Walter J. Freeman & Richard E. Byrd

Hey Besties!! Join us this week as we talk about Walter Freeman and Richard Bryd. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hey besties! Welcome to Plot Twists and Punchlines.

SPEAKER_02 0:02

I'm Steph and I'm Mel. Two best friends here to distract you from the world. Join us each week while we both dive into a new conspiracy theory we saw this week and give our questionable takes on them.

SPEAKER_01 0:12

So grab your blanket, your coffee, and your emotional support cryptid.

SPEAKER_02 0:15

And let's get into today's episode.

SPEAKER_01 0:18

Hey guys! Hey as you heard from the new intro, we decided to rebrand. Yes. Yeah, we got a lot of feedback. A lot. And it turns out you guys like the conspiracies more than anything else we like to say. So who would have thought? Which is actually better because honestly, yeah. Easier for us. We like talking about that stuff the most anyway.

SPEAKER_02 0:46

We always have a new conspiracy theory of the week, so we might as well just put it on the podcast, right?

SPEAKER_01 0:52

Yeah. So I if that's what you guys want, that's what's easiest for us. So it just worked out. We win. Yeah. So that is that was the big news. We are changing the logo. We're keeping the name, obviously, because we still like that. And we worked really hard on it and everything, and our email is all under that name. So we're still gonna be plot twists and punchlines. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:11

The punchline being we never take anything too serious. So we are the punchline.

SPEAKER_01 1:20

Yes, exactly. And the plot twist is just because we are C's now. Right.

SPEAKER_02 1:24

So um Patreon. So if you uh subscribe to our Patreon, the bonus episodes now are going to be us reviewing a documentary once a month.

SPEAKER_01 1:35

Yeah, so they're mostly gonna be like conspiracy documentaries, but we might throw in like a true crime every once in a while. Yeah. Um, our first one is going to be what was the name of it? I sent it to you.

SPEAKER_02 1:48

Oh my god, we text a lot.

SPEAKER_01 1:49

I was just gonna say we're gonna do so much stuff.

SPEAKER_02 1:53

Okay. Uh Trust Me, the false prophet.

SPEAKER_01 1:56

Yes, that one is a cult. Um, so we're so we will not be doing the book reviews anymore. So instead of book reviews, we're just gonna do the documentary reviews over on Patreon. So instead of getting three episodes every month, you guys are now just like getting four normal episodes. Four normal episodes, and then if you follow Patreon, you get five. Yeah. But it'll be fun. Yeah. Alright. So do you have anything else you want to talk about? Or do you just want to dive right in? We can dive right in. You're going first today? Yes, ma'am. So last week I talked about Nellie Bly and her advocacy for mental hail. Mental hail. I I don't know if you guys know this, but I'm uh from the south. I'm from Alabama.

SPEAKER_02 2:40

So sometimes my accent I think that's where the again comes in. Shut up.

SPEAKER_01 2:49

I grew up like my uh mom lived in Ohio, my dad lived in Alabama, so I grew up between both. So only sometimes does the country slip out. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:01

That's so funny. So you have like the Midwestern like A. Yeah and then the the Southern like draw. Yeah. Yeah, draw.

SPEAKER_01 3:09

So my voice is just weird. Like, I'll be hearing myself when I'm clicking. I'm like, why am I talking like that? Shut up. Alright, I'm gonna start over. So she advocated for mental health patients. This week I'm gonna go the opposite direction and talk about someone who helped destroy mental health patients. How exciting. Walter J. Freeman was born on November 14th, 1895 in Philadelphia. He came from a family of doctors. His grandfather was a well-known Civil War surgeon, and his father was a very successful doctor. So Walter wanted to follow in their footsteps and began to study neurology at the University of Pennsylvania Metal School School. After he graduated in 1924, Walter moved to Washington, D.C. and started working at St. Elizabeth's Hospital Directing Laboratories, where he became the first practicing neurologist in D.C. at the time. Working at the hospital and witnessing the pain and suffering that the patients were enduring, it encouraged him to deepen his education in neurology. So he went back to school to earn his PhD in neuropathology and became the head of neurology department at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

SPEAKER_02 4:35

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 4:35

Yes. He starts off good. Yeah. Yeah. I'm like so far so good. So far he's doing good, sweetie. On November 12th, 1935, a new psychosurgery procedure was performed in Portugal under the direction of the neurologist and physician Igis Monez. I am probably saying that wrong, sorry guys. Which is funny because I like am Spanish, I just can't speak it. His leukota procedure was intended to treat mental illness. So he took small corging corings of the patient's frontal lobes. And I had to Google what corings met because it's it like is it like a biopsy? Yeah. So it is a minim minimally invasive bone or tissue sampling and decompression technique.

SPEAKER_02 5:25

How are you about to be minimally minimally invasive in my brain?

SPEAKER_01 5:29

We're probably just like scraping a little bit of the outside brain. Maybe.

SPEAKER_03 5:35

Gross.

SPEAKER_01 5:38

We are clearly medical students, so we know we're not understand.

SPEAKER_03 5:44

Don't even know where their frontal lobe is. Yeah, frontal lobe.

SPEAKER_04 5:49

Well, I I don't think it's here. Like, cause there's two isn't there two frontal lobes? No? No lobes. Claro.

SPEAKER_03 5:59

I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 6:00

Come back to reading.

SPEAKER_03 6:01

Yeah, let's listen to this print.

SPEAKER_04 6:07

We are the bench slides.

SPEAKER_01 6:11

Um so Walter decided that he wanted to modify the procedure and renamed it the lobotomy. And instead of taking corings from the frontal lobes like Mones did. Monas? It's Mones. Walter decided he wanted to sever the connection between the frontal lobes and the thalamus. I'm pointing, I don't know where the thalamus is either. Yeah. Guessing behind the frontal lobe. But because Walter was a neurologist and not a neurosurgeon, he needed the help of a neurosurgeon, so he recruited James Watts. On September 14th, 1936, Walter and Watts did the very first prefrontal lobotomy in the US on housewife Alice Hood Hammett of Tupeka, Kansas. And why did she need her frontal lobe and thalamus disconnected? I don't know. Was she crazy? Well, obviously. She was suffering from anxiety, insomnia, and depression. Right. So I guess tie me up next. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:18

I never noticed when you were reading this, so the word lobotomy, like the lob part, lobe. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I'm just putting it together. Automy, like severing. So is that what otomy? Well, I'm just thinking of like other medical terms that end an automy. Yeah. Like what? Apesiotomy.

unknown 7:41

No.

