Few things are more dangerous than extended distance flights. Yet, occasionally, brave pilots will attempt to fly extreme distances in one go. A single flight around the world is dangerous business. A flight around the world is child's play compared to flying around for 8 years, straight, with nuclear bombs on board. That is exactly what the United States Military did from 1960 to 1968. It was the height of the cold war, and fear of the looming nuclear apocalypse birthed one of the most ambitious defense strategies ever composed. Operation Chrome Dome put a handful of pilots in the sky 24/7 for 8 years straight while carrying a nuclear payload, just in case. Needless to say, this was incredibly dangerous and nearly ended in disaster multiple times. With a name like Chrome Dome, you know this is a wild story.

Things I Learned Last Night

Operation Chrome Dome

At this point, we are all familiar with the Fyre Festival disaster. The Netflix and Hulu documentaries about the absolute failure of a concert captured the American youth. However, Fyre Fest was not the first music festival to crash and burn. In fact, it's quite common for music festivals to end in disaster. Whether it be due to the kind of crowd music festivals attract, or the kind of people who are crazy enough to plan these events, or a fundamental flaw with the concept, they always seem to scrape right along the lines of disaster. As wild as Fyre Festival was, though, it's nothing compared to the Erie Canal Soda Pop Festival, AKA Bull Island.

Bull Island - The Fyre Festival of the 70s

You have to be a pretty crazy person to assassinate a United States President. But, for Charles J Guiteau, the man who assassinated the 20th President James A. Garfield, the assassination of the president was the least crazy thing he ever did. From a shady political career to cult ties to ax-wielding outbursts, Charles J Guiteau was certainly unhinged. He was so insane that his lawyers made the first-ever insanity plea while representing him in court following his assassination of President Garfield. This is the story of the absolutely crazy life that Charles J Guiteau lived. 

Charles J Guiteau - The Wild Man Who Killed James Garfield

In 1877 Alexander Graham Bell founded the Bell Telephone Company. It was the world's first telephone company and would one day become AT&T. Even though Alexander Graham Bell sold his ownership stake in the company after just a couple of years with the company, AT&T would become the largest telephone company in the company the world. In fact, AT&T grew so large that the United States government spent well over 50 years trying to break up what they believed was a monopoly. They succeeded in their goal. However, 35 years after the break up almost all of the subsidiaries have reunited to rebuild the monopoly of old. AT&T is now almost as big, if not bigger than it was before the monopoly was broken up. This is the story of how AT&T became a monopoly, twice. 

AT&T

Fans of the Things I Learned Last Night podcast know that the United States has made some missteps over the years. However, everything we've discussed pales in comparison to the colossal failure that is the Salton Sea, California. This story has everything; capitalism, floods of biblical proportion, tourist traps, environmental disasters, and nuclear bombs. Yeah, of course, there are nukes in this story. Why not? We can't even begin to overplay how unreal every step in this strange lake's journey truly is. This is the bizarre tale of the incredible Salton Sea. 

The Salton Sea - The Accidental Salt Lake in California Now With NUKES™

In episode 32, we talked about John McAfee, the man who created McAfee antivirus and that's the LEAST interesting thing about him. For years, he has said that the government is after him. This week, he died in prison... mysteriously... Tim updates us about what we know, what we think could have happened, and where we go from here. Listen to our episode about John McAfee 

John McAfee Update (Bonus)

We've been putting signs up at Starbucks and on social media asking for weird voicemails! This time, we put up a sign that said "Have you been abducted??". Here are a few of the voicemail responses we got and our reactions to them!

Alien Abduction Voicemails (Bonus)

What do Salvation Mountain, East Jesus, and West Satan have in common? If you guessed they're locations in a video game then you're only half right. These eclectic phrases are names of subdivisions in the infamous Californian town known as Slab City. Home to mostly squatters and vagabonds, Slab City has been hailed as the last free city in the world. Residents enjoy no modern amenities like running water or electricity. However, they relish their off-grid lifestyle in one of the strangest places left on earth. Not only is the town itself incredibly unique, but the geographic location tells a story of its own. This is the unbelievable Slab City, California. Is it the last free place on earth? Not really, but it is probably the closest city on earth to it. Slab City is an eclectic place where people who can't fit into modern society thrive. The residents love their homes and are thankful for the community that they have built there. The city may not be the prettiest in the world and it may lack much of what people in the U.S. have become accustomed to, however it offers its residents the life they've always dreamed of. For that, the locals love it. 

