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Bat Boys Back, Weekly World News P2 · Journey to the Fringe

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From the unexplained to the mundane, come join
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us on a Journey to the Fringe. We are your podcast
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hosts who exclusively speak English and just
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power forward with that, Taylor and Chelsea.
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Here today, following up on our Weekly World
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News episode. I'm not really sure how this episode's
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gonna go with how we left off the first episode,
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but we will see. I know you're all looking forward
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to this week's episode. After we covered the
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Weekly World News last week, where do you think
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this episode is gonna go? Where is there to go
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after we covered the Weekly World News in its
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entirety? This week, while it seems like there's
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nowhere to go, we're going to dive into some
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of the popular news stories that the Weekly World
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News covered over his lifetime. It's going to
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be an even funner episode. Oh, good. I am very
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excited for this because they had some absolute
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hits that you just wander by and like maybe,
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no, I should never buy this magazine. It's a
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good article title. They were eye catchers. As
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we talked about last week, this is one of the
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rare things that have stuck into my mind out
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of the my numbingly doll trips to the grocery
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store. I do have to wonder, despite how good
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their headlines were, ever felt the need to buy
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their magazine. I wonder if anybody ever did.
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Just like, no, I have to buy that. No, they did.
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They did. OK, because they stocked it and they
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sold millions of publications of it. But you
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think anybody picked it up just for one. headline
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yeah you know what they had to they had to they
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had to have done one -offs they probably had
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a large loyal base it's a mystery to me because
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i don't know one single person that ever picked
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up either one not even a point it should be a
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poll actually i i wonder if you listening answer
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in the comments did you ever buy one do you know
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anyone that ever purchased one of these magazines
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and you found it in their home And if so, what
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was your reaction? I don't even know what I would
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do if I found it at a relative's house. I'd probably
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read it, but I'd be like, finally. Yeah, and
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then you wouldn't mention it to them either.
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I don't think. I don't know. I probably not.
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I think I'd just pick it up like it was normal.
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Do you think people who like had copies of the
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weekly world news left it in their bathroom just
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for like a sparking conversation thing? Do you
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think though? Because I don't know that I ever
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saw a MIG. Hold on. Let me think about my whole
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entire life. No, no, I did see mostly at our
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house. They're not magazine racks in some people's
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bathrooms. Just our house, I think is where I
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saw. OK. No, I don't think. Did I? I don't know.
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No, I don't know. It's just too long ago. Did
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you see them there? I remember what was the name
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of that the bathroom reader in bathrooms a lot.
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Yeah. Which man, the smartphone had to have hit
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them hard. Oh yeah. That would be an interesting
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one, actually. Nothing we'll ever cover, ever.
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But same with no shampoo bottles that didn't
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impact anybody. No. Okay. No, that was just like
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kind of a last resort. Maybe we should start
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the episode. Okay, the first one was the Page
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5 Honey. And I took this totally different than
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when I actually read it. Each week a different
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model was featured on page 5 and on the back.
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She was usually wearing a bikini and the description
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of her was printed, which is bizarre. You couldn't
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just... Look at her, because you would also assume
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that the person was not blind, also reading the
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description. This feature ended after the Halloween
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issue of 2006. I believe from the last episode,
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did they not close? That would have been the
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last episode. 2007. Oh, like right near the end.
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Episode I call it. Chelsea, you know what? Sorry,
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just before we move on, does that not remind
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you? Like, I feel like the sun. the newspaper
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magazine yes our newspaper we have like the model
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that they would put in your the pages and weekly
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world news finishes in the sun so i'm wondering
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if they stole that from weekly world news oh
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that's so true and you just totally unlocked
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a memory that i totally forgot about was the
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thing and they totally did do that so it very
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well might have Or who even knows that might
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have just been a thing that was the thing to
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do in publications at that time. I don't know.
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I was too young. Photography was not readily
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available. Yeah. I wonder which one did it first.
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It's a curiosity. Yeah, no kidding. Yeah, that
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actually didn't come up in the research at all.
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Next one is alive. Also a good idea for an episode.
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One of the many other recurring subjects was
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the occasionally alive cover story. Most often,
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the story pertained to some sort of creature
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such as Mummy, prehistoric creature, or occasionally
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a human who had been frozen in a block of ice.
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Example, Santa Claus. Oh, okay. I know. I was
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expecting Walt Disney after that one, but it
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was Santa. Or a caveman. I was really waiting
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for a caveman. Which, we don't know for sure
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if that is different from Santa. I guess, sure.
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Another subject often tackled by Weekly World
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News is the reemergence of many prominent figures
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believed to be deceased, including Hank Williams,
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Marilyn Monroe, John F. Kennedy, Adolf Hitler,
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and Michael Jackson. Survivors of the Titanic
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and the Hindenburg were also occasionally featured.
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Among the most frequently printed reports, those
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asserting that Elvis is alive. The Weekly World
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News frequently reported Elvis sightings with
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a series of articles claiming that Elvis Presley
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had faked his death and had recently emerged
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from years of seclusion to prepare for a comeback.
