290 - Full Metal Recovery

[0] This is exactly right.

[1] We're back.

[2] We're back.

[3] Vacation's over, Georgia.

[4] Hiatus vacation, whatever you want to call it.

[5] It's done.

[6] It's over.

[7] It's done.

[8] We did it.

[9] We did it hard.

[10] That's it.

[11] And so we're going to do one episode and then take another three months off.

[12] Yeah, we thought we would go to the Bahamas.

[13] Oh, the Maldives.

[14] The Maldives?

[15] The Maldives.

[16] We thought we might go down to where the water is filled with Jimmy Buffett fans.

[17] Where's that?

[18] I don't know.

[19] Not a mask in sight.

[20] No. Where people are pretending things aren't bad.

[21] That's where we're going to go.

[22] That's right.

[23] But until then, we're right here with you podcasting again.

[24] Yeah.

[25] And I'll tell you what.

[26] I'm a little bit rusty.

[27] Oh, me too.

[28] The weird thing is that we're actually like face to face in your house for the first time in all of quarantine.

[29] Guys, breaking news.

[30] Yeah, we joined a pod.

[31] I've joined a pod.

[32] I now live with Karen.

[33] And this pod has nothing to do with podcasting, which is fascinating.

[34] It's a separate type.

[35] Yeah, we're like, we were just like, you know what?

[36] Let's make this happen.

[37] Let's podcast together.

[38] It's like a different vibe than over Zoom.

[39] We haven't podcasted together in a year and a half.

[40] We haven't.

[41] Now, this is part of that thing where time makes no sense anymore.

[42] But think of a year and a half.

[43] You're thinking of it.

[44] How long that is since we've been in our offices, which we don't even have anymore.

[45] Oh, my God.

[46] They're gone.

[47] Yeah.

[48] Don't worry.

[49] Stephen is on Zoom.

[50] We're both sharing a computer and looking at him because we don't want to risk Stephen getting whatever we probably have.

[51] Could be anything.

[52] So here we are.

[53] How does it feel to be back?

[54] I'm really excited.

[55] I really missed it.

[56] It's one of those things where you're like, summer vacation.

[57] And then toward the end, you're like, okay, I'm bored.

[58] Yeah.

[59] It was long.

[60] I mean, it was long.

[61] It was long.

[62] I didn't pick up any hobbies, even though I know I should.

[63] But everything involves like a cat attacking whatever I'd be hobbying at.

[64] So I can't, there's no hobbies that.

[65] Well, I think your cats are your hobby.

[66] Oh.

[67] Slash life.

[68] You're right.

[69] Yeah.

[70] Collecting pets is my hobby.

[71] Yeah.

[72] And I'm good at it.

[73] And meanwhile, let me just say, my dog Frank has tricked Georgia into petting him right now.

[74] when he clearly was not invited into this podcast area so please stop I mean you don't have to stop but when you want to stop don't feel guilty just you don't you're not obligated in his defense I will say that there's no clear borders that's right about where the area of podcasting ends and stops there's just some vague blankets hung for sound so he didn't see the door but the thing about Frank is he gets petted all the time and then he comes up like an abandoned street dog.

[75] Like he's begging for love and no one can resist him.

[76] Yeah.

[77] Maybe that's the same thing of like, um, for the poor.

[78] Like, please pet me and everyone ignores me. It's like, no girl.

[79] You get actually more attention than anyone in the fucking house.

[80] I constantly am saying to both of these dogs, you do know dogs don't live like this.

[81] Like you do know that you, this is a cut above the average dog's life, you asshole.

[82] Truly.

[83] Well, actually petting a dog or an animal soothes me. and, like, calms my anxiety.

[84] So having a dog just standing next to me, getting slobber on me while I scratch it is so satisfying and relaxing to me. I heard the message that they're slobber.

[85] Got it.

[86] What we're going to do is get Frank a little blue jacket.

[87] And he's going to be your service dog in the house.

[88] Great.

[89] Can I get a thunder jacket, too, while we're at it?

[90] We'll just wrap you up in a thunder shirt?

[91] Yeah.

[92] That'd be great.

[93] Absolutely.

[94] Hi, Frank.

[95] Frank, your act gets old real fast.

[96] He's, like, mezzling me. It's really sweet.

[97] You know what's very weird, and you may have found this about just all of quarantine kind of ending, but not really, and everything being, it's like, when I have done things, like, this feels bizarre.

[98] Yeah.

[99] Because I don't have, like, people in my house almost at all.

[100] It feels special.

[101] It feels like an event.

[102] Yes.

[103] It really is.

[104] It's like, I'm kind of nervous.

[105] And I know that, like, this is definitely going to be a ricketyer version.

[106] version of what we normally do.

[107] Yeah, it's going to be weird.

[108] It was weird not having like, I had to be ready 20 minutes before we record to drive somewhere, not just to walk downstairs and sit in a lazy boy and like fucking record with you.

[109] And I put makeup on for you too, by the way, which is back at you.

[110] This is like the sixth time during quarantine I've worn makeup.

[111] And I was like, just don't look like a piece of trash when you go see her maybe.

[112] Same.

[113] I was blowdrying my hair and I was just like, what do you try to?

[114] to do what's this about this is in a video podcast but it is you know it is kind of a it's a big deal to us that we get that that we're back yeah it's the first day of school yeah but i do have that kind of like uh will i remember my locker combination nervousness nervousness flutter we're back we're vaxed we're fucking we're ready to attack we're ready to attack boom that was great come on yeah frank you're not invited this isn't your area I thought it would be, here's something interesting.

[115] I thought it would be fun if we talked about some of the true crime events that happened while we were on vacation.

[116] Love it.

[117] And then when I was talking to Jay about this, he said, that's funny.

[118] Georgia just called me and said the same thing.

[119] I, that minute before that you, like, told him about that, I had sent him an article and was like, hey, before we record, please just give me this article.

[120] I've been saving it on my computer for three months.

[121] months or whatever, how long it's been.

[122] What you got?

[123] Let's talk about it.

[124] Okay.

[125] Essentially this article is about this.

[126] I got it from the Washington Post.

[127] Kindergarner's questions helped get them off hijack school bus when driver, the kidnapping, driver said, enough already.

[128] This dude fucking hijacks a school bus with a rifle.

[129] He was like, let's get the fuck out of town.

[130] All these 18 children and their driver are on the bus still.

[131] The man moved all the students up to the front of the bus for they were an element like a bunch of little kids then the kids start peppering the fucking hijacker with questions as children do was he a soldier why was he doing this was he going to hurt them what about our driver are you going to hurt them to six minutes after boarding the bus the hijacker ordered everyone off because he was like this is annoying fuck this shit i'm sorry i'm so confused as to what what he thought what was going to happen, getting on a school bus, like, now I have, I want to pepper him with questions.

[132] Like, did he want to be on a school bus with children?

[133] Yes, it seems like he was going to hold them hostage.

[134] Like, if he got on there and wasn't like, get off, he wasn't just stealing a fucking school bus.

[135] Yeah.

[136] God, what was the plan?

[137] And then just the power of children forced him to release them.

[138] Yeah.

[139] That's unbelievable.

[140] I mean, it's great that they're safe, but it's to me just this like, oh yeah, like the kids just saved the day by being mere, barely by being children.

[141] By just being themselves.

[142] That's the thing, guys.

[143] Yeah, you got to be yourself.

[144] Just be yourself in the face of violence.

[145] Yeah.

[146] And the face of threat.

[147] Yeah.

[148] Be childlike.

[149] I mean, that is so horrifying.

[150] Yeah.

[151] But I bet that school bus driver is like, fucking tell me about it.

[152] Dude, I have to deal with this every day.

[153] I've thought about well, I'm kicking them all off before too.

[154] Okay, what's yours?

[155] Well, mine are, you know, like the highlights, one of which is the dating game killer, Rodney Alcala, died in prison, which lots of people talked about.

[156] Yeah.

[157] He was on death row for killing the five known victims were Jill Barcombe, who was 18, Georgia Wickstead, who was 27, Charlotte Lamb, who is 32, Jill Parento, who was 21, and Robin Sampso, who was 12.

[158] but those are his only his known victims and police suspect that he could have had upwards of 130 holy shit really truly so evil and really kind of infamous yeah for because then he ended up being on the dating game it's so creepy that whole episode so creepy and jensen and holes did a good episode about that too yes um yeah so that that's some good news yeah and then of course our friend Robert Durst is on trial.

[159] Yeah.

[160] It got delayed a bunch and so it finally started up.

[161] And he admitted to lying, right?

[162] Yes.

[163] Let's see.

[164] He, well, the confession that they kind of based it on was from the documentary, which was very edited, of course, because it's a documentary.

[165] So they, the courtroom got to hear the unedited audio.

[166] which I think is fascinating He said he would He did lie under oath and he'd do it again To keep himself out of trouble Great way to go in front of the jury Just go ahead and tell them it's it's insane And I think the weirdest thing is that Original SNL cast member Lorraine Newman Is it is one of the witnesses Because she was friends with Susan Berman Who was one of his alleged victims Wow weird Yes tie -in it's so I mean why would you put him on the stand that's just like fucking law school 101 why you wouldn't or would what you would like he's clearly a fucking deranged person like like why would you allow him to talk he's not insane though deranged right but he's not insane so he can he can speak for himself yeah yeah but usually they won't let them like if it's a it's an unsavory character that they're trying to defend.

[167] They're like, you're going to dig yourself into a hole, so he's not going to testify.

[168] Yeah, I wonder.

[169] Maybe they just want him to get up there because he looks so, he looks horrible.

[170] Yeah.

[171] Especially compared, it's not like it was that long ago that that documentary came out, right?

[172] Six years probably.

[173] Yeah.

[174] He looks way worse.

[175] Yeah.

[176] Way worse.

[177] The only other thing is, it's almost kind of in that same timeline, your best friend Elizabeth Holmes, went on trial This past Tuesday The CEO of Theranos Blood Testing Company Just one drop Our machines Can take one tiny drop of blood In all the Walgreens And all the United States That's right And they were like Give us your money And all the rich fucking dudes Were like, okay And then just gave all the money To her And all the money and all the legal power And all the everything To the point where they couldn't be stopped and what I love is that she so in that trial apparently Henry Kessinger is supposed to perhaps show up as a witness he's still that's what everyone said he is he is holy shit that man is a historical figure he is he's supposed to be there and Rupert Murdoch of all people all these people that gave that were involved or backers They're like the one time We give a woman money And this is what happens The one time we believe In one of these gals That'll show us Suffragetts Oh I was just going to say I was thinking about this today Because I was like It's kind of satisfying Because that one's been a really long Yeah A really long time Since that Since a trial And So if you haven't read the book Bad Blood by John Kerry Rue you have to I listen to it on audio book and it was like this endless podcast like just endless I mean you know that's how audio books work but I didn't discover that audiobooks they're like an endless podcast it's unbelievable it's like a podcast it's like a podcast by just one person that actually did some work but bad blood you have to listen to it because the story is mind boggling the way that Elizabeth Holmes tricked all those old white men into giving her money and then not admitting it when it was completely exposed as being if a fake spray painted box that could not test blood not one drop or 500 drops they still wouldn't give in narcissists who double down on their lies i'm just the not like fascinated by because it's like just give up but also the people that get sucked in by those lies then they have too much pride to go, oh, I just got scammed.

[178] So they just keep, they won't give up either.

[179] Vince and I are watching Succession again because we've gotten to the end of TV and have fucking nothing else to watch in our entire lives.

[180] So we're starting Succession again.

[181] And, you know, you get in this like mindset of like, everything's a con and everyone, everything's evil.

[182] Any advertisement I see him like, that's evil, you know?

