1 00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:05,360 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind production of My 2 00:00:05,480 --> 00:00:14,800 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hey you welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 3 00:00:14,960 --> 00:00:17,840 Speaker 1: My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick. In. 4 00:00:17,960 --> 00:00:20,840 Speaker 1: Today we're back with part three of our series on 5 00:00:21,040 --> 00:00:26,000 Speaker 1: naturally fueled flames and smolderings and burnings that come from 6 00:00:26,079 --> 00:00:29,600 Speaker 1: the earth itself or from the rocks. So in the 7 00:00:29,720 --> 00:00:33,479 Speaker 1: last episode of this series, we talked about the Burning 8 00:00:33,560 --> 00:00:38,199 Speaker 1: Mountain or Mount Wingin in Australia down in New South Wales, 9 00:00:38,960 --> 00:00:42,440 Speaker 1: which is an example of a naturally fueled type of 10 00:00:42,440 --> 00:00:46,440 Speaker 1: fire called a coal seam fire, a place where coal 11 00:00:46,520 --> 00:00:50,760 Speaker 1: formations underground are set on fire and then continue to 12 00:00:50,800 --> 00:00:52,640 Speaker 1: burn as long as they can, as long as they 13 00:00:52,640 --> 00:00:56,200 Speaker 1: have access to oxygen. Probably, and while there's no way 14 00:00:56,200 --> 00:00:59,440 Speaker 1: to know for sure, Mount Windin has been proposed as 15 00:00:59,480 --> 00:01:04,280 Speaker 1: as potentially the longest burning fire on Earth. Though. It's 16 00:01:04,319 --> 00:01:08,039 Speaker 1: interesting because today, as we discussed last time, there's no 17 00:01:08,360 --> 00:01:10,920 Speaker 1: fire that you can see at the surface. There's only 18 00:01:10,959 --> 00:01:15,759 Speaker 1: this large patch of bleached and baked soil which can 19 00:01:15,800 --> 00:01:18,760 Speaker 1: be hot to the touch, and or at least parts 20 00:01:18,760 --> 00:01:21,399 Speaker 1: of it can, and it's a devoid of plant life 21 00:01:21,440 --> 00:01:23,480 Speaker 1: within this patch, and then of course, all around it 22 00:01:23,480 --> 00:01:26,520 Speaker 1: there are these interesting sort of there's like a war 23 00:01:26,680 --> 00:01:29,320 Speaker 1: for survival at the border of this burned region, so 24 00:01:29,360 --> 00:01:32,560 Speaker 1: you'll see, like you know, grass is trying to survive, 25 00:01:32,680 --> 00:01:36,240 Speaker 1: and then these bleached tree trunks that are long dead 26 00:01:36,280 --> 00:01:39,560 Speaker 1: but still standing. And then also around this area you 27 00:01:39,640 --> 00:01:42,800 Speaker 1: find these deep cracks or crevices in the earth, out 28 00:01:42,800 --> 00:01:46,640 Speaker 1: of which poor smoke and sulfurous fumes. So the fire 29 00:01:46,760 --> 00:01:49,160 Speaker 1: is burning, but it's burning in the deep. It's burning 30 00:01:49,200 --> 00:01:53,280 Speaker 1: out of sight down inside the mountain, fed by oxygen 31 00:01:53,360 --> 00:01:57,880 Speaker 1: from the surface. And nobody knows how the fire inside 32 00:01:57,880 --> 00:02:01,480 Speaker 1: mountain engine got started, but it's presumed to be a 33 00:02:01,520 --> 00:02:05,480 Speaker 1: result of some form of natural ignition. Maybe the coal 34 00:02:05,560 --> 00:02:09,160 Speaker 1: at the surface underwent a chemical reaction leading to spontaneous 35 00:02:09,160 --> 00:02:13,800 Speaker 1: combustion or or auto ignition as it's called, or maybe 36 00:02:13,880 --> 00:02:17,359 Speaker 1: it was struck by lightning or by a brush fire, 37 00:02:17,560 --> 00:02:20,920 Speaker 1: but we don't really know. However, there are many other 38 00:02:20,960 --> 00:02:25,040 Speaker 1: coal seam fires that have mostly in one way or another, 39 00:02:25,280 --> 00:02:29,560 Speaker 1: been created by human behavior, and a big example here 40 00:02:29,680 --> 00:02:34,160 Speaker 1: is coal mine fires. Fires the fires in a coal 41 00:02:34,200 --> 00:02:37,880 Speaker 1: seam that gets started one way or another because of 42 00:02:38,080 --> 00:02:40,880 Speaker 1: mining there, and they're actually a number of these that 43 00:02:40,960 --> 00:02:44,000 Speaker 1: are that are still burning throughout the world today. I'm 44 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:46,520 Speaker 1: trying to remember if I know any coal mining songs 45 00:02:46,600 --> 00:02:50,720 Speaker 1: about coal mine fires. There's some really good like mining 46 00:02:50,760 --> 00:02:53,919 Speaker 1: town folk songs and whatnot, that I can't remember any 47 00:02:53,960 --> 00:02:57,400 Speaker 1: offhand that mentioned fires. The real good coal mining folk songs. 48 00:02:57,400 --> 00:03:00,639 Speaker 1: I know, we're like union songs. Yeah, same yeah, high 49 00:03:00,720 --> 00:03:04,760 Speaker 1: Sheriff of hazard and so forth. Which side are you on? Yeah, yeah, yeah, 50 00:03:04,760 --> 00:03:07,280 Speaker 1: that's that sort of thing. Well, yeah, those are great songs, 51 00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:08,680 Speaker 1: but I don't know if any of them that mentioned 52 00:03:08,680 --> 00:03:11,920 Speaker 1: a coal seam fire. However, I did actually find a 53 00:03:11,960 --> 00:03:15,200 Speaker 1: poem that mentions a coal seam fire, and not just 54 00:03:15,320 --> 00:03:17,760 Speaker 1: any coal seam fire, but the one that I was 55 00:03:17,800 --> 00:03:20,720 Speaker 1: specifically about to talk about, because so there's a very 56 00:03:20,760 --> 00:03:24,919 Speaker 1: famous example in the United States of a coal seam 57 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:28,680 Speaker 1: fire that's been burning for decades and it is situated 58 00:03:28,760 --> 00:03:33,320 Speaker 1: underneath the town of Centralia, Pennsylvania. The poem I found 59 00:03:33,440 --> 00:03:36,960 Speaker 1: was won by a poet named Leonard Cress, called the 60 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:40,520 Speaker 1: Centralia mind Fire, and I thought it was really pretty great. 61 00:03:40,560 --> 00:03:44,520 Speaker 1: It uh. It talks about the town being the shrine 62 00:03:44,560 --> 00:03:49,160 Speaker 1: of the Holy Order of Anthracite, and the last four 63 00:03:49,200 --> 00:03:52,400 Speaker 1: lines of the poem read, the odors of bottom damp 64 00:03:52,440 --> 00:03:55,760 Speaker 1: and methane no longer reek into the streets and ignite. 65 00:03:56,040 --> 00:03:59,840 Speaker 1: The underground tunnels burn, and each vein of coal potential 66 00:04:00,120 --> 00:04:03,800 Speaker 1: use leads to another domain. Oh nice, this is a 67 00:04:03,840 --> 00:04:07,080 Speaker 1: contemporary poet. By the way, Um, yeah, they have a 68 00:04:07,080 --> 00:04:10,480 Speaker 1: website Leonard craft dot com. So the town of Centralia 69 00:04:10,560 --> 00:04:13,680 Speaker 1: is in eastern Pennsylvania. It was settled in the mid 70 00:04:13,680 --> 00:04:17,200 Speaker 1: eighteen hundreds and being situated over a large coal formation. 71 00:04:17,640 --> 00:04:19,719 Speaker 1: I think for most of its history it was a 72 00:04:19,800 --> 00:04:23,119 Speaker 1: town where the local economy was based around a coal mine, 73 00:04:23,480 --> 00:04:26,919 Speaker 1: which would not be uncommon in places like Pennsylvania or 74 00:04:26,960 --> 00:04:29,279 Speaker 1: West Virginia, places in the U s where there there's 75 00:04:29,520 --> 00:04:32,800 Speaker 1: a lot of coal and settlements can grow up around 76 00:04:33,279 --> 00:04:36,680 Speaker 1: the extraction industry based on that coal. It was never 77 00:04:36,720 --> 00:04:39,840 Speaker 1: a huge city. I think in the early nineteen sixties 78 00:04:39,880 --> 00:04:43,080 Speaker 1: the town had some a little over two thousand residents, 79 00:04:43,120 --> 00:04:47,080 Speaker 1: I believe. But things started changing in the year nineteen 80 00:04:47,200 --> 00:04:51,640 Speaker 1: sixty two when part of the coal seam that formed 81 00:04:51,680 --> 00:04:56,200 Speaker 1: the town's industrial base caught fire. Now there's still apparently 82 00:04:56,279 --> 00:05:00,479 Speaker 1: disagreement about exactly how it caught fire. One idea UH 83 00:05:00,600 --> 00:05:03,159 Speaker 1: I read is that it happened to because of a 84 00:05:03,279 --> 00:05:07,240 Speaker 1: pre existing coal seam fire from a neighboring region that 85 00:05:07,440 --> 00:05:11,039 Speaker 1: spread slowly over several decades until it made contact with 86 00:05:11,120 --> 00:05:14,080 Speaker 1: the Centralia seam and then just burned on from there. 