1 00:00:15,410 --> 00:00:24,930 Speaker 1: Pushkin a warning before we start. This cautionary tale discusses 2 00:00:25,010 --> 00:00:29,530 Speaker 1: death by suicide. If you're suffering emotional distress or you're 3 00:00:29,570 --> 00:00:33,530 Speaker 1: having suicidal thoughts, Support is available, for example, from the 4 00:00:33,610 --> 00:00:40,730 Speaker 1: National Suicide Prevention Lifeline in the US. Fargo is a 5 00:00:40,770 --> 00:00:45,090 Speaker 1: town in North Dakota. It's also a classic movie from 6 00:00:45,170 --> 00:00:51,010 Speaker 1: nineteen ninety six, the blackest of comedies. A car salesman 7 00:00:51,170 --> 00:00:54,770 Speaker 1: attempts to swindle his wealthy father in law by paying 8 00:00:54,810 --> 00:00:59,810 Speaker 1: a couple of criminals to kidnap his wife and Demanda Ransom. 9 00:01:00,050 --> 00:01:03,650 Speaker 1: It ends up with five innocent people dead and one 10 00:01:03,690 --> 00:01:06,730 Speaker 1: of the kidnappers trying to dispose of his partner's body 11 00:01:07,330 --> 00:01:12,050 Speaker 1: by feeding it into a wooden chipper. Famously, the movie 12 00:01:12,090 --> 00:01:17,890 Speaker 1: starts with these words, this is a true story. At 13 00:01:17,890 --> 00:01:21,450 Speaker 1: the request of the survivors. The names have been changed 14 00:01:22,210 --> 00:01:25,370 Speaker 1: out of respect for the dead. The rest has been 15 00:01:25,410 --> 00:01:33,530 Speaker 1: told exactly as it occurred. Fargo isn't a true story. 16 00:01:33,650 --> 00:01:37,050 Speaker 1: The shoot was well underway when the directors, the Coen Brothers, 17 00:01:37,330 --> 00:01:41,130 Speaker 1: casually mentioned this to the cast. One of the movie's stars, 18 00:01:41,210 --> 00:01:45,090 Speaker 1: William H. Macy, was taken aback. You can't say it's 19 00:01:45,090 --> 00:01:48,410 Speaker 1: a true story if it wasn't, said Macy, Why not, 20 00:01:48,890 --> 00:01:53,570 Speaker 1: came the reply. In the movie, one of the hapless 21 00:01:53,650 --> 00:01:57,890 Speaker 1: kidnappers hides nearly a million dollars by burying it in snow. 22 00:01:58,610 --> 00:02:03,570 Speaker 1: It's a comically stupid idea. The landscape's generic and featureless 23 00:02:03,610 --> 00:02:06,490 Speaker 1: as far as the eye can see. How will he 24 00:02:06,650 --> 00:02:09,850 Speaker 1: ever find his way back to the spot. He won't, 25 00:02:10,850 --> 00:02:13,890 Speaker 1: and not just because he ends up in a wood chipper, 26 00:02:14,730 --> 00:02:17,330 Speaker 1: and none of the movie's other characters know the cash 27 00:02:17,450 --> 00:02:22,130 Speaker 1: is there. Hold on, though, if the movie is told 28 00:02:22,650 --> 00:02:28,330 Speaker 1: exactly as it occurred, does the money exist? Is it 29 00:02:28,370 --> 00:02:31,930 Speaker 1: still where the kidnapper left it? Undiscovered? In real life, 30 00:02:33,170 --> 00:02:36,090 Speaker 1: five years after the film was released, a young woman 31 00:02:36,170 --> 00:02:39,450 Speaker 1: turned up at the police station in Bismarck, North Dakota. 32 00:02:40,570 --> 00:02:43,330 Speaker 1: She had just flown in from Tokyo. It was the 33 00:02:43,330 --> 00:02:46,410 Speaker 1: middle of winter, but she was wearing a short black 34 00:02:46,450 --> 00:02:50,290 Speaker 1: skirt and thie high boots. She was clutching a simple 35 00:02:50,370 --> 00:02:53,650 Speaker 1: map that showed nothing but a road and a tree. 36 00:02:54,370 --> 00:02:57,250 Speaker 1: The police tried to understand what she wanted, but they 37 00:02:57,290 --> 00:03:01,330 Speaker 1: spoke no Japanese and her English wasn't great. They could 38 00:03:01,370 --> 00:03:07,370 Speaker 1: make out one word, though fargo. One policeman recalled, we'd 39 00:03:07,410 --> 00:03:09,650 Speaker 1: tried to explain to her that it was a fictional 40 00:03:09,690 --> 00:03:13,130 Speaker 1: movie and there really wasn't any treasure. The police weren't 41 00:03:13,170 --> 00:03:16,370 Speaker 1: sure if the message had got through, but they took 42 00:03:16,410 --> 00:03:18,530 Speaker 1: her to the bus station where she could catch a 43 00:03:18,610 --> 00:03:22,810 Speaker 1: greyhound to Fargo, several hours to the east, across a 44 00:03:22,890 --> 00:03:27,770 Speaker 1: vast and empty landscape. A couple of days later, they 45 00:03:27,810 --> 00:03:32,170 Speaker 1: got a call from another police department. In some woods 46 00:03:32,210 --> 00:03:36,090 Speaker 1: not far from Fargo. On a freezing cold morning, a 47 00:03:36,210 --> 00:03:40,370 Speaker 1: hunter had found the body of a young Japanese woman, 48 00:03:41,610 --> 00:03:48,490 Speaker 1: Taka Kokanishi's death was reported around the world. Cult film 49 00:03:48,730 --> 00:03:52,650 Speaker 1: sparked Hunt for a Fortune. You can't say it's a 50 00:03:52,690 --> 00:04:00,170 Speaker 1: true story if it wasn't, can you. I'm Tim Harford, 51 00:04:00,850 --> 00:04:26,890 Speaker 1: and you're listening to cautionary tales, you must know the 52 00:04:26,930 --> 00:04:32,250 Speaker 1: story of Hansel and Gretel, made famous by the Brother's Grim. 53 00:04:32,290 --> 00:04:36,690 Speaker 1: A great famine sweeps the land. A poor woodcutter can 54 00:04:36,770 --> 00:04:40,650 Speaker 1: no longer afford to feed his family. One night, his 55 00:04:40,890 --> 00:04:44,090 Speaker 1: new wife persuades him that they must take his children 56 00:04:44,330 --> 00:04:49,450 Speaker 1: into the forest and abandon them. They set off early 57 00:04:49,530 --> 00:04:53,170 Speaker 1: the next morning, the sun glinting off the chimney of 58 00:04:53,210 --> 00:04:58,730 Speaker 1: the woodcutter's cottage. Deep into the woods. The man builds 59 00:04:58,770 --> 00:05:03,210 Speaker 1: a fire to keep his children warm. Wait, hire, I 60 00:05:03,250 --> 00:05:05,290 Speaker 1: won't be too far away. You'll be able to hear 61 00:05:05,330 --> 00:05:09,850 