The Story of the Nuclear Boy Scout | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

[Music]. 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 this is a good old fashion barn. burner of a stuff you should know type. topic woo whizbang Chuck this was a. somebody sent this in as a a suggestion. recently I think right yeah you know I. think you and I had both been aware of. this story but uh we did get a recent.

suggestion from David parer yeah David. parer I think just a couple weeks ago. sent in this suggestion and look at the. timing yeah well thank you David and. we're going to talk about another David. that is David Han the nuclear Boy Scout. yep and this is one of those where we. owe a a huge debt to a a single human uh. because this story was may have just. gone fairly unnoticed as a a pretty. localized local news newspaper item yeah.

uh if it hadn't been found uh by a. gentleman named Ken Silverstein who. ended up writing a very large piece in. Harper's magazine and then a book called. The radioactive Boy Scout colon the true. story of a boy in his backyard nuclear. reactor so uh big thanks to Ken a lot of. this came from your work yeah and Shout. out also to the um journalist from the. natural resources news service which is. this investigative journalist group grp.

that um just as a public good like. investigate stories and then turn around. and give them to news out outlets and. apparently that's how Ken came across. the story and began researching it so. there's two people that were responsible. for it at least yeah and three because. we have to count David Han uh the. Michigan teenager who in the 90s uh. managed to create a nuclear reaction in. the potting shed of his mom's house uh. it is a story that is interesting and.

amazing but also very sad uh in its. ending yeah and technically we should. thank five people because it took Patty. and Ken H Han to reproduce and create. David Han so we're at five people now. that we need to. thank all right so David was born uh. October. 1976 uh that's the year you were born. right yeah I was just a couple months. older than him yeah and look what this. guy did yeah I know what what have you. ever done thanks for that.

hey you got a you got a hit podcast so. you're not sweating it oh I'm. sweating uh when he was a little and we. say this because it very much figures. into uh the end of David's story it's. very sad but his mother Patty was. diagnosed with uh depression and. paranoid schizophrenia uh was H. hospitalized through his early childhood. off and on and she would eventually uh. take her own life in 1996 yeah and that. will play into the story later on uh but. Patty remains a character throughout.

most of it so too does um David's father. Ken who we mentioned he's person five we. need to thank um Patty and Ken got. divorced I think when David was really. little like maybe a toddler and uh Ken. ended up marrying a coworker uh person. number six we need to thank Kathy missig. uh Ken and Kathy uh were both engineers. at General Motors this whole thing took. place in the suburbs of. Detroit specifically Clinton Township. Michigan specifically later on in a um a.

subdivision called golf Manor as we'll. see but um so David uh lives with Ken. and Kathy and then on weekends he goes. and stays with his mom Patty and her. boyfriend person number seven who we. need to thank Michael pic uh and they're. the ones I I believe who lived in golf. Manor and under by all accounts like. David lived a pretty normal childhood um. just doing normal childhood things it. wasn't until he was 10 that his life. found its purpose which is pretty early.

if you think about it for your life to. find its purpose yeah and by the way if. you live in golf Manor hold your emails. we know you're in Commerce Township yes. thank you for that I think his his dad. lived in Clinton Township yeah it's. probably like uh where I lived in New. Jersey it's like all these old townships. just run together yeah that's what it. looked like on the map yeah so uh the. person we really need to thank this is. number eight person. eight uh is like you mentioned when dve. was 10 years old his.

stepmom's father so I guess his. step-grandfather if you count that as a. thing uh he was also an engineer GM he. gave uh Little David a book called The. Golden Book of chemistry. experiments and Little David was. fascinated with uh science and chemistry. but in particular with uh the stories of. uh Mary and Pierre curri and their. radium Discovery and the glow I think. the glow of that whole thing really um. and en thralled this young guy yeah this.

book was heavily Illustrated and like. the instructions kind of looked had the. same look as like those riple Believe It. or Not comic strips almost totally. something that would appeal to a kid. that age or a little older um I you can. find it online in its entirety is a PDF. um and I looked at that illustration I. don't really know what he saw and it's. actually black and white that glows to. some lines coming off of a beaker or. whatever but imagination my friend for. reason it enthralled him so much so that.

within two years of receiving that book. he was um devouring his father's. chemistry text books at age 12 yeah so. he was I mean these were books that were. more advanced than his age clearly a. smart guy uh at the age of 14 he. apparently made nitroglycerin by himself. uh which evidently isn't the hardest. thing to do but is very dangerous to do. uh there are other stories like he. brought um wanted to make his own fire. fireworks at Boy Scout camp so we.

