Tom Slick: Not the Cartoon | 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 it's just us. today and we know from experience that. that's just fine and this is stuff you. should know the this guy had his finger. in a lot of different pies that stuff. you should knows done episodes on. Edition uh uh yeah I mean this is a.

interesting one because our our friend. Chad uh Chad did our TV. Show and Chad is doing a uh or has done. a podcast a highly fictionalized. scripted podcast uh for for our company. for iHeart um you know the company we. own sure uh about Tom Slick and when he. was telling me about this uh Owen Wilson. is voicing it and basic is in it I.

have a small part uh oh really I didn't. know that yeah yeah I I'll get to that I. also read that Carlton Fisk is in it uh. I don't think so the baseball player. yeah no it's Spix's daughter yeah. Skyler Fisk Skyler Fisk I always confus. it with Carlton Fisk the old white sock. player or Expos uh I thought white socks. I think among others uh but anyway Chad. was like dude this guy like he's the. most interesting man that you've never. heard of.

MH and I found when I was online. researching like out outside of San. Antonio and and maybe Texas in a broader. sense like there aren't a ton of people. who don't think that Tom Slick is just. the name of a cartoon that has nothing. to do with this guy yeah did you ever. watch Tom Slick when you were younger oh. the cartoon yeah. sure I never did yeah I watched a lot of. Rocky and Bullwinkle but I'd never heard. of Tom Slick until I started researching. this cat yeah it was like a Georg of the.

Jungle. partner show but yeah I just I mean it. was even I mean it wasn't hard to find. information online but it wasn't as easy. as a lot of people and considering all. the like kind of crazy extraordinary. things he did in his life I ran into the. exact same issue where like there's a. lot of stuff I don't even want to say a. lot but there's a substantial enough. amount of um articles and sources about. him online but they all contain just. basically like oneoff anecdotes yeah and.

it's like wait I don't I don't quite. understand like how did this incident. like help form his outlook on life like. I there's not a complete picture of that. dude and it drives me crazy yeah because. I like to understand the whole thing you. know I love how the parts kind of make. up a hole and I feel like with this guy. I largely just have Parts even though. you know if I put them together mhm you. got a he's he's like a jigsaw with a. bunch of missing places but I still can.

kind of see the the picture and it's. that he was a pretty cool and. interesting dude and seems to have been. a genuinely good dude too yeah had. Nicholas Cage pulled off the uh film. adaptation of his life all your prayers. may have been answered my friend yeah I. heard that that one was cancelled. because he was doing it so weird every. time Tom Slick ran into a problem or an. issue and was upset Nicholas Cage would. just go. for like five minutes and it took up it.

added like a good 45 minutes to the film. and he refused to let them cut a second. of it I remember one of the funniest. parts of the uh and when Andy Samberg. was doing Nick Cage on. SNL one of the lines really got me one. week was he was on the weekend update. and they were talking about some movie. that came out that he was in you know. and he's in like 15 movies a year and he. went it had all the elements of a nit. Cage movie number one it existed.

that's awesome yeah yeah I like that guy. a lot. Samberg Nick Cage yeah and Andy. samberg's great too and Tom Slick yeah. for sure I like Andy Samberg uh and but. I hadn't seen I never really watched. Brooklyn 99 um I saw the most work he. did in That's My Boy which I actually. loved like I don't think there's a. Sandler movie out there that I don't at. least like I did not see that and there. are many many Adam Sandler movies I have.

not seen I know it's the shame of the. podcast yeah but I did watch the first. couple of seasons of Brooklyn 99 and it. it's great okay well Adam Sandler wasn't. on that as far as I know so that doesn't. count I don't think so so let's talk. about Tom Slick huh yeah I mean one of. the problems with Tom Slick is. separating fact from fiction because. he's one of these guys that live sort of. an extraordinary curious filled. adventurous life uh and right off the. bat the fact that he was born on either. May 6 and I also saw May 9th um it just.

may have been the way things were back. then uh this was in 1916 and he was a. junior to Thomas Baker slick senior who. was a guy that really rubbed off on his. son because he had the same sort of. adventurous Spirit as an as an oil man. yeah Tom Baker slick senior was King of. the Wildcats and a Wildcatter is. somebody who goes around just drilling. oil wells in places where it's not at. all clear that there's going to be oil. they're very hopeful Prospectors right.

yeah and that's how he spent like his. early career and then finally he just. hit Pay Dirt uh it was called I think. the wheeler one well in Bristo Oklahoma. and it became one of the most productive. wells in America it was pumping out like. over 300,000 barrels a day I got another. stat for you uh at the time what would. become Cushing oil field was responsible. for 2third of the oil production in the. West.

