1 00:00:15,370 --> 00:00:23,610 Speaker 1: Pushkin a warning before we start. This cautionary tale discusses 2 00:00:23,690 --> 00:00:28,210 Speaker 1: death by suicide. If you're suffering emotional distress or you're 3 00:00:28,210 --> 00:00:32,170 Speaker 1: having suicidal thoughts. Support is available, for example, from the 4 00:00:32,250 --> 00:00:39,330 Speaker 1: National Suicide Prevention Lifeline in the US. Fargo is a 5 00:00:39,410 --> 00:00:43,730 Speaker 1: town in North Dakota. It's also a classic movie from 6 00:00:43,810 --> 00:00:49,770 Speaker 1: nineteen ninety six, the blackest of comedies. A car salesman 7 00:00:49,810 --> 00:00:53,410 Speaker 1: attempts to swindle his wealthy father in law by paying 8 00:00:53,450 --> 00:00:57,090 Speaker 1: a couple of criminals to kidnap his wife and demand 9 00:00:57,090 --> 00:01:01,210 Speaker 1: a ransom. It ends up with five innocent people dead 10 00:01:01,890 --> 00:01:04,370 Speaker 1: and one of the kidnappers trying to dispose of his 11 00:01:04,530 --> 00:01:09,810 Speaker 1: partner's body by feeding it into a wood chipper. Famously, 12 00:01:10,250 --> 00:01:15,650 Speaker 1: the movie starts with these words, this is a true story. 13 00:01:16,290 --> 00:01:19,570 Speaker 1: At the request of the survivors. The names have been 14 00:01:19,650 --> 00:01:23,810 Speaker 1: changed out of respect for the dead. The rest has 15 00:01:23,850 --> 00:01:31,730 Speaker 1: been told exactly as it occurred. Fargo isn't a true story. 16 00:01:32,250 --> 00:01:35,690 Speaker 1: The shoote was well underway when the directors, the Coen Brothers, 17 00:01:35,930 --> 00:01:39,770 Speaker 1: casually mentioned this to the cast. One of the movie stars, 18 00:01:39,850 --> 00:01:43,730 Speaker 1: William H. Macy, was taken aback. You can't say it's 19 00:01:43,730 --> 00:01:47,050 Speaker 1: a true story if it wasn't, said Macy, Why not, 20 00:01:47,490 --> 00:01:52,210 Speaker 1: came the reply. In the movie, one of the hapless 21 00:01:52,290 --> 00:01:56,570 Speaker 1: kidnappers hides nearly a million dollars by burying it in snow. 22 00:01:57,250 --> 00:02:02,210 Speaker 1: It's a comically stupid idea. The landscape's generic and featureless 23 00:02:02,250 --> 00:02:05,170 Speaker 1: as far as the eye can see. How will he 24 00:02:05,290 --> 00:02:08,490 Speaker 1: ever find his way back to the spot. He won't, 25 00:02:09,450 --> 00:02:12,490 Speaker 1: and not just because he ends up in a wood chipper, 26 00:02:13,330 --> 00:02:15,970 Speaker 1: and none of the movies other characters know that cash 27 00:02:16,090 --> 00:02:20,810 Speaker 1: is there. Hold on, though, if the movie is told 28 00:02:21,290 --> 00:02:26,930 Speaker 1: exactly as it occurred, does the money exist? Is it 29 00:02:27,010 --> 00:02:30,570 Speaker 1: still where the kidnapper left it? Undiscovered? In real life? 30 00:02:31,810 --> 00:02:34,730 Speaker 1: Five years after the film was released, a young woman 31 00:02:34,810 --> 00:02:38,970 Speaker 1: turned up at the police station in Bismarck, North Dakota. 32 00:02:39,210 --> 00:02:41,970 Speaker 1: She had just flown in from Tokyo. It was the 33 00:02:41,970 --> 00:02:45,050 Speaker 1: middle of winter, but she was wearing a short black 34 00:02:45,090 --> 00:02:48,930 Speaker 1: skirt and Thai high boots. She was clutching a simple 35 00:02:49,010 --> 00:02:52,290 Speaker 1: map that showed nothing but a road and a tree. 36 00:02:52,970 --> 00:02:55,930 Speaker 1: The police tried to understand what she wanted, but they 37 00:02:55,930 --> 00:02:59,970 Speaker 1: spoke no Japanese and her English wasn't great. They could 38 00:03:00,010 --> 00:03:06,010 Speaker 1: make out one word, though fargo. One policeman recalled, we'd 39 00:03:06,050 --> 00:03:08,650 Speaker 1: tried to explain to her that it was a fictional movie. 40 00:03:09,170 --> 00:03:12,410 Speaker 1: Really wasn't any treasure. The police weren't sure if the 41 00:03:12,490 --> 00:03:15,370 Speaker 1: message had got through, but they took her to the 42 00:03:15,370 --> 00:03:18,570 Speaker 1: bus station where she could catch a greyhound to Fargo, 43 00:03:19,410 --> 00:03:23,490 Speaker 1: several hours to the east, across a vast and empty landscape. 44 00:03:24,410 --> 00:03:27,210 Speaker 1: A couple of days later, they got a call from 45 00:03:27,250 --> 00:03:32,090 Speaker 1: another police department. In some woods not far from Fargo. 46 00:03:32,650 --> 00:03:36,170 Speaker 1: On a freezing cold morning, a hunter had found the 47 00:03:36,290 --> 00:03:43,490 Speaker 1: body of a young Japanese woman. Takakokanishi's death was reported 48 00:03:43,930 --> 00:03:49,290 Speaker 1: around the world. Cult film sparked Hunt for a Fortune. 49 00:03:50,290 --> 00:03:53,330 Speaker 1: You can't say it's a true story if it wasn't, 50 00:03:54,650 --> 00:04:02,530 Speaker 1: can you. I'm Tim Harford, and you're listening to cautionary tales, 51 00:04:24,650 --> 00:04:28,130 Speaker 1: you must know the story of Hansel and Grettel, made 52 00:04:28,130 --> 00:04:33,090 Speaker 1: famous by the brothers Grim. A great famine sweeps the land. 53 00:04:34,050 --> 00:04:37,530 Speaker 1: A poor woodcutter can no longer afford to feed his family. 54 00:04:38,490 --> 00:04:41,730 Speaker 1: One night, his new wife persuades him that they must 55 00:04:41,730 --> 00:04:47,210 Speaker 1: take his children into the forest and abandon them. They 56 00:04:47,250 --> 00:04:50,970 Speaker 1: set off early the next morning, the sun glinting off 57 00:04:50,970 --> 00:04:55,770 Speaker 1: the chimney of the woodcutter's cottage, deep into the woods. 