1
00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:27,800
Speaker 1: Ridiculous History is a production of I Heart Radio. Welcome

2
00:00:27,840 --> 00:00:31,200
Speaker 1: to the show Ridiculous Historians. As always, thank you so

3
00:00:31,400 --> 00:00:36,520
Speaker 1: very much for tuning in. Today's episode is about train Rex.

4
00:00:36,640 --> 00:00:40,040
Speaker 1: Now these days, that can mean any number of things. Hi,

5
00:00:40,159 --> 00:00:43,040
Speaker 1: I'm Ben, Hi, I'm no. So basically par for the

6
00:00:43,040 --> 00:00:47,040
Speaker 1: course then for us, Huh, train Rex, get it right?

7
00:00:47,640 --> 00:00:50,159
Speaker 1: I was being self deprecating. I think we do a

8
00:00:50,159 --> 00:00:52,040
Speaker 1: fine job. Ben, I don't know why I said that.

9
00:00:52,600 --> 00:00:57,200
Speaker 1: Strike from the record. Let's let's carry the motion. Uh.

10
00:00:57,720 --> 00:01:00,640
Speaker 1: You know. The one person who has made a dare

11
00:01:00,640 --> 00:01:03,440
Speaker 1: I say, a career saving us from train Rex is,

12
00:01:03,480 --> 00:01:09,199
Speaker 1: of course, our super producer, Casey Pegram. I'll open open

13
00:01:09,240 --> 00:01:12,760
Speaker 1: today's episode with a question for you, Casey, Will you

14
00:01:12,880 --> 00:01:16,840
Speaker 1: ever forgive us? I wonder about that sometimes have you

15
00:01:16,880 --> 00:01:20,400
Speaker 1: seen have you seen first Reform? Been? Um, what's it about?

16
00:01:20,880 --> 00:01:23,559
Speaker 1: It's it's the joke's not gonna work. There's it's Ethan Hawk.

17
00:01:23,640 --> 00:01:26,399
Speaker 1: He becomes like convinced that you know, the world's gonna end.

18
00:01:26,440 --> 00:01:29,240
Speaker 1: And he's like this preacher who's like isolated and alienated,

19
00:01:29,840 --> 00:01:32,720
Speaker 1: and he uh, he changes the sign out in front

20
00:01:32,720 --> 00:01:35,800
Speaker 1: of the church. Who will God forgive us? So that

21
00:01:35,840 --> 00:01:38,240
Speaker 1: came to mind. I have seen that. Actually I remember.

22
00:01:38,319 --> 00:01:39,800
Speaker 1: It's it's a little bit of a bummer, and there's

23
00:01:39,840 --> 00:01:42,600
Speaker 1: a really cool psychedelic part where he's like floating through

24
00:01:42,640 --> 00:01:46,840
Speaker 1: the clouds inexplicably, which I quite enjoyed. Spoiler alert, NOL.

25
00:01:46,959 --> 00:01:48,720
Speaker 1: Is that a spoiler? It is kind of because the

26
00:01:48,920 --> 00:01:51,080
Speaker 1: movie is so anchored in realism that when that sequence

27
00:01:51,120 --> 00:01:53,320
Speaker 1: comes up, it's kind of like, whoa, Okay, we're shifting

28
00:01:53,640 --> 00:01:57,840
Speaker 1: modes here. Great, I'm just gonna read the wiki. That's fine.

29
00:01:58,880 --> 00:02:01,280
Speaker 1: Is it? Is it possible to spoil an art film though?

30
00:02:01,400 --> 00:02:03,440
Speaker 1: That that's the question that I put to the group. Yeah,

31
00:02:03,520 --> 00:02:05,560
Speaker 1: that's true. That's true only if it's like a poorly

32
00:02:05,560 --> 00:02:07,840
Speaker 1: made art film, I think, because an art film should

33
00:02:07,840 --> 00:02:10,000
Speaker 1: be appreciable, you know, even if you know everything that's

34
00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:12,200
Speaker 1: gonna happen. Yeah, that's a good point. It's it's sort

35
00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:17,720
Speaker 1: of like saying you've spoiled a portrait, you know. Actually, Oh, man,

36
00:02:17,800 --> 00:02:19,679
Speaker 1: I wish we were I wish we were hanging out

37
00:02:19,680 --> 00:02:21,520
Speaker 1: at a bar or something so we could talk over

38
00:02:21,520 --> 00:02:25,000
Speaker 1: this with some cocktails. Uh, those those days will come

39
00:02:25,520 --> 00:02:28,399
Speaker 1: one day, sooner or later, we'll be We'll be back

40
00:02:28,440 --> 00:02:31,560
Speaker 1: at our favorite spots or maybe we'll have a pizza party.

41
00:02:32,240 --> 00:02:36,960
Speaker 1: But today we thought it would be interesting to talk

42
00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:40,800
Speaker 1: about train wrecks in I don't and I don't know

43
00:02:40,880 --> 00:02:45,119
Speaker 1: man an unusual lights because nowadays, usually when we hear

44
00:02:45,120 --> 00:02:48,400
Speaker 1: the term train wreck, we think of it as its

45
00:02:48,480 --> 00:02:51,800
Speaker 1: current meaning, which is always going to be something that

46
00:02:51,840 --> 00:02:55,720
Speaker 1: has gone catastrophically wrong. Right, like, Oh, I went on

47
00:02:55,760 --> 00:02:58,280
Speaker 1: a blind date. How was it? It was a train wreck.

48
00:02:58,440 --> 00:03:00,480
Speaker 1: It doesn't mean that you were on an AM track

49
00:03:00,600 --> 00:03:03,480
Speaker 1: that went off the rails. Admit that you guys didn't connect,

50
00:03:03,680 --> 00:03:06,320
Speaker 1: right like, we don't really talk about the physical ones. Well,

51
00:03:06,360 --> 00:03:09,639
Speaker 1: I mean the amtrack off the rails situation is terrifying

52
00:03:10,120 --> 00:03:13,399
Speaker 1: and would leave you with some pretty serious PTSD if

53
00:03:13,440 --> 00:03:16,359
Speaker 1: you walked away from it alive. A bad date is

54
00:03:16,400 --> 00:03:19,320
Speaker 1: really just kind of mildly inconvenient and and maybe a

55
00:03:19,320 --> 00:03:22,640
Speaker 1: bit embarrassing, probably for more for one side than the other.

56
00:03:22,760 --> 00:03:26,000
Speaker 1: I would argue, the one who is completely falling flat

57
00:03:26,440 --> 00:03:30,160
Speaker 1: uh and not connecting or being connected with, but definitely

58
00:03:30,200 --> 00:03:32,600
Speaker 1: not caused for too much alarm. I think we've all

59
00:03:32,639 --> 00:03:36,280
Speaker 1: been there. Yep, well said, Today we are talking about

60
00:03:36,800 --> 00:03:41,800
Speaker 1: literal train wrecks, actual locomotives, uh in rex. But we

61
00:03:41,920 --> 00:03:46,840
Speaker 1: cannot call these accidents. They're not trained accidents. And you'll

62
00:03:46,840 --> 00:03:50,960
Speaker 1: see what we mean in in a moment. Uh it's

63
00:03:51,040 --> 00:03:53,040
Speaker 1: weird to say this, but well we'll just give you

64
00:03:53,080 --> 00:03:57,200
Speaker 1: this first sentence to open this up. From eighteen until

65
00:03:57,280 --> 00:04:03,600
Speaker 1: about the nineteen thirties, train rex were wildly popular. Isn't

66
00:04:03,600 --> 00:04:06,839
Speaker 1: that weird? They were popular? Yeah. I mean you could

67
00:04:06,880 --> 00:04:11,120
Speaker 1: almost call it a spectator sport, in line with something

68
00:04:11,200 --> 00:04:15,920
Speaker 1: like demolition derbys or monster truck rallies or something like that.

