Latest / Ridiculous History / Japan, Baseball and the Curse of the Colonel

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Japan, Baseball and the Curse of the Colonel · Ridiculous History

• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Tiger, tiger burning bright in the forest of the night,
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: what immortal hand or I could frame thy fearful symmetry?
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: That is an excerpt of a poem called The Tiger
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: by William Blake. Hi. I'm Ben, Ben, it is I Noel,
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: and I have a query to pose to you. What
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: does this poem snippet have to do with today's episode?
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: I am so glad you asked, Noel. H Oh, before
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: we go any further, let's have a big hand. Uh,
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: everybody listening, just go ahead and clap by yourself for
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: our super producer, Casey Pegrum. It's okay if you don't
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: want to clap, yeah, you know, just you can snap.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: Just give him props mentally, props in such a way
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: as you feel moved to provide. But Ben, yes, props.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: Aside Um, we're talking about tigers today. We are in
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: a way. We are in a way. We are talking
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: about the Haunsien Tigers, which is a sports team. We're
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: also talking about urban legends. Were also talking about a
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: somewhat romanticized view of the American South, which you know,
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: you and I both love a big old accent. And uh,
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: we're talking about Japan and we're talking about a cursonal. Yeah,
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: the curse of the colonel. And that's not just any colonel.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: That is the standard bearer of greasy chicken legs the
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: world over. As it turns out, Colonel uh Sanders. Does
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: he have a proper name, Yes, Colonel Harland David Sanders
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: born in eighteen nine. I think you mean halland David
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: sounds h Do you mean Colonel halland David Julip Sandals.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: Don't you try to out southern me? Bembolan? Oh, I
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: could chew this act. You know, day a sweet. People
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: will tune out, people will not have it. We want
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: to hear, by the way, your best uh Southern accent impression.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: If you record yourself, write us a letter and include that.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: We'd love to hear it. Absolutely. But yeah, so we
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: that we were mashing No, this is a mash up episode.
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: This is a ridiculous history of the mash up episode
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: wherein we mashed together quite a few themes. You mentioned curses,
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: we're talking about chicken, we're talking about the South, we're
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: talking about Japan. Where do we start. Let's start in
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: nineteen five. How about that. It was a very good year.
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: It was a very good year, especially for the Hansen Tigers.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: They're a baseball team in Japan. You see. They went
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: on to win the Japan Championship Series, which is the
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: equivalent of the World Series in Major League Baseball, and
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: the fans went crazy. And I know, maybe correct me
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: if I'm wrong then, but I feel like there's sort
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: of a stereotype out there, the Japanese being very reserved people. Um,
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: they know how to keep it together and not get
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: carried away. Shall we say? But this is a great
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: example of of of a of a stereotype buster, and
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: that these Japanese sports fans got quite carried away. And
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: there was alcohol involved to right, Ben, Yes, yes, this
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: is another episode where we find a group of people
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: uh misbehaving, perhaps in part due to alcohol, perhaps just
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: due to passions running high sports fever. Yes, yes, these
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: drunken revelers took to a bridge in Osaka, the Abisubashi,
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: Uh we should bridge. We should also note that Noel
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: and I are not native Japanese speakers. Is true, a
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: fact that will become increasingly apparent if it has not
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: already been clear from the jump. I'll throw my hat
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: into the mispronunciation ring um and saying that the eb
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: Subashi Bridge is a bridge overlooking the Doton Bori River,
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: which is notoriously polluted. I'm not sure today if that's
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: still the case, but back not a very clean body
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: of water. But that aside, these drunken revelers dove in
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: kind of or jumped in off the bridge. I'm trying
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: to picture. Yeah, how how far a jump are we
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: talking here? Then they jumped. It was a safe enough distance.
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: It wasn't like jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge. Don't
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: do it for kicks, by the way, because you will
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: break your legs and easily. This was not going to
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: be a lethal jump. Still, you're not supposed to do it.
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: Still you're dangerous. It's very much hold my beer situation
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: is what we would call it today. But they were
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: jumping in a pattern because the crowd was screaming out
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: the name of the players on the Tigers, and every
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: time they yelled the name of one of the players,
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: someone who looked like that player or was perceived to
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: look like the player. How do you think this idea
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: came to the forefront? I just still missed the five
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: man like, how did they just think of the level
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: of sophistication. This game must have you know, how did
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: this happen organically? Yeah, We're not anywhere near this level
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: of revelry. No, and this is a very specific form
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: of revelry, almost kind of a ritual that they just
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: invented out of whole cloth. I'm guessing I've not seen
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: evidence of this type of thing anywhere else. But yeah,
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: like you're saying, so every time they I'm guessing the
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: they were hearing the announcement from the stadium or was
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: it on a televised broadcast. It was after the games,
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: so so it sounds like it was people in the crowd.