brought some powdered. magnesium it ended up catching on fire. and ruined a tent so uh what else he he. he tried to develop a self-tanning. method that didn't work out right yeah. he overdosed on cantha anthon which uh I. can't remember which one that which. episode that came up in uh but it's a. pigment that turns your skin orange from. the inside out and that's what he did he. was trying to come up with a. self-tanning uh method that didn't use. any kind of UV radiation.

yeah no comment but he was that kind of. dude he would just turn up at like a. scout meeting or something bright orange. and be like yeah too much Cana anthon so. yeah he's exactly that kid he's also the. kind of kid who essentially destroys his. bedroom because he's doing science uh. the the walls were wrecked uh the carpet. was stained they had to move the carpet. out eventually his dad was like listen. uh this is getting serious you're. destroy destroying our home um you got.

to move into the basement first of all. and when we're not here you can't be in. here either uh they they took away uh. equipment they took away some chemicals. and finally they said all right you're. this is out of hand you can't do this. anymore so he said all right I'll do it. like every uh divorc kid says I'll do it. at the other parents house that's right. um and so he did he ended up setting up. a lab in his mom's potting shed in golf. man or in Commerce Township and um this.

is where the story really starts to kind. of take off because um his dad was. getting really worried that his son. was basically um um creating and selling. drugs like that's what he was doing with. his chemistry experiments and so like. they would he and his um stepmom would. drop in in the library when he was. supposedly there to see if he was there. like they really did not trust this. fascination with chemistry which I mean.

I can understand if your kid blows. himself up a couple of times you're like. what are you doing exactly here yeah so. I don't know if he knew that David went. and set up a a lab in his mom's potting. shed or not and just was like that's. fine as long it's out of my house I'm. not sure I've never seen that either way. but one thing that he did do to try to. be like okay I think you're creating. drugs you're probably on them you may or. may not be selling them none of those. seem to be from what I can tell you need.

to become an eagle scout and he pushed. his son to become an eagle scout yeah. and that's exactly what he did as we. will later find out uh but when it came. time for merit badge selection MH he. said I want the one uh that says atomic. energy yeah and the scoutm said uh I. think he told the the writer of the book. um no one had ever chosen that before in. the history of the troop right so it. kind of reminds me of the Brian Cox. scene and.

Rushmore uh with Bill Murray when he. says he's one of the worst students. we've got I can just picture Brian Cox. saying that that no one's ever tried for. this badge before but uh it was it was a. legit badge it's kind of funny that it. existed it's different now as we'll see. but um in 1963 they introduced the. atomic energy badge it came with a. pamphlet uh that they created with the. nuclear energy industry that turned out. to have a lot of really useful. information.

almost like a starter kit on how to like. Source radioactive elements in the real. world and and how to get your own. reactor going yeah the one of the. projects you could do was to build your. own guer counter like it was serious. stuff yeah maybe so legit that uh like I. said the Boy Scouts would eventually. change that badge uh I think probably. because of what happened with David um. in 2005 they replaced it with the. nuclear science badge yes so but he's.

still working on the original the atomic. energy badge from 1963 right oh yeah so. um he's just devouring this he's having. the the best time he visits a a hospital. Ward to um learn about x-rays um which. is part of the the merit badge. certification um the thing that really. changed things though Chuck is he. decided just these these things the. merit badge was having him do like one. of the things was draw a diagram of a f. reaction yeah or build a model of a.

nuclear reactor but a model like a. cardboard model basically or paper. machine or yes or I will create my own. nuclear um reactor in my mom's potting. shed he he decided he was so psyched. about atomic energy that he wanted to do. it himself yeah I mean I guess you do. the model and you're like hey this that. wasn't so hard right let me see if I can. do it for real and he wanted to build.

and you know this shows that he was a. kid I think I don't think this was to. cause harm he wanted to build a neutron. gun MH and the way I just for my. research this is speculation but it. didn't seem like he was like I want to. build a neutron gun to try and like blow. up the the city that I live in not at. all it seemed more like a kid who was. really into science and sci-fi and. chemistry and wanted to make a little. pew pew gun yeah I think Neutron gun is.