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Obviously, altered photos purported to show a
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grey -haired balding Elvis sneaking into a movie
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theatre and coming out of a Burger King restaurant
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when the US Postal Service conducted a poll to
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determine the design of the Elvis commemorative
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Man, you know what's crazy, Chelsea? I just looked
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at that. Elvis was born in 35, so Elvis is still
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alive theories could still be going on. Technically,
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yeah. Have you seen a good one though recently?
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No, I don't know. No, I think let's create the
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people who actually like Elvis is past weekly.
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Let's just bring up the website and see if it's
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still this is what this episode is for. Let's
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just take a look. Have you? Hold on. Don't go
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to the website. Well, you could go to the website.
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Elvis, the Elvis website. No weekly world news.
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Oh, I'm Googling. Elvis is alive. Oh, hold on.
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Hold on. Twenty twenty one. Found an article
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for 2020. It's a very chunky guy. Oh, oh, oh,
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here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go.
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I got a good one. 2024. You ready for this headline?
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Steve Albini. I don't know who that is. And the
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ghost of Elvis team up for a musical collab.
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Oh, shit. That just reminded me of Bubba Hotep.
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I'm not going to read the article, but this is
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the most recent thing we have for Elvis. However,
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if we look at May 28, 2012, Elvis's tomb is empty.
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August 16 2011 Elvis spotted on Obama's bus to
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This is golden. All right, what's your 2021 my
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2021 one second here? It is Elvis goes to Graceland
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with Michael Jackson August 16 2010 once Michael
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Jackson spotted with Elvis Oh this one. They
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really like July 1st 2009. This is express .co
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.uk Elvis alive the king caught on camera at
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Graceland and gave secret signal to fans. September
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21, 2020. This is not an Elvis spotted, but I
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really want to read this. January 7, 2009, top
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20 surprising Elvis facts. I'm just really curious
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about what they have for surprising Elvis facts
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on here. Number one, Elvis's income dropped from
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$400 ,000 a month to $78 a month after he was
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drafted into the U .S. Army on December 19, 1957.
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OK, that seems legit. Number two, the King's
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entourage were known collectively as the Memphis
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Mafia. All sported diamond and gold rings given
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to them by Elvis on which a thunderbolt in the
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letters TCB had been imprinted. TCB stood for
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taking care of business. Number three, the Beatles
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visited Elvis at his home in California in 1965,
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joining him in an informal jam session that tragically
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wasn't recorded. Number four, Elvis called Milk
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Butch. Okay. Okay, I'm just gonna have to start
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calling Milk that. Number five. else gave away
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so many cars, including Corvettes, Cadillacs
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and Linkings that nobody butch. Is that a good
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thing or a bad thing in like this? Oh, no, I
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don't know that nobody has ever been able to
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come up with an accurate count. Number six, the
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King's last car was a 1976 Cadillac Eldorado,
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which sported gold plated hubcaps, TV and a bar.
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That's a nice feature. Do they do that anymore?
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Do you think? Yeah, they call it limos. Not that
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I could afford a car with a bar, so I would know.
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Number seven, Elvis's concert jumpsuits were
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given names. They include Peacock, White Prehistoric
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Bird, Flame, Gypsy, Mad Tiger, and King of Spades.
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All good names. The only one that's missing is
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something... G... Just... G... Geopose... Something...
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Pope Junior. I can't remember his name. Number
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eight. Number eight, the only thing I remember.
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Pope Junior. The King's manager, Colonel Tom
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Parker, made more than Elvis. He got 50 % of
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what the star made from 1967 on and then earned
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extra pay as the technical advisor on Elvis's
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films. Number nine, the King's first guitar cost
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$12 .95. Number 10, football was the King's favorite
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sport and the Cleving Browns were his favorite
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team. Number 11, Elvis's favorite movie was James
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Dean's Rebel Without a Cause, which he memorized
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line by line. Number 12, some of Elvis's bejeweled
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jumpsuits weighed more than 25 pounds. He was
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actually blonde, dyed it black. He owned 37 guns,
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liked them so much. He wore a two -shot derringer
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during live performances in the 70s, so ordered
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two medals while serving in the army. Went for
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expert markmanship in the other sharpshooter.
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Elvis wore a cross. the Hebrew letter chai and
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star of David around his neck I don't want to
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miss out on heaven due to a technicality he said
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just in case yeah I get that yeah that's just
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smart Elvis recorded more than 600 songs in his
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music career but didn't write a single one of
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them Elvis's favorite meal pork chops with ground
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gravy and apple pie for dessert among the many
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nicknames Elvis went by were E big E big L the
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bopping hillbilly the cat the chief mr. dynamite
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and of course the king okay the one that i find
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the best out of all of that is that he called
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milk but i just still don't know what that means
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i don't know but i really really does that mean
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he said can i get a glass of butch yes okay and
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he would have to know what that means to give
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him the right thing Right you would have like
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if so was this a common thing to know? Okay,
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this isn't a podcast about Elvis unless there's
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still stuff about Okay in 1994 the newspaper
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ran a front cover with the headline Elvis Presley
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dead 1994 stating that Elvis was now really dead
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from heart failure after slipping into a diabetic
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coma. In 2004, Washington Post article on Klontz's
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death, humorous Gene Weingarten claimed that
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he and Dave Barry were the sources of the story.
