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April 2, 2019 - Skeptoid
20:20
Skeptoid #669: Pop Quiz: History and Pseudohistory

Test your knowledge on these subjects, all covered by Skeptoid, on false history claims. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Transcriber: nvidia/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2, sat-12l-sm, and large-v3-turbo
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Pop Quiz: History vs Pseudohistory 00:07:00
How well do you know your history and pseudo-history?
Do you always know which is which?
If you're a seasoned Skeptoid listener, you'd better.
So today, we're putting you to the test with a pop quiz to see how well you can discriminate between things that actually happened and things that alternative historians and television archaeologists want you to believe happened.
Our pseudo-history pop quiz is today on Skeptoid.
Hi, I'm Alex Goldman.
You may know me as the host of Reply All, but I'm done with that.
I'm doing something else now.
I've started a new podcast called Hyperfixed.
On every episode of HyperFixed, listeners write in with their problems and I try to solve them.
Some massive and life-altering, and some so minuscule it'll boggle your mind.
No matter the problem, no matter the size, I'm here for you.
That's Hyperfixed, the new podcast from Radiotopia.
Find it wherever you listen to podcasts or at hyperfixedpod.com.
You're listening to Skeptoid.
I'm Brian Dunning from Skeptoid.com.
Pop Quiz, History and Pseudohistory.
Once again, you sit down expecting to enjoy a relaxing podcast, but are surprised instead by a pop quiz.
Yes, it's another working day for you.
No break.
Today we're going to test your knowledge on a variety of topics from the world of false history, claims promoted in pop culture that distort what really happened.
Just be aware that if you expect to do well based on having watched a lot of television science and history channels, you might be disappointed.
So without further ado, let's get started.
Number one, the Illuminati.
The most famous secret society that called themselves the Illuminati was founded in Bavaria in the late 1700s, largely in opposition to the dictatorial power of the Catholic Church.
The founder, Adam Weishaupt, was which of the following in private life?
A.
A law professor.
B.
A Jesuit.
C.
A Bavarian public official.
The correct answer is A, a law professor at the University of Ingolstadt.
He was about the only faculty member who was not a Jesuit.
Consequently, he was unpopular, in no small part because of his opposition to the church.
Much of the recruiting into the Illuminati was targeted at public officials and other influential people, often from the ranks of Freemason lodges.
Number two, Flight 19.
One of the most popular stories of the Bermuda Triangle tells about Flight 19, a training flight of five Grumman TBM Avenger torpedo bombers that all disappeared in 1945 amid spooky stories coming over the radio of their instruments going crazy and incredible unearthly weather.
What was determined to be the cause of the disappearance?
A.
The flight leader's failure to follow the standard procedure when lost to fly west toward the sun.
B. Poor weather caused the flight to lose its bearings and run out of fuel.
C.
No cause was ever determined.
The correct answer is A. Flight Leader Lieutenant Charles Taylor had twice before gotten lost and had to ditch his plane in the ocean.
Apparently he was a man who had a staggering lack of any sense of direction.
After leading his flight east from Florida over the Atlantic Ocean, he reported that they were west of Florida over the Gulf of Mexico.
His students strenuously urged him to follow the standard procedure to fly west to get back to land, but he refused, and his third ditch at sea ended up being his last.
The nonsense about instruments going crazy and strange weather was all invented by the imaginative author Charles Berlitz.
Number three, the Mercury Rivers of Emperor Qin Shi Huang There is a popular story, almost certainly egregiously exaggerated, that Emperor Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of a unified China, built himself an expansive underground tomb with a map of the world on the floor, complete with liquid mercury flowing to represent the rivers and oceans of the world.
Like many of ancient China's elite, the emperor consumed vast amounts of mercury during his lifetime.
What was he hoping to accomplish?
A. Sexual prowess.
B. Immortality.
C. Treatment for syphilis.
The correct answer is B.
He drank mercury hoping to achieve immortality.
Although the stories say that ironically produced his early death from mercury poisoning, this is unsupported by evidence.
The Chinese did not drink liquid elemental mercury, which would have of course been very dangerous.
Instead, they ground up the mercury-containing mineral, cennobar, and mixed it into their tea.
In this form, the mercury is chemically bound to sulfur, making it more or less biologically inert.
Number 4.
Beethoven's Death While we're on the subject of heavy metal toxicity, we can turn to the composer Ludwig von Beethoven, who is popularly claimed to have died from lead poisoning, possibly due to his heavy drinking of wine, which was in those days fortified with lead.