Speaker 1: me chopping trees. But the sounds young Hansel and Gretel 62 00:05:09,890 --> 00:05:14,210 Speaker 1: can hear don't come from their father's axe. He's tied 63 00:05:14,250 --> 00:05:16,650 Speaker 1: a branch to a tree trunk in such a way 64 00:05:16,890 --> 00:05:20,370 Speaker 1: that the wind will cause it to keep flacking. By 65 00:05:20,410 --> 00:05:23,210 Speaker 1: the time his children realize that he's gone, he thinks 66 00:05:23,890 --> 00:05:27,730 Speaker 1: they'll never find their way home. He doesn't realize that 67 00:05:27,770 --> 00:05:32,210 Speaker 1: the children overheard the plan. Hansel sneaked out in the 68 00:05:32,250 --> 00:05:35,610 Speaker 1: dead of night to fill his pockets with pebbles, and 69 00:05:35,730 --> 00:05:39,690 Speaker 1: as they walked, he dropped them. By following the trail 70 00:05:39,730 --> 00:05:47,690 Speaker 1: of pebbles, Hansel and Gretel get back home. Their wicked 71 00:05:47,730 --> 00:05:52,010 Speaker 1: stepmother is furious that night she locks them in. The 72 00:05:52,050 --> 00:05:55,650 Speaker 1: Next morning, they set off again. Hansel has no pebbles, 73 00:05:56,210 --> 00:05:59,930 Speaker 1: but he does have a hunk of bread, and so 74 00:06:00,050 --> 00:06:05,450 Speaker 1: instead he leaves a trail of breadcrumbs. This time, when 75 00:06:05,450 --> 00:06:09,770 Speaker 1: the children try to follow their trail back home, disaster 76 00:06:11,090 --> 00:06:16,370 Speaker 1: birds have eaten all the crumbs. Hansel and Gretel wander 77 00:06:16,450 --> 00:06:22,570 Speaker 1: the forest, starving and lost. Eventually they chance across a 78 00:06:22,650 --> 00:06:26,570 Speaker 1: house made from gingerbread and begin to eat it. There 79 00:06:26,610 --> 00:06:32,690 Speaker 1: comes a soft voice from inside. Nibble, nibble, little mouse, 80 00:06:33,250 --> 00:06:38,370 Speaker 1: who is nibbling at my house? A woman as old 81 00:06:38,410 --> 00:06:43,410 Speaker 1: as the hills creeps out of the door. She invites 82 00:06:43,450 --> 00:06:47,410 Speaker 1: the children inside with the promise of more food. But 83 00:06:47,490 --> 00:06:51,170 Speaker 1: she's a wicked witch, and she captures them. She keeps 84 00:06:51,170 --> 00:06:54,690 Speaker 1: Hansl in a cage and forces Gretel to work preparing 85 00:06:54,810 --> 00:06:58,010 Speaker 1: food for her brother. When he's fattened up, I'm going 86 00:06:58,010 --> 00:07:02,530 Speaker 1: to eat him. The witch's eyesight is bad, so every 87 00:07:02,650 --> 00:07:05,450 Speaker 1: day she asks Hansel to stick a finger through the 88 00:07:05,530 --> 00:07:09,050 Speaker 1: cage for her to feel how fat he's got. Hansel 89 00:07:09,170 --> 00:07:12,450 Speaker 1: tricks her. He finds a bone on the floor, and 90 00:07:12,570 --> 00:07:17,130 Speaker 1: every day he pokes that through the cage instead. Eventually 91 00:07:17,170 --> 00:07:21,410 Speaker 1: the witch loses patience. She announces she'll cook Hansel fat 92 00:07:21,490 --> 00:07:26,170 Speaker 1: or not, and secretly decides to cook Gretel too. This time, 93 00:07:26,290 --> 00:07:29,970 Speaker 1: Gretel tricks her climb into the oven and see if 94 00:07:30,010 --> 00:07:34,050 Speaker 1: it's hot enough. Yet I don't understand. How can I 95 00:07:34,170 --> 00:07:39,490 Speaker 1: climb inside the oven? Replied Gretel, innocently. Stupid girl like this, 96 00:07:39,810 --> 00:07:43,410 Speaker 1: do I have to show you everything? Gretel shoves her in, 97 00:07:43,650 --> 00:07:46,210 Speaker 1: slams the door, and bars it with an iron rod. 98 00:07:46,530 --> 00:07:50,250 Speaker 1: The witch howls as the flames consume her. Gretel lets 99 00:07:50,250 --> 00:07:53,050 Speaker 1: Hansel out of the cage, and the children again look 100 00:07:53,130 --> 00:07:57,730 Speaker 1: for the way back home. A magical duckling helps them 101 00:07:57,730 --> 00:08:01,570 Speaker 1: across a great body of water, and they arrive home. 102 00:08:02,290 --> 00:08:05,970 Speaker 1: Their wicked stepmother is dead, and their regretful father is 103 00:08:06,290 --> 00:08:11,170 Speaker 1: overjoyed to have them back. You live happily ever after. 104 00:08:15,130 --> 00:08:18,290 Speaker 1: Hansel and Gretel is a cautionary tale, much like the 105 00:08:18,330 --> 00:08:22,090 Speaker 1: tales I tell. But Hansel and Gretel is for children, 106 00:08:22,730 --> 00:08:26,810 Speaker 1: a warning about stranger danger. Or so it seems. The 107 00:08:26,850 --> 00:08:30,970 Speaker 1: tales I tell are for grown ups, and the tales 108 00:08:31,130 --> 00:08:38,730 Speaker 1: I tell a true Hansel and Gretel isn't true? Or 109 00:08:38,810 --> 00:08:47,130 Speaker 1: is it? The fairy tale of Hansland Gretel fascinated a 110 00:08:47,170 --> 00:08:50,530 Speaker 1: young boy growing up in the nineteen twenties near the 111 00:08:50,570 --> 00:08:56,930 Speaker 1: border of Germany and Czechoslovakia. Georg Osseg's grandparents owned a 112 00:08:57,050 --> 00:09:02,170 Speaker 1: rare early edition of Grimm's fairy Tales, published in eighteen eighteen. 113 00:09:02,890 --> 00:09:08,170 Speaker 1: It was beautifully illustrated with intricate drawings. Young Georg read 114 00:09:08,250 --> 00:09:12,370 Speaker 1: it and re read it until every page was seared 115 00:09:12,490 --> 00:09:17,010 Speaker 1: in his memory. Osseg grew up to be a teacher. 