a um it's a misleading term I can't get. the Nintendo duck hunt gun out of my. head whenever I hear Neutron gun but. really what a neutron gun is at least. the one that David made it's a block of. lead with a cavity carved out and you. put radioactive material in the cavity. and then cover it over with like. aluminum foil and then you just point. the the aluminum foil side of that block. of lead at what you want to IR radiate. and then you try to start a chain.

reaction a nuclear reaction that seems. to be the sum total of his goals he. wasn't trying to build a bomb he wasn't. trying to sell plutonium to the libyans. he wasn't doing anything like that he. just wanted to see if he could start a. nuclear Chain Reaction this thing that. had fascinated him since he was 10 years. old and so he said about doing that with. help from this um Eagle Scout merit. badge pamphlet yeah makes the whole. thing that much. more nuts yeah and also by adopting a um.

a Persona as a professor because he. starts writing into organizations trying. to get uh information trying to get. materials trying to get schematics he. said he was Professor Han that taught at. his high school chipa Valley High School. go Chipmunks are they I don't know okay. they better be uh and over the next few. years basically uh and apparently you. know he he applied himself he didn't. apply himself in school he was smart but.

he was. failing almost failing out basically. barely passing like the math and English. exams needed to graduate eventually but. uh that is to say these letters had like. spelling errors and grammatical errors. it didn't seem like they were written by. Professor but people bought it and. before you know it he's like. corresponding as a professor to these. adults yeah and these adults are just. totally into this correspondence they're. really enjoying helping this who they. think think a high school physics.

teacher learn um the stuff he's looking. for about nuclear energy to ostensibly. go and teach to the kids right so this. correspondence is like genuine the only. thing um illegitimate about it was that. he was misrepresenting who he actually. was yeah a professor rather than a high. school student but other than that. everything else about it seems to be. pretty neat yeah except for the fact. that it's dangerous and illegal yes so. one of the people that he um. corresponded with I think he. corresponded with him the most was named. Donald herb Erb and he was the guy who.

was the head of the department that. produces Isotopes if you need Isotopes. um you can go to the nuclear Regulatory. Commission this is not you but like if. you are in some sort of Industry that. uses Isotopes or hook you up and this. herb will be like I got you I got you. covered for some reason they come in. these little baggies with like um card. suits printed all over them it's weird. that's a herb kind of touch it's nice. but he was uh he worked for the nuclear.

Regulatory Commission and nobody helped. um David Han more than Donald herb did. again. unwittingly yeah absolutely so should we. take a break we should okay all right I. was about to keep going but let's take a. break and we're going to talk about his. pursuit of radioactive materials right. after. [Music]. this. [Music].

by the way Chuck it's the chipa valley. big red which appears to be a giant. Cardinal oh if you ask me that was a. that was a missed Miss opportunity yeah. Chipmunks Chipawa Chipmunks the Rabid. fit monks yeah I love it all right so.

when we left off David Han was getting. serious about building this uh nuclear. reactor um he needs material to do that. so and we should point out that you know. I said it was dangerous it was dangerous. he did know this he still pursued it but. he like he had a lead Shield uh that he. worked with he threw away his. contaminated clothes he left his shoes. in there and didn't take them in his. house so it was shoes but in a potting. shed that he was building a breeder.

reactor in do you have driving shoes is. that a thing uh I know that it's a thing. from watching old episodes of. Frasier I've never heard that yes you've. seen driving shoes people wear them and. they're totally unaware that you're not. supposed to wear them out of your car. but it's like if your car is so nice you. take off your outdoor shoes and put on. your driving shoes that never leave your. car and that way you don't get your car. dirty yeah I don't know if I have seen. him I guess just you have they're like.

they look kind of like um a cross. between a loafer and a moccasin and then. the dead giveaway is the the tread on. the bottom comes up the back of the heel. as well because of the position that. your foot is in when you're driving it. gives you grip all right I'm gonna have. to look this up you've seen them all. right uh all right so that's amazing 52. years old never knew about this I was. only probably 40 when I learned about it. so I don't feel bad yeah all right. so uh he starts looking for materials um.

and these are just a few sort of stories. about he would go about that uh he. wanted some amarium 241 for this Neutron. gun uh in the booklet that he got from. the from the Boy Scouts uh said you can. get this stuff in smoke detectors so he. tries to steal them from the boy scout. camp uh got caught and sent home early. uh then he writes smoke detector. companies saying I need a bunch of these. things for a school project eventually.