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According to Weingarten, the Weekly World News
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later reported that claims of Elvis's belated
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death had been a hoax. Weird. Next popular column,
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you're gonna like this one. The later death was
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a hoax in that he was still alive or he had died
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earlier. Probably that - He was still alive.
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He was still alive. I'm just assuming here. Yeah,
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but it's weird. I don't know which way it would
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go in real life. I know, I know. You gotta think
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that he's still alive. Next popular column. You're
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gonna like this one. The world's baddest. I remember
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these actually. Numerous stories regarding shockingly
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obese people made the pages of Weekly World News
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the most popular of which was Roland Gillespie,
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the world's baddest man. After Roland was first
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discovered, Weekly World News encouraged readers
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to send in their guesses as to exactly how much
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they believe Roland weighed. Weighing in at 576
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.2 pounds, Roland was featured being weighed
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and measured and the crew was possibly sat on
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by the world's baddest man. Later stories involved
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Roland's attempts to lose weight through the
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OMAD diet, his struggle with near -fatal obesity
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and claims that he ate his family. You just really
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got that's classy Was the weekly world news just
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ahead of its time for is it TLC or the History
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Channel? It has like my 800 pound life. Oh, it's
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definitely TLC and I'm a big fan Okay, so I was
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just gonna say big fan of this column I think
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it was just a trailblazer of its time because
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this probably is the first of what I truly love
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as trash TV. I don't watch much TV, but the TV
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I do choose to watch is just the absolute shittiest
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shows you can find on television. My 600 pound
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life being one. You know, I was picturing the
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two guys on motorcycles. is who I was expecting
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to see here. Oh, those guys. Yeah. Do they come
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up? You got to understand that morbid obesity
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had a different view, like mid 90s onwards and
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mid 90s backwards. Oh, yeah. This is definitely
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different than you see on my 600 foot. Yeah.
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No, like morbid obesity used to be like something
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you had to work at, like hard. to do not just
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like oh no it's mistake after like solitude yeah
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with our food the way it is now with all the
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palm oils and chemicals it's very easy to attain
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them yeah no they used to be like my 600 pound
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life big cities used to have prestigious groups
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called like the fat man's clubs And they were
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very proud that they were fat in the 20s. Well,
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yeah, and you look at throughout history, like
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the plump ladies were the richest because they
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could afford to eat. Yeah, and they were the
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most attractive. They were able to get to that
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level. That's just how I choose to see myself
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now is well off. Little do they know. Other stories
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featured the exploits of the world's fattest
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couple at the gym, the world's fattest baby,
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and even a similar weight guessing contest featuring
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the world's fattest dog. Wait, wait, wait, wait.
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We have to stop at this. How would you consider
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it the world's fattest dog? Because they have
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such different breeds. He'd have to be Tronky.
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Well, I would have to assume it's a pug, but
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like a pug who weighs 80 pounds is different
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than like a husky who weighs like 150 pounds.
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I've never seen a fat husky. Have you? No, but
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it's in the name. Wow. Can you just search the
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world? Husky is husky. Because you're really
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gonna enjoy the images that come up from it.
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Okay. This is a little more than Chonky. Chelsea,
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I'm sorry, I just googled world - or sorry, I
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binged world's baddest dog and it told me English
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Mastiff. Oh, that's a good picture. One continuing
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story featured a morbidly obese man named Buster
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Simkus who had lost so much weight that it left
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80 pounds of loose skin hanging off his his body.
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That's a Junker. He couldn't even walk! I wouldn't
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call him world's fattest though. Like, sausage
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dogs do not have to gain that much weight to
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be able to not walk. Definitely couldn't walk,
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I don't think. No, but that's the thing about
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sausage dogs is they have short legs. Oh boy.
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They don't have the ability to gain that much
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weight. It's easy to get out of hand. Yeah. Okay.
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Buster Sinkist. Like, a Great Dane? They got
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a lot of rooms. Yeah, exactly. This guy's just
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five pounds overweight. Okay, Buster Simkiss.
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He lost so much weight that it left 80 pounds
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of loose skin hanging off his body that he was
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planning on having surgically removed. By the
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next story, he had regained the weight, severely
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damaging his scars. That's sad. Okay, well, we're
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the Motorcycle Fat Boys. That's a real question.
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Motorcycle Fat Boys. Okay, it just brings up
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motorcycles. So what is the search term that
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I'm missing here? Fat Guys? Fat twins. Billy
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Leon and Benny Lloyd McCarrie, known together
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as the McGuire twins, were listed in the Guinness
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Book. Oh, their Guinness Book of World Records.
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They're the world's baddest twins, aren't they?
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As the world's heaviest twins. A well -known
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Guinness photo depicts the twins riding their
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Honda motorcycles, which they rode across country
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for promotion. Well, that's sad that they weren't
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the weekly world news. Oh, yeah, they're there.
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OK, well, we learned something here on this episode.
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Up next! Upcoming Economic Depressions Weekly
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World News covered stories that featured analysis
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of coming Great Depressions and the immediate
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future in which many prominent celebrities, politicians
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and icons of business would become penniless.
