April 21, 2025

Unreasonably Warm: The Children's Blizzard of 1888

Unreasonably Warm: The Children's Blizzard of 1888
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A warm January day suddenly plunged into lethal chaos across the American prairie. One moment, children were enjoying their first day back at school after weeks of bitter cold; the next, they were fighting for their lives in a swirling vortex of wind-driven snow and temperatures that dropped dozens of degrees in mere minutes.

The Children's Blizzard of 1888 stands as one of America's most devastating yet least remembered natural disasters. What made this storm particularly heartbreaking was its deceptive beginning – after endless weeks of brutal subzero temperatures, January 12th dawned with merciful warmth, prompting families across the Dakota Territory, Nebraska, and parts of Iowa to resume their normal activities. No one could have predicted that by afternoon, countless travelers, farmers, and schoolchildren would be caught in a whiteout of microscopic ice crystals driven by 40-mile-per-hour winds.

We follow the harrowing journeys of Walter Allen, an eight-year-old boy who left safety to retrieve a cherished possession, and Etta Shattuck, a 19-year-old teacher trapped in a haystack for three days. Their stories reveal both the terrifying physiology of extreme cold and the remarkable resilience of the human spirit. Walter survived thanks to his brother's desperate search, while Etta endured 78 hours in freezing conditions only to ultimately succumb to complications weeks later.

What's particularly astonishing about this disaster is that it resulted from just six inches of snow – it was the perfect storm of wind, cold, and moisture that made it so deadly. The blizzard claimed at least 235 lives (with some estimates reaching 1,000), changing prairie communities forever and leaving lessons that resonate even in our era of advanced meteorology.

Join us as we explore this forgotten American tragedy and the immigrant communities whose dreams of prosperity on the plains collided with one of the most sudden and violent weather events in recorded history. Have you ever experienced extreme weather that changed your perspective? We'd love to hear your stories – reach out to us at historybuffoonspodcast@gmail.com!


The Children's Blizzard by David Laskin

https://www.amazon.com/Childrens-Blizzard-David-Laskin-ebook/dp/B000QUCO1W/ref=sr_1_2?crid=39FXNK021N2GV&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.QnwGB6qMG-c1w-SFLouUoIq0qw7gaUFKdtX3LQo7xD2UThmpaQZJ0qFSesu45cymINOL2KZ-OSZ-wHhBjS9Jp_0M6_3Eearv0hRrBZfeODTRpRFHnpJkSYYpT81atdyjW29T8a3UkMzY0trn2TfQ1o0lockF0bvvR3yUXCto52uRePaGfIxcA-LD_WQrx3khcGu62x6xrG4WELBBwI0H-DWzQ7qzlmMOWlsvAi_6-tM.DaYTggX8B0GxJu0Ss7xz4pvBFemr2Put--NpzcgPOoE&dib_tag=se&keywords=the+children%27s+blizzard&qid=1743345743&sprefix=the+childrens+blizzar%2Caps%2C156&sr=8-2



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00:16 - Episode Introduction

06:20 - Blizzard Memories

13:08 - The Children's Blizzard of 1888

22:15 - Walter and Etta: Personal Stories

32:47 - The Storm Strikes

43:12 - Survival and Rewarming Shock

59:31 - Aftermath and Legacy

01:17:56 - Closing Thoughts

WEBVTT

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Oh, hey there.

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Oh hey there, how's it going today?

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I'm good neighbor.

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How are?

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you Neighbor, we're the history buffoons.

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I am neighbor.

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How are you Neighbor?

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We're the history buffoons.

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I am.

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You are Jesus Christ?

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Yes, we are.

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That is Kate.

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I am Kate.

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I am Bradley, welcome.

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Why are we doing that whole thing over again?

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So we just came from.

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Our favorite bar in Elkhart Lake.

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Let's call it a working lunch.

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No, actually it was a working lunch because we were talking our podcast up to people.

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Yes, so we want to give a shout out to our bar neighbors, paul and Janie, I believe, is her name.

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I think that was.

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In Elkhart Lake.

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They were super nice and they're very receptive to what we do.

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So yeah and um they were.

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They were lovely to speak to, so shout out to them and they actually gave us a potential origin uh topic, so yes we'll see if that uh comes to fruition, that'd be great, and for those of you have who have started to follow us recently.

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Thank you so much.

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Yes, and please, please, please, go review us and rate us on wherever you get your podcasts from Apple, spotify, anything like that Because it definitely helps us and we like to hear what people think and we know not everyone's going to like us, but we hope most people do.

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And we are also a little bit more active on YouTube.

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Yep, we've been putting up our shorts on there for our episodes, so and we have our long form on there as well, and that has been a continuous thing.

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But we're just a touch more active on there now, and then we're also on TikTok as well.

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Yes and uh also, in addition to rate and review us, please reach out to uh history buffoons podcast at gmail and send us any uh questions, comments, um topic ideas we, we would love to hear from some people to uh, you know, just help grow the podcast and and hopefully help everyone who does listen to it enjoy it yeah, so thank you so much for the newcomers who are just starting to listen.

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We appreciate you.

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We definitely, definitely do, and we absolutely appreciate the ones who've been with us from the start.

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Thank you so much.

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Thanks, al Thanks Tara.

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And my parents.

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Thanks, Kate's parents.

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So you bought us a couple of Leinenkugel beers that I didn't know existed.

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Well, I knew that one existed, I didn't know they had it in a 19.2 ounce form, the one I got for myself.

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It must be relatively new.

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I've never seen this before, but I saw these and I'm like, well, these are good podcast beers and plus they're 19.2 ounce.

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So we get a little bit of a taller boy, not even a tall boy.

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Little bit of a taller boy, not even a tall boy.

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It's a taller boy.

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Oh, they're taller than a tall boy tall boys are 16 ounce.

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Oh, these are 19.2.

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So what do you have?

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I have the lennon kugel's barrel man barrel man ale, which is an amber ale, and it is a proud supporter of the milwaukeeers which I have really come to love over the last two years, and Barrel man was a mascot.

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He was their original logo for the Brewers.

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The original logo and he's a current mascot as well, right.

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He does show up at Brewers games, yes, but yeah, he was their original logo back in the day and it's kind of your style, so I'm hoping you like it.

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I've never had it myself.

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This is an Amber ale.

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Did I say that?

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already, yeah, okay, and so I have a lightning Kugel's tropical hazy IPA.

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Oh, and you've not had that one.

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I didn't know they made a tropical.

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They usually don't make ipas, so I was really like excited that I saw this.

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It's got a hop with sunglasses lounging in a canoe on the lake.

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What's a hop?

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look like um, it's flowery looking.

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I don't know if you can see it from there I cannot, but I will look up close when I'm able to but yeah it looks.

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It's kind of like a bud, almost it looks like a like a budding flower, like a bud light anyways.

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So, uh, let's crack our beers.

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So so it's like a flower bud in a way oh okay, not exactly, but I was trying to best describe it to you.

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Penny, you're supposed to be good literally all my cats have put her wakes for penny because she's not one for bribery and she's usually not the one to make noise, but yet here we are, so cheers cheers, oh delicious oh, not bad I have had a couple beers already, I'm not gonna lie I'm feeling pretty good.

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I'm gonna lie.

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I've had a couple beers too, and and by a couple I mean more than that.

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So in Wisconsin, when you say I'm going to go have a beer, that, means two to three.

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When you say you have a couple beers, it means five to six roughly give or take.

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It's going to vary between people.

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Yeah, I'm still trying to get the like wisconsin lingo down, yeah, so if, if you're gonna go have a beer with the boys kind of thing, you're having at least two to three minimum, right, it's, that's what a beer is in wisconsin.

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So sure, we've had a beer today, but uh, no, that was fun.

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It was nice talking to some people and, um, very, very nice people, and we talked to two couples we actually talked to about the one, mostly about the podcast.

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They were very interested so it was kind of cool, so that was nice.

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But uh, yeah, so, um, what do you got for me today?

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Well, I do have a question, and it just came up out of the blue because I'm great like that.

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Okay, let's not get ahead of ourselves?

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What, okay?

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So do you recall, like when you were growing up, any particular blizzard?

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Do you remember like a massive blizzard?

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Do you remember like having a snow day, staying home?

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Playing in the snow, or trying to drive in it, or do you remember anything like that?

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there was this one particular snow day that I do recall.

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It wasn't so much a blizzard, um necessarily, but it happened in may.

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Oh, I believe it was, if I remember right, may 1991.

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I want to say that's very specific, you weirdo.

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So, uh, I remember my brothers waking me up that morning saying, hey, get up, we don't have to go to school today.

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I'm like what?

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are you talking about?

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Well, it's May.

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Yes, I got to go to school.

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And they're like no dude, look outside, it snow May.

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Yes, I got to go to school and they're like no dude, look outside.

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It snowed.

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So I look outside and sure as shit, boatload of snow.

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It's like super heavy, wet snow.

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So like the kind.

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You can't move with a snowblower because it's too wet.

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It gums it up basically, yeah, so my dad stayed home, my mom was a teacher, so she was home, and then my three, my two brothers, the three of us.

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So we were out, uh, shoveling, and the house I grew up at had a pretty steep driveway and it had a section like a turnaround, if you will.

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Um a roundabout?

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no, it wasn't around the sack no, we lived on a cul-de-sac but it had basically like it was.

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There was like an island of woods driveway around it and then.

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But then I had another part that went up to our garage.

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So, like my brother would park his car there eventually, and so would I when we got older to have cars.

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Anyways, in the middle, in this middle section, there was some giant trees and my dad and I were shoveling on this particular part of the turnaround and he just goes, goes.

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He just turned to me and goes.

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Why don't we take a break?

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Why don't you go inside?

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Just take a break a little bit and we'll come back out and finish, because again it was super heavy, wet, snow yeah, and how old are you?

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I.

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I was about 12 okay roughly if I'm, if I'm remembering the right year.

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I could be off on the year, but yeah I'm pretty sure I want to say it was 91.

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So I'm like, all right, being a kid, I'm like, yeah, cool, let's take a break.

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Literally minutes after I walked away from where I was standing, this giant fucking limb oh no, fell exactly where I was standing.

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It would have killed me, oh my.

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So because again, the the snow was so heavy yeah, it just broke the limb yeah.

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Wow, it was still early enough in the year.

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It might have been a dead tree, I don't recall, but if I would have stayed there shoveling where I was, I would be dead.

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So Well, thanks Dad.

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Thank you for not dying.

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Otherwise, this podcast would not exist.

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It's my pleasure for not dying.

00:09:03.385 --> 00:09:04.831
Yes, thank you.

00:09:04.831 --> 00:09:08.202
Yeah, this podcast would not exist, it's my pleasure for not dying.

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Yes, thank you.

00:09:08.663 --> 00:09:24.015
Yeah, I really needed this wow, okay, so I remember two right which is not many, considering we're in the midwest I mean, don't get me wrong, I remember other ones, but that one is that stands out in my brain.

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So well, I really don't have a story like that.

00:09:26.240 --> 00:09:35.823
Um, I remember like I was probably 10 ish, give or take five years, I don't know um I was.

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Wow, I was dorothy gale for halloween and uh, you know, it was those like plastic masks, oh, I remember those yes With the cut out eyes and all that yes and the vinyl outfits.

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Yes, super uncomfortable, like the mask would cut into your face kind of thing.

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Yes, yeah.

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I remember those.

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So Halloween that year was delayed because of a snowstorm.

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And I just remember, like two or three days later, going out with that costume, sure, with a giant coat on yeah, storm.

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And I just remember like two or three days later going out with that costume, sure, with a giant coat on and all you could see, was this plastic mask um.

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The other one I remember is um when I was in college.

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I was living with four other girls in a house that my parents bought for me and we all, like, rented it out to them right and um, it was a lovely experience.

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Would probably never do it again but, just the fact that I was able to have a house and like that was amazing for someone my age.

00:10:34.265 --> 00:10:37.893
But stupidly, we all had a snow day.

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Stupidly, me and one other person were like let's go to walmart.

00:10:41.525 --> 00:10:48.787
That was not a good idea no, I'm not surprised at that we only went to walmart because we had nothing else to do it was really, really stupid.

00:10:48.787 --> 00:10:53.825
So in essence I don't have a cool story because I don't have that kind of memory.

00:10:54.166 --> 00:11:01.386
Hey you know, what's funny is that you went as dorothy gale yes, yes my mom made uh.

00:11:01.386 --> 00:11:03.269
She was very crafty person.

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She made uh and it was a hand-me-down.

00:11:05.832 --> 00:11:15.721
So my brothers also have worn this before me, but I went as scarecrow, not from the wizard of oz, but just a scarecrow just a scarecrow.

00:11:15.721 --> 00:11:31.004
So, yeah, all we need now is uh tin man and the the lion and we're good I was tin man for halloween when I worked at a independent living facility yeah um, all the staff in the kitchen.

00:11:31.024 --> 00:11:37.743
Because I worked in the kitchen, we all went as characters of uh wizard of oz and I was the tin man.

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I ruined purposefully ruined a pair of pants by spray painting them silver, sure, and then I got like a party hat that I spray painted and she just got a funnel for like oil, because that's yeah, well, I guess I went cheaper than that apparently but yeah, um, so we're actually going to talk about it, kind of a gale, I mean part of a gale, we're going to do.

