Nov. 10, 2025

Holy Hitman Roofie: Thuggee Cult of India

Holy Hitman Roofie: Thuggee Cult of India
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A friendly smile by the fire, a shared meal on a dusty road, and a scarf that turns into a weapon in a heartbeat. We dive into the shadowed world of the Thuggee—bands of highway killers who claimed divine orders from the goddess Kali—and the colonial machine that made their legend larger than life. From slow-burn cons inside caravans to the lethal elegance of the rumal, we unpack how method, belief, and fear intersected to create one of history’s most unsettling criminal systems.

We trace the rise and fall of these organized bands across centuries: the paramilitary structure under jemadars, a private cant called Ramasi, taboos that often bent under pressure, and the chilling efficiency of pre-dug graves and datura-laced meals. Then the British arrive. Captain William Henry Sleeman builds an empire-wide case with informants, mass arrests, and new laws, and then pens bestsellers that electrify Victorian readers. Was this a necessary public safety campaign, or a masterclass in imperial storytelling? We weigh both sides: Thuggee as fanatical cult versus disciplined banditry wrapped in religious language, possibly fueled by disbanded soldiers and quiet support from local elites.

The story doesn’t end on the road. “Thug” leaps into English, morphs through Dickens and colonial reports, and later reemerges in American slang and hip-hop as a symbol of toughness and survival. Along the way we ask: who gets to define savagery and civilization? How do policy and propaganda feed each other? And what happens when a single narrative reshapes law, culture, and language for generations?

Grab a seat, crack a Broken Skull, and journey with us through faith, fear, and the thin line between truth and myth. If this exploration challenged what you thought you knew, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a quick review to help more curious listeners find us.

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00:00 - Banter And Beer: Broken Skull

03:58 - Setting The Stage: 14th-Century India

06:45 - The Goddess Kali And Thuggee Lore

12:30 - Training, Ranks, And Codes Of The Gangs

17:35 - The Con: Blending In With Caravans

20:50 - The Rumal: Silent Strangulation Method

25:45 - Rituals, Rules, And Datura

28:15 - Early Crackdowns Before The British

30:23 - Captain Sleeman’s Campaign And Laws

36:00 - Propaganda Or Reality: Historians Debate

42:10 - From Cult To Lexicon: The Word “Thug”

45:10 - Pop Culture, Tupac, And Modern Usage

46:50 - Wrap-Up And Listener Callouts

WEBVTT

00:00:15.679 --> 00:00:16.480
Oh, hey there.

00:00:16.719 --> 00:00:17.359
Oh, hey there.

00:00:17.600 --> 00:00:18.559
How's it going today?

00:00:18.800 --> 00:00:19.280
I'm good.

00:00:19.359 --> 00:00:20.000
How are you?

00:00:20.239 --> 00:00:20.559
I'm good.

00:00:20.640 --> 00:00:21.519
I am Bradley.

00:00:21.679 --> 00:00:22.399
I am Kate.

00:00:22.640 --> 00:00:24.239
We are the history of buffoons.

00:00:24.399 --> 00:00:25.120
Yes, we are.

00:00:25.359 --> 00:00:26.879
Thank you for uh joining us today.

00:00:27.039 --> 00:00:27.359
Yes.

00:00:27.600 --> 00:00:28.480
How are you today?

00:00:28.800 --> 00:00:31.760
I'm doing pretty all right in my book.

00:00:34.240 --> 00:00:35.439
I didn't know you had a book.

00:00:36.399 --> 00:00:38.479
Well I mean it's not yours.

00:00:38.719 --> 00:00:39.039
What?

00:00:39.280 --> 00:00:40.159
You were just looking at it.

00:00:40.240 --> 00:00:40.799
That's not yours.

00:00:40.960 --> 00:00:41.520
I don't have a book.

00:00:41.600 --> 00:00:43.600
I don't know the book.

00:00:44.000 --> 00:00:45.280
But we don't have a book.

00:00:45.439 --> 00:00:47.039
That would be a really short story.

00:00:47.359 --> 00:00:48.159
Shut up.

00:00:48.560 --> 00:00:50.240
Because I don't remember Jack.

00:00:50.399 --> 00:00:50.880
Yep.

00:00:51.280 --> 00:00:54.159
Could you imagine you trying to like recall and like write a book?

00:00:54.240 --> 00:00:56.079
You'd be like, the end.

00:00:59.920 --> 00:01:04.079
The funny thing is, I remember some off-the-wall weird stuff.

00:01:04.400 --> 00:01:05.760
Oh yeah, for sure.

00:01:05.920 --> 00:01:09.200
Like I remember the stupidest shit most of the time.

00:01:09.280 --> 00:01:09.439
Yeah.

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The stuff I should remember.

00:01:10.879 --> 00:01:11.519
Not so much.

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But see, like when I know I'm right.

00:01:14.799 --> 00:01:15.040
Yeah.

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And other people know that I have a bad memory.

00:01:17.760 --> 00:01:19.760
I'm like, no, really, I know this.

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No, really.

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I promise.

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I promise.

00:01:24.719 --> 00:01:28.319
Well, you know, I mean, it is what it is.

00:01:29.280 --> 00:01:34.959
You're you have more long-term random fact knowledge than you do short-term, like real life.

00:01:35.120 --> 00:01:36.959
Like, what did I do yesterday?

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Uh I'm sure I ate something.

00:01:41.280 --> 00:01:42.159
Probably.

00:01:43.280 --> 00:01:47.840
So today, we have a beer that we've never seen before.

00:01:48.239 --> 00:01:50.719
I did not know Steve Austin.

00:01:51.920 --> 00:01:54.159
Did you look up who Steve Austin is?

00:01:54.400 --> 00:01:55.359
He's the wrestler.

00:01:55.680 --> 00:01:57.760
Stone Cold Steve Austin, right?

00:01:59.280 --> 00:02:01.200
He says he's an American actor.

00:02:01.359 --> 00:02:02.640
Oh, Stone Cold T-Mon.

00:02:02.879 --> 00:02:03.760
Okay, okay, okay.

00:02:04.159 --> 00:02:07.760
The Undertaker put Stone Cold Steve something.

00:02:08.240 --> 00:02:09.759
He put him something, all right.

00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:11.919
It was a headline that didn't finish.

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Always like a preview or whatever.

00:02:14.479 --> 00:02:14.879
Yeah.

00:02:15.120 --> 00:02:18.080
So we have El Segundo Brewing Company.

00:02:18.159 --> 00:02:20.960
Steve Austin's Broken Skull IPA is what I have.

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It's 6.7 uh percent.

00:02:23.919 --> 00:02:25.759
I have a 16-ounce can.

00:02:25.919 --> 00:02:27.599
It's I like the skull on it.

00:02:27.759 --> 00:02:29.840
So but yours isn't a Steve Austin one, right?

00:02:29.919 --> 00:02:30.639
Mine just is.

00:02:30.879 --> 00:02:32.240
No, mine is also Steve Austin.

00:02:32.719 --> 00:02:33.199
Broken skull.

00:02:33.439 --> 00:02:34.400
What was yours called?

00:02:34.639 --> 00:02:36.080
Uh broken skull IPA.

00:02:36.240 --> 00:02:38.560
Okay, mine's Broken Skull American Lager.

00:02:38.879 --> 00:02:39.680
Oh, there you go.

00:02:40.080 --> 00:02:40.560
Yeah, okay.

00:02:40.879 --> 00:02:42.479
So it's also a Steve Austin one.

00:02:42.639 --> 00:02:46.319
Oh, and we totally have his autograph on the can.

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Oh, I am gonna get rich today.

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I like this.

00:02:50.479 --> 00:02:52.319
Does yours have a snake on it?

00:02:52.800 --> 00:02:55.039
Um by his signature?

00:02:55.280 --> 00:02:56.000
Oh, yes.

00:02:56.400 --> 00:02:56.560
Yes.

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Yes.

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I don't know.

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I like the can.

00:02:58.719 --> 00:02:59.599
It's got barbed on it.

00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:02.560
Okay, let me read what it says underneath his um signature.

00:03:02.719 --> 00:03:06.240
It says, This beer is the ultimate reward for a hard day's work.

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Brewed with the best American grown barley and hops, broken skull American lager goes down as easy as a three-day weekend.

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Cheers to those who are out there earning it.

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We earn this.

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What's the ABV on this?

00:03:23.599 --> 00:03:26.159
Yours is probably more in the mid-fours, if I had to guess.

00:03:26.560 --> 00:03:27.120
It doesn't say.

00:03:27.199 --> 00:03:28.240
Okay, I'm opening this.

00:03:28.400 --> 00:03:28.560
All right.

00:03:30.240 --> 00:03:34.639
Usually, if they don't say, it's usually mid-fours, roughly, especially with a lager like that.

00:03:34.719 --> 00:03:35.680
So cheers.

00:03:43.520 --> 00:03:44.879
It's got some flavor.

00:03:45.199 --> 00:03:45.759
Yeah.

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I like it.

00:03:49.599 --> 00:03:50.879
I like it.

00:03:53.120 --> 00:03:54.000
That's the way.

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Wait.

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We can't sing otherwise we have to go.

00:03:57.280 --> 00:03:57.599
No, wait.

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I don't know.

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I don't know the rules.

00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:00.319
Okay.

00:04:00.639 --> 00:04:01.919
We're not gonna test those.

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We are gonna go to fourteenth century India.

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So in the 1300s.

00:04:07.120 --> 00:04:07.360
Yes.

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Good job.

00:04:08.319 --> 00:04:08.639
Thank you.

00:04:08.800 --> 00:04:11.840
That is really confusing for people who don't know.

00:04:12.159 --> 00:04:15.680
It can be well, even if you know it still screws you up.

00:04:15.840 --> 00:04:16.240
Yeah, you're right.

00:04:16.399 --> 00:04:17.600
Because you're like, oh, so the 14th.

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No, it's the 1300s.

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Because obviously the first century was one to ninety-nine.

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The hundreds was the second century.

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So I mean, yeah, it's just it's it seems backwards.

00:04:28.959 --> 00:04:29.360
It's confusing.

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Hey, this happened back in 3000 BC.

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It's like, why did they count down?

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Right?

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Yeah, it's confusing.

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So it's it's like, wait a minute.

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Okay.

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So 14th century India, people were talking about organized bands of killers prowling the highways, strangling travelers who had the misfortune of crossing their path.