SPEAKER_02 7:41

Apesiotomy is when you give birth and you tear so bad that they just cut you from front to back. Ouch. Yeah. Well, I mean, you can't there's not enough room for the baby to come out, so they cut you. No, no, no.

unknown 7:56

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 7:56

Nope. A C-section is in like your belly. This is they cut the part between your butt and your vagina. Apparently you did not have an apesiotomy. No. Yeah, so it's like to sever connection. Sorry for that. Visual.

SPEAKER_01 8:17

Anyway. I'm gonna Google automie. Okay, so in medical terms, automy, it is a surgical suffix derived from the Greek words tomos, meaning cutting or to make an incision. So we're correct.

SPEAKER_02 8:29

I just think it's cool to know the lore of the word.

unknown 8:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:33

So by November, only two months after performing their first lobotomy, Walter and Watts had already worked on 20 cases, including several follow-up operations. And by 1942, they performed over 200 lobotomy procedures and had published results claiming 63% of their patients had improved, 23 were were reported unchanged, and 14% were worse after surgery. I feel like 14 is a big percentage to just keep going.

SPEAKER_02 9:04

Yeah. Especially only out of like 200 you said. Yeah.

unknown 9:09

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:10

That's a big percentage.

SPEAKER_01 9:12

64 isn't even like that big of a success rate to keep trying. Yeah. When 14% are worse and um twenty-three were unchanged.

unknown 9:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:27

Uh if I had those risk, I probably wouldn't.

SPEAKER_02 9:30

No, I wouldn't. I wouldn't either.

SPEAKER_01 9:32

But it was back in the day. And I'm pretty sure these women did not have a choice. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:37

I don't think they were like, hey, do you want to do this? I think they were like, you're doing it.

SPEAKER_01 9:41

I don't think they got a say in their treatment plan the way we do now. Walter developed a transorbital approach based on the work of an Italian doctor, Amoro Fiamberti, who operated on the brain through his patient's eye sockets, allowing him to access the brain without needing to drill through the skull, which is which was supposedly supposed to um give them it's like less invasive if you're going through the eye. How after experimenting with novel ways of performing these types of brain surgery, Walter created a new procedure called the transorbital lobotomy. And his new procedure allowed him to perform lobotomies without the use of anesthesia because he would just use electroconvulsion therapy to induce seizures and knock them out.

SPEAKER_04 10:30

Uh I am too why I am too stunned to speak.

SPEAKER_02 10:41

I'm not laughing because it's funny. Right, it's not funny, haha. It's funny. What the fuck?

SPEAKER_01 10:48

Walter used a mallet to tap an ice pick through the orbital roof. Following penetration of the orbital roof, Walter would sweep the ice pick laterally to obliterate the frontal lobe tissue. And he was able to perform the procedure in an office setting instead of a hospital because he had a portable electroshock machine. That he would just like sleep in his office.

SPEAKER_02 11:14

It sounds so horrible to us today. I you have to remember that when you're thinking about this, it's way back when this was like very, very like new up-and-coming technology. This is so far like past we're so far beyond medically, you know, transition from this that like it sounds so horrible to us. But at the time, this was probably like, oh my gosh. Next sentence.

SPEAKER_01 11:43

In 1950, Walter Freeman's long-term partner, Watts, James Watts, left the practice and split from it because he was disgusted by the new procedure and didn't want any part of it.

SPEAKER_02 11:52

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 11:53

So Okay.

SPEAKER_02 11:54

Also, 1950's not that long ago.

SPEAKER_01 11:57

No, it was not. Um, and he pr he being Walter performed the first transorbital lobotomy surgery for the first time in Washington, DC on housewife on a housewife named Sally Ellen Lonosco in 1950. So like he did it and then James was like peace, peace, I don't want any part of this.

SPEAKER_02 12:20

Yeah, because it's horrible. What do you mean? You give someone a seizure. Knock them out, not then shove an ice pick in their eyeball. Without anesthesia. Yeah. Like you're just assuming so many things. That they can't feel it, that they're not gonna wake up. Oh they felt it.

SPEAKER_03 12:38

Yeah, I bet they did. Can you imagine the migraine when you woke up?

SPEAKER_02 12:43

It's like the least of my concerns when I wake.

SPEAKER_01 12:46

Walter traveled across the country visiting different mental institutions, performing lobotomies for free, and to spread his views and institution staff. So he was basically like going there and just demonstrating how to do it to other people so that everyone could torture their mental patients.

SPEAKER_02 13:03

You get a lobotomy. You get a lobotomy. The Oprah of lobotomies. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 13:10

He gained a lot of popularity despite the widespread criticism of his methods following lobotomy on President John F. Kennedy's sister, Rosemary Kennedy, which left her with severe mental and physical disabilities. A memoir, a memoir written by a former patient, Howard Dudley, called My Lobotomy, documented a lot of experiences that he had with Walter and his long, long recovery after going under the lobotomy surgery when he was only 12 years old. After four decades, Walter had personally performed as many as 4,000 lobotomy surgeries in 23 states, and 2,500 of which were using the ice pick method. And Walter performed his last surgery in 1967 on Helen Mortison, a long-term patient who was recovering from her third lobotomy from Walter. Oh my gosh. She died of a cerebral hemorrhage, as many of his patients did. Up to 100 were reported of dying from the hemorrhages. And he was finally banned from performing surgery. His patients often had to be retaught how to eat and use the bathrooms, and rec and relapses were very common, and some never recovered. And about 15% died from the procedure. Wow. In 1951, one of his patients at Iowa Cherokee Mental Institute died when Walter stopped and stepped back to take a photo of the patient with the ice pick in the middle of the surgery, and it accidentally went too far into the patient's brain when he let go of it.

