1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:05,199 Speaker 1: Introducing The Fountain Road Files, a new horror fiction podcast 2 00:00:05,360 --> 00:00:11,440 Speaker 1: from Unexplained creator Richard McLane Smith. In March twenty twenty, 3 00:00:11,840 --> 00:00:15,560 Speaker 1: twenty seven year old cafe worker Ben Williams began recording 4 00:00:15,600 --> 00:00:20,040 Speaker 1: an audio diary of the coronavirus pandemic. Two months later, 5 00:00:20,600 --> 00:00:23,599 Speaker 1: he was found dead in the South London flat where 6 00:00:23,640 --> 00:00:28,840 Speaker 1: he was spending lockdown alone, or so he thought. Search 7 00:00:28,920 --> 00:00:31,840 Speaker 1: the Fountain Road Files wherever you get your podcasts, and 8 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:48,560 Speaker 1: for more information go to the Fountain Road Files dot com. 9 00:00:48,600 --> 00:00:52,200 Speaker 1: In his famed and controversial seventeen ninety eight paper An 10 00:00:52,280 --> 00:00:56,320 Speaker 1: Essay on the Principle of Population, the Reverend Thomas Robert 11 00:00:56,320 --> 00:01:01,800 Speaker 1: Malthus outlined the theory for which he has since been immortalized. Mauthusianism, 12 00:01:01,880 --> 00:01:04,960 Speaker 1: as it came to be known, broadly speaking, is the 13 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:09,000 Speaker 1: belief that the global human population will increase inevitably to 14 00:01:09,040 --> 00:01:11,319 Speaker 1: the point where it could no longer be sustained by 15 00:01:11,319 --> 00:01:14,760 Speaker 1: the resources available to it unless it is curbed by 16 00:01:14,760 --> 00:01:20,400 Speaker 1: either natural disasters or state intervention. Without such checks, Malthus 17 00:01:20,560 --> 00:01:24,120 Speaker 1: believed many would be fated to a lifetime of financial 18 00:01:24,120 --> 00:01:27,640 Speaker 1: poverty and destitution, as more and more people would be 19 00:01:27,680 --> 00:01:32,839 Speaker 1: forced to scrap over ever diminishing proportions of food. Malthus's 20 00:01:32,959 --> 00:01:37,240 Speaker 1: theory was undermined emphatically in the next hundred years by 21 00:01:37,240 --> 00:01:41,319 Speaker 1: the sheer human capacity for ingenuity and its rapacious thirst 22 00:01:41,400 --> 00:01:47,360 Speaker 1: for commodities. Throughout the nineteenth century, although global population continued 23 00:01:47,400 --> 00:01:49,840 Speaker 1: to increase at a rapid rate, it was more than 24 00:01:49,920 --> 00:01:54,160 Speaker 1: compensated for by the equally rapid technological advances of the 25 00:01:54,200 --> 00:01:58,760 Speaker 1: Industrial Revolution. With new tools such as the threshing machine, 26 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:02,760 Speaker 1: came the ability to farm far more intensively than ever before. 27 00:02:03,560 --> 00:02:06,600 Speaker 1: But just as crucial was the introduction to Europe and 28 00:02:06,640 --> 00:02:11,280 Speaker 1: the United States of an extremely unlikely nitrogen rich fertilizer. 29 00:02:12,639 --> 00:02:15,160 Speaker 1: It was back in eighteen o two that the brilliant 30 00:02:15,160 --> 00:02:19,760 Speaker 1: Prussian naturalist Alexander von Humboldt first came across it while 31 00:02:19,800 --> 00:02:24,480 Speaker 1: trekking through Peru. Called guano by those local to the region, 32 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:29,760 Speaker 1: otherwise known as guano, this natural fertilizer, comprised of bat 33 00:02:29,800 --> 00:02:34,880 Speaker 1: and bird excrement, had long been considered an extraordinarily effective fertilizer, 34 00:02:35,400 --> 00:02:40,120 Speaker 1: used even by the ancient Incas. Humboldt's introduction to guano 35 00:02:40,560 --> 00:02:43,320 Speaker 1: set in motion a chain of events that would not 36 00:02:43,400 --> 00:02:46,040 Speaker 1: only change the world as we knew it, but change 37 00:02:46,040 --> 00:02:50,959 Speaker 1: it in ways that we may struggle to ever recover from. 38 00:02:51,080 --> 00:03:02,680 Speaker 1: You're listening to Unexplained, and I'm Richard McClane Smith. A 39 00:03:02,800 --> 00:03:06,520 Speaker 1: veritable polymath, Humboldt had spent much of his early years 40 00:03:06,560 --> 00:03:11,799 Speaker 1: studying a vast array of disciplines, including languages, geology, anatomy, 41 00:03:12,200 --> 00:03:16,600 Speaker 1: and astronomy, amongst many other things. He is credited with 42 00:03:16,680 --> 00:03:20,760 Speaker 1: reintroducing the word cosmos into popular usage, and is also 43 00:03:20,840 --> 00:03:24,320 Speaker 1: regarded as the first person to describe the phenomenon of 44 00:03:24,520 --> 00:03:30,520 Speaker 1: human induced climate change. By his forties, Humboldt was already 45 00:03:30,600 --> 00:03:33,959 Speaker 1: a well established member of the European science community when 46 00:03:33,960 --> 00:03:36,360 Speaker 1: he received the blessing of the King of Spain to 47 00:03:36,480 --> 00:03:40,440 Speaker 1: undertake an expedition to the America's Humboldt would spend the 48 00:03:40,480 --> 00:03:45,760 Speaker 1: next five years trekking extensively throughout the continent. After returning 49 00:03:45,760 --> 00:03:49,480 Speaker 1: to Europe, Humboldt wrote effusively about the merits of guano, 50 00:03:49,960 --> 00:03:53,760 Speaker 1: encouraging industrialists to look into the possibility of incorporating it 51 00:03:53,880 --> 00:03:59,480 Speaker 1: into Western agricultural practices. Within thirty years, as many began 52 00:03:59,520 --> 00:04:02,440 Speaker 1: to see the benefits of it for themselves, millions of 53 00:04:02,480 --> 00:04:07,040 Speaker 1: tons of guano, largely harvested by slaves from China, Africa, 54 00:04:07,320 --> 00:04:11,600 Speaker 1: the Polynesian Islands, and Hawaii, was being exported and traded 55 00:04:11,720 --> 00:04:15,920 Speaker 1: throughout Europe and the United States, as is often the 56 00:04:15,960 --> 00:04:20,000 Speaker 1: way of such things. Before long, with the unquenchable desire 57 00:04:20,040 --> 00:04:23,560 Speaker 1: for it, deposits of guano were all but exhausted. By 58 00:04:23,600 --> 00:04:28,479 Speaker 1: the eighteen seventies. This pitfall was swiftly overcome, however, with 59 00:04:28,560 --> 00:04:32,599 Speaker 1: the discovery of vast quantities of natural sodium nitrate found 60 00:04:32,640 --> 00:04:35,880 Speaker 1: in Chile around the same time. But as many were 61 00:04:35,960 --> 00:04:40,200 