[183] It's like, that fucking bag of Haribo, sour skeddy you just gave me as evil and it's the man and it's fun it's a fun place to live so you're becoming like the tv show that you're watching i'm not i'm fucking peace man and i'm sorry that's directly contradicts what you just said i'm saying everyone else's i'm nearly the lens through which yeah man it's like fucking punk anarchy you know you know what kind of tell you bookstore fucking shirt on how can i be what how can i be the man if i have a pal's bookstore shirt wow you the more you the more you protest the more i worried i get calling me elizabeth what's her face i guess i am i guess i guess i've been backed into it to be proud of it then just keep just keep wearing those black turtlenecks what i love is she really did straight up copy steve jobs and then just get a bunch of pictures of herself taken it's so modern it's so it's such of this this age.

[184] It's like, well, I'm really photogenic.

[185] Yeah.

[186] I'm a classic blue -eyed blonde in America and thin.

[187] Give me a shit ton of money.

[188] And old white men are just like, where do I sign up?

[189] I believe in you.

[190] She got a bunch of those photos taken with the arms crossed, like, in a really bad TV series, it'd be like, this is the cover of working people.

[191] And it's like, here's the successful blonde arms cross with that smirky smile of knowing on her face.

[192] What's up, Turtleneck?

[193] And yet she's 27?

[194] Yeah, 27, you guys.

[195] Don't try anything, yeah.

[196] And the whole thing was fake.

[197] It was fake.

[198] It was fake.

[199] Walgreens had 40 blood testing stations built in their stores for a box that was spray painted silver and empty.

[200] You're a little impressed with her.

[201] It sounds like a little bit like, I hate her, I hate her.

[202] I'm impressed.

[203] You're not impressed with what money does.

[204] Oh, the audacity of money.

[205] You get your money and then you get all your lawyers lined up.

[206] Yeah.

[207] And then you do what you want.

[208] And if anybody goes, oh, sorry, that's a silver spray painted box.

[209] You're like, I will end you.

[210] I will sue you.

[211] I will ruin your life.

[212] Yeah.

[213] That's basically the plot of succession right there.

[214] Right?

[215] Yeah.

[216] This is the world we live in now.

[217] It's like fake shit covered in silver spray paint.

[218] Yeah.

[219] That's life, man. Yeah, it is.

[220] But not this podcast.

[221] What?

[222] I don't know.

[223] I tried to change the subject.

[224] Here's what I'm bummed out about.

[225] These dogs that won't let me not have them in the room are in the room snoring loudly.

[226] Look, listen.

[227] It's a bit of a distraction and a comment on.

[228] Yeah, but I don't appreciate it.

[229] Okay, but we're not the man. We're this like fucking mom and mom podcast in your bedroom, not this isn't in your bedroom, in your office of your house with dog snoring.

[230] Like, we're not, you know.

[231] Guys, it's so real.

[232] yeah like we have Powell shirts on Karen has one too now that's for 10 just like that Karen has a pile of shirt on just keep saying I didn't realize how much you were identified with your shirts oh yeah like this is who I am it's whom I am get to gnom a me get to gnome me and it's just a little gnome holding a book that says shot but I bought it at Powell hey I bought it at Powell's this episode anything else what else we're gonna I don't know like nothing has happened yet i feel like i i've been like not thinking about podcasting for so long that i didn't like take notes of things to you know like weekly i'll be like that's something to talk about like tell you what i'm reading who cares like i don't have anything well i started game of thrones oh shit um because i was like i had been saving i'd been putting that one off and rewatching things and doing all trying all kinds of new stuff but um finally the other night i was just like i think i'm ready to go back in I don't think I'll ever be writing.

[233] What do you think?

[234] I love it.

[235] I just think it's really, um, it's like a soap opera, but with it, I like watching, write it.

[236] I like watching and thinking about how hard it was to write.

[237] Oh.

[238] So like when the Dothraki scenes are on and there are four people speaking a fake language.

[239] Oh.

[240] First of all, I respect it.

[241] And also I'm like, what?

[242] Everyone kind of put it a certain, almost like a Greek, accent on it where it's like this is a made up country so it doesn't have an accent and then I was thinking I bet you this show would have been considered not as good if they were having to do accents of recognizable places instead of just because no one can be like that doesn't sound like my own accent right you don't know it sounds official accents and they made up accents they made up accents and they made up languages well I'm just saying they aren't going like they don't have like British accents on the fake dothraki language there's a kind of there's like a bunch of extra interesting stuff that might be Castilian Spanish it might be Greek it could be Middle Eastern somehow but it's not they're trying to represent like how it's from over there as opposed so all the people that are Scottish and British are from like the you know king's landing or whatever the white plains of Dover that kind of thing so you never watched it no I'm never going to watch it I'm never going to watch it I'm never going to watch it I just don't care I don't like soap operas I don't like fantasy I like sci -fi fantasy's not my fucking jam how do you feel about historical fiction based on something that isn't real that's fiction that's fiction fiction I like historical fiction based on actual fiction actual history me too I'm so confused but there's something about this that doesn't feel like fantasy in that way where it's like uh you know dragon yeah like it's it's not like a rush album that some guys making you listen to which is what what I understand why you would feel that way on the approach yeah that's exactly how I feel that was a great like honestly that's exactly how I feel we're like I don't want to hear.

[243] There's some really good characters.

[244] There's unbelievably great dialogue and situations, of course.

[245] How many, how many episodes do you challenge me to watch before I say fuck this shit?

[246] Three, could we do three?

[247] Could you do three?

[248] I'll try three with events.

[249] Because if I get to two and go, fuck this shit, then you're going to go, if you only got to three.

[250] You know, you don't like this.

[251] It's my fault.

[252] And I want it to be your fault.

[253] I understand.

[254] And I, you know what?

[255] I'll tell you this right now.

[256] It is my fault.

[257] I accept it entirely.

[258] I'm asking you to go against your taste and try a thing that's like, this is everybody when I'm like, I actually don't eat fish.

[259] And they're like, try this.

[260] Did you try this?

[261] Yeah.

[262] You're like, it's from the scene.

[263] I literally, I cannot eat it.

[264] I don't want fish.

[265] Yeah.

[266] Okay.

[267] So I'll try three episodes.

[268] I'll force events.

[269] Oh, this is going to be gone this weekend.

[270] So I'll do it myself.

[271] Give it a pass.

[272] And what I'm going to tell you is this.

[273] If you don't get past the first episode, having just recently rewatched it, it's so.

[274] good.

[275] Like they make it so that you want to come back.

[276] So if you don't, then it's not for you and we can part us friends.

[277] All right.

[278] So do one if I'm like, I'll do three then I'll never admit if I like it and watch the whole thing.

[279] Just see.

[280] Yeah.

[281] And then you don't, we do not have to come back to this ever.

[282] Never talk about Game of Thrones again.

[283] Yeah.

[284] I mean, because here's the thing.

[285] I know that feeling, a feeling like you got to the end of TV.

[286] And it is because I could spend my evenings driving around in my car or, I don't know, online supporting people through our time.

[287] Oh, is that it?

[288] But it's called Reddit, baby.

[289] Check it out.

[290] Is there a website where you can just go support people?

[291] Yeah, Reddit.

[292] Honestly, Reddit's actually gotten me through some quarantine shit with some really fucking ridiculous subreddit.

[293] It's like there's one called Peeling and there's one just called Pop.

[294] And then there's one I was looking at.

[295] They explained to what both of those are.

[296] fucking just videos of people peeling stuff like oh look at this sunburn I peeled is it always body it's not always body it's like look at this like wallpaper I peeled in one piece like look at this look at my feet shedding after using baby feet like it's just gross subject of peeling yes it's almost like it's like a subcategory of zip popping yeah which I also look at all the time and got dis lightheaded recently because of video something's wrong with me do you want to describe it no do you want to talk it through.

[297] It was a dermatologist.

[298] I think that's what they make the real money off now is videotaping themselves.

[299] When they look at a blackhead and they're like, oh, sorry, I have to go get my.

[300] Yeah, Reddit's going to love this.

[301] But there's also one.

[302] Let me get my ring light on your.

[303] There's a Reddit called stupid food.

[304] It's just stupid food.

[305] It's just stupid food.

[306] When people get like a, like, look at this $10 burger I just saw an ad for.

[307] And it's just this one is a burger with like a can of corn.

[308] No, Oh, that's a can of fucking corn on a burger, literal can of corn.

[309] I swear to God.

[310] That's like the frozen corn my mom used to serve us with minute rice and like an over -baked chicken braced every night.

[311] Delicious.

[312] Wait, why would you put canned corn on a burger?

[313] That's exactly right.

[314] It's because it's stupid food.

[315] Did someone think they were being like a super chef?

[316] I don't know.

[317] Here's one.

[318] Did you know branches, the candy company?

[319] Rocks.

[320] Thank you.

[321] There's no end in there anywhere to be found.

[322] and it's called Brock have made a fucking candy corn a turkey dinner and apple pie and coffee candy corn what all in one I guess so that's some Willy Wonka shit you put it all in one that's stupid food the snosberries tastes like snobsberries it's just like oh they're little things shaped like those things oh they're not that flavor oh I'm the stupid food after all you're the stupid food It's candy corn flavored shaped like turkey dinner.

[323] Well, you know what?

[324] That makes a whole lot more motherfucking sense.

[325] You're like, oh, it's a little piece of gravy with the consistency of candy.

[326] You know how they make like gravy soda?

[327] Like, it's like, what's it called?

[328] Not variety.

[329] What's the word?

[330] Pia colada flavored cheese right there.

[331] No. Yeah, dude.

[332] Wendy's spicy chicken pringles.

[333] Just a stupid food.

[334] You know how much I love looking at photos of food.

[335] Yes.

[336] especially when it's fucking stupid.

[337] I want to keep on looking at that burger with kernel corned corned corn on it.

[338] If it's frozen, even better.

[339] Let's start a new podcast.

[340] Still frozen.

[341] Hear me out.

[342] Still frozen.

[343] We just laugh at stupid food.

[344] Love it.

[345] And it's all possible.

[346] Should we do murders?

[347] Yeah, let's get into it.

[348] Oh, just in passing, let's just mention that if you have been interested in merch at all, but maybe you didn't have the scratch for it we were putting a bunch of March on sale as a thank you to our listeners for being so patient while we were on vacation and so supportive there were so many messages of people just being like yes go get the fuck out of town yeah okay um so should we get into it yeah am I first I think you are first yes okay great Karen you know I'm all about vintage shopping absolutely and when you say vintage you mean when you physically drive to a store and actually purchase something with cash exactly And if you're a small business owner, you might know Shopify is great for online sales.

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[364] Goodbye.

[365] Okay.

[366] You ready for my first story back?

[367] I am ready.

[368] It's a heavy.

[369] It's a heavy duty.

[370] Dozy.

[371] This is the story of Irina Sender, a Nazi resistance fighter.

[372] Wow.

[373] Yeah.

[374] So something light.

[375] The sources used today are irena sendler .org, a humanities article by Jack Mayer and articles from biography .com, the National Endowment for Humanities, Yadvashem .org, and Auschwitz .d .k .k .k. And a TED Talk by Megan Felt.

[376] So we begin in 1999, not in the Holocaust, yeah.

[377] We'll get there.

[378] When three students in Uniontown, Kansas, a rural town with a population of like 200 -something, so teeny tiny, they began working on a National History Day project.

[379] The school had a lack of diversity.

[380] And so their teacher, Norman Canaan he tasked the kids with finding an unsung hero of diversity to teach them about respect and understanding of all cultures.

[381] So the girls, Liz, Megan, and Sabrina happened upon a 1994 U .S. News and World Report article entitled The Other Schindler's.

[382] And, of course, it detailed people who, like the well -known Oscar Schindler, saved children from the Nazis.

[383] Yeah.

[384] The article said simply that this woman, Irene Sender, saved 2 ,500 children.

[385] from the Warsaw ghetto between 1942 and 43.

