association called it quote 578 00:34:40,520 --> 00:34:45,680 Speaker 1: usually futile and often fatal. It's not a glowing review. No, 579 00:34:46,040 --> 00:34:49,160 Speaker 1: it wasn't a glowing review at all. And there were 580 00:34:49,400 --> 00:34:51,640 Speaker 1: even situations. I believe there is a case where a 581 00:34:51,680 --> 00:34:55,000 Speaker 1: gentleman had a stutter of some kind and another speech 582 00:34:55,000 --> 00:34:57,840 Speaker 1: impediments that we talked about where it actually caused it 583 00:34:57,920 --> 00:35:00,800 Speaker 1: stutter to worsen, you know. So it turns out that 584 00:35:00,920 --> 00:35:04,640 Speaker 1: sometimes if you have a psychological, psychologically driven condition, that 585 00:35:04,880 --> 00:35:07,480 Speaker 1: scaring the absolute crap out of you and putting you 586 00:35:07,680 --> 00:35:14,759 Speaker 1: in a life threatening traumatic situation might actually make things worse, exactly, 587 00:35:14,960 --> 00:35:20,160 Speaker 1: And this leads the overall press to become increasingly skeptical, 588 00:35:20,239 --> 00:35:24,880 Speaker 1: as you said. And then also stunt pilots have found 589 00:35:25,200 --> 00:35:28,839 Speaker 1: other ways to make a little cash, right, especially when 590 00:35:28,880 --> 00:35:32,840 Speaker 1: the Post Office starts using private contractors to carry airmail, 591 00:35:33,480 --> 00:35:35,879 Speaker 1: and that used to, once upon a time be something 592 00:35:36,000 --> 00:35:39,120 Speaker 1: only the military could do. So now now people aren't 593 00:35:39,160 --> 00:35:43,040 Speaker 1: trying to make a buck off this pretty unscrupulous practice, 594 00:35:43,440 --> 00:35:46,759 Speaker 1: but still people were. People were still trying it for 595 00:35:46,800 --> 00:35:50,239 Speaker 1: a while because there were there were people who had 596 00:35:50,560 --> 00:35:53,720 Speaker 1: children that were a hard of hearing or hearing impaired, 597 00:35:53,719 --> 00:35:57,120 Speaker 1: and they wanted those children to hear. And you know, 598 00:35:57,280 --> 00:36:00,840 Speaker 1: if your child is suffering from something, or if you 599 00:36:01,000 --> 00:36:04,280 Speaker 1: feel that they are suffering from something, didn't there's nothing 600 00:36:04,320 --> 00:36:06,680 Speaker 1: you wouldn't do to help your own kids. So that 601 00:36:06,880 --> 00:36:09,799 Speaker 1: that kind of explains why these continued despite the lack 602 00:36:09,920 --> 00:36:13,960 Speaker 1: of scientific evidence. That's true. But even the deaf community, 603 00:36:14,160 --> 00:36:17,200 Speaker 1: or at least you know, one of the primary journals 604 00:36:17,320 --> 00:36:21,279 Speaker 1: or publications surrounding them, the Deaf Mutes Journal, really took 605 00:36:21,400 --> 00:36:27,720 Speaker 1: issue with this pretty, you know, iffy and dangerous method 606 00:36:27,800 --> 00:36:31,600 Speaker 1: of potentially quote unquote curing their children of of deafness, 607 00:36:31,719 --> 00:36:34,480 Speaker 1: and they wrote, or the publishers of of the Deaf 608 00:36:34,560 --> 00:36:38,279 Speaker 1: Mutes Journal wrote that the parents are quote more to 609 00:36:38,360 --> 00:36:41,560 Speaker 1: blame than their deaf children, and if any catastrophe results 610 00:36:41,640 --> 00:36:45,399 Speaker 1: from stunt flying, the responsibility is