00:12:01.764 --> 00:12:02.645
You know what a gale is?

00:12:02.645 --> 00:12:06.984
Yeah, high winds yeah yeah, um, we're actually going to talk about a blizzard today.

00:12:07.004 --> 00:12:15.168
Oh okay, I mean, if the question hadn't gotten you there I mean I, I was there, but I'm glad you had to like interject with that.

00:12:15.308 --> 00:12:24.775
Yes, so in the mid to late 19th century there was a colossal wave of immigration to to the united states from europe.

00:12:24.775 --> 00:12:31.909
Okay, so we're talking about 16.5 million people that's a lot seeking a new life.

00:12:31.909 --> 00:12:42.904
Sure, they were driven by the promise of land and freedom and just a whole new life, essentially, yeah, and there was a lot of like push-pull factors that kind of came with this.

00:12:42.904 --> 00:12:51.710
So some of the push factors were, like europe was, was had widespread poverty, unemployment, um.

00:12:51.710 --> 00:13:04.428
There was an agricultural crisis, like the irish potato famine, yep, um, a lot fled oppressive regimes, um, or as I try to say at one time resume resume I've read it phonetically, my bad.

00:13:11.159 --> 00:13:15.092
There was a lot of like densely populated nations and there was just limited opportunities for advancement Right so so people were kind of seeking refuge.

00:13:15.092 --> 00:13:19.404
So some of the pull factors were the American dream.

00:13:20.447 --> 00:13:23.861
Yeah, I mean, that's really still why a lot of people try to come here today.

00:13:23.861 --> 00:13:24.342
Yeah.

00:13:24.705 --> 00:13:26.110
It's a land of opportunity.

00:13:26.110 --> 00:13:31.793
There's people who were willing to work hard for prosperity.

00:13:31.793 --> 00:13:39.394
And then there was this industrial boom in America that people were drawn to.

00:13:39.394 --> 00:13:48.215
There was the promise of religious tolerance for those seeking to escape persecution, essentially for their religion.

00:13:48.215 --> 00:13:52.711
And then there was the Homestead Act of 1862.

00:13:52.711 --> 00:14:00.620
So the majority of immigrants initially settled in the East Coast cities like New York and Boston and Philadelphia.

00:14:00.941 --> 00:14:02.746
That's typically where they landed.

00:14:02.746 --> 00:14:03.549
If you will, yes.

00:14:03.940 --> 00:14:04.668
But many, particularly Germans and Scandinavians.

00:14:04.668 --> 00:14:05.291
They headed west, philadelphia.

00:14:05.291 --> 00:14:05.879
That's typically where they they landed, if you will.

00:14:05.879 --> 00:14:08.917
Yes, so, and but many from like, particularly like germans and scandinavians, um.

00:14:08.917 --> 00:14:10.719
They headed west, um.

00:14:10.979 --> 00:14:13.562
There was a vast wisconsin has a lot of german.

00:14:14.044 --> 00:14:33.317
Yes, yes, immigrants, if you will back when it was established or whatever exactly yes, there was a vast grassland um, stretching from the Mississippi River to the Missouri River, and the Homestead Act was a way for them to have a job.

00:14:33.317 --> 00:14:34.539
Really, yeah, yeah.

00:14:34.539 --> 00:14:38.288
So I'm going to talk about a particular book.

00:14:39.071 --> 00:14:39.913
Yeah, okay.

00:14:40.900 --> 00:14:44.892
It is by David Laskin and it is called the Children's Blizzard.

00:14:45.441 --> 00:14:45.948
The Children's Blizzard.

00:14:45.948 --> 00:14:46.639
The Children's Blizzard.

00:14:46.639 --> 00:14:50.826
So it just was blizzarding children Like they were coming down.

00:14:52.020 --> 00:14:55.370
So I'm going to explain the Homestead Act real quick by a quote from this book.

00:14:55.370 --> 00:15:07.975
The Homestead Act was signed by law by Abraham Lincoln in 1862, and it was the first colorblind, sexblind, equal opportunity piece of legislature on the American books.

00:15:07.975 --> 00:15:14.365
White, black, male, female, foreign born or native born, it made no difference.

00:15:14.365 --> 00:15:23.086
As long as you were 21 or older and could muster $18 for the filing fee and lived on the land and farmed it.

00:15:23.086 --> 00:15:29.331
For five years, 160 acres was yours, which is a lot of land.

00:15:29.691 --> 00:15:30.351
That is a lot.

00:15:30.351 --> 00:15:33.453
So like let's pack up kids, we're going to America.

00:15:33.453 --> 00:15:41.921
Like how big of a decision is that, can you?

00:15:41.921 --> 00:15:47.971
Imagine like packing up a Sarah and your two kids and just hiking over to Europe because you get 160 acres for $18.

00:15:48.379 --> 00:15:52.169
But the funny thing is $18 back then was hard for people to come up with.

00:15:52.451 --> 00:15:53.173
It is yeah.

00:15:53.320 --> 00:15:55.529
So I mean that was a lot of money back then.

00:15:55.649 --> 00:15:59.750
Yeah, If I had to guess, it was probably around $600-ish.

00:16:01.941 --> 00:16:05.967
Honestly not that bad If you think of it in that regards.

00:16:05.967 --> 00:16:07.682
But look how much you made a day, though.

00:16:07.682 --> 00:16:13.823
Back then, agreed, agreed, most people make eight dollars and not you like it.

00:16:13.823 --> 00:16:15.328
You can.

00:16:15.389 --> 00:16:19.783
You can talk about it um, yeah, I just had a sip of the line of google barrel man ale.

00:16:19.783 --> 00:16:21.148
Again, it is really good.

00:16:21.448 --> 00:16:27.029
Um, I'm still partial to my modelo, but um, you don't have to cut everything down because you like Modelo more.

00:16:27.029 --> 00:16:28.475
Okay, you can like it.

00:16:28.837 --> 00:16:30.505
We obviously know, I just want Modelo to listen.

00:16:30.505 --> 00:16:32.664
Give me beer.

00:16:35.240 --> 00:16:36.102
Constellation Brands.

00:16:36.102 --> 00:16:37.105
Please reach out to us.

00:16:37.105 --> 00:16:38.630
That'd be great.

00:16:39.120 --> 00:16:43.071
So we've got a couple of winters before the children's blizzard.

00:16:43.071 --> 00:16:47.059
Okay, so the Snow Winter, the Snow Winter got a couple of winters before the children's blizzard okay, so the snow winter, the snow winter.

00:16:47.541 --> 00:16:48.001
I know it's.

00:16:48.322 --> 00:17:02.833
It's a very creative name it's so unique I would never guess they would have had snow in a winter it was the winter of 1888 to 1881, so like we'll say, like nove to like April, can you fix?

00:17:02.833 --> 00:17:06.359
That 1880 to 1881.

00:17:06.539 --> 00:17:08.517
You said 1888 to 1881.

00:17:08.538 --> 00:17:11.314
Pardon me, 1880 to 1881.

00:17:11.454 --> 00:17:12.220
That makes more sense.

00:17:12.780 --> 00:17:24.012
It was referred to as the snow winter, the hard winter, the long winter, and it was a period of exceptionally severe weather in the western and midwestern United States.

00:17:24.012 --> 00:17:32.551
Okay, there was extreme, prolonged cold and heavy snowfall, and this list, uh, led to massive snow drifts and blizzards.

00:17:32.551 --> 00:17:33.272
Oh dear.

00:17:33.272 --> 00:17:34.804
And winter, the wind.

00:17:34.804 --> 00:17:41.382
This winter is known for the increased use of the term blizzard in popular lexicon.

00:17:41.662 --> 00:18:00.740
oh really, so this is kind of when blizzard became normal normal, yeah, okay so, and then the abrupt spring led to widespread flooding along the mississippi and missouri rivers well, if there was that much snow, that makes sense obviously compounded additional hardships during right during that winter.

00:18:00.740 --> 00:18:07.599
That makes sense and then we have the winter of blue snow, and that was from 1886 to 1887.

00:18:08.300 --> 00:18:09.326
Why was it blue snow?

00:18:09.981 --> 00:18:10.585
I will let you know.

00:18:10.585 --> 00:18:16.373
Temperatures plummeted to dangerous low levels, resulting in widespread freezing.

00:18:16.373 --> 00:18:22.357
The winter is infamous for the great die-up D-I-E Die-up.

00:18:22.357 --> 00:18:36.886
Okay, it was a catastrophic loss of livestock oh sure, I suppose that makes sense the combination of harsh, harsh weather and previous drought conditions led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of animals.

00:18:36.886 --> 00:18:38.070
Wow, that's crazy.

00:18:38.732 --> 00:18:59.152
And it's noted that the preceding summer was very dry and that there were many prairie fires oh so it's theorized that the smoke and ash from these fires contributed to the blue tint that was reported in the snow oh, that makes sense okay yeah, I can't make sense of like I don't get the correlation.

00:18:59.211 --> 00:19:02.183
But I guess I can see how that could affect it, though, yeah.

00:19:02.203 --> 00:19:03.807
Yeah, I could understand how it could affect.

00:19:03.807 --> 00:19:05.991
I can't understand, like why that correlation?

00:19:05.991 --> 00:19:09.686
Why isn't it gray?

00:19:09.686 --> 00:19:11.988
Like charcoal-y or something yeah.

00:19:11.988 --> 00:19:15.365
Or maybe it's more blue in the sun.

00:19:15.365 --> 00:19:16.909
I guess that could be.

00:19:17.108 --> 00:19:18.392
I suppose yeah, Penny.

00:19:18.392 --> 00:19:18.913
What do you think?

00:19:21.260 --> 00:19:23.407
So now we're going to head into the Children's.

00:19:23.469 --> 00:19:23.869
Blizzard.

00:19:26.180 --> 00:19:28.464
Okay, so that's going to be um the winter of 1887.

00:19:28.464 --> 00:19:35.799
Okay, so like november-ish, until um 1888, so it's a blizzard that was in the dakota territory.

00:19:35.799 --> 00:19:48.232
So it was before north and south dakota became states, right, um, which were in approximately 1889, so just like a year earlier oh, it was still considered a territory.

00:19:48.480 --> 00:19:50.186
I didn't realize that's when they became states.

00:19:51.163 --> 00:19:57.839
And then Missouri was affected and, just for continuity's sake, missouri became a state in 1821.

00:19:57.839 --> 00:20:04.049
And it affected Nebraska as well, and that was a state in 1867.

00:20:05.082 --> 00:20:06.045
That's where you're from.

00:20:06.165 --> 00:20:11.609
I am from Nebraska and Faja and Maja, mother, father.

00:20:12.030 --> 00:20:12.432
I got it.

00:20:13.382 --> 00:20:14.869
You will recognize quite a few of these.

00:20:15.775 --> 00:20:16.156
Oh, there we go.

00:20:16.156 --> 00:20:19.167
Yeah, have you ever been to the Dakotas?

00:20:20.260 --> 00:20:23.270
I have been to South Dakota a couple of times, beautiful.

00:20:24.060 --> 00:20:28.248
I actually think South Dakota is very underrated, with a lot of people.

00:20:28.548 --> 00:20:31.573
It's so beautiful I've never been to North I haven't either.

00:20:31.673 --> 00:20:42.847
I've heard not to, but either way, sorry for all the people in North Dakota, but I've been to South Dakota actually a number of times and there's a lot of nice places in there.

00:20:43.019 --> 00:20:49.615
There's a lot of great places, touristy, but then, like the black hills are so beautiful the badlands and all that.

00:20:49.714 --> 00:20:51.299
Yeah, yeah, that's awesome.

00:20:51.299 --> 00:20:58.413
And then, um, well, technically, uh, devil's tower is in wyoming it is, it's on the border it is.

00:20:58.413 --> 00:21:05.063
I have been there as well, which is I love devil's tower but but then we went to Devil's Tower, then into South Dakota.

00:21:05.063 --> 00:21:07.924
It's really quite a nice area.

00:21:07.924 --> 00:21:09.365
We really like it.

00:21:10.266 --> 00:21:26.433
During COVID year my family was supposed to go to Deadwood and all those like Custer State Park and the Badlands and all that that year and sadly we had to put it off so we could stay safe and we haven't been able to go back, but it's on the list.

00:21:26.733 --> 00:21:30.496
Sarah's and my honeymoon was at Custer State Park.

00:21:30.496 --> 00:21:43.085
We stayed in the Badlands and we went to Mount Rushmore and Deadwood on my birthday.

00:21:43.105 --> 00:21:48.327
I think honeymoons in the continental US if that's where you're from is underrated.

00:21:48.327 --> 00:21:51.028
Most people are like let's go to Hawaii, let's go to Europe.

00:21:51.300 --> 00:21:52.305
Let's go to Italy or something.

00:21:52.325 --> 00:21:53.127
Jamaica.

00:21:53.127 --> 00:21:57.501
No offense to any of those, because I went to the.

00:21:57.501 --> 00:22:01.011
Cayman Islands for my first marriage.

00:22:01.011 --> 00:22:06.628
My second marriage with Nathan, we went to Mackinac Island in Michigan.

00:22:06.929 --> 00:22:07.771
I fucking loved it.

00:22:07.771 --> 00:22:11.569
The problem is people want to try and do something more exotic.

00:22:11.569 --> 00:22:13.525
Yeah, but there's so many cool places.

