Futility Closet

Australia's Westfield ultramarathon had a surprise entrant in 1983: A 61-year-old potato farmer named Cliff Young joined a field of elite professional runners for the 500-mile race from Sydney to Melbourne. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll describe Young's fortunes in the race and the heart, tenacity, and humor that endeared him to a nation. We'll also learn the difference between no and nay and puzzle over a Japanese baby shortage. Intro: Thomas Wedders exhibited his 7.5-inch nose throughout Yorkshire in the 1770s. Two meteorologists played ping-pong on a solid block of snow atop Scotland's Ben Nevis in 1902. Sources for our feature on Cliff Young: Julietta Jameson, Cliffy: The Cliff Young Story, 2013. Phil Essam, ed., I've Finally Found My Hero, 2016. Matthew Ricketson, "Cliff's Not Finished Yet," The Age, Nov. 29, 1983. J. Freeman, "Cliff Calls It a Day," Telegraph, April 17, 1985. Greg Truman, "A Long-Running Favorite Draws to an End," The Advertiser, May 5, 1986. Louise Evans, "Cliff, the Battler's Hero, Refuses to Shuffle Off Into the Sunset," Sydney Morning Herald, June 4, 1988. R. Reed, "Westfield Highway Closed to Cliff: Old Shuffler 'Saved' From Himself," Sunday Herald, March 11, 1990. G. Legg, "Cliff, 70, Has Enough Puff for 170km," Courier-Mail, May 23, 1992. Derek Ballantine, "For Cliff, a Long Road to Nowhere," The Advertiser, April 10, 1993. Alan Rider, "'Where's Cliffy?': In Hobart Run-Walk!," Hobart Mercury, April 20, 1993. Tony Baker, "An Epic of Eccentricity," Hobart Mercury, April 25, 1997. "End of the Road for Cliff," Sydney Morning Herald, Nov. 3, 2003. Graeme Leech, "Shy Runner Shuffled Into a Nation's Heart," The Australian, Nov. 7, 2003. Charles Happell, "A Gumbooted Forrest Gump, Cliff Young Ran His Own Race," The Australian, March 23, 2013. "Running Legend's Cup Will Return to District," Colac Herald, April 17, 2015. Here's Neil Kearney's 1983 documentary Cliffy, made shortly after Young's victory and showing his trademark shuffling gait: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R276S1KMgQ0 Listener mail: "Frenemies — Churchill’s Planned 1945 Surprise Attack on the Soviets," Military History Now, Oct. 15, 2012. Wikipedia, "Operational Unthinkable" (accessed Nov. 18, 2016). Historical Board Gaming: Operation Unthinkable Custom Map & Rules. BoardGameGeek: Castle Itter. Digital Capricorn Studios: Castle Itter. National Public Radio, "No, Yes, Definitely: On the Rise of 'No, Totally' as Linguistic Quirk," Morning Edition, April 12, 2015. Kathryn Schulz, "What Part of 'No, Totally' Don't You Understand?", New Yorker, April 7, 2015. This week's lateral thinking puzzle was contributed by listener Jon Sweitzer-Lamme, who sent this corroborating link (warning: this spoils the puzzle). You can listen using the player above, download this episode directly, or subscribe on iTunes or Google Play Music or via the RSS feed at http://feedpress.me/futilitycloset. Please consider becoming a patron of Futility Closet -- on our Patreon page you can pledge any amount per episode, and we've set up some rewards to help thank you for your support. You can also make a one-time donation on the Support Us page of the Futility Closet website. Many thanks to Doug Ross for the music in this episode. If you have any questions or comments you can reach us at podcast@futilitycloset.com. Thanks for listening!

In 1912, bookseller Wilfrid Voynich discovered an illustrated manuscript that was written in a mysterious alphabet that had never been seen before. The text bears the hallmarks of natural language, but no one has ever been able to determine its meaning. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll learn about the Voynich manuscript, which has been bewildering scholars for more than a century. We'll also ponder some parliamentary hostages and puzzle over a tormenting acquisition. Intro: In 1851, George Merryweather invented the Tempest Prognosticator, a rack of bottled leeches who would ring a bell when a storm approached. Between 1884 and 1896, visitors to Coney Island could stay in a 31-room hotel shaped like an elephant. Sources for our feature on the Voynich manuscript: Gerry Kennedy and Rob Churchill, The Voynich Manuscript, 2004. "Voynich Manuscript," Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University. Klaus Schmeh, "The Voynich Manuscript: The Book Nobody Can Read," Skeptical Inquirer 35:1 (January/February 2011). Diego R. Amancio et al., "Probing the Statistical Properties of Unknown Texts: Application to the Voynich Manuscript," PLoS One, July 2, 2013. Andreas Schinner, "The Voynich Manuscript: Evidence of the Hoax Hypothesis," Cryptologia 31:2 (March 2007). Marcelo A. Montemurro and Damián H. Zanette, "Keywords and Co-Occurrence Patterns in the Voynich Manuscript: An Information-Theoretic Analysis," PLoS One, June 21, 2013. Bec Crew, "Researcher Finds Evidence That the 'World's Most Mysterious Book' Is an Elaborate Hoax," Science Alert, Sept. 23, 2016. Melissa Hogenboom, "Mysterious Voynich Manuscript Has 'Genuine Message'," BBC News, June 22, 2013. Reed Johnson, "The Unread: The Mystery of the Voynich Manuscript," New Yorker, July 9, 2013. Rich McCormick, "Decrypting the Most Mysterious Book in the World," The Verge, Feb. 28, 2014. Wikipedia has scans of the entire manuscript, sortable by page, folio, or topic. Listener mail: Wikipedia, "Hostage MP" (accessed Nov. 12, 2016). Wikipedia, "State Opening of Parliament" (accessed Nov. 12, 2016). Matt Field, "Queen's Speech: Your Guide to All the Parliamentary Pomp and Pageantry," Guardian, May 27, 2015. "Intertwined Love Story: Twins Who Married Twins," Morning Edition, National Public Radio, May 28, 2010. "Identical Twins Marry, Give Birth to Identical Twins," Telegraph, July 22, 2008. Danielle Centoni, "The Secret Life of Pears (in Brandy)," Oregon Live, September 2011. This week's lateral thinking puzzle was contributed by listener Jake Koethler. You can listen using the player above, download this episode directly, or subscribe on iTunes or Google Play Music or via the RSS feed at http://feedpress.me/futilitycloset. Please consider becoming a patron of Futility Closet -- on our Patreon page you can pledge any amount per episode, and we've set up some rewards to help thank you for your support. You can also make a one-time donation on the Support Us page of the Futility Closet website. Many thanks to Doug Ross for the music in this episode. If you have any questions or comments you can reach us at podcast@futilitycloset.com. Thanks for listening!