one company sold him a hundred broken. ones for a hundred bucks yeah couldn't. figure out how to find this amorium so. got in touch with another smoke detector. company who was like oh well here's. where you find it and was able to. extract amorium uh enough to like weld. together with a blowtorch yes so. remember I was talking about the neutron. gun is a a lump of lead with a cavity. hollowed out and then you put your. radioactive material in the the cavity. of lead. now we had his radioactive material.

that's right aium is um I looked up why. it would be in smoke detectors did you. see why no it's really interesting just. for a second so uh. aium it it because of its radioactive. decay it creates a flow of ions um. positive and negative ions that are are. moved across like this metal plate and. there's a constant movement of ions that. this airium is creating from the air. around it. and when smoke interacts with those ions.

it actually breaks that flow that flow. is detected by the smoke detector which. triggers it to go off isn't that just so. bizarre that's how your smoke detector. works and that's how they still work. yeah oh yeah there's still a mesum in. smoke detectors today amazing yeah so. you said he built his own guer counter. um I don't know if it was this one or if. he ended up getting another one but he. would drive around Upper Michigan. uh with this Geer counter on just.

looking for naturally occurring uranium. out in the world and then eventually. he's like this isn't working out so he. got a cck saakian firm uh that the NRC. told him about and sourced uranium or. yeah he had that guer counter mounted to. his dashboard and apparently anytime he. drove he had it turned on isn't that. amazing yeah I mean that's you got to. find this stuff and he actually did find. some stuff it's called pitch blend and. it's a it's a source of low-grade um. uranium and he tried to extract it but.

he couldn't purify it enough so like you. said he was like well I'll just buy some. pure uranium from a firm in. Czechoslovakia that he heard about. either from the pamphlet or from Donald. herb one of the two yeah another thing. he did was uh the little mantle like the. little mesh sacks that you tie onto a. Gas Lantern uh he bought thousands of. those because they have little tiny. amounts of uh thorium. 232 and uh so you know he buys thousands.

of these from surplus stores buys. thousands of dollars in lithium. batteries to extract lithium so he's. being very um you know uh I think. showing a lot of initiative in at least. how to find this stuff yeah I mean like. he's using his his after school um job. money to buy $1,000 in lithium batteries. to purify the thorium that he got from. the gas lanterns that he purchased and. extracted it from like I can't imagine. how much time and effort this took and. by the way he did purify that thorium.

pretty well I saw that he got it to. 9,000 times the level found in nature of. radioactivity and about 170 times the. level that you would need a license from. the nuclear Regulatory Commission to. possess he also went around of course. where you're going to find uh old. dangerous radioactive things uh. junkyards and antique shops so he would. take that uh Geer counter into a junk. shop or an antique store and he would. walk around until something lit up uh.

like radium paint uh if you remember our. um I think it was pretty excellent. podcast on the radium girls m and he. would find like radium paint in an Old. Clock yeah um yeah he found a vial of. paint just tucked away inside of one and. that then he really had his radioactive. material for his Neutron gun um he. actually stepped it up and built a. second gun he' also from corresponding. with Donald herb gotten even better at. creating a neutron gun that was going to.

um be useful in creating a nuclear. reaction um he also found that uh when. he used the the radium on on um I think. the thorium that he purified he was. trying to trigger a chain reaction by. bombarding thorium with neutrons that's. what he was trying to do um he found. that the thorium wasn't converting into. uranium like it was supposed to so he. contacted Donald herb and Donald BB said. your neutrons are too fast you got to. slow them down one of the best ways to. slow him down is tridium and he said.

well where would I find tridium and. apparently they Ed tridium to make the. glowing sights on gun scopes and gun. sites so he ordered I think dozens of. guns sites from morder catalogs from. stores and then he would scrape the. tridium off and then send them back and. say I need this this site repaired. there's no tridium on it and they would. put more trium on it and send it back. and he just create a new pseudonym and. send that back in that's how method IAL. that kid was so this is all kid stuff.

he's like 14 15 years old right. eventually he turned 17 and he says all. right I think I want to build an actual. nuclear reactor uh it's called a tiny. breeder reactor uh they've been around. since the early 1950s when the US. developed them uh when we were you know. sort of the beginning of the age of. trying to use nuclear power for. electricity and they're like well these. little tiny breeder reactors might be a. good way to extend the supply of fuel or.