69
00:04:16,240 --> 00:04:21,560
Speaker 1: It really capitalizes on people's kind of animalistic uh need

70
00:04:21,680 --> 00:04:26,200
Speaker 1: to see things go horribly horribly wrong. Uh maybe there's

71
00:04:26,200 --> 00:04:29,440
Speaker 1: a little schadenfreud involved. Um. I don't imagine that these

72
00:04:29,760 --> 00:04:32,640
Speaker 1: uh that these involved anybody being hurt, because you know,

73
00:04:32,680 --> 00:04:35,279
Speaker 1: there had to be some kind of uh checks and

74
00:04:35,279 --> 00:04:38,000
Speaker 1: balances to keep that from happening. But this is the

75
00:04:38,120 --> 00:04:43,080
Speaker 1: idea of train wrecks as a pastime. Not the same

76
00:04:43,120 --> 00:04:45,960
Speaker 1: as train spotting, mind you, that's a much more banal

77
00:04:46,160 --> 00:04:49,760
Speaker 1: and uh innocuous pastime. This is very active and required

78
00:04:49,800 --> 00:04:53,640
Speaker 1: a lot of pre planning. Um. And I can't believe

79
00:04:53,920 --> 00:04:56,880
Speaker 1: how long it it went on. It just seems like

80
00:04:56,960 --> 00:05:02,039
Speaker 1: such a recipe for disaster. Yes, literally, yeah, it's it's

81
00:05:02,040 --> 00:05:04,880
Speaker 1: an interesting point. We have to keep in mind that

82
00:05:05,440 --> 00:05:10,560
Speaker 1: this occurs in a time when other public spectator sports

83
00:05:10,560 --> 00:05:14,920
Speaker 1: included things like barn dog fights and bare knuckle boxing,

84
00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:20,440
Speaker 1: even public executions. We're talking about a specific train wreck

85
00:05:20,880 --> 00:05:24,000
Speaker 1: that set the stage for this. One of the first

86
00:05:24,279 --> 00:05:30,039
Speaker 1: purposeful train wrecks staged four staged for the public, happened

87
00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:36,600
Speaker 1: in was the brainchild of a railroad equipment salesman named A. L.

88
00:05:36,800 --> 00:05:41,279
Speaker 1: Street or Over in Ohio, and this really set the

89
00:05:41,320 --> 00:05:45,240
Speaker 1: precedent for all of the other stage train wrecks that

90
00:05:45,279 --> 00:05:48,480
Speaker 1: would come after in the following decades. There's a book

91
00:05:48,480 --> 00:05:51,680
Speaker 1: that examines this, which I have in full disclosure I

92
00:05:51,680 --> 00:05:56,760
Speaker 1: I haven't read, in Totality by James J. Riisdorf, called

93
00:05:57,000 --> 00:06:00,599
Speaker 1: the man who wrecked one hundred and forty six local motives.

94
00:06:01,080 --> 00:06:07,280
Speaker 1: And according to this historian, Streeterer's initial wreck in was

95
00:06:08,360 --> 00:06:12,920
Speaker 1: so successful that the very next year there were at

96
00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:18,920
Speaker 1: least six other staged train wrecks. Weird, it's super weird

97
00:06:19,240 --> 00:06:24,360
Speaker 1: um and the kind of mother of all stage train wrecks,

98
00:06:24,880 --> 00:06:26,279
Speaker 1: or at least you know, the one that kind of

99
00:06:26,320 --> 00:06:28,960
Speaker 1: lives on in infamy. Um. You may have even heard

100
00:06:29,040 --> 00:06:33,720
Speaker 1: the name is known as the crash at Crush Uh.

101
00:06:33,760 --> 00:06:37,000
Speaker 1: And this was a big deal, as you can imagine

102
00:06:37,040 --> 00:06:40,719
Speaker 1: a lot of moving pieces literally uh and figuratively involved

103
00:06:40,760 --> 00:06:43,599
Speaker 1: in doing something like this. So why don't we take

104
00:06:43,600 --> 00:06:47,400
Speaker 1: a step back and talk about kind of what led

105
00:06:47,839 --> 00:06:54,240
Speaker 1: to this monumental public train wreck. Yes, let's so. As

106
00:06:54,240 --> 00:06:58,000
Speaker 1: we were saying earlier, entertainment was kind of hard to

107
00:06:58,040 --> 00:07:02,240
Speaker 1: come by in the eighteen Indes, especially out in Texas

108
00:07:02,240 --> 00:07:06,520
Speaker 1: that were about two million European American settlers there, and

109
00:07:06,760 --> 00:07:10,720
Speaker 1: if you wanted to do something other than eat, sleep,

110
00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:14,040
Speaker 1: and work, you would be hard pressed to find some

111
00:07:14,120 --> 00:07:18,280
Speaker 1: good diversions. If you were dude, you could join some

112
00:07:18,320 --> 00:07:21,840
Speaker 1: sort of farmers organization that would give you business support

113
00:07:21,920 --> 00:07:25,680
Speaker 1: and networking opportunities. But often people had joined just so

114
00:07:25,720 --> 00:07:29,760
Speaker 1: they could socialize. On the other side of the gender divide.

115
00:07:29,800 --> 00:07:34,440
Speaker 1: At the time, women had the Christian Temperance Union and

116
00:07:34,680 --> 00:07:37,800
Speaker 1: this would be like, uh, the same thing, right, your

117
00:07:37,840 --> 00:07:42,680
Speaker 1: network you socialize you You could also after the first

118
00:07:42,960 --> 00:07:46,400
Speaker 1: uh college football game was played in you could pick

119
00:07:46,440 --> 00:07:49,560
Speaker 1: a side and you could root for that. That explains

120
00:07:49,600 --> 00:07:52,720
Speaker 1: one of the reasons why sports have been so historically popular.

121
00:07:53,400 --> 00:07:57,080
Speaker 1: But other than that, you're kind of s ol since

122
00:07:57,080 --> 00:07:59,520
Speaker 1: we're family show that stands for straight out of luck.

123
00:08:00,240 --> 00:08:03,920
Speaker 1: It does indeed, UM. So, as we said before, UM,

124
00:08:04,040 --> 00:08:08,360
Speaker 1: the kind of precedent for this bizarre spectator sport was

125
00:08:08,720 --> 00:08:12,120
Speaker 1: established by a l streeterer who had staged the first

126
00:08:12,200 --> 00:08:17,480
Speaker 1: crash back in Ohio a year before. UM and William Crush,

127
00:08:17,560 --> 00:08:22,840
Speaker 1: who was a railway agent, was inspired by that and

128
00:08:22,880 --> 00:08:25,440
Speaker 1: also really thought that this was something that could kind

129
00:08:25,480 --> 00:08:30,880
Speaker 1: of create that college football rivalry UM type scenario that

130
00:08:30,920 --> 00:08:33,719
Speaker 1: maybe was sort of lacking at the time. UM and

131
00:08:33,840 --> 00:08:38,680
Speaker 1: he decided to go all out and create a of

132
00:08:39,200 --> 00:08:44,800
Speaker 1: a hugely UM marketed UH spectacle UM using the concept

133
00:08:44,880 --> 00:08:48,360
Speaker 1: of a staged train wreck. And you ask yourself, you know,