hemisphere man so yes I guess it goes. without saying that um Tom Slick Senor. made himself and his family Rich beyond. their wildest dreams and so um Tom Slick. Jr grew up a rich kid um and that's a. huge thing that was a huge like part of. his formative upbringing he was. extraordinarily wealthy but he was a. rare rich kid that took that wealth and.

put it to good use and also used it to. just totally free himself from you know. the pursuit of making a profit or. turning a dollar or whatever he did. things because he was curious about. stuff and because he wanted to help. Humanity yeah but you know when you're. working that much obviously you're not. going to be around your family as much. um Tom had a couple of siblings and you. know Dad just wasn't around because they. lived in Pennsylvania as a family. obviously the oil is out west so pops. was in Oklahoma and Texas most of the. time working these long hours.

uh and those long hours did him in when. he died at only 46 years old of a stroke. uh which was a you know a huge loss for. young Tom because he even though Dad. wasn't around that much I get the. feeling that he kind of idolized him and. really revered him yeah he definitely. followed in his footsteps too in a lot. of ways yeah so he was 14 years old at. the time and uh you know it it was a. huge. loss it was I also saw that he'd become. so revered and respected in Oklahoma. that um when he passed away the oil dcks.

in the Oklahoma City Field which is one. of the biggest fields in the country the. they went silent for an hour so every. Oil Man in Oklahoma who had a Derek in. this field stopped making money for an. hour out of respect for Tom senior I. think that says an enormous amount about. him or maybe they were just. hungry it could have been I guess sure. so after Dad dies uh mom did something. that was you know pretty common back.

then or you know not more common than it. feels like it is now which is uh. marrying your dead spouse's brother or. sister uh her brother-in-law was uh. Charles urel uh because he was married. to Tom's sister Flo who also died around. the same time um this is all just bad. luck of course nothing nothing weird. went on uh and they got together and got. married yeah they had a leverate. marriage like we talked about in the. widows episode so from what I can gather.

um Charles ersel was a good stepfather. to Tom and Tom was happy to have him I. mean it was his uncle already right so. um he was quite concerned when he was 17. he was home from exiter the boarding. school uh for the summer um back at. Oklahoma City by this time the whole. family had moved to Oklahoma City and. was living in a mansion the Slick urel. family and on July 22nd. 1933 uh while everybody's just kind of. hanging out Machine Gun Kelly came.

knocking on the door with a few of his. uh his cronies and said we are taking. Charles urel with us which one of you. two men is Charles urel and urel's. friend Walter Jarrett was did one of the. most standup things a friend can do when. you're being. kidnapped yeah he just stood silently. and sort of nudged his nose over toward. urel right his his eyes are going like. way left over here uh no one picked up. on that no I'm kidding he neither one of. them said anything and you know I guess.

they were sort of together in this MH. and so they took them both uh and that. you know that's what happened they. kidnapped both these guys they would. eventually find Jarrett's ID so they uh. dumped him um on the side of the road. and took urel to rural Texas to a ranch. and demanded 200 Grand in Ransom which. is close to 5 million bucks today yes. this was a hugely um uh consequential. event right so that that um slick Jr's.

tangentially involved in um because when. Charles urel was being held he really. kept his head about him uh and depending. on who you ask either he noted the time. of day the times of day that a train. passed by nearby or that planes flew. overhead to try to get an idea of where. he was he put his fingers on everything. he could to leave. fingerprints um and he also counted the. steps anywhere he went when he was. blindfolded so so when he was released.

and thankfully he was released uh. unharmed for a $200,000 Ransom um he was. able to tell the feds like hey here's. everything you need to know about going. and finding this Ranch where they took. me and they did they found it rather. quickly yeah he was also timing how long. the trains were uh and if you know how. many trains are passing in a sort of. general area how big these trains are I. think that allowed them to literally go. to train schedule.

in that part of Texas and figured this. thing out so he was he was a very smart. guy um and they were you know they. arrested uh Miga and Kelly fled but they. arrested the other guys they were able. to track down Kelly and Memphis and he. went to Alcatraz for the rest of his. life yeah so not only did he go to. Alcatraz Machine Gun Kelly did but this. is where we talked about in the Jer. Hoover episode where gmen was coined. because they went to come get him and uh. when they busted in the door he said. don't shoot gmen and that's where their.

nickname came from just like we talked. about in the Hoover episode that. happened from this so this is what I'm. saying like Tom Slick his life really. spreads out into a lot of different. stuff you should know episodes and yet. we'd still never ran across him in our. research which is strange to me yeah he. was a big backer of science that's. something that you're going to see that. kind of pops up again and again in his. life right uh stemming from his just. Natural Curiosity and he was a very very. smart dude he went went to Yale and was.

into genetics and was really and this. was a time when you know in the. 1940s uh Ry Believe It or Not magazine. and the idea of like crossbreeding. animals and Cryptids and all these. things were just it was sort of big news. or if not big news something people were. kind of into at the time mhm And he. supposedly kept a list of like animals. that he wanted to try and crossbreed uh. when he read about a a a hog goat um. that was a hoat that was living in.