116 00:09:17,610 --> 00:09:21,170 Speaker 1: He got a job in a Schaffenburg near Frankfort. He 117 00:09:21,210 --> 00:09:25,330 Speaker 1: spent his weekends hiking in the Spessart, a nearby range 118 00:09:25,370 --> 00:09:30,010 Speaker 1: of low wooded mountains. One spring day in nineteen sixty two, 119 00:09:30,530 --> 00:09:32,570 Speaker 1: he was exploring a part of the woods he had 120 00:09:32,650 --> 00:09:36,850 Speaker 1: never been to before. A local farmer had told him 121 00:09:37,170 --> 00:09:44,850 Speaker 1: it was known as the Hexenwald, the Witch's Forest. I 122 00:09:44,970 --> 00:09:47,530 Speaker 1: hadn't been out for half an hour when suddenly I 123 00:09:47,650 --> 00:09:49,930 Speaker 1: had a strange feeling. I felt as if I had 124 00:09:50,090 --> 00:09:54,970 Speaker 1: walked this path before. How could that be? Osseg thought 125 00:09:55,010 --> 00:09:59,650 Speaker 1: for a moment. Then it hit him. He realized that 126 00:09:59,730 --> 00:10:03,770 Speaker 1: he'd recognized the scene from an illustration in his grandfather's book. 127 00:10:04,530 --> 00:10:07,770 Speaker 1: Osseg compared the drawing with the view from the footpath. 128 00:10:08,490 --> 00:10:12,250 Speaker 1: There could be no doubt the trees had grown, of course, 129 00:10:12,410 --> 00:10:15,490 Speaker 1: that the oaks, the spruces, and the beeches were all 130 00:10:15,610 --> 00:10:19,850 Speaker 1: in exactly the same configuration. The line of the hills 131 00:10:19,890 --> 00:10:26,210 Speaker 1: on the horizon was unmistakable. That illustration in hanslan Gretel 132 00:10:26,610 --> 00:10:30,410 Speaker 1: hadn't just come from an artist's imagination. It was a 133 00:10:30,410 --> 00:10:35,610 Speaker 1: faithful depiction of a real place. What else about the 134 00:10:35,650 --> 00:10:40,490 Speaker 1: story might be real? Georg Osseg decided to do something 135 00:10:40,570 --> 00:10:43,770 Speaker 1: that no one had thought of before. He read the 136 00:10:43,810 --> 00:10:46,810 Speaker 1: fairy tale of Hansel and Gretel as if it were 137 00:10:47,010 --> 00:10:51,610 Speaker 1: a factual report. That's a line from a nineteen sixty 138 00:10:51,610 --> 00:10:57,010 Speaker 1: three book about Georgossegg. It was called devarhit Uber Hansel 139 00:10:57,130 --> 00:11:02,330 Speaker 1: and Gretel, the Truth about Hansel and Gretel, and it 140 00:11:02,490 --> 00:11:07,890 Speaker 1: caused a sensation. In the book, the author Hans Traxler 141 00:11:08,370 --> 00:11:12,570 Speaker 1: describes what Osseg did next. The illustration showed the path 142 00:11:12,610 --> 00:11:16,130 Speaker 1: along which Hansland Gretel's father had taken them into the forest. 143 00:11:16,690 --> 00:11:19,770 Speaker 1: In the story, the children look back at the morning 144 00:11:19,890 --> 00:11:24,130 Speaker 1: sunlight glinting off the chimney of the woodcutter's cottage. The 145 00:11:24,170 --> 00:11:28,250 Speaker 1: sun rises in the east, so if Oseg followed the 146 00:11:28,290 --> 00:11:32,690 Speaker 1: path east would lead him to the woodcutter's cottage. Osseg 147 00:11:32,890 --> 00:11:38,130 Speaker 1: walked east, and he found a newly built alto barn, 148 00:11:38,490 --> 00:11:42,930 Speaker 1: connecting Frankfurt with Wurtzburg. But what had been there before 149 00:11:43,490 --> 00:11:48,090 Speaker 1: the records must exist. Traxler describes how Oseg tracked them 150 00:11:48,130 --> 00:11:53,570 Speaker 1: down to the Reburn railway, maintenance depot. He leafed through 151 00:11:53,570 --> 00:11:56,090 Speaker 1: the dusty files until he found a note of a 152 00:11:56,130 --> 00:12:00,810 Speaker 1: court decision from November fourth, nineteen fifty four, a dispute 153 00:12:01,130 --> 00:12:05,210 Speaker 1: over the compensation due from the Federal Motorway's administration to 154 00:12:05,250 --> 00:12:09,250 Speaker 1: a man called Georg Scheidhauer, who'd owned the land at 155 00:12:09,250 --> 00:12:13,850 Speaker 1: the east end of that forest path. The court awarded 156 00:12:13,890 --> 00:12:18,450 Speaker 1: Scheidhauer eighteen thousand, seven hundred and sixty Deutsche marks for 157 00:12:18,490 --> 00:12:23,850 Speaker 1: his property, a half timbered house with a barn and 158 00:12:23,890 --> 00:12:30,690 Speaker 1: a garden with eighteen fruit trees. Osseg had found the 159 00:12:30,770 --> 00:12:45,370 Speaker 1: woodcutter's cottage. Cautionary tales will return in a moment. Gaeorg 160 00:12:45,570 --> 00:12:50,210 Speaker 1: Osseg was now a man with a mission. He had 161 00:12:50,250 --> 00:12:53,930 Speaker 1: located the site of the woodcutter's cottage from hansland Gretel. 162 00:12:54,850 --> 00:12:57,530 Speaker 1: He had found the path along which the children had 163 00:12:57,570 --> 00:13:01,250 Speaker 1: been led. Next, he looked for the place where they'd 164 00:13:01,290 --> 00:13:06,210 Speaker 1: been abandoned. The story mentions that the woodcutter made a 165 00:13:06,250 --> 00:13:10,370 Speaker 1: fire to keep the children warm. Oh forester would make 166 00:13:10,410 --> 00:13:13,410 Speaker 1: a fire in the thick of the trees, so that 167 00:13:13,490 --> 00:13:18,610 Speaker 1: must have meant a clearing. Oseg explored to the west 168 00:13:18,890 --> 00:13:22,650 Speaker 1: until he found one. In the story, the woodcutter ties 169 00:13:22,730 --> 00:13:25,410 Speaker 1: a branch to a tree so the wind will make 170 00:13:25,450 --> 00:13:29,370 Speaker 1: it swack and sound like an axe. Oseg spent two 171 00:13:29,570 --> 00:13:33,690 Speaker 1: days inspecting every tree near the clearing until he came 172 00:13:33,730 --> 00:13:37,170 Speaker 1: across an old oak with a wound in the trunk 173 00:13:37,450 --> 00:13:40,690 Speaker 1: where a cord had been tied around it. He had 174 00:13:40,730 --> 00:13:45,650 Speaker 1: the tree felled and the cord radiocarbon dated it came 175 00:13:45,770 --> 00:13:51,570 Speaker 1: from the sixteen forties. What about the Witch's house? Did 176 00:13:51,610 --> 00:13:56,290 Speaker 1: that exist and could Oseg find it? According to the story, 177 00:13:56,650 --> 00:13:59,810 Speaker 1: Hansel and Gretel crossed a body of water between the 178 00:13:59,850 --> 00:14:03,730 Speaker 1: witch's house and their own that could only refer to 179 00:14:03,810 --> 00:14:09,050 Speaker 1: the river Ashaff. Osseg got a map, divided it into squares, 180 00:14:09,530 --> 00:14:14,410 Speaker 1: and methodically searched