00:22:13.545 --> 00:22:14.921
There's so many cool places, the.

00:22:14.941 --> 00:22:16.069
United States is huge.

00:22:16.290 --> 00:22:19.750
Yeah, you just have to have an open mind Anyway.

00:22:20.599 --> 00:22:21.261
Who's going to be like?

00:22:21.261 --> 00:22:23.729
Let's go to South Dakota for our honeymoon.

00:22:24.150 --> 00:22:24.912
But it was fucking awesome.

00:22:24.912 --> 00:22:27.832
I think my parents went to Wisconsin for their honeymoon, did they really?

00:22:27.832 --> 00:22:33.159
Yeah, they had friends that lived somewhere in Wisconsin and they visited them for a little bit, that's cool though.

00:22:33.199 --> 00:22:35.519
Yeah, I mean, I like Wisconsin.

00:22:35.941 --> 00:22:41.579
So folks that had migrated were just trying to get on their feet Right.

00:22:41.579 --> 00:23:14.604
So imagine two solid months of below zero weather, just relentless no, that sucks the storms out west started early in november of 87, okay, and it just kept getting worse and worse, piling up snow and dropping the temperatures week after week, and it was unusually rigorous, with blocked railroads and impassable roads, and you know, everything is communicated through these railroads and newspapers, and and none of this, none of this could like continue essentially, with these blizzards happening right.

00:23:15.486 --> 00:23:29.288
So a ton of newcomers were not ready for this level of severity sure so even people who are who had been part of the this prairie for a long time were caught off guard with this type of weather okay um.

00:23:29.288 --> 00:23:41.173
So in december, early january, we're talking temperatures where the mercury in the thermometers at the time were frozen solid that is fucking cold.

00:23:41.173 --> 00:23:44.767
We're talking around negative 46 degrees fahrenheit.

00:23:44.847 --> 00:23:46.631
And that's not the windchill, that's the temperature.

00:23:46.631 --> 00:23:47.854
That's just the temperature.

00:23:47.854 --> 00:23:50.446
Do you have what the windchills were?

00:23:50.686 --> 00:23:54.489
No, Okay, I didn't think so but damn, could you imagine Later?

00:23:54.489 --> 00:23:57.546
I do Not really windchill, but more miles per hour.

00:23:57.968 --> 00:23:58.388
Oh dear.

00:23:58.429 --> 00:23:59.511
Damn, damn.

00:23:59.511 --> 00:24:05.411
It stung your lungs, it cracked your lips, it made your eyes water.

00:24:06.173 --> 00:24:06.553
I bet.

00:24:08.880 --> 00:24:09.541
But then in January it got worse.

00:24:09.541 --> 00:24:30.008
A record-breaking cold snap happened, lasting almost two weeks, and just before the blizzard that I'm going to talk about capital letters the blizzard, people started seeing sun dogs in the sky, and I just told you today what a sun dog was, in preparation of our story tonight well, it's funny because we were talking about that couple, right?

00:24:30.730 --> 00:24:34.486
that wasn't it that who we were talking about, or no, we were talking to that other person.

00:24:35.628 --> 00:24:40.367
We were talking to somebody today about sun dogs.

00:24:40.367 --> 00:24:42.733
Do you remember that picture that I showed?

00:24:42.753 --> 00:24:54.166
you can explain that real quick what a sun dog is it basically had the sun in the middle but, then it had almost like I don't have a lack of a better way to say it a reflection on each side of a partial sun, if you will.

00:24:54.227 --> 00:25:06.529
Yes it looked like three bright lights in a row and like almost an orb around it, but it's actually kind of known as like an an omen, a bad sign.

00:25:06.529 --> 00:25:09.747
Um, extreme cold is on its way, essentially I didn't.

00:25:09.826 --> 00:25:11.049
I've never heard that before.

00:25:11.069 --> 00:25:14.287
I've never even seen a sun dog, nor heard what a sun dog was.

00:25:14.307 --> 00:25:16.394
I can't I honestly don't think I have.

00:25:16.394 --> 00:25:21.772
I mean, I don't recall anything like that, and if I've seen it, I didn't like it, didn't?

00:25:21.772 --> 00:25:26.569
I don't know register basically, yeah, um, but I also wouldn't have known that's a sun dog.

00:25:27.160 --> 00:25:29.246
Also, where the fuck did they come up with sun dog?

00:25:29.246 --> 00:25:31.791
Anyway, I mean Unexpectedly yeah.

00:25:32.240 --> 00:25:34.147
It's weird, because why is it a sun dog?

00:25:34.147 --> 00:25:36.548
Because it didn't look like a dog, I mean.

00:25:36.548 --> 00:25:47.291
Neither are hot dogs, so yeah, that is odd that they, but I don't know, things are called weird things, I guess.

00:25:47.531 --> 00:25:53.785
Anyways, so imagine this January 12th 1888.

00:25:53.785 --> 00:26:03.463
Okay, after weeks of brutal cold, yeah, suddenly it's a spring day In January, january 12th.

00:26:03.463 --> 00:26:04.949
Yes, that's wild.

00:26:10.039 --> 00:26:19.239
It hit 32 degrees fahrenheit that had to feel like 70 the day before it was 20 below yeah, that is wild from 20 below to 32 degrees is there okay?

00:26:19.239 --> 00:26:21.042
Is there a reason for the temperature change?

00:26:21.063 --> 00:26:25.413
yes, okay, the sun was bright, shining, there was a nice soft breeze.

00:26:25.413 --> 00:26:29.871
People went out to care for their livestock because they're like, hey, we haven't.

00:26:29.871 --> 00:26:35.611
I mean, we're doing our job as farmers what we can but now we can do more.

00:26:35.611 --> 00:26:37.560
So let's go and take care of our livestock.

00:26:37.560 --> 00:26:38.602
We'll do our chores.

00:26:38.602 --> 00:26:41.125
Finally, enjoying a break in this weather.

00:26:41.125 --> 00:26:45.571
The kids are finally able to go to school.

00:26:45.571 --> 00:26:53.491
They hadn't been, because of how awful the weather was no, it makes sense, yeah so so they all stayed home.

00:26:53.612 --> 00:26:57.468
So to that day, january 12th, they're like, oh my god, we can go to school.

00:26:57.468 --> 00:26:58.753
That's amazing, of course.

00:26:58.753 --> 00:26:59.436
They all walked.

00:26:59.436 --> 00:27:04.807
They all walked to school yep but there was something off what was it?

00:27:04.807 --> 00:27:19.608
The air felt strange like heavy the sky was a weird color, okay, um, there was a particular woman named maria albrecht who had this like uneasing feeling, a sense that something wasn't right.

00:27:19.608 --> 00:27:27.910
Sure, and despite the beautiful weather, maria wanted to keep her two kids Actually, she had a couple of kids, but these two particular home from school.

00:27:27.930 --> 00:27:29.773
She's like fuck the rest, I just want these two.

00:27:29.773 --> 00:27:30.535
No, no, no, no.

00:27:30.621 --> 00:27:32.538
They were all too young for school, oh I gotcha.

00:27:32.538 --> 00:27:37.895
But two of her boys were school age and she's like I don't want you to go to school.

00:27:37.895 --> 00:27:43.125
Yes, okay, she had a fight with her husband about it oh, because he's probably like sending to school.

00:27:43.125 --> 00:27:46.851
Yes, he thought that she was being silly well, it was a warm day.

00:27:46.851 --> 00:27:47.771
What could go wrong?

00:27:48.053 --> 00:27:55.940
well, I'm guessing a lot of things could have went wrong somehow she knew peter, her son, one of the school-aged children.

00:27:56.119 --> 00:28:22.448
Yeah, remembers spending the whole morning staring out the window missing his brother, who, his older brother, who did go to school oh, so one of them did go one of her kids decided to go to school, the other school-age boy, and then all the younger kids decided to stay home so I'm guessing we learn what happens to the older boy eventually okay, so what happened was, as far as the weather yeah there was, uh, warm, moist air.

00:28:22.448 --> 00:28:28.535
Okay, so the Great Plains experienced like an unreasonably, unseasonably- there it is.

00:28:29.055 --> 00:28:29.957
Warm temperatures.

00:28:29.957 --> 00:28:34.992
This warmth was due to moisture-heavy airflow coming from the Gulf of Mexico.

00:28:34.992 --> 00:28:35.453
Okay.

00:28:35.453 --> 00:28:52.124
So, this front was coming up from the Gulf of Mexico that was warm and heavy with moisture Sure, heavy with with moisture sure, and then coming from canada was a cold.

00:28:52.124 --> 00:28:59.102
A massive, intensely cold air mass right um surging southward, and then this arctic front brought with it extremely low temperatures.

00:28:59.102 --> 00:29:15.144
So the collision of air pressures abrupted this air and it became like a frigid arctic air, with the warm, moist air created the perfect conditions for a very powerful blizzard.

00:29:15.445 --> 00:29:15.727
Okay.

00:29:16.000 --> 00:29:23.265
Okay, so this clash of winter systems resulted in rapid and drastic temperature drops.

00:29:23.265 --> 00:29:27.730
Sure, in some places falling dozens of degrees in a very short of time.

00:29:27.730 --> 00:29:29.945
We're talking 18 minutes.

00:29:30.287 --> 00:29:32.051
Oh, my God 18 minutes.

00:29:32.579 --> 00:29:35.107
High-velocity winds up to 40 miles per hour.

00:29:35.630 --> 00:29:37.726
Oh, dear, All right.

00:29:37.726 --> 00:29:43.829
So was the warm day that got up to 32, was that because of the air coming up from the Gulf.

00:29:43.829 --> 00:29:45.451
And then.

00:29:45.451 --> 00:29:56.667
So there was like maybe a day reprieve, and then the air from canada basically met up and said fuck you it was the same day oh, this all happened in this all happened.

00:29:56.667 --> 00:30:04.530
Well, I guess that would make sense if the kid went to school the day before was negative 40 yeah, and this was 32 and this in the morning of january 12th.

00:30:04.571 --> 00:30:09.567
It was 32 degrees later in the afternoon like like 10 30 to noon.

00:30:10.509 --> 00:30:13.296
We're talking 40 miles an hour.

00:30:14.117 --> 00:30:27.450
We're talking heavy but super thin, super, super thin blowing snow so basically creating whiteout conditions someone flipped the switch from this nice 32 degree weather and was like nope we're going back to winter.

00:30:27.690 --> 00:30:29.594
Yes, okay, wow.

00:30:29.759 --> 00:30:32.265
So 18 minutes.

00:30:34.042 --> 00:30:34.905
And in some cases.

00:30:34.905 --> 00:30:44.805
Yes, it was that quick, so I'm going to quote from the book here Quote one of the many tragedies of that day was the failure of the weather forecasters.

00:30:44.825 --> 00:30:46.686
One of the many tragedies of that day was the failure of the weather forecasters.

00:30:46.686 --> 00:30:50.611
Well, I mean, they fail today and they have so much more instruments and technology.

00:30:50.611 --> 00:30:53.053
What are the people in 1888?

00:30:53.053 --> 00:30:54.855
You said right, I got the right here.

00:30:54.855 --> 00:30:56.396
What are they going to do?

00:30:56.396 --> 00:30:58.279
I mean seriously.

00:30:58.299 --> 00:31:01.423
Well, there was the failure of the weather forecasters.

00:31:01.423 --> 00:31:10.713
Of the weather forecasters, I feel you're compounded by faulty science, primitive technology, human error, narrow-mindedness and sheer ignorance.

00:31:11.234 --> 00:31:14.258
You gotta love that sheer ignorance, because.

00:31:14.258 --> 00:31:16.099
But how would they have known though?

00:31:17.963 --> 00:31:21.373
So they did have a type of weather forecasting.

00:31:21.373 --> 00:31:25.211
So it was the Army Signal Corps was handling it.

00:31:25.211 --> 00:31:31.109
They were collecting data, they were making forecasts, but getting that information out to the people was a completely different story.

00:31:31.170 --> 00:31:32.784
Well, yeah, it's not like they could go.

00:31:32.784 --> 00:31:34.630
Hey, check the internet for our update.

00:31:34.630 --> 00:31:38.984
I mean, obviously you have newspapers and stuff, but even that shit took days.

00:31:39.045 --> 00:31:46.724
Yes, exactly so the newspapers and telegraphs were the main ways in which that word would get out.

00:31:46.724 --> 00:31:50.115
But the planes, they were notoriously tricky to predict.

00:31:50.115 --> 00:31:54.429
I mean, we're in Wisconsin, it's tricky to predict today.

00:31:54.869 --> 00:31:55.131
Right.

00:31:55.800 --> 00:31:59.329
And during blizzards they did not have telegraphs.

00:31:59.329 --> 00:32:03.101
No, everything was shut down, sure, okay.

00:32:03.101 --> 00:32:04.046
During blizzards they did not have telegraphs.

00:32:04.046 --> 00:32:04.627
No, everything was shut down.

00:32:04.627 --> 00:32:04.828
Sure, okay.

00:32:04.828 --> 00:32:07.059
So they were doing their best, but they were super limited by the tech and the communication of the times.

00:32:07.059 --> 00:32:18.126
Okay, we're going to talk about two first-hand accounts of this blizzard oh, nice okay we're going to talk about walter allen of the dakota territory, who is eight years old.

