I guess what, mango? What's that? Well, so I was thinking about Halloween last week. I don't know if you knew this, but but Halloween was was last week? I think I heard. I think I heard it was last year.
It turns out, turns out it was last week. But anyway, there were so many great costumes out there, and I think one of the things I realized is that as many new costumes as there are, you know, things like Fortnite and Black Panther and p J Mask, I mean, you still see so many costumes that just never seem to go away. So what do you think about all right? Well, I was actually looking up the most searched for Halloween costumes in America this year, and I wrote down some
of these. So here's some of the classics on that list. You've got dinosaur, Unicorn, pirate, Princess, Ninja, mouse, which, mermaid, Rabbit. I mean, I feel like these could have been the most popular Halloween costumes from like twenty or thirty years ago, except rabbit. Like, you know, rabbit, why are you? Why are you looking up like how to make a rabbit? It feels pretty easy, you know, obviously for all the
listeners out there. We meant to do a Hallyween episode last week, but we had some technical issues and we thought, why don't we make up for it this week. Why don't we use that list of like popular costumes to inspire some new facts that everyone can share. All right, well, I'm game for that, so let's dive in. Hey, their podcast listeners, welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson and as always I'm joined by my good friend Mangesh how Ticketer and sitting behind the soundproof class with at
least ten tiny old Jack Lannards on his desk. I'd say maybe a dozen or even a Baker's, doesn't Mango all sitting on that desk and they are so old. He carved each of these last week, and each one is after a different Jack. Like he's got Jack Donneghee from thirty Rock, He's got Jack Kennedy, one Jack Welch, because I guess Tristan is really into g even a Jack O'Brien from The Daily es Christ. I mean, Tristan is truly an artist. That's right. That's our friended producer
Tristan McNeil. Now go, like we were saying at the top of the show, there are a lot of Halloween costumes that tend to repeat themselves year after year. Yeah, it's funny. I I think one of the best things about having kids is that you get to see them dress up, and even better that you get to force costumes on them when their babies. Like this is more common enough. But the first time I was at this cafe and I saw this guy walking past with this giant building on his head, and I thought that is
kind of strange. And then he turned and he had this little baby dressed as a gorilla just clinging to him, and you realized it was King Kong on the Empire's Day building. Like I loved it so much, but every time I tried to make my kids go with me for Halloween, they just completely rejected him. So what have you wanted to go as? Like? I don't even remember that Some of them are just costumes I thought the
kids should have. Like Ruby was into Star Wars one year, so I thought Ruby one Kenobi would be funny, but uh, instead she decided to go as Darth Baggings, which which is that a thing? I think she was crossing Darth Vader and Bill go Bag And one of my only successful costumes was as a refrigerator years ago, and it had like kids art on it, and when you opened the door there was a light on and like funny foods that were inside, and then there was like a
cord as a tail in the back. So I thought maybe I should reprise that and go as a fridge and then have like Henry go as a mini fridge, but that got rejected to so I've had lots of these fails. I love the stories. It seems like there's always a good story that comes out of your your
Halloween experiences. I remember I think Henry was like two, maybe almost three, and he told you he was going to go as a fireman, so you and Lizzie of course had a fireman called to them all picked out, and then at the very last minute he insisted he said fire truck. And so unlike me, who would have said, nope, you're a fireman, you ended up having to make him
turn into a fire truck instead. It was pretty amazing. Yeah, it was a lot of cardboard reviews, but you know, as you'll see, Darth Waggins and fire truck are not on the list of most research costumes. But I do think we should dig in. So what costume are you going to talk about first? All right, well, I feel like we should start with with unicorns, which I guess are the fourth most research costume this year. And I'm actually gonna tie this to Marco Polo. I'm guessing you
didn't see that coming and his no idea, It's true. So, on his trip to China, Marco Polo finally found unicorns, only unfortunately they weren't as beautiful as the old myths and legends had made them out to be, and he honestly felt tricked, And so he later wrote about this encounter, and here's what he had to say. They have hair like that of a buffalo, feet like those an elephant, and a horn in the middle of the forehead, which is black and very thick. 'tis an ugly brute to
look upon. And that makes a lot of sense, you know, since the thing Marco Polo had actually found were, of course, rhinoceroses. I do love the idea of like every little girl out there, a little boy going out as a unicorn is actually a rhinoceros. Like it's amazing. I I kind of feel like it's uh, it's a little like when I heard that mermaids were the result of sailors spotting manatees in the ocean. Like I remember thinking, like, how
is that possible? Of mermaids are depicted as these like gorgeous you know, model like creatures and and manatees as much as I love them, have you know, never been on the cover of though if they were, I might pick up my first copy of Oogue. Actually, there's another great unicorn fact that I think you should know, and so if you want to try your hand at tracking down a unicorn, you can actually get a unicorn questing license. Now this comes from Lake Superior State University in Michigan,
and you pay for it. Is it just like a novelty license? Well, I guess the practice began as this pr stunt and this was you know, over forty years ago. This is the nineteen one. But to this day the university continues to issue these unicorn hunting licenses to anybody who's interested. Though there are a number of regulations, and
so here here are a few of them. For instance, all unicorn questers are encouraged to bring their own flask of kognac and pinking shears on any expedition and and you're actually limited to hunting one unicorn per month, no females. And the good news is that, according to the terms, the licenses quote good for a lifetime and beyond except for Valentine's Day. So I do love that you've had
too great unicorn facts to kick this off. But uh, you know, one thing I see every Halloween season is witches, and I do not know why it's such a popular outfit, Like I get that which is our part of Halloween. It it's weird to me that, like everyone wants to be a witch. I feel like I gave out candy to at least fifteen of them this year. But I've got a great gross fact for you about witches. So if you need to find out if a witch is making you sick, there's a little historical life hack Gid
found for us. All you have to do is collect some of your own urine, mix it with rye meal, and then form it into a little pack, and then you take that witch's cake as it's called, and feed it to a dog. Now you have to know any dog will do, because, as the history books will tell you, they're all familiar with the doll. Right of course, Then if the dog comes down with the same symptoms you're exhibiting, you'll know for sure that you're being afflicted by witchcraft.