largely there's We also 611 00:36:45,480 --> 00:36:48,400 Speaker 1: saw just a general turn from the press. You know. 612 00:36:49,000 --> 00:36:51,359 Speaker 1: There's a really great line, I believe in the Smithsonian 613 00:36:51,400 --> 00:36:54,640 Speaker 1: Maga article that we cited earlier, calling some of the 614 00:36:54,920 --> 00:36:58,360 Speaker 1: journalism around it like awe shucks or like gee whizz 615 00:36:58,600 --> 00:37:01,240 Speaker 1: kind of headlines, you know, the idea like this novel 616 00:37:01,360 --> 00:37:03,719 Speaker 1: new thing that's taken the world by stall, you know, 617 00:37:04,200 --> 00:37:07,160 Speaker 1: and just as quickly that crowd can turn on you. 618 00:37:07,320 --> 00:37:11,040 Speaker 1: And they certainly did, and they became much much more 619 00:37:11,120 --> 00:37:14,680 Speaker 1: skeptical and and then looking more at the science or 620 00:37:14,800 --> 00:37:18,200 Speaker 1: lack thereof to back any of this up. And we're printing, 621 00:37:18,760 --> 00:37:21,600 Speaker 1: for example, in a column from the nineteen thirties called 622 00:37:21,640 --> 00:37:25,320 Speaker 1: How's Your Health? The New York Academy of Medicine wrote 623 00:37:25,640 --> 00:37:29,040 Speaker 1: that an experiment that took place in Newark, New Jersey, 624 00:37:29,560 --> 00:37:35,000 Speaker 1: involving six adults chosen from sixty uh like a cohort 625 00:37:35,040 --> 00:37:38,480 Speaker 1: of sixty, that four of them, two men and two women, 626 00:37:38,960 --> 00:37:41,800 Speaker 1: had had deafness um, while the other had a middle 627 00:37:41,880 --> 00:37:46,240 Speaker 1: ear disease, and the sixth subject was a man who stuttered. 628 00:37:46,719 --> 00:37:49,919 Speaker 1: The column reported that after the flights, as I mentioned before, 629 00:37:50,040 --> 00:37:54,359 Speaker 1: the gentleman who stuttered, his stutter had worsened, as had 630 00:37:54,520 --> 00:37:56,759 Speaker 1: the middle ear case. Which makes sense considering what we 631 00:37:56,840 --> 00:37:58,520 Speaker 1: talked about at the top of the show, because a 632 00:37:58,640 --> 00:38:03,160 Speaker 1: middle ear issue um that could certainly be exacerbated by 633 00:38:03,239 --> 00:38:06,440 Speaker 1: what you know, the whole, like you know, changing in 634 00:38:06,560 --> 00:38:10,560 Speaker 1: fluid distribution in your ears that happens when you go 635 00:38:10,880 --> 00:38:15,719 Speaker 1: up to you know, an answer that yeah, save it 636 00:38:15,800 --> 00:38:19,920 Speaker 1: till the end. But yeah, yeah, yeah, this is this 637 00:38:20,120 --> 00:38:23,839 Speaker 1: is all true. It's all adding up. It becomes after 638 00:38:23,960 --> 00:38:28,480 Speaker 1: a point inarguable that the deaf person showed zero improvement 639 00:38:28,520 --> 00:38:33,359 Speaker 1: by the way, right right exactly, And so eventually these 640 00:38:33,480 --> 00:38:39,000 Speaker 1: reports cause a person named Lieutenant Colonel Levy M. Hathaway, 641 00:38:39,800 --> 00:38:41,960 Speaker 1: the chief medical officer of the Army Air Corps at 642 00:38:42,000 --> 00:38:45,200 Speaker 1: the time, to ask a question that I feel like 643 00:38:45,680 --> 00:38:48,520 Speaker 1: many of us have been wondering throughout the course of 644 00:38:48,600 --> 00:38:53,600 Speaker 1: this episode. I certainly have. How could flying be beneficial 645 00:38:54,360 --> 00:38:59,359 Speaker 1: for hearing impairment when flying in general is very bad 646 00:38:59,480 --> 00:39:02,520 Speaker 1: for your hearing at this time, over a long you know, 647 00:39:02,680 --> 00:39:06,160 Speaker 1: over a long period of exposure, the noises are crazy. 