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The cover story of the June 6th, 2005. You got
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to be happy with the rich person loses everything
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storyline. I was literally just thinking and
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I was going to comment. Not enough people cover
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that. Yeah, it's a pull to the regular people.
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Yeah. That the 1 % is gonna fall? Yes, of course.
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Oh, they're gonna hate it. Well, we're all gonna
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love it, yeah. And of course at this time, the
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1 % are not like the 1 % that we see now, but...
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No, but you gotta remember too that the people
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who own the newspapers are usually in the 1%,
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so they're gonna say like, oh no, people aren't
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gonna like the story because I don't like the
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story, so we're not printing. Yeah. But they're
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going for it and I fucking love that. The cover
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story of the June 6th, 2005 issue warned that
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the Second Great Depression was just weeks away.
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Because of this, Texas oil tycoons were planning
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to flee to Luxembourg, the only country to survive
21:10
this economic crash. Consequences of this depression
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would include mass starvation, a disease epidemic,
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mobs of looters, and a return to pagan religions
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and Satanism. Do you remember when that happened?
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Yeah, I think it was right around the time when
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the people from Nibiru showed up. That's exactly
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when it did. Yeah, when that the night. Is it
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the 9th planet? It was right around 2012. Yeah,
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9th now. Around that time, it was the 10th. But
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then right around the same time, the scientists
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came out and said, well, technically it's not
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actually the 10th planet because it's the 9th
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planet, because Peter doesn't exist. Yeah, that
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was all like in and around the same time. It
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was really chaotic. I know it was really chaotic.
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There's a lot of people really angry about that
21:54
stuff. Oh, totally. Another typical weekly world
21:57
news topic was Bible related findings that included
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relics from Noah's Ark, the Garden of Eating,
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claimed by the tabloid to be in Colorado. However,
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we do know from recent, well, kind of recent,
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well, very recent within the podcast, History
22:14
of Time, supposedly in Sumeria, not Colorado,
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maybe, the discovery of additional commandments
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from God, the ant sandals worn by Jesus. You
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know, products were well made back then to stand.
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They just planned obsolescence has really ruined
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everything. It really fucking has. The magazine
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also reported on when Jesus will return to Earth
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and held an interview with Sisyphus when he finished
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his eternal boulder hauling workout. Oh, Sisyphus,
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yeah. Sisyphus, Sisyphus. Yeah, there you go.
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Yeah, those ones are a little bit hard. Other
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stories stated that natural disasters such as
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earthquakes and human economic activity like
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drilling for oil have opened up gates and portals
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from hell as they do, from which demons have
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escaped to wreak havoc upon the earth. I do actually
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think that is the worst thing that the oil and
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gas industry has done is cover up that portion
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and not the global warming thing. It is the demons
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that they keep unleashing upon us. But you know
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what? I've also heard that that's, you know,
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it's not all of why the billionaires are losing
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their beaches, but it's at least a part of it.
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Yeah, it's not an insignificant amount either.
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Yeah, it's rarely covered any at all. It's Thalog's
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unperturbed arm that is throwing the waves up
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onto the riches of the land. Yeah. We might cover
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it in Fringy Mini at some point. We probably
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will if we were to find an article on it. And
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we might. We might if they're still publishing
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things. Actually, Chelsea, you know what? I just
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found - We should use them more often. Yeah.
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I just found the article here. If you want to
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take a look in general, it's this bad bear right
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here. You just sent me this bear with boobs again.
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Man boobs, yeah. That's the article. Anyhow.
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It's a good article. It's well stated. OK, a
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story shortly after September 11th, 2001 showed
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the face of Satan appearing in a cloud of dust
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caused by the collapse of the World Trade Center.
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I think we all remember that similar stories
24:28
were in Satan's face had appeared in a thunderstorm
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had appeared before. Again, I just want to state
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I feel like I would have been fantastic at the
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Weekly World News. I feel like I'm qualified
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to work there. I really do. Chelsea, I always
24:44
thought I thought my job would be naming fifth
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wheels and motor homes, but I do in fact think
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it would have been waiting for the weekend. It
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was now that we did this. Give me a name. Well,
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no, see, I saw an RV once named the cousin Eddie
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too. And I thought that that's what I wanted
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to get into, but I don't know how. Yeah. But
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like, I feel like you could do better than the
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cousin to. Yeah. I would name one the Rambler.
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I think I would call one the open road, which
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I don't think I've ever seen. No, you know what?
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You don't see. I think Journeyman is a great
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name for a motorhome. Yeah, you don't see motorhomes
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named the same way that you see boats named.
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Yeah, you just don't. They have very specific
25:22
things. Yeah. Yeah. The next heading is terrorism
25:26
and following the terrorist attack on September
25:30
11th, 2001. I was just going to ask if they had
25:32
it before 2001, but that answers it. Yes. I hate
25:35
to bring up Alex Jones again, but the craziest
25:38
thing to me about Alex Jones is that he predicted
25:40
this terrorist attack on September 11th, 2001.
25:45
He didn't, though. He did. No, he didn't. If
25:48
you look at it. There are things around what
25:51
he actually predicted that are not specifically
25:54
that, and it has a lot to do with that weird
25:57
X -Files shootoff that happened at the same time.