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That sounds terrible.

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Sounds horrifying.

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Yeah, I wouldn't want to go that way.

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By the 1350s.

00:05:02.079 --> 00:05:02.720
Yeah.

00:05:03.040 --> 00:05:04.639
Okay, let me just pause that.

00:05:05.680 --> 00:05:06.000
Okay.

00:05:06.319 --> 00:05:11.439
There's a lot of pronunciations that you're gonna get wrong.

00:05:11.600 --> 00:05:12.720
That I'm probably gonna get wrong.

00:05:12.959 --> 00:05:13.839
It's not intentional.

00:05:14.079 --> 00:05:15.680
I did look them up as best I could.

00:05:15.839 --> 00:05:16.160
Sure.

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And wrote them out phonetically as best I could.

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Sure.

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Um, execution may not be so great.

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Well, we all I mean we we know that.

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You got like a fuzzy on the eyebrow, eyebrow, eyebrow.

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There you go.

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Hey.

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Hey.

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Good job.

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There, good job.

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Okay.

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Thanks.

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So by the 1350s, Sultan Sultan.

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Sultan?

00:05:42.079 --> 00:05:43.040
Sultan?

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What the fuck?

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The Sultan.

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Have you never heard of the word Sultan?

00:05:47.519 --> 00:05:48.160
Yes, I have.

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Sultan.

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Sultan.

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Jalal Undin Kralji.

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Kalji.

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Wow, that that's a mouthful.

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Jalal Undin Kalji.

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Okay.

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Supposedly rounded up about a thousand of these wandering murderers and exiled them.

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But these weren't your everyday robbers.

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Okay.

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They were thugs.

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This is the origin of the word thug.

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Is it really?

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Yes.

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No way.

00:06:16.079 --> 00:06:16.399
Yes.

00:06:16.639 --> 00:06:17.199
Okay, cool.

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Thugs are members of what would be known as the thuggy cult.

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Thuggy cult?

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Teach you G-G-E-E.

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Thuggy.

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Thuggy.

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Weird.

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According to legend, the thugs were born from the sweat of the goddess Kali.

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She is a Hindu goddess of destruction and rebirth.

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Oh, Jesus Christ.

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She supposedly created them during an epic battle with a shape-shifting demon who spilled blood, kept spawning new monsters.

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That sounds fun.

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To stop the bloody mess, Kali ordered her her new devotees to strangle the demon instead.

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No blood, no problem.

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Okay.

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The thugs took that divine memo seriously.

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Oh, really?

00:07:01.360 --> 00:07:01.920
Oh yeah.

00:07:02.160 --> 00:07:02.720
Oh no.

00:07:02.959 --> 00:07:14.639
So whether or not anyone believes that the goddess perspired into thugs, um, there's no question that the thuggy cult was well established by the time Europe was still arguing over who discovered what.

00:07:14.800 --> 00:07:14.959
Right.

00:07:15.120 --> 00:07:21.199
Um, so by the 1600s, um, travelers' journals were already warning about these bandits on India's roads.

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Okay.

00:07:22.240 --> 00:07:26.959
So even the Mughal Emperor Orezbet Oranzeb.

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Oranzeb.

00:07:28.639 --> 00:07:29.040
Yeah.

00:07:29.439 --> 00:07:36.480
Mughal Emperor Oranzeb issued royal orders in the 1670s against these stranglers.

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Sure.

00:07:37.120 --> 00:07:43.199
So by the time the British eventually arrived on the scene centuries later, the thugs had already perfected their art.

00:07:43.439 --> 00:07:44.079
I bet.

00:07:44.399 --> 00:07:49.759
They weren't just criminals, they were multi-generational strangler guild.

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So it was like, oh, we got a son.

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Son, I gotta teach you something.

00:07:54.480 --> 00:07:54.800
Exactly.

00:07:55.040 --> 00:07:55.199
Wow.

00:07:55.360 --> 00:07:59.439
They were they uh yes, they passed on their trade from father to son.

00:07:59.680 --> 00:08:10.560
Well, I mean, if that's all they knew, what's the more if that's all they knew, especially back in the you know, 13, 14, 15, 1600s, it's not like you're like, I'm gonna make myself my own.

00:08:10.639 --> 00:08:11.199
I'm going to school.

00:08:11.279 --> 00:08:19.839
I'm like, yeah, they had schools, obviously, in certain areas, but if your dad didn't know anything other than this trade, this life, yeah.

00:08:20.079 --> 00:08:21.839
This life, he's gonna teach his kids that.

00:08:21.920 --> 00:08:23.439
Yeah, so that makes sense.

00:08:23.680 --> 00:08:28.480
So at the heart of the thuggies was that's just it sounds thuggies.

00:08:28.560 --> 00:08:28.720
Yeah.

00:08:28.959 --> 00:08:30.639
Sounds like something Vesper would say.

00:08:32.639 --> 00:08:34.399
Did the thuggies wear huggies?

00:08:34.559 --> 00:08:36.799
The thuggies, um, they had religion.

00:08:37.039 --> 00:08:37.360
Oh.

00:08:37.759 --> 00:08:40.960
So the thugs didn't see themselves as criminals at all.

00:08:41.279 --> 00:08:42.639
Sure, they were doing God's work.

00:08:42.799 --> 00:08:50.320
They thought they were holy hitman carrying out the divine work for Kali, which is the Hindu goddess of destruction and rebirth.

00:08:50.720 --> 00:08:54.799
Pretty sure our title of our our episode is gonna be Holy Hitman.

00:08:55.039 --> 00:08:56.000
Holy Hitman.

00:08:59.440 --> 00:08:59.919
Pardon me.

00:09:00.159 --> 00:09:01.039
You're pardoned.

00:09:01.759 --> 00:09:05.919
So every killing in their eyes wasn't murder, it was sacrifice.

00:09:06.240 --> 00:09:06.960
Oh dear.

00:09:07.120 --> 00:09:12.000
So these guys literally believed that they were children of Kali born from her sweat.

00:09:12.159 --> 00:09:12.399
Right.

00:09:12.559 --> 00:09:19.120
And according to their lore, every strangulation was Kali's will, an offering to keep the universe balanced.

00:09:19.360 --> 00:09:20.000
Oh, Jesus.

00:09:20.240 --> 00:09:28.080
So the thug reportedly told a British officer that if they didn't keep up their sacred strangling duties, Kali might destroy all of mankind.

00:09:28.399 --> 00:09:30.000
I'm gonna go with no, but okay.

00:09:30.240 --> 00:09:33.360
So in their minds, they weren't murderers, they were heroes.

00:09:33.759 --> 00:09:38.639
Saving humanity one gerat at a time.

00:09:41.200 --> 00:09:43.200
But not all of the thugs were Hindu.

00:09:43.440 --> 00:09:49.360
No, about a third of the thugs were Muslim, which makes the whole goddess worshiping thing a little bit more complicated.

00:09:49.600 --> 00:09:50.000
Right.

00:09:50.240 --> 00:09:51.759
So what did they do?

00:09:51.919 --> 00:09:53.279
They were pragmatic about it.

00:09:53.440 --> 00:09:54.080
Oh, good for them.

00:09:54.320 --> 00:10:02.159
The Muslim thugs often treated Kali as a kind of minor spirit they respected while privately sticking to their own faith.

00:10:02.399 --> 00:10:02.720
Sure.

00:10:02.879 --> 00:10:08.000
So they would say things like, I do not pray to her, but I worship her.

00:10:08.240 --> 00:10:11.279
Or I do not believe in her, but I don't want to make her mad.

00:10:12.080 --> 00:10:14.159
I don't want to make her mad.

00:10:14.879 --> 00:10:16.000
Oh wow.

00:10:16.639 --> 00:10:25.519
So the the thuggy was a mashup of different beliefs, um, more of a spiritual free-for-all where murder was like a shared doctrine of sorts.

00:10:25.679 --> 00:10:25.919
Sure.

00:10:26.080 --> 00:10:32.720
So some historians think that the British exaggerated the religious angle to make the thugs sound more sinister or otherworldly.

00:10:32.879 --> 00:10:33.200
Right.

00:10:33.360 --> 00:10:37.679
Um, but after all, plenty of people in India cr um credited gods for their good fortune.

00:10:37.919 --> 00:10:38.159
Okay.

00:10:38.399 --> 00:10:42.960
For the thugs, um, just happened to credit theirs for successful strangulations.

00:10:44.559 --> 00:10:47.200
Thank you for giving me the power to strangle that person properly.

00:10:47.440 --> 00:10:47.919
Properly.

00:10:48.399 --> 00:10:57.039
So it's chilling to think about these these men genuinely genuinely believed or at least claimed that Cal Kali wanted them to kill.

00:10:57.360 --> 00:10:57.679
Okay.

00:10:58.240 --> 00:11:05.279
So they didn't just kill in the name of their god, they turned murder into a type of worship.

00:11:05.600 --> 00:11:05.919
Sure.

00:11:06.159 --> 00:11:10.000
So becoming a thug, like I had mentioned before, wasn't like a walking gig.

00:11:10.159 --> 00:11:15.279
Um you didn't wake up one day and be like, I'm gonna murder some people and become become this thuggy club.

00:11:16.080 --> 00:11:17.440
Thuggy club.

00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:22.559
Uh uh recruitment was fairly selective, training was hands-on.

00:11:23.039 --> 00:11:26.399
Uh well, I mean, that's what you used.

00:11:26.799 --> 00:11:31.279
And the organization kind of ran fairly like military-like.

00:11:31.519 --> 00:11:31.840
Okay.

00:11:32.080 --> 00:11:36.639
Um, so each thug gang was in its own like traveling death squad.

00:11:36.879 --> 00:11:37.440
Death squad.

00:11:37.759 --> 00:11:39.519
Complete with ranks and titles.

00:11:39.679 --> 00:11:39.919
Right.

00:11:40.159 --> 00:11:42.559
The leader was known as Jemadar.

00:11:42.720 --> 00:11:43.039
Okay.

00:11:43.200 --> 00:11:52.879
Um, they would organize logistics, assign assignments, um, spitting, splitting profits, and making sure everyone pretty much stayed quiet and efficient.

00:11:53.120 --> 00:11:53.440
Wow.

00:11:53.679 --> 00:11:59.440
And below them were lieutenants and foot soldiers, referred to as privates in British reports.