648 00:39:06,800 --> 00:39:12,319 Speaker 1: You're changing altitude and therefore atmospheric pressure pretty often if 649 00:39:12,400 --> 00:39:16,640 Speaker 1: you do this at certain extreme thresholds, this can burst 650 00:39:16,719 --> 00:39:20,000 Speaker 1: your ear drums. And there's no like, not only is 651 00:39:20,080 --> 00:39:23,759 Speaker 1: there no scientific basis for the idea that an airplane 652 00:39:24,080 --> 00:39:30,360 Speaker 1: flight can cure hearing impairments or speech impediments, but in 653 00:39:30,480 --> 00:39:33,759 Speaker 1: the case of hearing, the opposite is true in an 654 00:39:33,880 --> 00:39:37,360 Speaker 1: airplane especially Like imagine you're in an open cockpit airplane 655 00:39:37,719 --> 00:39:41,279 Speaker 1: and that's your job, You're a pilot. The ear protection 656 00:39:41,680 --> 00:39:44,960 Speaker 1: technology at the time is not super advanced. Over time, 657 00:39:45,400 --> 00:39:48,839 Speaker 1: it would be like being a drummer in a rock 658 00:39:48,920 --> 00:39:53,080 Speaker 1: band right in the sixties are seventies. Eventually the odds 659 00:39:53,120 --> 00:39:56,040 Speaker 1: are stacked against you in terms of keeping your hearing 660 00:39:56,320 --> 00:40:00,280 Speaker 1: in top shape. Yeah, so, uh, I mean, it's pretty 661 00:40:00,320 --> 00:40:04,279 Speaker 1: much what we indicated just from our own anecdotal experiences 662 00:40:04,320 --> 00:40:06,440 Speaker 1: with going up and down on airplanes that certainly can 663 00:40:06,560 --> 00:40:09,400 Speaker 1: cause problems. Uh, And i'd love to I can't wait 664 00:40:09,480 --> 00:40:12,520 Speaker 1: to hear your explanation for that weird inner ear phenomenon 665 00:40:12,600 --> 00:40:15,439 Speaker 1: that we experience when our ears pop or don't pop 666 00:40:15,680 --> 00:40:19,360 Speaker 1: or maybe never pop again, God forbid. But let's not 667 00:40:19,440 --> 00:40:23,160 Speaker 1: forget about our buddy Charles Lindbergh. You know, after his 668 00:40:23,400 --> 00:40:26,400 Speaker 1: time as a kind of like almost like a flying 669 00:40:26,520 --> 00:40:30,520 Speaker 1: circus performer and aerial stunt pilot, he went on to 670 00:40:30,920 --> 00:40:34,279 Speaker 1: make a legendary flight, long distance flight between New York 671 00:40:34,320 --> 00:40:38,960 Speaker 1: and Paris, uh, May of nineteen seven. So he was 672 00:40:39,040 --> 00:40:41,640 Speaker 1: kind of done with all of that stuff he did 673 00:40:41,680 --> 00:40:43,759 Speaker 1: in his previous life, so there were definitely gonna be 674 00:40:43,800 --> 00:40:46,880 Speaker 1: no more death flights for him. In addition to you know, 675 00:40:47,040 --> 00:40:50,480 Speaker 1: the whole what was it dangling from a rope underneath 676 00:40:50,520 --> 00:40:54,080 Speaker 1: the plant that sounded like absolute nightmare fuel, But he 677 00:40:54,640 --> 00:40:58,960 Speaker 1: became uh and an absolute national hero. Mental Floss has 678 00:40:59,000 --> 00:41:01,919 Speaker 1: a really great article if you're interested in about Charles 679 00:41:02,000 --> 00:41:05,080 Speaker 1: Lindberg in his life and some fascinating facts that you 680 00:41:05,160 --> 00:41:08,880 Speaker 1: might not know about him, um written by Jake Rawson. 