Hitchhiking: Two thumbs out! | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

welcome to stuff you should know a. production of iHeart. Radio hey and welcome to the podcast I'm. Josh and there's Chuck and Jerry's here. too and we're just making it our own way. grooving on down the road easing on down. easing on down the road THS out yep with. our thumbs out and our chest. puffed and our um I don't know standing.

on our Tippy Toes that all makes this. stuff you should know by the way uh yeah. can we shout out that great book that a. lot of this is called from The. Hitchhiker Guide to the Galaxy. no what great book then Jack Reed wrote. a book called roadside. Americans. colon the rise and fall of hitchhiking. in a changing. Nation uh and I bought an ebook I.

actually read a lot of that thing yeah. how is it it's really good I mean it. seems like the book on hitchiking in the. United States that's really great. because I ran across a lot of other. stuff not books but articles that have. been written over the decades and like. there are some really interesting. helpful authoritative writings on. hitchhiking out there so I'm sure if. that guy had the the the nerve to write. an entire book about it it was probably. pretty good yeah it was good and I guess. we should say that hitchhiking is uh.

this feels like one of those where we. would just Breeze right into it yeah but. we should say that hitchhiking is when. you stand on the side of a road you you. may hold a sign that says you know uh. acine or bust but the the traditional. and we'll talk about the thumb in a. minute but the traditional ways to to. hold the old thumb out and someone eases. off and says where you heading buddy you. say I'm heading to akan you going that. way and he says no but hop.

in and then you get killed it's pretty. much part for the course yeah yeah Ching. a ride it's it's grabbing a ride I. figure everyone knew that but you never. know yeah there was one flaw in your. story Chuck no one's headed to acran. everybody's leaving akine oh if you. wanted to ride out of akan I'm sure it'd. be very easy to catch one ouch so then. your sign would just say anywhere. anywhere but here oh man poor akan um we. should talk about the origin of the term.

hitchhiking too because there's a lot of. competing stories for where the term. hitchhiking came from and I think I. found the real one yeah I'm not so sure. about that but go ahead well let's start. with the first one that there was a 1978. American motorist magazine article that. said everybody shut up it all dates back. to the old west and hitchhiking was a. technique a method for two people to. share one horse and it went like. such yeah.

no I haven't explained it yet I just set. you up to explain it I I mean I'm I'm. happy for you to explain this part oh. well I was going to make because I I. don't make a horse walking sound while. you explain it but okay so basically um. you have two people with one horse one. person rides the horse they take it to a. predetermined spot and tie it up and. they start walking and eventually the. other person who started walking from. the same spot that the other person. started riding from comes upon the horse. that's tied up they get on the horse and. they start rid to the next predetermined.

spot probably passing the person walking. on the way and then the person walking. catches up to the horse and so on and so. forth and what's the beauty of it too is. the horse gets to rest in between rides. as well it sounds like a great great. idea and I guess hitching the um the. horse to a tree or something that's. where the term hitch height came from. not convinced by this one but I think. it's a great story yeah I'm not either. that sounds like some sort of demented. relay right.

it is all right you want to move on to. the one I think it is go ahead because. I'm not so sure about this either okay I. think it was a 1966 Sports Illustrated. um long form article on hitchhiking that. was written by uh Janet Graham veteran. seasoned hitchhiker and she made an. off-handed reference jokingly about how. people look down on hitchhikers so much. so that the definition of um hitching is. to move with jerk.

making it sound like you're traveling. along with jerks other hitchhikers but. there's like a kernel of Truth in there. the the the word hitch to Hitch means to. move along in short sudden movements. kind of like how you scoot a chair up to. a table right so you're you're moving by. jerks and jerks are short sudden. movements so that's hitching and it. makes sense if you look at the entire. ride you're hiking that's the whole. that's the whole walk but in between. it's it's punctuated by short periods in.

a car that kind of get you further along. the hitch part so you're hitch hiking. another great story well okay Mr Smarty. Pants what's what's the word hitchhiking. from I'm not really sure I I just know. that I go with the Oxford English. Dictionary because I think they uh are. are superior researchers and uh they. have it dated back to the term at least. in 1923 even though obviously people. were hitchhiking before 1923 yeah uh but. um the the whole thumb thing uh in 1927.

at least or at least that far back they. uh called hitchhikers uh thumb pointers. which I think is pretty fun MH but note. that it's in parentheses or not. parenthesis quotes which indicates that. the writer did not believe that the. reader would would know what they were. talking about yeah probably so yeah uh. but it's interesting like the history of. hitchhiking U because it's the people. that hitchhiked and why they did it and.

how it was viewed has really kind of. morphed a lot over the decades in the. United States and in the. 1920s when uh when it kind of first got. going it was it was not uh like. hitchhiking today it was a lot of like. sometimes affluent young people like. college students who would be like I. want to go down to Palm Beach and I go. to school in. Syracuse uh and so I can just put my. thumb out and get a ride and it was um. it was a pretty safe thing to do for a.

