Futility Closet - 256-Lasseter's Reef

Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to the Futility Closet podcast, forgotten stories from the pages of history. Visit us online to sample more than 10,000 quirky curiosities from a puzzle about pain to an eater of everything. This is episode 256. I'm Greg Ross. And I'm Sharon Ross. In 1930, Harold Lasseter claimed he'd discovered an enormous deposit of gold in the remote interior of Australia, and a small group of men set off into the punishing desert in search of a fortune estimated at 66 million pounds. In today's show, we'll tell the story of Lasseter's Reef, one of the most

Starting point is 00:00:45 enduring legends of the Australian outback. We'll also reconsider the mortality rates of presidents and puzzle over an unlocked door. In June 1930, a little bow-legged man walked into the offices of the Australian Workers' Union in Sydney. He said that his name was Harold Lasseter, and he'd found a rich reef or deposit of gold in the heart of the country, a deposit so large that it could become the richest gold source in the world. The four men who were there laughed at him at first, but they listened to his story. It began in 1897, when Lasseter said he'd been crossing Australia alone on a horse, searching for rubies. Somewhere near the border between

Starting point is 00:01:30 Western Australia and the Northern Territory, he'd found himself in a desert of red sand hills, and as he was running out of food, he picked up a couple of stones, broke them open, and was astonished to see fine flakes of gold. The source of the stones, an outcrop he was following, extended for miles. He said, hastily I gathered a pile of samples and filled an empty oatmeal bag with them. I was determined to push through with all speed now. This was an El Dorado. The punishing desert nearly stopped him. His horses died for lack of food, and he himself ran out of water. But an Afghan camel driver found him and took him to a camp where he was nursed back to life by a surveyor and explorer named Harding. He told Harding about

Starting point is 00:02:10 the reef, and in 1900, the two journeyed into the desert and managed to find it again. They traced the outcrop for 10 miles, or 16 kilometers, but when they returned to the coast, they found that their watches had lost time, so the calculations they'd made of its location were inaccurate. They had tried to interest others in the find, but a gold rush was booming in western Australia, and no one wanted to pursue a find far out in the desert. Harding died, war broke out, and Lasseter had traveled overseas. But now he wanted to organize an expedition to find the lost reef. When he finished his story, no one was laughing. He seemed obviously sincere, and with a depression gripping the world, the prospect of enormous riches had galvanized his audience.

Starting point is 00:02:50 The union met a few days later to discuss the proposal, and pilot Errol Coote wrote, Everyone was talking gold. Eyes were bright, lips were being licked, workaday cares were forgotten. Everyone was gazing through the pearly gates of prosperity, and each man was treading along streets of gold. As word spread, the public of prosperity, and each man was treading along streets of gold. As word spread, the public grew excited, and the government supported the project. Organizers set up a syndicate that raised 5,000 pounds in 24 hours. The leader of the expedition would be a 47-year-old miner named Frederick Blakely, who had some misgivings, but after four Saturday afternoons talking with Lassiter,

Starting point is 00:03:22 came away saying that he was satisfied with his claims. The plan was to send out a ground party in trucks to build landing strips for an airplane, which could then search a wide area, a method that had never been used before to explore the outback. The British company Thornycroft donated a big, six-wheeled truck weighing two and a half tons. Lassiter was hired for £10 a week to serve as the guide,

Starting point is 00:03:43 with a contract that required him to give the exact location of the reef as nearly as possible in exchange for 10% of the gold they found. They also brought along a prospector, a mechanic, and Coote as pilot. This team assembled in Alice Springs, which in 1930 was only a small settlement. Blakely felt his suspicions renewed when Lasseter said he recognized some buildings from his visit more than 30 years earlier. The local postmaster said those buildings were no more than 20 years old. But there was much to do, and they set about doing it. The first step was to set up a base camp at Il Bilba, 400 kilometers to the west, and clear an airstrip there for the plane, which they'd named the Golden Quest.

