We Didn’t Start The Fire: Centralia

0:09 Oh, hey there. Oh, hey there. How are you, Kate? I'm good. Excellent Welcome to History, buffoons. Do we say that every time? Because I really don't remember. I feel like there's times where we forget. Well, hey, we're History Buffoons. Yeah, we're buffoons. We don't even I feel like there's times where we forget. Well, hey, we're history buffoons, yeah, we're buffoons. We don't even remember to say our own name. Yeah, but that's okay. I mean, at least the picture says it. Yes, and it's worth a thousand words. Sure, so we're told. So we're at my house today. Hello house. And all my cats are out, so we'll see how long that lasts. Um, usually the only one that's the culprit is the current one sitting on the table oliver.

0:53 He is the one that likes to. He's looking at you like what. He's the one that plays with the chords the most. Usually. The other ones are pretty good yeah, yeah, except for Bonnie and Amos tend to like. Their hair tends to collect, like all over my microphone and it's in my mouth. That's an understatement. I've literally said before on a podcast that did I just pick up my pod bag or did I pick up a cat? It's true, it's true. The only other and it's involves Oliver is he likes to fight with Frankie sometimes when yeah, and it's involves oliver? Is he likes to fight with frankie sometimes when yeah, but it's still. I'll blame it on oliver still, because he's 50 of that. Yes, either way at least yeah, okay, so I got a new beard from mcfleshman's is that what it is?

1:41 mcfleshman's? I didn't. I just saw the name of the beer. I didn't actually look at the company. I'm sorry yes, but that's the one out of oshkosh I said right um. You said that, but I can't tell. Based on looking at it no, it says appleton oh, which one did I? Mcfleshman's brewing company in appleton w oh maybe that was a different one I was looking at. Yeah, my apologies. So I travel to Appleton every once in a while. It's not very far away from my house? No, it's not so. This is the Pirate's Cove. Hell's Lager, helless, helless, yeah, helless Lager. It's a style of lager.

2:27 Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah, okay, cool, yeah, and I have a, uh, a ninja dust hazy ipa, it's from one barrel in wisconsin where is? One barrel in wisconsin, I don't remember. Oh, of course, the sticker is covering up some of it so my beer, the image that you said you really liked is kind of like a Mayan colorful Mexican image, but it's abstract, so the artist that made it is from Oshkosh. Oh, maybe that's what I read. Yes, okay, that's probably what I read. Then, yes, his name is Leif Larson, leif L-E-I-F, le leaf larson from oshkosh.

3:09 All right, and then the mcfleshman's brewing company is in appleton okay, so they're like within 15 minutes of each other. Yeah, they're super close. Yeah, that's super cool. I I guess I just misread and read the artist. So yeah, let's. Uh, yeah, open that beer. Oh, it went all over my shirt, all right, well, cheers cheers. Okay, I like mine I like mine that's pretty good, I, like mine's got a little penguin with a mascot, penguin ninja, anyways I wonder how they come up with these names. Well, I used to work with a guy who is part owner of a brewery in Madison and we won't say the name of the brewery because maybe we'll do a future.

3:59 He does a lot of sours. I like sours but I just can only have so many. I know they have other stuff but they are very sour, heavy, but they pick the most random shit. And I was asking him one time I saw him I don't know a while ago and he just basically cats are at it. He basically just like they'll have a random conversation and say something like that'd be a good beer name, so I mean it literally can come from anywhere, kind of thing. So well, we knew that might happen and if you heard that that was amos playing with a ball, he's.

4:39 He's a sweet boy, but he's not. He's not super playful, so when he is like, it's just cute and I don't want to stop. No for sure and he doesn't cuddle. So when he does cuddle in the middle of the night, I will wake up and I will cuddle with him until he's done and then I'll go back to sleep because it just doesn't happen. There you go, yes, um. So, speaking of names, we already have our next two podcasts yeah, we've, we've been. I don't brainstorming, they just kind of fell into our lap with conversation. So, yeah, we won't say them now. Oh no, but I would like to put them in the works, but it's obviously very, very fresh in our minds. Yeah, we have to develop them first, as we're still trying to grow this one.

5:21 Because, thanks to the people that have listened to our podcast, we greatly appreciate you. Uh, again, feel free to go to our website, history buffoons podcastcom, and leave us a voicemail, send us a message, whatever, interview us, please. We, we want to interact with all of you because, you know I know it's unfortunately right now I know I shouldn't say unfortunately right now I know it's just a small group of people and, yes, we know a good chunk of them, but we greatly appreciate everyone who actually listens to our episodes Because we have fun making these, we have fun trying new beers, we have fun learning new stories that Kate brings to us and I like making fun of her.

6:02 That Kate brings to us and I like making fun of her. My husband and I have a mutual friend in Illinois and she told me recently that she had been catching up on them and every new episode she listens to, she'll text me something that I said, and I'll be like I texted you and I'm like did I say this? I don't remember saying that. Well, yeah, like the one you actually sent me that yesterday. And I'm like I texted you. I'm like, did I say this? I don't remember saying that. Well, yeah, like the one you actually sent me that yesterday, and I'm like I have no idea. And then I'm like wait a minute, I think you did mention something like this and I don't know if I'm right. I don't know Because obviously I listen to the podcast a lot while I'm editing.

6:46 I listen to it when it's released and then I don't usually re-listen because I've listened to it probably a hundred freaking times by the time it gets released through editing. Maybe not all in a row, obviously, but I'm like, did we say? that I know like she'll be like oh yeah, this, this, this, I didn't know about this. I'm like I don't remember either. Well, and it's funny too, because our our first listener, al he, uh, he listened to the last episode and he texts me because we were talking about how we took pills with like cool whip and stuff and whatever he's like. Yeah, I feed my dog pills with peanut butter. He just texts me that like that's awesome. So thank you, al. Appreciate that feedback. Love it, so I just thought that was great all right.

7:29 Well, I was wondering. So you like? You've mentioned to me before that you like fireplaces and you like stoking fires- I do well, can I? can I interject? Something to that so my parents are up there in years because, as as you said all the time, how? old, I am. So clearly my parents are way older. The house they currently live in. I only lived there for, I don't know, a year or two, whatever it was Because we moved in when I was a senior in high school to the new house not the house I grew up in, but in the house I grew up in too, I also had one. They had a fireplace built as part of the living room and I don't know.

