Alright, it's fudging hot in here.
Not really.
Oh.
I think it's you.
I am so hot.
You are.
Thanks, babe.
Welcome to episode 51 of Delete This History, a podcast by two besties of a certain age searching for answers.
We're your host, Brea Brown.
And Cara Burch.
We're recording.
We are recording.
Good job.
I know.
I recorded some of our blather at the beginning so we wouldn't forget.
That's really good.
Um, do you feel like we were just here? Yeah.
Oh my gosh.
Yeah.
I mean, that's what happens when...
Like the weeks just fly by and there's not enough hours in the day.
And I mean, I'm not going to use the B word.
Yes, me neither.
Caleb, but, but it was B.
It was, it was an extremely B week.
It was VB.
And for both of us.
And yeah.
So, uh, it feels like I haven't slept the whole time.
Me too!
We've been gone.
I feel the same way.
Whatevs.
It's okay.
Everything's gonna be alright.
It'll be fine.
I mean, yeah.
By Thanksgiving or so, I should be okay.
If I could just make it to Thanksgiving.
You know what? I think that's a long way off.
But it so is not.
It's not that far.
Next week.
Now, I shouldn't say this.
Because it messes up our dates and our listeners and everything, but at the time that we're recording this, next week will be the first week of October.
Correct.
By the time this comes out, it will be the second week of October.
Barely.
EEEE.
Barely, the eighth.
Yeah.
Year's almost over.
Yeah, it has been a fast year.
It has, my gosh.
Anyway, we also found out today...
Oh, yes...
That we lost a dear, dear world treasure.
It's very sad.
Maggy Smith Death Day, as we're recording this.
Sucks! It sucks real hard.
It just really...
ugh.
If I hadn't been so VB today, I would have stopped and really thought about it.
In fact, I'd forgotten about it until you just said it.
Oh, sorry.
It's okay.
It hurts as bad as Snape.
Really? See, I'm not as hurt by this as Alan Rickman because he seems still so young to me.
Well, I agree.
And she lived a very long, full life.
She did, but still.
It still sucks.
Cara.
Yes ma'am.
I've got some bookmarks.
Let's hear all about them.
Okay.
One of them is something that I'm sure you will agree on.
Okay.
Kevin Can F Himself is amazing.
It's pretty good.
I like it a lot.
I'm super annoyed by the title.
Yeah.
I don't understand where that came from.
I mean, I understand.
But...
It needs a better title.
It was like, let's shock some people.
Yes, I think that was.
I really have been enjoying it.
Now Jacki and I have just watched the first season and we were like, what? But we didn't have time to watch more.
Sean and I finished the whole series, which is only two seasons.
Right, right.
And it, I was like, wow, that was good.
Okay, so it's a satisfying ending.
I feel like it is.
Okay.
I have so many theories about what's happening.
And Jacki does not agree with me.
But I said, who's the writer? That's right.
Me.
I'm interested to hear your theories, but we don't have to talk about them right now.
No, I don't want to spoil anything.
Just watch it people.
If you have Hulu or no, Netflix.
It's on Netflix.
That's where it is.
Also Grotesquerie premiered this past week as we record this and it is even more grotesque than you can imagine.
No, I pretty much had it.
It's disgusting.
I knew from that trailer, I could not watch it.
However, I'm compelled.
Oh no.
It's super scary.
And Lesley Manville is delightfully creepy and inappropriate in it.
And it's great to see her play against type.
It's just, she doesn't get to play characters like that.
She's always the straight-laced, you know, and she's weird in this.
Like really weird.
Like every time she says something, you're like, what is wrong with this person? It's, I haven't seen Travis Kelce yet.
Okay.
But he's in eight out of the 10 episodes according to IMDB.
So, it's not just some kind of weird cameo or whatever.
He's like really in the show.
Oh my goodness.
So, it'll be interesting.
Okay.
The first episode was actually two episodes.
It's a two episode premiere and then new episodes every Thursday.
I'm watching it on Hulu because it's FX.
Oh yes.
It's an FX show.
Understood.
Okay, last thing.
Okay.
I started Kindred by Octavia Butler, which we talked about last week.
So, I did want to just mention it.
It's really, really good.
Obviously.
It's really, really stressful.
I'm sure given the topic, because it's a modern person who keeps being transported back in time to like 1815.
And she's an African American woman.
It's problematic.
Okay.
She keeps being transported to Maryland, which was a slave state.
Okay.
Very stressful like my blood pressure when I'm reading and I'm like, how is she gonna get out of this? 
Oh.
Anyway, but it's good just very serious like not what I'm not what I usually read 
Right.
That's it.
Okay.
What about you? Oh I don't have any recommendations Unless you want to talk about sleeping or scrolling Instagram or trying to schedule a cleaning company or which I did.
I did get them to call me back and they have scheduled y'all.
The house is going to be cleaned, which means we can put it on the market.
Huh Ray.
Right.
That's really great.
Um, but I do have a follow-up from a previous episode.
I'm ready.
In episode 28, we, we taste tested Coca-Cola spiced.
We did.
It has been discontinued.
I saw that.
Shocking.
So, shocking.
So, it came out in February and by what is it? It's the end of September.
It is bye bye.
Yeah.
It's because it sucked.
Fail.
Coca-Cola.
The way of the dodo.
But you can still sponsor us if you want to.
Yes, of course.
Take all your leftover Coca-Cola spiced money.
Yeah.
Pour it into us.
Yes.
You won't be sorry.
No.
Cause we are bubbly and vivacious.
And spicy.
It's spicy.