Arkansas he drove to Arkansas and bought. whatever it was I I I don't even know if. it was like poor things or what he ended. up with but whatever he brought home he. tried to breed it on his own Farm uh. with no luck it was definitely not a hog. goat because it's physically and. genetically and biologically impossible. for them to reproduce so I didn't see. what it was either just that that didn't. exist but that didn't stop him from. trying did you really look that up I. mean I I was like I got to see this.

thing and there was nothing nothing hoat. hog goat hog goat crossbreeding nothing. like that I know but I thought like. surely there's there's something that. this I couldn't find any reference to it. um I also saw in some places that um he. he basically like went to go buy it and. realized that these people didn't even. exist and certainly the ho didn't exist. but he went and tried it anyway because. he really liked the idea of it and this. is when genetics was really new and. cutting Edge and this guy's into it.

while he's still at Yale you know yeah. so one of the things he successfully uh. does cross breed as cattle uh he looked. at uh the Scottish Angus which is you. know prized for its uh excellent quality. beef um they're very very fertile uh and. then he looked at the Brahman cattle. from India and he was like these things. are are great uh they're disease. resistant they're pest resistant they. are they do well in drought and they're. very very maternal much more maternal. than these Angus oh yeah so let's get.

them together uh put 38 Brahman with 5/8. Angus and this was one of his big noted. early successes when he was in his early. 20s he created the brangus cattle uh. breed that is still around today and. like highly sought after yeah um I yeah. I saw that that people still love that. and it helped introduce the Angus Cattle. into Texas where they would not have. done very well before yeah but here's. the thing though like this sounds cool. like you think oh this guy's like a.

cattle guy now he's a rich kid looking. to make more money on this cattle deal M. uh he was doing it because he wanted to. introduce a breed of cattle that did. better in places where there was drought. uh and there were pests and disease so. uh one of his business partners was like. he didn't care about making money on. this he just he hoped it would help. people in hot countries not just he. didn't care he didn't give quote a hoot. in Hell about making money on brangus I. wasn't going to say it um I say we take. a break and come back and you mentioned.

he's in Cryptids let's talk about that. in a second okay all right we'll be. right. [Music]. [Music]. back so um I don't know if we said it or. not but Tom slick got be he developed a.

love of Cryptids um with that he shared. with his father his father passed on. like a love of stories about Loch nus. Monster the Abominable Snowman all sorts. of adventurous stuff like that um and it. like you said it really rubbed off on. Tom Jr and so uh at a pretty early age I. think he yeah he was still at Yale and. with some of his buddies he packed his. red Buick onto a steamer ship and went. to Europe for a summer where they drove. around Europe and one of the things on. his list was to go look for the Loch.

Ness monster and one of the things. you'll you'll kind of notice about Tom. Slick is that when he's doing these. things that today in retrospect seem. very weird and Flaky at the time there. was like a lot of evidence that these. things existed um this was. 1937 the next year the cican would be. rediscovered like it was just kind of in. the air that there were things out there. that Sid hadn't identified yet and. perhaps sness monster was one of them.

yeah and the the very very famous. picture of uh supposed Nessie was just. three years prior to that so it was all. the rage at the time um personally he. got married pretty quickly uh after Yale. and got divorced even quicker uh to his. first wife Betty I guess long enough to. have a son named William uh but really. took after his dad in more ways than one. because he was a very busy guy he was a. workaholic um he did spend more time. around his family I get the idea than.

his father did yeah but if you know the. yeti Came Calling he would go find the. yeti or try to find the yeti um or if he. wanted to to open up a new scientific. research center of which he opened uh. jeez how many like five of them while he. was alive yes uh then he would spend his. time doing that because it was he. thought it was very worthwhile and it. was the call of the Yeti by the way is. Nicholas Cage you could have played the.

yeti and tomslick in the same right yeah. that would have been like adaptation yep. exactly um so uh you said that he was a. little closer with his kids than his. father I think one of the ways he did. that was on a lot of his adventures he'd. bring his kids along with him and um I. know at least his son Charles Chuck even. Chuck um has very fond memories of going. on adventures with his dad so yeah yeah. he was definitely closer to his kids at.