00:32:18.748 --> 00:32:19.107
Oh, wow.

00:32:19.528 --> 00:32:23.295
And we are going to talk about Etta Shattuck.

00:32:23.634 --> 00:32:23.815
Etta.

00:32:24.220 --> 00:32:25.521
Etta Shattuck.

00:32:25.521 --> 00:32:27.726
Like Etta James, etta.

00:32:27.726 --> 00:32:30.150
What's the singer Etta?

00:32:31.412 --> 00:32:32.875
Oh shit it doesn't matter.

00:32:32.875 --> 00:32:33.803
It doesn't matter.

00:32:33.903 --> 00:32:36.311
Etta Shattuck, who's about 19 years old.

00:32:36.311 --> 00:32:37.798
Okay, okay, okay.

00:32:37.798 --> 00:32:39.847
So we're going to talk about Walter Allen now.

00:32:39.847 --> 00:32:42.421
Yeah, yeah, he is from the dakota territory, right?

00:32:42.421 --> 00:32:46.452
He's eight years old, yeah yes, so he had a very special job in school.

00:32:46.452 --> 00:32:52.691
Oh, he was so excited to go because he hadn't been in a couple weeks, because the weather because how cold it was.

00:32:52.691 --> 00:32:59.013
Yeah each row of desks was under the supervision of a row monitor.

00:32:59.474 --> 00:33:01.098
And was he that row monitor?

00:33:01.098 --> 00:33:03.047
Yes, row monitor.

00:33:03.119 --> 00:33:07.086
They were in charge of coats and shoes for all the children in that row.

00:33:07.340 --> 00:33:09.728
And he took great pride in his role.

00:33:09.788 --> 00:33:10.611
He really did.

00:33:10.611 --> 00:33:20.607
His task was to jump up before the children at recess or the end of the day and gather everyone's coats and gear and pass them out to the appropriate child.

00:33:20.607 --> 00:33:25.967
He has to know what went where and who know what, when, where and who who had what, and so on, yeah.

00:33:25.967 --> 00:33:34.592
So in his grade school there was approximately 100 children in this particular day in about four classrooms.

00:33:35.582 --> 00:33:38.069
That's pretty good for 1880, honestly.

00:33:39.380 --> 00:33:49.734
So I'm going to quote the book here, quote the vestibule of the school, where the children hung their wraps and stowed their wet shoes, was less jammed than usual, since the weather was so mild.

00:33:49.734 --> 00:34:08.451
Some kids had dispensed with cloaks and overcoats altogether made woolsley and calico dresses and petticoats or thick skirts and trousers would have been warm enough on such a wild, mild, warm, uh, wild that was amazing.

00:34:09.192 --> 00:34:24.253
I'm still keeping that in there warm enough on such a mild morning okay one girl remembered slipping out of the house in a short cape made from the bottom of an outgrown coat, before her mother spotted her and insisted on a heavier coat.

00:34:24.253 --> 00:34:30.130
So Walter had a prized possession in his desk.

00:34:30.130 --> 00:34:33.505
What would that be?

00:34:33.505 --> 00:34:39.487
A delicate little perfume bottle, I'm imagining, like an atomizer, you know, with a little squirt squirt.

00:34:39.487 --> 00:34:40.271
Yeah, like the little pouch, if you will.

00:34:40.271 --> 00:34:41.820
Yep, that's like an atomizer, you know, with a little squirt squirt.

00:34:42.902 --> 00:34:45.965
Like the little pouch, if you will, yep, it's called an atomizer.

00:34:46.045 --> 00:34:46.768
I never knew that.

00:34:46.768 --> 00:34:57.228
So to clean their chalk slates they would have an erasing rag and most kids use like corked bottles of water to scrub it clean with that rag.

00:34:57.228 --> 00:35:01.222
But Walter had a perfume bottle that he cherished.

00:35:01.222 --> 00:35:12.405
It was pretty to look at but he actually loved it because the water came out in such little amounts that it was just perfect for his slate oh sure yeah, it was perfect.

00:35:12.405 --> 00:35:12.865
That's cute.

00:35:12.865 --> 00:35:14.347
He loved it.

00:35:14.347 --> 00:35:21.123
Nice, okay, miss etta shattuck, age 19 oh, that's the 19-year-old yep.

00:35:21.704 --> 00:35:25.510
She lived with her parents near Seward Nebraska, which is near Lincoln.

00:35:26.231 --> 00:35:26.490
Okay.

00:35:26.911 --> 00:35:28.434
Fun fact, my parents have a home there.

00:35:29.335 --> 00:35:29.856
Fun fact.

00:35:30.559 --> 00:35:31.201
In Seward.

00:35:31.201 --> 00:35:40.391
Second fun fact Etta's father, Ben, was a prisoner at Belle Isle in the Civil War.

00:35:40.391 --> 00:35:42.273
Oh, Do you recall?

00:35:42.574 --> 00:35:42.755
I do.

00:35:47.280 --> 00:35:55.052
Belle Isle was the place of a lot of POWs that got transferred to Andersonville, where we have an episode on Andersonville.

00:35:55.092 --> 00:35:55.552
We sure do.

00:35:55.552 --> 00:35:56.905
That was the one Sarah suggested.

00:35:57.199 --> 00:36:01.409
So he was potentially exchanged with other Confederate soldiers.

00:36:01.409 --> 00:36:05.644
So he never actually went to Andersonville, but he was at Belle Isle as a POW.

00:36:05.746 --> 00:36:06.367
That's crazy.

00:36:06.367 --> 00:36:07.972
Yeah, that's funny.

00:36:08.440 --> 00:36:11.489
So Ben couldn't quite make it as a farmer in Seward.

00:36:11.489 --> 00:36:23.833
So by 1886, they moved to Atkinson, nebraska, which is about 183 miles or about three hours by car northwest of seward.

00:36:23.833 --> 00:36:28.481
Okay, again, ben couldn't make it as a farmer there, poor guy.

00:36:28.481 --> 00:36:34.628
His daughter, edda at 19, earned 15 a month.

00:36:34.628 --> 00:36:41.016
Wow, that's approximately $836 a month today.

00:36:41.016 --> 00:36:41.396
Wow.

00:36:41.396 --> 00:36:48.713
And she was a school teacher and she was the sole breadwinner for her parents and four other siblings.

00:36:48.980 --> 00:36:50.867
She was 19 and a school teacher.

00:36:50.887 --> 00:36:56.480
Mm-hmm, there were many, many school teachers who were nearly the same age as some of the oldest school kids.

00:36:56.559 --> 00:37:01.893
Yeah, I'd say that's wild, because they barely got through it themselves and now they're teaching other kids.

00:37:01.893 --> 00:37:04.668
But you know, had to start somewhere, I guess, Right?

00:37:05.260 --> 00:37:12.750
But her $25 a month wasn't quite enough and after two years everyone but Etta moved back to Seward.

00:37:13.130 --> 00:37:13.411
Okay.

00:37:13.860 --> 00:37:20.193
She stayed with a host family, close enough to the school to walk there daily, just to kind of finish out the school year.

00:37:20.193 --> 00:37:24.264
Sure, enough to the school to walk there daily, just to kind of finish out the school year.

00:37:24.264 --> 00:37:37.141
Sure, on january 10th, with less than um, with less and less children in attendance because of the weather, yeah, she decided to close the school and end the school term it would reopen in the spring and but she wouldn't be there.

00:37:37.222 --> 00:37:39.407
she wanted to return to sewer to be with her family.

00:37:39.407 --> 00:37:40.329
Sure, makes sense.

00:37:40.329 --> 00:37:54.592
But before she could leave she needed to be paid and there would need to be a signed order by the school, uh district superintendent, which would then go to the district treasurer and then she could get her money.

00:37:54.820 --> 00:37:56.385
So basically, that's how they figure out.

00:37:56.385 --> 00:37:57.228
Yes, sure.

00:37:57.500 --> 00:38:02.483
So January 12th she'd walk to the superintendent's house, then on the 13th she'd board a train to seward.

00:38:02.844 --> 00:38:07.782
That was her plan that was the, that was the plan, but this all happened on the 12th right.

00:38:07.802 --> 00:38:14.480
Yes, yes, yes so at 10 30 am on the 12th walter eight-year-old walter's classroom.

00:38:14.480 --> 00:38:22.594
They had been reciting a passage in their books and they suddenly stopped for a fleeting moment, maybe like a minute.

00:38:22.594 --> 00:38:31.192
Everything went eerily silent okay then the sky blackened wild.

00:38:31.733 --> 00:38:48.615
A huge dark cloud that had been lurking on the horizon had rolled in okay the wind shifted, whipping around from the west, and it hit with such force that it was actually dangerous to be outside.

00:38:48.615 --> 00:38:55.092
Oh really, the air was thick with snow, like someone had dumped a bag of flour, that's wild.

00:38:55.960 --> 00:38:56.922
I mean, that's pretty thick.

00:38:57.443 --> 00:39:06.195
And the wind kept changing direction, swirling from northeast to northwest, building into a full-blown gale.

00:39:06.195 --> 00:39:08.405
See how I'm bringing it back around.

00:39:08.746 --> 00:39:09.509
That was amazing.

00:39:09.659 --> 00:39:12.168
I never thought you'd get there, I know You're welcome Look at you.

00:39:12.228 --> 00:39:12.550
You did.

00:39:13.159 --> 00:39:18.431
Within three minutes it was howling at 40 miles an hour.

00:39:18.692 --> 00:39:19.833
That's wild Jesus.

00:39:20.480 --> 00:39:25.842
Within five minutes you couldn't see 15 feet in front of you that's not very far.

00:39:25.862 --> 00:39:27.985
No, wow, okay.

00:39:27.985 --> 00:39:29.849
Could you imagine?

00:39:29.849 --> 00:39:32.233
I know the time frame we're talking about.

00:39:32.233 --> 00:39:42.041
Just think if this was like when cars were around, if you were driving in that um, pretty sure I would be pulled over if you didn't, you're, you're dumb because you'd be fucked.

00:39:42.041 --> 00:39:43.684
Yes, that would have been terrible.

00:39:43.826 --> 00:39:55.675
So obviously silver lining, I don't know so the windows and doors rattled as the wall of shattered crystals slammed into the school.

00:39:55.675 --> 00:40:01.295
That's how they described it in this book shattered crystals slammed into the school wow.

00:40:01.295 --> 00:40:04.182
The teachers announced that the children were to go home.

00:40:04.182 --> 00:40:06.528
School was absolutely dismissed for the day.

00:40:06.829 --> 00:40:09.603
How in your right mind can you send kids home?

00:40:09.623 --> 00:40:14.322
because it's not that bad yet I get that, but jesus fuck young walter.

00:40:14.322 --> 00:40:19.144
As the real monitor, he was to get the children's wraps and hand them out as quickly as possible.

00:40:19.144 --> 00:40:23.923
Sure, this took 10 to 15 minutes, right which?

00:40:23.923 --> 00:40:36.221
Doesn't sound like a lot of time, but it's obviously getting worse it was enough time that this, the storm, had gotten so much worse and they literally could not go outside and please tell me they didn't.

00:40:37.802 --> 00:40:42.929
No, jesus christ edda, the 19 year old.

00:40:42.929 --> 00:40:56.905
Yes, had been walking to get her payment when the storm hit oh boy so many firsthand accounts mentioned that the onset of the storm was preceded by a loud roar I have to say something real quick.

00:40:57.527 --> 00:41:23.572
The fact that we're getting first-hand accounts at least tells me something yes okay and no, oh shit it was preceded by a loud roar like an approaching train oh, boy like it was audible the storm coming in right right the sound was the wind smashing the snow into powder oh really it was compared to putting snow and ice into a grinder.

00:41:23.572 --> 00:41:27.248
The turbulence pulverized the snow into talcum powder.

00:41:27.248 --> 00:41:30.909
Wow, super, super, super fucking thin snow.

00:41:31.489 --> 00:41:31.710
Right.

00:41:32.260 --> 00:41:35.250
The father of the family that she was boarding at.

00:41:35.409 --> 00:41:35.630
Yeah.

00:41:36.181 --> 00:41:37.847
Called her from his porch.

00:41:38.822 --> 00:41:39.927
I say like on the phone.

00:41:39.927 --> 00:41:41.202
They didn't have phones back then.

00:41:41.342 --> 00:41:43.644
No, he would not dare to go after her.

00:41:43.644 --> 00:41:45.228
He had a family to look after.

00:41:45.228 --> 00:41:46.690
He didn't go after his board.

00:41:47.530 --> 00:41:48.952
I mean, can you blame him?

00:41:48.952 --> 00:41:50.454
He had his family.

00:41:50.454 --> 00:41:58.512
She was just there Temporarily, their kindness to let her live there.

00:41:58.512 --> 00:42:00.259
She was literally leaving the next day Right.

00:42:02.539 --> 00:42:04.306
Well, she was supposed to, on the 13th, take the train to see seward, seward, seward.

00:42:04.306 --> 00:42:24.934
Yes, so she was not that far away from the house, but she couldn't hear him over the wind right makes sense so there there was a 40 acre pasture around the house and it was pasture it was fenced in, which was rare during this time there wasn't a lot of fences, but this particular field was fenced in, okay, and she no, she hadn't crossed it yet right okay.