58 00:04:56,530 --> 00:05:01,450 Speaker 1: The man builds a fire to keep his children warm. Wait, hip, 59 00:05:01,770 --> 00:05:03,770 Speaker 1: I won't be too far away. You'll be able to 60 00:05:03,810 --> 00:05:08,490 Speaker 1: hear me chopping trees. That the sounds young handsland Grettel 61 00:05:08,530 --> 00:05:12,890 Speaker 1: can hear don't come from their father's axe. He's tied 62 00:05:12,890 --> 00:05:15,290 Speaker 1: a branch to a tree trunk in such a way 63 00:05:15,530 --> 00:05:19,010 Speaker 1: that the wind will cause it to keep flacking. By 64 00:05:19,010 --> 00:05:21,890 Speaker 1: the time his children realize that he's gone, he thinks 65 00:05:22,490 --> 00:05:26,330 Speaker 1: they'll never find their way home. He doesn't realize that 66 00:05:26,370 --> 00:05:30,850 Speaker 1: the children overheard the plan. Hansel sneaked out in the 67 00:05:30,890 --> 00:05:34,250 Speaker 1: dead of night to fill his pockets with pebbles, and 68 00:05:34,370 --> 00:05:38,330 Speaker 1: as they walked, he dropped them. By following the trail 69 00:05:38,370 --> 00:05:46,330 Speaker 1: of pebbles, Hansel and Gretel get back home. Their wicked 70 00:05:46,410 --> 00:05:50,610 Speaker 1: stepmother is furious that night she locks them in. The 71 00:05:50,690 --> 00:05:54,250 Speaker 1: Next morning, they set off again. Hansel has no pebbles, 72 00:05:54,850 --> 00:05:58,530 Speaker 1: but he does have a hunk of bread, and so 73 00:05:58,690 --> 00:06:04,090 Speaker 1: instead he leaves a trail of breadcrumbs. This time, when 74 00:06:04,090 --> 00:06:08,410 Speaker 1: the children try to follow their trail back home, disaster 75 00:06:09,690 --> 00:06:15,050 Speaker 1: birds have eaten all the crumbs. Hansel and Gretel wander 76 00:06:15,090 --> 00:06:21,250 Speaker 1: the forest, starving and lost. Eventually they chance across a 77 00:06:21,290 --> 00:06:25,210 Speaker 1: house made from gingerbread and begin to eat it. There 78 00:06:25,250 --> 00:06:31,250 Speaker 1: comes a soft voice from inside. Nibble, nibble, little mouse, 79 00:06:31,850 --> 00:06:37,010 Speaker 1: who is nibbling at my house? A woman as old 80 00:06:37,050 --> 00:06:42,090 Speaker 1: as the hills creeps out of the door. She invites 81 00:06:42,090 --> 00:06:46,010 Speaker 1: the children inside with the promise of more food. But 82 00:06:46,130 --> 00:06:49,810 Speaker 1: she's a wicked witch, and she captures them. She keeps 83 00:06:49,850 --> 00:06:53,330 Speaker 1: Hansel in a cage and forces Grettel to work preparing 84 00:06:53,450 --> 00:06:56,610 Speaker 1: food for her brother. When he's fattened up, I'm going 85 00:06:56,650 --> 00:07:01,210 Speaker 1: to eat him. The witch's eyesight is bad, so every 86 00:07:01,290 --> 00:07:04,090 Speaker 1: day she asks Hansel to stick a finger through the 87 00:07:04,170 --> 00:07:07,730 Speaker 1: cage for her to feel how fat he's got. Hansel 88 00:07:07,810 --> 00:07:11,130 Speaker 1: tricks her he finds a bone on the floor in 89 00:07:11,210 --> 00:07:15,770 Speaker 1: every day he pokes that through the cage instead. Eventually 90 00:07:15,770 --> 00:07:19,970 Speaker 1: the witch loses patience. She announces she'll cook Hansel fat 91 00:07:20,130 --> 00:07:24,850 Speaker 1: or not, and secretly decides to cook Gretel too. This time, 92 00:07:24,930 --> 00:07:28,650 Speaker 1: Gretel tricks her climb into the overn and see if 93 00:07:28,650 --> 00:07:32,690 Speaker 1: it's hot enough. Yet I don't understand. How can I 94 00:07:32,810 --> 00:07:38,050 Speaker 1: climb inside the oven? Replied Gretel, innocently. Stupid girl like this? 95 00:07:38,450 --> 00:07:41,970 Speaker 1: Do I have to show you everything? Gretel shoves her in, 96 00:07:42,290 --> 00:07:44,850 Speaker 1: slams the door, and bars it with an iron rod. 97 00:07:45,170 --> 00:07:48,890 Speaker 1: The witch howls as the flames consume her. Gretel lets 98 00:07:48,890 --> 00:07:51,730 Speaker 1: Hansel out of the cage, and the children again look 99 00:07:51,770 --> 00:07:56,370 Speaker 1: for the way back home. A magical duckling helps them 100 00:07:56,370 --> 00:08:00,170 Speaker 1: across a great body of water, and they arrive home. 101 00:08:00,890 --> 00:08:04,610 Speaker 1: Their wicked stepmother is dead, and their regretful father is 102 00:08:04,930 --> 00:08:09,850 Speaker 1: overjoyed to have them back. The three live happily ever after. 103 00:08:13,730 --> 00:08:16,930 Speaker 1: Hansel and Gretel is a cautionary tale, much like the 104 00:08:16,970 --> 00:08:20,730 Speaker 1: tales I tell. But Hansel and Gretel is for children, 105 00:08:21,290 --> 00:08:25,410 Speaker 1: a warning about stranger danger. Or so it seems. The 106 00:08:25,450 --> 00:08:29,570 Speaker 1: tales I tell are for grown ups, and the tales 107 00:08:29,730 --> 00:08:37,290 Speaker 1: I tell are true. Hansel and Gretel isn't true? Or 108 00:08:37,490 --> 00:08:45,650 Speaker 1: is it? The fairy tale of Hansel and Gretel fascinated 109 00:08:45,690 --> 00:08:49,010 Speaker 1: a young boy growing up in the nineteen twenties near 110 00:08:49,050 --> 00:08:55,410 Speaker 1: the border of Germany and Czechoslovakia. Georg Osseg's grandparents owned 111 00:08:55,450 --> 00:08:59,450 Speaker 1: a rare early edition of Grimm's Fairy Tales, published in 112 00:08:59,610 --> 00:09:05,770 Speaker 1: eighteen eighteen. It was beautifully illustrated with intricate drawings. Young 113 00:09:05,850 --> 00:09:10,450 Speaker 1: George read it and reread it until every page was 114 00:09:10,530 --> 00:09:15,650 Speaker 1: seared in his memory. Oseg grew up to be a teacher. 115 00:09:16,210 --> 00:09:19,770 Speaker 1: He got a job in a Schaffenburg near Frankfurt. He 116 00:09:19,850 --> 00:09:23,970 Speaker 1: spent his weekends hiking in the Spessart, a nearby range 117 00:09:24,010 --> 00:09:28,730 Speaker 1: of low wooded mountains. One spring day in nineteen sixty two, 118 00:09:29,170 --> 00:09:31,490 Speaker 1: he was exploring a part of the woods he'd never 119 00:09:31,530 --> 00:09:35,930 Speaker 1: been to before. A local farmer had told him it 120 00:09:36,010 --> 00:09:43,890 Speaker 1: was known as the Hexenvald, the Witch's Forest. I hadn't 121 00:09:43,930 --> 00:09:46,450 Speaker 1: been out for half an hour when suddenly I had 122 00:09:46,450 --> 00:09:49,090 Speaker 1: a strange feeling. I felt as if I had walked 123 00:09:49,130 --> 00:09:53,730 Speaker 1: this path before. How could that be? Osseg thought for 124 00:09:53,770 --> 00:09:58,570 Speaker 1: a moment. Then it hit him. He realized that he'd 125 00:09:58,610 --> 00:10:02,410 Speaker 1: recognized the scene from an illustration in his grandfather's book. 126 00:10:03,130 --> 00:10:06,410 Speaker 1: Osseg compared the drawing with the view from the footpath. 