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: So the crowd would yell out, you know, third Baseman
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: Casey Pegram, and every like whoa. And then somebody just
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: like I look kind of like third Basement Casey Pegram.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: They it's my turn to jump off the bridge. So
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: you had to kind of like take it upon yourself
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: to go forth when that name was called, would hope so,
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: because the alternative is that someone else points at a
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: random person in the crowd and says, hey, he looks
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: like third Basement Casey Pegram, and then they grab him
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: and throw him off the bridge. But it appeared to
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: be um all in good fun until they called the
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: name of first baseman Randy Bass. Wait, man, that doesn't
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: sound like a Japanese name. What gives? I'm so glad
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: you asked, because you and I did a little bit
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: of research based on that name. It turns out Randy
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: Bass was an American on the team. Interesting. How did
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: he find himself playing for a Japanese team? Uh? He
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: had spent six seasons in Major League Baseball with five
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: different teams, and then his contract expired, so he expanded
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: his horizons and they made him an offer he could
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: not refuse, I imagine, and then he decided to take
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: up his glove, his mit. He was a baseman, take
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: up a mit, I guess for the Tigers. He committed
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: to the Tigers. And we're committing to the bit. Yes, yes,
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: we really are. But yeah, so here's the issue right immediately,
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: if if they're going for this, uh, this gag or
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: this bit that they're committing to, which they were committing
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: quite hard of having to look like the player in
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: question whose name is being called. That sort of threw
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: a wrench into the works there when they called Mr
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: Bass's name, because you know, there was nobody in the crowd.
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: I'm guessing from the story at least it seems to
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: be the case that looked like a big six foot
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: something American first baseman. And this was a snag for sure,
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: because you see, when Randy joined Japanese baseball, he became
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: one of the most powerful hitters in the history of
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: the game in that country. So with him on their side,
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: the Tigers shot through the championship. This guy was a
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: big deal. He was crucial to the game. Yes, so
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: of course, in this very specific, ritualized revelry, he needed
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: to be represented, right, someone needed to be thrown off
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: the bridge in his honor or to jump themselves. Yeah, um,
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: so what what? What? What is it? What is a
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: drunken pack of sports fans to do? Ben? I propose
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: that before we follow the rest of the story, we
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: bring in an outside factor, a tangent, if you will,
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: I love it, A tangy, crispy, crunchy tangent. How many
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: herbs and spices does this tangent contain? Is it eleven?
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: It's a secret. It is a secret. The number may
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: not be a secret, but the specificity, yes, spice wise
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: is one of those things where they probably have two
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: executives that carry half of the secret each and they
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: never let them be on the same plane. Like Coca Cola. Yeah,
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: we're talking about Kentucky Fried Chicken, by the way, We're
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: talking about Kentucky Fried Chicken, or KFC as it is
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: known today, the iconic and white bucket, the vaguely creepy
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: plantation owner. I feel like the representation got creepy now
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: big time. You know, they had Darryl Hammond, they had
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: Norm McDonald do commercials. I think KFC advertising is sort
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: of going down that same path that Burger King did
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: years ago with their super creepy king with the you know,
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: expressionless face kind of looks like a serial killer mask
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: kind of. Um. The KFC is doing that too with
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: the colonel. They're sort of doubling down on his creepy
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: factor because it's it's it's just like, you know, it works,
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: I guess for like a memorable weird commercial as opposed
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: to back in the day, where I think it was
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: sort of like, um, I feel like they shied away
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: from it, even getting rid of Kentucky in the name.
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: KFC kind of replaced it because I think they were
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: shying away from that image, right, because it was a
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: little problematic. Yeah, like the Learning Channel became TLC when
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: they said, what are people actually learning on this thing? Right?