The closing days of World War II witnessed a bizarre battle with some unlikely allies: American and German soldiers joined forces to rescue a group of French prisoners from a medieval castle in the Austrian Alps. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll follow the Battle for Castle Itter, the only time that Allies and Germans fought together in the war. We'll also dodge another raft of aerial bombs and puzzle over a bottled pear. Intro: In 1917, Royal Flying Corps trainee Graham Donald fell out of his plane at the top of a loop. In 1750, the 1st Earl of Hardwicke installed an artificial ruin near his country house, Wimpole Hall. Sources for our feature on the Battle for Castle Itter: Stephen Harding, The Last Battle, 2013. Stephen Harding, "The Battle for Castle Itter," World War II 23:3 (August/September 2008), 38-45. George Hodge, "The Last Battle: When U.S. and German Soldiers Joined Forces in the Waning Hours of World War II in Europe," Military Review 94:4 (July/August 2014), 100. John G. Mayer, "12th Men Free French Big-Wigs," 12th Armored Division Hellcat News, May 26, 1945. Andrew Roberts, "World War II's Strangest Battle: When Americans and Germans Fought Together," Daily Beast, May 12, 2013. Bethany Bell, "The Austrian Castle Where Nazis Lost to German-US Force," BBC News, May 7, 2015. Listener mail: Roadside America, "Omaha, Nebraska: Plaque: Japanese Balloon Bomb Exploded Here." "B-52 Accidentally Bombs Kansas Lake," Aero News Network, Dec. 16, 2006. Bill Kaczor, "Bombs Rained on Florida Family in 1944," Los Angeles Times, Aug. 14, 1994. Wikipedia, "MOVE: 1985 bombing" (accessed Nov. 4, 2016). Wikipedia, "Pavlovsk Experimental Station" (accessed Nov. 4, 2016). Ian Crofton, A Curious History of Food and Drink, 2014. Wikipedia, "1958 Tybee Island Mid-Air Collision" (accessed Nov. 4, 2016). This week's lateral thinking puzzles were adapted from the Soviet popular science magazine Kvant and the 2000 book Lateral Mindtrap Puzzles and contributed by listener Steve Scheuermann. We refer to this image in the second puzzle: You can listen using the player above, download this episode directly, or subscribe on iTunes or Google Play Music or via the RSS feed at http://feedpress.me/futilitycloset. Please consider becoming a patron of Futility Closet -- on our Patreon page you can pledge any amount per episode, and we've set up some rewards to help thank you for your support. You can also make a one-time donation on the Support Us page of the Futility Closet website. Many thanks to Doug Ross for the music in this episode. If you have any questions or comments you can reach us at podcast@futilitycloset.com. Thanks for listening!