Speaker 1: quick to recognize, sodium nitrate was also a finite resource, 62 00:04:40,640 --> 00:04:44,400 Speaker 1: and much like the wants bountiful supply of guano, it 63 00:04:44,600 --> 00:04:50,040 Speaker 1: too would someday run out. By the eighteen nineties, the world, 64 00:04:50,120 --> 00:04:54,400 Speaker 1: it seemed, was once again in a perilous position, with 65 00:04:54,520 --> 00:04:57,800 Speaker 1: global population now fifty percent larger than it had been 66 00:04:57,839 --> 00:05:01,440 Speaker 1: in Malthus's time, thanks in part art to dramatically increased 67 00:05:01,480 --> 00:05:05,680 Speaker 1: crop yields, Fears of a Mouthusian catastrophe were once again 68 00:05:05,800 --> 00:05:11,160 Speaker 1: being espoused. In eighteen ninety eight, Sir William Crooks, president 69 00:05:11,200 --> 00:05:14,120 Speaker 1: of the British Academy of Sciences, through attention to this 70 00:05:14,160 --> 00:05:18,240 Speaker 1: worrying predicament. It was his belief that unless a viable 71 00:05:18,240 --> 00:05:22,000 Speaker 1: alternative to the natural but finite fertilizers could be found, 72 00:05:22,040 --> 00:05:25,799 Speaker 1: soon food supplies would no longer be sufficient to sustain 73 00:05:25,880 --> 00:05:30,880 Speaker 1: the global population. There was one great hope, however, he added, 74 00:05:31,640 --> 00:05:35,400 Speaker 1: Since nitrogen made up seventy nine percent of the Earth's atmosphere, 75 00:05:35,839 --> 00:05:38,400 Speaker 1: there was certainly more than enough of it to go around. 76 00:05:39,480 --> 00:05:41,839 Speaker 1: All that was needed was for someone to find a 77 00:05:41,880 --> 00:05:45,599 Speaker 1: way to convert it into a compound that plants could 78 00:05:45,680 --> 00:05:56,240 Speaker 1: feed off. In nineteen o nine, chemist Fritz Harbor was 79 00:05:56,279 --> 00:06:00,600 Speaker 1: working as an assistant and lecturer at Carlsborough University in Germany. 80 00:06:01,760 --> 00:06:04,880 Speaker 1: Though not especially well known at the time, Harbor had 81 00:06:04,880 --> 00:06:08,200 Speaker 1: been steadily making a name for himself, specializing in the 82 00:06:08,240 --> 00:06:13,599 Speaker 1: technology of dye for textiles and electrochemistry. That year, however, 83 00:06:13,960 --> 00:06:16,919 Speaker 1: working in their lab at Carl's Ruhre, Harbor and his 84 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:20,400 Speaker 1: assistant Robert le Rosignon, would make one of the greatest 85 00:06:20,440 --> 00:06:25,000 Speaker 1: discoveries of modern science. Spurred on by the global hunt 86 00:06:25,080 --> 00:06:29,000 Speaker 1: for a synthetic fertilizer to match the nutrient rich nitrates 87 00:06:29,040 --> 00:06:32,600 Speaker 1: such as those from Chili, Harbor devised a process that 88 00:06:32,760 --> 00:06:38,400 Speaker 1: successfully combined nitrogen from the air with hydrogen to create ammonia, 89 00:06:38,480 --> 00:06:44,719 Speaker 1: a nitrogen rich compound capable of fertilizing plants. Harbor's process 90 00:06:44,839 --> 00:06:48,320 Speaker 1: was acquired by the German chemical company Baden Aneline and 91 00:06:48,400 --> 00:06:52,159 Speaker 1: Soda factory in July the same year, who in turn 92 00:06:52,279 --> 00:06:56,120 Speaker 1: assigned chemist Carl Bosch to scale it up for industrial use. 93 00:06:57,160 --> 00:06:59,080 Speaker 1: With the help of what would become known as the 94 00:06:59,120 --> 00:07:05,080 Speaker 1: Harbor Bosch BASF were producing industrial quantities of ammonia by 95 00:07:05,160 --> 00:07:09,400 Speaker 1: nineteen thirteen, which couldn't come soon enough for the German nation. 96 00:07:11,520 --> 00:07:15,360 Speaker 1: With the outbreak of war in July nineteen fourteen. Recognizing 97 00:07:15,400 --> 00:07:18,520 Speaker 1: that Chile's sodium nitrate deposits would not only be vital 98 00:07:18,600 --> 00:07:22,560 Speaker 1: for agriculture but also the production of explosives, the German 99 00:07:22,600 --> 00:07:27,360 Speaker 1: government attempted to secure access to it for themselves. However, 100 00:07:28,080 --> 00:07:30,680 Speaker 1: the German naval fleet that was sent to complete the 101 00:07:30,760 --> 00:07:35,520 Speaker 1: task was destroyed a few months later by the British Navy. 102 00:07:35,720 --> 00:07:39,480 Speaker 1: Left with no access to this vital resource, Carl Bosch 103 00:07:39,760 --> 00:07:43,360 Speaker 1: and his team at BASF duly stepped in to help, 104 00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:47,680 Speaker 1: turning their hands to generating vast quantities of ammonia at 105 00:07:47,680 --> 00:07:51,560 Speaker 1: the military's request to produce nitric acid for use and 106 00:07:51,640 --> 00:07:56,480 Speaker 1: explosives for its Harbor, who, thanks to the genius of 107 00:07:56,520 --> 00:07:59,679 Speaker 1: the harbor Bosch process, was well known to the German government, 108 00:08:00,320 --> 00:08:03,120 Speaker 1: was invited to take up a slightly different task and 109 00:08:03,280 --> 00:08:06,440 Speaker 1: turn his talent for chemistry to figuring out how it 110 00:08:06,520 --> 00:08:11,080 Speaker 1: might best be used in the field of war. Harbor 111 00:08:11,120 --> 00:08:15,200 Speaker 1: had little trouble excepting the task and quickly began experimenting 112 00:08:15,200 --> 00:08:19,960 Speaker 1: with tear gas. But Harbor would go much further than that. 113 00:08:27,080 --> 00:08:29,680 Speaker 1: Though many on both sides of the war had predicted 114 00:08:29,720 --> 00:08:33,640 Speaker 1: a swift and early resolution to hostilities, by April nineteen 115 00:08:33,679 --> 00:08:37,920 Speaker 1: fifteen a very different picture was beginning to emerge, with 116 00:08:38,080 --> 00:08:41,360 Speaker 1: both sides now thoroughly locked in a seemingly endless war 117 00:08:41,600 --> 00:08:46,160 Speaker 1: of attrition. Fighting by this point was largely confined to 118 00:08:46,200 --> 00:08:49,720 Speaker 1: the Western Front, a vast line of trenches and fiercely 119 00:08:49,720 --> 00:08:53,240 Speaker 1: contested territory stretching south from the coast line of the 120 00:08:53,280 --> 00:08:57,280 Speaker 1: North Sea through Belgium, France and Germany all the way 121 00:08:57,320 --> 00:09:01,120 Speaker 1: to Switzerland. Located at the northern end of the front 122 00:09:01,440 --> 00:09:04,720 Speaker 1: was the Epre Salient, a ten mile stretch of the 123 00:09:04,760 --> 00:09:07,600 Speaker 1: line just to the east of the Belgium