Fantastic Footnotes Podcast

The Accident that Nearly Killed Mark Twain

In today’s episode we talk about the explosion on board the Steamboat Pennsylvania and its connection to Mark Twain. If you are a frequent listener you know I generally go into more detail here, but time got away from us here this week, so I will post a longer article about the Pennsylvania in the next few days. Check out that article because it will have the show notes and sources. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit fantasticfootnotes.substack.com [https://fantasticfootnotes.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

The Other Brown v. the Other Board - An earlier fight for school desegregation

The sleepy little suburb of Merriam, Kansas actually has quite a history. This little suburb of Kansas City has hosted two historic amusement parks (one was George Kessler’s first project), an early Quaker mission, was the site of a plane crash in WWII and a spur of the Santa Fe Trail in the 1800’s, and was on the leading edge in the fight for school desegregation. In the early 1860s, David Gee Campbell settled in the area and named the town, now Merriam, Campbellton. Many Shawnee Indians were already settled in the same area, having been given 200 acres of land each in a deal signed by President Cleveland. Unfortunately, by 1863 much of the land was being auctioned off for unpaid taxes, and Rufus Benson purchased about 400 acres of it which he used to build the community of South Park, just north of Merriam. (Later, parts of South Park were annexed by Merriam.) In 1888 the community of South Park built the Madame C.J. Walker School, named after Madam C. J. Walker, the first self-made female millionaire in America. If you want to know more about her, check out this episode from The History Chicks [https://thehistorychicks.com/episode-67-madam-cj-walker/]. The school was attended by both black and white students until around 1900, when white students started attending a separate school. In 1947 the school district opened South Park Elementary School, paid for by ALL taxpayers, but open only to white students. At this point, the C.J. Walker School was nearly 60 years old, had no running water, indoor restrooms, or electricity, and was starting to fall apart. The new South Park School had all of these amenities. Unsurprisingly, black families in the area were unhappy. They voiced their concerns to the school district, but their complaints fell on deaf ears. Helen Swan lived in South Park and worked for a family in Merriam. One afternoon, as her employer, Esther Brown, drove Helen home, Helen shared the problems black families were facing with the school district. As a Jewish woman living in the aftermath of WWII, Esther could not stand by and allow the injustice to continue. Esther, along with the Webb family and other community members, started organizing. They organized Walker’s Walkout, a boycott of the school district. During the walkout, Hazel McCray-Weddington and Corinthian Nutter taught Black students in people’s homes so the children could continue their education. The group also started an NAACP chapter and continued engaging with the school district in hopes of getting something done. And the school district did offer to help… either build a new school for the black students once the bond was paid off (at least 30 years later), or install a mailbox and stop sign at the Walker School. Not exactly helpful. Esther herself faced threats for helping black families. People at the grocery store would casually mention that the KKK was still active in the area, and she even had an FBI file opened on her during the McCarthy era. So, in May of 1948, Webb v. School District No. 90 was filed with the Kansas Supreme Court, and in June of 1949 the court ruled in favor of Webb. The district needed to provide equal facilities for all students, so black students were allowed to attend South Park School. The main lawyer in the case was Elisha Scott, though Thurgood Marshall helped write briefs for the case as well. After the ruling, Esther Brown stayed active in the movement and was sent first to Wichita and then Topeka, where she helped with the famous Brown v. Board of Education case that we all know today. Today, the old Walker School building is home to Philadelphia Missionary Baptist Church. Across the street sits Brown Park, named in honor of Esther Brown and designed by Alfonzo Webb Jr., the son of the plaintiff in the case, Alfonzo Webb. The church is currently working to renovate the historic school building and build a museum dedicated to this important history. If you would like to help, you can donate through the church’s fundraising page [https://www.givelify.com/donate/philadelphia-missionary-baptist-church-merriam-ks-2j7wy5MTUxMTA2NQ==/donation/amount]. After selecting your gift amount, choose “Project Revive and Restore” to ensure your donation goes to the C.J. Walker School Fund. You can also follow their progress on Facebook. [https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61575767934529] Sources: https://aaregistry.org/story/webb-v-school-district-no-90-is-decided/ https://www.merriam.org/Residents/Our-Community/About-Merriam/History-of-Merriam https://www.humanitieskansas.org/get-involved/kansas-stories/places/before-brown-madam-c-j-walker-school-and-desegregation https://www.kcur.org/history/2024-05-15/brown-v-board-kansas-city-school-segregation-walker-walkout Book: Jenks, Myra F and Irene B. French, Historic Merriam: The History of Merriam, Kansas, Publishing Specialists, Inc, 2006 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit fantasticfootnotes.substack.com [https://fantasticfootnotes.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

