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Welcome to Interesting If True, where we take turns telling tantalizing tales. I'm your host this week, Jenn, and with me, as always, my bearded and bedraggled co hosts Aaron, Shea, and Steve, I'm Aaron, and this week I learned that while a comatose state is one of inactivity, a comet only has a coma when it’s active! I'm Shea, and this week I learned that mandatory temperature screenings will be required for fans attending the Foreigner reunion concert.IIT If you're hot blooded they'll check it and see. I'm Steve and while I’ve heard that man cannot live on bread alone, now that Aaron gave me his old bread machine, I might just give it a try.Camille Claims Comet is Coming Calamitously
- https://www.oocities.org/~lauferworld/VirginandcometI
- https://www.oocities.org/~lauferworld/VirginandcometII
- https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1955/5/14/the-panic-over-halleys-comet
- http://www.unmuseum.org/halleycomet.htm
- https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-1986-04-16-8601230389-story.html
- https://www.fredericknewspost.com/archive/buying-into-apocalypse-scenarios/article_5e635ad4-ce33-5519-b78b-adf302a6f5de.html
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halley%27s_Comet
“The comet’s tail,” said Flammarion (a fire bender), “is composed of deadly cyanogen and other gases, including hydrogen. If the earth should pass through this tail, either the hydrogen will ignite, blasting earth asunder in a gigantic explosion, or the comet gases will sweep aside our own atmosphere, reacting with the nitrogen to form the familiar laughing gas, nitrous oxide, and suffocating all animal life in a ghastly parody of death.”Well, that sucks. From the Frederick, MD Newspost:
“In April 1910, the conjecture screamed across newspapers far and wide...As the dreaded month of May approached the panic was real. Europe's reaction was mixed. In Italy, the poor gathered nightly to "hiss and hoot" the comet away, believing the apparition was causing the cold, wet and wintry May weather. Beset with anxiety, the former sultan of Turkey refused to eat for the days prior to the comet's arrival. In Baden, Germany, farmers decided not to sow their spring crops. The comet was also blamed for the severe storms in northwest Europe and snowstorms in Iceland...the inhabitants of Russia took a more pessimistic view of things. In Siberia, all business was halted. The 300,000 inhabitants of Irkutsk were reported to be in a constant state of terror with farmers burning their barns for fuel.”(I included the Russian part just so Aaron can utilize his accent.) But don’t worry, back in the good ole US of A, not to be outdone by no Europe or Eurasia, we also got a little nuts. Again from the Frederick, MD Newspost:
“In Chicago, many people sealed their doors and windows to keep out the deadly gas. Several Detroit residents witnessed a homing pigeon die in flight and fall to the street below. A calamity ensued as men and women rushed about in great excitement screaming "It's the gas, it's the gas."But birds weren't the only things dropping dead.
Ruth Jordon of Talladega, Ala., was summoned to her front door, saw the comet and expired. Apparently the same fate awaited a gentleman when shown the celestial visitor from a nearby depot platform.Scores of comet-induced suicides were reported in several states.
If death didn't get you, insanity did. James Klein of Somerville, N.J., was found in the street "scantly clad," raving about being pursued by the comet's tail. Then there was the unfortunately named Paul Hammerton of California. Hammerton was a prospector brooding over the effects of the comet's visit, so he got out some nails and proceeded to crucify himself. By the time other miners heard his cries he had succeeded in nailing both feet and one hand to the makeshift cross. Although he was in intense agony he pleaded with his rescuers to let him be.”Finally, Oklahoma decided it was time it threw its hat into the ring. Dying homing pigeons? DIY crucifixions? Hold my beer. On May 20th, 1910, the Oklahoma City Times ran a story under the headline ‘Girl Rescued from Death at Gory Stake’. It wasn’t long before Okie papers throughout the state carried the story of The Select Followers, a religious sect, led by Henry Heinman. [caption id="attachment_54033" align="alignright" width="231"] Clipping from Salina Daily Union, 1910.[/caption] Heinman claimed that God had alerted him to the world’s end, courtesy of the approaching comet, and only a blood sacrifice would avert the disaster.