SPEAKER_03 14:59

How irresponsible. Yeah, I don't think he cared. Yeah, it sounds like he didn't. He was just like, look how cool I am. Right? He was just like, Alright. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:11

And Walter didn't like to wear any gloves or mask while operating on people's brains. And then just to remind everybody, he was not a surgeon. All 4,000 of these surgeries, he was not a surgeon.

SPEAKER_02 15:29

I never even put that together. He was just he had a doctorate, right?

SPEAKER_01 15:32

He had a doctorate in neurology. Which means he studied brains.

SPEAKER_03 15:36

He didn't study how to actually put them open. Wow.

SPEAKER_01 15:40

And his actual surgeon quit. So the 4,000 he did was after how much everything was.

SPEAKER_02 15:46

I did not even put that together. Oh my gosh. He was like, I've watched this a time or two. I can do it. I got this. Muscle memory.

SPEAKER_04 15:54

You do a little shock, shock, shock, shock, shock.

SPEAKER_03 15:58

Brain better. My god. How horrible.

SPEAKER_01 16:03

And without wearing any gloves or masks. That's probably half of the complications right there.

SPEAKER_02 16:08

Infection, disease.

SPEAKER_01 16:12

So he lobotomized 19 minors, the youngest being a four-year-old child. Okay. What could this four-year-old possibly have done that they thought, yeah, he needed he needs an ice pick in the eye?

SPEAKER_02 16:26

He was probably like not sleeping.

SPEAKER_01 16:30

He had a tantrum one too many times.

SPEAKER_02 16:33

Complained of, I don't know, nightmares.

SPEAKER_01 16:37

Walter often stayed in contact with his former patients and families and would actually check on their conditions during his trip. So he did kind of seem to care, but whatever. And at 57 years old, Freeman retired from position his position at George Washington University, which is after he got banned from surgery. He quit and then opened up a modest practice in California. So he just went he just became a doctor.

SPEAKER_03 17:07

Which is he's qualified for. Like he's qualified to be a doctor, not a surgeon.

SPEAKER_01 17:13

At this point, yeah. And Walter died of complications from an operation for cancer on May 31st, 1972. Wow. So he lived a very long life, but hopefully he was suffering at the end of it.

SPEAKER_02 17:29

Yeah. It's ironic that he died from surgery complications.

SPEAKER_01 17:34

And that is the story of Walter J. Freeman. May he be rotting in hell. Where he is. Honestly. That's horrible.

SPEAKER_02 17:45

How did people allow him to continue that surgery for so long without an actual surgeon? Like were they just like, oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:54

Because he was saying it wasn't like he was doing it as like an outpatient retreatment because he was doing it in offices. It didn't need to be in a hospital. So like because he wasn't using anesthesia. Exactly. Plus it was the early 1900s, so they didn't really care. Yeah, I guess that's true. And yeah, I mean, like after doing it on the president's sister and fucking her up. How did that just like keep everyone was just like we can give him 2,000 more shots?

SPEAKER_02 18:24

She's just she's just one of the 14%. It's fine.

SPEAKER_03 18:29

My goodness.

SPEAKER_02 18:31

Yep. Horrible.

SPEAKER_01 18:33

What do you got for us this week?

SPEAKER_02 18:36

Aliens.

SPEAKER_01 18:38

Yay, your guys' favorites. Yes. We've listened, okay.

SPEAKER_02 18:42

And here we are.

SPEAKER_01 18:43

We can only talk about aliens so much, y'all.

SPEAKER_02 18:47

Yes. However, this topic I think gives me an in to an in to my next topic, like for next week. So I think we can we can do that. So I am going to tell you today about an admiral named Richard E. Byrd. Have you ever heard of him?

SPEAKER_01 19:04

No, but I like his name. I'm like a bird who wants to fly away.

SPEAKER_02 19:10

And he did. Um, so I'm gonna tell you about him and his trip over the Antarctic ice shelf. Um ice wall. Yeah. So Richard Evelyn Bird was born on October 25th, 1880.

SPEAKER_01 19:27

His male name was Evelyn?

SPEAKER_02 19:28

Yes. It's very common to have like female names into male names. Um he was born on October 25th, 1888, in Winchester, Virginia. He served as an American naval officer in the United States Navy from 1913 to 1927, and then again um from 1940 to 1947. So he was involved in the American Intervention of Mexico, World War I, and World War II. He received many awards, including the Medal of Honor, Navy Cross, Navy Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross, and Congressional Gold Medal. So he was very admired during her service in the Navy. I see. Yeah. Um, he was most known for being a pioneer um in aviation, a polar explorer, and organizer of polar logistics. So his uh main interest was the poles, north and south. It sounds like it. Yeah. Um he led several expeditions across the Atlantic Ocean, the Arctic Ocean, and a segment of the Antarctic Plateau or the ice shell. He also discovered the largest dormant volcano in Antarctica, which is Mount Siddeley. Byrd claimed to be the first to reach both the North and South Poles by air. There is some controversy as to whether he was actually the first person to reach the North Pole. Um, it's generally believed that the distance he claimed to have flown was longer than the possible fuel range of his airplane. But he was just trying to one-up Santa. Yes. Um today though, I'm gonna talk about his journey to or rather through the South Pole or potentially Middle Earth. So, after World War II in 1946, Bird was asked if he would lead kind of like an armada to explore the poles, particularly Antarctica in the South Pole. This is known to this day to be the largest exploration of Antarctica. This was supposed to be a large-scale military operation extending about seven months, where the goal was simply to just train military personnel, test military weapons in extreme cold, consolidate American territory, and map the Antarctic coastline. Um, beginning August 26, 1946, this was interesting to me because August 26th is my sister's birthday. And this exploration like officially ended on June 23rd, which is my birthday. So that's kind of weird. Okay. Beginning on August 26, 1946, Admiral Byrd led 4,700 men, 13 ships, and 33 aircrafts to explore the Antarctic region. They explored by water through December, and then December through March is when Admiral Byrd was stationed in what would be founded as Little America. His job along with three other men was to explore the territory, map, and landscape and find potential areas for military bases. It's important to note that Byrd was a renowned naval officer, was very educated, and was incredibly skilled in navigation. That's important to remember when we're talking about what he reports.