long time even though you know it was. safe though there were people from the. very beginning that were like maybe you. shouldn't do this and early reasons you. know were less like it's dangerous for. you and more like hey if you pick. someone up you might get sued or. something uh or at least be responsible. if you're like you get in a wreck with. someone in your car that you don't know. yeah and apparently trucking companies. eventually by midcentury had banned. their drivers from picking up. hitchhikers for that very reason because. they were on the hook in a lot of states. totally but it makes sense that.

hitchhiking really started around the. 20s because that's the very beginning of. the time when people started to have. cars so the whole kind of idea behind it. was like Hey I'm being adventurous and. young you have a car give me a ride for. a little bit and there was like the just. the novelty of the whole thing of having. a car and then also picking up just some. random person it kind of went well. together because the whole thing was. fairly new yeah for sure um the idea of. like the original warnings be being more. about like the.

uh the legalities of being the driver uh. there was also talk of like hey uh you. know if you start doing this next thing. you know it's that slippery slope thing. you're going to be uh it'll lead to a. life of crime or something or you know. it's sort of and and you'll see that. this is a uh a big argument from certain. people in this country ever since hit. shocking started was like this is just. one step away from like begging you for. money and living on the street yeah and.

smoking marijuana cigarettes and. becoming a pot fiend yeah Jazz. cigarettes right so um that was like you. said the the original version was just. kind of adventurous and novel and uh. usually kind of young white middle class. typically in the 20s in the 30s. hitchhiking which had already been. established as a thing became um like a. a a a viable method of transportation. for people who are down on their luck. and because so many people were down on.

their luck hitchhiking um actually kind. of gained a measure of respectability. during that period because there was. this whole idea of people who are. fortunate enough to own a car helping. out the less fortunate because we're all. going through this together right the. thing is is there were also plenty of. people that were considered hobos and. tramps who who were viewed by the public. at large is not really wanting to work. so if you were a hitchhiker and you were. trying to Mo move move to the next town.

to look for work you were generally. considered like an upstanding person. trying to do whatever they could to to. make an honest living but you had to. differentiate yourself and often times. you would uh dress as clean cut maybe. wearing a suit and a hat anything you. could to basically stand out and say. like I'm not like these scumbags I. actually want a. job you know that expression uh dress. for the job you want not for the job you. have yes I think that was like dress for. the ride you want and not for the ride. you have which is zero rides exactly I.

think you're 100% right with that yeah. so um that era the 1930s uh like you. said Society you know didn't look down. upon it so much there was even a poll in. 1938 by The Institute of public opinion. that said 43% of Americans viewed. hitchhiking favorably and Mike if if you. were to take that poll today I I can't. imagine how low that number would be the. latest I saw was a UK number and it was.

in the 2010s and it was down to. 9% no they never liked it over there. though no but it was still fairly. popular even though publicly people. claimed it to dislike it as as a whole. like bollocks to that right that's what. they said uh so once you got to World. War II another thing happened which was. uh American servicemen you know that. would go on leave and uh you know people. in the army or whatever would sometimes. hitchhike to where they they wanted to. go and if you stopped and piic picked up.

a service person who was hitchhiking. then that means that you were doing your. patriotic Duty by giving you know a fine. young citizen a ride somewhere yeah so. in like 20 years hitchhiking went from a. fun thrilling relatively safe thing for. college kids to do to a necessity for. people who were moving from town to town. looking for work to a patriotic duty to. stop and pick up a serviceman. hitchhiking on their way uh maybe back. to base or out on leave away from base.

um away from akan if you were a f like a. um right exactly if you were a factory. worker uh and a woman you also were um. you pe people were expected to pick you. up as well to give you a lift to the. factory you were just supposed to like. hold out your credentials for for you. know. whatever defense Factory or whatever you. worked in just to make sure no one got. the wrong idea yeah and you had to have. on that Rosie the Riveter uh bandanna. right tied in the front that was your. credential right there that definitely.

gave it away for sure and then there was. there's something else to mention about. hitchhikers during this time and it. actually is it's it's true throughout. the entire time of people picking up. hitchhikers but it started at this time. which was it wasn't that The Hitchhikers. were just mooching they actually provide. and provided back then a service as well. like a lot of times people would pick up. a hitchhiker at night because they were. getting sleepy and they needed somebody. awake and alert to be like hey hey wake. up don't fall asleep at the wheel other.

people just were looking for interesting. conversation to distract him from a. boring road trip and then I saw a poem. from the very early days of hitchhiking. where the guy references that he's. essentially a counterweight to the. driver in the car so that the car. doesn't tip over because that's how. flimsy of the original cars. were interesting I thought so too so. it's not like anyone was viewing these. people as just completely mooching that. came later. on yeah um and back to world to if you. were uh a hitchhiking U army army person.

that's what they call him sure a soldier. you could uh it it depends on where you. are but you could uh reasonably wait in. a shelter uh there were certain towns. who would say like hitchhiking is such a. thing uh that we're going to build. shelters like this is in the 19 sort of. early 1940s and a couple uh of examples. in California where they would build you. know and I get the feeling of sort of. like a bus stop kind of thing where you. could just sort to get out of the rain. or wind while you thunder rde which is.