681 00:41:09,360 --> 00:41:12,040 Speaker 1: And one of those facts is this the thing that 682 00:41:12,120 --> 00:41:13,920 Speaker 1: we allude to at the top of the show. His 683 00:41:14,080 --> 00:41:18,960 Speaker 1: infant son was kidnapped in two and that case remains 684 00:41:19,239 --> 00:41:23,239 Speaker 1: one of the most kind of head scratching unsolved true 685 00:41:23,280 --> 00:41:27,799 Speaker 1: crime stories of the early twentieth century. Yeah, and here 686 00:41:28,000 --> 00:41:34,880 Speaker 1: ends the tail of playing flights to cure these conditions. Luckily, 687 00:41:35,040 --> 00:41:39,080 Speaker 1: we know that there aren't unscrupulous pilots out there promising 688 00:41:39,320 --> 00:41:43,239 Speaker 1: to cure things they can't cure these days. But if 689 00:41:43,280 --> 00:41:45,680 Speaker 1: you were like many of the other millions of people 690 00:41:45,960 --> 00:41:48,880 Speaker 1: getting back on the road, traveling for work, traveling to 691 00:41:48,960 --> 00:41:52,239 Speaker 1: see family, or just taking a vacation, then you are 692 00:41:52,400 --> 00:41:57,040 Speaker 1: going to run into an ear pop situation. And a 693 00:41:57,120 --> 00:42:00,120 Speaker 1: lot of people knew the regular cures for this, the 694 00:42:00,280 --> 00:42:03,719 Speaker 1: idea that you need to talk or yawn or chew 695 00:42:03,880 --> 00:42:06,960 Speaker 1: gum things that move your jaw to pop your youth 696 00:42:07,000 --> 00:42:11,239 Speaker 1: station two that's legit. Uh, Sucking on candy could also work, 697 00:42:11,520 --> 00:42:14,200 Speaker 1: or you know, drinking something in the act of swallowing. 698 00:42:15,239 --> 00:42:19,160 Speaker 1: Other people will say, you can try a nasal decongestent 699 00:42:20,080 --> 00:42:23,480 Speaker 1: two offset swelling that might occur. But then there's the 700 00:42:23,520 --> 00:42:26,279 Speaker 1: one I always thought was so risky. I knew this 701 00:42:26,360 --> 00:42:28,000 Speaker 1: for years, I didn't know the name of it. Have 702 00:42:28,080 --> 00:42:32,080 Speaker 1: you guys heard of the valsalva maneuver. No tell us 703 00:42:32,080 --> 00:42:34,239 Speaker 1: about it that it sounds like a post rock band, 704 00:42:34,480 --> 00:42:37,319 Speaker 1: but it's it's where you you pinch your no shut 705 00:42:37,840 --> 00:42:40,000 Speaker 1: and then you suck at your cheeks, and while your 706 00:42:40,080 --> 00:42:45,000 Speaker 1: cheeks are still sucked in, you blow air out. I 707 00:42:45,120 --> 00:42:47,719 Speaker 1: tried that, then I tried that. I tried them all. 708 00:42:48,440 --> 00:42:50,839 Speaker 1: How about jamming Q tips in your ear holes? It's 709 00:42:50,880 --> 00:42:55,279 Speaker 1: not good, right, Definitely avoid those the official official Q 710 00:42:55,440 --> 00:42:57,879 Speaker 1: tip stances. Those things don't go in the ear hole. 711 00:42:58,360 --> 00:43:01,719 Speaker 1: But yeah, no, I definitely did that. What has it 712 00:43:01,840 --> 00:43:05,040 Speaker 1: been the eustaalst this method vulsulvan man, I don't know. 713 00:43:05,080 --> 00:43:07,040 Speaker 1: I just made up a word. Eustalls this. That's what 714 00:43:07,080 --> 