unknown 22:40

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 22:41

Because a lot of people were like, no, he was just lost. This man knew what he was doing. Things were going well with the operation until about February of 1947. Around this time, Admiral Byrd started putting out strange press reports talking about the potential of crafts to attack America by coming in mysteriously from other areas in North and South Pole. People thought this was kind of strange, but due to his military background, they initially just thought he was planning ahead. You know, like doing military strategy. On February 19th, 1947, the Admiral made the flight over the North Pole and beyond. This is the flight that changed everything. This exploration started normally. Bird was in constant radio contact with the what they set up as Command Central. He took off at 0600 hours with full fuel tanks and normal functioning plane and equipment. For the first three hours, his reports are what was expected snow, ice, wind, and flat land. At around 9 30, Bird reported slight mountainous conditions in the distance. As he approached, he described tall ice mountains covered in snow. This is where he decided to descend and passes over what we know today as the Antarctic Ice Shelf. Now, before I keep going, it is also important to remember that today Antarctica is very regulated. Only certain people are allowed to go to certain areas, and absolutely nobody is allowed beyond the ice shelf. Yes. Like nobody.

SPEAKER_01 24:19

And it's like the one country that every single country is all united on that they're like, you're not allowed to explore it. So what the is happening?

SPEAKER_02 24:31

That's later in my notes because there's a treaty.

SPEAKER_01 24:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:34

That literally everybody agrees. You cannot touch it, you cannot test nuclear weapons there. You cannot like mine. You can't do anything. So bird flies over the ice shelf, and at first it is the bird flies. It's okay. Bird flies over the ice shelf, and at first.

SPEAKER_04 24:59

I'm dirty. I'm an adult. Stop. He flies. Admiral Bird.

SPEAKER_01 25:13

Pigeon with like a military beret, sorry.

SPEAKER_02 25:18

So he flies over the ice shelf, and at first it is the same, snowy terrains. At about 1030 um sorry. At about 1030, his reports start to change. He starts to report seeing green terrain, what look to be forests in the distance, and sun. The lower he gets, the greener and more lush the land becomes. He radios to base that he knows what he is seeing should not be. The terrain should still be snow and ice, but instead it's beautiful. He then radios back and states that he can see some kind of creature. Initially he reports it as an elephant, but after lowering altitude to a thousand feet, he reports that what he is seeing actually looks more like a woolly mammoth. As you can imagine, Bird is near hysterical in his radio reports. It I'm going to like when I was researching it, I was listening to obviously it's not him saying it, but it's like a reenactment, and his words are like it almost sounds manic, you know, because he's like, I this is not what I'm supposed to be seeing, but this is what I'm seeing. Um he states multiple times that something is wrong here. This isn't what should be, but it is incredible and amazing. He then radios that he is going to fly near the forest to see if there's a place to land the plane and look for mineral deposits. Namely, they were looking for uranium and of course oil. After he radios his plan, radio signal is lost between Bird and his base. Based off of what I talk about later, I think this was around 11:30 when communication is lost.

SPEAKER_01 26:55

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 26:56

After about five hours of lost communication, and this is also based off of my own mental math, so it could be a little longer or shorter. Um, radio signal is established again. He flew back to base, landed the plane, and the adventure that was supposed to go through March ended that day as soon as the plane landed. What Bird reported happened in those five hours is what I believe led to an untimely and purposeful death. Um, when he returned to base, everyone was praising him for being the first person to fly as far as he did. This was an 18-hour journey that he had completed, so naturally news outlets were eager to hold press conferences to hear about what he had found. The press conference I can find the most on of was of Byrd speaking about what he saw in Antarctica. Okay, so I'm gonna play an interview with uh Admiral Byrd. This is an actual interview, actually Byrd um in this interview, and he died not too long after this interview. So okay.

SPEAKER_00 28:02

Is there any splored land left on this earth that might appeal to adventurous young Americans? Uh yes, there is. And not up around the North Pole because it's getting crowded up there now, because they find out it's really usable. Not only Bolivian, but military. But strangely enough, there's left in the world today an area as big as the United States that's never been seen by human beings. And that's beyond the pole on the other side of the South Pole from Middle America. And it's uh I think it's quite astonishing. There should be an area as big as that, unexplored. That's a tremendous. Oh, there's a lot of adventure left down at the bottom of the world. You found enough coal within 180 miles with a south pole. In a great uh major mountains. It's not covered as soon. Enough to supply the whole world. Wait, what? Uh the coal. Now there's evidence of um other many other minerals. Uh we are pretty sure there's oil and that coal shows the bottom of the well. They are by far the coolest in the world. Where that coal is gets hundred below zero. So uh we think there's oil there, and there's evidence. The uranium. That would be nothing, it would be practical to uh actually go after, I suppose. Everything else would be economically uh unfeasible, wouldn't it? Well, as we recklessly expand their resources, the time will come and we can we'll have to go after that stuff then. No, I avoided what you said about a uranium. I'm not sure about that. I don't want to have the world quite all the Antarctic.

