Futility Closet

In 1828, a 16-year-old boy appeared in Nuremberg, claiming that he'd spent his whole life alone in a dark cell. In the latest Futility Closet podcast we'll follow the short, sad life of Kaspar Hauser and ponder who he might have been. We'll also revisit the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus, encounter some self-landing planes, and puzzle over why a man would bury 15 luxury cars in the desert. Sources for our segment on Kaspar Hauser: Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, Lost Prince: The Unsolved Mystery of Kaspar Hauser, 1996. Martin Kitchen, Kaspar Hauser: Europe's Child, 2001. Links from listener mail: Being in the Shadow, Australian psychologist Kate Russo's site about the psychology of eclipse chasing. A 1997 NTSB report regarding a Piper PA-24 that "landed itself" after the pilot passed out due to a carbon monoxide leak. The "cornfield bomber," a Convair F-106 Delta Dart that landed in a Montana farmer's field in 1970 after the pilot ejected. When the local sheriff arrived, the jet's engine was still idling. This wee