city of 124 00:09:07,640 --> 00:09:11,360 Speaker 1: Epra as one of the few sections of the front 125 00:09:11,400 --> 00:09:14,400 Speaker 1: at the time where the British, Canadian and French armies 126 00:09:14,480 --> 00:09:18,679 Speaker 1: had succeeded in pushing back into German occupied territory. The 127 00:09:18,679 --> 00:09:23,839 Speaker 1: Epres salient was a vital, strategic and symbolic landmark. So 128 00:09:23,920 --> 00:09:28,520 Speaker 1: heavily was this section contested, the German military became convinced 129 00:09:28,559 --> 00:09:30,920 Speaker 1: that if they could just break through it, it would 130 00:09:30,960 --> 00:09:33,839 Speaker 1: be such a blow to the opposition's morale that their 131 00:09:33,920 --> 00:09:39,600 Speaker 1: victory would be all but guaranteed. By April twenty second, 132 00:09:39,880 --> 00:09:43,360 Speaker 1: the surrounding area had been obliterated by artillery shells from 133 00:09:43,400 --> 00:09:48,000 Speaker 1: both sides, transforming the once rich and verdant farmland into 134 00:09:48,040 --> 00:09:52,520 Speaker 1: hellish stretches of mud and twisted wire, pockmarked by vast 135 00:09:52,640 --> 00:09:55,880 Speaker 1: yawning craters, and all of it strewn with the rotting 136 00:09:55,880 --> 00:10:01,840 Speaker 1: corpses of fallen soldiers. The trenches not much better. Bogged 137 00:10:01,840 --> 00:10:04,719 Speaker 1: down with water due to the low water table, they 138 00:10:04,760 --> 00:10:09,280 Speaker 1: offered little respite from the elements. They too, were littered 139 00:10:09,320 --> 00:10:13,480 Speaker 1: with the bodies of the dead. After days of intense 140 00:10:13,520 --> 00:10:16,560 Speaker 1: fighting around a nearby hill, the morning of the twenty 141 00:10:16,600 --> 00:10:19,959 Speaker 1: second had begun with another period of heavy shelling as 142 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:23,240 Speaker 1: the German army once again did their best to disrupt 143 00:10:23,240 --> 00:10:28,440 Speaker 1: the line. By early afternoon, however, the guns had fallen silent. 144 00:10:30,520 --> 00:10:34,040 Speaker 1: At the northern section of the salient. French Algerian troops 145 00:10:34,320 --> 00:10:39,040 Speaker 1: waited nervously for whatever might come next. At just after 146 00:10:39,080 --> 00:10:42,800 Speaker 1: five pm, with the light beginning to fade, the aerial 147 00:10:42,880 --> 00:10:47,360 Speaker 1: bombardment began afresh, the shells pummeling down into the mud, 148 00:10:47,679 --> 00:10:51,960 Speaker 1: becoming louder and louder with each passing minute. When suddenly 149 00:10:52,280 --> 00:10:55,720 Speaker 1: one of the lookouts observed something unusual in the distance, 150 00:10:56,679 --> 00:11:01,000 Speaker 1: a thick cloud of smoke slowly billowing towards across no 151 00:11:01,120 --> 00:11:09,920 Speaker 1: man's land. Is there something interfering with your happiness or 152 00:11:09,960 --> 00:11:13,360 Speaker 1: preventing you from achieving your goals? Better Help will assess 153 00:11:13,440 --> 00:11:16,559 Speaker 1: your needs and match you with your own licensed professional therapist. 154 00:11:16,960 --> 00:11:19,640 Speaker 1: Sign up today and start communicating in less than forty 155 00:11:19,679 --> 00:11:23,200 Speaker 1: eight hours. You'll get timely and thoughtful responses. Plus, you 156 00:11:23,200 --> 00:11:26,040 Speaker 1: can schedule weekly video or phone sessions so you won't 157 00:11:26,080 --> 00:11:28,800 Speaker 1: ever have to sit in an uncomfortable waiting room. 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Gathering weapons, helmets 177 00:12:41,880 --> 00:12:45,520 Speaker 1: and AMMO. The men threw themselves dutifully against the side 178 00:12:45,520 --> 00:12:49,160 Speaker 1: of the trenches, hearts thumping in their chests as they 179 00:12:49,160 --> 00:12:54,440 Speaker 1: awaited the next order. Up above, officers gripped tighter on 180 00:12:54,520 --> 00:12:58,280 Speaker 1: their revolvers as they braced themselves for the sudden onrush 181 00:12:58,440 --> 00:13:05,040 Speaker 1: of German soldiers. But the soldiers never came. The officers 182 00:13:05,080 --> 00:13:09,040 Speaker 1: could only look on with bemused stairs as that peculiar smoke, 183 00:13:09,520 --> 00:13:14,000 Speaker 1: seeming a little thicker, now continued to draw nearer and nearer. 184 00:13:15,320 --> 00:13:18,480 Speaker 1: It was almost beautiful the way it shimmered, a peculiar 185 00:13:18,520 --> 00:13:22,439 Speaker 1: shade of yellow and green in the light. And then 186 00:13:22,480 --> 00:13:27,319 Speaker 1: the smell hit them, an acrid whiff of bleach that 187 00:13:27,520 --> 00:13:31,200 Speaker 1: scraped at the back of the throat. Then the men 188 00:13:31,600 --> 00:13:35,200 Speaker 1: began to cough and pull back, clawing at their necks. 189 00:13:36,440 --> 00:13:39,600 Speaker 1: While some cried out for water, others were already on 190 00:13:39,640 --> 00:13:43,120 Speaker 1: the ground, screaming in agony as they writhed about in 191 00:13:43,160 --> 00:13:46,840 Speaker 1: the mud, frothing at the mouth and gasping for breath. 192 00:13:48,160 --> 00:13:51,760 Speaker 1: And still the cloud of smoke kept coming until the 193 00:13:51,960 --> 00:13:57,320 Speaker 1: entire trench had been engulfed. But it wasn't smoke at all. 194 00:13:58,400 --> 00:14:03,480 Speaker 1: It was chlorine gas. Just a kilometer away to the north, 195 00:14:03,800 --> 00:14:07,959 Speaker 1: at the German line, the bald, bespectacled figure of Fritz 196 00:14:08,040 --> 00:14:11,720 Speaker 1: Harbor watched with satisfaction as the gas he had so 197 00:14:11,840 --> 00:14:17,160 Speaker 1: meticulously helped to manufacture continued on its southerly direction across 198 00:14:17,200 --> 00:14:27,240 Speaker 1: the rest of the opposition's line. Harbor later said that 199 00:14:27,320 --> 00:14:29,840 Speaker 1: his intention had been merely to use the gas to 200 00:14:29,920 --> 00:14:34,080 Speaker 1: cause mass disruption, leaving the opposition forces a frayed and 201 00:14:34,160 --> 00:14:37,200 Speaker 1: shaken but able to retreat to safety if need be. 202 00:14:38,080 --> 00:14:41,080 Speaker 1: It was, he claimed, merely a tactical attempt to bring 203 00:14:41,080 --> 00:14:44,000 Speaker 1: a quick end to the war that would ultimately save 204 00:14:44,080 --> 00:14:48,640 Speaker 1: lives in the long run. Harbor's technique was to place 205 00:14:48,720 --> 00:14:52,120 Speaker 