00:43:08,800 Speaker 1: I'm gonna call it from now on. Um No, I 715 00:43:08,880 --> 00:43:11,719 Speaker 1: definitely did that. I was desperate and it didn't work. 716 00:43:12,040 --> 00:43:13,520 Speaker 1: I could kind you know what it would do That 717 00:43:13,600 --> 00:43:16,040 Speaker 1: was maddening. Then it would pop back for a second 718 00:43:16,320 --> 00:43:21,040 Speaker 1: and then return back to its muffled um nightmarishness. Uh, 719 00:43:21,120 --> 00:43:23,360 Speaker 1: it really was. I was concerned, like I did I 720 00:43:23,440 --> 00:43:25,239 Speaker 1: do permanent damage to my hearings. This is a time 721 00:43:25,280 --> 00:43:28,000 Speaker 1: where both of us were taking regular flights quite a 722 00:43:28,080 --> 00:43:30,759 Speaker 1: few times a month. Um, your to your point, I 723 00:43:30,840 --> 00:43:32,600 Speaker 1: think all that going up and down and up and 724 00:43:32,680 --> 00:43:35,400 Speaker 1: down really can do a number on you. I'm surprised 725 00:43:35,440 --> 00:43:38,359 Speaker 1: that there's not more information about, like how just taking 726 00:43:38,400 --> 00:43:40,680 Speaker 1: commercial flights. And I mean, I know they pressurized the cabin. 727 00:43:40,920 --> 00:43:44,480 Speaker 1: It's certainly different than being open, you know, in you know, 728 00:43:44,640 --> 00:43:47,959 Speaker 1: in the cockpit like you would these these stunt flying days. 729 00:43:48,200 --> 00:43:51,360 Speaker 1: But it still can't be amazing for you. Yeah, And 730 00:43:51,480 --> 00:43:54,960 Speaker 1: that's the thing. It's not so much the maximum altitude. 731 00:43:55,080 --> 00:43:59,239 Speaker 1: It's it's how much your altitude varies across I don't 732 00:43:59,239 --> 00:44:03,239 Speaker 1: know why I'm doing miming these gesticulations for you guys, 733 00:44:03,320 --> 00:44:06,000 Speaker 1: this an audio podcast, but it's it's how often did 734 00:44:06,040 --> 00:44:08,040 Speaker 1: it change? You get it, Max, It's how often your 735 00:44:08,080 --> 00:44:11,520 Speaker 1: altitude changes in the course of the flight. With that, 736 00:44:11,640 --> 00:44:14,319 Speaker 1: we hope you enjoyed today's show. We'd love to hear 737 00:44:14,400 --> 00:44:17,919 Speaker 1: your tales of ear popping flights. Go ahead and drop 738 00:44:18,040 --> 00:44:21,880 Speaker 1: us a line on Ridiculous Historians, which is our Facebook page. 739 00:44:22,640 --> 00:44:27,320 Speaker 1: Thanks as always to Max Williams thinks as always to 740 00:44:28,520 --> 00:44:31,120 Speaker 1: let's see let's put Jonathan Strickland in the front this time. 741 00:44:31,480 --> 00:44:34,839 Speaker 1: I wonder you know he flies a lot, he does 742 00:44:34,960 --> 00:44:36,759 Speaker 1: He also just had a birthday and I commented on 743 00:44:36,840 --> 00:44:41,080 Speaker 1: this Instagram post and an intrepid listener accused our rivalry 744 00:44:41,160 --> 00:44:43,560 Speaker 1: of being fake. And let me tell you, you know, 745 00:44:44,160 --> 00:44:47,040 Speaker 1: there's nothing wrong with a little cordiality, even among the 746 00:44:47,120 --> 00:44:50,760 Speaker 1: most bitter rivals. Yeah, it's like the rules of engagement 747 00:44:50,800 --> 00:44:52,600 Speaker 1: in warfare. You know, you gotta have some kind of 748 00:44:53,320 --> 00:44:56,439 Speaker 1: This is what separates us from the animals, right, Yeah, yeah. 749 00:44:56,560 --> 00:44:59,399 Speaker 1: I texted him, I said he had a good run. 750 00:45:00,280 --> 00:45:03,480 Speaker 1: Did you did you put any heavy passive aggressive punctuation? 