134
00:08:49,679 --> 00:08:52,720
Speaker 1: surely there must have been some injuries. This doesn't seem

135
00:08:52,760 --> 00:08:55,920
Speaker 1: like something that would go over without some kind of

136
00:08:56,000 --> 00:08:59,800
Speaker 1: carnage bleeding out into the spectators. And that's true. There's

137
00:08:59,800 --> 00:09:02,280
Speaker 1: a apri that talks UH. Really the only thing we

138
00:09:02,520 --> 00:09:06,680
Speaker 1: could find about a flying bolt that caused UM an injury,

139
00:09:06,760 --> 00:09:10,559
Speaker 1: But that's about it. UM. So the idea of kind

140
00:09:10,600 --> 00:09:13,240
Speaker 1: of recreating that and maybe making it a little more

141
00:09:13,320 --> 00:09:17,520
Speaker 1: safe sort of it was Crushes kind of uh modus

142
00:09:17,559 --> 00:09:21,000
Speaker 1: operandi here. And it's funny too because Crush was actually

143
00:09:21,040 --> 00:09:25,360
Speaker 1: a pal of P. T. Barnum. So he came honestly

144
00:09:25,480 --> 00:09:29,040
Speaker 1: by his fascination with the spectacle and the idea of

145
00:09:29,200 --> 00:09:32,120
Speaker 1: you know, sort of a larger than life um event

146
00:09:32,280 --> 00:09:34,960
Speaker 1: that would bring people from far and wide. Just so

147
00:09:35,040 --> 00:09:38,240
Speaker 1: happened that instead of you know, animals and the circus

148
00:09:38,240 --> 00:09:43,240
Speaker 1: and acrobats, he wanted to do it with two colliding trains. Yep,

149
00:09:43,559 --> 00:09:47,960
Speaker 1: you see. Crush worked specifically for the Missouri Kansas Texas

150
00:09:48,040 --> 00:09:52,160
Speaker 1: Railroad Company. The street name for the Missouri Kansas Texas

151
00:09:52,280 --> 00:09:56,160
Speaker 1: Railroad Company is the Katie. And he said, we're gonna

152
00:09:56,280 --> 00:09:59,640
Speaker 1: portray this as a gladiatorial battle. We're gonna have to

153
00:10:00,120 --> 00:10:04,840
Speaker 1: thirty five ton locomotives that ram into each other. And

154
00:10:05,640 --> 00:10:09,120
Speaker 1: for public safety, we're not going to hold this, you know,

155
00:10:09,160 --> 00:10:12,440
Speaker 1: in a in your normal um on your normal train

156
00:10:12,480 --> 00:10:15,520
Speaker 1: tracks near town, right, We're going to hold this in

157
00:10:15,600 --> 00:10:19,440
Speaker 1: a special pop up town that we're building just for

158
00:10:19,480 --> 00:10:22,319
Speaker 1: the occasion. And in what I can only describe as

159
00:10:22,320 --> 00:10:27,360
Speaker 1: a burst of humility, Crushed decided to name the town Crush.

160
00:10:27,679 --> 00:10:30,439
Speaker 1: It came at a good point it wasn't like, um,

161
00:10:30,480 --> 00:10:34,880
Speaker 1: a dollop of swag on top of a successful financial Sunday,

162
00:10:34,920 --> 00:10:37,360
Speaker 1: because the Katie was doing okay at this time. It

163
00:10:37,440 --> 00:10:41,200
Speaker 1: had one point two million in passenger sales and three

164
00:10:41,240 --> 00:10:46,160
Speaker 1: million in revenue for freight earnings as of but it

165
00:10:46,200 --> 00:10:49,240
Speaker 1: was still kind of worried about its future. The country

166
00:10:49,320 --> 00:10:54,880
Speaker 1: was recovering from a depression in eight three and a

167
00:10:55,080 --> 00:10:59,440
Speaker 1: quarter of the country's railroad companies during that depression and

168
00:10:59,559 --> 00:11:02,960
Speaker 1: right after it had to file for bankruptcy. So so

169
00:11:03,040 --> 00:11:05,800
Speaker 1: Crush wanted to promote the Katie. Yeah, he was really

170
00:11:05,800 --> 00:11:08,800
Speaker 1: looking at this. It's it's it's it's it's the strangest logic,

171
00:11:08,920 --> 00:11:10,320
Speaker 1: But he was looking at this as a way to

172
00:11:10,400 --> 00:11:14,120
Speaker 1: promote the railway and the railway line and kind of

173
00:11:14,160 --> 00:11:20,280
Speaker 1: get people excited about train travel and freight by staging

174
00:11:20,559 --> 00:11:24,959
Speaker 1: a an epic catastrophe where he could kind of control

175
00:11:25,000 --> 00:11:28,320
Speaker 1: the variables. I guess, um, But yeah, I don't quite

176
00:11:28,400 --> 00:11:30,520
Speaker 1: understand the logic there, but you know it, it did

177
00:11:30,559 --> 00:11:35,080
Speaker 1: seem to get people's attention. Um. So you know, his

178
00:11:35,200 --> 00:11:39,240
Speaker 1: motivations are a little sketchy in my opinion. Um, but

179
00:11:39,360 --> 00:11:44,280
Speaker 1: he was able to sell the managers of the uh

180
00:11:44,480 --> 00:11:48,040
Speaker 1: the Katie um on his schemes. So all of this

181
00:11:48,200 --> 00:11:53,240
Speaker 1: preparation went into creating this pop up town at Crush

182
00:11:53,280 --> 00:11:56,679
Speaker 1: and assembling um all of the infrastructure that was needed

183
00:11:56,720 --> 00:11:59,880
Speaker 1: to do that. Uh. He found two thirty five ton

184
00:12:00,160 --> 00:12:05,079
Speaker 1: steam engines that were being decommissioned being replaced by two new,

185
00:12:05,320 --> 00:12:09,959
Speaker 1: more modern sixty ton engines and was able to uh,

186
00:12:10,200 --> 00:12:13,280
Speaker 1: you know, commandeer them to use for this uh. For

187
00:12:13,320 --> 00:12:17,600
Speaker 1: this event. He did have some consultants from the company

188
00:12:17,640 --> 00:12:21,160
Speaker 1: and engineers that he was able to kind of talk

189
00:12:21,679 --> 00:12:24,800
Speaker 1: through the logistics of making this as safe as possible.

190
00:12:25,400 --> 00:12:29,640
Speaker 1: There was the mild suggestion that this collision could cause

191
00:12:29,679 --> 00:12:33,320
Speaker 1: an explosion UM that you know, would would not go

192
00:12:33,400 --> 00:12:36,720
Speaker 1: over particularly well with people watching, but that that was

193
00:12:36,760 --> 00:12:39,120
Speaker 1: sort of tamped down and they were able to you know,

194
00:12:39,200 --> 00:12:42,800
Speaker 1: kind of move on from that absurd scenario. Literally one

195
00:12:42,960 --> 00:12:52,880
Speaker 1: guy brought that up, and everyone else was like, I

196
00:12:52,920 --> 00:12:55,920
Speaker 1: want to step back here, uh and note uh. The

197
00:12:56,000 --> 00:12:58,880
Speaker 1: thing about the motivation that I find interesting is that

198
00:12:59,080 --> 00:13:04,960
Speaker 1: even today, historians are not sure what actually motivated Crush

199
00:13:05,080 --> 00:13:08,920
Speaker 1: to take this line of marketing and spectacle, because if

200
00:13:08,960 --> 00:13:12,520
Speaker 1: you think about it, it's a lot like Delta saying Hey,

201
00:13:12,640 --> 00:13:15,920
Speaker 1: we want to get Delta in the forefront of people's minds,

202
00:13:15,920 --> 00:13:20,439
Speaker 1: so let's like wreck some planes. You know, it's counterintuitive.