Starting point is 00:04:19 They departed Alice Springs on July 21, 1930, and immediately hit trouble. Lasseter wanted to take a southerly route along the McDonnell Ranges, but Blakely insisted on traveling farther north. The early going was hard for the trucks, particularly the big thornycroft, which tended to get bogged down in deep sand even when they laid strips of coconut matting before the tires. They had to cut a path through the scrub with axes, and they had to repair up to four flat tires a day. At one point, it took them two and a half hours to cover less than one kilometer. Blakely said it was the toughest country he'd ever seen. About two-thirds of the way to Ilbilba, they made an airstrip and

Starting point is 00:04:53 sent Coote back to Alice Springs to get the plane. He landed safely at this intermediate strip, but then crashed as he was taking off for Ilbilba and had to be hospitalized back in Alice Springs with leg and head injuries. A new plane was ordered on August 14th, but Blakely decided to look for the reef without waiting for it, worried about the coming heat of summer. So on August 18th, they left Ilbilba on what Blakely called the Big Push to the west. But now that they were underway, Lasseter seemed strangely reticent to point out landmarks. Blakely said he would give them no clear directions except to say that they were too far north. Within two days, they'd hit sand dunes so steep and boulders so large that the truck couldn't continue, and they limped back to Ilbilba on August 27th, less than 10 days after

Starting point is 00:05:34 they'd set out. Waiting for them there was a young German hunter who sold dingo scalps in Alice Springs. His name was Paul Johns, and he was leading five camels. He'd heard about the expedition, and Blakely said they might be able to use him. The new plane arrived in early September with a second pilot. The plane needed a larger petrol tank, but before it was sent away, the pilot took Lasseter up for a flight. The team hoped he might recognize landmarks from his experience years before. There are varying accounts as to what Lasseter said on the two-hour flight. Blakely said he only remarked that he still felt they were 240 kilometers too far north. But Errol Coote said that Lasseter told him that they'd flown within a few meters of the reef, and he gave a fairly specific description. Coote said he indicated

Starting point is 00:06:14 three hills which he said could not be mistaken. They looked like three women in sun bonnets talking to one another. About 35 miles to the southeast was another hill shaped like a Quaker's hat, tall, conical in shape, with a top cut off. The reef lay about 10 miles east of a lakelet, and looking along the line of the reef in a northwesterly direction, the Three Sisters, as he called them, appeared to be sitting at the far end of the reef. It was possible for a plane to land on the lakelet, he said, but close to the reef, the country was thickly timbered. However, it could be seen from the air just peeping through the mulga, or scrub. The next day, September 4th, the plane went back to Alice

Starting point is 00:06:48 Springs, and the rest set out overland on the more southerly route that Lasseter had wanted. After several days, Blakely said, they reached the point that Lasseter had been pressing for. But Blakely pointed out that in all his stories, Lasseter had never come this far south. To add to this, the road they were on became impassable. Blakely had been arguing incessantly with Lassiter, and now he lost his patience. He decided to abandon the search and return to Alice Springs to ask the directors for new instructions. And he also claims that he told Lassiter that when they got back to Il Bilbo, the German tracker and his camels would be his one slender chance, he said, to save yourself and your family from disgrace. I should pause here to point

Starting point is 00:07:24 out that Lasseter doesn't appear to have been everything he claimed. He'd been born in 1880 in Victoria and ran away from home at age 12. He later said he served in the Royal Navy for four years, leaving in 1901. That's hard to reconcile with his claim that he discovered the Gold Reef in 1897. Also, records show that he spent more than a year in a boys' reformatory in Geelong near Melbourne, starting in October 1896. He'd been convicted of housebreaking and stealing. Also, records show that he spent more than a year in a boys' reformatory in Geelong near Melbourne, starting in October 1896. He'd been convicted of housebreaking and stealing.