[386] So they were like, what the fuck?

[387] That has to be a typo.

[388] That's more children than Schindler saved.

[389] And how have we never heard about her?

[390] Like, this is impossible.

[391] So the students told their teacher about Irene and he was like, well, keep digging, do some research, go to, like, libraries and shit.

[392] So the students only were able to find one other mention of Irina from 1965 when Israel's Holocaust Museum, Yad Vashem, honored Irina as righteous.

[393] among the nations which is like a title you get but other than that they could not find a fucking thing about her despite her having done so much and even the u .s. holocaust memorial museum like with all the holocaust experts and everything they didn't have much more on her either in fact they had her birth year wrong and they didn't know that in fact she was still alive no yes oh i just got a weird chill yeah you never hear about this anymore.

[394] In the age of like the internet and stuff, we've been in the internet age for so long that it feels like there isn't a story like this.

[395] It's like actual research that you have to do to get information.

[396] Oh, because it was from 1994.

[397] Is that right?

[398] 99.

[399] Oh, 99.

[400] You have an article was from 94.

[401] It's 99.

[402] So these, they're, they're just figuring at Google.

[403] They went on Google.

[404] There was one hit for Irene Sunderler.

[405] Whoa.

[406] So, and she's still alive.

[407] And in fact, they didn't know about that.

[408] They contact the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous and found that Irina was still alive, and she was in her 90s, still residing in Warsaw.

[409] She lived in obscurity.

[410] No one knew anything about her.

[411] Lived in poverty with her daughter -in -law at 90, or in her 90s.

[412] So they are able to put each other in touch.

[413] The girls can't believe she's still alive.

[414] They write her a letter and send her, like, money for postage to write her back.

[415] And they were like, there's no way she's interested in these, like, three teenage girls from fucking rural Kansas, right?

[416] And they got the letter back from her seven pages.

[417] They're so excited.

[418] They open it.

[419] It's in Polish, of course.

[420] And they were like, oh, shit.

[421] So they had to get it translated.

[422] Because they wrote in English, right?

[423] That's right.

[424] I mean, it's like, here you go.

[425] Well, here we go.

[426] Here's my response.

[427] But Irene was so touched and, you know, was so excited to hear from them.

[428] So the foundation, they put her in touch with Irene.

[429] And in 2001, the three young students make plans to travel to Poland to meet Sender.

[430] So they're like, how can we do this?

[431] Here's an idea.

[432] We're teenagers.

[433] Let's raise money by selling candy.

[434] Sure.

[435] And so they get the huge sum of $81 by doing that.

[436] And then so a philanthropist, they had written a play about, called Life in ajar about Irina's Life because that was part of the school project.

[437] And so they showed it at like a, or they did to play.

[438] They started it at a gym.

[439] Jewish community center and this philanthropist and whose family were Holocaust survivors were like, let's go to lunch.

[440] Let me take care of this for you and was able to get a bunch of other Holocaust survivors from the local Jewish communities and they offered to cover the trip.

[441] I am loving this story in a way that is, I can't even describe.

[442] By the way, not one of these girls is Jewish.

[443] Like, it's not like they were.

[444] Because that's the point of the assignment.

[445] Yeah.

[446] Oh, yeah.

[447] So like it's just like it's even more so of, you know, not it makes any difference, like whatever.

[448] But well, but it's a beautiful thing of like when when kids are teachable and they get an assignment like this and it actually really has an effect and leads them somewhere and does something.

[449] Yeah.

[450] Because it sounds like they didn't know much about the Holocaust before they started, which is why they chose it and, you know, whatever they can find on it as their project.

[451] And this is what they learn.

[452] And they're like, we need to know more.

[453] about this.

[454] And the teacher was like, keep researching, keep looking into it.

[455] Right.

[456] Fucking teachers, man. So, um, the girls fly to Warsaw.

[457] It was their first trip out of the country and one of the girls' first time on a plane.

[458] I know.

[459] And finally meet Irene at her Warsaw home in 2001.

[460] But they didn't speak Polish, so they didn't say word.

[461] They all just high five.

[462] And that's the end of my story.

[463] And that is the story.

[464] They're like, can you sign this paper so our teacher knows we made it here we can get the credit for this class during the next few years the students build a friendship with irena and they compile more than 4 ,000 documents about her and the work she did to save the Jewish people also by the way she's not Jewish um irena's not you know irina's not Jewish let me tell you her story so here's her story on february 15th 1910 Irina is born in Poland to Roman Catholic parents, Stanislaa and Janina.

[465] She grows up as an only child in Otwark, Poland.

[466] Irina's father, Stanisla, is a physician whose patients are mostly poor Jewish people.

[467] When a typhus outbreak occurs, Stanislaa is the only physician who will treat patients.

[468] All of his colleagues refuse because they're scared of contracting the infectious disease.

[469] So they're like, fuck the Jewish people, we're not treating them.

[470] Yeah.

[471] And it is a deadly disease.

[472] So he actually does contract it.

[473] So in February of 1917, when Irina's just seven years old, her father dies from typhus.

[474] But before he passes, and they were very close, he said to Irina, if you see someone drowning, you must rescue them, even if you cannot swim.

[475] Whoa.

[476] And he also says, there are only two kinds of people in the world, good and bad.

[477] regardless of race, religion, or creed, and most people are good.

[478] We're only halfway through.

[479] You're getting me. You're getting me. As an adult, Irina starts working as a social worker for the Welfare Department of the Warsaw municipality.

[480] Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland, also where my grandma on my dad's side is from.

[481] Wow.

[482] Yeah, but they left after World War I. I've been there.

[483] You have.

[484] That's right.

[485] On my high school trip.

[486] That's right.

[487] It's, I loved Poland.

[488] I, it was, I loved it so much.

[489] It was so beautiful.

[490] It was so fun to be in.

[491] And the people were cool and chill.

[492] It was great.

[493] First hand, everyone.

[494] You heard it here.

[495] Travel Braggs.

[496] That's my new podcast.

[497] blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

[498] Okay, the elegant architecture, grandeur, you remember this.

[499] Grandure of the extensive boulevards earned the Warsaw, the nickname of Paris of the North, prior to the Second World War.

[500] Just wanted to give some info.

[501] And then they fucking leveled it in the war.

[502] They leveled it.

[503] Killed all the Jewish people.

[504] Horrifying.

[505] Irina is in charge of the city's canteens, basically which helped people in need of assistance with meals, financial aid, and other necessities.

[506] You know, because she's a social worker.

[507] In 1939, when Irina was 29 years old, the Nazis invade Poland, which leads to World War II.

[508] And at this time, Poland has the largest Jewish population in the world with over 3 million Jewish people.

[509] Even though they face torture or death, Irene and the Welfare Department continue to care for the Jewish people.

[510] Arena keeps up with the canteens.

[511] She now adds items like clothing, medicine, and money to be given out.

[512] And she starts putting together a rescue network.

[513] She registers Jewish people under fake Christian names and finds families who will hide them.

[514] And then in November, 1940, the Nazis force more than 35 ,000 Jewish residents to live in an area that will become known as the Warsaw Ghetto.

[515] So it's a 16 square block area, which is around the size of Central Park.

[516] And it's fenced in and locked and has guards on all sides.

[517] So that's 35 ,000 people in that tiny fucking area.

[518] So, of course, it's squalor.

[519] Everyone's living in squalor.

[520] no one has enough supplies to live.

[521] I mean, there's a lot of videos on YouTube of just dead bodies on the street and people walking by.

[522] I mean, it's just like a common occurrence.

[523] Everyone is literally starving to death.

[524] Yeah.

[525] So now that the Jewish people are behind locked gates, it's virtually impossible for the welfare department to continue helping.

[526] So in the ghetto, there isn't enough food or medical supplies in the area is too crowded, which leads to epidemics and higher death rates with thousands of people dying from disease and starvation every month.

[527] And month by month, the conditions inside the ghetto worsen, and basically the Jewish people are just waiting to be forced into freight trains and taken to gas chambers.

[528] So dark.

[529] Yeah.

[530] Irina is determined to get into the ghetto and help more people.

[531] Because the Nazis are scared of infectious diseases like typhus and tuberculosis.

[532] They're afraid that it's going to catch in the Warsaw ghetto and then spread out to the Aryans.

[533] Irene is able to convince them to give her a permit from Warsaw's epidemic control department that lets her go into the ghetto to, quote, inspect the sanitary conditions.

[534] So she's like, wink, wink.

[535] What I'm really doing is fuck you.

[536] For almost two years, Irene goes into the ghetto every day and smuggles in food, medicine, and clothing.

[537] In the fall of 1942, liquidation of the ghetto begins, and 2800 ,000 Jewish people are deported from Warsaw to the Triblinka extermination camps.

[538] More Jews will be killed at Treblinka during World War II than any other Nazi extermination camp, aside from Auschwitz, Birkenau.

[539] Between July, 1942, and October, 1933, it's the deadliest phase of the final solution.

[540] And it's estimated that between 700 ,000 and 900 ,000 Jews were killed in its gas chambers.

[541] It's this time that the council for aid to...

[542] Sorry, really quick, just 900 ,000, but a million people in just that one.

[543] one just triblinka.

[544] Yeah.

[545] You hear those numbers and it kind of like, I think when I was a lot younger, it just like kind of glossed.

[546] You can't picture that number of human beings.

[547] It's kind of unfathomable.

[548] Just, you know, but then the older you get, the more you start to understand that every single one of those numbers were a human life and it's overwhelming.

[549] So when we were on this trip, we stopped at Auschwitz.

[550] Whoa.

[551] And took the tour.

[552] And it was like, I think there were probably 30 of us kids, maybe 40 or a group of 40 total, high school kids.

[553] And there was a part, and it's so powerful when you walk through that, let's like museum of the camp, you walk down this one hallway and it's just behind glass, it's just these kind of walled off spaces.

[554] that are filled with children's shoes or spectacles, suitcases.

[555] So it's just all the stuff that was taken away and piled up.

[556] And there's so many of them.

[557] It starts to give you this sense of what exactly was happening.

[558] And it was so bewildering, even though we all knew it factually, but very distantly.

[559] And to stand there in front of it and to understand that.

[560] that what it took the, the violence and the, like, absolute, almost like a psychosis that it took to build a machine like this, to build a system like this, to exterminate a certain group of people, it's, it just like, it, even just beginning to sink in.

[561] is so mind -blowing and so upsetting when we got back on that tour bus that day it was dead silent like no one spoke for the rest of the ride until we got to the hotel like everyone was just rocked because and that's why it is so fucked when you see those like people that are at Auschwitz but they're taking selfies like that shit is so gross especially when you know what's there it's like you're so narcissistic that you're taking pictures of yourself And you're not looking around at where you are and absorbing what happened where you are.

[562] It's crazy.

[563] But anyway, yeah, I'm sorry to interrupt and sorry to make it about me. But I really, it's just to even absorb a piece of that.

[564] And that was barely if that was one of the many.

[565] Yeah.

[566] And it's really hard to do.

[567] But I feel like every single person needs to watch five minutes of a fucking, you know, Holocaust documentary just to get a sense of.

[568] and then to see these people and the thing the problem too is that these people are so emaciated and so sickly looking that you almost can't even imagine that they were ever human beings who lived normal lives right you know but you're but i think there is a little bit of footage of the warsaw ghetto right yes there is you can totally if you look up irena sendler you can there's some footage of it too in that video yeah if you can see them walking around you can see what's going on it's it's awful it's awful the graphic novel Mouse by Art Spiegelman.

[569] Somehow it's a graphic novel using animals as people and somehow it hit me harder than a lot of the books I've read about World War II and the Holocaust did.

[570] It's so powerful and so moving it.

[571] I highly recommend it.

[572] Mouse is incredible because it's about also it's about the generational effect.

[573] Yes.

[574] That that isn't just something that happened and then World War II and the Allies won and so it's okay.