each one. After two months, he found 181 00:14:14,450 --> 00:14:18,330 Speaker 1: ruins of a building made from bricks. The footprint of 182 00:14:18,370 --> 00:14:22,730 Speaker 1: those ruins looked like it exactly matched another illustration in 183 00:14:22,810 --> 00:14:29,250 Speaker 1: his grandparents book showing the witch's four brick ovens. Osseg 184 00:14:29,290 --> 00:14:33,810 Speaker 1: grabbed his spade and started to dig. Within the foundations 185 00:14:33,850 --> 00:14:37,690 Speaker 1: of one of the ovens, he found the charred remains 186 00:14:38,410 --> 00:14:43,730 Speaker 1: of a woman's skeleton. He brought in academic specialists who 187 00:14:43,770 --> 00:14:49,690 Speaker 1: concluded the woman was thirty five years old, and she 188 00:14:49,770 --> 00:14:53,210 Speaker 1: had been strangled before she had been thrown in the oven. 189 00:14:54,490 --> 00:14:59,330 Speaker 1: Osse dug some more. He found a broken hinge had 190 00:14:59,370 --> 00:15:03,610 Speaker 1: the murderers forced their way in? He found a small 191 00:15:03,770 --> 00:15:10,330 Speaker 1: iron chest. It contained a hand written recipe for gingerbread. 192 00:15:12,890 --> 00:15:17,490 Speaker 1: But who had the murdered woman been? Oseg turned now 193 00:15:17,570 --> 00:15:21,570 Speaker 1: to linguistic analysis. In the Grimms telling of the tale, 194 00:15:21,850 --> 00:15:25,370 Speaker 1: the witch speaks in a dialect which has distinctive roots 195 00:15:25,450 --> 00:15:28,890 Speaker 1: in the town of Vernegaroda. Oseg travels to the town 196 00:15:29,010 --> 00:15:32,770 Speaker 1: and searches through its records. He discovers reports of a 197 00:15:32,850 --> 00:15:38,170 Speaker 1: trial from sixteen forty seven. The year ties right in 198 00:15:38,290 --> 00:15:43,890 Speaker 1: with the radiocarbon dating. A baker called Katerina Schraderin is 199 00:15:43,970 --> 00:15:48,570 Speaker 1: accused of witchcraft by a man whose proposal of marriage 200 00:15:48,850 --> 00:15:56,850 Speaker 1: she's spurned. Soon after another trial, Katerina has been murdered 201 00:15:57,690 --> 00:16:02,690 Speaker 1: and the man and his sister are accused. The man 202 00:16:03,690 --> 00:16:13,930 Speaker 1: is called Hans Metzler, his sister Greta. Hans and Greta 203 00:16:15,770 --> 00:16:20,650 Speaker 1: oss Eg pieced together what had happened. Katerina was famous 204 00:16:20,650 --> 00:16:24,050 Speaker 1: for her gingerbread. Hans was a baker too. He had 205 00:16:24,050 --> 00:16:28,290 Speaker 1: wanted to marry Katerina to get his hands on her recipe. 206 00:16:28,490 --> 00:16:32,490 Speaker 1: When she turned him down, he and his sister went 207 00:16:32,570 --> 00:16:36,650 Speaker 1: to her house in the woods and murdered her. But 208 00:16:36,730 --> 00:16:40,210 Speaker 1: they didn't find her recipe because she had hidden it 209 00:16:40,410 --> 00:16:44,210 Speaker 1: in the iron chest. So the story of Hansel and 210 00:16:44,250 --> 00:16:49,250 Speaker 1: Gretel was based on real events, albeit loosely. The protagonists 211 00:16:49,330 --> 00:16:55,610 Speaker 1: weren't abandoned children, they were cold blooded murderers motivated by greed. 212 00:16:56,650 --> 00:16:59,050 Speaker 1: And the woman who burned in the oven wasn't a 213 00:16:59,090 --> 00:17:03,450 Speaker 1: wicked witch with a magical gingerbread house, but a talented 214 00:17:03,490 --> 00:17:11,690 Speaker 1: baker with a sort after gingerbread recipe. When Hans Traxler 215 00:17:11,770 --> 00:17:16,010 Speaker 1: published his book about georg Oseg, The Truth about Hansel 216 00:17:16,050 --> 00:17:21,290 Speaker 1: and Gretel, he was stunned by the response. What stunned 217 00:17:21,370 --> 00:17:26,970 Speaker 1: him was that everyone took it seriously. I was sure 218 00:17:27,010 --> 00:17:29,690 Speaker 1: I'd hidden enough clues that it was all a great, 219 00:17:30,010 --> 00:17:36,490 Speaker 1: big fib. Traxler was a professional satirist, a writer and 220 00:17:36,570 --> 00:17:42,210 Speaker 1: illustrator for a satirical magazine. Gaeorg Osseg didn't exist, but 221 00:17:42,330 --> 00:17:47,290 Speaker 1: the book sold hundreds of thousands of copies. Requests to 222 00:17:47,330 --> 00:17:51,570 Speaker 1: translate it came in from eighteen countries. Reviewers in Germany's 223 00:17:51,570 --> 00:17:55,650 Speaker 1: newspapers gushed about the thoroughness of Osseg's research and the 224 00:17:55,690 --> 00:17:59,650 Speaker 1: gripping way. Traxler described it the book of the year, 225 00:18:00,210 --> 00:18:04,530 Speaker 1: maybe the book off the decade, said one The newspapers 226 00:18:04,530 --> 00:18:08,650 Speaker 1: in communist East Germany were just as impressed, perhaps because 227 00:18:08,690 --> 00:18:12,450 Speaker 1: they could blame capitalism for the murder, a criminal case 228 00:18:12,490 --> 00:18:18,330 Speaker 1: from the early capitalist era, A pined Berlina Zeitung. What 229 00:18:18,410 --> 00:18:21,250 Speaker 1: were the clues Traxler had left that had made the 230 00:18:21,290 --> 00:18:26,810 Speaker 1: whole thing up? Some were subtle. Katerina's gingerbread recipe, for example, 231 00:18:27,130 --> 00:18:30,690 Speaker 1: Traxler had copied it word for word from a popular 232 00:18:30,690 --> 00:18:34,810 Speaker 1: cookbook by Dr Urtke. Other clues should have been harder 233 00:18:34,850 --> 00:18:39,290 Speaker 1: to miss. In one passage, Oseg recruits an eight year 234 00:18:39,330 --> 00:18:43,330 Speaker 1: old boy, fills his pockets with pebbles, and has him 235 00:18:43,610 --> 00:18:46,610 Speaker 1: walk down the path away from the motorway where the 236 00:18:46,610 --> 00:18:51,930 Speaker 1: woodcutter's house had supposedly stood. The pebbles run out before 237 00:18:51,970 --> 00:18:55,650 Speaker 1: he gets to the clearing, but when Oseg fills his 238 00:18:55,810 --> 00:18:59,170 Speaker 1: own pockets with pebbles, he