And as an added bonus, the dog will even help you find the witch who did it, because when he eats the cake, the witch you cursed you and your urine will feel it and cry out and pain. I mean, it's it's one of those things you just wonder how they possibly made this up. It's just science, scientific method. But you know, obviously this is ridiculous and no one
should try it at home. But the residents of Salem Village believed this back in because the witch cake practice, I guess was pretty well known in England at the time. And of course it didn't work that well. You know, they tried to put in practice, but nothing came of it, which is good news for both witches and I guess the dogs of the I'm going to say I think the dogs benefited the most. But a well, here's a quick one about Black Panther that actually just learned this week.
So comic readers were first introduced to Black Panther in July of nineteen sixty six, and this was in the pages of Fantastic four number fifty two, and of course his appearance was historic. I mean it marked the first time that a superpowered African character had appeared in a starring role in an American comic. What's interesting is that the superhero's name doesn't come from the activist Black Panther Party, you know, the one that rose to prominence in the sixties.
The characters theybut actually pre dates that group's formation by about three months. So instead, it's actually meant to reference a famous African Americ contink battalion from World War Two, and they were not allowed to serve alongside white U S troops during the war, and the unit was nicknamed the Black Panthers after this insignia they wore, which was a profile of a ferocious panther with the motto come
out Fighting written under it. Now, the Panthers later received a Presidential Unit Citation for their actions and are actually considered by some historians to be one of the most effective tank battalions in the entire war. M that's pretty fascinating, But how did Marvel come up with this name for
the character? Apparently Stanley and Jack Kirby, you know, they had lived through World War Two and remember the battalion and its nickname, and obviously black Panther is better than the original name that they were thinking of, which was Cold Tiger. Coal Tiger is a terrible namebor. Sure. You know one of the costumes I'm terrified of is clowns.
And actually this year we went to this house around the corner from us, and the entire family dressed up like killer clown and they were so clearly out to scare kids. And you know, my two kids are so different, Like Henry decided he didn't need any candy that at least he just stood outside the gate and told jokes and uh and Ruby just kind of strolled in and demanded candy. But curious, did you like clowns as good? You know, I know a lot of people are terrified
of them. I guess I didn't feel strong. They didn't really understand them, like they weren't somebody that I wanted to be entertained by. But I wasn't. I wasn't terrified of them. Yeah, I mean, I feel like I watched u um Bozo the Clown on TV, like in the afternoons, and and you know, I absolutely loved seeing them at Barnum and Bailey, And this is actually where my fact
comes in. So I started thinking about how clowns crammed themselves into these like tiny cars, and I started wondering, like, there's got to be some kind of trick to it, right, Like fifteen cars will just spill out of these tiny spaces. And of course I turned to Gabe and I asked him about it, and he found this quote according to Greg Descent, who's executive director of the International Clown Hall of Fame and Research Center, I mean, you know, Gabe
finds the best likedle source. Greg says, quote, there's no trick to the clown car gag. There are no trap doors and stadium floors, and the cars are real cars. So basically the car is fully functional, but its interior has been completely stripped and gutted and freed up as much space as possible, so like they take the seats out, often the driver is sitting on a milk crate instead of like a like a proper stool or or a
regular chair, you know. And uh, from there, it's just a matter of cramming in as many clowns as possible, and the average compact clown car can fit anywhere between fourteen and twenty one clowns which props they have inside with them. Yeah, that is impressive, twenty one people fitting
in a car like that. It actually kind of reminds me of how you probably remember this, How it felt like at least once a week during college, we would pack people into that tiny little Honda and for some reason we would go a Macaroni Girl and then they were playing of good restaurants where we always went to. It's just so strange. Well, anyways, speaking of terrifying things, people have been scared of zombies and in one form
or another for thousands of years now. And actually I didn't realize how long we've been scared of them, But apparently archaeologists have uncovered ancient Greek burial sites with skeletons that were pinned down with rocks and these other heavy objects put on their chest, and this was all to stop the corpses from coming back to terrorize the living. Now today zombies seem to have, you know, this larger role in the cultural zeitgeist than it feels like just
about any other time in history. And believe it or not, actually the atomic bomb maybe to blame for that. So according to Stanford literary scholar Angela Bicara vigor wide scale disasters of the mid twentieth centuries such as the bombing of Hiroshima that actually paved the way for the rise of zombie narratives and these other stories that focus on math destruction and and really all these desperate survival situations