87 00:05:14,160 --> 00:05:17,680 Speaker 1: But I think that's a minority position. The more commonly 88 00:05:17,720 --> 00:05:22,880 Speaker 1: cited explanations involve a garbage dump, and so the idea 89 00:05:22,920 --> 00:05:26,960 Speaker 1: is that the coal caught fire either when a scheduled 90 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:31,160 Speaker 1: trash burn at a local landfill penetrated the mine tunnels 91 00:05:31,200 --> 00:05:34,920 Speaker 1: and managed to ignite the coal, or possibly when some 92 00:05:35,040 --> 00:05:38,919 Speaker 1: kind of hot ash or coal was dumped directly into 93 00:05:38,960 --> 00:05:41,920 Speaker 1: the pit and set the coal burning. Either way, it's 94 00:05:41,960 --> 00:05:43,760 Speaker 1: a good example to think about, how if you've got 95 00:05:44,400 --> 00:05:47,240 Speaker 1: open deposits of coal that are that are exposed to 96 00:05:47,240 --> 00:05:49,719 Speaker 1: the atmosphere, you really don't want to be burning stuff 97 00:05:49,760 --> 00:05:53,080 Speaker 1: near that. Yeah, Yeah, trying to imagine this sort of yeah, 98 00:05:53,080 --> 00:05:56,440 Speaker 1: the apocalyptic scenario where the your your garbage fires meet 99 00:05:56,520 --> 00:06:00,880 Speaker 1: your your your coal mine tunnels. Yeah. And so apparently 100 00:06:00,920 --> 00:06:03,520 Speaker 1: the locals knew there was a fire in the mines 101 00:06:03,640 --> 00:06:06,640 Speaker 1: beginning in nineteen sixty two, but didn't quite realize what 102 00:06:06,680 --> 00:06:10,039 Speaker 1: a problem it was until years later, around the late 103 00:06:10,080 --> 00:06:12,919 Speaker 1: seventies and early eighties, and there are a few touch 104 00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:16,160 Speaker 1: points here. One story from nineteen seventy nine that I've 105 00:06:16,160 --> 00:06:20,240 Speaker 1: seen in multiple sources is that there was a local 106 00:06:20,320 --> 00:06:23,640 Speaker 1: gas station owner named John Coddington, who was also the 107 00:06:23,680 --> 00:06:26,520 Speaker 1: mayor of the town, who one day went out to 108 00:06:26,720 --> 00:06:29,560 Speaker 1: check the levels in his underground storage tanks. So when 109 00:06:29,560 --> 00:06:31,320 Speaker 1: you go to a gas station, you know, you get 110 00:06:31,320 --> 00:06:34,240 Speaker 1: out the pump. The gas is being pumped up from 111 00:06:34,240 --> 00:06:37,280 Speaker 1: these big tanks under the ground that's where the gas lives. 112 00:06:37,360 --> 00:06:39,719 Speaker 1: And something seemed off, I guess when he was checking 113 00:06:39,720 --> 00:06:41,800 Speaker 1: the levels in the tanks. So he ended up checking 114 00:06:41,800 --> 00:06:44,919 Speaker 1: the temperature in the storage tanks and found that the 115 00:06:44,960 --> 00:06:49,599 Speaker 1: gasoline was a hundred and seventy two degrees fahrenheit. Yeah, 116 00:06:49,800 --> 00:06:52,760 Speaker 1: yikes uh, And this did make me wonder. I was like, wait, 117 00:06:52,880 --> 00:06:57,080 Speaker 1: what is the auto ignition temperature of gasoline? Because I 118 00:06:57,160 --> 00:06:59,120 Speaker 1: might have guessed that if you heat gasolene up to 119 00:06:59,160 --> 00:07:02,280 Speaker 1: one seventy two degree fahrenheit in the presence of oxygen, 120 00:07:02,480 --> 00:07:05,640 Speaker 1: that would be close to it automatically igniting on its own. 121 00:07:05,760 --> 00:07:09,080 Speaker 1: But I checked and no, my intuition was way off. 122 00:07:09,120 --> 00:07:11,760 Speaker 1: I see some pretty different numbers, but they're all much 123 00:07:11,840 --> 00:07:15,360 Speaker 1: higher than this. A website called engineering toolbox dot com 124 00:07:15,480 --> 00:07:18,920 Speaker 1: suggests that the auto ignition temperature of gasoline is more 125 00:07:18,960 --> 00:07:21,640 Speaker 1: like four seventy five to five thirty six degrees fahrenheit 126 00:07:21,760 --> 00:07:24,920 Speaker 1: or to forty six to eighties celsius. So so it 127 00:07:25,040 --> 00:07:28,520 Speaker 1: wasn't gonna catch fire on its own, but that's still freaky. Yeah, 128 00:07:28,560 --> 00:07:31,800 Speaker 1: And quick disclaimer out there, please do not try and 129 00:07:31,800 --> 00:07:37,000 Speaker 1: heat up gasoline. Oh no, don't test out these numbers. Yeah, 130 00:07:37,280 --> 00:07:39,400 Speaker 1: this is not an experiment to perform in your kitchen. 131 00:07:39,840 --> 00:07:42,440 Speaker 1: In fact, just don't ever take gasoline inside your house. 132 00:07:43,800 --> 00:07:46,040 Speaker 1: But so that was seventy nine. But then a real 133 00:07:46,120 --> 00:07:49,640 Speaker 1: turning point seemed to come in ninet one when a 134 00:07:49,640 --> 00:07:53,520 Speaker 1: local boy who was twelve years old was nearly swallowed 135 00:07:53,600 --> 00:07:56,120 Speaker 1: up and killed. He managed to survive, but he was 136 00:07:56,240 --> 00:08:00,640 Speaker 1: nearly swallowed by the sudden collapse of a sinkhole created 137 00:08:00,720 --> 00:08:04,160 Speaker 1: by the coal seam fire. And so for a contemporary 138 00:08:04,240 --> 00:08:07,160 Speaker 1: report on this, I found an AP article published on 139 00:08:07,240 --> 00:08:14,000 Speaker 1: February nineteen one called Pennsylvania Fearful fire Rages for nineteen years. 140 00:08:14,560 --> 00:08:16,840 Speaker 1: This is a This is a I mean, it's a 141 00:08:16,880 --> 00:08:19,600 Speaker 1: serious story, don't get me wrong. But also the writing 142 00:08:19,680 --> 00:08:23,320 Speaker 1: in this little news pieces, uh really drives home the dread. 143 00:08:24,040 --> 00:08:27,000 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, uh yeah. So its It starts off talking 144 00:08:27,040 --> 00:08:30,240 Speaker 1: about opinions of locals about you know, being exposed to 145 00:08:30,280 --> 00:08:32,440 Speaker 1: the fumes coming out of this mine and stuff. And 146 00:08:32,440 --> 00:08:33,760 Speaker 1: maybe I can come back to that in a minute, 147 00:08:33,800 --> 00:08:35,520 Speaker 1: but first I want to tell the story of this 148 00:08:36,360 --> 00:08:38,520 Speaker 1: what happened to this twelve year old boy. So the 149 00:08:38,960 --> 00:08:43,120 Speaker 1: article reads quote townspeople said an accident Saturday is heightened 150 00:08:43,200 --> 00:08:46,000 Speaker 1: their fears, leading to a new flurry of government interest. 151 00:08:46,520 --> 00:08:51,240 Speaker 1: Todd Domboski, twelve, was playing in his grandmother's backyard a 152 00:08:51,280 --> 00:08:54,400 Speaker 1: few houses from his home when he went to investigate 153 00:08:54,440 --> 00:08:59,200 Speaker 1: a tiny whiff of smoke. The ground beneath him collapsed instantly, 154 00:08:59,360 --> 00:09:03,160 Speaker 1: The youth engulfed in a hot, stinking tangle of dirt 155 00:09:03,200 --> 00:09:07,040 Speaker 1: and tree roots. Escaping when his older cousin pulled him out, 156 00:09:07,600 --> 00:09:12,120 Speaker 1: Todd fell about six feet before grabbing the roots. Florence Dumbosky, 157 00:09:12,240 --> 00:09:15,920 Speaker 1: Todd's mother praised her fourteen year old nephew, Eric Wolfgang, 158 00:09:16,280 --> 00:09:19,080 Speaker 1: who was swift and strong enough to reach into the hole, 159 00:09:19,280 --> 00:09:22,800 Speaker 1: grabbed Todd's arm and pull him to safety. A temperature 160 00:09:22,840 --> 00:09:25,760 Speaker 1: of three hundred and fifty degrees was recorded in the hole. 161 00:09:26,120 --> 00:09:29,560 Speaker 1: Its depth was not known, and I did look it up. 162 00:09:29,600 --> 00:09:33,280 Speaker 1: More recent articles mentioned that the sinkhole was later measured 163 00:09:33,320 --> 00:09:35,199 Speaker 1: and it was a hundred and fifty feet deep for 164 00:09:35,240 --> 00:09:39,520 Speaker 1: about forty fives and choked with carbon monoxide throughout. So, 165 00:09:39,880 --> 00:09:42,400 Speaker 1: if you can imagine this, You're just standing on what 166 00:09:42,440 --> 00:09:44,560 Speaker 1: you believe to be solid ground, and the ground beneath 167 00:09:44,600 --> 00:09:48,400 Speaker 1: you just collapses. It just opens up, and uh and 168 00:09:48,400 --> 00:09:51,360 Speaker 1: and you're you're grabbing at tree roots that are protruding 169 00:09:51,480 --> 00:09:54,400 Speaker 1: from the dirt, and uh, you managed to get ahold 170 00:09:54,400 --> 00:09:56,840 Speaker 1: of it, but down below you is just a pit 171 00:09:56,960 --> 00:10:01,000 Speaker 1: into nothingness with with fumes of he l coughing out. 172 00:10:01,520 --> 00:10:05,920 Speaker 1: Absolutely biblical. Um. There's another great paragraph in this, uh, 173 00:10:06,040 --> 00:10:09,880 Speaker 1: this ap story that reads, quote feeding on timbers, coal 174 00:10:10,000 --> 00:10:14,439 Speaker 1: and gas in a maze of abandoned anthracize tunnels that 175 00:10:14,600 --> 00:10:18,360 Speaker 1: date back to the eighteen eighties. The creeping inferno is 176 00:10:18,400 --> 00:10:22,240 Speaker 1: believed to have spread beneath forty acres despite repeated attempts 177 00:10:22,240 --> 00:10:24,840 Speaker 1: to curb it. Yeah, so this article, part of what 178 00:10:24,920 --> 00:10:28,400 Speaker 1: it's reporting on is attempts to put out the mind 179 00:10:28,480 --> 00:10:31,880 Speaker 1: fire that have failed. I think at the time this 180 00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:34,400 Speaker 1: was written already more than three and a half million 181 00:10:34,440 --> 00:10:36,760 Speaker 1: dollars had been spent on trying to fight the fire, 182 00:10:36,840 --> 00:10:39,480 Speaker 1: and to no avail. It just didn't work, and so 183 00:10:39,520 --> 00:10:41,959 Speaker 1: Another thing this article cites is quotes from local towns 184 00:10:42,000 --> 00:10:44,440 Speaker 1: people talking about their fears about the mind fire. Like 185 00:10:44,520 --> 00:10:47,600 Speaker 1: one says that it's kind of scary going to sleep 186 00:10:47,640 --> 00:10:49,600 Speaker 1: at night and not knowing if you'll wake up in 187 00:10:49,640 --> 00:10:52,559 Speaker 1: the morning because you've been poisoned in your sleep by 188 00:10:52,600 --> 00:10:55,840 Speaker 1: fumes from the mine. And it quotes a local teacher 189 00:10:55,960 --> 00:10:58,920 Speaker 1: named Bob Goodinski who says, we feel like rats in 190 00:10:58,960 --> 00:11:01,520 Speaker 1: a laboratory. No one knows what the effect of the 191 00:11:01,559 --> 00:11:04,720 Speaker 1: carbon monoxide is going to be in the future. The children, 192 00:11:04,880 --> 00:11:07,439 Speaker 1: what will be the effect on them. All of this, 193 00:11:07,640 --> 00:11:10,160 Speaker 1: I mean all all this sounds like something you'd encounter 194 00:11:10,240 --> 00:11:11,920 Speaker 1: in a in a horror movie, except it is. It 195 00:11:12,040 --> 00:11:16,160 Speaker 1: is real life. It's a real life, horrible situation. Concerned 196 00:11:16,200 --> 00:11:19,880 Speaker 1: for the children, the creeping darkness beneath the uh, the earth, 197 00:11:20,400 --> 00:11:24,760 Speaker 1: eruptions preying on the innocent. Yeah. Another quote it gives 198 00:11:24,840 --> 00:11:28,160 Speaker 1: is from a resident named Sally Sulik, who says, my 199 00:11:28,280 --> 00:11:31,760 Speaker 1: nose burns my eyes here, I'm like a zombie. I 200 00:11:31,840 --> 00:11:34,280 Speaker 1: just feel like going to sleep all the time. If 201 00:11:34,280 --> 00:11:37,280 Speaker 1: they don't soon do something for us, they'll drive us crazy. 202 00:11:38,400 --> 00:11:41,440 Speaker 1: So in the years since, the population of Centralia has 203 00:11:41,480 --> 00:11:45,679 Speaker 1: been steeply declining. It basically I think between nineteen eight 204 00:11:45,760 --> 00:11:48,360 Speaker 1: and two thousand and declined to almost nothing as the 205 00:11:48,400 --> 00:11:52,559 Speaker 1: residents moved away. The local homeowners were offered buyouts from 206 00:11:52,559 --> 00:11:56,280 Speaker 1: the government to to relocate, and then at some point 207 00:11:56,320 --> 00:11:59,680 Speaker 1: the government essentially condemned the all of the property in 208 00:11:59,760 --> 00:12:01,920 Speaker 1: town on by way of imminent domain. There were a 209 00:12:01,920 --> 00:12:06,280 Speaker 1: few residents left who didn't want to leave, but most 210 00:12:06,320 --> 00:12:08,920 Speaker 1: of the recent articles I read mentioned only like a 211 00:12:08,960 --> 00:12:11,240 Speaker 1: handful of people still living in the area, fewer than 212 00:12:11,280 --> 00:12:14,120 Speaker 1: ten and uh and apparently nobody is going to be 213 00:12:14,160 --> 00:12:17,200 Speaker 1: allowed to move to the area, So it's just it's 214 00:12:17,240 --> 00:12:19,280 Speaker 1: just those people there as long as they stay or 215 00:12:19,360 --> 00:12:23,000 Speaker 1: until their deaths. Another thing that struck me about the 216 00:12:23,000 --> 00:12:26,120 Speaker 1: story is I was reading an article in Atlas Obscura 217 00:12:26,200 --> 00:12:29,080 Speaker 1: by a freelance writer based out of Pennsylvania named Jim 218 00:12:29,200 --> 00:12:32,599 Speaker 1: Cheney who was writing up the history of the Centralia 219 00:12:32,640 --> 00:12:35,440 Speaker 1: fire but also had been there and taking a bunch 220 00:12:35,440 --> 00:12:37,920 Speaker 1: of pictures on the scene, and there was one that 221 00:12:37,960 --> 00:12:41,600 Speaker 1: struck me as really interesting. It was a picture of 222 00:12:42,520 --> 00:12:45,800 Speaker 1: what the author says are the remains of Route sixty one, 223 00:12:46,400 --> 00:12:49,440 Speaker 1: which is a section of roadway a highway that's now 224 00:12:49,480 --> 00:12:53,360 Speaker 1: abandoned since it was re routed elsewhere. And if you 225 00:12:53,400 --> 00:12:55,880 Speaker 1: look at the pictures you can see why. Right down 226 00:12:55,960 --> 00:12:59,280 Speaker 1: the middle of the road is a gigantic crack, like 227 00:12:59,320 --> 00:13:04,240 Speaker 1: again like bad earthquake movie, uh and the so the 228 00:13:04,360 --> 00:13:07,280 Speaker 1: road is just sort of split down the middle. And 229 00:13:07,480 --> 00:13:10,480 Speaker 1: it actually reminded me a bit of the cracks and 230 00:13:10,520 --> 00:13:13,440 Speaker 1: crevices that have been forming in Mount Wingin for the 231 00:13:13,480 --> 00:13:15,520 Speaker 1: past six thousand years or more when you look at 232 00:13:15,559 --> 00:13:18,440 Speaker 1: the pictures of that. I don't know the exact cause 233 00:13:18,440 --> 00:13:20,640 Speaker 1: of every surface feature we're looking at here, but if 234 00:13:20,679 --> 00:13:22,200 Speaker 1: I had to guess, I would say this is probably 235 00:13:22,240 --> 00:13:25,800 Speaker 1: some kind of collapse caused by the by the burning 236 00:13:25,800 --> 00:13:28,520 Speaker 1: out that's going on underneath the surface, just like we 237 00:13:28,600 --> 00:13:30,640 Speaker 1: saw in these other cases, or like would have caused 238 00:13:30,679 --> 00:13:35,280 Speaker 1: the sinkhole. Now. Of course, sometimes um real life tragedy 239 00:13:35,800 --> 00:13:40,040 Speaker 1: does inspire great art. It's worth noting that the town 240 00:13:40,040 --> 00:13:45,679 Speaker 1: of Centralia inspired the fictional town of vulcan Vania UH 241 00:13:45,720 --> 00:13:51,520 Speaker 1: in the film Nothing But trouble Really, Dan dan Ackroid's 242 00:13:51,679 --> 00:13:58,000 Speaker 1: uh uh weird um horror comedy about a bunch of 243 00:13:58,040 --> 00:14:00,360 Speaker 1: sort of sort of. I guess you would say Texas 244 00:14:00,440 --> 00:14:08,160 Speaker 1: Chainsaw massacre esque family residing above a big coal mine fire. Um. 245 00:14:08,320 --> 00:14:11,680 Speaker 1: Quite a film. Quite a film. Trystar Pictures or whoever 246 00:14:11,720 --> 00:14:14,600 Speaker 1: it is should have a standing cash prize for anybody 247 00:14:14,640 --> 00:14:19,400 Speaker 1: who can manage to watch that whole movie. It has 248 00:14:19,440 --> 00:14:21,360 Speaker 1: a lot of fun things in it. You've got a 249 00:14:21,360 --> 00:14:23,880 Speaker 1: wonderful digital underground performance. I think you've got to make 250 00:14:23,920 --> 00:14:25,560 Speaker 1: it through a lot of stuff before you get to 251 00:14:25,640 --> 00:14:28,880 Speaker 1: that is clearly having the time of his life in 252 00:14:28,880 --> 00:14:32,080 Speaker 1: this film. Yeah. So if it's if it's, if you 253 00:14:32,160 --> 00:14:35,320 Speaker 1: considered a film for an audience of one an absolute success, 254 00:14:35,360 --> 00:14:39,160 Speaker 1: I think you know. There's another interesting tidbit I came 255 00:14:39,200 --> 00:14:43,560 Speaker 1: across that's related to the Centralia coal mine uh and 256 00:14:43,880 --> 00:14:47,160 Speaker 1: seems geologically interesting, but I couldn't tell if it was 257 00:14:47,200 --> 