In a good way.
Do you? Not a gross Coca-Cola spiced way.
But that's it.
I don't really have any other recommendations because quite frankly, I've done nothing this week.
But sleep.
That's not true.
Well, I mean, I haven't done anything that anybody would be interested in doing.
I see what you mean.
It's all been nothing but work.
Yeah.
Or sleep.
Although I am very interested in sleep if anyone ever wants to talk about sleep.
Man, it's not a very compelling topic.
No, it's not.
Unfortunately.
It is not.
And you're not really aware enough to have a conversation about what's going on while you're doing it.
No, but I had some wild dreams this week.
Me too.
Good night.
I got stung by some scorpions this week in my dreams.
I was at work and a whole room full of like thousands of people at a presentation Yeah, I was supposed to present at oh by the time I got to the podium.
They'd all turned to cats.
Oh.
And the meowing was so loud.
I was like trying to cover my ears.
It's such a theme for you.
I-Rooms full of cats.
I don't understand it.
Someone psychoanalyze it and email me and let me know must be one of like the most stressful things that you can imagine.
A room full of cats.
Yeah, I think it has to do with my job.
Like you're hurting cats? Yes.
I just think it's just mass chaos.
It's just how it's just the example.
My brain goes, cats.
Yeah.
My coworkers are kind of like cats.
Yeah.
I don't know.
Well, we're not hearing a bitch about work.
No, but we're good at it.
It's cause they're so VB.
Yes.
VVVVB We are we here to talk about Brea.
Well, we're here to talk to our DTH besties about our internet search histories.
Yes, and we do it with The Reading of the Lists.
Okay? Here, we're going to tell you our top three most interesting, funniest, most successful searches of the week in list form.
Here's my list.
FFV Not to be confused with VVB.
Got it.
Okay, Lycoperdon wolf fart puffball.
Mm-hmm.
And Bell Witch I had no gummies this week.
I just want to say that right up front.
Was it like the air pressure changing from the hurricane was making y'all like, I'm going to search.
Nope.
Okay.
All right.
Well, here's my list.
It's not nearly as dynamic or enticing as that list.
Number one, are there loons in Missouri? Oh yeah.
Lots.
Number two, Pennsylvania underground coal mine fire.
I remembered the name of the place.
Good job.
Okay, but I'm not gonna say it right now.
When we get there, I'll quiz you.
But I remembered it, who knows.
When we walked away? No, it was like just the other day, just like two days ago.
It just popped in your brain.
I was like, oh, when I was listening to the episode yesterday from last week.
Yes.
And I was like, oh, I wish I could go back in time and put the right, because as soon as I said it and I was like, I can't think of the name of the place right now.
I was like, it's, it was like you were listening to someone else's podcast and you knew the answer and you were yelling at the radio.
Yes.
Like a dummy.
You were listening to yourself.
I know.
And yelling at you.
Okay, sorry.
So, meta next number three, publican definition.
I like it.
Okay.
Do you know what I like to do? What? I like to play games.
Me too.
It's time to play a little game that we call Search Me! Where, we each pose one question to each other and see if we can answer based only on The Reading of the Lists.
Yeah, yeah, yeah! Cara, today you are playing for a classic.
Mike and Ike's.
I love Mike and Ike's.
However these are mega mix.
I don't know what that means but it has 10 flavors and they are the following.
Caribbean or Caribbean punch, strawberry banana, paradise punch, grape soda, kiwi banana, Mango Delight sounds like something.
Pineapple Banana.
Watermelon.
Oh, love me watermelon.
Peach Berry.
Oh, I like peach.
Blue Raspberry.
Make your mouth blue.
Here is your question.
Okay.
Which infamous supernatural entity from Tennessee folklore is said to have wrung terror into one 19th century family.
No, don't answer yet.
Okay.
Our DTH besties.
Yes.
Probably need to hear my list again because I'm sure they don't remember it.
It was so unmemorable.
No doubt, no doubt.
FFV, Lycoperdon Wolf Fart Puffball, or Bellwitch.
I'm going Bellwitch.
You get the Mike and Ikes.
It's spooky month.
Yeah.
As people are listening to this.
Yes it is.
And that means the kids and I are consuming a lot of spooky content on YouTube.
And the more you consume, the more YouTube says, well, don't you want to watch this now? Well now you want to watch this.
So one of the YouTube channels that we like is called “Bedtime Stories.”
Oh, they're not good bedtime stories.
They're scary.
And they covered the bell witch legend.
This is one of America's most famous ghost stories that you've never heard of maybe originating from Robertson County, Tennessee.
which back when this happened from 1817 to 1821, this was quite wilderness area.
I don't know what Robertson County, Tennessee's like right now, but it was very rural.
One of my favorite words that I can hardly say.
The tale centers around the Bell family who were allegedly haunted by a malevolent spirit for about four years.
Here's the gist.
It all began when John Bell, a farmer living with his family fired his gun at a dog-like creature to scare it away, and it disappeared into the ether.
But shortly after, the family started experiencing strange phenomena on their farm.
This included unusual noises like knocking, gnawing sounds, I don't know what gnawing sounds are, and dragging chains.
Oh.
Objects moving on their own.
And physical attacks on family members.
That's not cool.
With the witch striking, pinching, and pulling family members hair.
Now John Bell and his daughter, Betsy were the most abused victims of the whole family.
The bell witch was said to have the ability to speak, shape, shift, and be in multiple places at once.
And it often communicated with the family and visitors, sometimes revealing secrets and predicting future events.
A family friend tried to throw the invisible entity into the fire by grabbing it.