that resulted from those. I guess I just wouldn't have put it together that that, like in all kind of the atomic bomb stuff. Yeah, and it's it's it's actually not just the storytellers who have tapped into the cultural
fears that that led to this zombie mania. So the CDC or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention actually got in the act a couple of years ago by launching this zombie Preparedness website, and it's actually a smart way to get people thinking about how to prepare for all sorts of disasters, whether they're zombie based or not. And it's actually been a pretty big success. Oh, that's pretty fascinating. So, in a totally different fath I'm going
to talk about mermaids. Mermaids feel like the opposite of zombies to me. But you know, back in two thousand thirteen Animal Planet air these two fake documentary specials called Mermaids The Body Found and Mermaids New Evidence, and they basically showed these fake scientists proving the existence of mermaids. But it's kind of like that old BBC hoax we've talked about before about spaghetti farmers who row pasta on trees, and then you know, millions of people wrote in wondering
where they could get their own spaghetti trees. You know, I guess the people who watched this Mermaid special didn't realize the disclaimer in the credits that said certain events in the film are fictional. And so there were so many people affected that Google searches for our Mermaids Reel outpaced questions like our Aliens Reel and our Ghost Real
for the year. And it got so bad that the n o A, which is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, they received so many inquiries that they actually issued an official statement denying the existence of mermaids. That's pretty funny. Well, I know we have two more facts to go, but let's get to those after a quick break. Welcome back
to Part Time Genius. We're talking facts inspired by Halloween costumes. Now, chances are you've seen those inflatable t rex costumes that have been popping up all that of internet memes and videos lately. You know, I I saw a ton of them around this year. But if you're wondering just how anatomically correct the costumes are, I'm so sorry to break it to you. They're not very accurate. And they probably weren't as like wobbly as they look when people love
them on. I'm guessing yeah, they weren't a laughing stock t rex is apparently. I'm gonna start with the thinly little arms that everyone finds so funny. You know, the t rex is arms are usually portrayed as like disproportionately small compared to the massive body, But in reality, the t rex Is arms were over three ft long, and they supported biceps strong enough to bench press at least
four thirty pounds each, so pretty strong. You know. It actually means that the Rex's arms would have come in handy if a t Rex was ever you know, knocked over and had to lever itself off the ground, and also if it just had to hold on tight to squirming prey before chomping um. And then there's a matter of scales versus feathers, so fluffy dinosaurs were basically the
norm when it came to smaller species. But when the remains of this feathered, nearly t rex sized dinosaur was found back in two thousand and twelve, the door was open to the possibility that rex is also sported feathers, at least when they hatched. So paleontologists contend that the animals may have had fluffy feathers their whole lives, which would have really made for both like more interesting and
gleamed up costume. You know what, if there's one thing people really love, Mango, it's when other people fact check their costumes. So I'm sure you're really popular on Halloween. All right, Well, I'm gonna end this on a fact about wonder Woman. It just feels appropriate and I love this one, so we all. No wonder Woman herself is
a force to be reckoned with. But that famous invisible jet of hers is actually something of a joke, or at least that's how MATEL treated it back in two thousand and ten, and that's when they released this fake mock up of an invisible jet toy as an April Fool's joke. Now, the unexpected part came when fans began clamoring for the product to actually be released, and so Mattel eventually answered their prayers by offering an exclusive Hot Wheels and Visible Jet at Comic Con. So here's the catch.
There was no toy in the box at all. Instead, the package just contained a plastic tray with the shape of a jet molded into it, along with a couple of small weights, you know, to make the box feel like there was a real toy inside, of course, for fans who you know, keep their collectibles mint in box. Anyway, this wasn't much of an issue, and funny enough, Mattel
wasn't the only one to pull such a stunt. Back in two thousand fifteen, the Smithsonian did something pretty similar also on April Fool's Day, of course, except they took things to a whole another level. So for one day only, the National Air and Space Museum put Wonder Woman's Invisible Jet quote on display. So they released this video on YouTube announcing the jets arrival and documenting how the workers
were able to suspend it from the ceiling. But you know, since it's an invisible jet and all, you kind of just have to take their word for it. Oh I love that. I actually really love when museums played a like pop culture and get people into, you know, the exhibits that way. Like I really think you should take the trophy home this week. All right, Well, thanks so much, and thanks to all of our listeners for being patient and waiting an entire week to get their Halloween facts.
I know all of you were just sitting there waiting for this, but anyway, from Gave, Tristan, Mango and me, thanks so much for listening