25:59
And then when it actually did happen, he said
26:02
it was the European Union that did it. Oh, for
26:04
fuck's sake. Yeah. He specifically said that
26:07
it was going to be I can't remember exactly what
26:10
it was. I just listened to it yesterday. No,
26:12
but whenever you actually see him cover something
26:15
correctly, it's usually because he had five different
26:18
spins. Sorry, five is very limited. Oh yeah,
26:21
like the whole thing was him just predicting
26:24
everything but he specifically said it was gonna
26:27
be Osama bin Laden and it happened six days after
26:30
he fucking said it and it's the only thing he's
26:33
ever accurately got right but then he went on
26:35
and like got it completely wrong after it happened.
26:37
Yeah on the day of he said it was the European
26:40
Union that did it. That's exact but he got it
26:42
right like six days before it happened and I
26:45
just thought that was craziest thing. Why is
26:48
this becoming all about not all about Alex Jones
26:51
but it's the very adjacent to Alex Jones what
26:54
we're talking about right now damn it it is following
26:57
the terrorist attack on September 11 2001 weekly
27:01
world news featured articles about plans for
27:04
future terrorist attacks on the United States
27:06
of America 2004 cover story described plans by
27:10
Kim Jong -il to eventually invade and conquer
27:13
the United States you know what I would believe
27:16
Kim Jong Il definitely had those plans. Like
27:19
they were. Oh, yeah. They were for sure there.
27:21
Yeah. And Chelsea, do you know? You know what?
27:24
Never mind. It's just going to be a picture of
27:26
the big bear again. I knew it. Other stories
27:36
feature profiles on the location and nature of
27:39
Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, which who
27:42
would have fucking thought that we're still talking
27:44
about it today? including the news that Saddam
27:48
Hussein had an arsenal of giant slingshots. Well,
27:52
to be fair, he did have a Stargate, too. He did.
27:56
It's not mentioned here, but it also mentions
27:58
missing Lincoln dinosaur. How else would he get
28:03
that butt of Stargate? How would he? I would
28:07
even say that he had hybrids of animals mixed
28:09
with dinosaurs, but it's just gonna be a picture
28:11
of the bear. But I would expect to see that bear
28:15
more in Russia probably. He seems retched. Mostly
28:19
from his background, yeah. He is definitely the
28:23
image for this week's episode. I don't know why
28:26
I can't tell you how it relates to this episode.
28:29
But it's beautiful. Yeah, he's beautiful. Just
28:32
as he is. In 2003, a series of articles profiled
28:37
the ongoing relationship between an eventual
28:40
marriage of Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden.
28:43
It was always kind of an undercurrent of the
28:46
story. Okay. The love affair between Saddam and
28:48
Osama. It was just an assumed. Okay, other stories
28:50
have made claims that Bin Laden was actually
28:53
a dwarf that he recruited Adolf Hitler to join
28:57
Al Qaeda and that he was in fact dead long before
29:01
his actual death and that the CIA was keeping
29:04
it a secret. After his being captured by Batboy,
29:08
Saddam was humiliated by female prison guards,
29:11
won the United States lottery and even demanded
29:14
that the government pay for his sex change. Oh,
29:18
what a beautiful piece of reporting. Presidency
29:22
is the next headline that they reported on often.
29:26
The weekly world news has often been the home
29:28
of political satire regarding current and past
29:31
presidential administrations. The magazine reported
29:34
that the founding fathers were all gay and that
29:37
George Washington and Abraham Lincoln were actually
29:40
women. According to the paper, President Lincoln
29:43
was insane and his ghost had also been spotted
29:47
in the White House giving President George W
29:50
Bush advice based on the war in Iraq. stories
29:53
about President George W. Bush capitalized on
29:56
the public's perception that he lacked intelligence.
29:59
The paper chronicled his plans to run for Pope,
30:02
his love affair with Janet Reno, and his intention
30:06
to nominate Yoda as secretary. Oh man, I kind
30:09
of forgot that Janet Reno was a person and that
30:11
Will Ferrell played her on Saturday Night Live
30:13
for a while. I just clicked on her and she looks
30:17
like Ferrell. Oh yeah, she's got some broad shoulders.
30:20
Yep. That June 21st 2004 it she stated that Vice
30:24
President Jake Cheney was actually a robot and
30:28
that his frequent trips to the hospital allowed
30:31
him to rewire circuits. I'm pretty sure that
30:36
is the same with JD Vance. Pretty sure. If you
30:41
looked it up I'm sure it would be the same. Chelsea,
30:44
I don't think they can make software that awkward.
30:46
at this point i just don't think they have the
30:48
technology for it i always thought he was a prototype
30:51
and they're just working up the bugs is what
30:54
i thought was going on no you have to intentionally
30:56
make somebody that awkward and unhuman like it
30:59
can't be accidental or just like not enough information
31:02
like it is that's true that's true it is actually
31:05
too much information about how humanity works
31:07
that allows you to say this is anti -human It's
31:11
true. You can only be human to be that anti -human.