00:11:59.519 --> 00:12:01.279
So not sure if it was actually Indian reports.

00:12:01.519 --> 00:12:03.039
Yeah, that was probably just what they call it.

00:12:03.120 --> 00:12:03.360
Okay.

00:12:03.840 --> 00:12:07.519
The setup looked like a paramilitary operation.

00:12:07.600 --> 00:12:14.960
Um, many thugs probably were ex-soldiers or like mercenaries who decided that crime suited him better.

00:12:15.279 --> 00:12:16.639
Suited him better, exactly.

00:12:17.440 --> 00:12:21.440
So the thuggy wasn't just an organization, it was kind of a family business.

00:12:21.519 --> 00:12:25.120
Um, as they were kind of built, born into the trade.

00:12:25.600 --> 00:12:32.000
So um, how I don't know if you get into this, obviously, but so stop me if you do.

00:12:32.320 --> 00:12:34.639
How do they pick the people they killed?

00:12:34.960 --> 00:12:36.080
Just randomly?

00:12:36.399 --> 00:12:38.639
Um, so they they targeted travelers.

00:12:38.879 --> 00:12:39.200
Right.

00:12:39.360 --> 00:12:39.600
Yeah.

00:12:39.679 --> 00:12:41.600
So I'll kind of tell you how they do it.

00:12:41.840 --> 00:12:42.080
Okay.

00:12:42.159 --> 00:12:42.480
Yeah.

00:12:43.200 --> 00:12:47.120
So the old timers um were called Azile thugs, okay.

00:12:47.360 --> 00:12:48.799
Meaning of pure lineage.

00:12:49.279 --> 00:12:49.600
Jeez.

00:12:50.080 --> 00:12:55.759
Sons followed fathers, uncles trained nephews, and families bonded over like technique.

00:12:56.000 --> 00:12:57.039
Like, how do we do it?

00:12:57.200 --> 00:13:00.159
You just gotta crush the their windpipe.

00:13:00.480 --> 00:13:04.320
Um, outsiders could join if they showed promise.

00:13:04.480 --> 00:13:06.159
Like, hey, you've killed before.

00:13:06.480 --> 00:13:08.159
Man, I really like the way you strangled.

00:13:08.399 --> 00:13:10.080
Yeah, come on over here.

00:13:10.960 --> 00:13:12.320
Jesus fucking Christ.

00:13:12.480 --> 00:13:14.960
It's like you kill really nicely.

00:13:15.200 --> 00:13:16.480
I think we got a job for you.

00:13:16.720 --> 00:13:17.200
I think we do.

00:13:17.519 --> 00:13:18.000
What the fuck?

00:13:18.080 --> 00:13:20.000
So would they just loot the people they killed?

00:13:20.320 --> 00:13:20.480
Yeah.

00:13:20.720 --> 00:13:23.200
That doesn't sound very holy, right?

00:13:23.600 --> 00:13:24.480
It doesn't.

00:13:24.720 --> 00:13:29.120
So the veterans were called gurus because of course.

00:13:29.360 --> 00:13:36.639
Um they took on apprentices and taught them everything from building trust with travelers to slipping the noose with finesse.

00:13:37.200 --> 00:13:40.720
On the draw training literally meant on the job training.

00:13:40.879 --> 00:13:42.320
All right, kid, today's lesson.

00:13:42.559 --> 00:13:43.360
Kill that person.

00:13:43.600 --> 00:13:45.360
How to make it look like an accident.

00:13:46.639 --> 00:13:51.600
See, like if you had to make it look like an accident, that's not doing it in the name of any kind of god.

00:13:52.080 --> 00:13:56.080
That's just using that as a scapegoat to get away with what the fuck you're doing.

00:13:56.240 --> 00:13:56.559
Yeah.

00:13:56.799 --> 00:13:57.360
Wow.

00:13:57.600 --> 00:14:07.600
So some captured thugs confess that occasionally children of murdered victims were spared and raised by the gang, groomed to grow up and keep the cycle going.

00:14:07.919 --> 00:14:08.639
Oh dear.

00:14:08.879 --> 00:14:10.559
Yeah, that's that's rough.

00:14:10.960 --> 00:14:14.000
That that's extremely rough because it's like, hey, you killed my parents.

00:14:14.080 --> 00:14:16.240
Now I get to do what you do to other people's.

00:14:16.399 --> 00:14:17.440
It's like, fuck that.

00:14:17.759 --> 00:14:22.720
There were a few female thugs, although they're pretty rare in the legends.

00:14:22.960 --> 00:14:23.360
Sure.

00:14:23.519 --> 00:14:28.879
Um women will c were called Barony, and high-ranking male thugs were Baroo.

00:14:29.440 --> 00:14:32.559
Um, still it was mostly like a boys' club kind of a thing.

00:14:32.799 --> 00:14:32.960
Right.

00:14:33.120 --> 00:14:33.600
Makes sense.

00:14:33.759 --> 00:14:34.159
Yeah.

00:14:34.399 --> 00:14:38.240
Um, the thugs had their own code language called Ramacy.

00:14:38.639 --> 00:14:38.960
Okay.

00:14:39.200 --> 00:14:44.000
It was a jumble of slang and code words that made no sense to outsiders.

00:14:44.240 --> 00:14:45.759
Sure, which get that.

00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:46.240
Yeah.

00:14:46.320 --> 00:14:56.320
So when they were on these like business trips, stalking their next victim, um, Ramacy let them plot right under everyone's nose, basically.

00:14:56.639 --> 00:15:02.159
Yeah, you could talk to whoever's in your group, blah, blah, blah, like we're gonna get this person without that person ever fucking knowing.

00:15:02.559 --> 00:15:03.440
Ready the weapon.

00:15:03.679 --> 00:15:05.519
And it'd be like, jigabab doobity.

00:15:07.039 --> 00:15:08.159
Exactly right.

00:15:08.399 --> 00:15:09.840
That's a direct quote.

00:15:10.080 --> 00:15:10.559
That's right.

00:15:10.799 --> 00:15:11.759
Not at all.

00:15:12.240 --> 00:15:15.679
So they also followed like a few self-imposed rules.

00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:16.159
Sure.

00:15:16.320 --> 00:15:17.360
Um kind of have to have that.

00:15:17.679 --> 00:15:20.320
Never kill close to home was a big one.

00:15:20.399 --> 00:15:20.480
Right.

00:15:20.639 --> 00:15:23.360
Um, didn't want to draw suspicion into your own backyard.

00:15:23.600 --> 00:15:23.840
Yep.

00:15:24.000 --> 00:15:34.080
Um, they roamed far and wide across India, blending in with caravans and pilgrims and traders, and they did kind of had a co code of ethics or one that kind of passed as one.

00:15:34.320 --> 00:15:34.639
Okay.

00:15:34.960 --> 00:15:38.720
Um, thugs swore never to harm women, holy men, musicians, or dancers.

00:15:38.799 --> 00:15:40.080
So you're in the you're safe.

00:15:40.159 --> 00:15:40.639
I'm safe.

00:15:40.879 --> 00:15:41.519
Drummer.

00:15:42.080 --> 00:15:42.799
What did you do?

00:15:43.200 --> 00:15:43.919
I'm a woman.

00:15:44.159 --> 00:15:44.480
Oh.

00:15:46.639 --> 00:15:48.000
I was joking.

00:15:50.559 --> 00:15:52.159
Don't you get so bad about it?

00:15:52.320 --> 00:15:53.600
That's a joke.

00:15:54.799 --> 00:16:04.480
Um, but when the situation called for it, yes, say a witness problem or inconvenient survivor, you gotta the rules would go out the window.

00:16:04.799 --> 00:16:10.320
Well, obviously, because you have to protect what you're doing, which is in the name of their what was her name again?

00:16:11.039 --> 00:16:12.879
What was the spirit demon, whatever you know?

00:16:13.120 --> 00:16:13.440
Kolly.

00:16:13.600 --> 00:16:13.919
Kali.

00:16:14.240 --> 00:16:14.879
Yeah.

00:16:16.240 --> 00:16:17.840
That's fucking wild.

00:16:18.159 --> 00:16:21.039
I mean, look at all the stuff that's done in like God's name, though.

00:16:21.360 --> 00:16:22.240
I mean, same thing.

00:16:22.320 --> 00:16:22.399
Yeah.

00:16:22.639 --> 00:16:25.039
Just different God or in their in their world.

00:16:25.279 --> 00:16:33.679
So uh the thugs didn't believe in like messy crime sprees or flashy ambushes.

00:16:33.919 --> 00:16:38.799
Um, their brand of murder was subtle, methodical, kind of creepily polite.

00:16:39.120 --> 00:16:40.080
Creepily polite.

00:16:40.240 --> 00:16:44.799
Um typical bandits came crashing out of the bushes with swords and shouting.

00:16:44.960 --> 00:16:50.559
The thugs preferred something slower, something that began with a smile.

00:16:50.960 --> 00:16:52.240
Like a friendship.

00:16:52.799 --> 00:16:54.559
Start a friendship and be like, I'm killing you.

00:16:54.799 --> 00:16:56.799
What's that Annie song about smiling?

00:16:57.360 --> 00:16:57.919
Annie?

00:16:58.080 --> 00:16:58.240
Yeah.

00:16:59.360 --> 00:16:59.919
Like from the movie.

00:17:01.360 --> 00:17:02.639
I don't know that movie that well.

00:17:02.799 --> 00:17:04.799
Oh, there's like the original Annie?

00:17:04.960 --> 00:17:06.960
Yeah, there's like a song about a smile.

00:17:07.200 --> 00:17:10.400
Anyway, their golden role was to blend in.

00:17:10.720 --> 00:17:17.440
They join join caravans of travelers on long jury journeys, merchant, pilgrims, trader, whatever the crowd was.

00:17:17.519 --> 00:17:17.680
Okay.

00:17:17.920 --> 00:17:19.839
The thugs would come become a part of it.

00:17:20.079 --> 00:17:20.400
Sure.

00:17:20.640 --> 00:17:25.839
So around the campfire, um, they were the friendliest strangers that you'd ever meet.

00:17:26.000 --> 00:17:26.240
Right.

00:17:26.400 --> 00:17:34.720
They would share food, they would swap stories, crack jokes, and help a lending hand, help load a donkey or two.