127 00:10:07,130 --> 00:10:10,890 Speaker 1: There could be no doubt the trees had grown, of course, 128 00:10:11,050 --> 00:10:14,210 Speaker 1: that the oaks, the spruces, and the beeches were all 129 00:10:14,250 --> 00:10:18,490 Speaker 1: in exactly the same configuration. The line of the hills 130 00:10:18,490 --> 00:10:24,410 Speaker 1: on the horizon was unmistakable. That illustration in Hansel and 131 00:10:24,490 --> 00:10:28,850 Speaker 1: Gretel hadn't just come from an artist's imagination. It was 132 00:10:28,890 --> 00:10:34,170 Speaker 1: a faithful depiction of a real place. What else about 133 00:10:34,170 --> 00:10:38,530 Speaker 1: the story might be real? George Osseg decided to do 134 00:10:38,650 --> 00:10:42,130 Speaker 1: something that no one had thought of before. He read 135 00:10:42,250 --> 00:10:45,130 Speaker 1: the fairy tale of Hansel and Gretel as if it 136 00:10:45,210 --> 00:10:49,850 Speaker 1: were a factual report. That's a line from a nineteen 137 00:10:49,890 --> 00:10:54,010 Speaker 1: sixty three book about Georg Osseg. It was called di 138 00:10:54,210 --> 00:10:59,930 Speaker 1: varheite uber Hansel and Gretel The Truth about Hansel and Gretel, 139 00:11:00,650 --> 00:11:05,490 Speaker 1: and it caused a sensation. In the book, the author 140 00:11:05,610 --> 00:11:10,770 Speaker 1: Hans Trasler describes what Oseg did next. The illustration showed 141 00:11:10,770 --> 00:11:14,010 Speaker 1: the path along which Hansland Grettel's father had taken them 142 00:11:14,010 --> 00:11:17,690 Speaker 1: into the forest. In the story, the children look back 143 00:11:17,730 --> 00:11:20,650 Speaker 1: at the morning sunlight glinting off the chimney of the 144 00:11:20,690 --> 00:11:25,490 Speaker 1: woodcutter's cottage. The sun rises in the east. So if 145 00:11:25,530 --> 00:11:28,850 Speaker 1: Oseg followed the path east, would it lead him to 146 00:11:28,930 --> 00:11:34,530 Speaker 1: the woodcutter's cottage. Osg walked east, and he found a 147 00:11:34,690 --> 00:11:40,770 Speaker 1: newly built autobahn connecting Frankfurt with Wurtzburg. But what had 148 00:11:40,770 --> 00:11:45,570 Speaker 1: been there before? The records must exist. Tracksler describes how 149 00:11:45,610 --> 00:11:50,570 Speaker 1: Oseg tracked them down to the Rubrun railway maintenance depot. 150 00:11:51,410 --> 00:11:54,130 Speaker 1: He leafed through the dusty files until he found a 151 00:11:54,210 --> 00:11:57,570 Speaker 1: note of a court decision from November the fourth, nineteen 152 00:11:57,610 --> 00:12:01,650 Speaker 1: fifty four, a dispute over the compensation due from the 153 00:12:01,730 --> 00:12:06,810 Speaker 1: Federal Motorway's administration to a man called Georg Scheidhauer, who'd 154 00:12:06,850 --> 00:12:09,970 Speaker 1: owned the land at the east end of the forest path. 155 00:12:11,210 --> 00:12:16,170 Speaker 1: The court awarded Scheidehauer eighteen thousand, seven hundred and sixty 156 00:12:16,170 --> 00:12:21,210 Speaker 1: Deutsche marks for his property, a half timbered house with 157 00:12:21,330 --> 00:12:27,210 Speaker 1: a barn and a garden with eighteen fruit trees. Oss 158 00:12:27,250 --> 00:12:36,650 Speaker 1: Egg had found the Woodcutter's cottage. Cautionary tales will return 159 00:12:37,170 --> 00:12:49,610 Speaker 1: in a moment. Georg oss Egg was now a man 160 00:12:49,770 --> 00:12:53,210 Speaker 1: with a mission. He had located the site of the 161 00:12:53,250 --> 00:12:57,610 Speaker 1: woodcutter's cottage from hansland Grettel. He had found the path 162 00:12:57,690 --> 00:13:01,930 Speaker 1: along which the children had been led. Next, he looked 163 00:13:01,930 --> 00:13:06,730 Speaker 1: for the place where they'd been abandoned. The story mentions 164 00:13:06,770 --> 00:13:10,610 Speaker 1: that the woodcutter made a fire to keep the children warm. 165 00:13:10,770 --> 00:13:13,250 Speaker 1: No forester would make a fire in the thick of 166 00:13:13,250 --> 00:13:19,010 Speaker 1: the trees, so that must have meant a clearing. Oseg 167 00:13:19,090 --> 00:13:23,170 Speaker 1: explored to the west until he found one. In the story, 168 00:13:23,290 --> 00:13:26,370 Speaker 1: the woodcutter ties a branch to a tree so the 169 00:13:26,450 --> 00:13:29,210 Speaker 1: wind will make it swack and sound like an axe. 170 00:13:29,890 --> 00:13:34,450 Speaker 1: Oseg spent two days inspecting every tree near the clearing 171 00:13:34,770 --> 00:13:38,290 Speaker 1: until he came across an old oak with a wound 172 00:13:38,290 --> 00:13:41,250 Speaker 1: in the trunk where a cord had been tied around it. 173 00:13:42,090 --> 00:13:45,530 Speaker 1: He had the tree felled and the cord radio carbon 174 00:13:45,610 --> 00:13:51,450 Speaker 1: dated it came from the sixteen forties. What about the 175 00:13:51,490 --> 00:13:55,970 Speaker 1: Witch's house? Did that exist and could Oseg find it? 176 00:13:56,850 --> 00:14:00,370 Speaker 1: According to the story, Hansel and Gretel crossed a body 177 00:14:00,410 --> 00:14:04,010 Speaker 1: of water between the witch's house and their own that 178 00:14:04,250 --> 00:14:08,890 Speaker 1: could only refer to the river Ashaft. Oseg got a map, 179 00:14:09,330 --> 00:14:14,730 Speaker 1: divided it into squares, and methodically searched each one. After 180 00:14:14,770 --> 00:14:18,250 Speaker 1: two months, he found ruins of a building made from bricks. 