does have enough to cover 239 00:18:59,210 --> 00:19:03,770 Speaker 1: the distance. The book includes a diagram helpfully showing how 240 00:19:04,010 --> 00:19:07,490 Speaker 1: tall people can see further and hence leave more space 241 00:19:07,570 --> 00:19:11,730 Speaker 1: between pebbles. Hansel and Gretel were not children at all. 242 00:19:12,290 --> 00:19:17,530 Speaker 1: Traxler describes Osegg as concluding, to put it scientifically, they 243 00:19:17,690 --> 00:19:22,450 Speaker 1: must have been the size of an adult scientific Indeed, 244 00:19:23,930 --> 00:19:28,850 Speaker 1: also very scientific was a photograph of Oseg's radio carbon 245 00:19:28,970 --> 00:19:32,650 Speaker 1: dating equipment. You don't have to look too closely to 246 00:19:32,690 --> 00:19:36,210 Speaker 1: see that it consists of an upside down La Saigne tray, 247 00:19:36,970 --> 00:19:41,730 Speaker 1: a length of coax cable from a television, a child's microscope, 248 00:19:42,370 --> 00:19:46,690 Speaker 1: and some jars from the kitchen spice rack. Traxler was 249 00:19:47,090 --> 00:19:52,450 Speaker 1: bewildered that nobody picked up on this unsubtle clue. Real 250 00:19:52,490 --> 00:19:55,810 Speaker 1: apparatus to do carbon dating is the size of a train. 251 00:19:56,250 --> 00:19:59,450 Speaker 1: He pointed out. Some of the images in the book 252 00:19:59,690 --> 00:20:05,570 Speaker 1: show Georg Osegg in action. It's Traxler himself in the 253 00:20:05,730 --> 00:20:11,410 Speaker 1: silliest of disguises, wire rimmed glasses and a fake mustache. 254 00:20:11,530 --> 00:20:15,650 Speaker 1: Traxler took a photographer to a Frankfurt construction site, where 255 00:20:15,690 --> 00:20:18,690 Speaker 1: they jumped into a ditch to shoot the excavation. At 256 00:20:18,730 --> 00:20:23,050 Speaker 1: the witch's house, Traxler posed inspecting the side of the 257 00:20:23,090 --> 00:20:27,770 Speaker 1: ditch with a pastry brush. The photographer and I lay 258 00:20:27,810 --> 00:20:32,570 Speaker 1: on the ground laughing. But when the book was published 259 00:20:33,210 --> 00:20:38,610 Speaker 1: the joke was lost. Excited letters flooded in georg Osseg 260 00:20:38,890 --> 00:20:43,610 Speaker 1: was invited to give lectures. A Japanese academic expressed earnest 261 00:20:43,730 --> 00:20:48,170 Speaker 1: interest in how the new field of fairy tale archaeology 262 00:20:48,770 --> 00:20:55,050 Speaker 1: could improve cross cultural understanding. Readers flocked to the scenic 263 00:20:55,090 --> 00:20:59,610 Speaker 1: woods of the Spessart, trying to decipher Osseg's descriptions and 264 00:20:59,690 --> 00:21:04,490 Speaker 1: locate the witch's house for themselves. Schools hired buses and 265 00:21:04,570 --> 00:21:11,970 Speaker 1: took entire classes. One made the ten our journey from Denmark. 266 00:21:13,890 --> 00:21:23,810 Speaker 1: Hans Traxler started to wonder what had done in our 267 00:21:23,970 --> 00:21:29,490 Speaker 1: social media age. Mistaking satire for serious reporting is a 268 00:21:29,530 --> 00:21:34,930 Speaker 1: surprisingly common problem. President Trump once retweeted a news story 269 00:21:35,010 --> 00:21:39,690 Speaker 1: from the satirical website The Babylon Bee, without seeming to 270 00:21:39,730 --> 00:21:44,450 Speaker 1: be aware that The Babylon Bee is a satirical website. 271 00:21:44,490 --> 00:21:48,490 Speaker 1: Twitter had suffered an outage, and The Bee jokingly reported 272 00:21:48,530 --> 00:21:51,610 Speaker 1: that the network had decided to shut itself down to 273 00:21:51,730 --> 00:21:56,170 Speaker 1: slow the spread of negative news about Joe Biden. Trump 274 00:21:56,490 --> 00:21:59,850 Speaker 1: wasn't chuckling at the joke. He was demanding to know 275 00:22:00,170 --> 00:22:05,690 Speaker 1: why Twitter had done this. How many voters also struggle 276 00:22:05,810 --> 00:22:10,490 Speaker 1: to spot tricks and jokes when researcher from Ohio State 277 00:22:10,770 --> 00:22:14,090 Speaker 1: presented voters with a selection of stories from the Babylon 278 00:22:14,170 --> 00:22:17,770 Speaker 1: b They found that up to twenty eight percent of 279 00:22:17,850 --> 00:22:23,290 Speaker 1: Republicans thought the stories were real. Democrats were less likely 280 00:22:23,330 --> 00:22:25,730 Speaker 1: to be fooled, But the reverse was true when the 281 00:22:25,730 --> 00:22:30,370 Speaker 1: researchers tried stories from another satirical website, arguably one with 282 00:22:30,410 --> 00:22:34,970 Speaker 1: a different political perspective, the Onion. The researchers were looking 283 00:22:35,010 --> 00:22:39,170 Speaker 1: for ways to minimize the spread of misinformation over social networks. 284 00:22:40,050 --> 00:22:45,090 Speaker 1: In twenty nineteen, they ran an experiment. They flagged posts 285 00:22:45,170 --> 00:22:48,930 Speaker 1: on Facebook in one of three ways. The first type 286 00:22:48,930 --> 00:22:52,970 Speaker 1: of flag said that independent fact checkers had said story 287 00:22:53,090 --> 00:22:57,250 Speaker 1: wasn't true. The second type said that other Facebook users 288 00:22:57,290 --> 00:23:01,370 Speaker 1: had raised doubts about it. Neither type of flag made 289 00:23:01,370 --> 00:23:05,410 Speaker 1: the studies subjects any less likely to share the story, 290 00:23:07,330 --> 00:23:10,450 Speaker 1: but the third type did. When a story was flagged 291 00:23:10,490 --> 00:23:15,010 Speaker 1: as being from a satirical website, people were less likely 292 00:23:15,130 --> 00:23:17,970 Speaker 1: to pars it on. It wasn't a huge effect, but 293 00:23:18,050 --> 00:23:23,410 Speaker 1: it was something. Clearly Labeling satire as satire did seem 294 00:23:23,450 --> 00:23:29,090 Speaker 1: to prevent some people from sharing fake news. When the 295 00:23:29,210 --> 00:23:33,490 Speaker 1: truth about the truth about Hansel and Gretel finally emerged. 