something um it never quite worked out. that way uh I think they're still. working on that kind of thing in Russia. and China but it never really went off. the ground but it was enough to inspire. David to think that maybe I can build a. small thing like this in in my mom's. potting garage or a potting shed yeah. the difference between a breeder reactor. and a regular reactor is that you um in. a regular reactor you just use fuel and. you get energy from the fuel with the. breeder reactor you get energy from the.

fuel but it also creates more fuel and. you end up with more fuel than you. started with I saw it um likened to. leaving your house with the car with a. half a tank of gas and when you return. home the um the the tank is full that's. kind of like what it does and yet they. just could never get it to work but. that's what he was trying to do and the. reason why is because you start with. uranium 238 and that's the most abundant. uranium found in nature that's right so. he doesn't have enough uranium no matter.

what kind it is to create an actual uh. chain reaction for normal reactor so he. says maybe I can at least do something. like he he it seemed like he became sort. of Obsessed just with this goal of. creating some kind of nuclear reaction. himself yeah uh got a blueprint from one. of his dad's textbooks took that uh. amorium and the radium from his Neutron. guns mixed it with some aluminum. shavings some brillium wrapped that up. in aluminum foil. and basically you have yourself a a very.

small Reactor Core right there yeah he. created an atomic pile like the first. one that fery created in Chicago but on. a much much smaller scale but it worked. like it worked he created like you said. a nuclear reactor and it started a. nuclear chain reaction and it started to. take off actually pretty quickly yeah. he's got that guer counter and he's. measuring this thing like on a daily. basis and he's like it's actually. growing like it's getting more.

Radioactive in here uh I imagine he was. thrilled and also possibly a little bit. like Matthew broadrick and War games. where it's like oh wait a minute like. what have I done here uh such that he. was worried and took it apart He did. apparently he could detect it from five. houses down the street and I looked up. um pictures of golf Manor and I mean. their yards are decent so five houses. away is a pretty good distance to be.

able to pick up his um nuclear reactor. in his mom's potting shed with his guer. counter and at that big side yards there. yeah lots of big sidey yards um no zero. L Lines no no no nothing like that no. this is golf Manor man that we're. talking about um so he took it apart and. he just kind of distributed the. different parts to try to drop the the. radioactivity levels in his mom's. potting shed and uh he kind of went. about his life after he he um.

disassembled his reactor he'd achieved. his goal um but apparently he had a. penchant for stealing wheels and tires. off of cars um he admitted as much in an. interview later on uh as as an adult and. he he seems to have gotten caught doing. that by the police uh shortly after he. disassembled his reactor and when the. police called him they they said we're. going to search your car and he said go. ahead search my car but do not open that. toolbox that toolbox is highly.

radioactive is that a good Cliffhanger. for a break I think so imagine the cops. going what they're like we got to listen. to ads before we know what happens mhm. sorry all right we'll be right. [Music]. back.

[Music]. all right so it's August uh almost. September uh. 1994 that reactor is uh taken apart I. think he put the Thorium in a shoe box. uh the radium in the amarium was in the. shed still and the rest is in the trunk. of his car he's just been pulled over. like you said. because uh there was reports that he was.

stealing uh tires and wheels and he said. warning that thing's radioactive don't. open up that uh that toolbox so they. said well maybe we should this sounds. like an an IED to me uh an improvised. explosive device why don't we call in. the bomb squad to be safe called in the. bomb squad they said this whole car. basically is radioactive and all of a. sudden the federal radiological. emergency response plan is triggered and. the EPA and the FBI and the NRC and the.

doe are and the state and local. authorities are. all like trying to not trying to get. this kid but trying to figure out what. in the world is going on with this kid. yeah he's 17 at the time still and all. of a sudden these huge agencies are like. swooping down on him to figure out. what's going on the thing is I I guess. they didn't think to ask the right. questions or their imaginations just. didn't go as far as they could have but. they seem to have in this initial.

questioning not really have gotten any. further than his car and he didn't offer. up any information whatsoever about his. actual like nuclear reaction experiments. in his mom's potting shed they didn't. even know there was a potting shed at. his mom's house at this point really. hard to believe yes but that's the level. of questioning that this kid was. subjected to and I mean in retrospect. you're like are you guys kidding you. didn't know about the potting shed right. off the bat but if you're an a FBI agent. or a department of energy agent and.