00:14:50,280 Speaker 1: because of the fire in particular. So there was a 258 00:14:50,280 --> 00:14:54,120 Speaker 1: news report I read on the site for a news 259 00:14:54,160 --> 00:14:56,800 Speaker 1: station called w n E P sixteen. I guess that's 260 00:14:56,800 --> 00:15:01,760 Speaker 1: an ABC affiliate, and this was out of Butler Township, Pennsylvania, 261 00:15:02,120 --> 00:15:06,520 Speaker 1: and it's talking about a geyser in Pennsylvania. That's not 262 00:15:07,000 --> 00:15:10,720 Speaker 1: something that you would expect to find in Pennsylvania. I'm 263 00:15:10,760 --> 00:15:14,240 Speaker 1: looking at the footage here though it it looks guysory, 264 00:15:14,240 --> 00:15:16,560 Speaker 1: but this is not a natural geyser. This is a 265 00:15:16,560 --> 00:15:20,080 Speaker 1: geyser that was created when many years ago, the mining 266 00:15:20,080 --> 00:15:23,240 Speaker 1: company I guess that ran the Centralia mine drilled a 267 00:15:23,280 --> 00:15:26,280 Speaker 1: hole in the ground connecting to one of the tunnels 268 00:15:26,280 --> 00:15:30,480 Speaker 1: for ventilation of the mine shafts, and somehow now with 269 00:15:30,760 --> 00:15:34,560 Speaker 1: the tunnels partially flooded. I think it's especially when there's 270 00:15:34,720 --> 00:15:38,400 Speaker 1: been heavy rain or when the snow melts in the spring. Uh, 271 00:15:38,600 --> 00:15:41,840 Speaker 1: you you get suddenly a geyser gushing up out of 272 00:15:41,840 --> 00:15:44,400 Speaker 1: this ventilation hole, and it looks like a real geyser. 273 00:15:44,600 --> 00:15:46,880 Speaker 1: It's just spraying up into the air and then running 274 00:15:46,880 --> 00:15:49,800 Speaker 1: off into a nearby creek. And they say that the 275 00:15:49,840 --> 00:15:53,760 Speaker 1: guys are has a distinct smell. It smells like like eggs, 276 00:15:53,800 --> 00:15:57,720 Speaker 1: which I guess is an indication of sulfurous compounds. And 277 00:15:57,760 --> 00:15:59,680 Speaker 1: that would again make sense since you know you've got 278 00:15:59,680 --> 00:16:01,840 Speaker 1: the coal down there and it's on fire. And I 279 00:16:01,920 --> 00:16:04,000 Speaker 1: was unable to tell if if this guy's are is 280 00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:06,760 Speaker 1: actually related to the fire or if it's just an 281 00:16:06,840 --> 00:16:11,360 Speaker 1: unrelated weird feature of the same mind. You see, Like 282 00:16:11,560 --> 00:16:15,080 Speaker 1: there's a quote in the tweet that's attached where the 283 00:16:15,120 --> 00:16:18,680 Speaker 1: reporters saying that that it's been there as long as 284 00:16:18,760 --> 00:16:21,800 Speaker 1: quote anyone can remember. Uh, there's a mention of like 285 00:16:22,120 --> 00:16:23,880 Speaker 1: some people say, oh, there used to be a second one, 286 00:16:24,280 --> 00:16:25,680 Speaker 1: and it is kind of I mean, all of this 287 00:16:25,840 --> 00:16:29,200 Speaker 1: is a stark reminder of how an enterprise like coal mining, 288 00:16:29,240 --> 00:16:32,600 Speaker 1: how you're you're you're changing the earth. Uh, you know, 289 00:16:32,880 --> 00:16:34,640 Speaker 1: at least on a local level, and of course you 290 00:16:34,640 --> 00:16:38,280 Speaker 1: can get into larger issues of of of actual climate 291 00:16:38,360 --> 00:16:40,800 Speaker 1: change as well, but even just on a local level, 292 00:16:40,840 --> 00:16:45,280 Speaker 1: like you're just you're you're vastly altering how the uh 293 00:16:45,760 --> 00:16:55,800 Speaker 1: the ground beneath your feet is functioning. Yeah, all right, 294 00:16:56,200 --> 00:16:59,840 Speaker 1: let's move on to another fire in the earth. This 295 00:16:59,880 --> 00:17:01,960 Speaker 1: is a fun one. I'm excited to talk about it 296 00:17:02,000 --> 00:17:05,400 Speaker 1: because it concerns natural fires that may have been burning 297 00:17:05,440 --> 00:17:08,280 Speaker 1: for two and a half millennia, as well as a 298 00:17:08,320 --> 00:17:13,320 Speaker 1: mythical monster, and that monster is the chimera, uh and 299 00:17:13,359 --> 00:17:16,880 Speaker 1: the chimere. Of course, I think most folks out there 300 00:17:16,880 --> 00:17:19,800 Speaker 1: will have some image of this in their mind. There's 301 00:17:19,840 --> 00:17:24,000 Speaker 1: some wonderful depictions of it. There's the Chimera of of 302 00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:28,040 Speaker 1: of Arezzo. It's an Etruscan bronze statue of four b 303 00:17:28,119 --> 00:17:31,520 Speaker 1: C E H. That's absolutely gorgeous. If anyone has seen 304 00:17:31,560 --> 00:17:34,919 Speaker 1: this or seen a reproduction of this, I've been to 305 00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:38,000 Speaker 1: a retzo, but I don't think I've seen this well 306 00:17:38,160 --> 00:17:40,560 Speaker 1: I'm not sure. I didn't put in my notes where 307 00:17:40,600 --> 00:17:42,680 Speaker 1: it is currently how so I don't know where its 308 00:17:42,680 --> 00:17:45,760 Speaker 1: current status is, but I've I've seen plenty of images 309 00:17:45,760 --> 00:17:48,520 Speaker 1: of it. You know, it's this wonderful uh, you know, 310 00:17:48,720 --> 00:17:52,880 Speaker 1: dark bronze finish and uh. And it looks impressive for 311 00:17:52,920 --> 00:17:56,600 Speaker 1: a creature that is not always impressive in artistic renditions, 312 00:17:56,640 --> 00:17:59,879 Speaker 1: because it is it is not only a chimera. It 313 00:17:59,920 --> 00:18:03,360 Speaker 1: is the chimera. It is this uh, it is this uh, 314 00:18:03,400 --> 00:18:07,080 Speaker 1: this hybrid form that some have criticized for not completely 315 00:18:07,119 --> 00:18:10,719 Speaker 1: making all that much sense and maybe being too counterintuitive. 316 00:18:11,320 --> 00:18:13,720 Speaker 1: So at the heart of things, the chimera is, of 317 00:18:13,760 --> 00:18:19,480 Speaker 1: course a goat monster. Um. Most of its recognizable body 318 00:18:19,560 --> 00:18:21,040 Speaker 1: is usually that of a goat. I guess one of 319 00:18:21,040 --> 00:18:24,720 Speaker 1: the interesting things about the Chimera of Arezzo is that 320 00:18:25,720 --> 00:18:27,400 Speaker 1: less of it is a goat and maybe that's why 321 00:18:27,400 --> 00:18:30,400 Speaker 1: it's more impressive, Like it looks like the artists decided 322 00:18:30,440 --> 00:18:34,480 Speaker 1: to lean more into the into the lion aspects of 323 00:18:34,520 --> 00:18:37,639 Speaker 1: its body. But but generally, when you here here talk 324 00:18:37,680 --> 00:18:40,000 Speaker 1: of it, you were talking about something that is uh 325 00:18:40,200 --> 00:18:43,520 Speaker 1: in a large part, a monstrous she goat. Uh. It 326 00:18:43,640 --> 00:18:46,639 Speaker 1: roams the myths of ancient Greece and Rome UH. And 327 00:18:46,680 --> 00:18:51,399 Speaker 1: the name itself means she goat, and in all depictions 328 00:18:51,440 --> 00:18:55,840 Speaker 1: it has at least some goat properties to its hybrid form. 329 00:18:55,840 --> 00:18:58,119 Speaker 1: That's funny. I certainly believe you that that's true, But 330 00:18:58,200 --> 00:19:00,920 Speaker 1: I do not really associate the Amira with a goat 331 00:19:00,960 --> 00:19:04,520 Speaker 1: at all. I think, like, yeah, like lions, snake, eagle 332 00:19:04,680 --> 00:19:08,480 Speaker 1: or something. Yes, some depictions it has wings. I want 333 00:19:08,480 --> 00:19:11,080 Speaker 1: to stand that. In the Dungeon Dragons Monster Manual they 334 00:19:11,080 --> 00:19:15,879 Speaker 1: give it wings um specifically. Now, the oldest records of 335 00:19:15,880 --> 00:19:19,320 Speaker 1: the monster can be found in the sixth book of 336 00:19:19,440 --> 00:19:23,399 Speaker 1: Homer's Iliad Uh. And this is you know, written down 337 00:19:23,560 --> 00:19:26,320 Speaker 1: at some point in the eighth century BC, and the 338 00:19:26,359 --> 00:19:28,879 Speaker 1: beast here is described as a great fire breathing she 339 00:19:29,040 --> 00:19:31,520 Speaker 1: goat with a lion's head and the tail of a serpent, 340 00:19:32,320 --> 00:19:35,199 Speaker 1: and then slightly More recently, hess the Odd wrote of 341 00:19:35,240 --> 00:19:38,760 Speaker 1: the Chimera in his book The Ageny, composed between seven 342 00:19:38,840 --> 00:19:44,720 Speaker 1: thirty and seven d c h. So, So in uh Theogny, 343 00:19:44,800 --> 00:19:48,840 Speaker 1: hes Odd is discussing the monstrous at Kidna quote divine, 344 