In 1896 two New Jersey clam diggers made a bold bid for fame: They set out to cross the North Atlantic in a rowboat, a feat that had never been accomplished before. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll follow the adventure of George Harbo and Frank Samuelsen, which one newspaper called "the most remarkable event in the way of ocean navigation that ever transpired." We'll also meet some military mammals and puzzle over a thwarted burglar. Intro: The score for Telemann's Gulliver Suite includes "Lilliputian" and "Brobdingnagian" note values. In 1964 Zambia announced a rather low-tech space program. Sources for our feature on Harbo and Samuelsen: David W. Shaw, Daring the Sea, 1998. William Longyard, A Speck on the Sea, 2003. David W. Shaw, "A Fool's Errand, but a Nautical Landmark," Scandinavian Review 102:1 (Spring 2015), 46-60. "To Row Across the Atlantic," New York World, Feb. 13, 1896, 16. "To Cross Ocean in Rowboat," New York Herald, June 6, 1896, 7. The log of the Fox. "Over the Sea With Oars," New York World, Aug. 2, 1896, 10. "The Fox Arrives at Havre," Daily Telegraph, Aug 7, 1896. "They Rowed to Havre," National Police Gazette, Aug. 22, 1896. "The Following Is Worth Reading," National Police Gazette, Sept. 12, 1896. "Harbo and Samuelson and the Tiny Boat in Which They Rowed Across the Atlantic," New York Herald, March 21, 1897, 2. Andy Philpott and Geoff Leyland, "Rowing to Barbados," OR/MS Today, April 2006. Thao Hua, "Manager Backs Atlantic Crossing," Pensions & Investments 36:12 (June 9, 2008), 8. BBC News, "Artemis Rowing Crew Smashes Transatlantic Record," July 31, 2010. Listener mail: Yuko, Cher Ami, 2016. Leah Tams, "How Did Animals (Even Slugs) Serve in World War I?", National Museum of American History, Nov. 14, 2014. Jessica Talarico, "15 Animals That Went to War," Imperial War Museums (accessed Oct. 22, 2016). History.com, "War Animals From Horses to Glowworms: 7 Incredible Facts," Dec. 22, 2011. Nick Tarver, "World War One: The Circus Animals That Helped Britain," BBC News, Nov. 11, 2013. U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program (accessed Oct. 22, 2016). Mark Strauss, "These Are the Brave and Fluffy Cats Who Served in World War I," io9, Aug. 22, 2014. This week's lateral thinking puzzle was contributed by listener Tommy Honton, who sent this corroborating link (warning -- this spoils the puzzle). You can listen using the player above, download this episode directly, or subscribe on iTunes or Google Play Music or via the RSS feed at http://feedpress.me/futilitycloset. Please consider becoming a patron of Futility Closet -- on our Patreon page you can pledge any amount per episode, and we've set up some rewards to help thank you for your support. You can also make a one-time donation on the Support Us page of the Futility Closet website. Many thanks to Doug Ross for the music in this episode. If you have any questions or comments you can reach us at podcast@futilitycloset.com. Thanks for listening!

In 1943, fed up with modernist poetry, two Australian servicemen invented a fake poet and submitted a collection of deliberately senseless verses to a Melbourne arts magazine. To their delight, they were accepted and their author hailed as "one of the most remarkable and important poetic figures of this country." In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll tell the story of the Ern Malley hoax, its perpetrators, and its surprising legacy in Australian literature. We'll also hear a mechanized Radiohead and puzzle over a railroad standstill. Intro: In 1896 an English statistician decided that "brass instruments have a fatal influence on the growth of the hair." The Lincoln Electric Company presented a check made of steel to each winner of a 1932 essay contest. Sources for our feature on Ern Malley: Michael Heyward, The Ern Malley Affair, 1993. Brian Lloyd, "Ern Malley and His Rivals," Australian Literary Studies 20:1 (May 2001) 20. Philip Mead, "1944, Melbourne and Adelaide: The Ern Malley Hoax," in Brian McHale and Randall Stevenson, eds., The Edinburgh Companion to Twentieth-Century Literatures in English, 2006. The Ern Malley website contains the complete story and poems. In June 2002 Jacket Magazine ran a special "hoax" issue, with much background and commentary on the Malley story. Listener mail: Radiohead's "Nude" played by a Sinclair ZX Spectrum, an Epson LX-81 dot matrix printer, an HP Scanjet 3c, and an array of hard drives. Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now" via Super Mario World. "Logická Hádanka" by Horkýže Slíže -- a Slovak punk band sings a lateral thinking puzzle (translation and solution in video description). Guy Clifton and Emerson Marcus, "A Tale of the '70s: When D.B. Cooper's Plane Landed in Reno," Reno Gazette-Journal, July 13, 2016. Ralph P. Himmelsbach and Thomas K. Worcester, Norjak: The Investigation of D.B. Cooper, 1986. This week's lateral thinking puzzle was devised by Greg, who collected these corroborating links (warning -- these spoil the puzzle). You can listen using the player above, download this episode directly, or subscribe on iTunes or Google Play Music or via the RSS feed at