8:12 It's probably been five, six or so years already now, if not more. They had it converted to a gas and I miss going over there on Thanksgiving and even though I'm warm all the time and fires don't help with that. I like putting another log in the fire, stoking the fire. I just like maintaining it. I don't know, it's relaxing. I guess we'll say yeah, and so I really enjoy that I miss having because I don't unfortunately have one. I really miss having a real fireplace. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that and Santaus can't come down. Yeah, that creepy bastard comes in a different way, doesn't he wow?

8:57 through the hole in your basement where all the raccoons and opossums get in we've never had a raccoon, only possums, thank God. Or where my cat goes to get stuck in a cistern under my house I mean same spot, but apparently possums are a little more nimble than cats. Or have weird creepy paws that can crawl out of cisterns. I don't know. I would think cats would be much more limber. Yeah, well, tell that to mo. Mo only has one eye. Yeah, he's special, we're gonna play. Well, let's just believe it on that. He fell into the cistern underneath the house because he only had one eye. We can do that because sarah found uh, I don't remember the whole origin story of mo, but it was basically she rescued him.

9:40 They found him, but like in a dumpster, behind a dumpster, behind a dumpster, whatever it was, when she lived down south and I think he was at a local shelter, whatever it was. And she, being the person that she is very sweet to animals especially, she's like, well, I can't just let him here because he's probably going to get put down or something. So she adopted him and he is crazy. He bounces off the wall all the time. It's weird. He's got this weird snot thing all the time. It's gross. He's got one eye, like you said. Um, yeah, he's always under my feet these days too, which is weird. But I also think, because I've brought up my we've brought up my dog before on the podcast, we unfortunately had to put him down what was that?

10:27 Three, four weeks ago now? Because he was old, he had a tumor. What's the word metastasize? is that the right word? and, yeah, he wasn't doing good. So I think Mo misses his buddy because, as much as they were mortal enemies, they were also very good friends, which is weird, but he's always under my feet right now, but anyways. Well, what if your fire like never went out? Oh, like the eternal flame. Yeah, that would be pretty impressive. I mean, it's not gas, it's literally like a burning flame so would I have to stoke it still, because I feel like no, you leave it alone.

11:13 Oh, you leave the fire alone and it just continues on like would you freak out yeah, because you would try to put it out, but it doesn't go out that'd be weird, like even if you splash some water on it, kind of thing it wouldn't go out oh, that would be almost kind of freaky yeah right, uh-huh well that that's what happened with centralia pennsylvania what, what? centralia, pennsylvania. What's? Centralia, that's a town it is a town in pennsylvania that's always on fire it is on fire like to this day? yes, so. Is it like a natural gas thing that shoots up through the ground and it's just on fire? I to this day. Yes, so. Is it like a natural gas thing that shoots up through the ground and it's just on fire? I will tell you. Okay. Okay, first of all, it is a town right centralia, yes, centralia, centralia, centralia, right.

12:03 How many people do you think live there? I will tell you eventually, but I want to start off the story without you knowing any context other than the town is on fire. How many the town is on fire? How many people live in Centralia, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania? I'm going to go with 250. Okay, I'm going to write that down so I don't forget. Okay, so we're gonna talk about anthracite okay so it is a hard black coal yeah um. So it's a natural mineral with a high carbon and energy content that gives off light and heat, produce energy okay and when burned, it's it.

12:46 It's used as fuel, essentially, sure. So an interesting fact about anthracite it is 20, or excuse me, it is 98 carbon, two percent away from being a diamond really yeah that's crazy. I know right. So it's just not quite enough cool to be the diamonds. Aw, poor anthracite. So anthracite was possibly first used in Pennsylvania as fuel in 1769. What would they fuel with that, like trains and stuff like that? Or what would they use the fuel for? It would be mostly industrial uses. Okay, sure Makes sense. What would they use? the fuel, for it would be mostly industrial uses.

13:26 Okay, sure, so anthracite coal was primarily used for domestic heating. Oh, and then industrial purposes. Like I said, it was primarily, primarily fuel for heating homes and buildings okay um. It's high heat output and clean burning properties made it popular. Sure, sure Okay. That makes sense. So, um there, I'll get to it. But there's another coal in Pennsylvania. I can't remember the name of it Bit, bit, bit. You, minnius, I believe you. Can you try and say that one more time, because I just like hearing you say that. But you Nimius let's go with yes so that one that type of coal is much more prominent in pennsylvania.

14:13 Okay, okay oh, so anthracite is there, but it's not as abundant. Yes, yes, the b word so so anthracite also fueled steam engines and chips, and then anthracite was used in blast furnaces to produce iron and steel, and it was also used in textile manufacturing and glassmaking. So, and obviously you might get to this, was it, I'm sure, anthracite? Obviously in other locations than just Pennsylvania, but was it rather abundant there, you said the other one was more. It's really not super abundant.

14:54 There's only like a specific area of Pennsylvania and if I had to, if I believe I'm right, it's like the upper east corner of pennsylvania gotcha, and like the southern western part of pennsylvania is the, but god damn it that's why I haven't even attempted to say it, because I haven't even heard it properly yet but immune. How does that go anyways? Should I ask google how to pronounce it? No, just keep going, because I like you messing it up more than knowing okay, so fantastic early production of anthracite um in 1810 only had about 350 tons um and it was mined due to transportation difficulties and industrial immaturity.

15:43 So um the war of 1812 increased anthracite usage as british and virginia coal supplies were disrupted due to the british blockade and virginia shortage okay, so the war of 1812 helped anthracite out compete virginia's outcompete virginius bituminous coal say, say b-coal the b-coal, I'll say bit coal bit coal I like. It all right, let's do that one um, thankfully I don't have to say it very much more, but oh, thank god um. You're welcome listeners.

16:25 Bit coal doesn't produce as much heat as anthracite. Yeah, and it's quite smoky. Oh really. Whereas the anthracite burns cleaner. It's smoke less oh like completely. Yeah, and has a high amount of heat, wow. Yeah. Okay. So the opening of major canals facilitated anthracite transportation to urban markets, so it became valuable fuel for domestic heating, cooking and small businesses okay makes sense yeah, so the life of a coal miner? Them, poor deers oh man they. They had a rough life they had a really rough life, yeah, so coal camps often failed to deliver on their promises, which included prosperity and opportunity.