1: six thousand metal canisters containing one hundred and sixty eight 206 00:14:52,160 --> 00:14:55,480 Speaker 1: tons of liquid chlorine along a six kilometer stretch of 207 00:14:55,560 --> 00:14:59,560 Speaker 1: the German army's line. After waiting all day for the 208 00:14:59,600 --> 00:15:03,600 Speaker 1: wind to change direction, the canisters were finally prized open, 209 00:15:04,160 --> 00:15:09,400 Speaker 1: turning the liquid chlorine instantly to gas. Up to one thousand, 210 00:15:09,480 --> 00:15:12,280 Speaker 1: four hundred soldiers a thought to have died in the attack, 211 00:15:12,600 --> 00:15:16,200 Speaker 1: and over two thousand were injured, the chlorine being so 212 00:15:16,320 --> 00:15:20,400 Speaker 1: potent it corroded the soldier's silver buckles and badges to 213 00:15:20,480 --> 00:15:25,120 Speaker 1: a greenish black. Harbor's hope that the gas attack would 214 00:15:25,120 --> 00:15:27,960 Speaker 1: result in a fast resolution to the conflict did not 215 00:15:28,040 --> 00:15:31,520 Speaker 1: come to pass. Not only did the German army fail 216 00:15:31,560 --> 00:15:34,760 Speaker 1: to capitalize on the initial attack, it simply opened the 217 00:15:34,800 --> 00:15:39,760 Speaker 1: door to the development of even more devastating weapons. When 218 00:15:39,800 --> 00:15:42,960 Speaker 1: an effective solution was found to combat the chlorine gas. 219 00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:48,800 Speaker 1: For example, Harbor simply developed something even more lethal. Where 220 00:15:48,880 --> 00:15:53,200 Speaker 1: chlorine gas had to be inhaled, nitrogen mustard needed only 221 00:15:53,240 --> 00:15:56,480 Speaker 1: to settle on exposed skin to do lasting damage to 222 00:15:56,520 --> 00:16:00,440 Speaker 1: the body. Symptoms of a mustard gas attack, as it 223 00:16:00,480 --> 00:16:05,040 Speaker 1: would be called, ranged from extensive blistering to weeks spent 224 00:16:05,160 --> 00:16:10,840 Speaker 1: coughing and choking on blood until you died. Though many 225 00:16:10,880 --> 00:16:13,880 Speaker 1: were quick to condemn the German high command, even some 226 00:16:13,960 --> 00:16:17,600 Speaker 1: within the German military itself, for permitting such a heinous act, 227 00:16:18,200 --> 00:16:22,680 Speaker 1: the other nations were equally quick to follow suit. Despite 228 00:16:22,720 --> 00:16:25,880 Speaker 1: the British senior officer Sir John French being amongst the 229 00:16:25,920 --> 00:16:29,520 Speaker 1: most vociferous of critics, describing the use of the gas 230 00:16:29,880 --> 00:16:33,160 Speaker 1: as of barbarous disregard of the well known usages of 231 00:16:33,240 --> 00:16:37,400 Speaker 1: civilized war, whatever that is, the British Army would launch 232 00:16:37,440 --> 00:16:41,480 Speaker 1: their own gas attack only five months later. By the 233 00:16:41,600 --> 00:16:44,640 Speaker 1: end of the war, the British, French and Belgian forces 234 00:16:44,840 --> 00:16:47,840 Speaker 1: had used more tons of gas than the German army. 235 00:16:49,040 --> 00:16:51,360 Speaker 1: Out of the forty million or so casualties of the 236 00:16:51,400 --> 00:16:54,200 Speaker 1: First World War, A hundred thousand are thought to have 237 00:16:54,240 --> 00:16:57,320 Speaker 1: been killed by gas, with one million believed to have 238 00:16:57,360 --> 00:17:01,440 Speaker 1: been wounded. Only ten years before, at the nineteen o 239 00:17:01,560 --> 00:17:05,440 Speaker 1: seven Hague Convention, most nations involved in the war had 240 00:17:05,440 --> 00:17:12,120 Speaker 1: signed an agreement forbidding the use of poison or poisoned weapons. Nonetheless, 241 00:17:12,400 --> 00:17:15,959 Speaker 1: the Harbor Bosch process would earn Fritz Harbor a Nobel 242 00:17:16,040 --> 00:17:19,600 Speaker 1: Prize in nineteen eighteen, and the ammonia it's used to 243 00:17:19,640 --> 00:17:24,560 Speaker 1: create today forms the basis of all manufactured nitrogen fertilizer, 244 00:17:25,160 --> 00:17:28,119 Speaker 1: a method that is credited with feeding roughly a third 245 00:17:28,119 --> 00:17:33,240 Speaker 1: of the global population and saving billions from starvation. There 246 00:17:33,320 --> 00:17:38,199 Speaker 1: is perhaps a no more polarizing figure in science, and 247 00:17:38,320 --> 00:17:41,400 Speaker 1: with the release of that gas in nineteen fifteen, there 248 00:17:41,480 --> 00:17:45,600 Speaker 1: was no putting it back in the canister. As reports 249 00:17:45,600 --> 00:17:48,600 Speaker 1: of the attacks and those haunting images of soldiers in 250 00:17:48,680 --> 00:17:52,400 Speaker 1: bug eyed gas masks drifted back from the front, few 251 00:17:52,440 --> 00:17:55,800 Speaker 1: could fail to be disturbed by it. It had changed 252 00:17:55,800 --> 00:17:59,480 Speaker 1: our concept of warfare indelibly, and as it would turn out, 253 00:18:00,040 --> 00:18:04,280 Speaker 1: the specter of those thick, yellow tinged toxic clouds would 254 00:18:04,320 --> 00:18:08,720 Speaker 1: disperse far wider and linger far longer than Harbor had 255 00:18:08,720 --> 00:18:19,160 Speaker 1: perhaps ever intended them to. On the evening of Friday, 256 00:18:19,440 --> 00:18:23,240 Speaker 1: December twenty second, nineteen thirty three, out in the snow 257 00:18:23,240 --> 00:18:26,960 Speaker 1: covered fields of Buddataut County in Virginia in the US, 258 00:18:27,680 --> 00:18:31,600 Speaker 1: local farmer Clarence cal Huffman and his wife Mattie were 259 00:18:31,640 --> 00:18:35,600 Speaker 1: preparing for bed when Mattie became aware of an unusual 260 00:18:35,800 --> 00:18:41,040 Speaker 1: acrid odor in the air. Feeling suddenly overcome with nausea, 261 00:18:41,160 --> 00:18:43,919 Speaker 1: she laid herself down and waited for it to pass. 262 00:18:45,280 --> 00:18:48,480 Speaker 1: With Mattie finally drifting off to sleep, Cow was just 263 00:18:48,600 --> 00:18:51,760 Speaker 1: about to join her when he too caught a whiff 264 00:18:51,800 --> 00:18:56,440 Speaker 1: of the unusual odor. Being a farmer, Cow was all 265 00:18:56,480 --> 00:18:59,679 Speaker 1: too aware that it wasn't uncommon around those parts for 266 00:19:00,200 --> 00:19:03,439 Speaker 1: thieves to use gas to knock out livestock before stealing it. 267 00:19:04,720 --> 00:19:09,080 Speaker 1: In recent years, some enterprising burglars had even utilized gas 268 00:19:09,119 --> 00:19:14,320 Speaker 1: to knock out guard docks before ransacking people's homes. Hurriedly 269 00:19:14,400 --> 00:19:18,200 Speaker 1: lighting a lantern, Cow grabbed his gun and quickly made 270 00:19:18,200 --> 00:19:22,240 Speaker 1: his way to the back door. Pulling it open, he 271 00:19:22,320 --> 00:19:25,359 Speaker 1: held up the lamp and stared out into the chill 272 00:19:25,440 --> 00:19:29,720 Speaker 1: of the night, seeing little but empty fields and the 273 00:19:29,840 --> 00:19:33,640 Speaker 1: usual trees standing bare and skeletal in the dark. He 274 00:19:33,680 --> 00:19:37,080 Speaker 1: felt suddenly all too aware of just how isolated he 275 00:19:37,160 --> 00:19:41,000 Speaker 1: and his family were. With his wife and children to 276 00:19:41,040 --> 00:19:44,520 Speaker 1: think about, he decided it best to call in the police. 