00:17:34.880 --> 00:17:35.359
I don't know.

00:17:35.599 --> 00:17:37.359
Hey man, you're having trouble with your donkey?

00:17:37.440 --> 00:17:37.920
I gotcha.

00:17:38.079 --> 00:17:38.480
Yeah.

00:17:38.720 --> 00:17:40.720
So days would pass like that.

00:17:40.960 --> 00:17:43.759
Um so it yeah, it wasn't like a run and gun.

00:17:44.079 --> 00:17:45.680
No, it was a slow con.

00:17:45.839 --> 00:17:46.640
A slower con.

00:17:46.799 --> 00:17:47.759
Yeah, slower con.

00:17:47.839 --> 00:17:47.920
Yeah.

00:17:48.079 --> 00:17:48.319
Yeah.

00:17:48.400 --> 00:17:48.559
Yeah.

00:17:48.720 --> 00:17:49.039
Okay.

00:17:49.200 --> 00:17:56.079
Um, lots of small talk, lots of laughter, all the while the thugs were like studying their marks.

00:17:56.559 --> 00:17:57.279
So right.

00:17:57.359 --> 00:17:58.160
No, it makes sense.

00:17:58.319 --> 00:17:58.640
Yeah.

00:17:58.720 --> 00:18:05.200
And they might even like mirror a traveler's customs, religion, or or accent, whatever, like would help build that trust.

00:18:05.440 --> 00:18:05.759
Okay.

00:18:06.400 --> 00:18:17.200
So then once the time was right, when the victims were relaxed, maybe the road was empty, um, there were no witnesses, you know, um, the facade came off.

00:18:17.440 --> 00:18:17.759
Sure.

00:18:18.000 --> 00:18:25.920
At a pre-arranged signal, maybe a flick of a hand or a whispered word in their in their ramesy, um, everything changed.

00:18:26.079 --> 00:18:26.400
Okay.

00:18:26.640 --> 00:18:32.000
One thug would grab the target from behind, while another whipped out a rumel.

00:18:32.319 --> 00:18:33.599
Oh, what a rumel?

00:18:33.680 --> 00:18:33.920
Mm-hmm.

00:18:34.160 --> 00:18:34.640
And what is that?

00:18:35.119 --> 00:18:40.559
A length of cloth that looked harmless until it was looped around someone's neck and yanked tight.

00:18:40.799 --> 00:18:41.200
Gotcha.

00:18:41.359 --> 00:18:43.440
A rumel is a scarf.

00:18:44.079 --> 00:18:44.319
Oh.

00:18:44.880 --> 00:18:45.680
A scarf.

00:18:46.559 --> 00:18:46.799
Wow.

00:18:46.960 --> 00:18:48.000
Killed him with a scarf.

00:18:48.240 --> 00:18:48.480
Yes.

00:18:49.039 --> 00:18:49.759
Was it plaid?

00:18:50.160 --> 00:18:54.160
It looked so accounts have said yellow.

00:18:55.200 --> 00:18:59.599
Other accounts have said tan or beige that might have like a yellow undertone.

00:18:59.759 --> 00:19:02.559
I don't think, if you will.

00:19:03.200 --> 00:19:03.519
Hill?

00:19:04.000 --> 00:19:04.319
Hill.

00:19:04.880 --> 00:19:07.599
Uh so it was a little bit lighter-ish color.

00:19:07.839 --> 00:19:08.000
Yes.

00:19:08.240 --> 00:19:09.440
But it's I think it's irrelevant.

00:19:09.920 --> 00:19:11.839
It's irrelevant, and I don't think it was standard.

00:19:11.920 --> 00:19:16.400
It was just some of the ones that I saw were yellow or beige, tainted.

00:19:16.799 --> 00:19:17.200
Right, right, right.

00:19:17.359 --> 00:19:17.680
Yeah.

00:19:18.079 --> 00:19:20.400
I mean that'd be a shitty way to go.

00:19:21.279 --> 00:19:22.799
Killed by a handkerchief.

00:19:23.119 --> 00:19:30.799
So it looked harmless, and it the scarves kind of looked like anyone could wear it in India.

00:19:31.039 --> 00:19:31.279
Sure.

00:19:31.519 --> 00:19:33.680
Maybe wiping it, wiping sweat.

00:19:33.920 --> 00:19:34.720
Wiping their brow.

00:19:35.039 --> 00:19:38.799
Wiping their brow, um, wrapping food, covering their head.

00:19:39.359 --> 00:19:40.160
It was perfect.

00:19:40.240 --> 00:19:41.519
They didn't have to carry swords.

00:19:41.599 --> 00:19:43.039
There was no blood, there was no attention.

00:19:43.440 --> 00:19:44.319
Blow their nose in it.

00:19:44.400 --> 00:19:46.480
I mean, what the my dad does that.

00:19:46.960 --> 00:19:48.400
That still creeps me out.

00:19:48.799 --> 00:19:50.400
He always had really clean ones.

00:19:50.640 --> 00:19:52.240
Yeah, I know, and a lot of people do.

00:19:52.319 --> 00:19:55.039
Like it's a very old-timey thing to do.

00:19:55.519 --> 00:19:58.640
My like at least people I know in my generation.

00:19:59.200 --> 00:19:59.440
Nope.

00:19:59.759 --> 00:20:00.000
Yeah.

00:20:00.319 --> 00:20:02.079
I also think it's gross as fuck.

00:20:02.480 --> 00:20:03.839
No offense to anybody.

00:20:04.720 --> 00:20:12.720
When the the time came, a thug would casually pull it from his shoulder and snap, it would become a weapon.

00:20:13.039 --> 00:20:13.759
Oh man.

00:20:14.079 --> 00:20:15.039
That sounds dangerous.

00:20:15.359 --> 00:20:17.599
The thugs were masters of strangulation.

00:20:17.839 --> 00:20:18.559
Well, I'd hope so.

00:20:18.640 --> 00:20:19.119
That's what they did.

00:20:19.599 --> 00:20:21.119
It was fast and it was silent.

00:20:21.440 --> 00:20:21.759
Right.

00:20:21.920 --> 00:20:28.640
So they usually tied a coin or a small stone into one end of the scarf so they can kind of whip it around.

00:20:28.960 --> 00:20:30.319
To create a weighted knot.

00:20:30.480 --> 00:20:30.880
Yep.

00:20:31.119 --> 00:20:34.319
That knot landed right on the victim's windpipe.

00:20:34.559 --> 00:20:34.880
Oh.

00:20:35.200 --> 00:20:37.039
When the cloth was pulled tight.

00:20:37.359 --> 00:20:38.559
So it helped crush it.

00:20:38.799 --> 00:20:39.039
Yes.

00:20:39.200 --> 00:20:39.839
Yeah.

00:20:40.319 --> 00:20:41.920
The motion was practiced.

00:20:42.079 --> 00:20:46.640
Loop around the neck, yank back hard, and hold until the victim went limp.

00:20:46.880 --> 00:20:47.839
Jesus Christ.

00:20:48.079 --> 00:20:48.960
It took seconds.

00:20:49.119 --> 00:20:53.039
There were typically no screams, no mess, no blood to offend their goddess Kali.

00:20:53.599 --> 00:20:54.000
Right.

00:20:54.240 --> 00:20:54.799
Yes.

00:20:55.119 --> 00:20:55.519
Wow.

00:20:55.759 --> 00:20:59.200
The scarf fit their spiritual logic as well.

00:20:59.359 --> 00:20:59.519
Okay.

00:20:59.759 --> 00:21:07.119
Kali's mythology says that her enemy's blood, when her enemy's blood touched the ground, it created more demons.

00:21:07.359 --> 00:21:07.680
Oh.

00:21:07.839 --> 00:21:14.720
So to prevent the cosmic disaster, the thugs believed that strangulation was sacred, a clean and divinely approved way to kill.

00:21:15.200 --> 00:21:16.240
Jesus Christ.

00:21:16.559 --> 00:21:21.119
Then even considered the rumor holy equipment blessed before use.

00:21:21.200 --> 00:21:24.160
It wasn't just a weapon, it was a ritual tool.

00:21:24.480 --> 00:21:24.799
Okay.

00:21:25.200 --> 00:21:29.680
So when the British finally caught on, they were fascinated and equally horrified.

00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:30.799
Well, right.

00:21:31.279 --> 00:21:31.759
Yes.

00:21:31.920 --> 00:21:37.599
Um, reports of investigations go into like loving detail about this scarf technique.

00:21:38.160 --> 00:21:46.319
And one officer described watching a captured thug demonstrate how he could kill a man in under 10 seconds with a piece of cloth no longer than a belt.

00:21:46.640 --> 00:21:47.839
How did he demonstrate it?

00:21:47.920 --> 00:21:48.960
Did he actually kill somebody?

00:21:49.119 --> 00:21:50.000
I don't I doubt it.

00:21:50.160 --> 00:21:51.119
God, that'd suck.

00:21:51.279 --> 00:21:52.480
Hey, uh let me show you.

00:21:52.720 --> 00:21:54.880
A uh private blah blah blah.

00:21:55.200 --> 00:21:56.400
We just want to see something real quick.

00:21:56.640 --> 00:21:58.079
We just want to see something.

00:21:58.400 --> 00:21:59.839
Can you uh can you come over here?

00:21:59.920 --> 00:22:01.519
This guy's gonna give us a demonstration.

00:22:02.640 --> 00:22:04.079
It's like fuck that.

00:22:04.400 --> 00:22:05.599
That sucks.

00:22:06.319 --> 00:22:10.799
So one thug would grab the target from behind while the other whipped out the rumor.

00:22:11.119 --> 00:22:13.519
So they always worked in like at least a pair?

00:22:13.759 --> 00:22:13.920
Yeah.

00:22:14.079 --> 00:22:14.400
Okay.

00:22:14.640 --> 00:22:18.720
Other members pinned the victim's arms and legs so there'd be no struggle, no scream.

00:22:18.960 --> 00:22:19.200
Sure.

00:22:19.359 --> 00:22:21.200
The whole thing was over in seconds.

00:22:21.359 --> 00:22:29.680
Um, their scarf was their signature so much that the British later on nicknamed them fancigars, meaning noose operators.

00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:31.200
Noose operators.

00:22:31.279 --> 00:22:31.599
Wow.

00:22:32.160 --> 00:22:32.480
Okay.