When William Harrison disappeared from Campden, England, in 1660, his servant offered an incredible explanation: that he and his family had murdered him. The events that followed only proved the situation to be even more bizarre. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll describe "the Campden wonder," an enigma that has eluded explanation for more than 300 years. We'll also consider Vladimir Putin's dog and puzzle over a little girl's benefactor. Intro: In 1921, Pennsylvania surgeon Evan O'Neill Kane removed his own appendix. (Soviet physician Leonid Rogozov did the same 40 years later.) John Cowper Powys once promised to visit Theodore Dreiser "as a spirit or in some other astral form" -- and, according to Dreiser, did so. Sources for our feature on the Campden Wonder: Sir George Clark, ed., The Campden Wonder, 1959. "The Campden Wonder," Arminian Magazine, August 1787, 434. "Judicial Puzzles -- The Campden Wonder," Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, July 1860, 54-64. Andrew Lang, Historical Mysteries, 1904. J.A. Cannon, "Campden Wonder," in The Oxford Companion to British History, 2015. Bruce P. Smith, "The History of Wrongful Execution," Hastings Law Journal, June 2005. Frances E. Chapman, "Coerced Internalized False Confessions and Police Interrogations: The Power of Coercion," Law & Psychology Review 37 (2013), 159. Listener mail: Tim Hume, "Vladimir Putin: I Didn't Mean to Scare Angela Merkel With My Dog," CNN, Jan. 12, 2016. Roland Oliphant, "Vladimir Putin Denies Setting His Dog on Angela Merkel," Telegraph, Jan. 12, 2016. Stefan Kornelius, "Six Things You Didn't Know About Angela Merkel," Guardian, Sept. 10, 2013. Wikipedia, "Spall" (retrieved Oct. 7, 2016). Associated Press, "Boise City to Celebrate 1943 Bombing Misguided B-17 Crew Sought," Nov. 21, 1990. Owlcation, "The WWII Bombing of Boise City in Oklahoma," May 9, 2016. "World War II Air Force Bombers Blast Boise City," Boise City News, July 5, 1943. "County Gets Second Air Bombardment," Boise City News, April 5, 1945. Antony Beevor, D-Day, 2009. This week's lateral thinking puzzle is from Paul Sloane and Des MacHale's 2014 book Remarkable Lateral Thinking Puzzles. You can listen using the player above, download this episode directly, or subscribe on iTunes or Google Play Music or via the RSS feed at http://feedpress.me/futilitycloset. Please consider becoming a patron of Futility Closet -- on our Patreon page you can pledge any amount per episode, and we've set up some rewards to help thank you for your support. You can also make a one-time donation on the Support Us page of the Futility Closet website. Many thanks to Doug Ross for the music in this episode. If you have any questions or comments you can reach us at podcast@futilitycloset.com. Thanks for listening!  

In 1971 a mysterious man hijacked an airliner in Portland, Oregon, demanding $200,000 and four parachutes. He bailed out somewhere over southwestern Washington and has never been seen again. In today's show we'll tell the story of D.B. Cooper, the only unsolved hijacking in American history. We'll also hear some musical disk drives and puzzle over a bicyclist's narrow escape. Intro: In 1973, Swedish mathematician Per Enflo won a goose for solving a problem posed 37 years earlier. Established in 1945 by a sympathetic actor, the Conrad Cantzen Shoe Fund will reimburse working artists $40 toward a pair of shoes. Sources for our feature on D.B. Cooper: Ralph P. Himmelsbach and Thomas K. Worcester, Norjak: The Investigation of D.B. Cooper, 1986. Kay Melchisedech Olson, The D.B. Cooper Hijacking, 2011. Associated Press, "First D.B. Cooper Clue Discovered," Jan. 18, 1979. Associated Press, "Clue to D.B. Cooper's Fate Found by a Washington Family on Picnic," Feb. 13, 1980. Farida Fawzy, "D.B. Cooper: FBI Closes the Books 45 Years After Skyjacking Mystery," CNN, July 14, 2016. Christine Hauser, "Where Is D.B. Cooper? F.B.I. Ends 45-Year Hunt," New York Times, July 13, 2016. FBI, "D.B. Cooper Hijacking" (retrieved Sept. 18, 2016). FBI, "Update on Investigation of 1971 Hijacking by D.B. Cooper" (retrieved Sept. 18, 2016). David A. Graham and Juleyka Lantigua-Williams, "D.B. Cooper's Final Escape," Atlantic, July 12, 2016. Peter Holley, "The D.B. Cooper Case Has Baffled the FBI for 45 Years. Now It May Never Be Solved," Washington Post, July 12, 2016. Listener mail: Listener Mike Burns sent these photos from the Museum of World War II in Natick, Mass.: A coal torpedo with instructions. Playing cards concealing maps. A baby carriage rigged by the French Resistance to conceal sabotage equipment and a radio. Brian Dewan's song "The Cowboy Outlaw," about Elmer McCurdy. MrSolidSnake745's Musical Floppy Drives on Facebook. Star Wars' "Imperial March" on eight floppy drives. "In the Hall of the Mountain King," from Grieg's Peer Gynt, by Sammy1Am. This week's lateral thinking puzzle was contributed by listener Philip Ogren. You can listen using the player above, download this episode directly, or subscribe on iTunes or Google Play Music or via the RSS feed at http://feedpress.me/futilitycloset. Please consider becoming a patron of Futility Closet -- on our Patreon page you can pledge any amount per episode, and we've set up some rewards to help thank you for your support. You can also make a one-time donation on the Support Us page of the Futility Closet website. Many thanks to Doug Ross for the music in this episode. If you have any questions or comments you can reach us at podcast@futilitycloset.com. Thanks for listening!