31:14
Yeah. Or potentially an alien. Like I could see
31:18
something like a reptilian being able to be that
31:20
anti -human. That is very true. And that does
31:23
belong in the Weak Girl News. I wonder, we'll
31:26
take a look at the website after. We'll see if
31:28
there's a place that you can submit stories,
31:31
because that should definitely be one that they
31:33
should be covering. It says greatest people with
31:35
an exclamation mark on their website. Oh, searched.
31:38
I'm gonna search a few things while you keep
31:40
going. Okay, next one. Aliens are beloved. Aliens
31:44
are another subject frequently tackled by the
31:46
Weekly World News. Weekly World News blamed these
31:49
creatures for holes in the ozone, which I'm pretty
31:52
sure ended up being correct. A Roswell Crash
31:55
survivor, Altair Bob, made contact with the Weekly
31:58
World News via telepathic email. This actually
32:02
seems pretty on par with like Serpo, sadly. Several
32:07
factions of extraterrestrials have been using
32:10
the moon to dump garbage. Martians have been
32:13
monitoring the mid -east crisis. Warrior aliens
32:17
have been resurrecting the dead, fighting Bigfoot,
32:20
and training in a mock U .S. town hidden in Antarctica.
32:24
San Franciscans have opened their hearts to immigrants
32:27
from Mercury. One such alien named P. Wod, who
32:31
made several appearances in weekly world news,
32:34
has been known to fraternize with known women
32:37
of politics. It was reported that he and Hillary
32:39
Clinton once had a close relationship that ended
32:42
up in a brawl between him and President Bill
32:45
Clinton. It should also be known that apparently
33:03
Vance shows up in many articles on Weekly World
33:06
News, but they don't seem to have to do with
33:08
JD Vance. And then I just realized I don't know
33:11
what the J or the D stand for. So I can't actually
33:14
search his name. Yeah, but doesn't he just go
33:17
by JD fans? Well, he does. And I don't think
33:20
he's actually cool enough to have said that that
33:22
J and D stand for Jack Daniels or something like
33:25
that during like his high his university years.
33:29
No, I feel like he always know he wouldn't have
33:31
always by G for sure. OK, well, that's sad. And
33:36
the August 11 1990. 8th edition Weekly World
33:41
News reported that autograph dealer Steve Koschel
33:44
offered to pay $1 million for anything signed
33:47
by an extraterrestrial. Koschel said he would
33:51
pay the million dollars to anyone who had a signed
33:54
letter or signed photograph or anything signed
33:56
by a visitor for outer space. Quote, hundreds
33:59
of people claim to have been abducted and taken
34:02
aboard UFOs, and yet there's not a single verifiable
34:05
signature of an extraterrestrial being anywhere
34:08
on Earth. And quote, and he's going by this with
34:12
an autograph. He said in an exclusive interview,
34:15
quote, someone out there must have asked one
34:17
of these creatures for an autograph and quote,
34:20
continue Koshell. Quote, if not, someone will
34:23
in the future. When they do, I want to be the
34:26
first collector to acquire. The subject of space
34:30
aliens endorsing U .S. presidential candidates
34:33
in various elections was also a recurring topic.
34:37
During the 2000 U .S. presidential election,
34:40
then -candidate George W. Bush posed for photographs
34:44
with the Weekly World News issue opened the article
34:47
reading space aliens back Bush for president.
34:52
up on the topic of conversations of the Weekly
34:56
World News that we're calling them now. Cryptids
34:59
and half -animal, half -human hybrids are another
35:03
frequent topic of the Weekly World News. Creatures
35:05
such as Bigfoot, merpeople, real -life catwoman,
35:10
half -alligator, half -humans, frog babies, kangaroo
35:13
women, and many other creatures have taken the
35:16
world by storm on various covers. For example,
35:20
we have the abominable beach man strikes terror
35:24
in Hawaii and Bigfoot steals race car. I love
35:29
the English on that one, including the aforementioned
35:33
Batboy. Next one that they covered quite frequently,
35:38
Murpho as we mentioned on the previous one. And
35:41
I must say on the cryptid one, I you know of
35:46
all the cryptids we've covered and find humor
35:49
in not one of these seem to be anything that
35:51
we've actually covered as an actual cryptid they
35:55
all just seem to be other than bigfoot and merpeople
35:58
of course we have not in the way that we cover
36:01
them either like yeah they all just seem completely
36:05
made up which is hilarious i just love that bigfoot
36:08
is stealing i would totally cover something like
36:12
that as somebody emailed us Please, if you have
36:15
a story like that, we will cover it. We will
36:18
talk about it for sure. Like without question.
36:20
Oh yeah. Next one. Merfolk. And that is the existence
36:25
of mermen and mermaids, which is also frequently
36:28
reported in the pages of Weekly World News. One
36:32
detailed article recounted a mermaid being caught
36:35
in a fishing net off the coast of Florida in
36:38
April 17, 2004. According to the article, she
36:42
was at least half human, very sociable, and extremely
36:45
intelligent. At least? At least. So she could
36:49
be fully human. She could have been a little
36:51
bit more human or less. A little bit more or
36:56
less than him. No, she couldn't be less. Oh,
37:00
no, at least would mean at least more or more.
37:03
Equal to or greater than, yeah. And was able
37:07
to talk in sophisticated three dimensional language,
37:11
whatever that means. Do we not? that depends
37:14
heavily on noises that could possibly be connected
37:18
to the click languages prevalent in Parasubatic.