[575] It's, It's like the generational effect of this kind of devastation.

[576] My grandparents just wouldn't talk about it.

[577] You just didn't talk about it.

[578] What would they say to you?

[579] What would they say?

[580] I'm Jewish.

[581] They didn't not talk about it because they weren't Jewish.

[582] It's just like, we're Catholic.

[583] Why are we talking about that?

[584] They're actually Jewish and from Eastern Europe.

[585] Oh, do you not know, Georgia?

[586] For you noobs out there.

[587] So it's this time that the Council for Aid to Jews, organized by the Polish underground resistance movement, which was codename Zagoda, is formed.

[588] Around two dozen people, including Irina, joined the secret underground network founded by psychologists Adolf Berman and other prominent scholars and, like, religious leaders and stuff.

[589] They, Zagoda focuses on getting as many people out of the ghetto as possible before they're all sent to die in the camps.

[590] And so Irina, who's using the underground name Yolanta, focuses on.

[591] on saving Jewish children and they're like, they know how she's been able to get into the ghetto already and help children.

[592] So they're like, this is your fucking, this is you.

[593] Your assignment.

[594] Here's what you're going to do.

[595] So she is disguised as an infectious control nurse.

[596] She knocks on doors in the ghetto asking parents and grandparents to please give up their children and grandchildren so she can smuggle them out.

[597] Oh, can you imagine?

[598] She started with orphans because she didn't have to ask permission from parents and then had to move on to actually saying to parents, you need to give me your children.

[599] Yeah.

[600] She has a difficult job of convincing people in the ghetto to give up their kid.

[601] They're like, can you guarantee me that they will survive and they'll be okay?

[602] And she's like, I can't guarantee you.

[603] I can even get them out of the ghetto alive because we might get caught and they'll be killed.

[604] And I will too.

[605] But I can guarantee that they will die if they stay.

[606] That's the only guarantee I can make is Triblinka.

[607] Yeah.

[608] And so these parents make this impossible decision.

[609] They're smuggled out of the ghetto in multiple ways.

[610] The main ways are hiding children under the stretcher in an ambulance, hiding them in a sack, in a trunk, in a suitcase, or something like that, and place them in a trolley, like, under the seat as if they're just like a box of, you know, whatever.

[611] Right.

[612] And they also escaped through the, so the courthouse and also a church, a Catholic, church had an entrance in the ghetto and then out into the Aryan section.

[613] So out of the ghetto.

[614] So they'd smuggled them out through the Aryan section.

[615] Or they'd go through the sewer pipes or secret underground passages.

[616] So sometimes if a child can pretend to be sick or is actually sick, she can legally take them out via the ambulance without hiding them.

[617] But one of the things is that a lot of the kids had, especially the really young infants, had to be sedated.

[618] So they would just have a fucking sack with potatoes in it with a fucking sedated kid and it's the only way to get them out without them crying right of course it's just horrible I mean but then it definitely is horrible but then I just think about how many like parents grandparents like I think I'm maybe one generation away from like when babies would cry because they were teething yeah and they but it just in the suburbs here to America and they would just stick whiskey on their guns Oh, my God.

[619] I mean, kids have been being sedated or Benadryl on a plane, right?

[620] Dumber reasons.

[621] Yes, exactly where it's just like, you know.

[622] Yeah, wait, yeah.

[623] Do you want one more tablespoon of cough syrup so we can wrap this, like, Mommy and Daddy, all right, have a key party to attend, go to bed.

[624] Why don't we have a little coating cough syrup and watch some cartoon.

[625] So, yeah, I mean, to me, it's like, yes, God, because they get them into a sack of potatoes and then make sure that nothing puts them at risk.

[626] No, totally.

[627] So, yeah, so the children will enter the church or the courthouse and leave as Christians with new fake identities.

[628] Each child was given a new Polish name, and Irina uses her contacts to place them with families or in orphanages and convents.

[629] Their children who are old enough to talk are taught Christian prayers and how to make the sign of the cross so they can convincingly pass as Aryan, which I didn't even cross my mind.

[630] that it's like, yeah, you can't just be like, hey, you're Catholic, do a fucking spectacles, testicles, wall at watch right now, and you can't do it.

[631] You're fucked.

[632] Right.

[633] Yep.

[634] You'd have to be like, I, or if somebody asked you, you're like, I'm sorry, I haven't had my first communion yet, so I don't know that.

[635] Like, they would just need to be able to speak the cultural language of, like, what it's like, yeah.

[636] She focuses on making sure anyone hiding a child understands that the child must be returned to their Jewish relatives when the war is over.

[637] So that was her, like, fucking thing is I'm going to make sure that if I'm able to, I will reunite the children with the parents.

[638] And that's what she promised them to get them to give their kids over.

[639] So once she has places to put the children, Irina goes to work creating fake identities for them.

[640] So working with other people from the social welfare department who are in on the fucking underground secret society, they make identities with false documents and forged signatures.

[641] And she's the, Irina, that was the only person who knows the identities of the kids and where they're placed.

[642] So she writes down in code the children's real names, fake names, and their locations.

[643] And then she writes this information on thin tissue paper and puts them in all the papers in jars and then buries the jars beneath an apple tree in the backyard of one of her co -conspirators, which is why the high school girls named their play, life in a jar.

[644] are you dying right now we didn't even talk about the fact that they wrote a play yeah we'll get there in the midst of all this yes okay okay okay we can talk about now i mean but i want to talk about i also want to talk about buried treasure like what have you lived in a house and suddenly you were digging and all the sudden there's these jars this is why i don't ever want to live in a newfangled house like i want to find a fucking secret wall or door or ghost or hidden treasure in the backyard well you know what next week we're going to have to talk about all the hidden treasure things we got over vacation because there was a lot.

[645] Oh, my God, we did get a lot of stuff.

[646] We did get a lot.

[647] Okay.

[648] We didn't even think about that.

[649] Oh, my God.

[650] We've been on vacation.

[651] Okay.

[652] Inevitably, the Gestapo find out what Irene has been doing, of course, after a Zagoda member gives up info on the members while he's being tortured.

[653] And on October 20th, 1943, Irene is arrested and sent to Powak Prison, which is the most notorious prison in the ghetto, from which almost no one comes out alive or escapes.

[654] and she's held for eight weeks.

[655] There, she's constantly questioned about the Zagoda, the Nazis trying to get her to give up the names of all the leaders, their addresses, and the names of everyone involved.

[656] During questioning, she's tortured, and her legs and feet are fractured.

[657] She's straight up misery style.

[658] Yeah.

[659] Fucking legs are broken and fractured.

[660] Yeah.

[661] She doesn't give up a fucking single bit of information.

[662] She gives answers that she and the Zagoda members had prepared and she's sentenced to death.

[663] However, before she can be executed, the members of Zagoda, they bribe the German executioner who helps her escape, but actually a few days later, he is executed by his Nazi comrades for not executing Sunderler.

[664] Oh, my God.

[665] Yeah, this is like twists and turns.

[666] And the executioner gets her out.

[667] Yeah.

[668] That's mind -blower.

[669] Yeah.

[670] Okay.

[671] And I think he, like, put up.

[672] up false thing saying she had been killed, and they found out that she hadn't.

[673] So they fucking are looking for her for the rest of the war.

[674] And for the rest of the war, she lives in hiding.

[675] Even though she knows the Nazis are looking for her, she continues helping the Jewish people.

[676] Oh, my God.

[677] I know.

[678] In 1945, when the war is over, she digs up the bottles in the backyard and starts trying to find the children and their parents.

[679] But, of course, unfortunately, almost all of the parents were killed in tribunal.

[680] as less than 1 % of the Jewish people inside the ghetto survived the war.

[681] Oh, God.

[682] Karen, 1 .5 million children were murdered in the Holocaust.

[683] 1 .5 million children.

[684] It's estimated that Irina and her network of 10 compatriots saved around 2 ,500 children.

[685] But despite there being so few survivors, Irene doesn't give up.

[686] She gives her coded list to the go -to officers and copies are made and people try to find relatives and parents.

[687] After the war, she marries, raises two children on her own and continued her career as a social worker in Warsaw.

[688] Through the late 1940s, Irina and the Zagoda members continue trying to find the children.

[689] So you can't find the parents, you can't find the children.

[690] They all have different names.

[691] They've moved all over the world.

[692] Yeah.

[693] One of the children that Irene and her network of 10 compatriots saved was a woman who in the 2011 book life in a jar, written by Jack Mayer, who had found out about the play and the teenagers, so he wrote the book about it, is a woman named Elzbita Fitzolska, who was rescued as a five -month -old infant.

[694] Sender had taken her out of the Warsaw ghetto by sedating her and putting her in a carpenter's box.

[695] Oh, just a tiny baby.

[696] Five months old.

[697] Her parents, when they were saying goodbye to her, left, like, insisted on leaving her with a small spoon with her first name inscribed on one side, because if she put her last name, they'd know who she was, and her birth date on the other side.

[698] And it's the only memento of her parents who were murdered in Triblinca that Elspeta has.

[699] She became one of Irene's caregivers later in her life.

[700] No. Yep.

[701] And the chairperson of the Association of Children of the Holocaust in Poland.

[702] Yeah.

[703] Another person after seeing Irina's picture, when she starts to finally get this notoriety, sees her picture in the paper and calls her and says, this man says to her, I remember your face.

[704] It was you who took me out of the ghetto.

[705] No. Yeah.

[706] I can't.

[707] Yeah.

[708] And we'll put photos on the Instagram of her.

[709] She's just.

[710] Oh, my God.

[711] Although the war is over, things are still not easy for.

[712] Irina and other Jewish people and Zagata members, communists take over Poland, and the Zagoda members are labeled as fascists.

[713] They're harassed, interrogated in prison, and even executed still.

[714] Oh, my God.

[715] Yeah.

[716] Stories of what Irina and Zagoda did during the war became secret.

[717] Even when communism falls in Poland in 1989, the stories stay a secret because Irina's elderly and she's like, her story has already been secret for long enough.

[718] Why fucking shout it from the rooftop?

[719] well right she'd have to do it herself right or like yeah what is she going to be like look at me you know that's not the point of so that doesn't seem like her start no it does not no aside from being honored as righteous among the nations which is a title in 1965 and one other article written about irena no one hears about irena's story until 1999 when the kansas high school students discover her i can't deal i know so after getting to know her the girls who are named elizabeth can't Hamers Hutton, Sabrina Coons Murphy, and Megan Felt, who I mentioned the TED Talk earlier.

[720] I should, I almost cried watching it.

[721] Oh, I have to watch it.

[722] So they write a play about Arina called Life in a Jar.

[723] So through the play, other people find out about Irina.

[724] Then articles are written about her.

[725] Other people are sharing the bravery of her life and Irene's story.

[726] It's shared throughout the world, leading millions to finally hear her story.

[727] Life in a Jar has been performed almost 400 times worldwide.

[728] oftentimes the teenagers would act in it.

[729] And when the girls, as I told you, when the girls first Googled her in 1999, there was one hit.

[730] And now there are over 400 to 800 ,000 hits.

[731] Oh, wow.

[732] Yeah.

[733] And a movie was made in 2009 called The Courageous Heart of Irina Sender starring Anna Pacquin.

[734] Wow.

[735] It was like perfect for that.

[736] Yes, yes.

[737] When asked how she felt about the Kansas students tracking her down, Irene said, I was stunned and fascinated, very, very surprised.

[738] She said, my emotion is being shadowed by the fact that no one from the circle of my faithful co -workers who constantly risked their lives could live long enough to enjoy all the honors that are now falling upon me. I can't find the words to thank you, my dear girls.

[739] Oh, I know.

[740] She was like, as we say in Yiddish, quelling.

[741] Like she couldn't fucking believe it when she found out that they were like interested in her.