00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:52,720 Speaker 1: stubborn hearted at Kidna, half nymph with dark eyes and 345 00:19:52,800 --> 00:19:56,080 Speaker 1: fair cheeks, and half on the other hand, a serpent, 346 00:19:56,280 --> 00:20:01,560 Speaker 1: huge and terrible and vast, speckled and fled, devouring beneath 347 00:20:01,640 --> 00:20:05,600 Speaker 1: caves of sacred earth. And there in the depths of 348 00:20:05,680 --> 00:20:10,320 Speaker 1: Kidna mates with the deadly giant uh Typhon, and they 349 00:20:10,320 --> 00:20:15,399 Speaker 1: produce quote fierce hearted children uh monsters, all including the 350 00:20:15,600 --> 00:20:20,720 Speaker 1: two headed dog Orthos, the three headed dog Cerebus, and 351 00:20:20,840 --> 00:20:24,800 Speaker 1: even then the even more headed uh larnaean Hydra, as 352 00:20:24,840 --> 00:20:27,879 Speaker 1: well as the Sphinx, the Nemian lion, and of course 353 00:20:28,080 --> 00:20:31,480 Speaker 1: the Chimera Uh. And here's what Hesiot had to say 354 00:20:31,480 --> 00:20:33,800 Speaker 1: about the Chimera. And these are these are all translations 355 00:20:33,800 --> 00:20:39,200 Speaker 1: from the Reverend J. Banks translation. Quote. But she Kidna 356 00:20:39,680 --> 00:20:45,320 Speaker 1: bore Chimera, breathing, restless, fire, fierce and huge, fleet footed 357 00:20:45,520 --> 00:20:49,200 Speaker 1: as well as strong. This monster had three heads, one 358 00:20:49,280 --> 00:20:52,600 Speaker 1: indeed of a grim visaged lion, one of a goat, 359 00:20:52,960 --> 00:20:56,040 Speaker 1: and another of a serpent, a fierce dragon in front 360 00:20:56,040 --> 00:20:59,280 Speaker 1: of lion, a dragon behind, and in the midst a 361 00:20:59,320 --> 00:21:04,520 Speaker 1: goat breathing forth the dread strength of burning fire, and 362 00:21:04,640 --> 00:21:08,960 Speaker 1: in the midst a goat. So like, mostly a goat. 363 00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:11,320 Speaker 1: That's what you're saying, mostly mostly, that's what That's what 364 00:21:11,440 --> 00:21:13,439 Speaker 1: I take it to me, is that he's saying the 365 00:21:13,520 --> 00:21:16,800 Speaker 1: middle head is the goat head, I think, or wait, 366 00:21:16,840 --> 00:21:19,280 Speaker 1: but it's also saying in front a lion and a 367 00:21:19,359 --> 00:21:23,480 Speaker 1: dragon behind. Yeah, So I'm trying to picture this I'm 368 00:21:23,480 --> 00:21:25,119 Speaker 1: having and I think this is This is why you 369 00:21:25,160 --> 00:21:27,480 Speaker 1: have a lot of variation and how it's depicted, like 370 00:21:27,600 --> 00:21:31,600 Speaker 1: that the Etruscan statue, for instance, and other depictions will 371 00:21:31,600 --> 00:21:33,720 Speaker 1: have the goat head just straight up growing out of 372 00:21:33,760 --> 00:21:36,879 Speaker 1: the back of the creature your head, but it's a 373 00:21:36,920 --> 00:21:40,159 Speaker 1: good head. And the goat always looks a little awkward there, like, 374 00:21:40,200 --> 00:21:43,439 Speaker 1: what what do you even doing there, buddy? Like you 375 00:21:43,480 --> 00:21:46,040 Speaker 1: can imagine the creatures moving around the gast just sort 376 00:21:46,080 --> 00:21:49,399 Speaker 1: of awkwardly making a play for vegetation and stuff to 377 00:21:49,480 --> 00:21:51,680 Speaker 1: nibble on. You see a ripple in the water. The 378 00:21:51,760 --> 00:21:55,120 Speaker 1: Jaws theme plays, but it's a goat's head poking out 379 00:21:55,119 --> 00:21:58,880 Speaker 1: over the Yeah wait the goats bare, They don't really, 380 00:21:58,880 --> 00:22:03,439 Speaker 1: they bleat, Yeah, the bleating. So yeah, you say. Then 381 00:22:03,480 --> 00:22:05,200 Speaker 1: you see it depicted other ways where the all the 382 00:22:05,240 --> 00:22:09,080 Speaker 1: heads are sort of arranged up front and so forth. Um, 383 00:22:09,119 --> 00:22:11,399 Speaker 1: but yeah, you can. I imagine a lot of this 384 00:22:11,440 --> 00:22:14,960 Speaker 1: is coming from different interpretations of of like this passage. Now, 385 00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:17,959 Speaker 1: every monster must have its slayer, of course, and in 386 00:22:17,960 --> 00:22:21,600 Speaker 1: this case it is mighty Bellerophon, sometimes described as a 387 00:22:21,720 --> 00:22:25,679 Speaker 1: half human son of Poseidon, who uses Athena's bridle to 388 00:22:25,800 --> 00:22:29,680 Speaker 1: capture the winged Pegasus right into battle against the Chimera, 389 00:22:29,800 --> 00:22:33,040 Speaker 1: and then he thrust his spear into the monster's flaming 390 00:22:33,119 --> 00:22:36,920 Speaker 1: ma where what happens? The metal instantly melts. Oh no, 391 00:22:37,040 --> 00:22:39,719 Speaker 1: he's defeated. Oh no he's not, because then the liquid 392 00:22:39,760 --> 00:22:43,520 Speaker 1: metal chokes the deadly monster to death. So I always 393 00:22:43,560 --> 00:22:46,480 Speaker 1: found that to be kind of a nice twist. Oh yeah, Now, 394 00:22:46,520 --> 00:22:49,080 Speaker 1: surely the hero didn't intend for the metal to melt 395 00:22:49,119 --> 00:22:51,520 Speaker 1: and choke the monster. I don't know. Never doubt these 396 00:22:51,640 --> 00:22:55,240 Speaker 1: these heroes, these uh, these Greek heroes are are are 397 00:22:55,280 --> 00:22:58,400 Speaker 1: wicked smart. That strikes me as more like a like 398 00:22:58,440 --> 00:23:00,760 Speaker 1: a war of the world's type in ng where yeah, 399 00:23:00,880 --> 00:23:04,320 Speaker 1: something you didn't even expect kills the monster. Now you're 400 00:23:04,560 --> 00:23:07,960 Speaker 1: probably asking, okay, well, how does this tie into places 401 00:23:08,000 --> 00:23:11,480 Speaker 1: and fire? Well, this, this myth is certainly tied to 402 00:23:11,600 --> 00:23:15,679 Speaker 1: specific places. For starters, it is written that the Chimera 403 00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:19,040 Speaker 1: was for a time the pet of the king of 404 00:23:19,200 --> 00:23:23,040 Speaker 1: Karia before it escaped and rampaged. This was a region 405 00:23:23,080 --> 00:23:27,240 Speaker 1: of western Anatolia from the eleventh through sixth centuries b c. 406 00:23:27,960 --> 00:23:30,320 Speaker 1: This region is now part of Turkey. But then the 407 00:23:30,359 --> 00:23:34,040 Speaker 1: chimeras said to descend upon an area to the southeast 408 00:23:34,080 --> 00:23:38,320 Speaker 1: of Karia in Alicia, where it generally devours every mortal 409 00:23:38,359 --> 00:23:41,280 Speaker 1: in sight and just sets everything on fire. So this 410 00:23:41,400 --> 00:23:44,520 Speaker 1: is the realm of Mount Chimera. In the Book of 411 00:23:44,560 --> 00:23:49,680 Speaker 1: Imaginary Beings, jore Louis Boges rights that Virgil describes the 412 00:23:49,760 --> 00:23:53,720 Speaker 1: Chimera in the Aeid, and that the fourth and fifth 413 00:23:53,720 --> 00:23:59,719 Speaker 1: century commentator Servius ties the monster uh to Lycia and 414 00:23:59,720 --> 00:24:01,679 Speaker 1: went so far as to say that the monster was 415 00:24:01,720 --> 00:24:05,840 Speaker 1: a metaphor for a volcano there, and this was apparently 416 00:24:05,840 --> 00:24:09,399 Speaker 1: echoed by plenty of the elder as well. Okay, interesting, 417 00:24:10,160 --> 00:24:13,480 Speaker 1: this is how Bores summarizes it. Quote, the base of 418 00:24:13,480 --> 00:24:17,680 Speaker 1: the volcano is infested with serpents. On its sides, there 419 00:24:17,720 --> 00:24:21,919 Speaker 1: are meadows where goats pasture, and on top flames shoot 420 00:24:22,000 --> 00:24:25,560 Speaker 1: forth and lions have their dens. I see. Okay, so 421 00:24:25,600 --> 00:24:29,639 Speaker 1: it's like combining the different types of local wildlife, at 422 00:24:29,720 --> 00:24:33,280 Speaker 1: least allegedly the serpents around the base, and then the 423 00:24:33,640 --> 00:24:37,120 Speaker 1: goats grazing in the meadow and the lions in their caves, 424 00:24:37,520 --> 00:24:39,639 Speaker 1: and then uh, and then you have, of course the 425 00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:43,560 Speaker 1: flames coming out. I guess that's the dragon aspect, right, Yeah, 426 00:24:44,320 --> 00:24:46,800 Speaker 1: so yeah, I have to say, like when I when 427 00:24:46,840 --> 00:24:48,720 Speaker 1: I was reading this, it sended a little far afetched 428 00:24:48,720 --> 00:24:51,760 Speaker 1: to me because we talked about geomethology before, but I 429 