277 00:19:46,359 --> 00:19:50,520 Speaker 1: Special officer Oscar Lemon arrived thirty minutes later to find 278 00:19:50,600 --> 00:19:53,760 Speaker 1: Cow waiting for him on his porch, shotgun in hand. 279 00:19:55,320 --> 00:19:58,440 Speaker 1: His wife and children roused from bed by the excitement, 280 00:19:58,680 --> 00:20:04,399 Speaker 1: waited expectantly side. After he explained the situation to Lemon, 281 00:20:04,880 --> 00:20:07,840 Speaker 1: Cow joined him in making a quick circuit of the property. 282 00:20:09,040 --> 00:20:12,639 Speaker 1: Their home, a large stone building known locally as the 283 00:20:12,680 --> 00:20:16,320 Speaker 1: Brian McDonald Junior House, was one of the more recognizable 284 00:20:16,359 --> 00:20:21,120 Speaker 1: properties in the county, a likely target, perhaps for unwanted attention. 285 00:20:22,640 --> 00:20:26,560 Speaker 1: As the officer flicked his flashlight about looking for anything unusual, 286 00:20:27,440 --> 00:20:30,240 Speaker 1: Lemon noticed one of the windows to the enclosed front 287 00:20:30,320 --> 00:20:35,119 Speaker 1: porch was slightly open. Shining the light underneath it, He 288 00:20:35,240 --> 00:20:38,560 Speaker 1: spotted the print of a small, high heeled shoe in 289 00:20:38,640 --> 00:20:43,919 Speaker 1: the dirt, unlike anything anyone in the family owned, and 290 00:20:44,119 --> 00:20:48,680 Speaker 1: neither did anyone remember leaving the window open. As unlikely 291 00:20:48,720 --> 00:20:51,840 Speaker 1: as it sounded to offers a Lemon, it seemed that 292 00:20:52,040 --> 00:20:55,240 Speaker 1: someone might have tried to poison the family with gas, 293 00:20:56,000 --> 00:20:59,520 Speaker 1: with the possibility that used the porch window to pipe 294 00:20:59,520 --> 00:21:09,640 Speaker 1: it into the property. After checking in on Mattie, who 295 00:21:09,680 --> 00:21:13,080 Speaker 1: was by then feeling better, Officer Lemon suggested that the 296 00:21:13,119 --> 00:21:15,919 Speaker 1: family tried to get some rest and call back if 297 00:21:15,960 --> 00:21:19,720 Speaker 1: anything else strange occurred, with Lemon then leaving the property 298 00:21:19,760 --> 00:21:22,840 Speaker 1: around one am. It was a few hours later when 299 00:21:22,920 --> 00:21:25,719 Speaker 1: Cal and Mattie were awoken by the sound of coughing 300 00:21:25,720 --> 00:21:30,520 Speaker 1: and spluttering coming from their children's bedrooms. Lighting the lamp again, 301 00:21:30,920 --> 00:21:33,680 Speaker 1: the couple rushed through to the hallway just in time 302 00:21:33,720 --> 00:21:36,639 Speaker 1: to see their twenty year old daughter, Alice, stumble from 303 00:21:36,680 --> 00:21:40,760 Speaker 1: her bedroom, seemingly unable to breathe, before collapsing on the floor, 304 00:21:42,280 --> 00:21:45,760 Speaker 1: yelling that they were under attack again. Ashby Henderson, a 305 00:21:45,800 --> 00:21:47,840 Speaker 1: neighbor who was staying with the family at the time, 306 00:21:48,200 --> 00:21:51,000 Speaker 1: thought he saw a movement outside a window and dashed 307 00:21:51,000 --> 00:21:54,600 Speaker 1: out of the house to investigate. Cal joined a moment later, 308 00:21:54,960 --> 00:21:58,159 Speaker 1: but after a few minutes scanning the area, they saw nothing. 309 00:22:00,359 --> 00:22:04,159 Speaker 1: Local doctor, the twenty eight year old Samuel Driver, arrived 310 00:22:04,160 --> 00:22:08,440 Speaker 1: on the scene shortly after, only to find Alice completely unresponsive. 311 00:22:09,160 --> 00:22:13,040 Speaker 1: Turning her on to her front, he attempted resuscitation, splaying 312 00:22:13,040 --> 00:22:15,880 Speaker 1: her arms out to the side like wings and carefully 313 00:22:15,880 --> 00:22:18,440 Speaker 1: pushing down on her back as he lifted her arms 314 00:22:18,520 --> 00:22:22,359 Speaker 1: up by the side. After a minute or so, the 315 00:22:22,480 --> 00:22:25,600 Speaker 1: family were much relieved to see the young woman finally 316 00:22:25,640 --> 00:22:30,879 Speaker 1: coming round, no longer smelling the gas. It seemed this 317 00:22:30,960 --> 00:22:35,600 Speaker 1: second apparent attack was over. With not much else to 318 00:22:35,600 --> 00:22:38,640 Speaker 1: be done, the family thanked the doctor and made their 319 00:22:38,680 --> 00:22:47,280 Speaker 1: way back to bed. Green Chef is a USDIER certified 320 00:22:47,480 --> 00:22:51,040 Speaker 1: organic company that makes eating well easy and affordable with 321 00:22:51,119 --> 00:22:54,160 Speaker 1: plans to fit every kind of lifestyle. With Green Chef, 322 00:22:54,280 --> 00:22:57,120 Speaker 1: it's easy to eat well and discovering new recipes every 323 00:22:57,119 --> 00:22:59,359 Speaker 1: week that you'll love to cook with meal plans that 324 00:22:59,400 --> 00:23:03,399 Speaker 1: include pay Alio, plant powered keto, and balanced living. 