00:42:25.514 --> 00:42:31.847
So the snow felt like frozen sand against the eyelids, nostrils and lips.

00:42:31.847 --> 00:42:37.001
You couldn't face into the wind or open your eyes for even a second right.

00:42:37.001 --> 00:42:53.068
The wind was blowing so hard that if you fell, you didn't know if you could get up again jesus so edda found the fence okay she knew if she could just follow it all the way around, it didn't matter which way she would go she would end up at the house.

00:42:53.088 --> 00:43:10.753
She would get there, yes, okay so she walked and walked, and walked and she never saw it how, because it was that dense outside but I thought the fence would get you there she didn't get there.

00:43:10.753 --> 00:43:12.719
Somehow she did not get there.

00:43:12.719 --> 00:43:13.621
So what did she do?

00:43:13.621 --> 00:43:19.570
She crawled under the fence and, just like that, when she turned around, the fence was gone where'd it go?

00:43:19.570 --> 00:43:28.773
It disappeared in the snow okay so literally they cannot see in front of themselves right now I had to be wild.

00:43:29.213 --> 00:43:51.021
So edda drifted with the force of the wind and, like a miracle from the fucking heavens, she ran into a haystack oh, wow, okay so with no pitchfork or the basic use of her hands, because they were like fucking so cold I'm sure I would hope she had gloves on, but who knows back then so it was a warm day.

00:43:51.262 --> 00:43:52.507
She didn't why would you?

00:43:52.507 --> 00:43:54.434
Yeah, because how the day started.

00:43:54.434 --> 00:43:55.798
Why would you have gloves on?

00:43:55.978 --> 00:43:56.059
so.

00:43:56.059 --> 00:43:59.545
So she burrowed in as far as she could, which wasn't much.

00:43:59.545 --> 00:44:04.592
Her legs were still exposed to the knife-biting elements of the blizzard.

00:44:04.592 --> 00:44:05.775
Oh, dear Okay.

00:44:06.460 --> 00:44:08.184
It's kind of like Luke going into the Tauntaun.

00:44:08.726 --> 00:44:08.987
Yes.

00:44:09.469 --> 00:44:10.331
But more hay.

00:44:10.331 --> 00:44:15.585
Do you know what the inside temperature of a Tauntaun is?

00:44:15.585 --> 00:44:16.909
No Lukewarm.

00:44:16.909 --> 00:44:20.643
You butthead you are such a butthead.

00:44:20.682 --> 00:44:21.563
Jesus, am I wrong?

00:44:21.563 --> 00:44:29.865
I'm not going to answer that.

00:44:30.802 --> 00:44:33.668
Because you know I'm not, but you want me to be.

00:44:33.849 --> 00:44:34.871
I'm not going to answer that.

00:44:34.871 --> 00:44:46.481
The kids in Walter's schoolhouse yes, in Walter.

00:44:46.481 --> 00:44:48.945
The kids in walter schoolhouse yes, walter hadn't noticed, okay, that there were drays approaching.

00:44:48.945 --> 00:44:49.367
There were.

00:44:49.367 --> 00:44:49.708
What drays?

00:44:49.708 --> 00:44:56.061
They are a strong low cart or wagon okay typically without sides.

00:44:56.061 --> 00:44:59.927
That's used for hauling heavy loads by horse.

00:45:00.487 --> 00:45:00.909
Oh, okay.

00:45:01.168 --> 00:45:10.791
So a couple of drays were passing by the school, so the wood of the drays were already frozen solid as a rock.

00:45:10.791 --> 00:45:20.090
Sure, the children loaded into the drays, and Walter, responsible as he is, waited until his entire row was accounted for.

00:45:20.110 --> 00:45:21.215
Aw Walter.

00:45:21.719 --> 00:45:23.686
Walter was one of the last to board.

00:45:23.947 --> 00:45:24.208
Sure.

00:45:24.500 --> 00:45:26.025
The teachers did a head count.

00:45:26.025 --> 00:45:29.108
All were there, all were accounted for and off they went.

00:45:29.500 --> 00:45:30.784
Did they accidentally count someone twice?

00:45:30.784 --> 00:45:32.786
No, I feel like that's where that's headed.

00:45:33.159 --> 00:45:34.184
Within 10 yards.

00:45:34.405 --> 00:45:35.429
Oh, dear 30 feet.

00:45:35.840 --> 00:45:37.947
Walter had a sad realization.

00:45:38.449 --> 00:45:38.710
What.

00:45:43.360 --> 00:45:43.940
He left his perfume bottle.

00:45:43.940 --> 00:45:45.063
He left his perfume bottle in the classroom.

00:45:45.063 --> 00:45:45.644
You can get it later, dude.

00:45:45.644 --> 00:46:01.108
He knew what the cold did to liquid in a glass bottle I get that, but your life's more important he knew that the glass, as fragile as it was, it would crack and break yeah without even a thought, he jumped off oh walter.

00:46:01.750 --> 00:46:03.574
And he trudged back to the schoolhouse.

00:46:03.574 --> 00:46:16.425
Now, the drays were moving super slow when he dropped off, so he's like I can go in, grab it, come back out and just jump right back on the dream, but with how, with the, the state of the storm, you're not going to see that they were.

00:46:16.586 --> 00:46:17.509
They were gone, yeah.

00:46:17.509 --> 00:46:21.980
They were not visible and they could have been 20 feet ahead of them.

00:46:22.000 --> 00:46:24.108
Yes, and it wasn't visible Right.

00:46:24.108 --> 00:46:30.007
So, oh dear, so out of sight, in the whiteout, out of earshot, in the wind.

00:46:30.007 --> 00:46:35.206
Snow clogged his nostrils Right, coated his eyelashes.

00:46:35.206 --> 00:46:41.485
Snow blew down the neck of his coat, oh boy, and up his sleeves, yep.

00:46:41.485 --> 00:46:51.775
The air was so full of powdered ice crystals and it was moving so fast that Walter had trouble filling his lungs Right.

00:46:51.775 --> 00:46:57.771
The exposed skin of his face and neck spread through his body and brain.

00:46:58.150 --> 00:46:58.992
Oh Jesus, his body and brain, oh Jesus.

00:47:04.780 --> 00:47:13.971
Instead of turning around and taking shelter in the schoolhouse, he decided to set out for home, though he could barely see or breathe, right, good Lord, did they find him frozen in a pose of walking or something?

00:47:15.168 --> 00:47:15.679
Good Lord?

00:47:15.920 --> 00:47:21.653
The whiteout was horrendous, but it was the assault on their eyes.

00:47:21.653 --> 00:47:23.458
Sure that was really rough.

00:47:23.458 --> 00:47:41.407
I bet that tiny vicious pellets of snow from the wind were like shards of glass tearing into his vision, god damn yeah he would tear up and, mixing with the snow he would, it would form an icy crust yeah, that's terrible it sealed his eyelids shut.

00:47:41.407 --> 00:47:48.791
Oh boy, he tried to like brush it away, but it ended up like burning his eyes yeah and then they were super inflamed.

00:47:48.811 --> 00:47:55.934
They were probably creating like little micro tears in his eyes, god, um, and so his sight started blurring.

00:47:55.934 --> 00:47:58.003
The pain was super intense.

00:47:58.003 --> 00:48:02.393
Yeah, so he just left the frozen crust over his eyes.

00:48:02.393 --> 00:48:03.905
Jesus Christ, that had to suck.

00:48:03.905 --> 00:48:09.369
He couldn't see, he couldn't force his eyes open without ripping the delicate skin around it.

00:48:09.630 --> 00:48:10.132
Wow Okay.

00:48:11.661 --> 00:48:24.541
And then his face began to vanish it was encased in a mask of ice, leaving only the littlest openings for his nostrils and mouth is the only reason why that?

00:48:24.902 --> 00:48:27.987
because obviously he's trying to breathe in and out.

00:48:27.987 --> 00:48:31.474
That was how am I trying to ask this?

00:48:31.474 --> 00:48:34.307
Obviously there's some warmer air coming from those spots.

00:48:34.307 --> 00:48:36.882
Is that the only reason why that those are open compared to?

00:48:36.902 --> 00:48:37.503
the rest of his face.

00:48:37.503 --> 00:48:39.447
There Probably there's air movement, right yeah?

00:48:39.648 --> 00:48:41.172
Not even just warmer, but just movement.

00:48:41.172 --> 00:48:41.733
Yes, yeah, okay.

00:48:43.021 --> 00:48:51.777
So the cold kept beneath his clothing, turning it into a frozen armor like a rigid cage around his little body.

00:48:52.018 --> 00:48:52.300
I bet.

00:48:52.681 --> 00:48:56.371
And it happened so quickly and horrifying.

00:48:56.371 --> 00:49:01.896
There was just a swift descent into this oblivion.

00:49:01.896 --> 00:49:03.804
There was a howling wind.

00:49:03.804 --> 00:49:06.088
It filled his ears.

00:49:06.088 --> 00:49:11.327
The frozen needles and snow slicing his skin so fucking painful.

00:49:11.327 --> 00:49:13.742
He started stumbling.

00:49:13.742 --> 00:49:19.306
He was lost, disoriented, and we don't know how long.

00:49:19.306 --> 00:49:28.065
He had Minutes Before the wind claimed him or his frozen limbs gave away.

00:49:28.065 --> 00:49:29.909
Exhaustion ended up pulling him under.

00:49:29.909 --> 00:49:36.561
Sure, walter stumbled to the ground, but he noticed down there that the snow was a little bit softer.

00:49:36.561 --> 00:49:41.085
The wind was not as vicious, so he curled up in the snow.

00:49:41.605 --> 00:49:42.346
Oh, wow.

00:49:42.686 --> 00:49:44.646
Etta in her haystack.

00:49:44.646 --> 00:49:48.650
Her shelter became a frozen prison overnight.

00:49:48.650 --> 00:49:54.893
Oh, I bet it was snow-packed solid, essentially trapping her in there.

00:49:54.893 --> 00:50:00.797
Right, Her core stayed a little bit warm, which I'll kind of tell you a little bit about blood flow.

00:50:00.797 --> 00:50:11.135
Sure, so her core stayed a little bit warmer, but her legs were frozen, just useless, Because those were hanging out still right, those were hanging out.

00:50:11.135 --> 00:50:14.009
She drifted in and out of consciousness.

00:50:14.009 --> 00:50:19.451
There would be like little refugee mice in there that would like nibble at her wrists.

00:50:19.751 --> 00:50:24.804
Oh boy, they're looking for anything, so yeah and she was very religious.

00:50:24.844 --> 00:50:39.362
So she, she prayed, she tried to sing hymns as best as she could, and just believing that god would send her some kind of help right, wow so your body temperature is a steady, pretty steady 98.6 degrees.

00:50:39.362 --> 00:50:40.903
That that's the average Average Yep.

00:50:40.903 --> 00:50:43.364
It begins to slow.

00:50:44.266 --> 00:50:45.146
Mine's always lower.

00:50:45.726 --> 00:50:46.547
So is Nathan's.

00:50:46.708 --> 00:50:46.987
Yeah.

00:50:47.068 --> 00:50:47.347
Yeah.

00:50:47.347 --> 00:50:50.630
So the forces of this blizzard?

00:50:50.630 --> 00:50:55.755
There's radiation, there's conduction, there's evaporation and there's convection.

00:50:56.054 --> 00:50:56.394
Okay.

00:50:56.474 --> 00:50:59.137
And somehow they all steal your heat.

00:50:59.137 --> 00:50:59.918
Oh, okay.

00:50:59.998 --> 00:51:00.237
Okay.

00:51:01.161 --> 00:51:05.891
So your uncovered head radiates warm into the icy air.

00:51:05.891 --> 00:51:12.273
Your damp clothes, soaked and heavy, become a freezing blanket.

00:51:12.860 --> 00:51:16.869
Well, like you said, for Walter, it came like an armor, basically.

00:51:17.050 --> 00:51:17.552
Exactly.

00:51:17.692 --> 00:51:17.992
Yeah.

00:51:18.280 --> 00:51:25.474
The wind strips away the thin layer of warmth clinging to your skin, replacing it with this bitter, agonizing cold.

00:51:25.494 --> 00:51:25.554
Yep.

00:51:26.519 --> 00:51:32.998
In essence, you're being swept away in a river of freezing air, peeling away your body heat layer by layer.

00:51:33.219 --> 00:51:33.420
Okay.

00:51:35.463 --> 00:51:51.271
The wind chill intensifies the assault, essentially on your body At five degrees below zero, and then plunging to 40 below your exposed flesh threatens to turn to ice in just minutes.

00:51:51.519 --> 00:51:52.483
Yeah, I can imagine.

00:51:52.483 --> 00:51:54.429
It only takes literally minutes.

00:51:54.429 --> 00:51:59.286
And that seems long at that point, because, good Lord, and then they're shivering.

00:52:00.081 --> 00:52:02.681
It's a desperate attempt at keeping warm yeah, that's.

00:52:02.780 --> 00:52:16.302
That's why you shiver is to try and generate heat in your body, and you can't fight it when it's those conditions and shivering also burns through additional energy correct because it's trying your body.

00:52:16.302 --> 00:52:24.155
It's your body trying to do anything to help you, but you're also using that energy, which then weakens you.

00:52:24.155 --> 00:52:27.289
So it's a double-edged sword kind of thing.

00:52:27.289 --> 00:52:27.911
It is yeah.