least experience-wise than he was with. his father yeah so one big foray into. the sci scientific side of his life was. uh science City it was this uh dream. project that he had had for a long time. it's very sort of 19 mid 1930s name I. guess MH um so he opens up science City. gets the ball rolling um by 1940 they. had moved to San Antonio which is where. you know you'll find tomslick Park and. tomslick everything basically right uh.

which includes a little Nessie statue. which is kind of cool yeah but you can. totally tell it's fake yeah yeah it's. not the real thing uh so he bought 162. Acres about 8 miles west of San Antonio. uh that would eventually grow to about. 4,000 Acres uh for the SR uh essar Ranch. uh which is just a a long way of saying. Sr for scientific research and he was 24. years old and this is where all that. brangus stuff happened yeah and you said.

that he founded five research facilities. in his 20s three of them are still. around uh one of the first ones he. established was the foundation for. Applied research far F or Fair depending. on how you say it um and that is still. around that's now the Texas biomedic. Research Institute and um as we'll see. these things have had like um. significant contributions to science in. the world world uh since they've been.

around yeah for sure and are were all. those in his 20s from what I understand. this is all over like a fewe period yeah. geez that's incredible um he tried to. enlist in the Navy after Pearl Harbor in. 1941 but uh he didn't have good eyesight. so they said you are not fit for you. know wartime Duty uh so they. commissioned him in 1942 as a lieutenant. and right away said all right you know. what you're good at is running. operations uh why don't you go work for.

the war production board and kind of. help this uh this idea that we have of. changing over factories for making. whatever they're making to helping out. with wartime production uh from there he. went to DC uh working for the board of. economic Warfare uh which was actually. in San Diego Chile and this is where. things get a little like um who knows. what happened because his letters and. Diaries weren't around uh the records.

from what he did in Chile were destroyed. and we'll never know if or not he was. like a spy in South America which a lot. of his family and other people said they. thought he was I think we know 100% that. he was a spy in Chile at the time oh. really just from the circumstantial. evidence oh okay yeah I thought you. meant you found something very oh man. you could write a book if you found that. uh but yes the family L is that he was. working in South America as a basically.

a Nazi catcher um helping uh local. governments and the US catch Nazis who'd. escaped um which happened there yes. that's the thing it happened while he. was there that's one of the operations. that was going on in South America and. he was just an American businessman but. he was also in the Navy and no one knows. why he was stationed there he never. talked about it or told anybody I I. would say that that's pretty much. certain because if you combine that with.

another thing that he may have been. operative for or at least related to. some operatives I I think that it's it's. pretty certain he was that's my two. cents at least all right so he got. married again uh this time to uh in 1947. to a woman 12 years younger uh she was. 18 at the time and they had three kids. they also got divorced uh you know again. he's not around a lot and probably not. the most. you know attentive husband when he has.

all these things going on uh and he had. he you know he's somebody I look up to. in a lot of ways after sort of finding. out how he worked certainly not as a a. husband but uh how he worked as a. curious person um he seems like the kind. of guy that he would read and read and. read just about everything that he could. and just soak up as much knowledge as he. could and when he came across something. that piqu his interest in a particular. way or that he couldn't figure out he. had the the resources and the money and.

the time to you know if not solve it try. to solve it by just saying like all. right uh pick up the phone let me call. who I whoever I know or write a letter. to whoever I know who might be able to. help out with this and then depending on. what they say I might hire some people. to go to work and try and figure this. stuff out I might work on it myself and. whatever the outcome he was just about. trying he wasn't afraid of failing he. was just he was just trying to find out. stuff and made his best efforts to even. if it didn't work out. yeah just finding out that no one seemed.

to know the answer to that was enough. for him you know of course he wanted to. find the answer to the question he was. looking for but yeah he said I don't. believe in Failure only outcome like he. said and that's just what a great motto. you know I mean that just completely. transforms your outlook on life yeah I. mean it's to be clear it is a motto that. you can afford when you have that kind. of privilege uh when you can just be. like hey I'll fail like what's the big. rub sure uh and he had that privilege. but he you know in his favor he didn't. use that privilege to sit around on a.

beach and drink coconut drinks like he. was trying to better humankind yeah and. I mean like yes that's a great point but. I also think that you can apply it to. all sorts of different things in life. you know not necessarily just your. success or your wealth or anything like. that yeah for sure so um there were he. there were a lot of things that he used. this technique for that um came to. fruition some things may or may not. exist we're not 100% sure but one thing. that he definitely did in coinvent that.

did have some consequence to it was. what's called a lift slab method of. basically creating a concrete roof those. are very expensive to make it's very. difficult to create them in place on the. roof and he basically figured out a. technique to make it on the ground and. then lift it into place sounds kind of. basic and low hanging but apparently it. saves a lot of cost and it works so. that's a pretty good example of him just. kind of putting his mind figuring a. better way out it's boring but it's.

still a good example yeah I me that. wasn't just for roofs it was uh I mean. if he built a 10-story building he would. build all 10 floors uh on the ground and. then hydraulic those suckers up there. that's man what can't you do with. hydraulics and we should also mention. the the lift slab it was um. simultaneously developed by another guy. uh named Philip Utes Tom Slick got the. patent and you know gets all the glory. for that but. uh a lot of people still call it the the.

