Futility Closet - 327-The Misplaced Tourist

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 11,000 quirky curiosities from a unique birthday to a timely dream. This is episode 327. I'm Greg Ross. And I'm Sharon Ross. In 1977, West German tourist Erwin Kreutz spent three days enjoying the sights, sounds, and hospitality of Bangor, Maine. Unfortunately, he thought he was in San Francisco, on the other side of the continent.

Starting point is 00:00:40 In today's show, we'll describe Kreutz's unlikely adventure, which made him a local hero in his adopted city. We'll also consider an invisible killer and puzzle over a momentous measurement. In early October 1977, a World Airways flight from Frankfurt, West Germany, stopped at Bangor International Airport in Maine to refuel on its way to San Francisco. Among the passengers was Erwin Kreutz, a 49-year-old Bavarian brewery worker who was excited to be taking his first trip overseas. He had left Germany only once before for a one-day trip to Switzerland, and he'd chosen to spend a vacation in San Francisco after seeing it on television. Kreutz had been sleeping during the transatlantic flight and apparently hadn't heard an announcement that this was an intermediate stop and that passengers

Starting point is 00:01:35 should disembark here only to stretch their legs while their bags went through customs. Afterward, they would all reboard to go on to their destination. He was still half asleep when a flight attendant stopped by his seat. She had been friendly with him during the flight, but was due to change here, so she wished him a pleasant stay in San Francisco. That was an unfortunate choice of words. Kreutz stood up, gathered his bags, got off the plane, and made his way through the customs checkpoint and out the front of the terminal.

Starting point is 00:02:03 There he got into a taxi and said, sleep, one of the few English words he knew. The driver took him to the Bangor House Hotel, where he booked a room. Then he set out to see the sights. He'd seen photos of San Francisco, but he didn't really know what the city looked like. He said later, I wanted to see the United States and see the working class. He could see hills around the city, and there was water nearby, so he believed he was in the right area. But he couldn't immediately find the landmarks he'd heard about. The nearest thing to the Golden Gate Bridge was the Joshua Chamberlain Bridge across the Penobscot River, and in place of Chinatown, he could find only a Chinese restaurant. But he ate there without trouble by pointing to the food he wanted. He was still a bit bemused, but the people were friendly,

Starting point is 00:02:46 and he enjoyed seeing the houses and businesses. In the days that followed, he continued to explore the city, drinking beer at a local tavern and admiring the ambiance and architecture. He still hadn't come across any of San Francisco's famous sights, but he knew that distances are huge in America and decided that he must be in a suburb. The iconic attractions must be in the city center. So after three days of sightseeing, he got into a taxi and asked to go to downtown San Francisco. The driver explained that this would involve a journey of 3,000 miles,

Starting point is 00:03:15 and Kreutz began to understand that something had gone dreadfully wrong. But without English, it was still hard to tell what had happened or to work out how he would be able to meet up again with his charter flight and find his way back to Germany. To compound his trouble, he was now asked to leave his hotel. The reason couldn't be made clear to him at the time, but it was Parents' Weekend at the University of Maine, and all the hotel rooms had been booked. At last, someone thought to contact Gertrude and Kenneth Romine, owners of a restaurant in the Bangor suburb of Old Town. They spoke German and were finally able to explain to Kreutz that he was in Maine, not California. They found him a new hotel room and began to consider how to help him.

Starting point is 00:03:55 In the meanwhile, someone called the Bangor Daily News, a story ran in the newspaper, and Kreutz became a local celebrity. He toured the county jail and the newspaper's press room and became an honorary member of the Old Town Rotary Club and the Penobscot Indian Nation. He attended an Oktoberfest evening sponsored by the Bangor Chamber of Commerce, and a local folk singer wrote a song about him. He received the key to the city, a statue of Paul Bunyan, three marriage proposals, and a kiss from Andre, the trained SEAL and unofficial harbormaster of Rockport. On his 50th birthday, he chose to go to the McDonald's on Union Street, where he was allowed to cook his own hamburger. And he flew to the state capital, Augusta,

Starting point is 00:04:35 where he met the Secretary of State and Governor James B. Longley, who told him, as a governor who sometimes wonders where he's at, I understand what happened to you. The story was carried in the Bangor Daily News, the Boston Globe, Newsweek, Time, the Associated Press, United Press International, CBS, ABC, and the San Francisco Examiner. On the Today Show, Tom Brokaw praised Bangor's generosity of spirit. In Germany, the story was reported in Der Spiegel and Stern. By all accounts, Kreutz was impressed, grateful, and charming. Through an interpreter, he said that he'd been happy to see how Americans live