00:52:28.260 --> 00:52:42.552
So the cold seeps into your bones, your skin slowly surrenders to the cold, becoming stiff, unresponsive, and once the shivering stops, your body gives up, shutting down pretty quickly, right.

00:52:42.552 --> 00:52:48.289
So your blood thickens, oh wow, and your heart weakens, sure, barely pumping, okay.

00:52:48.289 --> 00:53:00.552
So there's less oxygen, there's more lactic acid, and then there's a failing heart, right, and your body, trying to survive, pulls blood from your skin to your core.

00:53:00.552 --> 00:53:08.369
So I learned this in aesthetic school it's called retrostasis.

00:53:08.369 --> 00:53:12.851
I did not do additional research on this.

00:53:12.851 --> 00:53:14.726
This is just memory.

00:53:16.021 --> 00:53:19.842
That's amazing, so why don't we just move on so?

00:53:19.902 --> 00:53:29.119
essentially, you've got blood throughout your body and as soon as you put like something cold on your body, that blood rushes away to protect the inside core, sure.

00:53:29.119 --> 00:53:36.905
And then, once it realizes that there's not a threat, your blood comes back, essentially warming up the skin Gotcha.

00:53:36.905 --> 00:53:42.027
So the blood pulls from your skin to your core.

00:53:42.027 --> 00:53:49.213
It actually kind of makes you urinate a little bit more uncontrollably and it also dehydrates you by doing that.

00:53:49.213 --> 00:53:49.733
That's weird.

00:53:49.733 --> 00:53:53.715
Your brain is starved of oxygen and that starts to fail.

00:53:54.016 --> 00:53:54.317
Okay.

00:53:54.436 --> 00:53:56.257
You lose your touch with reality.

00:53:56.257 --> 00:53:59.228
Oh shit, you hallucinate, you become delirious.

00:53:59.360 --> 00:54:00.626
So can I ask something real quick?

00:54:00.626 --> 00:54:03.445
Mm-hmm, what if you never were in touch with reality?

00:54:04.469 --> 00:54:05.231
what do you lose?

00:54:05.231 --> 00:54:17.153
Then, so eventually yeah as cold as it is, you start to feel warm, which is.

00:54:17.375 --> 00:54:19.402
Isn't that wild that your body does that?

00:54:19.463 --> 00:54:23.527
it's's almost burning, right, you start to remove your clothes.

00:54:24.201 --> 00:54:27.329
Yeah, because this has happened to many a people over there.

00:54:27.880 --> 00:54:30.690
It's called paradoxical undressing.

00:54:31.481 --> 00:54:33.108
Oh, it's actually got a name, okay.

00:54:33.260 --> 00:54:35.648
It's a desperate delusion, right?

00:54:35.648 --> 00:54:38.027
So you don't feel cold anymore.

00:54:38.027 --> 00:54:40.548
You're lost in this world where your brain is dying.

00:54:40.548 --> 00:54:44.063
You're no longer trapped in your body, you just watch it freeze.

00:54:44.063 --> 00:54:45.469
Isn't that wild yeah.

00:54:45.780 --> 00:54:49.407
That's just amazing that your brain does that to you.

00:54:49.407 --> 00:54:51.693
Yeah, in a way it's just crazy.

00:54:52.460 --> 00:55:01.014
So the Drays rode through Main Street and dropped off the kids of Walter's schoolhouse, one by one, to their parents.

00:55:01.414 --> 00:55:02.175
Except for Walter.

00:55:02.539 --> 00:55:07.211
But Walter Allen's parents Were waiting, didn't see Walter.

00:55:07.659 --> 00:55:08.704
Well, because he wasn't there.

00:55:09.619 --> 00:55:14.492
His father and his brother Will set off on another dray oh dear.

00:55:14.492 --> 00:55:19.010
So the drivers of the drays were like, okay, we're going to save our horses, we're going to pack up, we're going to go home.

00:55:19.010 --> 00:55:22.177
And they were like, okay, we're going to save our horses, we're going to pack up, we're going to go home.

00:55:22.177 --> 00:55:24.208
And they're like, well, there's a kid missing.

00:55:24.208 --> 00:55:26.128
They're like, god damn it.

00:55:27.121 --> 00:55:28.126
Son of a bitch.

00:55:28.126 --> 00:55:36.331
So these drays, that's a tough choice, because they obviously are doing their thing and they have their things to protect.

00:55:36.331 --> 00:55:46.335
They have family, they have their horses, which is you know, you know in essence part of their family and or livelihood livelihood absolutely but yet now you have this eight-year-old.

00:55:46.355 --> 00:55:56.925
It's like, fuck yeah, kill our horses or look for, you know, potentially kill the horses while they look for this child, yeah, or save the horses, yeah, it's.

00:55:56.925 --> 00:55:57.505
You know.

00:55:57.505 --> 00:56:06.887
Obviously most people go with human life over the animals, which I understand, but also kind of sad, but it's like you can't just leave this boy out there.

00:56:06.887 --> 00:56:08.331
Yeah, it's really tough.

00:56:09.262 --> 00:56:13.831
So his father and brother Will set off on another journey retracing their tracks.

00:56:13.831 --> 00:56:33.449
Yeah, they did end up back at the schoolhouse, but there was no one inside, no outside, no visible tracks, no walter well, which is understandable because of the conditions, would have covered tracks and whatnot, right, oh, yes, so so his father was going to stay behind and keep looking.

00:56:33.449 --> 00:56:37.503
But the drivers of the dray argue with him about the dangers.

00:56:37.503 --> 00:56:49.672
Well, yeah, and the father agreed, but no one was watching out for his brother will oh, come on okay will was gone where did will go?

00:56:50.393 --> 00:56:53.960
will went looking for walter well, yeah, but where did he go?

00:56:54.603 --> 00:57:08.652
so will also found that the visibility was better right next to the ground sure, and so he started crawling yes, and with whatever luck that he had in the world, he found walter's body.

00:57:08.711 --> 00:57:19.041
How the fuck that's amazing luck, 100 luck, holy shit walter was unconscious but breathing oh, he's so, he was still alive.

00:57:19.061 --> 00:57:47.668
He was still alive, okay his limbs were limp, which meant they weren't frozen yet which is impressive will picked walter up and walked towards main street, despite his house being right there, right next door, aka like closer to where the boys were yeah was their father's law office and Will was like I can't, he's carrying this eight-year-old boy in this awful weather.

00:57:47.768 --> 00:57:52.052
He's already probably exhausted from the weather, let alone carrying another human.

00:57:52.233 --> 00:57:54.534
So he stumbled inside the law office.

00:57:55.476 --> 00:57:59.081
Wow, I mean smart move really At least shelter right.

00:57:59.101 --> 00:58:02.501
His body gave, gave out, but he mustered enough strength of strength.

00:58:02.501 --> 00:58:21.054
Eventually that will staggered next door to his house where will and walter's parents were just beside themselves so wait, his father's law office was next to their house, literally next door, wow okay so will was like I can't make it any further with this child in my hands.

00:58:21.054 --> 00:58:22.780
I have to just find shelter.

00:58:22.940 --> 00:58:26.409
So he left Walter in the law office, and then he went home.

00:58:26.409 --> 00:58:29.306
Yes, went next door home Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha.

00:58:29.788 --> 00:58:30.248
Wow.

00:58:30.469 --> 00:58:31.052
That's wild.

00:58:31.619 --> 00:58:37.972
So Will and his father went back to the law office, and Walter was barely coherent.

00:58:38.293 --> 00:58:38.474
Right.

00:58:43.820 --> 00:58:44.842
And they ended up so he couldn't even walk.

00:58:44.842 --> 00:58:45.364
Walter was delirious.

00:58:45.364 --> 00:58:47.429
He couldn't walk will, and his dad dragged him back to the house.

00:58:47.429 --> 00:58:54.367
Walter's eyes were open but he was really confused, staring from his dad to will and back again.

00:58:54.367 --> 00:59:00.733
He had no idea he'd gotten there from the school why would he, though he's probably like, literally not there?

00:59:00.793 --> 00:59:22.010
yeah, and all he could feel was this like awful stinging, and on his body it was like on fire which is the cold he was oh, it was so cold, yeah, and he was shivering so hard he couldn't stop okay but what he didn't notice was a little trickle of liquid running down his leg.

00:59:23.233 --> 00:59:23.614
Oh dear.

00:59:24.300 --> 00:59:28.971
As he was warming up, his perfume bottle was thawing.

00:59:28.971 --> 00:59:33.208
Wow, and it busted the perfume bottle.

00:59:33.208 --> 00:59:36.929
The glass had shattered and it was running down his leg.

00:59:36.929 --> 00:59:38.246
He lost his perfume bottle.

00:59:38.681 --> 00:59:42.250
So all of that for nothing, as in essence right.

00:59:42.250 --> 00:59:54.871
No, that's sad because he obviously loved that thing he cherished it so much and the whole reason why he put himself in harm's way was to save this perfume bottle that he cherished so much.

00:59:54.871 --> 00:59:58.443
And it was all for not it had.

00:59:59.025 --> 01:00:03.132
It had uh frozen and then just busted the little fragile glass.

01:00:03.172 --> 01:00:12.927
Yeah, that's sad because obviously I have a young son and you know, maybe he doesn't have anything that he cherishes that much particularly yet.

01:00:12.927 --> 01:00:24.882
But I get like there's things he loves and it's like kids get fixated on things, yeah, um, because they just don't know better or whatever, whatever you want to say there.

01:00:24.882 --> 01:00:33.891
But that's sad because I mean that's devastating to him because he lost the thing he was trying to save, yep, because he cherished it so much.

01:00:33.891 --> 01:00:34.579
So that's, that's.

01:00:34.739 --> 01:00:40.467
That's sad, wow a man by the name of Daniel Murphy, a local farmer.

01:00:40.467 --> 01:00:48.664
Okay Checked his dwindling hay supply after the blizzard and found Etta.

01:00:48.664 --> 01:00:50.329
He almost missed the sound.

01:00:50.329 --> 01:00:52.744
Oh shit, but three days.

01:00:53.146 --> 01:00:54.630
Three days Holy fuck.

01:00:55.041 --> 01:01:03.827
After the storm yeah, he heard a thin quiet voice inside a haystack that said Is that you, mr Murphy?

01:01:04.349 --> 01:01:07.487
Wow, so she knew who it was it was Etta Shattuck.

01:01:07.768 --> 01:01:15.907
Wow, miraculously she survived 78 hours that's wild Exposed to the extreme cold.

01:01:15.907 --> 01:01:16.949
That's crazy.

01:01:16.949 --> 01:01:25.907
Murphy and a hired man that he had carefully dug her out, finding her alive but with severely frostbitten limbs.

01:01:25.967 --> 01:01:28.789
I was going to say she has to be frostbitten because, good Lord.

01:01:29.369 --> 01:01:39.577
Murphy thankfully knew the dangers of frostbite and rushed her home and his mind was getting word out to her family which was in Seward.

01:01:40.920 --> 01:01:45.730
Right, right right 183 miles away she was supposed to take the train two days prior to the one, they found her.

01:01:45.809 --> 01:01:52.228
Yes, exactly, yeah, wow so after that blizzard, it was like the world held its breath.

01:01:52.228 --> 01:01:54.733
It wasn't over, right, there was just dead.

01:01:54.733 --> 01:01:56.101
Skill, it was still.

01:01:56.101 --> 01:02:04.074
It was still brutally cold, right, and the sky was like this clear but painful blue.

01:02:04.074 --> 01:02:07.208
Okay, there was tiny ice crystals in the sky.

01:02:07.208 --> 01:02:08.786
They called it diamond dust.

01:02:08.786 --> 01:02:20.077
Oh wow, everything was white, just endless white, and we're on the prairie with very little structures, right, right, yeah, towns were shut down, completely buried.

01:02:20.077 --> 01:02:24.610
Okay, you couldn't see across the street in some places, jesus Christ, Could you?

01:02:24.650 --> 01:02:27.949
imagine Like that's not that far, I know that's just wild.

01:02:27.949 --> 01:02:35.472
And there was just this awful silence and the only thing you could see was like smoke rising straight up from chimneys trying to stay warm.

01:02:35.793 --> 01:02:45.626
Yeah, but burning overtime really Just to warm up the houses and whatnot burning overtime, really just to warm up the, the houses and whatnot.

01:02:45.646 --> 01:02:47.271
Once the, the sun rose, you could start to reveal kind of what happened.

01:02:47.271 --> 01:02:48.637
Okay, dead cattle everywhere.

01:02:48.637 --> 01:02:53.889
They were just frozen solid they had nowhere to go.

01:02:54.751 --> 01:03:03.512
Some, I'm sure some had little shelters and stuff and I'm I'm trying to blank on the name I'm trying to think of, but, yeah, barns.

01:03:03.512 --> 01:03:13.295
No, if anyone's looking for a podcast partner, I am available.

01:03:13.295 --> 01:03:20.186
No, like I'm drawing a blank on the term, I don't know.

01:03:20.186 --> 01:03:21.300
It's more like a lean.

01:03:21.695 --> 01:03:23.302
I obviously know what a fucking barn is.

01:03:23.342 --> 01:03:30.927
Yeah, yeah, but like a lean-to kind of thing where it's almost got like a slanted roof and three sides and an opening.