00:24:51,800 --> 00:24:55,240 Speaker 1: don't remember like a version of geo mythology where like 430 00:24:55,520 --> 00:24:59,000 Speaker 1: the aspects of a given geographical feature are then just 431 00:24:59,040 --> 00:25:02,359 Speaker 1: sort of cobbled together or into a into a hybrid 432 00:25:02,400 --> 00:25:06,080 Speaker 1: monster and uh. And as it turns out, Borges also 433 00:25:06,080 --> 00:25:09,480 Speaker 1: finds this ridiculous and mentions that he thinks it's absurd 434 00:25:09,560 --> 00:25:12,040 Speaker 1: as well as uh an idea that I think was 435 00:25:12,080 --> 00:25:15,760 Speaker 1: put forth by Plutarch that uh Chimera is the name 436 00:25:15,800 --> 00:25:17,920 Speaker 1: of a pirate who just happened to have these three 437 00:25:17,920 --> 00:25:21,119 Speaker 1: different animals as part of his iconography and his flag 438 00:25:21,160 --> 00:25:23,960 Speaker 1: and so forth. It was a pirate. Now. One of 439 00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:27,440 Speaker 1: the advancements in the sort of figuring out this myth 440 00:25:27,560 --> 00:25:33,720 Speaker 1: and tying the myth into actual geology. Uh, this occurred 441 00:25:33,800 --> 00:25:39,719 Speaker 1: during the early nineteenth century. In eighteen eleven, hydrographer and 442 00:25:39,840 --> 00:25:44,679 Speaker 1: Irish rear Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort linked Mount Chimera to 443 00:25:44,760 --> 00:25:49,440 Speaker 1: the geographical features in the region known as Jana or 444 00:25:49,520 --> 00:25:52,840 Speaker 1: yann Artis. And he explored this region, I believe, in 445 00:25:52,960 --> 00:25:58,119 Speaker 1: eighteen eleven through eighteen twelve, basically going around looking at 446 00:25:58,200 --> 00:26:02,120 Speaker 1: various ruins, citing various winds, and he's he's noted during 447 00:26:02,119 --> 00:26:05,960 Speaker 1: this time for rediscovering Hadrian's Gate built for built there 448 00:26:05,960 --> 00:26:09,280 Speaker 1: for Roman Emperor Hadrian in the year one thirty. So 449 00:26:09,760 --> 00:26:11,880 Speaker 1: you know our n artists. What does it look like? Well, 450 00:26:11,920 --> 00:26:14,360 Speaker 1: it's it matches up with some of these other descriptions 451 00:26:14,359 --> 00:26:16,960 Speaker 1: we've discussed in these episodes. You have a rocky mount 452 00:26:17,600 --> 00:26:21,760 Speaker 1: here with active gas seeps that have produced burning flames 453 00:26:21,840 --> 00:26:25,840 Speaker 1: for depending on what sources you're looking at, perhaps two 454 00:26:25,880 --> 00:26:31,720 Speaker 1: and a half millennia, so perhaps years so some still 455 00:26:31,800 --> 00:26:33,720 Speaker 1: kind of interpreted and say, well, this site could have 456 00:26:33,800 --> 00:26:37,800 Speaker 1: been the inspiration for the monster itself. UM, And I 457 00:26:37,840 --> 00:26:40,399 Speaker 1: guess you can kind of open that up and you 458 00:26:40,440 --> 00:26:43,080 Speaker 1: can look at ideas of the monster being a metaphor 459 00:26:43,200 --> 00:26:46,280 Speaker 1: for them, for for this mountain, or just kind of 460 00:26:46,320 --> 00:26:48,639 Speaker 1: like the who, here's this weird landscape with fire, and 461 00:26:48,680 --> 00:26:51,160 Speaker 1: you end up with this idea of will a monster 462 00:26:51,280 --> 00:26:54,600 Speaker 1: lives here? Surely this is the habitat for some sort 463 00:26:54,640 --> 00:26:59,600 Speaker 1: of monstrous fire breathing creature. So the seeps in question 464 00:26:59,640 --> 00:27:03,480 Speaker 1: here are largely um on barren ground, and they follow 465 00:27:03,560 --> 00:27:06,879 Speaker 1: various fissures and perhaps faults. According to a two thousand 466 00:27:06,920 --> 00:27:12,040 Speaker 1: fifteen paper UM I was looking at from Meyer Dombard 467 00:27:12,119 --> 00:27:16,720 Speaker 1: at All, published in Frontiers and Microbiology. Uh. These researchers 468 00:27:16,760 --> 00:27:20,600 Speaker 1: also reported a fluid seat that they discovered um in 469 00:27:21,160 --> 00:27:25,040 Speaker 1: this area, and numerous papers mentioned as well that sailors 470 00:27:25,520 --> 00:27:27,679 Speaker 1: used the fires of the mountain as a kind of 471 00:27:27,800 --> 00:27:32,800 Speaker 1: natural landmark at night in ancient times. Today, however, hikers 472 00:27:32,880 --> 00:27:35,160 Speaker 1: visit the flames and they do things apparently like brew 473 00:27:35,240 --> 00:27:38,159 Speaker 1: ti uh, cook marshmallows over them, or do you know, 474 00:27:38,320 --> 00:27:41,920 Speaker 1: just just look at them as well. Because this is 475 00:27:41,960 --> 00:27:44,959 Speaker 1: all part of the Olympus National Park. So if you know, 476 00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:47,240 Speaker 1: if if you if you're in Turkey, this is a 477 00:27:47,280 --> 00:27:50,440 Speaker 1: site you can go and see. Now, the seeps here 478 00:27:50,520 --> 00:27:54,280 Speaker 1: are reportedly stronger, as are the flames during winter, and 479 00:27:54,320 --> 00:27:57,679 Speaker 1: apparently this is linked to changes in atmospheric pressure and 480 00:27:57,760 --> 00:28:01,960 Speaker 1: groundwater recharge. Um and uh. And this kind of takes 481 00:28:02,040 --> 00:28:03,520 Speaker 1: us back to where we're just talking about. You know, 482 00:28:03,560 --> 00:28:09,520 Speaker 1: when you disrupt the underground environment through extensive coal mining. UM. 483 00:28:09,560 --> 00:28:12,200 Speaker 1: You know, these are the sort of things like groundwater 484 00:28:12,240 --> 00:28:18,040 Speaker 1: recharge or there are are the situations you're potentially interfering in. UM, 485 00:28:18,119 --> 00:28:19,879 Speaker 1: the vent gases that come up. I was looking at 486 00:28:19,880 --> 00:28:22,199 Speaker 1: a profile of these and it is mostly methane and 487 00:28:22,200 --> 00:28:26,320 Speaker 1: there's some other ingredients in there as well. Now as 488 00:28:26,400 --> 00:28:28,960 Speaker 1: to whether there are actual snakes there, UM, I mean 489 00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:32,520 Speaker 1: one presumes I know there there there are snakes in Turkey. UM, 490 00:28:32,800 --> 00:28:35,880 Speaker 1: I guess it's we can presume that there either are 491 00:28:36,240 --> 00:28:38,600 Speaker 1: goats or could have been goats there as well. Goats 492 00:28:38,640 --> 00:28:42,200 Speaker 1: like a rocky area with some vegetation to munch on. Um. 493 00:28:42,280 --> 00:28:45,480 Speaker 1: And as far as lions go, you won't find any 494 00:28:45,560 --> 00:28:49,160 Speaker 1: lions here today, but there were once lions found throughout 495 00:28:49,160 --> 00:28:52,080 Speaker 1: what is now Turkey. So um, I mean, I guess 496 00:28:52,120 --> 00:28:53,920 Speaker 1: all of that is plausible as well to at least 497 00:28:53,960 --> 00:28:57,000 Speaker 1: a certain extent. Oh yeah. If you compare maps of 498 00:28:57,040 --> 00:29:01,040 Speaker 1: the historic distribution of lions to the present distribution throughout 499 00:29:01,440 --> 00:29:05,080 Speaker 1: Africa and Eurasia, it's well. On on one hand, it's 500 00:29:05,160 --> 00:29:07,680 Speaker 1: it's kind of sad to see how much their range 501 00:29:07,720 --> 00:29:12,360 Speaker 1: has been constricted, but it's also eye opening too, Like 502 00:29:12,880 --> 00:29:16,680 Speaker 1: it's eye opening about how so many ancient myths and 503 00:29:16,720 --> 00:29:19,640 Speaker 1: stories all throughout the Middle East and the Greek myths 504 00:29:19,680 --> 00:29:22,920 Speaker 1: and stuff, it seems that they're lions everywhere, And you're like, 505 00:29:23,000 --> 00:29:25,719 Speaker 1: what because they're you don't really think that there are 506 00:29:25,800 --> 00:29:28,960 Speaker 1: lions wandering around and say Greece or Turkey today, but 507 00:29:29,640 --> 00:29:32,720 Speaker 1: you know, thousands of years ago there absolutely were. It 508 00:29:32,760 --> 00:29:35,360 Speaker 1: brings us back to the topic we discussed in the 509 00:29:35,360 --> 00:29:40,280 Speaker 1: past about the first known human animal hybrid represented an 510 00:29:40,360 --> 00:29:43,760 Speaker 1: art that of the lion man. Yeah. Yeah. Now this 511 00:29:43,840 --> 00:29:46,000 Speaker 1: side of this a side is also interesting because there 512 00:29:46,040 --> 00:29:48,680 Speaker 1: is a link to the Greek forge god Hephestus here 513 00:29:48,680 --> 00:29:52,720 