Whoa.
Like it was messing with him, I guess.
And so he knew where it was, even though he couldn't see it.
And he grabbed it and tried to throw it, but it was so heavy and smelled so bad that he just had to give up.
Cause he had to just let go of it.
Cause it was so awful.
Whoa.
Yeah.
Now the haunting reportedly ended with the death of John Bell in 1820.
Okay.
After three years of nonstop attacks and harassment, but his family believed that the Bell witch had poisoned him and his declining physical condition resulting in him being bedridden would support this hypothesis.
Now it would also be a great cover for a murder.
Yes.
You could be like, it was the Bell Witch.
The Bell Witch did it.
This dude was a complete dick and a terrible person and I hated him and he was a bad dad.
But the Bell Witch killed him.
No, I don't know any of those things.
I don't mean to slander John Bell.
Now, the Spirit also claimed responsibility for his death.
Really? Yes.
They were like, I killed him.
They even reportedly crashed his funeral singing, are you ready? Cheerful drinking songs.
Oh.
During the ceremony.
Whoa.
Yeah.
I'm sure that went over real well in Tennessee.
Yeah.
At that time.
The Bell Witch's presence diminished after his death and eventually disappeared altogether, but the legend persisted.
And now it's kind of like a tourist destination there.
You can go visit the house, the bell house, and you can see all the things and they'll tell you all about the, all the things that happened.
The bell witch legend has inspired numerous books, movies, and even a play.
The 2005 movie An American Haunting starring Donald Sutherland and Sissy Spacek is one such movie.
Oh, hmm.
Inspired by the Bell Witch.
I didn't know that.
And I know that movie, but I've never watched it.
And on the YouTube video, they said this was the first reported case of a death caused by a ghost in the United States.
That's very specific.
Yes.
But there's lots of ghosts over in other parts of the world.
Sure.
My sources were mythicalencyclopedia.com, Atlas Obscura, of course, IMDB, TNmuseum.org, allthatsinteresting.com bellwitch.org, and Bedtime Stories YouTube channel. Bellwitch.org.
Nice.
Yep.
Bellwitch.org.
There's a website for everything.
There is.
I'm taking these.
Yay.
My Mike and Ikes.
I love Mike and Ikes.
I also love their cousins.
the fiery hot tamales.
Do you? And I know I said like last week that I don't like hot cinnamon stuff.
Those, I don't know what it is about those, but I will eat them until they kill me.
Maybe it's cause they're chewy.
Maybe.
And they're not really that spicy.
And they're not super hot, yeah.
They've just got a little bit of kick.
I like to mix them with popcorn.
Popcorn? Have you ever mixed hot tamales with popcorn? Never.
It's delicious.
I have some popcorn, I'm gonna try that.
do it.
Good tip.
All right.
Are you ready for your prize reveal? Yeah, this is what I live for all week.
Oh geez.
Sorry about that.
All right.
Today it's inside this little box.
It is an amazing...
Oh, it has Beverly Burch's name on the outside of the box.
So, I know it's going to be good.
It's a personal organizer from the Burch family stash of stuff.
Oh my gosh.
It's electronic.
Yeah.
It's like, it's a PDA and it has a stylist that you can pull out of the top of it.
My gosh.
There it is.
So, yeah, you can like my Sudoku.
I had an electronic Sudoku.
Oh.
And it had a stylus like this that would slide down in there.
Well, you can get your life all together with this organizer from the 90s.
Whoa.
The instructions are in the box because the Burch’s kept every single instruction.
Well, good thing, because I bet I wouldn't be able to find this online.
You can store phone numbers.
You can.
It has an alarm clock.
Oh.
There's a globe on here and I thought maybe it was the internet, but it's not.
It's 24 cities, world time.
Yeah.
Um, Oh, maybe I can stop, um, texting my sister, Colleen, when it's the middle of the night for her.
Gosh.
This is what's up for grabs.
It's the TS-220.
Well, hit me with my question.
It's a softball.
Okay.
Which of my searches has a different meaning today in modern times from its original definition from ancient Greece? Your options are, are there loons in Missouri, Pennsylvania underground coal mine fire, and publican definition.
Alright, I'm going to say publican definition.
That is correct.
Man, now I don't remember what prompted me to search this, but I thought I had heard this word before and just couldn't remember the meaning.
But then I read the definition and I was like, maybe I didn't ever know this definition to begin with.
In ancient Rome.
Publicans were originally public contractors responsible for building and maintaining public infrastructure, collecting taxes, and supplying the military with food, goods, transportation, and accommodations.
Okay.
That's a lot of work.
Yes.
I mean, that's like a lot of things rolled into one.
However, over time, their role evolved to primarily focus on tax collection, often in a corrupt manner.
Oh no.
They were frequently despised by the citizens of Rome due to their perceived greed and exploitation.
Now, the word morphed over the centuries.
And now...
It's a British word that's used to refer to an owner or operator of a pub.
Correct.
A publican.
That's it.
End of search.
Were you going to say something? Well, I was just going to say, because I only knew the current definition.
Did not know all that about the Greek thing.
Yeah.
I did see a part where it says publicans are even referred to in the New Testament.
Cause you know, tax collectors.
Yeah.
So, yeah.
My sources were Google Gemini, Merriam-Webster, dictionary.com, Cambridge dictionary, and Wikipedia.
Excellent.
You just organize your life to the nth degree with that.
I actually, I've got some kids I think could use that.
I'm dying to see a date.
They'll look at that and be like, why would I need this if I have a phone? Well, yeah.