[742] in 2003 irena is awarded poland's highest distinction the order of the white eagle in the same year she is the winner of the jan karski award for valor and courage and later poland names irena a national hero and there are now schools named after irena sendler in poland germany france and england as well as an annual irena sendler day established in europe and the united states however despite saving soon many and almost being executed herself in the process, Irene never believed she did enough to help.

[743] When Jack Mayer, who wrote the book, Life in a Jar, asked Sender, why she put herself and her family at such risk, she said, it was a need of my heart.

[744] I only did what any decent person would do.

[745] It was the parents and grandparents who gave up their children.

[746] They were the true heroes.

[747] Irina Sender passed away on May 12, 2008.

[748] She was 98 years old.

[749] unbelievable I never heard of this before I feel like her name sounds familiar but I didn't I've never heard this story before unsung heroes you guys let's go find them yeah wow amazing yeah nice thank you thank you all right what she got for me well I have a a very strange story for you already already in are you in I'm so in I read this article that, and I first learned about this person a couple months ago, I think it was probably back in April.

[750] And it was so mind -blowing that I was like, mind -blowing, it's kind of a survival story.

[751] It's just weird.

[752] And I thought, this will be a fun, kind of like, interesting way to get back in, you know?

[753] So I just wanted to, I wanted to know this story myself.

[754] And then once I was learning it, I was like, all right, this is a great kind of a kickoff.

[755] back from vacation, first day of school.

[756] You know, the first day of school, you don't immediately get in there and start writing a report on Abraham Lincoln.

[757] You'll crack your books and fucking...

[758] Yeah, you got to do a little painting.

[759] You got to do a little, maybe make an ashtray out of clay that you roll out into snakes.

[760] Yeah.

[761] You know, start slow.

[762] So, and the other way this ties in is, of course, on social media and everywhere.

[763] We keep seeing these horrifying stories of what traveling is like, especially on airlines during the pandemic and we're kind of probably all getting used to it because it's like we're now getting very it's a really bad horrifying behavior is getting normalized to all of us where we're just kind of watching it now and we should remember that there are people especially on these stories about like people losing their shit on airplanes there are staffs of like flight attendants and people that work on those airlines that have to deal with those people every day.

[764] Because not every story is a, they got duct taped to their seat because they were so out of control.

[765] Yeah.

[766] Although that's very common now.

[767] Yeah.

[768] But people are just aggressive, rude, strangely angry.

[769] Yeah.

[770] A lot of people dealing with with deep -seated issues and they don't know how.

[771] They're not getting help.

[772] So they're just taking a flight.

[773] Totally.

[774] To the point where Southwest just made a public, like wrote a letter of public apology to their own staff because things are getting so bad in like in in air travel and apparently but but of course these companies are excited because air travel's picking up right and it because it would slow down so much during during the quarantine that they thought they were going to add a whole bunch of flights for the holiday um you know this upcoming holiday season and both the flight attendants union and the pilots union got together and said we will strike if you add these extra flights because it's already out of control in the air.

[775] Barely fucking hanging on right now.

[776] Yeah, you can't add more and we can't act like this is an okay way for things to go.

[777] Which I love.

[778] It's very responsible of Southwest to apologize and to, they say they're considering changing that schedule.

[779] So.

[780] Yay, unions.

[781] We want to please be supportive, kind and caring to any flight attendant or especially like a person that's working at one of those desks at the airport.

[782] Did you imagine?

[783] The gatekeepers?

[784] The gatekeepers, the level they get yelled at.

[785] Oh my God.

[786] I don't understand it.

[787] People think suddenly.

[788] Yeah.

[789] The fucking five guys burger person, like at the airport.

[790] Don't be a dick.

[791] Don't be a dick to anybody in an airport or in a store or in public.

[792] Yeah.

[793] Like, you can do that to your family if that's, if you're fucked up.

[794] Yeah.

[795] But don't bring it outside.

[796] No one else needs it.

[797] That's right.

[798] Everyone's having a hard time.

[799] I think people want to be working during a fucking global pandemic?

[800] No, they have to.

[801] No, and also, do you think people want to be fighting with anti -maskers who just basically are screaming at the top of their lungs?

[802] I need therapy, but I'm afraid.

[803] Toddlers, they're having a fucking tantrums.

[804] They cannot cope.

[805] Their coping mechanisms are not working.

[806] Never have, probably.

[807] So they're like, I'm going to take a flight to Sacramento.

[808] That'll solve it.

[809] So let me yell at this person at their job.

[810] please please do the good work of helping out these people anyway the point being yeah I read back baby I read this we're back and we are off top yeah we are I read this article so this is a man whose travel horror story kind of has everyone's beat okay except for that kid that got drunk felt up some flight attendants and then got duct taped to his seat oh yeah While bragging that his parents were rich and that he was going to make everyone pay.

[811] No, no, that was an episode of Succession.

[812] Okay.

[813] This guy, his travel horror story has everyone's beat and he did it to himself.

[814] So he has kind of nowhere.

[815] He has nowhere to send that.

[816] I'm excited.

[817] So today I'm going to tell you the story about Brian Robson and his unbelievable, almost jackass level survival story.

[818] So sources for this, what I'm about to tell you are from a book called The Crate Adventure by Brian Robson.

[819] The Crate Adventure?

[820] Uh -huh.

[821] Oh, no. Yeah.

[822] An article in The Washington Post by writer Kathy Free.

[823] An article in New York Times by writer Heather Murphy, CNN and the Canadian Broadcasting Company, aka CBC.

[824] So we begin this story on May 17, 1965.

[825] Okay.

[826] at the Los Angeles International Airport.

[827] Look around you.

[828] Everything is mid -century modern because it's mid -century right now.

[829] It's a little later, 65.

[830] It's 65.

[831] That's numbers, people.

[832] How do they work?

[833] So cargo handler Gary Hatch and his co -worker, they're working in the cargo shed.

[834] His name is Gary Hatch and he works in a cargo.

[835] That's right.

[836] Beautiful.

[837] That's why I got that job.

[838] Beautiful.

[839] They're working in the cargo shed at L -A -X and they're working.

[840] organizing the cargo that's just come off the plane from Sydney, Australia.

[841] So as they're walking through the shed, they notice that there is a light coming from inside one of the larger cargo crates.

[842] So they're confused.

[843] They go over.

[844] They check the packing slip to see what's inside.

[845] And they say that the slip says that the crate contains mainframe computer parts for repair.

[846] So they figure one of the parts must have turned on during the flight.

[847] So Gary checks the crate and he's looking for like a knot hole in the woods so he can see inside to see what's actually going on.

[848] But when he finds one and puts his eye up to it, he jumps back in horror and yells, there's a body in there.

[849] So Gary and his co -worker, they run to get their supervisor and then of course in telling the supervisor the story, everybody around hears that there's a dead body in a crate.

[850] So a whole group of curious cargo handlers follow along with the supervisor and Gary and his coworker and they all go back and one by one they take turns looking into the crate to try to see that if it's a dead body and to look and then one handler puts his eye up and he sees an eye and then the eye moves and that guy yells it's not a body he's alive so this is where the story actually ends so let's now go to the beginning Here we go.

[851] And it begins in Cardiff, Wales, in 1945.

[852] Oh, that cliffs of Job.

[853] I don't know.

[854] So, okay, so born on June 4th, 1945, Brian Robson grows up in a working class area of Cardiff.

[855] He lives with his sister and his mother until his father, who was a soldier in World War II, slightly related.

[856] Oh, my God.

[857] He returns from fighting as the family kind of reunites and grows the.

[858] the father resents his son's presence.

[859] He wants to be the only man in the house.

[860] And by Brian's own account, his father had an anger problem, which was made worse by a drinking problem.

[861] So there's constant fighting.

[862] And then on top of that, Brian finds Cardiff and life in Cardiff incredibly boring.

[863] I think he was right.

[864] It rains all the time.

[865] The pubs are closed on Sundays.

[866] And the only other entertainment there for young people is a movie theater or a dance hall.

[867] but both of those require money, which few people have, and Brian doesn't have.

[868] So on June 4th, 1963, it's Brian's 18th birthday, and he gets a job as a bus conductor for the Western Welsh Omnibus Company.

[869] He likes it.

[870] It gets him out of the house.

[871] It pays more than his last job.

[872] He went from making four pounds to 10 pounds a week, but still, that isn't enough money for him to move out of his parents' house, which he really wants to do.

[873] So one morning in March of 1964, he said, flipping through the newspaper in the classified section and he sees an ad for a job opening with the railway in Victoria, Australia.

[874] So this job pays even more money than his current job and not only does it get him out of his parents' house, but out of Cardiff entirely.

[875] Amen.

[876] So leave their hometown, everyone.

[877] You got to.

[878] Even if it's beautiful fucking Wales.

[879] Yeah, exactly.

[880] Just go see other beautiful places and then come back so you can appreciate.

[881] That's right.

[882] the beauty of Wales and serenity.

[883] So that same afternoon, Brian goes on his midday break from work down to Queen Street Railway Station because they're holding walk -in interviews for these jobs.

[884] So he has experience in public transit and he passes the medical exam for a general health clearance.

[885] So he's offered a job on the spot.

[886] Sure.

[887] So he has to wait another three months until his 19th birthday to be actually eligible.

[888] but so in the meantime the Australian government mails him paperwork to be filled out before he leaves and that's when he finds out this job has perks it includes housing and airfare so he doesn't have to worry about paying for his plane ticket or paying for a place to live once he gets there and they're going to be issuing Brian a one -time international travel pass so he doesn't even need to get a passport so he's like I'm set the job requires Brian to stay in Australia for at least two years that's like the exchange.

[889] Then after that, he's free to return to the UK if he wants to.

[890] So if he decides to leave Australia before that, he has to reimburse the government for his plane ticket and pay for his own way back home.

[891] So basically he has to pay for two tickets if he bails early.

[892] So when the day finally arrives in June of 1964, his brother -in -law takes him to the London airport because it's so long ago, it wasn't even called Heathrow yet.

[893] And there he checks him with the Australian consulate they give him his little brown ID travel card he checks his bag and he boards quantus airlines um to fly to Sydney and then he catches a connecting flight from Sydney to Melbourne in all the journey takes how long would you say Georgia 18 hours it's a little bit longer 26 59 hours is the whole trip why I don't know that's not an amount of time for traveling I thought I assumed England would be closer than we are So I don't know if it's there He had a bunch of layovers That's what's got to be He bought like a red eye and they're like We're stopping in Germany We're stopping in Italy We're stopping I don't know No, that's not okay 59 hours No Okay so he gets there He's understandably exhausted And Associates of the Victoria Railway meet Brian and the other new hires at the airport and they take them to their new living space but when they get there Brian's horrified because it is a dismal rat infested hostel that houses 100 railway workers everyone sleeps two to a room a common a communal bathroom that's all concrete oh someone lied to you right they have a canteen which sounds like it's like the same as a cafe here they have a common area that has a TV and that's it no no it's dirty and dingy and Brian immediately hates it yes now we might be able to discern from this that Brian doesn't like a ton of stuff you know what Brian is a negative Nancy I think he has a very fancy taste yes but um yeah so he's bumming sure on arrival on arrival okay so his luckily his roommate works on a rail line that travels across state lines.

[894] So that guy's usually gone for weeks at a time.

[895] So Brian has the room to himself usually.

[896] And he makes two friends on the plane ride over.

[897] And those two end up being roommates.

[898] So in his free time, Brian has these two buddies to hang out with.

[899] They all agree that it sucks where they are living.

[900] Yeah.

[901] Misery loves company, man. Yeah, right?

[902] They can all bitch and they're all friends.

[903] from the UK, but none of them know their way around, you know, Melbourne, so they don't even know where they could go if they did have plans.

[904] Sorry.

[905] What's going on with me?

[906] When I print on both sides of the paper, I'm destroyed.