296 00:23:34,090 --> 00:23:39,130 Speaker 1: Some of Traxler's readers were not amused. An angry couple 297 00:23:39,210 --> 00:23:42,490 Speaker 1: from North Rhine Westphalure sent me the petrol bill for 298 00:23:42,530 --> 00:23:45,970 Speaker 1: the trip that made to the spass art how uncomfortable 299 00:23:46,010 --> 00:23:50,050 Speaker 1: it was for me. Then Traxler received a letter from 300 00:23:50,090 --> 00:23:54,050 Speaker 1: a lawyer in herborn. If you want to do business 301 00:23:54,290 --> 00:23:57,970 Speaker 1: with a parody, then you have to label your parody 302 00:23:58,210 --> 00:24:01,970 Speaker 1: as such. I have therefore decided to bring the case 303 00:24:02,290 --> 00:24:08,410 Speaker 1: to the attention of the public prosecutor. Or. As William H. 304 00:24:08,450 --> 00:24:11,330 Speaker 1: Macy would put it, you can't say it's a true 305 00:24:11,370 --> 00:24:16,930 Speaker 1: story if it wasn't. Hans Traxler was summoned to the 306 00:24:16,930 --> 00:24:28,810 Speaker 1: police station. Cautionary tales will be back soon. If you 307 00:24:28,890 --> 00:24:32,130 Speaker 1: want to do business with a parody, then you have 308 00:24:32,370 --> 00:24:36,930 Speaker 1: to label your parody as such, so said the irate 309 00:24:37,250 --> 00:24:42,450 Speaker 1: German lawyer. Facebook seems to agree. It has now rolled 310 00:24:42,490 --> 00:24:47,650 Speaker 1: out the flags on satirical stories. They join other algorithmic warnings, 311 00:24:47,690 --> 00:24:53,170 Speaker 1: from disputed claims on Twitter to suspected spam on emails 312 00:24:53,170 --> 00:24:57,130 Speaker 1: and texts. We're constantly assailed by people trying to fool 313 00:24:57,210 --> 00:25:00,210 Speaker 1: us because they want to influence our vote or part 314 00:25:00,290 --> 00:25:04,050 Speaker 1: us from our money. Any reminders to consider the source 315 00:25:04,090 --> 00:25:07,450 Speaker 1: of information have to be a good thing. And yet 316 00:25:08,370 --> 00:25:11,450 Speaker 1: I can't help feeling that the lawyer from Herborn was 317 00:25:11,490 --> 00:25:16,930 Speaker 1: being too dogmatic in demanding that parodies must always be labeled. 318 00:25:17,850 --> 00:25:22,530 Speaker 1: Phishing emails and troll farm tweets can be hard to spot. 319 00:25:22,850 --> 00:25:27,370 Speaker 1: Even for the algorithms, we can't rely on them being flagged. 320 00:25:28,250 --> 00:25:31,850 Speaker 1: We have to think for ourselves. A clever hoax can 321 00:25:31,930 --> 00:25:35,010 Speaker 1: act a bit like a vaccine, a benign way to 322 00:25:35,130 --> 00:25:38,970 Speaker 1: prime our critical thinking immune system, to make us more 323 00:25:39,010 --> 00:25:43,050 Speaker 1: alert against the threats that matter. And a hoax can't 324 00:25:43,090 --> 00:25:47,490 Speaker 1: work if it has to announce itself up front. What 325 00:25:47,570 --> 00:25:50,290 Speaker 1: does it take for a hoax to earn our indulgence? 326 00:25:50,850 --> 00:25:54,050 Speaker 1: I think there are three things. First, the hoax has 327 00:25:54,090 --> 00:25:56,970 Speaker 1: to be good. That means it must be plausible if 328 00:25:56,970 --> 00:26:01,450 Speaker 1: you're not paying attention, but obvious if you are. That's 329 00:26:01,530 --> 00:26:05,370 Speaker 1: harder than it sounds. Attempts at satire are often either 330 00:26:05,530 --> 00:26:08,930 Speaker 1: too clunkily apparent on the first read or too well 331 00:26:08,970 --> 00:26:13,330 Speaker 1: disguised on the second. Hans Traxler seems to have got 332 00:26:13,330 --> 00:26:17,370 Speaker 1: the balance exactly right. He was amazed by how many 333 00:26:17,450 --> 00:26:21,050 Speaker 1: letters he received from readers who'd spotted one piece of 334 00:26:21,130 --> 00:26:25,170 Speaker 1: nonsense in his account of gaeorg Osseg's research, But who 335 00:26:25,290 --> 00:26:29,370 Speaker 1: hadn't then questioned everything else. Those letters said things like, 336 00:26:29,890 --> 00:26:33,610 Speaker 1: dear mister Traxler, I believe gayorg Oseg must have been 337 00:26:33,650 --> 00:26:36,890 Speaker 1: mistaken when he says he found the woodcutter's cord in 338 00:26:36,930 --> 00:26:40,090 Speaker 1: the tree twenty five meters above the ground, because the 339 00:26:40,130 --> 00:26:43,890 Speaker 1: tree had grown so much. You see, trees sprout from 340 00:26:43,890 --> 00:26:46,810 Speaker 1: the top, they don't push up from the bottom, so 341 00:26:46,890 --> 00:26:49,210 Speaker 1: the cord would have been quite close to the ground. 342 00:26:49,810 --> 00:26:53,410 Speaker 1: Apart from that minor blemish, I found mister Osseg's work 343 00:26:53,490 --> 00:26:58,570 Speaker 1: to be excellent. Or the manuscript from Vinigeroda can't have 344 00:26:58,650 --> 00:27:01,370 Speaker 1: come from sixteen forty seven because it refers to a 345 00:27:01,410 --> 00:27:05,930 Speaker 1: famous event that happened in eighteen eleven. Otherwise, though, great job. 346 00:27:07,410 --> 00:27:10,970 Speaker 1: These are readers who really should have felt their spidey 347 00:27:11,130 --> 00:27:15,890 Speaker 1: senses tingling, and when they discovered they'd been had, they 348 00:27:15,970 --> 00:27:18,810 Speaker 1: must have been embarrassed at their gullibility. And that's a 349 00:27:18,890 --> 00:27:23,410 Speaker 1: useful feeling, because they'll resolve to think more critically in future. 