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: That's a little shade, But yes, so KFC. There's probably
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: one in a town near you if you live in
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: the United States, right somewhere. It turns out KFC is
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: phenomenally extraordinarily popular in Japan. The first KFC opened in
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: nineteen seventy in Japan, and shortly after it opened, the
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: guy who was the manager of this, Takeishi Okawara, woke
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: up at midnight and he had a dream that he
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: had to write down and make into reality. He said,
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: let's sell a party barrel. A party barrel, you say,
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: every Christmas? Yes, you can read this. You can read
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: the full story of this in a great article by
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: the BBC called Why Japan Celebrates Christmas with KFC by
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: Eric Barton. Here's the rub Every Christmas and estimated three
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: point six million Japanese families treat themselves to Kentucky Fried
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: Chicken for Christmas. It's true, and we're gonna get into
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: more of these amazing Japanese is phonetic uh kind of
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: pronunciations for things. I'm just a huge fan of these,
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: so they created that this became kind of a local
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: tradition for this original KFC joint. But then the company
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: realized this was a super smart move to sell Kentucky
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: Fried Chicken in Japan, So they created this marketing plan
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: and they called it Kurisamassu niwa Kentucky or Kentucky for Christmas.
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: I just love kurisa masu. That's fantastic. And these are
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: spelled phonetically, yes, exactly, um And the idea being that
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: it's creating a new tradition out of nothing, because even
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: though there are quite a large number of Christians in Japan,
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: Christmas is not a nationally celebrated holiday and there's really
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: no national tradition around it. So these folks at KFC
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: kind of saw a niche and they filled the crap
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: out of it, didn't They been, Yes, yes, there was
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: absolutely no tradition, somewhat of a void a niche, as
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: you said, Noel, And they they morphed it into more
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: than just a single bucket of chicken. It didn't include
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: just the breast and thighs. Now they came with these, uh,
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: they came with Christmas cakes. They included wine, they had
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: sides you could You could get the entry box for
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: around thirty seven hundred yen that's about thirty two bucks,
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: up to the premium one, which is about hundred yen.
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: And according to KFC, these Christmas packages alone make up
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: about a third of the chains yearly sales in Japan,
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: saying it's phenomenal and you have to like reserve your
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: package weeks in advance or risk having to stand in
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: massive lines to get this um. And you know it's interesting.
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: In this article, they actually talked to a local Atlanta chef. Yes,
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: I know the guy, Kevin Gillespie. Kevin Gillespie. I've never
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: been to any of his shawns, but I looked him
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: up and he seems like really tasty stuff. What's one
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: of his spots called Revival, that's like a really hot
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: brunch place, right, Yeah. Yeah, he's a James Beard Award
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: winning chef and they consulted him for this BBC article
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: and he had a couple of good quotes. He said,
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: if you brought a bucket of fried chicken to Christmas dinner, honestly,
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: I'd be mad at you. Um. And this is interesting
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: because this is a very American perspective, specifically surrounding Christmas,
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: because it's all about family, it's all about homemade, uh
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: comfort food. But in Japan, since there's no official holiday
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: a k A. Time off work, surrounding Christmas probably about
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: the best you can do to reserve that KFC party barrel. Right,
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: And this is not you know, this isn't too crazy
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: because there's a huge tradition of eating Chinese food from
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: Christmas here in these states. Right. For example, within the
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: Jewish community, especially in New York, this came up a
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: lot during our Chinese Food episode about Chop Suey Houses
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: in New York. It became a huge tradition for Jewish
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: families to have a Chinese dinner out on Christmas. Also
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: because not a lot of other stuff is open. True,
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: So we do see an analog here. And you may
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: be asking yourself, uh, Bennels super producer Casey Peckrum, why
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: why did you guys just start telling me about this granted,
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: fascinating story of chicken in Japan. We are going somewhere
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: with this, folks, we promise back to Randy Bass, Okay,
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: so we're gonna join, We're gonna rejoin our original story
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: already in progress. It's all coming together, all coming together.
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: So Randy Bass's name is called Um. These drunken tigers
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: fans are looking around. They're looking for someone. They don't
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: see anybody that even remotely resembles this hulking American man
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: um any living any living person but nearby. This is
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: not something you see typically in the States, or at
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: least I have not. Oh that's a good point. Yes,
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: outside of Kentucky Fried Chicken or KFC joints in Japan,
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: you're gonna find a kind of, I think a little
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: bit maccabre statue of Colonel Sanders himself leering at the
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: passers by, daring them to accept the challenge of chicken,
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: exactly the chicken challenge. And they saw one of those nearby.