181 00:14:19,130 --> 00:14:22,970 Speaker 1: The footprint of those ruins looked like it exactly matched 182 00:14:23,050 --> 00:14:27,090 Speaker 1: another illustration in his grandparent's book showing the which his 183 00:14:27,250 --> 00:14:33,490 Speaker 1: four brick ovens. Osseg grabbed his spade and started to dig. 184 00:14:34,170 --> 00:14:37,970 Speaker 1: Within the foundations of one of the ovens, he found 185 00:14:38,050 --> 00:14:43,610 Speaker 1: the charred remains of a woman's skeleton. He brought in 186 00:14:43,690 --> 00:14:49,130 Speaker 1: academic specialists who concluded the woman was thirty five years 187 00:14:49,170 --> 00:14:54,010 Speaker 1: old and she had been strangled before she had been 188 00:14:54,050 --> 00:14:58,890 Speaker 1: thrown in the oven. Osseg dug some more. He found 189 00:14:58,890 --> 00:15:03,410 Speaker 1: a broken hinge had the murderers forced their way in? 190 00:15:04,370 --> 00:15:08,610 Speaker 1: He found a small iron chest. It contained a hand 191 00:15:09,130 --> 00:15:16,770 Speaker 1: written recipe for gingerbread. But who had the murdered woman been. 192 00:15:17,850 --> 00:15:22,690 Speaker 1: Osseg turned now to linguistic analysis. In the Grimm's telling 193 00:15:22,730 --> 00:15:25,650 Speaker 1: of the tale, the witch speaks in a dialect which 194 00:15:25,690 --> 00:15:29,650 Speaker 1: has distinctive roots in the town of werniged Oda. Osseg 195 00:15:29,770 --> 00:15:33,210 Speaker 1: travels to the town and searches through its records. He 196 00:15:33,330 --> 00:15:38,690 Speaker 1: discovers reports of a trial from sixteen forty seven, The 197 00:15:38,810 --> 00:15:42,490 Speaker 1: year ties right in with the radio carbon dating. A 198 00:15:42,610 --> 00:15:48,130 Speaker 1: baker called Katerina Schraderin is accused of witchcraft by a 199 00:15:48,210 --> 00:15:55,090 Speaker 1: man whose proposal of marriage she's spurned. Soon after another trial, 200 00:15:56,170 --> 00:16:01,170 Speaker 1: Katerina has been murdered and the man and his sister 201 00:16:01,810 --> 00:16:13,610 Speaker 1: are accused. The man is called Hans Metzler, his sister Gretta. 202 00:16:13,770 --> 00:16:21,450 Speaker 1: Hans and Gretta Osg pieced together what had happened. Katerina 203 00:16:21,610 --> 00:16:25,370 Speaker 1: was famous for her gingerbread. Hans was a baker too. 204 00:16:25,530 --> 00:16:28,490 Speaker 1: He had wanted to marry Katerina to get his hands 205 00:16:28,650 --> 00:16:32,730 Speaker 1: on her recipe. When she turned him down, he and 206 00:16:32,850 --> 00:16:36,570 Speaker 1: his sister went to her house in the woods and 207 00:16:36,890 --> 00:16:41,410 Speaker 1: murdered her. But they didn't find her recipe because she'd 208 00:16:41,490 --> 00:16:45,450 Speaker 1: hidden it in the iron chest. So the story of 209 00:16:45,490 --> 00:16:49,410 Speaker 1: Hansel and Grettel was based on real events, albeit loosely. 210 00:16:50,050 --> 00:16:55,530 Speaker 1: The protagonists weren't abandoned children, they were cold blooded murderers 211 00:16:56,010 --> 00:16:59,850 Speaker 1: motivated by greed. And the woman who burned in the 212 00:16:59,890 --> 00:17:03,410 Speaker 1: oven wasn't a wicked witch with a magical gingerbread house, 213 00:17:04,290 --> 00:17:09,010 Speaker 1: but a talented baker with a sort after gingerbread recipe. 214 00:17:12,370 --> 00:17:16,170 Speaker 1: When Hans Traxler published his book about geyorg Osseg, The 215 00:17:16,330 --> 00:17:21,010 Speaker 1: Truth about Hansel and Gretel, he was stunned by the response. 216 00:17:22,450 --> 00:17:28,210 Speaker 1: What stunned him was that everyone took it seriously. I 217 00:17:28,250 --> 00:17:30,810 Speaker 1: was sure I'd hidden enough clues that it was all 218 00:17:30,850 --> 00:17:37,610 Speaker 1: a great big fib. Traxler was a professional satirist, a 219 00:17:37,730 --> 00:17:42,930 Speaker 1: writer and illustrator for a satirical magazine. Gayorg Osseg didn't exist, 220 00:17:43,850 --> 00:17:48,890 Speaker 1: but the book sold hundreds of thousands of copies. Requests 221 00:17:48,930 --> 00:17:52,690 Speaker 1: to translate it came in from eighteen countries. Reviewers in 222 00:17:52,770 --> 00:17:57,170 Speaker 1: Germany's newspapers gushed about the thoroughness of Oseg's research and 223 00:17:57,250 --> 00:18:01,410 Speaker 1: the gripping way. Traxler described it the book of the year, 224 00:18:01,930 --> 00:18:06,290 Speaker 1: maybe the book of the decade, said one The newspapers 225 00:18:06,290 --> 00:18:10,450 Speaker 1: in communist East Germany were just as impressed, perhaps because 226 00:18:10,450 --> 00:18:14,170 Speaker 1: they could blame capitalism for the murder. A criminal case 227 00:18:14,290 --> 00:18:20,330 Speaker 1: from the early capitalist era, appined Berlina Zeitung. What were 228 00:18:20,330 --> 00:18:23,010 Speaker 1: the clues Tracksler had left that he had made the 229 00:18:23,050 --> 00:18:28,570 Speaker 1: whole thing up. Some were subtle. Katerina's gingerbread recipe, for example, 230 00:18:28,850 --> 00:18:32,410 Speaker 1: Tracksler had copied it word for word from a popular 231 00:18:32,450 --> 00:18:36,570 Speaker 1: cookbook by doctor Utka. Other clues should have been harder 232 00:18:36,610 --> 00:18:41,050 Speaker 1: to miss. In one passage, Osg recruits an eight year 233 00:18:41,090 --> 00:18:45,090 Speaker 1: old boy, fills his pockets with pebbles and has him 234 00:18:45,330 --> 00:18:48,370 Speaker 1: walked down the path away from the motorway where the 235 00:18:48,370 --> 00:18:53,690 Speaker 1: woodcutter's house had supposedly stood. The pebbles run out before 236 00:18:53,730 --> 00:18:57,450 Speaker 1: he gets to the clearing, but when Osgg fills his 237 00:18:57,530 --> 00:19:00,930 Speaker 1: own pockets with pebbles, he does have enough to cover 238 00:19:00,930 --> 00:19:05,450 Speaker 1: the distance. The book includes a diagram helpfully showing how 239 00:19:05,730 --> 00:19:09,250 Speaker 1: tall people can see further and hence leave more space 240 00:19:09,370 --> 00:19:13,490 Speaker 1: between pebbles. Hansel and Gretel were not children at all. 241 00:19:14,010 --> 00:19:19,690 Speaker 1: Tracksler describes osggers, concluding, to put it scientifically, they must 242 00:19:19,730 --> 00:19:26,010 Speaker 1: have been the size of an adult scientific Indeed, also 243 00:19:26,210 --> 00:19:31,570 Speaker 1: very scientific was a photograph of OSG's radiocarbon dating equipment. 