350 00:27:24,810 --> 00:27:28,810 Speaker 1: The second requirement of a satisfying hoax is like a vaccine, 351 00:27:29,130 --> 00:27:32,930 Speaker 1: it should do no harm. I'm not sure that's true. 352 00:27:32,970 --> 00:27:37,410 Speaker 1: About some satirical stories from sites such as the Babylon Bee. 353 00:27:38,210 --> 00:27:41,730 Speaker 1: According to the Ohio State Study, for example, twenty three 354 00:27:41,730 --> 00:27:46,170 Speaker 1: percent of Republicans believed the Bees story that US Representative 355 00:27:46,290 --> 00:27:52,450 Speaker 1: Illan Omar said being Jewish is an inherently hostile act. 356 00:27:53,410 --> 00:27:56,050 Speaker 1: You can reach your own conclusions as to whether this 357 00:27:56,330 --> 00:27:59,610 Speaker 1: is or is not a hilarious satire of the left 358 00:27:59,650 --> 00:28:03,370 Speaker 1: wing of US politics. But the point is she never 359 00:28:03,410 --> 00:28:07,850 Speaker 1: said it, and when people believe she did, real damage 360 00:28:07,890 --> 00:28:13,250 Speaker 1: is done to political discourse. But with hansland Gretel, what 361 00:28:13,290 --> 00:28:16,770 Speaker 1: are the worst things that happened? A couple from north 362 00:28:16,850 --> 00:28:20,570 Speaker 1: Rhine Westphalia spent some money on petrol, a teacher from 363 00:28:20,610 --> 00:28:24,690 Speaker 1: Denmark looked like an idiot for organizing an international study visit, 364 00:28:25,210 --> 00:28:28,970 Speaker 1: and a humorless lawyer from Herborn made the Frankfurt police 365 00:28:29,130 --> 00:28:33,010 Speaker 1: call in Hans Traxler for questioning, although I'm happy to 366 00:28:33,050 --> 00:28:38,490 Speaker 1: report that Traxler was cleared of any crime. The third 367 00:28:38,570 --> 00:28:41,450 Speaker 1: and final ingredient of a good hoax is that it 368 00:28:41,650 --> 00:28:45,730 Speaker 1: has a point. It draws our attention to something about 369 00:28:45,770 --> 00:28:49,490 Speaker 1: which we're more credulous than we should be. When the 370 00:28:49,570 --> 00:28:53,330 Speaker 1: Cohen Brothers added that screen crawl to Fargo, saying this 371 00:28:53,570 --> 00:28:56,450 Speaker 1: is a true story. They were poking fun at a 372 00:28:56,490 --> 00:29:00,530 Speaker 1: trend that began in the nineteen seventies. Directors of gory, 373 00:29:00,730 --> 00:29:04,970 Speaker 1: low budget drive in flicks discovered their gross more if 374 00:29:04,970 --> 00:29:08,850 Speaker 1: they added words like based on real events to the poster, 375 00:29:09,410 --> 00:29:14,490 Speaker 1: however loose the connection might be. Hans Traxler was inspired 376 00:29:14,610 --> 00:29:17,490 Speaker 1: to write about Hansel and Gretel by reading a best 377 00:29:17,530 --> 00:29:23,690 Speaker 1: selling book called Gerte Grabe Ungelerta Gods, Graves and Scholars. 378 00:29:24,530 --> 00:29:29,170 Speaker 1: It told of archaeologists like Heinrich Schliemann, who excavated the 379 00:29:29,210 --> 00:29:32,850 Speaker 1: site of ancient Troy in modern day Turkey and made 380 00:29:32,890 --> 00:29:37,010 Speaker 1: the case that Homer's epic poem the Iliad was based 381 00:29:37,010 --> 00:29:41,410 Speaker 1: on historical events. There was a craze for pop archaeology 382 00:29:41,410 --> 00:29:46,210 Speaker 1: books in Germany like Undi Biebel Hoch Derrich and the 383 00:29:46,290 --> 00:29:52,170 Speaker 1: Bible is Right. Researchers prove the historical truth. Traxler wondered 384 00:29:52,210 --> 00:29:55,490 Speaker 1: if readers might not always be consuming books of this 385 00:29:55,690 --> 00:29:59,930 Speaker 1: genre with a sufficiently critical eye. He got his answer. 386 00:30:01,010 --> 00:30:04,970 Speaker 1: Both Traxler and the Coens are prompting us to ask 387 00:30:05,010 --> 00:30:08,650 Speaker 1: a deeper question. When we like to hear there's truth 388 00:30:08,810 --> 00:30:14,210 Speaker 1: in what is it we really care about, because there 389 00:30:14,370 --> 00:30:18,410 Speaker 1: is a truth behind Hansel and Gretel, but it's nothing 390 00:30:18,410 --> 00:30:23,090 Speaker 1: to do with tracksless scurrilous nonsense about a murderous gingerbread baker. 391 00:30:26,930 --> 00:30:33,410 Speaker 1: In thirteen fifteen, incessant rain ruined crops across Europe. The 392 00:30:33,490 --> 00:30:38,010 Speaker 1: Great Famine lasted for years. It's hard to be sure 393 00:30:38,050 --> 00:30:44,450 Speaker 1: of exactly what happened, but some harrowing accounts survive. In Bristol, England, 394 00:30:44,930 --> 00:30:50,050 Speaker 1: one writer tells of such mortality that the living could 395 00:30:50,130 --> 00:30:55,330 Speaker 1: scarce suffice to bury the dead, and some eat their 396 00:30:55,410 --> 00:31:00,490 Speaker 1: own children. In the Baltics, it was said that mothers 397 00:31:00,890 --> 00:31:06,330 Speaker 1: fed upon their sons. Perhaps it's no surprise that the 398 00:31:06,370 --> 00:31:10,930 Speaker 1: folklore of many countries has tailed, like hansl and Gretel, 399 00:31:11,850 --> 00:31:18,570 Speaker 1: about famine, child abandonment, and cannibalism. I said that Hansland 400 00:31:18,570 --> 00:31:22,050 Speaker 1: Gretel is a cautionary tale for children about stranger danger. 401 00:31:23,250 --> 00:31:28,090 Speaker 1: But perhaps these stories were also cautionary tales for parents 402 00:31:29,330 --> 00:31:39,250 Speaker 1: about unimaginable hunger and choices too awful to contemplate. But 403 00:31:39,410 --> 00:31:44,050 Speaker 1: what about Takako Kanishi. Doesn't her death show the risks 404 00:31:44,050 --> 00:31:49,530 Speaker 1: of dressing fiction as fact. Remember in two thousand and one, 405 00:31:49,730 --> 00:31:53,770 Speaker 1: Takako had turned up in North Dakota, inappropriately dressed in 406 00:31:53,810 --> 00:31:58,130 Speaker 1: the cold midwinter, clutching a map and asking for directions 407 00:31:58,170 --> 00:32:02,330 Speaker 1: to Fargo. The world's media reported that she seemed to 408 00:32:02,370 --> 00:32:05,770 Speaker 1: have believed the movie's claims to truth and hoped she 409 00:32:05,810 --> 00:32:09,850 Speaker 1: could find the hidden million dollars cult fill film sparked 410 00:32:09,930 --> 00:32:15,250 Speaker 1: hunt for a Fortune, said the UK's Daily Telegraph. It 411 00:32:15,330 --> 00:32:19,490 Speaker 1: was an astonishing story and the filmmaker, Paul Bursler wanted 412 