37:22
Okay. And on hand movements that look like sign
37:27
language. Holy shit. Oh boy. Similar to their
37:34
female counterparts, mermen are found within
37:36
the pages of the Weekly World News. On June 17,
37:41
2003, a merman was reported to have been caught
37:43
in the South Pacific, this one measuring only
37:47
28 inches. Just over two feet, okay. And that
37:52
is going to lead us to our last and perhaps most
37:57
popular, what are they called? It's Batboy. It's
38:01
Batboy. It's definitely Batboy. He has his own,
38:05
like, girl dance on Weekly World News, because
38:08
he owns Weekly World News now. He pretty much
38:10
does, yeah. He does! He said Weekly World News
38:12
was bought by Batboy Inc. You're gonna be very
38:16
impressed by Batboy. Prepare to be impressed.
38:19
Taylor, I know you've been looking at Weekly
38:22
World News. while we've I've been talking if
38:24
you could please just scroll through if you see
38:26
anything of interest for Batboy I'm also gonna
38:29
see if you found anything else but if you see
38:31
anything of interest of Batboy because we're
38:33
on Batboy and would like to follow up the section
38:35
with it please I see it's all about his 30 year
38:38
anniversary right now not right now but wow one
38:41
of the most recent years and not only that that's
38:44
from 2022 so he goes back to 92 so he's 33 years
38:49
old And he was found as a boy, so he's probably
38:51
like 40 years old at this point. Yeah, he's a
38:54
millennial, like us. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, so Bad
38:57
Boy was first featured in 1990, as Taylor just
39:01
told us, and after being found in a cave in West
39:05
Virginia in the Lost World Cavern, which... Sorry.
39:09
I don't know if there's any ties to Mothman in
39:13
that, and I don't know if that's why you're gasping.
39:16
No, it's because Taylor Swift had an ultrasound
39:18
and there's a little Batboy baby, maybe? Oh,
39:21
no. Yeah. 2020. Wow. I don't know the gestation
39:25
time on a Batboy. I don't know either. Wow, there's
39:29
a lot of Taylor Swift Batboy stuff in the 2020s.
39:33
That's fucking weird. He has since led police
39:38
on high -speed chases, fought in the war on terror,
39:43
led the troops to capture Saddam Hussein, I'm
39:46
not sure if you guys knew that, bitten Santa
39:48
Claus. Santa Claus has come up more times than
39:51
I would have expected him. Probably two in this
39:55
episode and traveled to outer space as I would
39:58
expect that boy to be able to do. In 2000, he
40:01
gave his endorsement to Al Gore. He's surprisingly
40:04
political, actually. Yeah, yeah, he is. It was
40:09
foretold that Batboy would become president in
40:11
2028. We're not there yet. We could only hold
40:15
at this point. Holy shit, is Batboy Andrew Boziako?
40:17
Hold on a second. Because he was told he would
40:19
be president by 2028. You know what? I'm not
40:23
at all disappointed by these candidates, and
40:26
I feel like either one would be a good option.
40:29
I'm just putting it out there. Looking forward
40:31
to this presidential run if that's it. Totally.
40:34
The story of Batboy was the basis for an acclaimed
40:38
off -Broadway musical, Batboy the Musical, in
40:41
which Batboy meets a tragic end, which is super
40:44
sad. Chelsea, I just need to, is that for real
40:47
or is that from the weekly world news? The Batboy
40:50
musical? Yeah. No, it's for real. Okay, it's
40:54
just hard to tell with how it was put. Okay,
40:57
no, it's for real. 1997 was the world premiere
41:00
in Los Angeles. In 2001, it was off -Broadway.
41:03
In 2003, it was in St. Louis. 2004, it was the
41:07
West End, which I believe would be London. Yes.
41:10
No, it's New York. 2021, it was in Auckland.
41:14
Oh, wow. It was a for real thing in which Batboy
41:17
meets a tragic end, which is super sad. In addition
41:21
to articles, Batboy has been featured in a comic
41:24
strip since 2004, though it is said that only
41:27
the articles are the true story of Batboy, which
41:31
I don't know. There may be some great area there.
41:34
I don't feel like it would be the true true story
41:36
of Batboy because Weekly World News had him from
41:38
the start. On July 31st, 2024, it was recorded
41:42
by the website Deadline that Netflix was developing
41:46
a Batboy live action television series. To this
41:50
day, the Batboy saga continues on the website,
41:55
Taylor. Yeah. Well, like you said in the first
41:57
half, Batboy bought the Weekly World News, so
42:00
it's going to have a lot going on with him. Yeah.
42:04
And they skyrocketed him to fandom. Did you find
42:08
any good articles about? Yeah. Well, if I click
42:10
on them, I'm not sure about this weird guy that's
42:13
totally naked with no wiener. I mean, yeah. Well,
42:16
yeah, he's on the run from the FBI with cryptids.
42:19
I think is what that picture. Oh, he is. OK.