17:13 That was hard-ass fucking work going down in those mines. Yeah, so they faced really low pay and company control over their living expenses through company-owned housing and stores Okay, over their living expenses through company-owned housing and stores and conflicts frequently arose over the process of weighing coal and impacting miners' earnings. Gotcha Okay. So the cynical nature of the coal industry led to unstable and precarious employment. Sure, and a lot of times, coal camping. living conditions were unsanitary and overcrowded well, yeah, I mean probably because they had to live near the mine or whatever, and you have quite a big pocket of people all of a sudden, and 18, whatever.

17:57 There's not like plumbing. You know there's not any plumbing that they can. Oh yeah, yeah, I got to go flush the toilet. No, you're just going to shit behind a bush. Pretty much yeah. And it was also very, very dangerous. Right. Between the years 1880 and 1923, over 70,000 miners died on the job. Holy shit, 70,000? Yeah, over 70? Wow, that's crazy. Yeah, all right. Yeah, over 70. Wow, that's crazy. Yeah, all right. So major mine disasters um killed hundreds of mine, like even just a single disaster can kill, kill hundreds. Oh yeah, because usually what that would? Just the mine would implode, and there's all those miners in there.

18:38 It's not like they could just take an expert excavator and be like we'll get you out in a couple minutes, right? not that it takes a couple minutes today then, but wow so I'm gonna kind of tell you like a day in the life of a coal miner. Um now, this was taken from, I believe, uh, new york city or new york state, um mine, but this is very similar after you take us through a day in the life of a coal miner, do we get to learn about a coal miner's daughter? No, did you ever hear that song? No, I think it's a song Was that like Patsy Cline or something. Probably, I don't know. I'm not sure, I just know of it. I don't really know it, sorry, anyways, continue.

19:19 Okay, okay, so early mornings, late nights. Right. And that was the norm for miners. Yeah, and mining companies expected employees to be underground by 7 am. Okay, that's not so bad. It forced miners? Well, no, because you get up at 3.30. I know it sucks. I'm like fuck 7 o'clock. I could sleep in until 6 and be there by 7? I'd love that right now, jeez so before descending miners would change into their work clothes, which typically included sturdy pants. Really, overalls undershirt, heavy shoes. Sure, a felt hat hardened with resin or linseed oil protected their heads so like a makeshift hard hat, basically okay and they would have essential tools like drill steels, hammers, sledges, candles and their lunch and their lunch, because they're going to be down there literally all day, right all day yeah some companies made each miner carry a brass.

20:27 It was a metal token with their unique number on it oh, so they could identify them basically this was used for safety tracking so in a way it was like their version of dog tags yes, however, um, when you came back up from underground, you would give, you would give them tag and if there was a tag missing. They would know. A miner is missing. Yes, yeah. So in the late 1800s, candle provided the only light in the mines. That's crazy. These nine-inch and three-quarter-inch diameter candles burned slowly and produced minimal smoke. They were made of hard tallow and maintained their shape in the mine's humid and warm conditions.

21:09 Yeah, I say it probably was pretty warm in those mines. They also bought their candles for five cents each, like the miners had to purchase them. Mm-hmm, oh, that's a dick move. And one might Be secured to the brim of their hat. Yeah, I mean, that's what I was picturing because I've seen old like where they got. You know it's belted off. Yeah, they use clay to like stick it on there. Okay, yeah. And if a miner didn't attach a candle to their hat, they could use a raw iron like candle holder. Sure. And that could be wedged into the mine walls. Oh, yeah, I suppose that makes sense that could be wedged into the mine walls.

21:50 Oh yeah, I suppose that makes sense. So miners typically descended into the mine via a ladder, okay, and it is a process they refute for two as walking to work. Oh god, that sounds terrible many preferred this way to the swaying bucket that lowered them into the darkness well, yeah, I mean, at least you have some control over that, once underground, the horrendous task of drilling holes for explosives begin? yeah because that's how they mined it basically as they blew it up so the mines offered a variety of conditions, from warm and humid to cool and humid. So, below the water table, moisture seeped into the walls and ceilings, creating slippery and hazardous standing water.

22:37 Sure, so they would also use a single and double jacking technique. Single and double jacking, mm-hmm. So single jacking is using a four pound hammer okay and it was ideal in narrow spaces or overhead drilling. One miner held the drill steel, striking it 50 times per minute oh my god while rotating it, so then the next person would do it. That's crazy. Double jacking involved one minor holding and turning the steel well, two others well, another swung okay an eight pound sledge 25 times per minute oh, that had to be hard fucking work and they switch positions every 15 minutes yeah, because your arms are gonna be like jello by the end of the day in larger areas.

23:26 Triple jacking was possible with two miners swinging sledges and one rotating the seal. Okay, so that's what I thought the double was. But yeah, that makes sense, okay, yep so before dynamite minor, you miners use black powder. It was a mixture of saltpeter, sulfur and charcoal. Okay, black powder was unreliable, often misfiring or causing hang fires what's a hang fire? I don't know okay, cool, there's the first one, all right should we tally? Maybe we should. I got a notebook right here. Hold on, I'm just gonna put a little tally mark, all right? So in 1831, william Bickford invented a fuse for black powder made of black powder wrapped in jute, twine and waterproof tape.

24:15 What's jute? It's a type of rope. Oh, okay. And it burned at a rate of one inch per 30 seconds. Gotcha. So no time. I mean, it took a while because, one inch 30. Seconds yeah 10 inches, that's, you know, 300 seconds. How many minutes is that? I don't know math, genius five, that's right that's right. Great job, bradley well, you know, I math well so the invention of dynamite replaced black powder. One pound of dynamite was equivalent to two and two-thirds pound of black powder, okay.

25:00 Although dynamite caused headaches and nausea, its biggest issue was instability at temperatures above 40 degrees Fahrenheit. So it worked better below that. So mines used metal dynamite warmers. Okay. And they would often take their dynamite home with them and sleep with them. What the fuck? To keep it warm? Did anyone blow up doing that? Because I feel like that should have happened. Holy shit, fuck. To keep it warm. Did anyone blow up doing that? Because I feel like that should have happened. Holy shit, it's not on fire. I get that, but I mean, doesn't dynamite have nitroglycerin in it or something like? that I don't know. That's not part of my research I know. Okay, tally number two.

25:42 It's got TNT in it. It's dynamite. Yeah, okay, I, I shouldn't I. I called for that one, that's on me fuck. Oh, my bad, my bad, okay, so all right. Would you go to bed with a stick of dynamite? I wouldn't. Holy christ, okay, but it's not lit. I understand that I might be, though you go to bed with your kids. Yeah, you don't know what they're going to do in the middle of the night. They're not dynamite, although Vesper does blow up a lot, or blow out, for that matter. Oh, gross, moving on.