  In 1924 a curious network of catacombs was discovered in Washington D.C. They were traced to Harrison Dyar, a Smithsonian entomologist who had been industriously digging tunnels in the city for almost two decades. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll describe Dyar's strange hobby -- and the equally bizarre affairs in his personal life. We'll also revisit balloons in World War II and puzzle over a thief's change of heart. Intro: The melody of Peter Cornelius' 1854 composition "Ein Ton" is a single repeated note. Japanese puzzle maven Nob Yoshigahara devised this optical illusion. Sources for our feature on Harrison Dyar: Marc E. Epstein, Moths, Myths, and Mosquitoes, 2016. Marc E. Epstein and Pamela M. Henson, "Digging for Dyar: The Man Behind the Myth," American Entomologist 38:3 (July 1, 1992), 148-169. Ryan P. Smith, "The Bizarre Tale of the Tunnels, Trysts and Taxa of a Smithsonian Entomologist," Smithsonian, May 13, 2016. John Kelly, "Who Was Harrison G. Dyar?", Washington Post, Oct. 27, 2012. John Kelly, "Inside the Tunnels of Washington's Mole Man, Harrison G. Dyar," Washington Post, Nov. 3, 2012. John Kelly, "A Final Look at D.C.'s Tunnel-Digging Bug Man," Washington Post, Nov. 7, 2012. Associated Press, "Secret Tunnels Shrouded in Mystery," Oct. 21, 1992. United Press, "Scientist Admits He Dug Tunnels That Caused Furore," Sept. 28, 1924. Modern Mechanics published this diagram of Dyar's B Street catacomb in its August 1932 issue. The inset photo at top left corresponds to the 32-foot shaft at right, which was lined in concrete and fitted with iron pipes to serve as ladder rungs. Two more shafts (partially obscured) can be seen to the left. The inset photo at bottom shows the inscription H.G. DYAR FEB 14 1923 on an archway near the cellar entrance. That date was Dyar's 57th birthday. Listener mail: David Hambling, "How 100,000 Weather Balloons Became Britain's Secret Weapon," Guardian, Sept. 15, 2016. Wikipedia, "Operation Outward" (accessed Sept. 24, 2016). Wanderlust has a short video about the operation. This week's lateral thinking puzzle was devised by Sharon, who offers these corroborating links (warning -- these spoil the puzzle). You can listen using the player above, download this episode directly, or subscribe on iTunes or Google Play Music or via the RSS feed at http://feedpress.me/futilitycloset. Please consider becoming a patron of Futility Closet -- on our Patreon page you can pledge any amount per episode, and we've set up some rewards to help thank you for your support. You can also make a one-time donation on the Support Us page of the Futility Closet website. Many thanks to Doug Ross for the music in this episode. If you have any questions or comments you can reach us at podcast@futilitycloset.com. Thanks for listening!

During World War II a Polish transport company picked up an unusual mascot: a Syrian brown bear that grew to 500 pounds and traveled with his human friends through the Middle East and Europe. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll meet Wojtek, the "happy warrior," and follow his adventures during and after the war. We'll also catch up with a Russian recluse and puzzle over a murderous daughter. Intro: In 1956, U.S. Navy pilot Tom Attridge overtook his cannon rounds and shot down his own plane. At Petersburg, Va., during the American Civil War, a Union and a Confederate bullet met in midair. Sources for our feature on Wojtek the shell-toting bruin: Aileen Orr, Wojtek the Bear, 2012. Karen Jensen, "Private Wojtek, Reporting for Duty," World War II 27:3 (September-October 2012), 54. The Wojtek Memorial Trust raised £250,000 to build Wojtek's memorial statue in Edinburgh. "Scottish District News," Glasgow Herald, Nov. 21, 1947. "Smarter Than the Average Bear ... by Far," Edinburgh News, March 28, 2007. David Sapsted, "Private Wojtek the 'Hero Bear' to be Honoured in Edinburgh," Abu Dhabi National, Jan. 7, 2012. David McCann, "Soldier Bear Wojtek to Be Given Statue in Edinburgh," Berwickshire Advertiser, Dec. 28, 2012. "Krakow Votes for WWII Soldier Bear Statue," Radio Poland, April 26, 2013. David McCann, "Prince Street Gardens Statue of Polish Army Bear," Scotsman, May 29, 2013. Alistair Grant, "Polish War Hero Bear Wojtek to Appear on Bus," Edinburgh Evening News, Nov. 11, 2014. Wojtek's unit, the 22nd Artillery Support Company of the 2nd Polish Corps, adopted this design as its emblem. In Wojtek the Bear, Aileen Orr writes, "It was very much 22nd Company's trademark; the bear logo even appeared on regimental equipment. Within weeks of its being created and approved, shortly after the Battle of Monte Cassino, the Wojtek military logo was everywhere. The bear had pretty much become a legend in his own not inconsiderable lunchtime as curious Allied soldiers from other regiments inquired about the badge's significance." Listener mail: Some recent photos of Agafia Lykov can be seen on this Facebook page. This week's lateral thinking puzzle was composed by Greg, who gathered these corroborating links (warning -- these spoil the puzzle). You can listen using the player above, download this episode directly, or subscribe on iTunes or Google Play Music or via the RSS feed at http://feedpress.me/futilitycloset. Please consider becoming a patron of Futility Closet -- on our Patreon page you can pledge any amount per episode, and we've set up some rewards to help thank you for your support. You can also make a one-time donation on the Support Us page of the Futility Closet website. Many thanks to Doug Ross for the music in this episode. If you have any questions or comments you can reach us at podcast@futilitycloset.com. Thanks for listening!