And the, it's a valid question.
Of course it is.
But you know, it's because phones didn't exist before those did.
Right.
And that thing was pretty cool for its time.
It is an antique.
Yeah, it probably is.
That may be worth some money.
Someone out there is like, man, I wish I could get a TS 220.
It's not a TS, is it? I don't remember.
Oh, it is a TS 220.
Wow, good for you remembering that.
Whoa.
Can't remember what I ate for lunch, but.
Hey, that's all right.
Well, speaking of things from history.
Yeah.
We have some things to talk about from a kind of history.
We're going to do something called a shared history.
Shared history.
And what we're talking about is not historical artifacts from the 90s.
But our internet search histories.
We're going to tell our DTH besties what we searched this week, why we searched it, and what we learned, if anything.
We always learn stuff.
So, many things.
I learned a lot this week with my searches.
Yeah, it sounds like it.
My first one is FFV.
Yes, ma'am.
FFV stands for do you want to come up with some things that it might stand for? Fast furry vehicle.
Oh, furry.
Future farmers of vegetation.
Oh, you're close.
Funny, funny vaginas.
Wait, I have to tell you something.
Your vagina is funny.
No.
Well, yes.
Cause that's it.
I was scrolling through Instagram like I do when I can't sleep.
And I came across this, this little thing and she said, um, okay, think about the last show you watched the title of it.
That's now the name of your vagina.
Grotesquery.
What about you, Cara? I remembered it last night and now I can't remember.
Hang on, I gotta think what the last thing was that I watched.
You know what? Mine's very fitting.
I mean, that fits.
Oh, oh, you're gonna die.
Oh shit.
Mr.Robot.
Hahaha.
Oh my vagina, Mr.Robot.
Oh, man.
Oh, shoot.
Anyway, I had a really good laugh, like, laying in bed.
Like, I had tears coming down my face.
For a second, I thought, because I know the shows that you watch.
Yeah.
Especially when you're looking for something comforting or whatever.
Just mindless stuff, you know, to have on in the background.
So, for a second, I thought you were going to say MASH.
Man, I have not watched MASH in a long, long time.
No, Mr.Robot was perfect.
Okay, that's pretty good.
All right.
Anyway, sorry.
FFV.
Yes, what does it stand for? For real.
It does not stand for funny vagina, although I really think that that's great.
And I'm sure the Mr.Robot is hilarious.
It stands for First Families of Virginia.
Oh.
And I ran across this term in the book, Murder and the First Lady, which is the first book in the Eleanor Roosevelt mystery series, which I finally collected the first two books in the series because you gave me the third book in the series.
Beverly, you little tease.
And so I had to get the first two books because I ain't starting a series in the middle.
No way.
Of course not.
Two type A for that.
So, anyway, the first one is Murder and the First Lady.
And just to refresh people's memories, or if this is your first time listening, these are written by the great grandson of Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt, Elliot.
Is it great grandson or just grandson? I think it was just grandson.
I may be wrong.
No, I can't remember.
Because he's already passed away.
Yes.
But it's a great concept where Eleanor Roosevelt solves mysteries.
from the White House and, and it is, it's a really great series so far.
So, you're enjoying it.
I'm enjoying it.
It's, it's a little bit silly, but it's like a cozy mystery.
She's kind of like Jessica Fletcher, but Franklin is always just kind of rolling his eyes and kind of bemused at her.
He, he loves that she does this stuff, but it also causes him some problems because she's digging around where she shouldn't be, you know? And then he gets people knocking on his door.
Mr.President, can you get your wife under control? Oh, come now.
And it's so interesting.
Like, they really talk about some of the people who were involved in their lives.
Like, FDR's secretary, Missy, is a character in the book.
And he's pretty upfront about that they had a relationship.
So, that's pretty interesting, too.
I guess you just own it, right? and earn some money, write in some books.
But anyway, in the book, one of the characters is described as a member of the FFV.
OK.
And I had to know what this was about.
It turns out it's similar to the Daughters of the American Revolution and other groups like it, where members can allegedly trace their ancestry back to European colonists.
FFV members are prominent and wealthy families, not necessarily the earliest settlers in Virginia but influential.
Some key points about FFVs.
These families were at the core of Virginia's plantocracy.
Oh, what a great word.
Owning large plantations, does not sound right, and playing significant roles in the colony's social and political life.
And they often married within their social class for many generations, which helped maintain their status and influence.
And probably also resulted in a little bit of light casual incest I'm just saying no offense to any FFVs out there now many members of these families were involved in the American Revolution With some supporting the British Crown and others leading the revolutionary cause After the Civil War and the emancipation of enslaved people, these families faced economic challenges but continued to hold social and political leadership roles.
Here's some notable family names that you might know.
Okay.
Who are FFVs.
The Byrds, B-Y-R-D-S.
The Carters, maybe.
And the Washingtons, we know.
We know which Washington we're talking about.
And the Harrisons.
Oh, okay.
Which, these are all very generic kind of names.
Very much.
That could be pretty much anybody.
Mm-hmm.
I bet there's some Browns in the FFVs.
There probably are.
And probably some Calloways too.
I don't know.
That's a pretty good Irish, uh...
Scottish.
Damn it, I always want to make you Irish.
Mm-hmm.
Sorry.
Sorry about that.
You're wrong, lassie.
Good one.
My sources were Wikipedia, firstfamiliesofvirginia.com and offv.org.
I'm so glad you got those books.
Man, they're good.
And the only problem is that it's a real book.
I was just about to ask.
They're real books, so I have to read them at times when I don't normally read.