Starting point is 00:07:52 He left that institution in October 1897, which again is hard to square with the claim that he'd been in Western Australia later that year. Around 1901, he traveled to England and the United States, where he got married for the first time, then returned to Australia and took up a checkered career as a farmer and a self-described engineer. He claimed that he submitted a plan to build a single arch bridge across Sydney Harbour in 1913 that was rejected as impossible to construct. He joined the Australian Army in 1916, but was discharged the next year as mentally deficient. His papers say he had marked hallucinations and state that he'd wanted to join the Flying Corps, quote, as a friend is coming to present him with an airplane. They added that he had a peculiar manner and was constantly talking. In 1924, he took a second wife, becoming a bigamist,

Starting point is 00:08:33 and for a time lived in Canberra in a house built of flattened kerosene tins. In 1928, he moved his family to Sydney, where he worked on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and two years later, he'd walked into the Australian Workers' Union describing his lost reef. After the failed push to the south, the expedition returned to Ilbilba on September 11th. Paul Johns, the German tracker, was there, hoping to be hired, so rather than return to Alice Springs with the others, Lasseter agreed to go out with him, and Blakely wrote up a contract. Four days later, for the third time in two months, Lasseter set out from Ilbilba to find his gold reef. Fred Blakely wrote later, for the third time in two months, Lasseter set out from Il Bilbo to find his gold reef. Fred Blakely wrote later, They moved off, Johns leading the string of camels, with Harry walking wide near the last camel. We watched them out of sight, then I said,

Starting point is 00:09:27 That's the end of my millions. For had the ten-mile reef been found, my cut would have been worth about 17 million pounds. Johns later told an interviewer that Lassiter had led them straight south, stopping at a spring at Uluru and a waterhole at Mount Stevenson. Johns said, Lassiter knew all this, and yet he did not impress me as a man who knew the country, but rather one who had read about it. They began to work their way west, spotting scattered courts and reefs, and at length passed out of the Northern Territory and deep into Western Australia. Lasseter seemed to believe they were nearing the end of their journey, but they ran out of food and had to head back to Ilbilba. Now Johns had to head into Alice Springs

Starting point is 00:10:02 for more supplies and new camels. He urged Lasseter to wait for him, but Lasseter insisted on getting back to the reef and asked Johns to follow him with fresh supplies. They parted on good terms. Johns said, he stood and watched me go. He was generous and likable and a good mate. When I was leaving, his last words to me were, don't leave me alone too long. I said, look here, Harry, I'll do my best. I'll be coming back as soon as I can.

Starting point is 00:10:24 Those were fateful words. The two men couldn't have known it, but a series of mishaps and blunders would prevent anyone from coming to Lasseter's aid for two months. First, Fred Blakely had told the directors that he thought Lasseter was a fraud, and they'd responded by sacking him. The prospector left with him. Then Coote crashed the plane again, flying to a new base, and was sacked as well. That left the 21-year-old mechanic Philip Taylor as the only remaining member of the expedition. They hired a new pilot and a geologist, but those two got lost and ran out of fuel flying to Ilbilba, and the search for them took two weeks. Taylor and Johns finally left Ilbilba on camels in mid-January to start a search

Starting point is 00:11:00 for Lasseter, but Taylor fell ill, and after only three days, Johns had to abandon the search to seek medical help for him. With no members of the original expedition remaining, Taylor sent an urgent message to Bob Buck, an experienced bushman at Middleton Pond Station. He departed in mid-January and spent several weeks following Lassiter's tracks. They led him across the border of Western Australia to Lake Christopher, then back to the Peterman Ranges. On April 25th, at Shaw's Creek, about 80 kilometers west of Mount Olga, he found Harold Lassiter's body. There were no signs of violence. The local aboriginal people told him Lassiter had died of starvation. A small red notebook was found

Starting point is 00:11:36 nearby. On the cover were the words, To My Wife, and many of the pages were addressed to Lassiter's wife Renee and signed Harold, or Lasseter. The notes were mostly undated. They say he traveled west and southwest across the border and found the reef shortly after Christmas, but then his camels had run off with most of the supplies. He'd headed east, back across the border of the Northern Territory, but was too far from Ilbilba to try to make the return journey and could only hope to stay alive until help reached him. He fell in with some aboriginal people and eventually ended up near Winters Creek. It's believed that he'd survived for about three months altogether,

Starting point is 00:12:10 long enough for the others to have found him if they hadn't hit so many reverses. He wrote that he couldn't understand why no one was coming to help. Buck buried the body where he'd found it and headed home. Back in Sydney, there was a lot of finger-pointing and excuse-making, but everyone agreed that the only way now for the company to redeem its investment was to find the reef. But maddeningly, Lasseter had left no way to do that. His journal didn't tell where he'd found it, and his descriptions to the other team members had been contradictory and vague.