‘Jane Warfield, a pretty nineteen-year-old farmer girl, living near here was rescued after a hand-to-hand conflict between members of the sheriff of Alfalfa county posse and Henry Heinman’s religious fanatics Wednesday evening just as the girl was about to be offered as a blood sacrifice for the atonement of the world’s sins in order that Halley’s comet might not destroy the earth. The girl, nude and partially unconscious, was tied to a stake in the center of a dancing group of the crazed followers of Heiman and within a few minutes was to have been stabbed and bled to death. Heinman’s chief prophet was ready to perform the deed. It was known in the community that the much-heralded approach of Halley’s comet and the threatened danger attached to its appearance had affected the fanatics and frequent meetings were being held. All their secrets are closely guarded and it was not until the girl was tied to the stake that the authorities became aware of the intended sacrifice.’Holy crap! How exciting! A posse of Okie-Alfalfa County cowboys rescues a white clad virgin from certain sacrifice! One would almost think it was..too good...to be true. It turns out the tale, which is still reported today in some publications as at least somewhat factual, was thought to be the brainchild of Edgar Benton Merchant, a lawyer, newspaper publisher and editor of the Aline Chronoscope from 1901 until his death in 1919. At the time of the comet, he was an older man living in Aline, OK. According to several sources he was imaginative and inventive, with a sneaky sense of humor, and it was assumed he came up with the story and his wife, Ellen, a type-setter and reporter helped to make it an event. There was apparently a whole group of people ready to make the hoax a reality, and the ‘is it or isn’t it’ remained in the town for years. So I suppose the moral of the story is: Oklahoma didn’t actually get wrapped up in 1910 religious, wacko hysteria. They’re just liar-liars, pants on comet fires.
Midshow Bumper
Thanks for listening to Interesting If True, if you like what you heard and think your friends might too, share us on the socials, leave us a good review wherever you're listening, or subscribe at Patreon.com/iit where, for as little as a dollar a show, you'll get a patron exclusive story each week, episodes of our sister show 4 More Beers, outtakes and more! You can contact us, find out more, and see what else we do at InterestingIfTrue.com Thanks to the patron support of listeners like you Interesting If True is a proud supporter of Wyoming AIDS Assistance, a registered 501(c)3 charity that provides support to Wyomingites living with HIV/AIDS. Find out more at WyoAIDS.org and thank you for listening, sharing, and donating.Aaron’s Completely Cosher Comet Pills!
With a "C"!- Selling Hope By Kristin O'Donnell Tubb: https://amzn.to/3cUGIqb (Amazon Affiliate Link)
- https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/06/the-killer-comet/588031/
- https://www.wired.com/2015/01/fantastically-wrong-halleys-comet/
- https://www.denverpost.com/2010/05/25/halleys-comet-100-years-ago/
- Pics from https://gizmodo.com/stunning-depictions-of-ancient-comets-that-scared-the-h-1640330614
“A shepherd in Washington State was reported to have gone insane with worry about the comet, while in California a prospector nailed his feet and one hand to a cross and, despite his agony, pleaded with rescuers to let him remain there.”Organizations in the United States printed leaflets with advice:
“Warning to the Inhabitants of the City: “Close your windows and keep indoors for the Earth will soon pass through the tail of the terrible Comet and its poisonous gases will fill the heavens!”More to our point though was the development and release of "anti-Comet Pills". In the Port formerly known as Au-Prince, Haiti, a medicine man was reported as selling "anti-comet pills, guaranteed to stave off all malevolent effects of Mr. Halley's visitor" for a mere $1.00 per pill." It should be noted that a buck in 1910 would get you a hat, a dozen eggs, a pound of butter, a pound of cornmeal, and a tube of Sanitol toothpaste. Or, the brand new invention of a teddy bear. Once news broke of the Haitian pills the rest of the world got on board. Fraudsters hawked anti-comet pills, with one brand promising to be “an elixir for escaping the wrath of the heavens,” and two Texan's were at the center of the American cure-all for comets. The most famous of them being Hope's Anit-Comet Pills from Texas. The pills were, of course, little more than sugar and whatever else people in 1910 figured was safe to eat for no reason. Some hawksters would even sell you pills for as little as 25 cents. The pills themselves were of course nonsense and weren't going to protect you from anything, not that there was space gas to worry about anyway. Of course the Comet came and without murdering people with poisonous gas. The pill hawkers said , of course that meant that their pills worked. Normally this story would be exclusive to subscribers at Patreon.com/iit,but we wanted to release the first few shows to everyone to give you an idea of what you can get for as little as a dollar a show.
Outro
I’m Jenn, Thanks to all our listeners, supporters, and my co-hosts: Aaron, Shea, & Steve. Find out more about the show, social links, and contact information at InterestingIfTrue.com. Music for this episode, Retro, was created by Wayne Jones and was used with permission. The opinions, views and nonsense expressed in this show are those of the hosts only and do not represent any other people, organizations, or lifeforms. All rights reserved, Interesting If True 2020.Join The Discussion
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