Starting point is 00:05:10 in a small city and that he'd found Bangor was something like Augsburg, the Bavarian district that he came from. He was happy to be in Maine, he said. The people had been very friendly and helpful, and he was even ready to say goodbye to Germany and live there permanently. By now, San Francisco had got wind of what had happened. The San Francisco Examiner offered to fly Kreutz to California to visit the real city by the bay, and the celebration went rolling right along. He was met at the airport by a crowd of reporters and a limousine. He was given a bus tour of the city, a traditional cable car ride,

Starting point is 00:05:41 a boat cruise on the bay, and a nightclub tour of the city's hotspots. He met Mayor George Moscone and was presented with a rivet used in the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge. He attended a rodeo at the Cow Palace, where he was introduced in the center ring, received a standing ovation from 10,000 people, learned to rope a steer, and was hoisted aboard an American quarter horse. In Chinatown, he was made an honorary member of the city's extended Wong family with the name Wong Ervin Kreutz and given a scroll that read, within the four seas, all men are brothers. After three days in San Francisco, when he finally departed for Germany, the crew of his jet gave him a four-foot sign reading, let me off at Frankfurt. When he reached home, he told reporters, I have a very warm feeling for

Starting point is 00:06:25 America. I will never forget this until the day I die. If Kennedy can say I am a Berliner, then I can say I am a Bangor. That was only the start of his association with the city. In September 1978, he returned to open the new Bangor Mall at the invitation of its owner, the Equitable Life Assurance Society. A spokesman said he plans to come to Bangor on purpose, and the mall owners are hopeful he doesn't get lost on the way. In a statement, Croyd said, it is definitely my plan to get off the plane at Bangor this time. I am looking forward to seeing my old friends and visiting many of the places which I missed on my last trip. I have never seen a shopping mall before, but I am sure that I will find it

Starting point is 00:07:04 very exciting. He stayed with the Romains and duly cut the ribbon on October 5th with Miss Maine 1978. His stay in Bangor was just as cordial as it had been the year before. He said again he'd like to live there permanently. The Romains' son, Ralph Kaufman, said he doesn't want to go back. When I talked to him, he said, I don't care if I ever go back to Germany. He loves to go for long walks, and there are plenty of woods here. But Kaufman said he wasn't sure whether Kreutz was financially secure enough to make the move to Maine. To encourage him, one couple even gave him an acre of land. Billy and Helga Elwood of the northern town of St. Francis were moving to Virginia and selling their home. Next to it, within sight of the Canadian border, was an acre of brush land that they offered as a gesture of goodwill so that Kreutz could be an American landowner. Billy had been

Starting point is 00:07:49 a serviceman in Germany, and Helga had been born there. At the same time, Kreutz's ties to Germany were weakening. When he reached home after this trip, he found his employer was unhappy with all the vacation time he'd been taking. The brewery asked him to make public appearances to capitalize on his fame, but refused to compensate him. The last straw came when he told a television reporter that he drank the beer of a competing brewery. That was true only because he had no car and his own brewery's brand was unavailable near his home, but he was fired that winter. He returned to Bangor in early 1979, hoping to find a job so he could settle there permanently, but to his great disappointment,

Starting point is 00:08:24 he received only one offer, a janitorial job at the mall that paid minimum wage. That would come to $480 a month, where in Germany, as an experienced brewmaster and cheesemonger, he'd been earning $750. The cost of living was higher in Germany, but he said, you can live on that salary. He searched a bit longer, but no further offers were forthcoming. The Bangor Daily News wrote, at 51, he has the physique of a man at least 10 years younger, and he's more than willing to work here. But without a working knowledge of the English language, he is virtually out of the job market here. He returned to Germany planning to apply for various jobs through the government employment agency. His age would be a strike against him,

Starting point is 00:09:02 he said, but he thought he could pass the required physical exam easily. In any case, he said he wasn't bitter about the outcome and appreciated the experiences he'd had in Maine. No matter what happened, he would always carry with him the warm memories of friends he'd made in Bangor. Very little is known about his life after his final return to Germany. Bangor resident Magnus Stark, who took an interest in this story a few years ago, couldn't even determine whether Kreutz is still alive. If he is, he's 93. He'd been a bachelor, it appears he had no children, and Stark wasn't able to locate any other family members. But he's remembered in Bangor both for his misadventure and for the welcoming spirit that he brought out in the city. In 2020, historian Richard Shaw said,

