The Origin of Weird: Anti Comet Pill

0:16 Oh, hey there, oh hey there. I like how you do that and then you open your beer and it's like let's just not talk anymore. Wow. Welcome to the Origin of Weird but History Buffoons. Hey. The History Buffoons. I'm Bradley. I'm Kate. And let's find out something weird. Oh my gosh. Okay, I have a molasses cookie. I know. With ice topping. Oh my God From Festival. So delicious. Holy smoke I love how we keep mentioning this in our episodes. It's so good, holy smoke. Holy balls. Oh my, what you drinking.

0:57 I'm having a beverage. Cut water, tiki rum, mai Tai. I really didn't want to bring that up, because this is going to come out two weeks after the one. We just had this on it's fine, cut water, tiki rum, my type we had two left over from our sure fucking good anyways it's not seltzer a week and a half ago. I should say it's not seltzer. We learned that twelve and a and a half percent. How? are you and let's move on. I am well. How are you? I'm eating a cookie, so I want you to talk some more. Okay, so what I'd like to say is that Kate likes cookies. And she's currently eating one. And back to you, Kate. Okay, so here we go All right.

1:45 so I'm going to keep talking because, good lord, that was terrible. How was? your week, my week has been okay. I'm still chewing, so you really want me to say more and I'm purposely giving minimal, so okay, so we have an origin of a weird story. How? was your week. Well, I've been sitting on this story for about three weeks yeah, because we, maybe two, we yeah, we don't know, we don't know we uh, okay, so yeah sometimes we we do well with planning um, um topics in advance, okay, and occasionally we'll squeeze in something yes, if it's pertinent to the time. Yes, aka the derby correct.

2:27 We squeezed in a little bit of the derby history of the kentucky derby for you thank you for everyone who listened to that. That was one of our best episodes in terms of downloads. So we appreciate everyone who actually listened to it and, uh, thank you very much. Hope you enjoyed it yeah. So this is, um, an episode, or today's topic has been around for a couple weeks now, yeah, and just kind of waiting to be talked about. So, yeah, this is about Halley's Comet and the anti-comet pills. Anti, oh, I'm going to go into it? I hope so, because what the fuck? Okay, so Halley's Comet, you know of Comes out every 75 years.

3:09 You're right, it's either 75 or 76, depending on the time frame Give or take, yeah, but yes, and it has all sorts of superstition, much like Joey Ortiz on the Brewers shaving his mustache. Shout out to our last episode. Fast forward. Nope, not our last episode. Fast forward. Nope, not our last episode, but yep. In our future Afrofarm. Nope, definitely not that either. It's even less that than our last episode. Okay, it's either our future episode or our last episode. Two episodes ago. By the time this comes out, son of a bitch. Haley's Comet yeah 75 or 76 years and it leads to all sorts Of superstition. So Fast forward or rewind, I guess.

3:50 Or rewind to the 1990s, 1900s, my bad 1900s. I mean 1990s were In the 1900s but the 1900s astronomers had actually figured out whether it would Be back. Yeah, they're like oh, it's gonna come around in 1910. Because it was around in 1986, right. Yes. I remember it. Let's say that 85, 86. I'm sure I say it later on the episode that I don't remember because it's been a couple weeks. I'd like to say I believe you, but this is the episode that I don't remember because it's been a couple weeks. I'd like to say I believe you, but but they even calculated that Earth would pass right through the tail around May 18th or May 19th of that year.

4:36 Oh. Now this led to a big public outcry, Because People are superstitious. Did they drink the Kool-Aid? Oh, they drank the Kool-Aid. That is a great idiom as well. Shout out to Jim Jones and the cult Sure. What. Do you know what drink the Kool-Aid means? What Tell me? So Jim Jones. Who is what? He was a self-proclaimed reverend that had a cult.

5:18 I think it was California. You're saying cult, right, yeah, not colt. Because every time you say it you say colt. That's what confused me. You keep saying colt. I'm like what the fuck? is that A? colt. There it is Jesus. I'm like he had a horse. What the shit. A colt Still too close to cult, but all right, let's run with it, holy shit, because, like I, I know where it's from.

5:59 Okay, you said, you said jim jones and his cult, but you said cult and I'm like what? Oh my god, it's like how I pronounce root beer. I don't pronounce it root Root beer. I pronounce it root beer. A lot of people call it root beer. Yeah. Or root beer. Nathan always. Nobody calls it cult or cult or cult or cult. Okay. Jim Jones had a cult in ghana. Africa, south america, ghana, south america you're the one who's doing the story, not me ghana, south america yeah and he had everybody commit suicide by kool-aid did they have cults there in their cult?