Speaker 1: as well. Hephestus, of course, was the blacksmith's god, who 514 00:29:52,760 --> 00:29:55,680 Speaker 1: was also deformed after his father Zeus cast him off 515 00:29:55,720 --> 00:29:58,800 Speaker 1: Mount Olympus for taking his mother Hera's side in an argument, 516 00:29:58,880 --> 00:30:01,000 Speaker 1: or at least that's one version of the story. The 517 00:30:01,080 --> 00:30:03,400 Speaker 1: remains of a temple to he Festus, Yeah, I can 518 00:30:03,400 --> 00:30:07,000 Speaker 1: be found at this site just below the fires, which 519 00:30:07,040 --> 00:30:09,840 Speaker 1: again makes sense, given that the you know, sites of 520 00:30:09,920 --> 00:30:13,320 Speaker 1: natural flames like this seemed to be inevitably tied to 521 00:30:13,400 --> 00:30:16,240 Speaker 1: human industry. Like we've discussed in these various other examples, 522 00:30:16,240 --> 00:30:19,280 Speaker 1: people see them and they think of of like cook 523 00:30:19,360 --> 00:30:23,360 Speaker 1: fires and the depths maintained by the little people, or uh, 524 00:30:23,400 --> 00:30:27,760 Speaker 1: you know, we think of of of industrial processes, uh, 525 00:30:28,040 --> 00:30:32,000 Speaker 1: chemical fires and so forth. But then sometimes we also 526 00:30:32,040 --> 00:30:41,320 Speaker 1: tie them to fire breathing monsters. And I wanted to 527 00:30:41,360 --> 00:30:44,680 Speaker 1: mention one more thing that that Boees brings up about 528 00:30:44,720 --> 00:30:47,440 Speaker 1: the chimera. He discusses how he thinks that the chimera 529 00:30:47,560 --> 00:30:52,080 Speaker 1: was ultimately quote two heterogeneous. In other words, these parts 530 00:30:52,080 --> 00:30:55,840 Speaker 1: were all too dissimilar, and it all resists quote merging 531 00:30:55,880 --> 00:30:58,640 Speaker 1: into a into a single animal. So I guess in 532 00:30:58,720 --> 00:31:00,680 Speaker 1: that you could say that these sort of saying that 533 00:31:00,720 --> 00:31:04,320 Speaker 1: it's too counterintuitive. To a certain extent, he contends that 534 00:31:04,400 --> 00:31:06,920 Speaker 1: people got a bit tired of the idea of the chimera, 535 00:31:07,320 --> 00:31:10,440 Speaker 1: and you we see that reflected in the the use 536 00:31:10,640 --> 00:31:14,800 Speaker 1: of chimeracle and the use of chimera as referring to 537 00:31:14,880 --> 00:31:17,480 Speaker 1: something that is just too outrageous to be true, too 538 00:31:17,520 --> 00:31:20,840 Speaker 1: outrageous to actually exist in the real world. Uh, something 539 00:31:20,880 --> 00:31:23,360 Speaker 1: that just doesn't jell together in a form that you 540 00:31:23,400 --> 00:31:26,680 Speaker 1: can believe in. Yeah, that's interesting. I'm always curious about 541 00:31:27,320 --> 00:31:31,400 Speaker 1: why our intuitions about imaginary beings work the way they do. 542 00:31:31,480 --> 00:31:33,240 Speaker 1: And I'm sure I've asked questions like this on the 543 00:31:33,240 --> 00:31:36,320 Speaker 1: show a bunch of times, but like, why does one 544 00:31:36,800 --> 00:31:41,640 Speaker 1: unreal monster seem plausible in quotes and another one doesn't? 545 00:31:42,440 --> 00:31:44,680 Speaker 1: Like the chimera is, yeah, it's got a goat head 546 00:31:44,720 --> 00:31:46,520 Speaker 1: in the middle of its back, or at least in 547 00:31:46,560 --> 00:31:49,960 Speaker 1: some depictions, and people are just like, no, no, that 548 00:31:50,280 --> 00:31:53,720 Speaker 1: doesn't work. The hydra, which has many heads coming out 549 00:31:53,720 --> 00:31:56,840 Speaker 1: of the Yeah, that that works. Yeah, I mean even 550 00:31:56,880 --> 00:31:59,920 Speaker 1: the vegetable lamb of tartary, as fantastic as that is, 551 00:32:00,160 --> 00:32:03,120 Speaker 1: and as you know, with that, the gulf existing between plant, 552 00:32:03,200 --> 00:32:06,440 Speaker 1: plant and mammal like that feels more believable, and I 553 00:32:06,440 --> 00:32:09,400 Speaker 1: think clearly was more believable for a very long period 554 00:32:09,400 --> 00:32:14,040 Speaker 1: of time, uh, compared to the chimera. Yeah, so what 555 00:32:14,080 --> 00:32:19,400 Speaker 1: are the underlying psychological factors? Like what subconscious criteria do 556 00:32:19,480 --> 00:32:23,800 Speaker 1: we use to judge an unreal being that makes sense 557 00:32:23,840 --> 00:32:28,000 Speaker 1: to us versus an unreal being that doesn't. The camera goathhead, Yeah, 558 00:32:28,160 --> 00:32:31,400 Speaker 1: that's just that doesn't make sense. Yeah, maybe part of 559 00:32:31,400 --> 00:32:34,200 Speaker 1: it comes down to like a basic uh, you know, 560 00:32:34,320 --> 00:32:38,120 Speaker 1: primal estimation of another animal, like what is the head 561 00:32:38,160 --> 00:32:39,800 Speaker 1: on this thing going to bite me? What is the 562 00:32:39,840 --> 00:32:43,920 Speaker 1: head on this animal seem to want to do? And uh, 563 00:32:43,960 --> 00:32:45,880 Speaker 1: if you look at that goat head sticking out of 564 00:32:45,920 --> 00:32:48,280 Speaker 1: the middle of the chimera is back, Like what am 565 00:32:48,280 --> 00:32:53,120 Speaker 1: I supposed to make of that? What's it even doing? Now? Cyclops, 566 00:32:53,160 --> 00:32:55,120 Speaker 1: on the other hand, one big guy in the forehead. 567 00:32:55,320 --> 00:32:58,440 Speaker 1: I picture that all day long. That works. Yeah. One 568 00:32:58,480 --> 00:33:00,840 Speaker 1: of the interesting things about these uh, I guess you 569 00:33:00,840 --> 00:33:02,760 Speaker 1: could call them, you could think of them as minimally 570 00:33:02,840 --> 00:33:08,560 Speaker 1: counterintuitive monsters and um and hybrids, is that the best 571 00:33:08,600 --> 00:33:13,440 Speaker 1: of them we continue to to look at and and 572 00:33:13,440 --> 00:33:18,920 Speaker 1: and reconsider and also apply like theoretical biological models like 573 00:33:18,960 --> 00:33:21,760 Speaker 1: I've read. I know, I read a wonderful paper once 574 00:33:22,240 --> 00:33:26,040 Speaker 1: on the biology of the centaur where the author was 575 00:33:26,040 --> 00:33:29,360 Speaker 1: discussing how the centaur's body would work, and uh, you know, 576 00:33:29,680 --> 00:33:33,479 Speaker 1: really focusing on on the the circulatory system and and 577 00:33:33,520 --> 00:33:36,120 Speaker 1: the fact that it would need two hearts, one in 578 00:33:36,160 --> 00:33:38,320 Speaker 1: the human part and one in the horse part. You know, 579 00:33:38,520 --> 00:33:41,640 Speaker 1: I love I love examinations like that. So but it's 580 00:33:41,640 --> 00:33:45,680 Speaker 1: an example of how the centaur, as fantastic as it is, 581 00:33:45,680 --> 00:33:49,960 Speaker 1: is not so far removed from reality that we can't apply, uh, 582 00:33:50,000 --> 00:33:52,560 Speaker 1: this line of thinking to it. Whereas, yeah, I don't 583 00:33:52,600 --> 00:33:54,840 Speaker 1: think I've ever seen anybody go out on a limb 584 00:33:54,920 --> 00:33:57,080 Speaker 1: and write a uh, you know, a paper like this 585 00:33:57,160 --> 00:33:59,640 Speaker 1: is how the biology of the chimera would work. This 586 00:33:59,720 --> 00:34:01,720 Speaker 1: is how would breathe fire. This is the function of 587 00:34:01,760 --> 00:34:04,280 Speaker 1: the the live goat head growing from its back, and 588 00:34:04,320 --> 00:34:07,160 Speaker 1: this is why its tail is a live snake. This 589 00:34:07,240 --> 00:34:12,200 Speaker 1: is the diet it consumes. Yeah, this, it's just it's 590 00:34:12,239 --> 00:34:15,560 Speaker 1: just ridiculous. Now, coming back just a little bit to uh, 591 00:34:15,760 --> 00:34:18,040 Speaker 1: you know, to what we've been talking about here, eternal 592 00:34:18,080 --> 00:34:20,440 Speaker 1: flames and all I do want to point out that 593 00:34:20,680 --> 00:34:23,400 Speaker 1: this is the examples we've brought up are are certainly 594 00:34:23,440 --> 00:34:27,280 Speaker 1: not the only examples of natural gas seeps and so forth, 595 00:34:27,280 --> 00:34:32,319 Speaker 1: where eternal flames have evoked mythic ideas, religious devotion and 596 00:34:32,400 --> 00:34:37,520 Speaker 1: so forth. Um I was reading Seeps in the Ancient World, Myths, 597 00:34:37,800 --> 00:34:43,760 Speaker 1: Religions and Social Development by Causseppe Etope of the National 598 00:34:43,840 --> 00:34:48,319 Speaker 1: Institute of Geophysics and Volcanogiology in Italy. Uh and he 599 00:34:48,360 --> 00:34:51,600 Speaker 1: has a book titled Natural