203
00:13:21,320 --> 00:13:24,679
Speaker 1: This this is weird because eventually when they when they

204
00:13:24,679 --> 00:13:27,319
Speaker 1: do decide, when the one engineer is like, hey, explosions

205
00:13:27,360 --> 00:13:32,600
Speaker 1: are bad, gets shut down? What the next steps are are? Are?

206
00:13:32,640 --> 00:13:34,880
Speaker 1: You know? They're They're pretty interesting and there's a lot

207
00:13:34,920 --> 00:13:37,120
Speaker 1: of work that goes into it. I have to respect

208
00:13:37,120 --> 00:13:41,440
Speaker 1: the hustle. They paint one engine red with green trim,

209
00:13:41,679 --> 00:13:44,280
Speaker 1: and they paint the other one green with red trim,

210
00:13:44,360 --> 00:13:46,840
Speaker 1: so you've got a nice oppositional vibe. And then they

211
00:13:46,920 --> 00:13:51,080
Speaker 1: lay a line of track fifteen miles north of Waco, Texas,

212
00:13:51,559 --> 00:13:54,880
Speaker 1: which now is you know, best known for the David

213
00:13:55,080 --> 00:13:59,000
Speaker 1: Koresh massacre. And they placed it on purpose beyond this

214
00:13:59,080 --> 00:14:04,040
Speaker 1: kind of natural amphitheater of these three tall hills. Crush

215
00:14:04,440 --> 00:14:08,600
Speaker 1: drills wells. He runs pipes for spigots so they can

216
00:14:08,640 --> 00:14:11,480
Speaker 1: have water, and then they can build a lemonade stand.

217
00:14:11,600 --> 00:14:14,440
Speaker 1: He's got like a lemonade specialist guy who comes in

218
00:14:14,480 --> 00:14:17,719
Speaker 1: from Dallas to do this. They make a restaurant, they

219
00:14:17,800 --> 00:14:23,640
Speaker 1: build a wooden jail, and the main attraction is the trains,

220
00:14:23,800 --> 00:14:26,480
Speaker 1: of course, but they also want people to stay and

221
00:14:26,520 --> 00:14:28,720
Speaker 1: get the build up and really feel the vibe and

222
00:14:28,760 --> 00:14:33,320
Speaker 1: the energy. So they build a midway. Basically, they've build

223
00:14:33,360 --> 00:14:36,000
Speaker 1: a carnival row and you know what that is. That's

224
00:14:36,040 --> 00:14:39,880
Speaker 1: like the games, Right, let's throw the darts at the thing, guests,

225
00:14:39,880 --> 00:14:43,400
Speaker 1: somebody's weight. Are you strong enough to hit the bell

226
00:14:43,520 --> 00:14:46,080
Speaker 1: when you, you know, bring down the hammer. I don't

227
00:14:46,080 --> 00:14:48,360
Speaker 1: know whether they had a dunking tank, but those things,

228
00:14:48,680 --> 00:14:50,320
Speaker 1: I don't know. They always stole the show for me.

229
00:14:50,360 --> 00:14:52,840
Speaker 1: They're so intense. Do you think they had ski ball Ben,

230
00:14:52,880 --> 00:14:55,760
Speaker 1: because that's that's a really important midway future for me.

231
00:14:56,080 --> 00:14:57,560
Speaker 1: But that might be more modern. I went out, we

232
00:14:57,560 --> 00:14:59,840
Speaker 1: should do an episode in the history of carnival games

233
00:15:00,240 --> 00:15:02,000
Speaker 1: and all of that stuff, because a lot of them,

234
00:15:02,120 --> 00:15:05,200
Speaker 1: you know, I've youre notoriously rigged and it's you know,

235
00:15:05,240 --> 00:15:07,200
Speaker 1: sucker is born every minute and all that. But again,

236
00:15:07,480 --> 00:15:09,360
Speaker 1: a lot of this had to do with his friendship

237
00:15:09,360 --> 00:15:13,800
Speaker 1: with P. T. Barnum and the massive popularity of the

238
00:15:13,880 --> 00:15:17,080
Speaker 1: Midway plaisance. I think his house pronounced that took place

239
00:15:17,120 --> 00:15:23,040
Speaker 1: in the World's Fair in Chicago, and he actually borrowed

240
00:15:23,160 --> 00:15:27,200
Speaker 1: a tent um that he used to house a restaurant

241
00:15:27,640 --> 00:15:30,600
Speaker 1: and he borrowed that tent from his pal P. T. Barnum,

242
00:15:30,640 --> 00:15:33,680
Speaker 1: and they had cigar stands and you know, like a

243
00:15:33,720 --> 00:15:36,280
Speaker 1: medicine show situation, which I guess what is that, Like,

244
00:15:36,760 --> 00:15:38,400
Speaker 1: is that kind of a music thing or does that

245
00:15:38,440 --> 00:15:41,680
Speaker 1: have to do with selling fake snake oil kind of stuff.

246
00:15:41,680 --> 00:15:44,200
Speaker 1: I'm not quite sure what a medicine show is. Yeah.

247
00:15:44,280 --> 00:15:48,520
Speaker 1: Actually I did a satirical medicine show a few years back. Yeah,

248
00:15:48,600 --> 00:15:50,480
Speaker 1: it will be think of it kind of like a

249
00:15:50,560 --> 00:15:54,720
Speaker 1: variety show. So they're selling you know, the Reverend Honorable

250
00:15:54,800 --> 00:16:00,360
Speaker 1: Doctor peg Rooms, Uh, snake lubricant. Uh. Well, you know

251
00:16:00,440 --> 00:16:03,600
Speaker 1: that's based on the secrets of the Far East or

252
00:16:04,120 --> 00:16:09,080
Speaker 1: ancient Native American communities. It's it's pretty tension with racism, uh,

253
00:16:09,120 --> 00:16:11,960
Speaker 1: and and the medicine. The one rule of medicine shows

254
00:16:12,040 --> 00:16:14,920
Speaker 1: is the medicine never works, but people are mainly there

255
00:16:14,960 --> 00:16:17,960
Speaker 1: to see the you know, the pomp and circumstance. Yeah.

256
00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:20,720
Speaker 1: It reminds me of the character and the Wizard of

257
00:16:20,720 --> 00:16:22,840
Speaker 1: Oz that that ultimately is this a spoiler? Can you

258
00:16:22,880 --> 00:16:25,440
Speaker 1: spoil a movie that old that ultimately ends up being

259
00:16:25,440 --> 00:16:28,080
Speaker 1: the great and powerful as in the Oz universe part,

260
00:16:28,120 --> 00:16:30,720
Speaker 1: but he's got a traveling medicine show. Uh, and it

261
00:16:30,800 --> 00:16:33,600
Speaker 1: sort of you know, ends up portending the fact that uh,

262
00:16:34,080 --> 00:16:37,040
Speaker 1: the Great Powerful Laws is in fact a fraud. UM.