Utes slick method beautiful uh he. developed a breed of mice uh this was. early in chemotherapy uh treatments that. were very useful uh in testing uh we. mentioned that uh brangus I think my. favorite is that he um had a thing. against cxs in your hair so he invented. a hair tonic that could supposedly. reverse those cxs yeah in particular. brangus. CX come your cow stinkless skunks. apparent apparently did you see anything. about this I couldn't really find.

anything on that I I don't know if it. just went beyond the idea stage one. thing that definitely happened was uh. one of his institutes it might have been. the Southwest Research Institute or the. Texas biomedic Institute had a huge role. in producing some of the first oral. contraceptives that's fairly World. altering sure and then another one that. did not come to fruition was called were. artificial peans peans however you want. to say it um he decided that the trees. were way too water intensive especially.

from the perspective of Texas and so he. wanted to find a way to create pecans. that did not need to grow on trees and. like I said it didn't get anywhere I. cannot for the life of me find what the. heck he made the artificial pecans out. of but he definitely gave it a try so. we've talked a lot about his you know. work as a a funer of Science and a. believer in science um kind of maybe not. weirdly but he was also a guy that um. really loved the Unexplained and the.

mystical and was not um though he. believed in science he wasn't he didn't. necessarily think that those walls. couldn't be explored uh Beyond you know. so he went to India as a lot of people. did in those days who were seeking. Enlightenment in the. 50s uh saw people walking on hot coals. uh supposedly um saw llamas and Tibetan. Monks levitating off the ground is is. one of his claims he basically um went.

to a Tony Robbins. convention does he levitate llamas he. does all sorts of stuff like this that. yes he does pseudo scientific things. like this or maybe a David Blaine. performance yeah yeah I tried to learn. that method but I I did it okay for a. little while but it wasn't great what. levitating well the the illusion that. you're levitating which is what David. blae did it's a it's a trick obviously. isn't it Essen you're basically standing. on your your toes you're standing on one.

toe you have people at a certain angle. where when you're raising all of your. body weight up on the one toe you're. you're blocking it and with your other. foot and like pant leg and so it's all. about the angle at which you see it so. you can't see that that one toe is on. the ground but it looks great if you can. if you can do it well so I don't. understand why you call it levitating I. think you could just get as much um awe. out of people as saying like I'm. standing on one toe right now everybody.

how nuts is that yeah I'm I'm a toe uh a. toe bodybuilder I've got the strongest. toe right um so this is a really. consequential time in in uh um Central. Asia East Asia in Tibet the dolly llama. um had been um oh I don't know the word. but basically found and um identified. just several years before this is the. dolly llama as we know him today today. and around this time he was about 21 and.

China had invaded Tibet and all of a. sudden the doy Lama found himself as. like the head of the Tibetan government. everybody said you're you're the guy. what are you going to do about this and. there was almost nothing he could do. there were Tibetan Freedom Fighters. Tibetan resistance Rebels um and they. were just getting crushed left and right. by China and Tibet was a a place where. China had invaded and so now anytime you. saw an American you can pretty much. guess that if they weren't CIA they were.

backed by the CIA they were giving. information to the CIA the CIA had like. a 20-year program in Tibet and one of. the things they did was help get the. dolly Lama out when it became clear that. the doly Llama needed to get the heck. out and create a government for Tibet in. Exile which he still runs today um the. CIA helped that happen and so did in. some way shape or form Tom Slick had. some sort of hand in it all right maybe. we should take a break it sounds like a. good little Cliffhanger mhm and come.

back and talk about uh why he may have. been over there in the first place right. after this. [Music]. [Music]. all right so where we left off was a.

little tease about um tomslick. potentially maybe helping to get the. dolly llama out of Tibet uh why was he. there um he had met him already so that. was you know before the break we were. talking about a trip that he took over. there toss that one aside he goes home. starts living his life feels a little. bit more enlightened he can meditate a. little bit sure worthwhile trip but he. uh just like his father um was. fascinated by the idea of the Yeti the. vomit snowman in the.