751 00:45:03,560 --> 00:45:05,240 Speaker 1: And they're like a period at the end of the text. 752 00:45:05,719 --> 00:45:08,160 Speaker 1: Is that heavy? To me? It is? I don't know why. 753 00:45:08,280 --> 00:45:10,239 Speaker 1: Maybe I'm the only one. But whenever someone to like 754 00:45:10,440 --> 00:45:13,000 Speaker 1: like punctuates a text correctly, it ends it with a period. 755 00:45:13,200 --> 00:45:16,000 Speaker 1: I think they're definitely mad at me. I appreciate it. 756 00:45:16,200 --> 00:45:18,000 Speaker 1: I think they're going they're going out of the way, 757 00:45:18,160 --> 00:45:21,600 Speaker 1: you know. But but I could see text messaging itself 758 00:45:21,760 --> 00:45:25,680 Speaker 1: is weird because you're removing two of the biggest components 759 00:45:25,719 --> 00:45:29,360 Speaker 1: of human communication, which sent to nation and body language. 760 00:45:29,480 --> 00:45:32,279 Speaker 1: So it's very easy misery. But we don't have to 761 00:45:32,320 --> 00:45:36,000 Speaker 1: worry about that because odds are one way or another, 762 00:45:36,800 --> 00:45:38,799 Speaker 1: no matter where we go. No matter where we fly, 763 00:45:39,040 --> 00:45:42,120 Speaker 1: the whister will run into us again soon, won't he 764 00:45:42,520 --> 00:45:45,200 Speaker 1: be sure? Will so you know, thanks to him for that, 765 00:45:45,480 --> 00:45:48,760 Speaker 1: I suppose, And happy birthday. Huge thanks to Max Williams 766 00:45:48,800 --> 00:45:52,840 Speaker 1: Alex Williams who composed our theme, Christopher Haciots Here in Spirit, 767 00:45:52,920 --> 00:45:55,360 Speaker 1: Eve's Jeff Coats doing great things out there in the 768 00:45:55,400 --> 00:45:58,239 Speaker 1: podcast world. Check out j dot Ill the podcast The Show, 769 00:45:58,280 --> 00:46:01,440 Speaker 1: which she is very hands on with as an executive producer. 770 00:46:01,760 --> 00:46:03,880 Speaker 1: And the last shout out I'd like to give today 771 00:46:04,520 --> 00:46:08,520 Speaker 1: is to the amazing flight cruise, the pilots, the attendants, 772 00:46:08,719 --> 00:46:11,560 Speaker 1: the people on the ground getting us into the sky, 773 00:46:11,719 --> 00:46:14,799 Speaker 1: especially flight attendants. You have to put up with so much. 774 00:46:14,880 --> 00:46:19,520 Speaker 1: If you're on a flight soon, folks, please just give 775 00:46:19,600 --> 00:46:24,080 Speaker 1: those people some slack. They're they're working hard in crazy circumstances. Totally, 776 00:46:24,200 --> 00:46:27,440 Speaker 1: and uh, don't don't die on the hill of wearing 777 00:46:27,480 --> 00:46:29,520 Speaker 1: the mask on the flight. You know, it's not about you. 778 00:46:29,760 --> 00:46:31,600 Speaker 1: Just just do the thing. It's not gonna be forever. 779 00:46:31,880 --> 00:46:36,400 Speaker 1: It's uncomfortable for everyone, but yeah, bring him stacks that 780 00:46:36,840 --> 00:46:45,960 Speaker 1: we'll see an act that folks. For more podcasts for 781 00:46:46,040 --> 00:46:48,840 Speaker 1: my Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app. Apple podcasts, 782 00:46:48,920 --> 00:46:51,040 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.