So, I have to choose, like, I guess I'm not going to watch a cleaning video.
Oh.
I'm going to read instead because I can't read them in bed at night because Clint's already in bed and I can't have the light on.
And you need a light to read real books.
And you can't get these on Kindle because they're super old.
I had to buy them used and shipped to my house.
Oh my gosh.
Old school.
But they're worth it.
And now the first two in the series are little paperbacks.
Oh, you know, like, I don't know, like the Nancy Drew books.
Are they pretty small? Uh, yeah.
Like, I mean, when I say small, I mean, the length of the book.
Yeah, they're not super long.
OK.
Yeah, it's not they're not epic or anything.
I'm super interested.
But I also have to read them kind of far away from my face because they're tiny.
Yes.
So, the print is tiny and it has to be a well lit room because I'm old like that.
Old lady.
They're delightful.
Nice.
That's cool.
Would you like to talk about mine fires? Oh yeah.
Now let's, let's get it, you know, so you can be satisfied and say the answer.
What is the name of the mine in Pennsylvania that's on fire? Is it the same name as the town? Yes.
Okay.
Centralia.
That's right.
Yes.
So, I searched this because it came up last week.
We talked about Three Mile Island.
You were conflating it with the Centralia underground mine.
Yeah.
And you were right.
It is a ghost town.
Yeah.
No one lives there.
No, they cannot.
So, I'm gonna tell everybody a little bonabona.
Yeah.
The Centralia mine fire is a long-burning underground coal mine fire that has been burning since 1962.
in the borough of Centralia, Pennsylvania.
It is considered to be one of the longest burning coal mine fires in the world.
The fire reportedly began as an intentional controlled burning of residential trash in an abandoned strip pit or surface mine.
The strip pit had been left open after being excavated around 1935.
It was approximately 75 feet wide and 50 feet deep, and it is believed that the lack of the properly constructed non-combustible shale barrier in the strip pit enabled the trash fire to spread to adjacent carbonaceous refuse material and then to the nearby coal mine workings igniting a large underground coal seam.
Damn shoot! But what's very interesting about this, I looked at multiple sources, there's not like a definitive, oh crap, this is what happened.
They're pretty sure this is what happened.
Okay.
Cause I guess they were coming up on a holiday, I think it was Memorial Day, and the town wanted to kind of clean up.
They had several landfills, for lack of a word.
They had just a bunch of pits with trash in them.
And they wanted to clean up the town.
Before this holiday.
They wanted to spiff up the town.
They were wanting to spiff it up.
Okay.
And they accidentally set their town on fire and had to leave.
Damn.
So, because of the vastness of the underground fire and the challenges of accessing and extinguishing it, attempts to put out the fire just haven't worked.
The fire is smoldering rather than what we think of when we hear the word fire.
Like there are no flames.
Right.
It's burning in an oxygen limited environment.
which makes it difficult to extinguish with traditional methods.
Plus it has so much fuel from the coal and with it being underground, it holds in the heat, which helps to keep the smolder alive.
The fire has had several impacts on the area.
It has released harmful pollutants into the air and the groundwater, contaminating the environment.
The fire forced most of the residents to relocate due to the health hazards and property damage caused by the fire.
Centralia has essentially become a ghost town with only a handful of residents remaining, which I found many sources that said there are no people there whatsoever.
So, this is a little bit messed up.
It's become a popular destination for tourists.
Oh gosh.
They're interested in exploring abandoned towns and the unusual effects of the fire.
But what I found on one of the websites, I can't, I think it was Commonwealth of Pennsylvania website.
It was like, do not go there.
Right.
It's super dangerous.
You literally can die from inhaling.
Right.
Like so, I mean, there's a reason no one lives in the town.
And one of the other things that pointed out was that like the ground can just give away underneath you.
Exactly.
It's melting.
Yes.
Don't go there.
Duh.
Anyway, people still go there because they think it's cool.
Experts say there's no foreseeable end to this fire.
Some think the fire will continue to burn for at least another 250 years, but because they don't fully know how large the coal seam is underground, it's hard to pinpoint exactly how long it could burn and it might burn forever.
Yeah.
Like, there's no end to it.
Current efforts are focused on monitoring the fire's spread and attempting to contain its damage.
So, then I asked Google Gemini how many of these fires there are in the world.
And Google Gemini said there's no definitive global count of underground mine fires like Centrilia, however it is estimated that there are thousands of underground mines burning around the world.
That is terrifying.
That's not just terrifying, but depressing.
Very depressing.
Absolutely.
Like we are literally creating a hell on earth.
It's just, we're burning our own selves up.
Yeah.
And they said, they said, Google Gemini, my friend said that obviously these underground mines are in places where they're, where mining is obviously a thing.
So, that's, it's not just like, you know, in the middle of Springfield, Missouri, there's a, there it's where mining takes place.
It's not random.
It's not random.
No.
But how are all these things catching on fire? That's what I want to know.
Ooh, that's what I should have asked Google Gemini.
It sounds like It's extremely easy.
It sounds like that's probably true.
Catch something like this on fire.
Yeah.
I think you're right.
Spark could probably just too warm.
Yeah.
You get some static electricity in your hair.
Like I do in the winter time or a little dry skin spark.
Mind fire.
Jeez, Louise depressing.
Very much so.
That's why I got that one out of the way.
Well, those urban explorers who like to, you know, look around abandoned places, just go to a mall.
Yes.
Go find an abandoned mall and creep yourself out and be like, all right, we did it or go to an abandoned, like amusement park.