SPEAKER_02 29:53

So that's basically what the interview was saying. There's you know, he's talking about how he has seen this whole section of the world that has been untouched. And uh this was also I mean, when he was in Antarctica and when he came back, he didn't stop talking about this mission. Like it was uh even after they left, I mean, the conspiracy is that he was briefed to not discuss this. Um and but he just kept doing it. Um and then that interview um happened, and then I think he also died in 1957, so not long after that interview. He died, and uh this was gonna be at the end, but he died of what they say is complications due to inhaling too much carbon dioxide when he was in Antarctica. I don't know if I believe that, especially because listening to him in that interview, he sounds very like coherent. Yeah, you know, it doesn't sound like he's having breathing problems, it doesn't sound like he's confused, he just sounds normal. Yeah. Other than what he's talking about, right? Like what he's talking about sounds kind of wild, but okay. After the initial interviews and exploration, Bird continued to talk about the land in Antarctica and how amazing it was. In 1956, he started to name more of the anomalies he saw out loud, things he hadn't disclosed previously. Like what? Like what we heard in the interview. Okay. Yeah. Um, shortly before his death, he was talking about an enchanted continent in the sky full of mystery. Shortly after he started doing this, it was announced that the admiral was suffering from brain damage due to prolonged exposure to carbon monoxide during his stay in his hut in Antarctica, and shortly after that passed away on March 11th, 1957. So, you're probably wondering what the big deal really is, because so far nothing is too unusual or too like interesting. Um, everything I've said so far is only what was released to the public through Byrd himself or other government agencies. The conspiracy really comes into play when Byrd's son finds the diary of the admiral, which documented every single thing he saw with the timestamps, including those missing five hours. Okay. And lucky for you, I have the entries. Yay! So, so this starts February 19th, 1947, at 0600 hours. All preparations are complete for our flight northward, and we are airborne with full fuel tanks at 0610 hours. So at 910 in the morning, he reports vast ice and snow below at 9.15. In the distance is what appears to be mountains. Alright, at 10 o'clock, he says that we are crossing over the small mountain range and still proceeding northward as best as can be ascertained. Beyond the mountain range is what appears to be a valley with a small river or stream running through the center portion. There should be no green valley below. Something is definitely wrong and abnormal here. We should be over ice and snow. To the port side are great forests growing on the mountain slopes. Our navigation instruments are still spinning. The gyroscope is oscillating. At 1005, I alter altitude to 1400 feet and execute a sharp left turn to better examine the valley below. It is green with either moss or a type of tight knit grass. The light here seems different. I cannot see the sun anymore. We make another left turn and we spot what seems to be a large animal of some kind below us. It appears to be an elephant. No, it looks more like a mammoth. This is incredible, yet there it is. Decrease altitude to 10,000 1,000 feet and take binoculars to better examine the animal. It is confirmed it is definitely a mammoth-like animal. Report this to Base Camp. 1030. The external temperature indicator reads 74 degrees Fahrenheit. Continuing on our heading now. Navigation Instruments seem normal now. I am puzzled over their actions. Attempt to contact Basecamp. Radio is not functioning. So this is when he loses communication. Countryside below is more level and normal, if I may use that word. Ahead, we spot what seems to be a city. This is impossible. Aircraft seems light and oddly buoyant. The controls refuse to respond. My god, off our port and starboard wings are a strange type of aircraft. They are closing rapidly alongside. They are disc shaped and have a radiant quality to them. They are close enough now to see the markings on them. It is a type of swastika. This is fantastic. Where are we? What has happened? Was this before World War II? Nope, it was after. So that's also one of the conspira like the um I guess what do you call it when people are trying to debunk um I I I know the word I can't think of.

SPEAKER_01 35:02

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:03

So that's one of the like things that people use to debunk the conspiracy is that after World War II, the Nazis fled south to Antarctica, Argentina.

SPEAKER_01 35:14

So they're thinking it's like um Nazis. That like made up camp there, made up their city.

SPEAKER_02 35:23

Yeah. Okay. Yep. And they somehow have well, I mean they were they somehow have like all this technology to be able to fly these crafts and control the airplane and I don't buy that. There's I believe that birds saw this.

SPEAKER_01 35:40

I don't think that like aliens would have swastikas.

SPEAKER_02 35:44

Like why when he says swastika type, I mean he said it's some type of swastika. So I'm thinking that that was maybe the closest thing that he knew from his own experience to to say it looked like.

SPEAKER_01 36:01

That's why I asked if it was like after World War II, because if like especially that close to it, you wouldn't know what that looked like. So for you to say it would have to look pretty close. It would have to look pretty close, especially because it's like such a sign of like evil and hate, especially because he was American, right? Yeah. So they weren't even like our allies, like we were against them. Yeah. So for them, for him to be like, that's a like it would have to be like a slastic.

SPEAKER_02 36:28

Yeah, yeah. I tug at the controls again, they will not respond. We are caught in an invisible vice grip of some type. At 1135, our radio crackles, and a voice comes through in English with what perhaps is a slight Nordic or Germanic accent. Welcome, Admiral, to our domain. We shall land you in exactly seven minutes. Relax, Admiral, you are in good hands. Oh creepy. I note the engines of our plane have stopped running. The aircraft is under some strange control and is now turning itself. The controls are useless. At eleven forty, another radio message received. We begin the landing process now. In moment and in moments the plane shudders slightly and begins a descent as though caught in some great unseen elevator. The downward motion is negligible, and we touch down with only a slight jolt.

SPEAKER_01 37:14

And how many people are on this plane?