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: It was it was as though it were written in
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: the stars. They saw one of these nearby, and they goes,
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: that guy kind of looks vaguely American. And in Randy's defense,
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: he does not look like Colonel Sanders at this time, right,
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: there is a little profiling going. He's just also American.
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: Um did not have a little, uh little little Colonel Beard.
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: In fact, in the article from How Stuff Works, Ridiculous History,
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: the Curse of the Colonel. There's a fantastic side by
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: side comparison. They did both have mustaches, though um not.
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: You know, Randy's was not pure white and did not
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: have the accompanying little pointed goatee nor the little what
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: do you call that a cravat. We have a little
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: kind of a bow tie thing around. String tie, string
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: tie exactly. But yeah, so they they uprooted this thing, right,
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: They just ripped it out of the ground, and then
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: they carried it to the bridge and they threw it
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: into the river, and everybody presumably with yeah, and then
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: I'm guessing there was a current and it just got
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: carried away, because if these folks were hanging out in
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: the river themselves and not just up to their necks
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: in water, I don't think the statue would have sunk
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: right away. It probably got carried away in the current
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: of the river downstream and then they lost it. It did. Yeah,
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: it did apparently go under quickly. That might be due
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: to current. It's also it's got to be due to
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: the weight of the statue as well. Probably weighed more
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: than a person. You think, so I would have I
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: would ticket sure it just being hollow I don't think
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: they would have been able to rip it out of
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: the ground unless it was just kind of a hollow,
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: plastic shell. That's a good point. You know what, we
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: need to take an extra credit segment, go to Japan,
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: get some chicken and investigate. I don't think that's in
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: the budget, Ben, but we we can talk to management
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: about it. We'll see. Let's write to the Tigers, because
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: we're telling a story that they feel needs to be told.
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: You see, after they threw the statue in and everyone
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: went yeay, Tigers forever world champions decades and decades went by,
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: and to date they have never won a championship again.
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: And the Tigers fans will tell you that this is
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: not simply a matter of being outplayed or having bad
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: luck on the field. No, they believe there's something supernatural
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: at work. They believe there is a curse. Yes, um
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: and as so what they referred to as I only
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: saw this printed one place, but it definitely translates correctly
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: as Kanaru sanda su no no roy or the curse
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: of Colonel Sanders. Yes, the curse of Colonel Sanders. I
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: saw that as well. They they believe that by committing
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: this disrespect will act the entity the the non corporeal
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: Colonel Sanders in the sky, the demigod of chicken all
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: Chicken fried has uh has decreed that they will be
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: punished for this disrespect. And you know, you have to
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: wonder how much of this is just a joke, right,
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: and how much people really believe it? Oh well, I mean,
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: well it falls in line with some other pretty serious
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: superstitions that the that exists in Japanese culture, which we'll
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: get to it a little bit. And sports are sports
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: themselves are very rich soil for superstitions. But after such
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: a strong showing, I mean, you know, the Colonel definitely
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: brought down the hammer on them. The Tigers, they just
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: barely won anything at all. Their best finish was third
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: in eight six and they finished last a whopping eight times, right,
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: so it was exceptionally bad. Not just not winning, no, no,
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: it was it was demoralize. The fans were utterly humiliated,
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: and they concocted I guess among themselves. How does something
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: like this spread just by word of mouth? These people
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: in the fan community, their message boards, what are we talking?
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: These people are great at improv man, How did they
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: figure out this ritual so quickly, and then how did
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: they say? Oh, okay, well, here's the explanation. It also
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: reminds me one of those things where it's like, I
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: know what you did last summer kind of scenario where
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: you and a close group of friends commit a horrible
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: atrocity and then you are punished for it later and
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: then you have to figure out how to make it right.
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: I hope someone feels like they saw the Colonel exactly.