244 00:19:32,290 --> 00:19:34,810 Speaker 1: You don't have to look too closely to see that 245 00:19:34,850 --> 00:19:39,210 Speaker 1: it consists of an upside down lasagna tray, a length 246 00:19:39,250 --> 00:19:44,130 Speaker 1: of coax cable from a television, a child's microscope, and 247 00:19:44,330 --> 00:19:49,690 Speaker 1: some jars from the kitchen spice rack. Tracksler was bewildered 248 00:19:49,810 --> 00:19:54,810 Speaker 1: that nobody picked up on this unsubtle clue. Real apparatus 249 00:19:54,850 --> 00:19:57,450 Speaker 1: to do carbon dating is the size of a train. 250 00:19:57,850 --> 00:20:01,090 Speaker 1: He pointed out. Some of the images in the book 251 00:20:01,290 --> 00:20:07,050 Speaker 1: show gay org osgg in action. It's Tracksler himself in 252 00:20:07,090 --> 00:20:12,210 Speaker 1: the silliest of disguises, wire rimmed glasses and a fake mustache. 253 00:20:13,130 --> 00:20:17,290 Speaker 1: Tracksler took a photographer to a Frankfurt construction site, where 254 00:20:17,330 --> 00:20:20,330 Speaker 1: they jumped into a ditch to shoot the excavation. At 255 00:20:20,330 --> 00:20:24,570 Speaker 1: the witch's house, tracks Ler posed inspecting the side of 256 00:20:24,570 --> 00:20:28,730 Speaker 1: the ditch with a pastry brush. The photographer and I 257 00:20:29,210 --> 00:20:33,650 Speaker 1: lay on the ground laughing, but when the book was 258 00:20:33,730 --> 00:20:39,690 Speaker 1: published the joke was lost. Excited letters flooded in gay Org. 259 00:20:39,810 --> 00:20:44,490 Speaker 1: Oseg was invited to give lectures. A Japanese academic expressed 260 00:20:44,770 --> 00:20:48,970 Speaker 1: earnest interest in how the new field of fairy tale 261 00:20:49,090 --> 00:20:56,210 Speaker 1: archaeology could improve cross cultural understanding. Readers flocked to the 262 00:20:56,290 --> 00:21:00,210 Speaker 1: scenic woods of the spec Art, trying to decipher Oseg's 263 00:21:00,210 --> 00:21:05,370 Speaker 1: descriptions and locate the witch's house for themselves. Schools hired 264 00:21:05,410 --> 00:21:11,170 Speaker 1: buses and took entire classes. One made the ten hour 265 00:21:11,330 --> 00:21:19,770 Speaker 1: journey from Denmark. Hahns Traxler started to wander what had 266 00:21:19,850 --> 00:21:29,810 Speaker 1: done in our social media age, Mistaking satire for serious 267 00:21:29,810 --> 00:21:35,770 Speaker 1: reporting is a surprisingly common problem. President Trump once retweeted 268 00:21:35,810 --> 00:21:39,610 Speaker 1: a news story from the satirical website The Babylon Bee, 269 00:21:40,090 --> 00:21:43,890 Speaker 1: without seeming to be aware that The Babylon Bee is 270 00:21:44,130 --> 00:21:48,490 Speaker 1: a satirical website. Twitter had suffered an outage, and the 271 00:21:48,570 --> 00:21:52,130 Speaker 1: Bee jokingly reported that the network had decided to shut 272 00:21:52,170 --> 00:21:55,570 Speaker 1: itself down to slow the spread of negative news about 273 00:21:55,730 --> 00:22:00,530 Speaker 1: Joe Biden. Trump wasn't chuckling at the joke. He was 274 00:22:00,570 --> 00:22:05,050 Speaker 1: demanding to know why Twitter had done this. How many 275 00:22:05,170 --> 00:22:10,650 Speaker 1: voters also struggled to spot tricks and jokes. When researchers 276 00:22:10,690 --> 00:22:14,570 Speaker 1: from Ohio State presented voters with a selection of stories 277 00:22:14,610 --> 00:22:17,930 Speaker 1: from the Babylon b They found that up to twenty 278 00:22:17,970 --> 00:22:23,770 Speaker 1: eight percent of Republicans thought the stories were real. Democrats 279 00:22:23,850 --> 00:22:26,490 Speaker 1: were less likely to be fooled, But the reverse was 280 00:22:26,530 --> 00:22:30,410 Speaker 1: true when the researchers tried stories from another satirical website, 281 00:22:30,850 --> 00:22:35,290 Speaker 1: arguably one with a different political perspective, the Onion. The 282 00:22:35,330 --> 00:22:38,410 Speaker 1: researchers were looking for ways to minimize the spread of 283 00:22:38,450 --> 00:22:44,450 Speaker 1: misinformation over social networks. In twenty nineteen, they ran an experiment. 284 00:22:45,330 --> 00:22:48,810 Speaker 1: They flagged posts on Facebook in one of three ways. 285 00:22:49,490 --> 00:22:53,010 Speaker 1: The first type of flag said that independent fact checkers 286 00:22:53,170 --> 00:22:57,290 Speaker 1: had said story wasn't true. The second type said that 287 00:22:57,330 --> 00:23:01,770 Speaker 1: other Facebook users had raised doubts about it. Neither type 288 00:23:01,770 --> 00:23:05,850 Speaker 1: of flag made the studies subjects any less likely to 289 00:23:05,850 --> 00:23:10,770 Speaker 1: share the story, but the third type did. When a 290 00:23:10,850 --> 00:23:15,170 Speaker 1: story was flagged as being from a satirical website, people 291 00:23:15,410 --> 00:23:18,610 Speaker 1: were less likely to part it on. It wasn't a 292 00:23:18,690 --> 00:23:23,170 Speaker 1: huge effect, but it was something. Clearly Labeling satire as 293 00:23:23,250 --> 00:23:27,770 Speaker 1: satire did seem to prevent some people from sharing fake news. 294 00:23:30,050 --> 00:23:33,570 Speaker 1: When the truth about the truth about Hansel and Gretel 295 00:23:33,850 --> 00:23:39,610 Speaker 1: finally emerged, some of Tracksler's readers were not amused. An 296 00:23:39,650 --> 00:23:42,930 Speaker 1: angry couple from North Rhine West Failure sent me the 297 00:23:43,010 --> 00:23:45,690 Speaker 1: petrol bill for the trip they'd made to the SPEs Art. 298 00:23:46,570 --> 00:23:50,170 Speaker 1: Then Trackxler received a letter from a lawyer in herborn. 