26:26 So mining was not like a continuous process, so significant time was spent drilling, blasting, removing debris basically it was setting it up, then you had the removal yeah so, like the, did they have like setup crews and then removal crews, all right tally I'm in the day in the life of one coal miner, not the company. I get that. Anyways, I apologize for asking you questions. So unsanitary conditions caused by waste. What now?

27:06 Where did they go to the bathroom in the mine? if you would let me continue talking. They use a bucket fuck it use the bucket? oh gross did they? Did they wheel that up on the pulley to empty it? Or what they do with that? they assigned the lowest ranking worker oh, sucks to be that guy that's literally a peon they assigned the lowest ranking worker. Oh sucks to be that guy. That's literally a peon, oh man. So at the end of the day, miners rode the bucket up to the surface Like different bucket. I hope they used a different Up to the surface. Is this the piss bucket or? is this the lift, bucket, the lift bucket Fuck, so they were often crammed in together with others. So the swing bucket could cause injuries as well.

27:49 But upon returning, miners turned in their brass and tools and proceed, proceeded to the drying room. While companies claimed this was to keep clothing warm and dry, no, the real reason was to prevent high grading, which is stealing valuable minerals so they basically kind of like in the down in the radium girls, where they went to that room and they had to dust them off or whatever that was to save the minerals. This is to prevent stealing well, wouldn't that be stealing? Not if you didn't know that was on you like but it's the same concept as I'm saying I suppose they're just trying to make sure it doesn't leave the area, if you will.

28:29 Yeah, instead of I mean, what would those miners do? It's like ooh, I got like two specks of coal on me. I'm rich. I mean, what the fuck? But I guess whatever. So high grading was less prevalent when miners worked independently. Okay. But it became more common when miners became employees of large mining companies. Sure, so, men, they were gold at times. So they would hide gold in various places, including secret pockets, boot heels, lunch pails, hat bands in uneaten food, in their hats and even under their fingernails. So they were under their fingernails, so they, oh, under their fingernails. I say that right now too, because I recently yesterday or day before cut under my fingernail and it fucking hurts, it does.

29:17 I would not want to shove a piece of gold under my fingernail, I don't care how malleable it is well, this high grading was seen as a way to supplement their ridiculous average daily wage of $3. That's all they made per day. And what? Can you refresh my memory on the time frame of this? This was early 1800s, right? Yes? Yeah, late 1700s early 1800s, $3 fucking dollars a day. What's that in today's money? I didn't look it up, god damn it. There's another tally. You were doing so good on that. I know how could I forget to look at the inflation rate?

29:58 I don't know, but I'm gonna look it up now all right, go get another beer okay, so how much is that in today's money? we don't know why, because inflation calculators only go back to 1913 I mean, but I don't know why that is I don't either. That's strange. I get that. I still feel like they could have a educated guess thereabouts. Yeah, like I'm not saying exact, but you know just a random guess. But okay, fair enough. That's odd, it doesn't go before that. At least nothing you found. The interwebs say that it's because data is less reliable before 1913. Sure, I mean. I understand that.

30:38 Yeah, all right, no worries, yeah. Okay. I was just curious. So, so Okay, wow, wow. The first mines in pennsylvania was established around 16, 1761. The first mines like is that a company or is that just like the? first ones, the first ones, okay. So they had the mine run, railroads construction in 1854 and that led to continued coal discovery throughout the lands across the lands, we discovered coal mining engineer alexander ray planned and developed the village of centralia and he named it in 1865 do you know what it's named after?

31:31 so centralia was actually called like bullhead or something like that bullhead, yeah, and then they changed it to central, something centralville okay but there was literally another town in pennsylvania called central, so they changed it to Centralia Shit we need to change that man. Yeah it had a progression. Okay Well, I mean, at least we know why. Yeah, so according to the numbers of the federal census records, the town of Centralia reached its maximum population of 2,761 in 1890. I was 10 times less. That was not the question I asked you, though.

32:12 No, that is true. Yes, I asked you what it would be like now. Oh yeah, you said 250 now. Yeah. Yeah, so back in 1890, the peak that it was at was 2,761. Okay, okay, so at its peak the town had seven churches, wow, five hotels, jesus, 27 saloons that's a lot of saloons two, we'd probably go to all of them I mean, we'd probably make another one fair uh two theaters, really a bank well a post office and 14 general and grocery stores for 2700 people that is a shit ton for that small of a population okay, so the town that I live in, is a gas station, has a gas.

33:02 It has a church. Well, it does it's got I don't pass it really, but it's a and there's like a little element pass it well shit. There's a little um elementary school and right but and there's what? two, two bars, yeah, and they're like right next to each other, yeah, so that's even weirder so not even like one in the end of each town, and the population is what? a third? oh, it's got to be right. From what would you say? 2700, 27? Yeah, my town is like 700 something 720 I kind of want to look it up now yeah, so that's a lot for a town of 2700.

33:43 I think that's a lot of businesses. No, I mean how many grocery stores slash general stores? You say like 14? . That's insane Uh-huh. But general stores, it could be like this is Tate and Tackle, no. I totally get that However. This is your hardware store. Yeah, I mean, you get everything you need here, but that's why it's like how did you need so many of those, though? all right, maybe it's just like people coming from the outskirts of centralia coming to the mines and so like that's their hub. Yeah, no that, that would I guess make sense um all right, my phone's finally starting to work.

34:24 Here it says wow, in the 2020 census the population was 737. Yeah, that's crazy that's what it says on my welcome to town, does it? yeah, um, I mean, that's, that's like almost a fourth of wow, that's crazy. Okay, that, yeah, that's, that's a lot of stores and saloon 27 saloons I mean, holy shit, you got two. Even if you multiplied it by four, you'd only have eight, and that's how much the population is. That's fucking wild. Okay, okay, sorry that, just that that threw me for a loop.

35:05 That's a lot of fucking places for that, okay. Anyway sorry, let's get back on track here. The history buffoons are on a quest to uncover the origins of the weird. From cryptids to conspiracy theories, to just plain weird stories, we're delving into the strangest corners of history. Join us as we unravel the mysteries behind the bazaar. Our new podcast companion is coming soon to take your historical journey to the next level. So 37 years later the production of anthracite coal had reached its peak in Centralia. Because they went to the big coal In the following years production declined. Okay.