pretty cool yes and um hitchhiking I. guess it spread over seas to Europe in. particular um I guess by the 1930s but. it definitely wasn't widespread it. became widespread um through American. servicemen who did the same thing over. in Europe that they did in America and. the practice started to catch on after. World War II where it was kind of like a. um introduced widely during World War II.

you think that's a good place for a. break sure I wouldn't call it a. cliffhanger but do they all have to be I. mean we said the war was over right. exactly I think I think everyone knows. what happened next no Cliffhanger right. okay so we'll take a break then. starting. [Music]. now you should. know stop no shut up you should know Fu. you.

[Music]. should all right now we're in the 1950s. and this was sort of the first real push. um well that's not true actually cuz I. read in the book there were sort of. anti- hitchhiking pushes from the very. beginning oh yeah but it was sort of. here and there depending on what town. you were in or what state you were in. but the first kind of national push came. thanks to Jay Edgar Hoover of course who.

basically was one of the first guys to. put out the idea that uh this could be. really dangerous for you like the next. uh you know the the next murderer uh. that you hear about on the news could be. the person that's getting in your car. right now and of course there were. government uh I mean I guess propaganda. or at least warning posters that uh sort. of indicated that uh one of them said uh. death in Disguise and you know it had. like a an All-American family basically. stopping to pick up what looks like a.

cleancut hitchhiker uh death in Disguise. is he a happy vacationer or an escaping. criminal yeah a pleasant companion or a. sex maniac that's what else it said. thank you Jay Edgar Hoover yeah Jay. Edgar Hoover considered um hitchhiking a. menace I think that guy considered. everything he didn't like a menace to. America right but it's really revealing. what the social attitudes were toward. hitchhiking in this 1957 FBI bulletin. that um that included a letter that he.

personally wrote about how terrible. hitchhiking was and we needed to stamp. it out he was pointed out that what law. enforcement was up against was changing. the minds of the public that against the. idea that the courtesy of the road. demands that a driver give a hitchhiker. a lift if they're able to so at that. time by the mid-50s that's what people. thought like if you saw some guy walking. down the road uh or or gal and they had. their hand their thumb out you were. basically obligated to.

stop yeah uh there were a couple of. high-profile murders in the 1950s uh. dealing with hitchhikers though and that. of course is going to help sway the. public opinion yes and of course is. something that Hoover is going to jump. on uh and sort of highlight as you know. one of the big dangers uh the crime rate. and like of the United States was you. know at one of the all-time lows in. American history and hitchhiking. certainly didn't like ramp it up or. anything but. it's not like it was a big like.

statistical analysis that was presented. it was just like hey this big murder. happened and you know it's one of those. alarmist things where if it if it can. happen one time then is it really worth. the risk for you to pick up that. hitchhiker yeah that became the premise. in in non- hitchhiking America um and. and it was just the same thing as like. stranger danger it was a moral Panic. right like something so vile happened a. handful of times it's statistical. anomaly essentially but was well.

publicized and so horrific like murders. of entire families there was a guy named. um Billy cockeyed cook who killed a. family of five including the three kids. ages 7 five and three and the family dog. because they just made the mistake of. kindly picking him up while he was. hitchhiking like news like that spread. and rer Howard yes I watched that for. research last night did you really yeah. I actually saw it a couple years ago and. I think it holds up pretty good. it yeah it it definitely had like a.

modernish feel to it it didn't feel like. stuck in the mid 80s and I feel like it. really captured the spirit of like the. average hi hitchhiking. interaction yeah where you eat fingers. as french fries yeah it was nuts but. yeah I liked it I thought it was very. long overly long but I I still liked it. it was a good movie so funny I don't. remember why I watched it other than it. might I I doubt if it was on a plane. that feels like like something I would. do on a plane yeah I don't know it's a.

it's enough of a classic that I could. see it being on like a hip Airline was. it was it virgin were you flying virgin. that you saw it no no no no I don't I. only fly one Airline so um that there. there were like those I think that Billy. cockeye cook Killing Spree came in 1951. just in time for people to start. freaking out um as we'll see movies are. made about these kind of things the FBI. is beating the drum against this kind of. stuff and so it gets kind of a bad a bad. RP and that's a a um a trajectory that.

it's followed over the decades uh every. decade or so there'll be like a handful. of Highly publicized really horrific. murders that took place because somebody. hitchhiked but if you look at it. statistically it just it's like a blip. on the radar yeah sure but it scared. everybody enough that like parents were. like you do not hitchhike like I would. never ever hitchhike because my mom. scared me so thoroughly as a kid that. it's just GNA I'm just not going to do.

it sorry oh interesting so the danger. that was drilled into you is more um. hitchhiking than picking up a hitchhiker. either one no either one for sure okay. for sure like yes I was um in grave. danger Almost 100% guaranteed to be. murdered horribly if I did either one. that's basically what got drummed into. my head I guess technically I did. hitchhike one time now that I think. about it uh I got lost one time camping.