6:46 stop it okay okay, well, you're talking about hayley's fucking comet fuck yeah, we are okay, hayley represent. Okay, so in night in february10, scientists used a technique called spectroscopy. Spectroscopy Spectroscopy. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah, and found cyogen, a poisonous gas, oh dear, in Halley Comet's tail. How did they find that that's in space and they weren't in space? in 1910. Spectroscopy so that's how okay are you gonna go into that?

7:29 fuck, no. So even though these scientists knew the gas was super thin and on a very large scale, meaning not concentrated, the public only heard the word poison. Of course they did yes, especially back in 1910. Yes, so you can imagine the newspaper headlines Mass hysteria. They were screaming about deadly gas heading straight for the earth, something like that. I don't know. Was this newspaper from Transylvania? Transylvania, heading straight for earth. No, Transylvania was alreadyylvania heading straight for Earth. Transylvania is already on Earth, anyways. So apparently a really well-known French astronomer named Camille Flammarion Flammarion, camille Flammarion.

8:22 Can we stop saying his name? Flammarion. He was quoted as saying that the Earth went through the comet's tail. Can we stop saying his name? He was quoted as saying that the earth went through the comet's tail and our whole world would be filled with. Poison. Cyanogen gas possibly snuffing out all life on earth. Possibly snuffing out all life on Earth. Why the fuck would you tell newspapers that Possibly snuffing out all life? on Earth. Can I answer the question why he would say that? Because he wanted to be famous? Fucking panic mode. No shit, because especially in 1910, you can't just be like is he fucking real Google that shit, google that shit.

9:07 Obviously you can't do that. You only get your news from what avenues of news you get, which is typically newspapers. Back then it's not like you had TV. You couldn't tune into Channel whatever and get the local news Channel 4. Or 6. Cnbc, NBC or 7 or 9. I mean, we can go every number if you'd like, but we're not going to, but no. So they took in the news with the mediums they had, which was typically newspaper. Newspaper telegrams. So fuck y'all dude for causing a mass hysteria so all right. Stop with that he actually did try to clear things up, saying that it was an unlikely situation, but more of a like what if thought so, but the newspapers were like yeah we're gonna run with that, others we're gonna run with the scary stuff yeah, because that's way more.

9:58 That's gonna sell more papers. Dude, dude. Sorry, but not sorry. So comets if you will, comets if you will. Had a spooky reputation Throughout history. People linked them to wars, dragons, Plagues, dragons, tell-all black death. Fuck, yeah, yeah, Hello, black Death. Fuck, yeah. Yeah, we did that. There was a comet before the Black Death. Yeah, we did that episode. I also brought up dragons in that episode. Sure Game of Thrones. Sure. It's really not relevant. So Halley's Comet in 1910 started all those old fears, Plus, a few months before, another comet called the great daylight comet was it really bright, which must have been, oh, you don't know.

10:50 It showed up out of nowhere and was super bright, which already had people on edge I literally just said oh, is it really bright? May have been, and you're like it's been several weeks since I've read this. I get it. I understand. That was fucking amazing, wow Way back in 1907. So three years prior. Oh my God, that's so long ago. Headlines were already asking things like will the coming cut Hold on? There's a lot of alliteration here. Will coming comet collide with curse? I put this in myself.

11:31 It literally said will coming comet collide with earth and I said will coming comet collide with curse. We were there, we heard you that was. That was a bit much okay, the beverage that we're drinking is 12 and a half percent 12 and a half percent we went over that two episodes ago. I'm sorry, sorry if you can tell you're really not that sorry. Okay, I have to drive home after this Shut the fuck up. You were cut off. Oh, hold on while I slam the rest of this. As Haley's comic got closer in the spring of 1910, things really went into overdrive with the media and the public, and scary news stories and people's fears were like feeding off of each other like wildfire right idiom like wildfire oh yeah I mean, I feel like that one speaks for itself lots of newspapers were writing these crazy alarming articles about how dangerous the comet was, and that just made people around the world even more panicked.

12:46 You saw all sorts of reactions from people trying to be practical and getting ready to others just completely fucking losing it. Yep. Losing their fucking minds. Lost their shit, lost their shit. Big newspapers like the New York Times actually repeated that scary prediction from Flamin' Young. Flamin' Young. About life. Is that what? you said Flaming Flamerion, my bad. Because you said Flamin' Young, I sure fucking did. That sounds delicious right now. Flamerion About all life being snuffed out. Okay, I don't like the sound of that. That so they even talked about these totally wild breeder stories, like the ocean sloshing out of the basins because of the comets, and stories that were right on the front page really push this idea of the world ending isn't it?