Himalayas and like you mentioned earlier. like this was a time when you know it. was kind of right in the middle of all. these Yeti sightings there were there. were new species being uh discovered and. so he was like Hey listen I'm not some. some wacko who just you know believes in. these weird Crypts Cryptids he said like. I think there's something out there that. may be like the link between man and. animal and I think there are at least. two species they're the big tall. eight-footer with black hair there were.

smaller uh red-haired guys and I think. it's like a prehuman man that's been. basically hidden for thousands of years. in the Himalayas yeah and um I mean. westerners have been trying to climb the. Himalayas for decades by this time but. and as they came back they would bring. stories from the locals about the yeti. the Abominable Snowman and so like you. said like it's it wasn't just totally. like off the charts or super fringed to. to mount and Expedition for this and he. did and like he was looking for a.

missing link remember his fascination. with. hybridization um he felt like that. that's what those things were they were. a missing link out there they weren't. some undiscovered animal they were some. human relative that had somehow survived. in the Wilds of the Pacific Northwest or. the Wilds of the Himalayas and uh he. wanted to find one I don't know if he. wanted to kill and stuff it because he. was a hunter but um I he definitely. wanted to at least catch one or meet one.

shake his hand buy him a steak dinner. I'm not sure buy him a brangus steak. dinner pretty good uh he actually did. change the way that those Expeditions. went down because most of those had been. uh kill and catch or catch and kill. Expeditions for kind of anything like. that and he changed it to more research. base and hey let's see if we can get. something alive good I'm glad so uh he. did he mounted three different. Expeditions I think the first one was in.

the winter of 1956 which you're going to. go to the Himalayas in the winter seems. like poor planning to me um and while he. was there he found a footprint 13inch. long bare footprint um and he made a. plaster cast of it and became one of his. prized possessions he actually kept it. on his dining room table to and like if. somebody wouldn't bring it up when they. were a guest at his house he would just. kind of quietly nudge it over toward. them. until it was like in their face on their.

plate even sometimes and they'd be like. oh okay what is this if I may ask and. he'd say oh well funny you should ask. let me tell you about this abominable. snowman footprint yeah he actually got a. few Footprints and uh a couple of them. were very noteworthy uh I mean they. weren't Yeti but they were noteworthy in. that every other footprint had been snow. Footprints and he got a couple out of. the mud which was uh I guess sort of a. bigger deal and also brought back some. hair samples uh again not a Yeti because.

there's no Yeti but he didn't know that. at the time no give the guy a break he's. he's trying to find what's true and. what's not true just like us so two. years after the first one he launched a. second Expedition this one was like. fully kitted out uh he and a friend. spent Punk down 30 Grand in I guess 1958. money to fund this Expedition there was. a photographer a documentary filmmaker. there were professional trackers they. brought in a reconnaissance plane they.

had tranquilizer guns which supports. your idea that this was not a catch and. kill and then also he brought three Blue. Tick hounds tick blood hounds which are. really well known as tracker dogs and he. even um put little snow boots on them to. help them through the snow which I. thought was very. conscientious totally uh he didn't go on. this one he just you know helped fund it. uh because he had bailed on a bus on the. previous Expedition that had lost its. breakes and uh pretty much tore up his.

knees permanently from that point so uh. there's some great pictures of him with. his like knees all band bandaged up but. he's he's still you know smiling away. looking like he stepped out of a Banana. Republic ad has he given the thumbs up. there was no thumb well he had a cane in. his hand okay yeah um so that second. expedition was there for 9 months came. home empty-handed obviously or else we. would all know that there was such a. thing the yeti um and the third and last.

Expedition this is where the CIA. business kind of comes in um he funded. two brothers Peter burn and Brian burn. and Peter uh was a well-known. Outdoorsman Hunter um and he'd been. searching for the yeti for a couple. decades by this time so um Tom Slick. financed a third Expedition with these. two brothers and here we come to yet. another stuff you should know episode I. guess the one on the yeti or the. abominable. snowman um where we talked about this.

story where a Yeti thumb that was being. on being displayed at pangos Temple um. the Buddhist monk Temple U was stolen. and it turns out it was Peter and Brian. burn who stole it on behalf of Tom Slick. who asked them to steal it on behalf of. Dr Osman Hill a primatologist from the. UK yeah and this is this is probably the. most famous story about Tom Slick uh. because of a a certain co- conspirator.

here that we're going to introduce but. um he uh it was actually a finger and a. thumb um they gave These Guys these. brothers like another finger to trade or. not trade but to swap out and hope no. one would notice I guess and said here's. you know here's a thumb take it over. there see if you can swap them out. supposedly the burn Brothers uh talked. about uh giving a big donation to the. temple no one knows exactly what went. down but they left with that Yeti thumb.