35:46 As many young workers from Centralia enlisted in the military oh, okay when the us entered world war one oh sure yeah and then the wall street crash of 1929 resulted in coal companies closing sure several centralia mines okay, did you ever have a total number of mines in centralia? I believe I do have the answer to that down the road? I think so okay, cool I want to say it was like 14, all right, something like that, stay tuned so bootleg miners actually continue to mine? In several miners in idle mines like they were abandoned.

36:26 Mines are like we're gonna keep mining well, I mean, I guess if, like, you're trying to make a living for yourself, especially in those hard times when the stock market crashed and everything, how are they going to keep up with their beer habit? Well, there's so many saloons and like, fuck, I want to go to that one today, but I don't have enough money. Let's go mine. I mean, that's what I would do so the bootleggers would use techniques called pillar robbing okay where miners would extract coal from the coal pillars left in the mines to support their roofs that sounds like a terrible fucking idea sounds like a horrible plan because all that's going to do is I don't know collapse. collapse the mind, I mean.

37:06 Did they reinforce it? I don't know, because I understand what they're. I would imagine they would, but You're probably 100% wrong. My imagination also sucks. Oh, don't make me laugh so hard. Oh dear, I get why they would do that because it's right there. But guess what it resulted in? death, I mean right collapsed, my yeah and if you're down there which most likely you were even even if you're exploding shit, you're probably pretty close. You are fucked. Wow, okay, idiots. Anyways, good Lord. Okay. So in 1950, Centralia Council acquired the rights to all anthracite coal beneath Centralia Okay, Through a state law that was passed in 1949.

37:58 That year the federal census counted 1,986 residents in Centralia. And this was in 1950? . Yes, okay, 18,986 residents in centralia, and this was in 1950. Yes, okay, coal mining continued in centralia until the 1960s okay, so not that much longer after that bootlegging oh god continued until 1982 really so. They just hey, there's still some mines that were made. Let's go fuck them up, basically, but strip and open pit mining are still active. So you're coming from the top down, you're creating like this huge quarry almost In one of my many trips to Colorado that.

38:41 I've told you I go there a lot. I've gone there a lot over my life. I don't remember exactly where this was. I think it was on my way to breckenridge from denver. I believe I could be wrong, but I actually passed because, like they're still golden in their hills, kind of thing. That was great, did you bring your painting with you I did. But uh, for the first time I saw like the strip mining cause it's literally just shaving off a layer, shaving off a layer, and it's like, well, that's depressing, you're taking the mountain away, man. What the fuck? But it's safer. Which I totally understand. But like that's a big part of like a lot of Colorado, cause there's a shit ton of mines, abandoned mines, old mines.

39:25 You can't go in mines because you're gonna die like those dumb fucks doing the bootlegging mining. But, um, I had never seen that before. I'm like, well, that's kind of really depressing because they're literally like shaving down the mountain it's like oh, that's sad because I love mountains, as you know, and it's like, well, don't do that. Yeah. But anyways, so in 1950, there were updated trash laws. Okay, before there were illegal dump sites for garbage. Oh, so now they actually use an abandoned site from the 1930s and they transferred all this trash into this dump site Okay, which was approximately 50, into this dump site Okay, which was approximately 50 feet down.

40:11 Okay. Okay, so then the course of history changed forever. Oh dear. Yeah, so rumor has it. Rumor has it. The city council of Centralia made a vote. Oh, what did they vote on? So on this day, may 27th 1962, the local firefighters set the town landfill on fire in order to clean it up. That seems like a terrible idea. And I won't lie, there is a giant mound of trash out at grandpa's farm sure in central illinois and is that?

40:56 Because it's all right continue what are you gonna say I? wasn't gonna say nothing bullshit I call bullshit on you bullshit. Bullshit. So whenever we had like trash or shit that wouldn't be taken away from you know, into the dumpster or whatever. We would have this huge mound Sure and my husband would light it on fire every couple of weeks or months or whatever. Sure, you know what's super fun. What. Putting aerosol cans in there. Yeah, yes, yes. Are you fucking a teenager right now? I mean, well, no sounds like it was fun. I'm sure it was anyway, okay, so they let they.

41:37 Let let it on fire, right? And this was all in preparation of the upcoming Memorial day holiday. They did this every year. They did it every year. Just this one year was different, because all the trash was collected and put in this like abandoned pit sure, okay, was this a pit to a mine or just happened to be a pit near a mine? is that what it was? it was by an abandoned mine. That's what I thought you said. Okay, yeah, yes, so I actually say what strip mining is. But it's a surface technique that involves removing layers of soil and rock to access the minerals, kind of like what you said, like kind of shaving the mountain, basically, yeah.

42:21 Yeah, that's the gist of it. They have like shallow horizontal deposits of coal, then Okay, they have like shallow horizontal deposits of coal, then Okay, and the process creates long rectangular pits or strips that can fill with water to form strip pits. So that's kind of what this place was. Okay, gotcha, so the firefighters who were volunteers. Oh geez. Because hello tiny town. Well, yeah, I mean not many people. They let it burn for some time, Sure because they wanted to incinerate the whole pile, basically, but unlike previous years, the fire was not fully extinguished oh dear each time the fire would come back, they would put it out and it would come back.

43:02 Then they put it out and it came back and it came back and it came back. So finally they like turned the trash over, like let's get the bottom trash up on the top, and try came back and it came back. So finally they like turned the trash over, like let's get the bottom trash up on the top and try and just bury it. Basically yeah and yeah, and essentially douse the underlying trash right. So when they were churning it like it's butter, this is when they realized that there was an unsealed opening in the pit. Yeah, that allowed the fire to enter the labyrinth of abandoned coal mines underneath centralia yep, that's not good. Yeah, so like, do they have free heating during the winter? Because I mean, I mean it's all burning under the ground.

43:44 It's like, oh, this warm is this, is this land is nice and toasty I don't even need shoes. It's like walking on sand and the beach. What the shit so at one point, like I said, there were 14 active mines in town. So can you, can you literally imagine the lab labyrinth? Or like the ant or gopher tunnels that this created no kidding so no the town did know what was happening underground, but they dilly-dallied well, that seems like a fucking mistake they wasted two months two months when they finally decided to have a meeting about what they should do about it. I like that. They waited two months to decide to have a meeting.