Those are creepy.
Hey, there's one kind of close to us here, like in Northern Arkansas.
And Clint used to go to this place and we used to pass it.
Something patch.
Oh, Dogpatch.
Arkansas.
Yeah, Dogpatch.
Mm-hmm.
I know about Dogpatch.
Have you been to Dogpatch? No, but I wanted to go so bad when I was a kid.
Yeah, well, it's abandoned now.
Oh yeah, it's been for a long time.
I heard Dolly Parton say something about Dogpatch one time.
Really? And I was like, I wanna go.
Dolly Parton lives there.
I wanna go.
But then Dolly Parton was like, I'll just make my own theme park.
Yeah which is not abandoned.
No, very much alive.
Yeah, just don't, don't go to places like this.
No, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania urges you to not do so.
Yeah, I bet you get in big trouble if you get caught.
I don't know.
My sources were Google Gemini, Wikipedia, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and history.com.
Whoa, okay, the moment you've been waiting for.
Yes.
We're gonna talk about Lycopardon wolf fart puffball.
Perfect! Any ideas at all with this? I'm guessing anime.
Nope.
Uhhh comic book.
Nope.
Ummm.
Word salad.
You might find one of these in a salad.
Not this, maybe not this variety.
What is it? It's a mushroom.
Oh, oh! Puffball.
I didn't even think about that.
I just finished the latest book and one of my very favorite.
Series of all time.
Yes, my very favorite.
I love it every time a book comes out.
I mean I have an alert saying this book is released and I have them pre-ordered so that it comes to me as soon as it is released.
What is it? It is the Flavia de loose mystery series and the latest book is called What Time the Sexton's Spade Doth Rust.
Whoa.
Yeah.
They all have titles kind of like that, that are references to literature or quotes of things, um, that I don't ever, they're not familiar to me cause I'm a dumb American, but the author, the author is British and it takes place in 1950s Britain in near a small village.
And the protagonist is an 11 year old genius named Flavia.
She's a budding scientist and a criminologist.
She's very precocious and I love her.
I love her.
I mean, she's just amazing.
So, at one point in the current book, no spoilers, she comes across a basket of mushrooms.
some of which she identifies as lycopurden.
I think that's how you say it.
I'm probably putting the accent on the wrong syllable.
It might be ly-co-prden.
But anyway, the common name for this mushroom is a wolf fart puffball.
I could not highlight that term fast enough on my Kindle to look up what the hell.
By the glow of my Kindle in the middle of the night.
It was probably super late too and I shouldn't have been reading, but I was like, I have to look this up.
So, my search took me to an amazing blog post by Tom Volk who declared the Lycoperdin or Lycoperdin pyriform.
Huh? the wolf art puffball as his fungus of the month for November of wait for it 2001 oh whoa 23 years ago and I've been blogging a long time oh yeah so a lot of what Tom talked about was way over my head talking about mushrooms and things that make up mushrooms and like the structure of mushrooms and the comp, the chemical composition.
I was like, dude, wow, he really nerds out about mushrooms.
The name of his blog is actually tomvolkfungi.net.
Love it.
You sir are a national treasure.
Here are the highlights for dumb dumbs like me.
The common name wolf fart puff ball comes from the Greek origin of the scientific name, lyko means wolf and perdon means to break wind.
Huh.
So, there you go.
I mean, it's pretty simple.
Now, I wonder how they smell.
I don't know.
Because Flavia in the book says appropriately named.
OK.
So, maybe when they are not fresh, when they're rotten, maybe they stink pretty bad.
I don't know.
It's a so-called puffball.
due to its circular shape and because its spores can puff out of a hole in the top that dissolves when rain falls on it or if it's compressed or crushed by something or someone.
Yes.
So, you can squeeze it and the spores will come out of this hole in the top.
Yes.
And that's important in the book, but I won't do any spoilers.
Okay.
They're edible.
but for a very short window.
Oh, of maturation.
So, you have to be very careful.
As long as they're white all the way through and marshmallowy consistency, they're okay to eat.
They can make you sick if they start to get brown.
Also, if you open one up and they're brown and they don't have that marshmallow consistency, it could be not a wolf fart puffball.
It could be an angel of death.
Oh, I mean, just the name tells you, tells you everything you need to know about that.
It always astounds me that people who forage for mushrooms and all the things that they know, and they know which ones are berries or anything like that.
And they know which ones are poisonous and which ones aren't poisonous.
And I'm like, I'd be dead the first time I'd be like, oh, this looks good.
There's no way I would pick something off the ground and just eat it.
Let's see, what else? What else? What else? Now there's an old wives tale that you can squeeze the spores into someone's eyes and blind them.
But there's some truth to the spores being harmful.
If inhaled.
Tom, my friend Tom, folk, TomVolkFungie.net.
Don't forget the .net part.
He tells a story about college kids in Wisconsin.
You crazy Wisconsinites.
Who were sold some wolf fart puff balls as magic mushrooms.
Oh no.
And told that inhaling the spores would get them high and make them hallucinate.
Oh no, didn't happen.
But what did happen was when they inhaled the spores, those spores germinated and grew in their lungs.
No.
Yes.
Causing severe congestion and respiratory problems that resulted in the need for medical attention.
They were fine after a course of antifungal drugs, but they grew mushrooms in their lungs.
How gross is that? Oh my gosh.
People.
Just.
Well, this was, you know, he's telling this story back in 2001.
So, who knows when this was probably the seventies.
Gosh.
Just get gummies.
You don't have to do these things anymore.
You don't have to go to crazy extremes.