uh with some friends I like kind of went. off to hike on my own like we had set up. camp M and we were fishing or something. and I went off to hike on my own and I. got lost and ended up miles and miles. down the road and found a road. thankfully and I got a ride I remember. now like I don't know if I put my thumb. out or if I just looked like you know. maybe I had a fishing pole or something. and they were like this guy needs hand. clearly but uh I definitely remember. like I got a ride from a stranger and. they took me back to the you know kind.

of the area where I could hike back to. the camp wow and you weren't murdered no. and I would I would hit I mean I. wouldn't now just cuz you know I don't. need to and I'm older and I have a. family but in the not too distant past I. would I would have considered hitching a. ride way more than picking up. somebody really yeah because I don't. like what are the chances that someone. that pulls over to like give you a ride. is a serial killer or something true. okay that's really smart but but picking.

someone up oh I don't know about that. okay that is really smart for sure. that's a great great point but there. some of those really high-profile. publicized horrible murders serial. killings typically did involve people. being like they were hitchhikers and. they were picked up by serial killers. who were outlooking for hitchhikers well. I think uh what's his name picked up. hitchhikers right um Bondi if I'm not. mistaken probably that would have been. during during a time where hitchhiking.

was a thing still yeah I'm pretty sure. that was something that happened and I. think he might have killed some of them. yeah there were I mean um overseas it. happened too there were some famous um. murders in Australia that Australian. Backpacker murders from like I think the. late 80s even like it it just happens. from time to time and it's so scary and. you feel so badly for those people your. mind just kind of goes to how how. horrible a way that would be to die that. you're like I'm not going to hitchhike. yeah totally see Thomas how I mean he.

put the fear of God in Me yeah he did a. good job no he was pretty good so moving. forward to the 60s this is when it got. like really popular again of course. because of the hippie movement uh it. became a a big thing for hippies to do. because not only could they uh get. around and like you know kind of travel. the world doing so it was really like it. just sort of fit the hippie ethos of of. trusting one another and its. counterculture it's anti- like you know.

owning a car and sort of. anti-consumerism and it's a little bit. rebellious and it really just jibed with. the whole hippie thing so there was a. lot of hitchhiking in the 60s yeah it. hearkened back to that original kind of. ethos of um of hitchhiking which was you. know people just helping other people. out and like you know yeah man being. rewarded with some great conversation. and maybe even making a friend and just. see what happened yeah totally worked. with that but it also provided very. practically a way for people who were.

living the hippie life and didn't have. money to go see the world like if you. could make it to Europe you could. literally see Europe and EUR Asia and. Africa if you could make it down there. um just by hitchhiking on a couple of. dollars a day because this is also a. time when youth hostiles had really kind. of Taken hold and spread so you could if. you could make it over to Europe you. were set for a vacation of a lifetime. yeah uh into the 1970s it pretty popular. uh at least early on there was a poll in.

1973 and this is just a sort of a little. Rinky Dink poll from a high school um. but it was 272 um Junior and I guess. Junior High and high school students. said that more than 25% of them. hitchhiked either regularly or. occasionally so it was still going. strong among the youths of America um. and most in in that same poll I said. they were um I don't think they were uh. too worried about ders and one kid even.

said I think there are more nuts walking. around uh than in cars pretty smart I. guess he's probably right probably I. mean that's your that's your take on it. right that's why you wouldn't pick up a. hitchhiker that's why you but you would. hitchhike because there's more nuts. walking than in cars yeah I think I. think that. jibes um so another teenager in one of. those polls said um was asked like why. do you hitchhike and they're like to get. to where you're going of course. and in the 60s and 7s in particular.

hitchhiking among kids who weren't of. driving age yet or couldn't afford a car. um that was a thing like you would. hitchhike home from school rather than. take the bus to ride your bike you would. um hitchhike across town to go buy. something from Eddie's Trick Shop like a. new magic um illusion trick yeah did you. go there no I guess I know that name. from you telling me I don't remember the. name of the one in Toledo the magic shop. that I used to go to but it never even.

dawned on me like I want to go buy some. Mad Magazines I'll just hitchhike over. there like no of course not it's like. our generation like our age group was. one of the last ones to be able to just. like run around the neighborhood like. wild animals and then come home in time. for dinner this was like that plus like. you you would just get in the car with. the stranger to go buy a comic book. because it was too far to walk or you. didn't feel like riding your bike for us. it was or for at least it was like if. your parents wouldn't take you you just.

didn't get to do it yeah same here yeah. so that's what kids were doing though in. the 60s and 70s they were just. hitchhiking it was just kind of a thing. that they did and they weren't. necessarily doing it to be rebellious or. to be part of the counterculture they. were doing it because they didn't have a. way to drive themselves yeah I wonder if. some of that was more prevalent in more. trusted small town. America probably like the main streets. of Toledo and Snow Mountain where we. grew up yeah the yeah what am I talking. about like I was some Urban you know.