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To get eighty dollars off your first month 341 00:23:50,840 --> 00:23:53,880 Speaker 1: plus free shipping on your first box, go to greenchef 342 00:23:53,960 --> 00:23:57,439 Speaker 1: dot com. Forward slash unexplained eight zero to redeem and 343 00:23:57,600 --> 00:24:06,840 Speaker 1: for more details. A few days later, over in Cloverdale, 344 00:24:06,920 --> 00:24:10,080 Speaker 1: just three miles south of the Huffman Home, Clarence and 345 00:24:10,200 --> 00:24:13,440 Speaker 1: Lucy Hall were attending a Christmas church service with their 346 00:24:13,480 --> 00:24:17,800 Speaker 1: three children. Returning to their house at nine pm, the 347 00:24:17,920 --> 00:24:23,520 Speaker 1: couple noticed a sickly acrid smell in the air. Within moments, 348 00:24:23,560 --> 00:24:27,359 Speaker 1: their eyes were beginning to sting. Telling the others to 349 00:24:27,400 --> 00:24:31,560 Speaker 1: wait outside, Clarence moved in further to investigate, only to 350 00:24:31,600 --> 00:24:34,400 Speaker 1: stop suddenly looking as though he might keel over at 351 00:24:34,440 --> 00:24:38,800 Speaker 1: any moment. Watching on in horror, Lucy dashed in to 352 00:24:38,840 --> 00:24:44,480 Speaker 1: grab her husband and pulled him back outside. Doctor William Breckenridge, 353 00:24:44,520 --> 00:24:47,919 Speaker 1: who attended the scene shortly after, suggested that what happened 354 00:24:47,920 --> 00:24:51,080 Speaker 1: to Clarence was consistent with the effects of inhaling some 355 00:24:51,200 --> 00:24:55,680 Speaker 1: kind of gas. The following night, with the Halls staying 356 00:24:55,720 --> 00:24:59,680 Speaker 1: at Lucy's parents home for safety, Lucy's sister Ada was 357 00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:02,679 Speaker 1: having past the Hall's home with her husband when they 358 00:25:02,720 --> 00:25:05,399 Speaker 1: saw a figure in the dark poking about with a 359 00:25:05,440 --> 00:25:09,119 Speaker 1: flashlight near a window of the house. When they pulled 360 00:25:09,160 --> 00:25:12,600 Speaker 1: in for a closer look, the figure drove off swiftly 361 00:25:12,760 --> 00:25:17,840 Speaker 1: into the night. The following day, the news hit the 362 00:25:17,880 --> 00:25:22,600 Speaker 1: papers that a mysterious assailant nicknamed the Phantom Gasser, was 363 00:25:22,680 --> 00:25:25,600 Speaker 1: on the loose in Badatak County that appeared to be 364 00:25:25,600 --> 00:25:31,680 Speaker 1: releasing a poisonous gas into people's homes. Having at first 365 00:25:31,720 --> 00:25:34,280 Speaker 1: assumed it to be little more than kids messing about. 366 00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:39,040 Speaker 1: After a third apparent attack on local welder Albert Kelly 367 00:25:39,160 --> 00:25:42,600 Speaker 1: offered Sir Lemon stepped up his efforts to catch the perpetrator, 368 00:25:44,000 --> 00:25:47,760 Speaker 1: with the community, like much of America, only just getting 369 00:25:47,800 --> 00:25:50,760 Speaker 1: back to its feet. After the ravages of the Great Depression, 370 00:25:51,240 --> 00:25:53,760 Speaker 1: this was the last thing they needed on their hands. 371 00:25:55,119 --> 00:25:58,040 Speaker 1: On the twenty eighth of December, Offer, Sir Lemon, received 372 00:25:58,080 --> 00:26:01,439 Speaker 1: word that an unknown man and woman were seen passing 373 00:26:01,520 --> 00:26:04,680 Speaker 1: Kelly's home around the time he claimed to have been attacked. 374 00:26:05,520 --> 00:26:07,760 Speaker 1: The couple had driven back and forth a number of 375 00:26:07,760 --> 00:26:12,120 Speaker 1: times in a nineteen thirty two Chevrolet. However, a check 376 00:26:12,119 --> 00:26:15,200 Speaker 1: on the vehicle's license plate failed to identify the owner. 377 00:26:16,760 --> 00:26:19,800 Speaker 1: A few weeks later, several miles away, in an area 378 00:26:19,920 --> 00:26:23,879 Speaker 1: known as Howl's Mill, Missus Moore, a woman staying at 379 00:26:23,880 --> 00:26:26,840 Speaker 1: the home of Gertrude and Homer Hilton with her baby, 380 00:26:27,320 --> 00:26:30,480 Speaker 1: was alerted to the sound of muffled voices coming from 381 00:26:30,520 --> 00:26:33,960 Speaker 1: somewhere in the yard. Keeping her eye on her baby, 382 00:26:34,160 --> 00:26:37,400 Speaker 1: who was fast asleep in its cot, she listened quietly 383 00:26:37,720 --> 00:26:41,200 Speaker 1: as she heard the sound of rustling footsteps drawing closer 384 00:26:41,240 --> 00:26:47,320 Speaker 1: to the window. Moments later, missus Moore smelled gas. It 385 00:26:47,359 --> 00:26:50,439 Speaker 1: was followed by a sudden, numbing sensation that seemed to 386 00:26:50,480 --> 00:26:55,200 Speaker 1: be spreading slowly into her limbs. Hearing her cries for help, 387 00:26:55,520 --> 00:26:59,600 Speaker 1: the Howls dashed downstairs to find her. Outside shivering on 388 00:26:59,640 --> 00:27:02,639 Speaker 1: the front step with her baby, but no sign of 389 00:27:02,680 --> 00:27:07,919 Speaker 1: anyone else around Homer. Hilton gathered up his shotgun and 390 00:27:08,000 --> 00:27:10,520 Speaker 1: took a seat in the front room, vowing to keep 391 00:27:10,560 --> 00:27:22,720 Speaker 1: watch or night, but nobody came. The following day, Homer 392 00:27:22,800 --> 00:27:26,320 Speaker 1: spread news of the attack to his neighbors Sally and Tom, 393 00:27:26,400 --> 00:27:30,280 Speaker 1: who in turn passed it on to their children. Before long, 394 00:27:30,760 --> 00:27:34,080 Speaker 1: their son Roy was sharing it with their neighbors Laura 395 00:27:34,160 --> 00:27:38,080 Speaker 1: and Emmett Lee, who, like an invisible virus, brought the 396 00:27:38,160 --> 00:27:41,560 Speaker 1: news into their home, sharing it with each of their 397 00:27:41,600 --> 00:27:46,520 Speaker 1: ten children. As a panic spread among them, the Lees 398 00:27:46,600 --> 00:27:48,800 Speaker 1: spent the rest of the day plugging up holes in 399 00:27:48,840 --> 00:27:53,000 Speaker 1: their property, using tin to patch up their windows, terrified 400 00:27:53,040 --> 00:27:56,160 Speaker 1: that any gaps might provide an opportunity for the phantom 401 00:27:56,200 --> 00:27:59,919 Speaker 1: gasser to pipe a gas into their home. That night, 402 00:28:00,440 --> 00:28:04,359 Speaker 1: with everyone sleeping together in an upstairs room, Emmett watched 403 00:28:04,400 --> 00:28:09,000 Speaker 1: over them all with his shotgun. Sometime later, as they 404 00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:11,520 Speaker 1: were drifting off to sleep, they heard a piece of 405 00:28:11,560 --> 00:28:15,679 Speaker 1: tin rattling in one of the windows. Emmett ran immediately 406 00:28:15,760 --> 00:28:18,840 Speaker 1: to the landing and stared down into the darkness below, 407 00:28:19,359 --> 00:28:23,639 Speaker 1: demanding to know who was there. Hearing the rattle again. 