Drink a beer.
Geez.
That's all.
Okay.
That's all you need to know about the wolf fart puffball.
So, I'm wondering if those are in Missouri because I didn't even look when I was a kid.
I remember stomping these when we would go through the woods on hikes and stuff because, and I stomped them cause I thought they were cool because they go poof.
Yeah.
Now there may be multiple types of mushrooms that will do that.
But my dad got, he's like, don't do it.
It's like, you know, need to destroy that mushroom.
I was like, but it's cool.
Dad, he wouldn't let me.
So, I got in trouble because I stomped on a mushroom.
You know, mushrooms are amazing.
They're pretty cool.
There is a documentary about mushrooms out there.
I wish I could think of the name.
I think I've seen it.
Have you watched the actual documentary? Yes.
It blew my mind.
I am more than taking mushrooms.
I'm almost positive that I've watched it because Sean would really, really like to forage for mushrooms.
Would he? He wants to forage.
He wants to just live off the land.
If he could go off the grid, no electricity, forage, hunt, like he would do it.
That's hilarious for an IT guy.
Well, he never, ever, ever wanted to be an IT guy.
He really just wants to live in the woods.
Like.
Walden, you know the book Walden? Yeah.
That's really what he wants to do.
Oh, well, that's kind of hard to sustain.
I mean, he's willing to give it a try.
He could sell some wolf fart puff balls to some college kids.
Totally could.
Geez.
My sources were very few.
Wikipedia, tomvolkfungi.net, and What Time the Sexton Spade Doth Rust.
Yes.
By Alan Bradley.
OK.
What's your last search? My last search.
Are there loons in Missouri? Oh.
So, so many.
A loon is a migratory bird.
Oh, that kind of loon.
Yes.
Gotcha.
Not to be confused with mother loons.
These migratory birds come to Missouri during the warm months.
They prefer deep, clear lakes and ponds for nesting and feeding.
They prefer areas with abundant fish because that's what they eat mostly.
Okay.
They eat very little else.
They're very clumsy on the land.
So, you'll find their nests.
close by on the shore.
They're not gonna be out or up in trees, they're on the ground.
But they are extremely graceful and can maneuver very well once they're in the water.
Okay.
And they rarely leave the water.
Like during the day, they wake up, they get on the water and that's where they stay all day long.
Okay.
They're not currently considered endangered.
but their populations have declined in recent years due to habitat loss.
Conservation efforts are underway to protect their habitats and ensure their continued presence in the state of Missouri.
That's it.
That is the, that is the extent of my search.
Missouri Department of Conservation.
What does a loon sound like? Well, I'm glad that you asked.
I can kind of do it.
Okay, good.
Okay.
So, it's kind of like.
And that's the exact reason I looked up.
That didn't look insane at all.
So, I hear a bird and I'm not hearing it now, but during the very warm months, when I wake up in the morning, it's been waking me up.
At like four o'clock in the morning, it sounds like a seagull.
And you live by a lake.
I do live by a lake, but it doesn't sound like that.
It doesn't sound like a loon.
So, I plugged in one time, what birds in Missouri sound like seagulls.
And the internet told me that loons, sound like seagulls.
They don't.
They do not sound like seagulls.
I think it may actually be a seagull.
Because we do live by a lake or it may be a seagull's cousin.
I don't know, but it sounds exactly like a seagull.
I still haven't figured out what it is.
It may be a hawk.
It may be a seagull or a hawk.
Because hawks can sound like seagulls.
Can they? But the loon does not.
We do have a lot of hawks around here.
Oh my gosh.
There's one that is always in the same place on my way to work every single day, and I've named him Steve.
He's always sitting in the same spot hunting.
I almost hit Steve last week.
because he was diving across the road for what I'm assuming is some little rodent in the ditch.
Oh my god.
And he flew straight in front of my car.
I don't know how I didn't hit him.
Steve.
I was gonna cry because I've known Steve for a really long time.
Oh my gosh.
It would be crushing if you were the cause of Steve's demise.
I know.
I would probably just turn around and go back home.
Oh yeah.
That would ruin my day.
I almost hit a kid yesterday.
Like a child, a human child.
Because I was going to work and the sun right now at this time of year, when you're facing East, it is blinding.
We cannot see.
You can't see.
And so, I had sunglasses on, but it doesn't matter.
It's the glare, not the actual brightness.
And so, I was just putting down the visor on my car.
because my sunglasses weren't good enough.
I still couldn't see well enough.
And I was coming to the end of our cul-de-sac, like where it meets the busy road.
And I had just put the visor down, and when I put the visor down, it blocked the glare well enough that there was a kid right in front of my car.
Oh, geez.
Oh.
I was like maybe eight feet away from hitting that kid.
Which when you're in a car seems like, right.
I mean, he was right there.
When you're the pedestrian, it seems too close.
Yeah.
Yes.
He was probably like, when is this stupid lady gonna stop? He was a kid walking to school.
He was probably like, hello lady, I'm trying to walk here.
I'm walking here.
Anyway, it was.
It freaked me out because I put the visor down and I like yelped out loud because it was like he just magically appeared in front of my car and I was like, yes, the sun is horrible this time of year in the morning.
In the morning.
It was terrible.
Okay.
What about this one? What about it? Well, I'll tell you what about it.
Okay.
It's a quick listing of our other searches from the past week that we didn't have time to discuss in this episode.
Or we're just too.
Damn boring.
Yah boring!
So, boring.
Ready.
Adele, hello.
You know you're getting old when you have to look up lyrics so that you can make a stupid joke in an email.