42:22
But the big thing that's happened to him in the
42:24
last like five years years is one, his apparent
42:28
love affair with Taylor Swift where they had
42:30
a child together. And then two, apparently he
42:32
was in the 2020 election as a candidate with
42:36
VP Bigfoot. They would have immediately had my
42:39
vote. You wouldn't have even had to ask. I wouldn't
42:42
have said liberal, conservative. It wouldn't
42:45
have even mattered. No, but yeah, those are the
42:47
big things in the last five years for that point.
42:50
I mean, his whole life has just been headlines.
42:53
Oh yeah. So that's all from me. Did you come
42:56
across anything else on your searches on the
42:59
weekly release that you wanted to highlight?
43:01
I just find it interesting that they have very
43:02
rarely like straight away from the original Batboy
43:06
photo, the face on Batboy. No, it's still very
43:10
much the exact same picture of Batboy. Yeah,
43:14
the Batboy you're picturing in your head, it's
43:16
on every single picture now, be it political
43:20
running. be it probably Taylor Swift ultrasound
43:23
no that one's no it's Taylor Swift and ultrasound
43:26
yeah yeah that one doesn't have the face but
43:29
there's another Taylor Swift one below he tests
43:31
negative for the coronavirus i think he's at
43:33
a podium in the white house yeah i don't know
43:36
if he's president there or not he might be no
43:39
still running oh still running okay yeah Yeah,
43:42
all the bad boy stuff. So the website is very
43:45
much up and running. You can get a free subscription
43:49
to bad boy. Not bad boy. Weekly world news. They
43:53
do have a shop where you can buy all sorts of
43:55
things, including a bad boy shirt. Oh, sorry.
43:59
I just realized there's a picture where he didn't
44:01
test positive for coronavirus and there's two
44:04
people standing beside him. One's Bigfoot and
44:06
the other one apparently is PhD ape who is apparently
44:08
a mutant and he has his own heading. on her mutants.
44:12
I did not point out PHD8, but there's various
44:16
things that they seem to cover now on the website.
44:18
So across the headings on the website, you'll
44:21
find aliens and they cover Goten's, Z -bands
44:25
and UFO sightings, which are very close to the,
44:29
what are the Serpo guys? Ebens, very close. Yeah,
44:35
I actually find these guys weirdly adjacent to
44:37
the Paranormal and like the Alex Jones and Mix
44:41
of the onion in there. Yeah. Yeah, I found that
44:44
as well And I don't know I think they've lost
44:46
relevance because they're too close to the conspiracy
44:49
I feel like that's how they always were. Well,
44:52
the problem is the conspiracies got too outlandish
44:54
Yeah, just reading what they have on here aliens
44:57
zombies Bigfoot PhD a bad boy vampires Manigator
45:02
bad boy greatest people press and about and greatest
45:07
people It's just people who probably pay for
45:10
stuff and headlines and anger is still on there
45:14
But yeah, they're still going. I think they've
45:18
more than anything now gone all in Wilder. Yeah
45:22
on that on the conspiracy stuff and bad boy I
45:25
mean bad boys seems to be what they got the most
45:28
recognition for and why not go with that if that's
45:31
what yeah What got you there? Yeah Anything to
45:35
add? No, I think that is a great summary of this
45:39
grocery store nostalgia that is. Thank you for
45:43
doing this, Chelsea. Do you have fun with the
45:47
research? You're welcome. What? Did you have
45:50
fun with the research? I did. It was very fun
45:53
to look at. I did, as you noticed, find a few
45:57
parallels with some stuff that we see in the
46:00
paranormal community slash conspiracy community.
46:03
Oddly enough, I brought up Alex Jones a couple
46:07
times. Yeah, and like I said, like these guys
46:10
inherit such a weird place in the middle of like
46:13
where conspiracies are now and the onion. Yeah.
46:16
And I mean, when you listen to guys like Alex
46:20
David Wilcock, for instance, for examples of
46:23
stuff like that, even with stuff like Project
46:25
Serpo, it's just so blatantly in your face lies.
46:30
Sorry to put it so bluntly for people who believe
46:33
in the stuff that they're saying. You know, all
46:35
the grifters that are around. Basically anybody
46:36
we've talked about, yeah. And, to me, it's hitting
46:40
the same marks. Just, you get a little bit more
46:44
- A little more satirical, yeah. Exactly! But
46:47
other than that, it could be anything that they're
46:49
saying. It could be the onion. And they're spoutin'
46:52
off. It very well could be anything that they're
46:54
saying, which I think is the funny part about
46:57
it. Yeah. Well, it's almost a little sad that
46:59
they fed these lies and died out because they
47:03
weren't quite the right kind of lies. Exactly!
47:05
Yet these people keep doing YouTube lies to make
47:08
money and even live lives saying that they just
47:11
need to make money. Yeah. So I mean at least
47:16
they're still going yeah Chelsea thank you for
47:18
this introspection of what are a lot of our childhood
47:22
or Life was back in the day going through the
47:26
grocery line and with that I have been Taylor
47:29
here with Chelsea We are journey to the fringe.
47:31
Thank you all for listening and we'll see you
47:32
next week. Goodbye Thank you for listening to
47:37
Journey to the Fringe. If you have liked what
47:39
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47:43
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48:08
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48:12
I'll see you in the next episode.