408 00:28:24,080 --> 00:28:27,280 Speaker 1: He pulled open a nearby window, stuck out his gun 409 00:28:27,600 --> 00:28:30,719 Speaker 1: and fired a quick warning shot into the air, and 410 00:28:30,800 --> 00:28:35,760 Speaker 1: then all was still. With news of the mysterious gas 411 00:28:35,800 --> 00:28:39,400 Speaker 1: attacks spreading rapidly throughout the community, the once open and 412 00:28:39,480 --> 00:28:43,280 Speaker 1: friendly citizens of Buddatok County had begun to retreat into 413 00:28:43,320 --> 00:28:47,280 Speaker 1: their homes, locking all their doors and windows and eyeing 414 00:28:47,280 --> 00:28:51,800 Speaker 1: their neighbors with suspicion. Families and the more isolated parts 415 00:28:51,800 --> 00:28:55,200 Speaker 1: of the county slept at their friends homes for added security, 416 00:28:56,000 --> 00:28:58,600 Speaker 1: while many had taken to patrolling the roads at night 417 00:28:59,040 --> 00:29:02,480 Speaker 1: or sitting out on their front steps nervously chewing on tobacco, 418 00:29:02,880 --> 00:29:05,960 Speaker 1: their breath billowing about them in the cold air as 419 00:29:05,960 --> 00:29:08,680 Speaker 1: they kept their eyes fixed ahead for any hint of 420 00:29:08,680 --> 00:29:13,960 Speaker 1: a shadow moving about in the darkness. Vague reports circulated 421 00:29:14,120 --> 00:29:16,920 Speaker 1: of unknown vehicles being seen in the area on the 422 00:29:17,040 --> 00:29:20,000 Speaker 1: night of the attack on the Hall property, and some 423 00:29:20,360 --> 00:29:23,600 Speaker 1: also claimed to have heard muffled voices near their properties 424 00:29:23,600 --> 00:29:27,000 Speaker 1: too shortly before missus Moore had apparently done at the 425 00:29:27,080 --> 00:29:31,880 Speaker 1: Hilton house. Visiting the home of another apparent victim, doctor 426 00:29:31,920 --> 00:29:35,840 Speaker 1: Samuel Driver became convinced that the gas being used was 427 00:29:35,920 --> 00:29:42,160 Speaker 1: chlorine On Tuesday's sixteenth of January, local resident mister Duval 428 00:29:42,600 --> 00:29:46,160 Speaker 1: arrived at his home shortly after eleven thirty pm, a 429 00:29:46,240 --> 00:29:49,360 Speaker 1: quiet place not far from Cloverdale, to find that his 430 00:29:49,440 --> 00:29:53,280 Speaker 1: family had been attacked. After calling off a Sir Lemon 431 00:29:53,360 --> 00:29:56,120 Speaker 1: to alert him, they arranged to meet up to search 432 00:29:56,200 --> 00:30:01,440 Speaker 1: the local area. En route, Duval spotted a man standing 433 00:30:01,480 --> 00:30:05,080 Speaker 1: by the side of the road. Realizing he'd been seen, 434 00:30:05,520 --> 00:30:08,760 Speaker 1: the man sprinted straight off to a car parked nearby 435 00:30:09,200 --> 00:30:12,640 Speaker 1: and jumped into the passenger side. The vehicle sped off 436 00:30:12,800 --> 00:30:17,120 Speaker 1: before de Vaal could give chase. Later, when he returned 437 00:30:17,120 --> 00:30:20,320 Speaker 1: to the site with Officer Lemon, the pair discovered another 438 00:30:20,400 --> 00:30:22,800 Speaker 1: print in the dirt next to where the car had 439 00:30:22,840 --> 00:30:27,800 Speaker 1: been parked up a small, high heeled shoe, just like 440 00:30:27,840 --> 00:30:30,960 Speaker 1: the one found at the Huffman property back in December. 441 00:30:38,040 --> 00:30:41,880 Speaker 1: By January twenty second, nineteen thirty four, news of the 442 00:30:41,880 --> 00:30:45,280 Speaker 1: phantom gassa had gone national, with The New York Times 443 00:30:45,320 --> 00:30:49,600 Speaker 1: declaring Virginians are terrorized by gas thrower who flees in 444 00:30:49,680 --> 00:30:54,160 Speaker 1: the night after making victims ill. The following week, in 445 00:30:54,240 --> 00:30:57,800 Speaker 1: one of the more shocking incidentss five friends were gathered 446 00:30:57,840 --> 00:31:00,480 Speaker 1: at the home of Ed Stanley in an area known 447 00:31:00,520 --> 00:31:05,440 Speaker 1: as Colon Siding when the phantom gassa struck again. The 448 00:31:05,520 --> 00:31:08,840 Speaker 1: friends were sat chatting amiably in the front room when 449 00:31:08,960 --> 00:31:14,120 Speaker 1: one of them, Oscilia Weddle, began choking uncontrollably. The friends 450 00:31:14,160 --> 00:31:17,600 Speaker 1: looked on in terror as Cecilia fought for air, when 451 00:31:17,640 --> 00:31:21,240 Speaker 1: suddenly they too began to choke, before being overcome with 452 00:31:21,320 --> 00:31:26,200 Speaker 1: a collective nausea. Suspecting they'd been gassed, one of the group, 453 00:31:26,560 --> 00:31:29,920 Speaker 1: Frank Guy, staggered to his feet and clawed opened the 454 00:31:29,920 --> 00:31:33,440 Speaker 1: front door. As the others helped to drag Acilia out 455 00:31:33,440 --> 00:31:37,040 Speaker 1: of the house, Frank caught sight of four men running 456 00:31:37,080 --> 00:31:41,600 Speaker 1: off toward a nearby wood. Racing back inside, he picked 457 00:31:41,680 --> 00:31:44,200 Speaker 1: up the family's shotgun and took aim at the men, 458 00:31:45,080 --> 00:31:48,400 Speaker 1: but as the shot rang out, the men were nowhere 459 00:31:48,480 --> 00:31:53,719 Speaker 1: to be seen. With fear having completely gripped the county, 460 00:31:54,280 --> 00:31:57,120 Speaker 1: the local Board of Supervisors convened for a meeting the 461 00:31:57,200 --> 00:32:01,719 Speaker 1: next day. In desperation, the board announced a five hundred 462 00:32:01,720 --> 00:32:06,360 Speaker 1: dollar reward for the capture of those responsible. This move 463 00:32:06,440 --> 00:32:10,200 Speaker 1: was followed swiftly by the Virginia State Assembly, where delegates 464 00:32:10,200 --> 00:32:14,880 Speaker 1: from Baddatort and neighboring Roanoke County introduced a bill promising 465 00:32:14,880 --> 00:32:17,840 Speaker 1: a prison sentence of up to ten years for anyone 466 00:32:17,880 --> 00:32:23,080 Speaker 1: in court attacking the public with toxic gas, and so 467 00:32:23,120 --> 00:32:27,600 Speaker 1: it continued into February. Only now the gassa and its 468 00:32:27,600 --> 00:32:31,960 Speaker 1: associated panic had begun to spread further, affecting residents of 469 00:32:32,080 --> 00:32:38,520 Speaker 1: Roanoke County. Two at least one resident required oxygen and hospitalization, 470 00:32:38,960 --> 00:32:42,280 Speaker 1: only to be discharged the following day with no apparent 471 00:32:42,360 --> 00:32:47,000 Speaker 1: side effects. By mid February, after a sudden spate of 472 00:32:47,040 --> 00:32:51,640 Speaker 1: false alarms throughout Badda, tort and Roanoke Counties, reports of 473 00:32:51,720 --> 00:32:56,880 Speaker 1: mysterious gassings began to tail off. With no concrete clues 474 00:32:57,000 --> 00:33:00,960 Speaker 1: or evidence with which to mount an investigation, police were 475 00:33:01,000 --> 00:33:04,440 Speaker 1: forced to abandon any efforts to hunt down the phantom, 476 00:33:04,520 --> 00:33:09,400 