Wow.
That's what happened.
Okay.
And that you are desperately seeking other people's approval and laughs at all times in your life.
Cowboys schedule.
Oh.
I could put this in my, what about this one searches every week.
Cause I'm always trying to figure out what's going to be the conflict between the Cowboys game and the Chiefs game.
I went old school and I printed the Chief schedule and the Green Bay schedule.
And they're both hanging up in the kitchen so I can see exactly how I need to plan my weekend.
Girl.
I know.
And then I can write their wins and losses.
Oh, look at you.
I know.
Well, statistician.
Spiney definition like spiney in my chair like spinning a new chair except s p i n e y.
Chingoules definition.
Are you sure you didn't take a gummy this week or nine smash burger versus normal burger? 
My everybody have a smash burger nowadays.
What the fuck is that? 
It's just I know what it is now because I looked it up so yummy Judge Jeffrey Ferguson trial and Kyle Chandler every once in a while, I just look up Kyle Chandler because I like him so much I just like to look at him.
He's the coach from Friday Night Lights.
Makes me happy.
All right, here's my list art projects with keys my father-in-law had so many keys.
Keys upon keys upon keys.
And so it's kind of a joke, like every time we'll open a drawer or we'll pick up a piece of trash in his shop and there's another set of keys to something.
And the majority of these keys are, they're old, they belong to things he doesn't own anymore.
But they're just standard keys.
They're not like cool looking, like skeleton keys.
No.
They are just standard like house keys or car keys or he had a lot of padlocks.
Yeah.
A lot of padlock keys.
Yeah.
So, I'm going to turn them into an art project for Sean because it's so funny.
Now at this point, it's just like, oh dad, why? Yeah.
I found keys, a whole set of keys under the seat of the truck we inherited.
And we'd been looking for them ever since Roy passed away.
And I was like, here they are they had fallen in between the seat.
I mean, so Roy couldn't find them.
So, he just went and had new copies or he bought new iterations.
So, then when he got the new iterations, he made three copies of those.
So, he had copies upon copies of my gosh.
It's unbelievable.
That's hilarious.
Anyway, how did Louis the 15th die? Smallpox.
Oh, how did Louie the 16th die? Guillotine.
Yes.
Octavia Butler books.
Does Starbucks use Costa Rican coffee? Yes.
Junior league of Springfield, Hurricane Helene and LL Bean men's house shoes.
Oh, do you have any listener shout outs? I don't.
I don't, but I think it's time to clue the DTH besties in about how we're about to go nuclear.
Like Three Mile Island.
And I mean, we're gonna be as hot as an underground coal fire.
We are.
Why? Well, an article's being written about us.
Uh-huh.
That's a really small article.
A tiniest article ever.
There's even gonna be a picture.
Yes.
Whoa! Which I'm a little worried about.
Yeah, we have a photo shoot.
We have a photo shoot.
Next week.
We're going to a studio.
Yep.
Oh my gosh.
I still have no idea what I'm going to wear.
I don't think we should go serious with this.
Oh, I'm not going to go serious.
I don't think we should look nice.
Oh, well, I'm not going to look bad.
Well, I probably will.
Oh, come on.
But I think we should embrace our weirdness.
OK.
Anyway, we can talk about what we're going to wear later.
But you guys.
We're gonna be in a magazine.
And you know what though, those of you listening right now, you'll be the OBs.
O Bs.
The original besties.
And it's not an accident that it's also the name of a tampon.
We won't forget you.
When we become super duper popular with 20 listeners.
We won't forget those of you that started out with us.
That's right.
Anyway, I might wear my I love trashes shirt.
It's hard to say trashes shirt.
I love trashes.
I just don't know what I'm going to wear.
I just have to think about it.
Because I got that shirt.
That's hilarious.
Pennsylvania, Aaron, I know you're jealous.
I got the I love trashes shirt.
I may have to get that sweater that you sent me.
All the Keith Morrison Angel Baby sweater? The Keith Morrison sweater.
I sent Cara a picture from an Etsy.
We may have to post this.
It's so funny.
It's amazing.
It says, it was a holiday just like any other.
Or was it? And it has a picture of Keith Morrison on it.
I love it.
It's sort of like an ugly sweater.
There are so, there are so many Keith Morrison like, uh, merch things that are hilarious.
Hilarious.
There's one that says, when I, when I get murdered, I want Keith Morrison to tell everyone how I used to light up a room.
Oh my gosh.
Oh my gosh.
We love you, Keith Morrison.
Yes.
Okay.
So, anyway, in the meantime, before we become super duper famous, we still have time to answer emails.
Of course we do.
And to, you know, interact with you on the social media and all that stuff.
So, how can people get in touch with us, Cara? Well, they can start off by emailing us at Delete This History podcast at gmail.com.
Yes.
Or you can go on Insta and threads at DTHgals or Delete This History on Facebook.
Cara.
Yeah.
I think I'm going to go delete my history.
I think I will too.
Yeah.
I think that's the wise thing to do.
And then I'm going to get something to eat because I am so hungry.
Uh huh.
Phoebebe and hungary.
That is exactly right.
All right.
Stay fresh, cheese bags.
Bye.
Delete This History is created, written, hosted, produced, and edited by Brea Brown and Cara Burch.
Theme music is So Good by Orkas.
Email us at Delete This History podcast at gmail.com.
Find us on Instagram and threads at dthgals and Facebook at Delete This History.
Copyright 2024.
All rights reserved.
Uncontrollable giggles provided by Mr.Robot and wolf fart puffballs.