[907] Like, I can't figure it out.

[908] And I have these numbered.

[909] You just turn those over, that over four or five times.

[910] Is it on the third side?

[911] Okay, there it is.

[912] Okay.

[913] Okay.

[914] I stopped on the wrong one.

[915] Okay, so they decide that they're just going to stay at the hostel and work that railway job until they learn the area better.

[916] So the first week of work is all training.

[917] Brian's one of the 20 new hires.

[918] They all need to learn the rail lines, the stations and what their duties are.

[919] He's glad to find out that the station where the trainings held has its own canteen slash cafeteria, where the food is way better.

[920] Because the food at the hostel is gelatinous, greasy, and has unidentifiable chunks floating in it.

[921] Cool.

[922] So one of his fellow new hires is a local who agrees to show Brian and his two new friends around town.

[923] So that night after work, they go to the downtown area and they look around to the shops and the restaurants and the pubs.

[924] And that's when Brian notices that all the pubs are closed.

[925] And that's when Brian learns that all pubs there close at 6 o 'clock by law.

[926] And they're all closed on Sunday entirely, just like in Cardiff.

[927] Great.

[928] So he starts to feel like maybe he's in a worse situation than he was when he started.

[929] That's what happens when you're in your 19, 20 -year -old phase.

[930] It's almost like the name of the game.

[931] When you're in your like early 20s, things just kind of like they just suck.

[932] Everything sucks.

[933] And you're a brat about it.

[934] No one cares or feels bad for you because you're being a brat.

[935] but you're right everything sucks you're right but you but when you get older you start learning that like i got to bring a little something to this and my expectations have to be why did you think you're going to go why would they pay for your ticket yeah yeah if it was great think it through yeah yeah okay so just before they're supposed to start work on the railway brian's only two friends find themselves a new job in dandynong um working at a general motorist factory.

[936] So they, his friends leave.

[937] And they have better places to live over there.

[938] So they come back for Brian saying there's still openings at the factory.

[939] So Brian jumps at the chance to do anything else.

[940] But when he gets there for an interview, the company says he needs to be at least 20 years old to work there.

[941] And he's nine months shy of his 20th birthday.

[942] So about six or seven months into his stay.

[943] So it's basically at this time, it's between November and December of 1964.

[944] One of Brian's co -worker friends, who's a local named Bob, shows up late for work.

[945] And apparently this was Bob's last warning.

[946] So the supervisor fires him.

[947] And this pisses Brian off.

[948] So he decides enough is enough and he quits on the spot and leaves with Bob.

[949] Fucking 19 year olds.

[950] Right?

[951] Because part of him is like, you know what?

[952] Fuck this shit.

[953] Like it's the perfect excuse.

[954] But then it's also a very noble excuse.

[955] You can't do that to Bob, whose last name I've never learned.

[956] So now Brian's attempt is determined to get the hell out of Australia and get back home to Wales as quickly as possible.

[957] But of course, he's screwed, right?

[958] He hasn't finished his two -year contract.

[959] So the cost for reimbursing them for his plane ticket there and the cost of buying a ticket home would run him between 7 and 800 pounds.

[960] Oh, my God.

[961] He makes 30 pounds.

[962] week.

[963] No, no, no, too much money.

[964] So he'd be, it would be impossible for him to, like, wait around and save up to do it.

[965] So on top of that, uh, because he traveled to Australia on a one -time travel pass, he doesn't have a passport to leave.

[966] Oh my God.

[967] So also never do that.

[968] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[969] Don't, don't go like, oh, I'll take your separate ID.

[970] Yeah, I'll take your word for that.

[971] Okay.

[972] So now he's desperate to leave and he gets this idea.

[973] He and his fired friend, Bob, he's also interested in getting out of Australia are going to stow away on a ship heading for the UK.

[974] All right.

[975] I'm on board.

[976] I can't do it.

[977] I wasn't on purpose.

[978] Oh, did you do it on purpose?

[979] No, but I loved it.

[980] Okay, so using stolen checks.

[981] Oh, okay.

[982] Brian and Bob make their way up to nearby Sydney from Melbourne.

[983] Okay.

[984] And then because Brian thought that if they got up to the city of Darwin, which is 25.

[985] 500 miles to the north that there would be ships going leaving for the UK out of Darwin.

[986] So they hitchhike across the fucking Australian outback 2 ,500 miles from Sydney up to Darwin.

[987] So if Australia is a clock Darwin is noon, Sydney is 4 and Melbourne is about 5 -ish, 530.

[988] So when they get there, they learn that boats for the UK leave from Sydney.

[989] Guys, little research.

[990] Little background.

[991] Ask one guy.

[992] Ask one dude.

[993] Ask Bob to ask a different local.

[994] Yeah.

[995] But no. So now they have to get back down to Sydney.

[996] Oh my God.

[997] Can you imagine?

[998] So the phrase that Jay used in this research says, Brian makes his way back first, which of course made me laugh out loud because I was like, those bitches got into a big, about whose fault it was.

[999] They split up.

[1000] And they were like, bye.

[1001] So Brian basically makes his way back down first.

[1002] And because there was no information super highway back then, as we know in the 60s, what there was was long lost ants.

[1003] And Brian's got one in the area.

[1004] Thank God.

[1005] Man, ants fucking save the day again.

[1006] Up, all the way.

[1007] Praise them all the way up.

[1008] Can we get some fucking credit for once?

[1009] We do it.

[1010] Yeah.

[1011] Especially one more long and long.

[1012] Because that's where we like it.

[1013] It's like, oh, you're my relative, but I don't have to deal with you that much.

[1014] Of course I'll help you out here in Sydney, Australia.

[1015] I don't even know you, but I'll help you because I'm a long -lost aunt.

[1016] Because that's what long -lost aunts do, honey.

[1017] Now, leave my apartment.

[1018] Don't steal my nice jewelry.

[1019] So, okay, so Brian's long -lost aunt who lives in the area has a friend named Jack who agrees to help Brian.

[1020] Jack has a ticket for a ship headed for the UK.

[1021] And with that ticket, he got several visitor's passes that allow visitors on board the ship while it's docked to come and see him.

[1022] So Jack says he'll get them on board using those passes and then hide them in their luggage away in his cabin for the journey.

[1023] So when Bob hears this plan, he's like, dude, I was there for your Darwin plan and that went so poorly that I'm not going to do this.

[1024] What?

[1025] This is foolproof.

[1026] No, Bob is not having any.

[1027] So he backs out.

[1028] but Brian's like I'm I need to get out of here please he boards the ship successfully and they take off for the UK uh time to rest and relax right no you mean another there's a yet another wrinkle in the plan okay it turns out that once the men are at sea jack finds Brian and says he didn't know there would be so many people in his cabin eight people to a cabin no there's too many people again you thought you were going to be alone and you get there and there's seven other motherfuckers in the cabin?

[1029] Everyone needs to do more research in this story, except for you.

[1030] Guys, except for Jay, actually.

[1031] We're going to be fair.

[1032] So he basically says, I can't keep you in the room.

[1033] But they're already at sea?

[1034] They're already at sea.

[1035] Aye, ve.

[1036] So Brian gets left out on the deck just to kind of fend for himself.

[1037] Get a sunburn and fight with the pelicans.

[1038] What he gets is, could be depending on who you are, could be worse.

[1039] He gets seasick.

[1040] Oh, no, not good.

[1041] Yeah.

[1042] He gets so seasick that one of the crew members actually takes him to the infirmary.

[1043] Yeah, stay there.

[1044] It's that bad, right?

[1045] Yes, except for in his, like, he's dazed by his vomiting, he tells them his real name, and they immediately find out he's not on the ship's register.

[1046] He's not a real passenger.

[1047] He could have given the long lost uncle's name.

[1048] Exactly.

[1049] But he was too throw -upy.

[1050] Okay.

[1051] You know how it is when you're so, you're like, you're up and then you're set.

[1052] Oh, my name's Brian.

[1053] Oh, I'm sick.

[1054] I can't handle barfing.

[1055] Okay, so the captain sympathizes with Brian's situation Enough to not charge him for a crime Okay, pretty nice But he does have to leave him at the next port they go to Which is New Zealand So he basically just gets one country over So he gets off the ship And Brian then calls his friend Bob who bailed Yeah, yeah And luckily Bob's family is able to loan Brian the money For a plane ticket back to Australia no so he's back at square one that's the only place you get to but once he's back it isn't long before the police catch up to him for the the check stolen checks oh yeah and now he has to go serve 60 days in jail in Brisbane oh no he did the crime and now he has to do the time sure does so uh but then he gets excited because brian's like this is awesome they're going to deport me because i committed this crime but instead he just has to serve as 60 days and they release him in Brisbane with no money nowhere to go he's he's just kind of lost and alone this is like going on our tour that we went on in Australia Brisbane and Melbourne and Sydney right the Gold Coast they didn't go to Darwin but next time next time we're up in Darwin we'll take a ship okay so Brian makes his way to Melbourne he finds a cheap place to say a suburb called St. Kilda, and there he starts working in a paper mill, but he thinks it's incredibly boring.

[1056] Oh my God, dude.

[1057] Have you learned?

[1058] Nothing.

[1059] Grow the fuck up.

[1060] He just won't.

[1061] He won't admit that he's boring and the jobs are just regular.

[1062] All I could think is like, that's someone's kid who's like, I wanted a child and I went, they were the apple of my eye.

[1063] I thought they would be this wonder.

[1064] And then it's Brian.

[1065] And you're just like, why did I have kids?

[1066] Wait, but see, the beginning part of this story is all kind of about Brian under the gun.

[1067] Brian in not the greatest situations.

[1068] Maybe Brian's a little, maybe Brian has some.

[1069] Fluck?

[1070] Well, I was going to say, you know, sure, he doesn't like stuff.

[1071] Maybe he's a little bit of a tough customer.

[1072] But, and that's what gets him into this in the first place, where it's just like, here's the thing, Brian, once you land at this place, yes, it has a shitty communal bath.

[1073] him.

[1074] Yes, the TV and the food sucks.

[1075] But just wind out your time.

[1076] You know what he needs to do is learn mindfulness.

[1077] He needs to learn the rain process.

[1078] Download an app, a meditation app, and learn to feel those feelings.

[1079] Feel those feelings.

[1080] Be mindful of your situation.

[1081] Hey, look, there's this thing.

[1082] This is my situation I'm in.

[1083] Going to make the best of it.

[1084] Hey, what's that smell?

[1085] A paper mill?

[1086] Yeah.

[1087] Interesting.

[1088] You know, don't always be negative.

[1089] Yeah.

[1090] have you ever smelled a paper mill no are they disgusting and they're really bad it's really bad of your lungs right i think it's bad for everybody and everything i think that's why portland is fucked right well is it fucked yeah what do you mean like the air quality is horrible oh oh because of that i do know there's one that's like on the way to right at washington right up right up right up over the thing correct listen everyone who works at pal's bookstore correct me if i'm wrong hey hey you know what pal's bookstore isn't going to say shit because that's paper mill is making those books that make their life possible.

[1091] Let's say thank you to paper mill.

[1092] To the top of the paper mill.

[1093] That's right.

[1094] Big paper.

[1095] So, all right.

[1096] Now, at least he's got a job in a steady income.

[1097] And then I wrote here, I'd just like to note that Brian's problem with finding things boring has created some serious problems in his life.

[1098] That's a good observation.

[1099] Karen, it's very mindful of you.

[1100] And then I put read a fucking booker, learn to play the piano.

[1101] Stop being boring.

[1102] Okay.

[1103] He's been in Australia now, for 10 months.

[1104] It's April 1965.

[1105] So one day he decided to go visit the old hostel whereas Australian adventure began because it's only a 20 minute walk from his new job, his boring new job.

[1106] So he ventures over looks around.

[1107] It's the same as when he left it, except this time he meets two Irishmen Paul and John.