Starting point is 00:09:41 I think people really bought into the fun of it, and they didn't make fun of him. They really embraced him. I think it says a lot about Mainers. He took to us, and we took to him. Futility Closet would not still be here today if it weren't for the generous support of our listeners. If you'd like to help support our celebration of the quirky and the curious, you can find a donate button in the support us section of the website at futilitycloset.com. Or if you'd like to make a more ongoing donation to our show, you can join our Patreon campaign, where you'll also get access to bonus material like outtakes, more discussions on some of the stories, extralateral thinking puzzles, and what's going on behind the scenes of our show.

Starting point is 00:10:31 You can learn more at our Patreon page at patreon.com slash futilitycloset, or see the support us section of our website for the link. And thanks so much to everyone who helps make Futility Closet possible. everyone who helps make Futility Closet possible. We got an interesting follow-up to some of the stories we've done on people dying from exposure to natural toxic gases. The main story in episode 288 was about the death of two Australians near a riverbank in 1963, thought to be due to asphyxiation by hydrogen sulfide. And I had a follow-up in episode 310 about an incident in Wisconsin in 2016 where a farm worker and 13 cattle died from hydrogen sulfide from a manure storage basin.

Starting point is 00:11:20 The puzzle in episode 315, spoiler alert, was about a woman who died in her son-in-law's car in 2018 due to carbon dioxide from the dry ice being used to cool Dippin' Dots that the man delivered. Jim Nutt, who said, As for name pronunciation, I doubt you really need help with mine. It's pronounced just the way you think it is, and I really doubt you could mangle it any more than some restaurant hosts who don't want to call out for the nut party, wrote. Hey there, I've been following your podcast since nearly the first episode and have enjoyed it thoroughly. I have a couple of notes that you might find interesting for episode 288, the likely hydrogen sulfide poisonings, and episode 315, the CO2 lateral thinking puzzle. Just realize they both have to do with dangerous gases. Actually, they both have to do with CO2. If you thought the farmhand and cattle being killed by gases from the manure pond was scary,

Starting point is 00:12:14 the Lake Nyos disaster in August of 1986 is positively terrifying. The lake basically burped a huge amount of CO2 and suffocated people and livestock within 25 kilometers of the lake. As for the Dippin' Dot salesman whose mother-in-law died of CO2 poisoning because the car was sealed and he had coolers of dry ice in it, I had very nearly the same thing happen to myself and my family. It's fairly common for people in the off-roading community to carry 10 to 20 pound cylinders of CO2 gas for inflating tires, running air tools, etc. We were coming back from a day of off-roading when we noticed that we were feeling a bit sluggish and my son in the back seat was having trouble staying awake. We pulled over

Starting point is 00:12:56 and opened the windows and discovered that the CO2 cylinder in the back of the Jeep had not been closed tightly and was leaking CO2 into the vehicle. As we had the hard top on the Jeep, the gas was fairly well trapped and was displacing the oxygen. After a few minutes of airing out the Jeep with the windows open and making sure the valve on the CO2 cylinder was tightly closed, all was well, but it could have been a very bad ending. So Jim's story is a good reminder to really take care with carbon dioxide, especially in confined spaces. And the Lake Nyos disaster was truly horrifying. On August 21st, 1986, the lake in northwestern Cameroon had a sudden eruption of an enormous amount of carbon dioxide, which ended up

Starting point is 00:13:39 killing over 1,700 people and over 3,000 livestock, as Jim said, up to 25 kilometers or 16 miles from the lake. It's not known exactly what triggered this limnic eruption where dissolved carbon dioxide suddenly erupts from a lake, with theories for the Lake Nyos trigger including a landslide, a small volcanic eruption on the lake bed, a small earthquake, or unusual weather conditions. eruption on the lake bed, a small earthquake, or unusual weather conditions. Carbon dioxide is colorless and odorless, and at high enough concentrations can cause sudden death. Due to carbon dioxide's rather invisible nature, it's difficult to know when or how often limnic eruptions have occurred in the past. The first documented limnic eruption also occurred in Cameroon at Lake Menune, about 60 miles south of Lake Nyos,

Starting point is 00:14:25 on August 15, 1984, and killed 37 people. A Smithsonian Magazine article on the Lake Nyos disaster reports that after the event, scientists arrived to a horrific scene of mass graves of the human victims buried by the Cameroon military and the decaying carcasses of thousands of cattle. At that point, no one knew what had happened or if it might suddenly happen again. So many people and animals appeared to have just suddenly died on the spot, and according to the article, it would take months for scientists to piece together what had actually occurred. Fortunately, it seems that limnic eruptions are extremely rare, and few lakes seem to have the conditions necessary to allow for the buildup of such large amounts of carbon dioxide.