00:22:32.799 --> 00:22:36.960
So many attacks happened at night when everyone was asleep and vulnerable.

00:22:37.359 --> 00:22:37.920
Makes sense.

00:22:38.079 --> 00:22:38.400
Yes.

00:22:38.640 --> 00:22:48.480
One British report described it saying the thugs would earn a traveler's trust, strike without warning, strangle him, loot the body, and bury it.

00:22:48.640 --> 00:22:51.599
Oh, efficient business.

00:22:51.920 --> 00:22:53.519
So they would even bury it too.

00:22:53.839 --> 00:22:54.960
I'm actually surprised at that.

00:22:55.200 --> 00:22:56.319
And then they didn't linger.

00:22:56.400 --> 00:23:02.480
They stripped the bodies of all the valuables, the cash, the jewelry, anything worth anything, and then disposed of the evidence.

00:23:02.799 --> 00:23:03.119
Wow.

00:23:03.440 --> 00:23:08.640
So do you think those people, like in those caravans or whatever, would be like, where'd Bob go?

00:23:10.400 --> 00:23:13.200
You know, it's like he was just here, wasn't he?

00:23:13.519 --> 00:23:15.599
Did he like have to go to the bathroom or something at launch?

00:23:16.079 --> 00:23:16.720
He'll be right back.

00:23:16.799 --> 00:23:18.880
He's probably pissing by that tree over there.

00:23:19.759 --> 00:23:20.400
Bob.

00:23:21.039 --> 00:23:25.599
So some thought crews were so organized they dug graves before the murders.

00:23:25.920 --> 00:23:27.680
That's I mean, that's efficient.

00:23:27.920 --> 00:23:28.240
Yeah.

00:23:28.480 --> 00:23:33.920
It's like, hey, uh, I don't know any Indian names off the top of my head, but like, what are you doing over there?

00:23:34.079 --> 00:23:34.480
No, nothing.

00:23:34.720 --> 00:23:34.960
Nothing.

00:23:35.440 --> 00:23:36.000
Don't worry about it.

00:23:36.160 --> 00:23:37.680
I'm just, you know, covered my shit.

00:23:37.920 --> 00:23:40.400
You'll be like, covering my shit.

00:23:40.640 --> 00:23:41.519
Like a cat.

00:23:42.480 --> 00:23:44.559
He's like, uh, uh, I'm not doing anything.

00:23:44.640 --> 00:23:45.119
Don't worry about it.

00:23:45.279 --> 00:23:46.480
How tall are you?

00:23:48.400 --> 00:24:01.920
It's like in Van Helsing where that Undertaker comes up and starts measuring Van Helsing for his I always think of uh Back to the Future 3, where uh Marty is supposed to like it switches and he's the one that's gonna die.

00:24:02.000 --> 00:24:04.319
And the one guy, creepy-looking guy, comes.

00:24:04.559 --> 00:24:06.240
I don't want, I don't need a new new suit.

00:24:06.559 --> 00:24:08.400
I'm measuring you for your coffin.

00:24:08.799 --> 00:24:09.440
Yeah.

00:24:09.920 --> 00:24:19.039
Okay, so um other thugs um dumped corpses into wells or ravines, sometimes even mutilating them to prevent recognition.

00:24:19.519 --> 00:24:22.400
But wouldn't that bring out some blood even if they're dead?

00:24:22.480 --> 00:24:23.680
I mean, it's still gonna have blood.

00:24:23.839 --> 00:24:24.960
Wouldn't that fall on the ground?

00:24:25.200 --> 00:24:28.240
So doesn't that make more demons, which goes against collie.

00:24:29.519 --> 00:24:31.599
Yeah, I would assume that they would bleed from that.

00:24:31.839 --> 00:24:34.160
I mean, maybe it doesn't matter after they're dead.

00:24:34.400 --> 00:24:39.359
I know blood, obviously, it's funny how much blood changes once it's not flowing.

00:24:39.440 --> 00:24:39.839
I get that.

00:24:40.160 --> 00:24:44.559
But depending on how quickly they do it, yeah, still gonna be blood.

00:24:44.799 --> 00:24:46.640
Yes, demons everywhere.

00:24:46.960 --> 00:24:52.880
So before setting out, they offered sweets or flowers to Kali, asking for her blessing for success.

00:24:53.119 --> 00:24:53.839
Oh dear.

00:24:54.079 --> 00:24:57.279
Afterwards, they might share a meal and give thanks for her protection.

00:24:57.440 --> 00:24:57.759
Okay.

00:24:58.160 --> 00:25:05.440
Um, if a victim looked particularly strong or suspicious, the thugs didn't mind adding a little chemistry into the mix.

00:25:05.519 --> 00:25:13.440
They they carried datura, which is a hallucinogenic plant, sacred to Shiva, but handy for spiking food and drink.

00:25:13.680 --> 00:25:14.160
Sure.

00:25:14.400 --> 00:25:17.920
One dose would leave the traveler dizzy and easy to manipulate.

00:25:18.079 --> 00:25:18.480
Right.

00:25:18.640 --> 00:25:24.960
Um, outwardly, the thugs carried a little bit more than a dag dagger or sword, so no one suspected a thing.

00:25:25.279 --> 00:25:27.359
So it was like a holy hitman roofie?

00:25:27.599 --> 00:25:27.920
Yeah.

00:25:28.240 --> 00:25:28.559
Interesting.

00:25:28.880 --> 00:25:29.359
Yeah, exactly.

00:25:29.519 --> 00:25:30.880
Holy Hitman Roofie.

00:25:31.839 --> 00:25:32.799
I'm gonna write that one down.

00:25:33.039 --> 00:25:34.559
I'm gonna write that one down.

00:25:36.000 --> 00:25:37.680
I mean, that's what it is basically.

00:25:37.920 --> 00:25:39.039
It is, yeah.

00:25:39.440 --> 00:25:43.279
Okay, so um, by day they were like model citizens.

00:25:43.519 --> 00:25:43.839
Sure.

00:25:44.079 --> 00:25:49.359
By night, they were an elite team of murderers with remarkable punctuality.

00:25:50.960 --> 00:25:51.599
Yep.

00:25:52.240 --> 00:25:52.720
Wow.

00:25:52.960 --> 00:25:54.400
That's just fucking wild.

00:25:54.559 --> 00:25:54.960
Yeah.

00:25:55.279 --> 00:25:56.559
I mean, all right.

00:25:56.799 --> 00:26:01.920
So over the centuries, rulers tried to stop them, the sultans, the moguls, even local princes.

00:26:02.240 --> 00:26:03.920
The sultans, the sultans.

00:26:05.119 --> 00:26:10.720
Um, they're shifting routes and tight secrecy made them pretty impossible to find.

00:26:11.039 --> 00:26:11.359
Yeah.

00:26:11.599 --> 00:26:14.240
Each gang operated far from home.

00:26:14.480 --> 00:26:20.400
Um, but by the early 1800s early 1800s, um, there was a new empire.

00:26:20.720 --> 00:26:21.920
Uh, the British Empire.

00:26:22.160 --> 00:26:24.000
The British East India Company.

00:26:24.160 --> 00:26:24.319
Yeah.

00:26:24.559 --> 00:26:27.680
The thugs were about to meet a whole new kind of an enemy.

00:26:27.920 --> 00:26:28.160
Sure.

00:26:28.400 --> 00:26:34.160
By the 1830s, Word of the Thuggy cult had had um shifted its way to the British.

00:26:34.400 --> 00:26:34.640
Okay.

00:26:35.119 --> 00:26:38.960
And colonial administrators were kind of fascinated by this.

00:26:39.119 --> 00:26:41.920
They were they were horrified, but they're like, this is really interesting.

00:26:42.079 --> 00:26:42.400
Yeah.

00:26:42.640 --> 00:26:49.680
A secret network of killers who worship a death goddess and strangled travelers on India's busiest roads.

00:26:49.920 --> 00:26:53.039
It sounded like a weird, like, Victorian horror novel.

00:26:53.279 --> 00:26:54.160
Yeah, for sure.

00:26:54.480 --> 00:26:57.359
Of course, the British decided this was a job for them.

00:26:57.599 --> 00:26:57.920
Oh.

00:26:58.240 --> 00:26:58.640
Mm-hmm.

00:26:58.720 --> 00:27:01.279
Because if it was one thing the Empire loved more than tea.

00:27:03.359 --> 00:27:06.559
It was stamping out anything that looked uncivilized.

00:27:06.880 --> 00:27:08.799
Well, I mean on their watch.

00:27:09.839 --> 00:27:10.720
It's just still blows.

00:27:12.559 --> 00:27:24.400
It still blows my mind how much from one little island not little, but you know, in in the in relative speaking terms, how much those people got everywhere.

00:27:24.960 --> 00:27:26.079
They got their hands in some shit.

00:27:26.400 --> 00:27:26.799
They did.

00:27:26.880 --> 00:27:30.000
I mean, obviously the United States is here because of them.

00:27:30.640 --> 00:27:38.559
Jamaica was under them, India, I mean Australia was their castaways for fucking murderous and criminals and whatever.

00:27:38.880 --> 00:27:39.920
It's just fucking wild.

00:27:40.079 --> 00:27:40.319
Yeah.

00:27:40.640 --> 00:27:40.960
Sorry.

00:27:42.079 --> 00:27:45.039
So enter Captain William Henry Sleeman.

00:27:45.359 --> 00:27:46.000
Sleeman.

00:27:46.160 --> 00:27:48.960
Sleeman first caught wind of the cult in the late 1820s.

00:27:49.200 --> 00:27:50.559
I like how you call it a cult.

00:27:51.200 --> 00:27:57.759
And it was ri when reports surfaced of missing travelers and a few captured stranglers in central India.

00:27:57.920 --> 00:27:58.240
Okay.

00:27:58.880 --> 00:28:07.839
So the ambitious officer sensed an opportunity to clean up a disastrous problem and make a name for himself in the process.

00:28:08.160 --> 00:28:08.480
Sure.

00:28:08.640 --> 00:28:08.799
Okay.

00:28:09.279 --> 00:28:22.079
By 1835, he convinced the powers that be that there really was a murderous brotherhood roaming the countryside and got himself appointed head of the brand new thuggy and decacy department.

00:28:22.720 --> 00:28:23.519
That's a mouthful.