[1108] And they're working for the railway now as Brian once did and they also don't like Australia that much.

[1109] So they all once again bond on the mutual dislike of Australia.

[1110] And they become fast friends and they start hanging out all the time.

[1111] Paul tells the group about a British trade exhibition that's happening at the Melbourne showground.

[1112] So they all decide to go.

[1113] And while they're there, they walk past a booth for a UK -based moving company called Pickford's.

[1114] And Pickford's slogan is, we can move anything anywhere.

[1115] And so Brian cracks a joke saying, maybe they can move us.

[1116] And they all laugh about it.

[1117] But then later on, Brian finds himself thinking about it.

[1118] more and more.

[1119] So the next day, he goes down to the local Qantas airline office and he asked them about their overseas shipping services.

[1120] Oh, no. He finds out the size and weight requirements for the largest box they allow and he and what paperwork is necessary for it.

[1121] And he finds out that the payment for the freight can be made upon delivery.

[1122] So he doesn't have to pay anything up front.

[1123] Brian's hilarious joke is becoming more real by the moment.

[1124] He convinces John and Paul to help him.

[1125] And now what would be great is if it turned out that this was the origin story for the Beatles.

[1126] It's Brian, John and Paul, and then George and Ringo are a longshoreman that are going to unpack it in Liverpool.

[1127] Oh, my God.

[1128] This is too late in the timeline.

[1129] I made all that up.

[1130] Okay.

[1131] It takes some searching, but Brian finally finds himself the perfect traveling box.

[1132] Okay, it's a wooden crate measuring 30 inches by 26 inches, by 38 inches, which is the maximum shipping size at Qantas.

[1133] Okay.

[1134] That's two and a half feet.

[1135] Okay.

[1136] By a little over two feet, by a little over three feet.

[1137] So think of it three feet high.

[1138] So sit in.

[1139] Two feet wide and then two feet like two feet this way and then two and a half feet that way.

[1140] So you could sit crisscross applesauce.

[1141] Yes.

[1142] Comfortably.

[1143] With a suitcase apparently.

[1144] Oh, right.

[1145] Okay.

[1146] Okay.

[1147] So because Brian's 5 -7, but he comes in at a slender 120 pounds.

[1148] So he's going to be able to fit in this thing with his suitcase without going over the shipping weight limit.

[1149] Damn, Brian hasn't figured out.

[1150] I'm sorry, I talk so much shit on you.

[1151] Look, we really, we rake Brian over the coals, but this is how it is in a modern society.

[1152] Okay.

[1153] So the Irishman, Paul, and John, come over to Brian's place after work to help him rig the crate for travel.

[1154] they make a thin rope from pieces of string they nail the ends to the inside of the crate and they kind of make like a seat belt for him to keep him kind of like in place in case the crate gets tossed around this is some Pinterest shit oh yeah they get in there like they're fucking crafting yeah they make a they make a real plan of it they fasten two bottles one for water and one for pee don't mix them up and a flashlight they fasten all of those inside the crate and then his plan is to sit upright in the crate with his knees to his chest and a pillow behind him for support while his suitcase stands upright kind of like right next to him oh like a side table but real tall okay like a tall side table he gets in to test it out and everything fits just as planned he's like I could live here yes he's like I'm loving this I'm loving that.

[1155] So along with the bottles of flashlight, the pillows in the suitcase, Brian, packs himself a book of Beatles song lyrics.

[1156] I swear to God, I didn't know about that part.

[1157] You swear.

[1158] When I did the first research pass, I did not know about that part was coming.

[1159] Remember when you said, hey, Brian, read a book, figure something out.

[1160] That's the book.

[1161] Like, clearly he's not listening to you.

[1162] He's reading song lyrics.

[1163] Let me tell you something.

[1164] Can't buy me love.

[1165] Can't buy me love.

[1166] Can't buy me love.

[1167] Hey, Brian.

[1168] Those are the lyrics.

[1169] Here's why you're bored.

[1170] You're reading.

[1171] songs you listen to them they're better and it's not like a punk rock song where you can't understand the lyrics it's fucking beetles which could not be clearer okay along with all that stuff I said Brian packs himself a book of lyrics did it and for entertainment it says and a hammer so he can break out of the crate once he arrives I mean that's kind of smart in London so like bust out of it like a birthday cake party like a stripper in a big cake he decides not to bring any food because he doesn't want to have to do anything more than pee on this trip smart it's estimated to be a 48 hour trip oh my god yeah there oh he's rolling the dice here in many ways so John one of the Irishmen steals letterhead from the Victoria Railway and drafts up a phony paperwork he makes two copies of the way bill that says what's inside the box and the guys settle on quote mainframe computer parts for repair right because it seems official enough that probably none of the cargo handlers are going to know about computers to care enough to poke around inside.

[1172] And kind of boring, so no one's going to try to steal the contents.

[1173] Yeah, it's like, it's just a bunch of like reel to reel ribbons.

[1174] Yeah, yeah.

[1175] And beep boops.

[1176] So he makes, then he makes an invoice saying the bill will be paid upon pickup in London.

[1177] So Brian then makes two signs that say, fragile handle with care and this side up nails him to the end.

[1178] outside of the crate.

[1179] And then he calls Qantas and schedules a drop off any time before noon on Wednesday, May 12th, 1965.

[1180] And then they arrange for a taxi truck to come and pick the crate up off of his lawn.

[1181] So basically, this taxi truck is going to take this crate to the airport and then drop it off.

[1182] All right, guys.

[1183] So when the taxi truck arrives, the driver uses a small forklift to pick up the crate with Brian inside and load it onto the truck bed before he pulls away oh sorry I skipped a paragraph that's basically the Irishman call in sick to work so they can nail him into the crate and then they get caught by Brian's neighbor who's like what do you guys do it and then they all start just talking and like ignore her and she walks away so basically as the truck as they load him into the truck John leans in and whispers good luck to the crate and with that Brian's on his way to the Melbourne airport.

[1184] So the taxi truck takes Brian to the Qantas Airlines freight shed as expected and he later will say the first 10 minutes was fine but your knees start to cramp up when they're stuck to your chest.

[1185] The first 10 minutes and you have 48 hours brosoph.

[1186] Like what are you doing?

[1187] How long?

[1188] I mean like truly how long could you?

[1189] My knees are cracking already.

[1190] Oh.

[1191] So Brian distracts by watching the cargo handlers work through small slits in the crate.

[1192] He hears one of them say that Brian's box is headed for Sydney, the connecting flight before going to London, and then everything goes dark and quiet after Brian's loaded into the cargo hold.

[1193] Ten minutes later, he hears the engines roar through the darkness.

[1194] Soon he's in the air.

[1195] The first leg is about 90 minutes, and Brian's excited, as excited as he is nervous.

[1196] But there's another complication he hadn't thought of the lack of oxygen in the cargo holds.

[1197] Yeah, bro.

[1198] Yeah.

[1199] So because this part of the plane isn't pressurized, there's very little oxygen.

[1200] Oh, God, your ears.

[1201] And he has to breathe hard just to just to kind of keep breathing.

[1202] So once he arrives in Sydney, things take a turn for the worst.

[1203] Literally, a careless cargo handler fails to read the this side up sign.

[1204] And Brian's crate winds up upside down.

[1205] So now he's on his head and neck, upset and in pain, but he doesn't want to blow his cover because he's made it this far.

[1206] So he keeps quiet as an intense headache sets in.

[1207] Wait, so he was strapped in?

[1208] He was like strapped in by his little weird ropes.

[1209] So, okay, so now he's stuck upside down.

[1210] He's stuck upside.

[1211] This is one of my nightmares.

[1212] You'll die.

[1213] They'll die that way.

[1214] Yes.

[1215] And what a terrible way to go.

[1216] Just like the worst.

[1217] I hate, I hate it.

[1218] And also, God forbid, you have any kind of a claustrophobia issue listening to this podcast.

[1219] Because this is a true nightmare.

[1220] But he did it to himself.

[1221] Yeah, he did to himself.

[1222] If it were you, you could get out at any time.

[1223] And he clearly doesn't have that problem.

[1224] So that's good.

[1225] Let's start talking about all the positive sides.

[1226] Be mindful.

[1227] Here we go.

[1228] Okay.

[1229] So he's stuck in this position for minutes, then hours.

[1230] He feels like his neck is about to snap.

[1231] he hopes whoever loads him onto the plane for London pays attention to the signs on the box and flips him over then night comes he's still sitting upside down on the tarmac and he doesn't know why his flight to London should have left by now and he should be on it and not only that but it's a cold night the wind is whipping through the crate slats and he's chilled to the bone it isn't until the next day that a forklift finally comes along and flips Brian right side up the next day so he does his best to massage his neck with his hands he of course can barely move as he later recalls he was upside down for about 22 to 24 hours horrifying soon after Brian feels himself being moved onto another plane there's lots of noises voices shuffling and then there's not the cargo hold goes dark the engine of this plane fires up and Brian is once again in the air for the second leg of his journey.

[1232] So again, he has very little oxygen.

[1233] He uses a breathing method involving short, sharp gulps to take in as much air as possible, but the pains in his neck, back, and knees are getting worse and worse and worse.

[1234] He hasn't been able to stretch out in about a day and a half at this point, and it's getting harder to ignore.

[1235] He doesn't have any way to stretch his legs unless he breaks out of the box.

[1236] So he opts for pulling his knees in even tighter and then pushing his feet against the side of the crate and then periodically releasing from that position just to get a little bit of movement going if there's any point where he was like this was a mistake yes i think hour one of upside down so many options to escape at that point before getting on the second flight and he didn't do it no i mean that's the that's the one thing that does that makes this not a panic -inducing torture story is he is making these choices and he has the hammer in his hand the whole time he could break out of anytime he could yeah so the pain from doing this is actually worse but then the relief he feels from releasing the tighter hold is an improvement and hey at least it's not boring so as time wears on brian feels his body temperature changing drastically at one moment he's boiling hot the next he's freezing cold he doesn't know if it's because the actual temperature is changing in the plane or if his temperature regulation inside his body is on the fritz.

[1237] And to make matters worse, he starts having wild hallucinations.

[1238] Oh, my God.

[1239] And he's unable to tell what's real and what's not.

[1240] Dude.

[1241] Okay, so here's an example of one.

[1242] He imagines that the captain's making an announcement that the plane is going to crash unless they lighten the load.

[1243] So then the captain asked for volunteers to leap out of the plane to save the rest of the passengers.

[1244] And when no one volunteers, the crew starts to, throwing packages and suitcases off the flight.

[1245] They make their way to Brian's crate and he screams saying he's inside and he tries to stop them and he can see this several thousand foot drop through the crate slit and he knows he's about to die and then boom, he's back to reality, stuck inside a dark crate in the plane's cargo hold imagining things.

[1246] I think you got a chance to read that lyric book at any point?

[1247] Turn on that little flashlight.

[1248] Oh my God.

[1249] Okay, so the hours drag on like this with Brian's suffering intense physical pain and paranoia.

[1250] At one point, his muscles completely seize up and he can't even wiggle his feet anymore.

[1251] Eventually, he just assumes he's dying.

[1252] He wishes it would just happen so he could get it over with already.

[1253] But at long last, after four days in the air, the plane finally lands.

[1254] In that crate.

[1255] Yes.

[1256] That is stupid.

[1257] I mean, it's so beyond.

[1258] So he, so it lands.

[1259] He must have been so thrilled.

[1260] He, he can tell the cargo hold is opening.

[1261] And then he hears the familiar sound of the handlers kind of shuffling around.

[1262] He's, the crate gets taken out of the plane, transferred to the cargo holding shed, along with the rest of the packages.

[1263] And so once he's settled there and he, the outside noise begins to recede, his excitement starts to set in.

[1264] He's made it.