SPEAKER_02 37:17

Just him and another captain. And what does the other captain say? There is no note, no record of what he's saying. At 1145, he says, I'm making a hasty last entry in the flight log. Several men are approaching on foot toward our aircraft. They are tall with blonde hair. In the distance is a large shimmering city pulsating with rainbow hues of color. I do not know what is going to happen now, but I see no signs of weapons on those approaching. I hear now a voice ordering me by name to open the cargo door. I comply. End log. From this point, I write all the following events here from memory. It defies the imagination and would seem all but madness if it had not happened. The radio man and I are taken from the aircraft and we are received in the most cordial manner. We were then boarded on a small platform with no wheels, like in convey like a convenience with no like a conveyor belt with no wheels. It moves us toward the glowing city with great swiftness. As we approach, the city seems to be made of a crystal material. Soon we arrive at a large building that is a type I have never seen before. It appears to be out of the design board of Frank Lloyd Wright, or perhaps more correctly, out of a Buck Rogers setting. We are given some type of warm beverage which tasted like nothing I have ever savored before. It is delicious. After about ten minutes, two of our wondrous appearing hosts come to our quarters and announce that I am to accompany them. I have no choice but to comply. I leave my radio man behind and we walk a short distance and enter into what seems to be an elevator. We descend downward for some moments, the machine stops and the door lifts. We then proceed down a long hallway that is lit by a rose-colored light that seems to be emanating from the very walls themselves. One of the beings motions for us to stop before a great door. Over the door is an inscription that I cannot read. The great door slides noiselessly open and I am beckoned to enter. One of my hosts speak, You have no fear, Admiral. You are to have an audience with the master. I step inside and my eyes adjust to the beautiful coloration that seems to be filling the room completely. Then I begin to see my surroundings. What greeted my eyes is the most beautiful sight of my entire existence. It is in fact too beautiful and wondrous to describe. It is exquisite and delicate. I do not think there exists a human term that can describe it in any detail with justice. My thoughts are interrupted in a cordial manner by a warm, rich voice of melodious quality. I bid you welcome to our domain admiral. I see a man with delicate features and with the etching of years upon his face. He is seated at a long table. He motions me to sit down in one of the chairs. After I am seated, he places his fingertips together and smiles. He speaks softly again and conveys the following We have let you enter here because you are of noble character and well known on the surface world. Surface world, I half gasp under my breath. Yes, the master replies with a smile. You are in the domain of the Ariani, the inner world of the Earth. We shall not long delay your mission, and you will be safely escorted back to the surface for a distance and for a distance beyond. But now, Admiral, I shall tell you why you have been summoned here. Our interest rightly begins just after your race exploded the first atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. It was at that alarming time we sent our flying machines, the Flugel Rads, to your surface world to investigate what your race had done. This is, of course, past history now, my dear Admiral, but I must continue on. You see, we have never interfered before in your race's wars and barbarity, but now we must, for you have learned to tamper with a certain power that is not for man, namely that of atomic energy. Our emissaries have already delivered messages to the powers of our world, and yet they do not heed. Now you have been chosen to be witness here that our world does exist. You see, our culture and science is mainly thousands of years beyond your race, Admiral. I interrupted. But what does this have to do with me, sir? The master's eyes seemed to penetrate deeply into my mind, and after studying me for a few moments he replied, Your race has now reached the point of no return, for there are those among you who would destroy your very world rather than relinquish their power as they know it. I nodded, and the master continued. In nineteen forty five and afterward, we tried to contact your race, but our efforts were met with hostility. Our flugel rods were fired upon. Yes, even pursued with malice and animosity by our your fighter planes. So now I say to you, my son, there is a great storm of gathering in your world, a black fury that will not spend itself for many years. There will be no answer in your arms, there will be no safety in your science. It may rage on until every flower of your culture is trampled and all human things are leveled in vast chaos. Your recent war was only a prelude of what is yet to come for your race. We here see it more clearly with each hour. Do you say I am mistaken? No, I answer. It happened once before. The dark ages came and they lasted for more than five hundred years. Yes, my son, replied the master. The dark ages that will come now for your race will cover the earth like a pall, but I believe that some of your race will live through the storm. Beyond that I cannot say. We see at a great distance a new world stirring from the ruins of your race, seeking its lost and legendary treasures, and they will be here, my son, safe in our keeping. When that time arrives, we shall come forward again to help revive your culture and your race. Perhaps by then you will have learned the futility of war and its strife, and after that time certain of your culture and science will be returned for your race to begin anew. You, my son, are to return to the service world with this message. With these closing words, our meeting seemed at an end. I stood for a moment as in a dream, but yet I knew this was reality, and for some strange reason I bowed slightly. Either out of respect or humility, I do not know which. Suddenly I was again aware that the two beautiful hosts who had brought me here were again at my side. This way, Admiral, motioned one. I turned once more before leaving and looked back toward the master. A gentle smile was etched on his delicate and ancient face. Farewell, my son, he spoke. Then he gestured with a lovely, slender hand motion of peace, and our meeting was truly ended.

SPEAKER_04 43:53

That's crazy. Right? So that is it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:00

So it sounds like the aliens or whatever they are, they're like so they had the swastikas and then they're like upset that we bombed Hiroshima and um oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. The Magazaki Yeah So like were they and they're tall and blonde like what the Nazis were right like I don't know that's weird Yeah it's really weird it's really weird so uh um after is there any chance so he descended. I know a long time ago and still um to this day if it happens on accidents when you descend too fast your brain it I can't remember what it's called, but something happens to your brain where you like hallucinate and stuff. Yeah. I wonder if it wasn't like beings, like what if it was Nazis that did set up a camp there and then they kind of kidnapped him and they took him and they were like kind of made not really torturing him, but like you bombed Hiroshima like whatever. And in his mind, like that was had whatever this problem is, he saw them as like other beings, but they were really just Nazis.

SPEAKER_02 45:32

Maybe, but at the same time, why would the Nazis be like warning him of I don't think they did, I think he imagined that. Like I think Oh, you think that he was against like the war, and so his brain like added that in?

SPEAKER_01 45:51

I think they kind of took him, they were talking to him about the war, not like warning him, but kind of like torturing him because he was against them. So like he twisted what they were saying in his mind because they they said that he drank something warm, so like they might have drugged him too. True. So I think it was I don't think it was alien, I think it was a settlement of Nazis, because Germany probably knew that nobody was there.

SPEAKER_02 46:23

Maybe because Well, at this point in time, there it was Unexplored.

SPEAKER_01 46:28

But their scientists would also know that it was unexplored, is what I mean. Like if they wouldn't know that you're saying so what if it was like a bunch of Nazis, they kidnapped him, they drugged him, or he had like the carbonx, whatever it is, and he just kind of like twisted what actually happened. Because your brain also does that. Like when you're under a lot of stress, when you're being tortured, your brain just kind of fills in.

SPEAKER_02 46:55

And yeah, he does mention that all of that is like written from memory, yeah, after a certain point.