Starting point is 00:15:08 And efforts have been underway to install degassing systems in both Nyos and Menune to reduce the concentrations of CO2 in the lakes. And it is thought that the efforts to continually remove some of the gas have been sufficient enough to hopefully prevent future disasters. some of the gas have been sufficient enough to hopefully prevent future disasters. I can't imagine what that would be like just to feel yourself overcome, but you don't see or smell anything. Right. It just happens to you and the people around you, I guess. Right. And some people, a few people, you know, did survive it.

Starting point is 00:15:39 And it was horrifying to them. You know, they had no idea what had happened to them. Or to come upon the scene and see all these dead people and animals and have no idea what killed them and what could still possibly be there and it's going to kill you next. And presumably you've never even heard of something like this happening. Right, yeah. It just overcomes you. The puzzle in episode 239, and another spoiler here,

Starting point is 00:16:00 was about how the penguin population on the Falkland Islands has exploded because of the landmines laid by the Argentine forces during their brief war with the UK in 1982. After the conflict, the hazardous areas were fenced off to keep out humans, but became a refuge for penguins, who aren't heavy enough to set off the mines. My brother Bruce wrote, Dear Podcasting Sis and Bro-in-law, I'm still catching up on old podcasts having recently reached the 240s. I saw this item in the news today and remembered that it was related to a lateral thinking puzzle, which I find was in episode 239. Spoiler alert. Apparently, the Falkland Islands are no longer infested with landmines. And Bruce sent a link to an article on

Starting point is 00:16:42 Forces.net about how, as of November, the Falklands were officially landmine-free. The British government spent tens of millions of pounds since 2009 on clearing the mines in the Falklands, although it seems that there were many who didn't really think that the demining was such a great idea. In the fenced-off areas, penguins and native flora had flourished, and both the demining process itself and the likely future influx of tourists to the newly opened areas threatened to harm the thriving ecosystems. The BBC reported that Paul Brickle, the director of the South Atlantic Environmental Research Institute, said, the mines are horrible things and very difficult to remove. You essentially

Starting point is 00:17:22 have to get on your hands and knees to do that, remove bits of earth and dunes and disrupt the ecosystem. There's a bit of a trade-off in thinking. What are the benefits of having them removed? Barry Elsby, a member of the Falklands Legislative Assembly, was quoted as saying, Falkland Islanders weren't enthused by the idea, to put it bluntly. We would rather have left the minefields as they were. They were all clearly marked, clearly fenced. No civilian has ever been injured. We said to the British government, don't spend the money here. Go to some other country where they have a much greater need to free up farming land. However, the UK is a signatory to the 1997 Ottawa Mine Ban Treaty,

Starting point is 00:17:58 which then compels them to clear all landmines in any territory under their control, regardless of what the locals or or penguins, might prefer. So the painstaking, dangerous work had to proceed. We will hope for the best for the penguins. That's an interesting situation where the state, the locality itself is... They were totally fine with leaving the mines. I mean, they kind of liked that they had these nice, pristine areas. I mean, yeah, and I'm sure the penguins were happy for the situation. So

Starting point is 00:18:25 we have spoken a few times on this show about bears and the problems they can cause and some of the things that people do to try to reduce those problems. Alex Baumans wrote, when you are Japanese, robots are the answer to everything, including bears. I never suspected that bears would be such a problem in Japan. And Alex sent a link to an article in The Guardian from November titled, Japanese town deploys monster wolf robots to deter bears. According to the article, bear sightings in Japan, occurring mostly in the rural areas in the west and north, have been at a five-year high, with dozens of attacks reported in 2020, two of them fatal. So the town of Takikawa on the northern island of Hokkaido set up two monster wolf robots after bears were seen there in September.