Starting point is 00:12:36 At the start of the expedition, he'd agreed to leave a description of the reef's location in a sealed envelope to be opened in the event of his death, but it turned out that that didn't give an exact location either. The company organized a second expedition using camels, but no plane. That departed in September 1930 and returned, disappointed, in December. The author David Hill writes, Lasseter has since become one of the great Australian legends, prompting scores of expeditions in search of his lost reef in the parched deserts of central Australia. Over the years, a number of people have claimed to know where it is, but no evidence has yet been made publicly available to prove the reef's existence. Neither the Australian government nor any mining

Starting point is 00:13:13 company believes there's a fortune in gold waiting to be found in the central desert. The local aboriginal people have called Lasseter's story a white fella dreaming. Skeptics point out that a feature 16 kilometers long ought to be visible on Google Maps, and Lasseter even gave us specific landmarks to identify it, three hills resembling women in bonnets and a peak like a Quaker's hat. In the 89 years since his death, as many as 200 expeditions have traveled into the desert to seek a treasure whose value in 1930 was estimated at 66 million pounds. All have come back empty-handed. But Lasseter himself was apparently convinced it's there. The last entry in his diary reads,

Starting point is 00:13:51 What good a reef worth millions? I would give it all for a loaf of bread. In 2010, filmmaker Luke Walker asked, Why would a dying man write these as his final words if they were not true? Why would a man die for something that he didn't vehemently believe? So the search goes on. Lasseter's son, Bob, traveled into the desert himself on more than 30 search missions, starting in 1966. In 2013, he said, I found the cave where he sheltered for a month or so, and the sand hill where the camels bolted. I believe somebody will find the gold, and I'd like somebody to find it before I die. To me, it's real. The puzzle in episode 249, spoiler alert, was about an occupation with an almost 9% mortality rate,

Starting point is 00:14:45 which turned out to be President of the United States as four of the 45 were assassinated. John Levine wrote, Esteemed Podcat and Associates, and I noticed that we've moved up from last episode where we were servants and assistants. The lateral thinking puzzle, while clever, got its math a wee bit wrong. The lateral thinking puzzle, while clever, got its math a wee bit wrong. The usual way to measure dangerous jobs is the number of deaths per 100,000 staff years. The presidency has a staff of one, which makes the arithmetic easy,

Starting point is 00:15:19 and since George Washington was inaugurated in 1789, it's been 230 years. Since eight presidents have died in office, that died of natural causes while four were assassinated. And John's point makes a lot of sense once I thought about it. If you just count the number of people who have died in a job and divide by the number of people who've had the job, then you could imagine a small country that has one lighthouse and that in its history has had four lighthouse keepers, all of whom died while in that position. That would sound like the mortality rate of lighthouse keepers in that country is 100%, but if they held the position for an average of 40 years each before dying,

Starting point is 00:16:09 there would be a lot of years in which no lighthouse keepers had died. Yeah, and I guess sort of what this is getting at is how dangerous a job is, so this could mislead you into thinking that housekeeping was a very dangerous job. Right. So after reading John's email, I tried to educate myself on the whole topic. And the first thing I learned was that although many people use the words mortality and fatality interchangeably in this context, they don't actually mean quite the same thing. Most of the reporting on occupational death rates that I found for the U.S. were of occupational fatalities, which means deaths while on the job from injuries or accidents, but not natural causes. Homicide does fall under the rubric of fatalities. So for our purposes,