263
00:16:37,160 --> 00:16:40,000
Speaker 1: So yeah, the idea of of special tonics and the

264
00:16:40,080 --> 00:16:43,080
Speaker 1: like uh that could cure what ails you. So this

265
00:16:43,160 --> 00:16:46,280
Speaker 1: was a real happening scene UM for the time. There

266
00:16:46,360 --> 00:16:49,040
Speaker 1: was a lot of excitement around it. UM. And you know,

267
00:16:49,200 --> 00:16:52,160
Speaker 1: when I initially was reading into this, I pictured that

268
00:16:52,200 --> 00:16:54,560
Speaker 1: this would be something that we use actual railroad lines,

269
00:16:54,600 --> 00:16:56,240
Speaker 1: and that just seemed absurd to me. So it's good

270
00:16:56,240 --> 00:16:58,240
Speaker 1: to know that they at least had a method to

271
00:16:58,280 --> 00:17:02,120
Speaker 1: this madness. So on Stept number fifteen, what was dubbed

272
00:17:02,120 --> 00:17:06,560
Speaker 1: the Duel of the Iron Monsters UM kicked into full gear.

273
00:17:06,960 --> 00:17:12,880
Speaker 1: It drew spectators from all over uh nearby Texas and

274
00:17:12,880 --> 00:17:16,000
Speaker 1: and of course in Texas, and by ten in the

275
00:17:16,040 --> 00:17:20,840
Speaker 1: morning there were ten thousand people that had already shown up,

276
00:17:21,400 --> 00:17:25,200
Speaker 1: and the new spectators kept showing up every few minutes

277
00:17:25,359 --> 00:17:27,920
Speaker 1: in um in train cars. And it was a real

278
00:17:28,040 --> 00:17:36,159
Speaker 1: mix of social uh strata. You know, you had men, women, children, lawyers, doctors, merchants, farmers, artisans,

279
00:17:36,240 --> 00:17:39,760
Speaker 1: clerks representing every class and every grade of society. Um.

280
00:17:39,800 --> 00:17:43,200
Speaker 1: And this is a quote from the Galveston Daily News

281
00:17:43,240 --> 00:17:46,879
Speaker 1: of the time. Uh. And they were quote clustered around

282
00:17:46,960 --> 00:17:51,199
Speaker 1: the lunch stands, discussing with eager anticipation the exciting events

283
00:17:51,240 --> 00:17:54,840
Speaker 1: that they had come so far to see. Yeah, this,

284
00:17:54,840 --> 00:17:57,080
Speaker 1: this is amazing. So I think you said by ten

285
00:17:57,119 --> 00:18:00,320
Speaker 1: am there was a crowd of ten thousand people and

286
00:18:01,320 --> 00:18:04,360
Speaker 1: everybody who went to see this they paid the katie

287
00:18:04,520 --> 00:18:09,120
Speaker 1: two dollars to travel there by train from anywhere in Texas.

288
00:18:09,280 --> 00:18:12,239
Speaker 1: So this could be a really good deal because you know,

289
00:18:12,640 --> 00:18:16,239
Speaker 1: Texas is huge. So if we if we do the

290
00:18:16,320 --> 00:18:19,400
Speaker 1: math real quick, then we say we have forty thousand

291
00:18:19,480 --> 00:18:23,400
Speaker 1: people they're paying two bucks apiece, so that's eighty thousand dollars,

292
00:18:23,880 --> 00:18:29,399
Speaker 1: and then we adjusted for inflation. Calculation gives us, Casey

293
00:18:29,520 --> 00:18:39,680
Speaker 1: Drummer will please, two million, four hundred and fifty eight thousand,

294
00:18:39,720 --> 00:18:43,560
Speaker 1: two hundred thirty eight dollars and ten cents. So they're

295
00:18:43,600 --> 00:18:45,760
Speaker 1: they're making bank, you know what I mean, Like this

296
00:18:45,840 --> 00:18:49,160
Speaker 1: is not entirely just for the love of the art

297
00:18:49,160 --> 00:18:52,520
Speaker 1: of train Rex. There's no nobody like, uh, those characters

298
00:18:52,560 --> 00:18:55,960
Speaker 1: from that what was that old film crash, The people

299
00:18:56,000 --> 00:19:00,119
Speaker 1: who like have a predilection a bit of a bit

300
00:19:00,119 --> 00:19:02,919
Speaker 1: of a kink based on the the J. G. Ballard

301
00:19:02,960 --> 00:19:05,959
Speaker 1: novel and directed by David Cronenberg. That that one always

302
00:19:05,960 --> 00:19:10,800
Speaker 1: gave me the creeps. Casey on the case, Um, creep

303
00:19:10,840 --> 00:19:13,560
Speaker 1: me out to the JFK vibe? Was that the one

304
00:19:13,880 --> 00:19:17,080
Speaker 1: they're like recreating famous accidents or something. Yeah, I'm trying

305
00:19:17,119 --> 00:19:20,920
Speaker 1: to remember. James Dean certainly is one of them. Um,

306
00:19:20,960 --> 00:19:22,920
Speaker 1: what was it? There was an actress that was beheaded

307
00:19:22,920 --> 00:19:24,800
Speaker 1: in a car accident. I'm trying to remember who that was.

308
00:19:24,880 --> 00:19:27,560
Speaker 1: That's in there as well. Boy, Yeah, Casey on the Case,

309
00:19:27,600 --> 00:19:32,240
Speaker 1: that's a that's a wild win. So yeah, as you said, well,

310
00:19:32,359 --> 00:19:35,639
Speaker 1: they've made this an event. By there were ten thousand

311
00:19:35,680 --> 00:19:39,320
Speaker 1: people there at ten. By four pm, which was showtime,

312
00:19:39,680 --> 00:19:43,200
Speaker 1: forty thou people came. And the weird thing about this

313
00:19:43,440 --> 00:19:48,960
Speaker 1: is that population of forty eight means that for one afternoon,

314
00:19:49,520 --> 00:19:53,080
Speaker 1: this entirely made up town of Crush was the second

315
00:19:53,240 --> 00:19:56,520
Speaker 1: largest city in all of Texas. That's that's probably my

316
00:19:56,600 --> 00:19:59,920
Speaker 1: favorite fact from the Smithsonian article about this. I think

317
00:20:00,040 --> 00:20:02,640
Speaker 1: that's that's definitely up there for me. My my one

318
00:20:02,640 --> 00:20:05,320
Speaker 1: of my favorite facts from the Smithsonian article, and just

319
00:20:05,400 --> 00:20:09,399
Speaker 1: from this the day's goings on was um. When it

320
00:20:09,480 --> 00:20:13,439
Speaker 1: was time for the actual main event to take place

321
00:20:13,480 --> 00:20:18,520
Speaker 1: around four o'clock, the two trains approached each other slowly

322
00:20:19,000 --> 00:20:22,600
Speaker 1: and touched cow catchers, the little thing on the front

323
00:20:22,600 --> 00:20:24,480
Speaker 1: of the trains you also see on the front of

324
00:20:24,520 --> 00:20:30,760
Speaker 1: police cars. Um in some sort of weird anthropomorphized like handshake,

325
00:20:31,040 --> 00:20:36,160
Speaker 1: you know, uh that they were about to do battle, right, Yeah,

326
00:20:36,200 --> 00:20:38,200
Speaker 1: that's so cool. And then they and then they began

327
00:20:38,240 --> 00:20:41,639
Speaker 1: to back up, uh for the distance of one mile each.