01:03:30.927 --> 01:03:31.688
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:03:31.708 --> 01:03:55.826
Typically, even that would have been beneficial in this type of weather, in this type of weather, but if you didn't have anything like that, because, again, 1888, roam cattle or roam whatever animals you have and it's like we'll get you later no one planned for shit like this, right so, and a lot of people didn't have the money to build that shit.

01:03:55.826 --> 01:04:05.170
They just they only could afford so much and animals were secondary, were secondary to their homes and such whatever.

01:04:06.030 --> 01:04:07.411
But it wasn't just dead cattle.

01:04:07.411 --> 01:04:10.532
No, they started to notice bodies.

01:04:10.532 --> 01:04:13.264
Oh dear.

01:04:13.264 --> 01:04:25.701
They would notice a gray sleeve out of a jacket, just above the snow, a boot, a clump of hair, ugh geez, an arm.

01:04:25.701 --> 01:04:30.789
But those that did survive the night actually died when they tried to walk.

01:04:31.954 --> 01:04:32.014
Why.

01:04:33.277 --> 01:04:38.083
So the warmth is actually what killed some of the survivors.

01:04:38.364 --> 01:04:38.885
How so.

01:04:39.266 --> 01:04:41.228
So you think that it would be a good thing, right?

01:04:41.469 --> 01:04:42.490
You would think yeah.

01:04:45.275 --> 01:04:51.742
But their bodies had been so cold for so long that when they stood up or got into a warm place, their hearts just gave out.

01:04:52.054 --> 01:04:53.983
Because it was just so much on the heart.

01:04:54.335 --> 01:04:56.240
It's called rewarming shock.

01:04:56.621 --> 01:04:58.085
Oh wow, I've never heard of that before.

01:04:58.394 --> 01:05:01.103
Their bodies just couldn't handle that sudden change.

01:05:01.425 --> 01:05:01.786
Okay.

01:05:01.934 --> 01:05:06.465
So basically, your body goes into survival mode during the cold.

01:05:06.505 --> 01:05:07.088
Yeah right.

01:05:07.454 --> 01:05:12.146
So the core brings all that blood into the center.

01:05:12.447 --> 01:05:12.668
Yep.

01:05:13.155 --> 01:05:15.523
Everything else is like fucking tough luck.

01:05:15.523 --> 01:05:18.958
Yeah, right so your limbs are the first ones to go.

01:05:19.059 --> 01:05:22.784
Correct, because they also, especially when you bring the blood to the center.

01:05:22.784 --> 01:05:25.009
If you will, those are the first out.

01:05:25.009 --> 01:05:27.481
Yes, so they're the first to go.

01:05:28.014 --> 01:05:37.010
So it clamps down on the blood vessels in your arms and legs and keeps all the warm blood in your center to protect your organs.

01:05:37.010 --> 01:05:43.476
Right organs right.

01:05:43.476 --> 01:05:55.286
So when you get warmed up too fast, especially your arms and legs, all those clamped down vessels suddenly open up and all that cold blood like an icy tidal wave yeah rushes back to your heart yeah, for sure and that blood pressure tanks and your heart just fails.

01:05:55.487 --> 01:05:56.728
wow, that's wild.

01:05:56.728 --> 01:06:04.717
Of course doctors know about this now, sure, but back then they didn't.

01:06:04.717 --> 01:06:08.606
They can warm people up carefully, focusing on the core now.

01:06:08.768 --> 01:06:09.027
Yeah.

01:06:09.155 --> 01:06:16.226
Not just throwing them into a hot bath, but back then they didn't understand why people were dying after they were rescued.

01:06:16.407 --> 01:06:16.688
Right.

01:06:17.356 --> 01:06:22.427
It was really dangerous and sad and just a consequence of how cold it fucking was.

01:06:22.427 --> 01:06:23.128
That's wild.

01:06:23.128 --> 01:06:30.806
So when some of the people left out in the blizzard were to find the live, they died trying to walk or being brought inside.

01:06:31.047 --> 01:06:34.719
That's crazy, could you imagine, because you think it's like shit.

01:06:34.719 --> 01:06:40.523
We made it through, let's go warm up, but you did it too fast and it fucked you more than it helped you.

01:06:40.523 --> 01:06:44.382
That's just crazy to think that way, because you would think we're good.

01:06:45.295 --> 01:06:55.010
So my stories about Walter and Etta those are just two out of many in this book that I read called the Children's Blizzard by David Laskin.

01:06:55.010 --> 01:07:03.106
Many of the children that he wrote about died once they were being rescued.

01:07:03.106 --> 01:07:04.288
That's sad, yeah, wow.

01:07:04.288 --> 01:07:14.867
It wasn't until January 17th that Etta's father, ben, in Seward, received a telegram that his daughter had been found.

01:07:15.208 --> 01:07:15.849
That's crazy.

01:07:15.849 --> 01:07:16.951
I mean, it's amazing.

01:07:16.951 --> 01:07:22.746
And did she have any lasting injuries?

01:07:22.827 --> 01:07:25.943
Yes, she had severe frostbite.

01:07:26.184 --> 01:07:26.405
Right.

01:07:26.735 --> 01:07:30.583
So it took Ben two days to get there by train.

01:07:31.045 --> 01:07:31.646
From Seward.

01:07:31.907 --> 01:07:40.300
Yeah, I mean, that's how off of the blizzard was Right, but also back then I don't know how fast trains were going at the time, at least five miles per hour.

01:07:40.300 --> 01:07:44.286
But it was 183, 186, something like that miles.

01:07:44.454 --> 01:07:48.514
Yeah, it's really not that far In the grand scheme of things.

01:07:49.217 --> 01:07:52.806
He had seen gangrene in the Civil War while he was a POW in Belle.

01:07:52.967 --> 01:07:53.186
Isle.

01:07:53.974 --> 01:07:57.005
And he knew that her legs and feet were just too far gone.

01:07:57.005 --> 01:08:14.596
So Etta was transported in a hay-filled sleigh, okay, covered with canvas, for um, a nine mile trip from atkinson, where she was teaching, to o'neill, nebraska, which is where the train depot was.

01:08:14.596 --> 01:08:27.501
Okay, okay, so ben walked along beside her sure and despite his war-related leg injury and frigid single temperatures, he kept up with her the entire time.

01:08:27.501 --> 01:08:42.868
Wow, the train, unfortunately, was delayed an additional eight hours by the weather jesus christ, and it finally departed on a tuesday right to ensure edda's comfort, there was a makeshift cot that was arranged in the baggage car for an overnight trip.

01:08:43.109 --> 01:08:47.904
Sure and Etta endured the painful journey without a single complaint.

01:08:47.904 --> 01:08:51.423
Good for Etta, probably because she was in and out of consciousness.

01:08:52.056 --> 01:08:55.875
Well, that's more than likely, but we don't know More than likely.

01:08:56.355 --> 01:09:05.208
So Etta's story dominated public attention through the newspapers, including the Omaha Bee, which was a newspaper back then.

01:09:05.208 --> 01:09:06.229
So cute Omaha Bee.

01:09:08.757 --> 01:09:09.079
Is it cute?

01:09:09.079 --> 01:09:09.842
Because you like bees.

01:09:09.956 --> 01:09:11.573
I do like bees, and I like Omaha.

01:09:13.208 --> 01:09:13.634
I like Omaha.

01:09:14.076 --> 01:09:26.019
There was fundraising efforts through the newspapers to help her heal along with other people, papers to help her heal along with other people.

01:09:26.019 --> 01:09:28.646
Um, the omaha b actually collected a lot of funds for different people of the blizzard, oh wow.

01:09:28.646 --> 01:09:34.038
So edda's doctors remained pretty concerned um amputation was the only option.

01:09:34.038 --> 01:09:47.623
Edda lost both legs below the knee, that sucks news of her ordeal spread and additional fundraising campaign began, highlighting her father's civil war experience as well.

01:09:47.824 --> 01:09:48.726
I'm sure that didn't hurt.

01:09:50.078 --> 01:09:55.007
She initially appeared to recover, but her condition did deteriorate.

01:09:55.007 --> 01:10:02.948
The frostbite's damage was more extensive than initially thought and she required further amputations.

01:10:04.095 --> 01:10:05.240
What else did they amputate?

01:10:06.237 --> 01:10:08.489
I think they went a little bit higher on her leg.

01:10:08.529 --> 01:10:09.274
Gotcha Okay.

01:10:09.815 --> 01:10:16.689
But there was also a severe wound that was developing on her back because of how long she laid in the haystack.

01:10:16.689 --> 01:10:17.837
Oh shit.

01:10:18.400 --> 01:10:27.275
Okay, oh shit, okay.

01:10:27.275 --> 01:10:29.863
Despite her bravery and cheerfulness, edda's health declined rapidly on february 2nd.

01:10:29.904 --> 01:10:31.188
Oh so that I mean that's less than a month.

01:10:31.188 --> 01:10:45.605
Wow, doctors suspected sepsis which weakened her even more yeah, that'll do it on february 6th, her condition worsened and, surrounded by her family, she passed away at 9 am, just shy of her 20th birthday.

01:10:45.675 --> 01:10:47.002
God damn that's so young.

01:10:47.002 --> 01:10:54.663
That's sad, yeah, especially because she was a teacher helping people and then obviously nothing you could do.

01:10:54.663 --> 01:10:57.805
I mean nature, fuck, how could you plan for that?

01:10:57.805 --> 01:11:02.680
That's just sad that she died so young, especially because she made it through.

01:11:02.680 --> 01:11:13.166
I know it's almost like just take her now so she doesn't have to do that, but at least she was cheerful and she had a good mindset and tried to make the best of her shitty situation.

01:11:13.166 --> 01:11:18.079
But, it's just sad that ultimately it took her life, so that's too bad.

01:11:19.055 --> 01:11:22.868
Walter forever thanked his brother, Will brother will.

01:11:22.889 --> 01:11:23.792
Well, how could he not?

01:11:23.953 --> 01:11:25.399
for saving his life seriously.

01:11:25.458 --> 01:11:28.189
I mean he'd be, he would be dead if it wasn't for his brother.

01:11:28.411 --> 01:11:32.703
So they remained close for the rest of their lives well, that's good um.

01:11:32.703 --> 01:11:40.730
He graduated from the university of minnesota walter did and then he worked at the same newspaper that his brother will did, oh nice, they worked at the same newspaper.

01:11:40.730 --> 01:11:41.225
Okay, and wal Will did.

01:11:41.225 --> 01:11:41.784
Oh nice, they worked at the same newspaper.

01:11:41.784 --> 01:11:45.323
Okay, and Walter stayed with that publication for 50 years.

01:11:45.404 --> 01:11:47.006
Holy shit, wow Good for him.

01:11:47.154 --> 01:11:49.701
He died in 1973 at the age of 93.

01:11:50.042 --> 01:11:52.228
Oh wow, look at him, go yeah.

01:11:52.228 --> 01:11:57.400
So I mean, could you imagine 85 years earlier You're like I almost died.

01:11:57.400 --> 01:11:59.743
I made it to fucking 93.

01:12:01.737 --> 01:12:02.180
That's impressive.

01:12:02.180 --> 01:12:02.322
Wow.

01:12:02.322 --> 01:12:03.835
So the blitz blizzards victims?

01:12:03.835 --> 01:12:07.364
Obviously unimaginable suffering.

01:12:07.484 --> 01:12:07.746
Yeah.

01:12:08.537 --> 01:12:09.400
They died alone.

01:12:09.400 --> 01:12:11.682
They died with family.

01:12:11.682 --> 01:12:14.582
They died searching for family.

01:12:14.582 --> 01:12:18.283
Yeah, they died looking for their cattle.

01:12:18.283 --> 01:12:20.984
They died looking for their horses and fowls.

01:12:21.034 --> 01:12:21.496
Anything?

01:12:21.496 --> 01:12:23.399
Yeah, yes, wow, some froze to death quickly looking for their cattle.

01:12:23.354 --> 01:12:48.810
They died looking for their horses and fowls, anything, yeah, yes, wow, some froze to death quickly some slowly others, slowly, a night of agony, their faces torn and bloody from repeated attempts to remove ice oh geez they were found in various states of despair, like waist deep in drifts, clinging to fences or straw buried under wagons, or even outstretched on the snow.

01:12:48.810 --> 01:12:49.391
Wow.

01:12:49.391 --> 01:12:53.684
It's estimated that 1% of those caught in the storm perished.

01:12:54.265 --> 01:12:55.108
Only 1%.

01:12:55.877 --> 01:12:59.666
With children accounting for 20% of that.

01:12:59.666 --> 01:13:00.627
Wow, Jesus Christ.

01:13:00.627 --> 01:13:02.279
Of the fatalities Right two.

01:13:02.279 --> 01:13:08.725
So this is the midwest blizzard right yeah 235 casualties, although some estimate up to a thousand.

01:13:08.725 --> 01:13:12.523
Because we're not, we're, I mean like edda, is she, she's?

01:13:12.523 --> 01:13:17.735
A number of the fatality, or is she a number of the after effects like we?

01:13:17.796 --> 01:13:18.657
right, you know it's hard.

01:13:18.657 --> 01:13:22.461
It's hard to differentiate that yeah the total snow accumulation.

01:13:23.082 --> 01:13:23.381
Guess.