tough right yeah he used to play Kick. the Can with Harvey. kitel so hitchhiking uh like I said was. was doing pretty well into the 70s but. it started that's when the decline that. we're at today basically kind of started. was in the early to mid 7s MH you know. reputationally it started to go down um. by the end of the'80s it was uh there. was one journalist who said basically. it's all but dead and that that jibes. with just my memory I said jib three.

times a day four now mhm um that that. reconciles with my own memories of and. I'm sure yours of growing up of kind of. seeing it you know be because I remember. seeing it some when I was a kid but just. less and less over the years and a lot. of that had to do with car ownership uh. in the' 40s about half of Americans. owned a car in 1941 less than 20 years. later that was at 80% and then into the. 70s and s you saw the deal like was in.

my family and a lot of other even you. know sort of regular middle class. families where uh you ended up with an. extra car for the the 16-year-old to. drive because that's the one that that. Mom aged out of or whatever so and our. family it was the the VW Beetle that my. mom drove you know from 1968 to the uh I. guess till. my sister I'm not sure if my sister. drove it or not but I ended up driving. that Beetle cuz that was the extra car. and there were extra cars in American.

households kind of for the first time. and so all of a sudden teenagers had. Wheels usually some old car like a 68. Beetle yeah so that I just found that. fascinating it wasn't just that people. were scared out of hitchhiking uh even. kids in that those early 70s polls were. aware of the dangers but they weren't. afraid of it enough to not hitchhike it. was at least in part that whole group of. people who hitchhiked because they were. trying to get from point to point B. didn't have to do that any longer.

because they had more and more expanded. access to cars right because even if. your parents didn't have a car you might. have a friend now that had a car and. would come pick you up right that's a. big one there's always a friend that had. the car another thing that seems to have. changed things for um hitchhiking is the. the um spread of Interstate travel in. the US and in Europe um there's plenty. of laws these days that basically. prevent people from hiking on the. highway in particular um but even in.

places where it's not prohibited just. the the practicality of getting somebody. going 80 miles an hour to slow down and. pull over and not be a mile and a half. ahead a point that you have to trot to. that far to get in the car um it just. it's not conducive to hitchhiking at all. so as interstate travel spread. hitchhiking just became a little bit. harder although people started just. standing on entrance ramps or apparently.

on the Autobon you know if you go to. Europe they have like those gas stations. that you just it's like an exit and then. the gas station and then the entrance. ramp right back onto the highway you. know what I'm talking about yeah I think. so they have so they have those and. people would just go from gas station to. gas station like you could get a ride at. a gas station and still do Interstate. travel so there's ways around it but. it's still put a a crimp in the whole. idea you could just pull over to the. side of the road and pick somebody up. pretty easily like you could before the. inter States yeah um and the I mean.

there were always sort of depending on. where you are in the United States there. were anti- hitchhiking laws maybe in. some districts or regions or towns that. weren't too keen on it and this goes. back to the very beginning but it wasn't. the kind of thing that was like super it. may have been on the books but it wasn't. super enforced uh some more conservative. towns may have enforced it more uh. obviously you know kind of the elephant. in the room is if you were uh. demographically like you said it was a. lot of sort of middle class white men.

earlier on you had a much harder time. getting ride if you were a person of. color uh you had a lot of times you. would have an easier time if you were a. woman but they were discouraged from. doing it more for I guess you know the. the dangers that they thought a woman. could face versus a man right um but it. was it was just sort of Loosey Goosey as. far as you know who a cop decided to. hassle interestingly about that sexism. thing I saw it also go and in a. different direction too that I think.

that 1966 um Sports Illustrated article. by Janet Graham she basically talks. about that how you like you you want to. dress um enough to catch people's. attention but you don't want to like. throw out a sign like hey come pick me. up because you you might attract the. wrong kind of guy or conversely you. might also just get passed by by some. guy who doesn't trust you because of how. you're dressed yeah that's interesting. Sports Illustrated used to do lots of. weird articles like that yeah this is a. really long article with great.

illustrations like Sports Illustrated. lived up to its name had a lot of. illustrations in this article and it's. it's definitely worth looking up it's a. great article no sport uh not really. guess it could be a sport well. apparently they did have like um um I I. don't know what you call them but. basically speed trials a bunch of. hitchhikers would all get picked up in. the same town and try to make it to this. pre-arranged destination see who got. their fastest all right that's a sport. there's another thing that seems to have. led to a decline in hitchhiking too and.

that is that as fewer people actually. needed to hitchhike the people who were. left over who still needed to hitchhike. because they couldn't say afford a car. or something like that um were viewed. less and less um favor favorably or. sympathetically yeah that that was the. real change I think is when it got to. the point where they were like oh well. if that person can't even afford a car. like and this is when you could buy a. used car that ran for you know a couple.