328
00:20:42,160 --> 00:20:46,119
Speaker 1: Just after five pm, William Crush himself comes out. He comes,

329
00:20:46,240 --> 00:20:48,480
Speaker 1: he comes in riding on a horse, you know, and

330
00:20:48,520 --> 00:20:51,320
Speaker 1: he's waving his hat. And that's the signal for the

331
00:20:51,359 --> 00:20:55,280
Speaker 1: trains to start. So the engineers, the conductors, they get

332
00:20:55,320 --> 00:20:58,159
Speaker 1: the trains moving and then they do their best to

333
00:20:58,240 --> 00:21:01,200
Speaker 1: put all the gas on right. They tie down the

334
00:21:01,200 --> 00:21:05,399
Speaker 1: whistle cords, so these trains are screaming along. They like

335
00:21:05,600 --> 00:21:08,879
Speaker 1: open up the throttle all the way the equivalent of

336
00:21:09,119 --> 00:21:13,400
Speaker 1: redlining an engine, right. And then after they do this,

337
00:21:13,800 --> 00:21:18,880
Speaker 1: these guys literally jump out the vehicle because of course

338
00:21:18,880 --> 00:21:24,359
Speaker 1: they don't want to be at it. No um and gosh,

339
00:21:24,400 --> 00:21:26,159
Speaker 1: this is this the story is about to take a

340
00:21:26,160 --> 00:21:30,320
Speaker 1: bit of a dark turn. They the trains got up

341
00:21:30,320 --> 00:21:33,920
Speaker 1: to about fifty miles per hour in speed. UH. They

342
00:21:34,080 --> 00:21:37,040
Speaker 1: were rigged up with box cars, as they would be,

343
00:21:37,119 --> 00:21:40,520
Speaker 1: but they were empty uh and and made of wood UM,

344
00:21:40,760 --> 00:21:45,639
Speaker 1: and the collision was really one for the books. But

345
00:21:45,720 --> 00:21:49,320
Speaker 1: it turns out that even the two hundred yards that

346
00:21:49,440 --> 00:21:55,120
Speaker 1: separated the crowd observing from this uh hillside natural amphitheater

347
00:21:56,000 --> 00:22:01,440
Speaker 1: was not nearly enough UM to separate them from the

348
00:22:01,520 --> 00:22:05,040
Speaker 1: chaos that was about to ensue. UM. As that one

349
00:22:05,119 --> 00:22:08,280
Speaker 1: gentleman predicted he probably was doing a bit of it.

350
00:22:08,359 --> 00:22:10,679
Speaker 1: I told you so. At this point, both of the

351
00:22:10,720 --> 00:22:20,119
Speaker 1: trains boilers immediately exploded UM and flung the debris and

352
00:22:20,320 --> 00:22:25,520
Speaker 1: shrapnel from these explosions through the air like rockets. UH,

353
00:22:25,760 --> 00:22:29,480
Speaker 1: not to mention all of the splinters from the exploding

354
00:22:29,600 --> 00:22:35,920
Speaker 1: box cars UM, and it came down like a hammer

355
00:22:36,320 --> 00:22:46,880
Speaker 1: onto the assembled crowd. There were injuries and fatalities, as

356
00:22:46,960 --> 00:22:51,880
Speaker 1: reported by someone who observed the event. UH. Ten pounds

357
00:22:51,920 --> 00:22:57,880
Speaker 1: section of brake chain hit a teenager in the skull. UH.

358
00:22:57,960 --> 00:23:02,160
Speaker 1: A young girl was struck by a chunk of iron

359
00:23:02,280 --> 00:23:05,680
Speaker 1: and fractured her skull, and she died on the way home.

360
00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:10,280
Speaker 1: In an attempt for medical care, the official event photographer

361
00:23:10,440 --> 00:23:14,240
Speaker 1: took a bolt and iron bolt to the eye. However,

362
00:23:14,480 --> 00:23:18,440
Speaker 1: he did not die. Oddly enough, the reports said tell

363
00:23:18,520 --> 00:23:21,159
Speaker 1: us that he stood up and this guy's name is

364
00:23:21,240 --> 00:23:26,359
Speaker 1: Jarvis Dean. He instructed his photography team to take photos

365
00:23:27,080 --> 00:23:29,639
Speaker 1: while he was, you know, while he's digging this bolt

366
00:23:29,680 --> 00:23:32,840
Speaker 1: out of his eye. And there was a veteran there

367
00:23:32,920 --> 00:23:36,399
Speaker 1: from the Confederate War. Remember that's pretty recent at this

368
00:23:36,440 --> 00:23:40,960
Speaker 1: time in history. And this guy, you know, you imagine

369
00:23:40,960 --> 00:23:44,879
Speaker 1: that he may be experienced something like PTSD. He said.

370
00:23:44,920 --> 00:23:48,080
Speaker 1: This was more frightening to him. All the chaos and

371
00:23:48,080 --> 00:23:52,600
Speaker 1: the smoke and explosions, Uh, terrified him more than Pickett's

372
00:23:52,680 --> 00:23:57,560
Speaker 1: last charge at Gettysburg. All to say, as you can imagine,

373
00:23:58,359 --> 00:24:01,879
Speaker 1: William Crush is fired. He is beyond fired. He is

374
00:24:01,960 --> 00:24:06,320
Speaker 1: like out the door. You're lucky that we're just firing

375
00:24:06,359 --> 00:24:10,399
Speaker 1: you and not sending you to prison. But then something

376
00:24:10,520 --> 00:24:14,520
Speaker 1: strange happens because the managers at the Katie start to

377
00:24:14,560 --> 00:24:17,960
Speaker 1: realize this is getting them a lot of publicity. Yeah,

378
00:24:18,040 --> 00:24:21,840
Speaker 1: I guess there's no such thing as bad press. I

379
00:24:21,880 --> 00:24:24,720
Speaker 1: don't know. This seems like the kind of bad press.

380
00:24:24,800 --> 00:24:28,560
Speaker 1: That's just bad. But for some reason it caught on

381
00:24:28,840 --> 00:24:32,639
Speaker 1: and it it upped the profile of this railway line

382
00:24:32,680 --> 00:24:37,760
Speaker 1: in a way that that led to some some positive financials,

383
00:24:37,840 --> 00:24:41,880
Speaker 1: you know for the company, and Crush was promptly rehired

384
00:24:42,200 --> 00:24:46,440
Speaker 1: when they realized that this thing was you know, actually

385
00:24:46,880 --> 00:24:50,639
Speaker 1: a weird kind of success. Uh. They dealt with the

386
00:24:50,680 --> 00:24:54,600
Speaker 1: claims made by people who were injured. Uh, they even

387
00:24:54,640 --> 00:24:57,160
Speaker 1: paid that photographer you mentioned, Ben who got a bolt

388
00:24:57,200 --> 00:25:00,119
Speaker 1: through the eye ten thousand dollars. That's the equival out

389
00:25:00,160 --> 00:25:03,800
Speaker 1: of three thousand today. Yeah. And also um gave him

390
00:25:03,840 --> 00:25:07,119
Speaker 1: a lifetime railroad pass, which I don't know if that

391
00:25:07,200 --> 00:25:10,480
Speaker 1: was me, I would be hesitant to to ever go

392
00:25:10,600 --> 00:25:13,400
Speaker 1: near a train ever again. But we have to remember

393
00:25:13,440 --> 00:25:17,080
Speaker 1: this was, you know, the primary mode of transportation in

394
00:25:17,119 --> 00:25:20,439
Speaker 1: those days. So that's pretty pretty solid Um to be

395
00:25:20,480 --> 00:25:22,879
Speaker 1: able to, you know, ride the trains for free for

396
00:25:22,920 --> 00:25:27,119
Speaker 1: the rest of his life. He also put a hilarious

397
00:25:27,200 --> 00:25:30,600
Speaker 1: notice in the paper. He said, quote, having gotten all

398
00:25:30,600 --> 00:25:32,960
Speaker 1: the loose screws and other hardware out of my head,