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: Can't you picture this though? Is this? This should be
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: a movie and they should This should be a kind
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: of ring Goo or like the Grudge kind of movie
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: based around uh conor us Sandy Sue. No, no, that
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: could be the name of the movie. Yeah, and then
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: we'll just translate to the Curse of the Colonel for
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: the American audience. Because they banded together to make this right. Yes,
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: they said, just like we would imagine a Colonel sand
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: esque figure. They said, Wilson, justice shall not stand and
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: into what they You know, they didn't say it with
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: this othern accent. You don't know, or they did. Maybe
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: they did. Maybe they were cosplaying as well. So, uh,
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: they went to search for the statue. They went to
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: the bottom of the river and attempted to recover it,
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: and in two thousand and nine they found a piece
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: of it. I actually read two band that in one
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: of these attempts, a twenty four year old fan named
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: Masaya Shita Baba actually drowned. M I read that as well. Yeah, So,
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: I mean this was no joke. They were they were
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: this was not a lark. They were out to break
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: this curse, right, and as you were saying, then they
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: did find some success. Yeah, and in a way, in
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: a very strange way, know, this death lead to the
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: discovery because after the death, the community announced plans to
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: build a new bridge that would make it more difficult
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: to jump into the river from and then they began
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: constructing this in two thousand and four. But while they
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: were constructing a walkway in two thousand nine related to
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: this new bridge, that's where they found the They didn't
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: find all of the statue ites like the torso in
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: the head and the arms, but not the hands. There
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: was no mistaking that rictus grin of our pal Colonel Sanders,
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: even with the decay, that was definitely him. So you know,
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: they were reasonably overjoyed and decided they needed to find
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: some of the other pieces. Yes, because what if I
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: love this horror movie that you just pitched to me.
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: What if they haven't appeased the angry spirit of the
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: statue until they assemble it all. You know, they find
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: the hands, they find the glasses. Uh. Some fans were
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: worried that until the statue was made whole again, the
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: Tigers would never win another series. And you know, superstition
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: and sports in general are super common, even right here
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: in the States. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I think you
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: might be referring to another famous curse, my friend, one
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: that affects Boston Red Sox fans. The Curse of the Bambino. Yes, yes,
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: the Curse of the Vambino, where the Red Sox fans
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: believe that their team was cursed for almost a century
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: eighty years for trading away legendary player Babe Ruth. Yeah,
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: they probably just you know, Babe Ruth was really good
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: and they would have done better if they'd had him.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: I but I love them. I love the high dramatic
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: steaks from a storytelling perspective of a curse. I feel
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: like I have never encountered a curse. Uh, nor have
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: I laid a curse upon someone because I'm you know,
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: I'm actually a really kind person. But I would love
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: to just be involved in like a curse type situation,
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: like solving a curse. Would you cur like someone who
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: really had it coming? Maybe some maybe one of an enemy,
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: I guess so, but I don't really have enemies really. Yeah,
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: that's cool and I don't either. I wish you all
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: could see. No slight eye roll there, but yeah, I
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: would like to solve a curse, and a lot of
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: sports fans, of course, would like to do the same.
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: We had an interesting quotation here and observation from a
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: sports columnist named Dick Harmon for writing for The Desert News,
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: who described athletes and superstition this way. Athletes, says Mr Harmon,
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: by their very nature tend to be superstitious, especially when
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: it comes to preparing for events. I've seen players wear
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: the same socks beneath their actual game socks, listen to
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: the same song or music, eat the same food, hit
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: the bathroom at the same time before going out on
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: the court or field. I don't think this is hatched
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: out of fear, but of comfort, not of jinxing themselves,
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: but of setting their mine straight. Agreed, Yeah, ritual to me,
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: is all about getting in kind of a zen state,
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: you know, where you feel in control of your surroundings
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: just by virtue of doing something the same way. I
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: personally am a creature of habit I typically get the
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: same things to eat at restaurants, and uh, you know,
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: take the same routes home, even if there's a quicker
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: route that my map is telling me, I'll typically go
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: the way that I'm super comfortable with. And to me,
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: that's a way of kind of doing all I can
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: in the little way that I can to control my
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: environment and my chaotic life. Right the vast incomprehensible universe
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: that cares not which way this great world spins, we
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: must exercise some control over our existence. Uh. With podcasting,
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: for instance, you know, I've been doing this a while.
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: I've got rituals, and we as a cohort collectively a
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: house of works. A lot of our podcasters have their
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: own rituals. Chuck used to do a thing, remember with
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: his cheeks. I didn't know about that one. Now I know.
