Phosphorescent paint inspired Victorian-era Australians to dress up as ghosts and pull pranks

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FACTS: Killer Demon Core, Victorian Theater-Kid Ghosts, Louis Pasteur’s Secrets

By Jess Boddy

For my final solo-hosted episode, I’m bringing on two creator friends who have deep knowledge and a solid background in two areas: physics and music. Funnily enough, their areas of expertise weren’t at the core of their facts–but it informed the episode’s conversations all the same.

Jackson (jacksonparodi), an experienced musician and teacher who grew to prominence for his video game covers on accordion, told the tragic tale of the demon core. This sphere of reactive material was supposed to be used in the third atomic weapon in World War II, but of course, that weapon was never dropped. Thus, scientists used it for research and testing instead–two of whom died in a pair of fatal accidents involving butterfingers and a rogue screwdriver. 

After that, I describe the phenomenon of “ghost hoaxing,” which gained notoriety in 1880s Australia. Folks would dip dresses and suits in glowing, phosphorescent paint and wear them around town performing various pranks or artistic displays. (My favorite is the woman who played guitar on peoples’ roofs wearing a glowing wedding dress.) Of course, ne’er-do-wells saw an opportunity to dress up and commit crimes as ghosts. With colonial Australia’s lack of centralized police forces and a built-in ghostly disguise, things quickly got out of hand. These bad actors would harass their neighbors and even commit violent crimes. Listen to the full episode to hear about the ghost-hunting groups that rose up to fight them, and how ghost hoaxing was the precursor to that terrifying scary clown trend from 2016.

Finally, adef–known online for using Pokémon to teach math and physics–explains how an alcoholic beverage and a disgruntled friend actually led Louis Pasteur to create the pasteurization process. Pasteur was a real character, with secret notebooks and journals he forbade his family to ever show the public. This week’s full episode unravels the tale of the French scientist, and how he also created the rabies vaccine on little more than a hunch.

 

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