Slab City - Welcome to the Lawless Californian Town

New Mexico, 1964, Police Officer Lonnie Zamora was tending to his typical daily routine of ticketing speeders outside the city of Socorro. Zamora found himself in pursuit of a speeding vehicle when he saw something that would change his life forever. The UFO he witnessed that day would officially be listed in the secretive Project Blue Book as "unknown" a designation only afforded 700 of the 12,000 reports included in the mysterious report. To this day proponents of UAP research point to the Lonnie Zamora Incident as strong evidence of the existence of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena. Lonnie is, after all, considered a trained observer with an ability to discern the difference between natural aerial phenomena and Unidentified Flying Objects. This is the unbelievable story of the Lonnie Zamora Incident. Due to the credibility of Lonnie Zamora as an observer and the fact that dozens of other people had seen the object across the desert that day, the Lonnie Zamora Incident has long been revered as one of the most credible UFO/UAP sightings in history. Although, opponents of ufology have provided their theories most of them fall short of offering a full explanation of the event. The Project Blue Book Program itself could not offer a sufficient conclusion either. To learn even more about the Lonnie Zamora Incident watch or listen to this episode of Things I Learned Last Night.   Things I Learned Last Night is an educational comedy podcast where best friends Jaron Myers and Tim Stone talk about random topics and have fun all along the way. If you like learning, and laughing a whole lot while you do, then you’ll love TILLN. Watch or listen to this episode right now!

Lonnie Zamora Incident

When tribal groups first make contact with cultures and civilizations outside their own there are often unexpected consequences. Throughout history moments of 'First Contact' have led to disease outbreaks, war, and genocide. However, there is also a relatively new and incredibly odd phenomenon tied to first contact events known as Cargo Cults. These strange religions are largely formed out of a single campaign during World War 2. In short, tribal groups across the pacific experienced allied military might, and the resource that followed these military groups during the war in the pacific. The groups only found one appropriate response to these godlike forces; worship. These are the unbelievable stories of the Cargo Cults, namely John Frum. 

Cargo Cults

Have you ever heard of Eels? Yeah, we're talking about the really weird snake-like fish that sometimes electrocute people. Sidebar, electric eels actually aren't even eels. They're a totally different kind of fish, it's a misnomer. Even if you cast out the infamous electric eel, the fish are incredibly odd because no one knows where they come from. These sea creatures lack reproductive organs of any kind. Their lack of obvious reproductive organs has enshrouded eels for thousands of years. Some of history's greatest minds have tried to solve the mystery. Scientists believe they know the lifecycle of the eel today, but people have believed to know the whole story before. This is the story of the incredibly strange eel.

Eels

Honestly, the only reason we are covering The Great Molasses Flood of 1919 is because someone dubbed it the Boston Molassacre and we think that is the funniest thing we've ever seen. The story is rather incredible. On January 15, 1919, a 40-foot tidal wave ripped through Boston. This tidal wave did not come from the sea. No, it was a wave of molasses. This thick, sweet liquid tore through the city streets causing serious damage, injury, and even death. This is the strange and nearly unbelievable tale of the Boston Molassacre (AKA The Great Molasses Flood).

The Boston Molassacre

It was the dawn of the modern Olympic era. St. Louis boasted the pleasure of being the 3rd host of the soon-to-be world-renowned games. Everything went off without a hitch. That is everything, except the men's marathon. This race was so utterly unbelievable, so completely pathetic, so mind-numbingly stupid that it has gone down in the annals of athletic history with infamy. This is a tale littered with lies, cheats, unlikely heroes, near-death experiences, and honestly just some real wild storylines. This is the story of the 1904 Men's Olympic Marathon, the worst race of all time (we actually think it's the best, but it's all just about your perspective).

The 1904 Olympic Marathon

He was a magician, an occultist, and a vagabond. At one point, Aleister Crowley either struck fear or admiration into people all around the world. Even his own mother called him the antichrist. This revolutionary thinker started his own religion based around rather frightening rites. His lifestyle inspired celebrities and rockstars for decades. Some may even credit the modern lifestyle to the rebellious attitudes of Crowley. Whether such a conclusion is baseless or not it is quite clear that Aleister Crowley lived a remarkably terrifying lifestyle. This is the story of how a young Christian boy divulged into an identity that aspired to earn the title of antichrist.

Aleister Crowley

In February 1959, ten experienced hikers embarked on a dangerous hike through the northern Urals (a mountain range in the then Soviet Union). None of the adventurers knew what they were getting into when they left for the trek, in fact, no one to this day knows just what they encountered. Theories range from an avalanche to Katabatic wind to the Yeti and even aliens. Whatever they faced brought about their unfortunate demise. This is the story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident and the theories that surround it.

Dyatlov Pass Incident

You know when you can’t sleep at night so you Google everything about deep sea diving? Things I Learned Last Night is that, but in a podcast.

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Things I Learned Last Night

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