[1265] Now all he has to do is break out of the box and, find a way home.

[1266] So I can't believe he didn't die.

[1267] I can't either.

[1268] I mean, he probably should have died, but if he weren't like a dumb teenage boy, it's right.

[1269] He has that dumb teenage boy luck.

[1270] Yeah.

[1271] He figures he'll grab his hammer, break out, and try to make his way to a passenger heavy area with his suitcase.

[1272] So just like blend in amongst the crowd and then, and then just find his way out.

[1273] Worse case scenario, he gets caught.

[1274] He explains the situation.

[1275] He's already made it to London.

[1276] So surely no one will send him back to Australia if he's going to.

[1277] caught.

[1278] So Brian decides it'll be best to leave that night, but he has no idea what time it is.

[1279] So he reaches for his flashlight so he can check the time on his watch.

[1280] But his hands won't move.

[1281] Any attempt he makes to move them just hits him with searing pain.

[1282] It takes several excruciating attempts to reach forward for the flashlight.

[1283] So he has to just like by tiny, tiny micro movements, try to get this flashlight.

[1284] You destroyed yourself.

[1285] Yeah.

[1286] So finally he reaches it.

[1287] He turns it on, but he's lost the strength to hold it, and it drops to the bottom of the crate, shining its light out through the slits.

[1288] Oh, no. And now he has to muster up the strength to reach down and pick it up.

[1289] He sits there for a few minutes trying to gather the strength when he hears footsteps approaching.

[1290] It's two cargo handlers shuffling around and talking to each other, but the voices Brian's hearing don't have.

[1291] English accents.

[1292] Now.

[1293] And now he's worried.

[1294] He has no idea where he's landed.

[1295] Oh, no. He listens closer and realizes the workers' accents are American.

[1296] Little did Brian know his intended flight for London had been canceled, and he'd been rerouted to Los Angeles.

[1297] Oh, my goodness.

[1298] So once again, Brian's traveled thousands of miles in the complete opposite direction of where he wants to be.

[1299] Oh, foiled again.

[1300] Okay.

[1301] So when the cargo handlers at LAX finally pry open the crate, they find a very dazed and barely still alive, Brian, inside.

[1302] He is so stiff from being cramped up in that crate for so long that he can't stretch his limbs out on his own.

[1303] No way.

[1304] He can't move his body at all.

[1305] They have to help him unbend his arms and legs to lift him out of the crate.

[1306] Was it worth it, dude?

[1307] Brian later remembers that he, quote, had no control over his body at all.

[1308] Yeah.

[1309] He tries to speak to his rescuers.

[1310] No sound comes out.

[1311] He had just one bottle of water for nearly five days.

[1312] Oh, my God.

[1313] He's dehydrated and he's starving.

[1314] Okay, so soon crowds of first responders and other people pour onto the scene.

[1315] FBI agents, the LAPD, the airport police, airline workers who have heard about it.

[1316] And then, of course, news photographers.

[1317] Once his body's straightened out, Brian has rushed to the hospital where he's examined by several doctors.

[1318] He's given oxygen.

[1319] He's placed in an aerated hot water bath to help relax his muscles and regain feeling in his limbs.

[1320] That sounds nice.

[1321] It does, actually.

[1322] They feed him cold water and ice cream to moisten and soothe his dry throat.

[1323] It takes at least six days in the hospital for Brian to make a full recovery.

[1324] Doctors inform him that if he, He had continued on the flight to London.

[1325] He would not have survived.

[1326] So almost immediately, reporters and news cameras roll into the hospital.

[1327] They want to talk to the man who mailed himself across the planet.

[1328] Back in Cardiff, a Welsh news crew shows up at Brian's parents' house and tell them about their son's crazy journey.

[1329] You're in trouble.

[1330] So literally, one news channel interviews Brian and broadcast it on the BBC.

[1331] The other one interviews his parents and broadcasts it in the state.

[1332] The media blitz rages on for the next few days, causing visitors to show up at the hospital to see Brian.

[1333] They wish him well.

[1334] They bring him gifts.

[1335] Some people even give him cash to try to help him out.

[1336] But once he's healthy enough to finally leave the hospital, he's taken directly to the FBI.

[1337] Yeah, dude.

[1338] Yeah.

[1339] Because you don't mess around on planes in any form.

[1340] No, that's some federal shit.

[1341] Don't tamper with mail.

[1342] That's right.

[1343] It's fucking a federal offense.

[1344] It's a federal.

[1345] Okay.

[1346] So a few Australian lawmakers Consider pressing charges As do the American authorities One lawmaker calls Brian a quote Apparently useless young man Which hey we've been mean to Brian on this podcast But this is that's a bit much That is such an insult Like that is Because also putting apparently in the beginning It's kind of like you're not even bothering To worry about what you're saying about him I don't even care Whatever Oh my God that's hilarious Okay so once the FBI confirms that Brian is indeed a citizen of Wales and his whole story checks out they decide to let it go no legal charges are filed and Brian's given a first class seat on a Pan Am flight back to the UK for free.

[1347] No that is bullshit.

[1348] They heard they figure he'd been through enough and it was time for him to get back home.

[1349] Don't reward bad behavior everyone.

[1350] It was the 60s the whites did whatever they wanted.

[1351] That's true.

[1352] So So when Brian's flight lands, he's greeted by another media blitz, of course.

[1353] Oh, my God.

[1354] After some photographs and interviews, he makes his way back to his parents home and later remembers that when he finally got there, his family was, quote, happy to see me, but weren't happy about what I'd done.

[1355] Yeah.

[1356] You're shite.

[1357] So fame actually follows Brian Robson for a little while longer.

[1358] He does not like it.

[1359] It makes him very uncomfortable.

[1360] Are you mad?

[1361] So he's made a full metal recovery.

[1362] yes he has made a full metal recovery he rocked the entire time devil horns above his head okay he's made a full medical recovery but he the nightmare of the experience continues to haunt him obviously but slowly he goes back to living a normal life he eventually marries has a family of his own has a job a very nice quiet job that he works at and until he's 60 years old and then he's he retires.

[1363] So he's learned his lesson about being, you know, wishy -washy.

[1364] Okay.

[1365] He becomes Normcore.

[1366] Yeah.

[1367] And everything's fine.

[1368] He gets, he gets Normcore in the 70s, which was the coolest time to do it.

[1369] Yeah.

[1370] But of course, he can never shake the experience of being trapped in that crate.

[1371] He says, quote, it's a part of my life that in all honesty, I'd like to forget, but in all practicality, I could never forget.

[1372] Yeah, because of my favorite murder.

[1373] Yeah.

[1374] For real.

[1375] Brian Robinson is now 70s.

[1376] years old and he's written an autobiography about his experience called the crate escape.

[1377] Oh.

[1378] Right?

[1379] Remember?

[1380] Yes.

[1381] It's all coming together.

[1382] That is beautiful.

[1383] It came out in April of this year.

[1384] Oh, but the name alone makes me not mad at him.

[1385] The crate escape.

[1386] The crate escape.

[1387] It's the best.

[1388] So he took all that PTSD and terrible, I mean, horrifying after effects of an experience that traumatic.

[1389] And he wrote himself a book about it, which is genius.

[1390] In the years since his adventure, Brian's traveled to other parts of the world, but he has no desire to return to Australia.

[1391] It's not their fault.

[1392] No, it really isn't.

[1393] And, you know, Australia is really beautiful and fun, and all of the food is fresh, and the people have gorgeous skin.

[1394] I would just say don't do it in a crate, not don't go to Australia.

[1395] You've crossed wires somewhere around there.

[1396] Don't take a random job that you don't know any of the, True details of.

[1397] You've missed the entire moral of your own story.

[1398] Never give anyone your passport.

[1399] Was that in there?

[1400] He has been trying to locate his two Irish friends.

[1401] John and Paul, who helped him out, but so far he hasn't had any luck.

[1402] There are rumors of a documentary being made about this.

[1403] And so maybe they will find those two Irish men.

[1404] I want to talk to Bob, too.

[1405] Bob should definitely be in this documentary.

[1406] Oh, and fucking classy.

[1407] aunt long lost aunt oh the long lost well i bet she's long lost at this point if he's 76 unless he has an aunt that's 130 and in this doc when asked what his preferred method of travel is these days he replied let's just put it this way i will never get into another crate again oh shit and that is the bizarre and never boring survival story of brian robson the welsh crate man amazing i see you have a photo back there.

[1408] Let me see.

[1409] I've got you a couple photos.

[1410] I've been waiting this whole time.

[1411] This is Brian when he landed in London after everything was over.

[1412] Hey.

[1413] Right?

[1414] Yeah.

[1415] Doesn't he look like a pure hipster?

[1416] Pure British hipster.

[1417] This is a picture of Gary Hatch, the LAX cargo handler.

[1418] Who got into the crate to show like news people what it looked like when they opened the crate.

[1419] Uh -huh.

[1420] Look at that dream boat.

[1421] Hello, governor.

[1422] I don't know where that came from.

[1423] This isn't England.

[1424] Damn.

[1425] But look at, that's all the room he had.

[1426] Oh, that's what you meant.

[1427] I thought he was hot.

[1428] No, no, I did mean he was hot.

[1429] Okay.

[1430] Wow.

[1431] That plus the space.

[1432] You didn't need that suitcase.

[1433] I bet there was nothing in it you really needed because that would have been some leg room right there.

[1434] For real.

[1435] That's not okay.

[1436] It's insanity.

[1437] It's purely insanity.

[1438] We'll put those up on our Instagram and socials and all that shit, my favorite murder, whatever.

[1439] Yes.

[1440] maybe a photo of the hamburger with corn on it.

[1441] Dude, we just hit two hours and 20 minutes.

[1442] Shut up.

[1443] Enough talking.

[1444] I mean, truly.

[1445] Listen, okay, in the future, we're going to want to start doing fucking hurries again.

[1446] So please start sending those in.

[1447] You can comment on our social medias, which is my favorite murder on Instagram, my fave murder.

[1448] On Twitter.

[1449] And we did have a, I had a whole batch of fucking horace for this one, but we simply can't keep going.

[1450] We can't keep doing this.

[1451] It's not going to turn out to be that long, though, because Stephen's.

[1452] definitely going to pull out a lot of the blips and blops at the beginning of this fucking thing.

[1453] With ads and shit?

[1454] That's a Tuesday hour guy right there.

[1455] That thing.

[1456] That thing.

[1457] Guys.

[1458] Thank you for listening.

[1459] Thank you for a fucking thing.

[1460] So awesome and being so understanding of us needing our mental health break after five and a half years.

[1461] And thank you for telling us how much you've missed us.

[1462] Yeah.

[1463] It's really lovely.

[1464] It means the world we, uh, it means a lot to us that you care.

[1465] We were so excited to come back because we miss. this.

[1466] And I am very excited to see you in person.

[1467] I know.

[1468] Look at your face.

[1469] And record with you in person.

[1470] Yeah.

[1471] This is really exciting.

[1472] It makes a huge fucking difference.

[1473] It does.

[1474] Oh, my God.

[1475] It's happening.

[1476] We're doing it.

[1477] Stay sexy.

[1478] And don't get murdered.

[1479] Goodbye.

[1480] Elvis, do you want a cookie?

[1481] This has been an exactly right production.

[1482] Our producer is Hannah Kyle Crichton.

[1483] Associate producer, Alejandra Keck.

[1484] Engineering and mixer.

[1485] Stephen.

[1486] Ray Moran.

[1487] Researchers, Jay Elias and Haley Gray.

[1488] Send us your hometowns and your fucking hoorays at my favorite murder at gmail .com.

[1489] And follow the show on Instagram and Facebook at My Favorite Murder and Twitter at My Fave Murder.

[1490] And for more information about this podcast, our live shows, merch, or to join the fancult, go to myfavoritmerder .com.

[1491] Rate review and subscribe.