RAT POISON AND BRANDY: THE 1904 ST. LOUIS OLYMPIC MARATHON.

Comments · 1.2K

• PH

  @PhoenixChaser1120 · 6 years ago

  Ok, but the line "Places so ordinary that ghosts don't even live there. Streets so normal, so full of TJ Maxx's and Starbucks that they play this trick on you, like nothing of real importance could have ever happened there." Is so fuckin raw.

  974

• KA

  @Karmy. · 7 years ago

  It's crazy that Lorz, the fake winner of this race, died at age 29 and Hicks, who nearly died in this race, lived for another 48 years, living until the age of 76

  2.2K

• IN

  @InternetsBeloved · 8 years ago

  Jon continues to singlehandedly keep Google Earth in business for another month or so.

  3.3K

• FU

  @FuriosoDrummer · 10 years ago

  "Places so ordinary that ghosts don't even live there." Damn Jon, you really know how to turn a phrase.

  2.8K

• TZ

  @tz233 · 9 years ago

  Ratt, Poison and Brandy = one hell of an odd 90's reunion concert.

  1.3K

• XE

  @Xenotropos · 8 years ago (edited)

  There&apos;s more to this. &nbsp;It gets weirder.<br><br>Only 62 of the 651 athletes came from outside North America, and only 12–15 nations showed up because of the combined problems created by the Russian-Japanese war and the difficulty of getting to St. Louis once they reached the continent. <br><br>The entire Olympics were overshadowed by &quot;Anthropology Days&quot;: an event where, I quote, &quot;Various indigenous men from around the world competed in various events for anthropologists to see how they compared to the white man.&quot; &nbsp;You can&apos;t make this stuff up. <br><br>Those gentlemen weren&apos;t only the first black Africans to ever compete in the Olympics, they were playing the part of &quot;savages&quot; in weird costumes for Anthropology Days. &nbsp;They heard about the marathon and sort of just decided to do it for the hell of it. &nbsp;The amount of bravery this took, given the racism surrounding the entire event, is unbelievable. <br><br>In an unrelated event, the American gymnast George Eyser, won six medals even though he had a wooden leg. &nbsp;<br><br>Some athletes were simply classified as &quot;American&quot; for purposes never fully explained, if not obvious. &nbsp;Two Norwegians were listed as winning for the US simply because they were living in the country at the time. &nbsp;Neither had US citizenship, and at least one was effectively an illegal immigrant. &nbsp;Same thing happened for one guy from Switzerland, who&apos;s medal still counts towards the US total on the official books. One French national arrived with incorrect paperwork, was allowed to compete in a &quot;mixed country&quot; team, and his medal was counted as part of the US total by the powers that were for... reasons.<br><br>A Russian team, attempting to compete in the marathon, set out for the US and failed to make it, &nbsp;because Russia still used the Gregorian calendar at the time and they got the dates wrong.<br><br>This NEEDS to be made into a movie. &nbsp;In the right hands, it could be both an expose on how horrible it was, and comedy gold.

  5K

• TR

  @trackrapper3604 · 9 years ago

  I wish someone walked in and just saw a piece of paper that said 1904 St. Louis and then there were pills and broken eggs and a plastic dog and sawdust and apples and Jon just playing with a plastic soldier

  1.7K

• AG

  @agathailla3285 · 5 years ago

  The text “he would have bled to death.” in front of a Hardee’s is an accurate representation of what Jon Bois’ videos are like

  392

• TA

  @tArchStantont · 8 years ago

  James Sullivan should be absolutely removed from the National Track and Field Hall of Fame.

  750

• EO

  @EonArashi · 9 years ago

  tbh, the long sleeves and beret might have helped Carvajal by keeping the sun off of him. Everybody else probably got burned to hell and back, but Carvajal probably never got as badly dehydrated because he wasn&apos;t as badly sunburned. The first modern sunscreens weren&apos;t really available until the 1920&apos;s.

  798

• MA

  @Mac1989x · 8 years ago (edited)

  Thomas Hicks, who won this thing, is not human. He was given two doses of strychnine 1mg each, brandy and raw eggs and he lost 8 pounds in 3.5 hours and that guy still lived 48 years after this and died at the age of 76 which probably was pretty old for someone born in 1876. All the while the guy that had to tap out because of cramping and only ran 9 miles of this marathon and got a ride for 5 more to the get to the finish line, died 10 years later and didn&apos;t even live to the age of 30, what the fuck?

  1.1K

• BI

  @billygowhoop · 9 years ago (edited)

  I guess that back in the day instead of everyone carrying a cell phone, people carried bottles of brandy around regularly

  669