Starting point is 00:16:50 only the presidents who were assassinated would contribute to the fatality rate of presidency. If we look at mortality rates, then we can include death from all causes. But since most of the studies reported in the US are of occupational fatality rates, then we can't really compare the rates of eight dead presidents out of 45 to other occupations. I also found that John is right that we can't just divide the number of presidents who have died by the number there have been. Both mortality and fatality rates are calculated using a specific time frame, usually a year, and are generally expressed, at least in the U.S., as per 1,000 or 100,000. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics regularly releases fatal injury rates for various occupations,

Starting point is 00:17:32 and this seems to be the statistic most commonly reported in the U.S. The Bureau defines this as the proportion of fatal injuries per total hours worked annually per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers, and calculates it as the number of fatal work injuries in an occupation divided by the total hours worked in that occupation and multiplied by 2 million, which would be 100,000 full-time workers working 40 hours a week, 50 weeks a year. But the Bureau notes that you shouldn't try to calculate the fatal injury rates for occupations with few workers.

Starting point is 00:18:04 They give the example of elephant trainer and say that because there are so few elephant trainers, most years their fatal injury rate might be zero, but even a small number of fatalities in one year would make the fatality rate extremely high for that year, and that rate wouldn't really be representative for that occupation. So with regards to the puzzle, there are even fewer presidents each year than there are elephant trainers. So while I still think that it was a fun puzzle based on an interesting fact that made for a nice twist,

Starting point is 00:18:33 to be really correct, it would probably need to be reworded and not refer to mortality or fatality rates. Yeah, that makes sense. While looking into this topic, I did learn that John was also right about fishing being the occupation in the U.S. with the highest fatal injury rates for 2017, the most recent year for which data are available, with a rate of about 100 fatal injuries per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers, so usually called the most dangerous occupation. Certainly on this podcast, fishing and related occupations such as sealing have seemed to be pretty dangerous jobs.

Starting point is 00:19:10 Logging was the second most dangerous occupation in 2017. I don't know what I would have guessed, but I wouldn't have somehow thought. Yeah, I don't know that fishing would have sprung to my mind immediately either. Yeah, apparently drownings is one of the main causes of fatalities for fishing. And what I saw noted that they usually often work like offshore, kind of away from medical help if anything does go wrong. And it's a physically demanding job. And you can ask the sealers from the last episode. For episode 249, I had learned that Daleks are violent extraterrestrial mutants featured in the British TV show Doctor Who.

Starting point is 00:19:47 James Exploding Rats Nichols wrote, and listen to episode 101 if you want to see why he calls himself that, Greetings Sharon, Greg, and Sasha. The mention of a Dalek emerging from a pond in episode 249 reminded me of another amusing tale of unexpected Dalek encounters. In 1988, the BBC were filming a Dalek-based Doctor Who story on location in London, remembrance of the Daleks for those interested in such things. The shooting location was a group of old warehouses close to Waterloo Station,

Starting point is 00:20:18 one of the city's major railway terminals, and the scene involved the Daleks blasting their way through a gate. This was to be shot with live pyrotechnics, so the charges were set, the crew retreated to a safe distance, and the explosives were set off. Unfortunately, there was a miscalculation somewhere, and the explosion was much more powerful than intended. Props were sent flying, windows were shattered, a small fire was started, and the whole area filled up with smoke.

Starting point is 00:20:44 Given that the Dalek props were quite expensive, the crew decided to move them away from the scene, pushing them along from behind. Now, by the late 1980s, London was, unfortunately, quite used to terrorist bombings by the IRA. So when reports of an explosion near Waterloo Station came in, the emergency services leapt into action. The first on the scene was a truck from the London Fire Brigade, which pulled up outside the warehouse complex, which by now was entirely shrouded in smoke. The firefighters were just deciding how to proceed when they spotted something emerging from

Starting point is 00:21:16 the cloud. To their astonishment, out rolled a full unit of Daleks, seemingly having exterminated the warehouse and on their way to deal with the rest of the city. The situation was soon resolved, but it must have been quite a shock to the firefighters who, given the prevalence of Doctor Who in UK culture, would most likely have grown up watching the Daleks conquering the galaxy on a regular basis. So I can imagine that that really might have been quite a surprise for them. Also in episode 249, I had mentioned Dick Shooter, Idaho, in connection with funny What Three Words place names. John Richard wrote, Greg and Sharon, imagine my surprise to hear a place near me mentioned on the show. Dick Shooter, Idaho is out in the middle of nowhere in southwestern