01:13:24.783 --> 01:13:46.100
Total snow accumulation two inches six fuck, that was my first number six inches is all I was gonna say six, but then I'm like I feel like you're tricking me, so I went lower only six inches that's wild the horrendous part of it was the fucking wind Right and all the drifts and the cold obviously.

01:13:47.056 --> 01:13:51.804
Because I mean, you've been in a storm, I've been in a storm where we got much more than six inches.

01:13:51.804 --> 01:14:01.760
I mean I've fucking driven through shit like that, Right, Obviously different times, I get that, but damn, that's wild, Because in the grand scheme of things, that's not that much.

01:14:01.760 --> 01:14:06.484
But it's the wind, it's the cold, it's the ice crystals, whatever you were.

01:14:06.484 --> 01:14:08.806
Diamond, ice diamonds is that what they call them?

01:14:08.806 --> 01:14:09.967
Was that what it was?

01:14:11.009 --> 01:14:11.649
Diamond dust.

01:14:11.649 --> 01:14:12.189
Was that what it was?

01:14:12.189 --> 01:14:13.952
Diamond dust, it was something like that.

01:14:15.074 --> 01:14:16.296
I'm drawing a blank.

01:14:16.296 --> 01:14:21.140
I'm sorry, but yeah, it's all that shit that really fucked with the people, more than the depth of snow.

01:14:21.140 --> 01:14:26.105
So I mean, wow, diamond dust, diamond dust, that was what it was.

01:14:26.447 --> 01:14:33.618
So two months later there was another blizzard Motherfucker that caused more casualties.

01:14:33.618 --> 01:14:37.627
That was in the New York eastern seaboard type area.

01:14:37.648 --> 01:14:37.728
Okay.

01:14:38.635 --> 01:14:47.601
So actually there's more on that blizzard than there is on this one, the children's blizzard is it because of?

01:14:47.601 --> 01:14:50.046
The number of fatalities?

01:14:50.207 --> 01:14:59.819
okay, yeah, it was much more severe and I'm guessing the location of it is more new yorkish, right, that's gonna help, but this one was so much about the children.

01:14:59.819 --> 01:15:04.005
Right, yeah, because what's the name of the book again?

01:15:04.386 --> 01:15:07.029
The Children's Blizzard by David Laskin.

01:15:07.029 --> 01:15:12.097
Right, and I will tell you it is a gripping book.

01:15:12.097 --> 01:15:20.347
There's a lot of technical stuff about the weather Right, but there are so many firsthand accounts from journals and loved ones.

01:15:20.347 --> 01:15:24.786
It is truly a great, great book.

01:15:26.198 --> 01:15:29.206
So when we do episodes, you don't tell me what we're going to talk about.

01:15:29.246 --> 01:15:29.407
Yeah.

01:15:29.654 --> 01:15:33.144
But you did tell me you're reading this book and you're like edge of my seat.

01:15:33.805 --> 01:15:34.407
Edge of my seat.

01:15:34.447 --> 01:15:34.648
Yeah.

01:15:34.648 --> 01:15:37.117
So I'm like oh, good book, oh yeah.

01:15:37.497 --> 01:15:45.619
So like I did tonight, where I kind of intermixed etta and walter, yeah instead of doing one full story and then, another full story.

01:15:45.619 --> 01:15:51.622
That's how the book is sure, only there's multiple people several, several, several people, even more than those.

01:15:51.622 --> 01:15:58.113
Yeah, so it was a little bit more like chronological versus what one person endured from start to finish right no, it makes sense.

01:15:58.213 --> 01:16:06.222
But well, again, we like to focus not on everybody right, but more just a couple, one, one to two, whatever.

01:16:06.222 --> 01:16:08.529
So I like that you picked out just the two.

01:16:08.529 --> 01:16:16.608
But again, obviously, multiple, multiple people went through probably way worse, some easier, and you know, luckily.

01:16:16.847 --> 01:16:23.171
But uh, no, that's wild yeah, people in iowa, yeah, the western part of iowa.

01:16:23.171 --> 01:16:37.711
They were actually fairly reprieved from this because the snow, the storm happened a little bit um, a little bit later in the day for them oh so they didn't get caught out in it.

01:16:37.730 --> 01:16:42.204
I was gonna say most of them probably were home by then yes, kind of Kind of shit Just so luckily.

01:16:42.404 --> 01:16:42.645
Yes.

01:16:43.234 --> 01:16:44.680
Proximity to where it came.

01:16:44.680 --> 01:16:51.164
They got lucky that way, whereas it took those North Dakota territory people by surprise more or less.

01:16:51.164 --> 01:16:52.868
Yep, wow, that's wild.

01:16:53.215 --> 01:16:59.886
It was the Dakota territory western Missouri, eastern Nebraska and a little bit of western Iowa.

01:16:59.886 --> 01:17:06.739
Oh wow, yeah, eastern nebraska and a little bit of western iowa, oh wow, yeah.

01:17:06.739 --> 01:17:09.925
Um, this book by david laskin was a freaking godsend.

01:17:09.984 --> 01:17:11.027
He had an index of the people.

01:17:11.046 --> 01:17:12.349
Oh, my god like, okay.

01:17:12.368 --> 01:17:31.703
So I like to buy kindle books because I can highlight I can highlight, I can search and this is a library book and the fact that there was an index saved me oh well, yeah, because, because you couldn't go through and highlight and then check back your notes or whatever, right, I mean you can use posts and stuff, but it's still it's hard.

01:17:31.703 --> 01:17:35.518
So it's nice that you're able to utilize that.

01:17:35.557 --> 01:17:49.865
So thank you, david yeah so wonderful author yeah, that was the children's blizzard of 1888 well, I'm glad to know that kids weren't falling out of the sky nope, because that's what I thought it was.

01:17:49.865 --> 01:17:52.960
I'm just kidding, that's no, that's wild, could you?

01:17:52.960 --> 01:17:57.315
I mean, we've been through some shitty storms in our lives.

01:17:57.315 --> 01:18:05.010
I mean, yeah, um, I know I have like again, that one wasn't really shitty for me, but I could have died.

01:18:05.010 --> 01:18:07.943
I still can't believe my dad's just like, yeah, why don't we take a break?

01:18:07.943 --> 01:18:18.319
Okay, and then literally, like this log was fucking huge or branch, I should say it would have bonked me on the head and killed me instantly.

01:18:18.319 --> 01:18:24.565
But no, I mean, I've been through a few being in Wisconsin and nothing like that.

01:18:24.565 --> 01:18:30.551
Obviously Right, but we also have a lot different life than they did in 1888.

01:18:30.551 --> 01:18:38.082
And I also would not go back for a perfume bottle, and now I never will because I know yeah, we'll leave it be Poor little Walter.

01:18:38.684 --> 01:18:40.246
But yeah, he died at 93.

01:18:40.246 --> 01:18:41.106
Isn't that amazing.

01:18:41.287 --> 01:18:43.831
I can't believe he lasted until 93.

01:18:43.831 --> 01:18:47.385
I mean thank you, will I mean like you said?

01:18:47.404 --> 01:18:47.444
he.

01:18:47.444 --> 01:18:48.889
It was his brother Will that saved him, yeah.

01:18:48.935 --> 01:18:52.994
Yeah, he owed his life to his brother, the rest of his life basically.

01:18:52.994 --> 01:19:11.382
Because if it wasn't for Will, luckily wandering off to go look for his brother when no one else knew where the fuck will, even went, for that matter at that time and learning like I should get low and just literally crawled upon his brother and then brought him back.

01:19:11.382 --> 01:19:13.872
Yeah, that's amazing I mean, they just found him.

01:19:13.872 --> 01:19:15.015
What fucking luck.

01:19:15.015 --> 01:19:15.497
For what?

01:19:15.497 --> 01:19:15.858
For?

01:19:15.978 --> 01:19:30.139
for uh walter some of these family members didn't see their loved ones for for days oh, I would imagine days, yeah, and somewhere, even like weeks later, they would finally stumble upon someone's fucking crazy again look at the time frame.

01:19:30.179 --> 01:19:34.274
So yeah, it's not like you can be like I gotta send so-and-so a text.

01:19:34.274 --> 01:19:36.677
Can't do that back then, obviously.

01:19:36.677 --> 01:19:38.359
So you didn't even have phones.

01:19:38.359 --> 01:19:41.103
You had you know telegrams and newspapers?

01:19:41.122 --> 01:19:46.148
Yeah, so it's like let's put a net in the newspaper, see if so-and-so is out.

01:19:46.148 --> 01:19:46.908
You don't.

01:19:46.908 --> 01:19:49.532
You didn't even do that then because you're just looking for the people.

01:19:49.532 --> 01:20:00.346
So, yeah, it's wild that the fact that you couldn't communicate it's just weird to us because of how much you can, you can over communicate today.

01:20:00.346 --> 01:20:12.423
It's actually quite annoying sometimes, but uh, back then you you know, product of the times and the means you had, you got to hope for the best and be like well, I hope they're alive.

01:20:12.423 --> 01:20:16.078
That's just wild to think that way, but that's how it was.

01:20:16.078 --> 01:20:25.523
And walter got lucky, etta much, I mean, she survived for just under a month after, but it's just so sad because she was supposed to go home.

01:20:25.603 --> 01:20:27.819
She was so young and she was supposed to go home.

01:20:27.935 --> 01:20:30.181
She was literally a day away from leaving.

01:20:30.181 --> 01:20:32.864
Yeah, but she had to go get her pay.

01:20:32.864 --> 01:20:35.220
Could you imagine if she didn't have to go get her pay?

01:20:35.220 --> 01:20:36.043
She wouldn't have been out there.

01:20:36.043 --> 01:20:40.578
No, so she probably would have actually survived.

01:20:40.578 --> 01:20:42.800
I so she probably would have actually survived.

01:20:42.800 --> 01:20:54.828
I mean in theory, in theory, she would have stayed at the boarding house that she was at or the host house that she was at the host house and she would go the nine miles to O'Neill, nebraska, the very next day.

01:20:54.849 --> 01:20:55.869
That's wild.

01:20:55.869 --> 01:20:59.011
How did you like your tropical APA?

01:21:03.507 --> 01:21:03.869
It was good.

01:21:03.869 --> 01:21:07.837
I will say Linen Cools is one of my more favorite beers.

01:21:07.837 --> 01:21:09.779
They still need to figure out how to do IPAs.

01:21:10.100 --> 01:21:10.440
Oh, okay.

01:21:10.740 --> 01:21:11.622
I mean a bit more.

01:21:11.622 --> 01:21:13.265
It wasn't bad, Don't get me wrong.

01:21:13.625 --> 01:21:16.970
I liked my Barrelman Ale, my Amber Ale.

01:21:16.970 --> 01:21:20.342
Yeah, I thought you might like that one.

01:21:20.342 --> 01:21:21.086
Yeah, I liked it.

01:21:21.086 --> 01:21:25.582
I am a little bit set in my ways and I probably wouldn't like go out and purchase it same.

01:21:25.582 --> 01:21:27.456
But if I was at a party and this is what they had.

01:21:27.456 --> 01:21:27.997
I'd be.

01:21:27.997 --> 01:21:28.779
I would choose this.

01:21:29.078 --> 01:21:36.961
Yeah, that's why I was glad to see that they had the the 19.2 ounce cans of each of these, because they're both.

01:21:36.961 --> 01:21:39.527
When we sample beers on the podcast.

01:21:39.527 --> 01:21:41.136
We're not sure what we're gonna get.

01:21:41.136 --> 01:21:49.420
I have a hard time committing time committing to a six pack, or especially more than a six pack, like I bought that Corona for the origin one.

01:21:49.420 --> 01:21:53.105
Thus, uh, the angels go was that angels go?

01:21:53.145 --> 01:21:53.666
I believe so.

01:21:53.666 --> 01:21:54.887
Yeah, I think that's when we.

01:21:54.887 --> 01:21:59.545
We did that on Um, but the was a sun brew, a citrus cerveza.

01:21:59.545 --> 01:22:02.338
What was the sun brew, citrus cerveza?

01:22:02.338 --> 01:22:03.440
I believe it was called.

01:22:03.440 --> 01:22:06.807
Right, I had a feeling we're going to probably like this and we fucking do.

01:22:06.807 --> 01:22:07.007
We did.

01:22:07.007 --> 01:22:11.083
Yeah, I have purchased a couple 12-packs and sent.

01:22:11.083 --> 01:22:14.279
She's taking a sip.

01:22:14.279 --> 01:22:19.867
She's looking at me weird, which is normal, welp, I suppose.

01:22:19.867 --> 01:22:22.979
All right, buffoons.

01:22:22.979 --> 01:22:24.404
That's it for today's episode.

01:22:25.074 --> 01:22:28.243
Buckle up, because we've got another historical adventure waiting for you.

01:22:28.243 --> 01:22:36.194
Next time Feeling hungry for more buffoonery, or maybe you have a burning question or a wild historical theory for us to explore.

01:22:36.515 --> 01:22:37.841
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01:22:37.841 --> 01:22:42.567
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01:22:42.567 --> 01:22:46.625
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01:22:46.625 --> 01:22:48.559
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01:22:48.559 --> 01:22:50.185
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01:22:50.496 --> 01:22:55.027
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01:22:55.555 --> 01:22:58.585
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01:22:59.034 --> 01:23:01.158
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