00:28:23.839 --> 00:28:29.039
Decoity means an act of violent robbery committed by an armed gang.

00:28:29.200 --> 00:28:38.720
Like literally, that's a definition of Tico.

00:28:39.200 --> 00:28:39.440
I don't know.

00:28:39.920 --> 00:28:40.240
Spell it.

00:28:40.559 --> 00:28:42.720
D-A-C-O-I-T-Y.

00:28:43.519 --> 00:28:44.720
D-A-C-O-I-T-Y.

00:28:44.880 --> 00:28:45.359
Decoity?

00:28:46.319 --> 00:28:46.640
Maybe.

00:28:46.880 --> 00:28:47.359
Decoity.

00:28:47.680 --> 00:28:50.480
I am not what you would call a professional speaker.

00:28:52.880 --> 00:28:59.519
But anyway, the British essentially like created this department to hunt for stranglers to eradicate the stranglers.

00:28:59.839 --> 00:29:00.240
Yeah.

00:29:00.799 --> 00:29:06.720
So anyone wearing a scarf, Sleeman was set to work to find them.

00:29:06.880 --> 00:29:07.359
Oh wow.

00:29:07.519 --> 00:29:09.519
Yes, he actually proved to be relentless.

00:29:09.759 --> 00:29:14.160
So if they had a scarf on, was that kind of like you're a target?

00:29:14.400 --> 00:29:16.799
I I need to I need to let's have a word.

00:29:16.880 --> 00:29:17.119
Yep.

00:29:17.519 --> 00:29:23.440
I mean I mean, what if he knows that's what they kill with, yeah, why wouldn't you start there?

00:29:23.680 --> 00:29:26.240
Because appearance is the first thing you're gonna see, obviously.

00:29:26.480 --> 00:29:30.000
Yeah, they're not gonna give up their hey, I got a couple questions for you.

00:29:30.240 --> 00:29:31.119
Do you kill people?

00:29:31.440 --> 00:29:34.160
Well, he actually came up with a brilliant move.

00:29:34.400 --> 00:29:38.720
When he would catch one, he would actually make them turn against other killers.

00:29:39.039 --> 00:29:41.279
They would he would make them turn against each other.

00:29:41.519 --> 00:29:42.960
So how god, my ear itches.

00:29:43.200 --> 00:29:44.960
Sorry, how would he do that?

00:29:45.519 --> 00:29:49.039
Um so in exchange for their lives, okay.

00:29:49.200 --> 00:29:57.200
Obviously, um, the informants would actually spill quite a bit names, mats, uh, map maps, secret slang, burial sites.

00:29:57.359 --> 00:29:59.839
Um, so Sleeman slowly began to piece together.

00:30:00.160 --> 00:30:03.920
Together like this entire web of thuggy gangs crisscrossing Indy India.

00:30:04.160 --> 00:30:05.839
It's funny how like sleam and slowly.

00:30:06.079 --> 00:30:07.119
Sleam and slowly.

00:30:07.200 --> 00:30:09.119
And I almost said Indiana, not in India.

00:30:09.839 --> 00:30:13.599
I mean, I don't know if we you and I have actually driven through Indiana.

00:30:13.680 --> 00:30:14.400
It's pretty wild there.

00:30:14.640 --> 00:30:15.279
It's pretty wild.

00:30:15.519 --> 00:30:16.960
At least their roads suck.

00:30:17.200 --> 00:30:18.400
Traffic does, that is.

00:30:18.559 --> 00:30:19.119
Yeah.

00:30:19.440 --> 00:30:27.519
So between the mid-1830s and early 1840s, over 3,000 thugs were captured, arrested, or otherwise dealt with.

00:30:27.680 --> 00:30:28.079
Yeah.

00:30:28.319 --> 00:30:30.240
More than 400 were hanged.

00:30:30.480 --> 00:30:31.039
Oh wow.

00:30:31.200 --> 00:30:31.839
Yes.

00:30:32.400 --> 00:30:35.119
Kind of poetic justice because of the news.

00:30:35.440 --> 00:30:35.519
Yeah.

00:30:35.680 --> 00:30:36.240
Yeah.

00:30:36.559 --> 00:30:41.279
Um, 60 thugs were executed together in Jabel Jabelpur.

00:30:41.440 --> 00:30:42.319
Jabalpur.

00:30:42.720 --> 00:30:43.039
Okay.

00:30:43.440 --> 00:30:49.759
Um, and by 1839, the thuggy network network was basically crushed.

00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:50.400
Wow.

00:30:50.640 --> 00:30:57.200
Villages that had once quietly profited from the cult's loot suddenly found their cash flow drying up.

00:30:57.519 --> 00:30:57.920
Sure.

00:30:58.160 --> 00:31:00.400
To the British, Sleeman was a hero.

00:31:00.640 --> 00:31:01.039
Of course.

00:31:01.279 --> 00:31:07.359
He made India's road safe again, a savior for travelers, the strangler of the stranglers.

00:31:07.920 --> 00:31:08.240
Yeah.

00:31:08.480 --> 00:31:10.960
I'm assuming he had that embroidered on a pillow somewhere.

00:31:11.200 --> 00:31:13.200
Oh, I the strangler of stranglers.

00:31:13.759 --> 00:31:17.839
I would imagine he that was his fucking family slogan and everything.

00:31:18.000 --> 00:31:18.480
Absolutely.

00:31:18.799 --> 00:31:20.480
Strangler of Stranglers, yeah.

00:31:20.799 --> 00:31:34.960
The British government even passed the Thuggy Law of 1836, which made buying a excuse me, which made being associated with thuggy, not even killing anyone, just hanging out with the guys that did it, punishable by death or life in prison.

00:31:35.200 --> 00:31:35.599
Wow.

00:31:35.759 --> 00:31:37.519
That's a pretty harsh yeah.

00:31:37.839 --> 00:31:40.079
Even for just being adjacent to them.

00:31:40.400 --> 00:31:40.720
Yes.

00:31:40.880 --> 00:31:41.119
Wow.

00:31:41.279 --> 00:31:41.440
Okay.

00:31:41.839 --> 00:31:46.720
So Sleeman wasn't just content enough to catch some of these killers.

00:31:46.799 --> 00:31:48.319
He wanted to tell the world about it.

00:31:48.559 --> 00:31:49.039
Of course he did.

00:31:49.119 --> 00:31:50.000
He wanted to be famous.

00:31:50.240 --> 00:31:50.480
Yes.

00:31:50.559 --> 00:31:57.680
He wrote a detailed report and entire books about the cult's confessions, um, lurid details and eerie quotes.

00:31:57.920 --> 00:31:58.240
Okay.

00:31:58.720 --> 00:32:06.079
In um 1839, his book, The Thugs or Fan Cigars of India, hit the presses.

00:32:06.240 --> 00:32:06.400
Okay.

00:32:06.960 --> 00:32:13.599
That same year, a British novelist published Confessions of a Thug inspired by Sleeman's finding.

00:32:13.759 --> 00:32:13.920
Okay.

00:32:14.319 --> 00:32:19.119
The book was a massive hit, and suddenly thuggy was kind of the talk of the town.

00:32:19.359 --> 00:32:19.680
Okay.

00:32:19.920 --> 00:32:27.440
The British public devoured every gruesome detail, um, congratulating themselves on being being like civilized.

00:32:28.480 --> 00:32:29.119
Jesus.

00:32:29.359 --> 00:32:34.480
By the 1850s, officials declared the thuggy problem solved, mission accomplished.

00:32:34.720 --> 00:32:36.160
Okay, mission accomplished.

00:32:36.400 --> 00:32:37.359
Jesus Christ.

00:32:37.680 --> 00:32:38.160
Excuse me.

00:32:38.319 --> 00:32:38.880
Here, no problem.

00:32:39.119 --> 00:32:44.640
Sleeman had become a colonial celebrity, complete with family from London Society Ladies.

00:32:44.880 --> 00:32:47.039
Oh, like you are so cute.

00:32:47.279 --> 00:32:47.920
Yes.

00:32:48.160 --> 00:32:59.119
Um, the few surviving thugs were shipped off to a rehabilitation experiment called the Thuggy School of Industry, where they were taught trades like weaving and farming.

00:32:59.200 --> 00:33:01.119
It's kind of like a rehabilitation center.

00:33:01.359 --> 00:33:02.480
Wow, that's wild.

00:33:02.640 --> 00:33:02.960
Yeah.

00:33:03.279 --> 00:33:05.279
It's crazy they would even like attempt to do that.

00:33:05.440 --> 00:33:08.240
Yeah, but of course the British were like patting themselves on the back.

00:33:08.720 --> 00:33:09.359
Well, obviously.

00:33:09.759 --> 00:33:10.480
Job well done.

00:33:10.720 --> 00:33:11.599
Look at us go.

00:33:11.759 --> 00:33:12.960
We're so civilized.

00:33:13.279 --> 00:33:15.039
The thugs are gone, the roads were safe.

00:33:15.519 --> 00:33:18.880
Captain Slee Sleeman had cemented his legacy.

00:33:19.119 --> 00:33:19.519
Yep.

00:33:19.680 --> 00:33:20.319
Yes.

00:33:20.799 --> 00:33:21.279
Yes.

00:33:22.079 --> 00:33:30.000
And of course, but some historians started giving the thuggy saga kind of a side eye.

00:33:30.240 --> 00:33:30.559
Oh.

00:33:30.880 --> 00:33:34.400
The official British version version makes one hell of a story.

00:33:34.559 --> 00:33:43.920
Murderous cult of stranglers devoted to a death goddess, secretly prowling India, until the noble Brodish rode in on their white horse to save the day.

00:33:44.160 --> 00:33:45.599
I like how you call them Brodish.

00:33:46.160 --> 00:33:47.519
Brodish rode in.

00:33:47.759 --> 00:33:48.319
British.

00:33:48.480 --> 00:33:49.119
Yes.

00:33:49.680 --> 00:33:51.039
But was it all true?

00:33:51.279 --> 00:33:51.599
Well.

00:33:51.839 --> 00:33:54.640
Was it just the Empire's favorite story?

00:33:54.880 --> 00:33:56.880
Half real, half propaganda?

00:33:57.039 --> 00:33:57.680
We don't know.

00:33:58.000 --> 00:33:58.240
Yeah.

00:33:58.400 --> 00:33:58.799
Yes.