you're talking to a 17-year-old kid. you're probably not going to assume that. because they have the stuff and the. toolbox in their car they actually were. successfully creating nuclear chain. reactions in their mom's poding shed I. can kind of commiserate with that sure. you probably assume he just got it at. radiation or us pretty. much uh so a few months later is when. they finally got an expert from the. State Department of Public Health to.

interview David more thoroughly and that. turned up the potting shed uh David's. mom at this point had gathered um most. of the um radioactive stuff and gotten. rid of it I I imagine not in a very safe. way at all no probably just went in the. trash can uh and they still found a lot. of radiation at the house in the. materials there in the shed they had the. apparently there was a vegetable can. that had about a thousand times uh the. normal background radiation and so they.

called in federal authorities and they. said well your house is a well the. potting shed at least is a super fun. site yeah um they ended up spending 60. Grand on a two three-day operation. between June 26 and 28th of. 1995 disassembling the potting shed I. think getting some of the earth arounded. out of there putting them in sealed. barrels with you know um radioactive. Hazard symbols on it and they sent it to.

um the Great Salt Lake Desert where they. were buried with other canisters of. low-level radio radioactive waste um his. mom's potting shed is in a Great Salt. Lake Desert buried with other. radioactive material that's kind of neat. the the real stuff though like you said. it ended up in like the landfill nearby. um there was a quote from David that I. saw where he said um the the the. authorities got the garbage and the. garbage got the good stuff in reference.

to what his mom had thrown away so yeah. there's some lumps of Marium and uh. radium sitting somewhere in the the. garbage pile outside of Clinton Commerce. Township and what's In Like A Thousand. Years it'll be safe probably something. like. that I was just I don't know how long. that would be I bet somebody knows so oh. they'll write in so uh David falls into. a depression after this uh his high. school uh classmates were not kind to.

him of course um they called him. radioactive boy uh the EPA said hi we. should you know we can examine you and. your body to see if you're okay he said. no no no I don't want anything to do. with that I'll be fine uh he did get. that Eagle Scout badge um I think the. Scout leaders were like should we really. do this um but they did they gave him. that Eagle Scout badge and uh no. apparently that the neighborhood his uh. all those huge sidey yards came in handy.

because no one in the neighborhood and. no one at the home or in his family. apparently ever suffered from any kind. of radiation sickness that is so lucky. yeah like that is really lucky for him. and for everybody but he no one got hurt. um that's just mindboggling at this. point um he went on and joined the Navy. a couple years later um and he served. for several years was hon honorably. discharged and ironically served on the.

USS Enterprise which is a nuclear. submarine but he didn't work in any. capacity near the nuclear part of the. submarine um he I think he fully served. his time in the Navy he did yeah he was. honorably discharged uh no no no I think. I think he was discharged from the. Marines I think he like he fully served. his time in the Navy Oh I thought they. he was never discharged I thought they. discharged you when your time was up too. no you just you're just done just like a.

discharge means it's time for you to go. and you're like wait I got three more. years and they're like no it's time for. you to go gotcha okay I got you all. right so yes in between the Navy and the. Marines he went to college uh and. started working on an associates degree. uh like you said he joined the Marines. he was honor honorably discharged um and. his life was just not going the way he. wanted it to um 2007 found him. unemployed um his mental illness had. really kind of kicked in uh and toward. the end of his life spoiler alert he uh.

he died at age 39 um there was a an FBI. report on him where somebody had been. informing on him that he was not using. his meds that he was heavily using. cocaine and that he was acting really. paranoid um from what I can tell based. on the FBI documents it seems like the. person informing on him seems concerned. not like they're doing it out of any. kind of vengeful reason right but the. when the FBI showed up and interviewed.

him again this is when he's in his 30s. um they he he passed all the inspection. or queries that they gave him. questioning that they gave him yeah and. there were you know there were other. complaints and reports uh with the. police that you know he was trying to do. this again that he had a small reactor. at his house uh another landlord I think. said that he had stolen some smoke. detectors uh that they were missing and.

they found them um like you know torn. apart basically uh near David's garage. but they never they never found any kind. of radiation he said he hadn't done that. kind of stuff in a decade and you know. they went and checked like where he was. living and they never found any evidence. that he had at least started up any more. radioactive work yeah imagine during. your FBI um questioning you're like I. haven't done any nuclear reactions at. home for like like 10 years man that's. like that is a different CH it's like a.

whole lifetime ago yeah exactly um uh. the FBI documents also give um just kind. of a sad note in 2010 which is where the. FBI's investigation of him as an adult. left off based on those complaints um. they noted that he was in rehab after. being charged with a bunch of drug. charges so apparently the cocaine use. thing was true um that was 2010 6 years. later uh like I said he was dead at um. age.