44:25 What Uh-huh? What the fuck is wrong? It's called government Jesus Christ. So a contract for $20,000, which is approximately $196,000. Good job. I'm proud of you. Thank you so much I'll bow when this is over. Please don't. I don't want you to put out your back. Yeah, that's fair, I know Okay. So that contract went to an excavation team to dig into the town and put out the fire, okay. But the state government restricted where they could work, oh Jesus Christ.

45:06 Where they could work, oh jesus christ, they were not allowed to do any exploratory, digging or surveying to determine the damage or where most of the damage is why would they not allow that, because it's government well wouldn't you want to fucking know oh, oh, and they only allowed them to work monday through friday, eight hours a day. I mean 40 hours a week. But at this rate it's too slow for the fire. The fire's just. Well, because fire doesn't have a fucking timetable. They don't have a timetable, they don't got to check in, they're not clocking in and clocking out. Oh, got to go on my lunch. Fire's off for an hour. No, fuck that. Got to get to one of those 27 saloons.

45:50 Wow, people are dumb. With all this digging, it brought in more oxygen. Of course it did. Of course it did. Do you know what oxygen does to a fire? Kaboom, it feels it. So somehow the Jones people are optimistic. I'm glad at least they have a positive outlook on life right now. Good for them. But obviously they don't know what's in store for them. Please tell me. Centralia blew up. No, damn it. That would have been an epic finish. So the fire was burning deep within the town, which made it difficult to kind of directly. But nice and toasty. It made it difficult to detect immediately, yeah, okay.

46:31 It could be up to 800 feet below the surface. Holy shit, yeah, well, okay, with that being said, is that roughly like? Is that how deep they went? That's how deep some of them went. Yes, so at the time there was also less understanding of the complex dynamics of underground coal fires. Sure, there was early signs of the fire, such as steam coming up from the ground. Yeah, that would do it. But they actually attributed that to other causes. Like what. I'll tell you. Oh, thank God. I literally wrote in red what other causes you ask because I knew you're going to.

47:13 Like I said, you are learning, so in some areas the earth's heat can cause water to boil and produce steam. Sure I get that. So this is especially common in volcanic regions or areas with high geothermal gradients. So 99 not likely here I said I didn't realize pennsylvania. Pennsylvania was volcanic I need to take off my shoes and socks. I'm getting warm. Oh geez, too much laughter. Or are you standing in centralia and the ground's warm? okay, so another cause um if there were any nearby industries such as factories or power plants. Well, yeah they might have been releasing steam as part of their operations, but again I doubt it like, hey, do you know what we should do with our operation?

47:57 we should release steam into the ground. I mean, who does that? and then abandoned mines if there were enough abandoned mines in the area, they could have been filled with water that was heated by the earth's heat, resulting in steam. I don't believe that, so the government? Sucks spent millions of dollars on ways to control and kill the fire, but zero solution worked well they waited two months to have a meeting about it and then you can only work eight hours a day. I mean this seems like a pretty big fucking thing to do. Don't put a timetable on what you can do it or the hours between you can do it.

48:40 Basically that's ridiculous. So by 1977, the townspeople started to split into factions with opposing opinions. Oh dear, Did they like rival gangs across town? Did they start? snapping towards each other. You know. Did you just put a musical? I might have. So some would say that the government should pay for their relocation, sure, and others were like, no, my family has been here for generations. They need to pay us to stay well, I mean, or just fix the fucking problem fix the problem, but we're not moving no, which is fine.

49:23 I get that. If your, your family, grew up there, you know he had roots there for 10, 20, 50, 100 years, whatever. Yeah, fuck you, I don't want to move. Fix this shit, man. In 1979. You were born in 1979. There you go. I think I should get a tally taken home. No, they can only be added, they cannot be removed. Come on, nope, nope, nope, nope. How many tallies do I have? You've got three right now. Okay, that's not. I should only have two for knowing what year you were born. Well, you don't, Okay. So in 1979, the Coddington's Gas and Service Station was the first place in town To blow up that the was the first place in town that the townspeople finally realized how severe their situation was they finally realized in 1979.

50:12 This has been going on for how long 19 years. Yeah, what the shit is happening. The owner of the gas station noticed some steam rising up near his property that's not good. He measured his gas tanks under his station and they topped out at 136 degrees Fahrenheit. What are they supposed to be at? All right, hold on. I've got to get my tally sheet out. But get this. I researched this next point just for you. Thank you. Gasoline has a flashpoint of 536 degrees fahrenheit. Wow, of course you didn't ask that question well, no, because you preempted me to ask that.

50:53 I didn't realize that would have been that high, though I didn't think so either. But let's not find out, please, let's not but being a gasoline, I mean, yeah, combustible, yeah, I would have guessed it to be lower, but okay I mean, we're talking huge tanks though, so I don't, I don't know did you ever read the book? I don't know how physics work did you ever read the book fahrenheit 454? No, do you know what that means? no that's, if I'm remembering correctly, which, again, I don't do that a lot. Uh, that's when the temperature that paper burns oh interesting I believe is what it is, because it's about burning books and stuff. It's a really good book. It's been out for well I don't know, 70s, 60s, 70s maybe.

51:35 I guess I don't remember what year it was published, but anyway, sorry. Okay, so the tanks, the tanks. They were emptied. Well, I hope so. And then the station was abandoned why? Because he didn't know if it was going to blow up or not. Well, I can't blame him there, but apparently the town didn't blow up for 19 years. But the station wasn't demolished until two years later. Okay. But it was. They're saying it was the first casualty of the fire. Was his business basically. Yes. But it was elective abandonment, yes, okay. So in 1980, exhaust pipes were put in Like big round exhaust pipes. Did they just hammer in exhaust pipes, saying this will work Pretty much so?

52:18 this would enable to the fumes to come out of the surface in controlled locations and then they light those on fire instead of being seeped into the local homes. Oh jesus, and it helped. I'm sure it did, until until it didn't. The fire moved on, oh god, and then the pipes became an entry point for oxygen and you know what happens with oxygen and fire fire continues to burn weird. That's a common theme through this right now holy shit, oh my god so health inspectors, they're like maybe we should go to centralia let's see what's going on here. And it was actually perfect timing too, because while they were there, yes a 12 year old boy saw smoke coming from his grandmother's backyard oh, jesus and he went to see what it was and hello, he fell into a sinkhole.