of grand or something so it it's like if. they can't afford that then they're bad. news right so they're downtrodden so I'm. going to look down upon them and that. means that hitchhiking Itself by. association came to get a bad name which. further meant that anybody who. hitchhiked couldn't had to be bad news. and so this feedback loop started and it. was um I think still to this day that. that hitchhiking has that image because. of that change in perception sadly yeah. uh and of course because of the uh the. Reagan years and the Thatcher years.

there was a a big sort of um I don't. know about a sea change but at least a. very public um view that like uh you're. you're lazy if you're hitchhiking uh. just like you're lazy if you're on food. stamps and if if you're out of work and. you can't afford a car then that means. you're sort of sort of derel and um it. it was a it was sort of a conservative. movement in two ways like politically. cons conservative uh it was looked down.

upon by them but also just the word. conservative in its in its true. definition just like Risk averse people. became a little more conservative as as. far as like what kind of risk they were. willing to undertake by picking up a. hitchhiker or I guess hitchhiking yeah. and then also during that time a. transactional society kind of developed. where everything had a price nothing was. free and anything that was free is. communist right that's What communists. are into and there's this guy named Joe. Moran who's a historian who wrote In The. Guardian um he wrote about the the gift.

relationship the kinds of exchanges. based on trust and Goodwill that bring. intangible benefits to everyone but are. the hardest to retrieve when they're. gone those kind of got Stamped Out in. that transactional economy that Thatcher. and Reagan brought and I think it's just. fascinating you can blame basically. everything on Thatcher and Reagan and. probably be right the vast majority of. the time so I think the upshot of the. whole thing Chuck is that. the the ethos of I have a car you don't.

I'm going to help you out convert it. into my car is mine so Ts for you loser. is kind of what that that change over. happened all right that's a good place. for a break so so angry people can. compose emails and we'll be right back. and we'll talk about some uh notable. famous hitchhikers over the. years stop. you you should know. stop.

you stop you should know stop you. [Music]. should okay Chuck so we're back um we. have gotten a lot of angry emails in the. inter room but that's okay they're. flowing. in um let's talk a little bit about. demographics because you kind of hit on. how it's easier in some cases for some. people that catch a ride than it is for. others but the the main demographic I.

could see when um you look at at just. the differences in in um hitchhiking. experiences seem to be pretty much just. divided between men and women and I. think one of the things that you see is. this this whole sexist idea that if a. woman hitchhikes and something happens. to her she was just basically asking for. it she put herself in unnecessary danger. which is a terrible way to look at a. crime against an innocent person um. under any circumstances but there was um. there was a Reader's Digest like that.

that was just a whole thread of thinking. there was a reader digest um article. from 1973 that said that um in the case. of a girl who hitchhikes the odds. against her reaching her destination. unmolested are today literally no better. than if she played Russian Roulette. which from what I've read is totally. made up um and that there was also two. girls that conducted a science. experiment in San Diego in. 1977 um and they. they solicited 356 rides and they were.

either wearing a control costume of like. pretty conservative clothing or a. revealing um costume uh and they found. that the revealing costume Far and Away. attracted more rides mostly from men all. right we promised talk of notable. hitchhikers uh and you know we could go. on all day listing famous people who at. one point or another hitchhiked uh for. me John Waters is a pretty fun one uh. because he he hitchhiked and enjoyed it. as a kid and then eventually wrote a.

book he hitchhiked as a 68-year-old. grown man uh in the like. 2013 from his home in Baltimore to his. other Home in San Francisco and wrote a. book about it uh called Cari John Waters. hitchhikes Across America and this one. is kind of fun because the whole first. half of the book is just Fiction it's. like fun stories he wrote about like who. could pick him up and what that could. lead to whether was a serial killer or. uh you know something a little more.

fun uh but he the second half of the. book I think is about like his real. journey hitchhiking and he he made it. all the way that's great I mean I'm glad. John wat survived because he's a he's a. National Treasure who else hitchbot is. the the other one I want to cover oh. I've never heard of hitchbot is that a. famous person you have we talked about. hitchbot and I think Internet Roundup or. something like that really back in 2015. there was a a robot it was very like um.

basic in in design the it was a social. experiment more than anything they. wanted to see how people um responded to. a robot and they sent this cloy junky. cartoonish looking robot all the way. across Germany all the way across the. Netherlands all the way across Canada. and they finally said okay it's time for. America uh we're going to set this guy. out on the road in Salem Massachusetts. and see if he can make it to San. Francisco's destination. he made it to Boston he made it to New.