39 yeah so uh in the media of course. initially there were some people that. said that the radioactivity did him in. or that was a factor at least uh very. sadly the the report came back that. wasn't true but he died from combined. effects of alcohol and fanel uh and. badril and he suffered from mental. mental illness just like his mom I think. from uh paranoid schizophrenia and. depression and it's just a very sad end.

to a story of a kid who who sounds like. he was really smart and just wanted to. try and do something really amazing you. know yeah um he he was found dead in the. bathroom at the Walmart that he had gone. shopping in the night he died um and it. is a sad end I don't I don't quite know. what to make of it Chuck like same it's. if he were still alive I don't know I. think it would be a a much different. story somehow but he did something I. don't know maybe it's the story of. somebody who was just so single-minded.

they they did something that most other. people would have given up on or never. even attempted and that's worth. mentioning you know yeah absolutely um. and I tried to look at other angles I. just I never saw anything like nefarious. really no no either an FBI interview or. a media interview the interview was like. I mean were you thinking of making a. bomb or whatever and they they said they. reported like he seemed to just be like. that never even crossed my mind like no.

that's not at all what I was doing he. was just obsessed with creating a. nuclear reaction and he did it yeah well. uh thankfully we don't have to end it on. that sad note because liya found this. other great story uh of a a kid named. Taylor Wilson who got the radioactive. Boy Scout uh book from his grandmother. as an 11-year-old Science Kid and. operating under supervision and. oversight and getting real experts to. help uh actually became the youngest.

person to achieve nuclear fusion at the. age of 14 yeah which is amazing I mean. Fusion is a whole new ball game but yeah. 14 and works as a a nuclear physicist as. an adult yeah and it's supposedly. according to the guardian a super cool. dude too yeah and directly inspired from. uh David's story yeah and apparently his. grandmother lived to regret it again. according to the guardian oh really yeah. that's what the guardian said because I.

guess his grandmother was giving it to. him as a cautionary tale and he was like. oh I want to try this. myself very interesting uh Taylor. Wilson's grandmother is the 11th person. we need to thank in this episode Taylor. Wilson being 10 and Donald BB being. number nine right nice work uh if you. want to know more about the nuclear or. radioactive Boy Scout David Han there's. a lot of stuff out there um but you uh. would be remiss and not reading Ken. Silverstein's um article at least if not.

his book on David Han uh and while. you're looking that up we'll just go. ahead and do listener. mail all right this is from Tiffany uh. Hey guys thank you for bringing back. some vivid memories from my eighth grade. reading class uh too many decades ago to. admit but my reading teacher was also. the social studies teacher and I guess. that explains where all of our reading. lists included Animal Farm Hiroshima All. Quiet on the Western Front and you know. it The Jungle by Upton Sinclair uh to. hammer home what we read he would.

incorporate details of the book into a. little imaginary coin toss he did each. day to determine whether the boys or. girls got to go first and uh walk to. lunch and single file line for the weeks. we discussed the jungle that would sound. something like this today's menu. includes hot dogs call it in the air is. it the Rusty Nail or the severed. finger what a great teacher M uh one day. we noticed that half the kids in the. class had an addition of the book that. included this uh and yes I still. remember it decades later Mary had a.

little lamb and when she saw it sicken. she sent it off to the packing town and. now it's labeled. chicken I was really hoping you guys had. seen this so we could hear a recitation. during the podcast but uh we just did it. right there Tiffany that's great yeah we. I didn't run across that I didn't either. that's a great ad yeah thanks a lot. Tiffany uh that's a great email and we. appreciate it big time and and hats off. to your teacher the 13th person we need. to thank in this episode you're number.

12 Tiffany can we thank Jerry sure why. not we'll go with 14 we could thank. ourselves and just bring it up to 16 a. nice even number Sweet 16 uh we're going. to make it 17 because we want to thank. you for listening and we want to thank. you in advance for getting in touch with. us via email at stuff podcast. iheartradio.com. stuff you should know is a production of. iHeart radio for more podcast my heart. radio visit the iHeart Radio app Apple. podcasts or wherever you listen to your.

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