299 00:23:51,170 --> 00:23:54,770 Speaker 1: If you want to do business with a parody, then 300 00:23:54,810 --> 00:23:58,370 Speaker 1: you have to label your parody as such. I have 301 00:23:58,530 --> 00:24:02,650 Speaker 1: therefore decided to bring the case to the attention of 302 00:24:02,890 --> 00:24:08,250 Speaker 1: the public prosecutor or. As William H. Macy would put it, 303 00:24:09,170 --> 00:24:13,170 Speaker 1: can't say it's a true story if it wasn't Hahn's. 304 00:24:13,210 --> 00:24:20,570 Speaker 1: Traxler was summoned to the police station. Cautionary tales will 305 00:24:20,610 --> 00:24:29,890 Speaker 1: be back soon. If you want to do business with 306 00:24:29,930 --> 00:24:34,370 Speaker 1: a parody, then you have to label your parody as such, 307 00:24:35,330 --> 00:24:40,770 Speaker 1: so said the irate German lawyer. Facebook seems to agree. 308 00:24:41,130 --> 00:24:44,490 Speaker 1: It has now rolled out the flags on satirical stories. 309 00:24:44,890 --> 00:24:49,650 Speaker 1: They join other algorithmic warnings, from disputed claims on Twitter 310 00:24:50,090 --> 00:24:55,490 Speaker 1: to suspected spam on emails and texts. We're constantly assailed 311 00:24:55,490 --> 00:24:58,050 Speaker 1: by people trying to fool us because they want to 312 00:24:58,090 --> 00:25:01,890 Speaker 1: influence our vote or part us from our money. Any 313 00:25:01,970 --> 00:25:05,210 Speaker 1: reminders to consider the source of information have to be 314 00:25:05,250 --> 00:25:09,570 Speaker 1: a good thing, and yet I can't help feel that 315 00:25:09,650 --> 00:25:14,050 Speaker 1: the lawyer from Herborne was being too dogmatic in demanding 316 00:25:14,090 --> 00:25:19,250 Speaker 1: that paradies must always be labeled. Phishing emails and troll 317 00:25:19,410 --> 00:25:23,930 Speaker 1: farm tweets can be hard to spot. Even for the algorithms, 318 00:25:24,850 --> 00:25:28,530 Speaker 1: we can't rely on them being flagged. We have to 319 00:25:28,570 --> 00:25:32,370 Speaker 1: think for ourselves. A clever hoax can act a bit 320 00:25:32,410 --> 00:25:36,050 Speaker 1: like a vaccine, a benign way to prime our critical 321 00:25:36,170 --> 00:25:39,650 Speaker 1: thinking immune system, to make us more alert against the 322 00:25:39,690 --> 00:25:43,650 Speaker 1: threats that matter. And a hoax can't work if it 323 00:25:43,690 --> 00:25:47,890 Speaker 1: has to announce itself up front. What does it take 324 00:25:48,010 --> 00:25:51,050 Speaker 1: for a hoax to earn our indulgence? I think there 325 00:25:51,050 --> 00:25:54,370 Speaker 1: are three things. First, the hoax has to be good. 326 00:25:55,050 --> 00:25:57,890 Speaker 1: That means it must be plausible if you're not paying attention, 327 00:25:58,530 --> 00:26:02,370 Speaker 1: but obvious if you are. That's harder than it sounds. 328 00:26:02,690 --> 00:26:06,850 Speaker 1: Attempts at satire are often either too clunkily apparent on 329 00:26:06,890 --> 00:26:10,170 Speaker 1: the first read or too well discussed on the second. 330 00:26:11,010 --> 00:26:14,810 Speaker 1: Hans Trackler seems to have got the balance exactly right. 331 00:26:15,490 --> 00:26:18,370 Speaker 1: He was amazed by how many letters he received from 332 00:26:18,370 --> 00:26:22,250 Speaker 1: readers who'd spotted one piece of nonsense in his account 333 00:26:22,330 --> 00:26:26,930 Speaker 1: of georg Oseg's research, but who hadn't. Then questioned everything else. 334 00:26:27,730 --> 00:26:31,650 Speaker 1: Those letters said things like, dear mister Tracksler, I believe 335 00:26:31,690 --> 00:26:34,690 Speaker 1: gay org Osegg must have been mistaken when he says 336 00:26:34,850 --> 00:26:37,970 Speaker 1: he found the woodcutter's cord in the tree twenty five 337 00:26:38,050 --> 00:26:40,970 Speaker 1: meters above the ground, because the tree had grown so much. 338 00:26:41,410 --> 00:26:45,170 Speaker 1: You see, trees sprout from the top, they don't push 339 00:26:45,250 --> 00:26:47,490 Speaker 1: up from the bottom, so the cord would have been 340 00:26:47,610 --> 00:26:51,570 Speaker 1: quite close to the ground. Apart from that minor blemish, 341 00:26:51,610 --> 00:26:55,810 Speaker 1: I found mister Ossegg's work to be excellent. Or the 342 00:26:55,890 --> 00:26:59,890 Speaker 1: manuscript from Vinigaroda can't have come from sixteen forty seven 343 00:26:59,930 --> 00:27:02,450 Speaker 1: because it refers to a famous event that happened in 344 00:27:02,530 --> 00:27:08,610 Speaker 1: eighteen eleven. Otherwise, though, great job. These are readers who 345 00:27:08,690 --> 00:27:13,410 Speaker 1: really should have felt their spidy senses tingling, and when 346 00:27:13,410 --> 00:27:16,690 Speaker 1: they discovered they'd been had, they must have been embarrassed 347 00:27:16,690 --> 00:27:20,650 Speaker 1: at their gullibility. And that's a useful feeling, because they'll 348 00:27:20,690 --> 00:27:25,570 Speaker 1: resolve to think more critically in future. The second requirement 349 00:27:25,610 --> 00:27:29,370 Speaker 1: of a satisfying hoax is like a vaccine, it should 350 00:27:29,410 --> 00:27:33,330 Speaker 1: do no harm. I'm not sure that's true about some 351 00:27:33,450 --> 00:27:38,330 Speaker 1: satirical stories from sites such as the Babylon Bee. According 352 00:27:38,370 --> 00:27:41,770 Speaker 1: to the Ohio State Study For example, twenty three percent 353 00:27:41,810 --> 00:27:46,290 Speaker 1: of Republicans believed the Bee's story that US Representative