Starting point is 00:19:12 There was a video in the article showing a wolf-like contraption mounted up on a pole with four legs, a furry body, and a large wolfish head with an open mouth and red glowing eyes. When its attached motion detectors are activated, the robot moves its head back and forth, the eyes flash, and bullhorns blast loud noises. According to the article, wolves have actually been extinct in Japan for more than a century, so I'm not sure why they chose a wolf robot exactly, but the whole effect was pretty scary, I thought. And the Takikawa city official said that there haven't been any bear encounters since installing the devices, so I guess the bears agree with me. I didn't know a bear would flee

Starting point is 00:19:49 a real wolf. I didn't know that's something that happened. I have no idea. I mean, and heaven knows if the bears think these are wolves, but they are kind of, they're kind of freaky looking and they're making loud noises with red flashing eyes. So I'd run away. Thanks so much to everyone who writes to us. We really appreciate your comments, follow-ups, and feedback. So if you have any of those to send, please send them to podcast at futilitycloset.com. And if anyone has ever mispronounced your name, then please do me a favor and let me know how it is supposed to be pronounced.

Starting point is 00:20:31 It's Greg's turn to try to solve a lateral thinking puzzle. I'm going to give him an interesting sounding situation and he has to try to work out what's going on asking yes or no questions. This puzzle comes from Nick Klaus. A business owner looks down the road one morning and sees a person with a measuring tape. A month later, you said? Uh-huh. Is that because of what he saw? I mean, did something else happen in the interim that needed to work out? Yeah, I guess. It's not just the bare fact that he saw a guy with a measuring tape.

Starting point is 00:20:59 Hey, not just the bare fact, right? Okay, okay. So the guy with the measuring tape was preparing to build something? No. But was planning something. That's what you do with the measuring tape. No? I wouldn't say planning something.

Starting point is 00:21:14 Businessman, you said. Mm-hmm. And this was down the road, you said. It doesn't matter, but yeah. He just, near his- Nearby. Near his place of business. Mm-hmm.

Starting point is 00:21:24 Yep. So it would help me to know what this guy does for a living, the guy who observed the man with the tape. I'll tell you he was a gas station owner, if you feel that's going to help you. And the fact that you're telling me means that that won't. Well, I'm just saving you 20 minutes of trying to guess different kinds of businesses. A gas station owner sees a guy with measuring tape nearby. And that's just done a month later. Yeah. Does he see the guy with the tape nearby. Mm-hmm. And that shuts down a month later. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:21:46 Does he see the guy with the tape again after? Let's say he doesn't. Does he shut down because he thinks he's going to go out of business anyway, that the prospects for his business are dwindling? Decreased, yeah. Measuring tape. Okay. Well, a gas station owner sells gas.

Starting point is 00:22:06 Yes. Does he expect to sell less gas? Yes. Is that because he expects less traffic, fewer cars? No. Fewer internal combustion cars. No, no, no, no. That's not it.

Starting point is 00:22:21 No, no. I was just trying to make sure I understood your question properly and the way I think you... No, he doesn't expect that it. No, no. I was just trying to make sure I understood your question properly in the way I think you... No, he doesn't expect that there will be fewer cars. Sorry. That's not why he gives up. That's not why he makes this decision. Does he shut down the business because he plans to do something else that's important than Andy Stone?

Starting point is 00:22:37 No. It's entirely what you thought. It's just he's expecting that his business is going to do worse. Are there other people involved? Let's say no. Entirely what you thought. It's just he's expecting that his business is going to do worse. Measuring tape. Are there other people involved? Let's say no. I mean, they are peripherally, but not in a way that, you know. Does the, okay.

Starting point is 00:22:58 Well, I would say like maybe he's measuring the height of a bridge or something, and that was going to somehow restrict the traffic coming to the station. But that's not it. That's not it. He's going to get just as much traffic as he had. Well, there's... When you say he's going to get that as much traffic... The gas station owner expects to sell as much gas.

Starting point is 00:23:14 No, he does not expect to sell as much gas. And that's why he's... Shutting down. Shutting down. Yes. So is something restricting the number... Well, you said, no, the same number of cars are arriving, right? Yes. So is something restricting the number? Well, you said no, the same number of cars are arriving, right?

Starting point is 00:23:31 Well, maybe you should be more specific. Are the same number of cars arriving at his gas station or in the area? At the station. No. Okay. He expects fewer cars to come to his gas station. Okay. Is that because of a change to, let's say, the route then? No.