53:12 The ground completely gave way, oh my god. He managed to grab a hold of a root of a tree, thank God, and his cousin who was nearby pulled him out Jesus. he's lucky. He probably would have died otherwise. Yeah. So steam and gases and heat were wallowing past him, sometimes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Can I ask a question, oh dear God? What was the boy's name? I don't know, all right his name was billy um. I wrote it down later you're making shit up, making shit up there is a name. I didn't write it down because it's not pertinent was his name billy boy.

53:53 No, oh, okay, that was this, I know, but this sinkhole was 150 feet deep, holy shit. Yeah. So the state government like, okay, but god, we proved it we should do something they approved a 42 million dollar fund, which is 130 million dollars today good job to buy the Centralia homes from the residents to relocate, but they didn't want to relocate. You should pay us to stay here Some of them didn't. I'm sure some did, though, but the government didn't do a great job of handling this. You don't say Houses were appraised. Oh Jesus.

54:34 Some of them were about $43,000, which is $150,000 today. You're welcome, but the offer so $43,000, the offer was for $17,000. Oh fuck, that One home was $36,000. Appraisal yeah, they were offered $11,000. And did it say go fuck yourself. They did. But, if you didn't accept, they would not come back with a different offer. You either take it or you leave it. See, that's horseshit, because you can't fucking undercut it that much. I mean, you said $11,000, the house is appraised at 36. That's less than a third of the cost or the value of the house, yes, and you're saying no fucking are you're fucked because you either stay here and you don't do nothing that's bullshit.

55:23 So that is typical fucking government bullshit so imagine today my house is 125 000, here's 38 000. Yeah, it's like. I hope this works for you. Good luck, yeah, godspeed right it's like um no yeah, there's a shanty down the way you can't even buy a portage on for that. I'm just kidding you. Probably you still have a place to shit, I guess. So in 1992 the governor placed the homes in centralia on eminent domain okay so some people ended up moving. Yep, some people stayed sure. In 1994 the government tried to reconstruct a part of route route 61, which goes straight through centralia.

56:03 Okay, and they had to build like a bypass temporarily so they could like reconstruct this, this route right so there were cracks all up and down the highway, but the bypass became permanent, as reconstructing that part of 61 was impossible I was gonna say they probably couldn't do it. No that abandoned highway is known as the graffiti highway this is a lot of graffiti on it no, actually I'm kidding. No, there was a guy um who was trying to reconstruct it by the name of graffiti and they named it after him. Yes, I am graffiti highway.

56:44 It's full of graffiti, yes, so this became a like the most iconic attraction for people to come to centralia. So people police actually used to chase people off the highway as it was getting more and more dangerous just because huge cracks are in land sinkholes and crevices, all that exactly. So in june, 1995. The last church standing is saint ignatius. Oh ignatius. They had their final service in 1995 and they actually kind of treated it like a funeral I bet they did because the town was dying so that was june 95, but they didn't tear down the church until november of 97.

57:25 I don't know why they're waiting so long well, I mean, I'm surprised they just didn't abandon it. Why? They had to tear it down, I guess and then 2002, the post office shut down oh, how are they gonna get their post? No post on sundays 2009 more evictions. So the state reach an agreement that residents who wanted to stay could, but when they died their property went to the state instead of anyone else yes, their homes could not be passed down to descendants could they sell it to their descendant for? a dollar no no matter what if you live there at that time okay yep, it's the states after that seems kind of dicky, but all right so get this.

58:05 There's a town nearby called burnsville that is so fucking fantastic. Burnsville it's spelled b-y-r-n. I don't care burnsville, but yeah, it's fantastic, that is awesome. Yeah, so burnsville it's just minutes, minutes south of centralia, okay, and it also was caught up in the same way, and they too abandoned all their homes and businesses, but it's like a teeny tiny town compared to centralia, sure. And then there's the town of artisies artisies and it's just minutes north sounds very greek but it has not become like centralia yet, but it will be in a few decades oh really so so basically, by you saying that, does that mean like the stuff that's underground is just basically it's moving it's still moving, it's just taking a while because it's burning through the coal that's underneath.

58:59 Yes, wow, so uh, 2020 during the pandemic yeah more and more people were coming to the graffiti highway okay I mean, they got nothing, that better do you do right? I hope they had masks on, but so for more than one reason gas mask. I'm just talking about for the fumes, I don't. I don't know what you're talking about I'm talking about the pandemic everybody wore masks during the pandemic anyway, that's not true? um, so the state brought in dump trucks and they literally buried the graffiti highway with hundreds and hundreds of mounds of dirt.

59:41 Okay, and if you get caught there, you get a pretty stiff fine, really so they covered it, so that is no longer like something that people can come and look at and that's the only reason why they cover. Yeah, they're just like we don't want people in here. It's just too dangerous. Stay out. So technically you can still go there, sure, but it's highly discouraged. I don't know why you can still see plumes of gases and heat coming out of the ground, okay, and there's still a chance of encountering sinkholes. Oh, definitely. And the highway is covered in dirt. Plus, they have like what are called berms, which are like artificial banks or ridges, so you can't like drive onto it Sure.

1:00:25 Yeah, to block people from going there. Okay, yeah, gotcha so that is the town of Centralia. But have you ever heard of the game Silent Hill? Yes, so it was developed by Team Silent from Japan. Yeah. And it is a survival horror video game franchise, correct? there's like a ton of them there is, and they even made a movie too. Yes, I'm not mistaken so it's known for its psychological horror elements. Um, and it's set in a fictional town of silent hill, which is shrouded in fog and often plagued with supernatural events. Correct, so the games typically follow protagonists who find themselves some. The games typically follow protagonists who find themselves trapped in Silent Hill, where their fears and nightmares manifest as horrible creatures and environments.

1:01:15 Yep, yep. The series is renowned for its atmospheric storytelling, upsetting environments and themes of psychological trauma and religious symbolism. Sure, and there is a rumor that this game is based off of Centralia, pennsylvania, but the town of Silent Hill is entirely fictional and created just for the game. Okay. People think there's a lot of crossover there and there's, it's just rumor so it could be completely coincidental it's, yeah, yeah, it's most likely coincidental right, I mean people grasp at straws all the time to connect shit. But yeah, it's kind of cool, though I mean it's kind of neat so the fire yeah will continue to burn, oh dear, for another 250 years.

