Andrée’s Big Balloon Crash of 1897
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In 1896, Sweden had fallen far behind in the race for the North Pole. Out of the fray emerged Salomon August Andrée, who put forward a proposal so cutting edge it was immediately funded and flooded with national support. He would fly a balloon over the Arctic circle, sweeping ahead of Norwegian attempts and taking the glory for Sweden. Unfortunately, science and the weather were not on Andrée’s side.
Check out our website and find us @themaydaypod on Instagram and Twitter to say hello. Our amazing composer and producer Marlon Grunden can be found at his website marlongrunden.com.
More episodes from The Mayday Podcast: Tales of Mystery and Misadventure
Apr 6, 2022
Polar Crime Time (Season Finale!)
For our 15th episode we explore crimes in our favourite cold places: the poles! We answer the questions you never thought to ask, like: how does law operate outside national borders, and what happens if you kill someone? What’s it like living in the northernmost town in the world? Who has jurisdiction on an iceberg? And how do you deal with arson in Antarctica?
This episode will wrap season 1 for us, so thank you to all of our amazing listeners for joining us on the first leg of our podcasting adventure! Listen to the end of this episode to hear about our final tally of Mayday Moments and Mayday Rankings, a reflection on our topics this season, and a little teaser of what we’ll be covering when we return in season 2.
Check out our _website_ and find us @themaydaypod on _Instagram_ and _Twitter_ to say hello, give feedback, or suggest some future topics. Our amazing composer and producer Marlon Grunden can be found at his website _marlongrunden.com_
Sources & Further Reading
* Kenn Harper, In Those Days: Collected Writings on Arctic History, Book 2: Arctic Crime and Punishment
* Shaugn Coggins, James Ford, et al, _‘Indigenous Peoples and Climate Justice in the Arctic’_, Georgetown Journal of International Affairs
* David Kushner, _‘The Bizarre Bank Robbery That Shook an Arctic Town’__,_ Outside
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Mar 9, 2022
YETI! Part II: 2 Snowy, 2 Abominable
On December 7th 1951, a shocking photograph hit the front page of British newspapers. Taken half a world away, high on a glacier in the Himalayas, the image showed a footprint that defied belief. Huge, human-like, with round defined toes and an ice-axe next to it for scale. This footprint would propel the mysterious Yeti from mountaineering folklore into potential scientific reality.
From our last episode, we know how the myth first appeared in Western consciousness and the role it played in pre-WWII mountaineering. In this, our second and final episode on the history of the Yeti, we explore where our furry friend went from there. Expect dodgy scientific expeditions, Hollywood stars on artefact heists, high-flying Texan oil millionaires, and some adventurers so wild that they may just be Yeti themselves.
Check out our _website_ and find us @themaydaypod on _Instagram_ and _Twitter_ to say hello. Our amazing composer and producer Marlon Grunden can be found at his website _marlongrunden.com_
Sources & Further Reading
* Graham Hoyland, Yeti: An Abominable History
* Bryan Sykes, Bigfoot, Yeti, and the Last Neanderthal: A Geneticist’s Search for Modern Apemen
* Reinhold Messner, My Quest for the Yeti: Confronting the Himalayas’ Deepest Mystery
* Edmund Hillary, High Adventure: Our Ascent of the Everest
* Edmund Hillary and Desmond Doig, High in the Thin Cold Air
* Daniel Loxton and Donald Prothero, Abominable Science! Origins of the Yeti, Nessie, and Other Famous Cryptids
* Eric Shipton, The Mount Everest Reconnaissance Expedition
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Feb 23, 2022
YETI! Part I
Western climbers have been trekking the Himalayas for over a hundred years, and through all that time they have been bringing back stories of a mysterious ape-like creature they called the Abominable Snowman, or the Yeti.
In this episode hosts Ana and Luca explore how the modern myth of the Yeti was created. What role has it played in the wild history of Himalayan mountaineering? What is the Yeti in the Western consciousness, and how does he differ from similar beings in Tibetan, Nepali and Bhutanese belief systems? Whether he's real or not is irrelevant: how did he first appear, and why did we keep 'meeting' him?
Part 2 of our Yeti episodes will follow in 2 weeks.
Check out our _website_ and find us @themaydaypod on _Instagram_ and _Twitter_ to say hello. Our amazing composer and producer Marlon Grunden can be found at his website _marlongrunden.com_
Sources & Further Reading
* Graham Hoyland, Yeti: An Abominable History
* Bryan Sykes, Bigfoot, Yeti, and the Last Neanderthal: A Geneticist’s Search for Modern Apemen
* Reinhold Messner, My Quest for the Yeti: Confronting the Himalayas’ Deepest Mystery
* Edmund Hillary, High Adventure: Our Ascent of the Everest
* Edmund Hillary and Desmond Doig, High in the Thin Cold Air
* Daniel Loxton and Donald Prothero, Abominable Science! Origins of the Yeti, Nessie, and Other Famous Cryptids
* Eric Shipton, The Mount Everest Reconnaissance Expedition
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