York he made it to Philadelphia and he. didn't get out of Philadelphia alive he. was dismembered and completely taken. apart by some jerk Vandal somewhere who. was caught on video wearing a a football. shirt uh like a football jersey I can. only imagine it was an Eagles jersey and. so so this this uh robot made it through. three countries and didn't even get past. Philadelphia uh in in the United States. which is you know kind of sad I remember. being sad about it at the time but we. definitely talked about hitchbot but.

he's a very famous hitchhiker as well he. had a real positive spirit he like. tweeted the whole time about how good. everything was. yeah uh let me see what do we got here I. don't want to talk about Dave Matthews. do we no he hitched one time to a. concert I guess we can say that at least. you know what we should cover on a short. stuff is uh the Dave Matthews uh uh poop. Bridge incident I don't. no oh well we'll talk about in short.

stuff it's when his his tour bus dumped. the contents of their oh I did hear that. thing like off a bridge on two people or. it was on a boat or something that was. below the bridge my God they got in. trouble for it let's talk about movies. instead what about that yeah I mean you. know in media in general like you know. there are some very famous famous uh. books and movies that were kind of. centered around hitchhiking whether it's. uh obviously Jack carox on the road is a. big one or uh Tom Robbins even cowg.

girls get the blues uh the Gus fans ant. movie um the man character was. born with a um an abnormally large thumb. so you know she obviously had a talent. as a hitchhiker and that's kind of one. of the um subplots of the of the book. and film right um and yeah hitchhiking. it depends on the film but it it can be. depicted as like a cautionary tale where. you know it just goes so off the rails. bad that no one should ever hitchhike. ever like in Hitcher like we were.

talking about with see Thomas Howen. Rooker Hower yeah that um that Billy. cockeye cook murder spree got turned. into a a a movie two years after called. The Hitchhiker um it was supposedly. pretty good and yeah so throughout from. from the 50s onward uh hitchhikers could. be depicted as murderous people um or. people picking up hitchhikers could be. depicted as murderous right but there. was also like hitchhiking made. appearances as McGuffin in a lot of.

films as just kind of a funny like. little side thing like PeeWee Herman. getting picked up by Large Marge and. pe's big adventure what a scene Big Bird. and Follow That Bird did a lot of. hitchhiking in that movie yeah have you. ever seen I saw the. devil I don't think so that's Rob Zombie. right no it's a Korean uh film a Korean. serial killer film I can't remember the. guy's name um who directed it but it's.

really good but there's this one scene. in there where the main character the. antagonist I guess is a serial killer um. but they follow him so much he's. basically the main character he. hitchhikes gets picked up by a car. that's being driven by a guy who had. already picked up another hitchhiker so. now there's two guys including him in. the car being driven by a third guy and. they all turn out to be serial killers. and they get in this this fight driving. down the road. a fight to the death it's like a really. interesting just kind of like a side.

scene that they could have easily edited. out but it's so good it's it's nuts that. sounds really familiar I might have seen. that actually it came out in 2010 I. think yeah the McGuffin thing is big. though I feel like most times if. hitchhiking isn't uh a plot that's like. turns out to be really bad or something. that you're supposed to think it is at. least right like very few times I feel. like it's just a scene where someone. hitchhikes and it's no big deal unless. it's like a period thing you know from.

the' 60s or whatever yes um a good. example of that is um Dumb and Dumber. where um Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels. pick up the guy who's trying to. assassinate them and he ends up dying um. because of the hot sauce Burger they. they trick him into eating yeah that's a. good one that was a good movie and then. apparently I've never seen it but like. the definitive earliest um hitchhiking. scene is from It Happened One Night with. Clark Gable and Claudette colar it's.

very cute scene oh yeah yeah he's he's. basically being a man teaching her how. like it's all in the thumb it's all in. the thumb that's how you hitchhike and. he's getting nowhere with it and she. like leans down and kind of sticks her. leg out and adjusts her stocking and a. car just comes like to a screeching halt. to pick them both up yeah and she's like. stick that thumb where the sun don't. shine exactly uh if you were in Europe. um we kind of mentioned kind of how it. was going post World War II but uh. throughout the years it's kind of ebed.

and flowed in Europe but it seems to be. more popular and doable depending on. what country you're in uh in Europe. today like I think the Netherlands is. still sort of very well known as a. country where you can pretty safely. hitchhike uh I think Germany at least. for a while it was pretty popular always. generally frowned upon in the UK mhm but. people still did and apparently still. today if you're around GL Berry you're. probably going to get hit up for a ride.

at Festival time yeah yeah yeah that. kind of thing of course there's always. somebody on the side of the road trying. to go see uh some big Music Festival. probably Dave Matthews or I'm sure uh. what's a burning man I bet that's half. hitchhiking yeah for sure I'm sure any. of the big festivals there's probably a. lot of people hitching there uh we have. to mention Cuba because it is a pretty. singularly unique country in terms of. hitchhiking and that um after the Berlin. Wall fell the uh oil from the Soviets.

really dried up and that I can't. remember what the period was called like. the special period or something like. that mhm uh where basically the the. national bus system and transportation. public transport system kind of stopped. it slowed down then eventually just went. away and then they nationalized it in. that if you are a a government uh I. think it was only until 2014 like you. had to have a special government license. to even have a private car mhm uh but if.

you are a government car you are. required supposedly to pick up. hitchhikers and from what I read I read. a few articles about it like hitchhiking. is public transportation in Cuba now wow. um it's kind of set up they're called. yellow points where you stop at a. certain place if you're a government car. like if you're an agricultural truck or. whatever carrying something you know. from Province to Province you you're. required to stop pick people up uh they. pay you if it's within Province like a.