13:39 I mean, again, we're talking about 1910, so I obviously get it, but isn't it just wild? At that time they thought the ocean was literally gonna slosh out of its fucking spot. I mean, again, they don't know better. K crossed her eyes. She took a sip of her beverage this is very potent but isn't it just amazing, like, oh man, that's just gonna all come up on here now. I know that's gonna be empty, but it's all gonna be up here. We're gonna be under their feets of water churches all over europe and america are filled terrified people.

14:23 Can you blame them, though? I mean, they don't fucking know better. They don't know better, they're just like look end of the world. You know I got to itch my ear. People were trying to get their spiritual lives in order, thinking that it was the end. In Paris, churches stayed open all night while Earth was supposed to be Just to take in the people, because, yeah shit, we need people, want to give their confessions or whatever. Blah, blah. And we're about to be passing through the comet's tail. Tens of thousands of people gathered at saint peter square just to pray for salvation basilica yeah it's like the Pope was just reelected or whatever the fuck they do.

15:04 I mean, he wasn't just like he was. Elected, not reelected, but like elected yeah he wasn't really. he didn't go for a second term. Sure, you get elected until you die or you resign, because we've had what one Pope resign? I think he was what two Popes ago. But he had like some health issues or some shit. I don't remember, doesn't matter. So, anyways, it's wild to think about like these things people did to try to protect themselves at home, right, okay, so we're talking about comet proofing their lives, comet, comet, proofing their lives okay that that's a little clearer, because the first time was really like Comet, I'm drunkard.

15:45 Proofing their lives. Yeah, I got that. Oh, Jesus fuck. Stop itching your ear and it won't happen. And stop telling my ear to itch and I wasn't itching my ear, I was scratching my ear because I had an itch here because it had an itch. So they people would seal up their windows and doors, stuffing rags and paper into any little crack to keep the quote-unquote toxic gas out. Let me use what you had so I get that some families even went down go ahead do they not have any clock? I don't know they could have clocked it up. I don't know they could have caulked it up. I don't know if they have caulk. They could have filled it up with caulk and it would have been fine.

16:27 But some people went down to their basements and wore wet towels over their faces. Did they just think that wouldn't let as? like makeshift gas masks. Right. That's what I was going to say. Okay, that's what I was going to say. Okay Makes sense. I mean, I get that. Hey look, listen to this. Hey look, look, people in the US are cocking their homes. I literally had to do sentences later. Are you fucking? kidding me? I haven't read this in three weeks. Stop with that. I understand that. That's just fucking hilarious that I brought that up. I am okay with you having read this. In a couple weeks I get that, or three weeks, whatever.

17:07 But that's fucking funny. Yes, they were clocking. He's like hey, man, we need to clock our windows, clock our doors, shout out to JFK. And of course, sales of actual gas masks shot way up. Do you think anyone bought those old? What was the pointy? the plague doctor masks, it wasn't mentioned, it was mostly gas masks that would be fantastic though. So it wasn't just about being cautious. People really panicked and to let led to some really sad and bizarre things Can you blame them, though, because this paper said hey man, we're all going to die because this fucker said it's all poisonous and we're going through its tail so we're all going to die.

17:49 I mean to cause that mass hysteria. It's like and I get it it's 1910. I understand they don't know the science behind it or whatever, blah, blah, blah. But people have been around for a long fucking time. We're not gonna get taken out until a fucking meteor hits our goddamn, like a giant fucking meteor hits our planet or some other just ridiculous thing. But they didn't know that. So they panicked and they started being like how do we save ourselves? They thought shit like that. So it's wild to think that because we know so much more today than they did a hundred years ago.

18:30 But, holy fuck, that would have been scary as fuck. Just being like, oh my god, we're gonna die so you want to know what some of the things are that came out of this hysteria. I would love to. Things are that came out of this hysteria. I would love to Anti-comet pills. Who came up with that? I don't know what the fuck, but it was probably the biggest scam. Was it the government? So there were basically medical patent pills that were advertised as a cure for the comet's poison. So okay, Keep going. It was harmless, but I read that a lot of them were just sugar or quinine, With no special powers, that's the problem is the pharmaceutical industry, which I don't agree with personally and to each their own on this.

19:24 There are some benefits that come out of. It is full of shit. They want to sell you something. They're selling sugar pills. You could have fucking made that at home. Yes, they didn't need to sell it to you, and fucking somebody got rich off that shit because of the hysteria and the panic that that fucker caused. And some of them were arrested for fraud. Good, because they should have been, because that is horse shit. Yes, there's so many pills even today that it's like why are those on the market? You look at all those commercials. I'd be like don't take this if you have whatever, because it could cause death. It's like cool, yeah, but my skin's gonna look a hair better than it used to so there was also anti comet elixirs oh, jesus christ pharmacist or offered a special haley's comet elixir, basically just colored liquid, claiming that it would fight off poisonous gases those.