  During the siege of Leningrad in World War II, a heroic group of Russian botanists fought cold, hunger, and German attacks to keep alive a storehouse of crops that held the future of Soviet agriculture. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll tell the story of the Vavilov Institute, whose scientists literally starved to death protecting tons of treasured food. We'll also follow a wayward sailor and puzzle over how to improve the safety of tanks. Intro: Tippi Hedren, star of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, shared her home with a 400-pound lion. In 2009, a California consumer sued PepsiCo for implying that crunchberries are a fruit. Sources for our feature on Nikolai Vavilov: S.M. Alexanyan and V.I. Krivchenko, "Vavilov Institute Scientists Heroically Preserve World Plant Genetic Resources Collections During World War II Siege of Leningrad," Diversity 7:4 (1991), 10-13. James F. Crow, “N. I. Vavilov, Martyr to Genetic Truth,” Genetics 134:4 (May 1993). Olga Elina, Susanne Heim, and Nils Roll-Hansen, "Plant Breeding on the Front: Imperialism, War, and Exploitation," Osiris 20 (2005), 161-179. Peter Pringle, The Murder of Nikolai Vavilov, 2008. Boyce Rensberger, "Soviet Botanists Starved, Saving Seeds for Future," Washington Post, May 12, 1992. Michael Woods, “Soviet Union's Fall Threatens 'Gene Bank' for Food Crops,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 26, 1993. Joel I. Cohen and Igor G. Loskutov, “Exploring the Nature of Science Through Courage and Purpose,” SpringerPlus 5:1159 (2016). Listener mail: Peter Nichols, A Voyage for Madmen, 2001. Nicholas Tomalin and Ron Hall, The Strange Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst, 1970. Ed Caesar, "Drama on the Waves: The Life and Death of Donald Crowhurst," Independent, Oct. 27, 2006. This week's lateral thinking puzzle was contributed by listener Tommy Honton, who cites this source (warning: this link spoils the puzzle). You can listen using the player above, download this episode directly, or subscribe on iTunes or Google Play Music or via the RSS feed at http://feedpress.me/futilitycloset. Please consider becoming a patron of Futility Closet -- on our Patreon page you can pledge any amount per episode, and all contributions are greatly appreciated. You can change or cancel your pledge at any time, and we've set up some rewards to help thank you for your support. You can also make a one-time donation on the Support Us page of the Futility Closet website. Many thanks to Doug Ross for the music in this episode. If you have any questions or comments you can reach us at podcast@futilitycloset.com. Thanks for listening!

In 1879 a ghastly crime gripped England: A London maid had dismembered her employer and then assumed her identity for two weeks, wearing her clothes and jewelry and selling her belongings. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll describe the murder of Julia Thomas and its surprising modern postscript. We'll also discover the unlikely origins of a Mary Poppins character and puzzle over a penguin in a canoe. Intro: Early airplanes were sometimes attacked by confused eagles. Alberta, Canada, has been rat-free for 50 years. Sources for our feature on the murder of Julia Thomas: Elliott O'Donnell, ed., Trial of Kate Webster, 1925. Transcript of Kate Webster's trial at the Old Bailey. "The Richmond Murder," Glasgow Herald, May 29, 1879. "Kate Webster Hanged," Reading [Pa.] Eagle, July 31, 1879. Matt Blake, "Attenborough Skull Mystery Finally Solved," Independent, July 5, 2011. Cigdem Iltan, "The Skull in the Backyard," Maclean's 124:28 (July 25, 2011), 37. Park Road, Richmond, today. At left is the site of the former Mayfield Cottages, where the murder took place. At center is the home of naturalist Sir David Attenborough. At right is the site of the former Hole in the Wall pub. Thomas' skull was discovered in 2010 at the site of the pub's stables. Listener mail: GitHub, "System Bus Radio" (retrieved Sept. 2, 2016). Catalin Cimpanu, "Emitting Radio Waves From a Computer with No Radio-Transmitting Hardware," Softpedia, March 2, 2016. A 40-second rendition of the discarded Mary Poppins song "Admiral Boom." Wikipedia, "Mary Poppins (film)" (retrieved Sept. 2, 2016). This week's lateral thinking puzzles were contributed by listeners Matt Sargent and Jacob Bandes-Storch. You can listen using the player above, download this episode directly, or subscribe on iTunes or Google Play Music or via the RSS feed at http://feedpress.me/futilitycloset. Please consider becoming a patron of Futility Closet -- on our Patreon page you can pledge any amount per episode, and all contributions are greatly appreciated. You can change or cancel your pledge at any time, and we've set up some rewards to help thank you for your support. You can also make a one-time donation on the Support Us page of the Futility Closet website. Many thanks to Doug Ross for the music in this episode. If you have any questions or comments you can reach us at podcast@futilitycloset.com. Thanks for listening!