00:33:59.119 --> 00:34:00.480
Definitely could be propaganda.

00:34:00.720 --> 00:34:08.800
On one side, you've got historians that argue that Thuggy was basically a British invention, um, kind of a more morality tale.

00:34:09.119 --> 00:34:09.519
Sure.

00:34:09.679 --> 00:34:14.719
Um, everything that we know about the thugs come from British records.

00:34:15.039 --> 00:34:17.119
Well, because well, yeah.

00:34:17.280 --> 00:34:21.920
I mean, they obviously took very good records and but doing shit for a long time.

00:34:22.079 --> 00:34:24.559
So yeah, of course it's gonna be one-sided.

00:34:24.880 --> 00:34:27.440
And it was basically coming from one man, Sleeman.

00:34:27.599 --> 00:34:27.840
Yeah.

00:34:28.079 --> 00:34:30.320
So he slowly, Sleeman slowly.

00:34:30.480 --> 00:34:31.119
Yeah.

00:34:31.519 --> 00:34:36.639
So according to this school of thought, Sleeman had every reason to exaggerate.

00:34:36.800 --> 00:34:39.440
The bigger, the scarier the thugs look, the more heroic.

00:34:40.079 --> 00:34:41.679
Excuse me, holy shit.

00:34:41.920 --> 00:34:45.280
That was fucking amazing.

00:34:45.519 --> 00:34:46.719
That was amazing.

00:34:46.960 --> 00:34:47.440
Wow.

00:34:47.679 --> 00:34:50.480
I am gonna isolate that that crept up out of nowhere.

00:34:50.960 --> 00:34:51.840
Do something with it.

00:34:52.159 --> 00:34:53.599
So 39 minutes.

00:34:53.760 --> 00:34:56.639
Um I cannot wait to do something with that.

00:34:57.199 --> 00:35:01.199
So obviously, he's gonna inflate his ego.

00:35:01.440 --> 00:35:08.000
Well, his ego, but like, oh, they were beasts of men, they were huge, we took them down, or whatever, whatever.

00:35:08.079 --> 00:35:09.920
Like, he's gonna exaggerate everything.

00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:13.599
Yeah, and because that's gonna make him look even more heroic.

00:35:14.880 --> 00:35:18.639
I, good old Sleeman, eliminated this threat.

00:35:18.800 --> 00:35:24.639
Yeah, because he's he just wanted to be famous, and to the British, he did something good.

00:35:24.719 --> 00:35:30.480
I mean, if if this is really what it is and everything, fuck those people for just killing random people.

00:35:30.639 --> 00:35:38.480
Yeah, but anyways, he just wanted to be famous and cement his like his legacy, like that's mine.

00:35:40.559 --> 00:35:42.639
I wish I would have said heroic when I said it.

00:35:44.719 --> 00:35:56.880
Okay, so this story kind of hit all the right buttons for Victorian readers back home, like a secret collie worshiping death cult in in India, um, exotic horror material, right?

00:35:57.039 --> 00:35:59.519
Newspapers and novels couldn't get enough of it.

00:35:59.760 --> 00:36:11.039
Um, to many scholars, it looked like the Empire itself um it found itself a perfect villain, kind of a dark foreign, conveniently in need of civilization, kind of thing.

00:36:11.360 --> 00:36:15.840
And that's another big thing is because obviously they went in and tried to conquer this territory.

00:36:15.920 --> 00:36:21.360
Yeah, and they're not like them, they're savages and blah, blah, blah, whatever.

00:36:21.599 --> 00:36:22.239
Potentially, yeah.

00:36:22.480 --> 00:36:31.440
As far as as far as most of them concerned, because all this all these people reading this back in England, London, whatever, are like, I've never seen this, but oh my god, that's so scary.

00:36:31.519 --> 00:36:32.719
Thank God for what they did.

00:36:32.880 --> 00:36:34.639
Yeah, because they they don't fucking know better.

00:36:34.800 --> 00:36:35.440
Yeah.

00:36:35.920 --> 00:36:44.960
So the other camp of historians argue that yes, the thuggy was real, but but just not quite as cinematic as sleeve and sold to London.

00:36:45.119 --> 00:36:45.519
Right.

00:36:45.760 --> 00:36:49.280
So the records from the 1830s show that something was happening.

00:36:49.440 --> 00:36:53.679
People were disappearing, graves were found, thousands of suspects were rounded up.

00:36:54.000 --> 00:36:56.559
There's no way the whole thing was made up out of thin air.

00:36:56.719 --> 00:36:56.960
Sure.

00:36:57.119 --> 00:37:02.559
But what was more likely is that thuggy was an organized bandagry dressed up with religious flair.

00:37:02.719 --> 00:37:03.039
Right.

00:37:03.360 --> 00:37:07.039
So many of the captured thugs weren't zealots, they were professionals.

00:37:07.280 --> 00:37:07.519
Right.

00:37:07.760 --> 00:37:11.119
Killing travelers wasn't a ritual, it was a business model.

00:37:11.280 --> 00:37:11.519
Yeah.

00:37:11.760 --> 00:37:17.840
The talk of Kali and divine duty may have been more about group loyalty than genuine like fanaticism.

00:37:18.079 --> 00:37:18.400
Sure.

00:37:18.639 --> 00:37:27.679
So some historians think that the cult religion was really just a social glue to kind of like keep them loyal and justify the blood on their hands.

00:37:27.920 --> 00:37:29.039
Right, for sure.

00:37:29.599 --> 00:37:45.280
So after compelling theory reframes Thuggy as an economical turn fallout from Empire Building, when the British marched across India, they disbanded countless local armies and militias, leaving thousands of soldiers unemployed.

00:37:45.519 --> 00:37:46.000
Right.

00:37:46.239 --> 00:37:48.880
And then those trained fighters still needed income.

00:37:49.039 --> 00:37:49.679
And guess what?

00:37:49.840 --> 00:37:52.559
Robbery was a transferable skill.

00:37:52.639 --> 00:37:52.880
Yep.

00:37:53.039 --> 00:37:56.960
And according to this view, thuggy was born from job loss and opportunity.

00:37:57.119 --> 00:37:57.360
Sure.

00:37:57.679 --> 00:38:00.559
Soldiers turned mercenaries, turned stranglers.

00:38:00.880 --> 00:38:01.199
Okay.

00:38:01.360 --> 00:38:01.920
Makes sense.

00:38:02.079 --> 00:38:05.039
I mean, they gotta put food on the table.

00:38:05.440 --> 00:38:18.639
Even juicier yet, some local rulers and landowners may have sponsored these thugs, thug bands to target traders from rival territories, sure, taking a cut of the profits.

00:38:18.880 --> 00:38:24.559
Well, yeah, it's like, hey, I got this land, you can camp here, go kill those.

00:38:24.880 --> 00:38:28.320
They're fucking up my my beef trade, whatever the fuck it was.

00:38:28.480 --> 00:38:28.960
I don't know.

00:38:29.360 --> 00:38:32.400
So yeah, I mean, I could see people kind of backing them for that.

00:38:32.559 --> 00:38:32.880
Yeah.

00:38:33.119 --> 00:38:41.199
Because it's it's in their best interest to eliminate these people that are bringing shit in that's directly affecting their business, which whatever the fuck it would have been.

00:38:41.360 --> 00:38:51.679
And so it's like, hey, I'll help you give you some, I'll feed you, I'll house you, or whatever the fuck it might have been, and like just go go take care of that for me.

00:38:52.079 --> 00:38:59.519
So if this is true, the thuggy wasn't a continental-wide cult, but it was more like a network of like criminal freelancers.

00:38:59.599 --> 00:39:00.000
Yeah.

00:39:00.159 --> 00:39:10.639
Um, they shared the same technique, language, uh, superstition, but there's evidence, uh, but there's little evidence of like a powerful, like central, thuggy.

00:39:11.360 --> 00:39:13.440
Thuggy headquarters.

00:39:13.840 --> 00:39:15.039
Headquarters.

00:39:15.840 --> 00:39:22.320
They weren't they weren't satanic masterminds, they were just opportunistic entrepreneurs of chaos.

00:39:22.719 --> 00:39:23.039
Yeah.

00:39:23.280 --> 00:39:26.639
So the truth probably sits somewhere in that middle.

00:39:26.880 --> 00:39:27.199
Right.

00:39:27.440 --> 00:39:31.840
So thuggy existed, but maybe not at the size or scales that the colonials wrote about.

00:39:32.159 --> 00:39:32.639
Sure.

00:39:33.840 --> 00:39:39.920
So the worship of Kali, some thugs might have truly believed that they were her chosen agents.

00:39:40.079 --> 00:39:40.239
Yeah.

00:39:40.480 --> 00:39:45.360
Others probably just played along for good luck or for the intimidation factor.

00:39:45.920 --> 00:39:51.440
Um, which in what's interesting is that Indian writings of the time barely mention thuggy at all.

00:39:51.760 --> 00:39:53.280
It is see, that's weird.

00:39:53.440 --> 00:39:56.960
Yeah, it's really a massive empire-spanning religious cult.

00:39:57.039 --> 00:39:59.519
You'd expect a little bit more of a local chatter.

00:39:59.760 --> 00:40:05.599
Well, obviously, because like how could you have this network of people doing this for so so long?

00:40:05.920 --> 00:40:06.239
Yeah.

00:40:06.480 --> 00:40:10.159
Air quotes, and there's no mention of it.

00:40:10.400 --> 00:40:12.239
Doesn't the silence kind of say something?

00:40:12.480 --> 00:40:18.559
It really does because it seems like maybe it wasn't as around as long as it they say it was or whatever.

00:40:18.960 --> 00:40:29.599
So by the time the the British wrapped up their victory over evil, um victory over evil, um, the narrative was kind of set.

00:40:29.840 --> 00:40:33.280
The civilized rulers saved India from its own savagery.

00:40:33.519 --> 00:40:33.840
Okay.

00:40:34.079 --> 00:40:41.199
So thuggy became kind of a moral trophy, a neat story of like barbarianism conquered by bureaucracy.

00:40:42.320 --> 00:40:43.840
We're cleaning up the streets.

00:40:44.159 --> 00:40:45.280
Look at this go.

00:40:45.440 --> 00:40:45.920
Yes.

00:40:46.159 --> 00:40:46.639
Wow.

00:40:46.880 --> 00:40:50.079
So what's left today is kind of a mix of like fact and fiction.