00:32:19,530 --> 00:32:22,890 Speaker 1: to find out more. Soon after reading the news, he 413 00:32:22,970 --> 00:32:26,530 Speaker 1: persuaded British television's Channel four to send him to North 414 00:32:26,610 --> 00:32:32,410 Speaker 1: Dakota with a cameraman and a Japanese actress. Bursler planned 415 00:32:32,410 --> 00:32:36,610 Speaker 1: to retrace Takako's final days to find the people who'd 416 00:32:36,650 --> 00:32:42,010 Speaker 1: encountered her and recreate some scenes. They checked into the 417 00:32:42,130 --> 00:32:46,610 Speaker 1: Quality Inn in downtown Fargo, where Takako had stayed before 418 00:32:46,650 --> 00:32:51,410 Speaker 1: she died. Bursler spoke to the night clerk. It's funny, 419 00:32:51,810 --> 00:32:54,690 Speaker 1: he said, I was surprised when I heard how she 420 00:32:54,930 --> 00:32:57,850 Speaker 1: died looking for the ransom in the movie. She never 421 00:32:57,890 --> 00:33:00,770 Speaker 1: mentioned anything to me about Fargo or any other kind 422 00:33:00,770 --> 00:33:05,650 Speaker 1: of movie. She asked about seeing the stars, which I 423 00:33:05,650 --> 00:33:08,250 Speaker 1: thought was a little strange because it was November and 424 00:33:08,290 --> 00:33:10,770 Speaker 1: it isn't that outside in the middle of the night. 425 00:33:12,450 --> 00:33:15,570 Speaker 1: What about the policeman in Bismarck who told journalists how 426 00:33:15,610 --> 00:33:19,130 Speaker 1: they'd tried to explain to Takako that Fargo was a 427 00:33:19,170 --> 00:33:22,930 Speaker 1: fictional movie and there wasn't really any treasure. I'd never 428 00:33:22,970 --> 00:33:27,050 Speaker 1: seen the film Fargo, one of them explained, But another 429 00:33:27,130 --> 00:33:29,890 Speaker 1: officer in the station had seen it, and he told 430 00:33:29,930 --> 00:33:32,010 Speaker 1: me there was money buried in this movie. And then 431 00:33:32,090 --> 00:33:34,810 Speaker 1: we started to think that she had this false impression. 432 00:33:36,130 --> 00:33:39,330 Speaker 1: Takako had never said anything about money to the police 433 00:33:39,490 --> 00:33:44,810 Speaker 1: either true, It wasn't unreasonable speculation. There's no obvious reason 434 00:33:44,850 --> 00:33:47,690 Speaker 1: why a Japanese woman would turn up in North Dakota 435 00:33:48,250 --> 00:33:52,890 Speaker 1: with a crudely drawn map asking about Fargo. But it 436 00:33:53,050 --> 00:33:55,450 Speaker 1: all turned out to have been a case of two 437 00:33:55,610 --> 00:34:01,690 Speaker 1: plus two making five. Bursler was now even more intrigued. 438 00:34:02,930 --> 00:34:06,490 Speaker 1: What was the real story. He flew to Tokyo and 439 00:34:06,610 --> 00:34:11,450 Speaker 1: tracked down Takako's former landlady. She told him Tacako had 440 00:34:11,490 --> 00:34:16,330 Speaker 1: been a normal, happy girl until one day everything changed. 441 00:34:17,610 --> 00:34:20,930 Speaker 1: She started drinking heavily. It must have been man trouble. 442 00:34:21,130 --> 00:34:25,730 Speaker 1: The landlady thought Bursler discovered that on her last night 443 00:34:25,770 --> 00:34:29,810 Speaker 1: in the hotel, Takako had spent forty minutes on the 444 00:34:29,850 --> 00:34:33,930 Speaker 1: phone to Singapore. He found out the number Tacako had 445 00:34:33,930 --> 00:34:38,010 Speaker 1: called and dialed it himself. At the other end of 446 00:34:38,050 --> 00:34:42,410 Speaker 1: the line was an American businessman. Yes. The man told 447 00:34:42,490 --> 00:34:46,730 Speaker 1: Bursler he'd known Takako when he lived in Tokyo. She'd 448 00:34:46,770 --> 00:34:48,970 Speaker 1: wanted to go with him when he moved to Singapore. 449 00:34:49,770 --> 00:34:57,530 Speaker 1: He'd said no. She was heartbroken. He was from Fargo. 450 00:34:57,890 --> 00:35:01,370 Speaker 1: Several weeks after Takako died, the police found out that 451 00:35:01,410 --> 00:35:05,130 Speaker 1: she had sent her parents a suicide note. She hadn't 452 00:35:05,130 --> 00:35:08,530 Speaker 1: come to North Dakota to seek her fortune. She'd come 453 00:35:09,210 --> 00:35:14,490 Speaker 1: and her life. The media thought Takako had been too 454 00:35:14,730 --> 00:35:20,690 Speaker 1: credulous about Fargo. Instead, there had been too credulous about Takako. 455 00:35:21,690 --> 00:35:25,450 Speaker 1: The reports framed her tragic death as a cautionary tale 456 00:35:25,490 --> 00:35:30,490 Speaker 1: about gullibility, a warning to think critically even when a 457 00:35:30,530 --> 00:35:35,210 Speaker 1: story presents itself as true. That's exactly what it was, 458 00:35:36,250 --> 00:35:47,170 Speaker 1: but not in the way they'd imagined. Essential sources for 459 00:35:47,210 --> 00:35:51,010 Speaker 1: this episode were Hans Traxler's book The Truth About Hansel 460 00:35:51,050 --> 00:35:54,010 Speaker 1: and Gretel, an article about The Hoax by Jordan Toddarov 461 00:35:54,090 --> 00:35:58,250 Speaker 1: in Atlas Obscura and Paul Bursler's documentary This Is a 462 00:35:58,290 --> 00:36:01,210 Speaker 1: True Story. For a full list of our sources, see 463 00:36:01,210 --> 00:36:07,850 Speaker 1: the show notes at Timharford dot com. Cautionary Tales is 464 00:36:07,890 --> 00:36:11,050 Speaker 1: written and presented by me Tim Harford with help from 465 00:36:11,090 --> 00:36:14,130 Speaker 1: Andrew Wright. The show was produced by Ryan Dilly with 466 00:36:14,210 --> 00:36:17,650 Speaker 1: support from Pete Norton. The music, sound design, and mixing 467 00:36:17,770 --> 00:36:20,850 Speaker 1: are the work of Pascal Wise. The scripts were edited 468 00:36:20,850 --> 00:36:25,010 Speaker 1: by Julia Barton. Special thanks to Mea LaBelle, Carlie Miliori, 469 00:36:25,330 --> 00:36:30,690 Speaker 1: Heather Fein, Maya Kahinigg, Jacob Weisberg, and Malcolm Gladwell. Cautionary 470 00:36:30,730 --> 00:36:33,090 Speaker 1: Tales is a Pushkin Industry's production