and finger and what they were told was a. Yeti scalp was another piece of uh piece. of Yeti I guess that they got uh so I've. seen this a couple of ways in stories. I've seen that a certain Hollywood actor. was in on this from the beginning and it. was all part of the plan and then I've. also seen that after this happened the. burn Brothers went to Kolkata uh and. just had dinner with Jimmy Stewart and. and his wife at the Grand Hotel and. Stewart from there got on board and just.

said and my best Jimmy. Stewart if you need help getting the. thumb across the border I can I can put. it in my wife's underwear bag that was. great that was really hoping you're. going to do something like that it's. okay I used to do a decent one but it's. been a while it's good uh especially for. being Rusty um I think the way we told. it was that he happened to be there and. offered I don't remember knowing that he. was supposedly part of the whole thing.

it doesn't really matter honestly no he. definitely smuggled what was thought to. be a Yeti thumb across the border out. right out of India in his wife's lerie. case back to the UK where he gave it to. Dr Hill and Dr Hill promptly just. stopped talking about it I guess he. probably did some sort of examination. and was like yeah this is not a Yeti. thumb and filed it away in the archives. of the Royal College of Surgeons in. London where it was lost until I believe.

the 21st century and then finally in. 2011 Ed brazo researchers did a DNA test. on it and they said this is a human. finger and thumb and they made the. little finger gun uh for the for the. photo that was published all over the. world why do I get the feeling at the. time if they would have found that thing. in Thumb in the in her to wear bag at. the airport right that she could have. just been like stay out of that that's. my thumb that's my finger stay out of my.

underwear they would have just been like. oh my God I'm so sorry and like just. giving it back to her I can't remember. where I read it but it was years and. years ago we may have talked about it. but when there's um when there's a. personal massager found in luggage. that's being searched in front of the. person it like I think the TSA is. instructed to just pretend it it doesn't. exist like they didn't see. it I can't remember where we surely we I. I definitely remember us talking about. that that was a while ago okay so yeah I.

I think back in the late 50s you could. have done the same thing with a Yeti. finger considering it was in her. underwear case yeah the other thing that. they brought back was that Yeti scalp um. obviously not a Yeti scalp uh it was a. type of Himalayan goat so they struck. out on all. fronts uh too bad. but perhaps perhaps and I saw I saw. definite uh conf that Peter bur at the. very least was helping the CIA get.

people in and out of Tibet uh there was. a guy named George Patterson uh that was. doing work like undercover work and he. helped get him in and out so the idea is. that sort of kind of closing the loop on. the Dal Lama is that because of Peter. Burn's work with the CIA getting people. in and out that uh the New York Times. even wrote a story in April of 57 called. Soviet sees Espionage in US snowman hunt. uh this Yeti I don't know if it was a. complete front I think they were also.

looking for the yeti but they were like. well since we're over here we'll do a. little bit of CIA work for the guys. right exactly and I guess it's not. definite but I I did see in at least one. source that Peter burn had a a um a real. hand in getting the dolly llama out I. love that maybe he offered him his. literal hand he he offered him a Yeti. thumb come with me big guy uh so Yeti. eventually became uh Bigfoot as far as. as Tom Slick's passions went because a. little closer to home he could take take.

the kids on that trip didn't have to go. to the Himalayas so he became a uh a. serious Bigfoot hunter uh including like. hooking up with people who are until. very recently were still big and. noteworthy Bigfoot Hunters yeah um one. of them was Peter burn Peter burn went. on to be one of the big um well-known. Bigfoot Hunters when he went with Tom. Slick that's kind of where he got the. taste for it and he's like hey Tom you. go back home I'm going to just stay here.

and he even wrote a book called The. search for Bigfoot monster myth or man. so uh I think that's a great 1976 in. particular title for a book on Bigfoot. oh totally so uh back to his private. life uh you know he he got divorced that. second time and after that he was like. you know what mered is not for me uh but. what is for me is being a millionaire. Playboy and you know everything I saw. said that he was very upfront with uh.

the women that he cavorted with and was. like hey I'm out to have a good time. this is not going to get serious uh it's. kind of a sort of a touchy way of saying. he had a lot of. girlfriends at the same time uh his his. niece wrote a a book about him and knew. a lot about him and uh she said that at. one point I found a Christmas list from. 1958 and he would get these lists uh. together of like hey get these gifts for. these uh very specific women uh send it.

to n Neiman Marcus and like take care of. them so on the 58 list he had Annette. Kathy Cheryl Cynthia Irene Jean Jerry. Mary Nancy Nell Sandra Sylvia Tony Topsy. and three Helens so 17 women scattered. all over planet Earth he was you know he. was having a good time it sounds like it. sounded just now like you were halfway. through a shell Silverstein poem. especially when tops makes an appearance. you know yeah who's Topsy uh there's one.

other thing we need to mention about him. is that he wrote not one but two books. arguing and laying out plans for World. Peace um which you know not everybody's. got those under their belt so I read at. least one um uh review of it from the. 50s and they were like this is actually. pretty good yeah I mean again doing like. the good work uh sadly that that good. work and that life was cut very short in. a tragic way uh when in.