Starting point is 00:22:02 Idaho. It was named after a rancher named Dick Shooter and was not a dystopian Wild West town like you'd think. The town of Slick Poo was also named after a person, but I'd watch where you step anyway. Don't know how Beer Bottle Crossing got its name, but there used to be a town in northern Nevada called Tabar after a sign that said to bar. Just remember if you visit, there's no Z in Boise. So duly noted

Starting point is 00:22:29 on Boise, John Richard, I think I have been guilty of adding a Z sound in the past. And I couldn't find an explanation for beer bottle crossing either. Though I did find references to Dick Shooter and Josiah Slickpoo, who both had Idaho towns named after them, as well as an article explaining how railroad officials in 1908 named a town after a saloon owner's handmade sign of 2-bar that he had placed near the railroad. That makes sense. There's a sign that says 2-bar. And believe it or not, we have an update on Chicken Alaska. Opie Combs wrote, Recently discovered your podcast.

Starting point is 00:23:13 Imagine my surprise in 242, the Cardiff Giant, hearing about Chicken Alaska, since that small Alaska town is where I'm working and where I discovered your podcast. Not sure how you planned that, but well played. And my research on Chicken Alaska said that its population ranges from 50 in the summer to 6 in the winter. So I asked Opie what kind of work he was doing there. He said, I'm a land surveyor. There are not many roads in this country, so we mostly use a helicopter to get around. We spent five wonderful weeks here in Chicken, but today we are moving to Eagle. I'm not sure about the summertime population, but I'm told there are now three winter residents in Chicken. They do not plow the road in the winter.

Starting point is 00:23:51 Once it snows, you use a plane or a snow machine if you want to leave. Thanks for the show. So now I know that Alaska not only has a town named Chicken, but also one named Eagle, which, according to Wikipedia, has an estimated population of 85, so much bigger than chicken. It just seemed wildly unlikely to me that we'd have listeners in these little towns. With three residents, and we happened to get, I guess he was just there briefly, but that was even more of a coincidence that he heard that episode while in chicken, yeah.

Starting point is 00:24:25 And for one more listener who had a personal connection to a story, Sarah Erickson wrote about the 1871 Peshtigo Fire that was the main story in episode 243. And I just hadn't found a chance to fit her email in before this. Hello, Greg and Sharon. I just had to share a crazy story. So my mom is researching our ancestry and she's gone pretty far back. It's quite fascinating. I listened to your podcast on the Peshtigo Fire on Saturday. On Sunday, I had my mother over for Mother's Day brunch and we were talking about what

Starting point is 00:24:57 she's found in our ancestry. Well, my third great-grandfather married a widow named Antonia van der Linden. my third great-grandfather married a widow named Antonia Vanderlinden. She was a widow because her late husband, Johannes von Riesingen, died in the Peshtigo fire. He was 40 years old. Mom started telling me there was another fire going on during the Great Chicago Fire, and to her astonishment, I finished her sentence with the Peshtigo fire because of your podcast. What great timing. Thank you for all you do. Your stories are fascinating. So quite another coincidence there. Yeah, because Peshtigo isn't at all well known

Starting point is 00:25:31 considering how devastating it was. I mean, it's for someone to be able to pull it out of the air like that. It must have been impressive. Thanks so much to everyone who writes in to us. We're always sorry that we can't read all the email we get on the show, but we do appreciate hearing your comments, so please keep sending them to podcast at futilitycloset.com. It's Greg's turn to try to solve a lateral thinking puzzle. I'm going to give

Starting point is 00:25:59 him an interesting sounding situation, and we're going to see if he can work out what's going on, asking yes or no questions. This puzzle comes from Gregory LeBlanc with some minor changes by me. A person visiting a small Canadian town in October drove to their hotel, got out of their car, locked it, and went into the hotel. They then returned to their car to unlock it, returned to the hotel, and went to sleep. Why did they unlock their car door? What a specific question. Very specific. All right. So there's a person visiting a hotel in Canada.