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: Robert Lamb has a little squishy dinosaur that he brings
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: in when the podcasts. Robert Lamb from stuff to blow
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: your mind, and I personally have been wearing the same
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: pair of me and he's the entire time we've been podcasting. Yeah,
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: and I respect you for that. You know, I think
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: you've you've gone past the area of diminishing returns to
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: you were cleaning up now, you know. I do watch
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: them occasionally, I've I've heard that, Yeah, I've heard. I
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: can't remember why I heard that or how it came
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: up in conversation, but I do remember hearing that. You're
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: a very attentive listener, Ben, Thank you, Thank you, And likewise,
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: my friend, we thought this was fascinating because it's still
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: in play. Like the Tigers fans will tell you. Did
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: their fortunes turn around? Though, Ben, that's the that's the
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: kicker here. Well, we do know we can't predict what
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: will happen by the end of none can, but we
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: do know that things weren't completely bleak and dire for
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: the Tigers, and act we had some good news in
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: the early two thousand's, that's right. They they returned to
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: the Japan Series after eighteen years away, and they had
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: the best record in the Central League. And many of
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: these KFC outlets as sort of a precaution, I guess
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: in the area and Kobe and Osaka, they personally uprooted
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: their Colonel Sanders statues and moved them inside until the
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: series was over, you know, to guard them against any
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: potential desecration by over zealous Tigers fans. This is one
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: of my favorite parts of the story. Now, though, let's
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: say that you are in uh Let's say that you
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: are in the area and you want to eat at
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: this iconic KFC. You can't because it's closed. But let's
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: say you travel to the KFC headquarters in Yokohama. There,
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: if you have permission from KFC management, or if you're
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: a v I P Special guest or you are an
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: honored employee, you may be allowed to see the rescued Colonel.
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: And they found most of his parts, right, they found
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: a lot of them, But you can't. It's not viewable
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: by the public. That's what's strange to me. Like you can,
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: you can go in and see the origin of the curse,
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: but only if you have special permission. Well, I propose
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: that we pitch our Curse of the Colonel horror movie
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: too KFC Japan and they could sponsor and it could
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: just be like a really elaborate commercial for KFC and
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: maybe we can actually get some some of those chicken
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: dollars to to make this thing really hit. Also, also,
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: here's what we'll sell them on it. Well, I'm telling
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: you it'll be cross brand promotion if they make special
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: meals that are related to the tigers or to the curse. Yes,
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: you know with ghost pepper chicken just off the top
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: of the dome. Why not? Why not? You know what
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: I've got to say, Man, thank you for this one.
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: I've really enjoyed today's episode. I did too. And we're
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: gonna wrap up just with a couple of of of
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: interesting Japanese superstitions because we mentioned it earlier in the
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: show that this is a thing and they all have
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: these amazing names. Um. So, for example, one of them
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: is it's apparently considered bad luck to cut your nails
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: at night, and this tradition or superstition is known as
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: yoru ntsume wakite wak nine um. And apparently this is
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: tied to the fact that in the olden days, um
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: there were no lights at night due to lack of electricity,
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: and people believed that evil spirits would come around to
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: your home at night, and that when you cut your nails,
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: because they imbue cutting tools of any kind with a
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: lot of um power. And that when you cut your nails,
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: you're creating a sort of a window between worlds. This
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: comes up time and time again a lot of these superstitions,
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: and that if you do it at night, you're opening
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: that window, and one of these evil spirits or accur
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: you could exit the nether world through that or possess you.
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: There's there's also the one that happens if a funeral
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: hearst drives past, you have to hide your thumbs in
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: a fist. And that's because the word for thumb translates
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: to parent fingers. So it's symbolically hiding your parents from death.
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: And if you don't, similar to the way, there's the
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: old superstition, step on a crack like your mom's back.
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: This is uh. This is one where you hide your
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: parents symbolically from death, and if you don't do it,
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: your parents will die, it's right. And this one is
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: known as raca yusha kara. Oh yeah, you be will
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: kakusu um. And then there's one that I think you'll
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: like ben where you shouldn't whistle at night. Yes, yes, yes,
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: you shouldn't whistle at night. You're no fui subecky day night.
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: And this one is more tied to a fun actional thing,
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: right like like not necessarily supernatural, although it may there
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: may be some crossover. Yeah, So back in the day
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: in Japan, whistling was a sign used by burglars and
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: other ne'er do wells, uh the other good old fashioned
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: nocturnal scumbags to communicate with each other. So whistling is
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: associated with intruders, thieves. It's sort of like that urban
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: legend of like flashing your brights or something and how
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: that's a sign for gangs or something, or like putting
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: on your shoes in the power lines or I don't know,
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: I'm reaching here. There are a lot of unlucky numbers too,
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: which is fascinating, especially we're we're uh did we ever
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: talk about this off air? I think there are a
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: lot of buildings that don't have a fourth floor, Is
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: that correct? I don't know about that for sure, but
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: I know in the States there's no thirteenth floor, right, yes, yeah, yeah,
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: I know that four is an unlucky number because the
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: word for for ship closely resembles the word for death.