A popular book and documentary film advanced this theory, based on an analysis of what kind of tissue samples from Beethoven.
A. Skull fragments.
B. Hair.
C. Foreskin.
The correct answer is B. Beethoven's hair.
Locks of his hair were taken by many people upon the famous composer's death, and one particular sample that made its way to modern forensics resulted in some high-profile X-ray fluorescence analysis that returned a verdict of acute lead poisoning.
However, the consensus disputes this.
Beethoven exhibited few symptoms consistent with lead poisoning, and his drinking was not outside the standards of the day.
Lead eagerly binds to the keratin and hair, and it's virtually impossible to tell forensically whether lead contamination was systemic from the body or extraneous from the environment.
The hair was stored for decades in a locket that had probably been soldered with lead.
Skull fragments were also analyzed and found to be contaminated with lead, but it was subsequently proven that they did not belong to Beethoven.
Number 5.
Templars, Treasure, and Sailing Myths 00:06:35
First in flight.
Although Americans consider Orville and Wilbur Wright to have been the first to powered controlled flight in a heavier-than-air craft with their flight of 260 meters, much of the rest of the world gives that honor to Brazilian Frenchman Alberto Santos Dumo when his airplane made its longest flight of 220 meters.
Which is true of their relative accomplishments?
A.
It's not clear which flight actually took place first.
Accounts vary.
B.
The Wright brothers' flight was about three years before Santos Dumont.
C.
The flight of Santos Dumo was about three years before the Wright brothers.
The correct answer is B.
The Wright brothers' flight of 260 meters was in December 1903, about three years before Santos Dumo's November 1906 flight of only 220 meters.
In fact, more than a year before Santos Dumo, the Wrights had proven that they could fly as long as they wanted to or until they ran out of fuel, with flights lasting more than half an hour and covering 40 kilometers.
So why does anyone give the honor of first flight to Santos Dumo?
For the sole reason that his 220-meter hop was the first to take place in front of the newly formed French aviation sporting body, the International Aeronautical Federation.
Hey everyone, I want to remind you about a truly unique and once-in-a-lifetime adventure.
Join me and Mediterranean archaeologist Dr. Flint Dibble for a skeptoid sailing adventure through the Mediterranean Sea aboard the SV Royal Clipper, the world's largest full-rigged sailing ship.
This is also the only opportunity you'll have to hear Flint and I talk about our experiences when we both went on Joe Rogan to represent the causes of science and reality against whatever it is that you get when you're thrown into that lion pit.
We set sail from Malaga, Spain on April 18th, 2026 and finished the adventure in Nice, France on April 25th.
You'll enjoy a fascinating skeptical mini-conference at sea.
You'll visit amazing ports along the Spanish and French coasts and Flint will be our exclusive onboard expert sharing the real archaeology and history about every stop.
We've got special side quests and extra skeptical content planned at each port.
This is a true sailing ship.
You can climb the rat lines to the crow's nest, handle the sails.
You can even take the helm and steer.
This is a real bucket list adventure you don't want to miss.
But cabins are selling fast and this ship does always sell out.
Act now or you'll miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Get the full details and book your cabin at skeptoid.com slash adventures.
Hope to see you on board.
That's skeptoid.com slash adventures.
Number 6.
Hitler's Antarctic Fortress There is a popular legend that gives an alternate theory for the end of World War II, which fits neatly with the false claim that Adolf Hitler survived the war and escaped to Argentina.
This story claims the Nazis founded a base on Queen Maudland in Antarctica called Neuberchdeschgaden, serviced regularly by Nazi U-boats.
It survived several secret attacks by the British and the Americans over the years after the war, but was finally destroyed by the American Operation Argus with three nuclear bombs in 1958.
Which part of this fanciful tale is actually true?
A. Operation Argus really did detonate three nuclear bombs.
B.
The Nazis really did have a base in Antarctica for several years during World War II.
Or C. Nazi submarines did visit Antarctica during World War II.
The correct answer is A. Operation Argus was real, but its nuclear tests took place more than 2,400 kilometers from Queen Maudland.
Due to the ice pack, it was not possible for World War II-era submarines to make it that far under the ice to approach Queen Maudland, and certainly not to break through it.
And although one Nazi ship did spend about a month doing an aerial survey of Antarctica with seaplanes, the expedition was terminated with the outbreak of the war, and they never returned.