Starting point is 00:23:48 Like if they're building another bypass or something that would take cars away? No. Is it something that actually restricts the kinds of cars that can physically reach the station? No. Or the kinds of vehicles like cars can reach, but not trucks? No. He's just expecting fewer customers. Fewer people

Starting point is 00:24:08 to stop at the gas station and buy gas. Does it have to do with the prices he's going to have to charge? Yes. Oh. What does that have to do with measuring tape? Okay. That's the lateral thinking puzzle part. That's exactly that's the nut of the puzzle right there.

Starting point is 00:24:23 So he'll have to charge more for gas yes because it's harder for him to get no because he'll have to pay more for gas himself no um not because of some regulation or something yes Yes? Not sure what you mean. Is he required for some reason to charge more for the gas? He will be required to charge more for the gas. And it is connected to the guy with the measuring tape. Do I need to know about where this happens? Like it has some peculiar local jurisdiction? Yes.

Starting point is 00:24:59 Oh. Somehow that's not what I expected you to say. Is this in the United States? Yes. Is this true? I guess it is. It's based on a true story. Somehow that's not what I expected you to say. Is this in the United States? Yes. Is this true? I guess it is. It's based on a true story.

Starting point is 00:25:10 Nick took a little bit of liberties with it, but it's actually based on a true story. Are they on an island or something? Some remote location? No. And you don't need to work out the exact name of the location, but there is something about the location that is very relevant and important.

Starting point is 00:25:26 He'll be required to charge more. And related to a man with a measuring tape, and that gas prices will have to go up. Okay, but the product he's selling, the actual gasoline, is not changing. It's just he's required to charge more. Yes. Would you say it's because there's a tax added to the normal price? Yes.

Starting point is 00:25:44 And how would that relate to a measuring tape? Well, presumably they tax them to either discourage something they want to produce. No, no. Or to encourage him to do something. How are gas taxes related to location? Uh, I'm not sure I know that. I'm not sure I know that. They're assessed by the local government. This can't be where you're going. Uh-huh.

Starting point is 00:26:16 States, local states usually have their own gas taxes that they apply. And how would that relate to a man with a measuring tape? Well, what I'm missing is the lateral bit that you're looking for. Yes. They decide where to apply the tax based on some... Yes. Variable. I'm trying to avoid having to guess what he was measuring because that's a whole... Was he outdoors when he was measuring this? Yes.

Starting point is 00:26:38 Was it on the property of the gas station? Nearby. Was it on a road? I don't know. Nearby. Was it on a road? I don't know. But it relates to gas taxes, and why would your gas taxes suddenly change?

Starting point is 00:26:55 And it relates to your location. Your state. Uh-huh. I'm sorry, I'm just blanking on it. The state border's going to change. Oh. Nick said, The story concerns a state border that over time had become mislocated.

Starting point is 00:27:14 An enterprising business person set up a gas station just inside the state line where the differential in gas taxes makes the business profitable. Upon a better survey, it is discovered that the state border is not where everyone thought it was and the gas station is an actual fact in the other state. Without the gas tax difference, the store actually was set right here in North Carolina. The border between North and South Carolina was established in the 1700s, and in places it was based on landmarks like trees, many of which are no longer there. It actually took them more than 20 years for the two states to hash out an agreement about where the border actually is. And that meant that some residents and businesses were shifted from one state to the other when the new border went into effect January 1st, 2017. The gas station

Starting point is 00:27:54 in Nick's Puzzle was shifted from South Carolina, which has significantly lower gas taxes, to North Carolina, and the owner thought he'd end up having to close the station. In the end, though, they actually allowed him to continue selling his gas at South Carolina prices even though he was now just on the other side of the state line. So he didn't end up having to close. That's surprising. So thanks so much to Nick for that puzzle. And if anyone else has a puzzle they'd like to have us try, please send that to podcast at futilitycloset.com. Futility Closet is a full-time commitment for us and is supported entirely by our incredible listeners. If you'd like to help support our celebration of the quirky and the curious,

Starting point is 00:28:33 please check out the Support Us section of the website at FutilityCloset.com where you can find a donate button and a link to our Patreon page. At our website, you can also graze through Greg's collection of over 11,000 trivia tidbits, browse the Futility Closet store, learn about the Futility Closet books, and see the show notes for the podcast with the links and references for the topics we've covered. If you have any comments or feedback for us, please email us at podcast at futilitycloset.com. Our music was all written and performed by the always amazing Doug Ross. Thanks for listening, and we'll talk to you next week.

Futility Closet - 327-The Misplaced Tourist

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