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: I got you. So, what's a let's what's a good one?
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: What's an up one? Like a silly one? Yeah, I
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: don't know. I mean it's silly on the on the surface,
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: but then it's also kind of morbid. Um. You know,
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: you're apparently when it's bad weather, when there's lightning and thunder, um,
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: you are supposed to hide your children's midsections belly buttons specifically. Yeah. Yeah,
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: that checks out as a as a former meteorologist. And
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: that's because the god of thunder, ry Jin supposedly would
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: eat children's entire abdomens or their their midsections. And he
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: also had a little running buddy named ry Jew, who
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: would nest himself supposedly in the belly buttons of children
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: while they sleep, and this could lead to these kids
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: being struck by lightning. That's right, because ry Gin, in
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: order to jostle his little familiar, I guess from this
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: little nest, would shoot him with a bolt of lightning. Right, naturally, right,
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: this checks out, And then I assume eat the midsection,
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: So do take care in storms. But as you know,
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: we are all about self empowerment, not just for ourselves
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: but for you dear listeners. So you might be asking, Hey,
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: this curse thing sounds cool. How can I get in
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: on this? How can I make a wish or make
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: a curse. We'd like to introduce you to ohyakudo myri. Yeah,
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: there's a ceremony even called ushi no kuku myri, where
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: when you visit a shrine during a particular hour, sort
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: of the Japanese equivalent of the witching hour I'm guessing,
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: called the hour of the Ox, which is between one
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: and three am. Um, you can start your very own curse, right, Yes.
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: All you'll need to do is visit during the hour
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: of the Ox, bring a straw doll with you, representing
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: the person who will receive the curse, and use a
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: long nail to nail the doll to the shrines holy tree.
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: That's for cursey. That's not for a wish. If you're
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: trying to wish someone's success, don't don't do that. But
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: there's a kicker ben because if you are nest making
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: the curse, then that curse will visit itself on you tenfold.
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: I added the tenfold part. But you know it doesn't
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: sound good. No, no, it doesn't. So this these shrines
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: are powerful symbolically. Maybe we should end on how you
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: make a wish. So we talked about making a curse,
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: but we also mentioned making a wish. So to make
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: a wish in a shrine, you must walk from a
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: shrines gate to its altar or from the gate to
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: a main hall one hundred times while praying for your
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: wish to come true. If you want to increase your odds,
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: walk barefoot. A little life pro tip there, little life hack. Alternatively,
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: you can visit the shrine and make one prayer for
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: your wish to come true each day for one hundred days.
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: That's the long game. This is only scratching the surface
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: of some of the fascinating Japanese superstitions we found, and
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: and granted there are a lot of fascinating US or
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: Western superstitions as well, But at this point we do
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: not have a curse associated with Colonel Sanders now. But
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: you know that could change. Yeah, you know the future.
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: The future stretches before us, vast and endless, and it's
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: beautiful possibilities. What are some of your favorite Japanese curses?
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: Can you think of any that could potentially be as
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: outrageous and absurd as the Curse of the Colonel. We'd
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: like to know. You can write to us at Ridiculous
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: and how Stuff Works dot com. You can hit us
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: up on social media where we are Ridiculous History on Facebook, Instagram,
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: and I believe Twitter. And thank you so much for
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: journeying with us as we stumbled through Japanese phrases. I
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: feel like we should also thank Casey for this. As always, Casey,
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: don't go change it. You're amazing. Thanks for being on
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: the show. He keeps us honest and I didn't. I
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: didn't notice him wincing super hard during any of those pronunciations. Um,
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: but sometimes it's hard to I think it might have
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: been a baseball related wins rather than cases into sports connunciation.
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: Well maybe not American baseball fair enough anyway. Also, thank
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: you to Alex Williams for composing our soundtrack YEP, and
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: most importantly, thank you to you for listening to the show. Um.
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: We hope you'll join us for our next episode where
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: we get kind of grisly with it. Yes, we are
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: exploring gold in one of its most dangerous applications. What
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: will it be? Tune in to find out in the
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: meantime on a personal request. Do you guys have any
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: great chicken recipes or you will want to just send
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: us pictures of chicken. Please do it now.