Illan 354 00:27:46,410 --> 00:27:53,210 Speaker 1: Omar said being Jewish is an inherently hostile act. You 355 00:27:53,210 --> 00:27:56,130 Speaker 1: can reach your own conclusions as to whether this is 356 00:27:56,250 --> 00:27:59,570 Speaker 1: or is not a hilarious satire of the left wing 357 00:27:59,570 --> 00:28:03,490 Speaker 1: of US politics. But the point is she never said it, 358 00:28:04,250 --> 00:28:08,050 Speaker 1: and when people believe she did, real damage is done 359 00:28:08,210 --> 00:28:12,890 Speaker 1: to political disc course. But with Hansel and Gretel, what 360 00:28:12,970 --> 00:28:16,450 Speaker 1: were the worst things that happened? A couple from North 361 00:28:16,570 --> 00:28:20,250 Speaker 1: Rhine Westphalia spent some money on petrol, a teacher from 362 00:28:20,330 --> 00:28:24,450 Speaker 1: Denmark looked like an idiot for organizing an international study visit, 363 00:28:24,850 --> 00:28:28,650 Speaker 1: and a humorless lawyer from Herborne made the Frankfurt police 364 00:28:28,810 --> 00:28:32,730 Speaker 1: call in Hans Tracksler for questioning. Although I'm happy to 365 00:28:32,770 --> 00:28:38,210 Speaker 1: report that Tracxler was cleared of any crime. The third 366 00:28:38,250 --> 00:28:41,170 Speaker 1: and final ingredient of a good hoax is that it 367 00:28:41,290 --> 00:28:45,450 Speaker 1: has a point. It draws our attention to something about 368 00:28:45,450 --> 00:28:49,170 Speaker 1: which we're more credulous than we should be. When the 369 00:28:49,250 --> 00:28:53,370 Speaker 1: Cohen Brothers added that screencrawl to Fargo, saying this is 370 00:28:53,410 --> 00:28:56,570 Speaker 1: a true story, they were poking fun at a trend 371 00:28:56,650 --> 00:29:00,730 Speaker 1: that began in the nineteen seventies, directors of gory, low 372 00:29:00,810 --> 00:29:04,810 Speaker 1: budget drive in flicks discovered their gross more if they 373 00:29:04,850 --> 00:29:08,570 Speaker 1: added words like based on real events to the poster, 374 00:29:09,130 --> 00:29:14,210 Speaker 1: however loose the connection might be. Hahns Tracksler was inspired 375 00:29:14,290 --> 00:29:17,130 Speaker 1: to write about Hansel and Gretel by reading a best 376 00:29:17,170 --> 00:29:23,410 Speaker 1: selling book called Gerta Graba Ungelerta God's Graves and Scholars. 377 00:29:24,210 --> 00:29:28,850 Speaker 1: It told of archeologists like Heinrich Schliemann, who excavated the 378 00:29:28,890 --> 00:29:32,570 Speaker 1: site of ancient Troy in modern day Turkey, and made 379 00:29:32,610 --> 00:29:36,690 Speaker 1: the case that Homer's epic poem The Iliad was based 380 00:29:36,730 --> 00:29:41,050 Speaker 1: on historical events. There was a craze for pop archaeology 381 00:29:41,130 --> 00:29:45,570 Speaker 1: books in Germany like Undi Biebel Hoch de Rech and 382 00:29:45,810 --> 00:29:51,450 Speaker 1: the Bible Is Right. Researchers prove the historical truth. Trakxler 383 00:29:51,530 --> 00:29:55,090 Speaker 1: wandered if readers might not always be consuming books of 384 00:29:55,130 --> 00:29:59,650 Speaker 1: this genre with a sufficiently critical eye. He got his answer. 385 00:30:00,690 --> 00:30:04,690 Speaker 1: Both Tracksler and the Kohens are prompting us to ask 386 00:30:04,730 --> 00:30:08,330 Speaker 1: a deeper question. When we like to hear there's truth 387 00:30:08,530 --> 00:30:13,170 Speaker 1: in fix, what is it we really care about? Because 388 00:30:13,730 --> 00:30:17,730 Speaker 1: there is a truth behind Hansel and Grettel, but it's 389 00:30:17,810 --> 00:30:21,170 Speaker 1: nothing to do with tracks, less scoreless nonsense about a 390 00:30:21,290 --> 00:30:31,090 Speaker 1: murderous gingerbread baker. In thirteen fifteen, incessant rain ruined crops 391 00:30:31,210 --> 00:30:37,210 Speaker 1: across Europe. The Great Famine lasted for years. It's hard 392 00:30:37,210 --> 00:30:40,450 Speaker 1: to be sure of exactly what happened, but some harrowing 393 00:30:40,490 --> 00:30:46,690 Speaker 1: accounts survive. In Bristol, England, one writer tells of such 394 00:30:46,930 --> 00:30:52,250 Speaker 1: mortality that the living could scarce suffice to bury the dead, 395 00:30:52,930 --> 00:30:58,490 Speaker 1: and some eat their own children. In the Baltics, it 396 00:30:58,610 --> 00:31:04,690 Speaker 1: was said that mothers fed upon their sons. Perhaps it's 397 00:31:04,770 --> 00:31:08,850 Speaker 1: no surprise that the folklore of many countries has tales 398 00:31:09,690 --> 00:31:17,170 Speaker 1: Hansel and Gretel about famine, child abandonment, and cannibalism. I 399 00:31:17,290 --> 00:31:19,890 Speaker 1: said that Hansel and Gretel is a cautionary tale for 400 00:31:20,010 --> 00:31:25,410 Speaker 1: children about stranger danger. But perhaps these stories were also 401 00:31:25,610 --> 00:31:34,130 Speaker 1: cautionary tales for parents about unimaginable hunger and choices too 402 00:31:34,370 --> 00:31:42,450 Speaker 1: awful to contemplate. But what about Takako Kunischi. Doesn't her 403 00:31:42,530 --> 00:31:47,610 Speaker 1: death show the risks of dressing fiction as fact. Remember 404 00:31:48,130 --> 00:31:50,850 Speaker 1: in two thousand and one, Takaco had turned up in 405 00:31:50,890 --> 00:31:55,850 Speaker 1: North Dakota inappropriately dressed in the cold midwinter, clutching a 406 00:31:55,930 --> 00:32:00,730 Speaker 1: map and asking for directions to Fargo. The world's media 407 00:32:00,810 --> 00:32:03,610 Speaker 1: reported that she seemed to have believed the movie's claims 408 00:32:03,650 --> 00:32:07,570 Speaker 1: to truth and hoped she could find the hidden million dollars. 