20:22 Those people should be shot in the fucking street also completely useless yeah, that's bullshit and then get this anti-comet umbrellas what the fuck you can't stop a fucking comet with an umbrella inventors were trying to sell these as protection from falling debris or other nasty stuff coming from comet's tail isn't it sad how gullible people are because, you know people bought that shit. Yes, because why else would that be, even in your story, if no one bought that? There's there's no reason that would be in your story, but people did. There's no reason that would be in your story, but people did, and those people should be also shot in the street all sorts of businesses were advertising respirators and masks that were guaranteed to filter out the poisons see they shouldn't have guaranteed that.

21:11 Can we file a class action lawsuit against them? the funny thing is no special mask was really needed at all, since the comments comments. Gas was way too spread out to really hurt anybody. Yeah, it was all fake. After may 19th, people realized that the only thing those masks did was make the sellers richer exactly, so they fucking caught on good but there was also insurance brokers like fuck in los angeles who would offer comet insurances that's horseshit he would promise to pay out 500 to your family if hailey's comet killed you that is complete and utter fucking fraud at least 50 people signed up for this.

21:58 I feel bad for those 50 people, at least 50 people. But also the taverns. The taverns took advantage of this. All right, this I back. Bartenders, either as a joke, because they were clever started telling customers that drinking was a way to protect themselves. The idea that if you had enough whiskey or gin in your system, the comet's poison could not get to you okay, that is genius drink for your health not for your wealth absolutely positively and some of the news coverage actually ended up being like free advertising for these scams, of course. Um, they they took stories about voodoo doctors selling comet pills.

22:42 Um, they would list all different kinds of people buying them and how much faith they had in the product. Um, so, like a resounding endorsement. Um, you would read things like they are well packed with comet pills and that was you could sell them as fast as you can, and it creates this feeling that you could. You needed to hurry up and buy some more, otherwise it's too late. You need to miss out on the safety right. Um, and then there were some businesses who would advertise around the comet. So not necessarily like talk about the comet right but um pears soap, for example, had this famous magazine ad and it is part of our social media um in 1910 that actually showed haley's comet in the picture okay but the slogan was haley's comet appears about once in 75 years.

23:37 Pear soap is visible day and night, every day of the year, all over the world, wow, so it doesn't really play on the scarcity or the scare tactics. It just used it in its advertising. Saying this shows up once we're there every day is what it's saying. Okay, I mean, I get that. That. That's fine to me, that's fine. The whole like let's utilize and sell shit based off of a fucking lie, basically, is what's irritating yes, so um, another big product of why those fake comic products did so well was that back in 1910 they weren't really strong.

24:18 There weren't really like strong laws right to protect people from scams and I get that again different times, so it makes sense they, they had pure food and drug act. If you used earlier to try and stop false, stop false medical claims. But it was still pretty for sure and wasn't really enforced very well. Right, so these con artists artists would like sell their bogus comic cures before anyone in charge could really step in yeah they. They tried to make a quick buck before anyone could stop them. Basically yeah, and then think about the communication back then they didn't have radio or tv, no internet. It took them a long time for people to uh catch on to scam to get accurate information and prove these rumors wrong.

25:01 Or to just literally catch on to the scam because it took weeks back then Probably certain areas of the states and whatever. So, yeah, that's bullshit. So when Halley's Comet finally zipped by in May 1910, the Earth passed right through its tail noting nothing bad at all. No one got poisoned. Weird, the world didn't end. The only real result was a pretty amazing light fucking show in the night sky. Yeah, yeah, and pretty soon the public panic faded away and so did those fucking gadgets.

25:41 See, and that's what sucks is that those people made a quick buck and some of them honestly got rich off of it for nothing. For nothing. Literally nothing, nope. But it would have came back the year you were born, then 85? , 85? Or the year after you were born. I vaguely recall. Because I remember it when I was a kid, Like very vaguely. I remember it when I was a kid. Yeah, I vaguely recall. I reach out to Kate's parents here, do you remember?

26:23 vaguely recall. I reach out to kate's parents here do you remember? the last one was february 9th of 1986. Yeah, so you, you would have been less than a year old yeah, seven months old. The very next one is going to be july 28th, 2061 I'd like to say I'd be around, but I don't think so. Yeah, so that's the anti-comet pills of 1910. So it's snake oil for comets? Yes, absolutely, Basically yeah absolutely. There's a million ways to die in the West, and that's one of them. That's one of them, so Welp. I suppose All right, buffoons, that's it for them. That's one of them, so Welp, I suppose All right, buffoons, that's it for today's episode. Buckle up, because we've got another historical adventure waiting for you. Next time Feeling hungry for more buffoonery, or maybe you have a burning question or a wild historical theory for us to explore.

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