In 1978 a team of geologists discovered a family of five living deep in the Siberian forest, 150 miles from the nearest village. Fearing persecution, they had lived entirely on their own since 1936, praying, tending a meager garden, and suffering through winter temperatures of 40 below zero. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll meet the Lykov family, whose religious beliefs committed them to "the greatest solitude on the earth." We'll also learn about Esperanto's role in a Spanish prison break and puzzle over a self-incriminating murderer. Intro: The London Review and Literary Journal of August 1796 records a cricket match "by eleven Greenwich Pensioners with one leg against eleven with one arm, for one thousand guineas, at the new Cricket ground, Montpelier Gardens, Walworth." The British Veterinary Journal of March 1888 reports that a Manchester horse fitted with eyeglasses "now stands all the morning looking over the half-door of his stable with his spectacles on, gazing around him with an air of sedate enjoyment." Sources for our feature on the Lykov family: Vasily Peskov, Lost in the Taiga, 1994. Mike Dash, "For 40 Years, This Russian Family Was Cut Off From All Human Contact, Unaware of World War II," Smithsonian, Jan. 28, 2013. Russia Today, "From Taiga to Kremlin: A Hermit's Gifts for Medvedev," Feb. 24, 2010. Alexis Sostre, "Siberia: Woman Who Lived Her Entire Life in Wilderness Airlifted to Hospital," Sostre News, Jan. 16, 2016. Listener mail: The original article on the 1938 San Cristobál prison break, by Jose Antonio del Barrio, in Esperanto. An article (in Spanish) about the escape on del Barrio's blog. A description (in Spanish) of conditions in San Cristobál, by one of the successful escapees. A description (in Spanish) of the escape plot, from research carried out by Fermín Ezkieta. A documentary film (in Spanish) about the escape. A study (in Esperanto) on the role of Esperanto in the working-class culture in Spain. Del Barrio's presentation (in Esperanto) on the use of Esperanto by socialists in the Basque region. A presentation (in Esperanto) by Ulrich Lins and del Barrio on the use of Esperanto during the Spanish Civil War. Lins is the German author of "La Dangera Lingvo," on the persecutions suffered by esperantists. This week's lateral thinking puzzle was devised by Sharon, who collected these corroborating links (warning: these spoil the puzzle). You can listen using the player above, download this episode directly, or subscribe on iTunes or Google Play Music or via the RSS feed at http://feedpress.me/futilitycloset. Please consider becoming a patron of Futility Closet -- on our Patreon page you can pledge any amount per episode, and all contributions are greatly appreciated. You can change or cancel your pledge at any time, and we've set up some rewards to help thank you for your support. You can also make a one-time donation on the Support Us page of the Futility Closet website. Many thanks to Doug Ross for the music in this episode. If you have any questions or comments you can reach us at podcast@futilitycloset.com. Thanks for listening!

  In 1976 a television crew discovered a mummified corpse in a California funhouse. Unbelievably, an investigation revealed that it belonged to an Oklahoma outlaw who had been shot by sheriff's deputies in 1911 and whose remains had been traveling the country ever since. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll trace the postmortem odyssey of Elmer McCurdy, "the bandit who wouldn't give up." We'll also reflect on a Dutch artist's disappearance and puzzle over some mysterious hospital deaths. Intro: In 1922, mechanical engineer Elis Stenman built a summer home with walls of varnished newspaper. Winston Churchill's country home Chartwell must always maintain a marmalade cat named Jock. Sources for our feature on Elmer McCurdy: Mark Svenvold, Elmer McCurdy, 2002. Robert Barr Smith, "After Elmer McCurdy's Days as a Badman, He -- or at Least His Corpse -- Had a Fine Second Career," Wild West 12:1 (June 1999), 24-26. United Press International, "Amusement Park Mummy Was Elmer McCurdy, a Wild West Desperado," Dec. 10, 1976. Associated Press, "Died With His Boots On," Dec. 11, 1976. Associated Press, "Wax Figure Maybe No Dummy, May Be Old Outlaw's Mummy," Dec. 12, 1976. Associated Press, "Elmer McCurdy Goes Home to Boot Hill," April 23, 1977. Listener mail: Alexander Dumbadze, Bas Jan Ader: Death Is Elsewhere, 2013. Jan Verwoert, Bas Jan Ader: In Search of the Miraculous, 2006. Brad Spence, "The Case of Bas Jan Ader," www.basjanader.com (accessed 08/18/2016) (PDF). Rachel Kent, "Pun to Paradox: Bas Jan Ader Revisited," Parkett 75 (2005), 177-181. Wikipedia, "Bas Jan Ader" (accessed 08/18/2016). Richard Dorment, "The Artist Who Sailed to Oblivion," Telegraph, May 9, 2006. (We had referred to a collection of Ader's silent films on YouTube. Unfortunately, this has been pulled by Ader's estate.) This week's lateral thinking puzzle was contributed by listener Steven Jones. You can listen using the player above, download this episode directly, or subscribe on iTunes or Google Play Music or via the RSS feed at http://feedpress.me/futilitycloset. Please consider becoming a patron of Futility Closet -- on our Patreon page you can pledge any amount per episode, and all contributions are greatly appreciated. You can change or cancel your pledge at any time, and we've set up some rewards to help thank you for your support. You can also make a one-time donation on the Support Us page of the Futility Closet website. Many thanks to Doug Ross for the music in this episode. If you have any questions or comments you can reach us at podcast@futilitycloset.com. Thanks for listening!