Number 7.
Ninjas Few groups have been given a pop culture overhaul as thorough as that given by modern fiction authors to the ninja, a class of spies and saboteurs from Japan's Sengoku period.
They weren't even called ninja.
They were actually shinobi.
They rarely fought and they didn't use throwing stars.
They were, however, stealthy.
Which color clothing were the ninja taught never to wear at night?
A. White.
B. Blue.
C. Black.
The correct answer is C. Black.
Ninja always wore passable street clothes in order to avoid attracting attention, but colored to be low visibility while still looking normal.
If it was a moonlit night, they mostly wore white colors, and on dark nights, dark blue.
Black was recommended against.
There's no record of them ever wearing the black robes and masks popular in modern fiction, as obvious crime costumes would have given them away.
Number eight, the Knights Templar.
A darling of the TV networks that build themselves as science channels are the Knights Templar, one of several monastic orders chartered by the Pope to secure territories seized during the Crusades.
According to today's pop mythology, the Templars had the greatest treasure in the history of the world, and that a core of them survived their infamous mass execution on Friday the 13th, 1307, and that their successors today still hoard that vast wealth in secret.
Which of these was the true fate of the Templars' treasure?
Premium Route to Everest Truth 00:06:40
A.
The fate of the Templars' wealth remains a mystery.
B.
The Templars' wealth moved with them when they dissolved to join other orders.
C. There never was any particularly great Templar wealth.
The correct answer is B.
The order on Friday the 13th resulted in no immediate executions, but in many arrests, though almost all Templars were soon released on the condition that they either retire or merge into other orders.
They had several years in which to do so before their order was formally dissolved, and during that time frame, those that were indeed actively engaged in lending and other financial pursuits had ample time to safely merge their assets with those of the orders they joined.
There's never been a record of any sizable treasure that went missing or was unaccounted for.
Number 9.
1970s Global Cooling A common theme we hear today among those who reject the scientific consensus that humans burning fossil fuels are responsible for global warming is that scientists in the 1970s thought we were headed for another ice age.
So if they were wrong then, then they're just as likely to be wrong now.
It is true that some percentage of science papers in the 1970s predicted global cooling.
About what percentage of climate articles published between 1965 and 1979 predicted global cooling?
A. 10%.
B. 28%.
C. 62%.
The correct answer is A. 10%.
There was no doubt among climate scientists that burning fossil fuels creates greenhouse gases responsible for global warming.
That had been known since 1896.
But in the 1960s, there arose a new concern that cooling caused by ozone-depleting sulfate aerosols might outpace warming in the short term.
During the time period in question, 10% of published articles predicted the aerosol cooling would outpace global warming.
28% found the data insufficient to predict either way.
And 62% maintained the consensus that warming would continue to be the dominant trend.
which has of course proven true.
The whole thing about this popular belief that we were headed into an ice age was largely created by the popular media and their sensationalist headlines.
It never represented the state of climate science.
Number 10, Hillary vs. Mallory The question of who was the first team to summit Mount Everest is something of a manufactury.
There is little meaningful support for the claim that the team of George Mallory and Andrew Irvine, who disappeared during their 1924 attempt, could have made it to the summit, some 30 years before the acknowledged first successful summiting by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay.
Which of the following statements is true?
A.
The route taken by Mallory and Irvine is easier than the one later taken by Hillary and Tenzing, but Nepal denied the later team permission to go that way because of the earlier climbers' deaths.
B.
The route taken by Mallory and Irvine is more difficult than the one later taken by Hillary and Tenzing.
C. There's really only one reasonable climbing route up Everest, and both teams took it.
The correct answer is B.
The route taken by the earlier climbers, Mallory and Irvine, was much more difficult.
Called the North Ridge Route, it's entirely within Tibet and was the one all the early attempts had to use because Nepal refused to allow access to the easier route, the southeast ridge route that Hillary and Tenzing took, and that almost all climbers take today.
In good conditions, it's little more than an extremely strenuous hike compared to the North Ridge route, which requires extreme alpine climbing skills, which was the probable cause of Mallory and Irvine's demise.
So, how did you do?
As always, tweet me your score at Brian Dunning.
If you got five or fewer right, you need to turn off the TV and listen to more Skeptoid.
If you got nine or ten right, then congratulations, that's a Skeptoid gold star for you.
Thanks for taking this month's pop quiz, and feel free to share it with anyone who watches too much pseudo-history network television.
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