409 00:32:08,250 --> 00:32:12,570 Speaker 1: Cult film sparked hunt for a Fortune, said the UK's 410 00:32:12,650 --> 00:32:17,970 Speaker 1: Daily Telegraph. It was an astonishing story and the filmmaker 411 00:32:18,010 --> 00:32:21,970 Speaker 1: Paul Bursla wanted to find out more. Soon after reading 412 00:32:21,970 --> 00:32:25,730 Speaker 1: the news, he persuaded British television's Channel four to send 413 00:32:25,770 --> 00:32:29,810 Speaker 1: him to North Dakota with a cameraman and a Japanese actress. 414 00:32:31,210 --> 00:32:35,690 Speaker 1: Bursla planned to retrace Takako's final days to find the 415 00:32:35,730 --> 00:32:41,010 Speaker 1: people who had encountered her and recreate some scenes. They're 416 00:32:41,090 --> 00:32:45,330 Speaker 1: checked into the Quality Inn in downtown Fargo, where Tacco 417 00:32:45,450 --> 00:32:49,490 Speaker 1: had stayed before she died. Bursla spoke to the night clerk. 418 00:32:50,530 --> 00:32:54,130 Speaker 1: It's funny, he said, I was surprised when I heard 419 00:32:54,130 --> 00:32:56,850 Speaker 1: how she died looking for the ransom in the movie. 420 00:32:57,210 --> 00:33:00,010 Speaker 1: She never mentioned anything to me about Fargo or any 421 00:33:00,050 --> 00:33:03,490 Speaker 1: other kind of movie. She asked about seeing the stars, 422 00:33:04,330 --> 00:33:06,930 Speaker 1: which I thought was a little strange because it was 423 00:33:07,010 --> 00:33:10,050 Speaker 1: November and it isn't that warm outside in the middle 424 00:33:10,050 --> 00:33:14,170 Speaker 1: of the night. What about the policeman in Bismarck, who 425 00:33:14,210 --> 00:33:17,610 Speaker 1: told journalists how they'd tried to explain to Tacco that 426 00:33:17,930 --> 00:33:21,290 Speaker 1: Fargo was a fictional movie and there wasn't really any treasure. 427 00:33:22,090 --> 00:33:25,370 Speaker 1: I'd never seen the film Fargo, one of them explained, 428 00:33:25,970 --> 00:33:28,770 Speaker 1: But another officer in the station had seen it, and 429 00:33:29,130 --> 00:33:31,450 Speaker 1: he told me there was money buried in this movie. 430 00:33:31,450 --> 00:33:33,490 Speaker 1: And then we started to think that she had this 431 00:33:33,610 --> 00:33:38,450 Speaker 1: false impression. Takaco had never said anything about money to 432 00:33:38,490 --> 00:33:43,610 Speaker 1: the police either true. It wasn't unreasonable speculation. There's no 433 00:33:43,650 --> 00:33:46,610 Speaker 1: obvious reason why a Japanese woman would turn up in 434 00:33:46,690 --> 00:33:51,130 Speaker 1: North Dakota with a crudely drawn map asking about Fargo. 435 00:33:52,210 --> 00:33:54,570 Speaker 1: But it all turned out to have been a case 436 00:33:54,650 --> 00:34:00,530 Speaker 1: of two plus two making five. Burslo was now even 437 00:34:00,610 --> 00:34:05,450 Speaker 1: more intrigued. What was the real story. He flew to 438 00:34:05,450 --> 00:34:10,450 Speaker 1: Tokyo and tracked down Takaco's former landlady. She told him 439 00:34:10,490 --> 00:34:15,050 Speaker 1: Takiko had been a normal, happy girl until one day 440 00:34:15,170 --> 00:34:19,890 Speaker 1: everything changed. She started drinking heavily. It must have been 441 00:34:19,970 --> 00:34:24,650 Speaker 1: man trouble, the landlady thought. Bursler discovered that on her 442 00:34:24,770 --> 00:34:29,250 Speaker 1: last night in the hotel, Takiko had spent forty minutes 443 00:34:29,290 --> 00:34:32,850 Speaker 1: on the phone to Singapore. He found out the number 444 00:34:32,890 --> 00:34:37,410 Speaker 1: Takiko had called and dialed it himself. At the other 445 00:34:37,530 --> 00:34:41,610 Speaker 1: end of the line was an American businessman. Yes. The 446 00:34:41,650 --> 00:34:44,890 Speaker 1: man told Bursler he had known Takiko when he lived 447 00:34:44,890 --> 00:34:47,730 Speaker 1: in Tokyo. She'd wanted to go with him when he 448 00:34:47,770 --> 00:34:51,970 Speaker 1: moved to Singapore. He had said no. She was heartbroken. 449 00:34:53,130 --> 00:34:59,970 Speaker 1: He was from Fargo. Several weeks after Takiko died, the 450 00:35:00,010 --> 00:35:03,410 Speaker 1: police found out that she'd sent her parents a suicide note. 451 00:35:04,330 --> 00:35:06,970 Speaker 1: She hadn't come to North Dakota to seek her fortune, 452 00:35:07,650 --> 00:35:13,370 Speaker 1: she'd come to end her life. The media thought Tackerco 453 00:35:13,490 --> 00:35:18,730 Speaker 1: had been too credulous about Fargo. Instead, there'd been too 454 00:35:18,730 --> 00:35:24,010 Speaker 1: credulous about Takaco. The reports framed her tragic death as 455 00:35:24,050 --> 00:35:29,010 Speaker 1: a cautionary tale about gullibility, a warning to think critically 456 00:35:29,610 --> 00:35:34,290 Speaker 1: even when a story presents itself as true. That's exactly 457 00:35:34,330 --> 00:35:38,410 Speaker 1: what it was, but not in the way they'd imagined. 458 00:35:45,730 --> 00:35:49,450 Speaker 1: Essential sources for this episode were Hans Tracksler's book The 459 00:35:49,570 --> 00:35:52,610 Speaker 1: Truth About Hansel and Grettel, an article about the hoax 460 00:35:52,650 --> 00:35:56,410 Speaker 1: by Jordan Toderoff in at The Subscurer, and Paul Bursler's 461 00:35:56,410 --> 00:35:59,890 Speaker 1: documentary This is a true story. For a full list 462 00:35:59,930 --> 00:36:02,890 Speaker 1: of our sources, see the show notes at Tim Harford 463 00:36:02,930 --> 00:36:09,010 Speaker 1: dot com. Cautionary Tales is written and presented by me 464 00:36:09,210 --> 00:36:12,410 Speaker 1: Tim Harford, with help from Andrew Wright. The show was 465 00:36:12,450 --> 00:36:16,130 Speaker 1: produced by Ryan Dilley with support from Pete Norton. The music, 466 00:36:16,250 --> 00:36:19,050 Speaker 1: sound design, and mixing are the work of Pascal Wise. 467 00:36:19,450 --> 00:36:22,890 Speaker 1: The scripts were edited by Julia Barton. Special thanks to 468 00:36:22,970 --> 00:36:28,090 Speaker 1: mil LaBelle, Carlie Mediori, Heather Fane, Maya Kanig, Jacob Weisberg, 469 00:36:28,250 --> 00:36:32,850 Speaker 1: and Malcolm Gladwell. Cautionary Tales is a Pushkin Industry's production