Speaker 1: if indeed there had ever been one at all, And slowly, 477 00:33:09,440 --> 00:33:12,760 Speaker 1: but surely, the people of that quiet corner of rural 478 00:33:12,880 --> 00:33:17,040 Speaker 1: Virginia returned to their normal lives, not quite sure what 479 00:33:17,120 --> 00:33:20,520 Speaker 1: it was they had experienced, only that for a brief moment, 480 00:33:21,000 --> 00:33:25,440 Speaker 1: a very real fear had stalked the land, a fear 481 00:33:25,800 --> 00:33:29,800 Speaker 1: born in a laboratory two decades before and unleashed on 482 00:33:29,800 --> 00:33:33,200 Speaker 1: the world in a toxic cloud of death thousands of 483 00:33:33,240 --> 00:33:38,360 Speaker 1: miles away in a field in Belgium, and before long 484 00:33:39,200 --> 00:33:49,400 Speaker 1: new fears would emerge to take its place. It's unlikely 485 00:33:49,520 --> 00:33:53,200 Speaker 1: that when Alexander von Humboldt was espousing the virtues of 486 00:33:53,280 --> 00:33:56,440 Speaker 1: guano that he could ever have known just how much 487 00:33:56,480 --> 00:33:59,680 Speaker 1: it would change the world, nor how over one hundred 488 00:33:59,800 --> 00:34:03,600 Speaker 1: years later it would indirectly lead to the development of 489 00:34:03,720 --> 00:34:08,000 Speaker 1: devastating chemical weapons. And despite being one of the first 490 00:34:08,040 --> 00:34:11,359 Speaker 1: to understand the effects of human made climate change, it 491 00:34:11,440 --> 00:34:14,879 Speaker 1: is also unlikely he would have predicted what impact bat 492 00:34:15,080 --> 00:34:19,719 Speaker 1: excrement would ultimately have on the environment. As it is. 493 00:34:20,160 --> 00:34:24,640 Speaker 1: The explosion of crop yields that started with guano, accelerated 494 00:34:24,640 --> 00:34:28,920 Speaker 1: by processes such as harbor bosch and later the Green Revolution, 495 00:34:29,440 --> 00:34:33,000 Speaker 1: has meant we are now farming more intensively than ever before, 496 00:34:34,239 --> 00:34:37,239 Speaker 1: and though we might be right to congratulate ourselves on 497 00:34:37,280 --> 00:34:40,120 Speaker 1: the ingenuity it took to get here, we are once 498 00:34:40,160 --> 00:34:44,680 Speaker 1: again facing a moment of crisis, both Malthusian and otherwise. 499 00:34:46,640 --> 00:34:51,239 Speaker 1: A study published in Bioscience Journal in twenty seventeen predicted 500 00:34:51,280 --> 00:34:55,520 Speaker 1: that despite our increased yields, population growth is once again 501 00:34:56,000 --> 00:35:00,279 Speaker 1: approaching a point of catastrophe, suggesting that food production would 502 00:35:00,280 --> 00:35:03,800 Speaker 1: need to increase by somewhere between twenty five to seventy 503 00:35:03,800 --> 00:35:08,719 Speaker 1: percent to compensate. And yet, just taking the impact of 504 00:35:08,800 --> 00:35:13,160 Speaker 1: nitrogen fertilizers derived from the harbor Bosch process as one example, 505 00:35:13,920 --> 00:35:16,800 Speaker 1: we are paying a hefty price for those increased yields. 506 00:35:18,280 --> 00:35:22,760 Speaker 1: Applying too much nitrogen as destabilized the natural nitrogen cycle, 507 00:35:23,440 --> 00:35:27,719 Speaker 1: with more being created than can ever be absorbed. This 508 00:35:27,840 --> 00:35:30,720 Speaker 1: in turn has led to a steady depletion of nutrients 509 00:35:30,719 --> 00:35:34,040 Speaker 1: in the soil, making it ultimately less efficient for farming, 510 00:35:34,719 --> 00:35:37,440 Speaker 1: with much of it ending up back in the atmosphere 511 00:35:37,640 --> 00:35:42,920 Speaker 1: as nitrous oxide an ozone depleting greenhouse gas, the traps 512 00:35:43,000 --> 00:35:45,719 Speaker 1: heat at a staggering three hundred times the rate of 513 00:35:45,760 --> 00:35:51,040 Speaker 1: carbon dioxide. Today, there is twenty percent more nitrous oxide 514 00:35:51,080 --> 00:35:55,560 Speaker 1: in the atmosphere than only two hundred years ago. When 515 00:35:55,600 --> 00:35:59,280 Speaker 1: the nutrients become depleted in the soil, even more nitrogen 516 00:35:59,320 --> 00:36:02,360 Speaker 1: based fertile lisa is applied to make up the shortfall, 517 00:36:02,719 --> 00:36:07,279 Speaker 1: creating a disastrous cycle of diminishing returns. And if that 518 00:36:07,360 --> 00:36:10,640 Speaker 1: wasn't damaging enough, As the demand for food goes up 519 00:36:10,640 --> 00:36:14,280 Speaker 1: with the population, so too does the demand for land 520 00:36:14,440 --> 00:36:18,040 Speaker 1: to grow it, and where that land doesn't currently exist, 521 00:36:18,800 --> 00:36:23,360 Speaker 1: it is made often by clearing rich, vital, and ancient 522 00:36:23,680 --> 00:36:29,480 Speaker 1: forest ecosystems. Mouthless may yet be proved right in the 523 00:36:29,520 --> 00:36:33,280 Speaker 1: long run, but its crucial mistake back in seventeen ninety 524 00:36:33,320 --> 00:36:37,520 Speaker 1: eight was to underestimate the human capacity for problem solving. 525 00:36:38,840 --> 00:36:42,040 Speaker 1: Doubtless we create many more with the ones we solve, 526 00:36:42,640 --> 00:36:45,520 Speaker 1: and there is no cosmic obligation to care about each 527 00:36:45,520 --> 00:36:49,120 Speaker 1: other or the planet even. But perhaps there is reason 528 00:36:49,480 --> 00:36:54,800 Speaker 1: not to despair, though we might sometimes be more ruthless 529 00:36:55,280 --> 00:36:59,000 Speaker 1: when our backs are against the wall. So two are 530 00:36:59,040 --> 00:37:06,160 Speaker 1: we at our most resourceful, compassionate, and brilliant. Perhaps, instead 531 00:37:06,200 --> 00:37:10,440 Speaker 1: of devising new ways to produce and consume more, what's needed, 532 00:37:10,840 --> 00:37:13,839 Speaker 1: just as it was back in Malthus's day is just 533 00:37:13,960 --> 00:37:17,920 Speaker 1: a new way of thinking. History tells us that for 534 00:37:18,000 --> 00:37:27,279 Speaker 1: better or worse, we will find it. If you enjoy 535 00:37:27,360 --> 00:37:29,799 Speaker 1: Unexplained and would like to help support us, you can 536 00:37:29,840 --> 00:37:33,080 Speaker 1: now do so via Patreon To receive access to add 537 00:37:33,160 --> 00:37:36,719 Speaker 1: three episodes, discount or merchandise, as well as brand new 538 00:37:36,800 --> 00:37:40,520 Speaker 1: video and audio content exclusive to Patreon members. Just go 539 00:37:40,719 --> 00:37:44,440 Speaker 1: to patron dot com forward Slash Unexplained Pod. 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