Starting point is 00:26:35 Yeah. Who goes to a hotel, locks. Okay. So arrives at the hotel, locks the car door, and goes into the hotel. Uh-huh. And then comes back out to unlock the car. Yes. Does nothing more. Right. Is that right? Correct. And then goes into the hotel. Yes. And you said what? Goes to sleep? And goes to sleep for the hotel. Uh-huh. And then comes back out to unlock the car. Yes. Does nothing more.

Starting point is 00:26:45 Right. Is that right? Correct. And then goes into the hotel. Yes. And you said what? Goes to sleep? And goes to sleep for the night.

Starting point is 00:26:53 And you want me to tell you why they did that. Yeah. Okay. When they went into the, okay, so they arrive at the hotel in the car. Yeah. And go into the hotel. Okay. At that point when they're inside the, well, when they're leaving, when they lock the car for the first time and they're about to go into the hotel, are they already planning

Starting point is 00:27:10 to come out and unlock the car? No. So something occurred to them when they were in the hotel. Yes. Okay, good. That's a little less crazy. Okay, so you're in the hotel and you think, oh, I've got to unlock my car. Yes.

Starting point is 00:27:24 That's exactly right. All right. Are there other people involved? Not necessarily. Is this like a safety measure somehow? I don't even know quite. I'll say yes. You said not quite?

Starting point is 00:27:39 I'm just registering your last answer. Other people involved, you said? I said not necessarily. Not necessarily, okay. Does this involve wildlife? Yes. I don't know why I even asked that. Does it involve bears?

Starting point is 00:27:54 Yes. Because we've had bears. It's just bears written all over. Yes. All right. Okay, there's notable progress. So I guess, so that's where the Canada angle comes in. Yes.

Starting point is 00:28:06 So, I guess it's just the wisdom or some regulation of it that says, if you are going to sleep overnight at a hotel, it's important to unlock your car. Oh, is there stuff in the car that would attract a bear? Like food or something? No. And you don't want the bear to smash its way in. That's not it. No, that's not it. Probably in that case, it would be better to take the food out of the car. I don't think a bear would know how

Starting point is 00:28:25 to operate a handle. It has something to do with bears trying to get into the car, is that it? No. I can't believe you got to like bears already. That's amazing. Now I've hit a brick wall. Okay, but does this have something to do with the bears interacting with the car? No. See, that doesn't

Starting point is 00:28:44 make a whole lot of sense. Why would you with the car no see that doesn't make a whole lot of sense why why would you unlock the car if you're not worried and this involves bears and it doesn't involve bears in the car does that involve bears interacting with a hotel somehow no does it involve the safety of other people oh oh yes it's so people who are being chased by marauding bears can find shelter in your car? Yes! Gregory says, Churchill, Canada is on a polar bear migration route, so during the months of October and November, hundreds can pass through the small town on their way from their inland summer digs and the forming sea ice. Since these bears can pose a threat to people living in the city,

Starting point is 00:29:21 and generally we're against shooting polar bears unless we must, there's a really good puzzle. That is great. And we actually had mentioned Churchill, Manitoba, the self-proclaimed polar bear capital of the world in episode 194. And I looked into this law about leaving your cars unlocked. And I found somebody on Quora explaining this, who said that basically, the only way in or out of the city is by train, plane or boat. So if a thief did take your car, they're not going to get very far with it. And since the whole human population of Churchill

Starting point is 00:29:59 is 899 people, if someone did steal a car, everyone would know whose car it was. So you just you leave them unlocked so people can dive into them. That's good. That's a good puzzle. Thanks to Gregory for that puzzle. And hopefully no one in Churchill needs to make use of the solution anytime soon. If you have a puzzle that you'd like to send in for us to try, please send it to us at podcast at futilitycloset.com. at futilitycloset.com. Futility Closet is supported entirely by our incredible listeners. If you would like to help support

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Futility Closet - 256-Lasseter's Reef

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