From the Margins: Glowing Cats and the Atomic Priesthood

While perusing my Facebook feed I came across a Bored Panda Article [https://www.boredpanda.com/ancient-tomb-traps-injured-modern-archaeologists/] that asked an interesting question. “What are real life instances of still working booby traps that have been set off at historical sites that may have killed or seriously injured archeologists or their workers?” Well, of course, I’m invested now… what a great question! I have a limited background in archeology so I didn’t think most of the answers would surprise me, but this one did. User GingerMcGinginII replied as such: And that, friends, is where tonights podcast starts. So it turns out that this is not as crazy as a question as it might seem. High level nuclear waste, the kind produced in nuclear reactors, needs to be safely stored for AT LEAST 10,000 years. You might think we should just bury with a sign that says “Don’t go here”, but as the Bored Panda article points out, that may not be so easy. Languages change. Symbols change. The meaning of things is lost to time. So how do we get people 10,000 years in the future to believe us when we say nuclear waste is bad? In 1981 the US Department of Energy brought a group of engineers, behavioral scientists, anthropologists, linguists, and nuclear physicists together to figure it out. This group was called the Human Interference Task Force, and between that group and continuing studies into the 1990’s, we ended up with some very strange ideas. Some of the ideas were predictable… don’t bury it where people want to dig, make pictorial warning signs to help people understand the danger, print warnings in many different languages, etc. Other ideas were good, but a bit stranger such as making the space feel “off”. Covering it in rubble or large spikes and making the structure sound spooky in the wind were suggested. Check out this article [https://www.sciencehistory.org/stories/magazine/speaking-to-the-future/] to see some pictures of what the scientists were thinking. And then… we get to the really weird. Things like implanting a message in the DNA of the plants around the site. Creating a religion to ensure the information gets passed on. And yes… the RayCat Solution. If you haven’t heard of the RayCat Solution, let me sum it up. You genetically engineer cats (or some other animal) to glow when they get near radiation. But here is the problem… 10,000 years in the future will people understand why they are glowing? And that is where this little gem [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amn3kn0XPLQ&list=RDamn3kn0XPLQ&start_radio=1] comes in. Someone made a song that would be so catchy that even 10,000 years in the future people would remember it. And that song had lyrics that explained what to do if your cat started glowing. For example: Don't change color, kittyKeep your color, kittyStay that midnight blackThе radiation that the change impliesCan kill, and that's a factThе radiation, whatever that isIs something we don't want'cause it withers our cropsAnd it burns our skinAnd it turns our livestock gaunt Obviously this idea never really got off the ground. In fact, even though it is now 2026 there is still no resolution to the issue of storing nuclear waste. As of now most nuclear waste is just stored where it is made, which seems ok. For now. So I leave you with this. This is an excerpt from a report by Sandia labs and is one of the proposed warnings that has potential to actually be used. It reads like a little mini sci-fi horror poem, and, as long as people in 10,000 years can translate it, I think it will do the trick. “This place is a message... and part of a system of messages... pay attention to it! Sending this message was important to us. We considered ourselves to be a powerful culture. This place is not a place of honor... no highly esteemed deed is commemorated here... nothing valued is here. What is here was dangerous and repulsive to us. This message is a warning about danger. The danger is in a particular location... it increases toward a center... the center of danger is here... of a particular size and shape, and below us. The danger is still present, in your time, as it was in ours. The danger is to the body, and it can kill. The form of the danger is an emanation of energy. The danger is unleashed only if you substantially disturb this place physically. This place is best shunned and left uninhabited.” Sources: 1984 Study [https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/6799619] https://www.sciencehistory.org/stories/magazine/speaking-to-the-future/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Interference_Task_Force https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinero/2019/11/26/the-staggering-timescales-of-nuclear-waste-disposal/ https://www.iflscience.com/this-is-not-a-place-of-honor-how-do-we-warn-of-danger-to-people-thousands-of-years-in-the-future-74396 https://genius.com/Emperor-x-10000-year-earworm-to-discourage-resettlement-near-nuclear-waste-repositories-dont-change-color-kitty-lyrics#:~:text=Don’t%20change%20color%2C%20kitty,Keep%20sickness%20away This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit fantasticfootnotes.substack.com [https://fantasticfootnotes.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