399
00:25:33,240 --> 00:25:37,720
Speaker 1: I'm now ready for all photographic business, which which I

400
00:25:37,760 --> 00:25:41,800
Speaker 1: think is h He's handling it with a plum. You know,

401
00:25:41,920 --> 00:25:46,560
Speaker 1: the way that they handled this. It's callous, right, people died, Uh,

402
00:25:46,640 --> 00:25:48,320
Speaker 1: But but the way that they handled this is so

403
00:25:48,400 --> 00:25:52,280
Speaker 1: strange to me. I kept thinking over this week as

404
00:25:52,320 --> 00:25:54,439
Speaker 1: we were getting ready for this episode. I kept thinking, like,

405
00:25:54,640 --> 00:25:57,240
Speaker 1: what kind of motto would you make for that. Would

406
00:25:57,280 --> 00:26:00,320
Speaker 1: you be like the Katie, we only crash on purpose,

407
00:26:00,680 --> 00:26:03,080
Speaker 1: or would you be like the Katie train wrecks for

408
00:26:03,119 --> 00:26:06,159
Speaker 1: train wrecks, you know what I mean? Like, I'm not

409
00:26:06,200 --> 00:26:10,280
Speaker 1: sure how they pulled this off, because if this happened,

410
00:26:11,080 --> 00:26:13,000
Speaker 1: you know, in the modern day, or if this happened

411
00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:15,720
Speaker 1: with some other kind of transit company, if FedEx was

412
00:26:15,800 --> 00:26:18,760
Speaker 1: like watch us wreck these trucks and people were injured,

413
00:26:19,160 --> 00:26:22,000
Speaker 1: then it would spell the end of the company, you

414
00:26:22,040 --> 00:26:26,639
Speaker 1: know what I mean. That's like bankruptcy lawsuit territory. But

415
00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:30,800
Speaker 1: for some reason, this accident, like you said, NOL made

416
00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:35,639
Speaker 1: the Katie an overnight sensation. Uh. The historians that we

417
00:26:35,680 --> 00:26:40,320
Speaker 1: mentioned earlier said, it's just incredible. You could still stage

418
00:26:40,400 --> 00:26:43,000
Speaker 1: this in the modern day. You probably just wouldn't want

419
00:26:43,040 --> 00:26:45,280
Speaker 1: it to be sponsored by a company. You could get

420
00:26:45,320 --> 00:26:47,880
Speaker 1: to light rail trains going a hundred miles an hour

421
00:26:48,080 --> 00:26:51,639
Speaker 1: and get them to smash into each other and would

422
00:26:51,640 --> 00:26:56,440
Speaker 1: people still attend The answer is probably yes. Well let's

423
00:26:56,440 --> 00:27:00,400
Speaker 1: not forget ben too. That like automobile races is like

424
00:27:00,680 --> 00:27:06,840
Speaker 1: the lament Um there were constantly uh spectator injuries and

425
00:27:06,920 --> 00:27:09,800
Speaker 1: not to mention driver injuries because those cars were prone

426
00:27:09,840 --> 00:27:13,080
Speaker 1: to explode um because of the way they were built. Uh.

427
00:27:13,119 --> 00:27:17,720
Speaker 1: And you know, those races persisted because I think there's

428
00:27:17,800 --> 00:27:21,480
Speaker 1: something about the danger and the risk I think is

429
00:27:21,480 --> 00:27:25,240
Speaker 1: what captures people's imaginations that you know, maybe it's a

430
00:27:25,280 --> 00:27:28,159
Speaker 1: little bit um you know of kind of like a

431
00:27:28,320 --> 00:27:31,160
Speaker 1: thrill seeking situation, like yeah, you know, you can jump

432
00:27:31,200 --> 00:27:33,760
Speaker 1: out of an airplane and you might die. You probably won't,

433
00:27:34,040 --> 00:27:36,480
Speaker 1: but that little bit of risk makes it all the

434
00:27:36,560 --> 00:27:40,720
Speaker 1: more enticing to people, especially you know, the blood lusts

435
00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:44,960
Speaker 1: of kind of things like gladiator battles and even today

436
00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:47,600
Speaker 1: like monster truck rallies or like we said, demolition Derby's

437
00:27:47,600 --> 00:27:51,320
Speaker 1: where people want to see things explode and they want

438
00:27:51,320 --> 00:27:55,119
Speaker 1: to witness mass destruction. It's something ingrained in us as people.

439
00:27:55,160 --> 00:27:58,000
Speaker 1: That's a little unusual, but there it is. I think

440
00:27:58,000 --> 00:28:01,560
Speaker 1: about that too with rubber neckers. You know, for quick morbidity,

441
00:28:01,640 --> 00:28:05,680
Speaker 1: we all slowed down at accidents. Uh, you know it's

442
00:28:05,800 --> 00:28:09,840
Speaker 1: it's so it's so strange that fascination that is common

443
00:28:09,920 --> 00:28:12,200
Speaker 1: and I would dare I say universal in our species.

444
00:28:12,960 --> 00:28:15,720
Speaker 1: What happened to the Katie? You might be wondering, Well,

445
00:28:16,560 --> 00:28:22,000
Speaker 1: they earned more than ten million dollars by one They also, uh,

446
00:28:22,040 --> 00:28:27,040
Speaker 1: they also became an economic force in their territory. Uh.

447
00:28:27,240 --> 00:28:30,320
Speaker 1: You know a lot of success of smaller towns in

448
00:28:30,359 --> 00:28:34,320
Speaker 1: Texas can be traced to the Katie. And they sort of,

449
00:28:34,600 --> 00:28:37,199
Speaker 1: there's no other way to say it. They commemorated the

450
00:28:37,280 --> 00:28:41,360
Speaker 1: crash at Crush there's an historical plaque and West Texas,

451
00:28:41,440 --> 00:28:45,160
Speaker 1: which is just a few miles from the actual site,

452
00:28:45,240 --> 00:28:50,440
Speaker 1: and overall the company considered this a success. Train collisions

453
00:28:50,720 --> 00:28:55,120
Speaker 1: became like the big ticket show for state fairs across

454
00:28:55,320 --> 00:28:59,000
Speaker 1: the country. People were writing songs about these staged crashes.

455
00:29:00,040 --> 00:29:03,320
Speaker 1: I know what you're thinking, folks, how can I visit Crushed,

456
00:29:03,360 --> 00:29:07,640
Speaker 1: Texas today? Well you can't. It really was a pop

457
00:29:07,720 --> 00:29:10,200
Speaker 1: up town. You can visit. Wait, I think you can

458
00:29:10,320 --> 00:29:12,560
Speaker 1: visit where it used to be, right, yeah, I think

459
00:29:12,680 --> 00:29:16,479
Speaker 1: there's a marker that memorializes, you know, where the actual

460
00:29:16,520 --> 00:29:19,080
Speaker 1: event took place, So you could consider that as visiting

461
00:29:19,120 --> 00:29:21,239
Speaker 1: Crush but you know, in terms of it being like

462
00:29:21,360 --> 00:29:25,200
Speaker 1: a unincorporated town, it does not exist anymore, but that

463
00:29:25,280 --> 00:29:28,960
Speaker 1: area is still available, um to check out in West

464
00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:31,160
Speaker 1: Texas where you can take a look at that marker.

