In 1859, in San Francisco, Joshua Abraham Norton, declared himself "Emperor of the United States", and eventually "Protector of Mexico".

$1.6 million in rare photographs disappear. An owner of one of the oldest photographic galleries in the country is accused of defrauding artists, collectors, and friends in the case.

Emperor Norton

Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist says he was conned in dealer’s $1.6m art fraud scheme
A Michigan Art Dealer Accused of Defrauding Collectors Out of $1.6 Million Is Expected to Strike a Plea Deal
A Michigan Photography Dealer Allegedly Bilked Elderly Clients Out of More Than $1.6 Million by Pretending to Be in a Coma
Michigan photography dealer Tom Halsted passed away...

John R. Brinkley dreamed of being a doctor. Unfortunately he couldn't achieve that goal. He could however say he was one, and became known for implanting goat gonads into patients. Brinkley was on the forefront of quack medicine, disinformation, and conspiracy theory radio.

Forrest Fenn, a wealthy art collector, decided to create a treasure hunt to get people outdoors. He filled a chest with treasure, and hid it somewhere in the Rocky Mountains. The lure of the treasure led people from around the world to analyze the clues, and search for the treasure. The hunt led to injuries, death, and betrayal.

John R. Brinkley
John R. Brinkley - Wikipedia

In 2001, The Free State Project was founded with the intention of recruiting Libertarians to New Hampshire, in an attempt to create a sort of Libertarian utopia. Not too surprisingly, things didn't exactly go as planned.

Salomon August Andrée was a Swedish engineer, physicist, aeronaut, and polar explorer lead an attempt to reach the North Pole by hydrogen balloon in 1897. Andrée had very little experience piloting balloons, and the expedition immediately went off the rails.

Free State Project
The Town That Went Feral

Salomon August Andrée

The most devastating wildfire in U.S. history was not in the western states, or even a recent event. Instead it was in Wisconsin, on October 8th, 1871. The fire burned around 1.5 million acres, and claimed more than 1,500 lives.

In the 1990s, a new genre of music emerged, know as Norwegian black metal. Some of the most influential members of extreme metal came from this period. Its members from were also responsible for two murders, a suicide, and the burning of old Norwegian churches.

The Norwegian black metal segment may be disturbing for sensitive listeners, and includes references to suicide and murder.

The Peshtigo Fire - National Weather Service
The Peshtigo Fire - Wikipedia
The Great Midwest Wildfires of 1871
The Wisconsin magazine of history: Volume 11, number 1, September 1927
Why America's Deadliest Wildfire Was Largely Forgotten
Norwegian Black Metal

Jimmy Hoffa, former president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters - a powerful union with ties to organized crime, disappears in 1975. Hoffa is eventually declared dead in 1982, though his body has never been found despite years of investigations, rumors, and leads.

Brothers, Homer and Langley Collyer, became infamous for their hoarding and bizarre behavior. The brothers lived in seclusion, in a Harlem Brownstone in the 1920s, and eventually are found to have been living with 120 tons of belongings, tunnels, and booby traps.

Jimmy Hoffa - Wikipedia
Teamsters - Wikipedia
Hunt for Jimmy Hoffa - BBC

Collyer Brothers - Wikipedia
Collyer Brothers Gallery

In 857 A.D., in the Rhine Valley, an outbreak of a disease causing hallucinations, gangrene, and death occurred. Because the symptoms included a severe burning sensation, and it was believed to be a punishment from God, it came to be known as Holy Fire. Though a doctor in 1670 figured out the cause, outbreaks would occur for another 170 years before the cause of the disease was finally proven.

Howard Hughes was an eccentric billionaire, record-setting pilot, engineer, film producer, and philanthropist. He was one of the wealthiest and most influential person in the world. Eventually his eccentricity gave way to extreme reclusiveness, obsessive compulsive disorder, and chronic pain.

Ergot of Rye
Ergot - Wikipedia
Has Ergot Altered Events in World History?

Howard Hughes - Wikipedia

In 1980, while Texaco was drilling in Lake Peigneur, a sinkhole opened up and drained the lake, swallowing the drilling platform, and several boats and barges in the process. The 10 foot deep lake was popular for fishing, and was the backdrop for a botanical garden. On November 20th, approximately 2.5 billion gallons of water drained from the lake, along with the boats, several acres of land, and trees. The direction of water flowing to the Gulf of Mexico temporarily reversed, created a 164 foot waterfall. The lake is now 200 feet deep and brackish, after refilling in a matter of days.

In the 1690s, the Scottish Darien Company attempted to establish a colony, on what is now Panama. Scotland was behind in the race to exploit new worlds, and hoped to establish a trade route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, for power and riches. The brainchild of William Patterson, the initial expedition included 5 ships and 1200 people. Funded by the Scots, the scheme eventually consumed around 20% of the entire wealth of Scotland, essentially bankrupting the country. This financial disaster followed the Seven Ill years, and the Nine Years War, in with 5-20% of the population perished. The Scheme is largely credited with causing the unification of Scotland and England, in the 1707 Acts of Union.

Lake Peigneur Drilling Accident - YouTube
Lake Peigneur - Wikipedia

Darien Scheme - Wikipedia
The Darien Scheme - Historic U.K.
Company of Scotland
Seven Ill Years
Masacre of Glencoe

In 1985, Eastern Airlines Flight 980, crashed at 21,000 feet, on route to La Paz, Bolivia. Decades of searches turned up little, sparking a variety of conspiracy theories. Was it a disaster due to weather, a high altitude airport, a lack of experience, language barriers, and a lack of proper navigational equipment, or something more nefarious.

In 2016, a trio from the U.S., decides to revisit the crash site, and attempt to find the crash recorders. Roommates, Dan Futrell and Isaac Stoner, plan a two week trip to Bolivia hoping to succeed where the other expeditions have failed. They are joined by Peter Frick-Wright, of Outside Magazine, who penned the article that lead to this topic for the podcast.

The Yugo has been described as "the worst car in history". Introduced to the U.S. in 1985, the Yugo went on to peak success in 1987, followed by a few years of precipitous declines in sales, ending in 1992.

At $3,990, the Yugo GV (Good Value) was intended to be a cheap, reliable car. Initially it was, but quality went quickly downhill. The poor quality, and war in Yugoslavia proved to be the downfall of the Yugo.

Flight 980

• What Happened to Eastern Airlines Flight 980?
• Eastern Airlines Flight 980 - Wikipedia
• Boeing 727 - Wikipedia
• Unearthing the 32-Year Mystery of Crashed Eastern Airlines Flight 980
• The housemates who found a lost plane wreck
• 31 years later, we found the flight recorders
• 32 Years after the Eastern Air Lines Flight 980 Crash, the NTSB has finished analyzing recently recovered wreckage
• Greg Feith - Wikipedia
• Airline Crash in Bolivia a Year Ago May Never Be Solved
• U.S. Diplomat, Others Head Toward Plane Crash Site
• Search continues for lost jet in Andes

Yugo

• Yugo - Wikipedia
• The Yugo: The Rise and Fall of the Worst Car in History
• A Quick Look at the Yugo, the Worst Car in History