penny in American dollars or I think 11. cents if it's trans provincial but um. really really interesting and and I saw. on the hitchwiki website of course. there's all kinds of great websites now. where you can really kind of find out. where it's good and not because it's. still a thing that like a culture that a. lot of people Embrace but hitchwiki said. that everybody hitchhikes in Cuba yeah. it's just a way of life I was reading. about Poland in the Cold War I think the. 50s or 60s where they essentially.

nationalized it by I think they passed. some regulations saying you basically. have to stop if you see a hitchhiker um. you private citizen have to pick up. hitchhikers but we're going to sweeten. the pot we're going to sell these books. of vouchers that hitchhikers buy for. very cheap and then they give you a. voucher for picking them up and then you. the driver um hand it in and get a. lottery ticket in exchange you could win. big bucks but apparently even still um. the Polish people were like don't like. being told that we have to pick up. strangers if we don't want to and it.

kind of it it was never popular and it. went away but it sounded like an. interesting experiment there there's two. lotteries in there's the lottery of if. you have a serial killer that you've. picked up right and then there's a. second Lottery um I did forget one thing. about Cuba I just thought was. interesting um they call it uh earone. lab Botella which means going with a. bottle that's what they call it there. because apparently they think when you. like stick your thumb up like that it's. resembling you like holding something. and taking a drink awesome yeah um and.

then speaking of today also like you. said there's a lot of sites that kind of. trade um info and best places to get. picked up and where to avoid and all. that stuff that's a huge deal that. people um even out on the road are. connected um and I saw that that that. actually you can make a really good case. that that's morphed into a combination. between that whole free spirit freedom. of the road environmental thing like. it's it's less environmentally impactful. to not drive yourself but to Hitch.

instead um combined with that um. transactional nature of our society and. now we have ride share apps it's. essentially the same thing except you're. paying somebody to come get you rather. than standing out there relying on. someone else's Goodwill well there are. also hitchhiking apps that are. essentially ride share apps that you. don't pay for and I think it's just a. way of connecting uh The Hitchhiker. culture to like potenti a ride. supposedly also one more thing in DC.

still to this day from what I read it's. there's something called slugging and. every morning people who want to ride in. the car poool but are driving to work by. themselves there's like these. predetermined spots where people just. line up and you just stop and somebody. gets in your car and you take them into. into DC with you on your commute so you. can ride in the car pool Lane that's. like when Larry David picked up a sex. worker uh so he could get to the Dodger. game quicker and he ended up having to. take her to the game and all uh had an.

extra was you know classic her yeah so I. would strongly recommend people read the. um 1966 Sports Illustrated article by. Janet Graham it's called rule of thumb. for the open road and there's another. one from the London review of books by. Mike J called that old thumb both of. them are just excellent um I guess. Chronicles on hitchhiking over the. decades yeah and that book's. great okay well Chuck at that book's. great and uh we don't have anything else. to say about hitchhiking so I think that.

means everybody it's time for a listener. mail uh I'm going to call this that. Brook is great cuz this is from Brooke. okay you like how I did that uh Hey guys. my name is Brooke I love listening to. your show uh know in the latest episode. peanuts part two you stated that the. comic strip setting is unknown we were. wrong my friend on behalf of Minnesota I. had to mention that hennipen County. Minnesota was actually stated to be the. setting in a 1957 strip of I don't like.

this email I don't want to know this uh. minnesotans are especially obsessed with. peanuts and Snoopy uh Minnesota has over. 500 5ft peanuts statues scattered across. the state with more than 100 of them. being in St Paul uh they also used to be. a Peanuts theme park in the Mall of. America called Camp Snoopy sadly Camp. Snoopy would later become Nickelodeon. Park in 2008 uh even still statu of the. Peanuts Gang are scattered uh far and.

wide including a lonus statue at the. Minnesota State Fair uh even my uncle. had a l of statue in his yard cute had. no idea um thanks so much for the show I. listen while I am Trail skating 30 plus. miles for Marathon skate training wowe. do you know that was a thing no I'm I'm. taking that to mean like. rollerblading I guess or roller skates. for whatever 30 something miles I'll bet. Brooke has extraordinarily strong thighs. at this point I can't imagine dude cabs.

and feet and big toes and little toes I. bet it's all very strong uh you guys. definitely helped me get through it I. love all the little jokes and side. comments I hope you have a great day. thanks a lot Brooke that was a. quintessential Minnesota nice uh sign. off too by the way thank you for that. great email and even though it contained. information I didn't really want to hear. I still must do my hat to you for that. one doed if you want to be like Brooke. and get in touch with us with some. information we don't necessarily want to. hear we'd prefer you didn't do that uh.

otherwise you can email us at stuff. podcast at iheartradio.com. stuff you should know is a production of. iHeart radio for more podcasts my heart. radio visit the iHeart Radio app Apple. podcasts or wherever you listen to your. favorite shows.