1:02:00 Holy fuck yeah, really yeah thankfully, no one has been directly killed by the fires, but many have experienced health problems from the gases I can imagine today there is a church remaining and they, they built it. Um, so it is a ukrainian church. It still stands today on a hill and continues to have services, but the church was allowed to build. You would say that hill that it was built on was not silent, correct? There's lots of chorus going on Lots of bell, hallelujah chorus. All right, the church was allowed to build there and stay because it's rock underneath and not coal, sure?

1:02:44 so they, they did their their due diligence and made sure like okay yeah gotcha today how many people live there? less than five less than five I feel like okay, hold on a sec In 2020, there were five. And now it's less than five. I don't know, did someone die? Exactly. I haven't found anything but in 2020, there was five, so it's possible between 2020, 2024. Or someone went off to college, there might be less. Yeah, whatever, a little Billy boy went off to college, there's less than five. Little. Billy boy went off to college to there's less than five. That's fucking crazy. Five people. Yeah. The fact that it's even still a town is just ridiculous.

1:03:24 Yeah, Just blow it up for this fucking at this point. Wow, that is weird, that's weird wild stuff an article through historycom um wikipedia, la times, uh, smithonia smithsonian magazine um centralia paorg, and then there was also a video that I watched on youtube called um america's burning ghost town okay, which is also burning ghost town. Yes, I like that, yeah so that is centralia penn Pennsylvania that is weird. I never, I've never, ever heard of that before today. Yeah that is. That's crazy because, like I feel like you would have, you should have heard of that.

1:04:08 I mean, it's been going on for quite some fucking time, yeah, and I have never heard of Centralia or some random burning fucking town that's wild. Or poor burnsville poor burnsville, so aptly named it started in 1962 and it's going to continue on for another 250 years. That's crazy yeah wow, why do they? Why do they think it's going to go on for another 250 years? There's just that much coal underneath there, that much coal, that many tunnels. And then there's probably some algorithm, math problem that says this is how much has brass burned since 1962.

1:04:51 Well, yeah, it's like it burns at this rate per minute, blah, blah, blah, whatever it might be. Okay, that makes sense. I'm sure someone a lot smarter than us. It's a math question, probably, and I'm good at math, but I'm not good at that. I'm very bad at math. I know. So any math question, I'm like I look to somebody else, I'm like what's the answer? Does it sound like a parrot? I mean a little bit. What's the answer? Oh, my God, oh, that's pretty great, but anyways. Okay, please save me. Say you have an idiom Okay. Would you? So I have got like a two-part idiom. They kind of go together but they're not. I guess you could say they're related, but I did two different ones that kind of coincide with each other.

1:05:36 Okay. I have have in my time of research on it, which was not extensive, um, I'm just being honest. Both. Both of them, I found, were disproved so this is no longer the history podcast. No, it's still history because I mean obviously it's still history, because I mean obviously it's there. I just I kind of thought they were funny. Okay. More or less because of what they're not true. They were disproved, and I go over one of them a little bit as why. I am ready to hear. All right, so the first one is a shot of whiskey.

1:06:23 Okay. Okay, I know it literally correct. So back in the old west, um, someone would go into a saloon, one of the 27 in centralia perhaps, even though that was the east, perhaps as long as they weren't on fire, but anyways, someone would go into a saloon and if they didn't have enough money to buy whiskey because whiskey was the main you wouldn't go in. And buy a gin and tonic right drink of choice is whiskey. What was available. What was available um, if you didn't have enough money, he would trade a bullet for a shot glass. Before it was called a shot glass, apparently, is what this was saying of whiskey, so a measure of whiskey, basically, and that has been proven pretty much false.

1:07:09 Mainly, the main reason is um, basically, if you look at what the cost of a bullet was back then, compared to a cost of what an actual beverage any beverage, not just whiskey, anything like that would be not even close. A bullet cost about two and a half cents. Oh wow, back in that time a shot of whiskey air quotes was 25 cents. You need 10 bullets to get that one, so you wouldn't really be giving a shot. You'd be giving shots if you will. So basically because of that, they're saying that ain't that's not true. Yeah, I just thought it was funny because picture all the old western type movies, any type of movie set back in the 1800s, like I could see that.

1:07:58 But no, apparently, but apparently not, which is kind of a bummer, because I couldn't really find, because I've looked at this one before, I couldn't really find bullet of whiskey, a bullet for whiskey there is for whiskey. Yeah, okay, for whiskey there is bullet bourbon whiskey though did that. Is that where that came from? no, because it's also spelt with an I. Bullet bourbon is spelt with an I, where obviously a bullet's, just not no I feel like they missed the mark on that one I know they kind of. I think it has something to do with one of the founders names, I believe okay, so it's just ironic. Okay, isn't it ironic, don't you think?

1:08:40 so the next one kind of goes over. It's related, because if you have too many shots of whiskey, what would you be the next day? hungover yeah. So hangover, a lot of people thought came from British sailors. They would basically purchase a spot on a rope to hang over if they drank too much, in case they would throw up or anything. So they wouldn't be like I don't know, joking on their own vomit kind of thing. Yucky boo. But yeah, so apparently it derived from they.

1:09:20 People say it derived from british soldiers doing that or british sailor excuse me doing that, but apparently that is completely false. Basically, all hangover really means is something that remained or simply survived. So basically, you have too much to drink the night before it's still there the next day. But not in a good way, basically. so it over time it got pretty much just associated with drinking too much or too many drugs name your poison, whatever. Um, but I really think it would be funny. Is this like man, I drank a lot, I should go buy a spot on that rope to uh hang over for the night till I'm I wake up, right?

1:10:06 So I was kind of bummed that wasn't actually true. Do you think? like all the blood rush to their heads. I would think that that would make it worse. That would be terrible. And then it would go up his nose when he vomits and terrible. And then it would go up his nose when he vomits and, oh man, that sounds even worse. That's acid stomach. Stomach acid right in your nose, have you? ever had coke come out of your nose. It is not fun. Ask me how I know I've never had coke go in my nose either, but either way, not that coke, not that Coke. Oh, my bad Soda. Soda Well. Coca-cola used to have cocaine in it. Yes. Back in the day. Oh, but man.

1:10:46 Can you just imagine vomiting and then it going up your nose? No, that sounds just god-awful disgusting right now. I kind of wish you wouldn't have said that. But either way, you're welcome. You're welcome, oh Lord. Well, either way, you're welcome, you're welcome. Oh lord. Well, I suppose you're gonna end it for me. I'm gonna, because you're laughing too hard. Thank you, folks. 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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