SPEAKER_01 47:01

Um yeah, I don't know. Especially if like the other captain hasn't come out and said anything. Well, not yet.

SPEAKER_02 47:10

In my notes. Okay, but um, there's no like dialogue from his perspective at that point in time. Um, he did come out and do an interview, which I will play, um, basically stating that he wasn't allowed to look because he was the at a certain point, he was the only one who Bird was the only one who went back with the master.

unknown 47:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 47:38

So his radio man did this interview and uh he says basically that he wasn't allowed, like the government didn't allow him to look out the captain's logs. Like he was banned from reading them, he couldn't read any of them. And the captain logs uh you read out loud? Yes. Starting from like when he was taking time stamps all the way through. So he wasn't allowed to read any of it. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 48:06

So well, I mean, he was in the plane, so he would have seen the woolly mammoth. Did he talk about anything like that ever? He he saw the woolly mammoth.

SPEAKER_02 48:16

Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 48:18

Um that I don't have a hard time believing, to be honest. Like me neither. It's a giant animal. It's in the Antarctic, obviously, like whatever animals are gonna be, there are gonna be furry. So like I that didn't really like Yeah, that wasn't too crazy.

SPEAKER_02 48:34

That didn't blow me away.

SPEAKER_01 48:35

It was just an animal that we've never seen before.

SPEAKER_02 48:37

I also like the idea that he was hallucinating all of this. And then to come out in 1957 and do an interview stating the same things happened, like he's I I believe he believes they happened though.

SPEAKER_01 48:56

Like, even though he hallucinated it, like I I think he truly believes it happened. So we would continue talking about it.

SPEAKER_02 49:03

What I'm saying is, like, do you do you remember those hallucinations, or when you finally come to, are you like, wow, I hallucinated that?

SPEAKER_01 49:11

No, I think you believe your hallucinations.

SPEAKER_03 49:14

Well, at the time you do, but once you're not No, I I believe he he believes what he hallucinated was true.

SPEAKER_02 49:23

Okay, well What I'm saying is I know what you're saying.

SPEAKER_01 49:28

I'm I'm giving you my answer. I think he didn't wake like I think he thinks it's true. Like he didn't wake up and was like, oh, they're hallucinations. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 49:36

I'm saying like he doesn't remember a like a coming to point.

SPEAKER_01 49:40

No, I think it was drugs or like I his brain made those memories, so they are his memories.

SPEAKER_02 49:45

They are his memory.

SPEAKER_01 49:46

Like that one um chick just recently, she was in a coma for a few months, like three months. A 16-year-old she woke up fully believing that she had a family and two kids, and she had to go to grief therapy because she lost her family when she woke up. Like your brain does wild things and does it, or are those alternate timelines?

SPEAKER_02 50:13

Alternate dimensions, alternate timelines. I don't know. I believe that this all happened. I don't believe he was drugged. I believe that this happened.

SPEAKER_01 50:20

I I it's just I would believe it more if they didn't resemble Nazis so much. And they weren't flying planes with swastikas on it.

SPEAKER_02 50:31

But they weren't planes, they were disc-shaped crafts that didn't make any noise. And very guided. That's what he reported? I believe him. Okay. Um also I just watched a couple of TikToks about what like the P47 and P52s look like. Tall, blonde, lanky, skinny. So could it be Nazis, maybe? Is it aliens? Probably.

SPEAKER_01 51:00

But they weren't talking like they were P47s and P52s, they were talking like they were a different species. Right. They were so like P47s and P52s are humans from the future. And they didn't like talk like so like there's just a few things that like seemed off to me. Like Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 51:18

But there could be like several different species. I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 51:20

We have to agree.

SPEAKER_02 51:22

No, but I uh but that's the point of the best to talk about it. Exactly, exactly. So I yeah, I believe that's happened.

SPEAKER_01 51:30

Yeah, I think they're just too similar to Nazis for me to believe. Um, I also don't know what Nazi spider does like they might have had more technology than we did. Or if he was only looking at from the side and like it was a rounded wing, it could have looked like also at that point if he had descended too fast, he had already started hallucinating exactly in your theory.

SPEAKER_02 52:00

So yeah, so it he could have thought it was space crafts when really it was just airplanes. Yeah, yeah. Um so anyway, after all of that, um he died in 1957, and then uh the oh, this is when um my birthday in it was the Antarctic Treaty that was signed in Washington, DC. So it was signed on December first, nineteen fifty-nine, and then um it was put into place on June twenty-third, nineteen sixty. Oh nineteen actually w I think it was nineteen sixty-one. It was two years before it was put into place. Okay. Um, and it established the continent as a demilitarized zone dedicated exclusively to peaceful scientific research and international cooperation. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 52:49

Um a lot of crazy stuff goes on in Antarctica.

SPEAKER_02 52:54

Right. So, um that's basically the story. So he uh went to Antarctica and the conspiracy is that he flew over the ice shelf. Um and when he uh uh descended, he flew into the uh Middle Earth, Middle Earth theory.

SPEAKER_01 53:14

Um but there is uh obviously one part that confused me, so he said it was 74 degrees Fahrenheit, but he also said it was like negative a hundred degrees where the coal was. Where the coal was. Okay, so not where he was. Right. Okay, got it, got it, got it. Yeah. Um and it was they're saying it was impossible for him to fly the 18 hours on the fuel that he had.

SPEAKER_04 53:46

Yeah. So they think he went somewhere else. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 53:51

I I could believe that. Like if he was descending to he also said that his instruments were weird. So what if his instruments were faulty and they were like mistaken and he did fly somewhere else? Not of maybe not unmistakable. You said he's a great pilot, but he's a great pilot at with reading instruments.

SPEAKER_02 54:13

Yeah, yeah. He has navigational skills that he applies to by using instruments.

SPEAKER_01 54:18

So if the m instruments were malfunctioning, it's very possible that he did fly somewhere else and he wasn't yeah, like he could have went past the ice wall, which is why he thought he was past the ice wall, but he could have landed in a different country.