Gas Seepage. But one of 600 00:34:51,640 --> 00:34:54,480 Speaker 1: the chapters is devoted to just looking at some of 601 00:34:54,480 --> 00:34:58,520 Speaker 1: these examples. M so. He mentions the camera in there 602 00:34:58,520 --> 00:35:01,600 Speaker 1: that he mentions the fires of back we previously discussed, 603 00:35:01,719 --> 00:35:03,960 Speaker 1: as well as a couple of other examples. There's the 604 00:35:04,640 --> 00:35:08,799 Speaker 1: Baba Gurger seep in Iraq, he writes, was probably the 605 00:35:08,840 --> 00:35:14,600 Speaker 1: burning fiery furnace into which King Nebuchadneezer cast of the Jews. 606 00:35:15,080 --> 00:35:19,000 Speaker 1: I've seen this claim before, I say, so Boba Gurger is. Uh, 607 00:35:19,080 --> 00:35:22,600 Speaker 1: it's like an oil field near kier Cook, I believe, 608 00:35:23,320 --> 00:35:26,640 Speaker 1: And uh, there there is at least one place there 609 00:35:26,640 --> 00:35:29,680 Speaker 1: where Yeah, there's a there is a natural gas seep 610 00:35:29,840 --> 00:35:32,520 Speaker 1: where the the volatiles that are coming out of it 611 00:35:32,600 --> 00:35:36,120 Speaker 1: have been set aflame and they're burning. And yeah, I've said, 612 00:35:36,320 --> 00:35:38,960 Speaker 1: I don't know what the actual evidence is that this 613 00:35:39,040 --> 00:35:41,200 Speaker 1: is the basis of the Bible story one of these 614 00:35:41,239 --> 00:35:45,080 Speaker 1: many cases where somebody like connects a story from ancient 615 00:35:45,160 --> 00:35:50,120 Speaker 1: history or mythology or legend to a an observable feature today. 616 00:35:50,120 --> 00:35:52,920 Speaker 1: And and in some cases you can do that like 617 00:35:52,960 --> 00:35:55,040 Speaker 1: there's a pretty clear link, and in other cases I'm 618 00:35:55,080 --> 00:35:58,799 Speaker 1: not quite sure what how how strong the evidence for 619 00:35:58,840 --> 00:36:02,360 Speaker 1: that direct connection is. But so yeah, there is the 620 00:36:02,360 --> 00:36:05,240 Speaker 1: story of King Nebuchadnezzar throwing uh what is it shad 621 00:36:05,320 --> 00:36:09,759 Speaker 1: rack mishek in a bed nego into a burning furnace. Uh. 622 00:36:09,840 --> 00:36:12,560 Speaker 1: And and I have read some modern authors saying, ah, 623 00:36:13,120 --> 00:36:16,400 Speaker 1: maybe the furnace was this geological feature we see today. 624 00:36:16,840 --> 00:36:20,520 Speaker 1: Boba gurger, by the way, I think, means something like 625 00:36:20,520 --> 00:36:24,319 Speaker 1: like father flame or daddy flame. Another example that he 626 00:36:24,320 --> 00:36:28,520 Speaker 1: brings up is the sacred um Mangarmas flame in Indonesia, 627 00:36:28,640 --> 00:36:31,600 Speaker 1: which has been active at least since the fifteenth century, 628 00:36:32,000 --> 00:36:35,480 Speaker 1: he writes, and is still used in annual Buddhist ceremonies. 629 00:36:35,960 --> 00:36:39,040 Speaker 1: And then there's the Oracle of Delphi in Greece, which 630 00:36:39,080 --> 00:36:41,879 Speaker 1: we we've discussed at least a little bit on the show. 631 00:36:41,920 --> 00:36:45,960 Speaker 1: In the past. Um, there's there's talk of their having 632 00:36:46,000 --> 00:36:48,080 Speaker 1: been an eternal flame at the at the Temple of 633 00:36:48,120 --> 00:36:51,440 Speaker 1: Apollo there at least at one point uh. And then 634 00:36:51,480 --> 00:36:54,759 Speaker 1: there was there's this idea that I believe researchers have 635 00:36:54,840 --> 00:36:57,279 Speaker 1: kind of gone back and forth on this idea that 636 00:36:57,400 --> 00:37:00,640 Speaker 1: vapors from the earth contributed to the vision is granted 637 00:37:00,960 --> 00:37:05,520 Speaker 1: to the priestess of the sacred site, the um. The 638 00:37:05,520 --> 00:37:07,479 Speaker 1: the idea I think kind of fell out of favor 639 00:37:07,520 --> 00:37:10,040 Speaker 1: for a while, but more recent geological research I was 640 00:37:10,080 --> 00:37:12,319 Speaker 1: looking at it from two thousand four, two thousand five, 641 00:37:12,880 --> 00:37:15,719 Speaker 1: they argue that Okay, the side here lies over a 642 00:37:15,800 --> 00:37:21,239 Speaker 1: fault where gas leaks could theoretically cause oxygen reduction uh 643 00:37:21,320 --> 00:37:24,160 Speaker 1: in an in an individual that would then result in 644 00:37:24,200 --> 00:37:28,120 Speaker 1: a mild hypnotic state complete with hallucinations. I mean, even 645 00:37:28,160 --> 00:37:31,759 Speaker 1: coming back to this um this ap article about Centralia, 646 00:37:32,480 --> 00:37:34,600 Speaker 1: you have this quote about the you know, the woman 647 00:37:34,640 --> 00:37:37,279 Speaker 1: talking about feeling like she's a zombie walking around due 648 00:37:37,320 --> 00:37:40,759 Speaker 1: to the fumes, which is an altered state. And in 649 00:37:40,800 --> 00:37:42,799 Speaker 1: this and in this case, I mean, she she knows 650 00:37:43,200 --> 00:37:46,799 Speaker 1: that it's not the divine trying to speak through her, etcetera. 651 00:37:47,800 --> 00:37:50,279 Speaker 1: But you can you can well imagine a situation where 652 00:37:50,280 --> 00:37:54,840 Speaker 1: if you're combining holy expectations religious expectations and and ritual. 653 00:37:55,400 --> 00:37:58,160 Speaker 1: With this sort of environment, you could easily get to 654 00:37:58,200 --> 00:38:01,719 Speaker 1: this point. If only we could get a medical readoubt 655 00:38:01,840 --> 00:38:05,399 Speaker 1: on the the oracles of Delphi that uh, that might 656 00:38:05,440 --> 00:38:11,719 Speaker 1: be really illuminating. Yeah, information exists. I wouldn't mind going 657 00:38:11,719 --> 00:38:15,280 Speaker 1: back and looking at the oracle again in the future. Um, 658 00:38:15,280 --> 00:38:18,400 Speaker 1: it's there's a there's a lot of interesting writing about it. 659 00:38:18,400 --> 00:38:20,880 Speaker 1: It as a as a wonderful history. All right, we're 660 00:38:20,880 --> 00:38:23,640 Speaker 1: gonna go and close it out there. Um, this this 661 00:38:23,719 --> 00:38:25,600 Speaker 1: was a fun journey. We got to talk about a 662 00:38:25,680 --> 00:38:29,960 Speaker 1: number of fascinating locations around the earth, some wonderful history, mythology, 663 00:38:30,000 --> 00:38:33,640 Speaker 1: and religion. Um, if there's a particular site we didn't 664 00:38:33,680 --> 00:38:35,800 Speaker 1: discuss that you would like to bring to our attention, 665 00:38:35,840 --> 00:38:38,960 Speaker 1: certainly right in and let us know. And especially if 666 00:38:38,960 --> 00:38:41,279 Speaker 1: you have visited any of these locations and you have 667 00:38:41,400 --> 00:38:47,320 Speaker 1: direct firsthand experience, perhaps you've actually glimpsed the flames emerging 668 00:38:48,120 --> 00:38:50,560 Speaker 1: from the earth. Uh, definitely, right in and tell us 669 00:38:50,560 --> 00:38:53,279 Speaker 1: about to share your photos, etcetera. We would love to 670 00:38:53,320 --> 00:38:57,680 Speaker 1: hear from you. In the meantime, core episodes of Stuff 671 00:38:57,680 --> 00:39:00,200 Speaker 1: to Blow your Mind published every Tuesday, and there's Day 672 00:39:00,200 --> 00:39:03,680 Speaker 1: and the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast feed short form, 673 00:39:03,800 --> 00:39:07,360 Speaker 1: monster fact or Artifact episodes on Wednesdays, listener mail on Mondays, 674 00:39:07,360 --> 00:39:09,960 Speaker 1: and on Friday. We set aside most serious concerns and 675 00:39:10,040 --> 00:39:13,520 Speaker 1: just discuss a weird film with Weird House Cinema. Huge 676 00:39:13,560 --> 00:39:17,480 Speaker 1: thanks as always to our excellent audio producer Seth Nicholas Johnson. 677 00:39:17,800 --> 00:39:19,440 Speaker 1: If you would like to get in touch with us 678 00:39:19,440 --> 00:39:22,120 Speaker 1: with feedback on this episode or any other, to suggest 679 00:39:22,120 --> 00:39:24,160 Speaker 1: a topic for the future, or just to say hello, 680 00:39:24,239 --> 00:39:27,040 Speaker 1: you can email us at contact at stuff to Blow 681 00:39:27,080 --> 00:39:36,920 Speaker 1: your Mind dot com. Stuff to Blow Your Mind is 682 00:39:36,960 --> 00:39:39,640 Speaker 1: production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts for my 683 00:39:39,680 --> 00:39:42,759 Speaker 1: heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or 684 00:39:42,760 --> 00:40:01,120 Speaker 1: wherever you're listening to your favorite shows. Stops by A. B.