00:40:50.559 --> 00:40:55.119
The thugs were real, the killings were real, but like the death cult of Kali could have been fabricated a little bit.

00:40:55.280 --> 00:40:55.440
Yeah.

00:40:55.599 --> 00:40:55.840
Yeah.

00:40:56.159 --> 00:40:58.079
Again, it's all part of the storytelling.

00:40:58.239 --> 00:40:59.039
Exactly.

00:40:59.360 --> 00:41:04.880
But the British, even if they oversold it, they made sure that thuggy lived forever.

00:41:05.119 --> 00:41:08.320
The English word thug comes straight from these stranglers.

00:41:08.559 --> 00:41:09.360
I did not know that.

00:41:09.519 --> 00:41:09.840
Yes.

00:41:10.000 --> 00:41:10.800
That's wild.

00:41:11.039 --> 00:41:17.039
So when British officers started writing home about this creepy cult, they began using thug with a capital T.

00:41:18.079 --> 00:41:19.599
Excuse me, my badhead.

00:41:20.079 --> 00:41:23.360
And by the early 1800s, the term had officially entered English.

00:41:23.599 --> 00:41:24.000
Wow.

00:41:24.159 --> 00:41:30.800
The the first known used pop, excuse me, the first known use popped up around 1810.

00:41:31.280 --> 00:41:35.599
But the real um explosion kind of came around the the 30s and 40s.

00:41:35.760 --> 00:41:36.000
Yeah.

00:41:36.159 --> 00:41:39.519
Um, right in the middle of Sleeman's big like campaign.

00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:40.960
Yes, exactly.

00:41:41.199 --> 00:41:41.440
Okay.

00:41:41.599 --> 00:41:44.239
So his reports made the rounds in Britain.

00:41:44.400 --> 00:41:49.039
Um, Charles Dickens dropped casual thug references in his writings.

00:41:49.280 --> 00:41:52.800
Um is he the one first one coin thug life?

00:41:53.519 --> 00:41:55.599
Thug life was um Tupac.

00:41:56.800 --> 00:41:57.920
Do you have that actually?

00:41:58.079 --> 00:41:58.480
Yes.

00:41:58.719 --> 00:41:59.280
Nice.

00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:03.840
By the mid-1800s, thug had already stretched beyond its original meaning.

00:42:04.079 --> 00:42:10.639
The British public never, never once for nuance started using it to describe any roughneck or brute.

00:42:10.800 --> 00:42:16.960
Um, the English, Oxford English Dictionary later nailed it down as a cutthroat, ruffian, or hoodlum.

00:42:17.199 --> 00:42:17.519
Okay.

00:42:17.840 --> 00:42:22.000
And then just like that, collie was written out of history, essentially.

00:42:22.239 --> 00:42:22.719
Right, yeah.

00:42:22.960 --> 00:42:27.039
By the time Rudyer Kipling wrote Kim in 1901, Kim.

00:42:27.360 --> 00:42:28.239
Which I don't know of.

00:42:28.480 --> 00:42:30.400
I'm not Kim use that Kim.

00:42:30.559 --> 00:42:31.599
Yeah, I'm unfamiliar.

00:42:31.920 --> 00:42:38.239
The thugs had become liter literary shorthand for mysterious villains lurking in the shadows.

00:42:38.559 --> 00:42:39.039
Sure.

00:42:39.599 --> 00:42:47.360
So fast forward a century or so by the late 20th century, thug was part of American slang reborn in hip-hop culture.

00:42:47.599 --> 00:42:47.920
Right.

00:42:48.239 --> 00:42:52.719
Tupac famously tattooed thug life across his stomach.

00:42:52.960 --> 00:42:53.519
Sure did.

00:42:54.000 --> 00:42:56.800
Um, it was a defiance against the system.

00:42:57.199 --> 00:43:05.360
When when Sarah worked in the bakery, I always wanted her to come up with like a donut or a pastry called a Shakur, and she sold them in Tupac.

00:43:06.800 --> 00:43:07.760
Anyways.

00:43:08.159 --> 00:43:10.960
For those who don't know, Shakur is Tupac's last name.

00:43:11.519 --> 00:43:15.039
If you don't know, I didn't know.

00:43:15.280 --> 00:43:15.840
You didn't?

00:43:16.000 --> 00:43:16.239
No.

00:43:16.400 --> 00:43:22.719
I had a I I mean, Tupac is part of my story, so I know Shakur is his last name, but only because of my story.

00:43:23.039 --> 00:43:24.079
What was his real name?

00:43:24.400 --> 00:43:25.360
Fuck if I know.

00:43:25.920 --> 00:43:27.519
Why'd you say fucker rhino?

00:43:28.719 --> 00:43:30.000
That's what it sounded like.

00:43:30.239 --> 00:43:38.800
By then the term had done like a full 180 from describing religious murders to symbolizing tough symbolizing toughness, rebellion, survival.

00:43:39.039 --> 00:43:39.440
Yeah.

00:43:39.679 --> 00:43:45.679
Um, somewhere in the afterlife, maybe one's leaning back, smirking, we made it, boys.

00:43:46.639 --> 00:43:47.519
We made it.

00:43:47.760 --> 00:43:48.400
We made it.

00:43:48.559 --> 00:43:49.840
We're part of the lexicon.

00:43:50.079 --> 00:43:51.599
We're part of the thug life.

00:43:51.840 --> 00:43:52.480
Yes.

00:43:54.079 --> 00:44:01.920
So most people who use the word today have no idea that it's talking about a 19th-century criminal cult.

00:44:02.239 --> 00:44:03.199
I did not know that.

00:44:04.159 --> 00:44:05.199
So I'm I'm one of them.

00:44:05.280 --> 00:44:07.360
I I had no idea the origin of thug.

00:44:07.920 --> 00:44:15.280
The modern thug conjures up images of gangsters and outlaws, not devotees of Kali performing moonlit sacrifices.

00:44:16.079 --> 00:44:19.679
Which could be or could not be actually what they did it for.

00:44:20.000 --> 00:44:20.800
Yes, exactly.

00:44:21.039 --> 00:44:21.840
That's wild.

00:44:22.000 --> 00:44:23.920
I mean and who knows?

00:44:24.079 --> 00:44:25.039
Again, we don't know.

00:44:25.360 --> 00:44:31.119
But just saying, like, if it was that's what they did do it for, it's like, we got you, Kali.

00:44:31.519 --> 00:44:31.679
Yeah.

00:44:32.159 --> 00:44:33.280
Kill, kill, kill, kill.

00:44:33.519 --> 00:44:37.039
It's like But we won't drop blood because more demons rise.

00:44:39.280 --> 00:44:41.920
Like that demon that just came out of my mouth.

00:44:46.159 --> 00:44:47.440
Weird, I did not know that.

00:44:48.239 --> 00:44:49.679
So, how did you like your beer?

00:44:49.920 --> 00:44:50.800
It's not bad.

00:44:51.119 --> 00:44:52.639
I I I don't mind it.

00:44:52.880 --> 00:44:53.360
How's yours?

00:44:53.760 --> 00:44:54.320
I like mine.

00:44:54.480 --> 00:44:54.639
Yeah.

00:44:56.639 --> 00:44:57.280
Did you know?

00:44:57.679 --> 00:45:02.159
That content is what I did because it's 16 ounces.

00:45:03.119 --> 00:45:04.719
No, it's actually pretty decent.

00:45:05.440 --> 00:45:14.000
It's not like uh super heavy IPA or anything like the ones I normally go for, but it's good.

00:45:14.239 --> 00:45:16.320
It's got some good flavor, so and he's a wrestler?

00:45:16.559 --> 00:45:16.960
Steve Austin.

00:45:17.199 --> 00:45:18.559
Someone called Steve Austin.

00:45:18.880 --> 00:45:19.199
Yeah.

00:45:19.760 --> 00:45:22.000
Like a WWE or like a UFC.

00:45:22.960 --> 00:45:23.440
WWE.

00:45:24.000 --> 00:45:24.159
Okay.

00:45:24.559 --> 00:45:26.320
He I don't think he wrestles anymore.

00:45:26.800 --> 00:45:27.039
Probably not.

00:45:27.840 --> 00:45:28.480
I think he's retired.

00:45:28.880 --> 00:45:29.679
I think he's 60.

00:45:30.079 --> 00:45:30.960
Is that how old he is?

00:45:31.119 --> 00:45:31.519
I think so.

00:45:31.760 --> 00:45:32.639
Holy shit.

00:45:32.960 --> 00:45:34.480
I mean, that would make sense.

00:45:34.960 --> 00:45:35.920
Bald head though.

00:45:36.079 --> 00:45:40.239
He's like he had to drink beers on in the ring or whatever.

00:45:40.880 --> 00:45:41.119
Yeah.

00:45:41.280 --> 00:45:43.599
I think he used to like crush beers and stuff, whatever.

00:45:43.760 --> 00:45:44.159
I think.

00:45:44.320 --> 00:45:46.800
I was never a big wrestling fan, so I I don't.

00:45:47.039 --> 00:45:47.760
I know of him.

00:45:47.840 --> 00:45:49.280
I know of certain people.

00:45:49.599 --> 00:45:54.239
Undertaker, like you mentioned before, but uh I I never followed it.

00:45:54.320 --> 00:45:55.920
So just wasn't my jam.

00:45:56.079 --> 00:45:56.559
Yeah.

00:45:56.880 --> 00:45:58.079
Well, my ears are hurting.

00:45:58.320 --> 00:45:59.280
Well, I suppose.

00:45:59.519 --> 00:46:00.480
All right, buffoons.

00:46:00.559 --> 00:46:01.920
That's it for today's episode.

00:46:02.239 --> 00:46:06.239
Buckle up because we've got another historical adventure waiting for you next time.

00:46:06.480 --> 00:46:08.639
Feeling hungry for more buffoonery?

00:46:08.800 --> 00:46:13.599
Or maybe you have a burning question or a wild historical theory for us to explore?

00:46:13.840 --> 00:46:15.280
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00:46:15.360 --> 00:46:20.079
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00:46:20.239 --> 00:46:24.559
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00:46:24.719 --> 00:46:27.760
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00:46:27.920 --> 00:46:32.639
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00:46:32.800 --> 00:46:36.159
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00:46:36.320 --> 00:46:38.960
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