SPEAKER_02 54:33

Yeah, yeah, and that is one of the theories that he landed in what we know now is Greenland.

SPEAKER_01 54:38

That's what I was thinking! Yeah, because they're right next to each other in Greenland is icy, but it also has terrain. It does have terrain and it gets warmer than Antarctica by a lot. So that is the only part that makes me think, okay, maybe and that would make more sense that the Nazis would go to Greenland than to Antarctica.

SPEAKER_02 54:57

Yeah, yep.

SPEAKER_01 54:58

So I think that's my theory. He was wrong. He went to Greenland, he descended too quickly, started getting whatever that disease is called.

SPEAKER_02 55:07

Hallucinating, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 55:08

Started hallucinating. The Nazis saw a random American plane, they were like, Excuse me. They probably interviewed him and they were like, Were you one of the ones who bombed Hiroshima? Were you like, what are you doing here? Do you know us? What's your name? He probably told them his name, and then they start calling him his name, and he's like, Whoa, how do they know my name? Yeah, like yeah, like I could see still, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 55:33

He probably said, I'm Admiral Byrd, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 55:35

I could see like all of that happening. Yeah, I could see that too. I um if I would have 100% believed the alien theory if they didn't have the swastikas. As soon as you said that I was like, no. I don't I don't think I don't know. I I don't know why, but I feel like aliens wouldn't be behind enslavement.

SPEAKER_02 55:59

No, I don't think they would be behind enslavement. I also don't I also don't think that it was necessarily a swastika that he saw. I think it was probably more like just swastika-like. And it makes sense what you're saying to, you know, to just be out of World War II and be, you know, very familiar with what that symbol looks like.

SPEAKER_01 56:20

But I I think to call as an American to call something a swastika, it would have to be like very swastika-like. I don't know. Like you wouldn't just see an X and be like or like a cross and be like, oh that that looks like a swastika.

SPEAKER_02 56:37

Well, no, I no, I don't think that it was like that. I think it was like a similar in shape and design, but like so um I don't know. That's the Yeah, that's a good theory. And a lot of it makes sense. I don't know, I still I still believe because uh I do believe that there are alternate dimensions and timelines and um one of the theories on the conspiracy side is that there is a land called Agartha.

SPEAKER_01 57:06

I have so many videos saved because I was gonna do Agartha soon. I was gonna do Agartha next week. It's all yours. Okay, I'll delete my videos. But just a warning, I I studied it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 57:17

That's fine.

SPEAKER_02 57:18

So, um yeah, yeah. So it's the theory is that he went to Agartha, and there are several entries around the world to get to Agartha. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 57:29

I just think like everything that I've read about aliens that I believe, they're always like you guys killed yourself because of nuclear war. Like all like they said, they seem against it. So I just I can't get behind these aliens being mad that we were against the knot. That's like that was my whole turn of it. They didn't say that. I it kind of sounded like it when they were mad about bombing Hiroshima who was against us because they were siding with Germany.

SPEAKER_02 58:04

Well, they were mad about using atomic, like nuclear war to But they did it first in Pearl Harbor.

SPEAKER_01 58:11

That's why we did it.

SPEAKER_02 58:13

Right. So his the point of this is to share with the entire world that this is not the way you approach.

SPEAKER_01 58:22

It was more like the swastika, the blonde hair, and the being mad about Hiroshima that made it seem like they were on Germany's side. I get it. And I just don't believe aliens would be on Germany's. I might be completely wrong.

SPEAKER_02 58:35

I don't think they would be on Germany's side either. I don't.

SPEAKER_01 58:38

Maybe I just have too much faith in aliens. Maybe that's my problem. I I I mean, I don't think anybody would be on Germany's side, but honestly. Yeah. So who am I to say? Who am I to say? I have too much faith in humanity and aliens. So right.

SPEAKER_03 58:59

Same.

SPEAKER_02 59:00

I just think everybody's good. Maybe me too. I always believe that people are good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 59:05

So immediately I'm like, nope, these aliens wouldn't. It's fake, it's not my alien.

SPEAKER_02 59:12

Not my So yeah, that's the story of Admiral Byrd and how he maybe went to Agartha. Maybe he was knocked unconscious, maybe he was drugged by Nazis. I think I think he was drugged by Nazis in Greenland. I think that that is the most plausible if you don't believe the like if you don't take his accounts as factual. Like if you don't believe his actual accounts. I do believe them because I believe in alien uh possession, and I disagree with how you interpreted what the aliens were saying and being on Germany's side.

SPEAKER_04 59:59

But who knows? Who knows? It's a conspiracy. What do you guys think? Yeah, tell us what you guys think.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:06

We don't have beefs of the week this week. I'm sure something will piss us off next week though. So right? Stay tuned for that. Stay tuned for that. We are gonna go take um new pictures for our new logo today, so we will be uploading that. If we like the pictures, which there's a 90% chance that we're just gonna use a Canva thing like we did with our last one because every time we take a picture, we're like, ew. Well, one of us always looks good and the other one looks bad. We can't take a picture where both of us look good at the same time. Best friends, it's just illegal for the people. It's true, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:43

It's true. Also, it is so hot out already. Is it? I thought it was cold when I took the trash this morning. No, it when I got here, I was like, it's kind of muggy. And then I just saw on my weather app that it's like 74.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:58

Oh, 74 is not hot. But it's thick. That's hot. Hot and sticky and gross tonight. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:06

Hopefully nobody's at the park and uh we'll watch a stay in the pictures. That's all for today's episode of Plot Twist and Punchlines. Follow our TikTok at plot twist underscore punchlines pod and on Insta at plot twist underscore punchlines underscore podcasts. Steph, tell them where they can find you.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:21

You can find me on Instagram at Steph Smiles XX Right. Or on TikTok at Vessel V E S S S I L.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:32

What about you? You can find me on TikTok at Mel of a Time. It's like Hell of a Time, but with Mel and only one L's If this made you laugh, feel seen, or just forget the world for a minute.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:43

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SPEAKER_01 1:01:54

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