In 1917 a pair of Allied officers combined a homemade Ouija board, audacity, and imagination to hoax their way out of a remote prison camp in the mountains of Turkey. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll describe the remarkable escape of Harry Jones and Cedric Hill, which one observer called “the most colossal fake of modern times.” We'll also consider a cactus' role in World War II and puzzle over a cigar-smoking butler. Intro: A 1962 writer to the London Times contends that all thrushes "sooner or later sing the tune of the first subject of Mozart's G minor Symphony." The U.S. Senate maintains a tradition of hiding candy in a desk on the chamber floor. Sources for our feature on the Yozgad escape: E.H. Jones, The Road to En-dor, 1919. Tony Craven Walker's En-dor Unveiled (2014) (PDF) is a valuable source of background information, with descriptions of Harry Jones' early life; the siege of Kut-el-Amara, where he was captured; his punishing trek across Syria; the prison camp; and his life after the war. It includes many letters and postcards, including some hinting at his efforts toward an escape. S.P. MacKenzie, "The Ethics of Escape: British Officer POWs in the First World War," War in History 15:1 (January 2008), 1-16. "A Note for Spiritualists," The Field, March 27, 1920, 457. "Jones, Elias Henry," Dictionary of Welsh Biography (accessed 07/30/2016). "En-dor," in Rudyard Kipling's Verse, 1919. Listener mail: Associated Press, "Japanese Submarine Attack in California Unnerved U.S.," Feb. 23, 1992. William Scheck, "Japanese Submarine Commander Kozo Nishino Gained Personal Satisfaction From Shelling the California Coast," World War II 13:2 (July 1998), 16. Wikipedia, "Bombardment of Ellwood" (accessed Aug. 12, 2016). California Military Museum, "The Shelling of Ellwood" (accessed Aug. 12, 2016). This week's lateral thinking puzzle was adapted from Paul Sloane and Des MacHale's 1998 book Ingenious Lateral Thinking Puzzles. You can listen using the player above, download this episode directly, or subscribe on iTunes or Google Play Music or via the RSS feed at http://feedpress.me/futilitycloset. Please consider becoming a patron of Futility Closet -- on our Patreon page you can pledge any amount per episode, and all contributions are greatly appreciated. You can change or cancel your pledge at any time, and we've set up some rewards to help thank you for your support. You can also make a one-time donation on the Support Us page of the Futility Closet website. Many thanks to Doug Ross for the music in this episode. If you have any questions or comments you can reach us at podcast@futilitycloset.com. Thanks for listening!

In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll explore some curiosities and unanswered questions from Greg's research, including the love affair that inspired the Rolls Royce hood ornament, a long-distance dancer, Otto von Bismarck's dogs, and a craftily plotted Spanish prison break. We'll also run after James Earl Ray and puzzle over an unsociable jockey. Intro: Workers constructing Washington's Grand Coulee Dam in 1942 fed a cable through a 500-foot drain by tying a string to an alley cat's tail. A 2001 earthquake in Olympia, Wash., drew a graceful rose with a sand-tracing pendulum. Sources for this week's feature: The best source I can find regarding the origins of the Rolls Royce hood ornament is this Telegraph article from 2008, in which Montagu's son says, "My father and Eleanor shared a great passion. It was a grand love affair - perhaps even the love of his life. All this happened before my father met my mother. But I understand my father's first wife knew about the mistress. She was very tolerant of her and they got on very well." But this quote is given in the service of promoting a film about the affair, which makes it less objective than I'd like. (Paul Tritton of the Rolls-Royce Owners' Club of Australia disputes the story here.) Alexandre Dumas' habit of eating an apple every morning beneath the Arc de Triomphe is described in this New York Times article, among many other modern sources. The earliest mention I can find is a 1911 article in the Dietetic and Hygienic Gazette, attributing the intervention to Hungarian physician David Gruby. I've confirmed that Gruby served as a physician to Dumas (père et fils), but I can't find anything about an apple. The incidents of the Savoy Hotel cloakroom and the Travellers Club suicide are both described in N.T.P. Murphy's A Wodehouse Handbook (2013). The suicide rule is mentioned at the end of this Telegraph article, which gives me hope that it's true, but I can't find anything more comprehensive. The story of the Providence United Methodist Church is told in both Randy Cerveny's Freaks of the Storm (2005) and Rick Schwartz's Hurricanes and the Middle Atlantic States (2007). Snopes says it's "mostly true." In Constable's Clouds, published by the National Galleries of Scotland 2000, Edward Morris writes, "It is this moment of early morning light -- and what has been described as 'the atmosphere of stillness tinged with expectancy' -- that Constable translates into the finished canvas." Judith Collins mentions Joseph Beuys' responsibility for snow in her introduction to Andy Goldsworthy's Midsummer Snowballs (2001). Reader Olga Izakson found the description of Tiras, Otto von Bismarck's “dog of the empire,” in Robert K. Massie's Dreadnought (1991). A few further links. The role of Esperanto in the planning of the 1938 San Cristobál prison break is described (I think) here. In 1600 William Kemp published a pamphlet chronicling his 1599 morris dance to Norwich, Kemps Nine Daies Wonder, to quiet doubters. The allegation that Margaret Thatcher ordered the identities of British government employees to be encoded in the word spacing of their documents appears in Gregory Kipper's Investigator's Guide to Steganography (2003). I've found it in other technical documents, but these tend to cite one another rather than an authoritative source. Listener mail: Madison Kahn, "60 Hours of Hell: The Story of the Barkley Marathons," Outside, May 8, 2013. Wikipedia, "Barkley Marathons" (accessed Aug. 6, 2016). Wikipedia, "Kaihogyo," (accessed Aug. 6, 2016). Adharanand Finn, "What I Learned When I Met the Monk Who Ran 1,000 Marathons," Guardian, March 31, 2015. Associated Press, "Japanese Monks Endure With a Vow of Patience," June 10, 2007. Here's a corroborating link for…