465
00:29:31,640 --> 00:29:34,640
Speaker 1: But you know, like like most things that seem sort

466
00:29:34,640 --> 00:29:40,880
Speaker 1: of absurd, Like we've talked about the pastime of competitive walking, Uh,

467
00:29:40,920 --> 00:29:44,280
Speaker 1: you know this this one waned as well. Um. And

468
00:29:44,480 --> 00:29:48,160
Speaker 1: you know, by the early thirties, when trains had become

469
00:29:48,200 --> 00:29:50,080
Speaker 1: a little more old had I think there was also

470
00:29:50,160 --> 00:29:53,200
Speaker 1: like a fascination with them as technology. H and just

471
00:29:53,280 --> 00:29:56,680
Speaker 1: the you know, the the power and majesty of these

472
00:29:56,720 --> 00:29:59,600
Speaker 1: iron giants. You know, it became a little bit less

473
00:29:59,640 --> 00:30:02,080
Speaker 1: remark coball, and I think people moved on to other

474
00:30:02,200 --> 00:30:07,480
Speaker 1: forms of destructive entertainment like boxing, sure, yeah, boxing, Uh,

475
00:30:07,600 --> 00:30:13,920
Speaker 1: competitive eating contest uh, you know, demolition Derby's of course. Uh.

476
00:30:14,360 --> 00:30:18,680
Speaker 1: Just a few years ago I traveled to our to

477
00:30:18,760 --> 00:30:22,760
Speaker 1: our Atlanta Motor Speedway to watch someone redo all the

478
00:30:22,840 --> 00:30:25,760
Speaker 1: stunts of cannonball run. They actually did it. You know,

479
00:30:25,880 --> 00:30:29,560
Speaker 1: they threw the cars in the air, they did car chases, uh.

480
00:30:29,600 --> 00:30:32,320
Speaker 1: And they had a big crowd because this sort of

481
00:30:32,320 --> 00:30:36,600
Speaker 1: stuff fascinates us. Wait, wasn't Burt Reynolds actually in attendance

482
00:30:36,600 --> 00:30:40,360
Speaker 1: at that event? Ben, Yeah, Yeah, I saw Burt Reynolds there. Um,

483
00:30:40,400 --> 00:30:44,760
Speaker 1: this was toward the end of his of his days.

484
00:30:45,480 --> 00:30:47,800
Speaker 1: But he was a really he was actually really humble,

485
00:30:47,920 --> 00:30:52,040
Speaker 1: nice guy like he stayed and insisted on signing autographs

486
00:30:52,080 --> 00:30:55,520
Speaker 1: for everyone. And I gotta admit, you know, uh, he

487
00:30:55,560 --> 00:30:58,600
Speaker 1: looked great. He looks great for his age, his eyebrows

488
00:30:58,760 --> 00:31:03,280
Speaker 1: on point. So hats off to you, Bert. This is

489
00:31:03,320 --> 00:31:07,880
Speaker 1: where we draw the wild train of ridiculous history to

490
00:31:08,240 --> 00:31:12,720
Speaker 1: a stop for today. We hope that you enjoyed this episode.

491
00:31:12,920 --> 00:31:15,840
Speaker 1: We hope that you, if you are in marketing or

492
00:31:15,920 --> 00:31:22,000
Speaker 1: pr don't decide to recreationally wrecked trains for the benefit

493
00:31:22,200 --> 00:31:26,280
Speaker 1: of the public or the entertainment thereof. But we would

494
00:31:26,280 --> 00:31:29,280
Speaker 1: also love to hear your stories of some of the

495
00:31:29,400 --> 00:31:33,600
Speaker 1: weirdest publicity stunts of all time. It can be small

496
00:31:33,640 --> 00:31:38,120
Speaker 1: stuff like how Salvador Dolly gained some local notoriety by

497
00:31:38,320 --> 00:31:41,720
Speaker 1: routinely jumping out of his window and falling into bushes.

498
00:31:42,120 --> 00:31:44,520
Speaker 1: That's how he that's part of how he became known.

499
00:31:44,880 --> 00:31:47,960
Speaker 1: By the way, is that weird? That is weird? It

500
00:31:47,960 --> 00:31:50,480
Speaker 1: could It could also be a big thing like this

501
00:31:50,800 --> 00:31:53,959
Speaker 1: recreational train wreck, or just any old thing that catches

502
00:31:54,000 --> 00:31:55,560
Speaker 1: your eye, we'd love to hear about it. You can

503
00:31:55,560 --> 00:31:57,480
Speaker 1: find us on Instagram, you can find us on Facebook,

504
00:31:57,520 --> 00:31:59,560
Speaker 1: you can find us on Twitter. Yeah, and you can

505
00:31:59,560 --> 00:32:01,800
Speaker 1: also find this as individuals. I am at how Now

506
00:32:01,840 --> 00:32:05,760
Speaker 1: Noel Brown on Instagram exclusively, and I am at Ben

507
00:32:05,880 --> 00:32:09,920
Speaker 1: Bolan on Instagram. You can see my adventures as I

508
00:32:09,960 --> 00:32:13,360
Speaker 1: struggle with the decision whether or not to keep this

509
00:32:13,480 --> 00:32:16,120
Speaker 1: quarantine beard and go full the Old Testament. You can

510
00:32:16,160 --> 00:32:20,480
Speaker 1: also find me on Twitter at Ben Bullen h s W.

511
00:32:21,280 --> 00:32:25,360
Speaker 1: Thanks as always to our super producer Casey Pegram, who

512
00:32:25,680 --> 00:32:27,880
Speaker 1: I don't know if we mentioned this on air, but

513
00:32:27,920 --> 00:32:30,720
Speaker 1: you've got some great lighting going on today, Casey, Oh,

514
00:32:30,760 --> 00:32:33,000
Speaker 1: thank you, Ben. It's the natural light coming in through

515
00:32:33,000 --> 00:32:35,080
Speaker 1: the window. Can't go wrong. Well, I'll tell you. It's

516
00:32:35,120 --> 00:32:38,680
Speaker 1: framing your background. What is that? What's what's that French

517
00:32:39,160 --> 00:32:41,720
Speaker 1: locale right there that you've seen? Yeah, that is the

518
00:32:42,120 --> 00:32:46,120
Speaker 1: politoguts in Paris and the sin Well, the way you're lit,

519
00:32:46,240 --> 00:32:49,160
Speaker 1: it almost looked like you're really there, Casey. And thanks

520
00:32:49,160 --> 00:32:52,320
Speaker 1: as always, of course to uh the quister who is

521
00:32:52,400 --> 00:32:57,200
Speaker 1: overdue for return appearance, as is our research associate, Extraordinary

522
00:32:57,240 --> 00:33:00,640
Speaker 1: Gay Blusier, who we would love to have on very soon.

523
00:33:00,640 --> 00:33:03,240
Speaker 1: We're gonna make that happen, um, and I do believe

524
00:33:03,280 --> 00:33:06,640
Speaker 1: we will. Thanks to Christopher aciotis here in spirit, Eve's

525
00:33:06,720 --> 00:33:10,760
Speaker 1: Jeff Coates, who else you Ben, Thanks to you as

526
00:33:10,800 --> 00:33:14,160
Speaker 1: always for being my train buddy on on this here

527
00:33:14,200 --> 00:33:19,280
Speaker 1: episode all right, and thanks to you as well, nol Um.

528
00:33:19,640 --> 00:33:21,560
Speaker 1: I don't know what the caboose for this show is.

529
00:33:21,600 --> 00:33:24,240
Speaker 1: I guess it's our ultra music. Let's see you next time, folks.

530
00:33:31,920 --> 00:33:34,000
Speaker 1: For more podcasts for my Heart Radio, visit the I

531
00:33:34,040 --> 00:33:36,960
Speaker 1: Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to

532
00:33:37,000 --> 00:33:37,920
Speaker 1: your favorite shows,