From the Margins: Tornado vs Steamboat

By some estimates, over 3,000 steamboats sank on America’s waterways between 1820 and 1860. Even more were lost into the early 1900s after the heyday of steamboats had already started to fade. Most of those sinkings were due to the usual reasons such as snags, collisions, fire, and explosions. But there’s one cause you don’t hear about as often: the great and powerful tornado. The most famous case of steamboats being hit by a tornado is the Natchez tornado of 1840. On May 7, 1840 a tornado descended on the river town of Natchez, Mississippi. Estimates say there were 140 flatboats on the river that day, along with a few steamboats. 116 of the flatboats were sunk. The steamboat Prairie was also sunk, and the Hinds destroyed so completely that it floated 90 miles downstream to Baton Rouge. When it was finally recovered, it still had 51 (deceased) people on board. All told the tornado killed at least 317 people and is still listed as the second most deadly tornado in US history. The Montana was another example of nature vs steamboat. On July 2, 1879, the steamboat Montana was docked at Bismarck, Dakota. As one newspaper at the time described it, “a gust in wedge shape came up the Missouri and struck the steamer Montana”. Luckily no passengers were on board as half of the cabins were blown ashore and the other half completely destroyed. The Montana had to go back to St. Louis for repairs and lost an entire season, only to be sunk for good in 1884 near St. Charles, MO after colliding with a railroad bridge. The third example is the one I find most interesting. The Miriam was leased by the Wright Exposition Company and was headed to Caruthersville, MO for a show. On Sunday April 26, 1908 the Miriam was in the river and underway near Helena, Arkansas when a tornado came upon it, picked it up, spun it around, and dropped it upside down back in the river. 75 people were on board, but luckily most survived. Only 12 people died. Of course the company had to cancel their upcoming shows, but just a few days later the newspapers start to hint at a bit of a mystery. Apparently one of the victims was Anna Golden, a well liked and highly trusted member of the company. Her body was not immediately found and her mother said she had been carrying the cash and jewelry of many of her companions. It was her mothers opinion that she had been robbed and her body disposed of to cover the robbery. A young woman’s body was found a few days later and people suspected it was Anna, but the body was found without clothing and with none of the possessions that Anna was supposed to be carrying, so there was no way to positively identify her. So friends, let me just say again… “History isn’t boring, you just didn’t read the fine print” Sources: https://www.weather.gov/bmx/event_04241908 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deadliest_tornadoes_in_the_Americas https://www.usdeadlyevents.com/1840-may-7-tornado-natchez-and-on-the-ms-river-e-g-hinds-la-plantations-318/ https://stcharlesparks.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Slide-Sinking-of-the-Montana.pdf https://www.ustornadoes.com/2017/05/07/natchez-ms-tornado-1840/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montana_%28steamboat%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deadliest_tornadoes_in_the_Americas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1840_Natchez_tornado The Daily Republican [https://www.newspapers.com/paper/the-daily-republican/31012/], Poplar Bluff, Missouri,Tue, Apr 28, 1908 · Page 1 St. Louis Globe-Democrat [https://www.newspapers.com/paper/st-louis-globe-democrat/18366/], St. Louis, Missouri,Tue, Apr 28, 1908 · Page 2 The Democrat-Argus [https://www.newspapers.com/paper/the-democrat-argus/6043/], Caruthersville, Missouri, Fri, May 1, 1908 · Page 1 The Democrat-Argus [https://www.newspapers.com/paper/the-democrat-argus/6043/], Caruthersville, Missouri, Fri, May 1, 1908 · Page 3 Centralia Fireside Guard [https://www.newspapers.com/paper/centralia-fireside-guard/18523/], Centralia, Missouri, Fri, May 1, 1908 · Page 1 The Democrat-Argus [https://www.newspapers.com/paper/the-democrat-argus/6043/], Caruthersville, Missouri, Fri, Apr 24, 1908 · Page 3 St. Louis Post-Dispatch [https://www.newspapers.com/paper/st-louis-post-dispatch/4064/], St. Louis, Missouri, Tue, Apr 28, 1908 · Page 19 The Commercial Appeal [https://www.newspapers.com/paper/the-commercial-appeal/5546/], Memphis, Tennessee, Fri, May 15, 1908 · Page 13 St. Louis Globe-Democrat [https://www.newspapers.com/paper/st-louis-globe-democrat/18366/], St. Louis, Missouri, Wed, Jul 2, 1879 · Page 3 The Times-Union [https://www.newspapers.com/paper/the-times-union/44582/], Rochester, New York, Wed, Jul 2, 1879 · Page 3 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit fantasticfootnotes.substack.com [https://fantasticfootnotes.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Introducing "The Note Stack"

This week, we’re introducing two new series on Fantastic Footnotes.This is the first episode of one of them—The Note Stack. The Note Stack is our space to talk about new research and news stories in history and archaeology, make corrections or add-ons to past episodes, and just share what Chris and I have been into lately. We’re also rolling out another series called From the Margins. In that one, we’ll still cover our usual weird history topics—just not as in-depth. We will do some quick dives… just enough to whet your appetite. In today’s show, we talk about:– A 2,400-year-old ship graveyard [https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/archaeology/a71077271/gibraltar-shipwrecks/?utm_source=chatgpt.com]– The bacteria behind strep throat [https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/americas/700-year-old-mummy-from-bolivia-contains-earliest-confirmed-evidence-of-strep-throat-bacteria-in-the-americas]– And a strange occurrence at the Volo Museum [https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/titanic-exhibit-volo-museum-flood-anniversary-of-sinking/] We also revisit our last episode on the Shroud of Turin with a new theory and a new study. [https://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation?PaperID=60135] And in our “What are we into?” segment, we get into AI [https://substack.com/@aichrisperrin?utm_campaign=profile&utm_medium=profile-page], Ryan Hall Y’all [https://www.youtube.com/@RyanHallYall], and The August Journal [https://substack.com/@augustjournal]. [https://substack.com/@augustjournal] History isn’t boring, you just didn’t read the fine print. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit fantasticfootnotes.substack.com [https://fantasticfootnotes.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]