1962 he was coming back in a little. plane after pheasant hunting in Calgary. with some friends and their plane. basically disintegrated in midair and. bad weather over Montana and he died at. the same age as his father at just 46. years old and is buried at Mission. burial park there in San Antonio yeah. and like we said those um those science. foundations that he created went on to. do some pretty amazing things in.

addition to oral contraceptives vaccines. for Hepatitis A through C HIV AIDS uh. Ebola virus they had a big role in the. covid vaccine um and they also another. one develops things for NASA electric. cars the oil and gas industry um they're. the kind who like they don't make the. stuff they help other people make the. stuff through their research they make. the stuff better what company is that. BASF that's exactly what I was thinking.

of yeah uh also again as another Coda he. was a great patron of the Arts had one. of the great um art collections of a. private American citizen uh most of. which is at The McNay Art Museum and uh. like we said that movie with Nick Cage. didn't happen but the uh the podcast Tom. Slick colon mystery Hunter MH is out now. with Owen Wilson. yeah playing Tom Slick and Skyler Fisk.

and Skyler Fisk and her mom. and Chad sent me a list I mean it's just. sort of a murderer's row of great um. actors and this was literally yesterday. and I was like H I would have loved to. have done a voice uh so he yesterday. like an hour after that said he felt bad. and I was like oh man I mean don't feel. bad I was just kidding but I always want. to do dumb voices and uh he about an. hour later he said I got something for. you I was I was like really he was like. can you do it today and he said you're.

opposite I was like are we. going to zoom together and he went no. you just record your lines and we marry. them to hers but technically I'll be in. a scene with uh playing. 70-year-old former governor of Texas. governor neelon uhhuh not a real person. uh a lot of This is highly fictionalized. it's a you know it's it's a fun podcast. just not like they they stick to the. facts when they can but it's uh it's an. entertaining kind of thing so uh if. you've never listened to a scripted.

fictional show give it a shot cuz I. listened to a couple of episodes and. it's super cool and you can hear me. doing my best kind of uh old old school. leave on Helm accent can we hear it yeah. I guess we could play a uh a clip yeah. let's do that all right here's a here's. a little clip of me you. guys finally Governor Claire it's so. lovely of you to come to this little sh. and dig for Dad little I heard there. might be some reveals about the.

mysterious Tom slick as a kid I always. thought your father lived a double life. oh yeah Claire remember when we had. those sleepovers at your house sure and. your dad he'd tell us these wild tales. about Mysteries the world had never. known holy men who could levitate a. tunnel on the Amazon ly with diamonds. the Abominable Snowman that he said roam. the roof for the. world he told those Tales like he lived.

them so I guess I thought he always had. way to go Chuck thank you he was an old. Texas guy like that get off my claim you. varint awesome so uh where where can you. find this Chuck where can you find this. podcast that you're starring in I mean. anywhere you can get your podcast I. guess that's right isn't that what they. say that's right it's called Tom Slick. mystery hun right yeah awesome uh well. Chuck said yeah I was just mentioning a.

podcast that he started in and we've. Fallen backwards into listener. mail all right I'm going to call this. random fact because that's what Adam. called it when he wrote in in the. subject line uh Hey guys on your Lites. episode you mentioned some places like. lancastershire. uh that's the origin of the term Sheriff. I love this or this Emil uh sure or. Shire I guess just like in Lord of the. Rings uh County reev so the county.

sheriff was originally the Shire reev. and was shortened to sheriff or Sheriff. all this info was bestowed upon me by. professor of Criminal Justice at at Miss. University in the early 2000s go Rebels. I've been listening for several years. look forward to every Tuesday Thursday. and Saturday keep it cool guys that's. from Adam all right thanks a lot Adam. that's a great one I'd never heard that. before in my life and now I know um and. if you want to be like Adam and let us. know something we never knew before in.

our lives but or would be happy to know. please send it to us via email at stuff. podcast iheartradio.com. [Music]. 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. [Music].